The time had come to leave the stormy weather of Bermuda. In one week since our arrival here, it has been one gale after another and quite cool. The North Atlantic has been claiming several casualties : since we got here, there have been 4 large sailboats abandoned at sea. Then there are the others which have made it to Bermuda but just barely: like the crew of a sloop "Rolling Stone" who was caught off Cape Hatteras and had their boat half full of water when they arrived here in St-George! Basically, it looks like nobody really wanted to be here in Bermuda but had to...and now, everybody is talking about weather window..just ready to leave this place asap!
And so are we...We needed the week to adjust to be just the two of us as our crew member had to return to Canada. There was a weather window...not a great one...for Sunday November 23, with a forecast of North-Northwest winds between 20 and 25 knots and seas between 9 and 16 feet. Over the next days, seas and winds were supposed to diminish to the point that we might have to motor one day or two waiting for the trade winds to kick in.
And so we left.......
Bien que notre arrivée aux Bermudes ait été salutaire et nous ait permis de nous reposer, elle fût stressante car les vents forts et tempêtes se succédaient, nous laissant présager les conditions de notre prochain passage en mer ..en effet, notre météorologiste attitré nous annonçait un départ des Bermudes avec 20-25 noeuds de vent et une mer agitée avec houle entre 9 et 16 pieds...Ah! Qu’on avait hâte! Surtout que pendant la semaine aux Bermudes, nous avions été exposés aux victimes de cet Atlantique nord: il y avait 4 voiliers au large de l’île qui avaient été abandonnés par leur équipage et qui flottaient comme des vaisseaux fantôme sur l’océan. Puis il y avait les autres qui avaient réussi, tant bien que mal, à atteindre les Bermudes mais dematés ou avec leur voilier rempli d’eau...Rien de bien rassurant. Mais nous nous ne pouvions pas rester ici et devions prendre notre courage à deux mains pour notre départ dimanche le 23 novembre.

At last those 35 knot winds have ceased...yesterday evening, we just could not stand the noise anymore: we put our favorite MP3 stick on and played it loudly while reading and doing cross words...it just gets on your nerves after 24 hours! In the squalls, the winds peaked to 40-45 knots and sent the boat vibrations that were very unsettling. Right now, we still have some squalls but with sunshine and calm in between...It looks like we will be here a while longer. For our next leg of 830 miles which we will probably do just the two of us, we want a weather "window" not a weather "Peep hole" !

As the winds were howling, we both could feel what we now call "Post-traumatic storm disorder"...how could we have sailed in such winds just three days ago???? I guess, when you are out there, you do what you have to do...focus on the job! The anxiety comes after...and before the next trip! Now, that reminds me so much about my job...and it makes so much sense.

Today, as we timidly think about leaving again, we have to invest energy to make the boat ready: reprovisioning, refilling fuel and water tanks, and when the departure day arrives, folding up the dinghy and putting in on deck. As nice as it is to be stopping somewhere, it also means getting ready once again...I wish we were as carefree as these white-tailed tropic birds (that were trying to land on top of our mast during the crossing...)!

Thanks to all those who comment and write to us...we really enjoy and need your support!

More pretty pictures of StGeorges!

Monday November 17th was spent cleaning the boat and relaxing. Our crew Lindsay was getting ready to leave us as the weather window to leave for the Virgin Islands was not in sight and he had to return to work! He was successful at finding an Air Canada flight for the next day and we were sad to see him leave as we had been a great team during the two weeks that he spent with us!

After Lindsay's departure on Tuesday November 18th, we decided to spent the sunny hours before the forecasted gale on Wednesday in St_Georges. What a beautiful site. Interestingly, it will celebrate its 400th foundation anniversary in 2009 just like Quebec city did this year. The New World...St_Georges inhabitants are friendly and speak with a variety of accents, sounding at times british, scottish, or with a caribbean touch.

