Back in the USVIs
09 March 2020 | 18 20'N:64 56'W, Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
NC
9th March
18 20 N
64 56 W
Weather: wet and wetter, wind variable 5 to 30 Knots NE, waves up to 5foot
What a night! Instead of the calm, steady, slight rocking that we went to bed expecting we were treated to the wrath of the Gods, the wind came up in huge gusts causing the swell to roll all over the place and knocked the boat in every direction imaginable for most of the night, no one slept terribly well. The good news was that our anchor held firm and we didn't drag anywhere. I got up with a pressure migraine and swallowed a couple of analgesics to try and knock the migraine into next week without much success. We hung around until 9 am when Gerry thought the customs office opened as we needed to check out of the BVI's today because we were heading back to Charlotte Amalie in plenty of time to make sure that Maz would be there for her flight on the 11th. At about 10 mins before 9am it began to rain, and came down in bucket loads, the wind came up and with it the swell increased and was bashing against the side of the boat. Gerry waited for as long as he could stand to and then set off in the dinghy to shore to check us out. Maz and I got everything stashed away ready for transit and then waited for Gerry to return. When he appeared we quickly stashed the dinghy back onto the davits and locked everything down, Gerry went to the bow and I started the engine and took the helm. The wind was gusting up to 26knots as we began to haul up the anchor and we had to be very quick and careful not to hit any of the boats that were near to us - it wasn't the easiest of manouvers but we managed it without incident and began to motor out of the harbor. As we cleared the surrounding hills Gerry thought it might be a good idea to try the stay sail, the wind was coming from our stern quarter at a steady 22 Knots and we saw gusts of up to 30 Knots. Anyway the staysail went out and the engine got turned off as we were rocketing along at 6.5 knots. The swell was about 5 feet but luckily it was coming from behind and was pushing us forward. The rain squalls continued on and off for a while and then all of a sudden the wind dropped to about 6 knots, the swell flattened out to next to nothing and the rain stopped - we were at the end of the BVIs and entering USVI waters! It was almost as if someone had flipped a switch for a while. The stay sail was now doing nothing useful so it got furled away and the engine was once again in charge of forward motion. The better weather didn't last too long and we were soon making our way through rain squalls once more, it got so thick that we even had to put navigation lights on n the middle of the day! The rest of the trip into Charlotte Amalie was spent trying to keep dry and at the same time keeping us moving forward. Of course the harbor was in thick mist as we approached so we had to slow right down as we made our way into the harbor. There were 2 cruise liners in dock, luckily neither of them were about to leave and block the channel so we wove in between the anchored and moored boats until we found a spot that we liked and proceeded to drop our anchor there, as on previous occasions here it bit first time and we were firmly anchored in minutes. Everything in the cockpit was wet by now so we had a bit of a drying out session before putting the dinghy into the water to go ashore and check in to the USVI's. We dinghied into the Cruise ship dock where we have seen the customs and immigration personnel before but they weren't in their office so Gerry asked at the marina only to be told that it was for the convenience of Marina guests and we would have to check in across the harbour at the ferry terminal. Back to the dinghy and a ride across to the far side of the harbor where we tied up against the foreshore wall and walked to the customs office. Time to fill out more paperwork, have fingerprints and photos taken and we are good to go. Back to the dinghy for another ride back to our boat then it was time to relax until dinner time.
We are now settled in for the night, with hopes of a better night's sleep and a lay in tomorrow as we have nowhere to get to in a hurry, thank goodness! Everyone is tired and we are all having an early night so we'll catch you tomorrow!