Our Adventures on Ocean Blue

Newport, Rhode Island

We left Bermuda at 09:00 on Thursday 29 June. We arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, USA, another previous home of the Americas Cup, after sailing for just under 4 days on Monday 3 July at 07:00.

The hazy view and the eary sound of the fog horn on Beaver Tail Point lighthouse guided us into Newport where we anchored in Brenton Cove, where you can anchor for free outside the moorings for up to 14 days. After a quick tidy up we contacted the customs office to organise our customs and immigration clearance.

We were given several options of docks to take the boat into to meet the customs officer who would do the paperwork and potentially search the boat for items that are not allowed to be brought into America. We chose Perrotti Park, a dock which turned out to be very easily accessible and where we met another British boat also waiting for customs. The customs clearance was quick and easy – too quick unfortunately as the customs officer, who was new in her job, despite taking our money omitted to issue our cruising permit, a document legally required when cruising in the US. (Eventually after many phone calls and emails we did get a copy, but it took several days)

It always surprises us how friendly everyone is in the long term cruising world. A chance encounter provided an invitation to sundowners that evening and the opportunity to meet other cruising boats who had previously crossed the Atlantic in a different rally called the Barbados 500. We had briefly met most of these boats in Bermuda just before we left – they left together the night before us. Their occupants provided a new social circle and the opportunity to learn about other destinations, intentions and experiences.

Having cleared customs we returned to the anchorage and started by cleaning up the boat and getting settled for some time exploring, plus some sleep.

Clairborne Pell (Newport) Bridge, spanning the east passage of the Narragansett Bay

We had hoped to make it to Bristol to see one of the oldest 4th July parades in the states, however we were quite tired from the journey and woke up too late to catch the bus to make the best of the day. Instead we watched an amazing fireworks show from the boat which was one of the best spots in the harbour.

Although American independence from British rule is widely and happily celebrated there was no animosity towards us joining in the party. Houses and boats were cheerily dressed in red white and blue. Everyone was enjoying the holiday atmosphere and the events.

Newport has a a holiday atmosphere and although it is clearly centred around sailing there are plenty of other activities too. We spent almost a week here acclimatising to living in America.

There was the visit to the chandlery to purchase charts for the area, several very good bike rides with a handy leaflet marking routes, cliff walks, beaches, surfing and several historic houses to visit and also there was the opportunity to provision the boat at a fraction of the cost of in the Caribbean.

We spent a happy half day at the Breakers Mansion on Orchre Point Avenue – the grandest of many huge mansions, learning about the 1890s summer cottage, it’s construction and lifestyle.

Commissioned and owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, whose family fortune was made in steam ships and later in the New York Central railroad. The mansion was built in the Italian renaisance style with lots of excess, gold gilt and platinum on the walls and ceilings.

Lavish parties and the importance of being seen and dressed for the occasion were clearly the order of the day, with the women of the household changing outfits five times a day for different activities. It was a totally different world for the rich families of the gilded era.

We used the bikes to explore and shop for provisions. The more or less flat environment was a welcome change after the volcanic hills and narrow roads of the Caribbean which made cycling impractical.

The iconic Newport Yacht Club Burgee over the Stars and Stripes

We had Sunday lunch at the New York yacht club’s Newport base. A lovely old house with a commanding presence and view over Newport Sound and the anchorage.

After a few days we decided to explore the rest of the estuary and sailed up to Bristol for a visit to the Herreshoff museum.

We were able to pick up one of their free buoys and also got a discount on the entrance fee for coming by boat! A very interesting exhibition and the opportunity to look inside some of the old vessels built by the talented brothers.

You could even climb on board some of the vessels

We spent the night in Potter Cove, on Prudence Island, a wonderful national estuarine sanctuary with an abundance of green grass and variety of trees, another reminder of home and a complete contrast to the Caribbean.

It was time to move on so we left early to exit the river via Dutch harbour and purchase some fuel from a commercial fish quay at Galilee, in Judith’s point harbour. This was the cheapest place for refuelling our 1000 litre capacity fuel tanks, so worth the slight detour west before continuing east again towards the Elizabeth Islands.

