An Interesting & Quick Sail South Ahead of Tropical Storm Bret

Running ahead of storms is one of the challenges of cruising in the Cyclone period.

Summer Cruising

Summer cruising in the Caribbean is a great option for people like us who don’t really want to lock down for the hurricane season in a “safe” haven. Officially the hurricane season begins in June and ends at the end of November with the high season for storms being August, September, and October as can be seen on the NOAA website which puts out a lot of information for cruisers.https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/#stca

Our plan is to sail on the shoulders of the hurricane season(summer) as far north as practicable and spend the peak of the hurricane season in the south with escape options.

The conventional approach is to keep a close eye on the weather looking for anything developing in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa and then heading west. Typically the forecast will give at least 5 to 7 days’ notice of impending weather although the actual severity of any of these systems can change rapidly as they progress west.  These systems form 5 – 20 degrees north of the equator and usually move slightly northwards as they head west, although this is not always the case. The spread of tracks are shown in the picture below from NOAA.

Historically, significant tropical storms in the Caribbean don’t get south of 10 degrees north so our plan is to stay within a couple of days travel (about 400 miles) of this latitude with options to head further south if necessary. The landmass of Venezuela and Colombia generally limits the southern extent of major storms.

Looking back at historical tracks of major storms the only major hurricane to hit Trinidad was Flora, a destructive Category 3 hurricane, in 1963. However, with the current change in our climate records continue to be rewritten.

Crew

On board Eleuthera were Barb and Hew, and from late May also Pete and Di who had joined us in St Martin for a few weeks. The plan was to cruise slowly south with a destination of Trinidad in mid-July to lift the boat to renew the antifouling. We had lots of islands to visit and explore with the planned highlights being Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, and St Lucia.

First signs

All was going well as we cruised south through the islands enjoying sailing, swimming, diving, and various land-based activities at St Barts, St Kitts and Nevis, and then Antigua. A highlight was a fabulous reggae band that followed the steel band one evening at Shirley Heights in Antigua. See https://kiwiflyingfish.com/2023/08/ancient-antigua/

Guadeloupe

Leaving Antigua on 16 June we headed south for Guadeloupe planning to spend some time exploring this spectacular island. Not long after leaving Antigua, we came across a fast travelling water spout – the atmosphere was unstable.

After a great sail, with no further weather phenomena, we arrived in Deshaies on Saturday afternoon 17 June to discover we were unable to check in as the facilities were all closed. Sunday was the same with even the police station closed. However, it seemed such a pity to miss the town so we did go ashore for dinner.

As an aside the French islands generally have the least bureaucracy at the border and the best food. Clearances are completed online at a special terminal located in a local business, often a chandlery or a tourist operation.

At this stage, the long-range weather forecasts were suggesting an early tropical storm was on its way and looked to be headed somewhere between Guadeloupe and St Martin in about a week. Our plans to spend time in the northern islands went out the window and it was time to go further South.

Heading South

Given check-in difficulties and uncertainty around the weather, we continued south on Sunday to Isles de Saints with another great sail in classic Caribbean conditions with 15 – 18 knots on the beam. Champagne sailing as Pete pointed out although probably a little too fast to catch fish.

Arriving on Sunday afternoon we picked up a mooring but everything was shut here as well. Looking at the forecast updates that evening it became apparent the storm was not behaving itself as it intensified and moved west and not north.

Pete was talking with a friend also called Brett, a super yacht skipper who suggested an anchorage in Martinique as a suitable spot to shelter.

The next morning 19 June we awoke to discover the storm had a name, Bret and it was tracking for the Lesser Antilles and strengthening. Predictions had it reaching the islands in about 4 or 5 days with 80-mile-an-hour winds! With a 5 am start, it was off for Martinique and another great sail as more and more yachts joined us for the trek south, we sailed past Dominica without stopping.

Martinique

Checking in at St Pierre and anchoring off the town for an overnight stop, Di went for a walk around the village befriending the local dogs but there was not much activity in the town. Interestingly the town had been destroyed in the 1800’s when the adjacent volcano erupted with the only survivor being a prisoner locked in the jail.

