Goodbye Bermuda

Greetings from Saint George Harbour, Bermuda. Foul weather in the Gulf Stream continues to delay our passage. If we do not leave by Friday, we will abandon the boat for a few weeks so that Captain Turley can make it to her father’s wedding. Given that Joe Turley is responsible for this ridiculous passion called sailing, I would be very sorry to miss this happy event.

We docked at Captain Smokes Marina with a relatively short list of repairs to complete. Chandler Michael repaired the failed snaps on the dodger. The latrine was well scrubbed. I spent half the day in the engine room trying to limit leakage from the rudder post. It seems like the gasket may be rotted, so it is unclear if the tightening will result in less leakage once we are underway. The boat carries five Group 31 batteries – two banks of two house batteries and then a single battery devoted to starting the engine. All were surprisingly low on fluid, so each was topped off. While filling bank two, we realized that the bar securing the batteries in place had come undone, so another hour was spent on my back in the bilge blindly reaching towards the bottom of the post to secure the washer and nut. The boat got a good washing, and with the luxury of free fresh water, the water tanks were filled. Our laundry was tended to by the local laundress. The two “junk drawers” were sorted, with like spare parts grouped in plastic zip lock bags. We explored the possibility that the accumulator tank and water pressure pump might have a leak, but discarded the theory after not finding any problem. We downloaded weather charts and responded to e-mail at the internet café. A New York Times was purchased and we caught up on all the news fit to print. We took well needed showers and slept hard.

Being warned against a Tuesday departure by our weather routing service, we spent Tuesday working on additional chores. We did secure new weather charts at the Yacht Reporting Center. Our marina of six became seven as Bernie squeezed another boat against the cement dock. Docking here always draws a crowd because there are so many ways to do it badly. We all hope that the next boat maneuvers make that crew look worse than we looked upon our arrival. Poor Bernie had to crawl on his hands and knees across the plank to untangle the outer underwater pennants holding the boats away from the cement. He explained to me that he had quadruple bypass surgery and was no longer as steady at plank walking. We again conferred with our weather routing folks who advised against leaving Wednesday because of building fronts in the Gulf Stream. Bored and frustrated, we rented motor scooters from some drunken Rastafarians who offered the cheapest rentals in Saint George. Since it was a national holiday, Bermuda Day, things were busy on the road. Among the festivities, there were local dinghy races, a parade in Hamilton, and a marathon. We took the scooters to the far west side of Bermuda, and visited a number of beaches along the way. The sailmaker told us that Horseshoe Bay was not to be missed. We surmised that the corpulent white bodies and the hot dog stand must be what he was talking about. We backtracked to Warwick Long Bay in the South Shore Park and found a very quiet beach. The sand really did have pink tones to it, and was very fine. The water temperature was only around 70, so entering the water was similar to a Cape Cod experience. The west end has an old fort which has been turned into shops and art galleries. If you ever want to buy something with the word Bermuda on it, this is the place to go. There are thousands of options. We thought about going into the Maritime Museum, but since the historical display is combined with “Dolphin Quest” we decided not to support it. We did get some free samples at the Rum Cake Factory, which were incredibly sweet and delicious. We drove over Somerset Bridge, reputed to be the smallest draw bridge in the world, wide enough to let through only the mast of a sailboat. We encountered light rain and cold temperatures on the scooter ride back to the boat. Bermuda is a series of islands with lush landscapes, beautiful flowers, and not an inch of land unused or ungroomed. It survives on tourism. While waiting in Saint George, three different cruise ships docked. They were mammoth. Michael went to town and was surrounded by Southie accents. One of the ships picked up its passengers in Boston. There was a circus tent set up outside of the cruise ship pavilion and a large tiger and bear were being kept as part of the entertainment.

Arriving back at the marina, two of the crewed boats had left unexpectedly, hoping to beat some brewing weather in the Gulf Stream. Michael’s stack of weather charts grows. We had dinner on the boat and discussed weather. Michael talked to the weather routing people and scheduled another call for early Thursday morning.

Thursday: I write from 32 36.855N 64 27.756W, trying to finish this report. Winds are NW 20-25 knots with gusts up to 30. We are close hauled with a single reef in the main and the staysail up. Our bearing to our next waypoint is 340 degrees magnetic, but because of the wind direction, we will have to tack. Our current heading is 45 degrees. Our weather routing folks told us that a Saturday departure would be best, given an expected NE wind in the Gulf Stream on Sunday after the passage of a cold front. If we left Saturday, we would miss the cold front but also the wedding. We explored flying home and leaving the boat without crew, but we learned that you need government permission to leave the boat. We would have to bring our request to some official in Hamilton and wait for a response. There was no guarantee that she would say yes. By leaving today, we hope that we will be on the far side of the Gulf Stream when the cold front passes. We do expect SW winds 25-30 in the first part of the stream, but there could be gusts to 40 in squalls and thunderstorms. Given that the seas will be with us, it should not be horrible until the wind switches to NE. We are hoping for a swift passage. We are relieved to be out of Bermuda, but anxious about what is in front of us.