Even though we really wanted to stay in St. Martin a few more days, to rest, do laundry, walk around, we left on Monday 1/26 evening to get ahead of the low pressure that was coming our way (the same system that dropped the 1st round of cold/snow in the Southeast).
The first couple of days had smooth sailing with abundant sunshine to feed the solar panels and keep the batteries charged.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the winds died and we started motoring. The forecast predicted we’d see the beginning of the cold front, (and stronger N/NE winds), around 5:00 pm on Thursday, but we could already see the clouds ahead.
The winds came in EARLY – around 10:00 am! By 1:00 pm on Thursday, we had 3 reefs in the main, 3 reefs in the jib, and seeing gusts of 30+ knots!
The ride was noisy, very ‘sporty’ (aka uncomfortable) with lots of sea spray from the side as the wind blew the tops of the cresting waves. I had a very hard time holding on with one hand and filming with the other.
Luckily the strong winds only lasted about 8 hours and the ride became smoother. By 11:00 am on Friday (1/30), we were safely tied up at Blue Haven marina.
There’s another round of low pressure hitting as I write ( 2/1) with very strong winds – the same system that dumped 8+ inches of snow in NC and brought 30degree temps to Florida. These winds caused all kinds of boat drama today.
A catamaran dragged it’s anchor on type of another boat and had to be moved by the marina staff (Seee VIDEO) and a major super yacht tried to change docks (2nd image) slammed into the end of a dock, and put a hole in the side of that boat.
A 3rd boat tried to tie up to the dock, got turned sideways to the wind, and the current caused it to rapidly drift towards other boats. They needed to dock quickly, so the captain swung the stern around really hard to get close and slammed into another dock! Sheesh!!!
So we’re doubly glad we’re safely tied up at a marina!! We’ll be here about a week which gives us time to thoroughly clean the boat and catch up on much needed rest, and boat maintenance.
