20 - It's Bermudaful!!!!

Quick update!  We told you guys about the high winds we had here in the harbor.  Well, we thankfully survived unscathed but cannot say the same for some of our neighboring boats.  Pedro had to help rescue 3 dingihies that broke loose (4 if you count Alison and Dan's dinghy that we rescued a couple of weeks before when we first got here).  Two of the dingies were very badly damaged after beating on the rocks for who knows how long but they managed to at least save the engines and one was undamaged.  As signs of appreciation, we got 2 great bottles of wine (yes, one is gone already) and the promise from the guy who is a diesel mechanic by trade that if we ever needed anything to look him up in St. Martin where he was headed!

















Anyway, it's almost impossible to believe but we've been here almost a month.  We have explored so many places and met so many amazing people.  These people literally invite you into their homes and their lives.

While we had Katie and Shawn here ( daughter of Alison and Dan aboard Equus), we explored the crystal caves of Bermuda.  Truly spectacular and worth the tour.  The animated tour guides were as much fun as the actual caves.  We highly recommend visiting this.  Pay attention to the tide charts if you go.  We arrived at high tide following a full moon and had to wait a few hours as the tidal water floods the caves.  Not a problem, we just explored the nearby park.

Next. we hopped back on the bus and went to the Royal Navy Dockyards.  This is again full of history and had a great restaurant with a microbrewery!  Delicious food and beer.  The Dockyards were also the site where everything was set up for the last America's Cup and still have one of the boats (the AC 45) on display.  We were excited to see yet another America's Cup boat.  This was a completely different type of boat we saw in Newport, RI but still cool to see.





On our way back from The Royal Navy Dockyards, we had to transfer buses in Hamilton.  Well our timing was perfect because we arrived just in time to see their Christmas Parade.  It was so cute and very small town.  Lots of dancing and partying.   Again, such friendly people!

We aren't really sure how we managed it but we also were able to wrangle an invitation to the Mayor of St. George's Christmas party.   Luckily, we'd met Janelle who owns Salt Spray Soap (she makes all of the soap sold) on our bus ride to the big grocery store in Hamilton and decided to have lunch together (yes, we went back to the amazing Indian restaurant - yummmmy).  Anyway, when asked for our invitation to the party, we simply told them that we were meeting Janelle there and we were immediately welcomed.  She laughed when we told her the story!  While we were definitely not locals, we were, none the less welcomed as such. We even met a lady named Mary who invited us over to her house the following Sunday night for an impromptu party just for us so that we could see her 300 year old house complete with a secret garden.  She treated us like royalty (called us her "Yachties") and we spent several hours hearing about her life growing up in Bermuda and her travels as she lived in 38 other cities places prior to coming back to Bermuda.  She offered to take us anywhere we needed but we were fine.  Pedro quickly figured out the bus system which in Bermuda is amazing and you can get anywhere you need to go.

 

 

 

Well, tis the season and no self respecting harbor town can get away for long (well they have for 400 years but who's counting) without having a boat parade.   So St. George's hosted their first annual Christmas boat parade (we chose to believe that it was in our honor).  We didn't participate with the boats but we did add as much moral support and cheer as we could.  We even met up the  partiers back at the local yacht club afterward for dark and stormy's!

 

 

 

We explored just about everywhere we could think to explore. There are several forts nearby and some great old houses.  We fell in love with several of the cats who live nearby.  These two are called Dark and Stormy.  Too sweet!  We also met the "helper" of the guy who was repairing our staysail and rigging. 

 

 

 

Right across the bay from us is the town of St. David’s.  We decided to take the dingy and go explore a gorgeous beach called Clearwater Beach that had a NASA facility that was used up until very recently (we thought that was pretty cool)and the old St. David's lighthouse. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were apparently in Bermuda so long that Pedro and Dan got involved (they said it was their civic duty) twice with the dunking of the wench (supposedly for nagging her husband) that we'd previously told you about.

 

It's not all been play.  We did have to make another trip to Hamilton so Pedro could get some drawings printed out for signing and sealing before shipping to a client.  We were excited that the process was as easy as bus ride and a walk from the printer to the fed ex office.

 

 

Additionally, Alison was given a “new” sail (one of the boats crossing with us blew it out on the ride from VA so they had to get a new one shipped to them) so we had to start cutting it up so she could use it to make her sail bags, etc. (go to www.sailmates.org or look up Sailmates on Facebook to see what she makes).  The stage was still setup in the town square and we found some electrical outlets so, we took to cutting up the sail and starting on the sewing.  Well, so many people came by and asked what we were doing that she ended up selling a couple of bags and taking custom orders for change purses and an I-pad case (seriously you have to check out her site – she ships from anywhere). 

 

 

We stayed a couple of extra days to participate in the annual Christmas Walkabout.  Most of the businesses and many of the old houses (including our friend Mary and the guy who helped us with our boat repairs) opened their shops and houses while also providing snacks and beverages for over a 1000 people (what one house estimated based on her head count).  What a great time we had!

