April 2007
Spanish Virgin Islands - US Virgin Islands - British Virgin islands - St Martin - Statia - Guadeloupe
Now (1st April) waiting for weather to move east to the Spanish Virgin Islands. Only a few more early morning departures to go - the end of the thorny path is in sight after 1200 miles!
I left Salinas for the reef entrance Boca del Infierno (Hell's Mouth) timing my passage to get there at dawn. This narrow pass through the reefs would be very tricky in adverse conditions but was relatively benign in the quite early morning I'd chosen.
I made the anchorage at Puerto Patillas where a friendly local fisherman confirmed my way through the reef to an anchorage with difficult holding near the shore.
The A-frame building given as a transit in the pilot guides is now hidden by a tree!
I didn't go ashore there and again left early for the 25 mile crossing to Isla des Viequez, the first of the Spanish Virgin Islands. This island has recently been part of a huge US military training ground and has signs along the beaches advising about unexploded ordnance - not a relaxing place to walk inland!
My route from Viequez to Culebra crossed a long shoal which required care as none of the charts and cruising guides seem to agree on the best crossing point. I went over very slowly, at high tide watching the depth sounder all the time.
Culebra has a great and well-protected anchorage in Ensenada Honda where I restocked with food and then moved on to St Thomas - a good day-sail of 22 miles or so which, even though it was directly upwind, I was determined to sail because I was so fed up with motor-sailing at night.
I tacked all the way to Charlotte Amelie Harbour where I mixed it with lots of power and sail boats, huge cruise ships and small aircraft using the harbour as a runway. It rather concentrates the mind when a plane is taking off as you dinghy past it!
Due to the traffic, the open nature of the anchorage and the smoke from the cruise ships berthed upwind of the main anchorage it isn't a very comfortable place. Ashore the whole town seems set up to extract as much money from cruise ship passengers as possible and the shop-keepers are very aggressive about it.
Leaving St Thomas I sailed via the nicely narrow Current Passage round to Francis Bay on St John. This is an unspoiled bay with laid moorings and a pleasant walk ashore to an old cane mill and back via a mangrove swamp.
Next I crossed to Jost Van Dyke where I was cleared into the British Virgin Islands by very pleasant customs official and an obnoxious immigration official. The holding is poor in Great Harbour and as it was crowded too I left as soon as possible for the short sail across to Cane Garden Bay on Tortola.
This well protected bay is surrounded by bars and restaurants and although there are many laid moorings it is possible to find places to anchor. At a bar overlooking the bay I had an pleasant talk with an American couple on their first charter holiday. Like me they were enjoying the ideal sailing conditions - 10 to 12 knot winds and no swell.
The next passage was across to Virgin Gorda where I anchored in Gorda Sound. I didn't stay here as long as I would have liked as an ideal weather window for the crossing to St Martin was being forecast for the next night.
The following day I sailed round to Spanish Town where I cleared out of the BVI's then sailed a few miles down the coast towards The Baths - strange rock formations on the beach - where I slept for a couple of hours before setting off on the 85 mile crossing of Sombrero Passage which separates the Virgin Islands from the Leeward Islands.
The wind wasn't quite the north-easterly that was forecast so it turned into a 16-hour overnight motor-sail in pretty flat seas which at least was a relief as this passage is very open to any swell generated by storms in the western Atlantic.
Everyone else obviously had the same idea as me. At one tine, at around 02.00 in the morning, I counted the lights of 8 other vessels within my field of vision, mostly small boats going to or from St Martin, but also some freighters crossing our track. This is definitely not a place to follow a direct line from charted waypoint to charted waypoint. The risk of a ' GPS assisted collision' would be high.
The crossing to St Martin was truly the end of the Thorny Path. From here on south the island chain curves away first south-south-east and then south-south-west. At the same time you're entering a latitude where the trades are more reliable and generally blow from the eastern quadrant. The distances between the islands in the Leeward's and Windward's generally makes for straightforward day sails in steady 15 - 25 knot winds on a single tack. At least that's then theory. I spent a week in St Martin waiting for the southerly and south-easterly winds and a large swell to abate! I passed the time buying bits from the boat in the duty free ships stores, including a couple of low wattage 12v fans which have since proved to be essential. Shrimpys Bar is one of the cruisers watering holes that offers, amongst other things, a laundry service. It was interesting to listen one night to a very tipsy lady explaining to me how the fact that they'd lost my washing was my fault! They found it in the end.
I had a crew change set up for Antigua. As Antigua lay directly upwind from St Martin I got there by a bit of a roundabout route by way of St Eustatia, St Kitts and Guadeloupe. St Eustatia has a great volcano which I climbed in company of Harry and Judith, an Austrian couple on a sailboat called Durrous. We set off at first light to get the steep climb out of the way before it became too hot. The landscapes, vegetation and wildlife were all very interesting and the cold beer back in the village afterwards was perfect!
From St Eustatia I sailed south to St Kitts and left from there for the 80 mile crossing to Guadeloupe After 10 miles I was close-hauled for 70 miles passing Redonda and the sulphurous, volcanic island of Monsterrat late in the afternoon. Night came on as I continued to beat hard toward Deshaies, the first reasonable anchorage on Guadeloupe coming from the north. I managed to sail within 2 miles of the harbour when, in the lee of the island, I lost the wind and motored the last few miles dropping anchor at 01.45.
I fell asleep almost immediately. It seemed no time at all until I awoke in a small French village. The church bell was clanging its call to the faithful, fresh coffee was brewing and I was sure I could smell bread baking. I dinghied ashore to a small neat village. I was struck by pavements - I hadn't seen any of those since America! A few minutes later seated in a pavement cafe with coffee and a croissant for breakfast my love-affair with the French Caribbean islands began. To add to these pleasures they have a laid back attitude to customs clearance which is a joy after the unnecessary bureaucracy of the ex-British islands.
I spent the day at Deshaies exploring the town and resting. On the first day of April I sailed north to Antigua - a perfect trade wind reach of 44 miles with Gypsy Dancer eating up the miles with an average of 7.4 knots from anchor up to anchor down. A truly enjoyable sail through blue seas and across 5' swells coming in from the east.