We are anchored in front of Chris Morejohn’s place near the Hogfish Maximus having arrived yesterday around noon. Our passage from Bermuda took 7 days and 16 hours anchor to anchor. The last few days were completely unremarkable other than being one beautiful day ending with a star speckled night after another. Life aboard became routine and we did a lot of reading. Bermuda long tails were with us most of the way and Nancy was able to capture some nice pictures of them.

6-3-14  Had a bit of a scare last night when Nancy thought she may have caught a contagious disease from the Bermuda hospital. Without going into all the details, she is feeling much better this evening and looks like she has kicked whatever bug she had. Other than that we have had a pretty boring but wonderful day at sea. As I write this at 1930 we are under power because of no wind and are cruising along at 4 nautical miles per hour with all sails set. (Motor sailing) 

6-2-14   What a difference 12 hours make. As I left off yesterday the weather was improving and it continued to do so. We were blessed with a beautiful clear night with favorable winds from the North West moving into the North. It is now 1830 and we have been sailing under clear skies directly toward our destination all day long at between 5.5 and 7.5kts. We were able to log 135 nautical miles noon to noon which may not sound like much to those land lubbers reading this but 100 nautical miles in 24 hours in a mono hull cruising sailboat is pretty much average and what we use for passage planning. The day before we did 126 so we are quite pleased with Avelinda’s performance. I took some video this morning from the same perspective as the one of us hard on the wind. The video doesn't look much different than the last but the comfort level is considerably better. Doesn't look like there will be much more to report today so I will close for now.

6-1-14  What a night… at 2020 in a night as dark as a whores heart we were caught by a gale that lasted until after 0130 this morning, winds over 35kts and horizontally driven rain which reduced visibility to a few yards. Avelinda was knocked down at least twice before I could get sail reduced. Luckily, Nancy was below in the bunk where she wasn't thrown about to suffer more injuries. After getting things on deck secure I went below to find things which we thought were secure all over the cabin sole. Within 30 minutes things were restored to a semblance of order. Nancy continued to try and get some rest and I returned to the cockpit. By 0430 when Nancy came up to relive me the winds were down to less than 8kts and while the sky was still dreary looking and lighting could be seen off on the horizon to port we expected the morning to be ok.

   I relived Nancy a little after 0900 and while she slept I set about bringing order to the deck and securing things which had come adrift during the storm, a fairly easy task.

   As I write this at 1430 the skies are clearing and the winds have indeed moved into the North West giving us a better slant towards our goal. While they are light we are taking the opportunity to run the engine to charge batteries and bring the water maker on line for the first time in over nine years. I knew it worked before leaving St Augustine as I had checked it using fresh water from a bucket and then re-pickling it. The water in the mooring field has so much nutrient it would foul the membrane. During the outbound trip we found a leaking input strainer and couldn't use it until it was repaired which I did in St Georges. It’s working fine now, after purging for an hour and a half, and giving us about a gallon and a half of tasteless pure water an hour.

5-31-14   Well this has certainly been a lively day! Around 1300 we were hit with our first squall forcing us to reef the mizzen to the top two panels in screaming winds and driving rain. afterwards the winds settled at 18 to 23kts and with only one reef in the main and a full mizzen Avelinda went charging off to windward at 7 1/2kts. It was exhilarating and wet. Later in the afternoon I was able to get some footage on the GoPro.

   Nancy has been under the weather I think in part due to her foot injury and a bumpy start to this leg of the voyage. Hasn't had to throw up but she is quezzy and medicating herself with Stugeron. Fortunately we were able to get a fresh supply in Bermuda.

5-30-14   Took a trip ashore this afternoon and when Nancy checked passage weather the conditions looked favorable for an evening departure but first we wanted to take one last bus tour down the south coast and return via St David’s (pictures below). 

 Small beach park on south shore

 The following pictures are of St David's

 St David's light house

   Back home

Unfortunately the tour took a little longer than expected and by the time we cleared customs for departure it was getting late. A hurried return to Avelinda and speedy departure prep allowed us to get the anchor up, sails up and aim for the town cut just as it was getting dark. Still had enough light to see the channel buoys and make a clean departure under full sail.

   After leaving, a low pressure area developed to the south of us producing south west winds, the direction we want to go, of up to 20kts through tomorrow afternoon instead of the westerlies we expected. We set a course due south to clear all hazards and hauled the sails in tight for some weather work. The outlook is for the winds to veer giving them a more westerly component moving into the northwest and falling to around 10kts by tomorrow night.

   The rumb line course to Russell Island in the Bahamas is 258 degrees magnetic from Bermuda at a distance of 768 nautical miles. We figure on sailing in excess of 850 nautical miles to get there so our trip should take between 7 to 10 days depending on winds which are notoriously light in the area we will be sailing through. If we are lucky we will pick up the southeast trades around 27 degrees north latitude and have a nice dash the remainder of the way in, giving us a quick passage. I’m not counting on the trades until 26 degrees north and maybe not even then so the longer passage seems more realistic. We so enjoy being at sea that we won’t be disappointed with a longer passage.