After having established contact with Bermuda Harbour Radio, we proceeded carefully towards St-Georges harbour. We had successfully managed the big seas behind us gradually sailing from 1000 to 200 to 60 fathoms of water and the channel was the last challenge. With the combination of tiredness, strong winds and an array of sea buoys in our path, it was dompting. We cranked up the engine to 3000rpm in order to avoid shallows and made it safely to the Customs dock. Once on land, oh! joy! our legs were very woobly but we did not suffer "land sickness" ! While waiting to fill out forms etc...we chatted with the Captain of "Eight Bells" who recommended an anchorage with protection from the southwestern winds which were forecasted at 35 knots that night. We were in need of a shower but alas, no luck on Sunday. We decided to go to the anchorage and swimm/wash in salt water before taking a refreshing shower on deck! Wonderful! And then, we had a beer and chips, and rhum...the enjoyment of these little pleasures that we had not had for a week. That night, we slept very well and had no knowledge of 35 knots wind! We were safely anchored! Thanks St-Georges!

November 13: much of the same story. Winds are on the nose. On Day 6, the advise of the weather guru C.Parker is to go to Bermuda as the winds will seem to stay easterly for a long time and also to seek refuge from a nasty cold front system...and so, after reflexion and verification that we do have charts for entering Bermuda, we set allsails up and start the engine in order to make it o Bermuda. Not far, says Parker, only 150 miles. Yes, but with southeasterly between 12 and 25 knots on the nose! And, on Day 7, we are sure that we will not make it before the cold front and that we will have a nice welcome in Bermuda with winds of 25 to 30 knots (luckily from the South) and squalls. We can't wait!
The real challenge is to make it south-east enough to go around the shallow banks (from 2000 fathoms to fathoms) without endangering our safety. Such a drop in water depth will create huge waves that send us banging all over the boat. Our legs and arms can proove it: we look pretty abused and beaten up. It is a great feeling when we manage to finally round the Plantagenet Bank (submerged mountains) and begin to sail parallel the Bermuda island...now , we are too fast and must reduce the size of the jib as we do not wish to enter the island's narrows in the darkness. The wind is gusting up to 27 knots, the seas are big, but the boat is just behaving wonderfully.

November 12: the Easterlies continue!This is really on the nose and slows us down although we really try to motor sail in order to do as much easting as possible. There seems to be no perspective of winds changing for a better course. At times, it is really difficult to know how to set sails: the winds will vary between 8 and 16 knots...so we have too little or too much sail up! At night, we have a rule of double reefing our main sail in order to avoir having to go on deck ..but it slows uns down. Night skies do remain beautiful, however, and we have moon light every night...as well as guiding stars!

November 11: Veterans day at sea. Yes, even though I (Marleyne ) am not working anymore, I have special thoughts for my former colleagues and clients in the military work environment. Today is Veterans Day, at sea. While the winds are calm to start off the morning, they increase to N-NE 10-20 as the daylight fades - pretty early in the day, i.e. 17h00. Unfortunately, we have some current against us (at times as much as 1 knot) which brings our speed around 4.5 mph. Later that evening, East winds at 20+ knots begin to make our life a little harder.

November 10: we begin this Day #2 by contacting Chris Parker and get a forecast for the day. He suggests to stay in the Stream and ride it as long as we can. Winds are N-Ne variable and we must start the engine to make headway. Our speed varies (4-5 nots) depending on the seas but we must maintain at least 4 knots. Only 83 miles today...We have not seen any dolphins or whales; just a little brown bird which came to rest on the boat before flying away (he felt our speed was not fast enough!!!).

November 9, 2008: we leave Beaufort at last! It would seem that we will have westerly winds to push us across the Gulf Stream. We ;eave at 9am but there are 20 miles in very choppy seas before we can clear Cape Lookout and head in direction of the Stream. This day will be marked by good speed across confused seas and rolling violently although the west wind is only 10 to 15 knots. What a first day!

