06/17/2009, Annapolis, MD
FOR SALE 1981 Bristol 45.5 s/v Dream Chaser @ www.yachtworld.com
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Sunset somewhere between the Dominican Republic and the Turk & Caicos Islands
Where has the time gone? Four years have already gone by and it seems like just yesterday we started our journey. Our Caribbean adventures are over, for now. Here is a brief version of our trip north back to the US.
Leg One: Puerto Rico to the Turks & Caicos
On Wednesday, May 7th, bright and early at 5:30 am, we already had the coffee on and our last minute departure preparations were being made. The computer was booted up with our route, autopilot, radar and instruments turned on, binoculars, and PFD's, cruising guides and charts were placed in the cockpit. We raised the mainsail while still at anchor and then slowly motored out of the bay from Boqueron, Puerto Rico. Our tentative plan for the first leg was to make tracks all the way to the Turks and Caicos Islands, roughly 330 miles or about 2 days and nights away from Boqueron. We were in the company of the sailboat "Bora Bound", and "Dream", a catamaran from South Africa, both of whom we had just met the day before. Our route would have us heading northwest and our plan was to maintain a cruising speed of about 6 knots per hour. If the weather forecast turned ugly, we would duck into Luperon in the Dominican Republic late on the second day.
The morning we set out the weather was excellent and the ocean was fairly calm with small waves with a 4 foot swell. The sky overhead was clear blue and the winds were light, but we could see huge thunderstorms building over Puerto Rico during the mid afternoon hours. We were glad we had timed our departure that morning to be well north and west of the island by the time these rolled out to sea that evening.
The first 24 hours took us across the mighty Mona Passage. We kept busy working on small projects in the cockpit, reading and reminiscing. Lucia kept her nose in the air for the fishy smell of whales and a sharp eye out for dolphins. In the middle of the Mona Passage, miles and miles from any shore, we came across floating "rivers" of bamboo logs and other wood debris. This is when we tried our favorite pink-skirted lure to troll for a nice mahi-mahi or a tuna. The mahi, especially, love to "hang out" around floating debris. By late in the day, the tall peaks of Puerto Rico disappeared and the wide expanse of the deep blue ocean was all around us.
By early the next morning, we had rounded the top of Hour Glass Shoal and we were nearing the eastern end of Hispaniola. We sailed along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic staying out 30 miles from the coast to avoid the wind shadow of the island, and the many fish pots and traps fisherman put out in the shallower waters. The mountainous island was engulfed in a haze much like on a very humid day, and the wind was still light. It was perfect for flying our huge, bright blue and yellow striped spinnaker. Since the weather was still cooperating, we decided to keep on heading north rather than going to Luperon, and so for the next 24 hours we continued on to the Turks and Caicos.
During both nights at sea, we took turns being on watch. Our watches were 3 hours on, 3 hours off, with the first one beginning at around 9:00 pm. Both evenings were cool and damp, and we were glad to have our cockpit enclosure zipped on and closed up. On the second night we wished the haze would clear up because the stars were hard to see and the moon wasn't very bright, making for a dark night. On our radar we never saw any storms or ships, and we never came across any other lights from any vessel. Of the two sailboats traveling with us, one was now 25 miles ahead of us and couldn't be seen anymore, and the other headed in to Luperon.
Check out this beautiful snail we found while snorkeling near Long Cay, Turks & Caicos
By mid morning on the third day, we could see a change in the color of the ocean. From a deep dark blue to a bright aqua blue green, the shallow waters of the Caicos Banks came into view. We had once again made a safe and successful passage across the Mona and leaving the Caribbean hundreds of miles behind us.
Late in the morning on the third day, we got the anchor securely set in the lee of Long Cay. We spent the next two days resting up, beach walking and snorkeling a little. The water was gorgeous here and the lobsters were plentiful. We found lobster "condos", large rock formations, one of which had 16 lobsters in it! On the island of South Caicos we explored the little village and enjoyed an island meal along with the folks from "Bora Bound" at Miss Muriel Hanchell's quaint, little establishment. She has a few tables set up inside her home and served us the best home cooked fried chicken we had in the islands.
After hearing the weather report the following morning we knew by the end of the second day we would have to be on the move again and leave the next morning for the Bahamas. The next storm system was huge and approaching quickly. There was really no place for us to be safely anchored anywhere in the Turks and Caicos. We staged later that night at Six Hills to hopefully get a good nights sleep.
