Today I took and passed the ASA104 exam! I missed a couple of stupid questions, but I still managed a 93%. Longitude - Latitude...they are the same...right? For some reason, I had a mental block on which one goes north and which one goes horizontal. I missed 4 question because I confused the two! I now know the different, and will not ever...ever miss those questions again! The little harbor was interesting this morning, as the local kids walked down the mountain from the town, about a mile, to the pier, and waited for the school bus! Well, the school bus here is a boat, that picks them up at 7:00, and returns them back at 4:00. They go to the other side of the island or to another island for school. I'm sure that our kids complain about the bus, but they don't have to ride a boat to school!
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| Local school kids waiting on the School boat! |
Today we need to sail back to Bequia and Admiralty bay for our last night. The day started with a red tint, so we knew that we were in for some rough sailing. The wind continued to build, and squalls were in the distant. It could be an interesting sail, as we had about 20 NM to go. The wind increased and we were hit by 5 different squalls. The worse hit just under 40 kts of wind. The waves were really large and sometimes crashed over the front. The cat was very stable, and I was able to pilot most of the way. We ended up putting 3 reefs in the main, and the same in the jib to get ready for the worse of the squalls. It was exciting, and we had fun throughout the whole sail. There was no fear or panic, as we reefed early, and enjoyed the ride! We even had a pod of dolphins come over and run with us for a few minutes. Two jumped completely out of the water, just off the side of the boat! When the largest squall hit, the water had a strange white mist to it, as the rain hit so hard. The rain was really cold, but when water splashed over the front, it was warm, so we enjoyed the occasional warm shower from the big waves.
Video - Squalls are coming!
Video - Sailing from Union to Bequia in squally seas!
Video - Inside a catamaran in a 40 kt squall - really pretty stable!
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| Stormy seas! |
As we neared Bequia, we ended up motor sailing the last mile, as we tacked back and forth so many times, and wasn't making much headway, plus we had sailed for almost 6 hours in the storms, and were a little tired! It was nice to enter the quiet harbor at Bequia. Andato was already waiting on us, and they too were tired of fighting the seas! We decided that for our last night, that we would all eat at the Fig Tree together.
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| Last dinner at Fig Tree Bequia with crew of Andato and Inordinate. Tony and Nancy in the middle! |
Tomorrow I have my final test, the ASA114. We were all tired, but I hope that I can pass it, and complete my week!
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