A month in the BVI's

The British Virgin Islands are fantastic. Very different in my opinion to the rest of the Caribbean islands we have visited. We feel as though we are on holiday here. Our first 2 weeks have flown by. How anyone manages just a week here is beyond me. There are so many islands and bays to explore I’m sure you could spend a full season here and still want to come back for more.

Beach bar, Anegarda

  Our first week included a sail out to the sandy atoll, Anegarda, which gave us a good 12 mile sail each way, with an overnight stop in the main anchorage of Setting Point. The afternoon of our arrival we joined the crew of Ruffian and Madfish in a tour of the islands North Coast beaches in an open top jeep. Superb beaches, and a welcome beer after the drive.

Chewsy dressed overall

  April 26^th was Chewsy’s birthday and we had arranged with friends off Mad Fish and Ruffian to get together in Savannah Bay on Virgin Gorda for a Barbecue and Beach Party. We dressed the boat overall as did Mad Fish and they made a fine sight for other boats in the bay. Thank you to Iain and Fiona for the birthday cake surprise. 

We ended up with crew from 5 boats joining us and we celebrated in fine style with beer, barbecued meats and birthday cake.

After the barbecue we left to all go our separate ways exploring the islands.

We stayed in the bay outside Spanish town, ready to go to church on Saturday night. We ended up meeting a group of Americans, in the congregation, off a large catamaran anchored in the bay. After mass, we joined them for drinks in a local restaurant and got some good tips for quiet anchorages. Sasha and his wife were captain and hostess on the cat and the ‘guests’ that week were family and friends. We had an enjoyable evening out, usually the way when it is least expected.

  

“Fishy tales”

One of the best things about moving around [notice I didn’t say sailing around] the BVI’s has been the surprises seen under the water. As someone very new to snorkeling, I am constantly amazed at what we see beneath us. Even in the most innocuous places, off the radar as far as guide books are concerned, we have seen fabulous corals, sea grasses and plants. However best of all we have seen the most amazing array of fish of all sizes, species, and colour. The vibrant colours are diminished somewhat on dull or rainy days, so it’s been worth waiting for the sun to come out.

Money Bay, Norman Island

The guide books recommend anchorages on Peter and Norman Islands as having stunning settings for snorkeling and diving. We found a few bays, Great Harbour, on Peter Island, Benures Bay, and Money Bay on Norman Island which were quiet with a maximum of 6 boats in the anchorage. In fact, we were the only boat in Money Bay on the south coast of Norman Island. We watched with trepidation everytime a boat came past but we were left in peace.

In Benures Bay we attracted the attention of a Ramora. This is a parasitic type of fish which usually attaches itself to turtles, sharks or whales, feeding on their left overs. We thought it was unwell because it totally got the wrong idea about Chewsy, and attached itself to the starboard side of the hull and stayed there for 3 days. Shame the only leftovers that went over the side were the dregs from the coffee pot each morning! Steve advised being careful about getting too close to it in case it decided to attach its suckers to one of us. Not a pleasant thought. We also saw a couple of turtles swimming in the bay. The water was fantastically clear and although it was raining hard shortly after we arrived, it cleared up long enough for us to go snorkelling. The variety of fish was amazing and we spent about 50 minutes swimming along the shoreline. We swam with Zebra fish, Yellowtail snappers, Parrot fish and groupers to name but a few. Most of the fish we have seen we cannot identify by name, but we certainly had an underwater visual overload in Benures Bay.

Benures Bay was so well sheltered from the light south easterly wind that on Friday morning [3^rd May], the rain having moved on, the heat from the early morning sun became hot and oppressive. The whole anchorage felt airless. With the temperature inside the boat a stifling 30⁰C at 9am, we decided to take a sightseeing tour around Norman Island under engine, to charge batteries and try and cool off a little.

Very few boats seemed to venture outside of the ring of islands. We motored off the beaten track and found a little gem of an anchorage on the south side of the island. Money Bay. The cruising guide stated that major shoreside works were taking place. However, what we saw were 2 small manmade breakwaters one on either side at the head of the bay. Nothing else, and no signs of habitation at all.

