Sailing past St Kitts, Nevis and Monserrat

We left just before 6am, it had been a very rocky night, so we were rather pleased to get going. Our last leg in PolePole. Non stop now until Martinique.

I spent most of the morning packing , sorting and cleaning. It is so hot down below, in this wind and bounce there is no way we can open any hatches. I surface for a cool off in the wind, before heading back down into the sauna. Finally started to break the back of the pack up. Amazing how much gear we have!

We sailed past St Kitts and had a great view of their amazing Brimstone Hill fort, the ‘Gibraltar’ of the Caribbean with its commanding position. All built by the English and their slaves in the 1600’s and abandoned in the mid 1800’s, it had the usual on going battles with France. It is one of the best preserved forts of the Americas which is why it has been made a Unesco World Heritage site.

Leaving St Eustatius at sunrise.

St Kitts.

Brimstone Hill Fort looking into the sun.

Looking back at the fort.

Then we past Nevis, where our friend Gina has a home, so we thought of her as we went past. Incredibly Gina and her husband, who sadly died of cancer a couple of years ago, bought our lovely old house in West Sussex about 3 years ago. We past Monserrat on the leeward side for the first time, sadly we were too far from shore to take a good look at the anchorage for the Q stop that Gizmo wants to do there. It’s the right distance from Saba and we had hoped to do it but the sea was just too rough. I’m glad we had a good nights sleep last night even if it was an industrial port.

Nevis

The big pack up.

My bench taken over by the box containing the outboard motor.

The winds finally did as they were predicted to do, moving slightly north east. The sail became a lot more comfortable and much better speed.

I somehow managed to boil some eggs and made a huge salad with a delicious big avocado. Not long before Rowan was in bed and I settled in for the first night watch. Finally we are sailing overnight with a full moon, so much easier for doing the watches. A lovely silvery light. We sped across to the lee of Guadeloupe, so we had gentle winds, a great relief from all the banging.