Strange day, ending in paradise

I'm on a somewhat limited Internet connection, and I brought my personal laptop - most of my photos are on the boat pc - so I may have a little trouble adding photos to this post.  Here's a slideshow of photos I took on a visit to Pointe a Pitre.
On Friday, we intended to navigate the Riviere Sallee, which runs between the two butterfly wings that form the island of Guadeloupe.  It is a kind of Intracoastal Waterway experience, narrow and shallow, and there are two bridges at the southern end.  The southernmost one is actually two bridges, one for pedestrians and one for motor traffic; it opens daily at 0500, and you have to be there about 15 minutes ahead.  We anchored near the bridge on Thursday night, got up between 0415 and 0430, and were in place awaiting the opening.  At 0500 - nothing.  0505 - nada.  0515 - rien.  We tried hailing them, though we had seen nothing that indicated that they monitor VHF.  We got a crackly response a couple of times, but we could not understand what they were saying, who was saying it, or even whether it was meant for us.  At 0520, knowing we couldn't get to the second bridge anyway, we headed back to our anchoring spot, dropped the hook, and went back to bed.  
I had made coffee cake batter the night before, so I popped that into the oven.  We got up for breakfast around 0800, and we called the Marina Bas du Fort.  It turns out the bridge is closed for repairs - for a year or two.  I'm sure if we had ASKED at the Marina when we stopped on Thursday for fuel and water that we could have been saved the trip and the oh-dark-thirty start to the day.  
So - on to Plan B.  We are in Guadeloupe for another week-plus, before Susan flies to the States on the 4th and JP and  to France on the 5th.  We have been to the Saintes (islands off the southern coast that are also part of Guadeloupe), so we looked to see what might be interesting in the southern part of the Grande Terre side of the island (it was already too late to head around to the west coast, which we were planning to do after exploring the Riviere Sallee and environs).  Susan found an anchorage at Ste. Anne, about 12 miles or away.  We motored, of course - heading more or less dead into the wind - and had the hook down (again) around noon or so.  We had lunch - but we were rolling so badly that it just didn't seem like the place to spend even one night.  SO - hook up (again), and on to the town of St. Francois, another eight miles or so to the east.
When we approached St. Francois, we were mildly alarmed because the anchorage looked very full - it's not reported to be very big, and it looked like a lot of masts.  BUT - after a very tricky entrance - lots of swell, a small opening (well marked) through the reef - we saw that they have put down mooring balls.  A couple of them were still free, despite the Friday afternoon timing - and we snagged one right in the front row, nothing between us and the gorgeous reef and the waters beyond.  As soon as I can, I will post pictures and a couple of videos I took of sail- and kite-boarders.
There is a marina here, surrounded by vacation villas and condos and a couple of hotels, several restaurants and cafes (lots of crepes and ice cream), and even a supermarket not far up the road.  What's not to love?
Hook up three times, and down three times, in one day - but an amazing place to be.  We may still go and visit Marie Galante (another island of Guadeloupe) but it will be hard to leave St. Francois.