Yesterday morning around 5am, we were underway to St. Maarten! Let me tell you, Jon, Isaac and I have never been happier to sail into rough seas. We had been on the dock in Nanny Cay for about 2 weeks! Maintenance, maintenance and more maintenance needed to be done…and thankfully, Split Second has never been in as good of shape as she is now!
As I stated, the sea state was definitely not favorable for us. However, we had been watching the weather for weeks and knew exactly what to expect. It was pretty smooth sailing for the first two hours of the trip, but as soon as we hit Anegada Passage (heading toward St. Maarten) we knew we were in for a long trip. The seas were about 10-12 feet with East winds up to 25 knots…which honestly wasn’t that bad because the week before the winds were at 40+ knots! Worst part was we were headed straight into the wind and with the wave height that high, we had to motor quite slow to lessen the wear and tear on Split Second. A trip that can take 10 hours took 16. A very long 16… but with Captain Jon in charge, we knew we were safe!
We arrived safely in Marigot, St. Maarten very late last evening and the boys quickly gave Split Second a wash down, while I put the galley and salon back together. We had to stow most things away because the seas were so rough. We all made it to bed around midnight and got some sleep before our owner’s arrival this morning…
Currently, we are anchored off of Grand Case. I must say, it is nice to be in a different location. We spent almost 4 months chartering in BVI, and I think we were all ready to begin our travel period of the season. We will head back to BVI for 3 weeks after this 2 week trip in St. Maarten/ St Barths. From there we head to the Bahamas, Bermuda and then New England. Working in this industry is definitely not always sunshine and roses, but I must admit, it also has some great perks ;-). We are beyond lucky to have this opportunity to travel around the islands and continue exploring on our own. We just wish we could share more of it with the people we love!
Kait and Jon