Wet and windy Union Island
ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Thu 12 Feb 2009 16:18
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Position 012:35.70N 061:24.70W
We moved on to Union Island a few miles further
south yesterday having decided it was too windy for the Tobago Cays. As we
rounded the Newlands Reef on the eastern side of Clifton Harbour we were
besieged with several boat boys trying to get us to use their moorings. Our
guide book advises great caution on these as many have broken loose apparently
and the general advice seems to be to anchor. We were shown to a suitable spot
and duly dropped the hook on the western side of the other reef in the middle of
the harbour.
A trip ashore proved interesting and we
sampled the local attractions listed in our book. The place is quite nice
and they are obviously trying very hard to smarten everything up. The locals
were very friendly and many seemed to be French. Back on board Ula later
on in the afternoon the wind went easterly and we had a storm with gusts of
36knots blowing straight into us. The reefs protect the anchorage from the waves
but it gets the full force of an easterly. I am suddenly called on board by the
skipper as our anchor appears to be dragging and we have no room to let out more
chain. We get completely soaked (at least its warm!) and windswept getting
up the hook, manouvering ourselves in to a better position and re-anchoring - we
have also found that Ula's hull shape does mean we wander around our anchor a
lot and we therefore need to take this in to account when picking a spot.
Great fun?!
We have a very noisy and therefore sleepless night
as the wind continues to roar through. The following morning with the wind
still honking we eventually go ashore to have some lunch (very nice in the West
Indies bar) and provision up. On returning to Ula the french guy on the
catamaran next to us tells us that another boat has hit us while we were
ashore. We couldnt immediately see the damage but within a few minutes the guy
who had hit us came over and was very apologetic - he was on an impressive 60'
charter boat called Lady in Red - it seems he must have been a bit
close, was hit by a gust and caught our anchor chain,hitting our bow and
bending the anchor roller. Fortunately everything seems to still work despite
being dented and we will obviously need a gelcoat repair to the bow. He
has offered to pay so we hope we will be able to get this sorted when we
return.Fingers crossed!
Having just sorted this out one of the boat
boys turns up and wants to put a large boat on his mooring not far
from us which wont fit unless we move....... it never rains etc
.....
It is still honking, there is hardly any spare
anchoring places, - we are offered a buoy on the other side of the reef but
given the conditions and our guide book's dire warnings we decide to quit and
travel the few miles back up to Mayreau. As it turns out a wise decision - well
done to JR who said bugger this we're going somewhere else! We arrive in
Mayreau, the anchorage has plenty of room, is sheltered from the east, no reefs
to drag on to, no Club Med liners and peace and quiet! A few home made rum
punches later (the skipper is getting very good at mixing these now - plenty of
practice??.....) and all is calm......
Jackie
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