We left Bermuda on Sunday, October 23rd, after a wonderful six day visit and a delicious last night meal in port at The Carriage House in St. George's. The first half of the passage was under power with a reefed mainsail set to dampen the motion. We had a pretty good sized swell running but not enough wind to sail. Thank goodness for a good and reliable engine and plenty of fuel range so we could power through it. The wind finally came in and we had a rollicking 3 days of sailing. Our Aries Wind Vane steered an accurate course and it was great to be clocking off 160 mile days and using no diesel ... Well, just a little to charge the batteries and keep the fridge cold!
The roughest part of the trip was the last evening out, right at the North Drop where the depth comes from the second deepest in the world to about 100 feet. Just before we could get into the lee of Anegada it felt like we were in a washing machine!
Thankfully, it didn't last long and we were able to enjoy the lights of Tortola and Jost Van Dyke and then the green blinking light on Johnson's Reef on the north side of St. John and through the Durloe Cays to a mooring off Scot Beach. We picked that up at around 2 a.m. and really savored the calm; put a glass on the table and it stayed on the table! We did the 900 mile passage in just under six days, a great trip and it is so good to be home again.
We cleared in and motored across Pilsbury Sound to our home port of Red Hook, tied up at the fuel dock at American Yacht Harbour so we could top off with water, and give our very salty boat a well deserved bubble bath. Son Paul had left our car at the marina for us so we got the necessities off the boat and drove up to our house to start the moving ashore process.
We are just about there! A few loads of snorkel gear to the boat and finish stocking up the bar with the ingredients for a good rum punch, cold beer or soda and the galley with goodies and we will be set to day sail again. Our first charter is now on November 8th and we are excited to go sailing and share our beautiful Virgin Islands with our guests, so, come on down and check out a day or a half day on board Independence!
Let's go sailing!