A hungry baracuda we caught crossing the Caicos Banks
Leg Two: Six Hills, Turks & Caicos to Acklins Islands, Bahamas
Early on the morning of May 11th, after a lovely evening anchored at Six Hills, we were on the move again heading west across the Caicos Banks. It was flat calm, hot, humid, and absolutely beautiful for making a quick stop in the middle of nowhere. We decided to drop the hook for an hour and snorkel a reef for any sea life and a chance at perhaps spearing one last crab or lobster for dinner. Once we got underway again, trolling paid off this time too, as we reeled in and gaffed five huge barracuda over the course of several hours. Unfortunately, they were too large to keep and eat due to possible ciguatera poisoning. There were several large pods of dolphins that swam in our bow wave, we spotted unusual sea birds, and came across some unsightly old, rusty abandoned ships that had run aground at some point in time near West Caicos.
A Slipper Lobster
By late in the afternoon we were sailing off the banks and back out into the deep blue. We were under sail for at least the next 20 hours with perfect wind, until it decided to switch back to being on the nose. Other than that, it was a starlit, peaceful night, the type of night you always want to have on a long passage. We rounded the southern tip of Acklins Island, Bahamas late morning the next day and made Fish Cays in the Bight of Acklins by mid afternoon, putting another 160 miles behind us.
For the next four days, we sailed and motored around in the Bight trying to find the best places to snorkel or dive, and trying to find the prettiest, secluded beaches and anchorages. Unfortunately, the tidal current was too strong in most places, which made getting in the water a little too dangerous. But at least in the Bight, we were well protected from the weather "out there" which was being reported as incredibly terrible. It was a beautiful place just to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds. We spotted flamingos, a shark and even a hummingbird made its way out to our boat.
After the high winds and the 12 foot northerly swell subsided, we sailed an entire day north to Clarence Town, Long Island, Bahamas. Arriving with just enough time to get the anchor set before sundown, we made an overnight stop infront of a small, palm fringed island inside the bay across from the town.
The next day we traveled another 72 miles to George Town in the southern Exumas. Much to our surprise, we did not see any other boats on the way and we found the anchorages in George Town nearly desserted. It was gettng so late in the cruising season that there were only a dozen or so boats anchored here. Most cruisers had already made the passage back to the US or were headed well south by now before hurricane season. This was quite a change from mid February in 2006 when we were here among hundreds of cruising sailboats and trawlers.
The best thing about being back in the Bahamas was the crystal clean, clear water. It is so aqua blue, much more so than down island. We had forgotten how beautiful it is here. We island hopped to a few places we had skipped years before, and discovered the best diving in the Caribbean at Conception Island. We spent four glorious days diving and exploring the underwater coral skyscrapers that rose from the ocean floor 30-40 feet. By weeks end the weather was going to change again and give us another long stretch of beautiful weather to make another big passage.
Diving at Conception Island
Over the next several days, we motor sailed north up through the Exumas. We made short day trips, stopping for the night at different anchorages at Bitter Guana Cay, Hawksbill Cay, Pipe Creek, Norman's and Highborne Cay. We found ourselves preparing for the long journey home at Highborne Cay. We prepared more passage food, plotted our route on the computer and fueled up on more diesel at $6.25 a gallon! That was quite a shock after the . 05 cents a gallon we were paying in Venezuela!
On May 28th we began the next 3 day passage. It a beautiful day, and we sailed across the Yellow Banks to Nassau, into the Tongue of the Ocean, across the Bahama Banks during the night, and out into the Atlantic Ocean by morning the second day. Although the wind was very light at only 5-10 knots, it was blowing against the gulf stream current which made the seas confused. At times we went through what we like to call "washing machine" conditions. But, with the gulf stream pushing us right along, we were able to make 10 knots rather than our usual 6 knots. We kept our eye on the sky and listened to the weather forecast on the SSB each morning. If the weather would continue to hold out through the fourth day we could make it as far north as Beaufort, North Carolina.
Leg Four: Back to the USA
As it turned out, the weather did turn ugly further north and so we decided to beeline it to Charleston, South Carolina rather than risk the chance of bad weather. We arrived early in the afternoon on the third day and it was good to have that big passage behind us.
It was the start of Memorial Day weekend and Charleston Harbor was bustling. The harbor was busy with boats and it seemed everyone was out enjoying the sunshine and being on the water. There were a lot of boats anchored out in the main anchorage, but we knew it had poor holding with the ever changing currents. We hailed the Charleston City Marina on the VHF and the good news was that there were still a few slips available for the weekend. We had totally lost track of time and didn't realize it was a holiday. As we waited out in the harbor for the dock boys to walk to the end of the pier where we were to tie up, the current picked up substantially. The tide had just switched and was now flowing out of the harbor, moving at a swift 2-3 knots. Shane got his skills tested when he had to maneuver Dream Chaser backwards against the strong current into the tight spot with out any turning room. It was a perfect job and we bumped the port side of the boat onto the pier. The dock boy struggled to get our front line on the cleat, as the current pushing against the bow was tremendous. After that nail biting landing, it was a huge relief to finally be tied up to a dock again!
