France, France and, well, baguettes.
We have entered our second “week in France”, first in Deshais and now in Les Saints, both a part of Guadeloupe, the first island to the south from Antigua.
Brenda and I visited France, the one “across the Pond” back in September, when we flew, not sailed, across the Atlantic, rented cars and moved from hotel to hotel for two weeks including a week with our son Christopher and his partner Melody. It was a great trip and while we were “in France” it’s a lot different than being “in France” aboard Pandora now.
Now that we are “in France” again, our schedule is pretty loose with no deadlines to speak of except perhaps keeping a wary eye on the weather so we don’t end up having to move south when the wind and seas are up. So far, it’s been very calm and we are enjoying the tranquility, warm water and balmy temperatures.
Each day is much the same as the one before with a leisurely start to the day with morning starting at sunrise, coffee and a baguette or croissant followed by a look at the news in the US, depressing, with all the wrangling in Washington. After that, Brenda generally knits, weaves or works on her book and sometimes practices here new ukulele, which she hopes to master, somewhat, by the end of the season. I think that she is making great progress although she doesn’t see it that way. Most days, we fit in a morning swim before getting serious about our chores, such as they are and usually an afternoon swim and perhaps another before dinner. Of course, it takes more than a few laps around Pandora to work off that morning croissant.
Our cockpit looks a bit like a greenhouse including a few tiny orchids that we smuggled into Antigua, buried deep in our luggage. They love it here, like we do, and have burst into bloom. 
Pandora’s hard dodger can be a bit hot when the winds are calm which is almost never and offers a welcome respite from the strong tropical sunshine. Brenda took this shot, while I made coffee down below, as we made our way south along the west coast of Guadeloupe on our way to Les Saints the other day. In the lee of the island the waters are very calm and the wind, not so much. 
The view of Deshais from our stern shows how tiny the cove really is, with a lone sailboat just peaking out, more of an indent, than a harbor. 
And the mountains of Guadeloupe in the morning haze to the south were beautiful. 
Here in Les Saintes we spend some time most days hunting for groceries, a rewarding effort as there is a remarkable selection of wonderful French food to choose from, and many places to purchase fresh bread, kaiser buns, and terrific cheeses. Of course, who can resist a nice little rose wine for less than ten euros. In the US these shops would bill themselves as “gourmet” but here high quality is just expected.
And, speaking of great food, today we purchased a bag of Lamb Chops from New Zealand. Some of our cruising friends are planing a beach cookout and we will bring them along to toss on the grill.
This tiny cluster of islands are very popular with tourists from France who fly directly to Guadeloupe and take the short ferry ride here. When the ferries arrive each morning they disgorge hundreds of tourists that turn the tiny village from sleepy to bustling in moments, only to melt away as they take shuttles to the inns and hotels scattered throughout the island.
The waterfront is so charming with a very convenient dock to pull up our dink. 
The waterfront looks like a tiny little village on the Mediterranean. 
Every view better than the last. 
The muraledesign on this building near the town landing says it well. 
There are plenty of reasonably priced places to enjoy a terrific French meal. 
Last evening we went out for dinner with our friends Mark and Lynn from Roxy and had an amazing dinner of fois gras and lamb chops. Yum.
Fresh food is abundant here and some of the homes have lush gardens. 
Papayas so big you could never finish even one. 
Our first stop after leaving Antigua, before Les Saintes was Deshais, a tiny fishing village on the Northwest coast of Guadeloupe. The harbor can be pretty rolly with a wrap-around swell and the swell was up when we arrived. Fortunately, the swell dropped after a day and made for a pleasant visit.
The town, more of a village, and smaller than the town here in Les Saintes, is very quaint, a sort of French shabby chic.
The town dock can be a bit tricky when the surf is on, as it was during our visit so we took our dink down the little canal on the Deshais river. We were told that the week before we arrived the waves were breaking at the mouth of this canal. The swell in the harbor can be so bad that they have to remove the top of the dock to keep it from blowing off with the waves crashing against the shore. Even when it’s calm, the town dock can be a bit of a challenge to land on. 
You can walk a short distance up the river and swim in one of the small pools between the cascades on the river, more of a stream, actually. The water is a bit milky and I expect that is because the water leaches out of limestone springs. As it is coming directly down from the mountains I doubt it’s polluted. After this I went in for a swim. It was chilly but what a change of pace. Fresh Water!
The main street in town is lined with colorful restaurants and shops. 
We had a terrific meal, French of course, here with some cruiser friends. 
Each restaurant is more charming than the next. This particular one is featured in the TV series, Death in Paradise. 
