Sailing In The Leeward Islands – Wild Trade Wind Adventures
Sailing In The Leeward Islands
While we loved our time in St. Martin, it was time to start heading south to Grenada where we plan to stay for the hurricane season. We left St. Martin in mid-April, giving us plenty of time to sail in the leeward islands.
After heading east for the last couple of months along the Thorny Path from Dominican Republic to St. Martin, we are excited to start heading south.
First up is exploring the rest of the Leeward Islands. The Leeward Islands are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain, spanning from the Virgin Islands south to Guadeloupe.
List of the Leeward Islands
British Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands
Anguilla
St. Martin / St. Maarten
Barbuda
Antigua
St. Kitts
Nevis
Montserrat
Guadeloupe
While we didn’t sail to all of the Leeward Islands, mainly due to the requirements that come with traveling with a dog, we did stop at the following islands:
- Ȋle Fourchue (uninhabited island north of St. Barts)
- Guadeloupe
- Martinique
Note:
You may notice that these are all French islands! The French islands are very easy to bring a dog into (they don’t ask any questions about the dog, or ask for any paperwork), and for our first trip south in the Caribbean, we decided to keep it simple and skip Antigua, St. Kitts, Dominica and other islands in the Leewards. Stay tuned for future articles as we explore the Windward Islands and share our steps for getting a dog into these countries.
Marigot Bay, St. Martin to Ȋle Fourchue, St. Barts
The day before we left St. Martin, we moved Pelagia from inside of the lagoon anchorage to Marigot Bay, just outside of the lagoon. That way we didn’t have to worry about the bridge schedules to get out of the lagoon on the morning of our departure.
We sailed approximately 19 nautical miles, just over 3.5 hours, around the northern coast of St. Martin, south to Ȋle Fourchue, an uninhabited island just north of St. Barts. We had light winds and calm seas with 2-3’ swells.
Ȋle Fourchue is a private island (that you can land your dinghy on), with around 10 free mooring balls owned and operated by the national park out of St. Barts. We were able to get a mooring ball, and enjoyed the beautiful views of the island and some great snorkeling on the coral reefs.
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Ȋle Fourchue Moorings
- Latitude: 17° 57’ 26.00”N Longitude: 62° 54’ 23.54”W
- Cost: Free
- Holding: Ball held well, a lot of room between boats
- Wind Protection: Protection from the northwest through southeast
- Depth: ~15 feet
- Water: No
- Pump Out: No
- Laundry: No
- Bathroom/Showers: No
- Pet Friendly: There is a beach you can land your dinghy at, although dogs are not necessarily allowed on the beach
- Groceries: No
- Restaurants: No
Ȋle Fourchue, St. Barts to Deshaies, Guadeloupe
After one night at Ȋle Fourchue, we continued sailing in the Leeward Islands past St. Barts, Antigua and Barbuda off to the east of us, and past Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, Nevis and Monserrat off to the west of us, to Guadeloupe. This sail took us approximately 22.5 hours to cover 119 nautical miles.
We had another enjoyable motor sail with 5-10 knots of winds and minimal waves and swells around 1 to 3 feet. If only every passage could be like this!
Deshaies, Guadeloupe
Our first stop in Guadeloupe was Deshaies, located on the northwest portion of the island.
We arrived on a Saturday morning, and were able to get checked in with Customs, right there at the small boat marina located in the harbor. We also stumbled upon a farmers market the day we checked in, which was fun to walk around.
This harbor was well protected with no swells or major boat traffic. There are mooring balls in closer to the shore, and anchoring allowed behind the mooring field, although it gets pretty deep pretty fast.
A fun thing to do while in Deshaies is check out the Jardin Botanique. They even offer a free shuttle ride up to the gardens.
The town of Deshaies, has several restaurants, a beach, and is the filming location of the British TV show Death in Paradise. If you are a fan of this show, then it is a must stop. We really enjoyed checking out this small town, and will stop here again next cruising season sailing in the Leeward Islands.
