Position: 14:04:47N 60:57:01W

We had tentatively decided to leave at 0400 but one look out of the windows put paid to that silly notion – it was raining and blowing hard, and sleep was far more preferable! 

Up at 0600, there were five or so other sets of nav lights as other yachts had the same idea as us in leaving early to make the passage northwards.  We saw Moonrise circling and assumed they were also on their way, but ironically after having persuaded us to go, they stayed!  Their anchor had dragged in the night.

We set the main with 1 reef and the jib with a reef also and ran down Admiralty Bay.  As we turned north towards St Vincent we came out of the protection of the land, and were hit by a large rain squall.  The next two hours were a little hairy as the wind blew between 25 & 35 knots true, on the beam, with heavy rain and little visibility.  It was the wettest I’d ever been in Nutmeg, with the cockpit sole sloshing 3 inches deep in water that had hosed in over the side.  A little scary, but Nutmeg managed it fine even if she was a little over-canvassed.  Emilia spent most of the time in the forepeak, screaming with excitement as she took off into the air as Nutmeg bounced around.  We decided to carry on to St Vincent and stop at Wallilabou, halfway up the island.

We listened to various nervous-sounding people on the VHF from boats around us, wondering what to do, and then at 0830 tuned into the Caribbean Weather Net on 8104kHz on the SSB.  This is a free daily weather forecast from a guy called Chris Parker.  If you become a “sponsored yacht” (ie you pay some money) then at the end of his general forecast you can call in and ask for specific weather advice for your particular area.  One of the boats nearby was given a forecast so we were able to gauge that the wind should abate a little, and so decided to push on to the top of St Vincent and see what it looked like in the St Lucia channel.  Once we were in the lee of St Vincent it was flat as a millpond!

The weather was fine for the rest of the trip and we had a lovely reach across to St Lucia in 16-20kts.  As we reached the Pitons, Jemima said in an innocent voice “Are we going to die?” and was quickly reassured!

We pushed on all the way up to Rodney Bay, a 70M day and quite tiring.  Very strange to come back into Rodney Bay after all this time.  The bay itself was heaving with anchored yachts – must be over 200.  I think a lot of French boats have come down here because of the strike in Martinique.

The weather closed in on us again and we ended up spending more than a week in the marina.  It was nice to have the luxury of being able to walk off the boat onto dry land, and having water & electricity on tap, but there is something very soulless about marinas and Sarah and I both found it faintly depressing.  There is something intangibly wonderful about being at anchor.

It was a week for mundane stuff such as supermarket stockups, school, socializing, eye tests, mixed with the odd walk up Pigeon Island, and swimming in the pool at Scuttlebutts.  My eye is having a West Indies tour of opthalmologists and this one said that it is still not better.  However it is not hurting and is only blurred if I shut my good eye, so I will just keep on taking the steroid drops.  I wonder if I stopped drinking rum, whether it would miraculously get better…?

We met up with Graham and Tracey on Quasar IV” and various others.  I got friendly with a Swan 48 owner in the hope of a ride at Antigua Week.  Peter and Veronica invited us over for pancakes and we took turns to churn out the pancakes, always a challenge on a 2–burner hob when you’re cooking for six!  Our girls went to sleep in the forepeak while the adults chatted.  Peter has been extremely helpful and spent a couple of hours walking me through the places to visit in all of the Leeward Islands, and whether to ship or sail home. 

Buying fruit from the Fruit Man, Rodney Bay