Up early Friday morning – returned the hire car and checked out with customs and immigration. Dropped the mooring line and headed out eventually about 10 am. Would have preferred to go earlier but Statia will not allow you to check out the day before and the office doesn’t open until 9.00 am. Oh well – rules are rules.

Anyway….winds were immediately strongish at 23 knots so we reefed down and started our run on a beam reach. Making good way then suddenly the wind died. Oh here we go again. Shook out the reefs and floundered around – then the wind changed direction. And not in our favour either. But at least it picked up to around 15 knots so we are now beating into the wind and waves. We persevered and were taking a heading out to get some miles under us and then we had to tack because we had a huge oil tanker bearing down on us – so we got out of his way pretty quickly. When we tacked in towards the island the wind fell away again and we are floundering and making no way against the running sea. Tacked back out quickly and the wind picked up and we’re flying at 7.5 knots….until it died again. By this time the day is ticking by and we really need to get into the marina soonest as we don’t want to lose our reserved slip. So for the last eight miles out of 33 in total for the day, we motor sailed in.

Arrived at Port Zante marina, Basseterre, St Kitts around 4pm but no-one would answer the radio. So we don’t know where to put our fenders…. Eventually they did answer and told us that we had to go into a slip with one (tiny) finger pontoon on starboard bow with two pilings to hold our stern. We hate these pilings and we are not happy as we had specifically requested an alongside slip. But they have no others, so we have to go for it. Well it wasn’t pretty but no damage was done to the boat or ourselves so that’s the main thing!

By the time we are tied up and secure it is getting late. So quickly get ready to go to customs and immigration at the cruise ship dock nearby. Customs were home and cleared the boat in. But immigration had left for the evening – so we asked if we could check in with them in the morning. The answer is no – so we have to go to the airport! This cost us £15 by cab return. When we got there they made us sit and wait – even though no planes had landed and there were no queues – and the woman official was definitely not the friendly or welcoming sort…. Welcome to St Kitts – another British island!

Back eventually hot and bothered to the marina to find that Evensong – who were well into their sundowner drinks – had been asked to move and back into a slip further down. Not an easy place at all – but they managed it brilliantly even though they were pretty fed up. They had also found a place to go for dinner in town and invited us to join them – so we quickly went back on Morphie and got ready and we all headed into town. As we were walking to the restaurant – and this is 5 mins from the marina in the main circus area – we noticed two youths coming up behind a couple of the guys…clearly looking to lift a wallet or two. So we closed ranks quickly together and went into the restaurant. Service left much to be desired – although our food was fine – and instead of asking us whether we wanted dessert / coffee or even more drinks, they presented us with the bills. I guess we got the message, paid up and left. Walking back to the boats we stayed closely together. Have to say not a great first impression of this place!

In the morning we gave Morphie a lovely leisurely bath – making the most of the unlimited water supply on the dock. This is a great deal – $15 one off payment for all you can use for an unlimited period – so no meters to be read or nasty surprises when we check out. After our own leisurely showers we went for a wander into town – having taken advice from the security guys about which areas are considered ‘safe’. Wandered around and the cruise ship terminal is full of shops selling the same stuff – that said I managed to spend some money on a few items of clothing and a new pair of shoes! We also took advantage of the duty-free shop to get some different rums.

Basseterre has a range of ancient English built properties and some French influences with beautiful colonial styles all mixed up with almost a shanty town….and that’s the no go area! Anyway…. the vibe changes as you turn street corners – so we quickly worked out where it was OK to wander. But we enjoyed our first real glimpse of St Kitts, which is more heavily populated than islands we have been to recently. Having sorted out a taxi tour of the island tomorrow we settled into a bar in the cruise ship area and bumped into Charlie and Troy from the marina – they stopped and had beers with us and gave us a potted history of the island. Really interesting guys…. Then the Evensong gang came along having had a torturous morning replacing a broken macerator – think poo everywhere! So they were ready for a scoop too. After a pleasant afternoon we headed back to Morphie with sundowner plans – we are eating on board tonight as we don’t fancy going out after dark – and ended up having drinks on the back of a large motorboat called Motivator with this other cruising couple as well as the Evensong crew. Lovely lovely time was had by all….

This morning we headed off to do a tour of the island by taxi having said goodbye to Evensong as they continued their run down island. Didn’t think hiring a car here would be the way to go as it would be very easy to wander into the wrong place by accident. We had a great tour with Junie – and learnt a lot about the history of the island.  Visited historic sites such as Brimstone Hill Fort – which is now a World Heritage site and home to the British army and a contingent of slaves for many years; an old Sugar Plantation; an old Manor house with beautiful botanical gardens; along with stunning scenic shots as we went around. Oh yes, and being Sunday, there were churches overflowing everywhere with beautifully dressed families in spectacular clothing spilling into the road after services.

Sobering to note that the English and French managed to massacre 2,000 Carib Indians on this island when they settled here – and then went on to build most of the infrastructure, including the huge fort, with slave labour. The French introduced the velvet monkey, which are not indigenous – and the story goes that they were pets that escaped and bred. But Junie’s version that the French bought them over to release them to eat the English farmer’s crops appealed to me! They are also popular pets when they come down to forage for fruit – and we both had a close encounter with Timmy today….

Had a really nice day and went back on board for a lazy evening. St Kitts has grown on us over the past couple of days.  We are going to stay here today – Monday – and perhaps tomorrow if the weather is as predicted….   The plan is to head down to a beach anchorage further down the coast and then onto Nevis….    But today there are two huge ships in so the place is absolutely rammed and hopping! 

Bye for now

Jan

We spent a leisurely afternoon ashore and enjoyed the view to the anchorage from The Old Gin House…. We only had a couple of beers each as we’re diving in the morning – and went back on board to get our dive kit sorted in preparation. So a quiet and early night on board.

In the morning we are up really early as we have to be at the dive shop by 8.30 am – and made it on time. There was a huge, and unexpected, crowd there. We were really worried as there is nothing worse – in my opinion – than a crowd of 20 people on a boat and all doing the same dive with a varying degree of skill. Luckily the crowd – who were really nice people – were all from one dive club in Michigan so commandeered the large dive boat. No worries – we’ll go with a Canadian couple and dive master on Stumpy, the little dive boat. Fantastic – four of us plus Ray the Geordie lad who was leading the dive….. 

