What follows are Curtis’s offshore log notes, both on- and off-watch, during the 5-day passage from Norfolk, VA, to Bermuda on Alaria, a PSC 34. While coastal cruising, the crew had anchored out most nights and therefore had little need for a strict watch regime. Once offshore, however, each crew member kept two 3-hour solo watches per day.
10-16
We leave Norfolk to start our blue water passage to St Maarten via Bermuda. Just outside the Bridge Tunnel we pass a submarine arriving with an armed escort of tenders. There is an area on the chart showing a military training area off of Point Henry with “unexploded depth charges.” While we transit this area a pair of military fighter jets pass low on a flyby and we wave as they scream past us.
10-16 2100
Off Watch
Depth goes from 180 to 370 feet before going blinking and unable to read at edge of Continental Shelf.
10-17 0600-0900
On Watch
Water temp goes to 72 as we start to cross the Gulf Stream at dawn.
First Shearwater seen on trip: all light below, dark above. Follows us for a few minutes.
All sails up in 8 kn apparent on port tack, beam reach.
ID Cory's Shearwater @ 8 am.
10-17 1800-2100
On Watch
Leaving the Gulf Stream behind us after crossing its azure blue water all day. Wind is very light and showing 7 kn apparent only because we are motoring @ 5.5 kn. The current assist we had all day is gone and that 2-3 kn current kept our speed over ground @ about 6 kn while boat speed was only 3.6-4 kn.
No birds since leaving the continental side of the stream.
Rain showers off the stern, no lightning. Sunset nice with sun dropping below a cloud deck to set orange on horizon.
At 2000 an AIS target appears off the starboard bow with a track set to merge with ours in 15 mins. It is a cargo ship 590 ft traveling at 13 kn going to Moorehead City, NC. Ansley radios "Megan C" on VHF and alerts him to our position. He responds and turns to avoid us. We pass each other port to port about 1/2 mile apart. No other vessels seen today except a fishing boat in the Gulf Stream, maybe long lining for tuna?
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| Paul Calder fishing on Alaria |
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| Mahi Mahi caught by Paul |
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| Paul Calder Fisherman & Sushi Master |
10-18 0600-0900
On Watch
Dawn on a starboard broad reach doing 6.5 kn with jib and main. Very few scattered showers around from low scattered cumulus. Nice shorts and shirt weather except that they are the same shorts and shirt worn for the last 4 days. 4 ft swell from the west at about 7 secs with small occasional patches of sargassum.
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| Sunrise on passage to Bermuda |
10-18 1800-2100
On Watch
Motoring @ 2100 rpm in calm wind and sea with 3 ft swells from the west. Uneventful watch in neat full moon conditions. At 2100 some cumulus build ups to the north and may represent pre-frontal activity for the arriving cold front as was forecast tonight.
At about 1730 tonight another passerine arrives, flies around the boat and leaves. Looked like a warbler.
10-19 0600-0900
On Watch
Wind 8 kn 30 degrees to starboard so basically 2.5 kn true wind as a quartering headwind. Not good for sailing but we have the main and jib up and tightly sheeted in for any lift it might give us. We are motoring @ 2100 rpm as it was on the last night's watch.
0645 the first storm petrel of the trip goes soaring by. Large with a lot of gliding but I couldn’t see any field marks at sunrise. Flight characteristics were nighthawk-like and it was solitary. Probably a Leach's Storm Petrel without the white rump and due to a generally ashy coloration. They are typically over deep water and solitary.
10-19 1800-2100
On Watch
Windy night 16-21 kn @ 190 degrees. Wind instrument showing apparent wind 60 degrees to starboard. The swell is now from the south so we are riding up and down while heeling 15 degrees. This is much better than the 22 degree bouncing heel we had before double reefing the main and furling the jib to about 1/3. Staysail is out full and sheeted in.
Tonight is a bright full moon so the water shine is brilliant when the cumulus isn't obscuring the moon. This Pacific Seacraft 34 sails well, doing 7.7 kn through the water and 5.5 over ground with a smooth motion over the waves and swell in 18 kn apparent wind.
Water temp has been consistently 79 degrees and the Atlantic is cobalt blue in the sun. Still small patches of sargassum around. Earlier we went over a slick with large 6 ft mats of sargassum but no birds. About 1400 a flock of about 20 small passerines flew by just above the water headed south. Possibly they were warblers migrating.
10-20 0600-0900
On Watch
Wind last night stayed at 20 kn with 3-5 ft waves and 6-10 ft of swell making for a lot of pounding seas and spray. The sleeping was fitful all night and the cabin felt decidedly muggy.
The entire boat is wet and the cockpit splattered with boarding splash and wind driven spray. I sit tucked under the dodger on the leeward side to avoid the spray and occasional breaking wave splash that makes it under the glassine side of the biminy. We are heeling between 0 and 33 degrees as we top the quartering swells and go down into the troughs. I can reach over the toe rail from my seat and touch the water and foam coursing by at 7 kn.
