Great Sailing
Irie
Mon 4 May 2009 04:01
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Position 18 23.19N 64 30.79W Cooper Island BVIs
Sunday 3rd May
As a major yachting centre, St Martin is very
convenient for food and boat stuff, but it's not top of the list for scenery and
general Caribeean attaction, so it was more than slightly disconcerting to
find that the first of May is a holiday,thus the chandlers and technical places
were firmly closed, anf the supermarket open only till one. This scuppered the
plan to slip in and out in a day heading for the BVI's by nightfall, but had the
advantage of removing a bit of pressre. By the end of the day, Irie was a
third of a ton heavier with diesel, water and food to las through to the Azores,
It's still amazing how much can be stowed and stuffed away, and this time even
the extra fuel has been found space below all 250 litres secreeted in ockers and
the shower, leaving clean and unencumbered decks.
Saturday morning found us camped on the door of the
chandlery at 8.00 am, and by 10.45, all the final bits had been loaded and
stowed, the dinghy hauled and we were on our way. Ths time there was wind, and
after twenty minutes motoring out of the bay,we were off at seven knots in a
breeze at the upper end of force 4. The wind held all day, staying well in the
north despite an easterly forecast, and giving us an excellent beam reach rather
than the rolly and slower push that had been expected. The miles rolled
away, the sun shone and the day passed with hourly tricks on the wheel puctuated
by lunch - very tasty wraps - and dinner - a finely sauced bolgnaise. Just
after eleven we passed under Round Rock, and turned north to anchor in Virgin
Gorda under the calm gaze of an untroubled moon.
Today has been a quiet day - early morning swimming
followed by customs clearance and shopping, a snorkel trip to the Rhone and then
a small couple of somthings on Cooper Island, rounded off by dinner
aboard. It's been a good day, and feels like a sort of intake of breath before
the real push on to Bermuda in a couple of days time
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