24/5/2011
Once again we debated the wisdom of stopping along the coast of the lovely looking island of St Vincent. Having chatted to a number of “regulars”, we decided to make the final decision when we got to Cumberland Bay.
The winds were predicted to be a light 10-15knots from the East, but the acceleration zones around the top ends of these islands can make a mockery of such forecasts!
The first 24 miles of this crossing was a lovely broad reach in 18knots, and for once we also enjoyed a favourable current for most of the leg. At times we were doing 8.5knots, and so reached St Vincent well ahead of plan. The Northern end is very mountainous with rainforest vegetation. There are lots of bays and anchorages which really look inviting, but the crime and violence reputation lingers, and many cruisers elect to give the island a complete miss. It has a reputation for being the Ganja growing headquarters in the Caribbean, and most of the crime is apparently linked to this “industry”, and specifically the lack of revenue during the non growing season!
As if to reinforce our concerns, when we were 5 miles off St Vincent, we saw a big Pirogue, with twin 150hp outboards, being approached by a little high speed shuttle from the coast.
Shortly after their rendevous, the big pirogue took off at speed towards St Lucia, and the little shuttle boat back from whence it came in St Vincent.
Mary was about to film this little rendevouz, but we felt it might be unwise! Not 5 minutes later, the Pirogue came belting past us in the opposite direction, doing about 60 knots, leaping from wave to wave. While we were still busy watching this, we were passed by a Coast Guard vessel on our other side, doing similar speed….. but this time with two guys aiming machine guns at the pirogue about a half a mile in front! We felt like the ham in a sandwich, and decided right then to give St Vincent a miss, and “sail on by”!( We subsequently heard that it was a drug bust, and that the Pirogue was from Trinidad, and that they had been caught by the Coast Guard)
As we got into the lee of the island, the wind died, and then switched to S, on the nose, as did the current. We were motorsailing at about 1800rpm, making 6.5knots through the water, and 3.2knots over ground! As we came out from behind St Vincent, into the channel to Bequia, we were experiencing 25 to 30degrees of leeway from the currents, and still making barely 3knots SOG. When we got to within 5 miles of Bequia , we sailed into an area of ocean that looked like the confluence of two rivers, as the currents met. Without touching a single thing, the leeway stopped, and the Speed over Ground climbed back to 7knots.
We made our way over to Princess Margaret beach, anchored, and decided that a swim and a beer was much more appealing than the need to check in, which could wait until tomorrow!
Once again we debated the wisdom of stopping along the coast of the lovely looking island of St Vincent. Having chatted to a number of “regulars”, we decided to make the final decision when we got to Cumberland Bay.
The winds were predicted to be a light 10-15knots from the East, but the acceleration zones around the top ends of these islands can make a mockery of such forecasts!
The first 24 miles of this crossing was a lovely broad reach in 18knots, and for once we also enjoyed a favourable current for most of the leg. At times we were doing 8.5knots, and so reached St Vincent well ahead of plan. The Northern end is very mountainous with rainforest vegetation. There are lots of bays and anchorages which really look inviting, but the crime and violence reputation lingers, and many cruisers elect to give the island a complete miss. It has a reputation for being the Ganja growing headquarters in the Caribbean, and most of the crime is apparently linked to this “industry”, and specifically the lack of revenue during the non growing season!
As if to reinforce our concerns, when we were 5 miles off St Vincent, we saw a big Pirogue, with twin 150hp outboards, being approached by a little high speed shuttle from the coast.
Shortly after their rendevous, the big pirogue took off at speed towards St Lucia, and the little shuttle boat back from whence it came in St Vincent.
Mary was about to film this little rendevouz, but we felt it might be unwise! Not 5 minutes later, the Pirogue came belting past us in the opposite direction, doing about 60 knots, leaping from wave to wave. While we were still busy watching this, we were passed by a Coast Guard vessel on our other side, doing similar speed….. but this time with two guys aiming machine guns at the pirogue about a half a mile in front! We felt like the ham in a sandwich, and decided right then to give St Vincent a miss, and “sail on by”!( We subsequently heard that it was a drug bust, and that the Pirogue was from Trinidad, and that they had been caught by the Coast Guard)
As we got into the lee of the island, the wind died, and then switched to S, on the nose, as did the current. We were motorsailing at about 1800rpm, making 6.5knots through the water, and 3.2knots over ground! As we came out from behind St Vincent, into the channel to Bequia, we were experiencing 25 to 30degrees of leeway from the currents, and still making barely 3knots SOG. When we got to within 5 miles of Bequia , we sailed into an area of ocean that looked like the confluence of two rivers, as the currents met. Without touching a single thing, the leeway stopped, and the Speed over Ground climbed back to 7knots.
We made our way over to Princess Margaret beach, anchored, and decided that a swim and a beer was much more appealing than the need to check in, which could wait until tomorrow!
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