Les Saintes, Guadeloupe - First Trip!

Since signing the contract to purchase our Lagoon 420, we've been working non-stop getting her ready.  Long days, from dawn to dusk, working on the boat at the marina are not the most fun in the world, so after almost three weeks it was time for a break.
The seller agreed that we could take the boat out (despite not having actually bought it yet!) if we took a professional skipper with us, so off we went with Big D!

Casting off the lines, we left Bas du Fort and headed south-east for the island chain of Les Saintes and a true slice of the old Caribbean. 

Despite the squally conditions, we were happy with how the boat sailed and enjoyed our trip down despite the occasionally pelting rain.  

Not great conditions for fishing though!

Arriving in Terre-de-Haut at sunset, we picked up a mooring ball and had some lovely sun-downers while enjoying the almost deserted anchorage. Terre-de-Haut is unhurried and feels like a small slice of southern France transported to the Caribbean.

The next morning, we rose early, and Megan had a nice swim while Mike & Dan scrubbed barnacles off the props & sail drives.  We then headed ashore to wander around Bourge des Saintes.  This quaint village, with its narrow streets trafficked mainly by bicycles and scooters, just oozes French village life.

We walked through the village to a patisserie to enjoy "deux Cafe au Lait et deux Pain au Chocolat, s'il vous plait!"

We walked through the village to a patisserie to enjoy "deux Cafe au Lait et deux Pain au Chocolat, s'il vous plait!"After our little breakfast, we headed up the hill towards Fort Napoleon and had a lovely view of the bay  - our 'new to us' boat is the catamaran in the centre of the image below.

On our way back we walked to the mariner's cross above the bay - and of course took more pictures of our boat!

We've been working hard to remove the stickers that the prior owners had covered both hulls with - you can see the last quarter (and difference once removed) below!

For the afternoon, we practiced picking up moorings behind Illet a Cabrit, where we then had a snorkel.  Dan then dropped us off in front of the "Pain a Sucre" rock and we were carried around the corner by the current while snorkelling (to be picked up by Dan on the other side in Anse a Cointe).

We ended our trip by having some traditional Creole food for lunch at Grand Anse on Terre de Bas (Les Saintes is made up of seven islands, we tried to cram a bunch in during our 1 day there!).

After lunch we picked up anchor and headed back towards Bas du Fort on Guadeloupe.  We somehow managed to be into the wind on both the way down and the way back, but we were able to practice some man overboard drills and the boat sailed better than Mike had expected to wind.

The trip was a good start for us - it's been a while since we've been sailing together, and having Dan along with the new boat provided a good guide and tips on sailing big cruising catamarans.  We realised we've got a way to go yet until we are completely comfortable on this boat, but all in all it was a good trip and a nice break from the marina!

Our New Home!

First off ... sorry we haven't posted much over the past month.  We've been BUSY!  But ... no excuse ... our bad and it stops now - we are back in the blogging saddle!
Now, to the important stuff!

We have signed the contracts, paid the deposit and are currently living aboard what we hope will be our new home, a 2009 Lagoon 420 (brochure).

Stock photo - we'll take some pictures of our 'new' boat soon.

Ownership will not pass for a few weeks ... I've been holding off posting about the purchase out of a fear of jinxing us somehow ... but we are pretty much locked in and I think it's time to let our friends & family know what we are up to!

There is a list of items the seller still needs to fix/repair/replace coming out of the survey, and then there is a much much longer list of items that I want to fix/repair/replace/upgrade before we start doing any long distances ... but we are done with the search process!

Some of you know already that the process has been a bit more stressful than I anticipated (Megan keeps reminding me that I have a Steve Jobs' like 'reality distortion field' where I think almost everything is achievable and will work out fairly easily!), and I'm still fairly stressed about having made the right call, but the call has been made so now we are moving forwards!

The boat is currently lying in Guadeloupe.  We rented a car for a few days to have some fun in between the stress of getting contracts printed/scanned/signed/returned from France, etc.  (and before we were able to move on the boat to start doing work!).   In that time, we hit up a few of Guadeloupe's beaches and did a nice hike on Basse Terre to a waterfall.  This island is BEAUTIFUL!

 

We are hoping that the seller agrees to move the boat to St.Martin to complete the required repairs - partly so we can be in SXM for our flights back to Canada for our wedding reception, but more importantly so we can start ordering parts & upgrades in St.Martin (which is duty free) vs. here in Guadeloupe (where everything is MUCH more expensive).

So - we are now a bit stressed (about the purchase & work to be done), but also pretty excited ...