Buildings on the waterfront are beaten up from time to time in storms. I guess this one hasn’t been repaired quite yet. 
Fishing is a big part of what goes on in Deshais and every evening and into the early morning before dawn we were rocking and rolling as the fisherman headed out and returned with their days catch.
And, of course, where there are fish there are pelicans looking to find a way to prove that their “mouth can hold more than their belly can.” I was just happy that they weren’t killing time waiting for their next meal aboard Pandora.
Brenda and I spent a day with some friends from a boat Billy Ruffin and toured the nearby botanical gardens, one of the best in the Caribbean. The view from the visitors center is first rate.
They have a large collection of koi that are always ready for a handout. 
All of these fish, and there are hundreds of them, are up to two feet long. 
While the gardens are mostly focused on plants, there are a number of birds to enjoy including these beautiful parrots that live in a large open air aviary that you can enter and see up close. 
And who doesn’t like flamingos?
This big macaw, seeming to challenge “what you lookin at?” 
And, of course, lots of plants and flowers, far too many to show here. 
These puffy flowers show up before the leaves on this tree. They are 10′ puffs of pink against a perfect blue sky. 
I love the contrast of the red roofs, a signature style here, against the clear blue tropical sky and even bluer ocean. 
From the edge of the property, a view of the boats in the harbor. That’s Pandora, third from the right. 
Pandora up close. 
So here we are in Les Saintes, one of our favorite spots to spend time. We’ve taken a mooring for a week but it looks like we may have to make a run to Martinique soon as the winds are likely to pick up quite a bit and we need to be there or in St Lucia in a few weeks when we hope that the new compressor for our fridge will arrive and none too soon as it’s sounding worse each day. I sure hope that it doesn’t give up the ghost before the new one arrives.
For now, however, there’s plenty of great food to keep our fridge, as long as the compressor holds up, well stocked. It’s great to be back in France again.
Can I have another baguette? Why not…
There is a bit of a swell coming into the harbor so we had a somewhat rolly night but the sun is out and it’s a beautiful day.
Yesterday Brenda and I rented a car with some new cruising friends and toured the island of Guadeloupe. We had lunch in an excellent French restaurant along the way and visited a rum distillery but the highlight of the day was a hike into the rainforest to view 
Near the parking area was an overlook to give us an idea of what we were going to see, the spectacular double falls in the distance. 
The path we took was labeled as easy and was very well maintained with pavers and wooden walkways the entire way. However, because of the constant wet from rain and mist, it was still slippery. 
Everywhere you turned, something was growing, from tiny moss and ferns to trees hundreds of feet tall. 
It seemed like every branch had something growing on it. 
Some of the ferns were 40′ tall with fronds that stretched 8′.
The path followed the stream up to the falls. 
The top of the mountain, some 4,000′ tall, was shrouded in clouds and mist. 
After walking up and down, down and up, we arrived at the overlook with the water crashing down from the lower falls in the distance. What a view.
There was a little bird looking at us, perhaps hoping for a handout. 
I am always on the lookout for orchids and didn’t see any. That’s not unusual as they generally grow high up in the forest canopy, hundreds of feet up where the light is bright but hard to see from the forest floor.
The island mountains are so steep and there is only a single road that runs around the perimeter of the island, with what seems like hundreds of switchbacks and winding curves that follow the coastline. Driving these roads can get tiring after a while as it’s more like a slalom course where going more than 30 kph is tough.
A charming building. 
Including a mix of new and old. 
I swear that I only had a tiny taste.
As a museum, they had a very eclectic mix of stuff in their collection. A number of ship models including such unrelated designs as a Mississippi steamer, Christoper Columbus’s ships and, well, an odd mix. 
Along with some life size dinosaur models, both outside and in, they had a huge collection of bugs in frames. 
Tiny ones all lined up behind glass. 
Butterflies of all kinds. 
And lots that I’d hate running into at night. 
Some bigger than you’d want to imagine, about 12″ long. To make matters worse, they are the sort that flies, I expect. 
Of course, everyone’s favorites, horned beetles. 
Ask yourself, what museum is complete without a collection of sand, all carefully labeled?
After the tour of the collection, all I could think of was someone saying “what in the world are we going to do with Dad’s collections? Have a tag sale? No, wait, let’s open a museum! Any better ideas?”
And even more beautiful under a full press of sails.
Mary Rose has had a number of owners over the years including Hugh Hefner, who used her as a set for a 1959 issue of Playboy. She was called Gallant at that time. 
Mary Rose is very likely in way better shape these days than the “bunnies” that spent time aboard her nearly 60 years ago.
