Ahh, a miserable day in paradise. At about 5am the waves started moving in and I had to get up and tie things down inside the boat so they wouldn’t bounce and roll. The waves are coming from the northwest (the unprotected direction) and are 3.3m or 12 feet and the wind has died down so that the boat lies side-on at anchor and rolls instead of bobs in the waves. I have to return the rental car but have dinghied to the dock twice now and realize that it just isn’t possible and I’ll have to figure out some way to contact the rental company and extend the rental (while the car rests in the parking lot).
At 11:00 I gave it one more go, using about 100′ of line on a small dinghy anchor with my dive weights tied on for more weight. This stern anchor should hold me off the dock and my line from the front keeps me attached to the dock (which is still occasionally underwater from passing waves). I got ashore dry and hurried to return the car before my makeshift dinghy arrangement failed in some way; but that took a bit longer than expected and when I got back to the dock the dinghy was still there but starting to rub against the concrete so it was high time to get back to the boat.
I’ve been aboard all day as getting ashore is going to be difficult, at best. The boat is still rocking back and forth, I even had to loosen the oven while cooking so that the pan didn’t slide all around. According to WindGuru I’ve got to get past this night and then things will settle down once again but I hope to get out of here early tomorrow and to clear out of St. Martin for the BVI, at least until next Tuesday or Wednesday when I need to return to here in order to pick up my next guests.
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