January Video of the Month

Market Day

On Saturdays, Pointe a Pitre has an open market where residents sell their fruits, vegetables, fish and crafts.  I definitely wanted to experience a bigger market full of fresh food.  We were craving native fruits and veggies ever since we left the US.  I wanted to taste a ripe and juicy mango, papaya or pineapple.  I wanted to make caribbean cuisine made with callalou (like spinach) and taro (a starchy vegetable like a potato).  My mouth started to water the closer I got to the market.  I was so excited, like a school girl on the first day of school!  The people at the market, mostly ladies, were helpful in telling us what was displayed in front of us, let us taste the various fruits and even offered recipes or advice on how to cook their native vegetables.  I was in heaven.

Approaching the market - ohhh goodie!

Look at the those avocados...puts Haas to shame!  This lady also sold nutmeg, ginger, spice (cinnamon bark) and unsweetened cocoa hand formed into a log (used to make a chocolate tea)

oranges (look more like limes), eggplant, carrots, cristophine and cabbage

Inside the market

Pineapple and grapefruit

The tomatoes were devine!!

Can't remember the name but it tasted and had a texture like a very tart apple

Mangos, limes, papaya and sorrel (red flower in front) - used to make a cold spiced drink much like we make iced tea

My partner in crime

Beautiful displays

Flavored rum - Guava, Passion Fruit, Punch, Spice etc. etc.

Lots of spices

Fish being sold right from the boat

A conch shell blowing demonstration

They add a mouth piece on the end so it can be used as a horn

Parlez-vous français?

Pointe a Pitre was only slightly easier to get around with our limited french.  Maybe it's because we had lightened up a bit, maybe we learned a few more french phrases or maybe the people were a little more tolerant and patient. Once again we were bewildered by the guidebook description.... 'leave your dinghy at the old fishing pier to explore downtown'.  This, of course, was not as obvious as we thought a fishing pier ought to be.  What we found was a cement wall barely 6 inches out of the water with rusty rings to attach the painter line to (and lock).  There was a fishing boat, meaning one, and a decrepit parking lot with rusty cars and random boats without trailers.  Is that what he meant?  Do you think it's okay to leave the dinghy here?  You bet.  We locked it and went on our merry way.

The parking lot near the dinghy dock - if you could call it that.  

part sculpture, part mural

Making a bee line to restaurant row to eat some lunch cuz we were huuuunnnggrrryyy.  

Interesting sculpture in the park across from our lunch spot

Just like the beer we had in France - served in a large goblet!

 pretty fancy water glasses

surprised to get a 'runny' egg yolk in her ham, cheese and egg crrrrrrrreeepe.  Kate made friends with our waiter and the crepe maker, who taught her some french words. 

Enjoying a little gelato in a french country - go figure

Market square - there were ladies selling spices, fruits and vegetables.  They lured you in like a fish on a hook.  How do you say 'just looking' in french??

Downtown Pointe a Pitre is a little like walking in china town in NYC

Fabric and clothing stores galore 

Traditional Guadeloupe clothing

Nice dress but interesting mannequin

A little creativity being expressed.  Maggie wondered if it was illegal to paint the walls (aka graffiti).  I said that I didn't know what the laws were, but that he was doing it in broad daylight in front of everyone, so perhaps it's allowed.

Maggie's art

View of the anchorage with 2 very large cruise ships docked near downtown

As we were leaving Pointe a Pitre, we tried to race to the entrance of the channel to beat this cargo ship.    We were sadly turned around by the poh-leece.  Darn ship, who does he think he is?  You can see Patronus moving out of the way.....

Glutton for punishment

Some of us like to think we are taking on a challenge while others might think we are a glutton for punishment.  Is that like asking if the glass is half full or half empty?  As we continued our tour of Guadeloupe, we felt we couldn't leave without visiting Pointe a Pitre.  It was described in our guidebook as "Guadeloupe's largest and most important city, a lively Creole town...".  We couldn't miss out on that now could we?  At this point, we were beginning to think that the guidebook author must have 1.) spoken fluent french or 2.) been paid to say these things or perhaps both.  By no means do I mean to be disrespectful, it's just that there seems to be a recurring theme of all things great in Guadeloupe.  As you know by now, we had not experienced that thus far.  However, as everyone deserves a second chance, we decided to give it another go after a more pleasant experience at Pigeon Island anchorage.  Before heading to Pointe a Pitre, which was a full day of sailing, we stopped in Basse Terre.  Basse Terre is the capital and also the southern most point of Guadeloupe.  Only Erica and I went ashore to search out a laundry facility and perhaps a grocery store.  It took us 20 minutes just to find a place to park the dinghy in a place that looked like it would still be there upon our return.  By the way, we did find a petite laundromat that was big enough for a mouse but no grocery store.  Instead we found a bakery and a butcher shop.  Yep, you guessed it, we picked up a couple of baguettes.