The Galilee Fuel Dock – the cheapest diesel in the area

The random names here are great. Most have been copied from English towns and villages, based on their heritage and the area was very reminiscent of Beaulieu, with the large houses set in sweeping lawns only ending at the river bank and their private jetties.

Even the weather was cooler and variable much like England! The main difference is the size, everything is bigger! It is New England, USA.

Bermuda and The Americas Cup

St. George’s is a lovely quaint town which used to be the capital of Bermuda. It has lots of history and it’s great to wonder around and read the information plagues and follow the trails.

The main square has free wifi and most sailors seem to gather with computers, iPads or phones to connect to the outside world. We exchanged wifi codes with others and compared where the best speeds could be found. One girl who was boat hopping her way back home and about to leave for the Azores happily shared the local knowledge she had gained while she had been on the island. There was an immediate sense of community not just within the visiting sailors but the locals have been fantastically welcoming and helpful here.

Bermuda is made up of lots of islands joined together by roads and an old railway track. It is divided into nine parishes. Everyone is happy, perhaps because they have the highest per capita income in the world!

We walked across the tip, to gorgeous beaches and views. We snorkeled, picnicked and came back for ice cream!

The next day we ventured into Hamilton on the bus. A system where the price is calculated on the number of zones you go through to your destination. You purchase a token at a participating shop for the fare which is cheaper than paying on the bus. Alternatively you need the exact money if paying on the bus.

It was great to see more of the islands during the journey and arriving in the busy bustling city of Hamilton felt like we could have been in England with red pillar boxes etc. We collected our Americas Cup spectator boat flags and checked out facilities ahead of arriving here by boat later. Sampling a ‘Dark and Stormy’ in a bar with Goslings rum, as Bermuda is the home of the cocktail, felt like a must do!

After a few days in St. George’s resting, washing and exploring the East end of the island we did a last shop in the supermarket in St. George’s called Sommers, which offers us a 5% discount on our groceries as a visiting yacht. Worth asking for if we visit again. Then we sailed around to Hamilton so that we were ready for the start of the racing. We also wanted to find a sheltered anchorage before some forecast windy weather was due to come through the next day.

We chose a likely spot in the designated anchorage but before we could settle in, a local launched his rib and came to see us, not to say that we could not anchor in front of his house, but to welcome us and impart local knowledge about the forecast, and the best sheltered place to be in the harbour. After exchanging telephone numbers and with the invitation for a beer later in the week we moved to Hinson’s Island, or ‘Cat Alley’ as we got to know it as, since it was the designated anchorage for the charter cats, which was a lovely spot to hide from the wind.

We were with friends on Nisida, and decided to leave one boat anchored and take the other out for the racing each day. We soon fell into a pattern leaving the anchorage at midday, sussing out the race area for the best place to view from and having lunch on board before the racing started.

Although not competing in the racing , no guess as to who started the sweepstake for the challenger series then the finals picking the results each day and culminating in prizes of Rum and Wine!

Whilst we watched from the boats most days, on Friday 2nd June we headed for the AC village to sample the racing from ashore and to get a close up of the boats. It provided a great atmosphere and well worth doing but not the same as being alongside the race course on the water.

The J Class Regatta provided a spectacle too

The event was amazing, the locals incredibly friendly and we had a ball. We got to know the locals at Sandy Boat Club and met people who were supporting the race teams or involved with running the event such as the super yacht course marshal who invited us to the race area with the other ‘super’ yachts the following morning. Basically it was a six week party and one that will always be very close to our hearts. The 36th America’s Cup will be held in the southern hemisphere in the AC75, a fully foiling monohull in March 2021. The organisers will have to do something very special to match Bermuda.

We went to the top of the lighthouse, walked part of the disused railway, swam and snorkeled off the external reef, went underground to see the crystal caves, learnt about the rain water capture from the roofs, climbed and explored several old forts, danced in the streets with the Gombeys. We had visitors on board for short trips and meet and made some great friends. We also learnt to paddleboard, so now we need to buy our own! And tried to kitesurf but had more success with the board as a wakeboard!

