At 03:00 the winds died and Zanshin frequently found herself abeam to the incoming swell, making even the starfish position in bed difficult to maintain without sliding around. While I did get some sleep after the winds stopped, it wasn’t deep sleep and I wasn’t rested at all in the morning. But I finally had a busy and action packed day – a welcome change from the sedentary lifestyle of the past week. Our early-morning 07:00 dive ahead of the crowds turned into a 09:30 dive, since Katzenellenbogen had gone out of the anchorage early to trawl for fish and didn’t return until somewhat past dive time. But they took a mooring ball and picked me (and the dive equipment) up via dinghy and dove straight off the back of the catamaran to find a lot of flora and fauna in 30 feet. We swam along the steep sides of the island and I understand why Jacques Cousteau ranked this as one of his favorite dive sites in the world.
After the dive we headed off towards Les Îles des Saintes in mixed sailing conditions. The wind was coming from the west (back winded) for most of the trip along the coastline of Guadeloupe, but it was weak and variable so I motorsailed at 1200RPM with sails up (two reefs in the main, one in the Genoa) because I knew that the winds would pipe up significantly during the trip. Once close to the southern part of the island one could see a demarcation line between calm seas and whitecaps, and once Zanshin reached that point the wind turned and strengthened to 20 knots true (26 indicated) and I turned off the engine and enjoyed a long sail out to sea and tacking twice to reach the sheltered anchorage in the Saintes.
Katzenellenbogen and I arrived at roughly the same time (they motorsailed much of the way) just as the sun was setting and I anchored in 50 feet with 200 feet of chain out, while Katz found a spot closer to shore. I was invited over for a dinner using rice wraps, chicken and assorted condiments and spices that was very nice and novel. After dinner I went back home and immediately fell asleep, since the day had been long and I hadn’t slept enough the night before.
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