As we published our last blog entry we had just arrived in Guadeloupe and cleared customs. We are still tickled by the entry process here. Of course, we had heard about it but until you actually experience it you don’t really believe it. But it is true! When arriving by private vessel you go to the designated shop in the village of your arrival — in Deshais it was a local T-Shirt/souvenir shop, Le Pelican — find a computer in the back of the store and check yourself in. That’s it. No one checking for the required COVID tests, no one checking for valid passports, no one making sure that you don’t plan to stay indefinitely. Simply fill in the required fields, hit submit, print your info and pay the small fee (about 4 euros) and you are in. Less time clearing customs and immigration, more time to explore!
We stayed in Deshais for 5 full jam packed days. During that time we visited the exquisite botanical gardens (over a mile up a very steep hill to get there), took two separate hikes that served as great workouts (which we desperately needed to compensate for all the delicious French food we were eating — more on that below) and snorkeled a wonderful coral garden right near where we anchored our boat. But let’s start at the beginning! Day one was magical. We were greeted in the harbor by a large pod of dolphins. For about 30 minutes we got to watch them swim among the boats anchored in the bay. As we have said this many times, as often as we see dolphins, it never gets old. We could watch them for hours and, indeed, we stopped what we were doing while they remained in the area and were sad when they left for a new destination, hoping they would come back during our stay. Alas they did not.
With the dolphin distraction behind us, we ventured into town. We had made a short trip to shore when we went to check in at Le Pelican but it was late in the day so all we had time to do was clear in and eat dinner. Now we had time to look around. What immediately struck us was how “French” it felt. Yes, we were aware that Guadeloupe is a department of France (the equivalent of a state in the USA) but being in the Caribbean, we expected the Guadeloupe to have more of that island “vibe.” We were delighted to see how different it was from Antigua. Despite what you sometimes hear, if you see one Caribbean island you haven’t seen them all. Guadeloupe definitely had a distinct, very casual, no frills, French, personality. The Catholic Church was in the center of town and shops of all sorts fanned out from there including specialty stores for fruits and vegetables, the local boulangerie filled with croissants (which became a staple in Zack’s diet) and many, many restaurants all serving very authentic French cuisine, some with a creole influence.
We quickly learned that the French take their lunch hour very seriously as all the shops closed for 2 hours from about 1 – 3 PM. Taking a break to enjoy the mid day meal and unwind is very much a part of the French DNA. So much so that they cannot understand the American habit of hurrying through lunch, like it was a necessary evil, to get onto the next task. This was really reinforced to us by the conversation we struck up over dinner with a lovely young couple vacationing on Guadeloupe. She was originally from France and he was from South Africa. They separately traveled to St. Barts (another French island, this one in the Leeward island chain) where they met and ended up building careers there. She is a florist who handles high end weddings (St. Barts is a ritzy island so think about all of the “money is no object” destination weddings that take place there). We don’t recall how we got on the topic but she told us a story of an American florist one of her clients had flown over for their wedding. She was retained to source the flowers and greenery and the American was hired to help design the arrangements and support the execution. She and the American florist met one morning and immediately got to work. The morning flew by as they worked on design concepts. When it was noon the local florist told the American that it was time for lunch. The American wondered out loud where she could grab something to eat so they could continue their work over lunch. Our new friend had to explain, “No, that’s not how it’s done here. We take an hour for lunch. We eat and recharge. We do not work.” Even as she was telling us this story she was incredulous that a true lunch hour was foreign to her American colleague. “The lunch hour is so important” she said to us. Of course, we then got into a discussion of the American habit of grabbing a cup of coffee on the go and we really had her shaking her head. Sharing a cup of coffee with colleagues at the start of the day to exchange pleasantries and, importantly, hear about each other’s lives is how the French start their work day. She could not imagine just jumping into work. (We should mention as a funny aside that what caused us to strike up a conversation with this couple was a little kerfuffle we all witnessed on the beach. We are not entirely sure what happened but one man was taking pictures with his phone when another man approached and, after a few choice words in French that we didn’t understand, grabbed the phone and threw it in the ocean. Not something you witness every day!)
