Jet Maxima in control
Oriole
Tue 20 Mar 2012 10:39
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Chatham Bay, Union Island.
12:36.29N
61:27.04W.
Until this week we did not know what
a jet maxima was. However the week's weather has been dominated by an
upper level high pressure system anchored over the Caribbean and Tropical North
Atlantic. This has brought a stream of high level cloud pouring in a
north easterly direction out of Venezuela and Columbia. This is a jet
maxima in case you are interested! The result is that for the first few
days of this week we have had overcast skies but apart from occasional showers
it has been dry. The wind has diminished to light weather trade wind
sailing and the seas have reduced to 4-5 feet rather than 10-12 feet. What
a change!
 Before setting sail we had to do the
walk to the Turtle Sanctuary. (well two of us walked
back!)
We have been pottering gently south
with Graham and Margaret who have been really enthusiastic about everywhere we
have taken them in the Grenadines. They were here 15 years ago in
their Bowman 45 Flight of Time, and subsquently visited, we
understand, almost every island in the Pacific on the route to New
Zealand.
The Grenadines sadly are dominated by
bareboat charter catamarans which have the habit on coming and anchoring
close in front of you whether you are nearly on the beach or not.
Last night at 0200 I was awakened by the plop plop plop of a generator
exhaust close by. I poked my head out of the hatch and there close
ahead of us was a really large Moorings charter catamaran, coming closer with
every gust. So we had to get into the dinghy and go and wake them up and
get them to move before they hit us. They were grateful, but they had laid
out so little chain that anyone with any experience would have
told them they would drag their anchor. The sad part about it is that they
thought that 15 meters was enough, but most experienced yachtsmen NEVER put out
less than 20 meters even in the very best circumstances!!
The only qualifcation you need to
charter one of these monsters appears to be the ownership of a credit
card. Only two days ago a friend in another anchorage in the area had
another charter catamaran hit them in the night in similar circumstances.
You have to be very defensive. Our friend, who shall be nameless but has
his brother aboard who is member of the RCC, screamed "F*****g,
f*****g, f*****g French" at them! He was then surprised that they did
not come and apologise in the morning. These errant catamarans do seem
usually to sport a rwb tricolor although last night's was actually from the
US. Our favourite defensive ploy if someone anchors too close in
front of us, assuming we have a generous surplus of chain out, is to slowly
and silently haul the chain in so we get closer and closer to their stern.
Eventually their nerve breaks and they think they are dragging and lift their
anchor and go somewhere else! It works. Graham thought I was being
ridiculously defensive until last night's fiasco, through which Graham and
Margaret slept like babies. Must be the effects of the rum.
Enough of the trials and
tribulations caused by a few of our fellow yachties, if they actually
qualify for that title.
Chatham Bay is a gem which is one of
our favourites and the crew are currently snorkling in the crystal clear water
just ahead of Oriole. We have described it before but just to
repeat, it is a steep sided bay which is totally undeveloped except
for a few local shack bars on the beach. We are about to go ashore for lunch in
one of them.
Finally we have been playing an
almost nightly game of Mexican Train Dominoes which has become fiercely
competitive. The final results will be posted next week.
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