In the morning after our late arrival into Deshais in Guadalupe we headed off to go and track down Jo who had landed on the other side of the island the night before. We had to clear customs and arrange a car etc. so we did a good lot of faffing around before we were on our way. Customs turned out to be in a shop that sold t-shirts and hammocks so that threw us off a bit when we were looking for it. Luckily we had many French pastries to keep us going.
After some hairy driving we found Jo relaxing in a nice hotel, we whisked her away and went exploring around the island. We had a look around an old fort which had a strange art gallery inside it and we also went and had a look at one of the waterfalls in the national park (at that time saying how lovely it was – just wait until Dominica!!!).
On one of the outings in the dinghy we were just passing another dinghy when Jo started yelling at them from a good distance. Pretty convinced at this stage that Jo must have gone (more crazy) in the 4 years since we had seen each other, I just kept my head down feeling pretty embarrassed. Turns out they were a couple of guys that Jo had met in an airport on her way over to Guadelupe. Considering she had got about 5 flights to finally meet us this was quite the coincidence. We invited them round for drinks after JO and I did a bit of very excited shopping in a big French supermarket (for the record we should never be allowed in a supermarket hungry again together). Much cheese, wine and general treats later we were unpacking the shopping when the guys made it over. John (later re named ‘enthusiastic John’) Brandon and Amanda were out sailing with Brandon and Amanda’s parents on their catamaran ‘Sea quester’. We had a fantastic boozy night with these guys not sure we would be seeing them again anytime soon.
The next day was painful with hangovers, but we managed to get a few jobs done and plan our departure down the coast. Nick and I were readying the boat when we got a knock on the stern only to come up and realize that our anchor had dragged! We were on our way out to sea! Luckily there were no boats downwind of us and we were both on board. We quickly started the engine and re anchored.
A couple of hours later we headed down the coast to pigeon island (famous for diving and snorkeling). We had a bit of a falling out with a glass bottom boat who wanted us off their mooring bouy, then found another bouy (a bit close to the rocks) had a snorkel (Jo had a dive) and an explore on the island. We then found a nice quiet anchorage for the night.
After our morning swims we headed off down the coast again for Isle des Saints. These are a beautiful cluster of islands off the southern tip of Guadelupe. They are so picturesque and French and full of delicious French food. After catching a nice size big eye tuna we made our way into the bay. A couple of hours later – who should arrive but the guys on Sea Quester! Needless to say we had a few more boozy nights and some great laughs with those guys.
We had a great time in Isle des saints. Great to explore some forts and the beautiful little town. We got the paddleboard out and was great to feel like we were really relaxing for the first time. We did still have a few jobs to do, including changing over the headsail and cleaning up the dirty desil. But imbetween days of exploring and lots of delicious food we got ready to head for Dominica.
Sailing the Farm 