'Jemm of the Sea II' Sailing Blog

 

Îles des Saintes

The passage from Dominica to Îles des Saintes is short. After just a few hours, we could spot the islands with the island of Guadeloupe in the background.

Îles des Saintes is a group of small islands in the archipelago of Guadeloupe and is divided into two communes: Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas. While Terre-de-Bas is more austere and less inhabited, Terre-de-Haut is much more picturesque and charming.

On the North-West side of the Terre-de-Haut, there are several mooring buoys owned and run by the local community. However, on our arrival, there was no one on duty to help us to pick up the mooring. After my several single-handed fruitless attempts, I was close to give up when two friendly boaties from a nearby vessel launched their dinghy and came to the rescue. Sure enough, once we were tied up, we had a very prompt visit from the mooring official to collect our mooring fees!

Anchors aweigh!  The next day, on January 31, 2020 we said goodbye to The Saints and set our sails for nearby Guadeloupe.

We docked at Marina Bas-du-Fort, a pretty busy place and very popular with cruisers. It is located a short distance from the town of Pointe-à-Pitre and there are number of restaurants, marine * personal service shops ,and supermarkets; just what an average boatie may need.

So after all, I was able to get my well overdue haircut (at last!)  and also re-provision our food supplies.

Speaking of food, if one thinks of the Caribbean and the French fusion, it does not come any better than that!

Just have a look and salivate!

We hung around Pointe-à-Pitre for three days and then had to say goodbye and sail away to the next adventure, Antigua!

We had to round around the Basse-Terre part of the island of Guadeloupe to get on our course towards Antigua.

While sailing North along the West coast of Guadeloupe, we spotted a nice anchorage, just North of Marigot and we decided to stop there for two nights.