I slept the longest I have since arriving here – all the way to 8am and only woke up once from a back twinge; probably a combination of exhaustion from the passage and from my back recuperating a bit. The passage was tiring since, due to the tailbone pain, I couldn’t really lie down in my customary positions in the cockpit and even sitting wasn’t really comfortable since the boat was moving about so much.
At 9am I weighed anchor and motored into Marigot, anchoring close to the ferry dock and my fathometer read 0 feet (although I didn’t touch bottom. I spoke to the boat behind me and told them I was just clearing in and would be gone in an hour since I was most likely positioned right over their anchor. I got a vague response and realized that they hadn’t understood my French since their boat was flying an American flag, so I repeated my apologies in English and I dinghied in with notebook, camera and boat papers in the backpack. I had thought that the Capitainerie was open until noon on Sunday but evidently they were closed since the door was locked and the shutters down. I returned to the boat with a short pit-stop at La Sucrière for a croissant and coffee but didn’t remain long as their internet was down for the day.
As a north swell was forecast for the next days my anchoring position was good, but if any significant swell made it past the marina my depth of 0 feet beneath the keel at low tide was going to risk me banging into the bottom with a big swell, and I know it sometimes does make around that marina breakwater so I lifted the anchor again and looked about Marigot for a better position that was both protected from a long north swell and had at least 3-4 feet beneath the keel. The only spots left open were waaaay outside so I thought that I’d motor back to Grand Case, anchor there and prepare a kedge anchor in preparation for any significant waves. A kedge anchor is set off the stern so that the boat is always at the same angle, either to the wind, the current, or as I wanted to the incoming swell. With the kedge anchor set the boat wouldn’t swing around in the wind and present itself broadside to the waves but keep the bow set firmly in the wave direction. The means that the boat would bob when waves go past (not too badly with long 57 feet of waterline length) instead of rolling uncomfortably when hit from the side by incoming long-swell waves.
I set up the kedge anchor (A Fortress 16 marine anchor) which was still in the original packaging and after bolting it together and attaching chain and some rode I set it in preparation for the rolling that night. Unfortunately I set it at a wrong angle and too close to the boat so it wouldn’t work but fortunately the swell did not set in as I’d expected so all was well for the evening.
I opted not to go ashore tonight and made some dinner, including garlic bread with the rest of the baguette, and then read a book for the rest of the evening.
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