Down past Guadeloupe

Sadly, it's time to leave Antigua, and head South. We've really enjoyed our time here, but all things must come to an end, and it's time to head South, before the hurricanes get more frequent. We plan to pick up some friends in Martinique, so we want to get there before they arrive.

The last couple of days were a rush to get ready to go. Suddenly all of those tasks that have been postponed until later, can't be pushed back any more if they have to get done before we can sail. Got our 2nd AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine shots and scheduled PCR COVID-tests for the day before we sailed.

The only test slot was at 5:20am, so our final day was a long one, waking up at 4am, to dinghy to the dock in the dark and drive half an hour into town to the hospital.

We got to explore a peninsula we hadn't visited before, to pass the time before coffee shops opened at 7:30am.

Just made it to the customs office in time to check out of Antigua on Friday afternoon, before they closed. Checking out took the best part of an hour, because of some paperwork difficulties and a misbehaving printer, but we got it done, and got ready to leave, first thing in the morning.

First thing ended up not really being first thing, because my COVID test result hadn't arrived with John's. So we needed to wait for the hospital staff to arrive, see my email, and forward me my test result (they'd typoed the email address).

Set off at 9 sharp, got the sails out (on 2nd reef) and took an easy 7+kts sail south.

Started fairly close-hauled, but as we went South the wind direction changed, until we were almost running, when we approached the Guadeloupe coast.

You can tell you're approaching Guadeloupe, because you start to run into fishing buoys, they're everywhere down the coast. Some nice and visible, some just empty water bottles with string tied to them. Have to stay vigilant to avoid getting one wrapped around the propeller shaft.

Guadeloupe was shrouded in cloud and rain. We got a good dose of it to wash our decks, and drop visibility down to under 100m. But then the sun came out, and the island is stunning, definitely want to come back and visit it when we can.

We expected the wind to die down, in the shadow of the island, but we got almost half way down before this became a problem, and we had to motor-sail on and off for an hour or two.

The last bit, past Basse-Terre got some nice gusts on our bow, and we got to briefly race down the coast with another yacht, watching them catch the gusts before we did.

Anchored off the southern tip of Guadeloupe, Point du Vieux-Fort, near the lighthouse. Bit of a roll-y anchorage, but perfect for continuing South, early in the morning.

Navionics Track