In search of the Oracle

Dropped our stinky trash, raised anchor, and opened up the jib in search of the oracle of goats. Down wind for a short 3 mile run to a “new to us” island, Ile Fourchue. We scored the last mooring. The goats were the last inhabitants of this private island, they ate themselves all the vegetation, which is only now starting to come back, but it was a delightful place to stop. Away from everything, not even cell service was abound and the boats that were there too were spaced out and well behaved. well most of them. Some of the day charter boats come in and are loud and pick up the moorings like they own the place. At least in here and in Columbier we did see dive crews working/inspecting the moorings and anytime a 60+ footer picked up a mooring they would remind them that they were too big and asked them to move off the mooring ball. Snorkeled a bit on the suggested dive sites, was a bit silty with the wave directions and not a whole lot to see, but we tried a couple of places. Friends were more successful spotting a nurse shark under a ledge, but another relaxing day – tho the mountains were calling.

I got this

Entertainment was watching the “Moorings” boats come in, as it is the first stop to try and to find a comfortable place to anchor or stop for the evening. The charter boats do not have marks on the anchor chain, so you don’t know how much chain you have out, or how well it will hold. Most charters are not normally used to anchoring out either so its always entertaining. One particularly good show was a moorings boat number 1 came in, with a pretty good crew with the understanding of trying to count the chain as it goes down, select a nice spot and get a good hook. Then a hour later another moorings boat comes in number 2 and anchors on top of number 1. Number 1 lets it ride till it starts to get late and realizes number 2 is staying. Number 1 picks up and moves, this time takes 3 times to get a comfortable hook for them. Then number 2 decides to move as well, and moves into the spot where number 1 had been all along. Oh well. The best show was when an almost 50 foot monohull comes in just before dark, and tried to anchor but doesn’t get the anchor to go down, and gets “looks” and “bitch arms” (you know when you put your hands on your hips and get in the fighting stance) from already moored boats as they were too close. I was one of the ones who thought they were too close. They tried over 3 times to anchor before they decided to try to pick up a mooring ball. I kept an eye on them for a while watching as they attempted 6 times to pick up the last remaining mooring ball in the anchorage. I thought, did Moorings checked out the captain’s credentials? Oh well, dropped the dinghy and went over to help them in, just barked orders as to what they needed to do and was able to get them safely on the ball for the night.

Sun rise over the ravines

Squalls at night and we spun around our mooring a few times, and some gusty winds in the valleys between the peaks a good reason to have the boats spread out in that anchorage.

We were up early and had saw another boat dinghy to shore and find a trail to hike on, so we had breakfast and followed along. They were from Canada and made it to the center valley and we wanted to make it to the peak.

Known for stickers and rocks we actually took shoes on this hike. Some thing really strange about wearing shoes for the first time in months, but definitely came in handy on some slippery rocks.

We hiked to one of the tallest points, using both hands and feets to get over some of the slippery vertical sections. Rewarded with some good views and serious gusts of wind we were still hanging on or sitting down when on the top of the peak. Made it back down and over a few more peaks for fun, took a few pictures and it was about time to head back to Saint Marten. Not sure where we were heading we heard from our fiends on the VHF that the southside was a bit rolly and they were heading the french side – we opted for an around the north side of the island run which was a downwind, in just enough breeze to run on the jib alone for what turned out to be an 18 mile run. We had some decent sun on the solar so we were also making water and just taking an slow run to somewhere.