Iles des Saintes to Marie Galante

When we wake up we decide that we are going to walk up to the Napoleonic Fort at the top of the hill, but looking at the sea from the calm of the bay, we change our minds and head for Marie Galante instead.  Immediately we leave the bay, it is the same situation as yesterday.  The wind picks up right on the nose and the sea gets rough, but it’s not quite as bad as yesterday so we persevere.

We head towards Grand Bourg, the main town and yacht clearance.  At this point we have still not been able to check in to the administration area of Guadeloupe.  We couldn’t in Deshaies.  We couldn’t in Bourg de Saintes.  Mike is concerned that if we cannot make our presence legal by checking in we might be in trouble when we get to Dominica in the morning.

This concern throws a bit of a dampener on the journey and we are all a bit quiet.  This is not helped by the cruising guide section which says that the customs office often isn’t open and even when it is, the customs official often isn’t there as he doesn’t have regular hours.  Obviously there is no contact number for him given in the cruising guide.  That would be just too helpful.  Jesus.

We arrive in the marina at Grand Bourg.  There isn’t much room to anchor even though the diagram makes it look like there is.  Mike immediately gets in the dinghy to try to find customs and Johanne and I make lunch.

A huge ferry comes in right behind us and we are worried that we might be slightly in his path, but he easily finds his way round us.  Mike returns and asks if we noticed which direction the ferry came from because if he came from Dominica the customs official would need to be there at the dock.  He heads off again, just in case, and this time comes back jubilant as he found the customs guy sitting in his car outside the office, having just (presumably) returned from his lunch (the ferry had been a local one after all).  He wasn’t at all concerned by our failure to check in over the last few days, just shrugged his shoulders in that Gaelic gesture that only the French can do, spread his hands and said ‘these things happen’.

As Grand Bourg doesn’t look very enticing, we motor five miles to the north to St Louis, having lunch on the way.

We pass some beautiful beaches on the way.  Deserted and narrow, they are only really accessible by foot or boat.

Photo:  Deserted beach just south of St Louis

Photo:  Steve and Johanne relaxing on one of the trampolines

We anchor in the bay and go ashore to explore but unfortunately that doesn’t take long.  At 4pm in the afternoon, the place is deserted and most of the shops are shut.   Apart from the local nutter on the beach, who shouts to us while having one hand firmly stuck in his groin (nice) and continues to shout long after we have passed him, no one is around. Looking around it is obvious that not as much of our EEC money is spent here!

  Photos:  Deserted streets in St Louis

Photo:  St Louis war memorial

Photo:  You know you are in France when you see a ‘pissoire’

I am sure that Marie Galante is beautiful, and I am really not giving it a chance here, but I have to say I am a little disappointed by what I see.  From what I have read, the interior of the island is beautiful, but the towns are nothing to write home about.  Anyway, we notice the rain clouds rapidly approaching so make a beeline for the dinghy.

Photos:  Dramatic rain clouds over Guadeloupe and The Saintes

 Photo:  Johanne and Steve before the rain hits!

In terms of rain, we escape very lightly, especially when we can see what is on the horizon over the rest of the islands.

We eat marinated tiger prawns with mango mayonnaise and coconut rice for dinner.  Unfortunately, something goes drastically wrong with the coconut rice.  It ends up very sticky and undercooked.  I have done this countless times and it has been fine.  I think that it is because I used a whole can of Coco Lopez, just for the four of us.  (I have been trying to get through the stuff so that I am not tempted to make any more of the hugely fattening BBCs!)  We eat the rice anyway but it is a major disappointment.  We watch the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special for our entertainment.

Over the last few days it has been a joke between Johanne, Steve and myself to imitate the name calling in Gavin and Stacey.  Johanne is Jolar, Steve is Stevlar, I am Jeanlar and Mike is Skiplar (being the skipper).  It’s all very silly and Mike absolutely refuses to be part of this.  As she goes to bed, Johanne leans over Mike and says “Come on, Mike, say goodnight Jolar”.  He can’t.  He splutters and giggles until tears come into his eyes.  By this time we are all practically crying with laughter too.  He just cannot do it.  Eventually, with a deep breath, in his best Liverpudlian accent (rather than the Essex one required) he manages to blurt it out.  You had to be there!

