Wednesday, February 12 - Departed everything English Antigua. What we didn’t know, what we couldn’t know (unless we read the side of a baguette wrapper) is that we were about to land in Normandy, well, a distinctive French territory called Guadeloupe.
And in France and Guadeloupe ...that between the hours of 3pm to 7pm are not for any type of eating of restaurants bustling as they ‘serve no pizza before 6pm!!’ (as in, “NO Soup For You” - From Seinfeld)
We arrived Deshaies, Guadeloupe that Wednesday afternoon. Customs was actually an easy experience this time as it was all online. However, the payment and discussion about, well, anything, was fruitless as my knowledge of La Pomme (Apple). We grabbed some bakery goods for breakfast and we marchioned on back to the boat.
2/13 - School was eager and tres amusement - for sure. After more y = mx + b and division quotients with zero we departed for the Jardin Botanique. 🌺 🌳 🦢 They had a shuttle and when we called, we made no progress, not any, on our location and shuttle pick up. No one, not a person, spoke L’Anglais. Somehow the shuttle arrived and we loaded up for the botanical garden. It was really awesome.
As we arrived and paid the entry fee - we could see a huge pond of Koi fish. Pavlov would’ve been proud. The conditioning and response to the food pellets was invigorating for French and American visitors - we being the only ’Mericans in the joint. We meandered along the paths of lush vegetation and were amazed at the natural growth and beauty of the garden. Parrotts and pomme frites abounded and we enjoyes the view from the top looking over the Caribbea Sea.
We departed via the same shuttle and couldn’t share our experiences with our driver but as soon as we stepped out we encountered a frantic British couple looking for a hat in our van. As soon as we heard them, we said, ‘forget the hat - what up??!’
They followed with, ‘Pardon’, and we were at home, in a 1776 kinda way.
Turns out this British couple looking for their young son’s hat led to our first meeting of a cruising family with kids. We had heard that we would meet many families homeschooling their kids along the way. We had yet to meet any with our particular schedule and it was extraordinary.
We all chatted in the street until the four children (they had Hugo and Felix, 6 and 8) were having too much fun in the streets of Deshaies with no street signs that we agreed to meet that evening on their boat.
We grabbed a bottle of wine and some truffles to take with us and headed over at sunset. Sailing discussion ensued as kids went about giggling over the words “rubbish” and “trash can” and surfing - literally Felix and Hugo thought they were on a surfing toy, a magic carpet ride on Charlie and Mills’ ipads. The humor the kids found comparing lingo from UK vs USA was delightful. They shared about their 18 day crossing the Atlantic Ocean as we swapped sailing and boatschooling’s stories. They had been underway just a few more months than we. After a few hours of parenting and children companionship, we headed back to Genau.
2/14. Mills’ Valentine‘s Day message in a bottle (cue the Police)...
Mills created a Valentine’s message and put it in a bottle and cast it to the sea. We still haven’t heard from anyone. It was a Smirnoff bottle, so it may end up in the hands of Pirates! She hand wrote a beautiful note, pink as a panther, and sealed it up. Sent it seaworthy as we sailed south to Basseterre, Guadeloupe
We arrived early afternoon and went ashore to see the interior, desperately hoping to travel to a well-known waterfall, a.k.a. Cascada. We wandered along the docks and streets of Basseterre. We asked about a taxi. Belly laughing as the locals described the taxi servicE, or lack there of.
I began thinking and cash was the answer. I used stick figures and many gestures and finally a man named Andrew said, ‘I take you. Maybe bring you back.‘
Brooks wasn’t impressed.
We got in his car and he began describing the flora and fauna of Guadeloupe / Au Francais
We rode and rode - not really sure where we were going. We finally ended up at an awesome and apparently well -known natural springs/outdoor baths with freshwater spilling off the mountain. It was awesome.
Andrew seemed thrilled to be our makeshift tour guide and asked when wed like to be picked up. We decided an hour was plenty and requested a 5:30 Pick up. We got out around 5:20 to dry off a bit. 5:30, 5:45, 6pm. 6:15 came and went with no Andrew... and we started to stress a bit...Almost dark. Our Statia and Saba thumbs were ineffective we were almost about to give up on Andrew And begged another couple to give us a ride. As we were getting in their car... you guessed it.. Andrew reappeared. We told him we thoughtbhevforhit about us...He says - I thought you wanted to enjoy it, maaaaaaan. We told him, we enjoyed it quite a bit until we has to start figuring out a way home when you were 30 min late. Even in the Sutton family of the ‘Never Late‘ father - we were like - wow. He‘s late. Andrew got us home and the gate that was ‘locked’ guarding the dinghy dock - Mills pushed open. Walked right in - thank goodness. The natural water of Guadeloupe eased us into a nice evening as we just made it back to the boat.
We were gearing up for our sail south to more French Fries and French Dressing- Isle Des Saintes
2/15. Left Basse Terre and stopped by The Jacques Cousteau underwater (imagine that) Marine Sanctuary. Mills, Charlie and I jumped in as Brooks navigated around us with the boat. On to the Ile Des Saintes. A very popular anchorage and island. Luckily for us we had google translator but the French version was offline and we were est malade. Customs was actually easy -again..2 in a row- unheard of (La Computere)
Great mooring field and well protected. 80-90 sailboats moored in there.
2/16. Sunday. Catholic. Not the Methodist repeat shout out (see previous Church post) to Dominica but service was entirely Au Francais. Fun music and very active service that we understood mais pas un mot. Ice cream is in any language and Mills and Charlie found out they were bilingual when it came to the creamy confection. Visited other islands nearby via dinghy, great snorkeling and climbed Ile de Cabrit to Fort Josephine. Back to boat for a French dinner, as best we could.
2/17. Island Hopping rental car
rented an open jeep for an island romp of Terra de Haut. The language barrier didn’t exist with a credit card deposit and a lot of nodding to this French question and to that French question. Donnez-moi juste les clés!!!
We all four rode on out and up to Fort Napoléon. After some history of the short General and his occupation of the island, we went to lunch at Marigot Bay - only cash, no English. Chicken or Fish?
Continued on in our vehicle around the island to every beach and ended up at Hotel Joli near Pain de Sucre - always great to say in your best French accent.
Made it back ‘to town’, dropped off the jeep, picked up laundry and a nice dinner ashore in a grotto-esque style restauran where we met some other cruisers aboard their 72’ Oyster. Valuable information about Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia and the Grenadines they gave us. Islands that were just a l’horizon.
The blog is harder to keep up than anticipated.. so I am converting my insta account to a daily diary of this adventure. Less detail but hopefully more frequent posts. Check out @S.V_genau
I wonder if the international sign for ice cream is kind of like telling someone you are choking? Love hearing of your l'adventures! (said in my best Frenglish)