After two seasons exploring the French Islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, we have learned to appreciate them more and more. The food is amazing, especially the bread and French pastries! Most of the people are friendly, and with technology such as google translate, the language is less of a barrier.
This year (2024), Irene and Bill flew into Antigua, as flights were more frequent from the states than to the French islands. Then after a couple of days we got a weather window to sail to Guadeloupe. However, our window was short because a front was arriving. So we had to head out at 0500 to make it across the passage to Deshaies before the wind became unfavorable and the seas untenable.
It was so interesting how an anchorage changes when leaving or entering at night. We had been in and out of Jolly Harbour multiple times but as we left on the early morning of January 22, it was dark, dark with no moon. The anchor lights in the harbor looked like stars in the sky as the boats were black as night. Thank goodness the harbor channel was lit with red and green buoys to keep us on track.
The passage was sporty, and Bill had a great time driving across the channel; he intermittently saw 11 knots!
Guadeloupe
We arrived in Deshaies mid-morning and picked up one of the new mooring balls with the help of ball patrol who were friendly and polite. After checking into Guadeloupe our next order of business was to find a ride to the beautiful garden. It was tricky getting enough signal in town to make the call, but we finally made contact. They have a wonderful service in that they will send a shuttle to town to pick you up and take you to the garden. We all enjoyed walking through garden with its lovely variety of vegetation, birds and water features. This is one of our favorite gardens in the Caribbean.
Flowers of Many Colors
Trees
Succulents and Cacti
Birds and Others
Water Features
After the pleasant stroll through the garden, we hung out on the boat, cooked dinner and watched for the green flash at sunset.
Pigeon Island
Next we traveled to another favorite place in Guadeloupe, Pigeon Island. The snorkeling at the islands were superb. Check out this blog for a pictorial of the underwater sea life, Guadeloupe: Snorkeling Pigeon Island Pictorial 2024.
The one thing to watch out for when snorkeling the islands (especially if you are on the back side of the islands) is the weather as it crosses the mountains from the east. We were on the west side of Pigeon, and while it rained a little, the water was calm. However, when we dinghy around to the east side to return to our boat, the waves were coming straight at us and the wind was howling. It was an extremely wet dinghy ride back to the boat. I am not sure how Ben saw well enough to drive. Whew! Were we glad to get back the boat!
Iles des Saintes
Our next stop on Irene and Bill’s tour of Guadeloupe was the lovely town of Terre-de-Haut, Iles des Saintes. Ben went to customs to check us out of Guadeloupe, as we would head over to Dominica next and they were closed on Sunday. Irene and I strolled around town and ended up at a beachside café for a snack and a drink.
The following morning, bright and early we made our way to AquaBlue where we had reserved a golf cart online to tour the Island. Getting a cart early was important especially on the weekend because des Saintes is a local weekend destination as well as tourist destination.
Fort Napoleon
Fort Napoleon on des Saintes is well preserved and the museum is quite interesting in spite of a large part of it being in French. The fort was only open from 0900-1200. So it was our first stop of the day.
The views from atop the hill were simply incredible of other islands in the Guadeloupe Archipelago.
We also drove around the island looking at several of the beautiful beaches. One of these days, we will stay in Iles des Saintes long enough to swim at the beaches. It seems that every time we visit, we are passing through to some where else. I believe I need to stay at least a week to explore these lovely islands!
Of course, we had to stop at our favorite place for lunch, La Paillote du Pecheur. They cook up some wonderful lobster! This little restaurant was located on a little bay and extremely relaxing.
Irene and Bill flew out of Dominica. So we had to make a quick jaunt across the channel. It was great though because I got to reconnect with my friend Whitney at Maford House Café for a few days. However, we didn’t get to stay long because of a huge swell that was arriving. Ben said it was time to get back across to Guadeloupe and in the protection of the marina. We were to pick up Christy there in a few days anyway. So we hopped back across the strait to Point-a-Petrie, Guadeloupe and tied up at the marina. Boy, were we glad we left early. The swell caused quite a mayhem across the Caribbean where we heard that at least 10 boats ended up on shore. Other people were up all night with engines running to keep themselves in place, or from violently rolling from side to side. Whew! So glad we missed all that. I am super happy that Ben is very vigilant about the weather.
Point-a-Petrie
Our cruiser buddies, Katie and Joe from SV Inca Cross, also sought protection on a mooring ball in Point-a-Petrie. So we had a bonus of getting to hang out with them for a bit. We took advantage of our extra time on Guadeloupe to rent a car and explore some sites that we had not previously seen and provision at the immense grocery store.
