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