Patience
With everything that we came here to accomplish now said and done, we had hoped to be able to depart Trinidad later today. Unfortunately, even though Rebecca and I were fully ready to set sail, we could not come to a complete consensus with the weather. Experience has proven that, unless we can come to a unanimous decision to move on, that being an agreement between Rebecca, myself and Mother Nature, we will not have a great passage. And so, we wait.
Our intention, weather permitting, was to sail towards Union Island, passing by Grenada on its windward side. At 5 knots, the 120 mile passage should take us approximately 24 hours and thus we planned to leave around noon to arrive at Union at approximately the same time the next day. The course we would need to sail to get there is approximately 007 degrees. Unfortunately, both the wind and the seas are forecast to be a bit too north today making it unlikely that we could sail that rhumb line. Tomorrow, although the wind is still forecast to be somewhere between east and northeast, it should be a bit less north. “Should be” are the key words in that last sentence. There are no guarantees when it comes to the weather!
So, given that we will remain put today, we’ll spend our time getting the boat completely squared away, do some last minute provisioning and hopefully manage to clear out of the country with customs and immigration. Although we are anxious to get moving, we are not in any hurry to beat our brains out on a rough passage. Hopefully this bit of patience will pay off for us.
I had expected you position up to Tobago, have a look at the place, check out from there and have an easier trip across the wind northwards. Ah well, speculation from thousands of miles away always was likely to be wrong! 🙂
Have a good trip anyway.
Mike
The “sail” to Tobago from here is quite long and directly to windward. I’m sure it’s a nice spot to visit but we’re anxious to head north. Some other time.
Windward side of Grenada should be exciting. Be nice if you’re at Union Island long enough to rendezvous with Scott and Diamant.
Maybe Scott will invite us aboard for drinks. 🙂
At one time, they did Snax and Swizzles on Happy Island. Not sure if they still do that. They didn’t when I was aboard in January. The Bougainvilla, at the dock in Clifton, serves a kick butt rum punch, but you may already be familiar with that.
Unfortunately the anchorage at Clifton sucks. We’ll be leaving there IMMEDIATELY after clearing customs.
Anchor over in Chatham Bay & relax for a few days after
your passage from Trini
We may very well go there tomorrow.
Hey Mike,
I have been lurking your blog for a couple of weeks, and I must say THANK YOU for sharing your adventure with us. I have been encouraged and inspired by both you and Rebecca. You are an awesome team! I am learning so much and am putting together a getaway plan for my wife and I. You guys have become my muse. Your clear, common sense approach to sailing shows that it was destined for you guys from the very start.
You and Rebecca are a great example of living life and following your dreams.
Hold fast to dreams
for if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
that cannot fly…….
-Langston Hughes
Godspeed and Fair winds
“D”
Hi D
Thanks for the nice comment. Good luck with formulating and implementing your getaway plan. Let us know how it goes!