Guadeloupe 16*18.394N 061.47.818W (Updated)

Olivia's Watch


Flying to Guadeloupe at 8.1 knots



The village of Deshaies, Guadeloupe

We were able to leave Antigua on Sunday and were fortunate to have a terrific sail for 42 miles straight south to the French island of Guadeloupe. We had previously has Exodo running at a top speed of 7.7 knots but on this leg, that seemed to be her average! She topped out once or twice at 8.3 knots, but I only had the camera in my hand at 8.1. We arrived at a small picturesque fishing village on the northwest corner of Guadeloupe called Deshaies (Day-hay). According to the cruising guide, this would be our first point of access to clear customs and immigration. Each time we arrive at an island that is a different country than the last one we just left, we must "check in" which means clearing customs and immigration for that country. This involves hoisting a yellow quarantine flag ("Q flag") until you have cleared customs, and then replacing the Q flag with the courtesy flag of that country. As it turned out, it was a national holiday in Guadeloupe that day, so everything was locked up tight, including customs. We spend a great afternoon strolling the streets of this pretty town before making the long trek south and then back up around the point of the island to Pointe a Pitre to meet our friends Liz and Ritchie. The sail down was entirely in the lee of the island so it was very quiet, long and uneventful and afforded us lots of time to stare into some of the bluest water I've ever seen. Once we rounded the southern tip and headed back up, it was a whole different ball game. The next 5 hours were spent dodging rain squalls (one with a water spout hanging down) and trying to sail into 6-8 foot seas with 20-28 knot winds on and off. Not much fun, but "what doesn't kill ya, makes ya stronger".

Once we arrived in Pointe A Pitre, we afforded ourselves a night at the marina and some shopping in town. Liz and Ritchie arrived to spend the week with us and we headed off for Les Saintes which is a small group of French Islands just 18 miles south of the main island of Guadeloupe. The largest of these small islands is called Terre de Haut and is the now my new favorite place. It is the quaintest, prettiest place I can ever recall being at and is the textbook image of what I always dreamed a little seaside village should be. Because we were there mid week and it's getting to the end of the tourist/cruising season, there were very few other tourists and it really felt like the whole island was there just to cater to us. We strolled the beautiful small European style streets, had some fantastic baguette sandwiches and the following day we rented scooters and really saw the island. Miss Olivia just squealed "weeeeeeee, this is fun!" the entire time. There are very few cars on the island and everyone gets around by scooters which is just perfect for the small concrete one lane roads. Part of this trek was a trip to Fort Napoleon high atop a hill on Terre de Haut. This fort has been impecably maintained and is full of the history of the island and the many battles that were fought over it - I only wish that I had retained more than 7 words from my high school french because all of the displays were in French. This fascinating fort is the first place I've ever been to that has an actual moat around it! The moat is now dry and has grass growing in the bottom of it, but it's incredible to be able to see the masonry that went into this place.

The icing on the cake of this ideal paradise is that whatever little private anchorage you are in for the night, a gentleman comes by in a dingy and takes your order for croissants and the most out of this world baguettes and then delivers them to your boat fresh at 8:00 am the next morning. There is nothing like coffee and fresh croissants in the cockpit for breakfast.


View of our boat and the anchorage in Les Saintes from a hill top.


Exploring ruins in Les Saintes


Mom's hair is already curly, so....



Sunset in Les Saintes