Kitted up and ready to go but Richard had a problem with his BCD on the verge of going into the water – the high pressure hose would fill up his jacket with air and wouldn’t stop! So had to be disconnected and he was going to have to manage the old fashioned way of blowing the BCD up when he needed it inflated…. Oh well – no worries. Large giant stride of the back and he was gone to the anchor line – I took the easier way off the boat by doing a backward roll – and met up at the bow. Pretty lumpy out there…so descended down to our first dive of the day, at a dive site called ‘Hangover’. This was made up of lines and lines of lava flow which had been colonised by mainly soft corals and huge gorgonian fans…. As this is all marine park and maintained, the quality of the coral was stunning. Beautiful and vibrant swaying with the current with an aquarium of reef fish enjoying themselves moving in and out with the sea….and some strange shapes, some large sponges and some soft tubes which looked like mouth accordions! No underwater camera I’m afraid so no photos. This dive was down to about 20 metres with undulating rivulets flowing back to the cliff edge…. Stunning and a great dive site – visibility was complete – could see all the way to the surface and shadows were only made by clouds hiding the sun at times….. The best part of the dive, to me, was the fact that there was no one around and more fish than I’ve seen in a long while. The usual suspects were there – triggers, parrots, lobsters, angels and huge bat fish. Best of all was a massive barracuda and a formation swim of a large number of squid… They are weird and cute all at the same time!

Anyway…after 45 mins it was time to get back on board… Valet diving service with Ray helping me up with my gammy legs and the fact that I have to wear 10 kilos of weights around my waist as I’m naturally very very buoyant (no sniggering boys and girls!!!!)….. Back to get the tanks refilled and then we were into our second dive on a site called ‘The Humps’. Again larva flow out to sea only this time there was volcanic sand between the flows…. Descended down the line and straight away we saw a tiny little seahorse clinging to a piece of soft coral swaying in the breeze…. Oh my – this is pretty special…. seahorses are very difficult to find anywhere and to be able to settle on the sand and watch one close up was a magical moment. Anyway onwards and round the corner we come across a baby nurse shark under the outcrops. This just gets better and better. Then a huge variety of reef fish all around in every colour under the rainbow imaginable with sparkly spots, black eyes, stripy lips…you name, it was here. This has to be one of our most memorable dives ever. Absolutely wonderful and all too soon it was time to head back to the surface after a fantastic 54 minutes underwater….

Back on land and back to Morphie…. The weather forecast has been constantly predicting north swells so we are thinking that we’ll move her to a mooring ball (anchoring is forbidden here unless all balls are taken) further out as we are pretty close to the shoreline. Well – that was the theory anyway…. We dropped our current mooring – went out and picked up a pretty sturdy one – but was so unprotected it was like being in the middle of a washing machine on a fast spin… No way could we stay there! So we moved about half way into the anchorage and picked up another ball – this time it was in really poor condition and we weren’t happy about that….so ended up going back to the original one after all. What a waste of time! Oh well….. Anyway… we spent the rest of the day washing the kit, hanging it all out to dry, and lazing around. We could not be bothered to go ashore so we had another quiet night on board.

Wednesday we didn’t want to be too far from Morphie in case the swells did come through and made the anchorage dodgy. So weren’t up and about too early – and then we spotted this black rib coming into the anchorage from a large grey war-like vessel.   Oh oh…it’s the coastguard.  These guys – all dressed in black carrying guns – then boarded a boat and spent quite a while on board.  We had heard about these inspections in Dutch islands – so I got together everything they would want to look at.  Boat papers, flares, fire extinguishers, life jackets etc etc….   They worked their way around the anchorage and didn’t seem in any hurry – so went for a swim around the boat while we were waiting!   Came back on board and carried on waiting…   OK they have done everyone now….so it must be our turn.   And guess what – they went off to join their mothership and didn’t come anywhere near us.   We are the only European boat in the anchorage so maybe that was it?   Or just that they run out of time?   Interesting….

After all that excitement we decided to go for a hike up the hill to the top of the cliff which is where Oranjestad resides. To call it a town would be an exaggeration, it’s more like a little hamlet on top of the cliff with a one way road system and some very old houses and a fort. Fantastic views and so friendly that everyone stops and talks to us. Everyone wants to make sure we are enjoying our stay and just want to spend the time of day with us. Wow – amazing – this is the unspoilt Caribbean without any real tourism. Love it, love it, love it!

Back on board after a bit of food shopping and we decide to go snorkelling along the edge of the bay – and come across an interesting ridge which marks the remains of the old warehouses and city walls when this place was a vibrant sea port back in its day … we met loads of fish on the way and were astounded to come across a cannon and an ancient anchor. I knew there were hundreds of shipwrecks here but a cannon? A real one just sitting there in less than 3m of water? This just doesn’t get any better….

After resting up we went aboard Evensong for sundowners – we met Dan the owner in the BVIs. Him and Ruth have their friends Mike and Angela on board and we had a nice time with them before heading off on our own to The Old Gin House for BBQ night. We ended up chatting to the guys from the dive shop as well as some of the Mitchigan dive crew. The DJ was a bit random – didn’t expect to hear Dexy’s Midnight Runners in the Caribbean?!?  Although he did get some people up dancing when he put on the reggae….    Smashing evening to round off a really nice chilled day.

This morning (Thursday) we headed out to pick up our hire car – $55 for a day including insurance, what a bargain – and we drove the whole island which is only 5 miles by 3 miles. Visited the Atlantic side to watch the waves and we were the only ones in the car park. Did I say car park? Think grass on top of a cliff with goats and cows for company only. Roads here have tarmac, in places, huge huge potholes and mostly just mud. They go up, down and around the mountain with sheer drops on the side at times… All a bit hairy in our baby runaround…. But great fun to explore this way. And Richard left his racing driver tendencies behind today thankfully…

Visited the botanical gardens and looked out for the rare iguanas, but didn’t see any.  But we did watch a hummingbird flit from plant to plant – but no photos as they are just too small and too quick!   We were also amazed at the view of our next destination St Kitts in the distance. Also went by an old English sugar plantation dating back to the slave days. After an enjoyable day out we came back on board and tidied up in time to welcome the crew from Evensong as it was our turn to host sundowners. Nice time was had by all – and we are alone now prepping for tomorrow’s trip to another island. We will be sad to leave Statia – this is a really chilled friendly place – and we have loved our time here.

Night night

Jan

We went ashore just as the sun was setting on Saturday night – continuing to be amazed at the closeness of some of the anchored yachts to each other.   Seems like we chose a good spot because no-one came anywhere near us, luckily!   Oh yes, and doesn’t Morphie look lovely in the sunset???

