The Honeymoon Sail Continues: T is for The Anegada Passage Unaffectionately Known as The Oh-My-God-A Passage

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

T is for The Anegada Passage Unaffectionately Known as The Oh-My-God-A Passage

Today is Thursday April 26th and we are anchored in Marigot Bay, Saint Martin. Saint Martin is shared by the Dutch and the French and we are on the French side. We arrived the day before yesterday after an overnight passage from the Virgin Islands. We enjoyed the Spanish Virgins very much and it was hard to leave the area; however the weather was good for a passage to the US Virgin Islands and John is picking Katherine up in St. Thomas. We had a good motorsail to St. John and anchored in a bay surrounded by multi million dollar homes in the hills. Three quarters of the island is park but the other one quarter is definitely reserved for the rich and famous.

We had an easy day and did a little paddling and we went snorkelling with John around the mouth of the bay. The coral was not great but at least we could see some new growth. From here we sailed back across the three mile channel to St. Thomas and anchored in the lee of an island called Little St. John. Once again we went snorkelling with John and this time we saw much healthier and more colourful coral and more fish. Unfortunately we had our underwater Fugi camera stolen by the drug enforcement agent back in the Dominican Republic so we haven't been able to take anymore underwater pictures. John left us the next day to go into the marina to be there to meet Kathy at the airport. The next day we met up with them back in Cruz Bay, St. John. We had decided that the weather was good to continue on and hoped that they would join us; however they were not ready to move on and decided to stay in the US Virgins for a few more days. It was hard to leave them especially since Kathy had just returned and we had had such a nice couple of weeks getting to know John; however everyone is on a different timetable and we are in boat delivery mode now and not so much cruising mode if we hope to get home to Ontario by early June. We had a glorious day sail through the British Virgin Islands and had a brief stop in Virgin Gorda for a quick paddle and snorkel at The Baths.

I could have spent all day there snorkelling among these magnificent boulders which are under water as well as along the shore. We grabbed a bite to eat and then up anchor just as the sun was going down and off across the 80 miles to St. Martin. This stretch of water is known as The Anegada Passage also known unaffectionately as the Oh-My- God- A Passage. The combination of a strong current and the open Atlantic flowing into the Caribbean Sea can kick up quite a swell and chop between the Virgin Islands and St. Martin and of course we are still sailing east into the ever present trade winds. We had decided to leave when we did because the wind was forecast to be 8-12 knots and it doesn't get much better than that in The Anegada. We must have the record for the shortest trip to the British Virgin Islands...anchoring for a quick paddle and dinner and then off on passage. We were very tired when we arrived in Marigot Bay but grateful to have had an uneventful crossing of the Anegada. We wouldn't have wanted to have had much more wind than we did as we had to motorsail hard through the waves but after 18 hours we were anchoring in a new island paradise.

It is a specialty underwater camera and he has wanted one for a long time. Perhaps you will see some underwater pictures on the blog before we come home? I bought myself a Seiko waterproof watch that is solar operated and never needs a battery. Our shopping continued in Cole Bay where we bought Celebrian a new VHF radio with the AIS feature that we have wanted on many occasions this winter. Once it is installed we will be able to see the ship's name and information on our chart plotter and call them if we are concerned about a collision. It will be most reassuring at night to know that a container ship has seen us on their radar and will not run us over. Lights at night are especially difficult.

The trade winds are likely going to keep us in St. Martin for a few more days. We hope to move to Grand Case Bay today and anchor off the Grand Case Beach Club Hotel. I have stayed in the hotel on several occasions during march school breaks and I remember sitting on the patio looking out at the sailboats and now I will be sitting on Celebrian looking in on the hotel.

Celebrian in the anchorage at Grand Case.

The local kids were playing their steel drums in a garage. The Lolos are the popular place to eat in Grand Case.

The local kids were having a swimming lesson. We may try and take a bus over to Philipsburg for the carnival parade on Monday. The Dutch side has a 4 day holiday and everything shuts down for carnival. It should be quite the experience and one not to be missed. Today is Wednesday May 2nd and we have been anchored in Grand Case for four nights. The wind will not stop gusting and blowing hard and we are getting very tired of it. At least we have been able to get off of the boat and get to shore for some excursions; however we are ready to move on and can not until we get a break in these trade winds. It has been 20-25 knot winds with gusts to 30 twenty four hours a day. Gratefully the bay at Grand Case gives us fairly good protection from the waves but we haven't been able to use the fine wine goblets for a week. We are hoping for a break in the weather this weekend with a move to St. Kitts and Nevis.