Due to the weather and winds not being in the direction we would have liked we didn't arrive in St. Kitts until after sunset. We anchored at White House Bay as we had previously stayed there and were familiar enough with the area to arrive at night. It had been a very long and tiring sail but as we approached St. Kitts we saw a pod of dolphins that played around the big bow waves and also a beautiful rainbow to welcome us. When we woke up the next day the weather was so bad that we decided to do some tidying up and sail to Nevis to try and get our energy back before the trip to Montserrat.
We planned to sail to Monsterrat with a brief stop overnight in St. Kitts. As we headed south the sea swell and winds increased as predicted. Unfortunately heavy rain storms came with the bad weather (we hadn't been looking at the rain forecast). We managed to avoid a few storms on the radar but some we couldn't avoid. In one rain storm the wind went from 18 knots to 39 knots in seconds. Luckily we had reefed the sails but the yacht leaned so low to the leeward side at one point that the headsail nearly dipped in the water and I was at eye level with the bottom of the swell. Pretty scaring situation and I had a moment of fear thinking we were going to roll. Luckily for us Faraway seems to be at her best crashing through the big waves and riding the swell. I started to feel like I was in a car wash!
On Sunday, February 6 at 7:45am we quietly slipped off our berth in the FKG dock to start our journey south. We had the whisker pole fitted now for our downwind sailing and all our provisions were packed on board. The weather was still pretty awful but we decided it was time to get sailing. The first stop was the fuel dock which we had booked the day before for 8am. Unfortunately there was another large yacht on the dock which had to be moved. About 20 minutes later in strong winds we tried to manoeuvre around their yacht and reverse on to the dock. The area was tight with yachts and shallow water at either end. We nearly managed to take out 3 yachts, a swimming pool and a concrete wall turning but by some miracle Ian reversed Faraway on the dock undamaged. After re-fueling we joined the queue of super yachts and regular yachts for the Dutch Bridge. It was only 9am but I was already mentally and physically exhausted! I decided at that point to always have a flask of rum handy up on deck to calm my nerves after these incidents. Ian was smiling to be finally on our journey and relieved that we hadn't done any damage. We prepared Faraway for sailing and I drove her out into the open sea whilst Ian put the sails up. The weather didn't seem as bad as the forecast but it was only early in the day worse was to come.
After our 8 hour sail from St. Kitts we anchored in Simpson Bay lagoon for the night. Luckily it wasn't as rolly as our previous nights stays so we got a good nights sleep. In the morning we made the 9:30am Dutch bridge and moored at the FKG riggers workshop for the fitting of our spinnaker pole. The photo shows the guys fitting the spinnaker pole. We met up again with Peter from S/Y Cayonico (Lagoon 380) in Lagoonies. He was up to many things including crew training and changing even though he was sailing single handed! We were pretty sure that meant he had been enjoying many close encounters with the local female varieties over the holiday season. Anyway suffice to say he hadn't left St Maarten since our first visit back in December. Peter was a very nice and knowledgeable sailor who gave us lots of help and advice on the regions that we were sailing to. Watch this space as he is emailing us a photo to add to this section of the blog.
On Wednesday, February 2 we had to sail back to St. Maarten. We hoisted up the tender as we left St. Kitts in very calm waters. For the first time since our arrival in the Caribbean there was no wind! We put the sails out and hauled them back in twice as the gust came and went. We saw an amazing double rainbow over St. Kitts as we sailed out. When we arrive in the passage between Statia and St. Kitts the winds dramatically increased to 20 knots. We put all three sails out and steered on a direct course for St. Maarten through the chop and swell. This time we were more prepared for the 8 hour sail with a thermos of hot tea in the cockpit and a hot pizza for lunch which was so nice after the days of passage sailing when all we had to eat were pringles or cold baked beans. The most amazing experience on this passage was seeing 3 humpback whales blowing and breaching. Unfortunately we couldn't change course as it would be asking for trouble getting close with the yacht to whales. Anyway we both enjoyed the whale show from a distance and unfortunately no photos to show on this occasion.
Ian had a great time exploring the reefs of Saba in our tender. We found some really good snorkelling sites and lots of critters to snorkel with. The rock formations alone were amazing and we got our best sundowner shot ever. A smiley face sunset!!! I kid you not there was no editing done to this photo of the smiley face sunset on Saba. I thought I had too many beers when I saw the outline the clouds made as the sun went down. It was a perfect ending to some extremely enjoyable moments on this mysterious island.