We had just about calmed down when he looks Johanne up and down and says “I’ve got a t-shirt the same as that, but it’s a different shape” not acknowledging the fact that the reason it might be a different shape is probably something to do with the size of Johanne’s ample charms.  We roll around laughing again.  That has to be the quote of the holiday!

Iles des Saintes, Day 3

Today we are going to Marie Galante, an island we have never visited before, and grouped, along with Iles des Saintes, as part of Guadeloupe.  Mike decides that Johanne and I can go ashore to visit the shops which were closed yesterday as long as we are ready to go by 9am.  We are only a bit late but he takes us anyway.  I then discover the reason he has given in to our shopping desires is that he actually wants to go ashore himself.  OK, only to buy a chisel, but even so.

Only one of the shops is open for us and has nothing we want to buy so that was a waste of time.  We go to the supermarket hoping that it will be more stocked than yesterday.  It isn’t and all we can get that we need is bread.

We set off to look at a little anchorage on the way round to Marie Galante and immediately we round the corner the sea becomes very rough - the wind is on the nose, gusting around 26 knots.  Very unpleasant.  We pull into the little anchorage, Marigot, and have breakfast of smoked salmon baguettes (Johanne has hard boiled egg – how can any friend of mine not like smoked salmon?).

Even this anchorage is rolly and uncomfortable but after a couple of hours it seems to calm down a little and we decide to make a run for Marie Galante after all. 

Pulling out of the anchorage we meet the full force of the wind again and slap unpleasantly straight into the waves.  After ten minutes or so, and knowing that there is about 2 hours of this ahead if we are to make it to Marie Galante, we decide that we don’t want to go there enough to put up with the journey and turn the boat round, heading back to Bourg de Saintes, where, as before, all is calm.

We spend the afternoon reading although Johanne goes in for a swim later on then showers off the back of the boat – a real yachtie!

Photo:  Johanne doing her best starfish impression

  Photo:  A lovely hug

Unfortunately the weather takes a turn for the worse and when I say the heavens open, they really open.  It absolutely buckets it down and we scurry to close all the hatches.  After about 10 minutes of sheet rain I recall that I saw the hatch over Johanne and Steve’s bed open during the afternoon and casually ask Steve if he shut it.  He says yes, but goes to check anyway.  Guess what?  He hadn’t, and their bed is now soaking wet.

Luckily there are plenty of spare mattresses and he changes things over but is not in Johanne’s good books for a while.  At least rain water dries out better than sea water.

Eventually the rain stops and after drying the dinghy out so we don’t get wet bottoms we head off for dinner.  Again, most places are closed, in fact, even more are closed tonight as Wednesday seems to be the general mid-week closing day.  We settle for Le Mambo, a cheap and cheerful pizza bar.  The meal is OK, I just choose badly I think.  Oh well.

At least the walk back to dinghy is dry as it hasn’t rained again, although whether Johanne and Steve’s bed is better I don’t know.

Iles des Saintes, Day 2

We have a lazy early morning.  Johanne is a star and makes bacon butties for everyone again.  Around 10.30 we all go ashore – Mike needs to check us in and Johanne and I want to look around the shops.  I have also heard there is a good hairdresser here and as I have recently been lopping off chunks of hair, I am obviously in need of a haircut and need it urgently before I make a mess.  Heaven knows what I am going to do next year!

We get to the Mairie, the mayor’s residence.  The gendarmerie is around the back and apparently they process the paperwork.  We leave Mike and Steve there and Johanne and I go in search of the hairdressers.

Photo:  The Mairie

First impressions are a bit dubious.  We find the salon which appears to be a house.  There are numerous gnomes in the front garden.  Am I going to come out with a shampoo and set?  I wander around the deck of the house, calling out on my way round.  All the doors and windows are open and it is very obviously someone’s house.  Round the back I see a small sign to a building just up from the house – the salon.  We go in and it all looks proper with the same stuff I use on my hair for sale here.  A good sign.  The lady doesn’t speak English and although I can make myself understood in restaurants and shops, discussing what I want someone to do with my hair is another matter.  She says she can fit me in now for just a little cut and no washing and so we proceed.  She leads me over to a sink and proceeds to wash my hair.  This is where I start to worry.  She said “no wash” to me.  I now wonder what other failures of communication are going to happen.