Once again the water was amazingly clear and we anchored in 4 metres of water. To avoid going beam on to the waves we decided to deploy a stern anchor. We have never used our Bruce anchor before in this way and decided that, being the only boat around, we could try it out without being the afternoon entertainment in a busy anchorage.

With the anchors both deployed and the bow facing out into the bay, we got the snorkels on and positively leapt into the water to cool down. Our Ramora was still attached to the hull. Steve inspected the set of both anchors, gave them the thumbs up and then away we went swimming towards the small reef along the right hand side of the bay. Sadly we were disappointed with the reef; there were obvious signs of damage from the creation of the breakwaters. There were few fish and even less healthy looking plants and corals. After half an hour we were back on the boat, saddened that a bay with such potential had been disappointing.

After lunch we decided to give the snorkelling another chance. I wanted to swim inside the breakwaters to see why they had been made. What a surprise! The breakwaters had become new artificial reefs. Plants were growing and the variety of fish surpassed the ones seen the day before. Large holes between the rocks offered security for small fish and also provided homes for larger fish. One of these was a Barracuda, which was about 4 feet long and which had watched Steve earlier in the day when he was diving on the anchor.

Happy with our afternoon explorations, it was not until after showering that I realised we had not redone the suncream applications after lunch. Due to the extended snorkelling, our backs had fried in the afternoon sun. A painful 24 hours followed. This was only the second time during the trip that I have been burnt. The regular application of Aloe Vera gel helped.

We left Money Bay at 9am the next morning and had no sooner got out of the bay than we were joined by two large Bottlenose Dolphins swimming at the bow. We had had no sightings of dolphins since we had arrived here though we knew of other boats that had encountered them. It was such a joy to watch them as they ducked and dived right under the bow. After 2 or 3 minutes they peeled away one to port, the other to starboard.

Our next pretty anchorage was Lee Bay on Great Camenoe island. Having anchored during a heavy squall in 5.4m water, we were the only boat in there for a while but were later joined by 2 charter monohulls and a catamaran. There was good protection from the 1m+ northerly swell which had developed over the course of the day and the rain passed over to give us a nice evening.

   After breakfast the next morning we were given a treat. A shoal of zebra fish came up and devoured the remnants of our chocolate croissants which had been sprinkled over the side. The show didn’t last long but was spectacular.

We spent one night at anchor off Little Jost Van Dyke after motor sailing along the north coast of Tortola. We anchored in 3 metres of water but to get into quiet water away from the Northerly swell, we chose a lee shore in Manchioneel Bay. The shore seemed very close and Steve got out the lead line to check the depth of water at the back of the boat, 3 metres, and then out in the dinghy at the end of the full length of painter, still 3 metres. Having tested the anchor at 2,000 rpm when we arrived, Steve declared himself happy with the anchorage. Our spot must have looked inviting, because in no time at all 2 other boats had joined us.

Our daily snorkel was not as exciting as previous days but was worthwhile. We were close enough to swim to the beach after which Steve had another scrape at the barnacles collecting on the hull!

Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, BVI's

Cane Garden Bay was our next stop and is one of the 3 ‘must see’ places in the BVI’s according to Jimmy Cornell’s book ‘World Cruising Destinations’. This is a pretty bay, granted and my vision may have been clouded by a few things. Firstly the mooring balls. Every nice anchorage has mooring balls close into the shore. Cane Garden is no exception. You have to anchor in either deep water or on the outer edges of the bay. Moorings are $30.00 per night. If we used one each night we were here it would cost around $900.00 US. So we  anchor, along with most of the other cruisers [as opposed to charterers.] The mooring balls here had such a lot of scope on their risers that in 24 hours we saw 3 boats run over their mooring line and get it tangled around the keel. It wasn’t even amusing to watch.

Then there was the rain. It arrived overnight and stayed. Not a squall, heavy rain. So much so that we were up first thing in the morning to put buckets out to catch it. It rained so hard Steve made a dam around the water filler and let the water flood directly into the tanks. It had had several hours to rid the decks and fittings of salt, and besides we were not drinking tank water. We also filled our 5 litre water bottles up. These we would use as drinking water.

I digress; back to Cane Garden Bay. When the rain stopped the sun came out and we went ashore. 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

We took a walk along the road in the direction of Callwoods Rum distillery. Before long we arrived at a ramshackle building bearing the Callwood plaque.

