August 26. Tropical Wave over Grenada

We knew that the tropical wave we've were waiting for was going to be a strong system and prepared accordingly for it. It was a huge system and we knew that we would have bad weather for a couple of days so we also did some provisioning. I think everybody else in the anchorage did the same. Then the report came that the system split in two, just before it arrived in Grenada. One part went south and dissipated and the other went slightly to the north and over the day started strengthening and as soon as it was passed Grenada built into Tropical Depression 5 and later the same day into Tropical Strom Ernesto. As it now was slightly north from us it brought us wind out of the direction we really didn't want to get it, out of the S and SW as our anchorage is not protected from that direction. As the direction of the wind started changing to the SW our boat started swinging towards shore and we finally had 6 feet of water left behind the rudder and had to pull anchor fast not to go aground. A couple hours prior several boats left to find a more protected anchorage and left us plenty room to re-anchor with nobody even remotely around. The flopper-stopper was in position and we were ready for the incoming swells which were now around 3 feet and later grew to 4 with an occasional 5 footer. As Depression 5 was strengthening it kept the wind coming in from the SW and chances of the swells for the night to slow down was slim to none, even though towards the afternoon the wind started to turn back to the E, the swells still came in and as the boats started to swing back to the E the swells hit the boats on the beam. I tell you the flopper-stopper is an incredible tool to have, it breaks the rolling motion of the boat and makes it more comfortable. We had one roller big enough to make some noise down below, so Sid immediately jumped into the dinghy, I lowered the stern anchor down to him, he set it and we were facing again into the swells and had a comfortable night. We had a good night sleep while everybody else in the anchorage was being tossed wildly around in the swells, poor guys. The swell kept coming in the following day as well and still everybody was bobbing around very uncomfortably. Even Welsh Rover which is a 50 footer rolled from ear to ear, Toni finally called Sid to help him set a stern anchor before sunset. After that was set they help Maja do the same as they all started to feel a bit seasick. This morning all was back to normal and every boat was comfortably resting in calm water in this beautiful anchorage as nothing ever happened, except for the very exhausted sailors. While Ernesto is headed for Jamaica still strengthening, we will pull anchor tomorrow, Sunday and finally sail to Isla Margarita in Venezuela. The forecast has 12 to 15 knots of wind out of the E for us, we should have a comfortable sail. It shows how powerful mother nature can be and how fast she can turn against you, we consider ourselves very lucky that it did not strengthen into a stronger system before it came across Grenada.