Guadeloupe (1 to 9 May) On the 1st of May we sailed in 8 hours, close-hauled from Montserrat to Deshaies on Guadeloupe. This island is so large and high that the wind dropped completely when we sailed into the lee of the island. Guadeloupe is French and Deshaies is a small village, which looked very peaceful in the late afternoon sun. Most of the people were very friendly. We rented a car and explored the island. Guadeloupe actually consists of two islands, which are interconnected by bridges across the Rivière Salée. The western island, Basse Terre, is mountainous (thus not very "basse" actually) and covered with tropical rainforest. The eastern island, Grande Terre, consists of lowlands and rolly hills, covered with sugarcane fields and green pastures. The first day we drove around Basse Terre. A winding road runs along the entire coast of the island, which passes small villages along the way. The central and highest part of the island has been made into a national park. There are excellent hikes to several waterfalls and the Soufrière volcano, which is what we did. We walked through the rainforest, following a beautiful path with hanging bridges across the river, to the second waterfall of the Carbet river in the southeast of Basse Terre. It appeared that this rainforest had even higher trees, more flowers and birds than we had seen until then. We saw a lot of heliconia’s or wild plantain flowers. These flowers collect rain water for birds and tree frogs. The waterfall was coming down from a high altitude and was very impressive. I saw a humming bird, which I hadn’t seen for a long time. On the way to Deshaies, we missed the turn-off and, to our surprise, got stuck in a traffic jam just outside Point-à-Pitre on Grande Terre. We had not expected to get into rush-our traffic jams in the Caribbean. That evening we went out for dinner at "La Table du Poisson Rouge", a hotel/restaurant, which was located in a beautiful tropical setting with a view over the bay. An artist and her husband manage it. It looks wonderful. She decorated the place with her paintings and painted the tables in a nice design. She paints during the week and only cooks in the weekends. The dinner, a set three-course menu, was delicious. Perhaps, this is also something I could do later. The next morning we drove to Point-à-Pitre, to visit the Saturday market. It was very crowded. After some driving around in the centre we were lucky to find a parking spot. I had seen a nice picture of a spice market under shady trees on a picture postcard, and wanted to find this place. They told us this market did not exist anymore. (Later, we saw exactly the same picture postcard in Martinique!) There was a spice market in a large covered hall, which was rather touristy. It was nice to see that some women were wearing traditional dress with white lace and cotton and madras checkered fabrics (these used to be made in Guadeloupe but are nowadays imported from India). I wanted to take some pictures, but they did not like it, until I bought some spices. Maybe I should have bought some spices first and then take pictures. There was also a flower market, where they were selling tropical flowers. Afterwards, we drove the "Route de la Traversée", which runs right through the middle of the national park. We did some more hiking through the rainforest. In a botanical park we learned that many of the flowers in Guadeloupe originally came from Malaysia. That Sunday we explored Grande Terre. When we left Deshaies in the morning, we just saw everyone coming out of the church wearing their best dress, the women again in local dress. On Grande Terre we drove to rum distillery "Damoiseau" passing through "Les Grands Fonds". This is an area with rolling hills and valleys, which were probably formed by erosion of limestone, much like the "Downs" in South England. There are beautiful houses in this area, most of them with a nice view into a valley. There are green meadows, with grazing cows, ponds and trees. We chatted with a Parisian, who moved here a few years ago. The last part we drove through sugarcane fields and everywhere on the road we saw trucks loaded with sugarcane. The distillery was closed, but we could visit the mill. The sugarcane is squeezed in between spinning vertical cylinders, which are driven by the windmill. The juice is then collected and processed. In the afternoon we went to the beach at St. Anne. This is a beautiful white sand beach, fringed with palm trees along crystal clear turquoise blue water, which is protected by a reef. The day after we sailed along the west coast of the island, the lee side, to Pigeon Island and snorkelled around. Jacques Cousteau had made this dive site, the best of Guadeloupe, into a national park. We saw lots of squid, and beautiful sponges and corals. The next day we wanted to clear customs in Basse Terre, but unfortunately they were closed, because it was Ascension Day. We took the opportunity to have lunch at a lovely little restaurant overlooking the marina. We needed to get some cash, because the restaurant owner told us that this was not possible at Les Saintes, islands just south of Guadeloupe, where we were heading. He offered us a ride, as he had to get more ice. He was from Paris and lived with his family in Greece and the UK, and had moved a few years ago to