Super Storm Sandy

We were a little annoyed that although we had Symphony ready to be hauled Wednesday before the storm she was never hauled.  We put extra lines on her in preparation for the storm with its projected 12 foot tidal surge.  The surge had the potential to lift the floating docks right over the pilings.  On Tuesday after the storm we approached the docks with more than a little trepidation.  Symphony was unscathed as were all the other boats in the marina.  (Brewer's Glen Cove).  Although we had no power at home we had our batteries, solar power, and engine on the boat to generate power.  Best of all, we have an Espar diesel heater aboard, installed thanks to the ingenuity of Jay Lesynski of Merri-Mar Yacht Basin in Newburyport, MA.

We moved aboard Symphony in the marina.  After a few days of cloudy weather and about 3 hours of engine time the Marina's electric service was restored.  We plugged in and have been here for 10 days. We've used about 12 gallons of diesel fuel.

Our home is frigid but our boat is cozy.  Having lived aboard for 9 months sailing to and from the Bahamas 10 days isn't bad  (but it is BETTER IN THE BAHAMAS!).  Unfortunately, tonight we are experiencing a Nor'easter with thick snowfall and 35kt winds.  The docks are too treacherous to walk on.  We are constantly being startled by loud bangs on the deck.  We have figured that these sounds are caused by falling pieces of ice.  It is so strange to look out the portholes to see snow swirling in the lights and collecting on the deck.  This is a completely new boating experience for us.

The major discomfort right now is caused by all the condensation on the hatches.  When you least expect it you get a nice cold drip on your head or down your neck.  The temperature in the main cabin is about 66 degrees - a little colder in our pullman berth forward - and a whole lot colder in the forward head where you have to motivated to take a shower.  The hot water quickly warms the shower stall so it really is bearable.

This gives you an idea about how difficult it was to get around after the Storm.
Hard to see how electric service can be restored anytime soon.
We have utility crews from Nova Scotia, Alabama, and Massachusetts.

Super Storm Sandy was truly a super storm.  The effects have been long lasting.  Our biggest problem right now is getting gasoline.  The gas stations all have power but no deliveries.  People are waiting on lines outside gas stations overnight hoping that there will be deliveries the next day.  

We made our way up to Deltaville from Hampton, VA.  We fueled up and went for a quick walk through the boat yard identifying the boats on the hard that we had seen in the Bahamas or en route from the Bahamas.  The next day we motored up to the Solomons and stayed at one of our favorite guest docks.  The guest dock is close to Safina, another Caliber 40 owned by Dennis and Carolyn Chandler.  Dennis and Carolyn invited us to dock there and join them for a sumptuous dinner on their screened in porch overlooking the water.  We may be slightly prejudiced but all the Caliber owners we have met so far have been a pleasure to spend time with.  It was fun comparing our sailing adventures in the Bahamas.  We saw them too briefly in Georgetown.  We also talked some potty talk - Vacuflush that is.  We all love the Vacuflush when it's working but Carolyn has a much better working knowledge of hers - having had multiple experiences assembling and disassembling Safina's Vacuflush.  The Vacuflush eliminates the need to manually pump water in and out of the boat's toilet.  It has a vacuum tank that sucks the contents of the toilet out with a sometimes startling implosion and then electrically pumps out the tank re-establishing the vaccum for the next flush.  The Vacuflush uses a small amount of fresh water instead of the odor laden saltwater that most marine toilets use. But enough potty talk.  The Chesapeake is a wonderful cruising ground.

A typical Chesapeake Bay lighthouse -
moved and preserved in the Solomons

More to come!  We've been busy but more info about the last legs of  our return trip will be up soon!  Symphony is now sailing without us and is in Mattapoisett on Buzzards Bay.

Norfolk-Hampton VA

This morning we sailed past the little cove that we were warned against and found that it was empty.  Next time we'll consider staying there.  We tucked in behind a tug who got us through a restricted bridge a few minutes early only to get stuck at a RR bridge for 20 minutes.  We heard a ferry captain make a comment about all the sailboats in the "Southern Branch."  One tug skipper remarked that "It makes me feel so safe when those sailboats run into each other."  It took us a little while to figure out what he was talking about but after passing a bend in the river we saw what looked like hundreds of sailboats wandering around in all different directions across the river.  

Picking our way through them was a real challenge.  We were under power and they were all sailing - so every last one of them had the right of way over us.  We managed to get by most of them but as we cruised along the leeward side of the channel a cannon went off.  We found ourselves at the start of one of the divisions.  I wish my timing was as good in any of the races I've entered.  We crossed the line just as the cannon sounded - a perfect start!

