We hauled MYLADY out at Yankee Point Marina the beginning of
September. Yankee Point is at the western shore of the greater Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, USA. Cruising the Intracoastal Waterway up to here was different and very interesting. It has its own charm. And it was not always easy or safe to find an anchoring spot for the night, although it was safe in the sense that the waterway is behind the seaward islands therefore not ocean
conditions. We went out to sea a couple of times to make big jumps. That was very tiring. Our 2.10 meter (6,7ft) draught was a concern everywhere in/on the ICW, and therefore limiting. Most of the ICW is a tide's puzzle. It's either with or against. And we definately needed it on the rise over the shallows. We did the 862 NM ICW northbound from Cape Carneveral to Virginia from June to September. Winds were mostly very light and from the wrong direction. We motored a lot. However there were times we had rough ocean condition sailing, considering to turn around for safety. Other cruising boats, local or international, either direction, could be counted on one hand. Hefty commercial freight on the other hand, took us by surprise more often than not. There were places where one could see till the end of the earth and other places where we passed right through a city. It was a surprise receiving a vhf call, being spotted through our AIS, with an alert that where we were heading was a submersed danger. Thanks to involved people, in a country with accountable standards, we passed safely. There was one place where we had strong winds with heavy weather, but found a spot where we could tuck away safely for the night. We were pleased
with ourselves. And just as dusk turned into dark, we realized the sound in/at/on/around the horizon somewhere, = mosquitoes! Mosquitoes with GREEN blood! It took weeks to get rid of their invasion. There were magical places I could live forever. Looking into the face of an inquisitive manatee is unforgetable. Seeing the unbelieveable moving lights as fish dance and dart through the bioluminescence water in a dark night is awesome. Dolphins are shy and hiding, so much in contrast to ocean dolphins. The birds and the bees and the moss in the trees, and now also the colourful
autumn leaves - there is just none I would have chosen to miss. Through the warm hospitality and eyes of the locals we are getting a great insight into a great land and people. Even our all-around-the-world-gasbottles can be filled here. MYLADY will spend Christmas on the hard and end April 2020 sail direction Nova Scotia and New Foundland.
Sorry for my long silence. It was an amazingly slow trip to the USA. I'm not complaining, merely saying. The winds were light. However, it was always from the good direction. We came into the Intra Coastal Waterway at Cape Caneveral dancing over big swell. And once inside, the water was flat calm. We went thru the two birdges and lock with little trouble. And from there on it was only 50cm or 1meter under the keel. It still is difficult for me to accept that. It was possible to sail the first twenty miles of the ICW. We stopped at Titusville and from there it was New Smyrna Beach, which we thoroughly enjoyed, and onward to Daytona Beach with its great flee market. St.Augustine was good. The municipal marina had a coooool laudry room and lounge. It was great to catch up with the household chores. And now we're on anchor just 3 miles north of St. Augstine and hope that we will be able to see the fireworks displays on 4 July from here. At least it will be a couple of days of taking it a bit calmer.
We are on our way to the USA. That means mainland, because we have already 'arrived' in the USA when we entered Puerto Rico. The winds are very light. For most boats it mean excellent motoring weather. For us it means convenient living with the possibility to do 'regular' jobs and chores.
We passed rafting sperm whales at boat's length and a pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins came to visit. Mean temperature, 31 Celcius. No other yachts on the radar so far, just a few cargo ships. The fishingline only catch drifting seaweed.
position at time of writing 19.50.284N / 068.06.838W
Vieques Island, southeast in Puerto Rico, was our kind-of place. Not many boaties there. Neither loads of tourists on land. But definately a constant flow of both. We loved Bahia de Chiva. The south coast is splashed with beautiful sandstone hills. Esperanza is a laid-back little town. GREAT affordable pizza at Lazy Jack's. Elblok hotel has intriguing blinds weighing 600kg each. Weather is warm and good. Not enough rain to fill the tanks.
