Thursday may 1
Hi!
We have sailed/motored 2447 Nm since our last travel letter and are currently in Sint Maarten in the Caribbean. The Carnival is ongoing now and there's a great party spirit everywhere. We left you in Norfolk, VA, USA in the last travel letter, where we were waiting for the right weather window to head for Bermuda. And waited we did, it was gale after storm and we had daily contact with the weather guru Herb. He advised us to go to Beaufort, NC and wait there as there was nothing in sight for a few days. With our draft and mast height we could do the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway) which we did for 4 days, this was an experience. That meant we could avoid Cape Hatteras which is feared due to the dangerous conditions often prevailing there. Many ships have been wrecked in those waters.
In NC we again waited but the storms came so often that we had no time to go in between them. We thought about the situation and decided to skip Bermuda and instead head south along the US East Coast. Antigua was still the goal, even if we would get there later in the season. It was cold and everyone who knows us knows that we don't do cold very well. Elvina has no heater and when the water temperature holds 40 degrees F it's not cozy inside. Said and done, we did several night passages to get warm as soon as possible. In the beginning of December we hit Florida and that's when we started thawing. The oldest town in North America, St. Augustine was well worth a visit and reminded us of the Spanish influence. Eleven days later, we arrived to Miami that became our last port in the USA.
The Gulf Stream passes just off the coast of Miami, the passage across to the western Bahamas is only 40Nm wide. The day we crossed we had SE wind and it was quite bumpy. It took much more time than anticipated so we rerouted and went to an alternative anchorage further north. We could finally relax and celebrate being on the proper side of the Gulf Stream again! We have seen Bahamas on satellite images with turquoise green water and after a few days while on Exuma Bank we understood why. It was only about 12 ft deep and had a color that was absolutely fantastic!!
Golfströmmen går alldeles utanför kusten, sundet mellan USA och västra Bahamas är bara 40Nm brett och den dagen vi korsade hade vi SE vind. Det var stökigt och tog mycket längre tid än beräknat (drygt 1½ dygn) så vi gick till en alternativ ankring längre norrut. Där kunde vi pusta ut och äntligen fira att vi var på rätt sida golfströmmen igen! Bahamas har vi sett från satellitbilder med turkosgrönt vatten och efter några dagar när vi var på Exuma Bank där det är grunt, omkring 4 meter, förstod vi varför. Vattnet har en färg som är absolut underbar!!
The Gulf Stream passes just off the coast of Miami, the passage across to the western Bahamas is only 40Nm wide. The day we crossed we had SE wind and it was quite bumpy. It took much more time than anticipated so we rerouted and went to an alternative anchorage further north. We could finally relax and celebrate being on the proper side of the Gulf Stream again! We have seen Bahamas on satellite images with turquoise green water and after a few days while on Exuma Bank we understood why. It was only about 12 ft deep and had a color that was absolutely fantastic!!
One of our lower shrouds was broken but we lucked out and met old friends from our time in Portugal and they had the spare we needed. We were very thankful for that, Bahamas is not the place to break the mast. This meant we could continue our sail down the islands. We made convenient stops along the way until we came to the outer islands. There the distances grow to about 24 hour sails in between them. We saw many sharks so we didn't swim very much but we got long beach walks instead. On one of the beaches we found a message in a bottle! It was thrown overboard from a powerboat between Bermuda and the Azores in 2004.
We spent 12 days in Rum Cay, Bahamas waiting for the proper window for the next step. It turned out to be one of the rolliest anchorages we have ever been to. Even if the island was nice we were happy the day we left. Then we moved pretty quickly, a 24 passage to Mayaguana, the last SE island in the Bahamas. Then we did another overnighter to Turks & Caicos. We were only anchored there for 45 minutes which gave us time to change the diesel filter and bake bread before we continued another night. The next morning we arrived in Luperon in the Dominican Republic.
The clearance procedures in Luperon could make a book in itself. We have never laughed so much as when it was done. There were fees to be paid to everyone and for everything and we paid $123 in total. Not all of them we got receipts for… The country was nice; it felt like Venezuela without the safety issues. Smiling helping people everywhere gave us good memories to bring with us.
As soon as we got a new weather window we were off east again. We have motored more than ever but a good engine is a must when you go against the trades and the current. Puerto Rico became our next stop on route where we only stayed long enough to stock up, fill propane etc.
Spanish Virgins, US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands were next and since the distances between them are short we enjoyed day sails for a while. We were not as weather dependant there but had time to tack when the wind was hard against us. Winds of 20-25 knots have become normality for us, it's only when it's right on the nose its tough.
We closed our North American loop in St Maarten since this is where we took off for Bermuda in May 2006. 21 months later we came back and met all our friends again. We had been thinking of the future and realized we needed to make more money. Since the season in Antigua ends after Race Week in May we had to come up with other solutions. There are several crew agencies in St Maarten and we spent one day meeting with them all and giving them our CV's. One of the agents had a job on an Oyster 62 (sailing yacht) and gave us a brief presentation and asked if it would be of interest. It sounded fantastic and we met the owner the next day and got the job! Elvina did make it to Antigua and is currently on the hard in Jolly Harbour until we have finished working. It'll be there until we come back… A new exciting time lies ahead and we aren't sure where it'll take us.
We will therefore take a break with the travel letters for some time. If anyone happens to go by Antigua give Elvina some love from us!!
All the best from Captain Kris and stew-cook Gunilla