Reverse It

"So much time and so little to do.  Stop that.  Reverse it." - Willy Wonka.

We are reversing course, heading north to Antigua.  That includes visiting some of the places we did on the way down, specifically Iles Saintes and Pigeon Island in Guadalupe.  However, this time we took the opportunity to do things we didn't do the first time.

We took a little time in Dominica for some rest and relaxation.  We didn't even take the dinghy off the deck (to Kala's slight dismay but she wasn't too fussed.)  Customs was closed and after our encounter with THE vet on the island the first time who was pretty much an egomaniac and made importing Kala as difficult as possible, we decided we would rather just not even deal with the potential issues.  We took the time to bend the staysail back on the furler, work on the port fuel tank, and buy fresh veggies from the Mango Man (who comes to your boat selling fruit.)

We pulled up our anchor and headed to Iles Saintes, reefed down due to our experience from Martinique to Dominica, we did not want to get caught off guard by an enhanced +15 kt gust.  It turned out to be a fantastic sail with reefs unfurled!

As we were going through the pass we were hailed by our friends Paul and Chris on SV Georgia who are heading south.  Their beautiful Outbound looked great under full sail as they passed through Passe de Dames - a narrow but very fun pass between shoals.  They are sailing in the opposite direction but we hope one day our paths will cross again.  You never know…

Speaking of friends, we were also able to spend time with John and Jen aboard Sv Aeeshah (which translates to "Living Life" or "Alive and Well" in Swahili) who we met on our hikes in St Maarten.  It was great catching up with them and we wish we could have spent more time.  We snorkeled at Pain du Sucre and the clarity of the water was amazing.  We've heard there are dolphins who swim with the snorkelers there, but they must have been on another play date.  Sorry to have missed them.

The next day was on to Pigeon Island, Guadeloupe where we took a dinghy trip to the Cousteau National Park for more snorkeling.  Jacques Cousteau said that this place was one of his favorite and best places to snorkel in the world so the french named the park after him. It was great but on the chilly side so we stayed for about an hour and a half and then headed back to the boat to get ready for our trip to Antigua, which included a sundowner with the last of our Rhum Agricole and then dinghy on deck.

Looking for dolphins to play with at Pain du Sucre (Sweet Bread)

Beautiful French churches

John and Jen, SV Aeeshah - great company to watch for flash vert.

Moored in Cousteau National Park.

I called him my "tie-dyed unicorn."  I've never seen his colors and he had a fin on top of his head.

Very big and cool tubes.