Sailing Baby Blue

Now that we're here in Grenada, we'll be spending some time putting together all of the videos from our travels so far. Despite our best intentions and with everything we had to learn when we started out, we didn't do as much documenting as we would have liked from the beginning. But as we ventured further we got a little better at remembering to pull out the camera. We will be publishing episodes throughout the summer and will hopefully be up-to-date by the time we're ready to head back north in November!   Without further ado, here is episode one:

From Bequia we had only 76 miles to travel to get to the southern tip of Grenada. The forecast everyday was for 25 knot winds and six foot seas. Normally we wouldn't go out in those conditions, but we were ready to get it over with and reach Grenada in time to prepare for our friends upcoming visit on July 10th. We left Bequia with the wind blasting behind us. I felt as nervous as I had when we first started sailing back in Maine and insisted that Jon and I both wear our life jackets and harnesses. This helped to eliminate my need to think through each step I would take if Jon were suddenly knocked off the boat, so I was able to relax a bit. Once we left the protection of the islands, the waves picked up and we entertained ourselves by trying to guess just how big they were, comparing them to the biggest we’ve seen. Later that afternoon we anchored in Charlestown Bay, Canouan, just outside the moorings which held the only two other boats in the harbor, both charters.

Anytime we’re anticipating doing an overnight sail, we’re always a little bit nervous. Just the idea that the weather might go bad in the middle of the night when I’m tired, a little seasick, and mostly blind, starts to tie my stomach in knots. But while there is usually a moment or two of discomfort or anxiety, overall it isn’t as bad as I fear it will be. When we left Martinique for our last overnight before Grenada, it’s fair to say that we were both dreading it. The forecast called for 20 knot winds with gusts to 25 and 5-6 foot sees. We were very relieved to find mostly 3-4 foot waves for the majority of our 100 nautical mile journey. Our plan was that as long as the weather was comfortable we would pass by St. Lucia, then steer clear of St. Vincent on our way to Bequia (which is actually part of St. Vincent). Mainland St. Vincent has developed a bit of a bad reputation among cruisers for its questionable safety, so we knew we wouldn’t be stopping there unless we did some more