I sleep badly until it’s time to get up, then I sleep like the dead until my cup of tea arrives. Typical.
Mike tackles the watermaker. He decides to go down to the glory hole before diving under the boat the check the intake valve. After checking all the filters he finds one that is only half full of water. There is a button which lets the air escape and hey presto, all fixed. Phew!
We leave Saline Bay mid morning. It’s really funny, after seeing virtually no other boats all the way down to Grenada in September, and virtually nothing moving on the water actually in Grenada over the last few weeks, there are more yachts out sailing here than you can shake a stick at, and it’s bloody rush hour.
Photo: Yachts anchored at Salt Whistle Bay, Mayreau
We have the genoa and main up and we romp along at an average of 8 knots in just 16 to 17 knots of wind. The sea is quite smooth and we overtake everything in sight. Jeannius, with her smooth, de-barnacled, anti-fouled bottom and folding propellers is flying! Actually we advance at an alarming speed on another catamaran causing me to cry out to Mike, “We’re getting rather close to that boat, actually we’re getting really close to that boat, Mike we are bloody close to that boat!”. Mike, who is standing at the wheel the whole time, one foot away from me, turns to me calmly and says “I am right here, you don’t need to shout and it’s fine”. With that, he casually turns the wheel a fraction and we shoot past her on her port side. I just sit there muttering about there being a whole sea and why do they have to be so close to us.
Photo: A lovely gaf-rigged cutter passes us by
Photo: Too many toys?
The sea around the Grenadine islands is the same beautiful turquoise that it is around Anegada in the BVIs.
Photo: Open sea and it really is that colour!
As usual, I have an afternoon sleep and only wake up when the boat starts to pitch about and make a terrible racket. I get up to find that we are sailing down the east coast of Bequia where the sea is quite unsettled because the current is going one way and the wind is going the other way. I remember this from eleven years ago and remember feeling quite seasick. With that in mind I tuck into a huge piece of banana loaf.
We arrive by Young Island around 4pm and are immediately approached by a boat boy. This is Jimmy. He is adamant that we will need a mooring buoy and says he will pick out a good one and meet us there. This is despite Mike telling him that we want to anchor (and pay nothing). As luck would have it, the place we want to go is too deep to anchor and Jimmy is waiting around that spot next to a ball, so we hand over the lines, $15 US (cheaper than the BVIs) and wave him goodbye.
We get good internet connection here and catch up with some work before watching the Christmas edition of The Royal Family.
Hi, Jean and Mike:
ReplyDeleteGood to read that you are finally underway; I now understand that the yard kept their promise and let you go last week instead of any 'Wednesday' to come.
We are not as experienced as you are but have done some chartering and used to own our Sigma 33 OOD which we sold two years ago. The deal was that we would charter a yacht on a yearly basis which we managed to do.
Whenever we go sailing (once a year now) Marian seems to have forgotten how a boat works, I always assume that since nothing really changed she will still know what all the lines are for. I am glad to know that is the same with the two of you; unfortunately by the time she learns our charter usually ends. You will understand that your story made me smile; I recognize so much.
Anyway, I wish you all the best and hope to meet you sometime.
Eric
You seem to find internet access most of the time.Your system?
ReplyDelete