Location: Guadeloupe
After breakfast this morning, we set off to say goodbye to the Isles of the Saints. Just before our departure, a small cruise ship had anchored in the harbor. We felt blessed we had had the serenity of the beautiful town without it. As it was only a short hop across the channel to Guadeloupe, we motor sailed with the staysail and reefed main, keeping us steady in the short chop. The waters around these islands are like minefields of fishing pots and plastic containers in a mix of colors, sometimes alone, sometimes in line, sometimes in clusters. It made our bow watch quite an active role, calling back the route to meander through them, keeping our propeller free from line. Those not involved in keeping Ocean Star on her way were lounging on deck enjoying the breeze until we found the Lee of Guadeloupe. The sea calmed down, and Heather took everyone below for an Oceanography class about beaches and shorelines.
After lunch, we anchored off an interesting little place, which shall now be described to you by Olivia:
After having a location with ‘fuzzy rocks’ hyped up by Drew and Heather, we made our way to shore in Guadeloupe. We jumped off the dingy dock and swam towards a river. But this was no ordinary river, and this was made clear as soon as we jumped in. The river was a warm, hot spring in which the warm water remained above the rest of the cool ocean water. Near the mouth of the river, the water was so hot you could barely go directly into it. It was here that we found the ‘fuzzy rocks’. Singly algae-covered rocks they were significantly soft, and we enjoyed our time around them. We were also keen to practice the vocabulary we had been learning in oceanography class as we hung around the beach and looked at cool rocks and treasures in the sand. The excursion ended with a group jumping off the dock.
Once back on Ocean Star, we raised anchor again to make our way to our final anchorage and location for the next few nights, in Guadeloupe. During the passage, we had a bit of a practice man-over-board drill as Freddie pointed out a lone drifting fender, simply stating, “I want it”. We maneuvered around and successfully salvaged our new fender. As we came into our anchorage, we completed our Emergency First Responder exams and then enjoyed a lovely sunset and tasty dinner.