Iles des Les Saintes -- our favorite Caribbean island

April 5, 2007 Wednesday

Iles des Les Saintes

We cleared back into the Guadeloupe today here in the Saintes.  We had cleared out of Guadeloupe with next destination of Dominica, but then our actual departure from Marina Bas du Fort was delayed for two days; which were the two days that we originally planned to spend here in the Saintes before sailing onward to Dominica.  So just to be on the legal up and up, we cleared back into Guadeloupe and will probably stay here in the Saintes until next Tuesday.  The winds are predicted to be very low until then, so why sail in such low winds when we can stay in this lovely quiet anchorage.

Last evening another couple invited us over to their boat for sundowners – wine, beer, pate and cheeses for you landlubbers.  Bill had met the man back in Trinidad but neither of us had met the wife until last evening.  We had seen their boat in a marina in St. Martin, in another marina in Antigua, in Pointe ‘a Pitre, and now they are anchored right next to us.  They are nice and it was good to talk with new people.

This morning we walked up the hill to Fort Napolean.  This is the walk that the sailing guide says is easy enough even for the “gravitationally challenged.”  Love that terminology!  Fits me perfectly because even the slightest incline gives me trouble.  Can walk forever on a flat surface but this flatland Texas gal doesn’t do well with hills or mountains.  But for this hike I used the collapsible walking sticks that Donna and Bruce delivered to us when they visited in February.  I used both of the sticks for the hike up the mountain and only one for the walk back down.  Amazing difference!  I wasn’t the slightest bit out of breath going up the steep incline; and back, hip and knees didn’t give me a hint of pain.  I would recommend walking sticks for almost anyone planning on hiking these steep islands.

When we reached the top, the fort was definitely worth the uphill walk.  It is the most impressive fort we have seen in the Caribbean.  Unfortunately, the ferries had arrived from Point ‘a Pitre and Basse Terre; and it was very crowded.  And hot!  Bill decided that he didn’t want to stand in that crowd just to walk around inside the hot fort.  So we took a few photos of the outside and walked back down to the village.  Later we talked to some people who said that the interior of the fort is very interesting.  So maybe we will walk back up there again in a day or two.

Oh, yeah!  Early this morning I was enjoying another cup of cocoa in the cockpit and looking at the scenery.  There is an open view of Basse Terre and Grand Terre (main islands of Guadeloupe) from this anchorage.  I noticed that clouds looked like smoke rising from La Soufriere volcano on Basse Terre.  Twenty minutes later, those clouds had not moved.  So we pulled out our binoculars and clear as day we could see that there is substantial steam rising from that volcano.  This is not an active volcano, so to see so much steam was a surprise.  This is the first time that we have noticed any steam up there.  We assume that this is normal and that we just had not previously ooked at the top of the volcano from this angle.

We returned to the boat in the afternoon and began making water and doing laundry---you know; the regular, mundane weekly chores.  We had purchased a real vacuum cleaner recently and I wanted to vacuum the entire interior of the boat, walls included.  The second load of laundry was almost finished when the generator shut everything down.  The sea water impeller had failed; so Bill replaced it.  He pulled out our Amel maintenance manuals and learned that the impeller should be replaced every 500 hours.  Sure enough, it had been 475 hours since the last time he replaced the impeller in July 2005.  Guess we will now add that data to our list of regular maintenance chores.  It would be a lot better to replace the impeller before it crumbles apart, so we will try to be more attentive next time.

Med moor at fuel dock. First time we did that!

April 4, 2007  Wednesday

It is 4:00 a.m. with a beautiful full moon and totally calm water, and I have been wide awake for a couple of hours already.  Woke up thinking about a small cup of Chantico from Starbucks.  Have only tasted that drink twice before, but it was like drinking melted Godiva chocolates.  Obviously not available here and we aren’t visiting the States anytime soon to satisfy this little craving, so I prepared a cup of instant hot cocoa and sat in the cockpit and enjoyed the full moon and the quiet solitude and the ever so gentle rocking of the boat.  A couple of sailboats arrived during the early morning darkness only about 20 minutes apart.  Both of them opted to go farther toward the main city of Pointe ‘a Pitre than we would have during darkness.  Especially since Pointe ‘a Pitre has heavy commercial traffic and this is an industrial channel with large freighters coming and going 24/7.  Both these boats were moving far faster through the channel than we would have during darkness.  Maybe they are more familiar with this area than we are.  The charts and sailing guides indicate a couple of anchorages that are really not anchorages anymore; they are now mooring fields.  And it is darned difficult to pick up a mooring ball in the dark.  I enjoyed watching the navigational lights of the two of them doing an anchor dance with one another.  The local fishermen are already beginning to head out for the day. 