After getting settled in and filling out the usual paperwork with the marina, we called the local US customs office to let them know we had arrived. The officer on duty came to the boat later that afternoon to check us back in to the US. He had a bomb-sniffing device that he motioned around the boat but other than asking us a few simple questions, and taking a peek at our passports, he was most interested in our sailing experiences.
We had past through Charleston in the fall of 2005 and remembered the historic downtown area was a lot of fun with inexpensive happy hours and great seafood restaurants. So, with that in mind, we stayed for the next 3 days. We walked to downtown several nights and had some excellent meals. We also spent a full day scrubbing the boat from bow to stern with soap and fresh water, (for the first time since mid January,) caught up on our sleep and now we were ready to start moving north again.
We had hoped to make a quick 2-day passage up to the Chesapeake Bay on the ocean but thunderstorms were predicted and we didn't want to get caught off of Cape Hatteras, the "graveyard" of the Atlantic. Just like years before, we found ourselves motoring up the ICW. Oh, what a slow and painful way to travel! However, the scenery was refreshing with beautiful, lush, wooded forests. The only unfortunate part was the extreme heat. For five days, 14 hours each day, we traveled up the ICW. There was absolutely not a breath of wind and the heat index was between 105 and 108 degrees. We even went so far as to bring out a fan from the cabin and put it in the cockpit to just keep air blowing on us. To make things worse, lightening from a storm had started several forest fires in North Carolina, one of which was right on the ICW. At one point, we traveled twenty miles in dense smoke. It burned our eyes, ash flakes landed on the deck and canvas, and we could barely see two boat lengths in front of us. The smoke was so thick that we turned our navigation lights on hoping that any oncoming vessel would see
us.
Dense forest fire smoke on the ICW
On the ICW one of us always has to be at the helm to steer and stay dead center in the middle of the channel to avoid running aground, but we took turns in the mornings when it was cool enough to be down below. We began the process of packing our belongings from four years of living onboard and loaded things into boxes we had gotten at a liquor store in Charleston. After nearly 15 boxes of books, dishes, and other odds-n-ends, we had only made a tiny dent in our floating home.
Navy ships docked in Norfolk, VA
On the sixth morning, we said goodbye to the last of the ICW. We left the anchorage at the top of the Alligator River, motored up the ICW to Norfolk, VA, passing US naval ships tied up in their berths and made an overnight stop that evening in a tiny anchorage a few hours north on the Chesapeake Bay. The next morning the water on the Chesapeake was flat as could be and we had huge pods of dolphins swimming all around us. We pulled into Jackson Creek in Deltaville, VA where we had made prior arrangements to be in a slip at Powell's Marina, an "interesting" tiny local marina tucked way back up in the creek.
For the next 9 days, we worked our fingers to the bone. We cleaned, varnished, scrubbed, vacuumed, polished, took the sails off, prepared the engine and "pickled" the watermaker for long term storage. We rode our bikes with the cargo wagon attached to the local grocery store and brought back 30 flattened cardboard boxes to pack things up in. We did everything else in between to get Dream Chaser ready for sale. By the last day, we were exhausted. The heat was still over 100 degrees, and without air conditioning, we tried to keep cool by spraying ourselves off with a hose on the dock. We took just one evening off for some fun with family at Sting Ray Point Marina.
Taking a well deserved break: With Sara's sister Susie and husband Brian onboard their boat "Otter" in Deltaville
Bright and early in the morning, 10 days later, we pulled out of Jackson Creek and motored north up the Chesapeake. Our final destination was now just a day and a half away.
That evening was our last night at anchor. We were hoping for one last sunset dinner in the cockpit, but that idea quickly vanished when the wind suddenly switched into the north, the temperatures dropped dramatically, and dark clouds rolled in that brought thunderstorms. The rain made us move down below in the cabin for the remainder of the evening, where we were crowded among all the boxes and gear.
There had been quite a bit of complaining about the extreme heat over the last 2 weeks, but the next morning we awoke to a chilly 55 degrees and we were definetly not prepared for this kind of cold weather. That morning we made our last trip and continued another 25 miles, motoring under brisk north winds, until we finally reached Annapolis, MD.
To make the rest of this story short, we arrived in Annapolis on June 19th. Dream Chaser was hauled out at Jabin's Yacht Yard the following day and put on land for dry storage. We rented a U-Haul truck, off-loaded all of our belongings and made the last final closing preparations. Dream Chaser never looked so good. She was shining from bow to stern and all points inbetween. We never worked so hard to get her ready for sale and it was difficult to say good-bye.
We arrived home June 25, 2008. Dream Chaser is currently for sale in Annapolis, Maryland and is listed on Yachtworld.com.