SOUTH-AFRICA; Leaving South Africa, from Port Owen on the westcoast, mid June (mid winter in the southern hemisphere), was a strategic drama. The pattern between the winterstorms with their average 35-40knot winds, seemed to be two weeks. The lows came weekly but the strong ones only fortnightly. On every chart, all across the Atlantic from St.Helena to the Orange River (northern boarder of ZAR), was a band of blue, meaning - little wind. This band changed daily but was ever present. For us, using sails, that was a big concern in the stormy conditions of the south. The apparent perfect window always disappeared. We left with fog and onshore seas with 25knot wind during a two day gap in the weather. The two new jerrycans on deck with extra diesel came in handy whilst we motored away in the no wind areas to miss the next bad storm already approaching.
NAMIBIA; It was a surprisingly calm sail during the four days to Namibia. There were plenty - well lit - diamond mining dredgers from the Orange River up north. It was a wake-up call to suddenly be confronted with 45knot winds as we turned into Luderitz. It blows most of the time in Luderitz. Luderitz is an amazingly busy commercial harbour. And port-control is, in control. We stayed 4 months. According local source the weather is not as bad as it use to be. We left Luderitz the beginning of November with a light breeze.
ATLANTIC OCEAN; Aiming for St.Helena Island in the mid Atlantic Ocean, we were supposed to have 10knot winds from a big stationary high. It happened to be 20-25knots constant. Seas were on the couterback. There were plenty big ship traffic. The trip took 12 days.
St.Helena anchorage is ocean bound. Swell is of concern. Wind bullets came charging down the mountain alleys. We enjoyed friendly St.Helena.
From St.Helena we set course for Barbados in the Caribbean. Up to the equator we had light southeast winds and plenty grey skies. The little wind and solar were not enough charge for the batteries. Once we motored for four hours because there was no wind for half a day. We had two bad squalls, one south and one north of the equator. Southside was in daytime and northside during the night. Both had 45knot winds crashing into us like a wall. They were mighty serious and impressive.
We crossed the equator at 032.04.197 W
A couple of days later we turned into the west-flowing current.
The water changed. It was lifely and short. All the way to the Caribbean. And at times it was frightening high and chaotic simultaneous north and south swell.
We had daily squally rain weather all the way to North 10 degrees. From there-on we had tradewinds weather.
Our Atlantic crossing from St.Helena Island to the Caribbean took 34 days. Having been on the same tack with the wind from behind for so long, shaved our mainsail against the massteps.
We used 4 Litres of freshwater per day. Once we filled up the tanks with rainwater. And had extra for laundry.
the CARIBBEAN; We read in the cruising guide that one have to win the lottery ticket to find a good anchoring spot amidst all the yachts in the Grenadines. Therefore we skipped it. With a heart belonging to either the panorama of the Namib dessert or the Ocean dessert, we didn't need boatboys, overcrowded anchorages or criminality. Neither was the forecasted weather inviting.
We made landfall in Le Marin, Martinique, With more than a thousand boats on anchor. It was a culture shock for me.
Clearing in and out of the French Islands are electronic, easy, cheap and visas no problem. Customs control boat check the anchorages.
Wine (and cheese) is affordable in the French Islands.
Living is costly in the Caribbean.
We learned to drink rum because beer is so expensive.
Barbuda was my kind of space. There's nothing, other than nature. We stayed two weeks.
Antigua is extra expensive. Also paying for trash disposal and water. International cooking gasbottles can be refilled here.
At Nevis Island I found basic food in 'Best Buy', tax exempt, at a decent price. So we stocked up.
At Nevis one pay dubble to be on anchor. So we took a mooring. Garbage disposal no problem. Water tap on quay.
CARICOMEAPIS.org is the caribbean equal of the Schengen. Open borders within the Caribbean but foreigners need to be registered. Also yachts.
Doef-doef vibration noise is called music and regularly doef-doef through the night everywhere.
PUERTO RICO is effectively the USA. We cleared in, in Isla de Culebra. The CBP officer was extremely helpful and informative.
With the Bahamas and Bermuda being part of the ADJACENT ISLANDS in the Caribbean, we have now a 6 weeks shortfall on our visas at the end. That means our neatly worked out agenda will have to change again with an interesting pricetag. We have to report in every district. The cruising permit is valid for 12months and our personal stamps for 6 months. We will stay around Puerto Rico till beginning of June. When we will set sail for the eastcoast of USA mainland - a 10-14 day trip.
