As you know by now, we keep a very close eye on the weather. One should not be in the Caribbean during hurricane season unless one spends an excessive amount of time watching what the weather is doing and analyzing what it may do in the future. While Hurricane Matthew is now just an ugly memory for those in the north central part of the Caribbean and for those along the Southeastern seaboard of the US, Tropical Storm Nicole is still something to keep an eye on. While situated due east of the Bahamas, it does have an impact on us here in Sint Maarten as it is sucking wind up from the south, preventing us from heading south toward Grenada.

We have been stalled here in Phillipsburg, waiting until Wednesday, when the trade winds are supposed to return and blow from the east. At that time, we are still hoping to sail over to Ile Fourchue and spend a few days enjoying the lonely island. In addition to snorkeling its reefs. and enjoying the clean water, we need to scrap the hulls of the heavy growth of barnacles that globed on to Leu Cat’s bottom while we were at the Simpson Bay Marina.

However, the delays we have had here in Sint Maarten will have an impact on our itinerary in returning to Grenada. As you may recall, our delay in heading south has been due to: first letting Matthew pass by the south of us, then watching Michigan football and the first Presidential Debate, next our forced stop here in Phillipsburg due to engine issues and now the impact of Nicole on the wind direction. By the time we leave Ile Fourchue, we will have only about two weeks before we wish to be back in Grenada. We want to return in very early November so we can have about 10 days to rest and get Leu Cat ready to be hauled out on November 14th. We then will be returning to the US on November 15 to spend the holiday season visiting our kids and friends for two months.

Right now we are hoping to spend a few days in Sint Eustatius, a Dutch island that is also known as Statia that is a day sail from Ile Fourchue. From there we are looking at a two night sail of 300 nm to quickly get down to the Grenadines, where we hope to spend a week before moving on to Grenada. We shall just have to wait and see what the weather brings to determine if this itinerary is realistic.