We spent almost a week in Deshaies (Dey Hey) Guadeloupe. Nice little town. I would like to see it again but for now we have to keep trucking south and skip some stuff along the way. When we got to this place I asked Deb about the moorings they had for cruisers. She said they put in quite a few and we should have no problem. Ha! Most of the moorings were taken by local boats, charters and fishermen, so there goes the free moorings. "Hey Harbor Master, how about you limit time on a mooring to one week!" Really turns my crank to see local boats rot on a mooring. Normally I would not care because we anchor most of the time but this harbour is deep. When we got here the harbor was full, and there was a tall ship anchored right in the middle of the damn place.
This was probably our worst display of anchoring ever. We roamed around the anchorage looking for a spot and all the bitch wings came out and watched us. We found a spot that looked not too bad and the captain of the tall ship came out on his bow and gave us his best fat gut and dirty t-shirt bitch wings. Oh piss off pal! So we dropped the hook in front of them and Deb put her in neutral waiting for the Mantus to catch. I dropped 100 feet in 45 ft of water and we drifted back. I let out another 50 and we drifted back. Nothing. Another 50 and waited. We just drifted away. She never caught. Son of a beach!
We went around again and Deb suggested another spot by the rocks behind some cats. OK cool. We dropped and dragged the Mantus all over a pile of rocks below. Mother Fudger! We drifted away.
Third try we lined up next to the bitch wings tall ship captain again and dropped in 45 ft of water. This time I had Deb keep the boat stationary until I had about 3 to 1. We then let her drift back and she stuck. I then let out about 275 feet of chain. We never moved for 6 days. We really need to be more bold when looking for a spot and not worry about all the little bitches that don't want you around.
So today we raised that big anchor and the 275 feet of chain. We have the manual windlass as you probably know. One crank gets me 6 inches of chain. So we timed the anchor lift today. Took me 15 minutes to raise the anchor and secure it including removing the snubber. Not too bad. My heart was beating like a bunny rabbit when I was done though. Geez. I have a feeling I will die at the bow pulpit with my hand on the crank. Not MY crank, THE crank. Wonder how many guys die with their hands on THEIR crank? Embarassing. Not for him he's dead but...
I walked back to the cockpit breathing hard and sat down for a few seconds before I had to raise the main. I am really out of shape. None of this used to bother me at all and now I am sucking wind trying to recover. Shame. Probably should change my lifestyle a bit. Maybe walk more or switch to a light beer. Wait, the beers can't get any lighter! Really this beer is awful down here. OK, maybe beer is not the focal point here. Maybe some stretching and pushups, situps, lifting jerry jugs and squat thrusts. Remember squat thrusts from gym class? I don't even know what they are any more. My gym teacher was a squat thruster and was also my track coach. Yes I ran track. Shut up. This guy also taught electric shop which I took. It wasn't a nerd class back then. It was cool. So was I. No not really. So one day gym/track/shop teacher/coach is taking apart a TV and showing us the guts. He says never touch the back of the cathode ray tube because you will get shocked. Well doesn't the d
ufus
touch the back of the CRT and send himself flying against the wall! We all stood around him looking down at his stunned body. One kid ran. I watched him try to get up while supressing a huge laugh about to burst. "You think this is funny Bryan!" From that day onward coach drove me hard in track practice and in gym I was always the demo dummy. "Show them how it's done Bryan!". What a prick. He made me demo rope climbing. I don't think they do that today after so many kids fell from the ceiling. He thought he had me on this one but I climbed it like a reesus monkey with his ass on fire. Not sure if monkeys know the Stop, Drop and Roll routine. I bet they just climb while on fire. I was all smug while dangling up there but I had a problem coming down and burned my inner thighs on the rope while catching a knot in the balls. We used to wear those short shorts for gym and my thighs were bleeding and girls were laughing while I turrned red with pain and my hands stuffed in my crotc
h.
So where was I? Exercise! That's right. I need more exercise. Squat thrusts. Somebody look that up and get back to me. I have no internets.
We had us a motor sail today. What a friggin surprise. We did 40 miles with the main up and the old Yanmar singing its tune. Not a bad ride really. Was all Peaceful Easy Feeling early on and then we got to the end of Guadeloupe and it was all Welcome to the Jungle and then once we got to the Saintes it was, Looks like we Made It.
We picked up a mooring and are resting easy. Captain Pauly made some potato leek soup because we scored some huge leeks in Deshaies. The thought of anchoring again after the hauling of 275 feet of chain gave me a pain in the back so I am very happy to be spending $13 a day and not having to worry about the damn anchor. It will be nice to go a few days without pulling my crank. THE crank. Sorry.
Tomorrow we will explore the town take a few pictures, maybe get some pizza, maybe do a few squat thrusts.
Cheers!
PJJB
God, I have Barry manilow stuck in my head. Make it stop!
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
Never thought i'd be grateful for an electric windlass. Now i am. You need one of those YAYOG apps on your phone.(You Are Your Own Gym) That will put you through your paces while you're singing those Manilow songs. Although, you'd think that with that manual windlass you'd be in pretty good shape.
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