Though visiting the village of Deshais was fun, getting away from the town and engaging in a moderate hikes with some good hand over hand bouldering is what we really like to do. This is especially true on volcanic islands like Guadeloupe. Aside from a workout, we get the most breathtaking views. As we mentioned, we took two separate hikes (if you don’t count the arduous walk up to the botanical gardens): one along a coastal path and another, somewhat ill defined, that followed a river and had us climbing over rocks (crisscrossing the river) and walking though thick uncleared woods. Our favorite was the 4 mile hike along the coastal path that took us up over the highest peaks on that part of the island and then down to a gorgeous beach which we had to ourselves. As we left the beach and headed for the road we come across Chez Samy which is a local watering hole. We have never been to place quite like it. It was hard to tell if it was a going concern because it felt more like Samy’s outdoor living space — yes, there is a Samy — than a restaurant or bar. And when we say outdoor living space we aren’t talking about the carefully curated outdoor living spaces that we and our friends have enjoyed. We are talking about a makeshift tent covering a “cooking” area comprised of a grill and a few uncovered picnic tables. Though we were hungry from the long hike and Chez Samy did have a limited menu with fish and chicken, we were not quite comfortable with the refrigeration or sanitation (let’s just say that if this restaurant was in the states it would have been closed down by the local health authorities) so we opted for a bottle beer for Zack and bottled water for Jill. This allowed us to visit with Samy whose English was as limited as our French but we still managed to communicate. (We had a little help from a young German man who was working working remotely from Guadeloupe — one of the perks of COVID — who spoke just enough French and English to fill in the gaps). We learned that in 2017 Samy was featured in a 20 minute YouTube video. (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-tE01le2wxU). Unfortunately, for those of you who do not speak the language, it is in French. Still, it will give you a good glimpse of this charming, albeit somewhat grungy, eatery and the gracious and authentic proprietor who is so proud to welcome you into his home.
And, finally, the food! Okay, of the three locations we visited in Guadeloupe, Deshais was ranked third in food quality but it was still very good and very affordable, with 3 truly excellent dinners out and two just so-so (but not bad) dinners. As we mentioned above, the food is authentically French with, for some dishes, a creole flair. Every meal was prepared with balanced spices, nothing was overcooked and all the accompanying vegetables where fresh and flavorful. Jill, adhering to a vegan diet, quickly refreshed her high school French and got very proficient at communicating “je suis vegetalien” and “je ne manage pas animale, laitiere, fromage et beurre.” She was then offered the “assiette vegan” which was usually comprised of a salad, sautéed or grilled vegetables and fruit (usually including bake or lightly fried plantains). Of course, there were a few occasions when Jill could tell that a vegetable had been prepared with butter (despite Jill saying “je ne mange pas beurre”) and when she asked to verify the waiter would say “oui, un petit peu.” Hey, they are French and we guess they thought it was okay if a dish was prepared with only the tiniest trace of butter!
We mentioned that the meals were affordable (lower prices and no tipping) — which made eating out to experience and enjoy the local cuisine an easy choice. Likewise, we found the prices in the grocery stores more like the prices we are used to in the States vs. the high prices we generally see in the Caribbean because of the cost of getting food to the islands. Finally, we noticed that the roads were better maintained. We quickly learned that this is because, as noted above, the French islands are a department of France. Unlike the more loose affiliation some islands have with Great Britain, these islands are akin to a State in the US and France subsidizes them so prices are artificially low and do not include the extra costs of importation. This subsidy extends to wine so you can buy excellent French wines for the price you would pay in France. We now understand why we were told by many other cruisers that they stock up on provisions and wine when visiting the French islands and we are already planning for that to be a big part of our preparation as we get ready to leave on our circumnavigation in February 2023.
One finally note on Dehais: we found a diver to squirt grease in our prop to address the issue we mentioned at the end of our last blog entry. He was a delightful young man name Guillaume (probably in his mid twenties) from mainland France who decided to move to Guadeloupe because, well, why not? (They was a common theme we heard from the many French people we had conversations with.). He supports himself by doing odd jobs — like cleaning hulls or squirting grease into a prop — but mostly just enjoys living a Caribbean lifestyle with summer 365 days a year. He enjoyed practicing his English on us and Jill enjoyed practicing her French on him. When Jill said to him “vous parlez tres bien le francais” he responded to Jill that she had excellent grammar and made her day!
After 5 full and marvelous days in Deshais, we took off our second Guadeloupe destination: the Pigeon Islands, home of the Cousteau Reserve, a protected underwater reserve with vibrant coral reefs and gardens and lots of marine life. Because the Pigeon Islands are protected, there is no anchoring there. Instead we anchored off Plage de Malendure on the mainland of Basse Terre — a beach that was more like a quaint seaside village with several excellent restaurants and casual shops and eateries right on the sand. From there it was just a short dinghy ride to the Pigeon Islands. Though the Cousteau Reserve is a relatively small area, it definitely lived up to the hype. There are three main areas to snorkel: a shallow coral garden, an area between two of the islands known as the “pool” and a deeper coral reef with a dramatic wall. We snorkeled all three areas for the better part of a day — the water quality was excellent — and saw more coral and fish than we have seen anywhere this season. What a delight!
