March 1st! Nearing the end of winter in Canada and two solid months we’ve been here. We have about 2 weeks to go before we start heading back to Grenada.
While March is usually thought of as the harbinger of spring, it is not really a harbinger of good fortune for Milu.
I’m up at 5:30 am, get Christy up at 6 am and we are motoring away at about 6:40 am. Pretty good.
Get out in the main water and pull out the main, comes out by hand! Wow. We are cautious as usual but make 5+ kts all the way to the bottom of Basse Terre, Guadeloupe. It’s a little rolly as the wind and waves are from port but that’s life.
We round the corner of Basse Terre and start heading north by 11:30 am, at least half an hour ahead of our schedule so that’s very good. Who knows what the wind will be like for the last 15 nms and we don’t want to get to Pigeon Island in the dark.
The boat’s nav system is behaving very strangely, the autopilot won’t hold it’s course and every now and then the boat heals hard into the wind. What the hell is going on. We pretty much have to sail by hand the rest of the way to Pigeon Island.
We’re hit with a couple of squalls along the way where the wind blusters up to 25+ kts and we scoot along getting quite wet but not big deal. Still, the steering issues are a concern.
But we make good speed and are just outside the Pigeon Island anchorage by about 2:30 pm. We decide to slow down over the last nm or so as it is obviously raining in the bay, we have lots of time now, and maybe it will stop before we have to go on deck and do work.
It does and the bay is pretty calm and clear as we look for a good anchor spot. We eventually settle on a spot about halfway along the two beaches, fairly near the shore in about 8 m of water.
This is where the fun begins. As we’re setting the anchor and backing up on it, our prop catches the tow lines for OD. Christy hears it and we stop the engine. Thankfully the anchor seems set. Sure enough, the port side line is tight as a drum which is not a good sign. I get the snorkel gear out to check the anchor as usual and free that line.
The anchor is fine, the line is badly wound. Takes me 45 minutes or so to get the line mostly off, never get it completely done but I can turn the prop by hand so it should be ok. Had to ask Christy to get me a shirt as the barnacles on the bottom of the boat cut me up a fair bit as I brush against them. Still end up with cuts on my arms, legs and coconuts.
It’s blowing and overcast and I’m waterlogged and actually a bit cold so good to come aboard.
Christy has chilli and bread for dinner and it’s great to have a hot meal. I’m pretty beat up pain wise and take some pain killers. Go and rest out back as it’s nearly a full moon. Christy gives me a bit of a massage which really helps a lot.
Been a tough day.