Loving Iles des Saintes

Well we didn't have to wait too much longer in the BVI's for an opportunity to make the overnight passage to St.Martin.  We headed out, just as the sun was setting, into fairly lumpy seas but with the weather forecasters promising lightening winds. We had an uneventful night ( always good ) and by breakfast time the next morning we were just off the St. Martin coast. Since the winds and seas had died down -and since we really didn't need/want to necessarily stop in St.Martin - we just kept right on going. Next stop Antigua.  We pulled in to Jolly Harbour, Antigua at 2 am. the following morning and dropped the anchor. It's a large open harbour which we have anchored in before so a night time arrival was not a problem for us.  Straight to bed and we both slept in that morning. We spent the day on the boat and left at sundown that evening, never having set foot on land. We were now, finally, heading south ( winds mostly from the East) so we had a good over night sail from Antigua past Guadeloupe and on into Iles des Saintes.

The pretty town Bourg De Saintes, on Terre D'en Haut, Iles des Saintes

main street

old building

local church

the Mairie, town/city hall

looking down on the town and harbour

on top of Le Chameau, 1,000ft up. The highest point on the Island.

taking a rest.

the airport runway on the right of picture

looking down onto Baie de Pompierre

     We really enjoyed our few days on  Iles des Saintes and will definitely return next season. The Island is small enough to to be able to walk from coast to coast and has some good, steep hiking trails. We love the vibe of the French Islands. Laid back, everything shuts down at lunch time, great croissants! and even though our ( my) French language skills are appalling I enjoy the challenge of trying to make myself understood in the grocery store. OH, and nobody cares if you go topless off the back of the boat !!!! ( no pictures please).

   We have now moved on to Dominica, which we are also loving.