February 19 – March 5th, 2024

We are now making our way south to the Winward Islands which was our goal for this season – to get as far south as Granada. We sailed from Antigua to the lovely little town of Deshaies on Guadeloupe. It’s pronounced “Day-ay” which took us a while to get right and is located on the northwest coast of Basse-Terre, the name for the western “wing” of Guadeloupe.

Interesting note: Deshaies is where the British TV show “Death in Paradise” is filmed. Since they come to film every summer, some elements of the set are left in place. The police station and the ferry dock (which is actually the fishing dock) are always there with the set materials so it’s pretty cool to see. We understand from the locals that the cast is great and they love when they all arrive in the summer. It’s a beautiful harbor with some moorings and good anchor space so we grabbed a spot and set the anchor right under the cliffs.

Kelley & JB Braun flew in to join us for the week and taxied up to Deshaies. We met them on the dingy dock which had been pretty badly damaged in the northerly swells from a couple of weeks before – but it was repaired enough to use. We got them settled onto the boat and headed into town for dinner – where we found that most restaurants are by reservation only and were “complete” (full). Luckily we persisted and found a nice little place right on the harbor and while we had to manage our lack of French – we had a lovely dinner.

One of the key local attractions Jardin Botanique de Deshaies which sits just south of town up a very steep hill. We realized later there is a free shuttle from town – but were happy to have gotten the steps in. The garden was very impressive with gorgeous birds and plant life. And they had a great restaurant, so three bottles of Rose later, we safely made our way back down to town.  

The next day, we hired a guide for a full day tour so we could get a better sense of the amazing nature of Guadeloupe. We had a received a reference for William of Pelican Safari Tours so we contacted him directly and he was indeed an excellent guide. He picked us up at the little bakery first thing in the morning (just had to have some croissants) in an old Land Rover which kept reminding us of Jumanji (the 2017 version). William was our “Nigel”, but actually had lots of fascinating information and drove us all around the Northern part of Basse-Terre. Another cruiser had signed up for the tour, Annette, who had sailed across from Germany with her husband with no off shore experience! She was delightful and it made for a really fun day. We saw the site of the 1992 Plane Crash that killed 3 important diplomats (definitely unresolved questions about the “accident”). It had taken 3 days for rescuers to reach the plane through the thick and steep rainforest so there were no survivors. It’s amazing how much of the wreckage is still strewn across the hill. William led us on a hike up to a beautiful waterfall and then drove up and down all the mountainous roads through sugar cane fields all the way up to an amazing view across to Grande-Terre, the eastern island of Guadeloupe, It was breathtaking. William stopped often to point out key crops such as sugar cane and cocoa and so many bananas!

Next cruising stop: Pigeon Island which is just south of Deshaies. The morning brought a strong rain storm and a really large catamaran who had seemingly dragged on their anchor, came very close to us but did not hit. While they seemed to be the one dragging, we had set anchor when they were already there, so we moved. Once the skies cleared and we took the dingy to the Jacques Cousteau national park. There was coral and lots of fish including one very large barracuda!

Then we headed for Isle De Saintes – which is a set of small islands just off the southern coast of Guadeloupe. We anchored just off of Terre de Haut (the largest of the isles). It’s a lovely town – a bit touristy with daily ferries arriving, but we had a blast. The highlight was renting e-bikes which allowed us to move all around the very steep hills and see Fort Napoleon, a beautiful palm tree lined beach (Plage de Pompierre) and swim one of the islands “hot spot” beaches (Pain de Sucre).

With JB on board we were thrilled to have good winds (15-20 knots) mostly from the east making for nice, fast sailing (8-9 knots) and our sail from Isle de Saints to Dominica was great.

Dominica (pronounced Doh-mah-NEE-cah) is an independent Caribbean island with both British and French influences. It’s called the Nature Island of the Caribbean as it is mostly made of rainforest and steep volcanic mountains. It is very lush and isn’t nearly as developed as some of the other islands. We pulled into the north western port of Portsmouth and were greeted by the “PAYS” tender (Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security). This is an organization that caters to the cruisers – helping to secure moorings, providing security and honestly coordating anything anything you might need ashore. We arrived on a Sunday when they host a BBQ for locals and cruisers – we signed up and had a blast enjoying their rum punch recipe, a yummy BBQ and a fun DJ who welcomed the cruisers from all around the world – France, Germany, Sweden and many more.

We had signed up for two tours the next day – the first was a 7 am start with Kelvin picking us up from the boat to go on the River Tour. The early start had kept us in check on the rum punch the night before which was a very good thing! Going early was recommended as it kept us well ahead of any cruise ship tours and we pretty much had the river to ourselves. We only passed one other boat during our tour. It was sunny and calm and we saw crabs, blue herons, egrets, hummingbirds, barracuda and all kinds of species of trees and plants including beautiful orchids throughout. The river is a national park so there are no motors allowed and our guide Kelvin paddled us the mile up and the mile back – it was a beautiful and educational ride.

