April 15, 2020 7pm —> April 18, 2020 12am ...Latitude 14*04‘ N Longitude 60*57’W —> Latitude 17*57’ N Longitude 62*54’W ... approximately 288 nautical miles in about 53 hours. Speed = distance / time. We averaged 5.4knots. Passing St Kitts we were going 0.5 knots.. floating...Staring at the same spot on land for hours. And then in the middle of the night we hit 10.2 knots... flying past who knows what in the pitch black. Stars racing by overhead. Charlie had one birthday wish.. to be somewhere anchored and not underway to ring in 13! We approached Ile Fourchue around midnight Saturday. Located 3 miles north of St Barts and eight miles south of St Martin. We discovered it on the way down. It’s a private island, a national marine park. We knew we wouldn’t get chased away by a marine patrol and figured it’d be pretty empty. WRONG! Apparently we aren’t the only covid19 cruisers with nowhere to go. The island creates a perfect protected anchorage due to its U-shaped landform that points west. Upon arrival we started to see a slew of anchor lights speckling the harbor. Spotlighting our way in, we counted ten vessels. A mix of cats and monohulls, and after three attempts we were secured to the bottom and all hit the sack exhausted from little sleep from our three-day voyage. But one thing before bed, Bday decorating! We made it to land for the birthday boy!!
We all slept hard and were rejuvenated to get up and celebrate with the teenage first mate! Much to his surprise there were presents! There were over 30 Birthday video messages sent ahead of time by teachers, coaches, friends, and family.. there were chocollate chip pancakes, a bacon egg and cheese wake-up wrap (dunkin donut style) and candles!! Off to a great start. At Some point mid morning we were greeted by a French snorkeler, Barbara, from the vessel anchored beside us. She welcomed us and proceeded to tell us all the rules of the marine park. “Please don’t drive your dinghy fast, the sea turtles don’t look up before they take breaths. We are in the animals home, we have to protect them. Don’t eat any fish you catch, they all have a disease called Cinqua Terra. Are you sure you don’t have the virus?” Nice to meet you too, Barbara!! We will comply!
We spent the day swimming, snorkeling, and hiking. Ile Fourchue has four rocky peaks in its “corners” and the views are insane. From each peak you can see St Barts, St Martin, Saba, Statia, St Kitts, and Anguilla. We flew the drone and watched to sun go down from atop the Northeastern summit. And to end the day we had a great dinner of BBQ ribs and watched Karate Kid! Wax on, Wax off! HBD Charlie!
Sunday we woke up and had plans to make water, possibly do a little bit of laundry, more swimming , snorkeling , scuba diving and another hike to the highest point. By 10 AM we learned that our trusty Watermaker was not working properly. No pressure was coming into the pump and we were no longer able to make 10 gallons an hour as we had the entire trip. This was not our drinking water, we had plenty of that, but it’s water for washing dishes , taking showers, washing hands, and washing clothes. Charlie checked the tank and we were down to 43 gallons. No way we could make it to the Bahamas with that little in the tank. About mid day a kayaker approached our boat. He was a solo sailor, from Norway. We chatted with him for a bit and asked about getting water at Saint Barts or Saint Martin. He too has been stranded on Ile Fourchue for going on four weeks. He shared in our conversation that we would not be allowed to Shore in St Barts to get water but we could anchor and Dinghy to the public docs and fill up Jerry cans from the public bathrooms. We hold 170 gallons of water, and all we had was a 10 gallon cooler. No way would we make 13 trips to and from the dock to fill up our water tank. We tabled that problem for the time being to enjoy another day. Charlie and Lee got the scuba gear out and did a dive while Mills and I explored the reef along the rocks. We then took a family hike up to the highest peak for more drone pictures and another gorgeous sunset overlooking six islands in the Caribbean.
Monday came and a morning of washing last nights dinner dishes in salt water was the start to our day. Along with back to school as spring break was over. Only we were no longer at Rodney Bay with great Wi-Fi and access to online learning provided by real teachers. Back to traditional Boat-school methods. Teacher mom, pencil and papers. Textbooks. No zoom. No renweb. Lord help us.
Wateemaker problem still looming... We decided we would sail to St barts first thing in the morning to see what our options were..... stay tuned for how that operation went down. Going to call it, a day for the record books!
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