Pointe-à-Pitre

Stefano Rivera — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Yesterday, first thing in the morning, we went for a walk on the circular Trace du Vieux Fort trail. Starting out from Anse de Canot up North, along the coast, where we ran into some beach chickens. Down the Rivière du View Fort, past a very cute little bird hide, and then up the hills through farmland. The way back to the beaches took us through Trou du Massacre (which was home to more than one massacre, from what I read), and then back up the coast to our dinghy.

Doug flew home today, so we had to get him up to Pointe-à-Pitre, to the airport. His flight was in the afternoon, so we could sail up in the morning.

After breakfast and a last swim, we set off, at about 8am. Motored up to behind Îlet de Vieu Fort to raise the sails, into aligned wind and current. We were expecting some reasonable wind (>20kts) so we reefed the mainsail to the 1st reef, and used a reefed genoa. Caught the wind pretty soon, and we were zooming up to Pointe-à-Pitre at 9+kts on a beam reach. It was a lovely sail. Quite a bit of swell, to keep the helmsman bus. And, as we got into the shallow areas again, many fishing pots to dodge.

We were expecting some wind shadow as we approached the main island, but there wasn't much, so we finally dropped the sails behind Îlet du Gossier, to motor into Pointe-à-Pitre's main channel, to anchor somewhere near Pointe Fouillole.

This is rather a muddy anchorage, and we couldn't get a solid hook, so after another try on the other side of the channel (behind Îlet Cochon), we motored back out ot Îlet du Gossier.

This was a little less convenient for taxis and shopping, but the water is much clearer, and we're out of the commercial harbour area.

Time on the water: 2:43
Distance covered: 21nm
Avg speed: 7.7kts
Max speed: 11.7kts
Crew: John, Stefano, Clare, Doug

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Pointe-à-Pitre