Les Saintes is a territory of Guadeloupe.  So, when we checked into Les Saintes, we were actually checking into Guadeloupe’s territory.  The check-in and out process was quite informal.  The computer’s printer wasn’t working.  So, we had to fill in the information, the woman took a screen shot of the information and emailed it to herself to print at her desk.  Then she signed it.  Unfortunately her official stamp was missing.  (This becomes important later, so read on.)

When traveling between islands, we look at the “weather window” to see when the winds and sea state will be calm or in our comfort zone for sailing.  We were getting close to the end of our sailing season and needed to get to Antigua by the middle of April.  We had approximately a month until then and were going to sail from Guadeloupe to Antigua.  Because of the distances and our desire to stop at Pigeon Island, we wanted to start moving north.  Originally we were going to spend a day in Les Saintes, a day at Pigeon Island, and then travel to Antigua.  However, the weather window collapsed on us and so we ended up spending several days in Les Saintes. 

We saw a short weather window opening up so we headed north to Pigeon Island.  This is a location where Jacque Cousteau has an Underwater Park and the snorkeling here was supposed to be great.  We would spend one day at Pigeon Island and then continue on to Antigua.  So, we cleared out of customs at Les Saintes and were on our way.  Unfortunately, the weather window collapsed on us again.  The winds and sea state were forecasted to be at the top end of what we feel comfortable sailing in.  So, after thinking about it, we decided to stay in Pigeon Island and wait for better conditions before sailing in the open ocean to Antigua.  We actually stayed there for more than a week.