Tuesday, December 30

December 30

We went to Basse Terre yesterday. The ferry left about an hour later than usual because it had to make an extra run to carry passengers from Trois Rivieres. Claudia asked why the passengers on the top deck were so wet…..was there a swimming pool up there? HA, it became clear when we took the ride across the pass to Guadeloupe. The ferry, a twin hulled vessel, quickly got up on a plane and we were skimming along from wave top to wave top. As we bounced into each wave, a wall of water splashed up and over the boat. Fortunately, we were seated inside the lower cabin. The ride to Basse Terre took about 40 minutes over seas filled with sheep (whitecaps). Definitely not a day to be out in a sailboat.
Basse Terre is the administrative capitol of the department of Guadeloupe. Near the waterfront is the shopping district. Among mostly run down buildings are shops of all kinds. Chic little dress shops stand side by side with junk stores, pastry shops, butcher shops and bakeries. Since there are very few tourists in Basse Terre, the shops cater to the needs of locals.
The market is large and there is a lot of fresh produce, meat and so forth. There is also a bit of tourist merchandise.
For lunch, we chose between a French restaurant and a Créole restaurant. We had fried fish--Daurade (grouper, I think) at the créole restaurant. We started with a “punch sirop.” They spooned some kind of local fruit in a heavy sugar syrup into a glass, brought it and a bottle of rum to the table. We poured the rum (as much as we wanted) onto the syrup, stirred and drank. Pretty good. The fish was excellent and served with a “sauce chien.” The meal came with excitement. The police showed up at one of the neighboring properties dressed in full SWAT regalia--helmets, visors, bullet-proof vests and shields. They looked like Darth Vader clones. They got the attention of the resident who apparently gave them permission to come into the courtyard (Who wouldn’t?) They proceeded to climb up on the roof and went to the next house. They finally came down but we saw them again when we left the restaurant. The whole street was blocked off and swarming with police. We never did find out what was going on.
The bus ride from Basse Terre to Trois Rivière was interesting. The driver sped along the narrow, twisted road up and down steep hills through tiny villages separated by patches of rain forest. Time permitting, renting a car on Guadeloupe would be very good. We got to Trois Rivières and walked downhill (the walk up would be murderous) to the ferry dock. We had some water, some beer and people watched. When the ferry arrived, it was loaded with tourists from les Saintes. A few tourists (all French) boarded the boat with us, but most of the passengers were locals going home. They were loaded with shopping stuff--produce, a battery-powered scooter, a computer system. Santa Claus was good down here.



She said: Actually during lunch, all of a sudden Peter said “saperlipopette! (French for gadzooks!) It’s Darth Vader!”

December 26

Well! What a difference a day makes. Al is not coming back to the boat in January. Something has come up that will prevent him from returning until February. Lee,his friend and ours, a sailing buddy, is coming in his stead to help out. We are to get the boat to Rodney Bay, St Lucia. We will either leave the boat there or stay with it until Al comes back to the boat.

At any rate, we ate lunch today at "Les 3 Boats." We had a tartare de poisson. It was delicious. This was the second time we ate there. The first time was equally good. We had an interesting conversation with owner about American politics and the fact that Americans and French alike do not bother to learn other languages. I'm including a couple of pix of the meals we had at les 3 boats--owned and operated by "Chicken Georges" (brush up on Roots).

The second dish pictured is a raw fish dish with a garnish of endive leaves. It is served on a plate with "sauce chien" (dog sauce). The story goes that runaway slaves would cover their trail with a concoction consisting of onion, garlic, parsley, vinaigre and oil. This was to confuse the dogs used to track them down. The sauce for the "tarare de poisson" is "sauce chien."

December 25

As you can see, Santa Claus arrived in the Antilles sans sled and sans reindeer.

12/22, 2008 “She still here” Took a little ferry to the only other inhabited island, Terre de Bas. Walked and walked . . . mostly up . . . There was an old ‘pottery’ there. Very huge operation in its day. Big sugar plantations on now very deserted (two tiny villages) isle. No evidence of tourists - yea!!! Had lunch with the locals.

