Sailing north - Bonaire to St Martin

After several postponements due to unfavourable conditions, we eventually left Harbour Village Marina on Wednesday 23^rd November 2022.

The journey stated well with a gentle sail south along the west coast of Bonaire. Blue skies and an easterly wind of Force 4 (11 – 16 knots) made for a sail of 6-7 knots. Reaching the southern tip of the island, we continued east to ensure that, when we tacked to head north, we didn’t end up back on the east coast of Bonaire.

Heading north, the wind was not as promised. It was more north easterly.  This, along with the westerly current, meant that our route was taking us, not to St Martin, but several hundred miles west to Puerto Rico. Before setting off, we knew that this may happen and had prepared ourselves for a longer zigzagging route, rather that the straight line that had been predicted.

Sailing into wind and current is always a rougher ride and Escapade ploughed into the sea with waves breaking over her bow. The water pounding on the deck meant that we found a few new leaks on this trip! It also meant that life on board was less comfortable and both of us struggled to sleep for the first few nights.

Throughout the passage, we were kept on our toes, by regular squalls, bringing with them change in wind direction and increase in gusts. These are always easier to manage during the day, when you can see the black clouds on the horizon, but obviously this is much harder at night. Luckily, we are becoming much better at reading the warning signs – change in temperature, the initial increase in wind strength and the occasional onslaught of rain. Checking the radar image then shows us the size and direction of the squall and enables us to change the sail plan to be ready for whatever nature may throw at us. We found that, usually, a reef in the genoa was enough to stabilise the boat until the squall had passed.

Another downside to the rougher passage, was the impact that it had on fishing. The sea state was a little bouncy for us to want to fish and, therefore, the only things that were caught this passage were a small flying fish and some clumps of sargasso!

In between the squalls, the wind and sea calmed down and Martin was able to break out the sextant and practice his sighting skills. He is gradually improving and can now get to within 11 miles of our true position.

Overall, the passage was (thankfully) generally uneventful and not as difficult as we had expected.  It was a long passage, but finally after 650 nm and 5 days 9 hours, we arrived in Marigot Bay, St Martin. The sun had already gone down, but we celebrated our safe arrival with a steak dinner, red wine and a good night’s sleep.