It ends up being a little shorter than I would like but other than that we manage to communicate, with the aid of pictures and lots of hand flapping from me.

Johanne has wandered back to meet the boys and when I join them they are all having a strange brew called a Desperados, quite a strong beer with aromatics in it, and reading the label, a lot of sugar.  They all have another and I have fruit juice.  It is quite a cloudy morning so it is comfortable sitting outside opposite the little square.  Apparently the gendarmerie guys fax the clearance forms to Guadeloupe and you have to wait for them to come back, but today, the fax machine doesn’t work, and they don’t seem concerned about us staying without clearance. 

Photo:  A rest and a drink 

We decide to explore, and head across the island, passing some lovely little houses and a very ornate graveyard full of plastic flowers.  I tell you, if you sell plastic flowers on any of the Caribbean islands you can make a fortune!

  Photo:  A graveyard of plastic flowers

The sea on the other side of Terre d’en Haut is the Atlantic, and today it is windswept and the sea is rough.  Just like in St Barths, the airport runway ends up on the beach.  This one doesn’t seem quite as busy though.

Photo:  The end of the runway

As we stand and watch the sea it starts to rain.  Johanne is prepared for this and in the strengthening wind we all have a laugh watching her trying to get into a plastic poncho, which to be frank, looks more like a giant condom!  It stops raining before she’s successful, and it takes another couple of minutes to get her back out of it.

Photo:  Johanne fighting to stay dry

Photo:  A windswept, Atlantic beach

On the way back, we spot some steps leading up to the top of the hill overlooking the town and we climb, regretting the decision when we are half way up but glad we keep going when we see the views from the top.

 

Photos:  Views of Bourg des Saintes from the hillside

Johanne gets a hankering for pizza but after sitting ourselves down at a table in a little restaurant, I go and ask the lady, who obviously had no intention of approaching us English, if pizzas are available at lunchtime and she says ‘non’.  So we go back to the boat for lunch.  Funnily enough, all the shops which we wanted to look in this morning when they were open, are now closed for lunch.  The boys look smug.

After lunch and a little nap (again not me!) Johanne and I drag them out again.  The only shop they wanted to visit is open.  All the ones Johanne and I want to visit remain firmly shut.  So we eat huge ice creams as compensation.  Mike and Johanne get in a mess with theirs as they melt and drip continually in the heat.

Getting back in the dinghy, Steve demonstrates once again that he is not the agile mountain goat he thinks he is, more the cart horse.  As he clambers in the whole thing rocks precariously, nearly sending Johanne and I over the side.  He’ll probably succeed before the end of their holiday too!

Photo:  Steve and Mike modelling their new shorts

We are all too stuffed full of ice cream to eat dinner so I make hummus and Johanne fries flatbreads and we settle down to watch the last of series two of Gavin and Stacey.  How exciting is that?  But we all love it and just have the Christmas special to look forward to now.

Guadeloupe to Iles des Saintes

Mike goes to check us in at the customs office but they send him to the internet cafe as they have one of the dedicated computers which does the forms online.  However, today the machine is broken so we can’t complete the formalities.

While he is there, he buys one hour’s worth of internet access for six euros.  The guy is adamant that we won’t be able to get access from the boat but Mike tells him we’ve already found it, we just need the code.  The guy seems put out by this.

Mike also uses his initiative and buys some food.  Not necessarily what we need, but he does quite well although the boulangerie was shut which was the real purpose of the shopping.  Oh well, croissants another day.

Mike and I do our internet stuff while Johanne makes us bacon butties then we set off.  The winds are not kind to us today.  They are light and almost directly from behind.  The waters around Guadeloupe are strewn with small logs and lots of fishing markers, most of which are hard to spot.  Johanne and I entertain ourselves posing on the bow.

Photos:  Posers! 

As we round the south west corner of the island the wind changes direction and picks up a lot.  It is now coming directly from where we want to go.  Typical.  In the distance we can see it raining and there is a water spout in the rain clouds.

