Homeward Bound

April 25/08

We had a great sail across the Little Bahama Bank toward the Atlantic Ocean. The winds were perfect and we just chugged along. Several boats left at around the same time, so we were like a flotilla! However, as boats had different destinations, they broke off in other directions and soon it was just Hawkeye and us in radio contact. Another boat, Maj Britt which was being delivered to the States by a crew of Danes, joined our little group of radio contact buddies. It was very reassuring to know that there was someone who knew where we were...

We got out into the ocean, and watched the depth sounder go from 15 ft to blank because it was too deep to register! That was freaky! The water changed colour from the gorgeous aquamarine of the Bahamas to the dark sapphire of the deep ocean. We knew we were truly on our way home now. Bye Bye Bahamas, we sure had a wonderful time there!

Our first night was smooth sailing, we didn't even have the engine running because the winds were so good. We all took turns on watch, going about 4 hours in a stretch, then sleeping for 4 hours. We had 2 people on at a time (me and Clare, Larry and Graham) during the night, although Larry did some time alone (he's braver than me). Watching the sun come up on the ocean is amazing....

The next day, the winds dropped a bit, so we ran the engine along with the sails because we really wanted to maintain a good boat speed to ensure that we had enough time to get north before the weather changed on us! Through the night we were into the gulf stream and we were going a good 10 knots most of the time! Thats rocketing for us! We had lost radio contact with Hawkeye, but were able to talk to Maj Britt, who could hear both of us, so we knew everyone was ok. Another boat, Encore was also talking to us, and they had decided to head for Norfolk too. They were ahead of us and we kept in regular contact with them for the remainder of the trip.

We had a most gorgeous day on the ocean on day 2! We were dragging a fishing line and lo and behold a great big Mahi-Mahi hit it and Graham had a big fight on his hands! It was a beautiful fish - when they are fighting they flash different colours, from yellow, to blue to green! It jumped at least 5 feet in the air in its efforts to escape! Graham got in on board and we measured it to be 52 inches long! A big fish indeed! Now our freezer is full of yummy fish! Not too much longer we had another hit, but this one got away! Then another hit! We pulled in another Mahi, a small one - maybe 20 inches, so we let it go. We had enough food already.

The weather was perfect really, the winds were down, the seas were smooth and the gulf stream was carrying us along at up to 11 knots/hr at times!

Encore called to tell us that they had been joined by a big pod of dolphins which had played in their bow wake for about 15 minutes before they headed off in our direction. Sure enough, they arrived at our boat and entertained us for ages! Beau nearly lost his mind, barking at them and straining at his tether to get closer! They are so beautiful to watch. I feel like they are our guardians, leading us to safe harbours.

Day 3 was more of the same - the winds were light so we had to have the engine running to keep up our boat speed, but it was an easy sail. We were watching the weather closely though because we knew a cold front was coming and we needed to be in before that happened. Then the topping lift from the mailsail got wrapped around the HAM radio antenna which meant that we couldn't transmit on the single side band radio. It also meant that we couldn't send or receive email, including the weather info we rely on.

We had lost contact by then with both Hawkeye and Maj Britt, and assumed they had decided to head to Charleston SC as they were both slower than us and would want to be in a good harbour before the weather turned.

Day 4 was crunch time! We could still use the VHF radio and got weather info from NOAA and Encore, but we had to decide whether we were going to go for Norfolk or pull in at Beaufort. Of course there were pro's and con's for each, but it seemed as though the cold front wasn't going to come through till later than predicted at first, so we decided to get to Norfolk, thus saving us several days on the ICW (yuck) or a long trip on the outside around Cape Hatteras.

The winds continued to be light and variable (meaning that the sails were doing nothing for us) and we were essentially just motoring. At least this meant that the seas were comfortable! We still had a long way to go, and predicted that we would get into Norfolk in the middle of the night, April 29. We rounded Cape Hatteras early in the morning of April 28, and we were down to the last stretch - about 140 miles. By 6:30 that night my cell phone was working again, so I was able to call Mum to let her know we were ok! Of course, no sooner had I done that when the thunderstorms started coming in! Yikes that was scary!

It just poured rain and the lightening was all around us, lighting up the sky. We could watch the storm cells on the radar, and they totally covered us! Larry was able to steer us so that we could get out of the weather sooner, but we were pretty sure there would be more cells to deal with. Fortunately for us, most of the weather stayed further inland from us (you might have seen the tornados that hit Suffolk, creating havok) and we just had to deal with the US warships, freighters etc coming and going from Norfolk!

Encore had made arrangements for both boats to tie up at Bay Point Marina no matter what time we got in, and that was so great to know! They got in a couple hours ahead of us and were there on the dock at 2 am when we finally pulled into the marina! We were back!

Everyone was tired but keyed up, however, before long we were asleep! After much needed showers later in the morning, we met Paul and Nancy from Encore face to face for a big breakfast! They were heading out to get their boat up near Annapolis before flying home to Detroit on Thursday. What an interesting couple! They have cruised around the world and have some great stories to tell. We are hoping to meet up with them in the great lakes some summer!

We headed to Hampton (only 10 miles away) yesterday where we will stay for a day or 2 before heading on to Deltaville, where we may leave the boat for a couple of months while we get the new house sorted out!

It's cold here!! I can't believe we're not in the Bahamas anymore!
It is exciting to be back with so much to look forward to, but brrrr, my blood must have thinned while we were away!