In Martinique

We were supposed to sail non-stop Grenada to Azores via Guadeloupe.
We had planned to anchor in Guadeloupe to wait on a good weather window, but our request to anchor was turned down. The island is closed due to COVID-19 and only EU boats were accepted.
And EU in Guadeloupe doesn't include EEC/Schengen countries - like Norway.

We left Grenada at noon on Friday 24th. The evening the next day we had noticed a growing problem with the boat steering was behaving poorly.
The boat seem to dift off 45 degrees to port - this was much to much to be caused by ocean currents. In addition the autopilot or manual steering could not make the boat turn back on wanted track.
Same fault was there even using the wind vane rudder.
Many thoughts ran through our minds while trying to figure out why - and what could be wrong.
We spent hours testing and discussing - but in the end we set the boat on course towards Guadeloupe with the unwanted drift to port. We slept very little that night.

At first daylight we managed to set the main rudder midship and lock it.
We turned the boat using our Hydrovane wind rudder and set course to Martinique island - which was 5 nautical miles to our ENE. We telephoned the Maritime Rescue Coordinator Centre in Fort de France and explained our situation and requested permisson to come and anchor for repair. They were very polite - and here there was no talk of "only EU boats accepted".

On top of this our email on shortwave wouldn't work. But Geir managed to fix it and we could have witten communication with the MRCC in Fort de France.

The trip in was a long one. We were 60 nautical miles out and we were only doing 2-3 knots as we had wind/sea against us. We motored all the way and used 24 hours to get in.
30 minutes before we arrived our anchorage we were called on the radio and we got the official permit to anchor.

Grete happy for visiting another island.

Our Anchorage oposite Saint Anne

Our anchorage looking west

Many charterboats and no costumers.

We haven't starting looking for the fault yet. Today we have slept and Grete has gone for a swim 3 times already.
We are ut anchor in 4 meters depth in crystal clear water. We are in quarantine for 2 weeks - but that doesn't matter to us - as we don't need anything onshore. We will remain here untill the steering is fixed and the weather for the first days of the Atlantic crossing looks good.

3 weeks in Grenada

Yesterday we passed 3 weeks moored in Grenada.

We have access to what we need here, but things are more difficult to get.
Not because of shortages, but because of the cerfew that has been put in place shops are not allowed to stay open all day.

Everyone is to be confined in their home and not allowed to leave their house/property.
Shopping is only allowed at special shopping days/hours and this leeds to crowding and loooong queues.

This morning Geir and Swedish boat neighbour Lasse - queued up for the local supermarket.
The line was almost 500m long an hour before the supermarket opened.

Supermarket - with the long queue (not visible here)

The progress was very slow, as it looked like they had 3 queues merging into one outside the premises. After having waited in the increasing heat from the sun for nearly 3 hours, we gave up.

We have access to other sources - who can buy and deliver stuff, but at a little higher price.
So we'd rather do that.

Here on the Ocean Viking we used a super yacht delivery who supplied us with, milk, juices, drinks, beer and drinking water - we should have more than enough to reach the Azores and perhaps Norway.

The other night a van showed up in the marina - selling fresh vegetables. Next day Grete made us a great salad for dinner.

Well, weather is great, beer is cold and our health great.
We will probably remain here untill the 20th April.

We will then start the trip up to Antigua and from there set course for the Azores.
The distance to the Azores will depend of the weather route we choose.
As it looks like this time of the year we will sail north 3-4 days from Antigua, then turn ENE for 10 days and then head straight to Horta the last week.  Finding the right wind is important.
To go too far north can get us too close to high winds, too far south in too calm areas.
So obtaining weather updates often is recommended,

Will be back with updates as we start sailing.