Few days in Les Saintes
Stargazer of Southampton
Susie and Adam (both think they are skipper)
Tue 1 Mar 2011 00:50
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We've spent the past few days holed up in the
anchorate at Ilet Cabrit - it's been nice and protected here but the wind has
been howling between the islands and the sea has been pretty choppy so we
decided to stay a few days til it calmed down. Not much fun trying to
anchor here but once you have got it sorted then it's fine - the only way to
anchor is to drop the anchor in then reverse toward the beach which is a bit
scary, you have to tie a line from the back of the boat to a tree on land.
the reason is that we're in the wind shadow of the island but the wind sneaks
around each side so anchored boats just end up floating about in all directions
- we ended up so close to another boat we could nearlly pass them drinks which
was a bit embarassing hence the need for long bits of rope and suitable
trees. Since we got here we have helped a few other boats with their lines
since like us, not many people are really used to doing this.
Got across the bay to Terre de Haut which is the
main island with the town on it - went in the dingy which was quite errmmm fun
in the chop but Adam is getting to be master of the waves so we didn't get too
wet. The main town is tiny but sweet - really just a few restaurants and
craft shops and things. We walked to Fort Napoleon on the top of one of
the hills hoping to see some iguana's as they live on the islands - I had given
up thinking they were just mythical and invented by the tourist board - but we
found 3 sat in the greenery at the fort, they're not really fussed by people and
just sit there so you can get a couple of feet from them. I also found a
snake skin which I waved at Adam who wasn't impressed - we didn't see any
actual snakes though.
Had a couple of lazy-ish days - I spent most of a
morning diving in the bay we are anchored in and trying to take photo's of the
mega fish shoal - never seen this so close to shore before, i think I mentioned
it before. I thought at first there was a big patch of week under the boat
as instead of the white sand the water was dark - but then realised the
dark patch moved, the shoal of fish is enormous - usually about 15 metres long
and 8 wide which thousands of little herring like fish - if you swim straight
down into the middle of it the fish form a circle around you so you're just in a
solid wall of fish. I will try and put some pics up when I have internet
but they're never as spectacular as you hope for. The fish ball spends a
lot of time around our boat so the pelicans have been sploshing into the water
about a metre from the boat.
It's been nice here - we've met quite a few people,
mainly through helping take lines ashore from boats with the tender. We
were treated to rum punches on a boat with a guy called Derek the other night
who adam helped out and also met an american couple there who were very
kind and have supplied us with home made blue cheese pate and cakes - all the
americans we have met seem very good at bringing food whenever they are invited
anywhere - we need to stock up on our 'nibbles' supplies.
Last night we were invited over for the evening to
the boat of a british couple (laura and jon) who came across on the Arc - where
we met another couple of americans as well from another boat who have been
sailing for 12 years and had some great stories to tell - including
journeys around Cape horn and some painful tales involving cactus's
that fire spines, very thin shorts and home surgery. . . . so we've had a
couple of really good evenings with some good company, but the wind is due to
calm down again tomorrow so we'll head out for
Guadeloupe.
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