The water was so calm in this bay.  While small boats took people over to Pigeon Island to snorkel, we took our dinghy.  We also saw many people kayak over to snorkel.  Snorkeling was crowded.  While we saw several schools of fish, the whole experience wasn’t as good as expected.  Perhaps it had been hyped up so much that I was let down.  Or, perhaps we have just snorkeled in some fabulous locations with lots of fish and coral and we are becoming spoiled.  It was good to see it and get into the water, however.

On the way to Pigeon Island we stopped Marina du Sud to get gas.  We wanted to be sure that we had enough gas that we could motor the entire way from Pigeon Island to Antigua if we needed to.  This was an adventure in itself.  Who knew that getting gas could be so difficult.

We pulled into the little fuel dock in this protected area where the marina was located.  The dock was only 40 feet and our boat is 42 feet long so that was our first challenge.  Two extra feet wasn’t that big of a deal.  However, there was no dock attendant.  A random woman was on the dock and I asked her to tie off our bow rope.  Steve was able to maneuver the boat so that I could jump onto the dock and tie off the stern line.  The woman was having difficulty with the bow line so I ran up there to assist.  The problem was that on both cleats where we were tying off, three of the four pins were missing.  I tied the boat as best as I could and then looked around.  There was a gas station up on the road above the dock.  So, I walked up there and, in French, asked to purchase some diesel for our boat.  The attendant had a good sense of humor, took one look at me, and in French started laughing and asked if I really was filling up the boat’s tank.  I laughed with him and said, in French, that my husband was actually filling up the boat.  He then proceeded to draw a picture for me and told me how to get the diesel.  I knew the French word for diesel was diesel.  However, the gas pump had two different words on them, Gazoile and something else which meant gasoline.  I also knew a word for gasoline, but apparently there are multiple words for diesel and gasoline.  Anyways, back at the pump, I followed the instructions and nothing happened.  We were supposed to put the hose in our tank from the unit on the end of the dock.  Then I was supposed to take the other hose off of the pump closer to land.  Unfortunately, that didn’t work.  Finally, a local boater who happened to pull up to the dock spoke English and helped us out.  The attendant had to reset the pump.  Anyways, after that adventure we made it to Pigeon Island.

The water when we arrived in Pigeon Island was incredibly calm and flat.  We were thrilled by this after the rolly experience we had in Les Saintes.  The sun was shining and it was a beautiful afternoon.  We took the dinghy into a cove in front of where we anchored.  At first we were quite worried that our dinghy would be stolen here.  We usually lock our dinghy up, but this area looked quite disheveled.  This dock was right on the end of a mall complex that contained a launderette, supermarket, and patisserie.  It was Saturday afternoon and the Patisserie was closed, but the supermarket was open. 

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.

Another day we decided to dinghy to town and walk to Fort Napoleon, which overlooked the main bay on the island.  Again it was a hot and steamy day and we were definitely working to walk up the hills to the fort.  When we arrived, we saw everyone showing a QR code to the admissions person.  She didn’t speak English but I was able to ascertain that it was a QR code to the French Covid vaccination registry.  We didn’t think that we would need to use the QR code on our trip, so we didn’t submit our information to it.  A friendly couple was in line who spoke a little English.  They were able to translate for us and we showed our vaccination cards from the United States.  The woman accepted that and we were admitted to the fort. 

The pentagonal-shaped Fort was unique (to us) because it was perched up on the top of a hill and had a moat that went around it.  Water is at a premium in the Caribbean so we are not sure if they kept it filled or if it was just there to make the sides of the fort deeper. 

There were mostly paintings inside the forte and everything was marked in French.  While I could get the gist of the signs, it was a lot of work for me to read them and try to translate.  There were nice gardens on the grounds of the forte.  And, they also had made stone designs in their gardens.

We scrambled up a rocky path to the road that overlooked the bay where we were anchored.  From there, we started walking towards town and came upon a sign that indicated that Napoleon’s Lookout, called Le Chameau, was up that road.  It took us a while to interpret the sign, but in the end we went up the road (closed to cars and scooters).  This was quite a vertical road and it was very humid out.  Our efforts paid off, as we arrived to this imposing stone tower at the top of the hill.  Along the way we enjoyed some beautiful views of the bays below.  We decided not to climb the looped rope up to the top of the lookout.  As we arrived, another group of people were leaving so we mostly got to explore this site on our own, which was fun.

