Sunrise
I woke up shortly before sunrise and made a cup of coffee to get the ticker going. By the time the sun was rising I had gotten my anchor ball day shape taken down and the boom preventer was removed as well. One more cup of coffee from the Aeropress later and I was underway under engine power, as the winds were very light.
The weather was overcast with dark stratus clouds over Martinique promising rain later on in the day. That rain didn’t materialize over Zanshin, so the salt from the passage wasn’t going to be washed away.
Morning
The winds picked up once I cleared the headland of Martinique. Zanshin got going, with two reefs in both sails I was doing a comfortable 8 knots and I was making plans for what to do upon arrival in Antigua after a fast passage. The channel between Martinique and Dominica and the channel between Dominica and Guadeloupe are known for rough seas and strong winds but this was to my advantage today. The weather forecast was for light winds, so the extra boost gave me great speed with a perfect close hauled sail.
I could have gone faster, but that would have meant more heel to the boat and the extra 1-2 knots weren’t worth the loss in comfort.
I soon had the passage behind me and found myself in a dead wind area in the lee of Dominica, so I turned on the engine and furled the sails.
Noon and afternoon
bout halfway up the Dominican coast the winds picked up again and I motorsailed until I passed Portsmouth in the north. Then I had clean air again and really got going. I had those same two reefs in the sails and flew across the passage to the Iles des Saintes and from there to the southern tip of Guadeloupe.
As always, there is a visible demarcation line in the water where the wind is blocked off by the mass of Guadeloupe. The wind goes from 15-20 knots to 0 in the space of a few meters! I let the momentum of Zanshin keep the boat on course as I furled the genoa and mainsail and then motored for then next 2 hours. During this time the sun set and I caught the briefest glimpse of the green flash but my camera, alas, did not.
Evening
The winds picked up again so I let out my sails, but they were very light and from the wrong direction so I motorsailed. Had I gone 3-5 miles offshore the normal trades would have resumed, but I was comfortable in the smooth conditions close to shore and with the engine ticking along to help the sails I wasn’t using much fuel. Before dark I was close to shore as I could watch out for fish traps. After dark I stayed far enough offshore to be “off soundings” and avoid the traps, although there are “FAD”s (fish attraction devices) which are essentially just floating shaded areas around which fish (both prey and predators) congregate.
I calculated that I’d reach Falmouth in Antigua before sunrise and didn’t want to intentionally slow down my passage speed or enter the harbour in the dark. So I chose to enter the anchorage of Deshaies at night and anchor there for some rest and sleep and depart for Antigua sometime in the morning. There were two sailing megayachts anchored far outside but I snuck between them using my radar and eyes to locate any unlit anchored vessels. I wondered at how far the brightly lit masts of the two big boats were swaying until I saw that the many sailboats in the anchorage that were close to my size were rocking and rolling even more! But I’d made my choice, so I anchored in 70 feet of deep water and regretted my choice immediately. Although there was hardly and wind, I recalled seeing a ground swell from the north with a 12 second interval in the forecast. Long interval means lots of energy and most anchorages in the Caribbean are not protected from that direction. Deshaies is protected but when a north swell arrives it curls around the headland and makes life miserable in the anchorage.
I heated up some of my meat sauce and found some tortilla chips that had been left by my guests and made a hot meal. Zanshin was rolling heavily, the bowl slid around the table and I had to hold it down. I couldn’t walk around the boat but had to hold on to things. I was tired so fell asleep on the bed, using what I call my “starfish” position to keep from getting rolled out of bed.