Antigua -- St Kitts

We were all nervous about the passage to St Kitts. It was 62+ miles, 52+ of it without possible landfall. Most of our sailing in the Caribbean had been in 2-3m waves upwind close hauled or on a reach so we were crossing them rather than going with the waves. Because I’d never been sick, it was thought I wasn’t really seasick, just terrified! On talking to Beth it became clear that inability to think or operate and lack of are a form of seasickness and Stugeron should help. Jamie and I took the Stugeron and combined with the downwind sailing and low winds, the passage was much more successful. Chris cooked bacon and scrambled eggs for lunch and I even managed to wash up on passage. We had a big fish nibble on our line, but unfortunately lost him – next time!

Another anxiety we shared was getting out of the harbour. This manoeuvre requires everyone to do their jobs efficiently. Alex was nervous about his: he was to slip the starboard stern line while Jamie slipped the port line, I pulled up on the anchor and Chris used the engines to avoid boats and mooring buoys. It’s important that the line comes back into the boat quickly and doesn’t get fouled round the props. In fact he performed superbly and we got away without shouting or incident!

We left Antigua at 07:00 and arrived in St Kitts just before 18:00 with just enough light to anchor.

The downside of Stugeron is the drowsiness. Once we had anchored, I slept for the next 12 hours.

Pics: Saying goodbye to our friendly diving Pelican in Antigua.Saying hello to Nevis and St Kitts.