On Dec. 26 we departed Deshaies at 6:20 am to begin our passages to the BVIs.   On our first day, we travelled 79 nm to anchor in White House Bay, St. Kitts.   The passage was lumpy, but not too uncomfortable.   On our first attempt to anchor, we drug.   When we pulled up the anchor in order to try again, we discovered the reason for the anchor not setting: we had snagged a large chunk of dead coral.  Attempts to dislodge the unwelcome guest with a boat hook were not successful.  Finally, Devi swam over (they were anchored right in front of us) and tied a line to the back of the anchor.  With the line secured we dropped the anchor.  That tilted the anchor enough so that the chunk became sufficiently uncomfortable and jumped off the anchor and left us in peace.   Our next attempt to anchor in a new spot was uneventful.

At 5:50 am the next morning, we were again underway.   Initially we passed Arctic Tern, but once we cleared St. Kitts, their winds were favorable and they slowly passed us, affording each an opportunity to capture pictures of the other.  Shortly after the Tern’s pass, a Brown Booby began using the solar light on our bow as a convenient perch from which to watch for flying fish.  When our boat spooked a fish, the Booby would leap off the light and chase the fish.   Soon, he would return.  When the efficacy of this approach became evident, other Boobies joined in.   The seas were on our beam, so we were doing a certain amount of rocking.   It was interesting to see how capable the Boobies were of maintaining their balance while on the light or the rail, and of how flawlessly they returned to their perch after a fish run, despite the lurching of the boat.  Not so interesting was the mess they eventually left on our deck and rails.

We spent two nights in St. Martin, having taken the opportunity to do some shopping at the new Budget Marine in Marigot.   At 4:00 am on December 29 we left Marigot and made our way downwind to Virgin Gorda, BVI, and settled in to the crowded anchorage at Vixon Point, off Saba Rock, after a passage of 80 nm.  The seas were easily 8 or 9 feet, and fairly steep, but the Krogen 48 North Sea is so comfortable in quartering seas abaft that the trip was remarkable benign.

For our account of our experiences in the BVIs, see our next blog entry.