Ile Fourchue 3-28

We had a very pleasant night at Tintamarre, with little rocking from the swells. The girl doing yoga on the next boat inspires us to exercise, so we do our laps around the boat.  By 10am we are off the ball and start sailing the roughly 12 miles to our first stop of Ile Fourchue. The wind is, of course, right on the nose, but the waves are down and with full sail we are doing 7.5-8 knots, making 3 tacks to reach the island. We put out lucky louie and also rig a second line to double our chances. We don’t have a second snubber, so I just hold this one. It had only been out for a couple of minutes when I felt a strike, and saw a flash of white back at the bait. But it didn’t take the hook. This stretch is known as the ‘Marlin Hi-way’. Commercial fishing is not allowed, and the water is full of swordfish for sport fishing. We don’t really want to catch anything that big, but it would be fun to see. unfortunately, a second day with no fish. We read about a fishing store in St. Barts where the brothers that run the place are happy to give advice and sell the prefered bait for the area. That place is on our list of to-do’s!
Ile Fourchue is horseshoe shaped with a very protected bay, and steep peaks all around. We enter just before 1:00 and grab a mooring ball to cook lunch.  We are close enough to the edge to just swim over to the reef for a snorkel. Just before getting our gear out I spy a HUGE barracuda lurking behind the boat. Luckily its gone by the time the kids come up to get their fins on. The water is not as clear as we are used to, and its difficult to see the bottom in only 18 feet of water. At first its a bit disappointing, with poor visibility and not much in the way of a reef, be eventually we make it to a nice spot with lots of coral and small fish. We swim back to the boat and put our tenderloin on the grill, and the kids are bugging us to go to shore and hike. There is no way to beach the dinghy on the rocky shore, but we think there’s no harm in dropping them off while we cook our lunch. The waves are breaking on shore, and the dinghy spins around on me, but we manage to kids the kids out (with wet feed). By the time I am back on the boat we look up on shore and to our shock see that the kids are halfway up the steep peak. We never thought they would go beyond the low lying hills. Decide that this could turn out to be one of the worst parenting decisions we’ve made in a while, so I have Tracy drop me off at the beach so I can climb up and ‘rescue’ them. It turns out they are both fine, and the climb, while steep is not that challenging. Both want to continue up to the top, so….. There are some steep sections at the top with slick rock, and it starts raining while we are up there. Noah has already reached to the top, but Delaina and I have to stop just below the final rock because of the rain. The rain only lasts a few minutes, but its time to head back down. Its too bad I forgot the camera, because the view from here is truly amazing. We are able to see all of St. Barts, Saba, Statia, and St. Kitts. The bay that we are heading to for the night – Anse de Columbier – looks extremely crowded and I’m anxious to get there before its too late. Tracy comes in and picks us up from the shore and we quickly head out towards our next stop. Its only 2 1/2 miles away, so we just motor over. This is another ‘U’ shaped bay with lots of moorings and limited room for anchoring. We are about to try anchoring in a tight space, when we luckily spot a boat leaving a ball. We head over and grab it just before another boat approaches. Its good to be us. Finally we get to have our much needed Gin and Tonics, and actually get to eat the tenderloin we started cooking in the last bay. The moon is almost full tonite, and the entire bay is lit up. (of course none of can stay awake much past 9:00)

Leaving Anguilla 3-27

Today we checked out of Anguilla, which went very smooth. The customs people are very friendly asking if we enjoyed our visit and welcoming us back again. The kids take some books down to Roy’s where they have an book exchange room. We also try to buy a few more groceries, but the only store in Road Bay is very sparse, and we end up with only a small loaf of bread (the British really need to take some baking lessons from the French) and some crackers. Kids have a nice swim on the beach, and by 11 we are ready to head out. As we leave the dock we see a large fish swimming towards the dinghy. It looks like a 4-5’ shark. Can’t tell what type, but it didn’t have the sucker like head of nurse shark. I tried to follow it, but it disappeared under the dock before we could get a better look.

