After the rain stopped this morning things went almost to plan. We walked/climbed up to Fort Napoleon and it was open. It quite a solid castle for such a small island. Much of it had turned into gardens and there was quite an array of cactus and other tropical plants to view. In the museum section it was mostly in French. There were some very interesting ship models and a section on the sea battle of The Saintes in which, I am guessing, the French beat the British.
While we were in the museum it poured down with rain again and remained overcast when we left. We decided to continue onto the beach. I certainly felt that having lugged our lunch and snorkel gear up the hill we should at least go the distance to the beach.
At the beach we ate our lunch but decided against getting into the water as it was still overcast and quite windy. So we headed back to the boat, handled a last few emails and calls then moved the boat over to Ilet a Cabrit. The anchorage is wonderful. It is sheltered against the prevailing winds and the water calm. Now that we’re used to anchoring in over 40 feet we felt quite comfortable dropping the hook at the edge of the group of boats already gathered here.
The afternoon was mainly sleeping and reading until 3pm when we took the dinghy to the reef at the west end. Helen snorkeled and I took a tank down and dove. The area was full of fish and we both enjoyed ourselves. This time I took my old camera and it’s underwater housing. I will upload pics when I can.
I’m a bit peed off with the dive shop in Falmouth Harbour. We paid to have our four tanks inspected and filled with air. Two of the three we’ve used had lost a third of their air. It appears that the inspection was poorly performed as these two tanks are leaking air where the first stage screws into the tank.
Looking forward we’re looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow before heading for Point-a-Pitre on Sunday. Wind forecasts are marginal for the sail. But we may just go anyway and take our time. We’ll see as we get closer.
Now you’ve done it. “The Saintes in which, I am guessing, the French beat the British.” Aggghhh!!!!. If this gets out bye bye to your British passport (I presume you have one).
From Wikipedia;
“The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Battle of Dominica) took place over 4 days, 9 April 1782 – 12 April 1782, during the American Revolutionary War, and was a victory of a British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney over a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse.”
Good old Rodney wend on to rip off many of the Caribbean islands.”
I blame Comprehensive Schools and of course parents.