It’s Thursday afternoon on day two of our 5-6 day passage to Bermuda, about 180 miles under our keel and another 670 to go. 

I always enjoy sunrise at sea.  Today at dawn, very peaceful sailing on nearly flat seas.   Somehow, I can never seem to get the horizon level.

The seas have been remarkably calm and we are moving along about 6kts in 10kts of breeze on the beam.  As the run progresses, we expect that the winds will back and get lighter so we will end up motoring, perhaps for two days or so as we get closer to Bermuda. 

However, for now, we are moving along nicely with the big code zero and have not used the engine since shortly after we left the harbor yesterday morning.

I expect that good sailing conditions will continue through perhaps Friday afternoon.   Having said that, it is hard to say what will happen with the wind as the two weather models that we use, the Euro and GFS are not in agreement for the last 200 miles into Bermuda so we may find that we have a bit more wind.   Hard to say.

With some luck, we will arrive sometime late on Monday or Tuesday morning.  We will see.

For now, I am happy to be sailing. 

One issue with motoring is that the engine is under the galley sink and when it heats up, the cabin becomes unbearably hot, upwards of 95 degrees.   Once the batteries are charged, and there is less load on the engine, I can run smaller forward AC off of the main engine inverter and that helps keep things a bit cooler.  It is possible that I could run the main AC unit but am a bit afraid of putting too much strain on the alternator as if it failed from being overworked, that would be a pain.

Last night, as the engine cooled down from our departure, I had a lot of trouble sleeping down below but around 23:00 it was finally cool enough to sleep.  I was out until my alarm went off at 03:50 when I had to get ready for my 03:00 to 07:00 watch. 

It is rare to have “just enough” wind to use the code zero, a large headsail that only works in a fairly narrow range of wind, say 6-14kts.  But it does make a lot of difference when the wind is light, like now.  We deployed it soon after departure yesterday and this is the first time that I have ever used the sail at night.

We will see how long the wind holds but for now we are having a wonderful sail and the crew seems to have settled in nicely.

Oh yeah, under the “it’s always something” category, I just discovered that my code zero sail needs some love and there is a lot of sun damage near the sun cover on the leech, near the back of the sail.   Not sure how that happened and it just looks like the sun cover fabric was not quite wide enough to protect the sail.  Oh well, I guess I will have that fixed in Bermuda.  I sure hope that they can fix it in time.  Worse, I hope that they do not tell me that it is too far gone.  Fingers crossed.

The fleet heading to Bermuda and then to the Azores is about a dozen boats and you can follow them on this link.  https://sdsatracking.com/azores2025/

Of course, Pandora’s track alone can be accessed on the “where in the world is Pandora” button up on the top of this page.

I’ll surely post again soon but for now I am happy to say that the crew is settling in nicely.  I, for one, will be happy when half of the run is behind us.

It’s Wednesday morning and we are underway, and bound for Bermuda, 850 miles to the north, the first big leg of my run to Horta in the Azores. 

The seas are very calm and the breeze light enough to use our big headsail, the Code 0.    According to the latest forecast, we should arrive in Bermuda sometime on Monday.

After only a few hours underway, the crew is settling into “passage mode” lounging around and enjoying the gentle roll of the swells.

George manning the helm.

Dave chilling…

And down below, Pandora in cruising mode with all the cushions covered with canvas.

When I think back to the last year and all that has gone into making plans and getting Pandora ready for the run, it amazes me that we are on our way.  Sailing north to Bermuda at 7kts in 9-12kts, just forward of the beam.   A beautiful start to a passage that is expected to be light wind sailing much of the way.

Between the trials of the last few weeks beginning with the last items to get Pandora ready to head north along with the ridiculous chain of events including engine issues and, who would have guessed it, an emergency root canal in St Martin, I can hardly believe that we are finally on our way to Bermuda.

Just deciding where Pandora will spend next winter, once I get to the Mediterranean, was hard enough.  I contacted perhaps two dozen marinas to find a place that I felt comfortable with and was at least sort of reasonably priced. 

Lining up nearly a dozen crew for the various legs, back and forth to Trinidad, twice, and from there north to St Maarten, onto Bermuda, Horta and finally Almeria Spain was a big deal.

And, I won’t even talk about the fear of my rudder being bitten off by an orca as we make our way from the Azores to Gibraltar.   I have no idea what the odds are of that happening but running into a guy on the beach in Falmouth Antigua, who had been attacked just a few months earlier, certainly made it seem plenty “real”. 