Tomorrow, Sunday november 8th we will leave Beaufort for our great 10-12 days sailing adventure to the Caribbean. Paloma will stay in Cuba and it seems that we will have westerly winds to cross the Gulf Stream...we will depart with the ebb tide tomorrow morning. Of course, this blog will not be updated while we are at sea! No internet cafe out there (I wish!). We will update our position on a daily basis (please see instructions at the top of our blog) or you can type directly http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/winlink.cgi?call=VE3ZKB.

Le grand depart sera demain, dimanche le 8 novembre...une grande aventure sur la mer d'une duree d'environ 10 a 12 jours qui nous menera dans les Antilles. L'ouragan Paloma semble vouloir rester a Cuba. Nous devrions avoir des vents de l'ouest favorables pour traverser le Gulf Stream. Ce blog ne sera evidemment pas mis a jour pendant la traversee...pas de cafe internet sur la mer! Mais nous mettrons notre position a jour et vous trouverez les instructions a droite de notre page blog ou en allant directement au lien http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/winlink.cgi?call=VE3ZKB

Au revoir, bye bye, hasta luego!

Still in Beaufort...still waiting...and wondering what Pamela, the storm and hurricane, will do and when...We are trying to be as peaceful and relaxed as the ponies but it is challenging. So much easier to talk about this kind of issues when you sit in an armchair or a a dock somewhere! Anyhow, we are making the last preparations, listened to weather news on SSB, plot our tracks and try to take a calculated risk...The Caribbean Rally of 80 boats left Norfolk today at 11h00! We on the other hand have calculated that departing on Sunday may be our best option. But our plans can change...Are you tired of reading always similar entries in the last days? Well, we are too!

Nous sommes encore ici a attendre..on se prepare tout en gardant un oeil et nos oreilles sur les six milles (!) modeles de prediction du passage de Paloma apres qu'elle aura traverse les Bahamas. C'est vraiment pas evident et tres stressant de planifier un passage de cette longueur la...enfin, nous partirons peut-etre dimanche, tout dependemment des nouvelles meteo. Ca vous ennuie de toujours lire la meme chose depuis quelques jours? Et bien, nous aussi!

Visitor from Kingston!! Alan on Excalibur XII paid us a surprise visit yesterday! His Tartan 42 is at the Beaufort Dock marina!

Rain, rain,and more rain. It cleaned the boat for sure but also help us notice a leak in the engine control box! What a mess...charts were wet and where do you dry them! As for the dinghy, Lindsay could have taken a bath!

La pluie torrentielle nous a permis de bien laver les ponts mais a aussi rempli l'annexe et nous a permis de decouvrir une fuite dans la boite a controle qui a trempe nos cartes!

We are waiting...for this depressionary system to leave our area. The rain was torrential and the wind very gusty, up to 35 knots in the last 2 nights. La Buena Vida is squished between an australian boat which anchored differently than everybody else (stern anchor and 2 bow anchors) and Marker #7; when Northerlies are blowing 30+, we have to keep watches to make sure that we do not bump into these two!

Les deux dernieres nuits furent tres venteuses avec des pluies torrentielles ce qui nous a oblige a faire des quarts de veille...et on est meme pas encore sur la mer!!! Il nous faut eviter de toucher le #7 et le voilier autralien qui mouille a la facon de "down under" je suppose!!!

Another beautiful day spent mostly with accomplisihing the last tasks before departure...which could well be Thursday. The big 80 sailboats ARC rally leaving from Norfolk to Virgin Island has been delayed until Thursday...so...We have hired Chris Parker and will get his assistance in choosing our departure date as well as his tips along the way. Our crew and friend Lindsay arrives tomorrow morning and will assist us with the last tasks (preparing emergency bags, refilling water...).

Le jour du depart approche...meme le grand rallie ARC avec 80 voiliers de Norfolk jsuqu'aux Iles Vierges fut aussi retarde et est planifie pour jeudi...on sera pas tout seuls! Nous aurons les serivces d'un weather guru, Chris Parker, pour nous guider au depart et tout au long du voyage: c'est rassurant. Notre ami et memebre d'equipage Lindsay arrive demain et nous ferons les derniers preparatifs avec lui (preparer le radeau de survie, remplir les reservoirs d'eau, etc...).

