Saturday, March 22, 2025

Sainte-Anne - Rodney Bay

Since we were in France, the morning started by rowing to the bakery to get some fresh croissants. Then boat ready, anchor up, and underway.

The Saint Lucia channel was a bit rolly but fast beam reach, with winds ranging between 16 and 23kt. This made it easy going with the staysail and main on 1st reef.

We dropped sail after rounding Pigeon Point. Our first anchoring attempt kept bouncing, likely on some rocks. But 100m further towards the shore the holding seems perfect.

After a 0.7NM dinghy trip to the local marina, we are now cleared in to St. Lucia.

• Distance today: 22.8NM
• Lunch: feta salad
• Engine hours: 0.7

Monday, March 17, 2025

Roseau - Sainte-Anne

With sore muscles we woke up to a new day. The hike to Boiling Lake was still fresh in our minds as we hoisted the anchor just after eleven. There was no time to rest as a week of southerlies is looming ahead. So we took the little wind that was in the forecast and hoisted full genoa and main. Behind Dominica we were sailing ever so slowly with a bit of see breeze. Just before the cape the wind got so confused that we motored a bit.

Between Dominica and Martinique we got to sail a perfect beam reach with around 12 knots of wind. At the northern cape of Martinique the wind increased to 20 knots for a bit, but with a small reef in the genoa we flew forward. As the cape efect was over, we went back to either sailing forward with 1 knot of speed or 5 knots, depending in what mood the wind was on. And occasionally we would motor a bit to reach the next windier area.

As the sun was rising we passed HMS Diamond Rock once more and were on the home stretch for Sainte Anne anchorage where we’ll drop Bernhard off.

• Distance today: 67.3NM
• Lunch: macaroni casserole
• Engine hours: 2.1

Friday, March 14, 2025

Portsmouth - Roseau

After exploring the ruins of Fort Shirley, we woke up at night to observe the lunar eclipse. Then in the morning plan was to hoist anchor and head south.

However, we couldn’t get anchor up past the 20m chain marker. We were stuck! Suski donned her snorkeling gear and jumped in to check the situation. As we had been swinging at anchor, we had wrapped the chain around some debris in the bottom. It took us 40min, but Suski was able to direct us through the necessary turns to unwind and free ourselves.

What followed was another “Havel sailing day”. Light winds and easy seas allowed us to drift past most of Dominica as a leisurely pace.

Now we’re anchored again just outside the capital of Roseau. Lots of the interesting nature sites are nearer to here, meaning we won’t need to spend so much time on the bus.

• Distance today: 18.4NM
• Lunch: vegetable wraps and fruit salad
• Engine hours: 1.5

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Saint-Louis - Portsmouth

We woke up with the sun and hoisted the sails after a quick breakfast. The forecast promised variable winds on the beam, so we opted for a mainsail in first reef and genoa that we ended up reefing and unreefing many times.

As we were sailing off we heard a pan pan over the radio. A Polish ship had engine trouble and were using their emergency steering and required towing help. Too far for us to help. What made the following conversation a bit funny to hear was the pleas to speak english when the operator was speaking english… A stressfull situation clearly for the boat and as of now we can see that they got the help they needed and are safely in the harbour.

Our day continued with a pleasant beam reach with various amounts of genoa out. Depending on the squall we had either a sliver of sail out or nearly full sail.

Now we are again checked in to Dominica and finally met again with our buddy boat Tyrik! We’ll have dinner over there and make plans for the island time tomorrow.

• Distance today: 25.9NM
• Lunch: gazpacho
• Engine hours: 0.8

Sunday, March 9, 2025

Anse Canot - Saint-Louis

We had a nice hike, a swim in among the mangroves, and finally some snorkeling. But as we need to check out of the country tomorrow, we decided to move to the anchorage in front of Saint-Louis.

We hoisted anchor and motored around the corner. Everywhere around this island appears to be good anchoring depths, and so we picked another nice sand patch. Tomorrow for some more inland exploration!

