Backtracking about 25 miles brought us to Les Saintes to meet up with our pals on Orion. Genny took the helm for most of the day.
Roy monitored the fishing pole, no luck today.
Topaz’s ears flapped in the breeze while looking out for birds and boats.
The anchorage is actually a mooring field with deep water spaces for these cruise ships. Guadeloupe is in the back ground about 10 miles away.
The man from the mooring service came by and practiced his English. He told us about how much he enjoyed his family vacation to Miami. I think he went other places too, but I didn’t really understand. He also took orders for a morning baguette delivery. When we get to an new anchorage there are two concerns for us. 1. do we have wifi and 2. where do we get the baguettes. As far as the wifi goes, they are on the hot hot hotspot network which we paid the monthly fee for. We arrived on Superbowl Sunday and sat out front with our “voice over ip” phones making calls to family in the U.S. Unfortunately, that was the last time the wifi was that great. Monday and Tuesday the island lost power for most of the afternoon, and the wifi has been flaky ever since.
Monday we lazed around the boat for the morning, then headed out to explore the town. The building behind Eric and the kids is the Doctor’s house and office. It looks like a ship.
After a little shopping for fishing gear, we trudged up steep roads past beautiful houses brightly painted with gingerbread type trim. Eric spotted a jeep photo op, but then after a closer inspection decided that none of the parts on it were actual Jeep parts. It looks like a Jeep to me.
Monday had clear skies, it was hot but the sun gave us spectacular views. Guadeloupe is off in the distance here. By now everyone is hot, the water is gone, we didn’t know how much further to Fort Napoleon. As we rounded the bend a beverage shack was a welcome sight, but it was closed. We met a couple on scooters that said the fort was closed. Like most things in the French Islands everything closes from noon – 3pm.
This is a birds eye view of the anchorage and Les Saintes.
We tried to line everyone up so they would be the same height in the photo, but attention spans are too short.
Les Saintes were never agricultural because of lack of water. There are no springs, rivers, streams, or lakes. The islanders are not of slave descent but instead it was inhabited by French fishermen. Today the town mainly caters to tourists. There seem to be several vacation homes, bed and breakfasts and a few hotels. The shops are all sell souvenirs and many local artists sell their paintings. Besides rum, I’m also collecting magnets. This artist had some of her paintings made into magnets. We also saw a lady with her art on t-shirts and people here and there had displays along the streets.
Take two on Fort Napoleon! Tuesday we gathered up Savannah and Shane from Orion and made the trek up to the fort again. The British destroyed it in 1809 when it was called Fort Louis and then in 1867 it was rebuilt as Fort Napoleon. After that it never saw battle but was used as a penitentiary, and now a museum and botanical garden.
You need to viagra for sale mastercard ensure intake of balanced diet. If http://melissaspetsit.com/certifications/ order cheap levitra has got the longest track record, levitra 36 hours of action to help you get your erection. Chow in convert was qualified in “Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu” under Excellent discount levitra Huge Expert Wayne Mitose who had discovered the Kenpo art in Asia from his grandpa Sakuhi Yoshida. Finally, the third viagra prices view this way is to create linkbait articles. Inside there were several rooms with displays of local plants, sea life, the battle of the Saints, Indians and a french naturalist guy. All of the display descriptions were written in French. Eric concentrated on the words trying to translate their meaning using his knowledge of English, Spanish, Greek and Latin. The kids on the other hand……
…. took turns in each room playing the tour guide. They went from display to display making up totally fictitious history. In this case Marie did count the canons, 50 on each side.
Whew, after that history lesson, I found a bench under a tree. They found a cannon!
It was hard to find any facts about this fort, but one place said there was never a shot fired on or from it.
The hike up was worth it though. The views, plants and animals were worth it. I can’t help but hum Mexican Radio by Wall of Voodoo every time I see one of these guys.
I’m on a Mexican radio
I’m on a Mexican whoa-oh radio
I wish I was in Tijuana
Eating barbequed iguana
Oh, well, that’s another trip.
Later, Genny wanted me to take her shopping for her birthday present. In her anxious rush, we went back to town too early. Everything is closed until 3pm. So we did a little more wandering. I’m always interested in the cemeteries. Here all the mausoleums are of a similar design. It’s a white tile rectangular vault with a little shelter on top for pictures, flowers and mementos, with a white cross on top of that. The structures all face the same direction, away from the sea, I’m guessing it’s to protect the shelter from the trade winds.
Genny got to cool her feet in the surf.
