Nicola needed a ride to Antigua by the 15th and was willing to join us on our plan to go via Saba and potentially Nevis. On Tuesday (12/10), we picked her up at customs in our dinghy and loaded two very large bags of gear that she was flying out of Antigua for the boat she was meeting in St. Lucia. It was wonderful to have her company and hear her tales about sailing the Mediterranean, Thailand and elsewhere. She is a very accomplished sailor and incredibly helpful crew, not to mention a God-send on this particular voyage. On the morning of 12/11, we hoisted the dinghy motor onboard and set sail for Saba in 10-15 knots of wind with moderate swells. It was great sailing and left us time for checking weather and navigating by cell phone.
At first site of Saba, we saw the telltale clouds topping the island but they were a little more ominous than we expected As we got closer, we were hit by squalls that gusted to 35 mph and prevented us from seeing the moorings through the driving rain, so we hove to for a bit to ride it out. When it cleared enough to see, we picked up a mooring and proceeded to lower the dinghy motor in 3-4 foot swells, so that we could check-in at Fort Bay. On our way into the customs dock, another rain downpour hit us and we got soaked. We jumped over muddy puddles and flooded docks to splash into the customs office, looking like drowned rats, only to have the officer on duty say he didn’t have time to process us... could we come back tomorrow!!
Cold and wet, we went back to the rolling boat on it’s mooring to take hot showers and make dinner. We had our first Saba Stew made from leftover chicken, shrimp, rice, broccoli and cheese that night and set up 2 hour anchor watches starting at 8pm, with a plan to explore Saba the next day. It was pretty uncomfortable and no one really slept so when I woke up on Nicola’s 2am watch to find that we had twisted the lines, were spinning around the mooring and laying perpendicular to the waves, we decided to try to find a better mooring on the west side of the island. Searching with our high powered flashlight, we found one in much calmer seas and tied up with only one line so that the two lines wouldn’t get twisted again. At around 9am, we were greeted with a 50 knot rain squall that broke our line even as we powered into the mooring, so we decided to leave Saba and head for Antigua or Nevis, depending on which provided the most favorable tack. We deployed a stronger line on the mooring and took a nap to rest up for the longer journey.
That afternoon, we got the dinghy out of the water and deflated it before Nicole volunteered to go up the mast to retrieve the quarantine flag that was stuck on it’s halyard. We dropped the mooring and poked around the north end of the island to assess conditions and wind direction and decided to do an overnight voyage to Antigua. It was blowing 20 - 30 with 6-8 ft seas, so we knew it wasn’t going to be comfortable but we saw some sunshine in the direction we were going and it was better than hanging off the mooring. We set out around 5pm and since no one felt much like eating, let alone cooking, we had pretzels and peanut butter for dinner. We tried to steer around the continuing squalls, which got worse over night. I was singing hymns on my 2am watch, when we had thunder and lightening directly overhead. On Andrew’s 4am watch, he discovered the spinnaker pole had broken lose and called all hands on deck. By some miracle, the pole was kept on board by the trip line that releases the jaws. He and Nicola secured it to the boat while I tried to steer in the pitching seas.
After 22 hours, we finally completed the 90 mile trip to Jolly Harbor, Antigua on (guess what day!) Friday the 13th!! I consider it our lucky day, as we were all grateful to be tied up securely to a dock. None of us will ever forget Saba, but for a different set of reasons!!!!
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