Today is passage preparation day. The winds have settled and I hope that I’ll have a good passage across to St. Martin. In the morning I was doing my e-mails when the Sunsail boat next to me started to weigh anchor, I fired up my engine and moved aside and as they were leaving I realized that they were probably doing the same thing as myself – waiting for the St. Martin weather window to open up. The two people aboard were much younger than the usual suspects aboard a charter vessel and the fact that they had hung around one spot without moving was indeed suspicious behavior for the typical charter vessel. I wasn’t planning on leaving until late that night and watched them head off towards Gun Creek to clear out.
I used the fast internet connection until just after noon, then followed the example of my neighbors and went over to Gun Creek, anchored there and proceeded to clear out of the BVI for St. Martin. The procedure went very quickly and after paying my 75¢ (for which they didn’t have change) I was cleared to leave. I then motored to the other leeward side of Prickly Pear, close to the exit channel of the North Sound, and got the boat ready. This included getting the dinghy outboard engine dismounted and safely stored in the garage and otherwise ensuring that nothing aboard Zanshin would go “Bump” in the night.
At 18:00 I fired up the BBQ, grilled two Chorizo sausages which I downed with some bread and went to bed with my alarm set for 23:30.
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