As Sarah and Sébastien’s voyage in the Antilles draws to a close, here is the story of their last moments there before preparing for the return transatlantic crossing aboard their Sun Légende 41…
Last beautiful discoveries in the Antilles
“In the Saintes, we spent only one weekend. Cute and very calm, we fell under the spell of the place. But the buoys are not free, so we only stayed for a few nights...
So, then we returned to Guadeloupe, to Basse Terre in the east (which is only low, or "basse," by name: it is the greenest and most mountainous region of Guadeloupe). We had hoped to see the falls of Carbet, but they were over an hour’s drive from the anchorage. Fortunately, hitchhiking works very well: it took no less than eight different cars to make the round trip! Our days often began with a little snorkelling, the marine life there is so diverse.
Then we headed out for our last stopover in Guadeloupe: Port-Louis, to the north of the butterfly, and once again, it was love at first sight! No more than three boats were anchored there, with a tranquil beach and very warm, friendly locals. From there, we left for Antigua, in the middle of the Classic Yacht Regatta week. But we didn’t linger; we continued heading up to escape bad weather.
In Barbuda, a deserted anchorage and paradisiacal island awaited us. Here, time seemed to stand still: the atmosphere was radically different from the other islands. On the sporty side, we rented some mountain bikes to make a trip around the island.
Preparations for the return transatlantic crossing
We are now in Saint-Barth, where we have met up with some friend’s boats to say goodbye, since they, too, are returning to France. All this does feel a bit like we have come to the end of the voyage, even if we still have the Azores to discover. Because now, we must prepare for the return transatlantic crossing!
The last stopover in the Antilles will be Saint Martin, where we will be able to provision the boat, fill up the water tanks and do technical inspections. We are preparing for 20-25 days at sea and an arrival on the island of Flores, in the superb archipelago of the Azores.
Another ‘first,’ and another big challenge for our duo!”
