We have been out there one year! Weather.
04 August 2016 | Mopian, off Petite Martinique, Grenadines
“The weather is here, wish you were beautiful.” So says Jimmy Buffet. But the weather here is beautiful! It hasn't always been so but I can assure you I haven't been really cold in over a year. Hot, yes but not painfully hot.
Our voyage started by going out the Great Lakes in mid-July. This is the perfect time to cruise the Great Lakes and it proved so for Uproar. Winds blew from the west which was quite useful as we made our way east. It has been over a year but I don't remember any unpleasant weather in the Great Lakes. The only exception was our detour into Lake Superior. It was cool, foggy and we were hit by one squall that provided some anxious moments.
The Caroline Tyson portion of the trip was Hudson River and into the Chesapeake. Weather was beautiful as we hung out in NYC for 5 days and made our way south. Oh, I almost forgot, we did have a rough ride from Sandy Hook, NJ to Atlantic City. The worst part was Uproar flooding the anchor locker and into the boat. That was a real mess and scary!
Joaquin did mess with us in the Chesapeake. We had 4 days at anchor with winds up to 40 knots. Fortunately we were at Camp Letts, just south of Annapolis for the Seven Seas Cruising Association Gam. Gam is an old whaler's term for a gathering, in this case a gathering of cruisers to share information and swap stories. We spent the days ashore and let Uproar and Sophie ride the wind and waves.
The rest of the Chesapeake and ICW were just fine. We left Beaufort, NC toward the Bahamas in early November. Night temps were down into the 40s so it was time to head to the tropics.
Rick Anderson joined us for the passage from NC to the Abacos, Bahamas. I won't rehash that one but it was tough sledding. Uproar sailed well but the wind blew and the sea flew! The anchor locker flooded again and started filling up the boat. We broke our shaft strut when we hit a mass of lines motoring. This caused a substantial leak. We were sinking when we arrived in the Abacos! Thanks again to Troy from Dive Guana who came out in the dark, dove under the boat and plugged the cracks with nasty goo and plastic trash bags. He almost completely stopped our leaking.
Bahama weather is the stuff of travel magazine pictures but winter is winter! Cold fronts march off the US coast and smack the Bahamas with strong and swinging winds. The east trade winds suddenly go southwest and clock to the northeast and blow! It is difficult to find an anchorage that is protected from all directions. But we did whenever Chris Parker (our weather guru) said, “It's going to get ugly!” One cold front had us stranded on Uproar for three straight days. It was too rough to get into the dinghy and go ashore. We just read a lot, slept and ate. Poor Sophie had to do without her shore leave.
Please keep in mind that we were in the northern Bahamas in the winter where these cold fronts are the strongest. Smart cruisers head south first and work their way north. This didn't fit our plan. My advice is to not charter a boat in the northern Bahamas until March. The Abacos to the north are best sailed in April or May. Cold fronts don't pack much west wind so anchoring anywhere is fine. Cold fronts don't really make the temperature much colder, it's just that crazy wind!
Steve and Carla visited us in Georgetown. We had strong winds the entire time. This made for some wet dinghy rides. We haven't had that problem since. Other cruisers said the weather was extremely windy this winter compared to most years.
Sailing from the Bahamas to the Virgin Islands is known as the Thorny Path. This can be some brutal sailing. Most cruisers limp along the Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in small hops. We have heard stories of cruisers waiting weeks for a weather window to make the next hop.
That's not the Uproar way. Crack crew, Rick Anderson didn't get enough excitement on our last passage so joined us in Mayaguana. Against the advice of Chris Parker, we decided to just sail straight to San Juan. Chris said, “You are going to get pushed quite far north and have to sail back south.” Uproar goes to weather well and he was surprised at our progress during our 6:00 pm SSB radio check in. Going east is difficult due to the east trade winds. We took advantage of some SE winds and charged east so fast we overshot San Juan and ended up in St. John. It was a great 5 day passage. Thanks Rick for your fine help. It was also nice to arrive with the boat not sinking!
Since then we have been sailing in the Caribbean trade winds. Weather forecasts can be quite boring. Winds are ENE to ESE, 10 to 15 most days. Wind does go higher but not much over sustained 20. Squalls are frequent but they usually bring some rain and just 5 more knots of wind for a few minutes.
We are now well into Summer. Wind is somewhat lighter but we always have a nice breeze. It is hot during the day, about mid 80s but high 70s at night. We have done a lot of hiking on Carriacou. At mid day the sun can really be hot if we are not in a breeze. The swim after feels so good! I swim at least twice/day.
Weather in the Bahamas was pretty dry. We like some rain to rinse the salt off the decks. The Caribbean has continued to produce more rain as we enter, you guessed it, the rainy season. Now we get rain every day. It is usually not heavy or long but today it rained a bunch. Really cools things off nicely.
Water temperature has increased too. I swim in the northern Great Lakes but can't say it is comfortable. The Bahamas even had some cool water temps in the winter but still nice. Caribbean water temperature is perfect. It is definitely in the 80s and makes for great swimming.
Ken Quant and Missy sailed with us in May. I would occasionally ask, “Would you want it 5 degrees warmer, 5 degrees colder or just what we have.” The answer is almost always, “just what we have.”
Hurricane season is upon us. We are in Grenada which is mostly safe from hurricanes. They did have a bruiser, Ivan in 2004 that caused a lot of damage. We still listen to the “boring” weather forecasts but with a careful ear about what's coming off the coast of Africa.