I cannot begin to describe the number of items that I had to purchase, from extra water pumps, spare autopilot driver, a remarkably complete medical kit and an alarming number of prescription drugs, mostly antibiotics, just in case.  They say that on a cruising boat everything is broken, you just don’t know it yet. 

And, on top of all of the medical supplies, as scary as all this sounds, how about a mechanical skin stapler.  Oh boy, I hope that never comes out of the bag.

The number of nights that I woke up thinking of “what have I missed” are too many to count and as recently as a few days ago I thought that I would have to bag the entire trip and head back to Trinidad when I was warned that the engine repairs might take weeks to sort out which would put me beyond a reasonable window to cross to the Azores.

Oh, that was fun to think about as hurricane season is coming up very soon and it was only about a year ago when the massive hurricane Beryl trashed the SE Caribbean.  If I was not going to Europe, I would be heading south to Trinidad yet again or perhaps home to New England.   If I could not go this year, who knows if there would be another chance.

And, all of this is just the planning for Pandora, and does not include all the details of being away from home until mid-August when Brenda and I return from Europe.  The last time I did not cut my own lawn was when Rob and Chris were kids. 

Oh yeah, and being away from Brenda for six weeks, including our 58^th anniversary, my 70^th birthday and, worse of all, MOTHER’S DAY, to top off the list has made this tough.

Brenda has said for years that our lives, are “way too crazy”.   And, while I generally resist that label, over the last few weeks it does seem that way.

However, I always fall back on the idea that we, in the words of our financial advisor, are in our “go-go years” that will in time be replaced by the “slow go years” and ultimately the dreaded “NO-GO years” all in due course.  With all that, and the craziness all of this seems to ladle on our lives, it is clear to me that we need to go-go while we can.  As near as I can figure, there are no “do-overs”. 

We were supposed to depart for Bermuda on the 18^th and with little wind in the forecast, we waited and waited for what seemed like a long time but finally, complete with forecasted wind for much of the trip, we have departed, three days late.

As crazy as this has been, I keep reminding myself that it was just a little more than a year ago when I contacted the Salty Dawg board of directors to see if there might be interest in running a new rally to the Azores as I wanted to go and would love to lead the fleet. 

Much to my surprise, they embraced the idea and more than a few jumped on board to do the planning.

A “bucket list” had never been something that I have focused on but I can still remember when Brenda and I were on vacation in Maine many years ago and visited briefly with a couple that lived on their boat for several months every summer, a lifestyle that seemed unattainable to me as I held down a very demanding full time job.

However, a few short years later retirement seemed within reach and suddenly I just had to have a boat that could “cross oceans”.  Of course, Brenda was not particularly amused but went along as we made plans to head to the Bahamas, then Cuba, the Caribbean and now…

Crossing the pond…

As I have mentioned a number of times recently, my dad, gone over ten years now, once remarked, “Bob, wouldn’t it be amazing to take Pandora through the straights of Gibraltar”.

Well, here I am, on my way and setting aside the 4,000 ocean miles and a menacing pod or pods of orcas between here and there, I might just do that.

Only 850 miles to Bermuda and one step at a time.  I cannot believe all of this is happening.

Editor:  I posted this while at sea and will continue to do so regularly so if you are interested in following along, and I hope you are, sign up on the upper right hand of this page and you’ll get an email when I put up another post.

Well, so much for departing for Bermuda on Monday.

Chris Parker, our weather router, has been tracking a particularly recalcitrant high pressure zone, (no wind) between us and Bermuda and it just won’t go away. As a result of this the question is just how much do we want to motor for the next 850 miles.

The answer is “no more than I have to and not more than I have fuel for” but that’s a relative term as the high is really large and isn’t going away any time soon. This means that we either wait a week more before departing our there will be plenty of motoring. However, we are time constrained so the plan is to take the best of the worse options.

As I have crew coming in next week and we have to be in Bermuda to begin the run to Horta, I will have to pick the “lesser evil” and leave when we at least have a hope of sailing perhaps more than half of the way.

Unfortunately, even the best option isn’t all that great but the “best of the worst” seems to be a Wednesday evening departure, three days later than hoped.

The big issue for me is that when I motor, I really only go about 5kts verses 7.5-9kts when sailing. That means that for every hour I motor, vs sailing, I am only making about half the mileage. Put another way, to leave a day later and sail means that I am only actually going to get there about 12 hours later. Sure, that’s a crude comparison but with a limited amount of fuel and the fact that I have a SAILBOAT, I prefer to sail.

