On Saturday, February 26 we set sail for the 180 mile trip to St. Lucia to meet Ian's mum. Our exit from Nelson's Dockyard was less than glamorous as our anchor chain was fouled on another yachts anchor as we set off around 9am. It took a lot of work mainly from Ian and 2 boat boys to untangle the 40 kg anchor from the other yacht in front of a large dock side audience. Luckily we had no plans to return to Antigua any time soon. The sail to Guadeloupe was very pleasant and we had good wind and favourable swells. We arrived in Guadeloupe just before sunset and on entering the anchorage in Deshaies we saw 2 humpback whales making their way towards us along the coast. Unfortunately on the way into the bay we lost engine power and noticed a lot of white smoke billowing out. This was a problem that we needed to get resolved on arrival in St Lucia. At the same time we heard a distress call from a yacht trying to enter the bay with no engine power at all. They were under sail and couldn't enter the bay without assistance. We were unable to help out due to our own engine problems but we flagged a fishing boat down and they towed the yacht into the anchorage which must have been a relief to the couple on board. The next day we were up early for the sail to Dominica. We had good weather and managed to sail all the way. Unfortunately we came to our anchorage on the southern end of Dominica in the darkness but luckily a boat boy guided us to a mooring ball. We nearly hit a power boat that was moored in the darkness. We were up at 4:00am for a long sail to St. Lucia. The sea state was very rough and we had a bumpy ride all the way down. We both got pretty well saturated by waves and rain. We did however manage to arrive at Rodney Bay before sunset on Monday, February 28 just in time for Ian's mum's arrival the next day. Ian fired up the BBQ in the bay and we had steak, salad and well deserved beverages.
No comments:
Post a Comment