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!

17 - Carribean or Bust!!!

Well, it's finally here!  After a little over a month in sweet Hampton, VA and a lot of money spent on repairs and updates, we are heading out.  It's been a month of preparations and everything else.  We got back after our road trip and spent a week getting to know the other sailors we're cruising with.  There are about 70 boats total heading from Hampton, VA to either The Bahamas, Antigua or Virgin Gorda in The British Virgin Islands.  We chose the British Virgin Islands (BVI) with the idea that we would spend some time in all of the Virgin Islands and then continue westward through the Caribbean and see where the wind and/or adventures takes us.

We just left the dock (ran out of time to write more because friends were helping us take off).  Left 10:30 AM on a drizzly but thankfully not too cold Monday.  Hoping to make it in 8-10 days!

We promise more and some hopefully cool pictures later!

16 - Road Tripping

Well, we're back in Hampton, VA after a roundabout road trip that put almost 4000 miles on our rental car.  We took off from Hampton and drove to Louisville, KY for the wedding of our adorable niece Chelsea to her love Andrew!  The trip was pretty easy and the wedding was perfect!  Despite the cold weather, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the time we got to spend with both families. 

 
We left Louisville and drove to Florida.   We both were able to get some "real" business done, Gary drove our wind generator down to Ft. Lauderdale for a quick repair, we were able to address a couple of  issues with rental houses, hook up with several of our amazing FL friends and try to get our car sold.  The trip was very successful but too short as we really needed to get back to Hampton and finish getting the boat ready for her next adventure.

 We've joined a group called the Salty Dawg Sailing Organization and are in their Fall 2018 Rally where we are heading to Virgin Gorda, BVI with about 30 other boats.  We leave in a week and as always, there are several items still on the honey do list.  The sails are ready to be put back on, the wind generator is back on, the engine maintenance is complete, the rigging repairs are almost done, the dinghy chaps are almost done and we've got our last minute shopping list compiled!!!! 

Until next post!

15 - Hanging out in the Chesapeake

 We left St. Michael’s, MD and had a great sail over to Solomon’s Island, MD.  A small but adorable town.  We anchored out and took the dingy into town. 

The local Holiday Inn has a great dingy dock for $2/day.  We were able to visit the library and catch up on some work, found a great seafood shop and bought some local rock fish (striped bass) for dinner since we don’t have a Maryland fishing license and were able to get some shopping done too.  It’s such a friendly little town.  While we were looking around at a local art gallery, the owner of the store offered us his truck in case we needed to do more grocery shopping.  We were fine but just amazed at the offer. 

We left Solomon’s Island and headed south to Reedville, VA.  We again found a great anchorage and got an amazing view of the full moon rise!!  The weather was more rain than not, so we spent the next day catching up on our reading and overall relaxing.  There didn’t seem to be anywhere to access town so we pulled up anchor and continued south.

Next, we pulled into Deltaville, VA.  We again found a comfortable anchorage and took the dinghy into a nearby marina.  A short walk and we were in the heart of town.  It’s a very small town but also incredibly friendly.  On our walk of about 1 mile, we were stopped by 2 different people who stopped in the middle of the road to ask us if we needed a ride anywhere.  An incredibly friendly small town!   We walked around the Deltaville Maritime museum but it seemed to have already closed for the season.

From Deltaville, we headed to Mob jack Bay, VA.  This was a great anchorage to wait out a small storm that was heading our way.  There was no town that we could easily get to so again, we decided to enjoy the day reading and relaxing!

Once the storm passed, we decided to head into Hampton, VA a couple of days early.  Hampton is the jumping off point for the 2018 Salty Dawg Rally.  We decided to join the rally and head to Virgin Gorda, BVI the first of November with about 75 other boats.  We knew we needed to get a few things taken care of on the boat before the trip so we rented the slip for the month, got a rental car and started making arrangements to spruce up the boat.   

First, we took our sails in to have them reconditioned (our main sail was actually beyond reconditioning so we had to order a new one), ordered a new Asymmetrical Spinnaker made so that we can better sail downwind, scheduled some routine maintenance and repairs on the engine and arranged for a rigger to come inspect and repair any of the rigging (this consists of the lines and metal shrouds that hold the mast upright and raise and lower the sails).

Next, we have been wanting to get chaps (protective covers) made for our dinghy for some time.  We called a few local canvas shops to find someone who could make one in the limited amount of time we had.  We found one who could do it but they were located in Deltaville (about an hour drive) and if they had to come to us, the price would be at least double.  Could we bring the boat to them? Well, as most people know, MaryAnn has always maintained that everyone needs their own engineer.  So, while she told the shop that we couldn’t possibly do that as we only have a rental car and not a truck, Pedro explained that we could simply deflate the dingy and slip it into the back of the SUV.  Well, we looked like complete hillbillies but the dingy is at the canvas shop and the chaps should be done by the end of the month.  Seriously, everyone needs their own engineer!

