LED Navigation Lights

While LED Navigation Lights are a bit pricier when compared to regular incandescent bulb navigation lights, they do boast some serious advantages.

The first and most obvious is that they consume very little power when compared to a bulb. An LED Red/Green combination light will consume less than 1 amp while a similar bulb would consume at least 4 amps! Our anchor light consumes 0.1 amps, and our stern light burns up 0.5 amps.

All in all, running a set of LED Navigation Lights can save you some serious amperage and that will help save your batteries for more important amp draws, such as your refrigerator!

Te next huge advantage of LED over bulb is the incredible lifespan of the light. A regular bulb will burn out in a few months of use, especially if it is subjected to heavy weather where it is pounding around. I used to have to carry spare bulbs because it always seemed to burn out in bad weather and necessitate me going up to the tip of the bow in a pitching sea to change the light bulb. LED lights boast a burn time of 50,000 hours. This equates roughly to 5.7 years of illumination!

The last major advantage of LED lights over bulbs is heat. LED lights just stay cooler than a bulb navigation light, and this means that you have less risk of a burn if you lean into the housing while you are working on the deck. I have only seared my forearm on the bow light once to learn that it should not be touched after being on for hours! LED lights, on the other hand, never get that hot, making them safe to be around at all times.

Lastly, the biggest advantage that comes from LED lights isn't really an advantage of one type over another, but more of a special feature you get when you are fully LED: you can leave your lights on for the entire voyage. Yes, we leave our lights on by day. It isn't that we think we are more visible or safer having the lights on by day, but more along the lines of "we forget to turn them off" by day. The sun comes up and we stop seeing the glow of the lights around the boat. Since there is no penalty for keeping them on, we don't pay it much mind. When the sun sets, we never have to worry about turning on the lights, because they are already there.

When we arrive somewhere, we switch the navigation lights off and turn on the anchor light. The same truth hold for it. If we find ourselves on shore later than we expected, we don't worry about our boat being dark in the anchorage, as the anchor light is always on!

I am not saying that you should turn your lights on and forget about them, but with LED, you can and not have any serious consequences as a result. It makes it so that you always have your lights on in the dark and you don't have to think about it to make it happen.

Sargassum-less Sargasso Sea

The Sargasso Sea is the only sea in the world not bounded by any landmass. It lives nestled inside the North Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda.

The Sargasso Sea is a magical place, where the waters salinity is higher and a special type of floating seaweed originates. Sargassum is an entire world and habitat to tiny sea creatures that float along the ocean in these little rafts of life.

I had read that deep in the Sargasso, the sargassum would become thick and appear as a golden field in the middle of the ocean! The thought of waking up for my watch and stepping outside into the cockpit and seeing a golden meadow fascinated my mind!

As we sailed by Bermuda, I grew excited for the sargassum to become thicker! We would see small streaks of sargassum stretching across the ocean, which made me think we might be getting closer, but we were not.

We crossed the Sargasso Sea and never saw any thick patches. We actually saw more sargassum off the coast of Florida! Alas, we sailed on and exited the Sargasso without getting to experience the magical meadow that floats around in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Somer's Supermarket, Bermuda

Food in Bermuda is slightly more expensive than in the states. Yes, some items are ridiculously overpriced, but there is usually a cheaper alternative right next to it.

For example, Arnold's Oatmeal Bread costs $8.95 for a loaf. Right next to it is a house brand loaf that is twice as big and only $5.

So, if you insist on buying your favorite name brand foods, expect to pay through the nose. If you are willing to buy local brands, the prices are still manageable.

To help alleviate the pain of provisioning in Bermuda, shop at Somer's Supermarket in St. George's on the northern end of the island. It's a short two block walk from the dinghy dock and very cruiser friendly.

If you tell them you are on a yacht, they will give you a 5% discount on the total bill. Also, for a $10 deposit, they will let you take a grocery cart down the street to the dinghy dock, making it much easier to get all you food back to your boat. When you bring the cart back, they give you back your $10 bill.

Bermuda is such a gorgeous place to visit, and if you can avoid buying fuel there, you will find the cost of cruising there to be comparable to cruising on the East Coast of the United States.

Headsail Trimming in the Dark

On night watch, you will inevitably have to trim a headsail in total darkness. The moon has either not risen or is new, offering no illumination on the matter at hand. Stars, while bright and beautiful, will not grant you vision of your headsails either.

You could shine a flashlight at the sail, but this will only destroy your night vision making the remainder of the process even harder.

So how do you trim a headsail in the dark? By feel.

If the headsail is too eased, it will flutter and that fluttering can be felt in the sheet as it approaches the winch. Simply ease the sail until you feel it start to flutter, then winch it in until this damaging vibration ceases. At this point, the sail is trimmed in as little as possible so you don't risk being over-trimmed either.

Next time you can't see your sail, simply touch the sheet and let your fingers see for you.

Bioluminescence

On passage from Bermuda to the Azores, we had a very pleasant surprise. The winds were strong and consistent, carrying us along at a steady 5-6 knots all day and all night. At night, this speed provided yet another splendor.

The wave action of the bow wave as well as waves breaking around is glow with the light of billions of tiny dynoflagela. These little bacteriums are responsible for the bioluminescence in the oceans waters and they can turn an ordinary night watch into a psychedelic light show!

Night watch may seem rather dull and pointless when out in the middle of the ocean where the last boat you saw was three days ago; but when every wave lights up in a mystic green hue, night watch becomes something to look forward to!