12 Months of Memories

What Were we Thinking?!

Only crazy fools would leave for an extended cruise on Friday the 13^th, but that’s exactly what we did a year ago in September. We sailed away from our home in Milford, CT to new horizons.

With this, our first year of cruising behind us, I thought it'd be fun to take a look back. It would be an impossibly tedious blog if I tried summarizing all our experiences – both on land and at sea, so these are just some of the highlights and lowlights.

Key Statistics

• Distance travelled so far: According to our log, we’ve travelled 3,120 nautical miles from CT to Bahamas and then back up to the Chesapeake (where we are now).
• Longest passage: From the Abacos in the Bahamas to Norfolk, VA., which took 4.5 days and covered 660 nM (roughly 6 knots average).
• Longest stay: Two months in Georgetown, Exumas.
• Fastest boat speed: 11 knots.
• Most wind: While sailing is 30 knots. The most at anchor is 40 knots.
• Scariest moment: When the boat dragged in Portsmouth and we weren’t on it.
• Best moment: Swimming with the dolphins for an hour or more in Eleuthera.
• Second-best moment: Spending Christmas at the Exumas Land and Sea Park in Warderick Wells with dozens of cruisers and several families and discovering just how jaw-droppingly beautiful the Bahamas really are.
• Worst moment: Figuring out why the head clogged and then cleaning up after I made one small mistake…
• Biggest surprise: How incredibly helpful the cruiser community has been to us. We've had strangers open up their homes, boats, cars, and hearts to us. There is an incredible generosity amongst the cruisers we’ve met; I hope we get a chance to pay it back.

What might not be obvious is that there were many more positive memories than negative ones. We’ve had no real storms to face or “I’m glad we survived” moments. Yes, we’ve been in bigger waves and wind than we wanted, but the boat did fine in those conditions. It’s taught us to be patient and wait for decent weather.

Creature Encounter

Along the way, we ran into many kinds of animals in the wild. Some visits were brief, some longer.

• Alligator (South Carolina)
• Manatees (Florida)
• Sharks, Bull and Reef (Bahamas)
• Dolphin (Chesapeake and points south, Bahamas)
• Bald eagles (Chesapeake, Dismal Swamp)
• Osprey (everywhere)
• Heron, Pelican, etc. (everywhere)
• Turtles (South Carolina, Bahamas)
• Moray eel (Bahamas)
• Nutria (Bahamas)
• Brown Racer Snake (Bahamas)
• Iguana (Bahamas)

Departure, September 13th, 2013

We left on a clear, crisp sunny day. I remember being nervous about sailing so far away to the Bahamas, but it’s like eating an elephant - just taking small bites over a long period of time. On our entire trip to the Bahamas, we only sailed for 24 hours once. All the other jumps were simple day trips.

September 13, 2013 - We begin our trip from Milford, CT

Traveling down the East Coast

After leaving Milford, we boogied for NYC to time our trip through the East River. Instead of staying in NYC like we planned, we kept going due to favorable weather. We had to get south along the New Jersey coast and we wanted to do that in good conditions. We never went ashore until we reached the Chesapeake. 

Motoring by the UN building in NYC

The trip down was mostly rushed and too much motoring or motor-sailing. It wasn’t until we reached the top of the Chesapeake that things began to slow down and we could turn back into a sailboat. The weather was much colder than we anticipated. We had to resupply with thermal underwear before too long. We were a little too eager to leave our winter gear behind us...

Chesapeake City - at the very top of the Chesapeake

Fun in Baltimore

Annapolis, MD: Hanging off a mooring 

Annapolis, MD: Watching the America's Cup with like-minded sailors

We certainly took advantage of the historical areas. We visited sites key to the Revolutionary war, War of 1812 and a few of the Civil War sites. Here on the East Coast, they have “historical recreation” (otherwise known as "living history") sites where people dress up as the inhabitants and tell you their story. I don’t remember anything like that on the West Coast – other than the Renaissance Faire!

Williamsburg, VA: boot making 101

Yorktown, VA: attacking the British

Jamestown, VA: We want our next boat to look like this

St. Michaels, MD: After the crab-feeding frenzy

Leaving the Chesapeake

In mid-November, my mom joined us as we left Norfolk, VA and headed down the ditch to parts south. Amazingly, she held up well in some admittedly rough conditions – the roughest of our trip in fact. 

Nofolk, VA: Heading down the "ditch" with Mom

You can motor a boat from Norfolk, VA through the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) all the way to Miami. It’s commonly referred to as the "ditch" – which is what it looks like in many parts. I think we must have spent 50% of our passage in the ditch, the rest was out on open water. Personally, I’d prefer to do much more on the open water, but conditions determine which way we go.