Warm weather has returned! It was a pleasure to stroll the streets of Beaufort today (Marleyne is writing!!).

While I indulged in visiting stores and meeting people (networking for the benefit of La Buena Vida), Heiner was working on the SSB (another networking issue!).

We both met afterwards with success stories! My pound of Elmo made italian sausages (http://www.satansbreath.com/) and his new SSB antenna system! What more can you want in a day? Dolphins swimming around the anchorage? Sure, we had that too!

Ah! qu'il a fait bon aujourd'hui de se promener dans les rues de Beaufort. Bien que j'aie eu un plan de ma journée en embarquant dans l'annexe ce matin, la rencontre de Dana et Jean-Pierre au quai public a donne un tout autre "twist" au reste de la journée. Apres avoir échange les sempiternelles questions du nom du bateau, de la destination, et du mouillage, le sujet de la bouffe a fait surface! Ces deux la m'ont mis sur la piste d'une maison privée sur la rue Turner ou les saucisses sont faites sur place par un monsieur du nom d'Elmo. Je me suis laissée tenter par cette aventure et suis allée visiter cet endroit tout a fait charmant.

http://www.satansbreath.com/


J'y ai passe presque une heure a jaser avec ces deux personnages tout a fait charmants. J''ay acheté du piment mexicain et du sel mesquite en plus d'une livre des saucisse italiennes piquantes que nous dégusterons demain!

Are we in December already???????The exceptionally cold weather still persists but the winds have weakened...yesterday night was quiet and the coming night should also be peaceful although close to freezing temperatures are forecasted for the area. We lighted both our oil lamps to make it really cozy...listening to Chopin and eating hot soup! Saturday, warmer temperatures around 20C should be back...

Yesterday we set a goal, namely to have the boat ready by Sunday to go offshore...and we made a list, yes, another "To do" list...We drove 8 miles in order to buy Kerosene for our stove and lamps (I was exceptionally kind to the dockmaster who let me borrow the car of the marina) and Heiner filled all the diesel tanks and canisters. He still has to replace our stove burners and attempt to rig a more efficient SSB antenna, get in touch with Chris Parker (the propagation is very poor and we can't hear him at all@!##) and inspect all pipes and pumps...When our friend arrives, we will go over the emergency procedures with him as we got our Epirb today and will put a survival bag together. It is very challenging to prepare for such a long passage...

Several boats have left Beaufort to sail outside to Charleston...and other boaters have used the exceptionally low tides to do bottom jobs...

The banks seen here on the picture are the Shackleford banks usually inhabited by wild ponies...we have not seen one this year. http://www.shacklefordhorses.org/

Au réveil, le soleil brillait et malgré les vagues dans le mouillage, j’ai sauté dans l’annexe et je me suis rendue au quai - sans me mouiller - pour aller marcher!!! Ah! Terra ferma! Je voudrais même intituler ce petit paragraphe La journée des pieds! D’abord parce que j’ai fait ma marche ...à pieds, près de 3 milles pour aller faire des courses et explorer les environs. A l’épicerie Piggly Wiggly (une préférée des afro-américains), dans l’étalage des viandes, je suis tombée sur des pieds de cochon! Pas trop ragoûtants... puis sur des cartons de pieds de poulets! Encore moins ragoûtants!!! Bon, en sortant, je reprends ma marche et mon regard se fixe sur le trottoir...encore des pieds! Pas les miens..mais bien ceux d’un petit héron ou cormoran qui semblait être tombé de bien haut...voilà ma petite histoire de pieds! Mais blague à part, ce fut tellement reposant de ne pas me sentir bardasser de tous cotés et être en contrôle de ma personne, ne pas entendre le bruit du vent, et suivre mon rythme! Bien que je sois venue ici a plusieurs reprises, je retournerai a terre demain pour prendre des photos des jolies maisons historiques du quartier et de leurs jardins ou les azalées sont en fleurs!!!