All too soon it came to an end. We wished friends a safe trip as we all headed off in different directions. Many back to Europe and ourselves and others, North to the USA for the summer.

BVI to Bermuda – We have arrived!

After 5 days, 3.5 hours we arrived into St Georges, East End of Bermuda through the narrow Town Cut. Unfortunately we had to motor for 52 hours since the winds dropped off but at least that meant the seas were calm and we could get some rest.

During the trip we fished very little (about 2 hours) and succeeded in catching weed, about every fifteen minutes and nothing else – the chartplotter states we were sailing through the Sargasso sea, so maybe that should have been a clue. However, the boat left to its own devices succeeded in catching half a dozen flying fish of various sizes, including one acrobat who landed on the bimini.

Flying fish, discovered on deck one morning

We were treated to a beautiful display by a pod of dolphins on the last morning which lasted for approximately half an hour just after sunrise.

Later that morning we started to see land. Being fairly low, we were quite close before it came into view, the first visible things being trees then buildings – all with whitewashed roofs, which seems to be a common theme here.

As we closed in on the island we also started to see more boats, as we all converged from different departure points. There being only one place to clear in, everyone heads for St Georges initially.

Arrival and clearance were very easy and the Bermudans are certainly very welcoming.

The lagoon is charming and very sheltered and shortly after dropping anchor we were visited by our friend Carl from yacht Nisida and his crew Traci, who had arrived a few hours earlier from Antigua. It was great to catch up and share stories of the past few months since we have last seen him. After a few beers and a bite to eat on board we settled in for our first full, still night in bed for 6 days. We slept soundly!

Leaving the marina where we left Ocean Blue for a trip home

400 miles from land we were visited by this bird, who did several laps of the boat

Beautiful dolphins in amazingly clear water

One of the dolphins swimming past, taken with our go pro, a present from our Rowlands Castle neighbours.

BVI to Bermuda – One more night at sea to go

Yesterday began as another damp day with little wind. It was pretty uneventful until I spotted the bilge pump light on.

The bilges are the underneath area below the floor in the cabin. Our previous boat had very shallow bilges just a few hundred mm deep and they were dry. They were designed to be dry and unless something had got spilt, or some rain or spray had got in they were always dry. However this boat is very different. The bilges extend over a metre and a half down inside the keel and they always have some water in them. The water comes from various places: it can be from the fridge and freezer, which drain into them, from the aircon units which drain into them, from round the mast, which on this boat comes all the way down through a hole in the deck and rests on the keel, or from many other sources of water ingress around the boat. We have an automatic bilge pump, which sits in the bottom of the bilges and is controlled by a float switch – a switch where the activator arm is actually a float, which floats on top of the bilge water. If the water rises the switch closes and a light comes on on the panel and the pump starts. The water drops and the switch opens, stopping the pump and extinguishing the light. And so it goes on, 24 hours a day until yesterday…

Actually it was probably until the day before, because in the last post I mentioned about the navigation lights needing some attention. Whilst tracing the fault in those I noticed the bilge pump circuit breaker had tripped. I reset it and it stayed set and I thought nothing more about it after a quick check of everything. So with the light on on the panel the pump should have been running but it wasn’t. The water level wasn’t worryingly high but just high enough to trigger the switch. A gentle tap to the top of the pump with a long stick did nothing, nor did a slightly harder tap – it seemed that the pump had broken.

The marine environment is very harsh, especially on anything electric, so manual backup systems are generally employed for anything critical. Hence we have a manual bilge pump in the engine room, operated from under the table in the cockpit. It never gets used because we have the electric one, but we serviced it when we got the boat and we cycle the handle every now and again to make sure it works. So finally yesterday the manual one was to get to earn its keep. Unfortunately after 5 minutes pumping ,the water level was still the same. Lesley at this point decides to make lunch and I decide that it’s time to remove and investigate the problem with the manual pump. It’s easy to remove so should only take a couple of minutes. Three bolts, four jubilee clips and out it comes in theory.

