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Larry's LogThe next day, March 6, we knew we would leave and rushed to get last minute provisions and stow everything. It was 4pm by the time we had loaded everything and we then had to get the dinghy on deck and stowed. I will tow the dinghy without the engine for a few miles, but I would not want to make a passage of 90 miles with it behind the boat, especially in the dark. We wanted to leave at the 5:30 bridge opening so we would then arrive in Antigua in the morning. I figured that 90 miles at about 6 knots (conservatively) would be about 15 hours. If we left at 6pm, we should arrive by 9 or 10 am, plenty of time to get the boat anchored and clear in. We also wanted to say goodbye to our friends here. Julie and Ed had stopped by briefly in their dinghy when they saw us readying the boat and said goodbye. I hope we meet up with them again. We were also going to stop by Great White Wonder after we got through the bridge to say goodbye. It was a real rush to get the boat ready, but somehow we managed. Up anchor and get to the bridge to wait. Oh well, what's another 10 minutes. Boats line up to get out and in, and this time was no different especially since people wanted to make the most of the weather window we had. As we left, we went by Great White Wonder, but nobody was on board. Too bad we missed them. Ken and Vesta were really nice people but they were selling their boat so we may never see them again. You never know though, Ken thought they might get another at some point. The weather was forecast to be light and from the southeast. You couldn't tell that from us when we left. It was pretty boisterous, probably 15 - 18 knots, although it was the predicted direction. Naturally, southeast was exactly the direction we needed to go so we motored. Waves would crash over the bow but we had Destiny battened down and no water found its way below. I was also glad we had gotten the new center piece for the dodger; we would have been wet without it. It gets dark quickly after sunset in the tropics and by the time we had settled down a bit it was almost black. I decided that the main would at least serve to steady the boat so I went to raise the main. After taking off the sailcover and sail ties (which should have been done earlier but you see, we really were NOT ready for this passage) I attached the halyard and made ready to hoist the main. Unfortunately, every time I went to hoist the halyard it would get wrapped around the cap shroud on the port side. The wind had lightened, as it usually does at night, but had also shifted direction to almost due south. On this point of sail the halyard was blown to the port side. It took almost an hour before I could unwrap it and get it attached to the sail properly. By that time, it was completely dark and I needed Diane to shine a large spotlight on the top spreader at the end where the line was caught. Luckily our autopilot was doing the steering and she could help easily. I finally got the main up and the wind lightened even more and veered, so at that point, we were motor sailing on a starboard tack close reach. The wind was from the south. That doesn't happen much but I was glad the passage was going well. I didn't mind motoring if we didn't have to bash into 6 to 10 foot waves created by the normally "fresh" trade winds. I took the first watch and everything was pretty uneventful. I woke Diane around midnight and I tried to get some rest below. Things stayed pretty much the same except the wind died completely later in the early morning. Diane woke me around 2am and she just about collapsed, she had worked very hard the past few days and didn't sleep well the night before we left. Later, around 3am, we saw that there were 2 other boats basically paralleling us. We got on the VHF and found that they had left from St. Martin at the same time and were also heading to Antigua. Both boats were going to Jolly Harbour, as we were. One boat was a catamaran and had sailed most of the way but did turn on their engine after the wind had lightened. They actually came so close at one point we could almost see their GPS position, ON THEIR GPS. Of course, we each saw each other so there was no problem. They were still sailing at that point and we were motoring, so we gave them right of way. Early on in the passage, we saw the islands of St. Barths, which is only 12 miles from St. Martin. Then we saw Statia, St. Kitts and Nevis pass by on our starboard side. I would like to visit them on the way back. Finally, we saw the lights from Antigua. Our landfall would be on the leeward side so any wind buildup shouldn't create problems. The Jolly Harbour entrance was well marked and straightforward. As we went in, we saw a dinghy coming out. It was the guy from the catamaran we had seen during the night. He had anchored in a small bay just outside the harbor and dinghied in to clear customs. He kindly came alongside and filled us in as to where customs was and that clearance was really pretty easy. He also said they also didn't seem to require you to bring the boat alongside. We were going to go directly to the customs dock, but it seemed pretty small and I wasn't sure about the depth, so we turned around and picked up a mooring since the bay where the catamaran anchored was too shallow and the one further out was starting to get rough. The other boat was also going to clear in at Jolly Harbour; we had told them over the VHF that it was much easier to clear in here than at English Harbour. It seems that the officials there aren't so nice, at least according to our cruising guide. After getting moored and setting a safety line, I launched the dinghy and went into customs with the boat papers and our passports. Twenty minutes later, we were "mostly" cleared in, after a painless procedure. I did have to go back because the immigration officer was out to lunch. Welcome to deh islands, mon. |