Along with more tourists we went inside for a tasting…..and came out with 2 bottles of rum for the princely sum of $26.00. They are being stored safely to survive the journey home. 

Flush with the pleasure of purchasing two excellent bottles of rum, we went into Myatts grill and restaurant on the waterfront to have a drink. What a mistake! 10 minutes later we left, but the mosquitos and no-see-ums had done their worst. We had been eaten alive from the knees down! Which meant that we had to go into the next bar along to get a ‘painkiller’ each. 

The ingredients in this potent drink  includes Pussers rum, orange juice, pineapple juice and coconut milk, over ice with nutmeg grated over the finished drink. Fabulous, but to help soak up the alcohol we took advantage of the Happy Hour snack menu. Steve had mussels in garlic sauce. I had fries with cheese. And no bugs in Quitos bar!

I don’t quite remember getting back to the boat and getting the tea ready. I do know I slept well that night.

So whilst we have been there done that in Cane Garden Bay, I wouldn’t rush back. In my opinion there are better anchorages on Virgin Gorda and on Peter and Norman Islands.

Benures Bay, Norman island

Our last weekend in the islands was spent back at Benures Bay on Norman Island. Not a mooring ball in sight, so no charter boats either. 5 boats max all weekend. We had a spectacular lightening storm on the Friday night, which lit the skies for miles around. It was a worrying 2 hours during which time the depth sounder was affected and we decided to disconnect all the electrical items that we could. There was a huge crack of fork lightening just the other side of the hill from us. 

In Steves words ‘A very good lightening show, but we’ve had enough now. Go away’. Unfortunately it rumbled on a bit longer and the heavy rain let us know that we had a couple of windows that needed sealing. The rest of the weekend passed quickly and we realised that these would be our last swims and snorkels in the Caribbean. Before long it was Monday morning and we were on our way to Road town to check into a marina to prepare for the trip to Bermuda. 837 miles due north according to the chart plotter. 

It will take about a week to sail to Bermuda, so as they say 'we'll see you on the other side!'

Leaving St. Martin.

April 27th - Well, we have now been in the BVI’s for 9 days. However, before that ……..a short update so I don't get too far behind

We met up a final time with Loud and Marlene off Rafiki in the Lagoon on the Dutch side of St Martin and said our goodbyes. They are not visiting the BVI’s and our paths will not cross again this trip as we head north and home.

In the lagoon we met up with Mike off sailing vessel ‘Quinn’ We were in touch initially via the morning cruiser net on vhf channel 14. Mike sets up Sat phone modems and links them to computers to provide weather at sea for cruisers. We had a convoluted system of getting weather during our last atlantic crossing, via text messages, but we really needed to sort getting grib files downloaded to the laptop for the trip back.

The weather systems are likely to be more unstable going home and we need to know what’s happening. Mike crosses the atlantic twice a year and helps the ARC boats in the Canaries every year. He set up our laptop for us using his own software. He went though the downloading processes with us several times so that we could easily access grib files via ‘mailasail’, without the laptop trying to download all our other emails via the sat phone modem! All sounds easy, and we had come so close to doing it ourselves. However Mike has set it all up and it now works beautifully. It’s really reassuring.  Hopefully we won’t need to use our back up system on the way home!

Before leaving the bay we had our genoa down for some quick sail repairs to the UV strip and to grease the furling gear which had started to get a bit stiff. We also used the silicone spray on the sail slugs which should make the main sail easier to hoist. All this was done early one morning when there was a brief lull in the wind which normally blows 15 – 20 kn.

Wednesday 17^th April

We had a good overnight sail up from Marigot Bay in St Martin, leaving the anchorage at 16:00 hrs. We expected the trip to take 14-16 hours. We had an easterly 4 as we left with a no.2 size genoa up on starboard tack. Within ½ hour we had the sail poled out and were making 5-6 knots. The seas were a bit rolly and it was definitely more comfortable on deck than down below. The genoa remained untouched throughout the night and the wind was a pretty constant force 4-5. By 01:00 the sea way was busy with cruise ships to port and yachts everywhere. We were pretty much holding our own speed wise with the rest of the traffic going the same way. Our eta at the way point at Round Rock off Virgin Gorda stayed pretty stable and arrival in Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda looked about 8am which was good enough for us.

