Saint Barts

With a pleasant forecast of 10-15 knot winds and 3-5 ft. seas we checked out on Saturday 3/21 and sailed out of Marigot bay. All working well now. I still don’t like hydraulic steering, but it is working and the autopilot holds course. Yahoo! We sailed out almost to the Island of Anguilla, made a couple of tacks and sailed into Grand Case. Spent a leisurely afternoon and night.

Next day we sailed around the north end of St. Martin in order to get a good sailing angle to St. Barts. Had a great sail 20 miles direct to, St. Barts. They were having a regatta and we actually sailed in the midst of some of the most spectacular boats in the world as they were racing. Huge machines with all onboard having matching uniforms. We were sailing on port tack as we came through the fleet, so we naturally gave them plenty of space as they sailed past. We anchored in 9 meter of water along with hundreds of boats. We upped anchor and left at 5 pm. We needed to maneuver out past the crowded boats with good light for an overnight sail to Antigua. Winds were forecast for 10-15 knots from the E/NE. Well, they were 15-20 knots from the E/SE, pretty much into our face. Had a couple of squalls and had to put in a reef in the mainsail in the dark. We crashed and smashed all night – Ruth was seasick by morning. It was the usual first night sail hassle, some of the necessary lights worked, some didn’t. The small fridge/freezer quit working. sometime during the night, and refuses to come back to life. Thankfully, the autopilot works well. The wind angle was so crummy that we ended up mostly motor sailing all night, arriving in Jolly Bay the next afternoon. What a delightful place - anchored at the mouth of the shallow sandy bay with only a few others, had a nice evening, and slept like babies in very calm conditions. I think we gonna like this place, and they speak English, well sort of. Jolly Bay is a purpose build resort, similar to Tahoe Keys. Lots of houses on the water with boat docks in a calm protected bay with stores and a golf course. Will head ashore now and find Wifi.