Tuesday 29 May: Leg 1, Antigua to BVI – day 2
As we pass behind Nevis and St.Kitts the swell is minimal. We congratulate ourselves for deciding to go this way rather than the direct rhum-line route Antigua-BVI, which would have been in the Atlantic swell. Plus, we would have been sailing in the annoying wind angle of 140-160 deg, where you can’t pole-out the genoa yet without a pole it won’t fill.
So after our dead downwind sail to Nevis we then gybed and turned north with both sails pulling hard in 15-20kts wind. There is just one calm patch as we pass the lee of St.Kitts, where the wind drops to 8-10kts and so does our speed to 5kts. But it soon pipes up again and we are flying along at a steady 9 knots. In the dark, with moon lighting up the white foamy water as it noisily rushes passed the cockpit, somehow the sense of speed is enhanced. It certainly brings a big smile to Glen’s face!
As we sail over Saba Bank, a huge coral bank just 10-15m deep, we hoped we would see the white coral in the moonlight, but we didn’t see anything. We’ll have another chance next year, when we come back in the area.
At 2am Oana wakes up for her shift and finds the cockpit tent enclosed. Several squalls had brought rain. Wind increases to 23kts and we reef a bit of main as it felt we are pushing it a bit too hard. But half an hour later it eases back and we revert to full main again.
Not many ships around. On AIS, we only see one cargo ship far in the distance, going to Dominica. And zero lights anywhere. Feels odd to still be in the lesser Antilles yet nothing in sight.
In early morning, the moon comes out from behind the clouds and at 5am almost feels like daylight, moon is so bright!
When the sun comes out Glen notices that vang is leaking hydraulic oil! Oh, no, not again!!! The usual ‘bandage’ is applied, with absorbent pad and cling film. What on earth is going on with this vang? Two different companies, both professionals, serviced it with parts from the same manufacturer and still it fails. Could it be a problem with the Reckmann seal kits themselves? We’ve got to get to the bottom of this. We certainly don’t want the expense of a new vang! Maybe we should just revert to the tried and tested block and tackle for a vang! Those were the days ….
150nm done, 30 more to go till we get into the calmer sea. By 9am we see BVIs silhouette on the horizon.
9nm before arriving to BVIs we come across the largest raft of sargasso weed we have yet seen. Very weird as the noise of the bow wave falls silent. Then the boat slows down in the middle of the patch and the auto-helm loses control. We start the engine to clean the weed off the rudder, and that brings back the auto-helm. But the speed impeller is gone, not recording any speed. The raft must have been 200m across and was so thick that seabirds were walking on it! We wonder which beach or cove it will end up rotting in!
Once between the islands, the wind drops a bit and we gybe the main to go around Tortola. Glen comments on the new boom retainers they are not as good as he thought, as they always seem to end up on the wrong side of something. Indeed, the side decks do look like spaghetti with pole guys and boom retainers all led aft.
As we sail away at 6kts we compare this area with the Ionian Sea, where there were also lots of charter boats, and felt like sailing on a lake. The islands are also extremely dry and lack greenery, like Greece. We guess that the hurricane stripped the greenery, but unlike Dominica which had huge rainfall all the time, here it has struggled to re-green itself.
We are sailing passed Tortola with that bad wind angle again, so we give up on the flogging genoa and sail with the main only. Glen was here 15 years ago. More marinas than there used to be and somehow not as magical as it was then. We guess we have been spoiled now that we have experienced pretty much every magical place in the Lesser Antilles.
We plan to quietly anchor in Little Harbour on the island of Jost van Dyke. But as we get there it’s rather deep for anchoring and also not very pretty. So we motor to Grand Harbour, the main bay on the island. There is no where to anchor here as the bay has been filled with mooring buoys. So we pick one up and hope they are no official buoys where we will be asked to show entry papers. Our intention is not to go ashore but just rest for a night then head off for the long leg tomorrow.
The Grand Harbour Bay is pretty much full with charter cats. Why on earth would they all come here? There are so many other prettier bays. But then Glen realizes: this is the bay with the famous Foxy’s Bar. Maybe that is the reason?
As we have lunch, a low key guy comes to ask for the mooring fee. US$30! Outrageous! We’ve been in marinas cheaper than that. They certainly are milking the charter boats here. And when Glen learns the buoys all belong to Foxy’s, he is suddenly not wanting to go see the famous bar after all! Anyway, through binoculars it looks deserted. At least at that hour.
In the evening we are surrounded by noisy boats. One blearing out music at full volume. We are not used to such unpeaceful activities and we giggle now thinking of the German in Antigua who complained we anchored to close to him. Good job he is not here!
We have successfully made the first leg of our mission to USA, and we are now further east than ever before. Oh, and today is 2 years since we took ownership of Cloudy Bay. Wow, we’ve done a lot with her in that time.
Tomorrow we start the first of the 3 long legs. To the Turks & Caicos. Sleep comes easy.