We had been told that the Aquarium was worth a look. So with Katy and Joe in tow we made our way to this lovely attraction. The aquarium was well stocked with lots of sea life and we all enjoyed learning more about the what we see when we snorkel in the Caribbean waters.
Our next stop was at a fascinating fort in Le Gosier where large sections were built underground, Fort Fleur d’Epee. The entry was free!
Onward to Martinique
Christy arrived the following day. So we picked her up at the airport and planned our escape, as she was here to explore Martinique, another French Island. Last year Christy visited us in Antigua, but we did not sailed much. This year she wanted to do some passages. Well, she was in luck as we had several planned for her.
In order to explore Martinique, we first had to make our way out of Guadeloupe and past Dominica. So we checked out of Guadeloupe and made a short passage over to Iles des Saintes, where we yellow flagged for the night and did not leave the boat. The next morning, we negotiated our next passage across the strait into the lea of Dominica and on to the town of Roseau where we picked up a mooring ball. While the passage was not too rowdy, it did give Christy a good taste of what crossings were all about. She began to learn to be a crew member by jumping the main as we were leaving and helping to lower it at the end of the journey. She also learned to vigilantly watch for fish balls that littered both the coast of Guadeloupe and Martinique.
The passage between Dominica and Guadeloupe was quite sporty. We frequently saw 10-11 knots as we negotiated 8-10 foot seas in 25+ knot winds. Luckily Daggers Down loves this type of weather and handles the waves gallantly. Christy enjoyed watching the brown booby’s fish off our bow. She also learned to spot other boats as they came towards us. Ben, on the other hand, spent his energy trying to pass every boat going the same direction we were going. You know, two boats on the water, and it’s a race! I will say we left pretty much everyone in the dust even a large monohull.
St. Pierre
Carnival
We arrived in St. Pierre, Martinique on Valentines Day which happened to be the Ash Wednesday, the last day of Carnival. The people dressed in black and white to mourn the end of carnival. Since Christy had not experienced carnival, we waited in town for the parade to begin.
Zoo de Martinique; Habitation LaTouche
We had been told by Katy and Joe that the Zoo outside St. Pierre was delightful. It was established on an old rum habitation. So the next morning, we went to the tourist office who called for a taxi to take us up the hill to the Zoo de Martinique: Habitation LaTouche. It was fascinating seeing how they had blended the zoo and its many animals among the ruins of the old plantation. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and Christy got to learn about rum making in the process.
From St. Pierre, we sailed to Grand d’Arlet which was a cute French bay that afforded lots of snorkeling. However, we found we didn’t have to check out the snorkeling spots because we saw starfish and 5 different turtles right under out boat, one of which was carrying around two sucker fish.
We had planned to go around to Les d’Arlet the next day to snorkel but when Ben dinghied around to check us out of Martinique for our next passage, we learned that we would have to go back up the island to Anse Mitan because the local customs and immigration was now closed. Bummer!
To learn more about Grand and Les d’Arlet, check out, Martinique: The D’Arlets and More. They are both lovely bays with lots of activity and a super place to hang out, but it was not to be this trip.
Anse Mitan
Therefore, we raised anchor and headed an hour north to Anse Mitan. However, it turned out that once again a change in plans could be a gain, as SV Unleashed with Rich, Tracy and their dog, Moby were at the same anchorage. It was a win! So even though the customs at this location was closed for the weekend, we made the best of it. We spent Saturday walking around town and people watching at the beach.
Afterwards, Tracy, Rich and Moby came over to Daggers Down for happy hour. It was fun to swap sailing stories of this year’s sailing season.
On Monday, we checked out of Martinique. It was time to go. SV Unleashed headed north and we headed south to Christy’s final destination, St Lucia.
So Christy got to experience one more passage.
The crossing was a fun one as Daggers Down swiftly sailed across the channel, past Rodney Bay to Marigot Bay where low and behold we met up with more cruiser friends on SV Skoolz Out, Tony and Kathy.
So that’s a wrap for the French Islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. We had a blast showing these islands off to our friends, Irene and Bill, and Christy. In addition, it was fun running into some of our cruiser buddies along the way!
Stay tuned as we make another passage in a few days to St. Vincent and the Grenadines where we plan to spend weeks, sailing and snorkeling!
Bonus St. Lucia Pictures of Diamond Falls Botanical Garden in St. Lucia
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