Isle de Saintes – And I damaged my propeller.

15.52.04N  61.35.02W

04 February 2023

5213 miles since leaving Sandwich.

That’s an exciting header to start this episode, it is also a potentially expensive one. We had an upwind sail in 18 to 20 knots of wind to get to Terre de Haut on the Isle de Saintes, and Spectra for all of her good points does not like going up wind. If I steered with the wind at 60 degrees to the bow we did 6 to 7 knots if I tried to pinch up closer to 40 degree we did 3 Knots or less and the boat was dead in the water. Of course, the direct route to our destination was 30 degrees to the wind. In the end I admitted defeat eased off the direct course a bit and we had an almost pleasant sail over.

Leaving Guadeloupe with the Isle de Saintes in the distance.

Due to us dropping down wind I had to start the engine and motor the last mile and a bit directly into wind to reach the anchorage of the day which was uncomfortable but did have the advantage of chucking a whole load of Amps into the batteries. On arrival the inn was full and there were no mooring buoys free. This is probably due to the fact that the company that maintained the mooring buoys has lost the contract, and no one is collecting money at the moment. It was certainly a popular anchorage as several boats were gilling about waiting for a buoy to come free so that they could pounce on it. 

We dropped anchor behind the mooring field and immediately began to drag so up it came and we re-laid it with the same result. I decided that the patch we were in was too weedy and we moved alongside the main mooring area, just out of the main buoyed fairway onto the ferry pontoon. This time the anchor held first time and we settled down and started to put the boat to bed.  30 minutes later the nearest yacht on a mooring buoy alongside us called over and said that he was leaving. This led to a mad rush to get the engine going and the anchor in before one of the other circling yachts pounced. We got the anchor in and gunned the engine to get over to the buoy as the other yacht left. Unfortunately, a French boat was also steaming in from starboard to claim the buoy. Norma was all for giving it away but I’m a bit too competitive for that and managed to get Spectra’s bowsprit across in front of him effectively cutting him off from the buoy. He actually waved and smiled so all’s fair that ends well, (and I won). Now the problem. I came alongside the buoy a bit too far off for Norma to reach the ring on top and then discovered that in the rush I had forgotten to turn the bow thruster on so just giving her a tweak over to starboard (Spectra not Norma) was not an option. I put Spectra in reverse and gunned the engine as the prop walk usually pulls the back end over to starboard and should have brought the buoy within reach for Norma. Unfortunately, the wind gusted just at the wrong time, as it is want to do, catching the bow and spinning Spectra around pulling the mooring buoy under the stern. I shut the engine off as quickly as I could, but we still heard an awful clunk, clunk, clunk, sound as the propeller ran against the mooring chain.

Once the buoy popped up on the other side, I motored Spectra in a tight circle, as the other boat was still hovering nearby, and got the buoy alongside properly this time. I didn’t notice anything wrong with the steering and no undue vibration from the engine and could only hope that I had got away without any serious damage.

After our traumatic entry - what a place to spend some time in.

Spectra with her summer hat on in the parking lot.

Later in the day I went for a swim to attach another line to the mooring buoy and check for any damage to the rudder/propeller. The rudder was fine but I have managed to bend a 25mm (1 inch) notch in the leading edge of one of the propeller blades. It looked like it is a bend rather than a split meaning I should be able to bend and grind it back into shape when we next get lifted out. That is not a job I can do under water and there is a good chance that if I tried, I would only make things worse. The only problem now will be if it causes a whole bunch of vibration when we next motor anywhere. It didn’t on the short run back up to the buoy but it will need a longer run to tell the full story. If it does cause an excessive vibration a lift out in Antigua will probably be on the cards, time will tell.

Enough of the doom and gloom, now that we are safely on a buoy we have been thoroughly enjoying our stay in Terre de Haute on the lovely Isle de Saintes.