Photo:  You can just make out the water spout

The Isles des Saintes, when we finally reach them, are bathed in lovely sunshine.  We crack open a bottle of bubbly and practise taking photos with the self timer and little tripod.

Photo:  Harbour at Bourg des Saintes

Photo:  A bit over-exposed (the photo not Johanne and I) but not bad for a first go

Photo:  Can’t get enough of those sunsets

Mike and Steve go for a late siesta (note, I don’t) then we get ready to go out to dinner.  We haven’t been off the boat for two days and Johanne and I feel like getting a bit dressed up, so we do.  Johanne’s new shoes are given their first outing.  We find a restaurant advertised in the cruising guide, tiKaz’la, where we have an excellent meal right by the side of the water.  The owner/chef comes round to all the tables checking everyone is happy with their food.

Photo:  Johanne and Steve

Photo:  Johanne and I

Photo:  Steve looks bemused by his kebabs – should he eat them or wear them as earrings?

The food is excellent and the portions are so large that we end up bringing some of it back to the boat.

The walk back through town is eerily quiet.  There is no one around except a few people sitting at one roadside restaurant just near the dinghy dock.  Everything else is closed.

We manage to heave our full bellies into the dinghy and get back to Jeannius, then it’s straight to bed.

Montserrat to Deshaies, Guadeloupe

We leave Montserrat early as the predictions for today’s weather are for light winds.  Mike looks at the exclusion zones around Montserrat’s coast and notices that they are not as far out to sea as they were last time we were here so he decides to take us down the west coast so that we can see the buried capital of Plymouth.

As we sail down we can see that the Soufriere Hills volcano is steaming and smoking like mad today, and for some time visibility through the sun is poor but beautiful in its own way.

Photo:  The Soufriere Hills volcano hidden behind steam and smoke

Approaching the area of Richmond Hill, just north of Plymouth we are suddenly greeted with the smell of sulphur as the light wind is blowing towards us from the volcano.  As we get closer to the remains of Plymouth, the sun gets higher and the wind shifts slightly affording us a better view.

 

Photos:  Views of Plymouth buried in volcanic ash and rock

It is an eerie and sobering sight.  Lush green hills to either side and ash grey in the middle - the flows of ash and rock find the areas of least resistance to surge down.

The volcano has been regularly active since July 1995, the most recently explosions being in December 2008.   Earlier in that year, the dome partially collapsed and this can be seen in some of the photos.

Photo:  The partially collapsed dome

Photo:  The pyroclastic flow which destroyed the south of the island in 1997

Apart from one small fishing boat, there are no other boats out today.

The winds die as we pass the volcano.  Maybe the air is sucked in over the island, I don’t know, but we have to get the engines started, and so begins the routine for the next few hours.  We do manage to catch a fish but it is another barracuda which manages to wriggle off the hook just as Mike goes to try and release him.  Then he just lies there, still alive on the bottom step and Mike has to nudge him off with the tip of his shoe before he swims off, slapping the water with his tail in a very pissed off manner, soaking Mike in the process.

For lunch Johanne and I crack open king crab claws to make a crab salad.  This is time consuming and messy but the result is worth it.

Photo:  Fighting with crab claws

The afternoon is spent reading, doing sudoku, dozing and listening to music, although as it’s my music, Mike frequently jumps up to bypass something with the words ‘what’s this crap?’

Photos:  Same day, same men, same books different seats!

At some point in the afternoon I chastise Steve, again, for not replacing the empty water bottle in the fridge.  Even before I dish out his punishment, he is practically on his knees pleading with me not to put ‘that’ photo in the blog.  Oh boy, am I enjoying this or what?

We arrive in Deshaies late in the afternoon, and everyone has a nap.  Except I cannot sleep and get up again and make tea.  The sunset is beautiful, and I play with the new camera again taking ever more colourful photos as the sky changes.

Photos:  Sunset views from Deshaies

We have barbecued pork fillet with pineapple relish and coconut rice and watch another three episodes of Gavin and Stacey, polishing off a couple of bottle of wine in the process.  Steve and Johanne are such a bad influence (and we are so easy to lead!!!).