December 23

Well a lot has happened and nothing has happened since arriving at Les Saintes. We’ve eaten lunch at a couple of good restaurants, we’ve climbed up to Fort Napoléon, strolled on a couple of nice beaches and gone to Terre-de-Bas, the only other inhabited isle in the Saintes. It was a 5 minute ferry ride from Terre-de-Haut. Terre-de-Bas is a very different kind of place than its sister island. Very quiet--few tourists and fewer things for tourists to do. Besides seeing the place, we wanted, of course, to have lunch and to buy gasoline for the dinghy. It’s really strange that the only place on Terre-de-Haut (the big town where we are anchored) to buy gas is accessible only by boat! Stranger still since there are so many motor scooters and several cars on the island. At any rate, it was easier to take the ferry to the other island and buy gas there to bring back. I was worried that they might not permit me to carry a gas can on board the ferry. They certainly wouldn’t at home! Not to worry, though, there were others doing the same thing, in spite of the fact that there was a sign posted on the boat that said carrying dangerous items such as gasoline was strictly prohibited!
Last night won the “anchorage from Hell” award for the harbor. Actually, the wind has howled through here nearly every night and the boat has rocked and rolled quite a bit. Last night, however took the award. Winds in excess of 20 knots and choppy waters guaranteed that we would get little sleep. If the wind and water were ever like this on Barren River Lake, no one would dare go out. We had intended to take the ferry to Trois Rivières today, but chose to stay on the boat in case we dragged anchor. I’ve been concerned about that since day one, but probably unjustifiably so. According to the GPS, we haven’t moved an inch)

I've added to my collection of images of doors and windows of the world. The typical Creole architecture of the Saintes is charming.

December 15

Sorry for the long delay in adding to this. We were without internet service for a couple of weeks. We finally decided to pay for service here in Iles des Saintes, just south of Guadeloupe.

Monday, December 15

We left Antigua Friday. Actually, we left the marina Thursday afternoon. We anchored off the entrance channel, had a good supper and several rums. At midnight, we got up, made coffee and got underway. Things were a bit rough at first and I got a bit nauseous. That was a disappointment, I thought I was over the seasick thing. The wind was blowing at about 15 knots and seas were 6-8 feet. We had hoisted the main and were sailing under 2 reefs. At any rate, Al and I took turns sleeping and morning finally came. and we raised the staysail which steadied the boat even more. The seas calmed considerably and the ride was much more to our liking. We finally reached Deshaies at about 10:30 in the morning--the trip should have taken 8 hours but we tacked far to the east in order to get a more comfortable ride. We went into town to clear in, but since it was Saturday, the customs office was closed. So we decided to proceed the next day to Isles des Saintes and clear in whenever we could. Hello! This is the “she said” part! We left for the Saintes about 7 a.m. Nice ride whilst in the lee of island (Guadaloupe) However when wind howled down through valley at us - we heeled way over!! Not my favorite boat position. Then the island ended and I was back below, huddled in a fetal position - eyes closed tight. Listening to stuff falling off shelves, rolling around on floor!! Didn’t feel real good but didn’t upchuck! Men thought that this ride was “exhilarating”!! --except when waves came crashing into cockpit getting them wet!!! (10 ft seas, 25 knt winds). Arrived about 2:30 - 3 p.m. Al made his famous Chicken Vesuvio for supper!! Quite the technique--Chef Al . . . He chopped elephant garlic into huge hunks, same with onions and potatoes and chicken - threw it all into a pot, poured on evoo turned on the gas, poured a rhum and we all sat and chatted. Humm, time for another rhum, ok, stir the chicken. Sure turned out super yummy!!
The sticky part of the situation was that Al had to get to the airport in Pointe-à-Pitre by early the next afternoon. To clear in at immigration in the Saintes, we had to fill out the forms at the Police office which opened at 8, they had to fax them to Guadeloupe and the clearance would be faxed back to the Saintes. Meantime, the last ferry to Guadeloupe normally leaves at 8:30 so there wouldn’t be time to do everything that needed doing. Wouldn’t you know that today there was a “bateau exceptionel” leaving at 9:30. We arranged for Al to meet up with a guy at the port in Basse Terre who would take him to the airport. So, at 9:30, Al was on the ferry and headed back to Bowling Green and winter in Kentucky. He’ll return January 2. So, C & I are stuck here in paradise.
We took a short walking tour of part of the island, sat at a pleasant café on the waterfront and enjoyed the view and a beer. We walked around a bit more and went to lunch at a beachfront restaurant. We ordered a salade composée and a main dish each of which we shared and a half bottle of rosé. The main dish consisted of grilled fish (locally caught “thazard”), puré of igname (local yams), gratiné of christophe, a local vegetable, and a daube of bananes (plaintains). The waitress kindly explained what each of the vegetables and fruits was. Lunch was delicious.
We sat on a bench on the main street and killed time watching people. We were waiting for the stores to open again so we could buy some sugar syrup and more rum. You’ve probably gotten the picture that we like a rum every now and then--a ‘ti punch as they call it down here.




