Riviere Salee, Guadeloupe

Four in the morning start time. Nothing happens on Bonanza without
coffee. So we had to set the alarm early to get functional in time for
the five o'clock bridge opening. Guadeloupe is known as the Butterfly
Island because it looks like one. The two halves of the island are
separated by a mangrove swamp with a passage through called the Rivier
Sale. Going up the river shortens the trip up island by about fifty
miles. The guide book says to approach this journey as an adventure,
not a short cut. Hmmm. Could it be that the depths are really skinny
even for a boat with a draft of five feet? Hope you don't mind the
depth sounder alarm going off every few minutes. Or is it that the
bridge only opens at the crack of dawn, before the morning rush hour
on this French island goes into full swing? How much of an adventure
depends on your perspective.

We head up as close to the bridge as we can and drop anchor around
four in the afternoon. Enough time to jump into the dingy and blast up
the river with the handheld depth sounder and camera in hand. A
wonderland of mangrove channels and openings that lead to lakes and
rivers and islands, filled with egrets and frigate birds and who knows
what else! The main channel is well marked with red and green bouys,
seems so straight forward in the daylight with no other traffic. The
next morning all four boats in the anchorage are underway by five
minutes to five. The first boat in the line up is a Hunter sailboat
and unfortunately, they don't seem to have any lights on. This makes
it difficult for the next boat in line; Voyageur C to divine their
next move. We are the third boat in the channel and are keeping well
back of all the stopping and starting in front of us. Soon we have
both opening bridges behind us and are into the slalom course around
the red and green markers. The full moon is just setting as the sun
rises. We emerge into the bay at the mouth of the river and find the
sea is flat calm. Big rain storms loom on the horizon, but they move
so slowly – just drifting along. We know that sooner or later those
dark skys will catch up to us, but in those first moments of daylight,
the high clouds look spectacular. We'll deal with the rain and wind
later. For now though, we just enjoy the view.