After a late Sunday breakfast at the local bakery we started getting the boat ready for departure, ensuring that everything below decks was stored and secured for sailing. Then we did the final preparations to get the lines ready for casting off and coiling the water hose and power cable. The winds remained light inside the marina, but I was worried all the same with all those potential lines out there ready to snag my rudder or keel. We managed to get the attention of one of the dock masters on his dinghy and he untied us from the forward line which was attached to a mooring ball, but I didn’t cast off the stern lines because another boat had decided to enter the narrow passage between my dock and the next but the dock master managed to shoo him off and we were soon free of the docks and in open water, where we got the lines coiled and thrown into the dinghy garage and all the fenders removed as well.
Motoring out the channel we had the expected winds but the waves were choppy and confused making for a somewhat uncomfortable ride for first-timers. We soon had our sails set with two reefs and were headed out towards the distant Îles des Saintes. The winds died down for part of the passage and we motors ailed, but towards the end the waves settled and we had a great breeze which propelled us at 7-8 knots. Sandra had the helm the whole way and learned that you really can’t steer a boat at sea under sail; all you can do is point it in a general direction and let the law of averages sort things out.
We were fortunate to get the last mooring ball in the small anchorage at Anse a Cointe but the mooring ball line was so short that Sascha and I were unable to lift it high enough to get the line through the ring at the top. Fortunately a gent from neighbouring mooring ball on a boat called “Reprieve” came over on a dinghy to help us out. By now it was 16:30 and we had a cooling swim around the boat and enjoyed the view of the sun illuminating the Pain de Sucre and the palms on the beach. Happy hour came and went and our thoughts drifted towards dinner. I’d put some steaks in a marinade during the passage so we just had to wait for them to reach room temperature and I made some garlic butter to put in the fresh baguette and heated some potatoes in the microwave. Cooking three steaks rather than one took a bit long so we had to add a minute and half to the cook time, and the 5 minute wait after barbecuing was, as always, pure torture but once we tucked into the meal it was tasty but somewhat heavy on the garlic.
All of us were fading fast by the time 22:00 ticked around and soon thereafter I was in bed trying to read a couple of pages but I didn’t last long before turning out the light and going to sleep.
