Getting to Bermuda: The Whole Story

Our Voyage to Bermuda

As we already noted, we arrived safely in Bermuda on Monday, December 12, 2016 around 11:30 pm. It was a turbulent five day passage, but a good challenge and test of our crew.

The following post is an account of the passage and a bit from our first week at anchor. A warning to our readers: it is long! Grab a cup of eggnog and read on (or just scroll through it and look at the pictures...)

Day 1 – Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Exactly two months after we arrived in Halifax, we awoke to our departure day. It was a cold, but dry and sunny morning. It was hard getting the kids up, as they had been up late the night before. John and I were dragging a bit too, after preparing until 3:00 am stowing items and getting the “ditch bag” (our emergency-abandon-ship bag) ready. Ben picked us up around 9:00 am to have one last look at the weather at their house and take a last shower. We made our final decision to leave for Bermuda, and examined our proposed waypoints based on weather patterns. Susanne met us at Ben's and drove us to Nahanni V after waving goodbye to Ben, Lana, Nina and Nolwen. I got all choked up...I don't like goodbyes.

Upon arriving back to the boat, we were met by Janice, Nancy, George and Helen. Along with Susanne, they wished us Bon Voyage. 

Janice and Nancy

Susanne helping to cast off the lines

Susanne, Janice and Helen

Wavey and George photobombed by Simon

We had a few tense moments as the engine was slow to start, and the computer failed to fire up the navigation software. After we managed to get it all going, Nancy and Janice sang us a 5000 year old Vedic chant for safe travels, followed by all singing, Farewell to Nova Scotia as we pushed off the dock. (video taken by Susanne.)

                               

There were a few more tears as we left our Halifax home and those so dear to us. Tears turned to laughter as we saw George and Helen drive along the coast as we motored along. As George stopped on the shore; we could clearly hear him blow farewell on his conch shell. What a guy.

We motored off into calm seas with no wind. My iPad got all choked up too, and seemed to die as we sailed away. (I was trying not to be superstitious at all these electronics starting to fail.) The cabin temperature was 9°C and we were fine in our five layers of woolies. We reminded the kids that we had no heat now and they needed to keep warm at all times. We were making 7 knots south in calm waters. The sun set and the half moon rose. I cooked up a pot of Vietnamese Chicken soup with toast, while the kids played games. We even had a pot of popcorn before bed as a special treat on our first day out.

Playing "Go Fish"

Making card towers and eating popcorn

I decided to give my cold, dead iPad some warmth. I put it in my jacket, hugged it, and lulled it with kind words. In response, it turned on again! 

I was feeling a little smug that this was going to be a good trip, as I cleaned up the galley, and our evening watches started. Cabin temp at bedtime was 7°C.

Day 2 – Thursday, December 8, 2016

The overnight watch was busy, dodging fishing boats over Brown's Bank. On my watch, there were about seven boats milling about with bright lights and no specified course. Everyone slept soundly as we continued to motor along.

By morning, the wind picked up to 15-20 knots from the NW. There was a cloud cover and some light rain and the seas started getting lumpy. Everyone started to feel queasy, all at once. Wavey was the first to dart to the cockpit to hang over the side. But, just as she was about to hurl, she saw dolphins swimming alongside the boat. The adrenaline counteracted her queasiness as she started to shriek with joy. We all immediately felt better, as we watched these playful creatures join the journey. It also gave me enough time to get some drugs into everyone before we were overcome again by the queaze.

Later that night, the seas became confused, and the wind picked up with gusts to 45 knots and 4 metre seas. We were bashing around and waves were coming over the deck with great force. We were sailing with a reefed jib and mizzen sail, and were really getting pounded. It was hard to walk, cook or use the bathroom without getting tossed around. We each needed at least one person's assistance to be able to stay on the toilet.

Yummy beef stew that was pre-made and warmed up underway

At one point, Simon snuggled beside me and said, “And WHY are doing this Mom?” I tried to sell the idea that sailors must be able to tolerate some discomfort, but travelling to new places was a worthy reward. The whole time I was reassuring Simon, I could not stop shivering and my mouth was bone dry. It took awhile until I figured out I was not cold or thirsty, but scared silly.

And WHY are we doing this???

