OK. Very cliched, but in this case we almost did a triangular route to Bermuda. More like the Bermuda dog-leg. Our intention had been to leave from St Martin at the beginning of May when a reasonable 3 day forecast of south-east winds arrived, as that would give us hopefully the correct angle to the wind to make our way directly east-north-east to the Azores.
There are a couple of recommended routes to get across the North Atlantic from the Caribbean. The traditional route followed by sailing ships over hundreds of years is to go up north towards Bermuda or to get up towards 40 degrees of latitude and then catch the westerly winds and currents towards Europe. A more modern route that relies a bit more on engines to get across zero-wind high pressure and doldrum zones is to go directly from the Caribbean to the Azores.
I had in mind to try and go directly to the Azores. There were 2 reasons for this. Firstly Bermuda is west of St Martin and I wanted to go east, so it would add several hundred miles and sailing days to our journey to go via Bermuda. The second is that the further north you go the stronger the weather gets, so I was hoping to go across the Atlantic on a more southern route in fairly gentle weather. However we ended up traveling via Bermuda, but more on that a bit later.
We got our favourable weather forecast and left St Martin on the 6th of May headed directly for the Azores. It was a bit ambitious as it would most likely be a slower trip with lighter winds and we therefore calculated it would take anywhere from 18 days to up to 28 days to do the 2200 nautical mile trip.
Within the first few hours of sailing, as we passed between St Martin and Anguilla, we had got our propeller caught up in a fishing net which the local fishermen had left attached to a buoy some miles offshore. Our forward motion came to an instant halt. After unsuccessfully trying to get ourselves off with the boat hook it became obvious I would have to dive down to get us extricated. So we dropped all the sails and I went in. Thankfully it was not too badly wrapped up and a single rope cut was all that was necessary to get us free. So off we went again.
The wind turned out to be a lot more easterly than southerly, so despite us sailing as close into the wind as we could, we still ended up traveling more north than east. And sailing into the wind is certainly less comfortable than sailing with the wind behind the boat. After 5 days of bashing into the North Atlantic we discovered that all our fruit and vegetables had rotted already, we were further north than hoped for and we had reached a dead calm zone already. So we were already starting to motor and use our fuel. At this point we had a crew discussion and decided that perhaps it made more sense to head for Bermuda and break up the trip into 2 smaller journeys. So, we did a virtually 90 degree turn away from the northeast towards the northwest.
The wind and waves starting to calm down. At this point we still thought we were on our way to the Azores.
Jean-Gabriel undertook the fishing duties – seen here with a barracuda. In the South Atlantic it was Mike who was our fisherman, so I am jolly glad to have got another fisherman on board for this trip.
About 5 days out this happened – no wind and glassy seas.
The glassy seas continued for several days – it made for beautiful scenery.
A small rainbow over the glassy seas.
The calm weather continued for the next several days almost the whole way to Bermuda, so we ended up motoring most of the 500 miles to Bermuda.
Entering Town Cut, St George’s Harbour, Bermuda.
Before the trip I had not prepared for the possibility of diverting to Bermuda, so Hanna (and her son) had to research the various customs, immigration and boat regulations, and sms me the details on the satellite phone. The regulations sounded quite tough – particularly the no-black-water-discharge regulation. So I disconnected all the sink outlets and rigged up a lidded bucket as a black water tank on the one toilet. Another unusual thing about Bermuda is that they require you to radio them at least 30 miles out, which we did. Hanna (who was in France at the time) had already filled out the arrival form on the internet, so they knew we were coming and had all our important details.
So you radio the control tower from 30 miles away (nearly 60 kilometres) and then it seems they put a pin on you on their radar and they can follow your progress all the way in. When we got close to Town Cut, which is the entrance to St George’s Harbour, we radioed the tower again and they said they could see us. We were wondering if they had extra powerful binoculars but I think the theory that they pinned us on their radar from 60 kilometres away is more likely. The whole immigration and customs procedure was very friendly and straightforward. We then went and anchored out in the harbour for the next week we were there.
Immaculate Bermuda
Bermuda was a revelation. It sits at 32 degrees north and is warmed by the effects of the Gulf stream. It is a low-lying coral archipelago. It is hard to figure out because you have temperate pine trees and tropical palm trees all growing side by side. I have called it immaculate Bermuda because all the buildings and streets are so well taken care of. There are no slummy areas or shacks visible anywhere – just very neatly painted buildings and well-manicured gardens. All the roofs are painted white throughout the whole chain of islands. For yachties and tourists they have a space-age, stainless-steel-covered, electronically-activated-flush, public toilet block by the dinghy landing. This is a good thing bearing in mind the no-black-water-discharge regulation for boats within 12 miles of Bermuda. They also have a yachties-only refuse collection spot at the dinghy jetty. The Bermuda Yacht Services lounge provides various services for cruisers including wi-fi. So overall we felt very well taken care of as cruising visitors by Bermuda.
Here a group of tourists are gathered around a street theatre re-enactment of a historical scene from the town square.
Town Hall – St George’s Square
Clean streets and freshly painted buildings only, please.
The lady in the corner of the green building is busy repainting the green building, the paint job of which seemed to be in quite good shape already.
Prices in Bermuda. Hmm. I think it is the highest priced place I remember visiting. Public transport costs at least 3 times what it cost in Grenada. The tomatoes and most fruit and veg were on the order of close on US$10 per kilo. The cheapest bottle of wine I remember seeing in the main supermarket chain was US$11. Enough said. They have an interesting website with all the costs of the supermarket stuff – http://www.bermuda-online.org/costoflivingguide2.htm
A little park in St George’s Town.
While we were waiting for a suitable weather window to head off to the Azores we met Nick and Ross. Nick and Ross were on their way to rescue a 60 foot racing boat that had been abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic, and they were in Bermuda looking for a lift to get to their boat. The satellite tracker showed that the boat was directly on the blue line I had plotted from Bermuda to the Azores on my chartplotter, so we agreed to take them out to their racing boat. And that is how we became 5 crew on HapiCat.
HapiCat 