We are on a mooring ball just outside the Marina Bas du Fort.  Our plans to go to Iles des Saintes on Monday were delayed.  The simple paint job to touch up the scratches on our main mast took longer than we assumed it would.  That delayed our departure until Tuesday morning.  Then when we closed up the bimini in preparation of leaving the dock and moving to the fuel dock we realized that the boom for the mainsail was too low.  We had the Amel guys replace the topping lift connections that go through the boom on both the mainsail boom and the mizzen boom.  This should be done about every 4 years and our boat is now 4 years old, so it was time for this routine maintenance.  Bill questioned if the main boom was too low when they finished the job last Friday, but the rigging guy said it was in the correct position.  Not true.  When we folded back the bimini frame and tightened everything down, the boom was actually several inches lower than the mainsheet!   Our mainsheet runs over the top of the cockpit and bimini to the mizzen mast and is controlled by an electric winch on the mizzen mast. Having the boom positioned lower than the mainsheet was obviously wrong, but rather than mess with fixing it ourselves Bill walked back over to the Amel office and brought the rigging guy back to the boat to position the topping lift correctly.

 It took him just a few minutes to get it right, but by then the fuel dock had closed for lunch.  These French people truly believe in their two hour lunches.  So we had to wait until 2:00 p.m. to get our duty free fuel.  Once a foreign flagged vessel has cleared out with Customs here in Guadeloupe then you can purchase duty free fuel.  Normal diesel costs 1.1 Euro per liter; the duty free price is .77 Euro per liter.  For the amount of diesel that we needed this was a savings of 80 Euros, or about $107 USD at the current currency conversion rate.  We would have preferred to wait until Martinique to fill up, but Martinique sells duty free fuel only to charter boats.  Anyway, it was worth the $107 to further delay our departure another few hours.  This is the first time that we have had to back up to a fuel dock, normally you tie up alongside.  Bill dropped the anchor as we backed up to the dock and I handed off the stern lines to the attendant, sort of like Med-mooring.  The current kept moving the bow of the boat to the right, so I sat in the helm seat and used the bow thruster to keep the boat stern aligned properly with the fuel dock.  Our fuel tank inlet is inside a locker in our cockpit and luckily their pump line was long enough to reach our center cockpit.  The whole process worked just fine, and it was a good learning experience for both of us.

But by the time we finished at the fuel dock it was rather late in the day to head out for a 23 mile sail.  We prefer not to arrive in darkness if at all possible.  We should have gone over to the anchorage at St. Annes; it would have made a much nicer point of sail for the trip down to Iles des Saintes; but we weren’t sure of the time of sunset so instead we just moved to this mooring field just outside the marina so we could raise the dinghy up onto the davits.  So we will have a very leisurely sail down to the Saintes today.

BTW, people usually think of Guadeloupe as just the large butterfly shaped island(s) of Basse Terre and Grand Terre.  Actually, Guadeloupe includes several other islands, all within about 25 miles of one another.  The easternmost island is La Desirade; hardly anyone visits there.  Roughly 15 miles southwest of La Desirade are Iles de la Petite Terre, which is an environmentally protected area sort of like a national park.. About 20 miles southwest of Petite Terre is the island of Marie Gallante.  Then about 10 miles due west of Marie Gallante are the Iles des Les Saintes.  The Saintes are one our most favorite places in the entire Caribbean. 

The Saintes never imported slaves.  These small islands were settled by people from the Brittany region of France; and it is still very Breton.  A very picturesque place.

Update:  We arrived in Iles des Les Saintes this afternoon; and it was definitely a leisurely sail down here.  Could not believe that the water could be so calm and flat after seeing how wild it was in that same area just a week ago.  Winds were also exceptionally calm, ranging from 1.6 knots to a whopping 10 knots for a few minutes.  It took 6 ½ hours for us to sail only 23.5 miles, for an average speed of only 3.6 knots.  But we weren’t in any hurry and it was a very pleasant and relaxing day.  Tried my new fishing lure but again did not get a nibble.

