Well, after making some minor adjustments to the route to avoid the live fire of the navy battleships taking up a 15 mile area between the St John and St Mary rivers off the coast, Serendipity and Cotinga made it from Nassau, Bahamas to Fernandina Beach Florida. This was a 455 mile passage, which we made in record time, thanks to the favorable push of the Gulf Stream and good wind about half of the time.

It was a heck of a ride with our intrepid friends Michael and Gloria on buddy boat Cotinga, with their friend Bob, who flew out to Nassau help them with the passage. It is perhaps illusory, but incredibly comforting to know you are not all alone there on the 2am watch 80 miles from the nearest shore in the middle of the Atlantic. We tried to stay within a mile of each other for the duration of the trip and to check in over the radio every couple of hours and compare notes, seasick remedies, etc. Over the long nights, it is great to see the twinkle of nearby running lights and the friendly blip on the radar screen. It was actually Mike and Gloria who alerted us to the live naval fire ( why didn’t OUR radio pick up those warnings? THANKS Cotinga!)

Lee and I do 2 hour watches during the day from 10-6, and four hour watches from 6pm to 10 am. I do the 2-6 am watch, as I am often up then anyway. It is an amazing thing to be out in the middle of the ocean, watching stars, feeling the pull of the wind in the sails. The first night was magic- loads of constellations, gentle breezes. The second night out, we were in the middle of the Gulf Stream, which can add up to 3 knots to your speed when headed north. It was first exhilarating and then actually frightening to see the increased wind on the beam create speeds over ground of first 9.5 knots, and then 11.4 knots, higher than this boat has EVER seen. Lee woke up just in time for his 10pm watch and said that the usual “chuckle” of the water under the boat was instead a growl, and with the creaking and obvious strain on the rigging, we opted to put a reef In the sail. Whew, back to a more manageable 9.5 knots. I was too wired to sleep, and so we did two hour watches for the rest of the evening.

The last day was much calmer, seas nearly flat, but then no wind either, but all were glad for a chance to recover equilibrium, calm stomachs and sleep on less inclined berths. It was a lovely way to end the trip, and we actually had to slow our boats down the last evening to insure that we would come into the St. Mary’s harbor entrance during daylight and with the right flood tide.
At 7am, we radio’d into the Fernandina Beach Marina, and got mooring balls for both the tired boat crews! By 7:50 we tied up to the ball. By 8:30, we all were napping. Ahhhh.

Dinghying in around noon to register, we realized we were followed in by friends Jack and Carol on Tribute, who we left in Georgetown last month. Had a great lunch with them, and then off to the much appreciated showers. Three days is a long time to do without a shower.

Then we wandered around the town in search of champagne for the celebratory evening with Cotinga Crew. Fortunately, we found some! We had a wonderful time and are thankful for their friendship and company on this long passage! Thanks guys!