We wandered around Gustavia looking for a place to eat. We found a few nice menus but most restaurants were empty…. and many did not have good views either, tucked away in back streets away from the harbour area. So we decided to bite the bullet and go to a nice French restaurant where we could sit outside and look at the array of superyachts that are all anchored up stern to the boardwalk. Had a lovely meal but completely pigged out and ate too much – so after dining, we went back on board feeling really uncomfortable and stuffed. Retired early eagerly anticipating our taxi tour of St-Barth on Sunday.

Sunday morning we get up feeling a bit better – but not completely recovered – and decided to wait a little before going ashore to pick up a taxi at the ferry dock. Just as well we did as the heavens opened! So we sat tight and waited for the blue sky to return….and in the meantime we cleaned all the crusty salt off of Morphie’s stainless steel and topped up the water tanks by running the watermaker. Around 11 am – feeling much better and vowing to be kinder to our stomachs in future – we dinked into town. Now when we checked this out we were told that any day we just needed to go to the taxi rendezvous at the ferry terminal and most – but not all – do island tours for a fixed price. They all have a particularly logo on the side. Anyway….when we get there….we find a sole taxi driver who didn’t do tours… With a Gallic shrug he pointed out that it is Le Weekend – Sunday – and all the shops are shut too….but another one might be along. So we waited awhile and another one pulled in – and yes, he did do these tours – but wanted 50% more cash for doing it on a Sunday. You know what – the answer is no! Really fed up now…. Grrrr…..

Not to be deterred, we head off to see if we can hire a car for a day instead but all the rental offices were shut too… So it looks like the mysteries of St-Barth will remain that way. But we did go for a trek up the mountainous hillside to Fort Gustave which overlooks the harbour and the surrounding anchorages – and then a bit further up the road to the gap in the hills which is where all the light aircraft drop out of the sky to land onto the runway below. Quite dramatic stuff, particularly when you are sitting in the anchorage and they abort the landing because they are not quite lined up correctly. So we hang around for awhile but no landings – obviously plane schedules are also linked to Le Weekend! – although we did see one take off that looked to have a fair degree of difficulty too.

After a breather we wandered back down the hill in the blazing heat trying to avoid getting run over by the mad motorists who seem to take pleasure in making me squirm as they come really really close. Back into Gustavia and we took some time taking in many of the sights of the old buildings reflecting the mixed heritage of this island which has, in its day, been fought over by the British, French and the Spanish. It was also given to the Swedes by France in 1784 and sold back to France in 1878. There are also stories that pirate treasure from Mountbars the Exterminator remains buried here…… This could have been his anchor maybe?

In the end we decided to follow the signs to the plage and came across Shell Beach, which is a pretty sand beach surrounded by dramatic rock formations. Obviously a hip and trendy sort of place – so we decided to settle into a quiet corner at the beachside restaurant / bar Do Brazil – and did some serious people watching. The funniest bit was the model that would come strolling through the restaurant every 15 minutes or so wearing a different outfit from the boutique. Actually some of the beach cover-ups were really nice so I decided to take a wander in and have a look – with credit card wobbling in anticipation. As soon as I walked in I realised that this wasn’t going to be an option as it was very high end and I really didn’t think that I could justify to Richard spending upwards of €200 on a beach wrap! Oh well….it was a nice thought while it lasted. We really enjoyed ourselves people watching and after a few lazy hours we headed back to the harbour to pick up dink and get back on board Morphie for a quiet night.

Overall we enjoyed seeing St-Barth but wasn’t a place we’d rush back to – not really interested in designer labels and top top end designer jewellery. It is really picturesque though with its pretty harbour, lovely beaches, huge boats and some amazing real estate perched into the hills.  All the restaurants were nice looking and had great, albeit expensive, menus. But everywhere – apart from Do Brazil which had a nice vibe – was really really quiet and it makes you wonder how they can afford to keep all these places open with the lack of customers. We only saw the yellow submarine take out one set of day trippers in the three days we’ve been here. Oh yes, did I tell you that when we went past the submarine one day and the skipper was on board we sang out loud “We all live in a yellow submarine…..”  Made us laugh and he did wave – although I wonder how many times he’s heard that eh?!?    According to the guide books St-Barth is apparently like St Tropez although I’ve never been! It could be that the place has a different feel on cruise ship days?? Oh well – nice to see and glad we did take the time to get here – but really not for us so time to move on and leave the Renaissance Islands.

Up early on Monday and we were picking up our anchor about 7.30 ish…. But before we went we had to take a photo of the 43.4m long black-hulled J boat – sail number H1 – which anchored behind us last night – gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous…. This one’s for you Flo!

Motored out of the channel and hoisted the sails for the beam reach down to St Eustatius – a Dutch island this time – and commonly known as Statia. We are missing out Saba as the anchorage is poor and unless you are into mountain trekking there isn’t a lot there… Anyway these islands are known as The Islands that Brush the Clouds. As you sail towards them you see why! We had a fantastic sail – the type that dreams are made of. Lightish winds which picked up to a steady 13 knots and from the right direction; relatively flat seas and no swells; brilliant navy blue sea reflecting its depth of a mile+; and the occasional flying fish parade skimming across the top. What a joy and the best day so far. We covered the 30 miles easily and entered Oranje Baii – the only anchorage on this small island which has a volcano perched at one end – and checked into the Dutch customs and immigration – and headed ashore.

Statia is largely a marine park – although, bizarrely, it also has a large oil terminal where they store and distribute fuel and has some weird contraption of metal in the sea which has long floating pipes coming away from it, definitely a navigational hazard! Anyway….this place is supposed to have really good dive sites. So we’ve booked to go on Tuesday morning for a double tanker. We’re really looking forward to making bubbles again!

Bye for now

Jan

Friday morning up bright and early and we were on our way by 8 o’clock to make the run down to Saint-Barthélemy. The wind was around 15 knots and we enjoyed the downwind run along the north coast of Anguilla under headsail alone. As we turned around the bottom of Anguillita we got the main out for a reach across the Anguilla passage towards St Martin. Great sailing…. Bye Anguilla… 

However, when we started to run alongside St Martin the wind died on us and we were beating into building swelly seas and getting very salty. But we were determined to carry on sailing and were rewarded with winds that topped 20 knots and we were having a great time. But about 10 miles out the wind died again and we were not making much headway at all even with all three sails out … so we ended up motoring the rest of the way. We eventually arrived at Gustavia at 3.30 pm having covered 32 miles.

