New day, new island (or how to get a good nights sleep)
Stream
Darrell Jackson and Sarah Barnes
Sun 19 Jan 2014 16:27
18:12.04N 63:05.65W Saturday 18th January 2014 Friday dawned clear and sunny and by the time we had had our usual breakfast of fresh fruit, natural yoghurt and muesli (you have to eat healthily if you want to eat cakes later on in the day) it was overcast and threatening rain in time for our departure. Once we had prepared Stream we took an executive decision to delay departure whilst the gathering clouds dropped their contents. A wise decision as it was a typical tropical downpour, but fortunately only lasted ten minutes or so and soon we had weighed anchor and were making our way out into Marigot Bay when it started raining again. This time it did not look as though it was ever going to stop and visibility reduced to a quarter of a mile as we motored between yachts costing many millions of pounds. Hoisting sails was postponed, Sarah retreated below to read leaving Darrell lashed to the helm to pilot Stream through the mounting waves, although she did pass up his waterproofs first. The rain was monsoon-like and the wind picked up to between 20 and 30 knots, fortunately from astern of us and we surfed and rolled down the waves. None of this helping Sarah's seasickness. The rain lasted 90 minutes before the wind dropped to a manageable 15 knots and we were able to hoist sails. Well that would have been true if we hadn't managed to wrap the main halyard round the starboard top spreader whilst we were rolling around. Our progress to Anguilla was more sedate under full genoa alone. This gave us the opportunity to marvel at the sailmaker's handiwork, but we were soon able to furl sail and motor into Road Bay for the next excitement of clearing customs and immigration. Once we had had lunch (salad and wholemeal brown bread - you have to eat healthily ..........etc) we launched the dinghy, secured the outboard and went to another smart dinghy dock right next to the customs and immigration office - both in the same building for a change and right on the beach. The sign on the door informed us that they were open and asked us: Do you have the passports for all your crew? Do you have your ships documents? Have you got your own pen? It also informed us that "The correct attire is required" Not having a tie with me I hoped that a clean t shirt and not too salty shorts and sandals would be OK. "Have you completed four copies of the customs form?" was the first question we failed on, when asked by the smart young lady with one gold band on her epaulettes. (The customs lady on the next table, dealing with another yacht had two gold bands on her epaulettes and sitting on the desk behind her was a lady with three gold bands, obviously there is a hierarchy in customs and all this paperwork keeps a lot of people in jobs.) Fortunately technology has arrived in Anguilla and I was given a couple of sheets of carbon paper to make the task less onerous. Once these had been completed and our passports had been stamped, we had to move across the office to the Immigration lady, (more gold bands) where I needed to purchase a "cruising permit" if we wanted to go anywhere other than where we had anchored. This permit only required two more or less identical forms to be completed, but then the young lady made three copies of each. Anguilla is like Saba and Eustatia where they have set up marine national parks and activities are strictly controlled and visitors are required to pay to enter them. For a one day permit we payed $60, about £35. I suspect that much of this money goes to finance the large police launch that anchored next to us later on in the day with a crew of 6. Apparently the Anguillans enforce these regulations and failure to comply with them can mean a hefty fine or up to 6 months imprisonment! Welcome to Anguilla! After the trials of customs and immigration we needed a cooling drink (no cake shops that we could find) and headed to Elvis' Beach Bar which had a good write up in our sailing guide. The bar here is made from an old yacht hull, highly varnished and an unusual centrepiece. We drank here with another sailor from the Great Lakes that we had met in Eustatia who was walking along the beach as we approached Elvis' Bar. The bar may have been unique in its style, but it lacked atmosphere and Elvis was obviously having a bad day as he was pretty miserable. Our walk along the Main Street after our drink was rewarded by the sight of Syd-An's Mini Market as we needed to top up on some basics. Unfortunately we were not in need of any macaroni, tins of peas or bottles of pop and our supply of loo rolls is still good. Apart from these items the shelves were empty and there had either just been a rush on basics or she was waiting for a delivery or Mr Syd-An to come back from the Cash and Carry. We have been to Anguilla before and remembered another supermarket at the other end of the bay, so we walked a few hundred metres to it, only to find it was closed and looked as though it would not be opening again in the near future. However all was not in vain as Sarah's phone " discovered" an open wifi system as we walked back along the beach and so much Whatsapping was done. On our return to Stream we were pleased to see turtles swimming around in the bay, something we remembered from our previous visit. We had just tied up the dinghy and were having a cup of tea (no cake!) when we saw a couple from the boat near us trying to retrieve their dinghy which had not been secured properly when they returned t.o their yacht. The man had dived in and was trying to swim back with it against the wind. He was making very slow progress and as he struggled near to their yacht his partner jumped in and started to help. He finally managed to swim to the yacht with the painter in his mouth and tie it back on. I then went and checked Sarah's knots on our painter. The Secret to a good night's sleep - a decent snubber! Now that we are anchoring again Sarah has been quick to identify and then solve a major problem. Taking the load off the anchor chain and the windlass cuts down on the noise as the boat swings on the anchor in the wind and tide. Stopping the grinding of the anchor chain on the bow roller is the job of the snubber. We have always had a perfect snubber, but Darrell had it stolen during the sail down the French coast. This has led to two questions: 1/ How did the thieves manage to unhook the snubber from the anchor when it was set and uncleat it from the boat during the night? 2/ How did Darrell sleep through this theft? Anyway when back in England Darrell had a new snubber made up - a metal hook and a length of rope. So this is the one we have been using. It hooks onto the chain ok and then you lower more anchor chain which should just loop down as the rope takes the strain, here lies the problem. This snubber twists around the anchor chain and doesn't take the strain. Leading to sleepless nights for Sarah as the boat swings and the chain grinds. Notice Darrell sleeps through this unless awoken by Sarah asking nervously;"What was that?" However, we also have a second snubber on board but with only two metres length of rope it's too short to use. Sarah was comparing these as she discussed the problems trying to work out what was going wrong. Finding that the new hook is slightly smaller and is attached straight to the rope. The other has a ring so the hook can move slightly. So a plan was hatched. Attaching the short roped snubber to a longer anchor plait rope with a shackle it gave us a useable length. So to testing in Anguilla and hey presto, the snubber went on perfectly and didn't twist. The anchor chain curved beautifully below the snubber rope, much to Darrell's relief as meant he wasn't being poked and asked "What was that?" And Sarah had a undisturbed night's sleep at last. ( This is also helped by a calm anchorage and Darrell not snoring) |