At 4 am [as my watch started] the rain came down and was hard enough for me to dig out the waterproof jackets. It cleared up about 7 am, by which time the genoa had been rolled away and we were motoring up the Francis Drake Channel, towards Spanish Town, the port of entry on Virgin Gorda.

Our first long passage this side of the atlantic had gone very well. 89 miles overnight left us tired and ready for an hours kip before going ashore to check in. We checked in for 30 days, the maximum time you can stay without temporarily importing the boat. Cost is $4 pp/day, we think, and you pay on leaving! This is as well as customs and immigration fees.

Anyway the sun is shining and we are ready for the next phase of our adventures including a beach party to celebrate Chewsys 30^th birthday.

Still heading north

We took the dinghy ashore in Gustavia, St. Barts tying up to one of the docks. The Captainarie is right on the waterside. Check in is via computer, I love the French islands for the ease of completing the formalities. Outside the harbour area was buzzing with beautiful people, coming and going from superyachts. We had arrived just prior to the start of the St Bart’s Bucket regatta weekend. Our wander around found beers advertised at €8 each. We skipped the bars and went back to the boat. On Tuesday we went ashore and got some great views from Fort Gustave.

The island is described as the Riviera of the Caribbean and it is easy to see why; almost every designer name appears in the small streets surrounding the harbour. It’s glamour with a capital G. You could easily be in the South of France or Monaco.

Our shopping was confined to the boulangerie and the supermarket. In there I struggled to keep ahead of the superyacht hostesses off 3 different boats, who seemed to be trying to empty the store, wiping out the crisps, Doritos etc. and filling trolleys of fresh fruit and vegetables; armfuls of celery, large bags of peppers, lemons and limes. No getting scurvy on their boats. Oops, sorry, it’s for the G&T and dips at the end of the days racing. We checked out of St Barts on Wednesday morning and headed to Anse Colombier, picking up a mooring ball and revelling in the relative peace and quiet.

Thursday 28^th March. We left Anse Colombier early in the morning and motored over to a small island Ile Fourchue. We had planned to stay for a few hours, but had about 20 miles to St. Martin, and then had to get ashore to check in. We decided to make it a swim stop. I made a total hash of bringing the boat alongside the mooring ball [twice] Too fast said my skipper. I agreed with the first call, disputed the second and relinquished the wheel in a paddy. Needless to say, the next pick up was perfect!. Still with a red hot temper in evidence, I got my swimwear on, sorted the bathing ladder in double time and jumped in the water. Trouble in paradise? By the time I had done 2 laps around the boat, my temper had cooled. We both enjoyed the swim in the crystal clear water, apologised to each other for the temper outbursts [no shouting allowed, just fierce muttering], had drinks on deck, and were on our way to St. Martin in just over an hour.

We sailed with full main and genoa up, a rarity, and headed up the windward side of St. Martin on starboard tack. Around 11 am Steve caught sight of a humpback whale away in the distance off our starboard side. It appeared to have been disturbed by another yacht whilst it had been slumbering on the surface.

We were overhauled by Ruffian on the way up. They had left Ile Fourchue after us but were flying along under their main and spinnaker. We waved and took photos as they went past. We relaxed back and enjoyed the gentle sail, leaving the cruising chute in the sail locker. The deck thermometer showed 40.7⁰ C

Reading the pilot book, we decided to try and check in at Raddison Marina in Anse Marcel. The bay looked well sheltered by a reef running across 2/3 of the entrance. We dropped the genoa earlier and now, turning into the wind, dropped the main and motored into the anchorage. We dropped the hook in 3.5m water and prepared the dinghy to go ashore. Raddison marina is owned by the hotel group of the same name and is very well protected from wind in all directions. Checking in was completed on a computer again and payment of 5 euros to the marina manager. Simple. Back to our nice anchorage; no roll anywhere. We were happy to remain on board and watch the antics of the turtles playing in the bay, one with a remora on its back!

We decided to try out the Cobb barbeque which had been lent to us by a friend in Scotland. We had no luck with this on the few occasions we had tried it, but the heat in the boat was overpowering and I was fed up of cooking myself along with the food. With a few hours to play with before dinner, Steve lit the cob, using a mixture of briquettes, charcoal and lighter fluid. We had 2 large chicken legs marinaded ready to grill.

