Morning
The winds came back a little overnight and for some reason I didn’t sleep all that well, waking up several times and with wild dreams. Perhaps it was the fine, but heavy, meal at the Tap & Still the night before.
I puttered about until 08:20 when I went up top and realized that the first outbound bridge would be in 10 minutes. Since there was no reason to stay inside the lagoon any longer, I turned on the instruments and fired up the engine. The anchor was soon lifted, and I joined the queue of boats waiting to exit.
The passage through the open bridge was uneventful and within minutes I was re-anchored outside the lagoon. I’m now finishing my second coffee of the day and will then head ashore to clear out. I’ve already done my Antigua arrival pre-notification using the e-sea-clear system.
Clearing Out
I dinghied into the police station / immigration & customs building at the bridge and saw only one person ahead of me in line. Then I saw not one, but two stacks of passports that were about a foot high each and I knew that this might take a while. After about 10 minutes a second immigration officer showed up and processed me, otherwise I would still have been waiting an hour later. As I departed, I asked the agent with all the passports which ship was that big – since there was nothing approaching that size either inside or outside the lagoon. He said it was a big ship in Philipsburg, a 400 foot one; that explains all those crew passports.
Noon
I’ve removed and stowed all the solar panels in preparation for the trip to Antigua. The winds are now up a bit, and it promises to be a good passage even though the direction could be better (more northerly makes for a better wind-angle). I think I’ll go to St. Barths tonight and then depart there at dawn tomorrow morning.
I’ve got the dinghy on a long leash and garage door closed. Some showers have passed overhead, and I’ve been delaying departing until the weather is a bit better; but there’s really no reason for me to stay here. It is 13:00 now, and the trip to St. Barths is going to be about 3 hours or less.
Off to St. Barths
The wind was a bit stronger than forecast so I didn’t have to motorsail; but the wind direction made for sailing very close to the wind without pinching. Anse Colombier was quite crowded, so I had to anchor further out, and it was rolly out there.