Hi all! Here is the saga of our adventures since leaving Bequia.
Saturday, Nov. 30th……….Our anchor was up at 4:30am and we made the run up to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia and all went well.
Tuesday, Dec 3rd……..Island Water World had the 55lb. Delta anchor Chris wanted so we purchased it and went and checked out of St. Lucia. Chris swapped out the Bruce for the Delta while I drove around. Once that was completed it was 12:30pm and we made the overnight trip to Les Saintes, Gaudalope. We arrived about 10:00am after a very calm night. It was a nice motor sail and I wasn’t tired so I let Chris sleep from midnight until 7:00am.
Thursday, Dec. 5th…….Left Les Saintes at 7:50am and made the trip north to Deshaies, at the NW end of Gaudalope. We were to wait for the weather window here, then make the 70 mile run up to Nevis.
Friday, Dec. 6th…….Chris and I went into town to check the weather and decide when we would leave. While standing in line waiting to use the computer we got into a conversation with another cruiser. She told us that she and her husband had just checked the weather and the forecast for Sat. was 15-20kts of wind and seas 3-5ft. When it was my turn on the computer I just went ahead and checked us out.
Saturday, Dec 7th……..We had the anchor up at 5:00am in a calm anchorage. We were approximately 3 miles offshore when we noticed very dark clouds and lightning off to the north of us. We should have turned around right then but we didn’t. It was still dark so we couldn’t see just how big the squall was. It didn’t take long to hit us. We were in 35kts of wind and the seas grew to at least 7ft on our beam. We had a headsail out and the motor running and we had to reef in the headsail. We still were overpowered. Chris turned the boat around and told me to turn on the auto helm. Just as I engaged the hydraulics the steering broke on the wheel in the cockpit. Chris yelled that we had just lost the steering and I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about because I could hear “Betty” running. I told him the auto helm was working and he said, “look at this”, and he spun the wheel. It just kept spinning. Thank heavens we have the hydraulics. It was a damn scary ride back to the anchorage but our auto helm can steer these conditions better than Chris or I. About the time we made it back the skies cleared and the winds calmed down, GO FIGURE! We both had a couple of stiff shots and went back to bed.
There have been a couple of issues with the boat and Chris was waiting until we arrived in St. Thomas before inspecting but since we were going to be stuck in Deshaise for a while he got to it. The alternator wasn’t charging the house batteries and it turned out there was a wire off. That was the easy fix. When he checked out the problem for the cable steering he discovered a link in the chain had failed and the one right next to it was about to. He was able to get it repaired over the next couple of days. . This husband of mine can repair just about anything. He had also removed the steering quadrant because it was covered with salt and he wanted to clean it up and inspect it. Apparently our rudder post leaks and always has. That was news to me! There is some corrosion on the quadrant which Chris cleaned and he painted the area to slow the corrosion down. The quadrant will eventually need replacing.
While Chris was busy with his repairs I got busy in the galley and did some major cleaning to all cupboards then moved into our stateroom and cleaned and re-organized our bookcase and shelves.
Thursday, Dec. 12th……..We had looked at the weather yesterday and decide we could leave today. We were going to go to Montserrate and then on to Nevis the next day but we were making such great time we continued on to Nevis. Winds were anywhere from 9-22kts but mostly 12-18kts and the seas were 2-3 meters. Our speed was anywhere from 5.8-7.3kts. Eleven hours from Deshaise to Nevis is great time for us.
We checked in on Friday and discovered that the Port Authority has changed their prices. It used to cost about 15EC to be in their waters, this time it cost us 154EC for 8 days. We were both really pissed about it but there is nothing you can do when there is nowhere else to go. We moved up to White Bay at the south end of St. Kitts to wait out the high winds we knew were coming over the weekend. St. Kitts & Nevis are separate islands but the same country.
Tuesday, Dec 17th………..Tried to check the weather yesterday but the internet was down on the island. We were able to get it today and discovered that now was our window to move. Checked out and got back to boat and had reefed mainsail up and heading NW by 1:40pm. It is approximately 145 miles to St. Thomas. The winds were 15-20kts from the East and the seas would be on our quarter stern. That is all except the rogues. They of course hit us on the beam and sent the rails into the water. This all began just as it was coming on nightfall and continued all the way to St. Thomas. When we were 35 miles from St. Thomas, just approaching east end of St. Johns the waves started stacking up and building. The sets had been at about 9 second intervals but were now about 6 seconds and had built to 12-15 feet, it was 7 in the morning. They were still on our quarter stern but getting a little scary. After about an hour of this they started going down again and it became less scary and more comfortable. We figured the current in the area is what caused the seas to get steeper. Our rails were still being shoved into the water occasionally but the auto helm managed very well.
The 145 nautical mile trip took us 22 hrs from anchor up to anchor down, (we averaged 6.7 knots), and neither of us has really slept from 6:30am on Tuesday. Boy do we need a nap!
Hope all is well with you all,
Have a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year
Chris & Jackie
Sailors at Large