Departing the turquoise waters of the Caribbean is always hard, but joining fellow Salty Dawg Rallyers makes letting go a lot easier knowing we’ll be traveling together out there in the big open ocean (farthest point from any land was 432nm).
We left Little Harbour, Peter Island, early on Saturday May 16 sailing heading for Soper’s Hole, Tortola. (P) Bye bye last barracuda who took up residence under the boat our last night. Stayed on the paddleboard to untie the stern line!
In Soper’s Hole Paul cleared us out with BVI Customs while I deflated the paddleboard. We then went ashore for one last trip to the store for a few things and also to give Charlie a final feel of land before we headed out. Paul dinghy’d over to Sapphire and let Charlie get some sniffs of his girlfriend Zoe and picked up our departure bag (great goodies from the Rally). He then took the motor off the dinghy and stowed it on the rail. Then he pulled the dinghy up on it’s davits and double secured it and pulled out the plug (we don’t need it filling up with water while underway or dropping into the ocean unexpectedly).
At 1430h we let go of our mooring and headed away from the BVI. We quickly got into our routine of 3 hour shifts and embraced our passage, just another day in the life of a sailor. We started a new log book as our old one is already full (thank you Ester and Aviel – the notebook you gifted us when we left works perfectly as our new log book). (P)The only excitement the first day was spotting a waterspout (aka tornado on water) to our northwest – a first for us. Photo is pour because it was evening and the photog had two negative stops dialed in to stop the blur – but increase the noise.
The first morning during our 8am shift change while writing down our lats and lons in the log book we realized we’d just hit our 10,000 nautical mile since we moved aboard nearly 2 years ago (Paul keeps a spreadsheet). We celebrated with a kiss and a hug and I headed to bed. ((P) Unfortunately at sea with only two aboard there is no “we” headed to …). So this was our first milestone of the trip.
Our second milestone was our 2 year anniversary of living aboard the boat on May 20th. It was a windless day like last year and we believe we were in approximately the same location with identical weather (low wind and no waves). Paul spotted dolphins on his morning shift, but didn’t have the heart to wake me not knowing how long they’d hang around. I must say at this point in the passage, I was grateful for the sleep.
On the 21st we got some wind back and were able to fly the parasailor for the entire day ((P) Means 2 or 3 knots more speed than with our normal sails). We could have left if up overnight as well, but we knew the wind would be picking up at some point and it takes two of us to get it down ((P) maybe 3 if the wind gets really strong but we only have 2) so we just took it down at dusk and motor sailed until the winds picked up again.
We had a lot of wind on the 22nd. A shore bird joined us for a rest at dusk. We kept Charlie under control to allow the bird a break. He stayed overnight and made his way into the cockpit in the wee hours of the morning. Well rested he flew off sometime during P’s morning shift.
We were making good time and enjoying the passage. I read 4 books. Just after we crossed the gulf stream I turned on some music and we had at pod of 10-12 dolphins show up swimming at our bow for at least 30 minutes.
A few hours later the wind died and while motoring on water that turned to glass we spotted whales. We slowed the motors down to allow them to cross out path. One of them swam right along the side of our boat while we passed them. What a sight to see! (P) You could see his trail of bubbles around the boat as he surveyed us – then moved on. Attempted a picture but in the dusk the dark shape next to the boat was declared not focusable by my camera, so we had to just thrill to the moment without evidence :-). NP.
At this point in the passage we start getting what we call “get there-itis”. We lose our patience with the wind that was fickle and just motor sailed towards the Chesapeake. Just as we were nearing our turn towards Hampton Virginia we noticed a lot of boats hanging around in our path and (P) were about to curse the seemingly impenetrable flock of fisher boats when we discovered they were all fascinated by 3 pods of dolphins swimming about (obviously voraciously feeding at the ebb tide). What a treat to see more dolphins. I say it’s a good sign – they are welcoming us back to the USA. Albeit the penalty was a 3 knot negative current through the Chesapeake entrance – slowed our progress dramatically! But the sight was worth it.
So all in all the passage was the best we’ve ever had. We made it in 8 days, 23 hours; record time for us with minimal motoring.
It always give me such a thrill to read your entries. This one with the whale sighting gave me goose bumps. Wonderful!!
What a wonderful trip-so many sights and creatures accompanying or visiting you. Thanks!