Testing before we leave tomorrow
Testing our ability to email the blog on our SSB radio.
Tag: mail
College Blues
The blue of the sea that is! College has started for Sophie. Each morning she takes over the doghouse and studies. She is studying for Geography, English Language and English Literature. We are using the Cambridge International exams and will register as a private candidate with a college in New Zealand for her AS exams and South Africa for her A2s. We are still in Marigot Bay. We wanted to establish a studying routine after 6 months off. Study and boat maintenance/admin in the morning, snorkle before lunch! We are getting used to it. We think we are finally getting
Marigot Bay
Arrived in Marigot Bay and had a leisurely lunch followed by sundowners with ARC friends who were also here. Then we all had a long dinner at Doolittles. No need to eat today! It feels good to be somewhere other than Rodney Bay. No boat boy hassle here which makes for a relaxing anchorage. Food’s not great at Doolittles. Worst of all the place is infested with no-see-ums that chew your ankles to bits. And Happy Hour is a bit of a con with the apparent standard EC$ type prices for drinks actually turning out to be in USD! So
Finally at anchor
We moved out of the marina yesterday to anchor in Rodney Bay. Despite the unseasonal weather in the photo (upside down and I cant fix it!) we did manage to anchor the dinghy and snorkel around the rocks on Pigeon Island. It feels good to be free of a marina for the first time in 3 months (not including the Atlantic)! Because of our varying problems we have had to be attached to land and our last anchorage was Portimao in the Algarve. We ate well last night, some steaks with plantain and baked potato. Our first attempt at cooking
Day 25: The Arrival
Perhaps we should attempt to explain events of the last few hours. Most importantly we picked up the Reggae radio stations about 45 miles out. We sighted land about 30 miles out as the sun started to close the horizon and our key concerns were firstly not to hit it and second not to get blown past it. We had been working all day to avoid arriving in darkness as we wanted to take in the sights but it just wasn’t possible. As we reached the northern point of St Lucia, about a mile off, there were 3 yachts all
Day 23: It’s a Miracle
The ‘I’m not working beyond 200 miles offshore’ headsail furling system decided to operate again at 230nm off St Lucia! Perhaps the catastrophic mechanical noise that I was hearing was an airlock at a 1,000 psi or whatever the pressure is. Still taking it carefully… Last night we switched to staysail as it got dark and awaited the arrival of the Beast like a small village shaking in fear in a horror movie. The Beast was 4 miles to port and also to starboard so waited to be engulfed having sacrificed good speed. 18.00 hrs, nothing. 21.00 clear skies, nothing.
Day 22: Squall Fever
Nurse(N): Doctor, Doctor, the patients are showing some signs of life Doctor (D): Ja? You zink? N: Ja, I mean yes, they are responding to a little music and are taking some fluids D: Good, good, zo, they have suffered a trauma of post-ARC stress disorder N: They have been squalled out for over a week, no sleep and on staysail for over 3 days? D: Ja, it is the right dose for the level of squall fever zey have. Are zey delusional? N: They mumble something about ‘got to get to Vegas’… D: And zis morning zey took a
Day 21: Sail review
Big seas, big wind, small appetite – again. Under staysail only, again. Hunted down by another squall, again…darkness now means OK bring it on we’re ready…and if we have to go down to the storm jib (looks like a sail stolen off a windsurfer!) then we will take it there. But rather not. Saw a sail on the horizon today but no contact. Later talked briefly to TA-B catamaran. VHF range seems to be under 5nm in these conditions.Tonight’s squalls seem mainly about rain but it’s only 0100hrs so we will see. After over 4,000 miles we thought we would
Day 20: 9 out of 10
As dawn broke after a sleepless drumming with highest wind at 46.7kn we stared at a strange phenomena; everywhere you looked the sea appeared to be uphill! It seemed we were sailing up a steep incline which messed with the head. With the heat after sunrise the squalls dissipated. By 0900 the seas were huge but beautiful, organised and perfect long waves of azure with turquoise crests shining in the sun. They gave a smooth ride in 30kn E so we set about with our new arts & crafts project, storm sail or staysail? Not much in it but the
Day 19: What da ya mean worse?
After yesterday’s pounding we awoke to an ARC forecast that said things were going to get worse! Bigger winds & waves. What da ya mean worse – did you see yesterday? So along came dawn and the usual roll of squalls. Then the wind started climbing to settle in the 28-33kn band with squall peaks again at 39. But the sea state was so much better than yesterday at 2-3 metres that this was a breeze. We were gliding along and having adjusted the auto-pilots max rates of turn and sensitivity levels upward the previous day all was well. We