Guadeloupe

Monday 16 April: Our Monday morning blues start with a 05:00 alarm. In cruising terms, today will be high work load! We plan to sail from Les Saints in Guadeloupe to St.Pierre in Martinique. Our first long passage for a while, 75 miles.
A quick breakfast as the dawn breaks then off the mooring at first proper light at 05:30.
The forecast is lighter trade winds today, 12 knots gusting 15. As we clear Les Saints the wind is just that.
We aim to pass Dominica 5 miles off the lee shore where there should still be flat water but also still some wind as it weaves its way over the island and around the volcanic peaks.
Apparent wind is 60 degrees off the port bow and we are cruising at a steady 7-8 knots in moderate Atlantic swell. Lovely, and very soon we are already level with Prince Rupert Bay on the NW of Dominica where we were moored just a few days ago. Well, it seems quick because its still only 8am …. normally we are only waking up at this time!
As we approached Dominica, Oana gets her Flow phone signal and we start to upload our latest video to YouTube, hoping beyond hope it will get a reasonable % done before we again lose the signal. Her Flow SIM card which we bought in Barbados works in every Caribbean island except…, yes you guessed it, the French islands.
The wind stays reasonably steady, accelerating occasionally as we draw level with the bigger valleys between the volcanic peaks. We have fun experimenting with the GoPro on the end of the boat hook at various angles and heights, then downloading the files to see what looks best. We gotta keep improving for our YouTube followers!
Despite Dominica covered in its usual rain clouds, the sky over us is clear, the sun bright, the wind gentle and the water flat, what could be better?
As we get towards the south of Dominica the wind dies and we motor onwards to new wind that we can see on the water just ahead. But that wind comes in from the opposite direction and we are on the opposite tack. A west wind, we haven’t seen anything but easterly in the last months!
It seems to be a gentle sea breeze coming onto Dominica. Only 6-8 kts in strength but on flat seas we manage a speed of 7 kts heading directly for the SW tip of the island. Perfect, because when we get back out of Dominica’s lee the wind is certain to swing again back to the usual eastern trade wind.
We pass huge rafts of weed where small boats are fishing next to them. As we pass through one raft there is all manner of debris trapped within the weed, wood, branches, plastic. One piece of wood has 2 birds perched on it. We try fishing but of course, our catch is the usual, weed!
As we approach the southern tip of Dominica we can see the expected white caps on the horizon and the wind switches back around to easterly as it should be.
We make a quick tack to the shore while Oana finalises the video upload. Amazing that in the well developed French islands phone signal was hopeless, yet miles offshore from Dominica, the poor and devasted island, the signal is brilliant! We have uploaded 2.7Gb of data in just a few hours.
As the easterly wind kicks in, so does the Atlantic swell and soon we are zipping along at 9 kts with the wind steadily increasing, and increasing …. At 18kts we reef the main. At 20 we reef the genoa.
After an hour of fast wet sailing we seem to be heading into a huge black squal cloud and soon we are pushing CB too hard, and even with both sails deeply reefed we are hitting 10kts.
Glen goes up to the bow, which is taking on a lot of spray and green water, to rig the cutter. He is cursing that he did not get it ready before we started. With genoa away and cutter sail out, things feel much more manageable and yet the speed is still holding a healthy 8kts. The apparent wind is 40 degrees off the bow and blowing up to 30 kts across the deck.
Then comes the rain, serious rain, with the intensity that flattens the waves and puts a silvery mist on the top of the water. And it goes on and on like that for the next hour. So glad we removed the drain plug from the dinghy, as it is dispelling water like someone left a tap on! We wonder what we would have done if we had been on the other tack, where the drain hole would have been uphill. Rain water at this volume would have significant weight in the dinghy and the davits can only take so much weight. Hmmm need to think about that one.
With the rain comes very poor visibility, just 200 meters at best. We see other craft on the AIS but still keep our eyes glued ahead for boats that might not have AIS. 2 AIS targets are approaching us with a CPA of just 200metres. Odd they seem to be so close and following each other. We change course to ensure there is no risk. Out of the haze comes a tug boat towing a huge barge. That explains it! But we are surprised a towed barge has AIS.
We guess all craft do these days. Wrong! Next boat out the haze is a large motor cruiser, heading directly for us and with no AIS! WTF?? They pass within 100m with 2 large radar antennas turning. Clearly a boat with all the electronic gizmos. We feel like screaming at them “turn on your AIS, you numpties!”
By now we are both wrapped up in waterproofs, huddled into the corner of the cockpit in the last spot that is still semi dry, feeling rather cold. We could be sailing in the North Sea here! What a contrast to 2 hours ago when we were champagne sailing behind Dominica! But eating lunch, a pasta and seafood salad previously made by Oana, is a welcome distraction from our dull surroundings.
As Martinique finally appears it starts to thunder and lightning, which is always a bit frightening on a yacht. One flash and bang is too close for comfort but there is nothing we can do other than cross fingers.
Oh, one thing we do is to turn on the engine. If we are hit by lightning and the engine is running, it will continue to run. But if we get hit with the engine off, it will certainly not start, because all electrics will be fried. So better on than off.
As we get into the lee of Martinique the waves and wind finally die and the rain also lightens up. We have made excellent time and even contemplate continuing to the south of Martinique. But as we see other yachts at anchor off St.Pierre we decide to stop and have a welcome warm cup of tea and call it a day.
At anchor, the rain continues. Glen has a nap which turns out to be a rather long sleep – 2 hours. It was just so cozy in our cabin with the rain outside he says.
In the evening light the town looks very interesting and very French, but now finally dry and warm we really can’t be bothered to paddle off in the dinghy in the rain. So we have a relaxing evening, for once inside the saloon. Makes a nice change to remind ourselves what northern Europe cruising is like, inside in the warmth listening to the wind and rain on deck!
Let’s hope the sun has returned tomorrow for our last hop to St.Ann Bay in the south, ready to pick up Teo, Geta and Darius on Friday.