So with half of the tradespeople in the area working on various things for our boat, we’ve taken some time to explore Hampton and the surrounding area.  We’ve visited Fort Monroe a couple of times, a nearby nature reserve and taken the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel over to Virginia Beach.  Maryann’s parents were stationed in Virginia Beach when her dad was in the Navy and when she was young her family frequently vacationed there so she enjoyed trying to see if she could find some of the places they used to visit.  

 

 

We’ll be here for a few more days (they have named a few streets for us so we have to stick around some), we have a couple of road trips to make coming up and then back to the boat to finish prepping the boat and then we’re off.

Until next post!

14 - What? There is a Hurricane?

We had to leave Florida for insurance reasons during hurricane season.  What happened and why was a hurricane heading our way?  We had already made plans to dock the boat in a marina up a creek in Deale, MD so that Pedro could fly out for business.  MaryAnn was going to be "stuck" on the boat for a few days by herself, with no baby sitter or chaperone but she wasn't planning on also dealing with a hurricane.  Little did she know!  Turns out it wasn't much of an event for us.  The water level in the creek did get above the docks a couple of times but she was still able to get on and off the boat.  Dock power was turned off a couple of times but with the wind generator and solar system the batteries where able to maintain their charge.



The marina was really nice and it included a pool with free beer Friday, bathroom and laundry facilities, bikes, kayaks, and a fat cat named Bob.

We did get a rental car when we got in town and made a trip to Annapolis and Washington DC before Pedro had to fly away.  On our way to Annapolis, we found a great crab house for lunch.  Great soft shell crab sandwiches and cold beer!! We drove into Annapolis and it started raining so we rode around town and got caught in traffic for the Navel Academy football game that was setting up for tailgating.  We found a local boating surplus/sail loft.  We bought a new quad directional wind scoop to be used next time we find ourselves in an area where the current is pulling us one way and the wind the other  As we are looking to add an asymmetrical spinnaker to the boat , we spent some time talking to the guy about what we need.  We were sent home with homework to do via taking measurements so we can get one made.  It was a good day.

The next day we went to DC where we  visited the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and Science.  Pedro had never been there and MaryAnn's last visit was about 40 years ago.  It's really an impressive collection and we spent a few hours going through it all.  Last time we were in DC, we found a restaurant called Ollie's Trolley but we'd just eaten so we didn't get to stop.  This time, we decided to try it to see how it compared to the only other one we know of that's in Louisville.  It had the same seasoning on the fries but the sauce for the burger was different.  We enjoyed it immensely but it wasn't the same.



While  Pedro was busy working in Topeka, KS,  MaryAnn took one day to explore Baltimore and another checking out the National Zoo in DC.   She also managed to explore Deale via bicycle (that took about 5 minutes) and spent considerable time making sure that Bob (the rather fat cat at the marina) was getting the attention he deserved.  We never even got to use the kayaks because the creek was so high but the pool, bikes and laundry all got considerable use.




(This is not Bob, the cat at the marina)

Oh, yeah, Pedro's business trip to Topeka, KS was success.

We were also excited to meet Dale and Gale who started the Cabo Rico owners Facebook page and are the proud owners of a 56 foot Cabo Rico named "Quetzal" (we even got to meet the owners of his previous boat a 38 foot Cabo Rico).  Their boat is currently on the hard in the boat yard right across from us so we had them over to our boat for happy hour and then the next day, we invited ourselves over to tour their boat.  It's absolutely gorgeous and huge!

Dale gave us a list of places to visit in this area so, after captain and crew were all back on the boat, we headed out the next morning.  We found a great quiet anchorage and sat for a couple of days just decompressing and waiting on the rain to blow through. 



First on his list was St. Michael's, MD.  We moved the boat further up the San Domingo creek  (less than an hour motor from our last spot) and found an anchorage.  We dropped the dinghy in and took it to town.  What an adorable town!  It's very similar to the New England towns we'd gotten used to seeing and will you believe it, they have a brewery.  We decided that that would be a great spot to update the blog so here we are.

From here, we were planning to go to Oriental, NC where we have a boat slip that we bought years ago but have never visited by boat and then on to Charleston, SC.  But Oriental and the outer/inter banks got a pretty direct hit from Hurricane Florence so we decided that wouldn't be our best option at this time.  Dale told about a group that is taking off from Norfolk, VA area and some boats are going to Bermuda and some to Antigua.  We are now thinking that we'll join one of those groups.   

 

 
(Our slip in Oriental is just two more to the right of this boat!)

Until next post!