• Distance today: 2.1NM
• Lunch: Couscous salad
• Engine hours: 0.7

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Anse du Vieux Fort - Anse Canot

The anchorage was pretty rolly, so we decided to try our luck around the next cape in the morning. We motored the half mile after observing that few boats had left the anchorage making space for us.

After rounding the cape we chose our spot close to the steep cliffs and dopped the hook at first we missed our sandy patch and needed to hoist the anchor as it was not biting in through the thick sea grass. At the second try we got the anchor properly dug in. Now we are looking for a day of swimming and snorkeling.

• Distance today: 0.6NM
• Lunch: spaghetti aglio e olio
• Engine hours: 0.5

Friday, March 7, 2025

Sainte-Anne - Anse du Vieux Fort

After morning coffee we navigated ourselves out of the reef pass and hoisted full sail. Forecast had uncommonly light conditions.

Yesterday’s tacking had won us enough easting that now we could head directly towards Marie Galante on a close reach. A lovely sail with big but gentle Atlantic swell, and wind ranging between 8kt and 15kt.

As our intended anchorage was packed quite full, we instead dropped the hook to the one just upwind. Plenty of space in turquoise waters. There is a small island protecting it, but some swell still makes it in. But not too bad. Now for a swim!

• Distance today: 15.3NM
• Lunch: chanterelle quiche
• Engine hours: 0.6

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Pointe-a-Pitre - Sainte-Anne

Breakfast of croissants and pain au chocolate on the aft deck and groceries and stowing everything away later we reversed out of spot in the harbour. A tight manouver that with a bit of setting up went flawlessly. It’s nice to know that we can still make the tight turns with Lille Ø although we havent needed those skills since last year!

The sailing started with beating into the wind and big confused seas of the bay. After the conservative start with staysail and main in 1st reef we first went to full main and then swapped the staysail to the full genoa. Tacking with the genoa in this kind of a sea state with the inner forestay in place meant that we were doing a Q-wende every time. After we got out of the bay and shallow water the going got definitely better.

With an hour of sunlight to spare, we reached our destination. Our first option for anchoring was full, so with very careful manouvering we went in closer to the shore. Now we are anchored in 2m of water with our anchor dug securely into the sandy bottom.

• Distance today: 17.8NM
• Lunch: feta salad
• Engine hours: 1.2

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Goyave - Pointe-a-Pitre

After a night very well slept in the still water, we hoisted the anchor and sailed out of the lagoon.

The winding fairway between the reefs into the Pointe-a-Pitre harbour was marked with both cardinal and lateral buoys. It’s been a while we’ve seen those, and the eye to pick them out of the horizon needed again some training.

Once inside the barrier island, we dropped sail and radioed the marina. They told us to prepare for med mooring with a buoy line. We did so, and then motored on a holding pattern until the harbour launch was done with the previous customer. Amusingly they parked us into the pier for local small motorboats. By Caribbean standards, Lille Ø is tiny!

Now to watch the local Mardi Gras parade…

• Distance today: 6.3NM
• Lunch: Colombo with rice
• Engine hours: 0.9

Monday, March 3, 2025

Terre-de-Haut - Goyave

After enjoying the carneval atmosphere in Terre-de-Haut, we let go of our mooring ball after breakfast and took our course towards Guadeloupe. A promise of an anchorage with dead calm waters was appealing to us. So main up in first reef and staysail.

The wind was lighter than in the forecast, so we put away the staysail and rolled out the genoa and shook out the reef in the main. We made decent progress untill an oncoming squall first sucked all the wind out. That meant that with the swell our mainsail was banging annoyingly around, so we took it down. After a while as the squall was crawling closer to us we rolled the genoa in significantly. After a bit the squall and the gusts and heavy rain caught us and we proceeded to get soaking wet. A free shower for us!

Now we are anchored inside the reef. Also on high tide, the reef kills all the swell and for the first time in ages we are absolutely still in the water!

• Distance today: 19.1NM
• Lunch: scrambled eggs with vegetables
• Engine hours: 0.6