Deshaies Mooring Field
- Latitude: 16° 18’ 26.36”N Longitude: 61° 47’ 47.31”W
- Cost: 25 EU per night
- Holding: Ball held well, a lot of room between boats
- Wind Protection: Protection from the northeast through southeast
- Depth: ~10-15 feet
- Water: No, but were able to make water with our watermaker
- Pump Out: No
- Laundry: No
- Bathroom/Showers: No
- Pet Friendly: Yes, great dinghy dock for landing and walking through town. There is a nice shaded trail north of the river that flows out into the harbor.
- Groceries: Yes, small markets
- Restaurants: Yes, some require reservations
Note:
The restaurants and shops all close down during the afternoon hours (varies by store and restaurant) and they open back up in the late afternoon (shops) or evenings (restaurants). This was an adjustment when we are used to eating dinner around 5PM.
Deshaies to Malendure, Gaudeloupe
Needing to catch up on some laundry, and always liking to check out new places, we sailed 10.5 nautical miles down the coast of Guadeloupe to Malendure.
After all of the nice and easy motor sailing in the leeward islands so far, we decided we were going to strictly sail (once we got out of the harbor) our way down to Malendure.
Well, the winds cranked up more than the expected 15-20 knots out of the east. We first got no wind, then tacking without turning the direction of the boat in flaky winds, and then winds over 30 knots! It was a wild ride! This is mainly attributed to sailing near shore on the west coast of Guadeloupe, which boasts fairly large mountains that have a significant effect on the wind as you travel along the coast.
We anchored in Malendure, which is supposed to have some of the greatest snorkeling in the Caribbean in the nearby Cousteau Marine Park. Unfortunately, at the time we decided to anchor here, the swell was really, really bad. We got our laundry done, had some delicious pizza, then left the next morning back to the protected anchorage in Deshaies.
Hopefully on our way back north we can stay a bit longer and get in some snorkeling.
Malendure Anchorage
- Latitude: 16° 09’ 48.43”N, Latitude: 61° 46’ 38.15”W
- Holding: Good holding in sand and grass
- Wind Protection: Protection from the northeast through southeast
- Depth: 10-30 feet
- Water: Not that we are aware of, but should be able to make water in the anchorage
- Pump-out: No
- Laundry: Yes
- Pet Friendly: Yes, but may be a bit challenging getting the dog off the dinghy at the dinghy dock (or rather dinghy rocks) that you tie up to at the small boat marina.
- Groceries: Yes, Carrefour Supermarket across the street from the dinghy rocks
- Restaurants: Yes
Deshaies, Guadeloupe to Fort de France, Martinique
Our next passage south sailing in the Leeward Islands was to Fort de France, Martinique, 115 nautical miles from Deshaies.
While we would have liked to break up this passage with a stop in Dominica, we did not secure a pet permit to get Mangaux into the country, so we sailed on by. The required health certificates and pet permits for many Caribbean islands is one of the challenges of sailing with a dog.
It took us approximately 24 hours for this passage to Fort de France. We experienced a lot of various weather conditions during this trip, including our first true experience of the winds that wrap around the tall volcano islands of the Caribbean.
We picked a good weather window for this passage with winds primarily out of the ENE to east at 5-15 knots. The current really picks up between the islands, as to be expected. We had really calm winds in the lee of Dominica, but also very rolly with swells wrapping around the island. As we approached Martinique in the middle of the night, we came across some light squalls bringing us some rain and extra wind.
Arriving to the calm anchorage of Fort de France the next morning was a welcoming site!
Exploring the Leeward Islands
We really enjoyed sailing the Leeward Islands of Ȋle Fourchue and Guadeloupe on our way down to Martinique. We are learning that the weather varies considerably as it wraps around the islands, and can make for some sporty sailing! Stay tuned for our upcoming article as we spend some time in Martinique, rent a car and explore several different areas of the island.
Any areas that we missed so far that we must see on our way back north next cruising season? We would love to hear from you and hear about your sailing adventures in the Leeward Islands.
