Gorgeous Guadaloupe

I'm catching up with the blog at last and can't go on without a blog entry about our lovely time in gorgeous Guadeloupe in February (2nd to 16th February 2019).

On board sv Breeze - Polaroid Pic

We anchored firstly in Deshailes in the north of the island. It's the village where the TV series death in paradise is filmed - I've never actually seen it but many people love it. It's a picture perfect caribbean village, wooden shuttered houses painted in lovely pastels, lush green mountains framing it behind and palm trees and a stunning white sand beach coax you into shore. We had no idea that Moonlight Serenade, Loon and Escapade - 3 of our Buccaneer friends from our sail down from the US would be in the bay. It was so great to see them all.

Deshailes Church as seen on TV

Life in Paradise - perfect!

Deshailes - so pretty

Dinghy Dock arrival Deshailes

Deshailes

Oh the croissants!

This boat anchored on top of Loon - Bonjour are you coming for coffee the french Captain says in his full length robe!

Richard and Julie on Escapade had also arrived that day so we agreed to rent a car together and go exploring with a mission to find waterfalls. What an amazing day they planned, we drove right across the island to find a stunning national park area where there were supposed to be three waterfalls, unfortunately there was only one open but it was lovely and then we found an off the beaten track hike. It might have been a bit harder than we planned but wow it was fun, even though Richard got attacked by a fern. After the hike we drove to another set of falls for a dip to ease our aching muscles. Julie and I got to swim right under the fall - with the sunlight peeking through the rainforest canopy above it was just magical. We finished the day with a beer and a crepe on a lovely chilled out of the way beach full of locals relaxing after work.

Getting muddy with Julie and Richard

Waterfall tour of Guadeloupe

Seriously jungly

We made it!

To swim in the rain forest - what a treat!

Crepes at the Beach

So chilled in Guadeloupe

The following day Andrew and I went for a pretty nice dive in the bay and shared a cocktail with our neighbours Shaun and Shannon on sv Breeze - these guys have just started a you tube sailing channel and one of their things is making up cocktails. Along with their very soppy, toothless rescue Pit Bull Terrier- Batman, we enjoyed the 'Gualdoupe Sloop'. The following evening we came up with our own 'The Guadalito' - a bit like a mojito but with guadeloupe sugar cane rum and a little chilli. With the 'Breezers' we hatched a plan to head down the coast to the Jacques Cousteau Marine Park for some more diving. We said our goodbyes to Escapade who are now on their way back to the UK and headed south.

Guadalito's and sunset

We anchored south of Pigeon Island where the park is as the swell was a little fierce. We found a lovely quiet spot near to the town of Bouillante and were soon joined by Breeze and Alkemi. The three boats spent a few lovely days here. We did a lot of diving in the park, we went on one Scuba with Shaun and Shannon but sadly one of their tanks was leaking. We all went on a spear fishing mission another day but the fish won, however we then discovered a hot bath on the beach and why the town is called Bouillante which means 'boiling'. A hot spring was feeding this old tiled bath, big enough for us all including Nellie the Alkemi dog, although she really didn't like it. That night we partied on Breeze and enjoyed a game made up by Shaun, a bit like taboo.

Our anchorage at Bouillante

Askari's big sister dropped by - Oyster 125 (I think six Askari's fit inside her)

Alkemi and Breeze

Cruiser bath time

Nellie didn't like the hot water

Next stop was going to be the south end of Guadeloupe, but we didn't fancy that and headed directly to Les Saintes. This beautiful group of islands is about 20 miles from the mainland but has a really sophisticated holiday feel. The bay is full of moorings and their are restrictions on where you can anchor, all of which is pretty deep. We were lucky enough to snag the last mooring ball of the day - woohooo! We had been here with ReVision II 15 years ago and it had been one of our favourite spots so we quickly paid up for a week. We did a bit of diving and some lovely walks, including one to the top of the mountain with the Breezers, that ended up with a much needed swim and a few beers at the end. We had a lovely meal out on a date night and some lovely relaxing days.

Welcome to Les Saintes

They call these Tete Anglais - englishman's head!

Out out in Les Saintes

Top of the hill with the Breezer's

Beach hair don't care - love this warm smiling girl

check out the geckhos

Beer time on the beach - how perfect