10-20 1000
Off Watch
2 Arctic Terns (most likely) fly by in our wake.
10-20 1800-2100
On Watch
Uneventful watch with a 745-foot cargo ship passing us to starboard 17 miles off, headed to Charleston. Swell and wind still high but calming through the watch to 13-17 kn and 5-10 ft swell. Thunderstorms with intermittent lightning to our north moving away NE while we track SE on a beam reach. At 2100 watch change Bob rolls out the jib to smooth out the rolling motion and we gain a knot to 6.3 of speed over ground (SOG).
10-21 0600-0900
On Watch
Today is our arrival in Bermuda and the morning sky is mostly clear with cumulus clouds around the horizon towering in our wake NW of our position. We are 23 nm (nautical miles) from our arrival way point NE of St Georges Harbor and 6 nm from Bermuda’s territorial waters. Winds @ 15 kn. We are under full sail in 1-2 ft waves and 2-3 ft swells coming from the south on our starboard beam.
The charted depth is 14000 ft, but we start to get shallower in about 10 nm as we approach this atoll island. It may be a sea mount.
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| Alaria position off Bermuda on the Raymarine C80 Chartplotter |
Ansley, Bob and Paul are all up and we radio our position and boat information to Bermuda Radio.
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| Paul with a Frigate Tuna fought off of Bermuda |
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| Arrival St Georges Bermuda Town Cut Inlet |
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| Bermuda Police boat escort to the Customs House |
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| Customs House St Georges Bermuda |
10-21 1330
Arrive at Customs dock; talk to Bermuda Police Service to get info on anchoring, showers, fuel and water. Then we go to customs to clear in.
We have an escort from the Bermudan Police in a boat that meets us outside the St Georges inlet and follows Alaria to the Bermuda Customs House dock where we tie up for clearing in.
Once we have all filled out our Declarations form and given Customs our passports we follow the Customs officers back out to the dock where we are told to wait aside and Bob accompanies them on the boat. Unbeknownst to us, the Police have brought a drug dog to the dock to go on the boat with an officer. The customs officers takes photos of all the drawer and compartment contents as well as the duffle bag contents. All of the attention to our vessel is because Bermuda Radar noticed that we passed close to a "fishing" boat as we arrived at the reef passage to the inlet. We also find out later that 2 boats passed near us and crossed our wake. Bermuda Radio must have contacted customs and the police to say that a transfer of contraband may have happened between the 2 vessels. The Bermudan Police are interested in how close we were to the other vessel and repeatedly question us on this. It probably doesn’t help that Paul left his passport in the box storing his sextant that he gave to his dad the night we left Annapolis. Without a passport, Paul is confined the the boat and will not be cleared to come to shore until his passport arrives by FedEx in 2 days’ time.
Paul's interesting Sailfeed Blog post on "How Not to Clear Customs" is here:
http://www.sailfeed.com/2013/11/how-not-to-clear-customs/
Paul's interesting Sailfeed Blog post on "How Not to Clear Customs" is here:
http://www.sailfeed.com/2013/11/how-not-to-clear-customs/
10-22 to 10-29
At Anchor in the North Anchorage in St. Georges harbor.
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| Alaria at anchor St Georges Harbor Bermuda |
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| Bermuda Radio and Radar facility St Georges Bermuda |
We are waiting here for 2 things to happen, one for a good weather window that will provide good sailing winds without a frontal passage and two, for Ansley to return from a quick trip to Oregon. Before Ansley left he rented a moped so we could tour the island and look for some gear at a hardware store in Hamilton.
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| Hamilton Bermuda street scene |
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| St Georges Bermuda anchorage rainstorm |
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| St Georges Bermuda |
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| St Georges Island bay |
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| Bermuda South Rd looking south |
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| Curtis on the southeast side of Bermuda |
A strong cold front was progged to pass Bermuda and this event occurs on Thursday 10-24 and Friday 10-25.
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| St Georges Bermuda street scene in the rain |
The front is massive, with satellite imagery showing it to be from the N Atlantic stretching down SW across Florida with rain and clouds along its edge. Thursday here in the harbor is a rain event all day with winds out of the south. We open the deck fill for Alaria’s fresh water tank #2 and stopper the scuppers to collect rainwater. This works well and I do laundry as well as take a cockpit shower.
Friday the winds clock around, veering from the S to the SW then W to NW and N as the front passes. Saturday is windy from the N and NE but we go snorkeling with Thad on the S side of the island on some "boiler" reefs.
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| Bob Steneck & Thad Murdoch |
Thad Murdoch is a PhD reef scientist here on Bermuda. He may be working with Bob if funding for a project comes through next year.
Thad takes us out again Sunday 10-27 to a "fore" reef in 35 ft of water where they dive and then we start back to shore. We stop at 2 different "patch" reefs and snorkel. Actually we are supposed to go to the North side of the island but the winds are 25-30 kn from the NE due to a small storm NE of the island.
10-28 We are today doing some small boat repairs and upgrades. It's warm and sunny and we are planning for our departure tomorrow afternoon. The most recent GRIB files we download with WeatherTrack on our iPads indicate that leaving tomorrow evening or Wednesday morning would give us a good weather window between cold fronts.
END PART 2 OF 3
