June 2014

Hello everyone,

A brief visit to Paris after shooting in the Caribbean, two trips to Rome, the first one to appear as a guest on a "Got Talent" like show for children called Ti lascio una canzone, and the other to shoot the introducing scenes of three specials to be broadcast this summer on Rai Due, the first one on June 8th , with our film about the Marquesas (unpublished for the most part so far on DVD , it can be downloaded from our shop) ; the other two, both about Japan, will broadcast in July and August.

Our trip to the Caribbean , therefore , has kept us very busy : in nearly four weeks of filming , Francette and I had only twice a chance to swim for three minutes in the waters of two of the most beautiful islands in the archipelago , Antigua and Barbuda. The rest of the journey has been very active : after we visited Martinique and Grenada, a small plane took us to Union Island, where we joined with my old friend Jean- Marc , the owner of a pleasant hotel called Bougainvilla . He showed us around his island an then, as he had done in 1992, he took us flying above the whole archipelago : the Grenadines, with beautiful Tobago Cays , Mayreau , Bequia , Petit Nevis . We even landed in Mustique, the island ofstars and princesses. Mick Jagger had left just the day before.

Then a Dream Yacht Charters catamaran took us to St. Vincent (in the wake of Johnnny Depp and the movie" Pirate of the Caribbean ...), then to St. Lucia and Martinique ; we flew over, then sailed among, the island's most beautiful region, the windward side , near Le François and Le Vauclin , wherebeautiful traditionnal sailing boats called "yoles" were racing . Then we joined another catamaran at Marina Bas-du-Fort , Guadeloupe, the arrival point for famous "Route du Rhum". We cast our moorings, and we visited Marie-Galante, Les Saintes , and then we set sail for Antigua and Barbuda, to verify that the quiet spots in these two beautiful islands were still peaceful . Thn a brief stop at Saint Kitts and Nevis, before going to film Saint- Barth in bright sunlight and completing our trip to St. Martin's Oyster Pond where unfortunately since my last visit, my cousin Captain Oliver left to go sailing on the oceans above us...

And here we are , returning loaded with pictures and video (so to speak , as the beta tapes which once occupied a large volume have been entirely replaced by light HDDs ) in Paris , just long enough to complete our film about Canada, and to bring to our publisher Gallimard pictures folders and the last texts of our next book , a photo album of the 40 most the last folders of ppictures of the 40 most beautiful ports of call we have visitedduring these forty years of sailing .
In the meantime I wish you a Jolly month of June.
Antoine