Transatlantic: Arriving in Bermuda

Bermuda is not a wise port to enter in the dark. The waterways are littered with illuminated and non-illuminated markers. The reefs are so bad that there are cardinal markers all over the place! This is definitely a harbor to enter with the light of day, but we didn’t!

The island is surrounded by a vast reef which is littered with wrecks from centuries of sailors who lost their way and smashed into the punishing rocks and corals. We were not going to become another wreck that tourists snorkel over on a tour!
I began studying the charts of Bermuda way back in July 2017, when we were going to sail to there in October. I knew the different markers, the different channels, the different reefs. I knew it all and I knew it was bad and that I didn’t want to do it in the dark! That is precisely what I ended up doing.

As we approached the island, I stayed to the south to avoid the large reef that secretly lies to the west of the island. My rational was simple, if the winds died and we were drifting in to shore, the eastern side of the island has a more gradual rise of the sea floor than the western side. This would give us a better chance at anchoring and trying to wait for better winds.

Since dawn on July 4th, we had been in contact with the Bermuda Coast Guard. They knew we were close to their country, and they knew our intentions were to enter their harbor and anchor. If you are planning to sail to Bermuda, it would behoove you to email them ahead of time (dutyofficer@marops.bm). They will reply with an email that details all the information they request from you (this email will come from
messenger@marops.bm).

This makes the entire process so much easier, since over the radio they will go over every last detail you could ever imagine! If they already have your information, they are less suspicious of you and therefore the super lengthy questions are kept to a solid 15-30 minutes.

The Bermuda Coast Guard can be hailed by calling out for “Bermuda Radio” and they are truly the most helpful and courteous radio people we have ever encountered. Not only did they aid us in coming into their country, but they also offered suggestions for where to eat once we were settled and got most of the paper work started for us with the customs agent. When we finally did arrive, all we had to do was fill out a few forms, hand over our flare gun (it's technically a fire-arm), and pay $35 per person to get our cruising permit for the country.

We were sailing close to the island in strong winds during the morning, then the winds all seemed to vanish as another system was coming in. The next system was going to rage down on this little island for the next 4 days, so if we didn’t make it into the harbor today, we were going to be stuck hove to while we ride out a long duration gale. We did not want to do that.

We contacted Bermuda Radio and let them know that we were kind of stuck in the water without any wind and worried that we would be arriving at the entrance to the harbor (called Town Cut) in the dark. I knew this passage was very small, very tight, and with plenty of current and perils!

Bermuda Radio organized with a cruiser on a yacht that was already in the harbor to come out and meet us in the channel so that they could guide us into the harbor. We went from worrying about coming into the harbor in the dark to being guided by local knowledge as we slowly made our way into the island through the narrow pass.

We are often asked how we feel about the electric motor, and this is one of those moments when a diesel would have been nice. We would have cranked it on when the winds died and powered our way there in no time, come through the pass, and entered the harbor all on our own with no outside help. The truth is, the electric motor makes us more cautious sailors who plan everything and work with all the forces around us to safely navigate the ocean. If we had a diesel, we would have wanted to use it back in the doldrums, but that would have sucked up a lot of fuel! Would we have fuel in the tank at this point? If we are going to have a diesel motor, why go small, and only move at cruising speed, why not have a motor so inconceivably huge that it can power us at hull speed into wind and waves? Enough will never be enough and there will always be some drawback to any system in some situation. The secret is finding one that works well for you!

Yes, we love our electric motor just like someone loves their dog. You love it even when it poops in the kitchen! It is not perfect and, just like with a diesel motor, it has its drawbacks, but it is perfect for us.

We made it into the island and anchored safely in the harbor where the tall rocks of the island provided us wonderful protection from the winds that were soon to come.

We arrived in the harbor 1 day late. Our crew member began pondering if that was really so bad and if maybe he should carry on with us. Maddie and I quickly proclaimed that it would be best for him to fly back to Europe so that he doesn’t miss any scheduled deadlines he has imposed on himself. Besides, a day late is a day late, why start forgiving lateness now?

While we were in land now, we were not done yet, as we were tied to the customs pier. We were told that we could not stay tied to the pier because the pier needs to be open for other arriving yachts. We were the last boat to be checked in by the customs agents that night, and that it would be safest to move the boat at dawn when we could see better.

Transatlantic: Day 21

Happy Independence Day! On July 4th, 2018, a US Documented Vessel sailed into the port of a former British colony. Oh how times have changed in 242 years!

After 21 days, sailing what should have only take 5 days in a fast boat and 7 days in a slow boat, or the 10 days we were planning to make it to this point in our crossing; we see land!

On the horizon, we see the small rocky formations of land and all of its glorious components.

It is important to note that after 21 days, we are not on land, but merely see it on the horizon. All day long, we have been beating into the weather with land in sight but out of reach. The winds were not letting up and were very unfavorable but we could see it and we wanted to touch it, so we carried on into the seas.

Bermuda is, in my opinion, one of the worst places to sail into. The low flat island is surrounded by a massive barrier reef. If you see land and simply sail right to it, you will join one of the thousands of wrecks that pepper the reef surrounding Bermuda.

