Guadeloupe: Snorkelling and Hiking with Susanne

We arrived to Guadeloupe on Valentine's Day just before dusk in to meet up with my sister Susanne. We anchored in the bay off the town of Deshaies and were just getting cleaned up from our day sail from Montserrat, when we heard shouting in English from the break wall. There stood Susanne calling and waving to us! A few minutes later, we were embracing her on the dinghy dock.

We easily checked into the country using the clearance kiosk in Le Pélican, a little clothing store. Within minutes, we were roaming along the streets of Deshaies, as the shops closed and the restaurants came alive. Being Valentine's Day, we were lucky to find a table in the packed restaurants, and shared a lovely French Creole meal.

Dining at L'Amer on Valentine's Day

Guadeloupe is a fairly large island that is shaped like a butterfly. It is a départemente of France and has been under French control since 1816. It has many mountainous areas and gorgeous beaches. To its south, Guadeloupe includes a small group of islands called Iles des Saintes and the island of Marie-Galante. We were excited to visit the island and enjoy the sea life, along with the French Creole cuisine. We also wanted to practice our French a bit.

Our stores were running low, and we were eager to provision in the large supermarchés in Guadeloupe. Our usual practice of doing a big shop is to fill the cart, and then load ourselves up like donkeys and trek back to the dinghy. Susanne still had her rental car for another full day, so we took full advantage of her wheels to go to the big Super U. I was overwhelmed with the choice of wonderful fresh foods including French cheeses, breads, and gluten free items including puff pastry!

Simon helping chop vegetables for dinner

Using gluten free puff pastry to make "pigs in a blanket"

New recipe!

Once we were stocked up again and Susanne moved aboard, we headed south along the west coast of Guadeloupe to Pigeon Island and the Cousteau Underwater Park. There is some of the best snorkelling in this part of the Caribbean, and we were eager to spend some days in the sea. Along with several other yachts, kayaks, and dive boats, we picked up one of the day moorings in the marine park. The kids slid into the water and were soon squealing through their snorkels as they spotted scads of fish and coral. A great day at the park, you might say.

Sailing with Auntie Susie

Simon in between swims (taken by Susanne Litke)

Braids for Wavey courtesy of Auntie Susie

Sunset in Guadeloupe (taken by Susanne Litke) 

School of blue tang (taken by Susanne Litke)

Coral (taken by Susanne Litke)

Wavey exploring (taken by Susanne Litke)

Simon's underwater photo of the bottom of a glass bottomed tour boat

Simon's snorkelling selfie

Sunset and green flash? (Photo taken by Simon)

After several hours we left the island and motored less than a mile over to the mainland, and anchored off the small town of Malendure. Lots of boats were anchored nearby with a view of two beaches filled with swimmers and snorkellers. We continued to swim off the boat and snorkel our way to the beach. We were delighted to find several green sea turtles chomping at the sea grass around our boat. We spent hours swimming with them as they ate and surfaced. They are beautiful and majestic creatures. Susanne took the great video below of Wavey swimming with the turtle.

Green sea turtle (taken by Susanne Litke)

Green turtle coming to the surface (photo taken by Simon)

Swimming with the turtles (taken by Simon)

After another day of basking in the sea life in the marine park, we continued south to Basseterre, the capital of Guadeloupe.  We stayed at a marina for a couple of nights, which felt strange as we had not been at a dock for the night since Halifax. It was great to have access to internet, unlimited fresh water, and the best part: lots of kid boats!

Wavey, Simon and Sasha in Basseterre, 

Within a few hours at the dock, Simon and Wavey had made a new friend and disappeared on a French boat three boats down. It wasn't long until all three of them emerged and came over to build Lego on Nahanni V. Their new friend Sasha only spoke French, and it was wonderful to hear the kids chatting en Français. The following day, there were more kids that gathered together. When I came back around noon with bread from the local boulangerie, I was attacked by four children led by Simon and Wavey, who snatched away my baguette and munched it down as they ran down the dock.

