Things that go "bump" in the night

Posted by Liz

2am - Gustravia Harbor - St. Barth's

We had a "bump" with another boat in the anchorage! At 2am we awoke to the "bump" and leaped out of our bunks up on deck - indeed, the 51 ft catamaran stern was perpendicular to our mid-ship. Ed was fending off - I ran down below to get him the boat hook. I repositioned our fenders, started the engine, and when the time was right, Ed came back to the helm and I pulled up the anchor with the electric windlass. Bear in mind, the anchorage was VERY tight with tons of boats and we had very limited maneuverability. The adrenalin was pumping for sure. The saving grace was that the winds were very light and again, we had the moonlight, thank God - which helped us out for sure.

Once we pulled up the anchor, we motored into the big open channel, and just decided to drop the hook there til morning. We took turns doing "anchor watch". The two of us stayed up together til about 4am, then Ed slept for a while, and then I slept til 7. Anchor watch was essential because of A) potential ship traffic in the channel, and B) the current was swinging us in a completely different direction than the wind, and we were afraid the anchor would drag under the boat and pull on the keel, rudder and/or prop, which could be very damaging.

The boat finally settled into the right position with respect to where the anchor laid, so we were really just more concerned about channel/ship traffic at that point. All in all, the great part about this experience was that Ed and I worked totally in sync and efficiently with each other - executing all the important steps together - and it made us feel really good about our teamwork!

At 7am, we departed Gustavia and went 3 miles around to the Northwest corner of the island to a spectacular anchorage - Columbier - where we stayed for about 5 nights. It has some free moorings (we took one) and there are only like 30 boats in here. Private, beautiful beach, and calm anchorage for the most part.

The water is SOOOOO blue - you can see clearly down to the bottom from the 22 feet that we're anchored in. I've been snorkeling like crazy - and each time see many Manta Rays, Sea Turtles, Starfish and YES, SHARKS! EEEK! Black tipped reef sharks -smaller guys about 4 ft in length and supposedly harmless, unless agitated! That was a little freaky at first, but now I'm more calm (but on guard) when I see them.