This is no barbeque, but an outdoor oven; as such it takes a long time to heat up, most barbeques are over before this is hot. However, with time it heated up nicely and the chicken was put on the griddle and covered with the lid. It sat on the aft deck doing its thing for about an hour and a bit whilst we had a drink, chatted, and prepared the salad. Voila, after said time,  2 beautifully cooked, moist, tender pieces of chicken emerged. Dinner and the Cobb was deemed a success.

     

Easter Sunday, we used it again and this time cooked a roast beef dinner, including Yorkshire pudding. One pot cooking at its best. The Yorkshire pudding was not the best I’ve ever made, but it was still edible.

We have been anchored for 2 weeks in St Martin waiting for a petrol tank for the dinghy engine. Very similar situation to the one we were in in Santa Cruz Tenerife last November. Paying for emergency fedex delivery doesn’t work if Mercury in the States doesn’t post it out!

We spent some time at the anchorage in Grande Case. The bay is very windy, but the sea flat without swell whilst we were there. The sea was fantastically clear and great for swimming. We had a great Sunday lunch at one of the restaurants. The place has the most restaurants over a small area that I have ever seen. They suit all pockets, but we settled for a barbecue stall that the locals seemed to frequent. It came with its own live music.

Back in Marigot Bay our attention was caught by a large grey catamaran 80-100ft long, which had appeared in the entrance to the Fort Louis Marina. We speculated about whether it should have a mast or not and eventually decided that it had been dismasted.  Chatting with Australians Jim and Carola from SY. Koza, a few evenings later when they were aboard for sundowners, they said that the customs and gendarmeries had been on board for several days. We indulged in a little harmless gossip, drug running, commercial accident etc. then moved on to other topics. 

Walking down to the internet station later that week, we spoke to a marina employee, who told us the tragedy that had unfolded aboard the yacht. It was a charter vessel with 7 crew and 7 guests; 5 French and 2 Swiss. The yacht had been dismasted in perfect weather conditions and the skipper killed outright. The remaining crew had been instructed to sail the boat back to St. Martin with the skippers body ‘on ice’ in one of the cabins. This took 3 days. No wonder we had seen all types of authority figures climbing all over the boat. The story was a reminder that accidents do happen at sea.

Another ‘tragedy’ was the dismasting of a catamaran as it went through the lift bridge from Marigot Bay in to Marigot Lagoon. These boats are moored next to each other in the marina.

We have not been idle during our time in St. Martin. We have made a couple of trips to the supermarket and restocked with tins and dried goods to last us until we land in the Azores. On one of our trips back in the dinghy we were swamped after hitting wash from a motor boat. Low in the water with the food stacked up at the front end I’m sure it was the 4 trays of beer that saved the rest of the shopping from becoming a soggy mess. Or, did the 4 trays of beer make the dinghy too low in the water? Whichever, both the shopping and ourselves were very wet when we got back. Amazingly, like in the canaries, the boat seems to just absorb the stores. We have meals for 50 days as well as extra pasta, rice etc.

It’s quite sad to be planning food for our trip home. However food in the BVI’s and Bermuda is reportedly very pricey, so it makes sense to stock up here.

We have also ticked off a few items on the maintenance list, notably, servicing the 2 primary cockpit winches, and refilling the fuel jerry cans.

Regular readers of this blog will know that we have had trouble with our Tactic Wind Instruments since our Atlantic crossing. Steve is pretty sure that it is the battery in the masthead unit that is faulty. Lille Marine in St Martin quoted 1050 us$ [£690:00] for a replacement masthead unit. Nobody seems able to service them since tactic were taken over by Raymarine. Needless to say as a new masthead unit in the UK is £395 we declined the assistants offer to have it rushed over from the Dutch side of the island for us. So it looks like we will be crossing back with only the windex to help us. May have to buy a new windex as a spare. As Steve keeps telling me, we don’t need wind instruments to sail safely. I know that, but I’m going to get a crick in my neck keep looking up to the top of the mast!

