Log #40E To Guadeloupe Written at: Admiralty Bay, Bequia, Grenadines April 16, 2006 Hi Folks, We're still at anchor here in Bequia this Easter Sunday where there is the Easter Weekend Regatta, with hundreds of boats in the anchorage. After I send this we will go over to the beach for the Sunday party. Last night we had supper with Paul and Sandra on Quarterdeck, another Canadian yacht we first met in Lanzarote in the Canaries last October. Paul came over this morning to help me with some computer problems. Thanks Paul. All the best, Aubrey Log #40E To Guadeloupe We left Montserrat at 0030 on March 19 for the 51 mile trip to Guadeloupe, going north around the island before steering a course of 145 M close hauled into an east wind. This route was actually 5 miles shorter than going south down the west coast, and it also gave us a better angle of attack once clear of land, allowing us to sail about half the distance, but we had to motorsail the rest as we were too close to the wind. As described in our pilot, "Guadeloupe is composed of two islands in the shape of a lopsided butterfly" separated by the mangrove lined Riviere Salee, plus a couple of offlying islands, Marie Gallant and Desirade. The eastern wing is Grande Terre, ironically low-lying, in contrast to Basse Terre ("low land") which is mountainous. We anchored off the west side of Ilet Fajou (16 20.87N, 061 35.94W) by 1130, in 10 feet of water in this wide shallow bay. The Islet is a mangrove bedecked shoal in the middle of the bay separating the two halves of Guadeloupe on the north. It felt like the Bahamas being in such large tracts of shallow water, having to read the bottom to find adequate depth on a sandy patch over 500 yards from the island. There were about a dozen powerboats and a couple of large catamarans at anchor, but all left before dark, leaving us the only boat in the anchorage overnight. These were day trippers and locals out for some snorkeling and a beach party. Getting into the bay was tricky as there were only a couple of buoys to indicate the channel into it, and after that we had to follow the carefully mapped out course Judy put on the GPS to thread our way in around the shoals and shallow spots. In addition to following the GPS, we used the MARK 1 eyeball to read the bottom. I took Sprite for a ride over to the island which is part of a national park system. I dinghied into a shallow mangrove lagoon, disturbing flocks of snow-white egrets. There were a few lovely isolated sand beaches, one of which was being used for a family picnic. There were no trails into the island as the mangroves were too thick and impenetrable. After a morning swim next day we motored into the shoal strewn, aptly named Grande Cul-De-Sac Marin to anchor off the small town of Mahault. We picked up a few groceries and I walked a couple of kilometres out of town to the suburban mall area to get a jerrycan of gas for the dinghy, as we planned a major dinghy ride several miles up the Grande Riviere a Goyaves. After lunch we anchored off the Grande Riviere, and took Sprite up river. We entered through a mangrove-lined inlet into a 30 metre wide river winding its way inland. After passing thick mangroves and other heavy vegetation we motored through pastoral countryside of sugarcane and banana farms, with the occasional bull or cow tethered to a stake, cattle egrets standing around as if they owned the place and the cattle were there to provide convenient perches. We saw many moorhens and green backed herons on the banks, slate-blue kingfishers darting into the brushes, and stick-legged sandpipers picking their way across mud flats in search of their afternoon meal. We went almost as far as the first road bridge, until stopped by a fish net extended across the width of the stream, a distance of about five miles up. It was a most enjoyable exploration into this flat lush farmland beneath the northern mountain of Basse Terre. This was the first major river trip I had taken since Walter and I took Sprite up the Tiber River from Ostia to Rome last March. If you remember my log of that trip, we had a faulty propellor that gave out as we turned around at the first bridge in central ancient Rome, and puttered back the 15 miles or so at a snail's pace. This time we had no problems and plenty of gas. A Night River Passage We planned to go through the river separating the two halves of Guadeloupe, but had to allow for the fact that the two bridges only opened, in turn, at 0430 and 0500 going south (0500 and 0530 for those northbound). That meant we had to navigate down the Riviere Salee before dark to moor at the waiting buoys by the northern bridge so we were ready right at 0430 for it to open. It was a pleasant passage in the late afternoon down this saltwater mangrove channel winding its way through the swamps north of the bridge. The channel markers were well placed to guide us down to the mooring buoys a hundred metres above the bridge. The mosquitoes were not too bad and we had Veleda buttoned up with netting. At 0415 we slipped our mooring to idle in front of the bridge so the operator knew a vessel was waiting passage (otherwise, we were advised by the pilot book, if no vessel was seen the bridge would not open; we were the only vessel waiting for it). It finally opened at 0436 and we motored through it, passing the airport runway to our port side, and going the next mile to await the opening of the second bridge at 0500. Of course it was still dark during this passage and we had to strain our eyes to pick out the buoys leading us down this winding channel. From the airport to below the second bridge there were no shore lights, and we could barely make out the black shoreline on this dark moonless night. Below the southern bridge the river expanded dramatically into a large commercial harbour. Also, at that bridge the buoyage system changed. Above the bridges we were headed "upstream" and so the North American system of red right returning had us keeping the red buoys on our right. (the opposite of the European system), but after the south bridge we were now leaving the land and had to remember that we had to keep the green buoys on our right. It was a bit intimidating, coming into this large harbour with red and green buoys all over the place, as there were several areas of shallows at the north end where we exited the river into the harbour, and many ship channels on both sides of the estuary, all indicated by red and green buoys and complicated by a few flashing cardinal buoys as well as the shore lights. We don't have radar, but Judy had laid in a series of way points that proved quite reliable, reminding me of the blind pilotage we had to conduct in the navy with all the bridge windows blacked out and relying only on instrumentation. Lots of fun! By 0545 we had anchored off Chantier Naval boat yard near downtown Pointe A Pitre (16 13.72N, 061 32.08W) out of the main channel and had a couple more hours sleep. next log