Drove the entire island of Guadeloupe. BEAUTIFUL!!!

April 1, 2007  Sunday

Pointe ‘a Pitre, Guadeloupe

We rented a car for the weekend.  The weather was dreary and drizzling all weekend so our photos don’t look so great.  But the gray dreariness was a blessing in disguise because it made the temperature more comfortable for our excursions both days.

Yesterday we drove completely around Grand Terre, the eastern half of Guadeloupe.  There are sugar cane fields everywhere, and I do mean literally everywhere!! They must grow enough sugar cane to supply all the sugar needed for all of France.  This is good because it is providing employment and also because it means that France is still using real sugar instead of that awful high fructose corn syrup that the USA uses and that causes diabetes.  And where there are not sugar cane fields then there are banana fields and cantaloupe fields or eggplant or tomatoes.  Guadeloupe has a very good agriculture base.

There was a Saturday morning market near the beach at St. Annes and those are always fun.  As typical for us, Bill chose coconut cake for his sidewalk vendor treat; and I chose a taste of homemade boudin.  Bill likes sweets and I like spices.  They had boudin chaud, boudin paison, and boudin rouge.  Since I had no idea what any of those meant, I chose chaud.  Have no idea what it was, but it tasted very good.  And they didn’t even charge me for my tasting sample.  The coconut cake that Bill chose was still warm from the oven; about $1.50 for a huge slice of delicious homemade cake that was too large for Bill to finish and more than satisfied his sweet tooth.  The woman also had pineapple upside down cake and had her kids cranking homemade coconut ice cream.  Just down the street were every kind of produce imaginable, all locally grown and excellent quality.  Then there were the fishermen selling their fresh catches of the day.  As well as the fresh spices and the normal tourist jewelry and tee-shirts and trinkets.  We would recommend the Saturday morning market at St. Annes if anyone is planning to visit Guadeloupe.  The anchorage also looked very nice, so cruisers don’t need to rent a car to visit here.

Then it was on to St. Francois, where we managed to get totally lost and eventually backtracked and found our way out of that little town.   Roads were not marked and the map provided by the car rental company was general in the extreme, no detail at all.  So navigating was mostly a guessing game.  Good thing we had no plans and were just winging it anyway.   Next stop was Le Moule, where the Atlantic Ocean breaks heavily against the shore.  I could have stayed there and watched the surf for hours.  Most definitely not a place to go in a boat.

Then westward through Morne A L’eau and northwards to Port-Louis and finally to the northernmost little town of Anse Bertrand.  Wanted to send a postcard to my sister whose married name is Bertrand but didn’t have her address with me.  We had a delightful light lunch in a small café called something Doudou.   Then down the center of the island and back through Morne A L’eau and Les Abymes and downtown Pointe ‘a Pitre.  Drove around Pointe ‘a Pitre for awhile and then found our way back to the marina without a hitch.  I must say that the locals are very, very heavy into tagging.  I don’t think there is one single building in Pointe ‘a Pitre that is not covered with gang tags and graffiti.  One would think that this is a very dangerous area, but we have not felt in the least danger anywhere on Guadeloupe; so I guess that all this tagging is just something that the locals like to do and not so much tied to gangs as we know it back home.

Today we explored the western half of Guadeloupe, the island of Basse Terre.  Left the marina and went back through downtown Pointe a’ Pitre and across the little river that separates the two islands.  Then we headed north on the main road that runs mostly along the coast all the way around the island.  When we reached the northernmost point of the island, we encountered a bicycle race.  Cars came first and cleared the road; made all traffic stop on the roadside.  The bikes came roaring through, accompanied by motorcycles and many cars with bike carriers on top.  Then there were a couple of Mercedes with the rear windows folded out with men sitting up on the back dashboards.  A strange sight.   At several points along the road there were gatherings of well-wishers and supporters of the racers.  After all the bicycle racers passed by, then we proceeded to a roadside rest stop just north of Deshaies.  It was up high on a mountainside with a great view.  While we were lounging around there, all the bicycle racers started coming back on the return leg of their race.  How French can you get!  They do love bicycle racing around the mountains – here as well as back in mainland France.