Guadeloupe. My French had come back this week, and we had a nice conversation about Guadeloupe, how they liked it here and about the island’s economy. It appears that France is sending less money every year and that the economy of the island is in a slump. The income generated by the relatively small sugarcane, banana, coffee and cocoa plantations, is not enough. Their main source of income is the tourist industry, and especially this year there had not been many tourists. Apart from that, there has always been a love-hate relationship between the local people and the tourists. Because we could not clear customs, we decided to sail to Les Saintes first and to return a few days later to Basse Terre to do so. After all, it was only 9 miles. Les Saintes (9 to 14 May) After sailing close- hauled for two hours we arrived at the bay of Bourg des Saintes, a picturesque fishing village on Terre d’en Haut, one of the Saintes. The story goes that fishermen from Brittany settled here long ago. As there have not been plantations on these islands, they have not been affected by slavery. The next day we went ashore with beautiful weather. When we got out of our dinghy, we met another Dutch couple, Bart and Annemieke, and had a chat. We decided to have breakfast together, and they bought us nice croissants and other goodies. It was very nice. It turned out that they just got married and that this was their honeymoon. They were chartering a boat and would also sail to the South. We thought our paths would cross several times, but this only happened once more in Martinique, just before they left. We notice that we go a lot slower now that we sail around in our own boat, than when we were chartering boats. Then the emphasis was more on the sailing and has shifted now to exploring the islands. Bourg des Saintes is a nice village full of small boutiques. There was e.g. a sailor, who became an artist and now designed cloths and hand painted them in bright, mainly blue-green colours, to sell them, together with his Brasilian wife. For me another nice idea of what to do next. On Terre d’en Haut we walked to Baie de Pompière, where we had the entire beach to ourselves at 4:30 pm. We also walked up to Fort Napoleon, where we saw old ships models and had a great view over the bay of Bourg des Saintes. There were many curious iguanas in the gardens around the fort, which approached us to look at us and we looked at them. We also saw many humming birds on the way, but I could not film them, because they were so fast. We went at anchor at Îlet Cabrit for a different view. This anchorage was nice and quiet. At a certain moment fishermen arrived in a small boat, who tried to catch some fish with a snorkeler and a net. It seemed that it was the snorkeler’s job to chase the fish into the net. This was done with some upheaval and without a lot of success. When it was quiet again, we went snorkelling. It was very nice with ochre and deep red sponges, corals, anemones and lots of small, colourful fish. We saw a young angelfish, a moray eel and just above the sand we saw flying gurnards. These fish are 30 cm long and look very impressive when they spread their wings (but they cannot fly). Then we sailed back to Basse Terre on Guadeloupe to clear customs. A strong wind with gusts up to 32 knots was blowing from the East. We arrived early in Basse Terre on a broad reach, so that we had plenty of time to clear out and then we sailed back to Les Saintes. Luckily the wind dropped somewhat, because now we had to sail close-hauled. In the evening we met Nick and Gertrud on board the "Tartufo" for the first time. We spoke to them earlier on the SSB radio (Each morning between 8 and 8:30 all sailors in the Caribbean try to contact each other on the SSB on 8104 KHz). They would also sail to Dominica the next day. Dominica (14 to 20 May) After a three hours close-hauled sail, with a reefed mainsail and genoa, we arrived in Portsmouth, the most northerly anchorage in Dominica, and anchored next to Tartufo. A boat boy or vendor approached us, as soon as the anchor was set. Apparently, some years ago, sailors would be hassled here by several boat boys, local boys in small, wooden fishing boats. They would come alongside in a rough manner, to sell all kinds of goods and services. There was usually a lot of competition between them, such that the boat owner did not know what to do anymore or whom to talk to. Nowadays this is all better organised. A number of boat boys is a member of the River Taxi Association and they take turns to provide you services, like organise taxi tours around the island, boat trips, selling fruit, bread and do your laundry. We hung our fenders over the railing, to protect our hull, but it wasn’t really necessary, as they were very careful. While we had Nick en Gertrud over for drinks, Jeffrey came to see us. We decided to go on a boat trip on the Indian River with the four of us. That night it rained cats and dogs. Dominica is known for this, and is often called the rainbow island. In the early morning it was dry again and we hoped to get nice weather. Jeffrey picked us up right on time, and brought us to the mouth of the Indian River. There we stepped into another boat, in which Andrew was going to row us up the river. It was a very nice tour through a mangrove forest. We saw big crabs, blue herons