We started March with the good fun of still having family visiting. Sharon’s sister Sydney and her husband Ralph and their good friends Vinnie and Anne spent the week with us in Guadeloupe and Isle de Saintes. We all had a wonderful time. We started the week with a car tour of Grand Terre Island of Guadeloupe. We stopped and visited the cute little tourist boutiques in St. Annes. Then we drove to the eastern most tip of the island for a funky lunch at little local place where the tables are out in a lagoon in ankle deep water. Everyone enjoyed the turquoise blue water and gorgeous white sand beach all protected by an outside barrier reef.
After lunch we all went for a walk on the beach, some of us jumped in for a refreshing swim. That evening we all went out to eat, after dinner we found a wild Cuban Bar. The place had a huge circular wooden bar. The bartenders kept running lighter fluid all around the bar then lighting it on fire!!! They would clap and yell to get the crowd all worked up as the fire raced around the bar. Of course the more everyone encouraged them to light the fire the more they did it! The place would go wild as the fire raced around…more drinks all around! Then everyone would hit the dance floor. We joined the dance floor crowd bumping and a grinding and as Ralphie would say…”Dancing Small!” Viva la Cuba!
The boys though that Vaughn was such a natural at Cuban “Dancing small” that while they were capping off the evening with good Cuban cigars they nick named Vaughn, Senior Swanky…Captain Senior Swanky!
The next day we set sail for Isle de Saintes. We had a lovely 15-mile romp just off the wind. Ralph was having a great time driving the boat. Everyone enjoyed the great Caribbean sunshine and stiff breezes as we clipped along at good speed. We arrived in Isle de Saintes in plenty of time to get in a good afternoon swim and snorkel. We had a wonderful evening on the boat visiting, telling stories and laughing the night away.
The following morning we went into town and rented scooter. We became “Hells Angles” want-a-be’s again. Vinnie, Ralphie and Senior Swanky look quite fearsome on their little scooter…watch out the bad boys are loose. We explored every road on the island. We took them to see Fort Napoleon. They really enjoyed the tour of the Fort and the views from the top of the hill.
We scouted the island looking for the best beer pubs. We found several with excellent beachfront views and good cold beer! We topped off the day with Ice Cream from our favorite…best Ice Cream in the World Shop…of course!
The next day we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on Reality. We then went for a hike on the island to some lovely hilltop views of our anchorage. Then we enjoyed a refreshing swim and good snorkel. After lunch we set sail and headed back to Guadeloupe heading toward the west Basse Terre side. We had a great typically windy Caribbean sailing. Ralph was grinning ear-to-ear while at the helm he raced down wind at max speeds of 9.8 knots. SMOOOOOKEN!!!
We arrived at the beautiful little anchorage of Anse Barque just before sunset. We got Reality all snuggled in and enjoyed a round of rum cocktails as we watched a beautiful sunset. Vinnie then surprised the boys by presenting them with a gift of matching classy Hawaiian shirts and Cuban cigars! The “Boys” were looking mighty sporty! Have you ever seen a more handsome lot!
The following morning we headed out to Pigeon Island to snorkel the Jacque Costeau Marine Park. Everyone loved the beautiful coral, barrel sponges and schools of reef fish. We anchored off Pigeon Beach and unloaded the gang because they had hotel reservations to spend their last couple of days at a beautiful hotel overlooking the bay.
The next day we all rented a car for touring Basse Terre. It seems the car rental place had a mechanical problem with the car we had reserved so at the last minute they solved the problem be getting us…not a car, not a van but an “Econo Tour Bus”! We were quite the sight as we toured the island. During our tour we stopped for a brief hike to Chutes du Carbet waterfall. The hike is through some beautiful rainforest jungle. The waterfall plunges off a lush cliff over 300 tall. We circled the southern part of the island stopping to sight see and check out several nature walks through the dense rainforest.
That evening we all got together at their hotel to watch a local dance group display the native dances of the Caribbean. Then we all went out for Pizza. We finished off the evening with lots of hugs, kisses and said our good-byes because early the next morning the gang was heading back to the airport to head home. The whole visit had been a lot of fun, lots and lots of laughs…viva la Cuba!
The next day was Sharon’s birthday. We spent the morning enjoying a couple lovely scuba dives at Pigeon Island. We loved the beautiful colors of the sponges and fish. After our dives we set sail and headed up the island of Guadeloupe to Deshaies where we rendezvous with our friends Bob and Kristin on Naia. We all got together for a lovely birthday dinner at the Piano Restaurant in town.
We spent the next couple weeks “buddy boating” with Bob and Kristin island hopping our way back up toward St. Maarten. We had a lovely sail/race from Guadeloupe to Antigua. We spent several days in English Harbor Antigua. Then we sailed/raced from Antigua to the Barbuda. Barbuda is such a wonderful quiet little island. Nothing but miles and miles of beautiful powder sugar white sand surrounded by coral reefs. We explored the island by dinghy with Bob and Kristin. The white beaches and crystal clear water reflected blues and greens in a whole kaleidoscope of colors. We swam everyday and snorkeled all the near by reefs. We spent days just relaxing and having a wonderful time.
Reluctantly we all decided it was time to leave Barbuda and move on to St. Barts. The sail to St. Barts was a wonderful down wind reach. Bob and Kristin flew their new Spinnaker for the first time. We sailed along side and got some great pictures of them before they pulled away and left us miles behind! After sailed off we had plenty of excitement of our own. First we saw a 30 to 40 foot whale with her whale calf. We think they where Minke Whales or perhaps Bryde Whales. They startled the heck out of us because they surface right alongside the boat! They swam along side us for just a bit then dove and disappeared in to the depths. It’s always such a delight to see an animal that big, up close and personal! Minutes later we had our next “Wild Kingdom” delight…Sharon caught a Sailfish! Sharon’s fishing pole started screaming she grabbed it and started reeling like mad as the Sailfish jumped out of the water and tail danced like crazy. The sailfish jumped a dozen time taking line out with every run. It took Sharon a half hour to work the Sailfish in toward the boat. Vaughn was busy reducing sails and trying to slow the boat down to help Sharon with the fight. Finally she got the Sailfish alongside the boat. It was a beautiful fish about 6 foot long. Vaughn took a picture, then he helped release it and we let it go. What a thrill! We arrived at St. Barts without fish for dinner but a great memory. We have always wanted to catch a Sailfish while sailing “Reality”!
The following day we sailed from St. Barts to St. Maarten to pick up our friend Mark from Vellamo 2 and Calli. We headed right back to St. Barts to enjoy a couple days of fun and sun. We all wandered around St. Bart and enjoy a lovely…as Mark would call it…FLFL. (FLFL=F*@!*ing Long French Lunch). A proper FLFL takes the entire afternoon and includes many bottles of good French wine we had a lovely time. Nobody knows how to do good food and wine better than the French.
After several days of playing we headed back to St. Maarten to put the boat away for months so we could fly home to visit family and friends.