Wednesday 10/4/13. We have just arrived in Anguilla, and plan to spent a couple of days admiring the white powdery sand that makes up the fabulous beach. We will also be taking a taxi tour inland before an overnight sail to the BVI’s, a total of 92 miles according to the books.

Nevis & St Kitts

Nevis & St Kitts  17^th  - 24th  March

After being awake most of the night I was ready to prepare the boat for the 35 mile trip north to the island of Nevis. We left at 07:45 motoring out of the anchorage until we could see what the wind had in store for us.  We started with full genoa, but then the wind seemed to settle giving us a beam reach, so up went the main sail [1^st reef] and away we went. We were always too downwind for a great sail, but it was good to be sailing and to turn off the engine. We averaged speeds of just over 5 knots and dropped our anchor in Charlestown Bay, Nevis at 13:45. The customs were closed for the day so we hoisted the yellow ‘Q’ flag and got on with some boat jobs.

Monday 18^th March. Had a great sleep. Ready to face the day. 1^st stop is to check in with customs and immigration. After that it was a wander around the town, visited the tourist information office and the supermarket, and then back to the boat. In Nevis you pay a flat charge for mooring balls to encourage their use, so we moved from the check in anchorage and picked up a mooring further north off Pinneys beach.

On Tuesday we hired bikes from Winston, a Brummie, at Oualie beach, and toured the island. It was a round trip of approx 22 miles, and although we were told it was flat with only 1 hill, there seemed a lot of up and I did end up walking a lot of the uphill bits. We went with the crew from Madfish, and had a good trip, though hot and tiring. We stayed on the main route and Madfish went exploring further. We met later on the beach for a beer. After the beer stop we had a further 4 miles back to the bike shop. Unfortunately, by this time we were both saddle sore and those last 4 miles were painful! We should have skipped the beer and continued on. We later had dinner and drinks on Madfish before returning back to Chewsy for another good sleep.

Wednesday dawned and we decided to visit some hot baths that we had been told about by Iain and Fiona on Ruffian, a Saddler 34. We took swimming gear and off we went. It was only about a 10 minute walk through the town and was a bit of a surprise when we got there. It was a job in progress. There was a hot bath, with the water reportedly at 45⁰C. To one side was a hot water stream that was being dammed and the whole area shored up with concrete walls. There were three other small pools in this area each of a slightly different temperature. Workmen were all about, with their power tools, plumb lines, saws and hammers. Not a hard hat or warning cone in sight. Just use your common sense. I love the Caribbean!

Eventually this place will look great. However, they will probably start to charge to get in. At the moment its free, and very rustic.

We left Nevis that afternoon and sailed over to St. Kitts, a distance of a whole 6 miles. As we approached the anchorage at Whitehouse Bay, we took a small detour into the newly formed Christophe Harbour, for a look. It was obviously in the early stages of being formed with 2 dredgers at work although there was a pontoon with three boats on it. We were surprised when the catamaran which had followed us down the bay actually followed us into the harbour, and so closely that we could not bail out in a hurry if anything went wrong. We edged in very slowly, unhappy that the French cat was so close, about 5 metres away from our stern. I could have passed them a drink apart from the fact I was up on the bow. As it was the depth was at less than 3 metres and we decided to turn around and leave, carefully.

The catamaran, with its German crew, decided to do the same. As we left the harbour following the buoyed channel carefully, I remarked that the cat was giving us plenty of room on the way out. A second look confirmed that they were stuck on a sandbank in the entrance, with the wind pushing them further on all the time. We turned around and headed back in and prepared to pull them off. They were not keen to take our rope and we could not go too close to them. Fortunately, Russell off Mad Fish was around in his dinghy and was able to pass the stern line from the cat to me. Once it was attached to our stern cleat, Steve was able to pull the boat into deeper water.

A result and one that culminated in the passing of a bottle of rum from the catamaran to Chewsy. We shared this over the next two nights with crew from Madfish, and also Ruffian.

After 2 nights in Whitehouse bay, we decided to go a bit further north and managed to get a marina berth in Port Zante, Bassterre. 

So glad they had a space because the whole coastline had a huge swell coming in and there was really no way of escaping it. It was bows to mooring in the marina, with a very short pontoon to get on and off.

