We escaped Gustavia and moved to Anse de Colombier, a pretty anchorage
on the NW corner of St. Barths. Colombier is a marine preserve so
there are moorings along both sides of the cove and anchoring is only
allowed in the middle. When we arrived the only mooring open was quite
close to the shore, but our depth showed 8' under the keel and it was
designated as suitable for a 60' boat so we hooked up and went for a
swim. While swimming we noticed that the keel seemed pretty close to
the bottom, or maybe the water was just really clear? Upon further
investigation I figured out that the depth offset in our instruments
had been reset to zero when we updated the firmware back in January.
We had been sailing around thinking we had 5.5' more water under our
keel than was actually there! When we thought we had 8', we actually
had 2.5'. We were still floating, but a couple of big swells could
easily have bounced us off the bottom.
The next day we waited for some boats to leave and then moved to
another mooring so we'd have a little more water under the keel; this
proved costly. I'll spare you the details, but at the end of the
exercise we were successfully moored in deeper water, and both our
boat hook and our 2hp outboard motor were on the bottom of the cove.
Fay was able to free dive and recover the boat hook, but the engine
had been ripped from its mounts and we finally resolved to leave it
there, though we did later inform the preserve management so that they
can remove it if they are so disposed.
With our flopper stopper deployed the persistent north swells were
manageable in Colombier and the many green turtles were a constant
source of enjoyment. I'll post some turtle pictures when we have more
bandwidth. We also connected with John Tipp and had a great dinner
onboard MOAB with his friends from Detroit (who report the economy is
really destroying the city).
We monitored the weather and when a window appeared that would allow
us to avoid the usual "wind on the nose" for the 84 mile passage to
Antigua we moved back to Gustavia to prepare for the passage to
Antigua. In Gustavia we cleared out, did our last shopping at the
French stores and used the internet connection to catch up on a few
things. Unfortunately the north seas persisted and the anchorage at
Anse de Corosol was full so we had to anchor across the channel in
what was virtually an open roadsted with a strong roll 24/7. We had a
great dinner at Eddy's restaurant, but no sleep for two nights.
We departed for Antigua at first light on Monday the 16th and arrived
in Falmouth at 4:55pm. We succeeded in having the wind at 40-60
degrees apparent for most of the trip and averaged just under 8 knots.
The first six hours were pretty rough with lots of rain squalls,
confused seas and wind up to 35 knots, but then the sun came out, the
seas backed off and we had a pleasant and fast sail to Antigua for the
last five hours. Fay asked for, and received, a big rain squall in the
last couple of miles so New Morning got a nice freshwater wash and was
sparkling clean as we entered the harbor. The anchorage at Falmouth
was wide open, very calm and we were asleep by 8:30pm!
The next morning we connected with our friends (and double
circumnavigators) Beth and Evans. We chatted away the morning, then
launched the dinghy (using the 15hp engine), made to the trip to the
Antigua Marina and walked to Nelson's Dockyard at English Harbor where
it took us only 3 hours to clear in with immigration and customs. That
night Beth and Evans joined us for dinner and a spirited discussion of
politics and the economy.
Over the next couple of days we made the decision to put New Morning
on the hard at the Catamaran Club in Falmouth for the hurricane
season, got a SIM card for our telephone, purchased a new 2hp engine,
did some grocery shopping, had a nice dinner ashore and enjoyed a
couple of sunsets with a gin and tonic in hand. It's amazing how such
simple things can consume two entire days.
This morning we departed Falmouth and had a nice sail to Five Island
Bay on the west side of Antigua. It was really nice to do a few hours
of downwind sailing! Tomorrow we'll sail around the top to the North
Sound and find a nice quiet anchorage. On Monday we'll pick up Caitlin
at the airport and initiate her into the cruising life.
