The seas are calm enough for dinner up on deck

We departed Dominica begrudgingly, but knew that there was more to see in the Caribbean and figured we could always stop back on our way north if we had some time in the schedule.  We left on a Monday morning with what looked like a perfect weather window.  The wind was forecast to be out of the East-North-East at around 20 knots with some higher gusts.  The heading to Grenada from Dominica was just west of south so we should experience a 120 degree wind angle which is about as good as it can get in open ocean sailing!

The trip started in light and confused winds as we headed south in the wind shadow of Dominica.  Due to the height of the mountains as well as the length of the island, the winds in the first few hours were from every direction and very light.  As we approached the southern tip of Dominica, we started to experience the large ENE (East – North – East) swell that was wrapping around the island.  The swells were about 6-8 feet in height, but spaced apart enough to just roll the boat around a bit.  As we motored on, I saw what looked like a white water river ahead.  There was a wall of white caps and larger waves even though we were in only 5 knots of wind.  Finally we hit the “river”, which turned out to be the end of the wind shadow from Dominica.  Our friends on s/v Anything Goes watched as we went from rolling around in the swells to taking on a modest heel to starboard as the wind filled in.  The wind went from 5 knots to 20-25 knots in about a quarter of a mile and off we sped.

After a slow start, we were finally realizing the potential of the forecast as well as enjoying perhaps the fastest point of sail for the boat.  We were consistently averaging 8+ knots as we barreled south towards Grenada.  As night drew near, we again had a slight lull in the wind as we hit the wind shadow of Martinique, even though we were over 15 miles to leeward of the island.  While this slowed us down a bit, it did allow more attention to be paid to the fishing gear.  We were rewarded at dusk with two Bonita which I promptly cleaned on the back of the boat (add a stable fish-cleaning table to my list of things I miss.)   The Bonita later became one of the kids’ new favorite dishes- fish tacos!

The night brought slightly lighter winds, but given the direction we were still averaging 7-8 knots.  By morning, clear of the lee of Martinique, the wind had freshened to 20+ knots again and the boat was absolutely flying!  I ended up hand steering for 6+ hours in the morning just because it was so fun.  The boat was rolling down the waves hitting over 10 knots consistently and at times over 12 knots on a few of the bigger waves.   I enjoyed the morning watch with the kids on deck and some music playing where I demonstrated that you can both dance and steer a 47 foot sailboat in 25 knots of wind at the same time.

As we approached Grenada, we realized that we had run about 200 miles in the past 24 hours.  What looked like a daunting passage of 220 miles now turned into a little more than an overnighter.  I wish they all could be like this!  We arrived in Prickly Bay with plenty of time to check into customs as well as explore the area in the afternoon.