Blue Heron

Vessel Name: Blue Heron
Vessel Make/Model: Hallberg Rassy 43
Hailing Port: Delaware City, DE
Crew: Bob & Eric Frantz
About: Bob retired in January, 2011 from a career as an environmental attorney and manager, and Eric earned his Bachelor's Degree from The George Washington University in Washington, DC in December, 2010. They began their circumnavigation February 6, 2011.
Extra: In the words of that great American author, Mark Twain, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
19 June 2012
13 June 2012 | Fishing Bay Harbor Marina, Deltaville, VA
12 June 2012
09 June 2012
05 June 2012 | Cannonsport Marina, Palm Beach Shores, Florida
01 June 2012 | in passage to Bahamas
25 May 2012 | Sapodilla Bay
21 May 2012 | Jost van Dyke
18 May 2012
17 May 2012 | BVI
14 May 2012
07 May 2012 | Simpson Bay
03 May 2012 | Charlestown Harbour
01 May 2012
15 April 2012 | St. Lucia
13 April 2012
11 April 2012
06 April 2012
Recent Blog Posts
19 June 2012

The Blue Heron did it!

Today is the 500th day since we began our adventure around the world. We did it! We've completed our circumnavigation! We have not only crossed our wake but have passed the point from which we originally set sail on February 6, 2011. All that remains is to get us and the Blue Heron home. She has [...]

13 June 2012 | Fishing Bay Harbor Marina, Deltaville, VA

Waiting to get back on our way

We passed Little Creek Marina in Norfolk, VA during the middle of the night last night -- that's where our dream voyage began 16 months ago. We then made our way to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay where we were greeted with a howling hello in the form of 30+ knot winds on the nose. Making any headway was almost impossible so, we have diverted for safe harbor once more to wait for this weather system to pass. If anything, the North Atlantic lives up to it's reputation as being predictably unpredictable. Now, we wait (impatiently) for another weather window so that we can make our way home.

12 June 2012

Big Fish - take a look

Our steady progress and, generally, uneventful passage thusfar was punctuated with excitement yesterday afternoon when Eric called out, "I've got one!" He caught a White Marlin in the late afternoon. The fish fought hard and we had quite a time getting the fish on board. The fish measured 6'4" and [...]

09 June 2012

on our way north

This morning we left West Palm Beach at 8:15AM and are making our way north. We're hopeful that weather will be in our favor the entire final passage home -- we'll see. We've started with the benefit of both the gulf stream and favorable winds and are moving along at about 9 knots.

05 June 2012 | Cannonsport Marina, Palm Beach Shores, Florida

weather detour

We're stopping in Palm Beach for a day or so to wait out some weather due to come offshore from the Carolinas. Then we'll continue our northbound journey for home.

Nevis

03 May 2012 | Charlestown Harbour
We arrived in Nevis after an overnight sail from Antigua. We had pleasant winds for the trip, and as we arrived, we decided we would sail onto one of the moorings provided by the Nevis Port Authority at Charlestown harbor, completing the trip without turning the engine on again after leaving Antigua. Both Eric and I were looking forward to this stop, as it is the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, whose biography we had both read on the trip.
As we stepped ashore in Charlestown, it was clear this town was a different than most of the other Caribbean towns we’d been visiting. Instead of the colorful frame houses, most of the buildings were stone and were of 1700’s and 1800’s architecture, if not actual age. It had an English country town feel that was somewhat like what we experienced on St. Helena, that small British territory in the middle of the Atlantic.
After clearing customs and getting our bearings, we made for the Nevis museum and the Alexander Hamilton museum. The Hamilton museum is on the site of the house that he was born in, although the house itself is not the original. Not much of the house if available to view, and the museum displays consist largely of a series of panels on which drawings, photographs, copies of letters, and descriptions of Hamilton’s life and accomplishments are displayed. While not as impressive as we expected, the displays did take us back to the times that Hamilton spent in Charlestown as a child, and working as a clerk in an import and export business.
Sugar figured prominently in the islands in those early days, and as a result some large sugar plantations were assembled. Some of the plantations have been turned into resorts or restaurants or both, and we were lucky enough to have lunch at one of them, called Golden Rock. We took a bus to the plantation, which provides insights into the island residents. Various families and single riders got on an off at different points—we were the last ones and toward the end of the route.
Golden Rock was a climb up a fairly long road but once we arrived it was clearly worth it, plus we worked up an appetite for lunch. The plantation was turned into a resort and restaurant, with views across the ocean. The grounds have been beautifully landscaped. Lunch turned out to be great fun in a beautiful setting.
A short sail to St. Kitts brought us to White House Bay, and beautiful cove with sparkling clear waters. There was great snorkeling over a wreck of what looked like a fishing trawler. We had dinner at The Beach House Restaurant, which is part of a resort that’s being developed in the area.
The next day we went to Basseterre, the main town of St. Kitts for a day visit and clearing out. The architecture in the old town is similar to Charlestown in Nevis, but a new cruise ship dock and greeting area was created on landfill in front of the old town. Although new and full of shopping, it takes away from the character of the original town. That evening, we headed off to St. Maarten.
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