The day after we fitted the new battery we departed Antigua bound for Guadeloupe. Starting in light winds initial progress was slow but then the wind filled in and we were away, flying along in flat seas and clear skies until a heavy squall just north of Guadeloupe over filled the sails and removed all salt from the rails. For the night we anchored in a spot new to us, Bouillante, a bay with a thermal energy plant and a natural hot water spring. It was charming. The hot water must come from the dormant volcano and where it emerges there are clouds of steam.
Just one night and then a long motor all the way to the marina in Pointe-a-Pitre. The last ten miles were not nice. We got hammered in torrential rain. Visibility was reduced to meters and we were aware fast ferries without AIS, speed boats and other yachts could be in the same bit of sea. While the storm may have lasted for only an hour, it was a stressful hour. We later learned the island had been hit by a tornado within the storm at a point 4 miles north from where we were.
Before the sunset we were safely med moored in the marina, hooked up to shore power and a 'we're here g&t' in hand. Bonsoir.
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