July 5-6, 2010... Les Saintes

Weather. It rules us. Woke up Monday with an incoming tropical wave. By 10am we were in a deluge of biblical proportions, the seas churned up, and the wind howling. Deciding to move the boat to a more secure spot, we donned raingear, raised the anchor and shot across to the anchorage behind Pain de Sucre, a beautiful rounded hill on Terre du Haut. The day was a rainout, but we didn't mind having time to putter around the boat. Anyway, we figured we had almost a week to explore Les Saintes as we waited out weather before our next big push on to Martinique.
But, Tuesday morning we got the word that it was going to be the best day for travel till at least the following Monday, maybe Tuesday, because of TWO MORE inbound tropical waves. So we decided to leave in the afternoon for Martinique. That meant we would head to town, replenish some important food stocks (like French bread...) and just get to see the place. What a wonderful town. Absolutely beautiful, gorgeous flowers, well-maintained homes, cute shops, endless restaurants, scenic views everywhere. We tried to take in as much as we could, promising to come back and spend more time...after hurricane season passes. Back to the boat (a fairly long hike up and down hills and unpaved paths, kayaking from the beach with our purchases (the bread stayed dry!)) and we were approached by French Customs, who wanted to board our boat. They were extremely pleasant and didn't stay too long. We think they were bored and wanted something to do.

Pain de Sucre, Les Saintes: +15° 51' 45.78", -61° 36' 0.24"