You can view her specs and interior pictures on Yachtworld.com. Go to the "search" box and type in the manufacturer: "Bristol", used, length:45 feet, year: 1981.
| Year Four September 2007 - June 2008 |
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Sunset at Prickley Pear Island, British Virgin Islands
When we arrived in the Virgin Islands, we were unsure as to which way our path would take us. It was hard to believe that we had already been cruising for four years and now we had to make a tough decision. The big question we had to ask ourselves was, should we continue to head north and return to the United States, go back to work, traffic, and the rat-race life as originally planned, or should we turn around and head down island again for another year or two. Does this sound like the Captain Ron movie? There are still so many places we want to sail to....Cartegena, Colombia, the San Blas Islands, Panama, Mexico...the list goes on. It would be an easy 4 day-472 mile offshore trip from St. Thomas, USVI to Margarita, Venezuela. The course north was roughly 2000 miles from the Virgin Islands. We had to make a decision soon and it was not going to be easy.
Cruising in the US and British Virgin Islands this time of year was wonderful. Of course, there were still plenty of charter boats around, with some great "charter boat entertainment", but the Christmas winds had finally subsided and spring seemed to literally arrive overnight. The nights were balmy, we tossed the down comforter aside and enjoyed the warmer weather and light wind conditions.
The good weather allowed us to be able to find several beautiful little bays to anchor in out of the way of charter boats. We discovered some spectacular diving in these bays, none of which were not listed in any guide. On one dive, we came upon a giant lobster hiding in a crevice that had a huge barracuda as its bodyguard. The barracuda came so close to us that Shane had to kick it away with his fin but it still followed us all the way up to the surface. On another dive, we came across a beautiful underwater arch. And on a snorkeling adventure, we took our dinghy several miles out from an island to a large reef. With no one else in sight for miles, we found lots and lots of small lobster, too small to take, but it was nice to know that they are still flourishing. We also ventured across Anegada on our bikes on the tough sandy roads to Cow Wreck Beach and beyond. There we hunted for huge conch (pronounced "conk") lying on the sandy ocean bottom. The current was strong and it was difficult to swim and carry the heavy 3-4 pound shells. The conch here is much sweeter tasting than any other we have had so it was well worth the several hour bike trek to and from.
After spending a relaxing 2½ weeks in the Virgins, we came to our decision. Although the answer was never 100 percent certain, we decided to stick with our original plan of cruising for four years. We decided to keep heading north.
Charter Boat Entertainment
A NorthSouth charter boat gets blown off anchor and goes ashore after a storm
A Moorings charter boat runs hard aground on the reef at Anegada
Next stop was Vieques, Puerto Rico, only a day sail away from St. Thomas where we provisioned one last time and unknowingly lost our credit card. We knew we wanted to explore Vieques southern anchorages since we had not been there before on our way south several years ago. However, after only 3 days of exploring, a weather window of opportunity opened up for us to beeline it for Boqueron on the western coast of PR. This is the jumping off point to cross the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and it can be deadly. An excellent weather window is a must.
We pulled into Boqueron mid-afternoon and were greeted by two sailing couples, one from s/v Bora Bound and the other from the sailing catamaran Dream. Both were leaving the following morning to cross the Mona Passage and continue heading north. We hadn't planned on leaving the next day, and we would have to rush to get more fuel and prepare the boat for the long passage. We told them we would study the weather again and decide later that day.
After getting settled in the anchorage at Boqueron, we talked about our departure options but it was an easy decision to make because it is always nice to travel with other boats in case you get into any trouble, especially on long trips when you are miles offshore. So, there we were. Just 3 days prior we had been diving and relaxing in the Virgin Islands, and now we were on the move headed home.
It was nearly five o'clock and the gas station would be closing soon so we grabbed the extra fuel cans off the deck of the boat, tossed them into the dinghy and away we went into town. However, when we went to pay for the fuel, we discovered our credit card was missing! It had been almost a week since we used it last in St. Thomas. The nice relaxing evening we had planned before our the big passage was now canceled because it was necessary to head back to the boat, grab the laptop and head back into town again to the local bar for a wifi connection to call the bank. An hour or so later we finally got our credit card canceled, and made arrangements with the bank to have the card forwarded to our relatives on the east coast who we would see when we arrived back in the US.
By nightfall, Shane was on the deck scrambling around and securing anything that could come loose. He topped off the fuel tanks and checked the oil. We hoisted the dinghy out of the water and lowered it onto the front deck. It was deflated and tied down securely on the bow of the boat. I stowed everything down below that could go flying if things were to get rough over the next three days. Luckily, I had already made several days worth of passage food (chili, corn bread muffins and wild rice soup) before our arrival at Boqueron. That evening it was late by the time we sat down to dinner of Dinty Moore beef stew. The boat was prepared for sea and we needed to get some sleep before the big trip.
| Year Four September 2007 - June 2008 |
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