with a nest and flowers. After rowing us quite a distance up stream, Andrew stopped at a café in the forest, which was closed that day. The rain just started to pour down again. Andrew collected the water in plastic containers, so that the restaurant had some water to wash the dishes. Afterwards, he made us a kingfisher and a fish out of palm leafs. Rowing down the river on the way back, was a lot easier, now that the river was running fast due to the rain. We arrived cold and wet at the river mouth and drank a warm cup of coffee together, before we went back to the boat. We were so cold, that we switched our heater on, imagine that in the tropics! (We have to do this every month anyhow, because it is better for the heater). The next day the four of us had a fantastic tour around the island guided by Winston. Leaving Portsmouth we first made a small detour, because Winston wanted to show us the house where he was born. This was a small hut on short stilts with a corrugated plate roof, measuring barely 2 by 3 metres. Many Dominicans live this way. Dominica has been independent since 1978 and has been so unfortunate that a lot was destroyed by a hurricane in 1979. The people are poor, but very friendly. We drove along the Atlantic coast passing endless banana and coconut plantations. The banana industry formed the main source of income of the island until recently. But unfortunately, they could not compete with the other countries, which are able to produce bananas in a cheaper way. We stopped in the Carib Territory, an Indian reserve, the only place in the Caribbean, where the "original" Carib Indians still live. The Caribs were not the first settlers of the Caribbean islands. They came after the Ciboney and Arawak Indians. All these Indians came from South America, and crossed the waters island hopping in their small boats from Venezuela to the North. The features of the Carib Indians are very different from the rest of the population. They were selling hand woven baskets and woodcarvings along the road. Again we saw magnificent waterfalls, the Emerald Pool and Milton Falls. Especially the trip to the Milton Falls in the Syndicate Forest was spectacular. We had to pass through a plantation with all kinds of fruit trees first in order to get there. Then we had to follow a path along and through the river to get to the waterfall. We had to take our shoes of, because we had to cross the river twice. It was funny to feel the mud squeeze through your toes. The waterfall itself was also worth it. It was great to be accompanied by such a good guide. He knew a lot and told us everything about the different plants and trees. He learned this from his grandmother, who often used to send him into the "bush" to collect certain plants. He picked lemongrass, pachouli, oregano and leafs for herbal tea for us, and showed us coffee plants and cocoa, cinnamon and nutmeg trees. He picked a whole stalk of bananas, passion fruits and grapefruits for us. The bananas were particularly tasty. As we had already bought bananas from some boat vendors, we ended up with a whole pile of bananas, which we had to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Jeff brought us back to our boats in the evening, and we had drinks on board the Tartufo. Jeff promised to bring us a breadfruit, cooked in a fire. He brought this the following morning. We ate it cooked and fried with fruit. It was tasty and tremendously filling, so we could not eat much else that day. Captain Bleigh (of the Mutiny of the Bounty) imported the breadfruit tree from Polynesia into the Caribbean to serve as food for the slaves. Walking through Portmouth we were approached by a lady called Judith. She invited us to come to her home. Her house was also barely 2 by 3 metres, divided in a living room with an old bordeaux red sofa and 2 chairs, and a bedroom behind it with a mattress on the floor. She said that she could cook for us that evening, but we had planned to sail on that day. She gave us a picture postcard to remind us of our visit and she did not want anything in return. We felt a bit uneasy because of it. This was someone so poor, and yet so giving. We both were sad to leave, as we had had a good time here and we also made friends with some of the Dominicans. Together with Tartufo we sailed down to an anchorage at the Castaways Hotel, about halfway the lee side of Dominica. The wind was coming out of all directions, was occasionally very gusty and dropped completely at other times. We stayed another two days, whereas Tartufo continued to sail to the South. One day we spent reading a book on the black sand beach and the next day we went with a guide to the boiling sulphur springs and the Trafalgar Falls in the vicinity of Soufrière. We went for a swim in the refreshing, fast running water in the Titou Gorge. We thought Dominica was one of the most beautiful, unspoiled islands we had seen. Martinique (20 to 31 May) Upon rounding the southern tip of Dominica we got into high seas and wind gusts, which was a bit unpleasant, as we had to sail close-hauled. Somewhat later it got better as we could sail on a beam reach. We anchored off St. Pierre in the north of Martinique. St. Barth, Guadeloupe, Les Saintes and Martinique are French islands and one can clearly notice this. The food on these islands is great, and the