Elvis is alive and living in St. Lucia

Well we made it into View Fort, St. Lucia after a 0350 departure from Wallilabou. The weather has been iffy the last couple of days and forecast to get worse. We needed to get to St. Lucia to pick up the Fowler family Monday and the later we waited, the greater chance of not making it across the channel to St. Lucia. Winds were forecast 25-30, higher in squalls and seas to 15 feet. Not what we wanted to deal with. I decided to motor sail this leg of about 35 miles to minimize the mutiny factor. The early departure graced us with a couple hours of moderated weather and running up the St. Vincent coast very close to get the lee was easy going. That all changed when we got to the north end of the island. The guide warns of very high winds until about 6 miles north of SV. We got them at 40 knots and the 5 meter sea/swell combo as well. These were really incredible to look at. The period of the swell just long enough we seldom buried the hulls but all the visual excitement and feeling of a roller coaster. Good thing the rest of the crew were sleeping. They wouldn’t share my fascination. Like the good book said, 5 miles north the seas moderated and we blasted into View Fort about 0945. Not bad for 36 miles.
We spent the next day basically lounging waiting for Rocket and his family to show. This was by far the worst anchorage to date. The winds blasted down the hill frequently to 40 knots and would change direction all day and night causing serious strain on the tackle. We let out extra chain to compensate but got too close to the reef so moved away to allow some dragging room. There were a dozen boats the first night but only us the last night. All left for calmer pastures. We watched the Fowler flight land on time from the boat and Donna and Alex went to scoop them up. I couldn’t leave the boat for fear of dragging. Turns out it was all for not.
The next day we prepared to get underway and while pulling anchor the chain came up hard right from the start. The windlass was only able to recover a few links at a time and our fear of snagging another anchor or worse were confirmed. Seems we hooked a shaft, strut and stuffing box from a wrecked ship. It was about 14 feet long and weighed a bunch. The windlass strained to get one end up to the surface and with the aid of both of our mast winches we raised it up to the chain locker height. Donna was in the water hooking up lines and trying to untangle the mess. She got all the wraps off the struts but the chain was woven between all the lag bolts running the length of the shaft and too much to attempt with snorkels. We ran out the spare anchor to relief strain on the chain and minimize the constant swinging from 30 knot blasts off the hillside. Despite heroic efforts by Donna, and after the shaft slid down part way through the strut we were secured to, the situation was too dangerous to attempt from the surface with our equipment. The windlass supports were cracking and we lost two rivets in the port mast winch from the attempt. I threw in the towel and went searching for a diver. We found one in the fishermans harbour who worked for fisheries St. Lucia. He would gladly take a look for us during his lunch break. I picked him up two hours later and after suiting up he went down and five minutes later had the chain clear. We thanked him, paid him and yes his name is Elvis.
The sail up to the Pitons was only 12 miles but what a blast. We finally got to reach and with 25 to 30 knots of wind and a double reefed main alone we were comfortable doing between 7 and 9 knots. Fred and Dylan doing turns at the helm while the rest of the crew bounced around up forward and sitting on the cross beam with waves rolling under. The Pitons are a couple of very tall and steep mountains. This area of the coast is a marine management area where anchoring is prohibited. Mooring bouys are in place for a small fee. The whole area is very beautiful amplified by the friendly people we have met. The St. Lucians are proud of their island and willingly share the special places to see and do while here. We are looking forward to it. An unexpected bonus having the Fowlers here and sharing domestic chores is now I can go twice as long before it’s my turn to do the dishes.