A strong contender for chicken of the week is this handsome chap from the Baie de Pompierre, Isle de Saintes

The dinghy dock is only about 300 meters away from our mooring and even with our little put, put, we can get over there in under 5 minutes. We have had several long walks on this side of the island visiting the small redoubt on the western end of the bay and across the saddle of the island to the beautiful beach at Baie de Pompierre. We have also enjoyed an awful lot of the local Creole cuisine; cheap but good healthy fare and I have also done a lot of snorkelling.  On that note rather strangely the rubber seal on the snorkel attachment of my full face mask has disappeared which I didn’t notice until I tried it out and water flooded in. I have ‘fixed’ it with an elastic band which sort of works in that I now only drown slowly. The waters here are very clear and watching the multicoloured fish and conch on the seabed is fascinating for the short spells that I can keep my head under the water that is. I will persevere until Tony arrives on the 13^th with a replacement grommetty thing and I can then re-join the crew of the Calypso.

The Isle de Saintes.

Nick and Michelle have arrived aboard their lovely yacht Maalu IV and I have just noticed that I did not mention them in the Jolly harbour article, which is rather amiss of me and probably due in no small part to my raging hangover after Shirly heights. Therefore, with a bit of backtracking we first met Nick and Michelle in Jolly harbour when we were moored alongside them. OCC members we soon broke the ice and started chatting about all things boat. They are an English couple on their second or third season out here having initially crossed with the ARC. They invited us aboard for sundowners which turned out to be a very enjoyable evening and their boat is certainly a nice one. Apart from being OCC members they are also members of the American club, Salty Sea Dogs who are holding a rally in Dominica starting the week of the 9^th  Feb. Long story short, that was one of the reasons that we have been heading down this way in order to catch the first day of that rally and meet up with the Salty Sea Dogs to see if it something that we want to become part of. Apparently, they organise a lot of rallies and get togethers along the US East coast which could be a good thing for us to plug into later this and early next year. Anyway, being a sociable pair, we invited them aboard Spectra for a reciprocal sundowners when they arrived in Teere de Haut which they graciously accepted and a good night was had by all. As it turns out we will probably miss them in Dominica as they are going to be delayed by 24 hours waiting to pick up friends and we will have to leave on the 10^th in order to get back to Antigua to pick Tony up. Confused yet, you will be. We discussed plans and there is an outside chance that we may meet up in St Croix in the US Virgin Islands sometime in March but a lot can happen before then so we will have to see. I think that is me all caught up now, onwards, and upwards.

 Yesterday we hired a couple of electric bikes and toured the whole island and I mean the whole island. Even with it being electric we were still pretty saddle sore after 7 hours cycling/electrising.

Our cool bikes on the main ferry pontoon, Sons of Anarchy eat your hearts out.

Our hogs (biker talk) on Anse de Figuire beach.

We visited:          Fort Napolean, Anse Devant, Petite Anse, Anse a Cointe, Anse Crawen, Anse de Figuier, Anse Rodrigue, Grand Anse, Baie de Pompierre (again), Baie de Marigot, The airport, The rubbish dump and of course Terre de Haut several times. In fact, I can safely say that we well and truly did the island.

View from Fort Napoleon, looking towards the small redoubt that we walked up to on the first day ashore.

View from Fort Napoleon, looking towards Fort Josephine, smaller fort on a smaller island, no comment small bloke syndrome joke overload at the moment.

Very, Very, good day out which included snorkelling of course and an impromptu meet up with Nick and Michelle near Anse Rodrigue where we stopped for a cooler in a lovely little café.

Anse Rodrigue and a million-dollar view from the café veranda.

We also checked out of the island with customs and exchanged a gas bottle, 43€ for a small camping Gaz bottle which was a bit ouchy, I have brought them for £15 in the past.

That’s it for now, this is a picturesque little community that is very friendly and well worth the visit. We have checked out now which gives us two days grace to leave. It is blowing old boots today and should ease a bit tomorrow, Monday the 6^th, We will probably head for Dominica then, or maybe not who knows.      

And another beach, Ans de ????????? I forget.