Tropical Storm Chantal

Quick update after an interesting couple of days.

Dropped the Andersons off at Vieux Fort on Saturday and spent the day at anchor.  Vieux Fort is a pleasant enough place lying on a bay at the southern tip of St Lucia and right next to the main airport.  The town is centered around a small protected fishing boat harbour and one commercial dock.  We had read mixed reviews about the place but went ashore anyway. Its not a tourist place but very Caribbean and pretty lively.  The people were really friendly and helpful.  Its good for the kids especially to see how the place works and compare it to other places they have seen.  We had been the only boat at anchor at the far side of the bay and when we returned there were five boats around us.  Most were anchored a decent distance off but one cat for some reason anchored almost on top of us.  Thankfully they only stayed for a couple of hours before leaving.

We moved North back to the Pitons the next morning (Sunday) to await the arrival of Steve Down, our next guest.  The anchorage is so awesome we thought it would be a shame if Steve did not see it, and its a more pleasant place to wait.  

Dulcinea moored between the Pitons

The anchorage from the beach

Got up on Monday morning ready to get into school and a bit of cleaning.  Luckily one of the first items on the agenda was to check the weather.  We found out that a tropical wave had been classified to a named tropical storm overnight - Chantal - and with a bit more research determined that it was headed in the general direction of St Lucia at a speed of around 25kts.  That would put it close to us around midday the next day so we only had 24hrs to get organised.  Initially we thought we would hang off the mooring at the Pitons and weather it but as the day drew on with more information available and after a call to a local dockmaster at one of the Marinas Scott decided to seek shelter at Rodney Bay Marina.   Chantal was forecast to pass approx 50NM north of us with winds around 55kts to 60kts.  Given that we were on the calm side of the storm we should not see that windspeed but it was better to seek shelter than take the chance.  

Track of tropical storm Chantal (Dulcinea is in the red near Tuesday)

We slipped the mooring at the Pitons around 1700 and it was dark by the time we reached Rodney Bay.  Coming into the marina we almost hit an unlit yacht anchored right in the approaches.  It was only Sam's sharp eyes that saved us.  Once alongside we rigged additional lines, took down what ever was not necessary and then went to bed.  We left the headsails and bimini on this time.  Again should probably have taken them off just to be safe but.....

Learned a thing or two during this whole episode.  The call to move to the marina was made kind of late in the day.  The first decision to stay at the mooring was wrong as it left us exposed to certain unknowns even if it turns out that the storm does not hit us too bad.   So the decision to go to the marina was right but we should have moved a few hours earlier say around midday.  That would have allowed us to tie up and get hunkered down during daylight.  In hindsight we could have probably sailed south to Bequia out of the storm path but we had the added complication of Steve arriving today.  One of the suprising aspects here was the speed at which the system developed into a named storm - in our planning we always assumed there would be plenty of warning i.e. at least 48hrs.  So lesson learned - stay attentive and act decisively.

It is now Tuesday and we are hunkered down on the boat with the wind and rain gusting outside.  Believe the storm centre has just passed to the north of us over the south end of Martinique about 20NM away.  The worst winds we have seen were brief gusts to around 40kts but think Martinique will be worse hit.  We heard on the radio one boat at Le Marin calling for assistance as they had dragged into another boat and were now headed to the shore.  The storm is intensifying and its current track will unfortunately see Santo Domingo get a direct hit. Think we dodged a bullet here - again - what with coming close to Sandy late last year.

Earlier in the day the airport on the island was closed and we feared Steve may not make it but the flight is back on and he should arrive this evening.  As Chantal is moving so quick the weather should be OK for a departure tomorrow morning and we will head south for St Vincent or Bequia.