Somewhere in South Carolina: The ditch goes on and on...

Roanoke, NC: Sunrise (which means Beth took it as I'm still sleeping)

I think Roanoke was my favorite resting point along the way. There is a historical site of the "lost colony" of Roanoke - it's very well done. We had the anchorage to ourselves and I discovered “Shrimp and Grits” there. Grits are basically the same thing as polenta. The dish contains small bits of spicy sausage, shrimps, garlic, cheese-infused grits, country ham, green onions, Cajun spice and a little chicken stock. Now that’s some Southern cookin’!  Best enjoyed while watching the shrimp boats pull into the harbor.

Roanoke Indian Village: This is all we'll be able to afford after we sell the boat...

Roanoke, NC: Time to relax

Shrimp 'N Grits!

Kitty Hawk, NC

Weather was cold – even as far south as Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. It was 30 degrees on the boat one morning and we all resorted to sleeping together in one berth to stay warm.

Hilton Head, SC: Spanish Moss was everywhere

Charleston, SC: Carriage ride tour of the city

Mr. Repairman

Unlike many other cruisers, who have a history of meddling with tools and fixing things around the home, I was more wary of the “DIY” mentality. This was partly due to my upbringing and partly due to the fact that when I tried to fix something, I would usually make some bonehead mistake causing me more time, effort and money to repair than the original problem.

When you’re a cruiser and you break down in some remote location, you’re on your own. So unless your plan is to be the next Swiss Family Robinson storyline, you’re faced with dealing with these issues yourself.  I reluctantly came to this decision myself as Beth refused to learn how to service a diesel engine. For me, the side effect has been many instances where I pay a price for the, “it seems I have an extra part left-over after assembling that,” or the “jeesh, how does that go back together?” or, my favorite, “it’s not the way you’re supposed to do it, but maybe it will work for awhile.” So, I randomly bleed, sweat profusely, swear and generally fumble my way towards a semi-functioning boat. Yes, there is a sense of accomplishment getting something to work, but there is also a dread of something suddenly not working when we need it. It’s the yin and the yang of maintaining a boat.

Dealing with melted watermelon in the vents

·      What needed fixing:

• Watermaker: Fatal blow out of end cap dumped water in the boat and then took a month to repair.
• Generator: Multiple failures of impeller caused mysterious shutdowns.
• AC: Fermented watermelon juice in AC ducts required replacing them in 90 degree weather.
• Rudders: Both replaced due to cracks and fluttering.
• Hulls: Had to fix large gelcoat gouges from big iron bolts when the boat dragged anchor and drifted away without us.
• Heads: Both started leaking and required rebuilds, then there was the epic blockage…
• Engine: Ate 3 fan belts in 9 months, constantly required tightening to prevent squealing.
• Saildrive: A small crack developed in the housing (somehow) – which allowed sea water into the gear oil.
• Propellers: On three occasions, we wrapped a line around our props (stalling the engine). Required me to twice dive into the water and remove lines in zero visibility water.
• Windlass: Oil leak into the electric motor, required strip and rebuild.
• Outboard: Bad fuel and decomposing fuel line crudded up the carb. For a month, we could barely go 100 feet without stalling.

This is a very small list of just some of the things that needed attention. There is the chore of routine servicing and replacement of parts that wear out. It seems we rarely go more than a month before something surprises me.

Florida

Coming into St. Augustine after 24 hours sailing from Hilton Head was a bit of nail biter – only because the seas were rough and there was a lot of outflowing current. That can create breaking waves, but we just powered through some rollers and got into calmer waters. It was such a huge change to be in FL. The weather was now tropical after the cool of HH. St. Augustine had lots going on – but we only stayed a few days before continuing down the ditch.

St. Augustine, FL: Welcome to sunny and warm Florida!

St. Augustine: We're back in T-shirt weather!

Beauty telling us to get up off our butts and feed her

We stayed in the ditch for most of Florida. There are only certain spots where you can leave/enter it, and generally the weather wasn’t decent to take the ocean route. 

Because we were in the ditch, we were faced with lots of bridges. They come in two forms – those that are fixed and we barely clear with our mast; those that are movable and we have to time our arrival and/or call them on VHF to request an opening. Needless to say, bridges were necessary evils. A few times we were forced to wait for a lower tide before going under a fixed bridge. More than a few times we heard the "twang" of our steel whip antenna hitting the undersides of a bridge.

A rare sighting of a swinging bridge, most bridges were Bascule

Florida was also about visiting with Beth's family. We took our time going through and by December 12th, we were parked south of Miami, waiting for the right conditions to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.

