Crossing the Anegada Passage

Headed east, and crossing the Anegada Passage

After spending a couple of fun, but pretty windy weeks in Culebra and Vieques, (saw two green flashes at sunset from the boat while in Vieques!) the weather forecast started to sound just a little better a few days after Christmas, so we began the slog eastward bright and early December 29. First motorsailed up to the tip of Vieques, wind dead on the nose and kind of choppy seas for a dozen miles, then a nice reach up to Culebra, and sailed into the lovely calm harbor there.

We could easily have stayed in Culebra a couple days (it‘s a nice place!), but we knew fine weather had been a rare commodity for a few weeks, so we were up and at ‘em again the next morning, and had a nice mellow passage over to St. Thomas. The main harbor was pretty busy, what with seaplanes, ferries and cruise ships dancing all around us, but we bobbed and weaved, and found a nice spot to anchor between the Coast Guard dock and the new Yacht Have Grande. Dropped the dinghy in the water and buzzed over to the seaplane office to pick up our mail, which Valentina had sent over that morning (Thanks!), then headed to Cost U Less and Home Depot to pick up a few items on our list.

That evening we met up with Candela and Enrique, old friends of Emmy’s, and went to their house up in the hills overlooking the harbor, and met their new twins, Pedro Enrique and Aurora Dulce! Then we all went for a great dinner at Harbour View, and dragged ourselves back aboard a little later than usual.

The weather continued fine, so we got under way in the morning (mmm…perhaps a little later than the day before?), heading for Virgin Gorda in the BVI. We got lucky and caught a favorable current and wind, and by lunchtime we were only ten miles away.
I mentioned to Emmy that perhaps we should just keep going, and she said she was wondering the same thing! There were pros & cons, but we decided to go for it…and cross the Anegada Passage (more on that later) on New Years Eve! We got a few miles out, and while the seas were fairly calm I decided to do a routine engine check, as the last time we crossed the Anegada we had overheating problems with the engine. Low and behold I found a small puddle of what looked and smelled like transmission fluid (not sure what it tastes like) in a sump under the engine…hmmm….never saw that before.

I checked the fluid level in the transmission (not a easy task while at sea!), and it was hard to get a good reading but looked like it might be low. I looked in the locker where we keep oil, cleaners, thinners, etc., and…and…“Honey, where is that transmission fluid I got before we left?” Seems I’d forgotten it at home in the storage container L . Soooo, trying to err on the side of caution we turned around and went to the marina at Virgin Gorda as originally planned.

New Years Eve was full of whump-whump music and fireworks, so we didn’t exactly get a great night’s sleep, and the next morning found us a little groggy (again?). Swallowed some coffee, then carefully checked the transmission, and the fluid level looked pretty close to correct. Bought some transmission fluid for safety sake, topped off water and fuel, got some ice, checked the weather (good forecast, but expected to deteriorate the following day), so it was once again time to hit the big blue highway.

We were motorsailing again, because the light winds on the nose would have meant a looooong slow sail to St. Maarten. A little about the Anegada Passage: it’s infamous as one of the more cantankerous stretched of water in the whole Caribbean. Big, choppy and confused seas are common, along with strong & weird currents and eddies. Lots of foreign ship traffic too. We had about 80 miles to cover to reach St. Maarten, and I didn’t want to lolligag out there. I really hate making an unfamiliar landfall at night (too many poorly charted, unlit rocks, reefs, wreaks, boats, floating junk, fish traps, etc.), and based on boat speed there’s just no way we could get to St. Maarten before dark if we left in the morning, so it would be an overnighter for us.

We didn’t use a formal watch schedule as such - Curious George our autopilot was behaving well steering the boat, so we took turns keeping watch and napping throughout the night. The sky was overflowing with stars, and the broad smudge of the Milky Way stretched over us like a canopy, while the sails shone moonlit, the engine rumbled under our feet, with our wake streaming behind us lit by phosphorescent plankton. Several satellites passed overhead, and by 10 PM the loom of St. Maarten was obvious on the horizon ahead. These days you can usually see the reflected light of populated landmasses way out to sea, one more thing that’s changed a lot in the last 30-40 years.

Only a few other boats were out there that night, and while we didn’t have any close encounters, keeping an eye on them did help keep us awake! The wind and seas started picking up a little as they funneled through the area between Anguilla and St. Maarten, but we made good time, and arrived at Simpson Bay around 8 AM - Yay! Nice having this jump behind us.