Return to Guadeloupe
- Tim Rhodes
- 11 hours ago
- 4 min read
January 8th to January 26th 2026
We left Dominica after a brief propane stop and made the crossing to Marie-Galante, a small island at the southern end of Guadeloupe. We arrived at the beautiful Anse Bay, joining many families already at anchor.
The children enjoyed plenty of social time, with daily meet-ups on the sandy beach. One family from Switzerland had just completed their Atlantic crossing, adding to the sense of shared adventure. One day, the kids formed a stand-up paddle board armada, circling the anchored boats and cheerfully demanding candy. It was great to see them together as one independent group.
From there, we sailed to Pointe-à-Pitre, the capital of Guadeloupe, to provision and pick up boat supplies. We anchored in a busy port—a stark contrast to the quiet anchorage at Marie-Galante. Once stocked up, we headed to the calmer waters of Goyave, where Michelle and I tried wing foiling again.
Our next stop was Les Saintes, a popular cluster of islands off Guadeloupe’s southwest coast. The Saintes are a high-end cruise destination, particularly for smaller luxury ships and private yachts. The main town, Terre-de-Haute—also the name of the principal island—is rich in history and filled with restaurants and cafés. Above the town stands the well-maintained Fort Napoléon and its museum, perched on a hill just to the north.
After several rolly days at anchor, we enjoyed an fun broad reach at 7–8 knots before arriving in Bouillante. We spent time with fellow cruisers and visited the hot springs that flow into the sea—an experience that, unfortunately, did not quite live up to expectations.
This was mostly due to the fact that was no hot spring during the 3 days we were there.
A short motor north brought us to an anchorage off the Cousteau Reserve at Pigeon Island. One evening, I swam around the island with another cruiser, passing schools of fish and barracuda. I loved snorkeling along the edge where shallow reefs drop into deeper water—it was really enjoyable going for a long swim seeing lots of marine life.
From the same anchorage, we rented a car and drove to the Guadeloupe Zoo, then continued on to Cascade aux Écrevisses for a short hike to a beautiful waterfall.
Our final stop was Deshaies (pronounced “De-hay”), where we did more exploring. Deshaies gave us some good memories. Aliya celebrated her 9h birthday where we had a amazing pancake breakfast and later met our families and spent the day in rocky pools.
On another great day was a hiked with another family, over a forested hill into the next bay, emerging at the stunning sandy beach of Grande Anse. However the big highlight was a close encounter with a resident dolphin.
As we arrived in the bay, a dolphin swam around our boat, almost as if it were actively welcoming us. Later, we heard other stories about a dolphin circling boats as they anchored in the bay.
On our seventh day there, we took the dinghy into town. As we slowly motored toward the dock, I noticed divers swimming in a circle off the starboard side. Then, I clearly saw a dolphin breach and flip back into the water close to one of the divers. We motored closer but kept a careful distance. After I turned off the engine, we watched as they played what looked like a game with a red leaf—not fetching or fighting for position, just pure play.
We drifted near the swimmers, who kindly guided the dolphin toward our boat. Owen and Aliya were able to gently touch the dolphin’s dorsal fin as it allowed us to interact with it. I even caught more than one burst of its exhale while holding my camera underwater.
My favourite part of the story came a few days later. One morning, our friend Aurel was taking his children and ours ashore while Michelle and I stayed behind, watching on. The same friendly dolphin approached the boat again. This time, Owen was ready—mask in hand in case another opportunity arose. He jumped into the water and experienced a full encounter with this incredibly intelligent sea creature. It was truly one of my dreams come true, and we were so happy he got to experience it. Aliya was content to watch from the boat.
Our time in Deshaies and Guadeloupe ended on a high. Finally we were ready to leave Guadeloupe and head north again to St. Eustatius and an island we skipped on our way south last year. This island was brought to my attention after a facebook post a friend made after a trip there from Canada after Christmas. More about this in the next post.