The
last day was spent mostly motoring with a wind not quite at the angle to sail
directly to Bermuda we are set on getting in before nightfall as entry into the
very narrow ‘town cut’ in St Georges can be tricky first time and at night so we
arrived late afternoon, first Yacht in and managed to get onto the Customs dock
and checked in before choosing to go to the anchorage rather than a
dock.
On
Wednesday it was a catch-up morning of work then, as it was Pats birthday we
spent an afternoon Taxi around the island – wow the houses are amazing and
mostly very very expensive. All painted in pastels with very few exceptions. We
are anchored off St Georges town in a delightful ‘protected’ bay, the town is
very pretty – (pictures to come – when we get a chance).
The
following day (Thursday) the wind was up to 20 knots in the Bay and was partly
devoted to getting stern to a dock to collect fuel, while waiting we heard news
that Ruben had been born one day after Pats birthday, so even I should be able
to remember the date!
The
same day a yacht came in whose motor had failed and they dragged their anchor
and ended up side onto the reef not that far from our Yacht, Murray and a few
other helpers went across to push it off in big winds using their tenders, the
problem was they could not unhook their anchor which by then had dragged under
part of the reef. Murray managed to dive down (fully clothed) and free the
anchor and they were able to be pushed away and he set a new anchor for them
from the tender. So great effort by all three of the tenders and crew who
assisted and that night there were a few drinks exchanged by a thankful crew of
the yacht in the clubhouse. There looked to be no serious damage to the hull or
rudder thankfully and they will continue with their trip back to
Europe.
Friday
wind and squalls hit the Bay in an amazing day which saw at least four yachts
around us drag anchors. We became spectators from under the canopy of our Yacht
as far as we could see through the horizontal torrential rain and waves. This
expected weather front ran through and in a few hours the bay was calm and
peaceful again and almost surreal contrast to the hours
before.
Today
Saturday as I write this we are to leave on the trip to USA – we are having a
few problems with the watermaker so I may have to work on that as we go or we go
short of water at least for showering. We did catch some rain yesterday using
the deck catchment system. This next leg is 650nm to Chesapeake – Newport Road
Virginia just below Washington DC. It’s the shorter leg but still further than
crossing Biscay from the UK. Weather looks good except as we approach the golf
stream and into the last day when a front will run through so we are expecting
high winds at that stage. Have to go now bit busy.
Stu