Bequia Part III – Bogged Down by Weather

All of our sails to date had been relatively short – eight hours or less, and most of the rest of the sails that we are going to do are also going to be about the same.  This makes it easy enough to haul up anchor at 7:00 a.m. and be at our next “port of call” before dark and actually dropping anchor while there is still enough light to find the nice sandy patches (which our anchor likes).  This next jump from Bequia to St. Lucia, however, was going to be a biggie for us – seventeen hours and two channels of open ocean.  That meant leaving at night…into open ocean…in the dark…which we had never done before.  We had been anticipating this particular sail for months.

If I had have written this post while the feelings were raw, you would probably have seen my salty tears on the screen.  There won’t be any photos in this post!

So, apparently in the Caribbean there is something called the “Christmas winds”.  These are high-pressure systems which often build to the northeast of the Caribbean.  If these systems become strong, they can generate brisk sustained winds of 20-25 or even 25-30 knots (up to 54 km/hr with gusts even higher) and they can last for weeks.

Christmas winds are no problem if you are in an anchorage with good holding and you aren’t in a rush to get anywhere.  The problem was that we were already feeling like we were at the back of the pack since most of our buddy boats had left Grenada to go north a month before we did.  Also, we wanted to get to Martinique (two good sailing days away) before Christmas so we could do a little Christmas shopping for the kids (we really needed those Christmas pyjamas!!).  Also, my brother and family were supposed to visit us January 2nd (less than a month away) in either St. Lucia or Martinique and we couldn’t even tell them where to book flights to.

We arrived in Bequia on December 1st with plenty of time to get to Martinique for Christmas.  Originally, we had wanted to be in lovely Marigot Bay, St. Lucia on a mooring ball enjoying all of the lovely amenities of the Capella Marigot Bay Resort and Marina (www.capellamarigotbay.com)  on December 5th, my Dad’s birthday.  Well, that date came and went with no break in the weather so we scratched that idea.  Instead, we ended up going out for dinner with Higgins and Neverland and we raised a glass to Dad in the company of good friends – equally special.   As we were enjoying our time with our boat buddies, we were all checking weather forecasts daily to see when these winds would let up.  Since we were fairly comfortable with our anchor holding, for the first week we endured these Christmas winds and all was fine.  As time went on, for various reasons, one by one these boats started leaving even though the wind was still strong and squally (but maybe slightly more favourable).  We found out later that everyone who left before us had not very comfortable sails.  Regardless, by now we were approaching mid-December and every time one of those boats left, Neil and I started second guessing ourselves, “Should we have gone too?  Is this the last weather window we will have to get to Martinique before Christmas?!!  How long are these winds going to last?  Are we going to be stuck in Bequia until Christmas or later?  Where should we tell my brother to book his flight?!!”.

I’ve always known Neil is a fair weather sailor (that’s why I could agree to come sailing with him) but it turns out I am fairer that a fair weather sailor.  Okay let’s call a spade a spade – I’m not a sailor, I’m more of a chicken.  I’m pretty sure that happened sometime after the kids were born.  Anyway, every night we would check the weather and every night we would have the discussion as to whether or not we should leave.  Then after an emotional discussion we’d try to sleep but the wind would howl and we would wonder if the anchor was dragging.  It is hard to get a good night’s sleep when there is a large wall of rocks that you may or may not get acquainted with in the middle of the night.  The wind was relentless, the pressure was building and emotions were high.

Finally, after over two weeks of waiting, a mediocre weather window presented itself and we decided to take it.  Oddly enough, when I woke up that morning at 3am in the dark of night, instead of my tummy being in a knot and the theme song for Gilligan’s Island popping into my head, which is usually the case, I was quite excited about this next passage.

Under the cover of darkness, we pulled up anchor at about 3am.  Although it was dark, the light of the full moon gave us enough light to be able to see what we were doing.  It was actually quite pretty.  I can’t remember our sail configuration but knowing us, there were probably two reefs in the main and not a full jib.  The short passage between Bequia and St. Vincent, which was supposed to have 6-8 foot seas, was surprisingly comfortable.  As dawn began to break, the new light gave us a sense of security and we shook out the reefs in the main and jib increasing our speed to 9+ knots. It was short lived however as the lee of St. Vincent was nice and flat with little wind however, so we ended up having to motor sail.  As the sun rose over the mountains of St. Vincent and we witnessed it’s stunning beauty we were saddened that we couldn’t stop because of the potential for violence against cruisers.  We wondered if this potential was real or perceived after one unfortunate incident but after even local Vincentians who we met in Bequia told us it was unsafe to visit, we decided it wasn’t worth the risk.

The next open ocean passage, between St. Vincent and St. Lucia, was a longer one but only about five hours.  It was a great sail, we ended up reaching 9.8 knots in about 6-8 foot seas, our fastest speed yet, and it was actually fun!  We had planned to overnight in the Pitons in the south of St. Lucia but we ended up making such good time and the weather was favourable that we decided to plod on to the northern tip of St. Lucia.  As many had before us, we ended up just taking photos of the Pitons as we sailed past and will plan to stop to visit on our way back down.  That made for an easy jump to Martinique.  Boy were we happy to drop anchor that night with that sail under our belts.  It was one that we had been anticipating since Grenada.

Okay, just a couple of photos…