Sailing Terrapin

Having spent a great time in Antigua, we looked forward to our next adventure with Molly’s Mom and sister, Lauri.

We had an amazing sail to Deshaies (pronounced Day-Ay), Guadeloupe with 15 knots on the beam and flat seas. Terrapin cruised along at 6.5 knots. Surprisingly enough, when we arrived, we found a relatively good place to anchor in 38 feet. We put the dinghy in the water and headed to check-in. The clothing store where you check-in to Guadeloupe (gotta love the French islands) was closed for the afternoon siesta and at 3pm, I was second in line ready to go. Unfortunately, the guy in front of me was 1) Not used to a French keyboard, and not a typist at all 2) on a chartered boat with 7 other people 3) Not used to checking in to a foreign country. He took 54 minutes to check in and the five germans behind me were very frustrated. Thankfully, I was able to finish my paperwork in four minutes.

The next day Baxter noticed that a shackle on the boom that holds the main sheet had broken completely off it’s weld. Deshaies is NOT the place to get your boat fixed. So, we took a two-hour bus ride (30 miles) to Pointe-a-Pitre to find a chandlerie that might know of a welder (we learned welder in French, “Une soudure”). It was a crazy adventure but we finally accomplished our mission and took another two-hour bus ride back to Deshaies. Baxter reinstalled the shackle in less than 5 minutes and we were off to ask Kala’s forgiveness for leaving her by herself all day by taking her for a beach surf/swim session.

Molly’s Mom and Lauri arrived in Deshaies the next morning. Neither had been to Terrapin before so we spent the next couple hours on orientation and safety. Then the heat of the afternoon gave us a good reason to show Lauri the nice reef and her first snorkel from the dinghy.

We continued to give them a tour-de-Guadeloupe including more snorkeling at Malendure Beach and the Jacques Cousteau Marine Park. The snorkeling there has to be in the top five sites in the world. You can see clearly to the bottom in 70 feet of water– similar to what I imagine it would be like in a fish bowl.

One of our favorite places in Guadeloupe is Iles des Saintes so that was our next stop. We hiked Fort Josephine, walked around town, and had a great time watching boats come and go. Alas, it was time for Mom and Lauri to head back. They decided to continue the adventure by taking a ferry to Trois Rivieres for a night in a hotel with hot showers and a room with freezing cold air conditioners before their flight home to Florida.

Baxter and I will continue to head south and look forward to our next guests arriving the first week of February.