The marina was very sheltered and as a result extremely hot, over 34⁰C. It was almost a relief to go into the town for a walk, ending up at the museum. For a small fee we learned about the island history and the rise and fall of the sugar plantations. Really interesting displays.

 Later, with water and electricity available on the dock I got stuck into the washing which had been piling up.

The cruise liner dock on St. Kitts had been busy all week and on Saturday they had 2 boats in again. We had decided to go up to Brimstone hill fortress, somewhere we had wanted to see when we were last in St. Kitts in 2005. On that occasion we didn’t get there. This time we did. We got the bus early in the morning at a cost of 3.5 EC [about 85p] Being on a bus is a real slice of Caribbean life and we really like this way of travelling around the islands. Buses are usually 14 seater minivans, and nearly always full. This mornings was no exception, and we took advantage of the journey to sightsee at the same time. All too soon we were off the bus looking up at the fort in front of us. A hot hike up the hill came next, though fortunately the road was shaded by trees for the most part.

We had a sociable chat with the security guard on the way up the hill which paid off when he flagged a car down and got us a lift to the top.

We spent a wonderful few hours exploring every nook and cranny the fortress had to offer. It was well worth the 53 EC$ [about £13.00] for the entry fee and the audio commentary.

The museum was full of interesting information and it was good to get out of the blistering heat.

We had brought a packed lunch with us in a cool bag, and fortunately it was still edible. Our 2 lites of fluid went down very quickly.

www.brimstonehillfortress.org will give more insight into the history of the area and the fort itself.

Leaving the fort behind to weather another invasion of cruise ship tourists, we made our way back down the hill to wait for a bus to take us back to Port Zante and home.

A Saturday well spent. An evening visit to the local Catholic Co-Cathedral for a Palm Sunday Mass ended our day.

Sunday morning, Steve went to check out so we could leave St Kitts and move on to St Barts. He ended up sharing a taxi with 2 other skippers, Russell and Mika, going to the local airport to complete the formalities. Our plan was to sail up to Dieppe Bay on the northern coast and overnight there before sailing the 32 miles to St. Barts.

Steve had spoken to a local skipper who told him Dieppe bay would be sheltered and be a good place to stop off. We looked at the chart and although it was shallow we reckoned we’d be ok. Another boat, Quaver, a Vancouver 34, with Willie and Irene on board were doing the same trip. Willie used to live in Troon and now lives in Aberdeenshire.

We had a good sail up. In the lee of the island we had a ESE 4 and had full sail up, down wind sailing in 35⁰C. Factor 30 suncream plastered on as usual. When we left the lee the wind changed to the usual ENE 4, so we dropped a reef in the main and tacked up the NW coast. The fishing handline was out over the starboard stern as per usual. As we put in a tack, the line pulled. On the end was a perfect little tunny, that had dinner written all over it. Steve managed to pull it in without reducing sail to slow the boat. We kept it in a bucket and carried on.

The pilotage into Dieppe Bay was easy enough, but the reef was big with a huge swell rolling over it. We crept along aiming for the inside of the bay. We could see where we wanted to go – the nice flat bit; However, with just a ½ metre under the keel, we bottled out and dropped anchor on the outer edge of the bay. Quaver, who had let us go in first [thanks guys] dropped anchor behind us. We dragged the first 2 attempts at anchoring, but finally it dug in and was tested to 2400 rpm. Nothing moved. Well it did; we dinghied to Quaver for sundowners. We had earned them that day. Then back to Chewsy and our fresh fish supper. Not a recommended anchorage in our humble opinion - Rolly, rolly, rolly!

07:40 Monday morning we were up and on our way. The roll did not encourage a lie in and we had a good sail before us to get to St. Barts and check in. We had a good sail up with an easterly 5. We sailed on starboard tack with a reef in the main and no.1 size jib. Goodbye St. Kitts.

Just after 10am, with 12 miles to go Steve changed the courtesy ensign to the French flag on the starboard spreaders, and added the ‘Q’ flag on the port spreaders.  With 7.5 miles to go we could see the boats in the anchorage in the capital Gustavia. We arrived at 12:40, in the crowded anchorage, and with very little room to spare we anchored on the edge of the buoyed channel in 6m water. We tidied up smartly and went ashore to check in.