Passage from Bermuda to Antigua - Port Tack Reach the Whole Way (11/10/21 - 11/15/21)

Bermuda was so wonderful, we were a little bit sad to leave. We had made some new friends, John and Judy, and I felt like there was so much more to see and do but we couldn't pass up the good weather window for the jump to Antigua. We left on Wednesday morning, along with several other Salty Dawgs and NARC boats, all taking advantage of the weather forecast. It was a little rough and the breeze was NE but forecast to clock around to the east as we headed out the Town Cut Channel. We had beautiful skies and close reaching all day and we were able to get some good photos of Suki (Pia's friend Bill was sailing the NARC on Suki) and Blue Pearl, as they did of us. 

The passage was the easiest passage south to the Caribbean we've had. We remained on a port tack reach the whole way with winds at 10 to 15 knots. We had visits by dolphins several times and saw lots of commercial traffic. There was plenty of time for reading and fishing; however, we didn't do any catching and lost 4 lures. We "almost caught" one nice sized Mahi but just as we had it close, the line broke. Bummer. We had two fish on at once, one on a hand line and one on the pole. As Bryan and Bob were bringing them in, there was a great thrashing and splashing about in the water and they were both gone. Huh, probably a shark or big barracuda got our dinner.

Passage Statistics - 1035 nautical miles, 129 hours 45 minutes, 8.0 knots average boat speed (whoo hooo, that's fast!), 14.5 knots max boat speed (whooo hooo, that's really fast!), 2.1 engine hours 

Books Read & Rated (1 star - I don't recommend, 2 stars - OK/good, 3 stars - good, I recommend)

Pia

The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist, about the brain and the preponderance of left brain vs right, philosophy & culture; 3 stars - "A little cerebral but good if you're twisted like me"

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, an historical fiction set in Moscow in the early nineteen hundreds, 3 stars (I have read this book and also rate it 3 stars)

Bob

The Tiger by John Vaillant, non-fiction about tigers killing people in Russia, 2 stars (Bryan read this and also rates it 2 stars - "Interesting but it got a little long")

Cold Oceans by Jonathan Turk, memoir about adventuring in places like the Cape Horn and the Arctic Ocean, 2.5 stars

Betsy 

The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan, novel about a serial killer finally jailed at the age of 70 and his prison-keeper set in Montana, 3 stars - "I liked it but it is NOT an uplifting story"

From Where We Sail by Dianne Lane, a memoir about a family who sailed around the world in a C&C 61 (YES! Sorcery, a sister ship to Joli), 2 stars - "Good, but it got a little repetitive"

An Embarassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof about a Canadian couple who take a 2-year sabbatical to sail to the Caribbean with recipes, 3 stars - "Enchanting and very well written"

Bryan 

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a romance novel with a lot of sex, 2 stars - "I'm not a romance novel kind of person"

Daylight by David Baldacci, an easy, popcorn crime/murder mystery, 2 stars - "I would give it 2.5 if it had more sex"

Polly

Final Cut by S.J. Watson, psychological thriller, 1 star - "Plot is confusing and I didn't like the characters"

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel made up of a series of stories involving Olive in a coastal Maine town, 2.5 stars - "I know life isn't always sunshine and sailing, but some of the stories are downers"

Joli sailing east from Bermuda, photo credit Brian on Suki

Bryan and Pia like reaching!

Out the Town Cut Channel

Bob & Bryan with Bermuda in the background

The Town Cut Channel from St. George's Harbour was opened on January 1, 1917.

Sunsets and sunrises on the ocean are my favorite part of passages.

Suki, sailing east out of Bermuda as part of the North Atlantic Rally to the Caribbean (NARC).

There were some big swells on the first day - Blue Pearl is hidden behind this one.

Suki and Joli, photo credit Ruud on Blue Pearl

Blue Pearl, a fellow Salty Dawg

One morning when Betsy & I were on watch, two tankers going opposite directions crossed behind us. Ethane Chrystal (left) and Delma (right)

Delma approached within 1.7 nm of us. The AIS is very helpful out on the ocean.

The sailing conditions made it comfortable for reading.

Betsy doing her "boat aerobics"

French toast, sausage, eggs and bagels for our last breakfast at sea

FISH ON!! We had a fish on the pole and one on the hand line at the same time! Unfortunately, a shark or big barracuda got them both. 

We were thankful to have beautiful sailing conditions the whole way.

The Joli crew at the Admirals Inn, English Harbour, Antigua