This post was written on board Avalanche Thursday morning, May 28, 2009, after we had left Bermuda. We found we couldn’t send the post via email to the web site. Terribly disappointed, we phoned some information to Ben, who tried to keep you updated. Here is the description we wrote, posted from home on June 1.

34.11 N latitude, 68.17 W longitude, water depth 16,700 feet

Hello Everybody!

We got into Bermuda midday on Wednesday May 27th. We had sauteed both the amber jack and Mahi Mahi for sandwiches, and we cooked up fish water from the Mahi head (compliments of the 2 West Indian chefs aboard). We wanted to have lunch finished before we entered St.Georges harbour because we knew we would have some waiting at Customs & Immigration, and the sandwiches were hot. But you know what they say about plans: they are made to be changed, and so they did. We scooted through the narrow town cut with Norwegian Majesty, a cruise ship over 700′ long, closing on the island, and had to clear Customs & Immigration before they were called to the ship–so the sandwiches cooled off. As we left the customs dock, $35 per person poorer, eating our sandwiches and slowly cruising toward the gas dock we were alerted by Bermuda Radio that we needed to move with haste out of the way of the Norwegian Majesty, now entering town cut–a terrific photo op that we took advantage of. Then it was on to the gas dock for 50 gallons of fuel, followed by a cruise around the entire harbour in an unsuccessful search for Wifi. Delicious, reheated fish water came after we anchored. Lunch over, we got the dinghy and engine set up at almost time for Herb. 3:00 ish.

Now we were ready to begin our “vacation in Bermuda”. Many people might visit the beautiful beaches, the aquarium, the fish chowder restaurants, the duty free shops for china and woolens; or rent mopeds. Not us. The first assignment was to take a case of beer to Bermuda Radio, carried semi-annually by the rookie–this year Ruleo. He set out for the highest point in the area with Peter and Leo to help. Some guides they turned out to be. After walking past the turnoff, Leo remarked that he thought they had missed the turn, while Peter maintained it was further on. Leo was right; they backtracked, found BR, delivered the beer and enjoyed the view over the harbour and beyond as well as a tour of the facility. On their way back downhill they stopped at a local hotel and purchased Wifi use for 24 hours. Meanwhile Nancy and I set out for the grocery for some fruit (it had been slim pickings for produce in Antigua before we left) to be followed by window shopping in the interesting shops. Well, it turned out to be just that: ‘window shopping’, because despite signs that read “Open, Mon-Sat 9:00-5:00″, all the shops were locked up and our watches said 4:00. We had forgotten that Bermuda jumps to DST. The U.S. moved ahead, which put us at the same time as Antigua, and we never changed our watches, nor did we think twice about the time in Bermuda. (That probably explains why, when we reported to BR that our ETA would be 12:15, they called back and asked for our GPS coordinates. They knew it was already about noon and we were still miles away.) A passing cruise ship passenger pointed out our error. In the end the rest of the shopping was done at the drugstore! We all headed back to Avalanche with the Wifi code so Jake and Peter could download weather info, and then put away the dinghy motor and hauled the dinghy. The guys all swam and Nancy and I showered. By the time all that was accomplished we had our gourmet Mahi dinner on the table at 9:00. (Dinner included a special Happy Birthday toast to Herb Hilgenberg on his 72nd birthday.) Shortly thereafter Peter and Leo disappeared to bed with the rest of us not long behind. As you can see, not your normal vacation in Bermuda. At least 5 of us got to walk around for a couple of hours, but Jake only made 2 round trips the length of Avalanche to and from Customs & Immigration for his $35.

The next morning we were all up at 5 a.m. and heading out town cut at 6. We motored until about midday when we had enough wind to sail. The wind built during the afternoon and evening to 25-28, culminating overnight in about 9 squalls at once (wind around 30) for Peter and Nancy (only fair after all, because they hadn’t yet gotten wet). This a.m. Leo and I had clearing weather, followed by heavy clouds and sprinkles, followed by clearing weather again. It’s now in the 80s with sunshine, wind about 20k, but aft so we’re still motorsailing with yankee, staysail and main. Our current speed over the ground is an incredile 9.7 knots!

The fishing score remains the same. We had a wonderful display yesterday morning for Jake and Nancy and me by about 20 dolphins, who played around our bow for at least 10 minutes. It was hard to know how many because they were moving in and out and around each other too rapidly to get a good count. We continue to see lots of Portugese men o’war sailing past.

All the best from the crew of Avalanche, enjoying good weather for now, anticipating crossing the Gulf Stream tomorrow, and looking forward to arriving in Jamestown sometime Saturday.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 7:52 pm and is filed under 2009 Trip North, News!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.