Christmas has come
25 December 2015 | Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis
Rick
Well after a couple of sleepless nights in Deshaies on anchor watch, we left bright and early for Montserrat. As soon as we cleared the anchorage if was off with the engines and we settled in for the sail across the, we were expecting a somewhat rough trip but apart from the atlantic swells rolling through it was a pleasant sail. We experienced around 15-18 knots from 120 degrees and sailed the leg averaging between 7-10 knots I think we peaked at mid 12’s while surfing down a swell. Mez has gone from getting seasick at a wet forecast to being a salty sea dog. No longer must she sit at the helm and relentlessly stare at the horizon, now it is “I’m tired and I think I will have a lay down and promptly falls asleep sunbaking on a towel in the cockpit. I have some photo’s and GoPro footage of the swell rolling in behind her. I will see if I can post it in the photo section or perhaps o FB.
We arrived at the SW tip of Montserrat to see what appeared to be clouds forming at the top of the volcano. As we approached we could see two venting columns of smoke or steam coming from the side of the crater rim. As we closed on the island we could see the old pyroclastic flows down the volcano on both the east and south west faces. The Island had grown considerably on the south east side out into the sea and we continued up the west coast. It was quite eerie as we passed the old Capital of Plymouth just outside the 2 nautical mile exclusion zone. As we passed down wind of the volcano we were assaulted with the strong sulphur smell from the vent. I wonder if even 2 miles is not far enough away. As we passed by we could see the city was half buried under the flow that destroyed it. While we were in Little Bay in the north we took a tour of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory perched on a hill just outside the exclusion zone and later were to take a ride down to the outskirts and walk around in one of the abandoned hotels inside Zone V. It got to a point when the scientists could not be confident that they could give 6 hours warning of an eruption and that was the time to evacuate, the population had to just get out and leave everything behind, part of this hotel we looked at and photographed with ash 2 feet deep inside the reception area had only finished extensions in the months before the eruption. The population of 15,000 people evacuated the city and moved to shelter in the northern tip in the town of St Johns in Little Bay, St Johns was ill equipped to handle the influx and people sheltered wherever they could. Eventually most evacuated to other islands or across to the UK and never returned, the population now sits at around 5,000. Over the course of 18 months the volcano had a number of eruptions, the first one went down the eastern side and wiped out the evacuated villages and destroyed the new airport and buildings. The townspeople had originally been somewhat sceptical and saw the evacuation as somewhat of an over-reaction and this pyroclastic flow of ash somewhat vindicated the scientists who had been warning of a larger eruption. That was the start of the eruptions which then on over a period of time and wiped out the capital and most of the southern half of the island.
Anyway we continued our passage north to the new Capital in Little Bay to check in. there are no real sheltered anchorages in Montserrat and we experienced a very rolly anchorage the whole time we were there. Again I will try to post some photo’s as and when we are able to. We had 3 nights in Montserrat, took a tour of the Island with “Moose” our guide and taxi driver who took us with our propane cylinder to get refilled during our island tour, Moose was someone who lost most of what he had during the eruption and was good enough to take us down to Zone V for a look. Depending on activity the area is closed off but now the volcano is settling down they are relaxing some of the restrictions. The observatory gives updates to the population of increased activity. Overall it was a fascinating place to visit we both had a ball and were in absolute awe of the forces at play there.
Next it was off to Nevis some 40 miles to the northwest. The forecast has been getting worse and our window to cross seemed to be the best of a bad bunch of days. As we were leaving I engaged Voldermort our autopilot and it immediately alarmed and would not engage. Upon looking at the rudder angle indicator it showed the rudder to be stuck hard over to the left. We knew the rudders were fine but the indicator is a little spring loaded lever connected to the rudder by a small length of threaded rod. The autopilot needs this feedback to let if know where the rudder is and on inspection it was found to be broken in half. We suspect during one of the gusts of wind in the anchorage the rudders have gone hard to one side and broken it. The wheel is usually tied off when we are at anchor but I must have missed it one night. Well we turned around and headed the 300 yards back to the anchorage and dropped the anchor again to make repairs. 15 minutes later we had half a wooden clothes peg and 4 cable ties to make a perfectly good splint. The threaded rod bit into the wooden peg nicely and stopped any movement. It looks like that will have to stay until we can find some 4mm stainless threaded rod to make a permanent repair.
Off to Nevis take 2. This time it was less eventful. We dragged a lure for a few miles before something went bang and we lost the lure. Not sure what it was or how big but no more lure. We replaced said lure and dragged another one for the rest of the 40 miles with no luck.
We arrived at Nevis around 2pm on the 23rd and put up the quarantine flag and tied off to the quarantine bouy. Off to Customs to check in then from Customs to Immigration and then to the port authority to pay some fees. All in all we paid Customs $EC35 (around 17 AUD), nothing for Immigration and port fees of EC$135 (67 AUD) to enter the country. Due to the seagrass beds along the West Coast of Nevis there is no anchoring so the Nevis Port Authority have laid mooring buoys for all vessels which are included in the port fees. After the formalities we had a look around and went back to the boat for a rest. With the promise of carols in the town square we went back in before dinner to get a SIM card so we had some connectivity over Christmas (that’s another saga)
Then we stayed on for some of the best Caribbean Carols we have ever heard. Mez posted a small clip of the “Sugar Hill String Band” on FB. The square was quite small and there was a Christian group called “Fusion” handing out frozen fruit drinks and cake and sandwiches. We sat and listened and enjoyed the music until the end.
We enjoyed being on the mooring overnight after the previous days of dragging anchors and howling winds. The next morning we were off to St Kitts across the narrows. This was only a 10 mile sail and was still quite windy on a beam reach. At around 20 knots wind speed we made a passage of around 6-8 knots boat speed across to Basseterre with just part of the headsail and here we will stay until Mick gets here on Boxing Day.
We are anchored just outside the Marina (which is small and full of local boats and no room for us) we tried to get a berth for Christmas Day and Boxing Day but no luck so out in the anchorage we sit.
We are copping a swell side on so it is still a bit rolly, not so bad for us but the Mono’s are really affected.
We tried to call friends in Tassie (Hello Logan and Erin) on the phone on Christmas Morning which was 5pm Christmas Eve for us but the call would not hold up so we stopped in for Coffee at a type of “Starbucks” which as Wifi and managed to make a couple of calls from there until we were asked to leave as they were closing. We wandered down to the docks to go back on board and found a school talent quest that was followed by a steel drum band competition with bands competing from other islands. That was great to hear after getting soaked by a downpour at the end we retired to the boat.
It is now 6pm Christmas Day for us. We have had a lovely day and a lunch of Roast Veg and BBQ Chicken pieces (yes Bob in our favourite sauce) followed by fresh pineapple fruit salad. We are now relaxing and may head back into town in the RIB for a wander to get away from the rolly anchorage.
I know you have our blog in your favourites Logan so I will have to try to make the updates more frequent.
Until next time.