Iles de Saintes, Guadeloupe

Thursday morning we woke and headed in to Portsmouth, Dominica. Paul dropped Traci and I off, with me loaded down with some laundry (2 loads). We got that started then walked the town looking for various things we needed. We were able to buy 2 lures for the guys so we may actually catch fresh fish. We were able to buy a plastic lawn chair, as Paul needs one for his back. The people of Dominica are so friendly. We were happy to be ashore. We left Portsmouth after we stopped at the cruise dock to top up our drinking water. We headed to Iles de la Saintes (part of Guadeloupe). The voyage was a rougher one than usual. This island is so quaint. You would think you were in a small French village.... but unfortunately we could not go ashore. We flew our yellow “Q” flag but an American couple told us we can't check in because the fax machine at the customs office broke down. The customs office faxes all info to their headquarters. So we stayed afloat and enjoyed a nice meal. The rain came again and up and down closing hatches. Paul and Dave worried the anchor may drag and we slip away and hit another boat, but no, we were good. This island has many windmills (the futuristic ones) and they are noisy 24/7. At first we thought they were bats coming out at night, but no, this morning we heard the noise again and realized those windmills make a lot of noise. Iles de la Saints homes and buildings all have red roofs, it was so uncanny... so clean and splendid. There were about 10-15 small hobbie cats scooting across the water... some small sailing club. Very European. The ferries are amazing. Futuristic ferries that we watch on discovery channel shows. Friday morning, we left for Bas de Fort (which basically is Point de Pitre, capital of Guadeloupe). This voyage was rough too but I prepared myself by taking ½ a gravol. We arrived today about 3:00pm. This is where we grab a taxi and head to the airport Saturday for James to arrive about 4pm. After Dave checked us in at customs, we went ashore to the marina there to get pops and different food items. Traci and I will go ashore Sat. morning to a huge supermarket a little further away and less expensive (Euros here). We need to provision well again as the next few islands are very small. …. and James eats a lot hahahaha! This island is very metropolitan and opulent. There are many high rises, shipping facilities, commercial districts and the marina is full of boats of all sizes (imagine Paul in a “candy store”). I made a nice pasta dinner and Traci is excellent with garlic bread in a frying pan. So we will rest good tonight, no rain we pray. We will stay here Sat. night too and I will keep everyone posted. Unfortunately we could not hook up to internet tonight. We did earlier just for a quick email to James but that was a flook of some kind, can't get it again. Bye for now.