Tour of Montserrat

Neither Johanne nor I sleep very well as our bites are a constant source of irritation although Johanne’s are much worse and more numerous than mine.  That’s St Barths for you.

Mike goes over to check the boat in and is successful at finding someone this time, but as it is a Saturday and ‘overtime’ is involved, we have to pay an extra $40 for the privilege.  When he comes back he phones Joe Phillip, a tour guide mentioned in Chris Doyle’s cruising guide and books him for an island tour.  This galvanises Johanne and I into action as we have to be ready by 10am.

Joe gives us a leaflet which he has written himself about the island and the Soufriere Hills volcano, then starts the tour.  He cleverly has produced a photo album which shows how the island looked before the eruption and how it looks now.  We are to see these comparisons many times.

A completely new capital is being built at Little Bay, complete with a marina, yacht club, hotel and leisure facilities and a long boardwalk.  This is to replace the town of Plymouth which was completely devastated when the volcano erupted in 1995 and covered the whole area with ash and rock.  This is a huge undertaking and will not be completed until 2020 at least.  Joe takes us to look at the new government buildings, along with the brand spanking new prison.  Even paradise has its baddies!

We then go to the abandoned Air Studios, the famous recording studios once owned by George Martin.  This ‘fifth Beatle’, a recording producer, organised a huge concert to support the people of Montserrat and the money raised went to build their new community centre.  He still spends his birthday here every January.

The studios were stripped out years ago, but entering the buildings, we are able to stand in the recording studios where such greats as Dire Straits, The Police, Status Quo, Eric Clapton and many, many more have recorded.  Many of these signed the ‘floor of fame’ just outside in the concrete.

Photo:  Status Quo ‘83 signed in the concrete

Photo:  Steve looking through memorabilia in the recording studio

The recording studio, now stripped of its equipment and electrics, still has piles of manuals and unused reels of tape.  We look through some of the stuff and discover disks for old Atari machines, rather than PCs, a sign of their age.

The buildings were originally a house, and the recording studios were added by George Martin.  For something which has been abandoned for 20 years, the condition is really quite incredible, especially in this climate and in its remote location.

  Photo:  The view from the pool

Photo:  From the front of the studios, the Soufriere Hills volcano is clearly visible

From the recording studios we drive down to a river which is now covered in approximately 40 feet of volcanic ash and rock.  Once narrow, the flow which now covers it also covers the houses and golf course which were once by its banks.  Million dollar houses lay abandoned all around, although some of them further up the hillside away from the flows are now being bought and done up.  We pick up many pieces of pumice which are just lying around.  No one will have rough feet on our boat any more!

 

Photos:  The volcanic flows through Belham Valley smother everything in their path

At Old Road Bay, the end of Belham Valley, the volcanic ash and rock has filled in a huge area of the sea.  The original dock is now about 500 yards inland, and huge rocks are now just off the beach, brought down by the flow.

Photo:  The original dock, its posts just visible in the bed of ash

  Photo:  A new volcanic beach is formed

Photo:  A last look at the volcano 

After nearly four hours, Joe drives us back to Little Bay and raging thirsts are quenched at a local bar, before going back to the boat.  Most of us have a little nap.  Mine, as usual is a little longer!  The flies are still a nuisance so Mike and Steve take the anchor up and motor just around the corner to Rendezvous Bay.  This is only accessible by boat or a long hike and is the only non-volcanic sand beach on the island.  Mike, Steve and Johanne all go for a swim but it just doesn’t look inviting enough for me.

In the evening we put the barbecue back onto the side of the boat and cook fillet steaks.

Photo:  Mike and Steve

Photo:  Mike and his other woman, Johanne

Photo:  He looks less excited by cuddling me – cheek!

After dinner, Johanne and I decide to do our star gazing thing on the trampolines.  It is a really star filled night and the Milky Way is clearly visible as there is no light pollution here.  I try to take a photo of the stars with the correct setting on the camera but the movement of the boat makes this impossible.

Photo:  Searching for shooting stars

 Photo:  Acting silly has no age limit!

Eventually I leave Johanne alone on the bow to go and write my blog.  Typically, as soon as I do this, a huge shooting star streaks across the sky.  Ah well, there’s always tomorrow!