Passage Plan
I wrote in yesterday’s post how we came to St. Maarten to get further away from Bertha. That is true but the real reason we didn’t just wait it out in St. Thomas was because we needed to stop in SXM to pick up some refit items before we travelled south to Grenada. As it turns out, we are not the only boat here waiting for weather to head south.
From what we have gathered, several of the boats waiting here are planning on leaving on Wednesday morning which is our plan too. We’ve made several trips to Budget Marine and in fact, have another one scheduled for this morning. That, retrieving our laundry, and refueling all need to take place before we exit the lagoon today at 4:00 PM, the last outgoing bridge opening. We, and I assume several other boats, will be staging outside in Simpson Bay for an early morning departure.
I know that others have plans to stop along the way but we intend to sail straight through to Grenada, a 368 nm passage. At 8 knots that should take us just under 48 hours. If the forecast remains true to what we see online, we should have a decent passage. Of course, we’ll see what happens when we get out there. Plans may change.
Given that we’ll be offshore, you shouldn’t expect any blog updates until we arrive in Grenada. Of course, with my sporadic posting during the charter season, you all should be used to that by now. 🙂
Are you ever going to get the Spot Tracker back? It sure was fun “sailing along” with you.
Unlikely. If you remember this post, the general consensus was not to bother. FYI, SPOT is not free. That service cost 150.00 per year.
http://www.zerotocruising.com/spot-yea-or-nay/
Burt, since Mike now has an AIS transmitter, you can track him on that. They are presently just off Sint Eustatius (10:55 EDT). http://www.marinetraffic.com/ and type in One Love. L
Good call.
Safe passage
Thank you.
Better take another look at the weather radar before raising that anchor! Looks like something brewing to the southeast that you might want to briefly delay your departure. I rode out hurricane Hugo on the cat Spirit in St. Thomas back in 89 not far from your home base and my best advice is to head south when the coast is clear. Love your blog and stay safe!
Passage weather shows reasonable conditions for the next 50+ hours. What are you looking at?
Safe travels … and now that you mention it – we really do miss those frequent blog updates.
Maybe the summer will be better.
It seems a shame to miss out some stops on the way. Has Michael already ‘done’ them all?
I wondered, have you thought of doing say half your charters next year, or the year after, round the Virgins. Then half based from Dominica or Grenada so as to provide a different option. It might also help to lure back some of your first year charterers for a second bite at the cherry.
Congratulations on your season, and on side-stepping Bertha.
Have a nice sail.
Cheers
Mike
No, he has not ‘done’ them all but there is this thing called a hurricane season. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? 😉
Sorry!!!!
🙂 🙂 🙂
Mike
Have a safe passage, look forward to your accounts of it.
Thanks, Marty. Let’s hope we don’t have any “exciting” stories to tell.
“Fair winds and following seas”;see y’all in a few.
Thanks Kevin. The winds were fair but the seas were not following.
This is the first time I have stumbled onto your blog. Hope your journey went well. Safe sailing.
It did, Louise. Thanks. It went very well.