Playing Lego on Nahanni V with Sasha

Lego joy!

Later that day, we went for a three hour hike with families from two other boats: Sasha and his parents Gwen and Damien on Anouki, and Sebastian and Lily with parents Mike and Kiley on Slice of Life. The kids were blissed out running with their peers. We enjoyed contact with other parents comparing our experiences cruising with kids.

Kids playing with some goats at the top of the hill

Sasha and his Dad observing the goats

Wavey, Mike, Gwen, Lily, Damien, Sebastian, Simon and Sasha watching the goats

One night, we also got to know a man named Mikael-Ange who was on a boat down the dock from us. He kindly helped us get into a packed restaurant despite the fact it was getting late in the evening. He joined us for the meal and helped us with our French and told a few sailing  yarns. (Unfortunately as the night went on, Wavey could not keep her eyes open.)

Dinner out with Mikael-Ange

It was hard to drag the kids away from Basseterre and the freedom of having easy access to other kids. After many goodbyes, we sailed south to Les Saintes (or The Saints.) These islands are very pretty with lots of little anchorages, a quaint town and lots of visiting yachts. We picked up a mooring (€10 a night) for a few nights, and spent our time swimming, playing games and hiking.

Sailing to Iles des Saintes

Crew on deck

Exploring the town in Terre-de-Haute

Street scene in Terre-de-Haut

Nahanni V in anchorage

Pain-a-Sucre where we anchored

Hiking to Fort Napoleon

Simon at the fort

During our visit with Susanne, the kids frequently woke her early to play games. I often awoke to the slap of cards in SkipBo or the yells of Dutch Blitz. The day often ended with a few more games before bed. After the kids were in bed, us sisters would crack open the wine and the Scrabble board (with the Canadian Oxford Dictionary of course,) and battle our words until we could keep our eyes open no longer.

Fierce game of Dutch Blitz

Our plan was to visit several other anchorages in the south of Guadeloupe, but the weather was forecasted to bring stronger winds, so we opted to head north along the west coast. We spent another night in Malendure and in Deshaies, before getting ready to sail north to Antigua to meet John's Dad and Stepmom, Bob and Carol. Susanne was game for the ride north, and was added to our crew list as we checked out of Guadeloupe (in the same little clothing store) on the last day of February.

Unfortunately, the passage was on the rough side, as we beat into 20-30 knots of wind (with gusts to 40), and waves breaking over the deck. We all hunkered down in the cockpit for most of the 15 hour passage, as we pounded through 2-3 metre seas and swallowed some Gravol. (No one was in the mood to snap photos this day!)

The Skipper and I were the only ones awake prior to midnight as we approached English Harbour in Antigua. Everyone woke when we entered the channel in the dark and found a place in the Nelson's Dockyard anchorage crammed with boats. By 1:00 am, I was feeding an omelette to a tired and hungry crew, who retreated to their beds soon after. As we had not yet fixed the leak in the kids' bunk (we now know where it is coming in), they slept in the nest to avoid their salty, wet forward cabin.

John and I spent considerable time in Antigua in February 2002 after our challenging passage from Halifax in late 2001. We spent weeks here completing repairs and getting used to the cruising lifestyle. Fifteen years later in the historic Nelson's Dockyard, it was fun to see it hadn't changed too much. The harbour was filled with many mega yachts and classic racing boats; there was even a boat anchored in the bay close to us that was there in 2002. We don't think it had moved since then.

John walking by the old sail loft in Nelson's Dockyard

In our last two days on Antigua with Susanne, we recovered from the passage with a day at the beach and more games. With Susanne's help, the kids put on a show called The Deboaters (spun off The Debater's comedy show on CBC Radio) on our final night together. The kids had us in stitches as they debated hard vs. inflatable dinghies, fast food options, and polyester vs. cotton towels.

There were some tears as we said goodbye to Auntie Susie, and bid her happy travels to other Caribbean adventures.

Au revoir Auntie Susie!