The engine had been on pretty much all the time for the last 12 hours so the engine room temperature was about 40 degrees. The two minutes stretched to half an hour before the pump came free and this is where Lesley’s sense of humour came to the fore. Emerging victoriously with pump in hand looking like I had been in a sauna for far too long, I said to Lesley ‘do start your lunch as I just need to get cleaned up before I can eat’. Her response was a very calm ‘oh don’t worry I’ve eaten mine. I figured with two broken pumps we would be sinking soon so I certainly wasn’t going to let my lunch go down with the boat’! (Before anyone gets too concerned, we have various methods of emptying bilges should it be required including a very high capacity portable submersible pump that we put onboard prior to the Atlantic crossing, so sinking was never a real issue)!

A quick pause for lunch then a cleanup in hot water removed all the salt crystals and the very primitive manual pump was as good as new. It worked like a charm, however I have concluded after lifting probably less than 20 litres of water from the bottom of the bilges all the way up to cockpit level and over the side with a manual pump contorted under the cockpit table, electricity is so underrated!

The wind came up in the afternoon and remained throughout last night, so we have been sailing for the last 15 hours. We haven’t seen any ships for 36 hours, we have seen a couple of birds and ended up with a few flying fish on deck, but other that all has been very quiet. The sky cleared last night and the moon didn’t rise until about 1 am so the stars were amazing. Each night has got cooler as we head north, so we are now having to wrap up more overnight, but when the sun comes up it quickly warms up.

We have 193 miles to go, so should arrive somewhere around lunchtime tomorrow. As we close in on the island we expect to start seeing a few other boats because we know several left different parts of the Caribbean at a similar time to us. Other than that, time will tell what will emerge to amuse us over the next 24 hours.

BVI to Bermuda – Halfway

Tuesday was a grey overcast day with rain! There was very little wind, so we motored for much of the day and progress has been a little slow. The seas have been flat so it has been very comfortable but with no sunshine it has been somewhat cooler than we have got accustomed to in the Caribbean.

We have two sets of navigation lights (a set comprises green on the right hand side, red on the left and white at the back). A set at the top of the mast, that we use when sailing and a set at deck level. Being higher up, the ones at the masthead are visible from further away so are the ones we use most of the time, however when motoring the regulations state that we must use the deck level lights in conjunction with a white ‘steaming light’ part way up the mast. It is important for other boats to know whether we are sailing or motoring because the anti-collision rules are different.

Last night we switched to our motoring configuration but noticed shortly afterwards that neither the red or green deck level lights were working. Rather strange since they had been fine when we last used them a few weeks ago. We waited most of the day for a dry spell to investigate the problem but it became obvious it was going to be dark before it got dry! Bizarrely the problem was the same for both lights – corrosion on a hidden wiring joint inside the pulpit (a stainless steel frame at the front of the boat that supports the guard wires that run around the boat to help stop us falling off as we move around). In the drizzle we effected temporary repairs to both wires – permanent solutions will have to wait until a dry day, but at least the lights are working again.

Dinner was a lovely chilli con carne with garlic bread and was followed by watching Oceans 11 in the cockpit to pass the time before we settled into night watches.

The rain has now stopped and the clouds are thinning so we can just make out the moon and a few stars through the haze. Maybe tomorrow will be a return to the sunshine we have got used to and if we are lucky we may get some wind. We found three dead flying fish on deck today and have seen three boats in the distance. We are now over halfway with 391 miles to go.

Derek & Lesley x

BVI to Bermuda – Day 2

Overnight the wind dropped as predicted. In the first 12 hours we covered just under 100 miles – a good distance for us but with the lighter winds for the next 12 hours our 24 hour run was about 185. The wind also freed so out came the Parasailor – our sail of choice for the Atlantic and once again it did us proud gaining us substantial speed and having the added benefit of stabilising the boat considerably.

We had tried to download the Spanish grand prix on catchup before we left but failed, so settled for an episode of Top Gear instead for our evening’s entertainment.

The forecast is for even lighter winds tonight and tomorrow so we are expecting the engine to come on shortly.

