We enjoyed a final get-together with our Salty Dawg pals for an early Thanksgiving pot-luck dinner on the beach last Wednesday, and then said our farewells. Our plan was to leave for the 90NM inevitable beat to St Martin early on Thursday morning, hopefully when the seas and wind had abated. Continue reading “Rich Man, Poor Man (St Martin)”
It’s hard to imagine a more perfect setting for our first landfall in the Caribbean. Continue reading “Happy Days (BVI’S)”
Just a few more images and notes from our passage south to the BVI’s from Hampton, Virginia. 11 days in total, and a slower than normal trip for most boats because of lack of wind or wind on the nose. Continue reading “Shake, Rattle & Roll Pt 2”
Yes we are trying to keep the theme going with those catchy titles, but in this case it is rather poignant. When we purchased Toucan we were aware that there was some work to be done to ensure her seaworthiness and as we have already spoken about we were really naïve as to how much we needed to repair replace or just remove to make our objective. So after some four months of hard labour we felt that we were as ready as we would ever be. The war cry from Di before and during this period was “I don’t want to have the sea trial on the way to the BVI’s” and my answer was “I absolutely agree with you!” So, how did the 1500 nautical mile sea trial go? Let me tell you. Continue reading “Shake, Rattle & Roll”
We were booked to come into the Bluewater Yachting Centre marina on Wednesday, but after 4 nights on the hook it was clear that our bank balance wasn’t the only thing draining – our batteries were struggling to hold charge. Continue reading “The Dawg House”
Friday’s forecast was for NW winds 10-15kts, gusting to 25kts. Perfect for a fast sail south, but boy was it cold! Rugged up in our Icebreaker gear we dropped our mooring lines at 8.30 am, with the help of Peter, Phil and Gayle who’d come to farewell us off the dock. Hard to believe we were actually leaving after all this time, but there was Joe waving to us as we passed through the Spa Creek drawbridge, and there was Rod on the other side of bridge with a cheery wave goodbye. Goodbye Annapolis, we were on our way!
