I’m up at 7 AM this morning and am disconcerted. I’ve been feeling fine since I stopped the antibiotics but this morning I have a bit of a stomach ache and am worried that this might be a precursor to getting a re-infection. My plans are still to clear out of St. Martin today and head to St. Barths and thence to Saba (weather permitting) and St. Kitts & Nevis but I really would prefer not to do a repeat of the previous visit! Perhaps it is just that, a bit of stomach ache, and it will clear up quickly.
After catching up on e-mail at the yacht club, I cleared out of the Dutch side with destination St. Barths. I was surprised to be hit with another $40 charge; it turns out that the anchorage outside Simpson Bay costs, and one pays for one week at a time and I’d stayed just longer than a week so was hit with another charge. They really do get you coming and going on the Dutch side, plus each time one goes through the bridge they get another $12 from me (luckily, I didn’t use the bridge).
I sailed towards Île Fourchue with Katzenellenbogen but after about 30 minutes I realized that I’d lost my dinghy and turned around to search for it. I’d cleated it short this time rather than use a long tether and hadn’t cleated it correctly and the force must have pulled it loose. I used the binoculars to search for it and finally saw it over a mile ahead and drifting sedately out towards the BVI. I dropped sail, grabbed the line with my boat hook and was soon underway sailing again, but I’d lost close to an hour and never made it up so Katzenellenbogen arrived an hour before me at the anchorage. The winds were light and there was no real swell so the sail was fun, under full sails I did between 5 and 8 knots but the last mile I turned on the engine because I would have had to tack at least twice to get to the island. I was met in the anchorage by Stephen on his dinghy and he helped me snag the last available mooring ball.
Soon the two younguns came over and the three of us went diving at my favorite site. We had a good and long 55 minute dive and saw a lot of different wildlife on the way. Afterwards I was invited aboard the boat and brought some of the Merguez sausage I’d gotten in St. Martin and shortly after 9 PM I was back aboard, sated and tired and struggling to stay awake until a decent hour, but I didn’t make it very long and was soon asleep.
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