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.
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| Janice and Nancy |
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| Susanne helping to cast off the lines |
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| Susanne, Janice and Helen |
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| 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.
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| Playing "Go Fish" |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The kids asleep despite the rough conditions |
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| Not able to do dishes today |
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| 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.
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| Crazy hair day winner |
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| 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.
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| On deck to change sail |
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| 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.
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| Fresh air! |
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| Taming the "Do" |
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| Sunshine! |
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| Warmth in the nest |
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| Dishes done - hurrah! |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Arriving Customs Dock |
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| 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
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| 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