Stopped in Deshaies to walk around a bit, and then drove out to the Battery Point.  Nice park.  And there is a lovely restaurant there called Les Canon des Baie.  It was too early for lunch so we proceeded on southward on the only road.  There was a detour near Pointe Noire and we had to take a very steep one lane road down to the water’s edge and then back up again to the main road.  Meeting oncoming cars was a bit nerve wracking because there was no shoulder and the drop offs were impressive.  I felt like I was ready for a shot of vodka by the time that portion of our drive was finished, but since it wasn’t even noon yet that was out of the question.  But as soon as we were back on the main road the steep scary drive was quickly forgotten.

Instead of continuing on southward to the city of Basse-Terre, we took The Traverse across the mountaintops back to the eastern side of the island.  This was our favorite part of the weekend sightseeing road trip.  There are several parks in the mountaintops and all are gorgeous.  There are many hiking trails and the weather is cool because of the altitude so it is a great area to get some exercise.  It is like a rainforest in the mountaintops.  There were ferns everywhere you looked and huge philodendrons with leaves at least three feet long.

When we reached the eastern side of Basse Terre again, then we turned south this time.  Stopped for lunch and a bit of shopping in Goyave, and then drove down to Trois Rivieres.  Trois Rivieres was our second favorite part of the weekend sightseeing road trip.  There were buildings that looked like they were 300 years old, but we did not have a guide book so we were not able to learn anything about the history of this area.  But we enjoyed it anyway. 

We decided that we had seen enough without going the additional 15 kilometers to the main city of Basse Terre, so we called it quits and backtracked to the marina.  Wanted to go to the supermarket while we had a car to buy a few heavy things like beer and diet cokes, but absolutely everything closes on Sunday afternoons on these French islands; so couldn’t do that.  We enjoyed having a car for these two days and doing something different than our usual boating activities.

BTW, while we have been docked at the marina all week I have taken this opportunity to utilize my sewing machine.  Thanks again, Theo, for lugging that heavy thing down here when you visited.  I had a number of clothing items that needed taking in and was able to get all that done this week.  I also made a duvet for our bedroom, stripes on one side and print on the reverse, to match the curtains and throw pillows.  First I had to cut down a white down-filled comforter to fit the bed (that was a chore with all that fuzzy down and little feathers to deal with!).  Then I made a duvet cover to fit the comforter.  Now the bedroom looks very nice, all co-ordinated.  And there is still enough fabric left to replace the curtains in the saloon when they get too faded.

The Amel guy is supposed to come paint the few scratches on the main mast tomorrow morning if the weather is clear.  The previous owner would store the dinghy on the bow of the boat rather than on the davits.  This caused several small scratches on the mast and we want these touched up if possible.  Not a big deal but just a little something that we would like put right.  As soon as that is done then we are checking out of this marina.  Plan is to spend tomorrow night at the nearby anchorage and then probably down to Ile des Saints for a few days.

WE HAVE A NEW NAME!

March 30, 2007  Friday

Pointe ‘a Pitre, Guadeloupe

Our boat has a new name.  She is now S/V BeBe.

BeBe stands for several things:

1. Our granddaughter.  Elisabeth received the nickname of BB when she was only a month old.  Bill gave her this nickname and soon everyone was calling her BB.  We tell her that this stands for Beautiful Baby; but our family members know the true definition of that nickname.  Let’s just say that she was sometimes a difficult baby who wanted her own way and made disagreeable noises until she got what she wanted, and often all she wanted was simply to be left alone.  She has since outgrown that infant phase and now is a delightful little girl.  I started writing the nickname as BeBe, and it has stuck.  So, our boat is named after our five-year-old granddaughter.
2. Big Boat.  Whenever we are in the dinghy or ashore, we always refer to the Amel as the big boat.
3. Beautiful Boat.  Well, not really.  Bill thinks this boat is beautiful; I think it has sharp lines that look rather old-fashioned and that the orange boot stripe is not at all attractive (sort of UT color and Bill is an Aggie).  The interior is beautiful, but the exterior is not, IMHO.
4. Baby in French.  Everyone knows that bebe is the French word for baby.  There are eight other US documented boats named Bebe but they are all quite small.  Our boat is by far the largest documented baby.