Of course, again, the feature was the food. Whether we ate in a more upscale restaurant or a very casual place on the beach, the food was excellent. A favorite of Zack’s is the accras — a starter that is offered at every restaurant. Accras are Caribbean fritters made of local fish. They are served with a variety of sauces and ordering them at every restaurant to find the best accras became a fun part of every meal for him. After our stay in Deshais and now off Plage de Malendure, Zack declared La Touna the winner and we rewarded them with two separate visits!
After 4 full days off the Pigeon Islands it was time to move on to Les Saintes, a chain of 7 small islands that are part of Guadeloupe, two of which (Terre de Haut and Terre de Bas) are inhabited. We chose to anchor off Anse du Bourg on the island of Terre de Haut. What a lovely little village. Though we have never been to a Mediterranean village most people who have compare Anse du Bourg to one and from the pictures we’ve seen we think that’s right. The village stretches along a road that runs parallel to the beach and includes many lovely specialty shops and restaurants. Though there are a few cars on the island, most people get around on golf carts and scooters. Older women stroll the streets and sell local pastries from wicker baskets. You truly feel like you are part of a scene on a postcard.
Of course, we are the Hummels and though we really enjoyed walking along the streets of the village and visiting some of the shops, the real attraction for us in Anse du Bourg was the hiking. Like Guadeloupe’s main island, Les Saintes are volcanic islands so you get these great hikes up rocky coastal paths with panoramic views of the surrounding islands. We particularly enjoyed the 4 mile loop trail that started at Fort Napoleon and took us to several different vistas along the coast. The featured photo for this blog entry was one of many we took while enjoying this challenging hike. (While walking up to Fort Napoleon we did see a most unusual sight. A couple was riding down the very steep hill on unicycles and holding hands. Of course, no helmets. As they passed by we realized that one of them had a baby on their back! Nope, not something you see every day.)
And when you think the food can’t get any better you are wrong. Of the three places we visited in Guadeloupe, Les Saintes had the best food — and that says a lot since the food up to this point was not too shabby. Our favorite by far was Au bon Vivre, so we ate there twice. (Honorable mention goes to Ti Kaz’la which prepared Accras that surpassed those at the previous front runner, La Touna, and served the most heavenly mango soufflé). Au bon Vivre had a casual chic vibe. We enjoyed our meal at a table in the back patio which was really more of a courtyard. The drinks (most notably the “Spicy Mango”) and the food was 5 star. Zack particularly enjoyed the fish ravioli starter which floated in a delicate light cream sauce. Jill appreciated the most curated assiette vegan of any of the restaurants we visited. It included a beautiful assortment of fresh vegetables perfectly seasoned and artfully plated.
Though there was still more to do in Guadeloupe, after 2 full weeks we felt ready to move on. There is so much more to see in the French West Indies. So we hoisted our anchor on February 22 and headed for Martinique. At the suggestion of another cruiser we met, Gavin, we decided to break the ~70 nm sail in two days, dropping our anchor off Dominica (just shy of the half way point) for a brief overnight stay and then sailing on to Martinique the next day. We had originally planned to stop in Dominica to enjoy that island but, unfortunately, the COVID protocols made that impossible. Most notably, Dominica requires a PCR test before arrival and there was no place to get a PCR test on Les Saintes so that ruled out Dominica this trip. Before we move on to describe the trip, we need to give a shout out to Gavin. We met him when we entered a marine service vendor to see if there was someone who could help us purchase more fuel for our dinghy. With all of our long dinghy rides, we were getting very low and we learned that there was no gasoline on the island. You had to travel across to another island which was too far for our dinghy. He overheard Jill struggling with her French (“ou puis je acheter petro”) and he told us that he had plenty and would gladly give us some. He exemplified what we like about the cruising community. Though there are of course exceptions, by and large we find that sailors help other sailors and don’t wait to be asked. Kudos to Gavin!
As we reached Dominica we got a nice treat. A particularly lively pod of dolphins swam over to our boat and started swimming in the wake of our bow. While this isn’t the first time we’ve had dolphins do that, this is the first time that the dolphins seems to be trying to engage with us. As they swam along side they would rub up against the boat and then flip over on their backs in what appeared to be an attempt to garner our attention. This went on for about 15 – 20 minutes during which time we captured great pictures and a short video. What we captured with our eyes but not the camera was the the dolphins’ final farewell. One of the dolphins leapt at least 8 feet out of the water into the air before swimming off. It was the perfect ending to what was a magical experience. We posted the video and a few select pics on Instagram @sailingchefigata. If you haven’t already done so, check them out!
As we type this we are in Martinique. We arrived late yesterday (February 23) and cleared in at a local restaurant. Same casual drill as Guadeloupe. We are just starting to plan our visit to this island. As always, there is much to see and do. (We are also looking forward to more fabulous French food!). Our current thought is that we will explore Martinique for a few weeks before heading down to St. Lucia. Our next blog entry will likely be as we leave this island to move onto our next destination. But for now, au revoir!
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