We knew that this was a popular French island – and boy, there are boats everywhere, of all shapes and sizes. Even the 390 feet $300mn+ superyacht A is here….. Deciding where to position ourselves safely was difficult – the anchorages are hugely crowded with very little swinging room between boats…. The harbour has some bow and stern mooring balls laid out but these were all full…. And going stern to one of the docks was starting to look very attractive until the wind picked up and we realised that we’d have to reverse into the strengthening wind – not our favourite pastime. Morphie really doesn’t like going backwards in a straight line! So we headed further out of Gustavia to Corossol which is tucked away to the left of the shipping line. It was a bit deep at 30 feet but luckily we managed to find a sandy spot to drop in and got a good set straight away. Phew…. and not many boats around us. Happy days!

We dinked in to do our customs and immigration clearance – all on computer again. Really simple –except that the French territories do not use a qwerty keyboard so as a trained touch typist I am making mistakes all other the shop… Who would, in their right mind, put the letter ‘a’ on the top line???? Anyway with some help from the very charming Capitanaire we got checked in and paid a total of €27 for three nights at anchor in the outside bay. Had a couple of cold ones at a local brasserie on the boardwalk and then went back to Morphie for a quiet night on board enjoying the spectacular sunset.

This morning we had a French patisserie breakfast and wandered Gustavia a bit – this place is full of historic buildings, up-market designer shops and quaint pink-roofed villas set into the hillside. This is definitely a rich and famous destination! Went to the chandlery and got a few things and did a few bits of food shopping and now back on board. Going to go out for dinner tonight – if we can find somewhere we can afford mind – and planning a taxi tour of the island tomorrow. We found out that this was actually cheaper than hiring a car and I’m sure a couple of hours will be enough to cover this tiny little mountainous place.

Bye for now

Jan

Tuesday morning up early and out exploring in the car. First, we went to West End and, after following a sand road for a while, came across Trattoria Tramonto where we enjoyed the views of Shoal Bay while sipping a cappuccino and deciding where to go next!

On the way we found a back track which took us along the cliffs overlooking Road Bay so got a couple of shots of the anchorage and Morphie swinging on her hook…. We also saw the salt pond behind which is just one of many that abound on this island – although I haven’t seen any evidence of the salt actually being processed commercially. 

Moving on we decided to visit the bays along the north of the island – and came across Blanchards which has become famous by the book called “Trip to the beach – living on island time in the Caribbean” This is one of the best fine dining restaurants in the Caribbean apparently – but we gave it a miss – as our preference today is for a nice lunch and eat back on board later…. Food and drinks here in Anguilla are pretty expensive because of import taxes and there really isn’t a happy hour culture so not many special offers around!

 Having now covered the whole island pretty much, including visiting The Valley – the capital – I have to say that Anguilla is one of the friendliest places we’ve ever visited. Only one rastaman hissing through his teeth at us when we stopped to take some photographs – and guard dogs running out of their properties to chase the car down the tracks….with mad staring eyes and looking like they fancy eating us pretty soon! Not sure what you would do if you broke down out here…get eaten or starve to death waiting for rescue in the middle of the scrub???!!!

Anyway… back to impressions of the island… Anguilla is hard to describe as it feels like a large rock with a flat top – so all the roads are flat until you come to go up and down to the bays and numerous spectacular beaches. The locals live in relatively simple housing with the odd interspersed fancy villa. There appears to have been a bit of a building boom as loads of properties and land is advertised for sale and unfinished properties are everywhere – so looks like the economic downturn was felt here. Most of the resorts / villas / condos are perched on cliffs or nestled down on the beaches themselves. From the main road you wouldn’t know they existed apart from the signs pointing you in that direction. Otherwise there is little agriculture but lots of heritage sites with old white wooden boarded properties and original churches dating back a couple of centuries. What I really like is the road names – all named after influential people – so have driven down Albert Hughes Drive and Rupert Carty Drive in the last couple of days.

We decided that we really couldn’t come to Anguilla and not explore any of the fancy resorts and to see if we can get some beach time surrounded by luxury. First stop was Cap Julaca – very pleased to see us and welcomed us into the hotel. The beach was stunningly beautiful – and empty! Nobody about at all… but we were not welcome to use their beach furniture even for a fee…. so we moved on relatively quickly.

Next stop was the Viceroy. Wow this place is something else. Chrome and glass edges with infinity pools and a vast collection of stunning wooden art strategically placed around the place. Were made very welcome and had a special cocktail in the Sunset Lounge while we were there. Really enjoyed this place.

Moved on then to find somewhere for a late lunch – so went to D’Avida in Crocus Bay, had a nice lunch and were able to use their lovely beach chairs for a few hours while we chatted, snoozed and bobbed.

Oh well…time to go back… got back on board, quickly got cleaned up, and headed off to The Pumphouse for a couple of drinks. By the time we got back to Morphie – only about 8.00 pm – we didn’t fancy dinner so just listened to the wind and waves lapping doing some star gazing before turning in for an early night.

On Wednesday we had organised a trip over to Sandy Island – this is a desert island in the middle of the sea with just a beach bar / restaurant on it. While waiting for the ferry to come and pick us up we got talking to a local sitting on the end of the dock. His name is Bernard St Joseph Richardson aka Ragamuffin Jimmy and his dog Black Jimmy. What a hoot – looks like a ragbag but is actually a property owner and a highly educated architect. Just shows the truth that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover!

The ferry powerboat arrived, and we are the only ones boarding – so off we go at speed into very rough swelly seas and eventually got through the reef and waded ashore. This was great fun! Sandy Island is a little reef-surrounded oasis – unfortunately the swells meant that the snorkelling gear was redundant – so we just lazed around, bobbed (with beer as we weren’t responsible for the boat today), and had a fantastic crayfish lunch.  Wandering around the island we came across the remains of the bow section of a large yacht – and the staff told us that the guy had anchored the other side of the reef and came ashore and when the wind changed direction he dragged his anchor and the boat was quickly trashed on the reef.   Ouch!!   

During the day we got talking to Jeff and Tania from Dallas – the only Texans we know who don’t ride, don’t have horses or even possess a pair of cowboy boots! They also don’t work in oil… Seriously they were great fun – and on their honeymoon too, so congratulations again – and we spent the rest of the day with them, including bobbing and copious amounts of beer! They were staying at the Viceroy so was nice that we had visited there…very envious of them having a bath! I miss that option….

Back to Road Bay and we said our goodbyes…and Richard didn’t want to go back on board just yet. It was only 5pm…. so went to Elvis’ beach bar and had a few sundowners. Going back to the boat at 7 o’clock the heavens opened – we got absolutely soaked through. Didn’t stay up for long and just had an early night.