This name change was desirable because the name Security was causing too many hassles.  I have wanted to change the name for the past year but Bill wanted to keep Security.  After being in St. Thomas and hearing the incorrectly pronounced securite calls every single time a large ship entered Charlotte Amalie harbor or left the dock, Bill finally came to realize what a detriment our boat name could be.  So he agreed that we would change the name.  BeBe was his idea and I liked that name, so now it is a done deal.

We started this re-naming process two months ago while in St. Martin.  First we renewed our documentation under the name Security.  The old documentation had an expiration date that could have caused us problems had we decided to move from one island to another before the new docs arrived.  Once we had the documentation renewed under the old name, then we applied for documentation under the new name BeBe.  This cost only $84, but we did not know how long it would take to process the paperwork.  Turned out that it took only a couple of weeks.  The new Certificate of Documentation was mailed to our permanent mailing address in Houston (Trey’s and Kristina’s house).  Kristina sent the new docs to the computer repair guy who was working on our malfunctioning marine computer.  The computer guy then FedEx’d the repaired computer and the new boat docs and that package was waiting for us at the Amel office when we arrived here in Guadeloupe.  In the meantime, we were able to update online with the FCC for the ship’s station radio license and EPIRB registration.  There are no boat sign places on St. Martin, or on Guadeloupe; but we did locate one in Antigua.  So we had a laser cut boat name produced while we were in Antigua, and Bill applied it this week while we were docked at the marina in Guadeloupe.  Whew!  Another example of how a simple process takes more coordination and effort than it does back in the States where everything is so readily available and more efficient.

The folks at the Amel service office here in Guadeloupe have been a true delight to work with.  They are knowledgeable and nice and have had the materials for every job that we have requested.  The gel coat repair guy was very apologetic about the ever so slight color variance on one of the gel coat chip repairs.  He told us that the product that he uses is three years old because they can’t get any more shipped from France – “because of the Muslims,” he said, “we can’t put this on airplanes anymore.”  Hazardous material, you know.  Bill said that as many Amel yachts that are delivered to Guadeloupe (where most Americans accept delivery of their new boats), you would think that they could have added a few boxes of gel coat material and paints to a boat being delivered here.  My guess is that the new sales department and the service department at the Amel factory in La Rochelle don’t communicate with one another.  Or maybe the French government won’t let them put these “hazardous materials” aboard a private yacht.  There are seven older Amel boats on our dock.  We are the only American owners.  Most are French but two are from countries unknown to us and with names that we can’t begin to pronounce.  Obviously a popular place for Amels because of the service office located near this marina.

We haven’t yet gotten out of the marina/restaurant/shopping area here on Guadeloupe.  We have wanted to stay on the boat most of the time so that we would not miss meeting whatever worker needed to come aboard.  Bill wants to leave the marina on Monday, so he has reserved a rent car for the weekend and we plan to get out and see the island.  Neither of us is particularly interested in sailing to different anchorages and seeing just those areas within walking distance of each anchorage.  A rent car will allow us to wander all over.  After all it is an island; even if we can’t read the road signs, how lost can we get.

Guadeloupe is a very large island, shaped sort of like a butterfly.  Technically, it is two islands; because the two butterfly wings are separated by a river.  A shallow draft boat can actually navigate that river but our boat is much too deep to attempt it.  The western “wing” is very mountainous and is called Basse Terre and borders the Caribbean Sea.  The eastern “wing” is flatter and is called Grand Terre and borders the Atlantic Ocean.  The Riviere Salee passage separates these two islands.   Guadeloupe is a very beautiful island(s).

BTW, there is a young French family living on the 45-foot steel sloop berthed next to us.  The woman gave birth to their fifth child this week.  Can you imagine having five children under the age of seven living on a boat that small?  I cannot!  The mother and baby came home from the hospital last evening and there is a reception being held on our dock for the new baby this afternoon.  One of the little girls tried to give Bill an invitation this morning, but when he spoke to her in English then she got very shy and took back the invitation.  I’m sure she had no idea what he was saying to her because she doesn’t speak a word of English. 

There are additional children farther down the dock who often come to play with the kids next door.  It has been a different experience for us to listen to so many children playing and riding scooters and running about all day long.  Don’t know when these kids do their schooling.  But we have not made any negative looks or comments because we really do not want to be the old folks who complain about the neighbors’ children.  And, after all, these kids are just playing loudly; it isn’t like they are fighting or acting badly.  Just been awhile since we have been around so many young children.