 

With the repairs completed and the walkabout a wonderful memory, we started getting ready to take off.   We pulled up the dock to get refueled and pulled behind a large research vessel.  The captain invited us aboard for a tour.  That was really interesting to see and he was a wealth of information. 

 

 

 The guy we refueled us (his nickname was Turtle) said that the girl we’d met a week or so ago, who sells homemade goodies including the best fudge with chunks of toffee, was his cousin (her nickname was Smitty).  Turtle helped arrange a meeting with Smitty so we could stock up for the passage!

Next, we were told by a local charter boat captain about a wholesale meat and seafood market so we picked up a few things for the trip.  We heard of a farmer’s market that was on the bus route and the driver was also great about letting off right where we needed to go so we stocked up there too.  While in Hamilton, we found the Gosling’s run store and placed our order for duty free rum that would be delivered right to the customs office for us to pick up as soon as we were ready to leave.  Check, check, check! 

The theme of this entire post is that the people of Bermuda really could not be any friendlier or giving.  Literally, everywhere we went we met amazingly wonderful welcoming people.  It’s definitely a fabulous place to be “stuck”!!!!  Until next post! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19 - Getting to know Bermuda

It's been 2 weeks and we're still in Bermuda still waiting for our forestay repair.  The weather has been very off and on.  We've had gorgeous days and then a lot of rain.  As I type this, we're going on over 24 hours of Gale warning winds.  The winds are averaging about 30 knots with gusts to 50 knots.  Needless to say, the wind is howling and the boat is rocking (the radio reports are 2-4 foot seas behind the reef and here in the harbor and 10-18 foot seas outside of the reef).  Pedro "slept" in the cockpit most of the night to watch and make sure our anchor held.  About 3am he had to blow the air horn to wake up the guys on the boat in front of us that was dragging towards us as their anchor had apparently lost its hold.  Needless to say, no one in the anchorage probably got much sleep after that.  So far, we've had 3 boats break free from their anchorages and another derelict boat that was tied to some sort of a mooring also break free and float in between two boats.  We lost sight of it but are pretty sure it's currently on the rocks somewhere to the south of us behind an island.  We seem to be holding (knocking on wood) and the winds are supposed to abate somewhat by midnight!!! 

Anyway, we really have been enjoying the island and have done quite a bit of exploring.  The first week here we had a lot of other boats also here from our Rally so we commiserated with them (one broke a starter, one a transmission, another broke both the forestay and the inner stay, another shredded their sail and broke their boom and our good friends had their refrigerator and freezer go out).  We weren't looking so bad!   Slowly but surely, most of the other boats we know left leaving only us, our friends Alison and Dan on Equus and George and Sue on Julia Max.  George and Sue took off to have Thanksgiving with family but Alison and Dan's daughter Katie and her husband Shawn flew in so we invited ourselves over for dinner with all of them.

With the other boats gone, we were finally (yes, it took a week) able to get a spot in the marina for a couple of days so that we could remove our forestay and get the repairs started.  We were amazed when we pulled down the halyard (the rope that holds the sails up) off to see the condition.  This held the sail up for almost 2 days after the forestay broke until it finally also broke we're sure due to rubbing on the broken metal of the forestay.

Well, for those of you who've never been to Bermuda, it's an adorable place.  We are anchored near the town of Saint George's.  It's full of history and gorgeous views.  Our first Saturday here we got to shore in time for the dunking of the wench.  They do this weekly in the harbor.   Not sure they got this right because she married to the town drunk and her crime is nagging.  It's a pretty cute show, though!!!

As I said, there is history everywhere you look.  There are several forts within an easy walking distance from Saint George's and this amazing unfinished church that is about 300 year old and was never finished.

There is even an old cave that at one point housed the gunpowder for the island's defenses.  Apparently, during the revolutionary war, some islanders broke into this and smuggled the gunpowder to the states to exchange for much needed food.  We thought that was pretty cool as this was said to have been a very crucial event in the war.

We were also amazed to find that they have a beach bar within walking distance that makes an amazing run punch.  What are the odds???? 

 

 

Well, we're still waiting on our repairs and have a lot more discovering to do but we're really enjoying our unplanned stop. 

Until next post!

18 - Detour to Bermuda

Well, we left Hampton, VA mid-morning on a gray drizzly, but thankfully not as cold as it had been, Monday.  We chose this otherwise not ideal time to leave because it looked like we’d get a decent weather window (just what is sounds like – a few days when the weather seemed to be favorable sailing conditions which in this case meant we would be in between some of the ugly storm fronts we’d been experiencing).  We motored out of the marina and into the Chesapeake and it seemed that the wind and the seas picked up right away.  Because the wind was directly in front of us, we had to continue motoring for a couple of hours as we passed the mouth of the Chesapeake into the Atlantic.  Because this area is such a huge military operation, we did see a lot of various vessels.  We thought this hovercraft was particularly cool. 

