Our Grand Adventure

12th December 2025 | Odometer: 448nm | Guadeloupe

It was time to farewell Dominica and  make our way onwards to Guadeloupe, stopping first in Les Saintes, a group of tiny islands clustered a few nautical miles south of the main island of Guadeloupe. After a week of rolly anchorages in Dominica, we were very ready for some sheltered spots in the Saints, alas, it was not to be! 

The crossing from Dominica to the Saints was made in short gap in the weather. The winds in the area were pretty high and were forecast to get even higher, except for a small gap in the afternoon. We waited for lunch, and then plunged ahead. Although it was a bit intense in patches it was not too bad and we eventually crossed into a following sea – big swells pushing us north from behind, combined with some strong gusts from the East. Overall, not an enjoyable cruise but not a bad one either. Very achievable. About the worst patch was right as we entered into the middle of the islands, Ryan likened it to a washing machine which was pretty accurate! The current flowing in all directions, wind wrapping around the peaks of the islands and stronger gusts from the East coming through. 

The washing machine was a little more intense than expected as there are loads of sail boats around going in all directions! As a motor boat, we always give way to sail boats, and this is usually fairly easy to predict where they are going and give a wide clearance. Unfortunately, in the tight passes between the islands, some of the boats were behaving very oddly, swinging back and forth, changing tack heaps and being fairly unpredictable! It wasn’t until we got closer we realised they were avoiding the many fishing pots scattered through the narrow channel! 

Once we realised this we just gave up on a wide clearance and made some much closer passes. Generally the French sailors seem far more relaxed and blase about the whole thing and even on a really tight pass don’t seem to be too fussed, always giving us a friendly wave as we go by. I guess they are used to that area! 

The mooring field was also a bit interesting to navigate through with multiple kite surfers, lots  of boats moving around, a ferry coming in, etc etc. We had definitely gotten used to the big, open anchorages of Dominica with hardly anyone around! It was quite a vibe change to be in a bustling, touristy area with loads happening! 

Coming back into France is so easy with their online check in. After picking up a mooring we did the paperwork, switched flags and were all set for Guadeloupe. 

Les Saintes

Les Saintes is an extremely popular day trip or weekend from Guadeloupe and it is very touristy! We had a great time riding bikes all over the island; passing other tourists on electric scooters and dodging some Wall-E type characters in golf carts. Unfortunately riding a bike is not really just like riding a bike as I clearly can’t remember how to do it so well! Ryan just cracked up laughing and took a photo 🙄

Clearly a good spot for naval battles back in the day with old Fort Napoleon and many ruins and gun batteries around to be explored. We laughed as we had just seen the English fortifications in Dominica (to fight off those French!) and were now seeing the French fortifications in Guadeloupe (gotta keep those English out!). What a crazy period of history.

We snorkelled a little and enjoyed wine and eating out at some of the lovely restaurants. These seem to be designed for instagram! 

The sunsets in Les Saintes are very rewarding as there are so many angles to see it from… over land, over water, over boats… It all just depends where you park yourself to watch it! We enjoyed some onshore but of course, also from our favourite spot, on the roof. One evening we went dashing back inside as a brief squall blew over right as the sun was setting! It’s definitely getting colder now with a very cool evening breeze – although Ryan refuses to admit being cold at all haha.

French Dinner Etiquette

After much confusion in Martinique and here in some of the restaurants we belatedly thought to look up French restaurant culture. So, ChatGPT tells me, and I hope this is mostly correct, is that fundamentally a French waiter / waitress will not interrupt you as that is considered very rude. They will wait for you to gently signal them you are ready for menus or to order or that you need something. After spending so long in the USA which has almost the exact opposite culture for wait service, it took us a while to realise we weren’t being rude calling them over, but rather that it was expected! We also had been kinda wondering why they never came over and if we had made some sort of social faux pas hahaha. Ahhh bit of a cultural mismatch in expectations there! 

Another fairly different norm is that in the evenings, you can, and may be asked to, sit in a different area to enjoy drinks before dinner. Then, when it’s time for the main meal you will be shifted over to a restaurant table. This too was a little unusual at first, but on reflection, it’s quite lovely as it gives you space to relax and wind down from the day with a drink in a nice setting, before needing to think about what to order or having to think about food at all. A leisurely change of pace and a relaxing way to approach a meal.

Now that we have better learnt the etiquette we have definitely enjoyed dining out in the French Antilles more 🙂

Pigeon Island, Guadeloupe

After more extremely rolly nights in Les Saints we were ready to get cracking out of there. We made the crossing from Les Saintes to Guadeloupe on a stormy morning, a choppy start then a big, following sea as we headed across, with a couple of squalls blowing over and stirring things up further.

The scenery along this stretch was beautiful with the mountains of mainland Guadeloupe being covered in passing clouds, then rays of light breaking through as each storm passed us by. The sky was very dramatic with lighter clouds appearing, then building and turning darker and greyer til finally the squall hits. For five minutes or so the wind is whipping, the rain is sideways, the waves are churning, then it becomes calm once again as the stormfront blows in front of you. Then it’s rainbows and sunshine for half an hour until the next one.