Pierre and Ellen’s guests have arrived from France, so they sailed away today.  Hope to meet up with them somewhere along the way.  We do enjoy their company.

I went to Customs this morning to change the boat name on our clearance paperwork.  They told me to complete clearance paperwork as if we were leaving, even though we aren’t leaving yet.  So we are officially cleared out of Guadeloupe as of next Tuesday.  The French are so lax when it comes to official paperwork; what a difference from the Brits.

Whales all around us!

March 24, 2007  Saturday

Deshaies, Guadeloupe

16.18.479N; 61.47.836W            Sailed 44.7 NM

We were awake at 5 but decided to wait until at least partial daylight before leaving Falmouth Harbour.  Good thing we did because Bill knocked the boat hook overboard while he was dealing with raising the anchor.  I grabbed the shepherds hook and tossed it to him and he was able to pick up the boat hook from the big boat…the dinghy was on the davits and could not be used for this rescue.  We wouldn’t have been able to see well enough to do that little maneuver if it had happened in the darkness of 5 a.m.  Arrived in Deshaies at 12:30; average speed 6.4 kts

Seas were fairly heavy and we were heeled on a port tack at 15 to 35 degrees for the straight sail down to Guadeloupe.  Winds were 19-21 knots true; 20-25 knots apparent.  So it was a lively sail.  We didn’t trail a fishing line for most of the trip because there was too much motion for Bill to clean a fish if we had managed to catch one.  We did finally drop one line in the water for the last hour before arriving in Deshaies, but did not have a nibble.

But, boy!  Did we see whales!  It was really just too cool!!!

Bill was sitting on the low side (starboard) and I was lounging in the rear of the high side (port) of the cockpit.  I had just caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of what seemed to be something large going down in the water.  A few second later Bill said he saw spouting off to the starboard side.  Then he saw what appeared to be either a whale’s tail or a very large dorsal fin of a very large something.  Then he saw another one about 400 meters off the starboard side.

Suddenly I saw a whale’s tail extending 10 feet or higher from the surface of the waves – 50 feet directly in front of our bow!  That meant a whale was diving only a boat length in front of us.  I jumped into the helm seat and turned off the autopilot so I could hand steer, while Bill ran down the companionway to grab the camera.  I waited a few seconds to make sure that we had avoided colliding with the diving whale and then punched autopilot back on so I could stand up and move back in the cockpit to look all around for it. 

On the starboard side there was another whale only about 20-25 feet from our boat.  As sailors reading this log will know, the ocean becomes darker in color the greater the depth.  It appears clear here in the Caribbean until it is about 20-30 feet deep and then begins to assume an aquamarine color.  As it deepens, the color deepens to darker and darker blues.  By the time it is 300 feet deep, it appears to be a deep navy blue.  Eventually it appears almost black in color as the depth increases.  

This whale was swimming along the same path as our boat.  The water color all around the whale was midnight blue; but the water above the whale was a very light aquamarine color, which enhanced the blue-black whale beneath it.  Based on the color of the water above it, I estimate that this whale was 20-30 feet deep.  It was about the length of our boat, probably 45-50 feet.  Our boat is 53 feet long.  I instantly started a silent mantra of “Oh, God! Let it turn right!  Please; let it turn right!  Turn right!  Turn right!  Turn right!”

Within a flash the whale was gone.  Don’t know if it turned right or went to deeper depth.  But at least it did not turn left and raise up to strike our boat.  It was an incredible sight and I am sorry that Bill missed it.  By the time he came back up the companionway with the camera the whale was gone.  So we missed getting a photo of the neatest whale experience we have ever had.  Bill took a photo of the water where the whale had been!

Later we saw another pod of whales well off to the port side.  We saw 4 spouting and 3 diving and flipping their tails with those distinctive flukes out of the water.  They were huge.   But too far away to get any photos.  These are humpback whales.

So today we had a pod of whales to the left of us, another pod to the right of us, and one loner right in front of us.  Whales all around us.  Last time we saw a whale was between St. Martin and St. Barths in March 2005. 

