Time to Move On

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We spent over two weeks in Martinique and had a lovely time, when the weather permitted. The trade winds kicked up to about 25-30 knots constant (the highest of the season) and we were having squalls up to 50 knots with each tropical wave that moved across the Caribbean. Hurricane season has officially started. Most of our days we were stuck inside, reading books or watching movies or playing dominoes, seeking shelter from the the howling wind, down pouring rain, and earth-shattering lightening. We moved our boat down from Anse Mitan to Marin, Martinique's best protected anchorage to ride out the storms. But we were anxious to move on and found ourselves singing a modified version of Tom Petty's song. "It's time to get going, time to move on, where I'm going I have no way of knowing, but under my keel the sea grass is growing, so it's time to move on, time to get going".

Finally there is a break in the weather and we decide to sail south to Bequia in the Grenadines, skipping St. Lucia and St. Vincent. We get up at 4 am and it is still a little squally, but once the rain stops we hoist anchor. Unfortunately it is still dark and no moon, so Jen has to stand at the bow with a mag light and constantly search for fish pots (which there are thousands). If we accidentally run into one of these fish pots, the line will wrap around our propeller and leave us without engine power- not an option. So I am literally holding onto the foresail for dear life while being tossed back and forth by the waves, searching for the plastic coke bottles or round styrofoam buoys that mark these fish pots. It's like a slalom course to get out of the anchorage and takes us about an hour to reach the deep water, over 1000 feet, where we know that we are free and clear of fish pots. And even though I am tethered to the boat with a harness and a life jacket- it is still miserable and I am thankful to return to the safety of the cockpit when Jay yells the "All clear!" Unfortunately that is just the beginning of our very long day.

The passage between Martinique and St. Lucia is only about 20 miles, but the conditions are worse than expected. The waves are up to 8-10 feet and the wind at least 25 knots (not at all what was predicted). Jay has to hand steer because our auto-pilot can not handle these rough conditions. And as we approach St. Lucia the strong current creates rage, which causes the waves to form steep peaks and confused seas (kind of like sailing in a washing machine). The Rum Runner is booking even with reefed sails and we reach our top speed, 13.7 knots, falling down a wave. It is exhilarating (which is really a euphemism for terrifying). But we can't turn back and we know that once we get in the lee of St. Lucia the conditions will improve. Later we find out from our weather man that the reason why that passage was so rough was because a tropical storm just developed right on top of us- holy cow!

But once we get in the protection of St. Lucia the waves die down and the wind calms. We catch up with some friends we know on other boats, who are also sailing south to Bequia today. So we decide to keep going. And as we reach the southern end of St. Lucia we start to see the pitons- an amazing site. We actually sail right by them and it goes down as one of our most favorite experiences. We have some trepidation about the passage between St. Lucia and St. Vincent, knowing that we will be in open waters again. But luckily the conditions have calmed down and continue to improve throughout the day. So we push on to Bequia and arrive just before sunset. Once we are safe in the harbor, anchor down and celebratory rum in hand, we collapse from exhaustion. But it is so good to be here, to finally reach the Grenadines, and be further south and away from the hurricane belt.

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Photos

Pitons
Sailing past the pitons in St. Lucia- how cool!

Anchorage
The anchorage in Anse Mitan, very squally!

Sailing
Sailing away from Martinique during the tropical storm- exhillerating!

Miserable
Kona doesn't like sailing in these rough conditions- poor pup!

Fishing
Once it got a little calmer later in the day, Jay tried his luck at fishing. We had 2 bights, but we didn't land a fish.

Comments

[Margie]

sorry you missed St Lucia!
Hi, You would have loved climbing the Pitons which Jacike did on his 40th birthday! It is a special island that we lived on for 9 months.Happy sailing!