MYLADY was moored in Port Owen Marina on the westcoast of South Africa since January 2016. Since the marina is quite a distance up river with tidal shallows, and once out at sea, being directly on the Atlantic Ocean, we never moved MYLADY during this time. Instead, we travelled by car through South Africa. The wild card to visit the national parks was a winner on cutting costs, yet exploring South Africa was exciting and interesting. Skipper went off to earn us some freedomchips again on mv Texas. And again he had the West Africa / USA run. His daily confrontation with pirates and corrupt African officials were enough to make him decide not to repeat this job.
Eelco returned the beginning of June 2018. MYLADY was already on the hard. With a quick-quick here and there, we did what we should and could for MYLADY and then got out of Port Owen between the quick succeeding winter storms. Port Owen was a great place to rest.
The trip north to Namibia took four days. Once out of the path of the southern lows, we had no wind which slowly but surely increased to soft wind. Birds we could not identify crossed our path. Sailing through the diamond mining field in the Oranjemund area was interesting and tense because it naturally happened at night. We only later realized that the 'cities of lights' were actually moving so slow, they were not a true concern. There must have been at least ten dredgers. By the time we arrived in Luderitz, the wind had picked up to a sporty 30 knots, gusting 40. And we tacked into the harbour just before daybreak. Luderitz port control came on the vhf "sv MYLADY, what is your intention in my harbour?" We realized later that it was indeed a very busy harbour. We arrived the end of June and stayed till end October. It was a good harbour for us to spend time. Eelco had time to do a lot of good things for MYLADY. The Namib desert sand creeped into every nook and corner. It is a windy place. We made a safari with roadtripnamibia. Eelco got land-sick like Misale gets sea-sick and did not had a good time. Misale thoroughly enjoyed the road trip through Namibia. Please watch and hear her stories.
All stocked up MYLADY left Luderitz early November, heading northwest. It should have been 10 knots all the way and were 25 knots. Fortunately from behind. We crossed paths with a few real big ships and was amazed at how high latitude we saw these albatrosses. We also sailed through fields of we-don't-know-what. Eleven days later we made landfall in St.Helena with the help of 45 knot bullets chasing down from the cliffs. The mooringfield is actually on the Atlantic Ocean, with ocean conditions. Tieing up between bullets and without dinghy to the huge pancake mooring was challenging. The water taxi was good. St.Helena was expensive. There was a 36 hour notice on the local radio before the four meter swell came rolling in. It was mighty impressive and stayed for three days. Even the ferry service stopped for a day. Getting on or off at the landing goes swinging with the aid of monkey ropes. Which was another first time experience for me and quite challenging.
St.Helena has a lot of history and we are happy about the tour we made of the island with Robert. The morning of our departure we had a manta ray visiting MYLADY. It was super special. Especially when it circled MYLADY a few times.
We headed northwest for the Caribbean. Winds were souteast and light. Therefore the windgenerator did not had wind to work. It was grey weather most days. The batteries did not charge well at all. There were the occasional sunny days. We sailed into a school of pilot whales. They came to check us out just like dolphins. But they didn't ride the bow-wave. Neither did they sing. Instead, they inspected the keel and surfed the following waves. We had a very hefty and bad squall on the south side of the equator. Fortunately it was daytime and we could see it coming and prepare. With light winds we hopped over the equator. Soon after we got the good current going west and northeast tradewinds. Sea conditions changed to short and hefty. We got another squall, this time at night. It was bad. Once we rounded the corner to make a northerly run for Barbedos, the seas changed again. Confused northerly and southerly swell created huge and steep mountains fighting for superiority. Wind was strong 25 - 30 knots northeast. The first strings of fine seawead appeared. It was on this leg that I saw the sharkfins sailing above the waterline, two-three meters from our boat. After fourteen years on the oceans, this was another firsttimer for me. A few noddies did not follow instruction good and got mixed up in the windgenerator, and lost. Amazingly the windgenerator is still working. We changed our mind and decided to make landfall in Martinique, just 100 miles further north. We passed Barbedos 31 December 2018 after 33 days at sea.
Miles sailed in 2018 = 5660 Misale doesn't get sea-sick anymore. Fishing: caught one, lost one, have shark teeth print on one lure. Fresh water consumption: 2 litre per person per day
We were sailing from Jolly Harbour on the West Coast of Antigua to Barbuda. The anchor weighed at daybreak. At first the wind was gentle but 8AM - like every morning - the tradewinds came on full force. MYLADY glided along. The ride was smooth. Maybe due to the Antigua shelve more prominent to our east, the seas were not as high and rough as during our trip from Guadeloupe to Antigua.
