Today we did our sail to St. Kitts. The plans were not firm, as Sandra hadn’t been keen on the 8-hour passage in open seas.
Our alternate plan was to sail back to St. Martin via Ile Fourchue and Ile Tintamarre. But upon awakening she felt up to the journey and after the obligatory morning coffee we prepared to leave.
Everything belowdecks that could fall was stowed or placed where it would eventually fall. There were rainclouds all around and at first I wanted to wait until the showers had passed, then realized that more were coming behind and that there was no reason to delay departure.
We cast off our lines at around 08:30 and set 1 reef in both sails upon exiting Anse Colombier. We sailed past the collected megayachts outside of Gustavia and pointed the bow at the distant outline of St. Kitts.
As with most passages, there isn’t all too much exciting to depict during the sail to St. Kitts. We managed to sail between the passing showers and only got wet as we turned around the tip of St. Kitts. As Zanshin‘s hull is still quite dirty the sail was 1-2 knots slower than normal so my guestimate of arrival time in Basseterre was off.
Basseterre
The sail to St. Kitts ended in Basseterre. There were two large cruise ships at the dock when we came into the anchorage. It is an open roadstead and can get very rolly. Only a few of catamarans and monohulls were anchored out and we joined them. We’d read online that the C&I is open until 19:00. But I’d also read that they were closed on weekends. Or closed at 17:00. Since we didn’t know for sure, we hurried and it was about 16:30 when we reached the dinghy dock.
The customs office was in the marina, and since I’d done the online registration it took less than 5 minutes to complete that part of the process. Then we walked to the cruise ship pier where immigration and port authority is located. Immigration was also fast, as they, too, had our information from the online form. But there was nobody at the Port Authority office. I think that the official was on the dock as one of the cruise ships left as I spent over a half-hour waiting. But once the officer returned he processed my form, took my $13 and we were cleared in. One advantage was that we were also cleared out at the same time; so we can return to St. Martin without having to go back.
White House Bay
Upon completing formalities we zipped back to Zanshin and within minutes were off at full sail and full speed (5-8 knots, because of my engine issues) towards our final destination at White House Bay. We made it there after sunset, but still in sufficient light to find a good anchoring spot amongst the ~10 boats there.
The anchor was wonderfully calm and protected and we downed the last of our beers before deciding upon dinner.
That turned out to be some Edamame as an appetizer and then some spicy Merguez sausages with rice. Accompanied by Rioja and after the sea passage it made a fittingly simple end to the day.