Although it is not raining, it is one of England’s grey days, never had them here before, but it is not raining; We were up quite early as Jeff has to catch the 10.00am ferry, and we are heading to St.Thomas, only about 20 miles, but they are very interesting waters. Lots of rocks to miss, and twists and turns, and different passages to take, before you get there, good job we have a good navigator on board. This year we have a chart plotter, last year we only had paper charts, and it was a lot easier this time.
We left at 9.30, having dropped Jeff, and stored the dinghy away, no wind which was a shame, although it did get up later. We put the jib up, and eventually we were able to turn off the engine, it was lovely and peaceful, and very picturesque, then Geoff decided to put the generator on to see how it worked whilst moving, it was fine, so now we are back to status quo.
Several big ferries came past, I am sure they enjoy watching us go of course, trying to cope with their wake, just wish they would slow down a bit. We went through one narrow channel, which had maximum depth of 7metres, but rocks were everywhere including the middle of the channel, that was a bit scary, especially as another power boat would not move over.
We eventually arrived about 1.30pm, I love this place, it is so different, you have so much to see, you have the seaplanes, and ferries, one side, and cruise ships (3 today) on the other side, and lots of yachts in the middle of the big bay, the town is very old, with narrow streets, and busy with tourists, and in one corner of bay you have this amazing Grande Yacht Marina, where all the super yachts go, there dinghy’s are the size of the average boat. Last time we hired a car, and it took us less than 1 hour to go round it; amazing.
We anchored first time, although I thought we were too close to the buoy we settled down, to some lunch, boiled eggs, I thought one was off so threw it over board, but it hit Geoff instead, he had egg running down his face, I thought it was funny! Finished lunch, then we lowered dinghy, and emptied all the water out, somehow Geoff cut his head open, which did not look very nice, I did my first aid bit, I passed him some tissue, (still not good with blood). Eventually he left to pick up Jeff, who could only arrive on the Ferry, so he could get a visa waiver. No problems there, back on board, we had a couple of jobs for him. The anchor ball had somehow come unclipped and the rope had gone up the mast, so Jeff climbed up to retrieve, whilst we did the safety ropes.
Then On deck came over and asked us to leave, as they would be using the buoy later tonight, and it would be better to go now, then later, so we did. We found a lovely little spot in the far corner, sheltered from the wind, and closer to the land, so no rocking and rolling tonight hopefully.
I cooked roast chicken, with the help of the generator, so now we know the electric cooker works, so that is good, we sat outside and ate it, with no wind, or rain, it seems the low has passed over us, fingers crossed.
Geoff and I played crib, and I beat him 2 – 0, he was so disgusted he got his book out, so I did some Sudoku, and went to bed.