The main town called, Bourg des Saintes, was darling.  It was mostly pedestrians walking around on the main roads which were lined with boutique shops, restaurants, and other vendors.  People get around this island via scooter or a golf cart.  We ended up walking around the island because it was so small and we wanted the exercise. 

We decided to skip Dominica and return there someday, staying on land, because of security concerns.  We could have hired security to care for us and our boat while there.  However, stopping at Dominica would also mean that we needed to get COVID tests before arrival.  If we continued on to another French island, we didn’t need to take a PCR test. 

We had a 12-hour sail the next day to get to Les Saintes so we were up at 5a and pulled our anchor up just before 6a.  We hadn’t heard of Les Saintes before but many fellow yachters recommended stopping there.  We try to avoid sailing overnight and this grouping of islands allowed us to make it there before sunset so that we could anchor in the light.  Our sail was uneventful and we arrived with approximately 45 minutes before sunset.  We decided to anchor in one of the outer islands called Terre-de-Bas.  There are mooring balls located closer to the main island, however, we knew that there was more demand for them than supply.  The water was a little rough in these islands and boats swung so tying up to a ball would be very convenient.  At 7:30a the next morning we motored over to Terre-de-Haut, the main island in Les Saintes.  We were so lucky.  The first cove we came to, Anse a Cointre, had four mooring balls.  We decided to motor around the corner to see if we could find anyplace closer to town.  After a quick inspection, we returned to the first place where we saw the mooring balls.  It turned out to be a lovely location.  There was snorkeling off of the back of the boat.  We could take our dinghy over to the main town or tie it up at a private dock located in the cove where we were. 

From Pointe de Bout, we continued sailing north to St. Pierre, the town close to Mt. Pelee , that was devastated when it erupted in 1902.  Along the way, we dropped our anchor at L’Anse a l’Ane because they had a gas station in town.  We were desperate to get gas for our dinghy’s outboard motor.  This anchorage was quite rough because it didn’t provide any protection from the wind.  I was glad to get back to the boat, put our dinghy up, and move on.

St. Pierre was a rough-looking, beaten-up town.  It was dingy, with many stone buildings either broken down or abandoned.  We ware only there for one night, so we wanted to explore it a little bit.  We didn’t have time to go up to the top of Mt. Pelee.  However, we did walk up to a fortified area with cannons pointing out at the sea.  There was also a memorial here.  Town itself consisted mostly of two, one-way streets with a few shops along the narrow streets.  Because it was our last night on Martinique, we went into the boulangerie and used up our Euros on patisseries.  Again, they were delicious! 

This entire Fort de France Bay is connected by ferries.  One of the reasons that we decided to anchor in Pointe de Bout was that we could catch a ferry to Fort-de-France.  Fort-de-France is a large city on Martinique with high rises, malls, and many shops.  This is also where the cruise ships dock.  (Cruise ships were not permitted in the French countries yet because of COVID.)  It had a wide promenade along the ferry dock.  Ferries ran to several different coves within the bay to the touristy area where we were staying.  Honestly, Forte de France was a little dingy as well.  It reminded me of a run-down, bustling Chinatown in the states with garage-like shops that open up onto the street.  We visited the large church in the town as well as the patisserie.  And, of course we took some goodies back with us to our boat for dessert.

After a short motor around the corner, during a squall, we decided to anchor off of Pointe de Bout.  We found a nice spot right off of the swimming hole.  This area is a location where many locals and tourists visit for a holiday.  The swimming hole itself was very protected and made for a terrific place to swim.  This area even had what we would call a street vendor selling crepes right at the swimming hole. 

Town had a collection of boutique shops and restaurants along the main road.  Of course, we found the local boulanger/patisserie and sampled some of their desserts.  They were delicious.  We were close enough to Anse Mitan, the next cove over, that we were able to walk to it.  It had a dock right on the beach and beachside restaurants.  It seemed a little dingier to me so I was glad that we anchored where we did.