So, here we sit, waiting for good news, or at least somewhat good news from Chris on when to depart.

Sadly, if we were to wait a whole week we could probably sail the entire distance but that isn’t realistic for us given a schedule that we ultimately need to keep. Delayed or not, at least there is a few days delay built into the schedule but I have crew flying out and others flying in, so I really have to be in Bermuda by next Wednesday.

The latest runs on Predict Wind suggest that if we leave on Wednesday evening we will arrive in Bermuda sometime late on Monday or in the wee hours of Tuesday. Let’s hope that’s right.

So, here we sit, cooling our jets, in Anguilla. It’s an island adjacent to St Martin, the French side, and is not quite as bustling as St Maarten. Besides, we wanted to get out of the marina and I didn’t mind avoiding the $100 daily dockage fee.

There’s not a lot to look at here but we are surrounded by about a half dozen Dawg boats, also waiting for the wind. A number of their crew went diving today. Our dink is on deck so we have opted to just hang out aboard till we depart. Perhaps a happy hour aboard Pandora with others? We will see.

The view to shore isn’t much with a few beach bars and not a lot else.

Benign as the weather is this time of year, it is hard to imagine the immense power of a major hurricane if and when it hits the island. There is a wrecked fishing boat on the beach nearby as a testament to the power of waves.

Even more impressive is that this is just the stern, with the bow on the beach hundreds of yards away.

The bay where we are anchored is wide open to the ocean and the ruggedness of the commercial docks suggests that it does indeed get “sporty” from time to time.

And some of the homes built on the beach are equally robust like this “bunker” home.

Those who follow my blog know that I am always curious about particularly nice looking or unusual boats. I was struck by this yacht nearby. Pretty neat looking. Her name is Prometej, 157′ long built in 1957. She looks lovely and clearly is well maintained .

She is a true ocean voyager, capable of traveling 6,000 miles at 12kts. Interesting, she carries over 20,000 gallons to go that distance, what appears to be an hourly consumption rate of 1,000 gallons every 24 hours. How much does it cost to run a yacht like that “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it”…

Anyway, she’s a looker.

It seems that she was once an icebreaker converted to a yacht. This sales video suggests that she was recently purchased based on the slightly different paint job. What a beautiful yacht.

Can’t swing 1,000 gallons of fuel a day and your own mega yacht? Not to worry, for those of us that are more “fiscally constrained” there are always the smaller cruise ships like the lovely Vela anchored nearby.

Want to see more? Check out this short clip.

Still too expensive for your budget? There’s always this local boat, “Damit Janet V”. I wonder what happened to the first four? See, there’s something for everyone, even in this harbor.

So, here we are in the classic “hurry up and wait” but after the crazy few weeks I have had between dental and engine issues, I guess I needed a bit of time to decompress before the big run to Bermuda.

At this point, I am hoping for an easy run and that I get there in time to change crew in a non-stressful way.

And, that long six week separation from Brenda that I have groused about, well it’s down to less than a month. Let’s hope that her arrival in Horta on the 15th isn’t too long in advance of my arrival.

I miss her terribly…

It’s Sunday and Pandora is in St Maarten, where we have been working feverously to prepare Pandora to begin her run to Spain via Bermuda and the Azores.

There have been a number of weather briefings and get-togethers and the group is getting excited. Last night a few of us got together at a local bar to celebrate the pending departure, now expected to be Monday morning.

Dave, second from the left and George, on the right, are my two crew members, heading to Bermuda.

The marina is new, having been built to replace a facility that was destroyed a few years ago by a hurricane. The new facility is built to a very high standard, designed to survive a category 5 hurricane. It’s built like a bunker, albeit a bunker with a pool on the second floor.

And the docks, substantial concrete. Pandora’s on the left about half way down.

So, there you have it, here we are and we are about ready to go. But I can tell you that it hasn’t been anywhere that simple. Let me explain.

About two weeks ago I met my friend Ken in Trinidad to head the near 500 miles north to St Maarten with the plan of arriving here about 5 days before our planned departure for Bermuda.

Before I left Trinidad I asked to have a mechanic check out Pandora’s engine and to pull the injectors to be sure that all was in order. I had noticed a bit of smoking and wanted to be sure that everything was right before heading out on a big run.

He pulled all four injectors, had them tested and declared that they were in very good shape and running at nearly 90% efficiency. I wanted to be sure that all was well and in case I had to order new ones, that there was time to get them to one of my crew so he could bring them with him on his flight to St Maarten.