The western coast of the island is completely unobtainable, as the reef has no gaps in it that will allow safe passage over it. On the north-eastern side of the island, there is a very tiny cut made through the reef and through the land that lets you into St. George’s Harbor.

From here, you can sail around the island to Hamilton, but you will be snaking your way through corals and wrecks in a very narrow channel that you need to share with massive cruise ships and all the local traffic. This is not a good place to sail, because there is just no room to tack. Having an electric motor, we felt it was best to explore the island by bus and avoid moving Wisdom from her safe and secure anchorage within the harbor.

Transatlantic: Day 20

The date is July 3rd, 2018, and we are nearing Bermuda! Our crew member changed his decision to something that was even more beneficial for us, instead of just getting “close to Bermuda” by July 3rd, he decided that we needed to be “in Bermuda” by July 3rd. By removing “close” from the decision process, we were no longer subject to the subjective definition of what “close” means! To me, close to land is 100 miles, to someone else who had never been out to sea, the thought of being 1 mile out in the ocean might seem really “far”. We no longer had to play to the word play, as we now needed to be anchored in the Harbor to count as making it to Bermuda.

And what might have caused such a change of definition? Well, originally, we were going to sail right on past Bermuda and head straight to the Azores. The reason for this is two-fold:

1st: Bermuda is really expensive and we didn’t want to run out of money before we made it to the Azores.
2nd: I declared that we needed to stop in Bermuda to “re-provision” since we took so much longer than expected to get to this point.

The 1st concern is one that Maddie and I had and also had full control over. The best way to avoid wasting money in a country is to not spend any. Instead of going to a fancy restaurant, we would choose a local place that is inexpensive, or to be even more frugal, we buy groceries and cook on the boat. To be even more frugal, we cook canned foods that we already have on the boat and don’t spend a cent!

The second reason was a farce that I proclaimed to our crew member to explain why now we were going to be stopping in Bermuda. The real reason we were stopping there was to shove him off the boat and continue on our way without him. Telling this to a person with anger issues is not wise for your health, especially if you are trying to keep your medical bills down while approaching a notoriously expensive country! So instead, I told him the 2nd reason and there was no arguing or yelling on his part in response.

Maddie knew the real reason, as we had discussed it previously, his ultimatum about our speed simply gave us a way to get him off the boat without causing a show.

So, here we are at the end of July 3rd, the day we needed to be in port to keep our crew member with us for the rest of the voyage across the ocean, and we are still out at sea with no land in sight.

We have failed to meet his expectations and would be pulling into St. Georges Harbor at some point in the near future as failures to keep his standards of an acceptable speed.

As the sun begins to get low in the sky, the winds shift and the clouds warn us that the weather is becoming unstable. The winds we have will not be the winds we will receive tomorrow.

If we were out at sea, we would have simply changed course to be going in generally the right direction, but at a much more comfortable angle to the seas and wind. Since we are approaching Bermuda, we do not have this luxury. We need to maintain this heading and adjust the sails accordingly.

Clouds that were flat and low begin to rocket up into the sky, telling all who see that squalls will be upon them soon. Up above, alto stratus clouds wisp in, telling us that tomorrow, a cold front will be approaching and the winds will be intensifying.

Transatlantic: Day 19

The winds were actually light, and just enough to keep us from drifting west in the ocean current. Speed was not occurring for us, and that was fine. This meant that we would take a little longer to get close to Bermuda and that we would then be reducing our crew count by 1.

Today really wasn’t about setting any records, but it was a gorgeous display of the oceanic world so many never get to experience.

This sunset was once again different from any other day’s sunset. The lighting on the waves was just absolutely perfect!

With this sunset comes the close of this day and the beginning of the the night, when the sky fills with more stars than you can comprehend. While night watch is one of my least favorite times to be at the helm due to the nonexistent visibility of the wind which makes sail trimming a bit tricky, night watch out in the middle of the ocean offers the most spectacular sight up in the sky. Alarms are set not to remind you to look away from your book and check the horizon, but to bring your eyes away from the stars and down to the horizon where you search for little red, green, or white navigation lights; but there never is anyone out here.

Transatlantic: Day 18

In the Westerlies, lack of wind is not as big of a problem as too much wind. We are in search of the right amount of wind as we make our way towards Bermuda.

The winds are light with the occasional squall and we are trying to find our way as quickly and safely as possible.

The angry ego of our crew member has been broken by the spirit of the sea. He has learned that there is no way to order your commands at the natural world which we are guests in. Having accepted that defeat may be a thing he will have to admit, he decides to make a deal. If we can get near Bermuda by July 3rd, he will stay on the boat and continue his dream voyage of crossing the Atlantic with us as we venture across the ocean for more simplistic reasons (we want to sail to the Azores).

The date is July 1st, and he has given us 3 days to make it to Bermuda. If he were nicer to us, we would have raced that last bit of distance to encourage him to stay on board with us, but since he was very mean to us, we decided to take our time and enjoy the slow sail to Bermuda.

Getting there after the 3rd would avoid a confrontation since he would leave because he decided to leave and not because we ordered him off the boat!