Today she lives a somewhat less exciting life full time in English Harbor, Antigua where I spent time aboard with her owner Gerald. I had been admiring Mary Rose for a number of years as she swung on her mooring off of the Admiral’s Inn and had wondered how I might get aboard for a look. 
Gerald keeps here in Antigua full time and stores her, during the hurricane season, in what might be best described as concrete bunker designed to withstand hurricane force winds. It is in her cocoon that a long list of off-season chores are done to keep her looking new as she prepares to enter her second century.
And the original builders plaque commemorating her as design #954.
How about these beveled port lights, original of course. 
And, as you would expect, beautiful deck hatches, worthy of any proper yacht. 
Her hardware, and it’s all original, has been refurbished over the years. 
The goose neck, with it’s interesting vertical bar is worth noting. When the sail is hoisted, the boom raises up to the top of the slide. 
Gerald was proud to show me the recent scarf joints on the boom where there had been some decay. It was beautifully done with perfect hairline glue lines. 
Everywhere lovely leather covers for shell blocks and covering whatever hardware might mar the decks, varnish or paint. 
I was taken by what must have been a very innovative piece of hardware on her mast track to hoist the storm sail. 
One departure from the original designed to make here easier to sail short handed, was the addition of a boom-kin. Of course, Gerald consulted with experts at the Herreshoff museum in Bristol RI where he sits on the board of directors. It’s a lovely addition and surely Capt Nat, always the innovator himself, would have approved. This change made it possible to remove one of the two sets of running backstays, an important simplification. 
And, on the pointy end. 
As you head down below. What a banister and the classic “Herreshoff interior” white panels with varnished wood trim.
Wonderful glazing on the interior cabinets in the main salon. 
And a commemorative print when she was launched way back when. However, no sign of that 1959 cover shot. 
A very nice, functional galley. Of course, with the modern conveniences of generator and refrigeration to keep things civilized when cruising.
It’s clear from the stuff stored in the forepeak that she is a yacht that is used and not some sort of static museum piece. 
Beautiful restored hardware in the two heads complete with modern heads. 
A very nice master cabin although I expect it is a bit stuffy in the tropical climate. 
All and all, Mary Rose is a proper yacht with a caring owner and it is clear that he is committed to bringing her into her second century in grand style.
The village is impossibly charming with a little French bakery and loads of, you guessed it, French restaurants to choose from. As we got here fairly late yesterday, we ate aboard and enjoyed a bottle of rose, some French cheese and cured meats that I purchased in a charming little shop. Yum! No, make that Triple Yum.
The harbor can be crowded and arriving late in the day we had to anchor fairly far out in 40′ of water. It was a bit rolly but this morning we were able to move in closer and it’s much more settled. At 25′ deep you can clearly see the bottom. Schools of 
There isn’t much wind right now as the trades are low which is a good time to visit. Interestingly, while the trades are always from the east, this harbor has an onshore light westerly wind, a sort of Station Wagon effect, where the wind blows over the mountains and curls around 180 degrees in the lee of the island.
They would be waving American flags, I’d expect. “Here they come! I see them coming into the harbor. Yes, It’s Pandora, I see them, both Bob and Brenda are aboard! YES!!!”
“No wait, it’s only a little rowboat.”
Never mind. 
The guys on this boat, and there were four aboard, really looked excited to be here. 
A few days ago, a three man team arrived, brothers. It was quite moving to see them greeted by family and friends. 
And there were speeches all around. They were justifiably proud of what they had accomplished. The MC asked them what the most memorable moment was on the trip and they talked about how a butterfly flew by their boat, following a gale, more than 1,500 miles from anything. 
We have had birds land on board Pandora many times, often more than 500 miles from shore,. Amazing stamina for a tiny insect, flying so far.
I can only imagine how emotional it must have been for them to arrive after so long at sea and under such tough conditions. 
These guys were clearly happy with their accomplishment. I wonder if they were this “buff” at the beginning of their trip. Probably, but now “super buff” and very happy to be “home”. 
Seeing the teams greet family was quite moving. Most were overcome by emotion as soon as they stepped on the dock, reunited with loved ones, wives and babies that they had not seen for months. 
Every moment of each team’s arrival was captured from every angle.
These boats are all nearly identical, only longer or shorter depending on the number of rowing stations. I am told that some of the boats are shipped home after the race and some sold here in Antigua. I doubt that they are used more than once by many individual teams. “Hey guys, that was fun, wana row back?”
According to the official site, some facts…
This short video gives a good feel for what the arrival was like and highlights from some of the races. There is no doubt about it, this is indeed “The Worlds Toughest Row”.
Come to Antigua and find out for yourself.