Melbourne, FL: sailing with Beth's family

Melbourne, FL: After all the bridges we saw, we build one out of paper

Miami, FL: As we got further south, we saw the water color change

Somewhere in FL

Bahamas

After arriving in the startling clear, turquoise water of Bimini, six hours after leaving Miami, we hung around for a couple days before jumping down to Nassau. After a week fixing a few things, we headed to the Exumas - rushing down to Georgetown - cruiser's central.

Bimini: Everything we were hoping for

Bimini: Our introduction to the colors of the Bahamas

Nassau wasn't anything more than a tourist spot

The Exumas lived up to - and even exceeded - our expectations. Warderick Wells was our first stop, a natural trust site, so no fishing allowed. It was extraordinary photogenic. I still shake my head at the beauty of it all. We stayed a week for racing further down to Georgetown, skipping many islands on the way.

Warderick Wells: Paradise found!

WW: Spending Christmas with other kids made J smile

Exumas: Jeanette goes "au naturale"

We had it all there in Georgetown - beaches galore, shelter, rudimentary provisions and most importantly, other families! Jeanette instantly made friends and there were many rendezvous in the shade of Hamburger or Volleyball beaches.

Georgetown: Valentines Day on Hamburger beach with kids from Glass Slipper, Rollick and Hoodwinked

Georgetown: Sunday lectures from the local historian

Georgetown Luxury: Local hotel has a "cruiser's special" on Fridays - good place to take visiting friends

Georgetown: My sister and husband visit us and sample one of the many beaches

Georgetown: It's "race your coconut boat" day at the Annual regatta

When you're cruising, you don't use last names as much as boat names. So instead of, "Here's the Pimentels!" you'd hear, "It's Dream Catcher!". So, in that spirit, Rollick taught me how to spear fish for lobster and other fish, Makai helped me with various "fix-it" projects (along with their 13 year old teaching me about trolling for fish!) while Makana, Whistling Cay and Glass Slipper kept Jeanette busy. The community is amazing, helpful and welcoming.

Exumas: I speared my first lobsters!

Georgetown: Kid-fun!

Other than two trips to the Jumentos (south of Exumas), we stayed in Georgetown with 150-300 other boats. We were having such a great time and there wasn't a lot of incentive to go elsewhere. We were not on a mission to circumnavigate the Caribbean - we have nothing to prove to anyone. My girls just want to have fun!

Jumentos: Looking for lobsters in all the wrong places

Jumentos: Enjoying fish and lobsters caught earlier with other cruisers we ran into

Return from the Bahamas

We took our time bouncing up the Exumas and spent some incredible moments with the family on Makai visiting an amazing panoply of nature's best screen-savers. We left Makai at Normans Cay and headed to Eleuthera (and our super-sized dolphin experience) before reconnecting with Makai and going up to the Abacos. Eleuthera and the Abacos are really beautiful, but pale in comparison to the Exumas. It's odd to hear so many cruisers who only go to the Abacos. They don't have any idea of what they're missing - but it proves how expectations are set. We'd never waste any time in the Abacos if we could spend it in the Exumas. We're hoping this year we'll explore places that put the Exumas to shame - like the Jumentos seemed to.

Playing with the Makai kids

Eleuthra: Dolphin extravaganza

Eleuthra: Video from our dolphin experience

Cambridge Cay: Visiting the "Aquarium" with Makai

Thomas Cay: Impossibly perfect sandbars are picture-worthy

On May 9th, we left Manjack Cay in the Abacos, on our longest passage to Norfolk, VA. Since then, we've been busy fixing the boat, moving the last of our stuff out of the Milford house and transporting it to FL. Now we're sitting here in Washington DC, a half-mile from the Washington Monument. We might hang out here a month before moving south and starting another Bahamian adventure.

Where to Next?

We’ll remain in the Chesapeake until our insurance allows us to proceed south around the middle of November. Then we’ll boogie down to Florida before jumping over to the Bahamas. We’re definitely spending most of our time in the Exumas and some of the remote islands that are further east and south. We loved the Jumentos, so definitely more time down there.

Our house in Milford just sold – thereby fully casting ourselves into the future. We’ve already sold or given away pretty much everything we owned. What we have is on the boat and what could fit into a conversion van that we drove from CT to FL. The future is an open door, or an empty horizon in our case. At least for another year. We take things as they come, we don't plan beyond six months at a time. No, this can't last forever as we have to go back to jobs at some point and Jeanette has to go to High School, but leave us our dreams for now, on the good ship Dream Catcher!