Wednesday 19 December 2007 – 17:17.515N 62:43.799W   St Kitts

7.00 set off, no need for crack of dawn as it is only 10 miles.  The wind was E 7-10 knots with a short swell, but it was so low that it was not a problem.  I put out the genoa and I was able to lock the helm and not go off course for minutes at a time.

This meant that I could try the watermaker again, to see the tank brim over was now getting a bit of a fixation.  I filled the bottles for an hour and then turned the maker off. 

The second hour the wind had picked up to over 10 knots and I could have put out the main, but I was too lazy.  I had to top the batteries up as I used up 2 days power in 2 hours yesterday, so I did not want to arrive too quickly.

I arrived and anchored in the bay at 9.45.  I am the only boat here.  I did see one over by the deep water dock and there may be one or two in the marina, but most of those seem to be tripper boats.  There is a swell here that varies from very rolly to just rather rolly, but I am in 3 metres with a clear view of the bottom and the anchor is well set, so I am not going to look for somewhere else. 

I needed to get to the shore, but there was nowhere to tie the dinghy up.  I wondered about going into the marina, but I would have had to cross the ferry dock.  I decided to go into the fisherman’s wharf, which perhaps is just a name.  I dragged the dinghy up the shore and tied it to a tree.  I set off to find where to check in.  I did customs, immigration and across the courtyard to port authority.  The guy in the port authority was suitably impressed that I was travelling alone, to the point that he could hardly do his job.  I am not sure what his job was, other than to look at my customs form and take $3US for the effort.  I asked for a weather forecast, but he only had that for today.  I have done ok without so far and if tomorrow looks ok I will leave. 

They have a big dock for cruisers and as the visitors leave the dock they get the shopping street.  The same duty free expensive shops as Barbados and Antigua, pearls are 50% off, but they were not on my shopping list.  I looked at lots of pretty things, but did not buy.  I then went to the more normal shops and bought 12 different colour permanent pens and a glue stick which were not glamourous, but were necessary and a bargain.

So, this is St Christopher, named by our very own Columbus.  The islands are all vegetation covered old volcanos that came up out of the sea and nothing special in themselves, rather like the Canaries, but greener.  I can see their attraction to sailing ships seeking water, food and just somewhere to stop from the ocean.  They were all repeatedly fought over and someone wanted to come out here to live.

The dinghy was still in the bushes where I had left it and I rowed back to the boat.  The batteries had filled up with the wind generator and the solar panel, so I could run the watermaker.  I poured the bottled water from yesterday into the tank and it took nearly 15 litres, but it bubbled up full.  I then turned on the watermaker, nothing, so now I have an electrical fault.  As soon as one thing works, something else takes a turn to bomb out; it is never ending.  I have to get the tester out and see if there is any power getting to the switch, but not today.  I did the washing which seems to have built up over a week and that used all my spare water. 

I was going to have such an easy day and it is already 5pm.