POSITION 16:13.24N 61:31.80 POINTE A PITRE, GUADELOUPE
Aurelia
Shirley and Michael Webb-Speight
Sat 17 Mar 2007 14:45
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We left St Kitts just after 2pm after a tour of the
island with Austin. Austin is a born and bred Kittian - from the northern
part of the island and the brother of the Prime Minister. He was quite a
character and took a shine to Christopher - ended up buying him a birthday
present!
On the way out of the bay we were stopped by the
Coast Guard - complete with sub-machine guns. First time in the whole trip
that we have been approached at sea and asked for our papers. All part
of the heightened security due to the cricket.
Our sail down to Guadeloupe was another magic ride
- 12 - 14 knots of wind and 8.5 to 9 knots boat speed. There were some
heavy rainstorms and at one point we noticed our eyes were burning. When
we switched on the torch we could see the ash drifting down on the breeze and by
morning there was quite a bit of ash on the deck, all courtesy of
Montserrat. We thought that we could see a glow in the clouds from the
crater.
By 3 am we were off Deshaies, Guadeloupe and were
pleased to return to this anchorage for a bit of a sleep.
We were up early in the morning and continued the
passage with the last 60 miles around to Pointe a Pitre. light head winds
most of the way.
Tied up here for a couple of days waiting for
Hamish - who duly arrived looking a little the worse for wear after two
days on the plane. He and I made a reasonable dent in the rum bottle and
we all retired for bed early.
We have had the sail maker on board to measure up
the storm gib and the rigger for the mismatched bits on the inner
forestay.
Later today we will head back to Les Saintes for
our last couple of days on board.
ttfn
M
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