Sailing to Guadeloupe from Dominica today – a mix of good and bad.
Sunrise
The winds during the night died down at sunrise, and I knew it was going to be difficult to get out of the lee of the island under power. I only got about 3 knots and set my sails, even though there wasn’t a breath of wind.
Even after rounding the northern bend the flat ocean confirmed that my sails weren’t going to see any use for a bit.
I had to remain vigilant, as the area is thickly infected with fish traps to be avoided. Some of them were half-submerged and only visible after I’d passed them. But I threaded through them and finally got some wind, albeit from the wrong side. But even that backwinding was enough to give me another knot of speed and that, in turn, allowed to me to reach “clean air” and the normal trades.
Morning
The trades were just right and waves were big, but widely separated. I sailed at between 7 and 10 knots between Dominica and the Iles des Saintes and once past the Saintes the funneling effect kicked in and I was flying along at 9-10 knots with 2 reefs in both sails.
But that exhilaration faded quickly once I was sheltered in the lee of Guadeloupe. I occasionally got some good wind for 10-20 minutes at a time, but most of that trip along the west coast of the island was done in calm conditions. My chartplotter’s ETA kept on getting later and later as I slowed down and only did about 3 knots.
Noon
Time and scenery changed only slowly, with my hopes rising each time I got some wind and then being dashed when the wind faded again. Boats sailing several miles further offshore were faring no better, so I just had to continue on motoring north.
Jacques Cousteau‘s favorite dive site at Pigeon Island finally came into sight and took a long time before it disappeared in my wake. That really is a fine dive site, but I’ll have to do that another time.
Afternoon
Deshaies finally came into sight in the afternoon and the winds picked up a bit and gave me a boost for the final stretch into the anchorage. I had to anchor in 60 foot deep water as the anchorage was back-winded and I wanted to keep sufficient room around me in order to prevent bouncing off other boats. This is important, as the last-one-in is the first-one-at-fault. But I’ve got lots of chain and put out some extra because Deshaies is known for bad holding.
Dinner
I went ashore to clear in and out, but that wasn’t possible. Instead of doing the right thing and returning to my boat while still in quarantine I went to Mahina, a restaurant next to the dinghy dock. I’d been there years before and remembered an absolutely spectacular meal at what looked like a slightly upscale pizzeria. But we are now in France and after suffering my home-cooking and British cuisine for weeks I knew I was in for a treat.
I started off with beef carpaccio and the perfect dish almost brought tears of joy to my eyes. Since I’d already had my beef fix, I ordered a quattro formaggio pizza for the main. That, too, was just perfect. I’d been served just as the restaurant opened and had been given the best table in the house, with an unobstructed view. But I need to leave my table by 19:00 to make room for the reserved couple; so after the meal I had a celebratory espresso to finished the meal. Sated and happy, I returned back to the boat and to sleep.