We sail from Five Island Bay to Nevis.

We set off for Nevis as soon as we awoke, about 7am.

The sun had just risen. We were still the only people in this huge bay and we slipped quietly away.

What a great downwind sail.

The sail was almost straight west and the wind from coming almost from straight East and we would be sailing for about 5 hours – a perfect time to rig up the whisker pole again.  Setting up the pole with all the up haul and down haul lines ended up being quite quick and easy.

The wind averaged around 14 or 15 apparent so the boat slipped along at an easy 7-8 knots.

It was quite surprising that the only boat we came near to along the whole sail was 98 foot sail boat on it’s way to St Barts (based on it’s course) – it was skimming along at 10.8 knots.

As soon as we turned northward along the lee side of Nevis you could feel the drop in wind. Luckily because we were now on a beam reach the boat still kept up respectable 5 knots despite the less wind.

The boat hook decides to go it’s own way!

We headed about half way up the island to anchor at the Island’s capital of Charlestown mid afternoon. Actually we didn’t anchor because you are not allowed to anchor around Nevis unless you are very large and then you have to anchor quite far out from the coast.

You have to use their mooring buoys.

It’s always a worry using mooring buoys because you have to hope that they are strong enough or haven’t rusted ‘almost’ through.

Nevis is quite formal. You have to use yellow buoys before you are admitted into the country and then move once you are admitted to white ones further up the bay. When we arrived at the government offices – they were all closed until the next morning and so we attempted to attach ourselves to a yellow buoy.

The first attempt was smack on!

It’s just that our boat didn’t stop and pulled the boat hook out from my hands and it splashed into the water!

Grrr..

Nothing for it but to go around again.

Find the boathook.

Somehow grab it and get it back on board.

Okay, so we went around about three times – but we did retrieve it!

The next attempt was perfection. The boat stopped exactly by the buoy. The floating line was retrieved onto our deck ready for our line to be attached to it.

The amazing rubber tubing.

Since our last time that we had to moor to a buoy we have purchased a VERY BIG and VERY TOUGH black rubber hose – the sort used for engines. By feeding our mooring line through the rubber tube we seem to have avoided all scuffing of our line around the anchor and if the anchor line attempts to get it self hooked behind the anchor the tough rubber tube takes all the scuff without any hassle.

We were quickly attached to the mooring buoy securely.

Hey! But why not be certain. We attached another line as well ‘loosely’ just in case.

AND.

Just to be certain we set the alarm clock for 3 hourly intervals so we could check on  the suitability of the new addition.

Hey, move to the beat man!

We would have slept soundly that night if it hadn’t been for the 3 hourly watches AND the disco sounds coming from a bar in the town!

We should have paid more attention to the disco sounds as we moored.

It being the start of the weekend and 2pm in the afternoon one has to bop to the beat – until midnight!

BOP BOP BOOM BOOM BOOM HEY! HEY!  ..all night long.

Still, we’ll get checked in first thing in the morning and move along the beach a mile nearer the flashy Four Seasons Hotel.

Yep! It’s island time!

We had arrived at the dingy dock to be in good time for the opening of the various government offices at 9am for our checking-in.

Just a few weeks ago our RIB was tampered with in an attempted theft, we think. So we were a little perturbed to see the sign on the dingy dock telling us that the locking of dinghies was prohibited. An official also reminded us of that as he saw me attempt to lock mine up. 

OK, you caught me - fingers crossed.

We waited for the offices to open – and waited.

Finally at 9.30am the customs official arrived.  Hey! No problem for us, we are on holiday!

It was all very easy – particularly now that all these governments use the power of the internet to remember where you were last, details about the boat and details about the crew. Still, an awful lot of paper, stamping and signing seemed to be going on.

White buoys can be much nastier than yellow buoys!

All checked in - Off we went in search of peace, sandy beaches, palm trees and WHITE buoys.

As the Four Seasons Hotel planted more palm trees from Florida during construction they also introduced a bug. The bug promptly went ahead and diseased all the other palm trees along the beach. Now the remaining palm trees have to be regularly treated to keep them alive. The Four Seasons Hotel sorted their own trees.

Palm trees might have been scarce but white buoys were not.

This area was beautiful.

Just as the postcards show a Caribbean beach to be like.

We were in good company. Two mega yacht must have noticed us and decided to anchor in this bay as well.

 We easily found a suitable white buoy and aimed straight for it.

I grabbed the floating mooring line being careful not to loose the book hook. But I forgot to let go of the rope when the boat didn’t stop in time. (Hey! When you actually grab the line you don’t really want to let go, right!).

We easily attached ourselves to the floating line. That’s when I noticed the blood streaming from both my hands.

OUCH! These floating lines are home to lots of nasty shell like things with VERY sharp edges. They cut like razor blades!

BOOM BOOM BOOM

At 8pm the disco started. 

At 9pm the other disco started.

The other disco in the town had already started but that was drowned out by the two nearer ones.

THEY HIT THE BEAT until 5am!

The only other place we have heard such a noise was in Bodrum, Turkey – known for hen parties and Hooray Henrys. All night long.

We have since heard that the discos are actually not for tourists but for the local hip happening people that need to party at the weekend.

There is just no way we could ever anchor along this beach ever again – it’s just not worth it.

“Sam” of Cinderella III

Bleary eyed on Sunday morning we took the RIB over to the dingy dock to find ‘Sam’ the taxi driver that offered to take us on a tour of the hot spots of the island.

Sam was there ready to meet us…