Not long after seeing this, a helicopter radioed to the sailboats in front of Virginia Beach (we were in our Rally with about 60 other boats) to keep an eye out for a “large orange torpedo with wings floating in the water.”  They’d apparently lost track of a drone.  A couple of the boats had seen it and pointed them in the right direction.  It was pretty cool to watch “Raptor” the helicopter seemingly land on the water (we were too far away to get a good picture).  We had heard stories from another helicopter pilot about landing on the water so we were particularly excited to see this!  Woooooshhhhh!!!!

After that excitement, we started heading more southerly, were able to hoist our sails and attempted to get into the rhythm of sailing. Because we were dodging storm fronts, the plan was cross the Gulf Stream with as little delay as possible.   We were sailing along nicely with our main and staysail (small head sail) when the winds picked up even more (yes, we want wind but too much and we cannot control the boat safely) so we decided to reef (lower it part of the way) our mainsail.  Well, did we mention before that when we took our sails in to have them reconditioned that it was determined that our main sail was beyond repair and we had to replace it.  All was really good and well until we tried to reef the sail and realized that the reef lines were not tied properly and came out of the sail.  At the point, it was completely dark, really rough seas and raining so we decided to just drop the sails and motor through the night or at least until the wind calmed down some.

 

 

The next day the wind calmed enough for us to attach the reefing lines and re-hoist the sails.  We were sailing again and still making our way across the Gulf Stream.  It was still rainy and ugly but at least it was getting warmer as we were in Gulf Stream’s warm water.  This continued on for most of the second day but things were otherwise unremarkable.  We were enjoying the radio contact with various other fellow boaters to keep us company and even got a pretty decent picture of “Archer” a 75 foot or so catamaran who flew by us (we were doing a very respectable 6.5 to 7 knots ourselves but they were flying).

 

 

The next 2 ½ days were amazing.  We were warming up, the sun was out during the day, the moonless nights were completely full of bright stars, the wind was prefect, we caught a couple of Mahi Mahi and were finally able to cook real and hot meals.  Life is good!

 

Well, one should always know better than to get cocky but apparently, that lesson must be learned time and again.  We were bragging to ourselves at how great we were doing as boat after boat in our rally radioed in that they were low on fuel because they’d had to motor more than anticipated (we hadn’t motored much since the first day) and decided to detour into Bermuda for a fuel stop.  Not us.  While we didn’t have enough fuel to motor the entire distance (we will more often than not be in that situation so we weren’t concerned), we felt confident that with the wind predictions and the amount of fuel we had that we would just continue on our course to BVI. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was Friday evening , were sailing along somewhere between 6 and 8 knots with all three sails flying,  the sunset was gorgeous and we decided to have a happy hour.  Not long after toasting each other and relaxing in the cockpit while planning dinner, we hear a really loud sound that was akin to a gunshot.  What the??????  We realized that our forestay (this is the metal cable that goes from the mast to the front of the boat and literally helps holds the mast up) had broken.  We immediately dropped all of the sails to get the pressure off of the mast.  We have spare halyards (lines that are used to hoist sails up the mast) so we ran them to the front of the boat where the forestay attaches and cranked them down as tight as we could to allow them to support the mast.   As we were 800 miles from BVI and only 120 from Bermuda, the only decision we could make was to detour to Bermuda for the repairs.  We radioed into Bermuda and told that we were coming in and that we had broken a forestay.  After confirming that we were all safe, his comment was “well you shouldn’t have any trouble getting that repaired in Bermuda”.   We had assumed such but that was still comforting after our ordeal.

Because it was still pretty windy and we were somewhat confident in the halyards we had securing the mast, we were able to one again hoist the main (double reefed) and our staysail and continued sailing, this time northeast toward Bermuda.  We were about 4 hours from the harbor at St. Georges when we heard another crash sound.  At this point it was midnight, rainy and really rough again.  Seriously, what the????  Our forestay, while broken, had been standing on the front of the boat somewhat attached to the mast by the jib halyard.  We’ll the halyard for the jib sail finally gave way and the stay with the jib sail attached had fallen into the water.  We managed to secure it to the side of the boat and out of the water, dropped all of the other sails and motored the rest of the way into Bermuda.

We arrived at the customs office about 4 am.  Despite complaining to the customs agent that his building was swaying quite a bit, we were allowed entry and given a visa for up to 90 days.  We pulled away, found a secure anchorage and immediately went to bed for a few hours’ sleep.  We spent the next two days drying out and cleaning up the boat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday, we went into town and met up with about 6 other boats from our group.  I have to say that it was heartening to hear their war stories too.  Luckily, no one was hurt and all of the boats’ issues can be resolved.

 

We decided that all is good.  We’re still alive, we still love each other and we saved the boat!  Plus, we get to see Bermuda!

Until next post!