Day Seven

This was our longest sail starting at 5:15am. The sun was not up yet but there was plenty of light to drop the mooring and motor south. The waves were calm for the first 20 minutes while we were in the lee of Nevis but they pick up considerably once we passed the south end of the island. The wind was from the ESE which put us too close to the wind to sail and gave us a fairly uncomfortable powered ride down to Redonda. Redonda is basically a very large rock – 1 mile long and 1000 feet tall but completely uninhabited.

Once we cleared the end of Redonda we were able to bear off slightly and make slightly better time to Montserrat. We managed 8 knots when we headed slightly off the wind (still motor sailing though). As with many of our off-shore passages David and Jimi took turns on the wheel, Alyssa read, Kaylynn sat on the top deck and either read or watched the waves, Patti either slept or read, and Tracy, Paula, and Pamela slept as much as possible to avoid sea-sickness appearing only when we made it into a quiet harbor).

Montserrat has the most active volcano in the Caribbean. We were advised by the Moorings to stay upwind of the island, and not to put into any harbor. The issue is not so much safety, though that can be a concern, as avoiding getting the boat covered in ash. As we passed the island we could see smoke coming off the lava flows but most of the volcano was under cloud. It was hazy for most of the sail. We were upwind of Montserrat but we still wondered if the haze was caused by the volcano.

Just after we passed Montserrat something caught in the starboard propeller and we shut down both engines for fear of damaging them. We were able to bear off the wind but were still close hauled. We made about 6.5 knots which put us later into Guadeloupe than we had planned.

We anchored at Deshaies – a pretty little harbor on the north east coast. There was enough light left to anchor but not enough to dive the anchor, so we had to trust it would hold. It was a very pretty island and picturesque small village. In the fading light David and Jimi put on snorkeling masks and pulled a broken milk jug, some old underwear, and about two feet of line out of the starboard propeller (most likely the remains of the mark for a fish trap).