05:08.90N

052:39.025W

 

Sat 23rd March

We had dropped anchor – thank goodness but not where we planned! We headed to Iles du Salut, dropped the anchor at 12.00 noon today (15:00 UTC) and had just decided to have a cup of tea (Stephen) and a beer (Annie) as celebration in reaching French Guiana and the end of this passage! Then the French Navy called us on the VHF radio. You must leave before 4pm as the is a space rocket being launched from the Ariane Space Station later today, and it is not allowed to stay at Iles du Salut when that happens!

Disbelief – how many rockets do they launch a year, and we have to arrive on that day. We could have wept but as Kourou is close we pulled up the anchor and motor-sailed away from a lovely island anchorage. And now we are upriver (@ 1 mile) and anchored for the second time today. After almost 3 years we are getting good at dropping the anchor. Bliss amongst the mangroves.

So our passage was 1377.4 Nms, Ave speed 6.1 knots, and it took us 225.46 hours (9 days 9 hours and 46 minutes including space rocket deviation).

We will rest up here for two to three days before heading off to Trinidad.

All relieved on board.