On to St. Martin

On to St. Martin

Tuesday November 28^th, 2023

After dropping our friends on shore in Charlotte Amalie, we readied Cotinga for a passage.  This mostly involved getting the engine off the dinghy, then lifting the dinghy onto the foredeck and tying it down.  We pulled up the anchor and motored out of the harbor.  Once the mainsail was hoisted we tried to settle down for 20-24 hours of motor-sailing to the east.  

Initially, there was a short period chop combined with some squall activity.  Thinking it over we decided that it might be best to make our way northeast to Virgin Gorda.  That would at least potentially give us a slightly better line toward St. Martin.  It was a delight to transit the Sir Francis Drake channel with mild winds and fairly flat seas. We spotted many locations that we had enjoyed in 2017 and reminisced about our earlier adventures. 

Turning slightly southeast after rounding the north side of Virgin Gorda, we spotted many small pale yellow butterflies crossing our path.  After a while, we realized that the insects were congregating by our boat.  I’m not sure if they were hoping to land on our vessel or if we were creating some wind pattern that was holding them near the boat.  It seemed almost as if we had an escort of dozens of butterflies.  As sunset drew close, they all vanished.

Nightfall marked the start of the more challenging part of the journey.  The winds were building slowly and the seas became much rougher.  It was a bright moonlit night, but compared daylight, it’s still more difficult to see the approaching waves, although much better than no moon! We seemed to be tossed about quite a bit.  Going below was increasingly challenging.  As the night progressed we were both more tired.  Mike wound up doing the lion’s share of the watches, as the Stugeron seasick meds were making me very sleepy.  

As we approached St. Martin, we started to see the occasional pair of floats (presumably from lobster pots) off the starboard side of the boat.  Then suddenly at about 3:30 am, the boat speed dropped right off! Mike looked off the stern and could see one of the floats trailing behind! He quickly turned off the autopilot, the wheel was very stiff and resisted turning.  Turning first one way and then the other, he successfully shook off the float and we continued on our way.  

It was after 4 am by the time we were anchored in Marigot bay off St. Martin.  It was time for a much deserved rest. 

Gloria

18.067 N 63.092 W

A squall over St Johns

Homes of the rich and famous ... Neckar Island, just north of Virgin Gorda ... owned by Richard Branson 

We say goodbye to the British Virgin Islands (far right) as we continue east south east across the Anagada Passage to St Martin

I have always longed to take pictures of the moon on nights like this, when it appears so bright. However, the reality is that there isn't enough light for handheld photos and a tripod isn't useful in this context on a boat. So last night I played around with increasing the ISO ... and I mean seriously cranking it up to 20,000. I can't decide if the resulting photo helps capture the "atmosphere" of sailing offshore in the moonlight, or if it's simply a bag of the proverbial ...