We settled into Deshaies for about a week, to wait out some bad weather, catch up on chores and prepare for guests. The weather turned squally and we had a lot of rain! The Doyle cruising guide recommends a hike up the Deshaies River, mentioning that it is a bit of a scramble in some sections, so I headed off. This hike had some interesting pools and amazing foliage, but no trail that I ever found, so it was a combination of bushwhacking along the riverbanks or wading along the edge of the river itself. I returned about two hours later with mud up to my thighs! Rain clouds seem to hang permanently in the river valley above the town, perhaps that should have given it away?

We walked up to the botanical gardens which was much easier and a nice place to visit. Some of the trees there are spectacular shapes! I went into Le Pelican souvenir store and managed to rent a car speaking only French – I was very pleased with myself although quite relieved when an actual car was there for us on the day we’d arranged. We drove over to Pointe a Pitre for various errands and found it a bit disappointing, although there’s an excellent supermarket there inside a rather American-feeling mall (one store even had down jackets; we wondered why?). We drove home via Rue de la Traversee which goes through the rain forest in a National Park. It was spectacular although incredibly wet – at one point rain came down harder than we had ever seen anywhere. Sorry, no photos, I would have been soaked within seconds.

Jeremy’s sister Anne and her husband Marcus joined us in Deshaies. We spent a little time exploring the town (it doesn’t take long) and then moved down to Pigeon Island to go snorkeling in the Jaques Cousteau reserve. Unfortunately, all the rain had swept a lot of sediment down, so the top couple of feet of water were very murky. Swimming down below that I was able to see plenty of fish, but coming back up through the layer of sediment was rather spooky!

On to Iles des Saintes, where we spent several days. We were there at the same time as Phil and Jill Poyner, friends of Jeremy’s from home in Emsworth, and neighbors of Anne and Marcus. They came over in December in the ARC+ (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers). We spent several evenings together; it was fun to have a reunion so far from home for all of us!

We took the dinghy over to Ilet a Cabrit, much smaller and quieter than the main island of Terre-de-Haut. This island housed Fort Josephine (strangely, larger than Fort Napoleon, what should we read into that?), and is still dotted with ruins which we explored. It also has some excellent snorkeling and very clear water. On another day we rented a voiturette (golf cart) to explore the main island. We visited 5 beaches, and had downpours at each one of them! Anne and Marcus walked to some of them again the next day, which was much sunnier, and reported that they were delightful. Carnival arrived one afternoon (there seems to be a celebration that rolls around different parts of Guadeloupe) and we had fun watching the music and the dancing.

Exploring Ilet de Cabrit

With a good weather window, we headed to Marie Gallante. This island is dead upwind from the Saintes so requires some dedication to get there. We waited for a calm day and just motored straight up there. Marie Gallante is known for its Rhum Agricolaire distilleries so we rented a car and set off to inspect them. French rhum is different from other rums because it is made from the juice of crushed sugarcane rather than from molasses, resulting in a unique flavor. It was a little early in the season for the sugar cane to be harvested so the huge vats of cane juice were empty. Fortunately the tasting rooms were open, and we were happy to sample the product! We had a nice lunch stop at a beach bar at the southern end of the islands, and then took in a few more sites before returning the car. There is no car wash on Marie Galante so we’d been asked to return the car clean – so our last task was to shake sand off the floor mats and try to rinse mud splashes of the tire rims.

Empty vats at the distillery – here’s a photo of how they looked when we were last there in March 2024

Spectacular views on the north coast

This was our last stop in Guadeloupe before heading to Dominica. We took the dinghy in early to stock up with baguettes and pain au chocolat and headed south. We had a sporty sail, with gusts up to 35 knots in the acceleration zone at the top of Dominica, but enjoyed the trip.