Wind is from the east, and no matter which side of the island we choose it will be into the wind. We opt for the north side of Anguilla and taking the cut between Scrub Island and Anguilla. We have read that whales come to the area around scrub island from Jan to May, so we are hoping to spot one. Its a long slog into the wind and waves to the east end of the Island. Wind is around 17 knots and the waves are pretty steep. Lots of pounding. The cut between the islands is tight, but the charts do not show any hazzards (other than the reefs on both shores). With the height of the waves, I’m a little concerned about breaking waves through the cut, but it turns out to be calm in the middle, and a simple passage. We take many pictures of the cut, with the waves crashing on the rocks, trying to capture the water colors. Sorry, pictures just do not capture it.

Once through the cut, we turn south towards Tintamarre. It’s taken about 2 hours for us to make it this far, a little longer than expected, but we are still in good shape to get there in Mid/late afternoon. We are dragging ‘Lucky Louie’ the lure the whole way, but for the first time have no luck.

We make it to Tintamarre about 3:30 and the people that have come for the day are starting to leave, so there are a couple of balls available. We grab the first one, but it may be a little close to the point. We can see some of the swells making it around and rocking the closest boats. A small fishing boat leaves a mooring that is further south and closer to shore. Hoping that this will provide a quieter night, we drop the first ball and head over to the other one. Somewhere the Boat Channel cameras must be rolling. Our boat hook has been a bit flaky, sometimes not tightening down properly. We have it locked, but at a short length. At this length, its a bit of a stretch to reach the ball, and oops, Tracy drops the hook. (Tim and Katie, we are having flashbacks to that time at Put-In-Bay when this happened during the big storm). This time the weather is clear and, so I hop in the dinghy to try and save our only boat hook. As I make it around to the front of the boat, some girls on the next boat are yelling and pointing at the back of the boat. I look back there as Noah is grabbing the hook from the swim deck. We almost run over another ball while I’m getting back on the boat, but regroup and head back to pick up the chosen ball. This time we hold on to the boat hook, and pull up the line. But it has been damaged by a prop, and has only a few good strands left. So we drop this one and head for yet another ball. The pennant on this one is fine, and at last we are set for the night. We head in to shore for a quick swim and hike. Technically this is not allowed since we have not cleared in to St. Martin, but its a deserted island and unlikely to be a problem. On shore we see lots of hermit crabs wandering around through the scub brush and two large tortoises (not sea turtles). I’m hoping for another big iguana, but no luck there. Back on the beach the waves are coming in pretty hard. We have the dinghy well up on shore and the anchor buried in the sand. We sit and watch as each wave takes the dinghy closer to the water, while our anchor slowly pulls out of the sand. So much for that system. We wait until the waves have pulled the dinghy into the water, and then jump in to go to the boat.  For dinner we fry up the last of the red snapper from the freezer. We are getting low on meat, and will need to re-provision in St. Thomas. We have a few showers in the evening, but overall it was calm and nice.

Prickly Pear Island 3-26

Today’s name for paradise is Prickly Pear Island. This is a small coral atoll about 6 miles north of Anguilla. Its actually split into 2 islands, with a small channel between the islands leading to a lagoon surrounded by a barrier reef.  Not knowing how crowded it will be, we get up early and start sailing by 7 in order to make sure we have a mooring. Back in Marina Fort Louis, we were chatting with the couple on a small sloop at the water dock. They live on the boat in St. Martin, but had just returned from Anguilla and had stayed a couple days on Prickly Pear. They moored outside of the lagoon the first day and took the dinghy in, as it says to do in all guide books. Once inside they found that there were 4-5 moorings in the lagoon. The channel is not marked, and you need to watch the coral on the way in, but once there it is perfect. We are ahead of crowd, so we grab a ball outside of the lagoon and the kids and I take the dinghy in to check out the lagoon and confirm the mooring balls. Its a bit of a wet ride as the wind is blowing right through the cut between the islands and we take a few waves over the bow of the dinghy. Once inside, we can see the mooring balls and drop the anchor over the side to confirm the depth. There are a number of rocks/coral heads below the surface, but it appears navigable. The sun is bright, and we would be heading right into the glare, so back on the boat we have breakfast and wait for sun to get higher in the sky. Unlike the BVI, there really are no crowds here, so no real rush to get in to secure a ball. We are still the only ones here.

