Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited

3-11 Saturday
We wanted to get all our shopping done in Guadeloupe today so we go up at 5 am and left the mooring ball in Dominica. We had just enough light to navigate out and within an hour or so the sun was coming up. We planned for it to take about 6 hours. Cole caught a fish, but it was small so they threw it back. It was the first fish that we’ve caught this trip. About 10:30, Cole spotted whales. We all came rushing up to see. Sure enough, we got to have an encounter of a lifetime. There were 3 or 4 humpback whales. They were slapping their fins, going in and out of the water, and even breaching. It was absolutely amazing. We were all in a bit in shock. We just kind of kept our distance but for about 20 minutes they stayed pretty close to us. A couple times, I was a bit nervous because they were so close and then they’d disappear. You just wonder if they are going to pop up right by you. It was very exciting! It was hard to finally turn back on course and say goodbye when the time came. I believe it was a couple days later that we heard of a ship being sunk by a whale in the Pacific and this incident was definitely on my mind).

We got to Guadeloupe and quickly dropped anchor and went to shore to check-in. The anchorage is in more an industrial feeling area then we’ve been in before. We had to get our rental car by one, and as we learned in Martinique, if you are late they’ll give it away. We made it with about one minute to spare. Getting around Guadeloupe is great. There is tons of shopping in the area we went, but little to no heavy traffic. We drove first to about 5 home appliance stores looking for a small washer. We finally found one at a store called BUT, which my kids found hilarious. We then went to Decathalon and got some more swim gear and a skim board.
I got groceries while Cale hung out with the kids. We are so stocked up now! It feels great. We need to get eating! Groceries took longer then I thought. Partly, because I got more then I expected and also because it just takes a lot of extra time trying to decipher what things are. It was also very busy. We got back to the marina parking lot and couldn’t find a cart so had to pack all the bags of food to the dinghy. It was hard but everyone helped out and we made it.
Cale went back to shore with Cole to get the rest of the stuff out of the car and get pizzas while the rest of us put away groceries. The anchorage here is very different then what we are used to. There is a big industrial factory behind us. A large museum lights up one side of the bay.

3-12 Sunday. We went to church at the Abymes Branch. It was all in French of course. It was a nice little branch. The people were very nice. We were only able to understand anything by using Google translate, which sometimes works okay and sometimes is doesn’t. It’s also sometimes hilarious, which makes it difficult to keep a straight face. Cale especially was struggling today.
We met the new senior missionary couple and offered to take then with us to The Saints tomorrow and they could take the ferry back. Unfortunately, they couldn’t because the ferry doesn’t go very often.
After getting dinghy fuel, we came back to the boat and had lunch and relaxed. We have been going strong. It was nice to have some down time.
We decided to drive around a bit in Point a Pitre. Guadeloupe is very different then any other islands, even Martinique. It all looks very weathered and old. A lot of it is over grown with trees and shrubs right in the city. The other thing that was weird to me is graffiti is everywhere, but almost more like accepted art (some of it is amazing and I would consider art). Almost everything shuts down on Sunday and there is no one out and about. With that said its a pretty city and has a lot of character.
My favorite stop was a catholic church Eglise Catholique St. Pierre. A youth choir was singing and it sounded amazing. We went in and listened for while they were practicing a song. The church looked very old and was sort of patchworked together, but in a beautiful way. One window was wood, one with writing, one painted. There were different materials used to fix and repair parts of the floor or stone work. I imagine that each time something needed to be fixed over the years they’d raise money for that fix.
Our next stop was on the opposite side of the marina to La Gosier. It seemed to be where all the people go on Sunday. They all go to the beach to hang out with family. It was very busy in a small area. The kids played on some gym equipment. There was a guy doing some crazy stuff on it like slips and suspending himself horizontally.. We came back to the boat for dinner.

3-13 Cale got up and went to return the car. He said it included driving on a one way street, getting lost, and nearly getting charged for a ding we didn’t do. The kids did school. We left around 10:30 am. We had light winds but enough to do about 6 knots at close reach. It was a nice calm sail with very little waves. The most excitement was seeing whales. We saw one blow out in the distance. Then, another came up right in front of us. He was just kind of hanging out. He bobbed around as we were slowly approaching and then dove with his giant tail up. There were also tons of fishing buoys and sargassum blooms along the way.

We arrived around 3:30. I knew the kids were hungry so after we got moored we went do errands to town. It is the cutest little French town. There was even some musicians playing music that just set the tone. This a popular vacation spot for French people from both the French Islands and France. We absolutely loved it. We walked down and to the park and met an American lady from Maine who vacations here for a month. We went to go eat. We sat down and ordered drinks. 15 minutes and no food menu. I asked and he said no food and made a big X with his hands. We walked back down the road and nothing was open. At this point it was 5:30. We ended up walking around and waiting for something to open up until 7. We got hamburgers and a pizza for Cade. The lady was mad at Cale for trying to get a sandwich and fries without a drink so we ended up getting them suel (which must mean solo). She just kept saying “seul” every time he asked. The food was okay. Cade’s pizza crust was super salty. As a side note, all the island until Martinique were stray dog islands. Then, Martinique was stray cats. This island is a mix of both. The dogs are little and cute and the cats are either orange and fluffy or skinny and white.
3-14 Terre de haut. The kids did some school and Cale tackled the screeching noise that happens when it’s rollie. We went snorkeling off the shore of the island behind where we are anchored. It was good visibility and cool coral, but not a lot of fish. We tried another spot, but it was about the same, so we went back to the boat and had lunch. We then hiked up to Fort Napoleon. It wasn’t long, but pretty steep up a road. The town here is scooter/motorcycles and electric golf cart friendly. The road up to the fort goes all the way through town and across the island. Almost everyone uses these. We got to the lookout and saw the gate closed but decided to follow in some French tourists because we couldn’t read the sign and though maybe it just said no motor vehicles. The forts main doors were closed but it was still cool to see. It looked like it had once had a giant moot around it. Cole had something weird going on with his knee. He was hurting going up and coming back down. He was tough. Cale went down ahead of us and checked us out while we worked on getting Cole down with his hurt knee. About a quarter of the way down Kelsey broke her flip flop. When we finally got down we went and bought Kelsey some new flip flops at the first store we saw. The prices were surprisingly reasonable. Kira and I went and found a keychain for our family collection. Then, we got some crepes and ice cream/Gelato for a treat. Cale went back to the boat to clear the filters on the engine ( the sargassum is pretty thick here). I got a few groceries at the Carrefour express and we came back to the boat and got ready to leave. We left the mooring about 5:30 pm, as we went past the point the sun was still up and set about 10 minutes later. It was super pretty. Our 2nd overnight passage. I’m hoping to sleep early so I can take a middle of the night shift.