Saturday, December 21
We’re in an area with a lot of names. I’m certain we’re in the Caribbean Sea. The Leeward Islands are to the east a little ways but I’m not sure we’re in them. I know we aren’t “in” Montserrat, the closest island, nor St. Kitts and Nevis, the next ones up. We weren’t in Guadalupe, but we got pretty close to Dominica.
We were in Martinique but on this trip one of my strongest memories and hardest watches was passing the bay that harbors Fort de France and we certainly weren’t in that bay.
I don’t think about the ramifying names of bodies of water as much as I used to, but the Caribbean has countries you have to check in and out of in areas like Maine’s Downeast waters. I don’t think anyone whatsoever cared whether or not we were “in” Jonesport while anchored at Mistake Island. The people who were taking a family holiday on a family-owned lobster boat off Cutler definitely didn’t ask if we’d checked in.
It’s different, I’ll give you that.
And yet, you can sail to islands while “in” Maine that have cultural particularity and a sense of a separate selfhood.
And we’re sailing to a place where we’ll be in Vessup Bay on St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean…and I didn’t even mention the town name though I think it’s Red Hook?
For now, I’m just sailing in the Caribbean Sea on the planet Earth.
The wind slacked off around sunset but it’s coming back a little. We’re making decent speed, 3.5-4 knots, and when it steadies we do even better. I’m burned by the squalls though so I only have the main (single reef) and the staysail out. I don’t want to wrestle the yankee in a sudden high wind. Fixing or replacing it is back on the list and until then I’ll take the hit on speed (no pun intended) overnight.
Sunday, December 22
It’s a beautiful night with a good light breeze. The waning moon rose at the end of James’ watch, just before midnight, and I got to watch it lift out through the light low clouds just above the horizon. It’s bright enough to be helpful but not so bright that it empties the sky of stars. I love this part of the cycle. Then again, they all have their beauty.
There’s no way we’re going to make it to St Thomas in time for my interview. We just spent the morning dodging storms and made even less progress towards the destination than we did over the ground…and our speed over the ground wouldn’t have been enough to get us the even if we had made a straight line for Red Hook. Oh well. Now I’m just hoping we can get close enough to avoid being a no-call no-show.
Noon position: N 17° 17.118’ W 063° 45.778’
Distance: 85.2 NM
Average speed: 3.65 kn
Trip distance covered: 254.2 NM
Distance to destination: 88.4 NM