A bit of info: 

• Humpback whales come to this area of the Caribbean every winter to give birth.  They migrate thousands of miles from their northern grounds near New England off the coast of North America to the Dominican Republic and as far south as Bequia to calve, approximately 3000 miles round trip.  The longest humpback migration is one documented (through photo-identification) between the Antartic Peninsula and Central America, a one-way distance of over 5,000 miles.
•  The mother stays in these waters with the new baby while the calf eats tons of food and grows several months.  The mother does not eat during this period.  In fact, female whales lose up to a third of their body weight during the nursing period which can last up to a year.  When the new calf is big enough, both the mother and calf head north together for the colder waters. 
• Humpback whales have a unique coloration pattern on the underside of their tail flukes; no two whales are the same.  The mother tends to her calf while swimming upside down.  The whale that I saw beside our boat was swimming upside down so that I had a clear view of the coloration on the underside of her flukes.  (And the one that we saw dive right in front of our boat was likely her calf.)   
• Photographs of these patterns allow scientists to identify and keep records of individual animals.  Based on this work, it has been estimated that there are nearly 12,000 humpback whales in the North Atlantic.  Approximately 900 of these are thought to be Gulf of Maine residents and some have been tracked since 1974.  Each Gulf of Maine whale also has a name inspired by its unique tail pigmentation and agreed upon by researchers and naturalists.  Over the years, four generations of Gulf of Maine humpback whales have been tracked by photo-identification techniques.  This research has greatly improved human understanding of humpback whale migration, habitat use, behaviors and anthropogenic impacts.   
• Humpback whales belong to the family of baleen whales and are found in all oceans of the world.
• Newborn humpbacks average 14 to 16 feet long and grow to 45 to 55 feet when adults.  Females tend to be larger than males.
• Females reach sexual maturity at between five and ten years of age, and will calve every two to three years thereafter.
• They can live to be 50 years old, possibly much longer.
• This information was provided from an article authored by Nathalie Ward and published in the March 2007 issue of the Caribbean Compass.  Nathalie is the Director of the Eastern Caribbean Cetacean Network.

BTW, those who have been reading these logs will recognize that I have decided to switch grammar from third person to first person.  Don’t like using all the “I’s” but got tired of describing myself by name.  And everyone who knows us must have realized long ago that most of these logs are written by me.  Bill reads them and makes constructive comments, but he rarely writes a long entry.

Also, I just finished reading an old book that should be mandatory reading for all sailors.  It is titled “Adrift” by Steven Callahan.  It details his 76 days lost at sea in an inflatable raft after his sailboat sank back in 1982.  FWIW, EPIRBs are totally different now than the old technology used during his harrowing ordeal.  Great reading and heartily recommended.

Judy

March 25, 2007  Sunday

Pointe ’a Pitre, Guadeloupe

16.13.569N; 61.32.096W           

Sailed 52 NM, 12 hours, averaged only 4.3 knots boat speed due to high winds on our nose.

We decided not to bother with clearing in at Deshaies.  Got really lazy and didn’t want to take down the dinghy from the davits and move the outboard; just to have to put it all back up again so we could sail down to Pointe ‘a Pitre today.  Plus the wind was really howling through the harbor and we just didn’t want to get off our boat.  The sailing guide mentions that this particular area normally has high howling winds even when it is calm outside the harbor.

Anchor was up before clear daylight again today so we could get an early start.  Bill described it as “fancy driving” to get the anchor up and get out of that crowded anchorage without hitting another boat or dragging someone’s anchor line.  Another boat had come in late yesterday and anchored almost right in front of us. Tricky maneuvering with the helm and throttle was required while Bill was raising the anchor:  helm hard to starboard with high throttle as we approached the starboard side of that boat and Bill raised the anchor as fast as the windlass could handle it; then helm hard to port with high throttle (as soon as the anchor chain counter read 4 meters and I knew it was off the ground) so that it would swing our stern away from that boat; with both of us praying that our anchor would be high enough as we passed very closely in front of that boat so that we wouldn’t snag his anchor line.   We were so close to that boat that we could have stepped from our boat onto his!  But we didn’t touch him so that is all that counts!  As soon as our anchor was up then I lowered the bow thruster and made tight turns between boats that were anchored too closely together, and we exited Deshaies.  That little harbor got very crowded last night.

