Sail Charter Guadeloupe

A couple of years ago my family chartered a bare-boat 40′ cat from Sunsail in Guadeloupe. We sailed from Guadeloupe to Marie Galante on our first day. Then to Dominica for two days, then Isle Des Saintes for two days and then back to Guadeloupe. Overall I wouldn’t recommend this charter. I rate it 2 out 5.

Sunsail has a well-run base and the boat was excellent, we just didn’t like Guadeloupe or Dominica that much. On the plus side, you do get better food than the rest of the Caribbean but let’s face it the standard isn’t high.

Isle Des Saintes was a big plus. It’s like a little bit of Brittany in the middle of Caribbean Sea. It’s pretty little village with some good restaurants and some very good fish. The only down-side is that the French are just not very nice to sail with. Listen, I love France and I have a ton of friends and family in France but they can be …er difficult to sail with. I have never had so much agro anchoring than I had in Guadeloupe. It seemed that every neighboring boat wanted to inform in no uncertain detail that I was an idiot and that I clearly had no idea what I was doing.

The other downer about this cruise over the BVI or the Grenadines is that the stop-overs and anchorages are more limited. It was all 4-6 hour sails with no lunch stops. Good, somewhat challenging sailing – We had 20-25 knots gusting to 30 most of the time and choppy seas – but not so good for the kids who got bored and queasy.

Dominica is worth a quick trip but it’s a little spooky. It’s a rainy island, so while it’s very lush, it is under-developed and very poor. The place has a weird atmosphere. We stayed two nights in Portsmouth Harbor, mostly so the rest of the party could explore inland. This was well-worth the trip – amazing rain-forests and spectacular views on the windward side of the island.

I went diving. This maybe the best I have ever dove. The coral is very good and it’s teaming with fish – eel, lobsters, trumpet, turtle, barra and all the pretty colored variety. The local dive shop will do a rendezvous. It’s very cool getting kitted out on-board and then stepping off your nice big fat cat onto the dive boat.

That said, I felt like we had to be more careful in Dominica than anywhere else I have been in the Caribbean. Some of the boat guys who want to sell you fruit and bread are just too pushy. They seem desperate. A friend of mine arrived in Portsmouth Harbor, stayed one night and left the next day. He stayed up all night because he got into an argument with the boat guys and he was worried about what they might do.

Overall I would not repeat this charter.