Today we are staying on board Morphie all day – boat jobs to be done, including some hand washing, and doing the pilotage for our next adventure. Tomorrow we are heading down island to visit St Barts so this is a non-alcohol day. We have to go ashore to check out with customs and immigration – but that’s it. So a bit of swimming off the back later maybe if we get all the jobs done….and general lazing around. So tomorrow we leave but a little bit of my heart will stay in Anguilla as this is a really special place.

Bye for now

Jan

Sunday morning we decided to arrange to hire a car for a couple of days and tour the island. This was done through customs and immigration – they are really helpful in organising everything for you. Job done – car is being delivered to car park at 9.00 am Monday morning. So we went for a stroll and had a look around Road Bay and Sandy Ground village and beach.  Loads of locals out on Sunday enjoying family life together.  Lovely to watch.   Came across Roy’s Bayside Grill serving roast beef and Yorkshire pudding Sunday lunch – and quite a few expats seemed to be enjoying this homely treat.

Went back towards the dinghy dock and heard Jazz music coming from Johnno’s bar. Went to explore – oh what a treat – fantastic combo considering these guys don’t play together all of the time. At one stage there was an 11 year old kid playing the drums and a young female vocalist who had such an amazing voice it gave me goosebumps! Leisurely afternoon and chilled out on Morphie for the evening.

Up early Monday and collected the car – no island time here, they were even early!   Anguilla drives on the left but left-hand drive vehicle so I’m now in the middle of the road as the passenger facing on-coming traffic.  Not sure about that bit, particularly as Richard has left his Alain Prost tendencies back in French St Martin – today he’s James Hunt (the Shunt)….

Anguilla is a small island only 16 miles long by 3 miles wide and has a population of about 13,000 people who rely pretty much exclusively on tourism.  From the commercialism of St Martin / Saint Maarten it is nice to visit a Caribbean island that has a more rustic feel to it.    So we plan to make the most of it and explore every nook and cranny with the car over the next two days.   We set off towards the East End of the island hoping to find a nice restaurant overlooking a bay for breakfast – we found a beach shack called Nat’s place but no breakfast. Ended up in a cafe at St James’ Medical School surrounded by students….breakfast was good though.

Anyway….had a wonderful day, including some beach time, some exploring of nice resorts which welcome non-residents, and saw some heritage sites, particularly old churches. Too much to cover so will let the pictures do the talking…

In the evening we went into Elvis’ bar and had a really interesting chat with a local guy who runs a charter catamaran. He was hiding from his English wife as she wanted him to do some food shopping and he wanted to drink beer. Anyway….we left and headed to Ripples the English pub looking for some pub grub for dinner. Ripples, it turns out, is run by his wife so we didn’t mention the fact that we had been drinking with him 10 minutes earlier!!! Anyway…he blew his cover later…when he turned up and said “I know these guys”….

Had fantastic meal of cottage pie / steak and Guinness pie with real vegetables followed by blackberry and apple crumble with custard. Oh dear – naughty but nice – and to bed with a full stomach.  

Today – Tuesday – we’re planning to carry on exploring the island by car.

Bye for now

Jan

Woke up bright and early even though we didn’t have any plans for the day…. so we got on with boat jobs. Richard fixed the running lights, the helm seat and a security lock – I gave Morphie another wash and brush up. This took the whole morning…..

At lunchtime we went ashore and had a look at the Lo Los – these are local restaurants all bunched together on the beachfront serving a variety of BBQ food. Spotted the one we fancied and had a fantastic chicken and ribs lunch. A bit piggy as we already had reservations for dinner at Ocean 82 in the evening – but didn’t want to miss out on the local ambience.

Had a leisurely afternoon on the beach and went back to Morphie to get ready for dinner. Showered and cleaned up we headed back in for dinner and were not disappointed. This French restaurant is relatively new – old building, new owners who have refurbished it – and was very busy compared to others around. The food is excellent – Richard had a special Mahi Mahi dish and I had a lamb shank with fettucine and asparagus. All washed down with a very nice Chablis. It was so good we dug in and demolished it before we remembered to take photos! So we are forced to have a desert to rectify this error. Molton chocolate cake for Richard and Tarte Tatin for me……

Back on board completely full up and to bed…. On Friday morning we decided to leave Grand Case and return to Marigot Bay to check out of the French islands. But before we did, we walked the whole of the beach and enjoyed the quietness of the hour.

Back on board, got ready to go, and we headed out. We had a nice downwind sail until we spotted a big squall coming – as we were pretty close to Marigot by then we quickly dropped the sails and motored the last bit in. Anchored easily in shallow water and had a quiet afternoon and evening on board after checking out at customs / immigration for the following day.

During the evening we used our new Navionics app on the iPad to passage plan our trip in the morning to Anguilla. It was only 16 miles with a few hazards along the way to avoid. Double checked with the physical charts and plugged the waypoints in. Ready to go so to bed.

Saturday we got up early and were out of Marigot by 9 am… Bye St Martin – we enjoyed our visit.

Back to feast or famine – guess what, really really light winds although 15 knots forecast. So we did our best – under headsail alone for a while – but when the wind dropped to 5 knots we gave up and started motoring across the Anguilla passage. As we rounded the island by Anguillita the wind picked up and we beat up the side of the island as the winds strengthened and strengthened. We ended up reefing down again as the wind got to 28 knots.

A few hours later we pulled into Road Bay, Anguilla. We got dink back down off the davits, took down the French flag,hoisted the yellow Quarantine flag, and had a couple of sandwiches. After lunch we went ashore to check in – going via Blue Pearl a 38 ft Island Packet we had met in December in Red Hook to say hi.

Checked in – what a delight – two forms, no fees and brilliant welcoming smiles! Anguilla is a British island which was lumped together in 1967 with St Kitts and Nevis to make them an autonomous state. The Anguillans wanted to remain British so they had a skirmish with the islanders of St Kitts and have remained British every since.

After checking in we walked Road Bay beach and ended up in Johnno’s beach bar where we met Glen and Pam from Blue Pearl. Had a great time and ended up back on board their boat – beautiful and spacious is the way to describe it, amazing how much one foot can make a difference! – for a few sundowners. Back to Morphie, quickly raised the proper courtesy flag, had something to eat and then to bed.