Distance to Bermuda is currently 578 miles.

Derek & Lesley.

BVI to Bermuda – Cracking first day

After a relaxed morning, we left Anegada at 11 am, rounded the western end of the island and started heading north for Bermuda. Its been fantastic sailing, in 14-16 knots of easterly wind. The sun shone all day and the boat was loving the conditions, romping along at over 8 knots. At 21.30 we have 733 miles to go, we have had roast pork fillet with roasted vegetables for dinner and are now settling into the night watches. All is well onboard.

Love to everyone, Derek & Lesley x

Dominica

We spent a few fantastic days in Dominica with Dave and MC from yacht La Contenta.

Dominica was named by Christopher Columbus in 1493 as he discovered it on a Sunday, and it is the Latin for Sunday. The Carib meaning for it is ‘tall and beautiful’ and it certainly is. It still has seven potentially active volcanoes.

Our taxi driver who took us on a tour of the northern half of the island described it as the ‘fruit basket of the Caribbean’, they seem to grow everything including Cloves, Nutmeg , Mango, Papaya, Coconut, Cocoa, Yams, Avocado and Grapefruit.

There are nine active volcanoes and hot springs emitting sulphurous clouds. There is supposed to be good whale spotting off the island but they were elusive when we were there.

Portsmouth in Prince Rupert Bay is the second largest town on the island.

The boat boys have set up a co-operative called PAYS (Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services), the current president is Jeffery call sign Seabird on Ch16, which caters for visiting yachts. They do security sweeps at night, island and river tours including the Indian River, which was the location for the river scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean 2. They also run various events and their Sunday evening BBQ and music, tickets can be purchased from PAYS, was a fantastic evening with plenty of rum punch!

We took an early morning tour up the Indian River where river crabs, flowering hibiscus, elaborate tree roots and herons accompany the row up the river to the river bar.

We even spotted an iguana basking in the early morning sun in the tree tops.

We were back in time for the Saturday morning market. A few stalls line the fish dock most days but come Saturday morning the place is busy, with stalls and trucks selling Coconuts and Plantain, street food stalls, and the music blasting from speakers. A great atmosphere even if purchases had to be conducted with sign language.

Street vendors outside the market selling sugar cane , coconut water and Sorrel, (in the plastic bag).

Our pre-cooked breadfruit being prepared by the vendor

We took all of our purchases from the market and attempted to cook a flavours of the Caribbean meal together. Breadfruit, plantain chips, mashed yams, christophine with coconut breaded chicke, yum.

We went exploring the next day to work off the calories to a beach with potentially good snorkeling. This ended up as quite a hike up and down steep hills and interesting discoveries on the way. local production of palm oil, rain forest trail, re-mobilisation of a truck with 4 flat tyres that we were assured was only going a short distance and a fantastic rum bar on the beach at our eventual destination. We enjoyed our picnic lunch and swim although the sand was too churned up to see any fish. We later settled into a tasting session of the many home flavoured different rums with dodgy names such as ‘the terminator.’ The locals were also playing dominos which was played with attitude. Apparently how you slam your domino on the table communicates to your partner your hand.

One day we took a tour around the northern end of the Island, taking in the sulphur springs, the chocolate factory, the Kalinago (Carib Indians) territory and the Emerald Pool and waterfall. MC was keen to obtain a Calabash so that she could carve it and make a cockpit lampshade. The driver was able to oblige with this, stopping at the roadside and taking us into a small residence, where the owners were not only growing, but harvesting and selling decorated Calabashes. They can be used for many different things such as bowls, lampshades and maracas. They are hung over a fire to to darken the colour and then polished and a design carved into them. How nice to be able to point to one on the tree and say ‘I’ll have that one please!’

The Pointe Baptiste Chocolate factory was one families passion for chocolate turned into a small business from their home. We were able to follow the production sequence and best of all taste the chocolate! Some unusual flavour combinations with different strengths of coco. My favorite was the ginger.

