Sunday 16
December 2007
The weather
forecasts were looking good for Monday, so I went ashore and to check out. Met Alhambra who were also leaving in
the morning. Tenacious I think is sail training ship and the crew on this leg
were leaving by plane, so I was behind about 15 of them.
The superyacht
races over for this year and they were going to throw away the flags that had
the date and sponsors on, I could not see these go to waste so I have got a
few. They are a strange comma
shape, but I must be able to do something with the plastic material. I also got a small banner that will do
as dodgers or a sun shade. I could
have got the really big banner, but they were not taking that down until
Monday. In support, I bought a T
shirt and a hat.
I said goodbye
to Trevor, I had parked my dinghy next to their boat.
Perseverance and
I went up to Shirley Heights, the highest point in Antigua, where they have a
Pan band and a BBQ on Sundays. It
went on until 10, but Cruisers Midnight is 9pm and we were back well before
then.
Monday 17
December 2007
Up at 5, ready
to leave as soon as it was light.
Before 6 I started to take up my anchor, there is a warning on the chart
to be careful because there are old anchor chains. I had been very careful and a big chain
came up on my anchor. The dinghy
was on board and I did not want to leave the boat with no one on it and the
anchor up, it took me 20 minutes to get the chain off with the boat hook and
some manoeuvring. After that
slightly stressful start I set off through the bay, the dockyard and the next
two bays to get to the reef entrance.
The sea looked rough, but perhaps that was just the influence of the
reefs.
I was thinking
of turning back, but the weather has been so consistently bad I could be here
for a long time. It was only 30
miles to Montserrat. The wind was
SE, 25+ knots and the swell was rather large. Montserrat was a little backwards in
direction, but I went with the wind and the swell as far as I could. There was no calm water to configure the
autopilot, as if I thought that would work. I had to helm and the wind started to go
down gradually to 23 and then about 25 to 30 miles later it went down to
20s. So much for the forecast
Easterly, 14 to 17 knots in a 2.5 metre swell.
I varied my
position to cope with the continual effort. I sat on the front of the seat, with my
feet braced against the bottom sides of the cockpit and hung on to the
wheel. I sat back in the seat and
held on to the arms and steered with my feet. I also sat across the seat with one foot
bracing me and steering with one hand.
Memories of the Atlantic Crossing.
Despite having to helm and motor it was quite fun most of the time. It would not have been if the wind or
swell had been against me. I made
it to Montserrat in 6 hours. The
wind had managed 29.9 knots and my boat had been doing 4.5 knots. Surfing the waves I registered a speed
over the ground of 9.9 knots.
When I was half
way between Antigua, where my phone was not working, and Montserrat it
rang. It was Jim from Trinidad
wanting me to check on Armanella, but I saw Roger check on Sunday. I was helming in a strong wind and a big
swell and calmly answering the phone, which was rather cool.
I anchored in
Little Bay and had a very tough row in against the strong headwind. It is 72 hours check in and out at the
same time and so I do not have to go back.
I took a taxi for a tour.
There were 2 other yachts in the harbour, but they had already done their
tour. The island is just getting
back to its feet since the crippling volcano eruptions of the late 90s. I went through the new town that was set
up in the NW corner of the island, I saw the wonderful rainforest, drank direct
from the mineral spring water that flows through the island. I went up to the volcano observatory and
watched the film of the major eruptions, with the capital, Plymouth, and the
airport being buried under ash. I
went down to what used to be the old harbour and was now land from the lava and
mud flows.
25 per cent of
the people have come back, but there is still a huge amount planned yet to
do. The volcano is not expected to
cause any more damage and not to the area that the people have moved to since
the top blew off. It is a sobering
reminder of when nature blows her top then you don’t get in the way. It is a pity that the island seems to
have fallen off the tourist map, no ferry, small planes from Antigua, no cruise
boats and very few yachts. I think
I could live here, perhaps I should buy while property is cheap.
When I got back
both boats had gone, I moved to the anchorage round from the harbour and one
boat was here. I will try to pick
up a forecast to decide what to do tomorrow. I have had a long 12 hours and will go
to bed early.
16:48.486N
62:12.371W
Montserrat
