The last couple of weeks we have focused on two things: looking for kiting wind and getting down to St. Lucia where we were picking up our friend, Al.
The result is that we have spent a good amount of time making southern progress but I don’t have a lot of photos to show.
We managed to have a couple of great kiting days off Green Island in Antigua before the winds slacked off a bit and we began sailing south.
Hunter does a melon 180
Frank looking casual as he rides.
From Antigua we sailed to Guadeloupe where we stopped overnight in Deshaies. We first visited this quaint fishing village in June but this time we only stayed one night. It was fun to share it with Hunter and have him experience a bit of French culture.
Next we scooted down the coast to visit Vieux Habitants, Guadeloupe where we had heard of a beautiful hike that started near a coffee plantation and ended at a waterfall. Unfortunately, between our unspecific knowledge and our poor French, we wandered most of the day and never found the hike.
Still, we enjoyed the day as I had a chance to practice butchering my high school French and we had a picnic on the lawn of a pretty bed and breakfast on the edge of the river.
Sailing south on the western coast of Guadeloupe took us past the Pitons. I would have loved to stop, but it wasn’t part of our plan this trip.
The area looks absolutely beautiful, but I must say that the aggressiveness of the ‘boat boys’ makes me much less interested in going to The Pitons.
As we were sailing past the area, two boats zoomed toward us and tried to convince us to follow them to their mooring balls inside the anchorage. Neither accepted our “no” and they brought their boats way too close to LIB for my tastes! This was less than pleasant and is making me reconsider stopping on our way north. I will have to do some reading before I decide if I will stop when we work our way north again.
Anyone want to offer advice or opinions and/or experiences at The Pitons?
Regardless of that experience, you can see the area looks fabulous!
Iles des Saintes was the next stop. We had a very pleasant sail to Bourg des Saints on Terre D’en Haut.
Guadeloupe is easy to see on a clear day.
The anchorage was very pretty and on clear days Guadeloupe looked close enough to be just a long swim away…. Ok, that might be an exaggeration, but it did look close!
The anchorage itself was charming and the dinghy dock one of the best we have seen in the Caribbean.
Frank and Hunter tried to kite, but the wind was too light. So we spent a day tooling around Terre D’en Haut in an electric car/golf cart.
The views from so many places were so pretty it’s tempting to post too many photos…
LIB in the foreground.
A prettier picture of Bourg des Saintes.
Cappy loved being free among the trees.
This stand of trees right by the ocean was shady and peaceful and I could have stayed here for hours just absorbing the serenity of it.
A colorful local.
We also visited Fort Napoleon which was built in 1867. The fort is well restored and held an eclectic assortment of displays. We began our tour too close to the lunch hour as the closing bells rang not long into our visit. I especially enjoyed the models of old wooden ships and seeing the interior cross sections of what the ships held and how things were stored to balance the ship.
I’ll stick with Let It Be, her modern equipment and two engines, thank you!
We barely touched Iles des Saintes and I really hope we will stop for a week or so on our return north, but this trip we wanted to skip on down to St. Lucia so we could accomplish a few boat projects, re-provision and prepare for some guests to arrive.
Arrival in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia marked our first Windward Island as opposed to one of the Leeward Islands. Once again we experienced only a fragment of St. Lucia as we only afforded ourselves of the conveniences offered such as laundry, groceries, chandleries and restaurants. This stop was more of an opportunity to repair and prepare than explore.
Hunter continued to spend a good portion of each day programming, since that is his job. Frank and I set to work cleaning, crossing off maintenance items and generally preparing LIB for visitors.
The best part of our stay in St. Lucia was meeting up with David and Amy of Starry Horizons. You may have already seen the beautiful pictures David and Amy took for us as we left?! Kind of makes us want a drone too.
LIB heading south to Vieux Fort, St. Lucia.
LIB on the left and Starry Horizons on the right.
A rare photo of Frank, me and Hunter.
David and Amy, these excellent pictures are much appreciated.
Starry Horizon and crew.
We had a chance to have dinner and catch up with Amy and David because of their incredible willingness to accommodate our schedule! Our time with them went much too quickly and Amy and I have since exchanged texts saying, “wait, I forgot to ask ….” or “Oh, I wanted to look at this on your boat…”
I just cannot tell you how much I enjoy the company of the two people and how hard it is to know that from here forward our Helias will take us in opposite directions!
SH looks pretty in the fresh morning light.
I have every confidence that Amy and David will have an amazing journey on Starry Horizons and we will follow their blog, FB and videos faithfully! Happy, safe and fabulous journey you guys. Our love and prayers go with you!!!
Next stop Vieux Fort where we pick up Al Young, the first of our 3 kiters to arrive.
Sunset in Iles des Saintes
As always, thanks for reading our blog…. sorry the s-l-o-w internet has delayed my posts!
Ticket to Ride 