June 29 - July 3, 2010... Settled in to Deshaies

Yup, we could live here. Terrific anchorage, nice town. Very friendly people. Great restaurants where we ate christophene and breadfruit for the first time. (Let's not forget the best food - the bread.) Patti's French is starting to come back and has extended a bit beyond restaurant French into bus French. Yes, we took the bus to Pointe-a-Pitre (a couple of hours away with a transfer in Ste Rose -- shorter on the way back with a nonstop bus.) The city was pretty -- nice old wooden buildings -- and a lively shopping district. The bus trip makes for a fun way to see a country -- we headed up into the mountains and had terrific views of the sea below, the landscape is gorgeous, the vegetation so green.
Deshaies was having a big festival this past weekend, so we took in some of the activities. One night went to the church to see the local choirs perform. More interesting though was watching the audience. Afterwards a traditional music group played on the outdoor stage -- great drumming and singing. Saturday was the day for the races -- sailboat races and rowing races in the anchorage around our boat. We had front row seats. Saturday night the festivities continued and the best part was the quadrille dancing (like square dancing).
But cruiser midnight comes early and we crashed way before the music ended. Of course, we were tired having kayaked around the headland to the Grand Anse beach earlier in the day. The beach was so beautiful; but so hot! We had to run to the water from our towel so as not to burn our feet. As we paddled back two more boats were coming into the anchorage -- John recognized one of them as Bel Ami St. Thomas -- who we had met in Samana, DR! Small world. So we visited with Dave and Victoria who are also on their way 'down island'.
Though we really love Deshaies, all things must end and we have to keep heading south. So, tomorrow we head out to Les Saintes.