The French Islands

Entering the group of islands located to the south of Guadeloupe (The Saints) we were amazed at how small the islands were. Rising steep out of the water we could easily navigate right next to the coast line looking out to the reddy brown cliffs occasionally dotted with the odd red roofed house. The islands are sparsely populated with only one town in the cluster, Terre de Haut. It is here where we chose to anchor for the first night so we could clear in at customs. After 5 mins of tapping our details into a computer found at the internet cafe, we had completed the process and for free. No surly officers to contend with, no queues and no stamps in the passport much to Dylan's relief as his Canadian passport is getting pretty crowded!

Overnighting in Terre de Haut where we were anchored among a load of moorings, we chose to move on to a quieter spot around the corner opposite Iles Cabrit. Finding a great location with no other yachts in close proximity we dropped the hook and proceeded to watch a French boat almost drag onto another boat with no occupants onboard. Action man at the ready, Dylan swam over to the boat to help them out as we observed it was just a bunch of teenagers clearly out on Daddy's yacht or charterers from Guadeloupe. No sooner had Dylan got there, the group had managed to pick up the other boats anchor and drag them too before getting embarrassed and motoring out of the bay. Luckily Dylan was there to check the other boats anchor else we could have ended up in a game of bumper cars!

Down to my last pair of knickers I realised I couldn't put off a hand wash any longer. Being spoilt so far with many islands having cheap laundry services, I was yet to do a load on the boat. Well that was about to change. Hauling a bucket of salt water from over the side I proceeded to soak the clothes in detergent and give them a good scrub. Unfortunately I am yet to get my hands on this elusive 'Joy' that everyone tells me foams in salt water so instead I made do with a Caribbean version that didn't sud. After washing the clothes multiple times in bucket after bucket of salt water I then treated them to a fresh water rinse in another bucket before I rung them out and hung them in the cockpit to dry. I thought I'd done a thorough job but some of the clothes still smell a little....stale. Clearly practice makes perfect when it comes to this task and Mum, I now realise how much effort all of my 'going out' dresses were to hand wash in the kitchen sink!!

That night was also a very exciting occasion as we had managed to find normal meat that had no bones in it – ground beef! All day we looked forward to making spaghetti and meatballs, so keen to get some meat down us after living involuntarily as vegetarians for a few weeks.

After 2 days in The Saints we headed to the mainland (Guadeloupe) and our chosen anchorage of Pigeon Island. This really is easy navigation in these waters, as soon as you point the boat in the direction you want to go, you can see the island and sometimes even the bay you are heading to! The sail was so flat that I decided to make stove top bread and so by the time we got to our destination, we had yummy fresh bread to feast on in the cockpit, surveying our new surroundings and neighbours. Thats the great thing about anchorages, every day your neighbours change making way for more people to watch, more anchoring to observe and new people to chat to.

When we were anchored at Pigeon Island, Dylan decided it was time for role reversal and so I went and dug in the anchor. Putting on my snorkelling gear I was eager to prove that girls are just as good as boys at doing this. I jumped in and swam against the current to find where I had dropped the anchor. Lo and behold, the anchor was just sat on his side doing absolutely nothing so I needed to dive down, pick it up and bury it in the sand. Taking 3 deep breaths to expand my lungs, I duck dived and kicked my fins, popping my ears as I descended 26ft to the bottom. By the time I was down there I already felt I was running out of breath so a quick adjustment of the anchor and I kicked to the surface, taking a deep breath before I descended again to finish the job. It is certainly easier than it looks and I have a way to go until I can hold my breath easily for 3 minutes (but don't tell Dylan that)!!

The snorkelling on Pigeon Island is renowned for being great so one day we took the dinghy and a packed lunch of home made bread and motored over there to check it out. Avoiding the pasty French frogs we saw loads of fish as well as different corals. A huge puffa fish and turtle were probably my highlight, I don't think I will ever get bored of seeing turtles swimming in the open ocean. When we were back at our boat we went for another swim and saw a huge turtle on the bottom complete with 3 remora fish. The remora fish were the biggest fish I have seen so far in the Caribbean never mind the turtle they were feeding off!

Continuing on the topic of wildlife, we were minding our own business watching a DVD in the saloon waiting for the rain to stop when we heard a british voice shouting very near our stern. Being the meerkats that we are, we popped our heads out and were told that an iguana was swimming right near our boat...I didn't even know they could swim? Good samaritans that we are (or at least try to be), we jumped into the dinghy with 2 buckets and motored over to Rambo the iguana who looked like he had a sore neck with a crick – floating at a very odd angle. Scared I was about to be eaten by a massive iguana, we carefully handled him into the 2 buckets and put a plastic chain case over his head. I then steered us to shore and Dylan jumped out to deposit Rambo in the trees whilst I kept the engine idle. As there were loads of locals in the water and a big swell, I leapt out of the dinghy to hold it still whilst waiting for

Dylan who looked like he was singing Rambo a lullaby and stroking it with a stick. Thats when I realised I had leapt out of the boat in a pair of netty knickers....not bikini bottoms. Fine for walking around the deck but certainly not fine for going in close proximity to strangers. Whilst clinging onto the dinghy with my back to shore, standing on a shelf with a steep drop off, I was helpless as the local men started to perv. One confident guy resembling Sloth from The Goonies started speaking to me in French and indicating he wanted to take a photo on his phone. I resolved that situation and he wanted to settle for a kiss on the cheek which I was also not accommodating, luckily at that point Dylan came back and I tried to get back on the dinghy in a ladylike manner trying to keep my dignity in tact whilst we motored off back to the boat. As we sped away from the beach, we looked back to see the local kids throwing small rocks at the dazed iguana....as Dylan would say, “Damn French!!”

We are currently anchored in Deshaies which is the most northern anchorage in Guadeloupe before we head off tomorrow to Montserrat. Having learnt all about this island in Geography throughout school I am really looking forward to visiting, fingers crossed the volcano erupts – just think of the photo opportunities!!