Although today wasn’t a holiday, it was a Saturday and it was stuck between Easter holidays so I knew it was going to be a busy day anywhere on the island. The winds had settled somewhat and the swell was back to the normal easterly at about 1 M so it was an optimal day to take Corinna, Alyssa, Nick and Sascha on their first sail. We departed in the morning and left the anchorage with a reef in the mainsail and a reef in the genoa and were soon headed towards Anguilla, hard on the wind, doing between 7 and 9 knots with just a bit of spray occasionally making it over the bow and otherwise near perfect Caribbean conditions. We weren’t hobby horsing or rolling much, but that was enough to make the trip a bit uncomfortable for two people aboard (and I won’t divulge which ones… yet).
Nonetheless we made it to Île Tintamarre to discover a full anchorage and not a single mooring ball in sight; I don’t mean that all the mooring balls were taken, they were all missing. I suppose that Hurricane Gonzalo late last season was the culprit. So I found a light patch off the beach, denoting sand, and followed suit by anchoring. We soon had the transom open and headed ashore in the dinghy to get some terra firma under our feet, and just soaked up the sun on the beach for a while.
The return trip was a dead downwind run under genoa alone in winds that were very light. Although we only did about 4 knots speed, our travel time was less than the upwind trip because we traveled in a straight line rather than having to tack upwind. Once anchored in the sheltered Grand Case waters we had a post-trip happy hour drink or two while the kids swam around the boat and then arranged to meet up for an early dinner at Calmos Café ashore. Their dinner menu is enticing and both Corinna and I opted for the Carpaccio as a main course. All of use not only managed to scrape our plates clean but some even managed a dessert!
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |