Looking back on the last year where this big adventure started. September 27, 2013 is when Purnell and I ceremoniously tied the knot. We initially thought of copying the vows of the two sailing enthusiasts in the movie “Wedding Crashers”. But as the day approached we realized that our marriage was going to have to be a special bond because Tigerlily was already on the hard being refitted with all the equipment to make a safe off shore passage in a 31 foot boat. We were both determined to become cruisers and although Purnell had sailed before on a long ocean passage, the Caribbean 1500, and hadn’t particularly enjoyed some parts of it, he was confident that with enough preparation and much better luck that our journey would be uneventful by comparison….I was confident, seeing how much preparation Purnell put into the planning and backing up of all the systems that he was right. Little did I know. When the minister had us recite vows about how there will tough times as well as good, the eternal optimist in me choked on the words not wanting to put that negative expectation out into the Universe. And there were tough times, but not just on the Atlantic Ocean. Before we left I came down with Chikugunya virus I got from a mosquito bite in the Virgin Islands in February. Fortunately Chikungunya virus doesn’t last as long as it’s cousin Dengue virus. I survived and Purnell took excellent care of me. In July we lost Mrs. Delly to Alzheimer’s disease which was very difficult for all of the Delly family, especially Purnell. But with the support of excellent friends and family in Norfolk and Virginia Beach: Paul & Barbara Clancy, John and Joan Frazee, Allen Perrel, Ken Jorgan, and Thelma’s grandchildren: Oren, Sarah, Alyssa and Evan, we got through it. Then after several days of heading up the Intracoastal Waterway I herniated a disc in my neck. Poor Purnell spent two nights sleeping up right in a chair (until I snuck him onto my stretcher) in two different ERs: Beaufort, NC and GWU. Now that’s dedication! Then our good friends Debbie Tabb and Scott Evans took us into their home for a few days until our place in DC opened up. So you see, those vows that you make at weddings; that you will “support this couple in their marriage”, those are serious. And we know all of you took them seriously from Deb Sandberg who gave us blessed Saint medallions just before our voyage to my brother Bill LaJoie who followed our tracker by the hour as we crossed to Bermuda. And everyone else who I haven’t mentioned here but especially our kids who didn’t try and stop us. Thank you for all your support on this our 1st Anniversary and the kick off to another year in our grand adventure together.

With loving gratitude,

Julia LaJoie (1st mate) and Captain Purnell Delly of SV Tigerlily
P.S. More about actual sailing in next blog post

Greetings from Norfolk, VA where we have come to say our final Bon Voyage to Purnell's very sweet mother, Thelma Purnell Delly. After 2 weeks in Charleston, SC, some of that time actually being here in Norfolk, VA to see Mrs. Delly, and meet with Hospice and Nursing staff, we started our journey up the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) back to Georgetown, SC on June 30th. No sooner had we docked in Georgetown where we planned to spend only one day, we received messages from the nursing home and family in Virginia Beach that Mrs. Delly was deteriorating quickly. We also heard news of a home grown tropical storm named Arthur who was soon to become a hurricane and due to make landfall just north of us around Cape Hatteras. So we battened down the hatches and rented another car to drive to Virginia Beach. We arrived to the nursing home just 30 minutes after Mrs. Delly had passed. Purnell has been saying "good-bye" to his mother slowly over the past 4 years and that is how it is with Alzheimer's Disease as many of you with afflicted family members know. So I leave you with a photo of the young Thelma Purnell Delly because I personally believe we all return to that state of our "prime" when we pass over and because I think that's what Thelma would want. I know my mother would have wanted that too (she and Thelma shared the same birth year).
I'll resume blogging about sailing and cruising adventures later.

Gratefully Yours,

Julia & Purnell

I've been reviewing my blogs, videos and logs from the start of our voyages on Tigerlily and realized that some of my posts, especially recently, have been a little negative. Please forgive me, for Purnell and I are very grateful that you all have been following us and in many cases praying for our safety. Yesterday I read a quote from Andre Gide "A man cannot discover new oceans, unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore". This encouraged me, for Purnell and I certainly lost sight of the shore and discovered the ocean of resources available to our souls. So here are some video logs and adventures we can share with you.

On June 5th, after enjoying Bermuda to the last drop, we headed out of the St. George's Harbor cut and turned to the east, around the northeast tip of the island, then we headed southwest along the southern side of the island which took us most of the afternoon. The winds were 13 -18 knots and we were on a close reach port tack, a point of sail we would be on for most of the following 9 days. The first three days brought winds averaging 18-22 knots and moderate seas, but of course on the third night out the winds built to the high 20's and we hove to again because of threats of squalls at night. We can see a squall coming during the daytime but at night, even with a full moon they can surprise you. So the safest thing to do is reef the sails at night if squalls are forecast. The good news is that right before that squally night we saw dolphins for the first time on our journey. There must have been a pod of at least 8. I have a little video of them, but missed the most spectacular display that I saw as I was at the helm. They were jumping out of the water and crisscrossing our boat and each other like they were auditioning for a Sea World act. They seem to be such happy and curious creatures. This was only the first of many more dolphin encounters we were to enjoy both in the Atlantic and later in the Intracoastal Waterway.
After more wind than we wanted the wind departed and the seas calmed too. We sailed when we could and motor-sailed and then just motored. We used this opportunity to head south of Charleston, knowing that the Gulf Stream would carry us north when we crossed it. But we had to be careful to avoid certain weather from below 31 N that brought more squalls and an eddy of the Gulf Stream with a strong counter current around 32 N. I forget all the waypoints, but we analyzed the advice of Chris Parker and plotted the fronts and the currents with various symbols on our chart plotter. It was like threading a needle but in the long run it was relatively simple: keep as south as you can, but don't go below 31 N, keep your boat speed up, cross the Gulf Stream as fast as possible for the squalls there threaten gusts to 40-60 knots, and conserve enough fuel to get you through the channel wherever you make landfall. Okay, that wasn't very simple. It was a challenge and Purnell spent considerable time looking at wind gribs (animated files predicting wind speed and direction in the area we were sailing) and pouring over Chris Parker's advice. Purnell is a very good captain, always working to assure our safety. I am pretty good in the galley as well and made some yummy meals in our pressure cooker with the boat heeled over 20 degrees. It is amazing how much food you need to eat when you are constantly close reached.

One morning, I think in the early AM of the 9th, we were sailing on a gentle breeze, the skies had cleared and the moon had set so the stars and the Milky Way were dazzling. I looked down into our wake and it was as if the constellations were reflected in the water. It was the phosphorescence of the plankton that sparkled as we disturbed it with our vessel cutting through the water. Because we are so close to the water we could see the individual plankton twinkle in a background of milky sea foam. It was mesmerizing. Other lovely sights that I could not photograph or video, though try I did, was a night rainbow cast by the reflection of the moon on one of the many squalls we encountered. So for every trying and stressful time there were moments to enjoy and cherish.

About 250 miles east of Charleston, in the early hours of Wednesday the 11th we were motoring along in no wind when we heard a clunk and it sounded like there was something wrong with the transmission. Purnell immediately took us out of gear and the motor was fine. We thought we had hit a patch of seaweed or that somehow the transmission had slipped out of gear. The rising of the sun revealed what looked like a long rope dragging behind our stern below the water. I pulled it up with the boat hook and could see it was an old nylon rope. We tried twisting the propeller shaft from inside the boat to see if we could untangle it but had no luck. So, my brave captain Purnell doned his swim trunks, mask and flippers and dove under the boat with his Rigger's knife. He discovered a tangle of fish net wrapped around our propeller that wouldn't budge when he tried to cut it with his Rigger's knife. So out came the fine kitchen cutlery, which I had bought from Sur La Table because the wooden handles matched the teak. Purnell said the serrated knife cut through the net like butter. I wish I had taken a photo of the fishnet, it looked like a giant hairball coughed up by the sea. I was very proud of Purnell for braving the shark-infested waters. We were on our way again.
We crossed the Gulf Stream on the following day and it was much better than our first crossing as the winds were out of the south. But we still had relatively high seas and I hand steered all day so I could surf the backside of the waves something not even our ever-reliable Hydrovane "Tess" could do. Purnell took over watch in the wee hours of Friday morning and soon had to steer us out of the path of an on coming 800 foot tanker that had not responded to his hailing on channel 16 of the VHF. We were 80 miles from land and headed to Charleston but our course over ground went towards Winyah Bay, 50 miles north. As I mentioned before that last couple of miles to the inlet were a major struggle due to the winds, tide and current all going against us but once we were headed northwest up the river we flew under sail on the genoa to Georgetown greeted by a multitude of water fowl all having their dinner.

