After the first night at anchor in West Palm Beach we study the weather and decide to sail up to Canada along the east coast of the US. The weather looks good that way for the coming week. In St Johns (on New Foundland) we then make the decision whether we go home via Iceland or via the Azores, because from St Johns to the Azores is 'only' 1000 nm (from Florida to Azores is 2800 nm) and the total trip home via St Johns to the Azores is only 200 nm more. The big advantage of going up the coast is that the sailing trips are shorter and we can stop at nice places more often, instead of immediately 17-20 days at sea to the Azores with possibly only a stop in Bermuda. And we still keep the option Iceland open 😉. Moreover, the weather doesn't look much better for the direct route to the Azores. Chance of little wind, chance of wind against and also chance of depressions. So you see, and actually we know, it doesn't have that much zi
In 8 days we sail from Florida West Palm Beach to Cape Cod along almost the entire east coast of the US. We sail a total of 1130 miles with 53 sailing hours and 112 engine hours and only a stop of exactly 24 hours in Charleston. It feels good to have covered such a distance in the first week in good and light weather. We don't see the wind gauge exceeding 20 knots. Relatively many engines but so relaxed to start the retreat and get used to life on board.
The day in Charleston is wonderfully relaxed and ensures a beautiful build-up of nights; first two and then five. We are in a marina next to the navy ship Yorktown and overlooking downtown Charleston on the other side of the river. Toine and I sleep another couple of hours and Eline goes running and swimming. In the afternoon we take the water taxi to downtown. There we eat delicious oysters and 'crab cake' in a cafe during happy hour (as an appetizer), walk around the beautiful houses and eat a steak at another restaurant as main course. Finally an ice cream at the pier of the water taxi and the meal is complete 😎. Beautiful city, that's what we found 8 years ago when we were here with the Brandaan.
We always effortlessly adopt our familiar rhythm and division of tasks when sailing through the night. That's just ingrained in it. We regularly think back to the round of Atlantic with the Brandaan (in 2010 we were also in this area) but there are some clear differences. 1. The girls are 8 years older and sit outside a lot more. 2. The SeaQuest is bigger with more space for provisions and especially the large freezer and refrigerator is a luxury. 3. Then we were part of the "departures-community" and now we are more on our own and actually "moving".
The girls, especially Marinthe, wondered beforehand how to do that as long as you don't have wifi. "I'm going to be bored, aren't I?" Nothing could be less waar👌. Very nice to see that without wifi there are other fun (and more creative) things to do like drawing, reading, listening to music, playing games and having a nice chat. The first day we are all still aware of the passing of time from hour to hour and the day doesn't go by so fast. On the third day that feeling is completely gone and the days fly by before you know it.
Life on the boat is good and simple, especially with these mild weather conditions. Our thoughts are in the now and the near future. Suddenly life in Florida is far away and we think relatively little of it. All four of us think that's fine. Eline has no unpleasant misfeeling either. It's good as it is, all in good time. We also spend more time together and especially see and talk to Marinthe. Close as a family and experience it together. Beautiful and valuable!
Yes, we are moving instead of being part of the "departures community". however, we are certainly not alone and we are in contact with other boats. via Iridium mail with the Mar-Jolie and the Bojangles who are sailing from St Maarten to the Azores. we know the Mar-Jolie from the HR connection and the Bojangels from the weather course for departures that we followed in April last year. we are also in regular contact with the Dutch who we hope to meet in Nova Scotia. in 2010 we spent a few weeks with them on the east coast of the US when they sailed on the Pjotter. they also made the return trip to the Netherlands via Iceland in 2011 and are a good example for us. via the Dutch we have mail contact with the Richard Parker (a Swiss couple that is also sailing back to the Netherlands from Canada with a Breehorn 41 this summer). that the HR connection also works internationally, even on the other side of the ocean, is shown by the contact with Dave and Sally van de Allure (HR 46).
We start at 25 degrees north latitude (NB) and sail to 41 NB. The weather changes enormously north going. The first four days (up to 37 NB) it's very warm and we need the bimini for cooling down. Inside the boat it's around 30 degrees and we sleep under a thin sheet. From the fifth day the bimini doesn't get up anymore, at the end of the day we sit outside with vests and a blanket (also Toine 😉) and we sleep under a duvet again for the first time in months. Eline: 'the colder weather has some, it gives a cozy and cosy feeling'.
The temperature of the sea is also changing enormously to the north. In Florida the sea is 27 degrees under the influence of the Gulf Steam and in the middle of the Gulf Stream we even see the 29 degrees tapping. Further north under the influence of the Labrador current the sea gets colder and collapses to 17, 14 and at the latest 8 degrees. Combined with little wind, these low temperatures in the night and morning of the fifth and sixth day result in dense fog. Long live a well-functioning radar! As soon as the sun breaks through, the fog disappears again.
We see a lot of animals. Very regularly the dolphins jump around us and swim for a while in front of the tip. Southwards we see two very big turtles, in the deeper part of the ocean we see a group of pilot whales (small whales) swimming by. Twice we also see a big round ray-like white animal with fins. And the last day we see sharks (with the fin above the water) circling around and a small yellow bird comes on a visit that keeps around for an hour on the whole boat and then disappears again.
No matter how empty the sea often looks, a lot of things happen anyway. Twice a bigger race sailboat passes right behind us (on its way from Bermuda to NY?) Near Norfolk we're kindly summoned by a US navy war-ship asking us to change our course because there are exercises going on with a submarine, so we stay at least 2 nm away from it. The last day we also hear a pan-pan from the coast guard saying 'person overboard' (in 8C ?? 😢) and the request for a sharp look-out at a position 10 miles south of us. That probably doesn't end well.
The last afternoon we have a short marine contact with the Gandy Dancer, a sailing boat (59 ft) on its way from Florida to Newport. They call us up and we have a short chat. At the same time there are huge sharks swimming in the neighbourhood and we go to them together, turn off the engine and can see them very well in peace. What species it is we are not quite out yet, but what an impressive beast.
On the first day after our departure from Charleston we experience a somewhat "sad" moment ourselves. We sail high in the wind with little wind and sun ... fine to use the drone for the first time at sea. That goes pretty well until the moment the drone is behind the boat and Toine wants him to come back on the aft deck ... somehow he doesn't manage to fly back forward (suddenly the forward one doesn't work?, the amount of wind shouldn't be the problem) and we see the drone disappear further and further on the horizon behind the boat. Toine tries everything until he loses the connection with the iphone and has probably fallen into the sea 😥. Too bad, fortunately no wounded but plastic in the water. A day later we see that we do have the video made on the iphone. At least that's something else 👍.
We are very happy with the water maker, which does it perfectly and gives a good feeling of being independent of water tap points. Also the Iridium Go in combination with the iMac mini and a large screen works perfectly for retrieving and analyzing weather information.
The last night we sailed into Narragansett Bay in dense fog in the direction of Buzzards Bay, completely relying on radar. Fortunately, closer to the country the fog cleared and we saw the full moon in the west and the rising sun in the east. What a beautiful sight.
At 7.00 a.m. we moor at the mooring of fellow Hallberg-Rassy Connection member Dave Curtin, owner of HR 46 Allure. What a beautiful area here!
And so we experience the first long trip of our return journey and have arrived in a very beautiful area that we will explore in the coming days.
