BERMUDA TO HALIFAX

Halifax is 740 nautical miles and almost due north of Bermuda and requires another gulf stream crossing. To make the trip safely we needed a 6 day window of good weather. This is difficult at any time of the year. We watched the weather patterns very closely for over a week and kept a daily radio sched with Herb Hilgenberg, who operates a routing and weather service, broadcasting from just outside Toronto, Canada. His advice was to prove invaluable. There always seemed to be strong winds or gale conditions between us and Canada and this associated with the gulf stream did not present an exciting prospect. Finally Herb said, "I think I can see a possible window for you if you can stand one day of squally conditions 20 to 25 knots, but you should leave sooner rather than later." We decided to leave as soon as we could, went ashore to download the weather charts then back to the boat to prepare to leave but when we got back to the boat we couldn't get in. The companionway hatch was jammed tight. By the use of sheer brute force we managed to get it open but now it was jammed even tighter and we could not move it at all. We couldn't risk sailing without being able to close it. It had to be fixed. Fixing it meant almost taking the boat apart and reconstructing it. We frantically removed the life raft sitting on top of the hatch garage only to find that the frame it sits in was bolted right through the deck. We had to remove half the saloon head liner to get to the nuts on the underside. Three hours later we got the cover off but still couldn't get the hatch to slide. Hammers and blocks of wood and a great deal of brute force finally allowed us to disassemble the whole thing and we found that the problem was caused by a sanding disc (used before our time) which had jammed itself tight into the sliding groove. By now it was dark and we decided to leave the reassembly until first light, but had we missed our opportunity? Two other yachties, aware of our plight came over to help as soon as it was light next morning. Another frantic session and it was all back together and working as it should. We went ashore cleared customs, stowed the dinghy and were under way by 11am (Friday June 29). When we talked to Herb that afternoon he was clearly disappointed that we had not left earlier. We didn't feel like burdening him with our problems but his concern worried us. We knew that Sunday would be a tough day as we had to sail through a cold front that now stretched in a huge arc from Florida to England with several low pressure systems threatening to form in it. To avoid the worst of it Herb directed us to sail northwest towards Cape Cod. With southwest winds this gave us two days of great sailing. We romped along. As predicted, we hit the frontal system on Sunday night and sailed through numerous rain squalls. Bonnie seemed to get the worst watches and reported gusts to 35 knots. We were through the messy weather in 12 hours and most of the squalls gave us winds only in the 25 to 30 knot range. We now faced the gulf stream. We cannot over emphasise the significance of that simple statement. Crossing a fast flowing 60 mile wide warm current of water sounds simple but in its flow it creates huge warm eddies and cold eddies. We thought we were through it, the water temperature had dropped and we were sailing close hauled motor assisted into a 15 knot northerly. We were doing 6.5 knots through the water and 3.5 knots over the ground. We were clearly caught in a cold eddy on the far side of the stream. We tacked in an attempt to get out of it and we were now doing 9 knots over the ground but sailing well off our course. To make matters worse Herb in his last sched had asked us to move as quickly as possible as a new low had formed over the great lakes and was moving east. "Winds will reach gale force near Nova Scotia by Thursday night." This was just what we needed. Our delayed departure now looked likely to mean getting hammered just as we arrived in Halifax. We used a lot of motor assistance and then with 20knot winds up our backside we scooted along wing and wing (main and head sails on opposite sides of the boat) to get in before the gale. We entered Halifax Harbour in the dark on Wednesday night and felt our way to a mooring at Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Club at 2am Thursday July 5, just ahead of the gale. Having Herb on board had given us the best passage we have had so far. Knowing the weather you can expect ahead of time takes a lot of stress out of it all. Later Thursday morning we moved up the North West arm to a mooring at the Armdale Yacht club for better protection as the gale was forecast to hit later in the day. Next stop Newfoundland.

BERMUDA

We spent three weeks in Bermuda. Bermuda is a wonderful place to visit but hard to describe. Over 60,000 people crammed on the ancient remnants of a string of subtropical coral atols linked together by bridges and causeways and sitting in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Believed to have been discovered by the Spanish and Portugese sailors as early as 1503, its settlement dates from 1611 and for a number of historic resons it is more British than Britain. After sailing from America it seemed strange to make our first contact through Bermuda radio and hear very British accents. They play cricket, football (soccer) and netball and in spite of the fact that the majority of people are not white anglophiles they speak with a variety of British accents.
"Bermuda is very expensive", everyone told us, but we didn't find it too bad at all. We anchored in St Georges harbour so our accommodation was free. We bought a monthly pass for public transport and travelled on almost every bus route and ferry route they have. With the number of trips we took the average cost per trip was about $1.The roads are very narrow and wind between rows of houses and small inlets crowded with boats rather like ancient English fishing villages. The way the drivers whip the buses around those roads makes you think every ride may be your last.
In spite of the fact that they are constantly invaded by thousands of Tourists, the people are friendly, greet everyone they meet with a "Good Morning" and are very helpful. Among the many highlights were visits to the old British Navy Dockyards built by convict stonemasons in the 18th Century, worship in St Peter's Anglican Church (1612) and snorkelling amongst brilliantly coloured parrot fish in limpid turquoise pools of warm (26C) water.
Perhaps the most unforgettable experience was to be invited to a traditional Sunday Brunch in the home of one of the long term Bermudian residents. Bob Doe picked us up mid morning in his outboard driven sleek dinghy he designed and built himself and took us to his (and Fiona's) magnificently restored home on Smith Island for a wonderful meal of boiled cod fish, vegetables and trimmings. There were several other couples there for brunch and before we left we visited another magnificently restored old two storied mansion owned by another couple.