Wet and windy Union Island

ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Thu 12 Feb 2009 16:18
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