During our last days at Falmouth harbor we had a BBQ on the beach with the cruisers who were still waiting for the end of race week. It was a great night with Steve from s/v Music playing guitar and singing for us.
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| Steve from s/v Music |
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| A great beach BBQ |
We took our last walk into St John to visit the museum and do a last minute shop.
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| Devin outside the museum in St John |
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| A throw back to British rule |
The arrival of our great friends Steve and Joy on s/v Ocean Angel was fantastic and we got to spend a night together at the red hat party finale were we actually redeemed our tokens for red Mount Gay Race Week Hats. It was a well attended event with so many determined collectors and free rum drinks from mount gay as well as a steel pan band.We also had 2 sun downer sessions with Steve and Joy so it was a great few days of catching up.
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| Devin, Joy & Steve |
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| The steel pan band |
We of course had one more walk to complete before leaving as well, so we joined Hakan and Anna for a walk around the southern point of Falmouth Harbor. It was a energetic hike with s few stops to see an old abandoned house and scare the bats in residence. We also stopped to see a horse farm and the ponies they ride around Falmouth.
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| From the south of Falmouth Harbor |
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| A small pony |
We left Antigua for Deshaies to check into Guadeloupe for week or two. We toured the familiar town of Deshaies a bit before moving on to Pigeon Island about 10 miles south in a contrarian breeze.
We arrived with Nauti Dog who have been here before so they showed us the ropes entering the very small harbor and dinghy dock to visit the two supermarkets here. Then we snorkeled the northern edge of the anchorage and found lots of nice coral and lots of fish. Michael and Karen found lots of large turtles too! Michael and Devin scuba dove Pigeon Island going down to 120’ and enjoying the fish, lobster and coral of this wonderful national park dive site. Our last night here was very eventful with winds in the anchorage rising to over 40 knots and several boats dragging and colliding. No damage to Moosetracks or Nauti Dog but a very sleepless night on anchor watch.
We arrived at Les Saints after a brisk sail from Pigeon Island were we had E winds at around 30 knots and gusts much higher then sailed south into SW winds from 4-15 knots then rounding Guadeloupe we entered 30 knots from E and crossed tight on the wind to Les Saints. We anchored by Pain de Sucre in a lovely little bay that is very protected and calm, so all is well. There are a lot of cruisers here as the southern migration is well on its way. So many of our friends are here and as they no many walks on the islands here we get together for our initiation into Les Saints hiking. Our friends Hakan and Anna on s/v Unicorn led our first hike to the hills behind le Borg and lovely views over the island to the Atlantic.
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| Our first walk |
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| Great views over teh Atlantic |
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| A nice beach on our return |
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| Stopping at the local grocery store |
Our next hike is led by John and Jo from s/v Out of Africa to the steep hill behind Pain de Sucre and the lookout ruins on the summit. It was a strenuous route up but in the shade of small trees so quite cool for the summer heat.
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| Great views again |
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| The Sahara dust is showing more this week |
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| Inside the summit tower |
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| View of Le Bourg |
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| Note the airstrip |
Out of Africa are also famous for their beach BBQ’s so we enjoyed a few lovely evenings on the beach with friends from other boats here.
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| On the beach, Devin, Liz & David (Seas the Moment) |
We had a nice sun set on the hill behind the anchorage with John, Jo, David and Becky enjoying the short walk and the views over Les Saints.
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| The small shrine |
A huge surprise was the party called on Seas the Moment, we turned up to find it was a birthday celebration for Devin as Karen and heard he was 55 this week. It was a fantastic night with great company and wonderful music to dance the night away to. Yes their catamaran has a large salon were we could dance a little and so we did.
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| Devin on s/v Seas the Moment |
We had another walk up to Fort Napoleon on the hill overlooking the channel to Guadeloupe. It is in very good condition and well maintained. There is a lovely garden of cactus and local plants as well as a museum of the islands history. A had a very worthwhile few hours exploring this lovely site.
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| The lookout on the way to Fort Napoleon |
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| Jo, Becky, Claudia &Liz |
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| Fort Napoleon entrance and mote |
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| The museum inside |
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| The cactus garden |
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| View from the walls |
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| The courtyard |
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| The battery |
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| Nice views |
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| You can walk 360 degrees of wall |
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| Museum models |
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| Nice artworks too |
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| Kitchen utensils |
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| The fort kitchen |
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| The walk back through main street |
After a day of rest with water aerobics, we had another walk on Ilet de Cabrit to Fort Josephine, unfortunately this fort is in ruins and is only inhabited by goats and their farmers. We took pity on the goats and filled their water troughs for them as the heat was evaporating the water in there. The views from here were again wonderful.
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| An interesting tree growth |
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| Inside fort Josephine |
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| Filling the water troughs |
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| A lot of the fort is in ruins |
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| Devin, Cluadia, David,Ralph, Becky and Michael |
Well that's it from Iles de Saintes, we have had a fabulous time here again with lots of our cruising friends coming and going to make the stay so much more fun.
We hope all our friends are well and happy.
