YACHTS OF ALL TYPES ...........

It is hard to put anything together that comes close to the Carnival in Martinique ....... What a spectacle of colour and creativity that was .....The best I can do at the moment, is to say that my five-year old grandson Zac, who 'according to sources' has just been informed by his astronomy-minded pre-school teacher that " Girls go to Mars for bras and boys go to Jupiter to get stupider" ........ Someone else then said that " it could have been worse if Venus had been brought up" .......... So there you have it .... hard to beat CARNIVALE ...

We woke up in the morning to see this magnificent Dutch Brigantine called 'STAD AMSTERDAM' anchored in the bay at PORTSMOUTH, DOMINICA ....... A classic sight to behold, despite the fact that it is only fifteen years old and was used in the making of the Charles Darwin documentary .............. It is now a fully rigged charter vessel ..... We sailed out of the bay north again to ILES DES SAINTES in GUADELOUPE on our way to ANTIGUA to see "CLASSIC WEEK", a week of seeing some of the world's finest traditional wooden yachts, each at least twenty five years old or older ......



As soon as we had anchored behind a small island in the SAINTES group we climbed to the top of a hill and once again stumbled upon the ruins of yet another French fort ............ This one was over-run by goats, French goats I might add ....... But in the distance (photo above), lies DOMINICA ............... And from the hilltop in each direction were some spectacular panoramic views of LES SAINTES and GUADELOUPE ......






Next morning, we are off again, this time a passage of 28 miles directly to windward to GUADELOUPE and its capital 'POINTE-A-PITRE' so named, because in 1654 a Dutch merchant by the name of PIETER arrived there to set up shop, after having being exiled from Brazil ............ He settled on a point ....... We guess you worked that out for yourself....... A good night's sleep and we are off to the market, for we have this 'fresh veggie' craving ........



We lock up the dinghy at the fisherman's dock and check out the daily catch....... For who can resist having a look at the freshly caught fish ....... Just ask those three pelicans ...... In the anchorage we are constantly rocked to bits by the smallest craft that goes by, but when 20,000 tonnes cargo vessel slips by, we feel nothing ...... Now why is that?



And at the market they have become really smart by taking a whole lot of veggies and mixing them up to be sold by the plastic bag, or give you a combination of different types wrapped in string ...... We have thought about growing some on board, sort of hydroponic style, but we certainly won't be doing what this boat owner has done .....
And it used to be such a good yacht too ...... No watering required here ..... Just block the cockpit drains with crap and that should do it .......Then again, there are yachts of all types, seen in our travels .......

GUADELOUPE is shaped like a butterfly and in the photo below, the higher part of the island is visible covered in clouds ....... We hope to visit that half more extensively on our way back from ANTIGUA ..... The mornings are especially serene with near glass conditions ......... Now that's close to being a first ..........



A converted Danish ketch and a local wooden fishing boat are some of the sights visible from the cockpit, but in the marina harbour are the ultimate extreme speed machines that have taken part in the "ROUTE DU RHUM" yacht race from St Malo in France across the Atlantic Ocean to finish in GUADELOUPE ..... A hop, skip and a jump of 3543 ocean miles at top speed ...... Obviously, you can count us out on an event like that ......... You've heard about the hare and the tortoise ......... Right ..... Might have to come up with a brand new flag for ourselves...... One with a tortoise in the middle, instead of a kangaroo .......