We spent two days in the lovely town of Georgetown, SC that is full of history and charm and the most delicious pancakes we have ever tried to eat, served by the friendliest proprietors at "The Coffee Break Café". Then we headed down the ICW to Charleston with the unrealistic expectation that we would make it 54 miles in one day. We anchored in Price Creek and enjoyed a peaceful night but then took advantage of the slack tide at dawn. We were almost to Charleston, about 6 NM from our marina when we went a ground on an unmarked shoal in the middle of the channel. We backed off it with a little effort and continued another mile to just ½ mile north of the drawbridge that is "closed" i.e. doesn't open for boats, from 7-9AM for commuter traffic. It was 0830 so we needed to wait and the current was floating us toward the bridge. So naturally Purnell put us in slow reverse, then he heard a metallic clunk and suddenly we had no wake behind us in forward or reverse. Our propeller had fallen off.

So, we are here in Charleston at the City Marina for the next week. We are awaiting a new propeller, repairs to our dinghy and when these are complete plan to rent a car and drive to Virginia Beach. Charleston is lovely and the food, history and people are all lovely too, even though we aren't too fond of that "other flag".

Please enjoy the videos and photos. I will post what I can with this slow speed Internet.

Love and hugs,

Julia and Purnell

We made it back! After 9 pretty grueling days at sea most of them on a port tack at close reach (the boat leaning over on it's side) we sailed from Bermuda to Georgetown, South Carolina. My apologies to everyone who thought we had left on June 1st as per my post. We did not leave until June 5th at the advice of our weather router, Chris Parker, who did an excellent job of guiding us home and around some tricky weather systems and currents. That said we got plenty of wind and weather! We arrived Friday the 13th to a port north of Charleston as try as we may we could not claw our way south enough to make Charleston against the strong south west winds. Even the entrance to Winyah Bay was crazy as it took us almost an hour to sail/motor the last nautical mile against a 4 knot current and 20-26 knot head winds. I have lots more adventures to share with you in written and video blogs/logs but here is my log on our last day out on the open sea.

Hey everyone just wanted to add a few more videos for your enjoyment and a few photos to the gallery: see Back in Bermuda. Today we were going to leave and then a low pressure system dumped those plans. Still, we'll probably leave very soon. So this will be my last post for a while. I may have Jackie post for me if she has time.







June 4th update: We still haven't left due to the advice of our weather router that we could possibly get stuck in a tropical storm or worse with no fuel to get us to safety. I never realized how complex weather routing was until the past few days. To top it off our brand new dinghy sprung a leak in the high pressure floor at the seam, bummer. Oh well, a bad day in paradise is still better than a good day working. Nothing a Dark and Stormy can't fix.

So here is another video from earlier in our journey, hope you enjoy it:


and here is Purnell working out:

My first words at this time are to send my prayers and thoughts to the friends and family of the crew of Cheeki Rafiki who are presumed lost on May 17th, 2014. They were in the same storm we turned away from to return to Bermuda on the 16th. They were 100's of miles away from us but it was a very big storm (low pressure system). Our friends on the ARC spent quite a bit of time skirting around it but most of them are now in the Azores and we wish them well. Purnell's mother has been moved into hospice care and has a place in the same facility so we are relieved greatly that she does not have to be moved. We now plan to return to the US which will be a 8-10 day journey and we are hoping to make landfall in Charleston, SC a port we have always wanted to visit. This will give us the option to continue cruising but also so be close to Mrs. Delly and family.

We have thoroughly enjoyed Bermuda and I don't think I could voice my impressions better than Mark Twain who was a frequent visitor in his day: "There are no telegrams, no mobiles, no trolleys, no trains..no theatres, no noise, no murders...You go to heaven if you want - I'd druther stay here." I will have to add more photos and videos to this post soon. But in the meantime I leave you with this video log of our decision to return to Bermuda.

Here is a quick history of Bermuda through the painting of Graham Foster:


Here is a quick history of Bermuda narrated by our good friend Phillip Anderson at the Town Hall of St. George's. If you ever come to St. George's you must tell him Julia and Purnell said "Good Day", he is one example of how very friendly and helpful Bermudian's are.