Everyone in the Norfolk area must own a sailboat.  I don't think I've seen so many sailboats in one place since Block Island Race Week!  The wind was gusting to about 25 knots so boats were moving fast and rounding up in the gusts - but what a beautiful scene.

We ended up following this little Hinckley yawl for awhile.
Pretty boat but over-canvassed as were most of the boats in this race.

Combining our boat speed with the true wind we were getting readings of 32 knots in the gusts.  We figured maybe this wasn't a good day for us to motor directly into the wind up the Chesapeake so we headed across the harbor to Downtown Hampton Pier Marina.  The marina is conveniently located next to the Virginia Air and Space Museum.  Last October I had wanted to visit the Imax theater at the Museum but we didn't have the time.  Today we saw the 3D Imax movie: "Into the Arctic."  I love 3D regardless of the quality of the movie.  This one was fun.  I marveled at the divers who swam with the large IMAX cameras under the ice.  Underwater shots of swimming polar bears and walruses made me wonder how crazy you have to be to film them.  Two thumbs up!

Maybe tomorrow we will be able to head into the wind to Deltaville, VA.

We're Baaack!

Keeping up a blog is difficult - especially when you are pushing as hard as we are to get back to NY.
We have covered over 1000 miles in about 25 days not counting the time we took to fly to NY, Tampa, and finally to Wilmington, NC.  It's also hard to be quite as excited about heading away from the Bahamas as it is to be headed toward them for the first time.  We are pretty excited about the progress we have been making.  Tomorrow looks to be a little rough for much of a passage so we'll look for a short run in the Norfolk area.

The Great Dismal Swamp Canal
first built in 1805.  Beautiful.

We are anchored just north of the Deep Creek Lock on the Great Dismal Swamp Canal.  The locktender, Robert, suggested that we might not like the little cove we were originally headed for since it is a crazy Party Central on the weekends.  He told us that we could anchor in mid-channel just outside the lock.   We were the last boat to pass through the lock today so we’re good until tomorrow morning’s opening at 8:30.  It feels a little strange to be anchored right in front of the lock.

Our 2 Calibers in front of Paul and Joyce's Home

We spent yesterday at our friends' dock on the Pasquotank River just south of the GDSC.  Paul and Joyce are generous hosts who give the term “Southern hospitality” new meaning.  Paul helped with a temporary repair on our autopilot.  The autopilot broke free from its mount again in heavy seas on Albemarle Sound.  We hope if we baby it, it will get us home to NY where we can get a proper repair done on it.  Paul also showed me how to properly tighten the fan belt that has been loosening up on my engine. 

It was hard to take our eyes off the Pasquotank River and our two Caliber 40’s from Paul and Joyce’s laundry, dining and living rooms!  The views of the river with the big cypress trees are exquisite.  Paul also cooked us a sumptuous manicotti dinner – vegetarian style for Maryanne topped off by rich chocolate brownies prepared by Joyce.  Once again we had a wonderful time at the Wheeler's.

The Great Dismal Swamp Canal did not live up to it's original expectations because the water in it was not deep enough.  That issue was partially solved with the addition of locks that lift boats 8 feet for a portion of the canal.  Locking through is fun - watching the water boil in front of you as it comes in and the boat rises slowly 8 feet up the wall of the lock on the rising water.

At the bottom

Going up

Higher

and higher

Are we there yet?

OK, We're finally 8 feet higher.
Time to open the gates.

Northbound

After anchoring in Fort Pierce we didn't feel like dealing with customs right away.  We waited to call an 800 number the next morning with our passport numbers, our location, and the personal info that they required.  We were then directed to head to the nearest customs office within 24 hours.  We were a little apprehensive about questions we might be asked about why we didn't call in immediately and exactly when we arrived etc., etc.  As it turned out the customs official at the Fort Pierce International Airport asked only for our assigned number from the earlier phone call and for our passports.  It took him all of 5 minutes to do the paperwork and to send us on our way.

With all the time it didn't take to clear customs we had enough time to motor up to Vero Beach.  As we approached Vero we could see an impressive lightning show in the dark ominous clouds ahead of us.  The radar showed them to be about 2 miles ahead.  Luckily, we only saw a few drops of rain before we picked up our mooring in the Vero Municipal Marina mooring field.  Melbourne airport (about 30 miles north) reported a record 1.8 inches of rain and 53 mph gusts in the squalls that just missed us.

The view from our mooring in Vero.  Nice view, good laundry & showeres -
easy access to town on the free shuttle.  Delicious breakfast at TooJays
Deli - maybe the best deli south of NYC.

