Back in St Martin and beginning to go ‘Stir Crazy’

“18:03.838N 63:06.144W”

5506 Miles since leaving Sandwich.

27^th March 2023

Monday the 20^th came around and after 7 days at anchor in Rode Bay Anguilla it was time to go. Oddly enough just as we were prepping Spectra prior to lifting the anchor Barney from Favorita of Hamble came over in his dinghy and invited us to join their quiz team on Tuesday evening.  I must admit we were sorely tempted and if he had come over the night before we would have probably deferred our departure, but with the engine already running we felt committed to the move and so had to sadly decline. The weather was set fair to whisk us down the coast and would then be on our beam for the crossing to St Martin. We left the anchorage in glorious sunshine only to be overtaken by a squall and driving rain 2 miles along the coast, Yuk! Once that had dumped on us and then gone on its merry way, we shook ourselves off like a wet dog and continued down the coast. After passing the reef on the western end of Anguilla we turned 100 degrees to Port (left) and were hit straight in the face by a rainy force 6, double yuk! With the engine on very low revs to help us along and reduce leeway plus provide power for the water maker we tightened everything in and under foresail and mizzen we actually managed to sail a fairly decent course towards Marigot Bay. Halfway across we were absolutely walloped by a squall which brought with it 35 Knot winds and horizontal rain, Norma was below when it hit and wisely decided to stay there and give me sage advice from the hatchway. She did hand me up my waterproof jacket commenting that I was getting very wet out there, Funny that, I hadn’t noticed. The good thing about squalls, if there is one, is that they don’t last long and again shaking ourselves like the proverbial shaggy dogs we arrived at Marigot bay in glorious sunshine and with a full complement of crew on deck again dropped our anchor in 3 meters of water fairly close to the canal that leads into the lagoon.

And that is where we have stayed bobbing up and down in a steady 15 to twenty knot wind which has made the sea very short and choppy. The sea state put us off going ashore on Monday afternoon, and we spent the next three days onboard waiting for the wind and waves to calm. Finally by Thursday we decided to be brave and got absolutely soaked for our troubles. We did get onto the interweb again though only to discover our Starlink delivery is now delayed until the 29^th March to 4^th April which is a huge bugger.

What have we been doing for the last seven days apart from developing a virulent strain of cabin fever. Well, every other day we brave the trip ashore and having learnt the lesson from Thursday. We now take a change of clothes with us and call into the first restaurant we come to for a beer and a change of attire. The waitress is quite used to us now and waves us straight through to the toilets at the back while she pours the beers. I have been buying boat bits again and have been doing some maintenance and improvements.

The side rails that hold the solar panels have now been strengthened, by putting small brackets at the bottom, and lengthened, by adding a tubular piece at the back which connects them directly to the Push Pit (rail around the back of the boat). This has made them much sturdier but I still need to add a flat bar to the bottom of each pair of solar panels to tie everything together. Let’s face it, they are out there in the wind and waves 24/7, if they can break, they will break, so I am better off expending some time and energy now in an attempt to make them as sturdy as possible.

Secondly, I finally girded my loins and started the maintenance on the forward heads (toilet). Actually the job went rather smoothly at first and pretty soon I had replaced all of the inlet and outlet pipes bar one. The last one of course was just too long and I had to go and buy another meter of pipe. Off ashore again for a damn good soaking and I returned triumphant with 1 meter of 38mm toilet pipe in order to finish the job. Now the tale of the jubilee clips: Convention states that if a fitting is below the water line you should always put two jubilee clips on it in case one fails letting the pipe fall off and then the boat sinks. I had indeed put two jubilee clips on each end of this pipe, two clips were 316 stainless steel from Stainless Steel fittings in the UK and were all shiny and as good as new. The other two were 316 stainless steel from somewhere in China via eBay and had completely rusted in under a year. I must have had my doubts as I had put one of each on each end in order to hedge my bets. Anyway, I couldn’t budge the rusted clips and had to hacksaw them before snapping them off with a screwdriver. The top one was in the worst shape and snapped easily after which I prised the end of the pipe off with  the same screw driver. I then started on the second one which of course was an absolute bugger. Eventually it did break, but as it snapped the screwdriver end, which was covered in rust and effluent stabbed right through my rubber glove and into my finger leaving a deep 30 mm cut. “Oh dear”, I exclaimed “I do believe I have damaged my digit”, or words to that effect. Long story short, Norma the first aider swabbed the cut out with medical alcohol, “ooh that smarts a bit”, I said before stitching me back together with 5 steri strips and a mountain of plasters. I have no idea when my last Tetanus jab was as the NHS has lost my vaccination records which is not their fault apparently, but I am still speaking so no lock jaw yet, mores the pity says Norma. Actually, it did get rather inflamed and oozed a lot for a couple of days but after several swab outs with alcohol, a good squeeze and more steri strips applied by nurse Norma it has now settled down. It just needs time now to see if I will ever dance again but hopes are high. 

Norma has repaired our OCC Ensign which has whipped itself to death over the last 5000 miles and was in a very sorry state, she has also been varnishing a new rail in the aft heads. Apart from that the general upkeep goes on while we await Mr Musk’s Starlink system. Actually it’s certainly not the worse place in the world to spend some time. When we do get ashore everyone is very friendly, the food is good, the beer is cold and the sun is hot so who’s complaining. If only the wind would die down a bit and make the dinghy ride a tadge drier,  it is an absolute constant and I have already lost two shirts over the side when they broke free from the washing line. Actually, yesterday while shopping in town we met Simon the Kiwi who has convinced us that we would be better off moving into the lagoon and that is exactly what we will do in the next day or so. The other thing that we are convinced of is that our poor old Put, Put, dinghy is not up to the task. We have done some research and identified a rather swish 3-meter air deck dinghy as a replacement Even though it is tax free here the prices of new dinghy’s are way above what you would pay in the UK and so we have been looking at ordering one there. But what of the delivery costs I hear you shout.

Tony my son has confirmed that he is coming out again on the 15^th May to sail Spectra from the Bahamas up to Halifax, Nova Scotia via Bermuda with us. Guess who might be carrying a dinghy out with him as excess luggage? I am also pretty sure he will be bringing out a few more toys as well, a replacement cutless bearing springs to mind, boy is he going to have an interesting chat at the nothing to declare desk at Nassau airport.  Tony is not flying back until the 19^th June which gives us a decent window to do some cruising in the Bahamas and spend a few days in Bermuda and Nova Scotia as the actual sea time on passage should only be about 12 days. Shaun is keen to come as well but needs to arrange things back at the ranch first so can’t fully commit at the moment. We also have several people interested in coming along via Crew Seekers. Having said that our dates have changed, and I will have to update the advert on Crew Seekers then see who is still interested.

Last thing as I am sure that you all have all been awaiting the outcome of my homemade ginger beer experiment. Absolutely disgusting, chucked the lot away, double, double Yuk!

Unlike Standon Old Hall Mead, which is delicious, healthy and a cure for all that ails you. Coming to market soon so, Check it out! Plug for my daughters meadery there.

My Ginger Beer fermenting away before turning into a non-gingery mush.

That’s it for this one, dinner is ready and I am starving. Hopefully the next exciting episode will be from the lagoon.