Traveling Team Fischer

I was just going to post about St Kitts, but since we were only there one night it would be a super short and rather boring journal entry. The Montserrat leg was a bit more interesting, so the two have been merged into one post. As I prepared to write this, I realized we didn’t take any pictures traveling to these islands, or when we were anchored. So attached is an image of our boat that we used for our latest supply of stickers.

We left St. Martin before the dawn, arriving at St. Kitts a little more than eleven hours later. That’s an average speed of around 5.6 knots, or about 6.4 mph. It was a long day, but fairly uneventful. Once again, the fuel docks on our charts were either non-existent or if present, not operational. The closest petrol station was not in walking distance from the dinghy dock. Even it there was a close station, we were reminded that it was Sunday, and none were open. Still not a problem, but we had been hoping we could top off fuel tanks on St. Kitts.

We motored down the coast, looking for a peaceful and protected place to anchor for the night. The initial spots we found on the charts were in close proximity of beach activities that looked like they would continue late into the night and peaceful was not a description that came to mind for any of them. Eventually, we found a space towards the end of the bay, and settled in for some food and a good night’s sleep before the shorter run to Montserrat.

Since ‘the season’ had already begun, and there had already been one named storm to dodge, we decided to continue on rather than explore St. Kitts or Nevis at this time. As the trip to Montserrat was slated to be less than eight hours, we were happily able to leave at dawn. Traveling during daylight hours is always so much more relaxing. The seas were friendly enough, and the wind cooperated with us and our heading.

That being said, we encountered a bit of excitement during this crossing in the form of an abandoned fish trap. We were in water that was thousands of feet deep, and normally don’t see much to avoid at this depth other than the occasional thick and wide patches of sargassum. They are usually extremely stinky and tend to get caught in the prop, slowing us down a bit.

Anyway, back to the fish traps: They have a cluster of what looks like old bike inner tubes tied at one end of over 400 feet of line, with a float on the other end. For whatever reason, a trap must have come loose from where ever it was supposed to be, and we didn’t see the 400 feet of line hiding behind the waves in front of us until it was too late. Luckily, hubby has quick reflexes and an even quicker mind, because when he did see the line, he instantly knew we couldn’t go around, and he managed to slow us down enough to shift us into reverse for a few seconds, hopefully bringing it to a stop before passing over it.

We were hoping there would be no need to jump in and detangle the prop, so we grabbed different sections of the line to see if it was fully wrapped around the prop or if there was just a single loop. Happily, the line moved freely and we could be free of the mess easily. The clustered part of the trap was cut free, and the remainder of the line was gathered on deck. We didn’t want anyone else to stumble upon this, especially if they were crossing at night. Once the massive pile of line was secured, we continued on to Montserrat.

Fun fact about this Montserrat: due to recent volcanic activity, most of the island’ s shoreline requires a 2 mile safety buffer because it hasn’t been properly re-surveyed and they don’t know what the lava flows have done under the surface. The last eruption was in 2013, but the volcano’s domes continue to release steam and plumes of smoke today. There is one small harbor close to our path and a nearby beach area where you can anchor. The harbor is more protected, but you have to be aware of the ferries and cargo boats that come and go throughout the day and night, as well as a few shipwrecks under the surface. The beach area can reportedly be pretty rolly, and we aren’t fans of that.

So we found a nice little spot in the harbor and our anchor held very well. We were granted permission to stay there a few days while waiting for better weather to cross the the next island. The forecast was calling for thunder storms, and while we can do rain, we try to avoid thunderstorms as much as possible. We were out of the ferry and shipping lane, but still woke up every time one of the big boys came in with their bright lights and loud horns. To ensure we were not in their way, we sometimes had to fire up our engine to nudge ourselves a little further away from their path when it seemed like they were possible going to get too close for comfort.

At one point, another sailboat came in after us, a rental that did not have sufficient ground tackle, and they dragged anchor many times before moving to the nearby beach area. We felt bad for them, as we know the stress of dragging in the dark. We were also happy to be on our own boat and not having to figure out a rental in the middle of the night.

Eventually, an nice travel day presented itself, and we made our plan for an early morning departure for Guadeloupe. We remembered to take pictures at that island.