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Diane's Diary4/1 Sunday The wind blew all day today up to about 40 knots so we didn't even get off the boat. The boat didn't even move at all. Must be really good holding ground. Larry updated his logs. I rested, as my back is still hurting. I have a huge black & blue mark & my back is very sore. I started doing an inventory of all our food. 4/2 Monday The wind stopped blowing so hard today. They never even forecasted the high winds. Luckily, we got in 2 days ago. Several boaters said the wind was up to 40 knots all around Guadeloupe. We checked into customs & walked around the town. It's very small but quaint. I did some more inventory of the food. Later in the day I went swimming off the boat. The water is crystal clear & I can see all the way to the bottom. The hull is already starting to get algae on it & the rudder has lots of algae. I work on it over an hour but it's not done. Wish we had scuba gear so I could clean it. I can't get to the rudder well as I keep floating up. 4/3 Tuesday We decided to stay in Deshaies one more day so we can update our logs & I can continue doing the food inventory. Larry cleaned out the aft cabin, I finished the food inventory, & I updated my logs. We decided that Sunday will always be our rest day & we will try to update our logs every Sunday so we don't get too far behind. I went swimming again but Larry didn't want to go. 4/4 Wednesday We left for Basse Terre today around 8 am. We decided to stop at Pigeon Island as it was supposed to have great diving & is the home of the Jacques Cousteau Underwater Park. There were supposed to be different color buoys for dive boats versus all other boats but all we could find were one color, they were very close to the rocks & that made us both nervous. Plus, all the dive boats were starting to come when we arrived at 10:30. The only other boat there was asked to leave by a dive boat but they never bothered us. Afterwards, we saw a postcard of the anchorages & apparently the moorings for cruising boats were much further away from the rocks but must have been eliminated by one of the hurricanes & haven't been replaced. Anyway, we were getting a surge in the anchorage & we both nervous with the dive boats there & that the boat would swing around onto the rocks so we only snorkeled around a half hour. It was great & the only good snorkeling we've done so far on this whole trip! The clarity of the water was fantastic- around 40 feet. We saw lots of fish & great coral. It was apparent that much of the coral closer to the surface was damaged by a hurricane as much of it was broken off. I'm sure this was from Hurricane Lenny. By the time we cleaned off the equipment & took off it was almost 11:30. Since we had only about 20 miles to get to Basse Terre this should have been no problem. Since the wind was still on our nose we had to motor again. Also, we still had to get the batteries charged up. We were motoring along when we suddenly both saw whitecaps on the water ahead & knew this meant the wind was increasing. Sure enough, it gradually picked up to around 30 knots with around 4-6 foot seas. We were both very uncomfortable but thank goodness we were in the lee of the island. Larry wanted to turn around & go back to the anchorage we passed around an hour ago but I wanted to push on. It couldn't be that much further could it? Our guidebook recommended pulling into the marina in Basse Terre as the anchorages are very exposed & uncomfortable. But would we be able to get in with our 7' draft? We weren't really ready to enter the marina as we normally are- the fenders or dock lines weren't even out but we went in anyway. Luckily, we had no real damage & quickly tied up to the fuel dock ourselves, as there was no one else to help us. Once we got in, Larry saw the batteries were not charging properly & something was wrong with the alternator. Well, if we had to have a problem it was better to have it here while we are in a marina. However, we don't speak French other than a few words so how are we going to explain the problem? There doesn't appear to be much English spoken here. Also, will they have enough water in the marina to accommodate our 7' draft? Plus, this is a med mooring-either bow or stern to- which we don't have in the US. In the US, it's all side to slips, which mean you can get off your boat along the side; here you have to climb over the stern or bow- much harder to do. However, it's siesta time so no one is around. We decide to just wait at the fuel dock until they reopen at 3. In the meantime, we found someone who looks at the alternator & says he will come back tomorrow at 9 to fix it. So, we need to stay overnight at least. The marina thankfully has a slip for us- $19 USD per night that includes UNLIMITED water & electric. Free drinkable water is very unusual in the Caribbean so at that price we decide to stay a few days. The boat hasn't been washed down properly since we were in Bermuda. Since we are unfamiliar with how to use a med mooring we ask the marina staff to help us. No problem & we are safely in our berth. We are very fortunate to have excellent neighbors- one is a French guy, Jean, who lives in Guadeloupe with his dog Argos. The other was another family from Guadeloupe, Guy (from Morocco),Rose (from Ireland) their son Jacques & dog LiLi. They were extremely kind to us & changed our perspective of the French. I don't think we would have liked Guadeloupe so much if it hadn't been for them. Also, Argos watched our boat also so we had no problems with security with him there. We are also delighted to have unlimited water as we are usually so frugal with water. |