Another 5 am start the next day had us heading south again initially for Captain Brett’s safe harbour which was full of local boats seeking shelter, so on to Le Marin where we checked out. Di and Pete went shopping for supplies and Hew tried to get a bolt to repair the gooseneck but the chandlery was closed.

There is a large charter boat base here and all the operators on the dock were removing bimini’s and tying booms and sails down and adding additional mooring lines preparing for the worst. Also not a place to seek shelter.

St Lucia

Back on board, we carried on south again heading for St Lucia where we had a delivery to make. Some friends had asked us to deliver an outboard motor to a young local they have been helping so we were keen to hand it over.  Thanks to Starlink and WhatsApp Barb was able to make contact with Kenya and we stopped in Soufriere to hand it over. Kenya and a friend helped us pick up a mooring in the most spectacular bay under the Piton. They eagerly took delivery of the outboard and after photos were on their way. 

The local parks guys came out to collect the mooring fee and advised us to leave early the following morning as the storm was coming. There were several other boats in the bay with us all heading the same way.

Forecasts now had the storm passing between Martinique and St Lucia on Friday night 23 June so the plan was an early start and head for Bequia for shelter south of the centre of the storm. Bret was now getting close to a Category 1 hurricane in the forecasts.

Thursday 22 July and another 5 am start saw us the first boat to leave and head for Bequia.  

Bequia

A boisterous sail in a cross sea saw us make the 50 miles to Bequia by mid-morning but new forecasts now had Bret tracking further south across St Lucia.  This made the harbour in Port Elizabeth less attractive as it was now only marginally south of the storm centre and the various guides suggest holding on anchor was not great.  We had no desire to deal with an anchor dragging in the middle of a storm so off we went again.

Union Island in St Vincent and the Grenadines

Consulting the charts the next good shelter was Chatham Bay on the southwest corner of Union Island.  We had been there last year and felt this would offer shelter with high hillsides. On the way we saw a delightful pod of jumping dolphins and also a very energetic Seagull / Booby who fished next to the yacht for about 30mins.

Another 30 miles saw us in Chatham Bay for a late lunch and happily on a brand new mooring field in the bay put down by the resort.  The fee for staying on the mooring was to use the bar and restaurant! We dived on the mooring to check it out and the gear was obviously only a week or so old and plenty strong enough to hold Eleuthera.

The Aqua Resort guys took Barb over to Clifton to check in and make our arrival official. She reported an interesting trip on a rough track up through the forest. Cocktails that evening in the bar were a highlight.

As the afternoon went on more boats arrived in the bay and many more sailed past heading further south. This procession continued through most of Friday as well and included some bigger commercial vessels we had seen further north, people were taking this seriously. By Friday evening we had over 40 boats in the bay, some anchored and others on the moorings.  One or two left during the day obviously heading down to Carriacou about 15 miles away.

The Peak of the Storm

The winds didn’t pick up much until late Friday evening and we had 25-30 knots from the northeast through the night. On the back of the storm, the wind dropped and moved north and west as the eye went through to the north. Finally moving round to the southeast it picked up again and we had gusts of +40 knots for a few hours around daybreak. These gusts came screaming down the hillsides and across the bay at different angles making them quite exciting. For some reason in the northern corner of the bay, the wind funneled down the side laying some yachts right over as it hit them beam on. Several boats dragged anchors and generally had an adventurous time for an hour or two.

By Saturday evening everything had gone quiet in Chatham Bay, Bret had continued west and was petering out. St Lucia and St Vincent had 60-mile-an-hour winds and a lot of rain but not too much damage. Bret had first formed around 15 June, was named on the 19th, and hit the islands on 24 June. The first Atlantic storm of the season Bret did not track north but the forecasting and information on progress and potential track was great making it relatively easy to move out of its way.

Summary

We ended up sailing 250 miles to avoid Bret and think we made the right decisions not leaving things too late. One charter catamaran off Martinique did not heed the warnings and ended up with damage and the boat sank. They abandoned their yacht for a liferaft and were rescued after the storm had passed. Many questions were being asked as to why they had ignored the storm warnings.

The only disappointment was that we missed exploring the islands to the North. Sea conditions had dropped by Sunday and we headed back north again to Tobago Cays, Bequia, and Mustique.

Next Blog: Bequia