Here we are in Trellis Bay sipping on beers and painkillers inside a rocking boat, while the wind blows us in various directions. Fortunately, we're at a mooring ball safe from drifting into land or other boats. Outside, it must be 22 knots. And to think, it all started so benign.
We woke up early at 7am. So different than the barely-make-it-to-breakfast time we normalized in Puerto Rico. But something about the sea and rocking boats. Not to mention the get up at 3am to shut the hatches for the brief rainstorm. But we were up, made coffee on the stove, and dallied about while we figured out "what's first". Sandra had the itinerary set (Hiking and Snorkeling). We stayed at our mooring ball from yesterday and cranked up the dingy. We headed around the point to Pirates Bite, where there was a trailhead to hike up to the top of the island. We met a couple from New Jersey who were tying up their dingy to the same dock. They had the same idea. So, we all 4, headed up the trail to what was a 300-foot-high island. Not horribly difficult, but I could've picked better shoes than water slippers. We made it to the top, headed down, and next came the "Snorkeling" part of the itinerary. We zipped the dingy around the next point, and there was a huge collection of snorkelers already playing in the water. Sandra was already face down in the water while I tested the gear I was to wear. Flippers felt good, then I attempted the mask. NOPE. Same suffocating feeling I get when I must mouth breath. So, Sandra snorkeled around some caves, saw some blue and yellow fish, while I made sure no one stole the gas tank. We didn't spend a whole lot of time, as this was a trip for sailing. So back to the sailboat we went.
We got everything stored and motored out away from the channel to start grabbing wind. It looked to be a pretty good day; about 16 knots. We started out and already had some odd things happen where the autopilot engaged, and we had no control of the boat. That was quite an eye-opener. We pushed about every button on the console to no avail. Sandra got on the phone to the charter company to see if there was a remedy. We did not hear back from them, so we started brainstorming while on a direct tack back into Road Town. We decided to turn off all instrumentation power, and found "Hey, we have control of the boat again". That was good, but we were going to need instrumentation to see depth when we get close to reefs. We turned it all back on, and found we had control with instrumentation again after the 2nd try. But now we were sailing.
We thought we would make an all-day tack up to Spanish Town were we would stay before heading up to Bitter End as our on-ramp to Anegada. We were having a great time, but the wind was steadily picking up. Once we hit 18 knots, we decided to reef the sails so we would not be overpowered. This is where the work began, I found the sails were not reefing properly when attempting to get them configured. Sandra and I must have spent a good hour wrestling with it, but eventually, we hit Reef2, and there we stayed for the day.
The weather was not sunny for most of the day, and as we got to the later afternoon, the squalls came. We were sailing in downpours after downpours-Drenched. But at least it was a warm rain. We were about an hour from Spanish Town, but the wind was now hitting 22 knots, and the swells were about 5 feet. We fought quite a bit to make it but had to abandon the plan and seek shelter in Trellis Bay. We motored for an hour or so to the bay and immediately tried to get a mooring ball in the middle of the strong wind. The first attempt approaching our hook got jammed in the mooring ball lines, and we had to drop back and fetch it. We made a pass and Sandra jumped in the water to un-hook it and get back to the boat so we could make another attempt. It took us two more attempts, and we were finally secured to the ball. Engine off, and now it was grabbing a beer and reflecting on the 6-hour trip of the day. We warmed the leftovers from yesterday and had to eat below deck while the rain and wind have their way.
Tomorrow, we think of the Bitter End.