If you were to look at a map of Guadeloupe, you would see that the island is in the shape of a butterfly, sort of.  Pointe a Pitre is located on the south eastern side, in the middle, where the body of the butterfly would be.  Get it?  In order to sail there, we had to BEAT into the wind and heavy seas for about 10 miles of our 20 mile journey.  And when I say beat, I mean nasty, pounding, can't do anything but be sea sick kinda beat.  The wind had been howling at 30 knots for days, so you can only imagine what the sea state was like.  The captain thought if we left at daybreak, the wind might not be as strong thus making our 'beat' a little  easier.  HA....that's all I need to say!  You might be scratching your head asking why we would even consider leaving under such conditions.  Well, we really wanted to leave Guadeloupe because we didn't feel that warm and fuzzy feeling, but we wanted to check out Pointe a Pitre first.  Like I said, we are glutton for punishment!

Leaving Basse Terre under a dark and rainy sky

Rounding the point, bracing for a bumpy ride.  We motored with no sails in a direct path hoping we would get it over with faster.  No such luck, it was truly a slog that seemed to have no end.  The pounding waves kept us from going any faster than 4 knots, at best.

Looking south east toward the sunrise and Les Saintes

This Container ship moved through the rough seas as if it were glass.  No fair!  However, check out the name of this vessel - "Elizabeth Boye"  Perhaps the r got rubbed off.

Tough when you wake up before the sun

Smiling at the calmer water once we closed in on Pointe a Pitre

Patronus bringing up the rear - for once!

Turquoise water as we enter the channel

Happy all the pounding is over

Another happy girl

When in Rome

The old english proverb "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", dates back to at least 390AD.  We believe in this little saying and are teaching the kids the same.  We feel we are sensitive and considerate of the customs and cultures demonstrated in each country we visit.  But when we stepped foot in Deshaies, Guadeloupe, we were not only greeted with a language we didn't know, we were not greeted at all.  Deshaies is a very small and quiet french town.  When I say french, I mean VERY french.  In our defense, let me point out that we did try to speak french as best we could, pieced together from memory and a translation app.  We would have been ok if they had laughed at us for our pathetic attempt at speaking bad french.  Heck, we would have been thrilled.  We only came across a couple of people that even considered speaking english to us.  For which we were grateful, by the way.

The lowest moment came one late afternoon when we were all very hungry, looking for something to eat.  How can you fault us for wanting to try out the local cuisine.  Most of the restaurants were closed for the afternoon - afternoon siesta you know.  We had our hearts set on crepes after reading rave reviews in our cruising guide.  Come to find out, after trying to speak half french and half english, we found out it was closed too.  Finally, we dragged ourselves to the end of the road, again, to find the only place open.  We'll just ignore the tiny little fact that we could have gone back to the boat and cooked!  We were rudely turned away because we did not speak french.  However, the woman at the door knew enough english to explain this to us.  Go figure.  And then she stepped outside to make sure we walked away from her restaurant.  I guess the business people of Guadeloupe get enough French subsidies that they are okay with turning away 10 paying customers doing there best to be polite.  To make a long story short, we ended up buying some bread and cheese at the market and sitting on a retaining wall in front of someone's house (someone french of course).  Sure enough, an elderly lady came out and started waving her hands and talking in french, fast as if we could understand.  We concluded that she did not want us there, so we gathered ourselves and walked back to the dinghy feeling very un-welcome.

Since we didn't get to really celebrate New Year's Eve because we were on passage and the weather was too rough, we celebrated with the Conway's on New Year's Day in the quiet harbor of Deshaies, Guadeloupe!  Chilled sparkling cider for the crew

Chilled Prosecco for the officers and first mates

Deshaies - It is beautiful even if they only speak french

Rocky beach view

"A rooster crosses the road to the bar....giving a new answer to the age old question, "why did the chicken cross the road."

Anything Goes resting at anchor

Walking on street 2 of 2 looking for an open restaurant

Checking out the Euro's from the cash machine

French flag and the flag of Europe

Breadfruit tree - similar to a potato. 

View of the anchorage and Deshaies from our boat

Sunset view of the boat behind us