Dominica to Guadeloupe
Although I slept well, I felt queasy in the morning and forced myself to swallow a cup of coffee.
Our catamaran was at Terre-de-Bas, one of the inhabited Guadeloupe islands. We quietly dropped anchor the night before among a few other yachts. Nobody paid attention to us.
We all went swimming in warm Caribbean waters around the catamaran. Dmitry who brought with him underwater hunting gear attempted to catch something edible but he did not see any fish. Being in water was better than on the swaying catamaran. At least, I was in a familiar environment. Still, it was not as good as on firm land and my queasiness did not go away.
Breakfast was fried eggs with ham which, again, I made myself to eat. I swallowed a Dramamine, alas, too late. My stomach had a sudden urge to empty itself; I rushed frantically for a bucket on the aft and almost made it. When the mess was cleaned up and I drank some water, I felt a lot better.
It was decided to go to the main island of Guadeloupe and to try our luck there.
The protocol of arrival required a negative PCR COVID test result done within 72 hours which none of us had. Guadeloupe is a French overseas territory, similar to Martinique, from there the catamaran came. The stop at Dominica to pick up Anna and me was not officially registered. So, we sort of moved between two departments of France and hoped that this would allow us to be legally admitted without the tests. The only problem with that was how to explain where Anna and I came from since we were not on the catamaran when she checked out of Martinique. Did Konstantin and Dmitry find us at sea?
Not wanting to get into trouble, we stealthily moved between the small islands of the archipelago until we got to the main marina. Once there, we raised a yellow quarantine flag and called the coast guard on the radio. They gave us contact details in Martinique to get their permission to enter. However, our emails bounced back and phone calls did not go through,
After a few hours of fruitless attempts and waiting, we gave up. The yellow flag was taken down and Konstantin moved the catamaran to the opposite side of the island where Google showed a supermarket. We needed fresh food.
Konstantin and I went ashore in the dinghy where we bought bread, cheese, potatoes, wine, rum and other necessities, then safely returned to the catamaran. Next morning, Anna and Dmitry also made a trip to the supermarket. No one in Guadeloupe seemed to notice or care.
The other yacht where the skipper was Valentin went straight to the main marina where they were stopped, searched and told that they could not leave the boat. As if this was not enough, the yacht was searched again next day and told to leave. Go figure how these rules apply to some boats and don’t to others!
In the evening, I ate dinner with gusto, nausea did not bother me. I could even do the dishes after the meal. There were a few things for me to learn though. One of them was how to use sea and fresh water for that.
The other important lesson was how to flush the toilet. It had a manual pump that filled the bowl with sea water. The next step was to flip the switch and to pump again, this time to empty the bowl into the sea. Only human waste goes into the toilet; for everything else, there is a basket next to it.
Dmitry suggested to rent a car and to drive around Guadeloupe. I supported that. Konstantin did not like the idea. We were not legally there and could be discovered any minute. He said we should move on. Since Konstantin was the skipper we had to comply with his decision.
Wow, that star looks beautiful! Did you find it on the sea bottom? What an adventure, really! It looks like the marine law is strict but not followed up sometimes. You had luck with the supermarket!
Konstantin found the sea star. Then everyone took turns to pose with it for a photo. We let it back into the sea after a photo session!