We motor slowly through the channel, dodging the rocks and coral. At one point we pass over some rocks at only 5 feet deep – a little close for comfort. Once past that spot, looking back I can see a better route closer to shore, so we have a plan for the way out. We want to be able to swim in to shore, so we continue inside the last coral cut and into the beach side lagoon. The first ball turns out to be a charter mooring, so we need to back up and grab the other one. We sit in crystal clear water 12 feet deep. A boat length behind us is the coral that looks to be about 6 feet deep, so we could have come over that instead of following the cut around.

 

 

 

 

 

The water color here is incredible. Multiple shades of blue and turquoise. We snorkel into shore and walk the beach, the only people on the island. On the way back, we see the first of the day charter boats arrive. A big cat called Bluebeard with about 30 people on it. We wander back to the chairs in front of the restaurant and settle in to relax before lunch. We have no money, so Noah and I swim back out to grab the dinghy and the day’s supplies. Its a perfect afternoon of swimming, eating, and drinking. Decadence at its finest. We even have entertainment included, watching the day charter people try to get back in the dinghy as the waves roll in. One woman fell about 4 times (while saying ‘I only had one’). She was rolling in the water laughing, and one of the other boat boys had to run up and help lift here in the dinghy. We were amazed she was able to get on the catamaran from the dinghy, but she made it. The kids like watching the crew from these charter boats, in their beat up old dinghies and motors, come racing up full speed onto the beach. They are very disappointed that I won’t do the same.

   

We have what it probably the best lunch on the Islands. There is no menu. She serves up plates of ribs, chicken or fish with rice, potatoes, salad and coleslaw. Make your choice and take your plate. YUM! (Tracy has a little problem with the hot sauce though)

Eventually we need to leave to head back to Road Bay. Leaving is no problem as we learned the better route on the way in. Once clear of the channel we unroll the headsail and beat back to Road Bay at 6 1/2 knots in 15 knots of wind.

Tracy and I head in to shore to check out the ‘happy food’ at Roy’s , and stop at Elvis’ beach bar on the way. Its an old boat on shore, converted to a bar. Elvis is alive and well behind the bar. Its here that we hear the rumor that Jimmy Buffett is going to be playing on Sunday at the ‘Banxie Banks’ Moonshadow party. Its a weekend long affair that happens once a year at the full moon. The other rumor is that Willie Nelson will be playing Saturday night. The concerts don’t start until 10, and go to the wee hours. Not exactly a family friendly arrangement so it will be difficult for us to pull off. It would be nice to stay until Sunday and check the rumor, but time is running short if we want to get to St. Barts and give ourselves enough cushion to pick a weather window for sailing back to the USVI. We’ll have to watch the news to find out if Jimmy does play in the concert.

At Roy’s we go online to check the weather for going to St. Barts. One woman, who must have come from one of the day charter boats, walks up and starts talking to the stuffed parrot. Took a couple of pictures while exclaiming ‘he doesn’t even flinch at the flash’ and then ‘Oh there he’s moving’.

The forecast looks good, so our plan is to sail to Tintamarre tomorrow and stay overnight, and then continue on to St. Barts on Sunday. The weather for the return crossing to the VI doesn’t look quite as good as our first trip, but its down wind so should still be comfortable.

Anguilla 3-25

Start the day in Road Bay of Anguilla. It looks much nicer in the daylight, with a beautiful sand beach ringing the bay. After breakfast we dinghy in to clear customs. This is not a fast process, but the kids are happy, they get to play on the beach the whole time. Anguilla has the strictest regulations in the Caribbean. There are only 2 anchorages that you can stay overnight. Going anywhere outside of Road Bay requires a cruising permit at $80 per day. We sort out the details and finalize our stay for 3 days, including one day of cruising for $100. If needed we can always add more days of cruising to see more of the marine parks, but time is running a bit short for our trip to St. Barts and back to the USVI before next Friday.

