Saturday 9th March and we leave Marie Gallant for Guadeloupe, a late start to the day the winds very variable we have the Cruising Chute up for a short part of the journey.  Drop anchor at 18.02 and watch a fabulous sunset complete with green flash at 18.15.

Chris is not feeling good, Robin had a bad cold when we met up with them and of course Chris has caught it and it has gone onto his chest so a quiet day on QS, the next couple of days we move up the West Coast of Guadeloupe where we spend a few days in the Cousteau National Marine Park where the fish and marine life are amazing and as the sun comes out the colour is just fantastic.  We have giant Barracuda, the biggest and most variety of fish I think we have seen anywhere.  It I here as I snorkel on my own that I see something that I have never seen before, it was alongside one of the boulders and I think it was a fish.  The only way I can describe it is as being about six inches long and having a bottom row of ‘feathery fronds’ in orange and browns and a top row or longer ‘feathers’ in peacock blue waving in the current.  I have looked in the books and can’t place it but since I was alone I have been asked if I had been taking any of Chris’s cold medication!   A confirmed sighting was under QS of a turtle about 4 foot long munching away on the turtle grass carrying two 3 foot long Remora (sucker fish normally found on sharks) on its back, as the turtle came up for air the two fish glide from the back and attach to the underside of the shell.  Apart from this unusual turtle we are seeing many more turtles than over the last couple of years and they seem to staying on the surface longer, this observation has ben confirmed by other people so maybe the population is beginning to recover. Unfortunately much to our annoyance the camera mask only works for two pictures at a time before having to replace batteries, need to look into that one.  x