MC’s Calabash just before it was harvested

On returning to the bay one Sunday afternoon, we stopped for a refreshing beer in the bar and were distracted by a gathering of youngsters on the beach. It didn’t take long for Derek and MC’s curiosity to get the better of them and for them to wonder down among the growing party to see what all the fuss was about. There is a medical university on the Island and it transpired that it was one of the student’s birthdays. To celebrate, her boyfriend had come to the beach at 2 am in the morning, dug a hole and made a fire in a the pit. Then using leaves and various other natural wrappings, wrapped and buried a pig amongst the fire, covering it with sand. The pig had been roasting all day and now it was time to celebrate. What we were witnessing was the unearthing of the roasted pig and the start of the birthday party, complete with further barbecued piglets halves cooked in a massive drum, homemade ginger beer and much more. As we stood on and chatted with many of the friends of the birthday girl, we were invited to share her birthday celebration, eating and drinking with them all. What an amazing impromptu experience and one we were extremely grateful for.

The ‘Pit’ where the pig had been roasting since 2am

After the three days La Contenta and Ocean Blue sadly both had commitments that took us in opposite directions. Exploring and experiencing the different islands is made all the more special when you share it with friends.

If you are interested in viewing more of the photographs from our trip to Dominica we have put a selection of them on Flickr, follow this link

Up Island to Antigua – How tough can it be?

Five years ago we experienced the phenomena locally known as the ‘Christmas Winds’ when we were sailing from Grenada to Cariacou. Caused by a big high pressure area to the northeast, winds typically blow from around 25 to 30 knots when the isobars get tight.

As the post ARC parties ended we knew these were building but we also knew we had a deadline to get to Antigua where we had family joining us for Christmas. Having just sailed nearly 3000 miles, how tough could a few short hops up island to Antigua be, despite the winds? Tougher than we had expected was the short answer!

Our first hop was St Lucia to Le Marin on Martinique. Chosen for the ease of provisioning due to the fact that the supermarket at Le Marin has its own dinghy dock where you can take the shopping trolley straight to the dinghy. Very important when using the opportunity to stock up with French wine. Having refueled in St Lucia we set out late morning for what was expected to be a slowish windward bash of just over 20 miles. Everything was stowed securely after a few weeks in harbour and the spare sails were lashed to the deck.

After about an hour of getting thoroughly soaked by spray, as we pounded into the waves, we were experiencing some pretty large short steep seas coming straight over the bow and sluicing down the deck. Trying to get as close to the wind as possible we now had two reefs in the mainsail and the genoa and we were also running the engine to try and minimize the time until we got into the shelter of Martinique. Lesley was not coping well being sea sick despite the precautionary patch and nervous of the sea state. We were hit all of a sudden by a couple of massive waves which broke over the foredeck and brought a wall of green water several feet deep straight back over the coachroof towards the cockpit obscuring foreward visibility for a split second. As the water drained away we spotted the two old spare sails, that had been lashed on the foredeck, slipping straight under the leeward guardrail and landing in the sea beside us. They had torn free from their webbing straps with the weight of the water.

Last view of our old mainsail before it was lost at sea

The next 20 to 30 minutes was a salutary lesson in how difficult it is to retrieve anything from the water in these conditions. We did recover the old genoa, it took several attempts but the mainsail sank and has not been seen since! What we learnt was that although we could get back to the semi submerged sail, which was drifting quite easily, staying near it long enough to hook it, and attach something too it was very difficult. For what its worth, we eventually dropped all sails and salvaged it under engine. In those winds and seas the traditional techniques we all learn for man overboard recovery under sail proved just too tricky. However had it been an unconcious person in the water, approaching and holding station under engine, would not have been an attractive proposition at all due to the risk of injury. The sail weighs approximately 75kg dry, so not far off the weight of an average person so it was quite a realistic exercise in man overboard recovery – difficult enough with two people on board, but it would have been far more difficult if it was one of us.

Sail recovered, we re-hoisted the working sails and motorsailed to Le Marin where we dropped anchor, tidied up the boat and went to bed exhausted.

Whilst the supermarket was very convenient the next day, in retrospect we could have made our previous day much easier on ourselves by changing the destination to Fort De France which would have given us a much freer course – faster and more comfortable, with the added bonus that the next leg would have been shorter. Oh well we live and learn!

