Confession time.
No matter how hard we try, we just don't seem to be able to get going very early when it comes to passage making between islands. Maybe it's because we know it's a day sail - although some are LONG day sails. Or maybe it's because we are in laid back, what's the hurry -cruiser mode. Or something else. We certainly weren't like this in our previous life. If we were leaving to go somewhere we were generally on time.
Anyway, leaving later than planned usually means we arrive later than we plan. In turn, this means we arrive into the next anchorage late. The challenges there are crowded anchorages and rapidly approaching darkness.
We discuss getting going earlier. We try to do as much as possible the night before in preparation of departure the next morn, we set an alarm and yet we still seem to get away later than we would like.
On our passage from Carriacou to Union Island it was a combination of waiting for customs to open at 8am so we could clear out, getting the dinghy and outboard hoisted and stowed securely and a sail issue.
We are still searching for the perfect way to secure the dinghy on the arch. You wouldn't think that would be difficult but it seems to be for us. There is a lot of motion on the boat on the ocean. Ha! But seriously, all this motion jiggles things loose below and above deck, this is true of the dinghy tie downs.
We are also still struggling with our mainsail furling and unfurling. The sail is new and so is the reefing line but we are still having issues and we are unsure of what those are. On this last passage we tried to unfurl the main before we even left Tyrrell Bay. We quickly dropped anchor again and spent 30 mins or so troubleshooting it. Results are mixed so further work is needed on that.
So.....for those reasons, we general depart later than we plan.
