Finally on the water
Nickanddenisesailing
Tue 26 Apr 2016 15:35
18:02.0335 63:12.5644
It was great to be on a mooring, swimming and jumping off the boat. Great to get a feel of thr crusing life again. Nick and I ventured to the bar where drinks were delicious and cheap and had a great night of laughs and rum chats with randoms!
The next day we left for Nanny cay where we had our follow up survey and got a few last jobs done before making the decision to head across to saint martin on our first overnight passage. Survey went well and Bill seemed happy with the work that we had done. So all we had to do was leave…which was a bit daunting……
We packed up in a bit of a rush and made the leap across to Saint Martin.
It was a bit of a test for us and the boat. It started well, we had to head straight into the waves and weather so decided to motor sail and then motor the rest of the way. It was pretty rough and there was a bit of seasickness it being our first crossing. Nick managed to catch a nice big eye Tuna on the way so we had some sashimi for dinner which was great. As night fell we started to notice some issues. Mainly taking on water from somewhere in the stern, as well as finding that our fix of the bow leak hadn’t solved the problem. This then coupled with our bilge pump breaking down (due to all the rust and dirt that was in the bilges following getting all the keel bolts out) made for a worrying time. Luckily Nick rigged up a back up to our back up bilge pump so we could relax a little. Nick and I took turn on watch and managed a few hours’ sleep even though we were both heavily on edge listening out for any new noises.
By the time morning rolled around we weren’t too far from Saint Martin, which involved some dramas of its own…… that’s for the next instalment…