The next afternoon we sailed in the lee of the island to St Pierre on the north west coast – an easy sail, and an ideal kicking off point for Dominica the next day. The anchorage at St Pierre is on a shallow shelf which does not extend far off the beach so effectively you get a row of anchored boats but only stacked one deep – the shelf is not wide enough for two rows before dropping off into water too deep for most of us to anchor. One of the risks of anchoring is dragging the anchor – where when the forces on the anchor move it from where it is dug into the sea bed. In this situation it can break out and not reset, effectively just dragging along the seabed as the boat floats away! To minimise the chances of this we almost always lay out a lot of chain (normally 5 times the depth from bow roller to sea bed, or more if there is expected to be high winds and a chop) and having set the anchor we reverse against it at fairly high rpm (2000 rpm) to ensure that its bedded in hard and fast. When we go to sleep we often set an anchor alarm – a gps device that has a preset distance that you set, that if exceeded an alarm goes off. Now if you consider that with 60m of chain out and the anchor alarm at the back of a 17m boat even if the anchor does not move, but the wind changes direction and the boat swings around, the gps can move through a distance of over 140m we normally want to know before we have moved that far so we set a much smaller alarm distance and accept that we will be woken occasionally by change of wind or tide (not such an issue in the Caribbean as it was in Europe). Our anchor alarm is great because it shows a track of where the boat has travelled since being set on a little screen so its easy to tell the difference between dragging and just merely swinging around the anchor.

That evening with anchor alarm set to just 50m we went to bed but were woken by the alarm at about 1 am. Taking a look around, it was clear that the wind had died and was going round in circles. We, like the boats around us, were just swinging to whatever breeze there was. However, one nearby catamaran seemed a lot closer than it was before – not uncommon with boats swinging in different directions, but this was not comfortable.

Checking again after about 15 minutes it was clear that things were not right. In relationship to all the other boats we remained fairly static but this one catamaran was definately coming to meet us! Our choices were to try and wake the cat crew or move. We decided the latter was the easiest for us, however having we could not find a suitable gap to re-drop the anchor so eventually Lesley suggested we just move on – after all we had had a couple of hours sleep!

We set sail north, Derek taking the first stint until we got into the shelter of Dominica then Lesley took over and sailed us up the Western shore. By daylight we had passed Dominica and decided to head to the beautiful Isles De Saintes – a tiny set of islands between Dominica and Guadeloupe. Arriving mid morning, we went ashore to check in and stretch our legs. It was a brief visit as we had to keep heading north but we had heard a lot about the islands and they did not disappoint – we would definitely be back to spend some more time here.

After an early lunch ashore, we set sail and had an uneventful trip to Guadeloupe. By evening, having gained ourselves a day by doing the overnight sail from Martinique to Isles de Saintes, we were a little more chilled and anchored in the lovely Deshaies bay, location of the TVs series death in paradise. We enjoyed watching the sunset over a sundowner or two. Just one more island hop and we would be in Antigua before our visitors touched down.

The trip to Antigua was equally uneventful. The winds had by now subsided a little and our course was a bit freer so we were averaging some pretty high speeds with comfortable sailing – just how we had envisaged Caribbean sailing. By mid afternoon we had made it with a day to spare. We anchored outside Jolly Harbour, halfway up the western shore and arrived in time to clear in.

For those not so familiar with Caribbean sailing clearing an and out is something that has to be done every time you sail between islands belonging to different nations (and sometimes even between those that belong to the same nation). The process can be painless (in the case of most French islands it is normally done at a single computer terminal in a shop, bar or intenet cafe), or it can be a long frustrating affair (Barbuda involves three different offices in three different corners of the capital town). What often surprises us is the bureacracy and volume of paperwork that is involved. The principle is simple: The skipper must go ashore at the first opportunity and report to customs, immigration and port authority. Nobody else is allowed ashore until all formalities have been completed! In most ports the three offices are together or close by but it still involves a lot of toing and froing between the offices and the officers can be so grumpy!

