What a trip and if we would have not come into a few storms and needed to alter course, we are confident to say that we could have made it in 50 hours. However let’s start from the beginning!
I got up very early on our day of departure. I did my yoga and went for a last walk up to Sharon’s house for a last hug, cup of tea and a last chat. I was in a very emotional state when I left the boat, but felt much better and stronger when I walked back and I was dearly missed as usual on my return. Sven was annoyed because Eddie had been waiting for us at the big Fish and Sven had to call SV “Vanity” to help him out. However everything worked out in the end, Eddie and Sven went to the immigration to check us out. In the meanwhile I got everything inside the boat secure and ready to leave, did some washing and got it dried before we left the harbor, baked a couple of loaves of bread and prepared the Lasagna for lunch. Then it was time to lift the anchor one last time and we sailed gracefully out of Prickley Bay. One last look back and then we are leaving the Island I learned to love and appreciate. Thank you Grenada for your hospitality you surely have got a lot going for you and I promise I will be back one day.
We were on our way to St. Martin. Grenada stays to our starboard side for a few hours and our sailing journey had a smooth start. Luckily this time we were three adults on the trip so our shifts were 6 hours Sven, 6 hours Eddie and my shift was for two hours between 10 and 12 noon. I was very happy with that order, because the smoothness was about to change and the journey became roly poly and very uncomfortable. Most of the time me and the kids were lying in the master cabin, trying to stay on the bed and not to let loose of our inner organs. I still tried to manage to supply the guys with water and even something to eat, which took quiet an effort. At night we encountered our first storm, luckily it was nearly full moon and so the big waves did not seem to be too intimidating. I had bought a few new movies for Julia and Carlos and luckily Eddie owned an I-phone, so they were both occupied throughout the whole trip. Carlos finished all levels of the game “Angry Bird” and he tried to teach me, but I am too slow and have not the right finger coordination for these kinds of games.
The second storm we encountered in the second night, of course at night what else did we expect! We had to alter our course and had to look for shelter just off the coast of Navis. With a broken anchor winch we tried to avoid anchoring, so we did remember this little bay at the top of Navis that had free mooring balls. We took the mooring ball and crashed for a few hours before heading further towards St. Martin. By the time we continued our journey the wind had died down, but the swell still gave us grief all the way up to St. Martin. Once we left Navis we had a race with time. The last bridge opening was at 5.30 pm that gave us exactly 7 ½ hours for 65 Nautical miles to sail to St. Martin. We wanted to avoid staying outside of Simpson Bay, because after all our effort we did not want to drop the anchor right in front of the doorstep of our destination. What can I say; we made it and even had 5 minutes to spare to really inhale our success of making this sailing tripa in such glory of time.
I got up very early on our day of departure. I did my yoga and went for a last walk up to Sharon’s house for a last hug, cup of tea and a last chat. I was in a very emotional state when I left the boat, but felt much better and stronger when I walked back and I was dearly missed as usual on my return. Sven was annoyed because Eddie had been waiting for us at the big Fish and Sven had to call SV “Vanity” to help him out. However everything worked out in the end, Eddie and Sven went to the immigration to check us out. In the meanwhile I got everything inside the boat secure and ready to leave, did some washing and got it dried before we left the harbor, baked a couple of loaves of bread and prepared the Lasagna for lunch. Then it was time to lift the anchor one last time and we sailed gracefully out of Prickley Bay. One last look back and then we are leaving the Island I learned to love and appreciate. Thank you Grenada for your hospitality you surely have got a lot going for you and I promise I will be back one day.
We were on our way to St. Martin. Grenada stays to our starboard side for a few hours and our sailing journey had a smooth start. Luckily this time we were three adults on the trip so our shifts were 6 hours Sven, 6 hours Eddie and my shift was for two hours between 10 and 12 noon. I was very happy with that order, because the smoothness was about to change and the journey became roly poly and very uncomfortable. Most of the time me and the kids were lying in the master cabin, trying to stay on the bed and not to let loose of our inner organs. I still tried to manage to supply the guys with water and even something to eat, which took quiet an effort. At night we encountered our first storm, luckily it was nearly full moon and so the big waves did not seem to be too intimidating. I had bought a few new movies for Julia and Carlos and luckily Eddie owned an I-phone, so they were both occupied throughout the whole trip. Carlos finished all levels of the game “Angry Bird” and he tried to teach me, but I am too slow and have not the right finger coordination for these kinds of games.
The second storm we encountered in the second night, of course at night what else did we expect! We had to alter our course and had to look for shelter just off the coast of Navis. With a broken anchor winch we tried to avoid anchoring, so we did remember this little bay at the top of Navis that had free mooring balls. We took the mooring ball and crashed for a few hours before heading further towards St. Martin. By the time we continued our journey the wind had died down, but the swell still gave us grief all the way up to St. Martin. Once we left Navis we had a race with time. The last bridge opening was at 5.30 pm that gave us exactly 7 ½ hours for 65 Nautical miles to sail to St. Martin. We wanted to avoid staying outside of Simpson Bay, because after all our effort we did not want to drop the anchor right in front of the doorstep of our destination. What can I say; we made it and even had 5 minutes to spare to really inhale our success of making this sailing tripa in such glory of time.
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