Key West to St
Georges, Bermuda
This quiet evening at anchor before we
push off for the Azores is the first time we have had to pour over the details
of the past few weeks and post our adventures.
We left
Key West with light south winds and flying fish skittering across the water
like skipping stones.
The only
tricky part on our first day back at sea was navigating the literally thousands
of crab pots. They were set in long lines approximately 100 feet apart with a
crab pot every 30 feet or so as far as you could see up until the freighter lanes.
It then became a night of Freighter dancing as the traffic on the water was intense
both coming to and leaving from Florida. Other than that it was a rather gentle
departure that would soon become “close hauled” the next day as we connected with
the Gulf Stream to take us north and east.
At 2am on day two we put the second reef in the main with rolling seas
heeled over at 30 degrees.
Our first destination was the Little Bahamas
Bank in search of dolphins. We only had
a couple of drive by dolphin encounters during that time but Paul caught a 35lb
“Goliath Grouper” that once cleaned and dressed filled one half of the freezer
even after feasting on it seriously.
Once away from the Bahamas we began
working with the Sextants as Paul begins to teach Celestial Navigation to
Barbara Ann. What a delight to be within
3 NM of her first noonsite reading!! Day
seven we made 157 NM in one day with big
winds and high seas...it was a brisk and exciting day. It is a strange sight to
be so heeled over that your view outside the galley window is actually one that
is underwater.
The weather continued to be a challenge
with days of being becalmed set against days of “close hauled” sailing. Day eleven – log entry “ Rough night..changed stay sail to storm
sail...big waves over the bow...full harness and tether....building seas wind
to 35 rain and bashing..close hauled scary ride...safe in my bunk after the
sail change”. Day twelve – log entry...woke
up to downwind sailing in perfect direction..beautiful full moon later with
light winds and clear skies.
In preparation for landfall we had to
repair the leading edge of our Canadian flag as it had tattered in the wind
over our days in Panama and the US. As we
were sitting naked in the cockpit doing the last stitches Paul all of a sudden
said “Give me the flag...give me the flag’ and as he stood up he covered his
private parts as the Bermuda police boat came alongside to ask us to put our
VHF on to talk to Bermuda radio. Not a
particularly elegant way of flying the flag but effective as they did not stay
long to chat.
We made landfall in Bermuda on the 27th
of April after 15 days of offshore sailing.
It was a welcome landfall that offered a genuine welcome and a quiet and
quaint safe harbor after such a challenge at sea.
One of our
most treasured encounters was with our new friends Steve and Suzanne Hollis of
Ocean Sails Custom Canvas. Thank you for your generosity and warmth and especially
your stone shower with all that delicious hot water.
Now we are off to the Azores..stay tuned......
Cheers from Paul and Barbara Ann
