Sailing Encore

Our family sailing adventure in 1998 with Steve and Kaylyn continues. We have been on the boat for 2 weeks and are about to journey ‘down island’.

2-21-1998

We arrived at St. Martin at 12 noon. After 20 hours of beating through the night–awful. It was the third day of a scopalamine patch for me and not enough! I felt awful all night with the confused waves and 18-20 mph. About 2 am on my watch I threw up over the lee rail.  That forecaster was so wrong! Anyway, glad it is behind us. Sometimes the boat came down on waves so hard it sounded like it would crack. The kids slept on and off in our bunk in the back. We all wore harnesses.

Now we are rocking and rolling in Simmons Bay, St. Marin (Dutch side). I napped early this am after sun-up. And Vernon is exhausted as I don’t think he really napped much when he was off watch. Tomorrow we may rent a car and see the island. I am very tired right now and also feel tired of boat life. I know I will get into the swing of things but it is amazing how much work it is to keep the boat clean, washing the dishes with salt water then fresh rinse, wash piling up, etc.  I have to keep telling myself that the focus is different than home and relax a bit.

2-22-98

We rented a car, got picnic lunch and toured the island. Ate lunch overlooking the island off toward St. Barts. Stopped at Orient Bay Beach and kids swam. Very pretty beaches –white sand and blue surf. Steve and V ogled some semi naked girls. How come the people that show the most should be wearing blankets? We went around to the French side of the island but the shops were all closed. We did get to see the carnival parade. And we got the wash done. What a treat for me. Tomorrow we make a run to the market, get water and return the car. Then sail off. This has been a nice day.

2-23-98

Hustled to market, returned car and schlepped water out to boat in rolly bay. Off anchor at 1 pm and sailed slightly off wind with 20mph. to Eustatius arriving at 5pm. The sail wasn’t bad but Steve and I are still not on ‘same page’ as Vernon. Lots of yelling “You’ve been sailing how many years now?” “Can’t you see what we are trying to do?” Steve takes it well, I yell back. Really just too much boat for us . I am tired of sailing good or bad and would go home now if option came up. Now we rock and roll in anchorage. Flopper stoppers (hanging heavy object over side -off of end of boom to discourage rolling effect) are being applied now. Earlier Kaylyn miss-tied the dinghy and it drifted away- was rescued by another boat. Not a nice day…

2-24-98

Flopper stopper didn’t keep it from being the most incredible rolly anchorage I have ever been in. Almost wanted to get up and barf during the night. Finally out of bed, clean up and take off at 7am. No breakfast- we had to get out of that roll. All the Estuations had to do was build the break wall 100 more feet curing around and I would have stayed and toured the island and spent money. It would pay for itself soon. Anyway, off to St Kitts. 25 knots on the nose again with very fast set rollers 6-8 feet. Go figure. We ended up motoring hard straight at it and it still took 5 hours. Now in Basseterre marina on St. Kitts. And the marina is rolly. Geessss.

We toured around shops and had lunch in town. Vernon and I went out to dinner together while the kids went to the movie theater in town to see Mousehunt. Accomplished a bit of home schooling but better push a little harder.

It does seem we have the worst luck with wind and waves. Boat sure takes a pounding. Vernon is sooooo tired of the bad weather and bad forecasts. We need a break!

2-25-98

GOT it! Very calm morning. Motored to Monserrat then wind picked up but continued motoring. Even when the direction and strength were good for sail, both kids and Vernon said No. steve went fishing and caught a Barracuda Monserrat’s volcano started erupting again a while back and the island looked deserted as we sailed past. All the buildings are deep in ash and an ashy rain drizzled on.

We ended up motoring to Desaihes, Guadalupe about 6:30pm at sunset. Over 70 boats in calm anchorage. People are here to view solar eclipse tomorrow. Reset 3 times. I lost the anchor line one time -slipped through my hands before I could rewrap it- burned the skin off. And Steve jumped in to grab it. What a time. Finally set. But the anchorage is crowded. Hope we do not swing into each other.

(Poor Kaylyn has ‘nits’ in her hair. We went into a pharmacy in St. Kitts and struggled with my French to get some Rid from the lady at the counter. Finally showed her Kaylyn’s head. Her eyes got big and she quickly got the Rid. Cleaned Kaylyn’s head really well with it).

2-26-98

We went ashore and cleared in, filled the scuba tanks and found some eclipse glasses and ice. Too long a line for fresh bread. Dinghy back to boat and actually raised full main to sail slowly down the coast a bit to Cousteau Park. Anchored just in time to sit and watch eclipse.

Amazing how dark it got. Some cloud cover but I got pictures. Then we dinghied to scuba. Beautiful. I took pictures with my underwater camera as I snorkeled with Kaylyn but Vernon snuck up on me and pinched me underwater- I must have hit a clasp on camera as I startled and it flooded! I am still drying it out. Hope it works. Ruined my pretty fish pictures. After dive we motor-sailed down Guadalupe coast to Basseterre and attempted to get slip at marina but as Vernon backed into slip the keel got stuck on cement block in water beneath. For 1 ½  hours we tried to get all the way into the slip –we transferred weight from boat to dinghy to see if it would help (it was already high tide when it happened) and the French dock worker keep trying to direct us in French but mostly he held his head and said “wou wou wou wou!” So after all the hullabaloo we left the marina to a rolly anchorage outside. Was dark and late so we had quick soup for dinner and were entertained by beautiful show of fireworks from old fort on the hill. WOW! That was nice!