Shifty winds and waves in Simpson Bay made for a less than stellar night aboard. I awoke at 2AM to rolling and went topsides to see the masts of all the monohulls swing. Even the catamaran masts were moving about. The wind had died and shifted by 30 degrees and that put us broadside on to the incoming waves. Oh well, earplugs and fan to provide white noise to the creaking and waves slapping on the stern.
Morning
I’ve got a full week of work ahead of me at the office and on the boat. Getting started early, I went through and responded to the collected e-mails and started doing some development work.
I’m now somewhat convinced that my saltwater leak, a very slow one, only happens when I run the watermaker. What is odd is that the watermaker intake, low pressure, and high pressure pumps are all on the starboard side of the boat. Yet the saltwater leak drips into the bilge on the port side. The freshwater leak, on the other hand, enters on the starboard side and I’m almost certain that it is coming from the washing machine connections. As can be expected, those are almost impossible to reach and will require some disassembly to access.
Noon
We had a bit of excitement leading up to the 12 o’clock bridge opening. The yacht Prana was waiting at the front of the line with several large yacht lined up behind her. These are the racers from the Bucket in St. Barths returning. Suddenly she dropped her anchor in the middle of the channel and the other boats swerved around her and entered while she drifted back on her chain until she was very close to my position. I thought they might have lost propulsion and figured out my escape.
This was made more difficult by another boat ahead of me anchored over my chain/anchor – and nobody aboard.
We never swung closer than 50 feet and the strong winds kept us well-separated.
They did lower the aft section and I saw someone without a uniform on and noticeably older than the crew get on board the tender. I am now assuming that they could have made the bridge, but that would have delayed the owner/guest from leaving on time. They’ll most likely take the 3PM inbound bridge.
It is 14:40 now and Prana hasn’t budged yet, although they have retracted the stern platform. I don’t see any movement on deck, either. And they’ve changed their AIS to read “at anchor” but haven’t hoisted their day shape! At 15:00 sharp they weighed anchor, first some other big boys went through but they are now catching up and will enter lagoon.
Afternoon
Despite the shifty winds and waves in Simpson Bay I had a very long work day and was happy to grab a quick shower at 16:30 and go ashore for the last bridge opening.
Afterward I headed to the Soggy Dollar Bar, which has the cheapest happy-hour drinks on the island. I didn’t stay long, but ended up going to dinner across the road at Beirut with a fellow sailor from Switzerland. That was my first time there and the food was excellent.