After a crazy morning, we enjoyed a really nice sail day! I took the helm since Matt swam to shore to remove our stern line and Wayne got us off our bridle and anchor. Luckily, I changed to my suit, lathered up sunscreen and grabbed my jacket before too long as it was brisk without the sun and the very frequent ocean sprays created chills. We ran the engines until after dawn and then enjoyed good winds and some big rollers. It will probably be our last big sail opportunity as we are heading up island/wind the rest of the trip so I am glad I was able to helm. I felt so bad for Beny at our last stop as he worked hard to help us secure our med mooring and we were not able to pay him–so we will have to go back and pay him in April when we return. The other unfortunate thing is Charlie eluded us yet again and we are low on food. Luckily we re going to port.
We arrived in Souffiere and to our amazement there were no mooring balls and no anchoring is allowed. So we dropped Matt off in the dingy and Wayne and I circled the marina watching all of the crazy boat traffic, charters, and day trip boats come and go. After Matt returned we headed the short distance to the Pitons and again encountered a lack of mooring balls, but some nice young boat boys told us the rangers were working on a new ball. We anchored for a few hours and watched the giant yachts come in as the new ball was put in place. We have seen some huge yachts before but not this big or close–it’s high season.
As you might recall from last year, this is the same place where a rather large mono came down on us taking with it the mooring that did not hold. So we tested our new ball with 2k per engine and she seems to hold.
A lovely boat boy sold us some fresh avocados, tomatoes and bananas! I love the avocados here as they are as large as a cantelope and so yummy!!!
With such an early morning we all sort of petered out early. It is black outside and the stars are aging bright! We confirmed our arrival in Rodney bay and scheduled a walk hru for work. The boys are asleep and I am enjoying some me time.