Isles des Saintes

We crossed over from Dominique to Isles des Saintes on the 14th of February with another great sail. We like to go forward to ride the waves on the spreader (bar between the two hulls) but luckily Jenessa and I were on the trampoline when we hit some waves that managed to give us air and completely drench us. Alex came forward and joined us but donning her mask (without snorkel). This didn’t last too long but was great fun. This lobster picture was taken in Dominica, Kelli had this guy for dinner.

Kelli brought some fishing gear down courtesy of our brother in law Gary and we put it out on our sail to Dominica and we caught something that looked like a tuna, but it slipped the hook as we tried to bring it in over the dinghy. Then while we were in Dominica, Ron cut Jenessa a “Cuban Reel” which she painted it up with a Hammerhead shark and other fish and did a great job on it. She was anxious to get fishing again, so it wasn’t long before she had the gear out the back. One of the things that Gary sent was a rubber bungie thing that he insisted we have so that we wouldn’t have a stantion or a cleat pulled off. While lying on the settee, I had my hand on the bungee and was trying to imagine what it would feel like if a fish was on it, when all of a sudden it started to stretch way out. I hightailed it away from it in case it came flinging back and hollered for Jenessa who was reading in her bunk. Alex and Kelli started to reel it in and when Jenessa arrived they had it close enough look that Alex and Jenessa were sure we had a shark, as a matter of fact Alex identified it as a black tipped shark, with that announcement both Alex and Jenessa took evasive action and bolted off the transom screaming. Ron finished reeling it in and discovered we had a billed fish, which we later identified as a blue marlin. We estimate it was about 35 – 40 pounds and about six feet in total length from tail to bill. Jenessa did a great job cleaning it and we ended up with enough fish for several meals

Iles des Saintes is a group of three larger islands and five smaller islands and like Martinique is part of France. These islands have a very interesting history with Columbus coming here on his second voyage in 1493 and as a base for the French during the Battle of the Saintes in 1782. There is an amazing fort on the hill about the town of Bourge des Saintes where we cleared customs, so the girls had a choice of doing school work on the boat or visiting the fort. An easy choice for them or so they thought. It was quite a hike up to the fort which is on the top of a hill overlooking the islands and off to Guadeloupe. Fort Napoleon was originally called Fort Louis and rebuilt in 1846 and then again renewed in the 1900’s. Fort Napoleon is a “Vauban” type of military structure; it follows the curve of the land and has a moat with 11 meter high walls and two drawbridges.

The town here is a lot of fun with very narrow streets, many people on scooters and wonderful seaside restaurants and specialty shopping boutiques. It was difficult jogging through the streets this morning to the smells of fresh bread, so on my way back I brought everyone breakfast of fresh bread and butter and chocolate croissants