It was a lovely sail for about 18 miles down the western side of Guadeloupe.  At times we were only going 2 knots boat speed and we were very close to the land so we enjoyed sightseeing at all the little towns and villages along the way.  Winds would blow 20-25 knots and then stop altogether; so sometimes we would shoot from slow speeds to fast sailing speeds.  One time we went from 1 knot to 9 knots boat speed in just a few seconds.  It was fun.  And then the nasty weather arrived.  It quickly became a Force 7 moderate gale with wind blowing 33 knots; of course, right on our nose.  The remainder of the trip was awful; probably the worst sailing experience we have had to date.  Each time we changed course at the appropriate waypoints, the wind would change too; so it remained directly on our nose.  Our boat was either hobby-horsing directly into 8 ft rolling waves and 30+ knots wind or we were rolling side-to-side in the 8-ft rolling waves with the 30+ knots wind still directly on our nose.  A miserable time that lasted for hours as the high winds on our nose caused us to slow down to only 3 knots boat speed – and that is with a 100hp diesel engine.  We watched a catamaran forced to go back and forth north and south in order to progress easterly; obviously because his engines weren’t did have enough horsepower to go straight into the high winds.

Finally about one hour before we arrived at Pointe ‘a Pitre, the wind was at the correct angle for us to sail again.  Putting out the sails changed the motion entirely and we had a pleasant sail for the final hour.  We found that the area outside the marina where we are going tomorrow is no longer an anchorage as marked on our charts and in the sailing guide.  This area is now filled with mooring balls. 

Bill cut his fingers while securing our bridle line to the mooring ball painter.  We figured that no telling what was growing on that mooring ball painter, so I pulled out our fancy-dancy medical kit for the first time since we moved aboard.  Simple clean-up and antibiotic ointment and fingertip bandages.  Thanks again to Donna for helping us with this medical kit.

Hoping that this nasty weather passes quickly.  A gray and dim Caribbean is not our idea of paradise.

March 26, 2007  Monday

Now all legally cleared in and berthed at Marina Bas Du Fort for about a week or so.  They didn’t even look at our passports!  Just asked us to write down the passport numbers on a form and that was it.  This harbor is hot as blazes!  Lots of wind outside this harbor, but deathly still in here.  And we are seeing mosquitoes for the first time since leaving Bonaire last November.

After searching two chandleries we finally found the correct fitting to allow us to plug into shore power.  We have several 220 adapters on board because every country seems to have a different plug configuration, but none of the ones we had would work here in Guadeloupe.  That’s a relief because it would have been unbearable without air conditioning and having to leave the hatches open for all the mosquitoes to fill our bedroom tonight.

This marina is only 40.17 Euro per day, including electricity and water.  That is less than $55 USD per day.  In the BVI and in the USVI, we had to pay $1.25 per foot per day plus commercial electrical rates.  One day in the marina at Red Hook cost us approximately $125, because the electricity rates were exorbitant.  This marina seems like a true bargain when compared to The Virgins.

Shortly after we docked, our friends (Pierre and Ellen on S/V Lady Annabelle) arrived and were berthed on this same dock.  They are from Nice, France, and we had met them in Trinidad last summer; we headed west and they headed north.  We ran into them again in St. Martin.  They had just left Antigua and were headed to the BVI.  We had just left the BVI and were headed to Antigua, so our paths crossed.  And now we meet again in Guadeloupe.  Pierre and Ellen plan to go through the Panama Canal next spring, about the same time that we will be there.  So we hope to continue to meet up them off and on all the way through the South Pacific.

Pierre said he had to purchase an electrical adapter in the BVI, just like we had to buy one here.  (Pierre and Ellen are from France so his boat had no American adapters like those used in the BVI.)  Pierre had to pay $125 USD for that silly adapter.  We paid only 9 Euro here, about $12 USD for the same thing.  You can see how overpriced the BVI has become and why most cruisers avoid that area.  The reason we had to buy another adapter is because this marina has the standard USA plug for 220v, except that it is wired for only 110v.  So, obviously, our standard 220v plug would not work – and no one from the USA will have a 110v plug in that 220v configuration, so this marina is really wired strangely!   

We went out to dinner tonight with Pierre and Ellen and another American couple who had also been in Trinidad last summer.  Food was delicious, as one would expect on a French island.  It was nice to have people at the table who spoke French because the restaurant staff did not speak any English.