Dehaies, Guadalupe

Sailing, sailing...

Yes, I cut my hair!  No more hair blowing in the eyes and mouth.  Short hair on a boat is the way to go.  Plus you use little water when shampooing, always a concern.  In the photo we are about 10 nautical miles from Guadalupe.  On Friday morning, we (Celtic Rover, Alibi, Bella Blue and Wayward Wind) passed under the Dutch bridge at the 9:00 opening at Simpson Bay Lagoon, St. Martin, where we'd spent the past several days at anchor.  It was a bouncy sail with five and six foot seas and 20 to 25 knot winds for the first 10 hours or so.  Not exactly relaxing.  Celtic Rover and Bella Blue chose to stop and anchor at the south end of St. Kitts until 2:00am to wait for the seas and wind to calm a bit and to attend to some minor repair.  Alibi and Wayward Wind decided to press on as we thought that things would calm somewhat after sunset, which they did.

Heeling as we approach Guadalupe

We had a wonderful sail only needing to turn on the motor for three hours as we passed Montserrat as the winds were fluky.  Clouds and smoke surrounding the peak of the volcano on Montserrat were eerily beautiful in the moonlight.  The clouds dropped rain on us twice here, but nothing major. 

Dehaies, Guadalupe

Twenty-seven hours later, we sailed into Dehaies, Guadalupe arriving on Saturday morning at 11:45.  The small bay surrounded by lush mountains with a quaint town at the base is picture perfect.  Guadalupe is a department of France so has that lovely French atmosphere.  The French seem to be relaxed about clearing customs as it took us about 10 minutes at the computer and cost a grand total of $5.00.  (Much better that the formality and $300 of the Bahamas.)   This time we only had five things break, but we hope we can fix them all.  None of them are things that would keep us from moving on. 

Today six of us went for an incredible hike up a rock-strewn small river beneath a canopy of green.  It was lovely.  We stopped along the way several times to dip in the pools.  So refreshing.  Dave, nick-named "The Mountain Goat," was usually up front hopping from rock to rock.  We were hoping to get to a waterfall but didn't quite make it.  We'll have to come back.



Linda, Darrell and Dave

After we cleaned up, we visited our buddies aboard Celtic Rover.  It's always fun to get together with our friends.  It's also interesting to see other people's boats - how they're configured and how people have set things up.  We talk about our trials and find out if anyone has a certain shackle or tool that could be borrowed.  We tell about our pasts and dreams for the future.  It's good to commiserate.  We talk about the next weather window, when we might leave this place and where the next port might be.  We whine.  We laugh.  And we sure eat well.

Jan, Kim and Ann aboard Celtic Rover



And the guys, Darrell, Bruce and Dave (Scott is behind Dave)

Three dinghies at one boat...a sure sign of a sundowner taking place