11 May 1995 Deshaies to Pigeon Island, Guadeloupe
Another rolly night. We did school work in the morning and then motored around to Pigeon Island.
Conditions at the anchorage were terrible with an onshore wind and swell on the beam. We put a stern anchor out by letting out twice as much chain at the front, reversing into position and then dropping the stern anchor over the back of the boat. We then pulled up the excess chain at the bow. It worked OK, but we still had slack in the two anchor chains. Next time I’ll let out three times as much chain at the front. We ended up sitting bow into the swell, but the wind was on our beam, so we still pitched and rolled.
The boys disappeared to the beach to play in the surf and Glenys went to the supermarket, leaving me to protect the ship! Glenys wasn’t feeling too well today, she’s getting mild “panic” attacks. She feels hot, nervous, jittery and her heart speeds up. It’s like she’s just had a fright and has an adrenaline rush. It happened to her in the middle of the second charter on “Dabulamanzi” as well. We’ll just have to keep an eye on her!
12 May 1995 Pigeon Island to Ile de Cabrit, Iles de Saintes
An uncomfortable night with continuous pitching and rolling. Every so often we would get a gust of wind which would make the anchors snatch. One was so loud that I had to get up to check. In the morning, we decided to go to the Saints, but motored over to Pigeon Island to do a dive first. I’m glad we did because the reef is brilliant.
We called in at the marina at Basse Terre and filled up with water and fuel. We then motored across to the Saintes and anchored in the calm anchorage at Ile de Cabrit. The boys immediately went to the beach while Glenys and I sorted out the chaos of the boat. A quick snorkel, a tootle for an hour and it was dinner time.
13 May 1995 Ile de Cabrit, Iles de Saintes
School work in the morning. Glenys and I went for a dive around the north side of the island which was OK. Glenys spotted a lobster, but I failed to catch it. I filled 4 tanks.
I spent a couple of hours writing my “memoirs” – I’ve managed to find a style which suits me. It takes ages to type in the main parts and then just as long to correct the grammar and style. I reckon it takes me about an hour per A5 page, which equates to 400 hours or 50 x 8 hr days for a 400 page novel! Perhaps I won’t write a best selling novel!
14 May 1995 Ile de Cabrit, Iles de Saintes
Glenys did school work while I cleaned the engine bilge, checked under the floorboards, checked the stern gland and epoxied a hole in the exhaust water trap. Glenys then spent the afternoon cleaning the carpets, while I messed about snorkelling and writing my memoirs.
15 May 1995 Ile de Cabrit to Bourg de Saintes
School work in the morning, then we went and anchored by Bourg Des Saintes. After lunch we went for a walk, past the airfield, to Plage De Grand Anse. This is a mile long sandy beach which faces east – the waves crash onto the beach. The boys had brought their body boards, so ignoring the no swimming signs, we had a great time body boarding. It was a bit too rough for Craig – after a few wipe outs he went and played in the sand. Brett and I spent a happy hour crashing and tumbling about. The only sour note was that I lost my watch which had a Velcro wrist strap that obviously came off.
16 May 1995 Bourg de Saintes
School work in the morning. Glenys and I went and did a dive which was very good. Glenys and the boys went for a walk in town while I had a tootle on the clarinet. I went over to say hello to Mike of “Colleen” (GB) who we last saw in Porto Santo. Sounds like they’ve had a hard year going up to Boston and back – I‘m glad that we didn’t bother!
17 May 1995 Bourg de Saintes to Layou, Dominica
Glenys and I went to do a serious lobster hunt first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, the only ones we saw were either too small or too deep in caves – ah well!
We motored clear of the Saintes and then had a nice reach for 3 hours until we got in the lee of Dominica when the wind dropped from 20 knots to 5 knots in the space of about 5 minutes! We motored the rest of the way to the anchorage off Castaways Hotel. Typical of Dominica, it threw it down just before dinner.
I got Brett and Craig interested in making some puppets. We started to make the heads from papier maché – the bodies will come later after the heads are finished and painted.
18 May 1995 Layou to Saint Pierre, Martinique
We were woken up at midnight by the boat doing enormous rolls. The wind had died and the boat was side on to the swell causing us to roll very badly. Glenys went and slept in the saloon with the lee cloth up! Horrible night.
We motored along the coast of Dominica and had a fast, wet reach to Martinique. We anchored off the town at St Pierre. I chatted to a South African boat “Crest” who wanted me to fill a couple of tanks. We went out for dinner.
We wandered all around the town, passing shuttered up cafes and restaurants until we had just about given up. Then we spotted a small restaurant where we had a pleasant meal. The bill came to 387 francs which left us with about 70 centimes to our name – phew!
19 May 1995 Saint Pierre, Martinique
We all slept like logs last night. I got up at half past seven, which seems to be a habit with me now. The others woke up at half past eight when I put the kettle on and by quarter to nine it was chaos. I like my quiet hour in the morning.
I did school work while Glenys went into town to get some francs and do some shopping. After lunch Glenys and I went to do a dive while the boys went off to play with Dusty from “Ghost Dancing” (South African). I filled 4 tanks.
Henry, Sue and Dusty (7) from “Ghost Dancing” came for a drink and ended up staying for dinner. They ran a company that specialised in process control in South Africa and it was interesting to hear about their business and exchange stories of sales and debtors! Another couple that we have common interests with, that we will (probably) never see again – C’est la vie!
20 May 1995 Saint Pierre to Anse a l’Ane, Martinique
A bit of a hangover today. School work in the morning then Glenys and I went to do some shopping.
We then motored around to Anse A L’ane. The boys shot off to the beach while Glenys and I mooched about.