Anguilla has some restrictions on boats anchoring – only two bays on the whole island are permissible for overnight stops – the rest are day places only. And to visit the national park islands by boat also requires an expensive cruising permit – even though you have to return to Road Bay every night. So we’ve decided not to do it this way – we’ll be tourists and potentially visit by day tripper boat. Also plan to get a car and explore again. But nothing fixed yet – we need to watch the weather window for our next move as there appears to be some rough stuff coming through on Thursday. This morning we are talking through our options and reading the guide books.

Bye for now

Jan

Up bright and early wanting to make the most of having a car to explore….so had a quick shower and we were on our way. First stop was for breakfast. What fantastic pastries and coffee – has to be done whilst in a French territory!

Filled up to the brim we headed off into the hills. We wanted to go to Peak Paradis… and eventually found the small road leading to it – not helped by the pretty poor signage and sketchy road map! This minor road barely had room for two cars to pass – but at least it was tarmac… At which point we picked up a local guy who flagged us down – he was going up to the big houses in the mountains to do some gardening work and wanted a lift. Against my better judgment – being the suspicious one of us – Richard stopped and gave him a lift. Actually he was a really nice chatty old man and I felt bad about not trusting him initially.

After dropping him off we run out of tarmac and are now on mud / stones only going up into the forest. Then we came across a wide bit – big enough to turn round – and I wanted to turn back as the road ahead was just one big vertical muddy pot hole and I wasn’t sure our little runabout would cope. Richard got out and went for a wander to check what lay ahead – and he said that it got worse and turned virtually into a footpath suitable only for mountain goats. So we turned around and went back to the original viewing platform. This is really a beautiful place.

Coming back down we went to Loterie Farm with the intention of swimming in their spring-fed freshwater pool and laze for a short while. But they wanted €20 or $28 each for the privilege. I guess if you were staying for the afternoon it was worth it – but we thought for an hour or so it was a bit steep so declined and had a diet coke in their beautiful lounge area before moving on. This Farm also has zip wires, mountain hikes and high altitude jungle paths through the treetops – none of which interested us this time round. Must be getting old or something!

Moving on we drove to Grand Case – this is the gastronomic centre of French St Martin – so we thought this would be the perfect place for a late lunch. What a delight. Nice sandy beaches and a long road full of restaurants – all very chic and some Conran style while others were more rustic with BBQ offerings….so catering for all sizes of wallet.

We decided to go with the menu we fancied most and ended up in a beautiful restaurant overlooking the beach / anchorage. We had a fantastic lunch – mine was roasted mahi mahi on a confit of tomatoes with Serrano ham. Richard’s was a Caribbean fish pot with mussels, fish and lobster. Amazing – topped off with a glass of Chablis. Well – actually – I drank 1 ½ glasses as Richard was driving and they were generous measures!

Back in the car we went to Friar’s Bay and took the hike through to Happy Beach. One of the guys we had met in the marina said that this was the most beautiful secluded place….and worth the 15 mins walk over the headland. We arrived – and the place was busy with a large contingent of nudists. He forgot to mention that bit! Richard got in the mood by stripping off to change into his swimmers while I struggled behind a towel to change – much to his amusement. Had a nice chilled few hours bobbing (with water) on the beach and watching all the goings on. Richard had quite a lot to look at – all I got was middle-aged old men with pot bellies showing off their less than impressive bits!

Back across the headland again to pick up the car and we headed back to the marina. It was around sixish and the marina is pretty well lit so we took the opportunity of having an unlimited supply of fresh water to give Morphie a bath. She thoroughly enjoyed getting rid of her encrusted salt crystals! Job done – also did some laundry – and then had a quiet night on board with a late evening snack of crackers and cheese and nice French wine to round off the day.

Up early – the car has to be back by 11 am – so headed straight over to the Dutch side to Budget Marine to get new drinking glasses for Morphie. All of them were pretty manky after four years in charter – so it was great to get new sparkly ones just for us. Job done and then we went to the bakery to get our fresh bread. Managed to shop in French without a word of English or hysterical laughter – accent must be getting better!

Back on board and slipped out of the marina into Marigot Bay where we anchored up again. We wanted to get some petrol but the marina only sold diesel – so Richard dinked round into the lagoon to the local petrol station. He was gone for quite a while…. and I realised that we really should think this through in future and make sure that he has at least his phone or our handheld VHF with him!

Anyway…lesson learnt…and eventually he came back. With a sheepish look on his face when I asked him how much it cost for 15 litres of petrol… What? €50? Seriously? Anyway….he then told me the tale. He picked up the pump that said Gasoline – it had a black hose – so he thought it was petrol. After a while some guy asked him why he was filling up dink with diesel? Ooops….so he had to empty both the tank and the spare can into a big drum…and start again, remembering to mix in the two-stroke oil. I thought it was funny…. Men eh? Just can’t ask for help when they might just need it!

Time to leave – we are going to take Morphie around to Grand Case which is only about 6 miles away, although an upwind slog, so we’ll probably do closer to 9 by the time we get there. Motored through the anchorage and out into the channel and got our sails up. Having been hit by poor forecasting before, we were very cautious and put reefs in our sails. Good job we did – first gust topped 29 knots. The waves were picking up at around 7 feet and swells were breaking and rolling down the channel… Made for a pretty exciting, fast and lively sail – if not a little wet and poor Morphie is covered in salt again already…Anchored up and realised there is a flight path just to the side of us for light aircraft coming into land. Nothing was marked on the chart either.

We went ashore late afternoon for happy hour in one of the beach fronted bars….and came back to the dock to find two policemen waiting for everyone as they wanted boats to move out of the way of the planes. Luckily they said Morphie was OK in her position but he asked us to go tell the offending boats to move – great! Anyway we did as requested and the people did as they were told – although the sight of the police on the dock with guns and crossed arms may have helped the message get across…

A quiet night on board and early to bed. Going to stay here tomorrow and plan our next adventure.

Bye for now

Jan

After a lazy evening on board and catching up on our sleep we were raring to go on Sunday morning. Went ashore to Marigot and found a patisserie / boulangerie for a really good French breakfast – great coffee and pastries. I practised my school girl French with my terrible London accent and after saying ‘thank you very much’ the lady fell about laughing and translated that I said ‘thank you, nice arse’. She had misheard mind – I did say the right word – just not in the right way! But she did say it was nice that I tried to speak French….

Anyway…after a leisurely breakfast…we posted our passage blog and headed off to the supermarket to top up on fresh provisions – and nice bread / cheese. We had asked for directions at the boulangerie and was overhead by a young girl who gave us a lift as she thought it was too hot to walk both ways! What a nice introduction to the French St Martin.

