11:00 AM – We got underway with the new crew after checking out at customs, finishing some last minute provisioning and getting a nice boat orientation from Captain Thom. We have a great crew – Joe, Krisann, Troy and Erin have been friends forever and have done a lot of sailing together. Mark is the other crew member and everyone seems to be jelling well.
30.62 Nautical Miles (NM) from Saint Martin to Saba.
We had a nice sail down to Saba on a beam reach. We saw a lot of flying fish, chatted, laughed and got to know each other. We didn’t utilize the auto pilot so everyone had a good amount of time at the helm to get comfortable with the catamaran. You have to look closely to see Saba in this picture, we had a nice wind of around 20 kts with gusts in the 25 knot range. We were averaging around 6.5 knots with a double reefed main.
It was almost dark when we arrived and there were big swells on the west side of the island so we motored over to the south side to look for a mooring ball. Unfortunately, the south side was worse than the west so back to the west side we went. Here are a couple of shots of the crew as we sailed around the anchorage in Saba trying to find a mooring ball.
Saba is a cool island: rarely visited but often returned to. They average only 25,000 visitors per year and most of them come by ferry. Long ago, you would have to check in at customs by taking a long trail up the side of the island to check in. You can see all the switchbacks you had to climb to reach the small customs office in the picture below.
Most of the mooring balls were labeled “Dive Only” but we eventually found a yellow mooring ball and very swiftly tied on. This is a really good crew and, although it was dark, had no problem connecting to the mooring ball with ease. We had a late dinner on the boat that night. The plan was to move the boat to the south side in the morning, then tour the island and go for a hike.