Making new friends in Isles des Saints

After our buddy boats left Isles des Saints on Jan. 22nd, we kept entertained with new Salty Dawg friends, Doug & Marjorie on s/v Frolic, Karen & David on s/v Soulemate (mono), Jen & Adam on s/v Solemate (cat) and Scott & Amy on s/v Zephr. We hiked Le Chameau, the highest peak in Les Saints (requiring almost straight up rock climbing in sections) with a well-worth-it spectacular view of the main island, Terre d’en Haut (above).

I came down earlier than the others because Andrew and I had scheduled an unintentionally well timed massage. On my way to the spa, I saw some beautiful local flowers, a display of plastic bottle art and discovered the recycling facility (which is a huge operation that honorably attempts to separate every color of glass and type of recycle material and then shipped off island to be recycled, hopefully!

When I arrived at the spa, Andrew was getting his massage, so I stripped down to luxuriate in the pool, hot tub and lounge chairs, while I waited my turn. It was heaven!

The next evening, the Salty Dawg gang gathered with more Dawgs from s/v Highlander, s/v Innesfree and others for a potluck/dance party/sing-along on Solemate… another epic event, although my memory of it is as fuzzy as the picture!

Over the next few days, Andrew and I discovered the dinghy dock closest to the grocery store & hardware, found the best baguette and Crêperie in town, and ate really fresh fish for lunch (and sometimes dinner too). Other than the laundromat that wouldn’t let me dry my clothes because the dryer would not finish before his closing time, we thoroughly enjoyed living in paradise, while I tortured the locals with my attempts to speak french.

One evening, the benefits of being a Salty Dawg, in addition to meeting such great people, came to fruition, when Innisfree broke her mooring line and was drifting through the harbor. Doug & Marjorie on Frolic saw it happening and jumped in their dinghy to take command of the wayward boat. They put an emergency call out on the Salty Dawg What’s App group to which, Adam (from Solemate), responded by springing out of his dining chair at a restaurant in town, about the same time that Andrew & I jumped up to unlock our dinghy and figure out what we could do to help. On the way out to the dinghy dock, Adam found the owners of Innesfree rushing in to get assistance. Their dinghy motor had broken that day and there was no way they could row fast enough to catch up with their boat. Adam loaded them in his speedy dinghy and headed out to where the boat was last seen. By the time we got our dinghy unlocked, Adam was speeding by with the owners of Innisfree on board and shortly after delivered them to their boat. It had been cruising along in the steady breeze and was probably 1/2 mile from where they left it, but being steered by our other Salty Dawg hero and never hit anything in the busy harbor! 

It was quite fortunate to have so many alert and helpful Dawgs at hand and that’s why we love cruising with the Salty Dawgs!