Day 3 – Friday, December 9, 2016

After getting the kids tucked into their “nest”, our early morning watches focused on avoiding the heavy traffic including a Canadian warship, fishing boats and cargo ships that were too close for comfort. The warship kept turning its Automatic Identification System (or AIS) on and off, so we had no idea where it was. Gale force winds continued and the seas built to about 5 metres. John had to take over for most of the night as seasickness paralyzed me and left me in a heaving, sodden mess on the head floor. After a few hours, I managed to crawl over John (who was sleeping on the other part of the floor) to stand some of the watch when he became exhausted. The kids slept soundly through our flopping around the cabin, with no idea their parents had turned into greenish zombies.

The kids asleep despite the rough conditions

Not able to do dishes today

Cabin getting a little more disorganized

This was also the day that several substantial leaks came streaming into to our otherwise dry interior. I noticed that the waves over the foredeck were leaking into the kids' cabin where we were storing items while underway (including all their toys and clean laundry.) At one point, a wave hit the side of the boat where the vent for the galley blower is located. Water shot in over the galley stove like a fire hose, soaking half of the cabin. At this point, I just shrugged as John got a rag to wipe it up. We sailed on, the kids played, we ate when we were hungry, and we hung on. We named this day, “Crazy Hair Day,” for obvious reasons.

Crazy hair day winner

Hanging on in their bunks

Day 4 – Saturday, December 10, 2016

I awoke to John asking me to come up the cockpit to talk out of the kids' earshot. He showed me that the halyard (the line holding up the jib) had split and that there was nothing really holding up our foresail. Luckily, it was reefed and did not come crashing down on deck. We carefully furled the jib; John went on deck to hank on our staysail as a replacement. I held my breath while watching him get thrown around on deck (he did have a harness on), and reviewed our man overboard protocol should he somehow slide off.

On deck to change sail

Wedged into nav station

We entered the Gulf Stream with 25-35 knots of wind with higher gusts and big seas. Everyone kept taking their gravol and we kept the Superbowl (our name for the barf bowl) handy. The kids were remarkably calm and found game after game to play in the nest while we took turns at watch. We had to remind each other to eat, drink and use the head, as no one really had much interest in any of the above. Thank goodness for the case of 200ml bottles of chocolate milk I picked up before we left – it kept us hydrated and gave us just enough energy to stay alert.

Day 5 – Sunday, December 11, 2016

We finished passing through the Gulf Stream with the winds diminishing and the seas calming comfortably to 4-5 feet. The skies were clear, and the air temperature went up to about 18°C. We all emerged out of our soggy cabin, rising to the cockpit together for the first time since Day 1. We named this,“The Shedding Day, as we doffed our Canadian layers. The kids had fun jumping around the cockpit in their underwear. We also tried to get a brush through some serious bedhead. Teeth finally got brushed.

Fresh air!

Taming the "Do"

Sunshine!

Warmth in the nest

Dishes done - hurrah!

Down to one layer!

We were all excited and hungry with the improved conditions, and I went to reheat one of the five meals I had prepared ahead of time. Unfortunately, our stupid propane monitor (that we know now did NOT get fixed in Vancouver) failed again and we had no propane to heat our meal. However, the mood of our crew was so good, that no one seemed to mind a cold tortilla pizza accompanied by crackers and some of Lana's decadent truffles.

Our mood was also not dampened by the discovery that our engine starter battery was dead. Luckily, we still had juice to start the engine with our house batteries that were not completely dead. Given that our CD player had fallen off the wall during the passage, we did not have dancing music while we enjoyed our afternoon in the cockpit. However, there was this groovy clunking sound that gave a good beat and we danced to that. While some of us were dancing, John left the party and soon yelled for help. Turns out, the funky rhythm was due to the steering mechanism that had popped three bolts; it was running on its last one. We grabbed the required tools and John had it secure in a jiffy.

As we prepared for our arrival in Bermuda the following day, we considered that we might be a little tight for fuel. Our Awesome Halifax Weather Routing Team (or AHWR team) informed us that a nasty low pressure system was passing by the next day and urged us to get into Bermuda as fast as possible.

