Off to Antigua

We did the hop up to Antigua in 2 hits, first day we left in the morning sunshine to cross between Les Saintes and the mainland, 15-20 knots on the beam without too much swell we had a lovely sail to the point when the wind inevitable built and we were up to 25 knots but see state was fine so just enjoyed making some good progress.

Rounding Pointe de Vieus Fort

Once we were in the lee/shelter of the island the sea was flat at a millpond and the wind started to die away, we managed to sail along for a few hours but the mountains often sheltered us from the wind and we had to put the engine on, which we never like doing!  We were lucky to see squalls passing behind and in front of us but avoided the rain.

The mountains of Guadeloupe - somewhere hidden in the cloud is the peak of the volcano

35 miles and we arrived at a pretty anchorage Deshaise, Guadeloupe dropped anchor and had a peaceful night.

Deshaise - pretty little village

Next morning we were ready to leave at sunrise as we knew the 45 mile journey could be a bit of a challenge with the wind on the nose.  We raised the sail immediately and were hard on the wind heading north, no sight of Antigua.  The swell was from the north east so we were bashing into the sea, the entire journey was a battle to stay hard on the wind which was about 20 knots and the swell was a few metres so bashing into waves was a bit bumpy. Our self steering was working well so neither of us had to steer as it took all your energy to hold on. Again we were lucky to miss the squalls just catching a couple, enough to have a slight increase in the wind and get a little wet from the wind blown rain.

We can see Antigua

It was quite an exciting sail but funny that we were unable to take any photos until we had almost arrived when the wind and the sea abated.

45 miles to English harbour and we were both excited to be somewhere new.

Guadeloupe - What else?

Rum – Yep Caribbean is large producer of Rum and there seem to be a huge variety in Guadeloupe including many flavoured by Fruit but we were introduced to Ti Punch by our very friendly neighbour - Rum, Sugar Syrup and Lime – yummy but blows you head off!

Laughing birds – The first night in the marina, all during the night we could here a strange noise like laughing, we knew it was probably a bird but odd that you would here a bird at night (apart from maybe an owl!).  The following the evening we found our where the noise was coming from, some really cute bird was sat on our mooring line.

Pelicans – Our first experience with Pelicans in the marina, it impressive watching them dive for their dinner but unfortunately we were not quick enough to get a photo!

Rainy – Yep every day we had rain! Even if just a 5 minute downpour, it would rain an entire days rain in 5 minutes! But worth remember waterproofs  if you are out and about.

River Salee – runs between the 2 sides of the island and is surround by mangrove  and normally you can sail down it which we were quite keen to do but the bridge is closed for maintenance for 1 year! So no Mangrove visit for us L

Pointe Pitre Marina this info will only be of interest to other cruisers - cheap marina, was 25 euros a night for Magnum and included water, electric and wifi. Mariners very helpful, we did not book and berth was available.  Reasonable size supermarket on site but bigger a short taxi ride away.  Can hire car for reasonable price locally – 39 euros a day.