After dropping off our stuff back on board we headed out in the dinghy to explore the Simpson Lagoon. This is apparently a good anchorage with great holding and lots of yachtie facilities. But to get in there – whether you enter the French or the Dutch side – you have to go through a lifting bridge at set times of the day. And before we committed to this we wanted to go have a look. So went under the bridge and watched the comings and goings – and then launched into international rescue mode to help a monohull who had run aground outside of the dredged channel.  While going through the lagoon we came across an interesting structure, we thought it was a floating bar!   So went to explore to find out it was a floating guest house – and unfortunately, because we weren’t guests, they couldn’t serve us.   However if we had phoned ahead and booked a meal, we could have had some beer.    Apparently this is French legislation… Not for us to reason why but shame we didn’t have our mobiles on us to go round out of sight and make the call…..

Went up into Port Royale marina and had a look at the shops / restaurants huddled around this area – although most were shut being a Sunday. We did, however, hear loud music coming from around the corner so we headed off to investigate and came across a mini carnival with girls all dressed up and gyrating to the very very loud calypso music. Wasn’t expecting that!

Anyway…….back in dink and headed off to the Dutch side.  If you take your yacht from one side to the other you have to clear in / out customs and immigration for both countries – if you travel by dink or by car you can go freely…. Not sure why…. Anyway….the French side was predominantly filled up with cruisers, rusting hulks left over from hurricanes, and charter boats. The Dutch was completely different – very very large contingent of superyachts. Maybe the abundance of casinos and adult entertainment leisure facilities over there attracts the wealthy owners????

The water in the lagoon was pretty grubby and we realised that we would not be able to use the watermaker in here – and as Marigot Bay is a pretty town anchorage with easy access to shore in beautiful clear blue water, why bother to go into the lagoon unless you need to??? After a nice day we still felt tired so had a quick happy hour in a French fish restaurant where the lobsters were sitting in their tank on death row. Watched the sun go down over Marigot Bay and had a quiet evening and early night on board.

This morning we moved Morphie into Port Louis Marina – which is also in Marigot. We did this as we wanted more security for her while we explored the island by car for a few days. This was a good move as the swells started to come in this morning into the bay and would have made for a rolly night….

After getting ourselves organised we headed off to the ferry terminal to see Fatso who we had done a deal with the day before for cash… A little Hyundai – with loads of existing damage! – for €80 for two days including tax and insurance. Bargain. Picked the car up and headed off round the island. Richard turned into Alain Prost immediately behind the wheel and this is a mountainous island with a slow speed limit….it turned into hairpin curves and something out of Top Gear! Anyway….we had great fun and first off visited Orient Bay (French side).

For those of you who don’t realise by now, St Martin is actually one big island split between the French and Dutch who call their side Saint Maarten. The story goes that the French and Dutch were trying to decide how they were going to split the territory and the French guy turns up with wine and the Dutch guy turns up with gin. They start to walk across the island as they are drinking, the gin being stronger, the Dutchman collapsed and the French got more land as a result.

Anyway – back to Orient Bay. We wanted to visit here as it looked great in the pilot book – but very difficult to navigate into with reefs breaking on both sides of the bay. So thought it was one for the car. When we got there we were surprised to see rafts and rafts of chairs and umbrellas with wall to wall tourists. I guess we have been spoilt in the past by undiscovered beaches in the BVI. Anyway….we’ve been there now…so moved on after a quick stop for a soft drink and drove all the way round to Phillipsburg (Dutch side). This is the major port where cruise ships come in and has a long board walk and lots of bars, restaurants and shops to cater for the crowd when they come ashore.

We came across Captain Jack Sparrow quite early on and found a nice spot to have lunch across the way from the Naughty by Nature reggae band performing. Nice local food and we then wandered the shops until we had had enough. Oh yes – needed some cash – so went to the ATM. Asked me if I wanted dollars or local currency? I said local – expecting Euros – and, oh no, got Guilders! Didn’t know they still existed…

Moved on and having heard stories about planes landing at Princess Juliana airport coming low over Mahoe Bay decided to go there and check it out for ourselves. My god – they really do come low – and even though you know you are safe you still duck as they pass overhead. That’s the closest I hope I ever come to a moving plane! Taking off is worse – the thrust from the engine sandblasts you if you are in the firing line.

After this bit of fun we went to the chandleries – which we had been led to believe were the best we would find anywhere in the Caribbean chain. So list in hand – credit card wobbling at the thought – we turned up and went shopping at both Budget Marine and Island Water World. Well – they have loads of stuff – but not the stuff we want or need. Really disappointed but we’ll make do with what we have…

First impressions? French St Martin is chic with a more relaxed atmosphere and lots of good dining choices, although the beach we visited was very busy. Dutch Saint Maarten is geared up for a higher density of tourists and has developed their infrastructure to suit this demand – we counted three MacDonalds, two KFCs and Subway seems to be making an impression plus lots of casinos.   But both have some nice original architecture….

Back to the boat for a snack of fresh French bread, cheese, pate, salad and a couple of beers. What could be nicer eh? Now sitting in the Marina’s yacht club using their free wifi overlooking the amazing sights of the superyachts and a cruise ship in the background.

Another day of exploring tomorrow…so won’t be up late.

Bye for now.

Jan

Had a lovely afternoon bobbing (with beer) at Cooper Island and had a quiet night on board watching the sun go down over the Sir Francis Drake Channel.

Up early in the morning and we set sail for Virgin Gorda – supposed to be blowing 19 knots maximum according to three different forecasters – so we got out in the channel and set our sails. We know they usually underestimate and with some squalls around we reefed in to start with. Good job we did!  Within 15 minutes of leaving Cooper we are screaming along at 8+ knots and get hit by a 29 knot gust…  We quickly luffed up and put more reefs in… Finally settled down and had a great beat up the channel and decided to go outside the Dogs up to Virgin Gorda.  Fantastic sail – without idiots! – and managed it in four big tacks.

Went through the reef into North Sound and radioed Leverick for info on our slip. Oh no – they have put us stern to with finger pontoons and pilings. Our least favourite position as Morphie has significant prop walk and only just fits into the gap… Anyway…went alongside the fuel dock and filled up… and persuaded them to give us another slip. OK still stern to but at least no piling in the way. We got ready and reversed Morphie into position. This was difficult with the strong wind but Richard managed to get her in with no damage to marina staff, crew, pontoon or boat – so good job!