We took advantage of Vero's free shuttle bus system to visit an Optical Store for a badly needed sunglass repair  and to re-provision at Publix.  The optical store opposite Publix was great.  They spent 20 minutes working on the glasses and charged nothing.  Maryanne did laundry while I cleared the fuel vent and added a strainer to our fresh water system.

Here I am posing with some of the original
people of the City of Cocoa.

I loved the redneck wineglasses but not enough to buy one
in Cocoa Beach.  

We had heard that the City of Cocoa was worth a visit so we headed there - 8 hours away.  It was worth the visit.  We landed at a lovely waterfront park and after a very short walking tour had a wonderful breakfast at Ossarios.

Ossario's threat to inattentive parents.
Great breakfast - pastries to die for.

We decided to do a shorter hop north to Titusville to give us time to do an oil and oil filter change.  The fan belt is problematic since it can't be aligned perfectly so we find ourselves doing adjustments on it every couple of days.  Our engine maintenance chores went smoothly.



We are trying to push north as fast as we can but after our 7+ hour motor with nice currents pushing us up to 8 knots we decided to take a lay day in St. Augustine.  We did a tour today at Flagler College, formerly the Ponce de Leon Hotel.


The setting that the Flagler students have is unbelievable.  Their college was built as a luxury hotel for the wealthy elite of the East Coast back in the late 1800's.  In its heyday you had to have a written invitation from Mr. Flagler to be allowed to pay him the minimum 3 month stay in the hotel.  If you did not have the proper social standing you had to look elsewhere.

Our guide at Flagler College.  Her dining room
is nothing like any other college I have seen -
Tiffany windows, tiffany chairs, and
elaborately painted ceilings.

A detail of the dome at the entrance to Flagler.
This woman is supposed to represent
adventure.  Do you see any resemblance
to Maryanne?

St. Augustine Lighthouse ca 1874

Good Bye Abacos

We landed in Marsh Harbor on Wednesday, May 2nd.  We were a little worried about how our boat had fared in our 2 week absence.  In the prior week 50 knot winds had buffeted the harbor.  It was all good.  The lines had not chafed through and the boat had not banged up against the dock.

After a quick trip to Maxwells, one of the 2 really good grocery stores in the Bahamas, we were sufficiently provisioned for our return trip to the states.  Brown Tip, the bottom cleaning service hacked away at the bottom of our boat for an hour using a version of a compressed air hookah to breath underwater.  As he worked it looked like chunks of turf were being expelled from our stern.  Having the bottom cleaned at this point in our voyage was one of the smarter things that we have done.  Our speed increased by about 1.25 knots after the cleaning.

We filled water tanks, water jugs, and lugged 4 five gallon containers of diesel down the dock and onto the boat the following day.  Maryanne did her usual stowing magic, making everything disappear into places where they would not fall when we heeled to starboard or to port.

We had a little bit of a dilemma.  Chris Parker, our weather guru, indicated that there would be a weather window open for a few days that would allow us to make a comfortable Gulf Stream crossing.  I thought we would need a week just to reach the staging point for our crossing.  If that were the case we would have to wait at Great Sale Cay for a week (where there is nothing to do) or wait at an expensive marina at West End on Grand Bahama for a week for the next weather window.  Maryanne thought we could make it.  She suggested a short hop Thursday afternoon to Great Guana Cay and then a stop at Green Turtle Cay about 20+ miles further.  We thought we might get a last chance at good snorkeling on the way.  We left Great Guana at 8:15 a.m. on Friday headed for Green Turtle Cay by way of the Whale Passage.  The Whale Passage is a cut in and out of the Sea of Abaco that requires calm seas and in-flowing currents for safe passage.  Our passage went smoothly.  On our way to Green Turtle we decided to push further along get to our staging point.  We decided on Foxtown.

I had asked Chris Parker by way of SSB radio what the difference would be if I sailed from Foxtown straight through the night to Fort Pierce, FL or if I went first to West End and sailed a day later.  He reported that there would be little significant difference but that we would be bucking headwinds in the Gulf Stream if we waited until Sunday.  As we made our way west I spotted Romanta Sea on the AIS ahead of us.  I had a pleasant conversation with George, the skipper, who said he was headed for Great Sale, then to West End for fuel and ultimately to Savannah.  Savannah was way more than we were ready to do!

Sunset at Great Sale Cay
(Phew - we made it before dark!)

Despite the fact that we might not make it into Great Sale with good light we decided to go for it.  George assured us that the moon was closest to the earth tonight and that we would have no trouble finding our way  in the light of the full moon.  We made it by sunset - 11 hours.  The next day Chris Parker told George that he needed to get north quickly to avoid some nasty weather.   George who had offered to lead us through the tricky shallow Indian Channel set off directly for an overnight sail to Cape Canaveral.  Before he left he let us know that a Beneteau 50, French Kiss, had been trying to contact us because they were headed to West End also.  We spoke with Michael, the skipper of the Beneteau, and planned our joint departure for 8 to arrive at the Indian Channel on a rising tide.

