Our only stop on the island of Guadeloupe is Bouillante. We came straight here from Antigua because our friends Sharron and John were anchored here and they said it was a wonderful place – they weren’t wrong!!
I was still nursing my sore back on our first full day at Bouillante (March 6th) so I stayed on board and rested. Mark took the dinghy back north to Pigeon Cove to do a bit of grocery shopping. It’s always fun to see what is available on these French islands – usually some really nice bread!! Mark returned with a good selection of items. We had a happy hour onboard CK with Sharron and John that night and we heard all about their anchoring adventures here in Guadeloupe. This island has some interesting challenges due to the height of the hills. After a nice day of mostly calm weather, the katabatic winds pipe up and it’s not uncommon to go from 4 knots of wind to 20 knots in seconds. It can cause boats to drag their anchors which in turn causes those onboard to go into a panic!! Sharron and John experienced very strong katabatic winds when they first arrived in Guadeloupe (at an anchorage north of here). They saw over 40knots of wind and lots of boats were dragging. Our current anchorage also gets some stronger winds in the late afternoon but nothing like what Sharron and John experienced.
Today (March 7th) we decided to go for a walk in the town of Bouillante with Sharron and John. My back was feeling much better and I figured the movement would help – it did!! We also decided to visit the hot springs here – called Ravine Blanche. After our walk, we swam over to the mouth of the hot springs and it was crazy hot!! It was like being in a hot tub. It was so relaxing to float along in the hot water mixed with the cooler water of the ocean. It was a great way to end our afternoon adventure on shore.
We’ve decided to keep moving south because we have a good weather wind to cross to Dominica on March 11th. Tomorrow we’ll pull up anchor and move about 20nm south to the Guadeloupean islands called Les Saintes. These islands are well known for their special flavour! Sharron and John are also jumping down with us so we’ll have another adventure with them!
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 