Kelvin brought us back to Carried Away to grab our stuff (bathing suits, towels and hiking shoes) as we were due to spend the rest of the day with “Grey Goose”. We piled into his van at 9 am and had a 10 hour tour all around the northern mountains and rainforests! The pictures below tell the story best – it was amazing!

On a somber and tragic note, during the time that Kelley & JB were with us, we learned that one of our Salty Dawg cruising couples Ralph and Kathy on their catamaran Simplicity had gone missing. In an unconscionable tragedy, they were boarded by escaped convicts, forced to sail north toward St Vincent and were put overboard. Watching the details unfold and realizing how absolutely horrible it was has put a very sad and scary cloud over our travels. We had traveled across in the Salty Dawg Rally in November with Simplicity and as our boats are very similar (48 foot catamarans) our route was similar to theirs and we saw them throughout the 11 day journey. We did not get to know them well, but everyone who did said they were a beautiful couple. Terribly sad and scary, the tragedy has definitely affected where we go – more keenly focused now on safety and security. Having the Salty Dawgs to connect with has made a big difference. We can only hope that with the perpetrators captured, that justice is served and that Ralph and Kathy are at peace – sailing across heavenly seas.

Alas, it was time to get Kelley & JB back to Guadeloupe for their flight home so we sailed back up to Point A Pitre which is in the middle of the southern coast and very close to the airport. We stayed a couple of days to provision and then headed back south with quick stop in Isle Des Saintes – this time we got a mooring just off a national park island of Îlet à Cabrit which is uninhabited and provided a quiet protected spot during a heavy swell.

We sailed on to the capital city of Dominica, Roseau (pronounced Row-Sew) which is south of Portsmouth on the west coast. As the capital of Dominica, Roseau is very different from Portsmouth, it’s more heavily populated (pop ~15,000) and developed. It’s also the main cruiseship port which makes it busy AND touristy. Fortunately we found a great resource in SeaCat Yacht Services located in the bay just south of Roseau. They provide moorings, security, tours and basically whatever you need to get done while ashore.

We’d heard amazing things about the southern part of the island so we signed up for another full day eco-tour with SeaCat. As we came up from the dingy dock in the morning we found that there were 4 other people waiting for the tour and it turned out to be Salty Dawgers on board SV Evening Star! Sue, Denny and their crew Linda and Bob had spent the previous year cruising with the Dawgs and (small small world) are good friends with the Katie & Jeremy Bloxham from Marblehead (SV Persephone). We all got on famously right from the start and had the most amazing day with SeaCat himself (his real name is Octavius) giving us the tour. Like the other tours Octavius would often stop to grab a banana, papaya or coconuts – but he would actually climb the trees to get unique and special fruits, cut them up and give us each a taste – even cocoa with various amounts of sugar – yummy and sweet. We ate and drank from nature all day long!

Octavius is definitely a well known character and very enthusiastic. He has an amazing passion for the island its natural resources. He first took us to hike the Chemin Letang Trail which takes you up the steep mountains and around the fresh water lake. Legend has it a scary lake monster lived in the lake, but we didn’t see him (or her). It was a steep and challenging hike (tried to capture in the pictures below) but the whole crew stuck together and we had a blast.

Next Octavius took us to the Ti Tou Gorge. The whole way up the road he kept saying “When you get there, allez, allez, allez!” (just go, go, go). He said it over and over and so we did – and found that it was because the water was FREEZING! It was so cold, that jumping in fast was the only way to go, but we slowly got acclimated and enjoyed swimming through the gorge with steep rock walls. Octavius took a huge leap into the ravine and surprised us all – then took as all the way into the waterfall – which was really strong – but he made each one of us go under the powerful ice cold falls. We were all glad to be out the other side!

Next he took us to a great lunch spot where he had ordered our lunch in advance so we got in and out quick and then on up to Trafalgar Falls. It was funny, as Octavius said he wasn’t coming with us, that he was going to take a nap in the van. Sue was concerned as she knew it was a tough hike – but lo and behold as we got to the first viewing station, there was Octavius, just lying on a bench with a huge smile on his face – he most have bolted up that trail as we never saw him pass us. He led us (and oftentimes pulled us) the whole way up to the “Father” falls base pool. Once there, there was a hot spring that felt so good! A few of the crew went all the way to the base of the waterfall and came back covered in iron ore!!

The tour was spectacular and tiring and we got to make new friends – what the cruising life is all about. Dominica has definitely been a favorite island of our cruise so far – remote, beautiful, natural and lovely local people, but now we need a rest!!

Next we’ll continue south to Martinique and beyond to Grenada by mid march! Stay tuned…