Passage to Guadeloupe

Repairs to the hull completed on Sunday afternoon gave us the opportunity to leave big and noisy Falmouth Harbour and spend the night in a small and secluded and isolated place known as Indian Creek. The cruising guide told us we'd see more goats than people, and they were right. We left FH after filling our water tanks at the dock of the Antigua Yacht Club Marina, a place whose docks are filled with mostly sailboats and of the at least 20 that were "med-moored" there I doubt there were any less than 75 or 8o feet, and most significantly larger than that! Its really wild! They are objects of beauty and yet so ridiculously luxurious that it is beyond the imagination of mere mortals. Anyway, I can say in all seriousness that having a boat whose water tanks are filled is a great feeling. So, off we went for what I'd supposed was a 10 minute motor trip to Indian Creek which is a mere 2 miles from Falmouth. Well, I have to really learn that the Caribbean is an ocean and it has these waves or rollers and one of the reasons sailors love to come here is that there always is wind....and lots of it. So, the trip to Indian Creek was more like 60-90 minutes and what I was hoping to find there....seclusion, beauty, crystal blue calm waters would be more aptly described as brown, barren and desolate. We were the only boat that dared enter the narrow passage between two rock cliffs with big rollers cut off, but just barely, by the further one. Oh well...can't have beauty everywhere.
The next morning, yesterday, we set off for Guadeloupe which is about 42 miles from Antigua. I'm not going to get into a whole long story about how I cried out to Roger..."we can't go...we'll be lost at sea...no-one in their right mind would sail in these waves" and other such nonsense. Folks, I am telling you the ride here was like a 6 hour roller coaster with the waves coming every 10 seconds or so. It was WILD! Poor little Alpha Girl and Whitty much prefer hanging out on the boat rather than the sailing...just like me. The actual winds and waves were coming from our port side (from the east) as we headed south. This is called a beam reach. The winds reached 27-28 knots and sometimes were as low as 13 knots. On average, the winds for our passage here were about 18 knots. The big rollers reached heights of 10-15 feet but moderated as the afternoon got later.
BTW, as I sit here having safely arrived in the harbor of Deshaies yesterday at about 4, the wind outside is absolutely howling. It must be blowing about 30 knots and the noise is unbelievable. We are in an open cove that faces west but the wind, from the east, whistles through a valley, into the town (four blocks long) and right at us. We are all slightly unhappy about this wind and hope, as we've been told, that we are in the windiest part of the season...that these winds will calm down. This is a lovely small harbor and fishing village. It is part of France and consequently we had the best baguette this morning for breakfast delivered to our boat right from the oven. No wonder I'm going to be eating nothing but carrots once I get home!
We cleaned the boat so thoroughly today (another way to keep me happy, as I'm sure I've mentioned, is to have a clean boat) and will cook dinner aboard and either have friends over for some games, or finish a movie we started last week, "Australia".
Tomorrow we begin our exploration of Guadeloupe.
Last night we met up with our friends, Bill & Sandy (pictured above aboard "Lucille, their Saga 43), and met other friends of theirs who have spent the last 5 winters sailing their boat here.