17:45.95N  62:39.63W

 

Thursday 5 February 2015

 

Distance 50 nm

 

We said we wanted to launch earlier this season than the last and we did – 28 November as opposed to 12 December the year before.  But the delays caused by repairs and waiting for parts has been even longer than last year so we didn’t get away from Antigua until 5 February.

 

The sail is northwest to St Kitts and was downwind in about 14-18 knots of wind, past Montserrat in the distance and it’s satellite island Redonda.  Very pleasant sailing accompanied by the occasional lumpy wave from the north, on our beam.  As we have a limited autopilot at the moment Carly, the wind vane, was pressed into service again.  It’s two years since we used this and it took half an hour or so to get the settings right but once we did it worked brilliantly well again steering us along for 50 miles.

 

Carly, so vane, in action:-

 

 

 

 

We have enjoyed sailing to various bays around Antigua but it was good to arrive at another island at last.  This is approaching the pass between Nevis to the left and St Kitts to the right:-

 

 

 

There is a reef across the passage which we sailed around in the company of another yacht.  The new sails seem very good and the genoa is a little smaller than the old one.  This is to make the sailing in stronger winds more manageable but the price we pay is a little loss of speed when sailing with the wind behind us in medium to light strengths.

 

St Kitts and Nevis is a two island nation which depends on tourism being one of the first Caribbean nations to have abandoned it’s sugar industry a few years ago.  This is uncharacteristically realistic for the Caribbean and avoids the pain that other islands, such as Barbados, have been going through for years pretending it has a future when it has been loss making for a long time. 

 

The place names here are colourful.  We passed Booby Island then Cow Rocks which only rise to 6ft above the water.  Here is Booby Island with Nevis beyond:-

 

 

 

We then passed Cockleshell Bay, Banana Bay, Major’s Bluff, Sugar Loaf and Nag’s Head before heading north past Bug’s Hole and Shitten Bay (don’t mix those two up).  Then an anchorage in Ballast Bay where construction of a marina is taking place and on to White House Bay for the night.  The bay is quite deep but proved peaceful whilst we decide which route north to take towards St Martin where we hope to have better success with repairs.