Guadeloupe

To ensure we'd arrive in Guadeloupe with good light, we set alarms for 4am, and got started early. There was no wind in the anchorage, so we lifted the main sail at anchor. Predictions for the day were for light wind, with gusts in the low 20kts, so we used the full main sail.

We could see a couple of other boats in the anchorage lighting up, getting ready to make the same crossing.

Had to motor out a while, to catch the wind, but we caught it, and had a nice easy sail across the South side of the Dominica-Martinique channel, with relatively flat sea and light wind on a broad reach. The perfect time for breakfast and coffee. As we got further North we hit some squalls, sometimes speeding us along, but mostly just killing the wind entirely.

Once we got behind Dominica we were becalmed and had to motor up for a few hours. This was expected from the weather forecast, which predicted <5kts of wind behind the island. So we got to motor across an almost perfectly calm sea, alongside the green mountains of Dominica.

This was the perfect time to be visited by a pod of dolphins, which we could clearly see swimming under the surface. They didn't stick around for long, but we got a couple of pictures...

As we approached the Northern end of Dominica the wind started to pick up again, and we got a really nice fast sail up to Îles des Saintes, a steady >10kts reach.

As we approached them, we found ourselves in the middle of a field of fishing pot buoys. I thought we did a good job of dodging them, but I think we may have clipped the first one. Doug had been trolling a fishing line all day, which suddenly took off after we passed the first pots, and snapped the steel lure. He'd like to think he caught a massive fish that got away :)

After the pots, we passed through the tight passe des dames channel, and entered the Saintes. Found an anchorage in Anse Galet, next to the tall ship Eye of the Wind.

The rudder had also started feeling a bit weird after the fish pots, as if it was being pulled around by prop-wash while we are in reverse. It's possible we had a rope snagged around it. But by the time we got to anchor and could have a look, it was behaving normally again, and looked clean.

Checked in to Guadeloupe at Multi Services and went to bed early to catch up on sleep.

Navionics Track