On Watch at Night - Alone

Posted by Ed

The sail from Antigua to St Barths, is about 75 miles and to ensure a daytime landfall we occasionally sail through the night. The wind was predicted to be about 15 knots from the Southeast and our course to St. Baths was northeast so an overnight downwind leg was in store.

We had an early dinner and were asleep around 8:00 PM to get rested for the overnight sail. Liz has sailed through the night before on a delivery from Bermuda to Boston but this time it’s a little different, she will be on watch ALONE.

It was nearly a full moon when we departed Five Islands Antigua at midnight and with great visibility we motored slowly to get through the shallower banks to deeper water. We both were “on watch” until one of us seemed more tired than the other, so Ed took the first off watch and went below for a little sleep. After a few hours of rest Ed was ready to take over the watch and Liz was free to go below and rest.

While on watch and between using the radar and Liz’s keen senses, Liz spotted a cruise ship about 10 miles ahead and right on our course line. As we drew near, we called the ship on the VHF radio to confirm our/their intentions. The Sovereign of the Sea was enroute from St. Martin to St John Antigua and we would both be on reciprocal courses and agreed to pass each other starboard to starboard with a mile and a half distance between us. The radio operator from the cruise ship was willing to chat for awhile which makes the night passage a little more interesting.

We enjoyed the night sail under a full moon and arrived in St. Barths at 2:00 in the afternoon dropped the anchor and we both looked forward to the evening’s dinner and early to bed.