Interminable Night
My miserable trip to Falmouth began the previous evening. I wanted to leave at first light and went to sleep early. It was calm in the typically windy anchorage, and the boat rocked me gently to sleep. By 23:00, that rocking had gotten much stronger, and the boat was creaking as it corkscrewed in the swell. I inserted the earplugs and went back to sleep. At 12:30, the slamming of waves on the stern was too much for me, and I packed up my sheets and pillow and went forward. But the hull was vibrating even that far forward, and my sleep was fitful.
Then, at around 03:00, I realized that the rolling was bad and went topsides. A very big swell had set in. The big steel trawler next to me was not on my other side with all the lights on and rolling very badly. Its dinghy was zipping around the boat as well. I don’t know how they got there, whether they dragged the anchor or relocated. The mega yacht “Sorceress” next to me was gone, and I saw them outside the anchorage. Perhaps they re-anchored as well. I turned on the lights and instruments and started the engine. The rolling was so bad that I had to crawl on the deck to get to the anchor. Once the chain was in and the anchor up, I departed the anchorage.
Passage
It was a miserable trip to Falmouth. The first hour, I motored and held a careful lookout for fish pots. Once the bottom dropped, I determined that the wind was directly ahead at 15 knots and the seas were large and lumpy. I could only make about 3-4 knots under engine, as anything faster would have me slamming. I set shortened sails and tacked upwind.
This gave me 4 knots VMG but was far more comfortable. This passage is usually among the fastest ones in the Caribbean for me, often, I get 8 knots or more. But the normal quick trip turned into more than 12 hours in unsettled conditions.
Arrival in Falmouth
The prevailing winds are at 90 degrees to today’s winds, so finding a good anchoring spot proved difficult. My first choice was off Pigeon Beach in good sand, but I ended up a bit close to a catamaran and was also in danger of swinging into the channel when winds shifted back to normal.
My second and third attempts failed because I could feel the anchor bounce off the rocky/coral bottom and not get a grip. The fourth attempt was successful – at least so far.
It is now too late to clear in at Customs & Immigration, so I’ll do that tomorrow morning.