Lilli Mae - On the way home - Leg 5 - Caribbean Cruise - 29th December 19
Lilli Mae
Linton
Sun 29 Dec 2019 05:02
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Hi Everyone,
Well that's it; we have made it to Nanny Cay, British
Virgin Islands and this marks the end of this phase of Lilli
Mae's journey.
We left Christophe Harbour at about 1300 local time. We
did have some nice winds at the beginning of the 120 mile trip NW but the wind
(as forecast) died away and we ended up motor-sailing a lot of the way. We had
planned the trip to take about 20 hours but we arrived in the BVI area at about
1100 local time. We had a some fun and games with squalls and torrential rain on
the journey; in fact in the middle of the night and within the space of 5
minutes the light wind from the south changed to a 20 knot wind from the north
and from there on the wind came from the north so a lot of the journey was up
wind close hauled or at best close reach.
We made our way to Nanny Cay ready to park only to be
told that we could not come in until we cleared customs and that we had to do
this at the government building in Road Town. You can see from the map showing
our track we did not need to motor very far. The challenges started after
we finally found a parking spot on a mooring buoy; we had to get from the boat
to the customs office. We radioed a few marinas to see if we could get a
water taxi to take us but were told that we had to use our own transport to get
to the dock. Mike and I left the boat in our dinghy at about 4 PM (in daylight)
but got back to the boat in total darkness at 8 PM. Mike did all the work with
the customs officials but did not get free from them for three and a half hours.
In the end we got what was needed but the trip back to the boat was in complete
darkness and without lights in a harbour with ferries and fast boats moving
around all the time. In the end when we finally got back to Lilli Mae we decided
to just stay put for the night (on the mooring buoy) in Road Town Harbour and
make our way back to Nanny Cay in the morning. We had pot noodle and Christmas
pudding and brandy cream for dinner.
Just before leaving Road Town we flew the drone and took
some snaps and shouted across to an Oyster yacht iSNL that had crossed the
Atlantic with us in the ARC. They were anchored a few metres from us and
when we went past they said they had just arrived from Antigua.
Anyway we got parked in Nanny Cay and spent the rest of
this afternoon cleaning Lilli Mae in preparation for her 3 month stay in the
BVI.
So, that's it. We are done for now and will start of
journey home tomorrow (Sunday 29th). We fly from BVI to Dominica and then on to
St Lucia and then on 30th (Monday) we fly to Gatwick. I think we are all looking
forward to getting home now this adventure has come to its end.
So now what are the stats for this trip?
Day since we left home - 43
No of miles sailed since departing Las Palmas -
3,340
No of miles sailed since departing Southampton -
5,211
Needless to say all 3 of us are delighted with what our
adventure has taught and where it has taken us. Although we have not talked
about the ARC results we are happy we finished 72 from 122 boats and
even happier with the fact that Lilli Mae was one of about 30 boats in the
rally that did not use their engine during the Atlantic crossing. Interestingly
iSNL (an Oyster 825) we met in Road Town today finished in 119th place and
motored for 127 hours during the Atlantic crossing!
We are signing off now from Lilli Mae's journey home. We
will restart the blog around Saturday 14th March 2020. Our plan is to
set sail from Nanny Cay, BVI on 16th March 2020 to Port Antonio, Jamaica and
then on to Mo'Bay.
For Lilli Mae, 2020 is very much the arrival in Mo'Bay;
less than 760 miles to go!
But until then the crew aboard Lilli Mae hope that
when it comes 2020 is all you wish for. Happy New Year.
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