The passage today was a fun one – with reefed sails I was still doing over 9 knots at times and the whole trip was done close-hauled. After having negotiated the narrows and shallow waters leaving Green Island I set the sails, turned on “Otto” and lay back in my favorite position underneath the dodger, dreamily looking at the scenery I’d just passed without really paying any attention. A movement caught my eye and I saw a huge splash several hundred yards behind me. My first thought was that a big powerboat had hit a wave and capsized but that was proven wrong as I saw the blow of a whale shoot up from the water – I’d just witness my first whale sighting and whale broaching and was a big one! I got the camera out and positioned myself at the transom in the hopes of getting a picture of a second broaching, but I only spotted a bit of whale blow and my speed of 8 knots meant I was distancing myself rapidly from the whale(s).
I arrived in Deshaies at around 3 in the afternoon and found an anchoring spot quite far out in 50 feet of water. The waves were curling around the entrance and I was certain that the upcoming night was not going to be conducive to my getting sound sleep; but there were no other options within sailing distance during daylight so I resigned myself and thought that at least I’d go to sleep with good meal underneath my belt and put a steak out to thaw.
I went ashore to clear in, only to find that store which has the computer was closed for lunch until 16:00 but I passed the time by visiting the local Spar supermarket and getting some milk for the coffee and potatoes for the steak before returning past the store after they’d opened and clearing into France.
Back aboard I went below to check on my e-mails and when I looked out I found a German-flagged boat called Saga had anchored very close to me, at the end of their swing they were less than a boat’s length from me. Since the winds are fickle in Deshaies I knew we’d be back-winded during the night and would almost certainly touch, but I wasn’t going to get all excited yet – give them time to come to the same conclusion and also to get their dinghy into the water. About an hour later, after I’d gotten a visit from a couple on a catamaran nearby with whom I’d exchanged e-mails, they finally put the dinghy down and he motored over (he could have talked in a normal voice, we weren’t separated by much) and started looking for the right words to say in English – I interrupted and told him that we could speak German. He was relieved at being able to explain, in German, that his engine wasn’t working and that he’d used all of his chain and couldn’t let out more. I told him I’d put out another 30 or 40 meters of chain to give us separation and he mumbled thanks and went back to his boat. I used the engine and bow thruster to make sure that the chain I was letting out was pulled as far as possible from their swing radius and put out another 100 feet of chain (I have 400 feet of chain, so still had ample spare length in the locker).
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