Once back at the boat, we bend the rules a bit to sail over to Crocus Bay (the other overnight anchorage) to see if it is worth paying the extra $$ for a night there. It’s scenic, but no beach, and only a couple of buildings on shore. We decide we aren’t missing out on much by staying in Road Bay. By the time we return to Road Bay, many of the boats have left and we are able to get a prime anchoring spot right up near shore, close enough for the kids to kayak in. Tracy and I take the dinghy in, and meet them on the beach to have lunch at Roy’s. Roy’s is a semi famous place on the island, with R0y and his parrot Roberts running the place. There are bird feeders everywhere and lots of goldfinches. Delaina is in her bird watching paradise. On closer view, the parrot in the cage is fake. There’s a sign on the wall explaining that Roberts was getting old and needed more peace and quiet, so he stays elsewhere on the island.

Lunch is surprisingly uninspiring. Bland sandwiches on hot dog buns. Maybe we are just spoiled from the great food on St. Martin. So the food isn’t great, but the drinks are good and the beach chairs and umbrella make up for it.

 

Back on the boat we have a perfect view of the sunset. There are some clouds on the horizon, but I manage to see the last of the sun disappear into the water, and for the first time actually see the green flash as it sinks!

Leaving St. Martin 3-24

Its time for us to move on to new islands, so today we are getting ready to head out of St. Martin. We dropped off laundry yesterday, so we need to wait until around 10 or so to pick it up. While waiting we flushed out the watermaker with storage solution (I’ve decided it will be easier to just buy the water at marinas then to try and make this work properly). That job is quite simple, and soon we are heading in to Grand Case for the last time to pick up laundry, a few more groceries, and of course one last baguette from our favorite bakery.

We leave Grand Case a little after 11, and head towards Marina Fort Louis in Marigot, arriving right at noon, just in time for the dock to shut down for a 2 hour lunch. Unfortunately no pictures or video of my amazing docking, squeezing the 45’ boat into a 46’ opening in heavy crosswinds with no dock workers to help. After using the twin engines I don’t know how I’ll go back to Island Sol’s single drive. (may need to get the bow thruster after all) The two hour wait actually works out well, giving us time to stroll across the street to a cafe/deli for lunch. At 2, I walk up to the customs building to clear out, pleasantly surprised that its quick, easy, and free. In 10 minutes I’m back at the boat where Tracy has started filling the water tanks.  We cast off the dock about 3 and motor back out into Marigot Bay. The water color here is amazing!

Getting the main sail up again proves to be a bit of a challenge. The reef we had in the other day comes out, but I didn’t notice that the first reef, while unlocked, was tied up short. In the process of shaking that out, we also release the outhaul, so now our sail shape is less than perfect. oh well, were cruisers not racers. By the time we get the sails sorted out, we’ve lost about 40 minutes and will now be pushing it to sail the roughly 12-13 miles over to Road Bay in Anguilla. But with full sail and heading down wind, we are flying, touching 8 knots a couple of times. The wind is light, only about 12-13 knots and the water is flat. Perfect!

We put out our lucky lure, and within 10 minutes Delaina saw the line go tight and a fish jumping back at the lure. We start hauling it in, and ease the sails so we are not dragging it too hard. While dragging on the surface the fish pulls easy, but every few second it would dive down and really pull. Soon we can see the long skinny shape of the fish and I’m pretty sure its going to be a barracuda. We manage to pull him up on the back deck and very carefully get the hook out. He’s thrashing pretty good, and has some huge teeth! With hook out, we pose for a couple quick pictures before tossing him back in the water.

We sail the rest of the way to Anguilla, dodging lobster pots that seem to be everywhere. Anguilla is a low island compared to the hills of St. Martin, but the shoreline is all rocky cliffs. It reminds us of pictured rocks in the UP. We drop sail and motor into the anchorage just as the sun is setting. There are a lot of boats here, more than I expected, but its a large bay with plenty of room. We hoist the yellow Q flag and settle in for the night. Dinner is sautéed Mahi Mahi, which I think is our best fish meal yet. Now I really want to catch a fresh one!