islands are more touristy and economically more developed than the islands, which used to be British colonies. St. Pierre is a typical French town at the foot of the Mt. Pelée volcano. It once used to be a flourishing town, surrounded by rich plantations. It was called the Paris of the Caribbean until the volcano erupted in 1902. The town was destroyed, and there were only two survivors, a cobbler and a prisoner. We walked to the DePaz rum distillery, which lies on a beautiful estate just outside the town. The pressing of the sugarcane is driven by a steam engine. We also went to Ceron, an old sugarcane plantation. There were only some ruins left, but we could still see how the process of making sugar used to be. The surrounding gardens were very pretty. On May 22nd we saw the celebration of the abolition of slavery. That day the streets of St. Pierre were filled with parades with drum music, songs and burning torches at night. In this atmosphere you could imagine a little bit how it must have been in those days. During our sail down to Anse Mitan we had a lot of squalls with wind gusts. When we arrived we saw Nick en Gertrud on Tartufo. We thought Anse Mitan was very touristy. At night we had a pizza ashore and exchanged sail experiences with Kitty and Donn, who we met earlier in St. Pierre. Afterwards we had a drink and listened to more drum music on the beach. From the 23rd to the 25th of May we were anchored at Grande Anse d’Arlet. The 24th of May, my dad’s birthday, and the 25th of May, the day that he died last year, were two very special days for me. The weather was beautiful and it was an extremely clear night and day. This was rather special, as we had seen lots of clouds and rain the week before. I heard later that there had been a socalled "green flash" that day at sunset. This phenomenon only occurs on a very clear day, when the sun has just disappeared below the horizon. We hiked from Grande Anse d’Arlet to Petit Anse d’Arlet, a small fishing village. We had to beat to windward to sail to St.Anne on the south side of Martinique. We were invited by Ria en John aboard the "Queen of Hearts", a Dutch couple living in Brasil, who we met for the first time in St. Pierre. The next day, when we entered Marin, we met Tartufo again, and we had Nick and Gertrud over for dinner. That same day, Marcel met Bart by coincidence, and Bart and Annemieke also dropped by to visit us. It was very nice to meet up with all of them again. The day after, we rented a car and visited the Jardin Balata with the four of us. These gardens are beautifully designed with many tropical plants. We saw many hummingbirds, which we finally caught on film. It was a pity that Bart en Annemieke had to fly back to Holland that evening. St. Lucia (31 May to 4 June) We arrived in Rodney Bay on St. Lucia after a lovely sail on a beam reach with 10 to 18 knots of wind. Everything was closed early, so we decided to anchor near Pigeon Island. This used to be a British naval base in the 19th century. The next morning we wandered around the historical park and sailed to Marigot Bay in the afternoon. This idyllic bay is surrounded by mangrove swamp and a palm beach. Just before we dropped our anchor, two boat vendors started to yell at us and to each other, to get our attention. Because we stayed calm, they soon left us in peace. We also bought some bananas, avocados and limes from them, which cheered everyone up again. The next day we wanted to anchor in between the Pitons, two volcanic cones, which withstood erosion, and are typical of St. Lucia. The mooring buoys there were all taken, and the boat boys were so pushy that we decided to anchor in Anse Chastenet. On the way there we heard a noise under the boat near the propeller, and the entire boat started to shake. And we stopped completely. Marcel put the gear in reverse and then, luckily everything was back to normal again. It was a bit scary, if you are so close to the coast without any sails and you can’t use your motor. Later I saw pieces of plywood drifting in the water, or maybe it was a rope. Marcel checked the propeller at anchor, and everything looked fine. The anchorage at Anse Chastanet was very rolly. The next morning we arrived early at the Pitons so that we could take a mooring buoy. From here we (hitch)hiked to the so-called drive-in volcano. A guide told us that Soufrière, a town name used on every island, comes from "Sulfur in the air", which we really could smell here. It was an impressive site, a white-yellow slope with boiling, black mud pits and steam clouds, smelling of sulphur. The guide assured us that we would become 10 years younger, now that we walked around in sulphur vapours. So we asked him how old he was. There were also a mud bath and a hot water bath. From there we hitchhiked with Urs and Nene from New York to the Diamond Falls and the botanical garden. The falls were nice and the garden was very pretty. That evening we went for a great Italian buffet dinner ashore. During the night, the wind was very strong, funnelling through the Pitons, and in the morning our dinghy was up side down again. Marcel had to take the outboard motor apart again, clean and flush it with fresh water, and put it back together again. He was so experienced now, that we could still leave for St. Vincent that day at eleven o’clock in the morning.