Day 6 – Monday, December 12, 2016

We tried to sail as long as we could in the morning to save fuel before the wind changed. By early afternoon, we were motoring into SE winds and seas right on our nose. The wind quickly increased by mid-afternoon, and soon we were plunging our entire bow into big seas. We were getting closer to Bermuda as we watched the fuel gauge slowly move toward EMPTY. We knew that we likely had about 40 L of fuel past the EMPTY line, but given the sloshing around, we were not sure where the line actually was. As we got closer to Bermuda, we called Bermuda Harbour Radio to let them know our ETA, and that if we ran out of fuel, we would need a tow in. They are very helpful folks and promised to stand-by in case we needed assistance.

Meanwhile, all the wave action found its way down below. It actually started to rain seawater inside. First it was a few drops. Then it was a dribble and then it poured down. We had to get out a baking pan to catch the drips. Most of the rain came down where I was trying to sleep and then it poured over the nav station where were were trying to navigate using electronics (of course). I stood with a tea towel and wiped the computer screen as seawater poured down the electronic chart. The computer died a couple of times, but John (the greatest computer guy EVER), got it going so we could still follow our course. At one point, I dragged out paper charts and took regular fixes in case we had to con our way in. After awhile, the paper chart served as a good way to channel the water off the computer keyboard.

Raining inside

We joked with the kids about this great adventure we were having, and talked about how great Bermuda was going to be. They seemed oblivious to our anxiety. Amazingly, they kept playing games, and stayed out of our way.

It got later. It was dark. No one had eaten since lunch (love that chocolate milk). The seas were still pounding us with teeth-gnashing smashes, and we were running out of fuel. The moon was almost full; it seemed to bring some hope that we would actually make it in on our own power. The kids were content playing, occasionally asking, “Are we there yet?” John and I were...a bit tense, but a well-functioning team.

Just as our nerves became as frayed as our jib halyard, the seas finally relented and the pounding abated. Several buoy lights were out which made for a couple of freaky moments as we almost collided with a buoy. As we followed the channel into the narrow Town Cut and into St. George's Harbour, the kids joined us in the cockpit for their first glimpse of Bermuda and the lights of Christmas circling palm trees. Pure magic.

Arriving Customs Dock

With the Customs Officer

The Customs officials knew we were arriving as they were open and ready for us at the Customs Dock. Unfortunately, we crashed our bow into the dock as we attempted to tie up. As we climbed ashore, our legs went wonky, and I had to hang onto the kids so they did not stagger off the dock. We were checked into Customs by two very friendly officials and were cleared by midnight. The kids were eager to run around and stretch their legs, all the time feeling very strange on land.

With the fumes in our tank, we motored to the anchorage in Convict Bay and dropped our hook for the night. By 2:00 am we had finished our first hot meal in a couple of days and we tucked into sleep.

-------------------------------------------------

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Nahanni V way out in anchorage

Since our arrival, we have been in recovery and reflection mode. We have been hauling all the wet cushions, toys, clothing, etc. up to the cockpit in an effort to dry them. This process has been complicated by the fact that since we arrived, we have had rain non-stop, so nothing is getting dry. There are also high winds at the moment which makes the dinghy ride to shore (and the laundromat) a little wet. We have had one afternoon ashore so far, but have spent most of our time at anchor getting cleaned up, eating lots of good food, and having family time. We are all eager to get ashore and do some exploring soon...

We have also been talking about how very lucky we have been to have such a great support system in Halifax. We could have not done it without our family and friends who offered us constant encouragement and support. Our dear friends in The AHWR Team were exceptional in giving us great weather information, advice, and devoted a lot of their personal time to ensuring we were safe. You guys are the BEST.

Would we do it again? Absolutely. (Especially since the weather got really cold after we left.) We have a great boat and a great crew. The challenges were just enough to put us to the test. We learned a lot on this trip, which we will remind ourselves for the next passages. We were most impressed with the resiliency of the kids. They are truly blue water sailors.

We have decided to have a Bermuda Christmas and enjoy the festivities here. We hear there is a great Christmas Day Beach Party...how cool is that??

Sunday, December 18, 2016

I must get around to posting this blog entry. We are pretty much dried out now that we have had a day without rain. The kids will move back into their bunks tomorrow and the whole boat should feel a little bigger. We have an itinerary of activities we want to do in the next couple of weeks, including decorating the boat, and catching up with some Bomeschool – yes, even on the Christmas holidays!!

We want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday!

Cheers,

John, Kathryn, Simon and Wavey