Islands of Saints

After a relatively benign trip from St Martin, we have finally arrived in Guadeloupe….well Iles des Saintes to be exact.  When we first planned the route, we had planned on making our first stop in Deshaies, which is the first anchorage on the northwest coast of Guadeloupe. Since we hadn't anticipated that Moitessier would make such good timing during this passage, we ended up deciding last minute that we would skip Deshaies and move on to the anchorage in Basse-Terre, off of Marina de Riviere Sens (the next port for clearing in).  Originally we had planned on making landfall in Deshaies the following morning, but with the winds in our favor, MoMo was cruising at a nice average speed of  about 7 kts, making our would-be arrival in the middle of the night, which we all know is not something we ever want to do. And so we trudged on, moving further down the coast to make some headway, as we are currently already a little behind schedule (when are we not?).  Upon arrival the following morning at Basse-Terre, we noticed that the "anchorage" was essentially a tiny sliver of shallower water off of the side of the island very very close to shore, with the depths dropping from 65' to 165' in a matter of 2-3 hundred feet.  And so, once again, we decided to sail a couple more miles south to Iles des Saintes, meaning Islands of Saints in french and, boy, does it live up to its name.  

Sailing into this set of Guadeloupe owned islands was such a lovely surprise after the stressful debacle of a morning we had with deciding last minute where to go. We hadn't done any research and  didn't know what the deal was with all the mooring balls dotting the shore where the charts had labelled "anchorage," and so we tucked into Marigot Bay as this happens to be the only place  around with reasonable water depths that you can anchor in. After dinghying it in to the town of Terre de Haut and checking in, we discovered that it would cost us 11 Euros a night stay on the mooring balls, or 60 euros for a week, which we justified as reasonable considering the mere 2 euro check-in fee into Guadeloupe.  We also decided to take a mooring as our anchorage, though sheltered in settled weather, was starting to become unsafe with building winds clocking around and bringing in huge swells.  We ended up staying and relaxing in this lovely town for over a week, awaiting a tropical wave to pass before moving on.  We didn't do much but deal with some repairs on the boat (i.e. rewiring the SSB antenna, re-mounting our exhaust hose that had snapped loose, repairing an issue that had popped up in our steering, and so on…).  We revelled in the homeyness and the "Europeness" that this little town exude, and I swear it felt like I was walking around some small town in Europe somewhere, with its delightful colorful houses, once again set upon a lush island backdrop.  Though there isn't too much to do but just enjoy the beauty of this little set of islands, Frank and I thoroughly enjoyed taking it easy and just getting into the groove of the small island community here.  There is a sleepy Sunday feel to being here, and as brief of a stay we had here, we quickly fell into a routine of walking into town, getting some gelato, some baguette and cheese,  buying groceries, and simply marveling the quaintness of this place.  My words are not doing it justice, so I'll just stop right here and hope that my photos can portray just a little of what I'm going on about…

Underway….

That's St Eustatius behind me

Approaching Guadeloupe

Entering the Islands of Saints

Marigot Bay, where we anchored while it was sheltered

On a mooring ball...

Town of Terre de Haut

Church in the center of town

I've never seen this flower before

Goats everywhere…not sure if you can see in the photo

Hiking to the top

Fort Napoleon at the top...

Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas

When we first arrived in Charlotte Amalie and went ashore, we were horrified over the touristy strip of Rolex vendors and pushy high end jewelers trying to entice us into their stores.   This little part of town caters to the cruise ship crowds, and apparently since St Thomas is duty-free, things like fine jewelry, Rolexes, useless high end crap, cigarettes, and alcohol are nearly half off.  So imagine our dismay when the first impression we have of this place is of people coming from every direction trying to talk us out of our money and sell us things.  That coupled with the thousands of people herding around the streets from the daily cruise ship drop off, oblivious to their surroundings and bumping into you, and the drivers yelling "Taxi? Taxi?" every half a block, it nearly sent us into a manic I-don't-wanna-be-here frenzy.  But after getting off this main strip and exploring some of the backstreets, you discover just how enchanting this little city actually is.  For some reason, tourists don't seem to venture past the busy touristy neighborhood and stay within the "safe" parameters of the stores, and so in just a few short blocks, you start to enter the locals territory.  Small little shacks selling inexpensive local cuisine, like salt fish "pates" and stewed meats with beans and rice.  Houses are painted in bright colors, with the paint peeling and faded out by the sun,  creating a dreamlike dilapidated pastel facade throughout the city that is set upon lush green mountains.  It's very "hilly" and you find yourself exhausted while trekking up each street.  The anchorage at night is my favorite as Charlotte Amalie twinkles like fireflies in the summertime, reflecting off of the water, looking like a sky full of orange stars.  Walking around town, you get a feel of what it was like before it became a cruise ship mecca.  

I sense a bit of contempt from the locals towards the tourists, as people would often ignore Frank and I and disregard our very existence, avoiding eye contact, or any interaction (except when they're hollering at us to take their taxi, of course).  I don't really blame them since I can understand how there is an obvious cultural divide between the sheep-like, capitalistic, buy-buy-buy cruise-ship crowd versus the poorer, yet simpler living islanders.  I find that there always seems to be contention when you artificially place people of extreme opposing economic/financial backgrounds together in the same place.   Though you could argue that there shouldn't be any animosity because since tourism is the only industry here, and their economy is strongly buoyed by the tourists that spend their money.  A Catch- 22, I suppose.  One way or another, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I really love it here. 

I guess it's been a while since Frank and I have access to things while simultaneously being semi-immersed in a culture.   It's an interesting juxtaposition of being surrounded by an unreachable culture, with its pigeon English (I often can't understand what a local is saying because of their heavy accents), and also being someplace that is so westernized.  Kmart is a walking distance away from the dinghy dock at Yacht Haven Grande,  laundry is inexpensive and easily accessible through the Crown Bay Marina, McDonald's is right around the corner, there's even take out Chinese food. Some markets are stocked with familiar treats such as Sour Patch kids, Smartfoods popcorn, smoked gouda and even Shitake mushrooms, yum.   We're even able to get things shipped in using a mailing service (Mailstop), for a nominal price, as the USPS considers St Thomas american territory (we received a package from Florida in 3 days).   It also helps that getting from one side of the island to the other is a mere safari bus ride away.  For $2, you can basically take an open air "safari bus" from here to Red Hook, which is at the eastern point of the island and about a 1/2 an hour by car, which is a little slower paced and less touristy.   You pick up these buses at any point in their route, and press a doorbell-like button when you want to get off.   What a luxury it is to have things so readily available while surrounded by pretty blue water.    

I love this uphill house

Gee Frank, don't be so thrilled about the cruise ships...

Bye bye cruise ship...

Fireflies...