In theory many of the islands use advanced web based clearance systems too which should speed up the process but our experience has been that although its a big time saver when they work, always worth doing in advance, many of the port authorities don’t know about them or don’t use them which is rather frustrating. There is often a fee and that can be trivial or huge depending on the islands. It can also be different on the same island (Jolly Harbour is cheaper than English Harbour in Antigua), Woe betied anyone arriving out of hours or over a weekend in some islands – the additional fees can be daylight robbery. In most places you also need your outbound clearance from your previous island in order to check in – if you haven’t got it you can’t come in so don’t forget to clear out. If you do lose it, head to a French island because its not needed there for check in, so the process gets reset!

Catering Onboard and Underway

As this was my first trip across the ocean I did not know what to expect or how easy or difficult it would be to keep us all sustained for the 15-20 days at sea. And of course this was the first issue, just how many days to provision for?

The galley on Ocean Blue is compact compared to most houses but for a yacht it is a good size with a front opening fridge and a top opening freezer.

It is good that you are able to open the fridge easily on either tack and that the contents don’t come out to greet you as you open the door. I invested in some clear plastic drawers to make storage and selection easier e.g. One contains cheese another cold meats etc so for lunch you could just grab one and some wraps or pitta bread and put it on the table for everyone to help themselves.

The ARC had a list of supermarkets and many of them delivered your shopping to the dockside. They also provide contacts and ordering forms for a butcher and fruit/vegetable shops. If I was doing the passage again I would not order the fruit and veg from the recommended supplier. We had anywhere from one and a quarter to three times the quantities (and cost) we ordered of every item and it was of poor quality compared to the supermarkets. We did negotiate a discount but they were not interested in taking the produce back. Consequently we had to throw overboard a lot of the fruit as it was already ripe before we left.

We did a reconnaissance visit to the Court Anglais to see what was on offer. This had a very good selection but I didn’t find anyone to discuss the delivery options with. The market had a a great selection of fresh fruit, veg, cheeses, eggs and meats. I took the opportunity to get some meat at this stage as I wanted to test the quality and start some preparation. It was a very good quality and I would recommend J P Rosper butchers in the market. I personally liked the Hiperdino supermarket which was very well organised for deliveries to the boat and had a good selection.

I started on food prep for the Atlantic whilst we were in the marina in Las Palmas. Definitely a good option to pre cook and freeze meals ready for the journey. All the mince dishes were pre prepared. E.g. lasagne, chilli and cottage pie.

Bags of flour and dried ingredients for bread were weighed out ready for the bread maker.

Different flavoured butters in anticipation of Derek catching fish enroute.

I was starting to feel like a domestic goddess in the kitchen, however it could go horribly wrong in a Bridget Jones sort of way! My children and friends can attest to my usual lack of skill and flair in the kitchen due mostly to a lack of time it now seems.

I planned the menus to alternate between beef, chicken, pork and pasta dishes and then calculated the quantities of the ingredients needed. The ARC information book and seminars were helpful and suggested 125g of meat per person and this was about right. We also found we ate less as the temperature increased.

When we were able to, we prepared fresh meals as this also helped to fill our time on board and provided more variety.

Pre cooking definitely meant I didn’t feel like my life was spent in the galley and everyone could get a meal ready even if they couldn’t cook.

With hindsight the richer casserole meals were great but not what we fancied in hot weather. We only caught a Wahoo, and that was cooked and eaten straight away. You can’t rely on fish as we were fishing most days and only caught the one fish. You also need to consider what you would do if the fridge and freezer decided to stop working and the contents are no longer edible. We bought a Serrano ham and stand to store it on.

This was a high initial expense but we continued to use it well after the ocean passage had finished and considered it a fantastic and fun investment. Together with pasta and tinned veg we would not have starved.

When we got to Antigua our fridge did stop working and needed re gassing. This was over the Christmas period when it was fully loaded and no one was working. We were lucky and could transfer the contents to a fridge in a villa that we had access to.

We were also able to get lots of ice and prioritise the produce that we needed to use regularly!