12/20, 2008 “She said, me here again! Were in town by 8:30 a.m. Straight to Boulanger!!! My oh my! Heaven! Crispy baguette right out of the oven!!!! Have been having lunch ‘in town’ usually sharing a main and a salad then our all time staple (even in Subtle) supper; bread, cheese, olives, sausage, wine for supper. On this day, we walked up to Fort Napoleon. Whew!! Quite a walk! But I was a good gravitationally challenged person and didn’t complain. But Man!! It just kept going up and up!! The fort has been ‘restored’ and every room has really interesting stuff.

Dec 4

December 4, 2008
Three days ago, we stepped off the plane in Antigua and the tropics hit us in the face. The smells of the Caribbean arrived on warm, tropical breezes. Al’s bags didn’t arrive! Claudia and I carried our baggage on, so that wasn’t a problem for us. Al’s insulin was in his bag so he had to watch his sugar intake. By the time we got to the marina, the tiki bar was open. Al got a wrm reception from the b ar’s owner, Alicia, who said she owed him some money so we had a rum, two rums, well maybe three rums, on the house.
We boarded Second Wind which had been on the hard for 6 months. Ships and sailors rot in port and Second Wind showed it. Dampness and mildew abounded and work that was supposed to have been completed wasn’t. Dead batteries were to have been replaced but weren’t, so there was no 12 volt power, no bilge pumps, no water. The new roller furler was not completely installed since the yard workers had dropped a piece overboard. Still, it was good to be aboard.
We spent the next day prioritizing things we needed to do. I nearly fell overboard stepping from the dock to the boat. I grabbed a bimini support and ended up hanging from one hand. I banged a shin and caught an anchor fluke with my right bicep. I didn’t realize that I did more than scrape it. I actually impaled myself! It hurt, but I survived. We cleaned the wound with betadyne solution and covered it with a bandaid. We hung around all day waiting for the airline to deliver Al’s bags. By bedtime, they still hadn’t arrived although we understood they were on the island. Somewhere around 9:30 or 10 someone tapped on the boat and said, “Hello inside!” Al’s bags finally arrived.
Yesterday, since we were waiting for assorted jobs to be done on the boat, we went to English Harbor. We toured Nelson’s Boatyard which has been largely restored to it’s 18th state. We ate at Grace’s—a restaurant recommended by Mike, our taxi driver—strictly local fare, salt fish, fungi, curry. There were only locals in the tiny restaurant.
We returned to Jolly Harbor via a sightseeing trip up to Shirley Heights and through the “rain” forest. I say “rain,” but very little rain actually falls on it. We stopped along the way and bought all kinds of native fruit—soursop, pineapples, limes, avocado, sweet apple, figs (actually sweet finger bananas) and several bottles of rum. Upon arrival at Jolly Harbor, we did some provisioning.
Back at the boat, we had to try some of the Antiguan rum. It was so good, we had to try some more. Then, Al mixed up his famous Passion Fruit rum punch. A perfect end to a perfect day.

Another Adventure

Tomorrow, day after Thanksgiving, we're off! Boarding "Second Wind" for a fourth time. The first time we were o/b was 3 years ago. We boarded her at Clarencetown, Long Island, Bahamas. We went from Clarencetown to the Turks and Caicos to Luperon in the Dominican Republic. We left the boat briefly then went from Luperon to Ponce, Puerto Rico. Al is a friend of ours, although we didn't even know him when we sailed from Clarencetown. Since then, we have sailed with him in the Caribbean and he has sailed with us on "Now or Never! in the Bahamas.

So, tomorrow, we are off to Brunswick, GA where we keep our boat. We'll spend a day on Now or Never! getting ready for our winter cruise. then, we'll drive to Miami where we'll leave our car and fly to Antigua to join Al on Second wind. The plans are fluid, but we'll probably go North to Barbuda for a few days and then head South for Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia and the Grenadines.

We are looking forward to sunshine, water, palm trees and being on a boat again. We will probably stay with "Second Wind" for about 6 weeks. Then, we'll return to Now or Never! and spend the rest of the winter in the Bahamas.