After getting settled we headed off to the laundry and to catch up with friends and family online. At the same time we were writing lists of things to do to get ready for the run to St Martin if the weather window continued to look favourable. Bumped into Michael Bean – who does the famous Happy Arrrrrrrrrrr pirate show at Leverick – and chatted to him for a while about how his charity work is going. The story goes that he was shipwrecked in Haiti and the people showed his so much kindness that he decided that he would help them when in a position to do so, so he set up his charity, Pirates with a Porpoise, and has raised enough money to build a school in Haiti which currently has 171 pupils and each child gets a free hot meal a day. Fantastic guy!  Anyway – to cut a long story short – we donated our original mainsail which he will pass on to the local fishermen to adapt for their boats. Richard didn’t want to drag the main with us because of weight – we have kept a spare genoa intact – and to make a donation to such a good cause worked for us. Anyway….hugs all round…and back to boat jobs.

After laundry we rushed back on board – quickly got cleaned up and changed – and headed out to watch the pirate show. Great time was had by all as usual – and listening to his mad frog call Whoop Whoop made me smile, remembering the girls trip out here and how my angel crew really got into the show that night. Long story….but you know who you are!    Anyway…if we go on Friday we have a very long day ahead of us…so early to bed after dinner ashore of fish and chips.

Up early Friday morning….checked the forecast and yes, the window was holding…so we are going.  Blast off – at last – we are going to start our down island adventure!!!!  Hurrah… So we get the boat ready, including liferaft; grab bag; charging and testing all hand-held additional electronics; making snacks and hot drinks for our insulated cups etc etc and checking all kit was working fine – as well as making sure that everything is stowed for the overnight passage. I also spent some time going through charts and pilot books to do the passage plan. Having got everything sorted in my head, go through it with Richard and double check my thoughts. He’s happy so we plug the waypoints into the plotters.

Eventually by midday we head off into Gun Creek to check out of the BVI. What!!!???!!! The customs and immigration office is closed… Back at 1.30pm. Oh no – so we just have to sit it out and wait. Eventually – at 1.40 pm (not that I was clock watching) – they arrive and we check out. The guy asked me to remove my sunglasses – fair enough, but I’m blind within them as they are prescription glasses – but that didn’t matter so I had to relinquish control of all the docs to Richard to sort out while I stood there looking blankly into blurry objects! Oh well….job done…and back round the corner to Morphie. Earlier we had moved her out of the slip and onto a mooring ball. Final check round – final preparation – and we’re off. 10 minutes later than planned at 4.10 pm – good going.

We motored out of the North Sound for the last time and passed through the passage behind Prickly Pear and Necker Island…looking at the reconstruction efforts going on at the top of the hill to replace the big house that got burnt down after being struck by lightning. The small house has pagodas and Sir Richard even has his own desert island – although the palm trees are fake apparently!!!!

We come out by the point and into the ocean expecting the worst – they call the Anegada passage the Oh My Godda passage for a reason!  Apparently this is one of the most gruesome trips in the Caribbean chain and we have heard plenty of horror stories. The charts say that to sail this is a once in a lifetime opportunity – ie that the wind is virtually always on the nose – so expect to motor most of the way hard into the wind / waves. As a sail boat this is not what we like to do – but having listened to advice from those who have gone before – we are prepared for this eventuality, but hope to be able to sail some of the way….. Bye BVI – been lovely knowing you – but we are ready to move on.

We head into the wind – and yep, even though the forecast said there would be some north to the wind, making sailing an option, this was not a course that we could hold. So motoring it is then. Only about 80+ miles to go….. Lifejackets on, harnesses clipped to lifelines in the cockpit, and the sun starts to sink. Lovely….night sailing…..haven’t done this for a while – and this is the first time Richard and I have done it alone as we are usually with other crew on a variety of boats.

So what is all the fuss about then? The wind is about 15 knots (as forecast – at last!)…and the waves only about 2m high… Then after about 20 minutes in the moonlight – bang – a big wave hits us, over the coachroof and along the side soaking us both in the cockpit. Oh, so here we go then….. And this pattern continued every 20 minutes for the rest of the trip….. Colin the autopilot was doing an admirable job and we reached the first couple of waypoints pretty quickly. OK – so people want to know what this passage is like. For our UK sailing mates – think a rough English channel crossing… For our USVI sailing mates – think a rough Pilsbury Sound crossing for hours on end… For those who have no idea – then you are not missing much this time!

We had already decided that we were going to stay awake for the whole trip – perhaps taking cat naps in the cockpit as needed. No chance…with the pounding and the regular soaking from the waves… We were also doing this by the book – hourly log recordings and marking physical charts with our position. So we took it at turns at the helm – supervising Colin – on an hour on, an hour off, basis. Watching big ships was fun – especially with the AIS telling us who they were and what direction they were going. At one point we had a huge cruise ship, a trawler and a tanker all converging on us – and then, ping, the AIS went off!  Tried to reset it with the plotters still active but couldn’t get anything resolved. And we didn’t want to turn the plotters off completely to reset as we had concerns that they may not come back. So back to old-fashioned light spotting then…. Loads and loads of ships were coming and going. Feels like being in the English channel and in the middle of the shipping lane…… Oh well – been there before!  Also our bow steaming lights decided not to work even though we had changed the bulb and all had been fine in Red Hook not that long ago… Luckily we could be seen as we had a tricolour installed on top of the mast as part of our cruising fit out. We could also turn on radar to look for blips that could be ships if we saw some vague lights….

Anyway…dodging ships became the focus of our night…and the wind started increasing and we started to get battered. By the time the sun came up we had large seas, rogue waves continuing to hit and soak us every 15 minutes, and the wind was howling at 28 knots with white water mist across the surface of the ocean. 

So the weather window closed down on us during the passage. Oh well, have been through worse… and enjoyed watching the sparkling of the phosporescence in the water behind the boat.  Not that bad – even though we arrived cold, tired, wet and the damn charts / pilot guide / GPS didn’t match at the most crucial part, arriving into Marigot Bay. But all that said, we were really both pleased with the way Morphie, Colin and ourselves coped with this trip – no working class language, never worried or concerned about our safety – good job!

Anyway….we got here safely, anchored in 7 feet of water below our keel, checked in (what a delight!), went ashore and let everyone know that we were safe as well as enjoying some fantastic French food and spent some Euros…and then back on board to sleep. In the end we were at passage for 18 hours and covered a measly 82 miles!

Oh yes…and the minute we anchored…guess what, the AIS came back all on its own!  Boats eh???  Tomorrow is the day to start exploring this new island as well as buying the last of the stuff we wanted from the chandleries – which, apparently, are the biggest in the Caribbean chain and duty-free to boot….

Bye for now…

Jan