10AM our comrades under sail in their twice our MYLADY size, raced passed us.
All in all one could classify it as a bluewater cruising day.
10:30AM "Whales!" roared skipper, "Whales!"
I grabbed the camera and made my way to the cockpit.
"WHALES!" skipper screamed.
Catching a glimpse of the backfin of the humongous 'diveboat' infront of us, I was shocked to realize the distance of almost nothing between us.
Panic-control kicked in. Skipper vigorously disengaged the windvane-clutch off the steeringwheel and abruptly swung MYLADY to starboard whilst muttering under his breath.
Hastily I turned to port with my camera. Arms-length from the boat, the water was light turquoise where one whale had just submersed. The other had its dark pancake 'footprint' as it leveled the surface, next to number one. They became unidentifiable in the lively water. In the wake of MYLADY, two boat-lengths away, first one, then the second spout raised into the air and they became one with the ocean.
With relief and amazement and annoyance that once again MYLADY was picked out for an encounter, skipper corrected MYLADY's course and windvane-self-steering.
Naturally, I could not get a proper photo. We were instantly reminded of an event in Tonga where a playing whale came blowing bubbles under MYLADY. The water was the same light shades of turquoise. It was scary. As was this.
When the Big-Lift ship came into the harbour of Port-a-Pitre, Eelco was a continuous commentator. On deck the Big-Lift had a shore container crane as freight. How big and strong were the deck-cranes. How the chief officer remote control the cranes. What preparations on the ship to prepare for the off-loading of the cargo. What preparations on shore to receive this immense crane. How the ship is taking in more ballast to lower its deck to shore level for a smoother transfer. And what is the differences with the submersible ships he worked on previously.
Apart from learning something of the countries and people we visit, and learning something sometimes of the sport of sailing, I also get to learn something about ships and freight and...
What an interesting life I actually have.
We are still in Guadelope. It rains almost every day, at least a little. But it is nice hot temperatures. We are busy with boatwork. Eelco removed the bridgedeck that blocked the entrance and made it portable. Because we still need it when we sail. But now it's easier to get in and out of the cave. It is a major happening for us. I am busy with sewing new covers for everything on the boat. The old ones have been eaten away by the sun.
We have started to use our last bottle of cooking gas. Normally we get four weeks use out of it. We must sail to Antigua soon because that's the only place in the Caribbean where international gasbottles can be re-filled, hopefully.
Martinique, the island of flowers, says the tourist info booklet. But I see no more flowers than on any other island. However, the flowers are lovely and vibrant.
Le Marin where we made landfall is a boating place. Thousands of boats are anchored, moored or layed-up. Clearing into and out of Martinique is easy and cheap. Internet is only available with wi-fi which is mostly only available in restaurants where one is expected to buy something. Many times internet is not fast. Australian, NewZealand and South African propane bottles can not be re-filled here. Water is available at the marina. We only took jerrycans and that was free. Lovely hot weather. We had no rain whilst the land was frequently not visable with downpour. Martinique is very hilly, lots of cars, narrow streets, parking on sidewalk.
We sailed to Forte-France, the capital, and anchored in Anse Mitan at Pointe du Bout, not knowing there is a casino and lots of entertainment long into the nights. The ferry to Forte-France runs every hour and was 7 euro return. Forte-France has an interesting mix of architecture and buildings and are overloaded with tourists. Everyday comes and goes one or more cruiseship(s). Prices match the tourists. Lots of airplane traffic low over the bay.
Our next stop was St.Pierre. Another anchoring shocker. It is very deep and the shallower part very limited. Therefore one drop the anchor almost on the beach, still in 15m of water, and need lots of scope. But St.Pierre is a tourist attraction and boats-a-plenty come and go everyday - anchoring on top of each other. We finally found a place far away from the others, on the other side of the bay where local fishing activity was visable. That brought us into the 'local'. And local also means 'Mount Pelee'. The vulcano that wiped the old St.Pierre and its 30,000 inhabitants from the earth. As we walk the streets, one is confronted with ruins of a sad story, yet life pulses through the new city. Our week in St.Pierre was good.
