Night
Usually, the St. Pierre roadstead anchorage is settled. Not at the moment, waves are wrapping around from the south. And they are making all of the boats rock around. And to exacerbate things, the light wind is coming from all directions, spinning us around as well.
I didn’t sleep through the night, and from about 3 AM onwards, a light rain settled in that lasted until mid-morning.
Morning
However, Starlink is working well, and I’ve been logged into the office for a couple of hours. I’ve adjusted my coffee grinder and pouring method, but this Martinique coffee remains bitter. Upon reading the small print on the package, I think I’ve found the cause. The only thing “local” about this coffee is that it was roasted (badly) in Martinique. Since the coffee sources aren’t listed, I’m assuming that they are cheap Robusta beans from Brazil, which explains the taste. It’s almost worth going back to the Nescafe!
I’ve checked the weather forecast for the St. Pierre roadstead anchorage, and the rains are forecast to stop this morning. The cloud cover will remain for a couple of days. The southern swell causing me discomfort will continue to get worse until noon, then drop off to less than that from last night. I’ll be remaining here for the rest of the day and night and departing early tomorrow morning.
The anchor chain has been sitting in the locker for months. Unsurprisingly, it needed to shake off the thin layer of rust upon first deployment. Despite galvanization, it still rusts.
Noon
It’s hot down here belowdecks. The sun is out, and the wind has died. The fan isn’t quite keeping up with my demands for cooling air. Regardless of my discomfort, I’ve got some work to finish before I can cool off with a swim.
My line helper yesterday threw the line onto my AIS antenna and ripped it away. Therefore, I’m only broadcasting and receiving at a very short distance until I get a replacement part in Antigua.
The rolling has gotten worse; my empty glass of water just fell over from the motion. But I’m optimistic that the forecast is correct and that the rolling energy will get less as the day goes on.
Early Afternoon
I cooled off with a nice swim (my first of the season!) and coupled that with a round of barnacle-scraping along the hull. I’m amazed at how much growth has happened in a mere couple of weeks.
During my swim, I checked on the anchor. I anchored in 30 feet yesterday and let out chain until I was about a boat’s length from the one behind me. It turned out that I didn’t have as much scope as I would like. Even though the winds are less than 10 knots here, I don’t feel comfortable with using that minimum amount of chain. So, I re-anchored further away, also in 30 feet. This time, I let out an additional 60 feet of chain. When I checked the depth, it was 80 feet! It drops off very quickly.
Good news on the swell situation here in the St. Pierre roadstead; it has indeed started to subside.
I had an early dinner of 2 Merguez sausages on the BBQ and am going to bed early as well. Hopefully to an undisturbed night of sleep.