29 October 2016 | Georgia, USA
29 October 2016 | Georgia, USA
08 October 2016 | Brunswick, Georgia, USA
07 October 2016 | Hotel on West Side of Hwy I-95, Brunswick, GA, USA
07 October 2016 | Brunswick, Georgia, USA
06 October 2016 | Brunswick, Georgia, USA
05 October 2016 | Brunswick, Georgia, USA
04 October 2016 | Photo off Outer Banks near Cape Lookout, North Carolina.
27 September 2016 | Piankatank River, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, USA
22 September 2016 | Current Position - Sassafras River, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA
16 September 2016 | Orient, Long Island, New York, USA
11 September 2016 | Ebenecook Harbor near Boothbay Harbor, Maine, USA
07 September 2016 | Penobscot Bay, Maine, USA
05 September 2016 | Penobscot Bay, Maine, USA
04 September 2016 | North Haven, Vinalhaven, Maine, USA
28 August 2016 | Castine, Maine, USA
27 August 2016 | Belfast, Maine, USA
12 August 2016 | Mount Washington, New Hampshire, USA
06 August 2016 | Canada/USA Border Crossing
04 August 2016 | La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada
In the Path of Hurricane Sandy
23 October 2012 | West End, Grand Bahama
Vicki - 27 kn NE
We decided to call Customs in the USA this morning to once again check to see if they would allow us to return to the USA in light of the approaching Hurricane Sandy as it seemed a good option to escape the centre of the storm. We were told that as we had cleared into the Bahamas, the rules state that Maynard and I cannot re-enter the USA on the visa waiver programme on a pleasure craft. We would need to either enter on a commercial vessel or fly into the USA where our passports would be stamped with a new visa, fly back to the Bahamas, then take Vanish back to the USA to a safer port. By this time, crossing the Gulf Stream would be extremely dangerous so Customs have effectively closed the door on our re-entry. As far as we know, the USA and a handful of countries in the world are the only countries where we cannot clear in on our own vessel.
Frustrated and feeling backed into a corner, we decided to look for other alternatives. There are none that we can see. We are in the path of a hurricane with a forecast of 70 mph winds. It will be on top of us within three days. There are a couple of things in our favour at this marina:
. The strongest wind will be coming from the NNE and we have 30 miles of very shallow reef to our north-east so the seas should not have any fetch,
. The entrance to the marina is very narrow so again we hope to have little wave action and the tides only have a 3 foot range,
.There are only 3 other vessels in the marina so we will not have to deal with flying debris from them and also the wind direction means any debris from the resort will not blow towards us,
.The resort is made up of several separate two storey brick buildings where we will take shelter if events become unsafe on the boat.
If you want to keep up to date with this hurricane, go to wunderground.com (Tropical Update) or weatherchannel.com. We will start our hurricane preparations for Vanish tomorrow.
I guess I’m going to get the chance to use my brand new wet weather gear after all.