The Bight 
Norman Island
18.18.971N
64.37.001W
The high winds that we were expecting yesterday afternoon and last night really didn’t hit until today. They were howling through the anchorage this morning so we took our time leaving. We had given some thought to hanging around for another day but listening to “Chris” on the SSB for weather, showed a developing window for crossing the Anagada Passage this weekend. We dinked over to Orpailleur, compared notes and decided to make our way over to Norman Island and “The Willy T” for today’s adventure which would start us making progress to Virgin Gorda to our jump off point.
We continued over to Exit Strategy and said our good-bys to Doris & Tom, who gave us a the name of a good wine store on the French side of St. Martin for Orpailleur to stock up. Then we headed back to the Palace and made preparations for a windy transit back the way we had come yesterday.
We dropped our mooring about 10am and motored around the rocky prominence that protected Lameshur Bay. With winds ranging from 10-20 kts, we unfurled the jib and sailed a respectable 4 and 5 kts until we tried to go around Ram’s Head on St. John and needed to pinch a bit higher. Although we had 20+ kts at times, we rarely got above 4 kts over ground and usually were doing about 2-3. You can’t get anywhere like that so we unfurled the main as well. This allowed us to point a little better but still we rarely got above 5 kts.
A dark cloud over Norman Island prompted us to furl in both sails and turn on the ‘iron genny,’ shortly after the really high gusts hit us. A few minutes after that a little squall hit just as we were passing between ‘The Indians’ and ‘The Caves’. We slowed to 1.5 kts and turned on the radar overlay on our chart plotter. It looked like a wall of water passing overhead but with the help of electronics we stayed squarely in the water between the hard spots and waited out the wind and rain which obscured all visibility. Surprisingly, once the rain passed a white fog was left for a short while but we were still able to see our way into the anchorage and grab a mooring.
It was only a short time before the sun came out and Gerry suggested lunch at Pirate’s Bight, a restaurant that we’ve never been to before. It had a great little dinghy dock and good food, though once again, a bit pricey. Even the mooring fees have gone up to $25/night. Being a popular place, I guess they can charge whatever they want.
We made reservations at the Willy T for dinner and headed back to the Palace just as the wind started picking up again. We watched the ‘mooring dance’ (very similar to the anchor dance) as committees formed on bows of boats ranging from 2-6 persons and each giving different hand signals to the helmsman as to which direction to steer to best capture the bobbing mooring ball. It was great entertainment for a rainy afternoon. Another squall passed through but this time we were safely inside the anchorage and needed only to close the hatches and go below for snore o’clock.
Norman Island
18.18.971N
64.37.001W
The high winds that we were expecting yesterday afternoon and last night really didn’t hit until today. They were howling through the anchorage this morning so we took our time leaving. We had given some thought to hanging around for another day but listening to “Chris” on the SSB for weather, showed a developing window for crossing the Anagada Passage this weekend. We dinked over to Orpailleur, compared notes and decided to make our way over to Norman Island and “The Willy T” for today’s adventure which would start us making progress to Virgin Gorda to our jump off point.
We continued over to Exit Strategy and said our good-bys to Doris & Tom, who gave us a the name of a good wine store on the French side of St. Martin for Orpailleur to stock up. Then we headed back to the Palace and made preparations for a windy transit back the way we had come yesterday.
We dropped our mooring about 10am and motored around the rocky prominence that protected Lameshur Bay. With winds ranging from 10-20 kts, we unfurled the jib and sailed a respectable 4 and 5 kts until we tried to go around Ram’s Head on St. John and needed to pinch a bit higher. Although we had 20+ kts at times, we rarely got above 4 kts over ground and usually were doing about 2-3. You can’t get anywhere like that so we unfurled the main as well. This allowed us to point a little better but still we rarely got above 5 kts.
A dark cloud over Norman Island prompted us to furl in both sails and turn on the ‘iron genny,’ shortly after the really high gusts hit us. A few minutes after that a little squall hit just as we were passing between ‘The Indians’ and ‘The Caves’. We slowed to 1.5 kts and turned on the radar overlay on our chart plotter. It looked like a wall of water passing overhead but with the help of electronics we stayed squarely in the water between the hard spots and waited out the wind and rain which obscured all visibility. Surprisingly, once the rain passed a white fog was left for a short while but we were still able to see our way into the anchorage and grab a mooring.
It was only a short time before the sun came out and Gerry suggested lunch at Pirate’s Bight, a restaurant that we’ve never been to before. It had a great little dinghy dock and good food, though once again, a bit pricey. Even the mooring fees have gone up to $25/night. Being a popular place, I guess they can charge whatever they want.
We made reservations at the Willy T for dinner and headed back to the Palace just as the wind started picking up again. We watched the ‘mooring dance’ (very similar to the anchor dance) as committees formed on bows of boats ranging from 2-6 persons and each giving different hand signals to the helmsman as to which direction to steer to best capture the bobbing mooring ball. It was great entertainment for a rainy afternoon. Another squall passed through but this time we were safely inside the anchorage and needed only to close the hatches and go below for snore o’clock.
No comments:
Post a Comment