Friday 27 March 2015

A weekend in Les Saintes


We had one of our better sails from Malendure South to Iles des Saintes, the small group of islands in the channel off the south coast of Guadaloupe. The wind was only in the 20's, although it had been forecasted as 8-12 knots, so it was an easier sail and we made good time. We arrived and were able to pick up a mooring buoy near the main town. Although with the swell, large sailing cruise vessels and ferries this proved uncomfortable, so we moved and anchored in a small bay behind Le Pain de Sucre, which is a large rocky outcrop, good for snorkelling around. The bay is fairly quiet and not many boats can anchor there, it is very pretty and calm, which was more conducive to relaxation and sleep.
Although we have been to the Saintes a few times, we have not really explored the islands. So we spent time taking long walks up the hills to the Napoleonic forts, luckily we got up early to do so, as the main one closes at 12:30pm. The museum allowed us to improve our knowledge of the sea battles with Admirals Rodney and Drake, we liked the quote that one of the French Admirals with several ships took "a stroll" in the winds and missed the battle. They seemed to be rather disturbed by the new tactics that the British Admirals employed to win.
We also walked over to a beach on the other side of the island and shared our lunch with some goats that live there. The snorkelling in the bay was better than we expected. All in all it was a perfect way to spend a weekend. We even managed to catch the last few minutes of the England v France rugby match, as we were clearing out.










1 comment:

  1. Nice, this looks like a really pretty place :)

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