At the center of the picture is a starfish 12 feet below the surface.
This shot was taken as we motored at 6 knots over the Little Bahama Banks in a flat calm.
The shadow of our mast is in the upper right corner.
This is the last time this year that we will see this beautiful turquoise water!

The water was so still we could see the bottom clearly 12 feet below us.  We could see dinner plate sized starfish on the bottom.  Dolphins appeared at our bow.  We could see them above and below the surface as they swam all around us and then back to French Kiss.

As it turned out we arrived at the Indian Channel with very little water to motor over.  Despite the fact that it was a little past low tide the close pass of the full moon meant that the water was still lower than mean low water (the average low tide).  French Kiss with her 6 foot draft followed slowly behind us as we radioed back the shallowest spots as we crossed them.  We saw 4.1 feet on our poorly calibrated depth sounder but we know that we will hit bottom at 3.8 feet.  3.8 feet if it were properly calibrated should read 5 feet which is our draft.  We had a good 3 1/2 inches to spare!  After 9 hours of motoring we arrived at Old Bahama Bay Marina at West End on Grand Bahama Island.

We had some refueling problems with a faulty diesel pump and then fuel clogging our fuel vent but we managed to pour a couple of our containers of fuel into the tank and then filled the containers from a different pump.  (after waiting for another boat to fill up with 225 gallons!)  We docked without incident and went ashore for a celebration of our last night in the Bahamas at an outdoor restaurant on the beach.  (While we were there we saw someone send their glass of wine back - it wasn't good enough!  Who does that at a beach bar in the Bahams?!!!  Usually you don't even get a glass - most wine is served in clear plastic cups!  Yeesh!!)

Sunrise as we leave West End with a trawler passing us.
83 miles to go.

At a little before 6 am in the dim light of pre-dawn I tried quietly backing our boat out of our berth in the marina.  At first it went well - the stern wasn't kicking to port as usual and we were almost able to back into a berth behind us in order to make a left turn into the narrow channel between all the docks.  Almost able.  I couldn't get back far enough to make the left turn.  I headed back for our berth and tried again.  No good.  This time I was getting too close to a small power boat on the wall to the right and behind our berth.  Again I headed into our berth this time beginning to drift with wind too far to the right side of the berth.  OK Maryanne had another idea.  I tried using the left kicking reverse to back out to our left.  Down the narrow channel between the rows of 16 boats each I backed the boat.  It worked!  I was able to turn the boat around at the end and turn to head the boat out the entrance into the Atlantic.

This guy startled me when he appeared just a few feet from my head 20 miles out to sea.
I wasn't expecting anyone to get up and close and personal with me on my Gulf Stream Crossing!

A fresh WSW breeze allowed us to sail close hauled and fast toward Fort Pierce - for 3 hours then the breeze clocked to the west and we had to motor into the wind and waves.  The boat would go well for 10 seconds or so and then hit a wave - rise into it and then fall hard on the back side with a little bang.  I hoped this wasn't going to be the west wind that Chris Parker had warned me about.  I thought the wind was supposed to be 10 knots or less - this was more like 18.  Eventually the wind settled down and the waves disappeared.  We motored through flat seas checking the water temperature to see when we were in the Gulf Stream.  We started out in 79 degree water but watched the temperature rise above 81.  Suddenly it seemed a little warmer and the seas became completely flat.  Our speed increased from 6 knots to 8.5.  We were in the Stream.  After 13 hours we put down our anchor in Fort Pierce harbor.

We felt accomplished!  We had 3 days of travelling - 11 hours, 9 hours, and 13.  If we had been driving a car from Glen Cove that many hours would get us to Santa Fe, NM!  Sailboats are really slow!

We really enjoyed the Abacos.  Fun places were a short easy sail from Marsh Harbour.  We loved Hopetown with it's beautiful pastel colored homes and its well-protected harbor.  Nippers, the bar scene, was something to behold above the beautiful Atlantic beach and the barrier reef.  Our snorkeling off Fowl Cay in the Atlantic was excellent as was our swim over Mermaid Reef outside of Marsh Harbour.  We enjoyed the cruisers we spent time with in Hopetown.  We definitely want to come back for more.  We need to explore Little Harbor with Pete's Pub and the foundry where sculpture is made.  We also would like to spend some time at Green Turtle Cay.  We definitely plan to return to the beautiful turquoise waters of the Abacos and the Exumas.  The Berry Islands may also be on our agenda.