Adventures in Wonderland

Well, today was adventure day. It is Friday while I am writing this although we won’t get it posted today. We had decided last night that we didn’t want to spend another wet and windy day in Deshaies and that we would take our chances with the weather for the trip. Forecast was for 30 kt winds and 13 ft seas from the east but we thought the leeward side of the island wouldn’t be that bad. We were getting 30 kt winds in the harbour anyway so bright and early this morning off we set. We were waiting to find out the reality of the weather to decide whether we would stop at Pigeon Island, 10 miles down the coast, Basse Terre, 20 miles down the coast, or head for The Saintes, north of Guadeloupe and about 30 miles from where we started. By the way, when we talk miles, we are talking nautical miles. I am not sure what the formula is to convert but you can google it as homework in your “Learning About Sailing Vicariously” course.

We left at about 8:00 with two reefs in the mainsail and the foresail up. Reefs are actually ways to put up less than a full mainsail when you think you are going to be in weather. We have 3 reef points on our sail so today, given all the forecasts, we decided to use #2 reef point so we were actually flying about 3/5th of our mainsail. The first part of the trip we considered putting the whole sail up because the winds were 15-20 kts and the swells were minimal. As we progressed, however, it turned out our foresight was wise. Just before we got to Pigeon Island a squall came up so quickly that neither Cheryl nor I even knew it was there until it hit us – and hit us it did. Winds almost immediately went up to 35 kts and it was gusting for fairly lengthy periods up to 45 kts. When that happened, we immediately eased (let more sail out) the main and Mystic Journey handled it like a cruise liner. I have been so pleased at how our boat handles adversity and it was needed today, both in this instance and later in the day.

Even though the squall came up, we decided not to stop at Pigeon Island since the waters were far too rough to snorkel and the bay where we could have anchored was an unknown. Besides we had made really good time up to that point so we decided to sail on to Basse Terre. For the next 2 ½ hours we had every kind of weather except what they forecast. There were wind direction and speed changes from ENE at 15 kts to WSW at 1 kt as well as everything in between. All in all, however, we made good time and except for the squall, it was kind of text book sailing so when we got to Basse Terre, we said what the heck, we can push on to The Saintes, get there in good time to find a nice anchorage, and then we could hang out there for a few days instead of having the break the trip into smaller portions where there was not really enough time to enjoy any of them.

Cheryl got a book (Julie, the one you borrowed) by a lady who talks in a down to earth way about her adventures and the reality of sailing. She says she can’t explain why Neptune chooses to humble new sailors but she says she knows of many instances of it happening and we could add to her stories.

After leaving Basse Terre it is about 5 miles to the south end of Guadeloupe and it was great sailing BUT, as soon as we cleared the island, the weather forecast became a reality. In the time it takes to type this sentence, we were in 30-35 kt winds off our port bow and we were experiencing for the first time swells of up to 15 ft, also on our port bow. The wind and swell direction was just off enough to allow us to sail on a fairly direct course for The Saintes but it was an adventure. Our mainsail was already reefed and we lowered the foresail and eased the main a bit. As I said earlier, Mystic Journey handles rough conditions like a dream but that doesn’t make it a snap. I must say, however, that it was exciting, at times exacerbating, and sometimes troublesome but it is the kind of thing that great memories are made of.

We finally made it to The Saintes to a bit of disappointment and a bit of frustration. First, the available anchorages were not anything like the pictures or description and in fact we ended up going to the adjoining island to a nice little cove. The frustration?? We put down an anchor in an acceptable manner in an acceptable place only to be berated by an English gentleman who thought he had first rights to the whole area. As it turned out the anchor would not hold so we went to pick up anchor and move and of course the windlass chose that moment not to work so I hauled up 100 ft of chain and a 75 lb anchor by hand while the Englishman kept commenting on us being over his anchor. I was able to fix the windlass while Cheryl drove around looking for a better spot but when we found another possible, the anchor would not hold there either and this time the windlass first jammed the chain and when I had cleared that, through my own carelessness (or frustration at this time – did I mention if had been raining ever since we arrived!!) I jammed the snubbing rope in the windlass.

Long story short – we moved out to our present location – Islet Cabrit, put two anchors out and plan to get a good night’s sleep. To put this story to bed, I have to tell you that as I type, there is a 30kt wind and intermittent rain still going on here. Shades of Deshaies.

Next day – The sun is shining, the wind is still blowing, but not as strong and some of the boats around us have left. There are only six of us here now. The island is quite small with mainly a rocky shore. There is a small sandy beach just to the right of our boat. We watched a group go diving while we ate breakfast. Today we decided not to go anywhere; it’s probably a 10 minute dinghy ride back to the main island. We spent the day doing small odd jobs around the boat – fixing the flag, replacing screens in portholes etc., swimming, and reading. Tomorrow we will head into town.