Log 44A Montserrat, to Guadeloupe, to Martinique

Written at: Hog Island, Grenada. July 10, 2007

Hi Folks,

It is another lovely day here in Hog Island, windy, but no wave action. Judy is off over town taking a Caribbean cooking class in St. George's, while I stay here painting the few pieces of woodwork we have on the upper deck. Actually, I take them over to the picnic tables at Roger's beach bar, and work on them there. Lat year one of our cockpit cushions blew overboard and luckily Roger retrieved it for us. Two days ago, I retrieved Roger's dinghy that had broken loose from its mooring, and was drifting out to sea. It is a supportive cruising community here at Hog Island with about 15 cruisers on long term anchorage such as us. There are a few are full time residents, some with jobs, others just living aboard here as it is a convenient secure anchorage, but most are like us, seasonal residents during the hurricane time span.

This log gets us back to familiar territory, thus completing the odyssey we started last January when we attempted to sail the 1200 miles straight to Cuba, but were diverted for a variety of problems. This also testifies as to how difficult it is to head east or southeast into the predominant trade winds. We left Jamaica, heading for Antigua on February 8, and have been pounding upwind ever since until Montserrat. As you know, we never did make it to Antigua, and had to catch our flight back to Panama city in Puerto Rico, and on our return to Antigua (we could not exchange our tickets) had to take another flight from Antigua back to Veleda in Puerto Rico. So that was 4 ½ months to slog back this way! Fortunately we enjoyed several places en route such as Luperon, and the Dominican Republic; Puerto Rico, the Spanish, U.S., and British Virgin Islands; St. Martin; and St. Kitts and Nevis. But, we are glad to be back here in Grenada. Now that we have reached Montserrat, we will be heading south and at a better angle to the easterly and southeasterly winds as we go down the Windward Islands to Grenada, Trinidad, and maybe even Venezuela.

This log takes us to Montserrat, Guadeloupe, past Dominica, to Martinique, and starts the new log series #44.

I have included some of the gorgeous flowers, and of the parrots in Jardin Botanique de Deshaies on Guadeloupe, and the interesting ship shaped house in Bourg de Saintes.

All the best,

Aubrey

 

As we had been to Montserrat before, the only thing we did ashore after checking in was to take garbage over and relax for the day. We toured the island last time here (see Log 40D), and locally there were only a few bars, which did not hold much appeal. I would still like to wander through the destroyed town of Plymouth, but it is in the exclusion zone, and Judy would not want to risk it, either the government exclusion decree or the risk of another volcanic explosion. So we left at 0700 next day, going around the north of Montserrat and down the windward side to avoid any ash fall out from the active volcano, still spouting steam and debris, to Deshaies (16 18.43N, 061 47.81W) on the northwest coast of Guadeloupe. We were able to motor sail half the distance, covering the 43 nautical miles in eight hours. We had been in Deshaies before (see Log 42E) and found it a pleasant French town, in which Judy had to go ashore at 0700 for fresh baguettes and croissants for breakfast next day. We also wanted to check in, but the three or four times we trudged up to the customs and immigration office, it was closed. Oh well, we tried!

We wandered up the stream at the edge of the village above the small marina for a kilometer or so enjoying the rocky river bed, the bird life and the vegetation. We did not go right up to its source, an underground spring. We were told the Botanical Gardens were just 1.5 kilometers out the south road, and so started walking it. It must have been 1.5 kilometers straight up, as we were exhausted after a couple of steep kilometers up the road. A well meaning local lady said it was just up a bit more, and we went around two more bends before giving up. I did not relish a heart attack from strenuous walking uphill in the noonday sun. and so we returned downhill. We waited at the first bus stop, hoping one would come up, but no luck. As we walked back into town we finally saw the bus going uphill, and caught it. We got off another kilometer beyond where we had turned around, and after paying the 30 euro entrance fee (for the two of us), immensely enjoyed the best tropical Botanical Gardens we have ever experienced!

The gardens were well worth the entrance fee. The grounds were well cared for, with paths winding around the hillside, past exotic trees, colourful bushes, floral gardens, gazebos, rockeries, waterfalls and a couple of aviaries with vibrant green, yellow and red plumaged parrots. Ponds with floating water lilies, inhabited by large orange scaled koi, were ringed with shrubs and trees, with pleasant wooden benches to permit tranquil enjoyment of this tropical paradise. The aviary with the smaller parrots was net-enclosed, allowing the visitors to enter and feed the birds with little cups of sugar water. The cliffside picnic area had a panoramic view over Deshaies Bay and a petting zoo with several goats to delight the children feeding them. We didn't mind the three kilometer walk downhill back to the town dinghy dock. We felt a pleasant glow and contentment after being in that stunning, exotic, colourful, tranquil Jardin Botanique de Deshaies.

Next morning, after Judy went ashore for fresh baguettes and croissants, we weighed anchor and motorsailed down the west (lee side) coast of Guadeloupe, nosing into the anchorage area around Pigeon Island to check it out. We did not feel like staying to dive in the adjacent Cousteau Underwater Park, as we were trying to get to Grenada as soon as possible. On south we went past Basseterre, the capital of Guadeloupe, and across the strait to Iles des Saintes to anchor in Bourg de Saintes (15 52.24N, 061 47.81W) a pleasant community with a most interesting house designed as the bow of a ship. We visited here last year on our way south (see Logs#42f,g,h, and I), and enjoyed the museum/fort and the history of the Battle of the Saintes which took place in the straits between here and Dominica. We didn't bother going ashore or trying to check in and out, but just had a quiet night's sleep, and left at 0730, planning to go 30 miles to Portsmouth on Dominica.

As we were making good time sailing and motorsailing, we did not stop, but continued down the west coast of Dominica, past the 4000 foot Soufriere mountain on the southern tip, past Roseau, and across the 7000 foot deep trench to Martinique. As we left the southern tip of Dominica there were several storm clouds, including an ominous one that developed a water spout, on which we kept a careful watch as it snaked its way below the cloud until it dissipated 15 minutes later. We went through a heavy rain squall, but had no other problems, to complete a total of 75 miles by anchoring at night off St. Pierre on Martinique (14 44.45N, 061 10.67W). We visited St. Pierre when we were anchored at Fort de France further south last year. This is the town that was destroyed by a pyroclastic volcanic explosion of Mount Pelee in 1906, killing over 30,000 people. Again we did not bother going ashore, but left next morning to sail and motorsail 35 miles down to the south coast to anchor in Marin (14 27.94N, 060 50.65W), another favourite French cruising community.

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