We passed a small sailboat heading south and watching it slowly approach the ominous sky felt like a scene from a movie with some Greek hero defying the angry gods.

We have now started going with the wind and swells more as the island chain starts to be more north-westerly between hops… one side effect of this is that emptying the holding tank is a more smelly affair as the wind blows the pungent smells back through the boat! 💩. Of course, once you are in the lee of the land it gets lovely and calm and very pleasant heading… naps all round.

Pigeon Island

Pigeon Island is a cute little pair of islands just off the coast about half way up Guadeloupe. There is great snorkelling all around here and we had a great time tying off the dinghy and enjoying the area. We saw some amazing schools of fish that reflected the light beautifully and passed by a few scuba divers in the deeper sections. 

Since we went to Scott’s Head in Dominica I have been a lot more able to overcome my fear of snorkelling and deep waters. Further south, so much of the reef and wildlife was gone or had been destroyed that I had little incentive to get in to look at, well, rocks. We had also been swimming in off the beach which can also be a little challenging as you are in the waves initially and everything is very close in the shallows, then once you are deep enough you are very far from the shore. In Dominica, we started tying off the dinghy somewhere deep, and snorkelling off there. This is a way better approach and I have been enjoying it a lot more.

Starting deeper means the water is clearer, being in about 3-4 meters depth means you can see the coral and the fish but its not right in your face like you are about to bump into it, and lastly, the dinghy is super close! So if I want out it’s just there instead of hundreds of meters away. This has helped me get a lot more confident in the snorkelling. If it’s shallow, a pool noodle  is my friend too 🙂 

Two highlights of snorkelling this spot was seeing what is now my new favourite fish – the Queen Parrotfish. They are just so utterly dopey looking – they’re adorable! The other highlight was the thick schools of blue tang that were hovering in the shallow reef. As they swim parts of their bodies reflect the light; and with so many clustered together it creates a shimmering, vibrant display of blues and bright lights.

We ended up shifting the boat further up the beach later that afternoon as we were feeling a little uncomfortably close to the beach and there were a looot of tourists around snorkelling right up next to our boat. The beach further along gave us unimpeded sunset views and the sky really turned it on for us that night. Maybe all the rain had done something to the air but the colours were really outstanding.

Keep Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’

As is the theme at the moment, we rolled our way through for a few nights. I find it tricky cooking in this as we don’t have a gimballed stove top like many boats. So it becomes a two-person mission to cook as one person holds the hot stuff to prevent it sliding off the stove, and the other person does all the other things. Sometimes this gets a little too exciting in a big swell hahaha. 

By this stage we were starting to give up on getting a normal night’s sleep again! We will be rolling all the way to Florida it feels like!

Deshaies

Deshaies has saved us! A calm anchorage – no rolling and so chill. What a welcome relief. The first night we were asleep by 9pm and then slept in, catching up on some much needed sleep after all the interrupted nights over the past couple of weeks. I take my hat off to all parents with young kids, functioning in society without any sleep – respect.

Entering Deshaies was a windy affair with a relatively low baseline wind, but interspersed with absolutely hectic gusts of wind funnelling down across the land mass of Guadeloupe. The wind gusts are so intense the smallest wavelet tips are turned into mist and make these sprays of fine droplets across the surface. Everywhere you look it seems there is a dolphin or a creature passing on the surface, but it’s just the wind creating unusual interactions with the water. 

The bay is surrounded on three sides by green trees over rolling hills. A long coral ledge extends around the point on the northern side of the bay and the shore is bracketed along the inside with a series of little restaurants and touristy shops. We watched many plongée (dive) boats go by with large groups of people heading to the many popular diving spots in the area. I have no idea how to say plongée correctly but it’s fun to say out loud in all the various incorrect English versions – give it a go – plongée! Haha. We have spotted a ridiculous number of turtles in the bay each day.

Speaking of saying things incorrectly – how do you think you pronounce Deshaies? Well, it’s “Day-Ay”… obviously.

Deshaies Botanical Gardens

There is not a lot to do in this town, but a huge drawcard is the Deshaies Botanical Gardens. These were a delight, set amongst towering banyan trees with enormous root systems, the shady walkways are bracketed on all sides by a profusion of blossoms from a variety of tropical and subtropical plants. I have so many ideas for our Jindalee garden when we return to Australia!

I was very impressed by some of the orchids scattered through the trees as well as the flowering bromeliads. Although the plant life was spectacular and well laid out, the absolute highlight here was the flamingos! The native Carribean Flamingo is pink and just such a weird bird! The legs and neck are so spindly and long as to make the body seem like a completely detached bit of fluff floating in the air. I have no idea how food makes it up their long throats when their head is burrowing deep in the mud. Oddballs for sure. 

We also spotted hummingbirds, some enormous bumblebees and a variety of super cute little sparrows. Australian rainbow lorikeets are a major attraction here and were just as enjoyable to feed as they are back home. Cheeky little fellas!