Well, the tech that re-installed the injectors really messed up the job and I can not begin to describe the leaking mess that ensued and several days that it took to try and stabilize things. I tried to get the leaks fixed along the way and finally determined that the tech had damaged part of two injectors when re-installing them and now they needed replacing.

It was a mad rush but I was finally was able to order new ones and get them shipped to my crew member Dave who brought them to St Maarten. After that installation, a few days ago, all was still not well as other problems had cropped up. I learned that the original work not only messed up the injectors but other related parts and the mess got much worse and while some of the original leaks were gone, new ones had cropped up.

It has been two weeks of torment and as of yesterday I began to fear that the whole trip might have to be called off when I learned that there might be a problem with the high pressure pump. If that was the case, it would need to be pulled off and sent to the “factory” to be rebuilt, a delay that would have kept me here for at least another two weeks, a delay that would have been fatal to my entire plan as we would be into the hurricane season. Remember hurricane Beryl last June?

I was very anxious, as you can imagine, but after yet another day of work from now two mechanics, the problem was finally solved. Well, I hope…

No leaks now. Whew…

And the engine is just part of it. as it has been a crazy couple of weeks on a number of levels as a few months ago I had a major tooth issue and thought that I needed a root canal. But after two visits to my dentist at home, we determined that a simple replacement of the filling would do the trick. Oops, bad decision. Root Canal needed!

After leaving Trinidad the pain came back with a vengeance and now I HAD TO DO SOMETHING! And so began a mad search for a dentist that could fit me in. I won’t go into all of the gory details but I finally found a clinic on in French St Marten and they agreed to do the procedure on Thursday, two days ago.

I was very pleased with how things went. Well, as pleased as anyone can be with a root canal. No, it wasn’t fun but was clear to me that the facility and the dentist who worked on me were top notch. After the procedure I was feeling a bit shaky and a bit run down and treated my self to a very French chocolate mousse because I was such a “big boy” during the procedure. No lollypop for me. Not in France. And to add an even more surreal moment to the whole affair, when was the last time you went to the dentist BY BOAT?

I have friends that have had dental work done in the Caribbean with good results and when Brenda and I have had medical issues over the years have been happy with the care we received. And it is always way less expensive than in the US.

It is worth noting that my root canal was $500, about a third of what it would have cost in the US and the clinic was huge, with a dozen dentists and the latest equipment. I was impressed. I am always amazed with how much less treatments cost here than in the US and friends that have traveled in Europe have also said that medical treatments there are way less expensive, and very high quality, when compared to the US

So, perhaps I can take solace in the belief that the savings on my root canal partially made up for the “pain” of having so much work done on the injectors. Now, there’s a first rate rationalization.

Back to getting ready for the run to Bermuda.

One of the issues that we face for our run north is a lack of wind. Recent runs from Predict Wind, shows the large band of virtually no wind that awaits us. We had a weather briefing last evening by Chris Parker who suggested that we’d be motoring about half of the 850 miles to Bermuda unless we are willing to wait a week or more before departing, which we aren’t.

The course shows beginning in St Maarten and ending in Bermuda. The blue area is no wind, green, perhaps 15kts and yellow, not much. That’s a lot of motoring.

Yesterday we trussed up the dink on the cabin top and filled the fuel tanks as well as did some provisioning. And don’t forget the hours that the mechanics were on board but there is still lots to do to get Pandora ready to head out so today will be very busy. A few days ago I went shopping with Dave and purchased a load of stuff, canned, frozen and fresh but today will bring another round of provisioning, mostly for fresh food.

So, it’s looking like we will depart on Monday as part of the Salty Dawg Rally to the Azores and I will continue to post along the way. If you want to get a message when I post, which I plan to do regularly, sign up at the top of this page.

You can follow the fleet at this tracking map or follow Pandora alone on my Garmin page.

I guess that’s about it for now. Still lots to do so I’d better get on it.

Let the rally begin…

It’s Saturday and Ken will be arriving today, two days later than planned. Life has a way of getting in the way.

The few days after I arrived were hectic, getting everything ready for Pandora to splash and move into a slip for some last minute work before departing. The original plan was for her to go in a day before Ken arrived so that we’d be ready to depart on Friday morning, bound for Bequia, about 145 miles to the north.

However, when Ken arrived at the airport and handed his passport to the agent he realized, much to his horror, that the “passport case”, while it looked lovely and protected his precious passport, was empty. It seems that he had set it on his home copier and left it there after doing a scan.

An honest mistake but one that had a cascading effect on everything. Of course, he had to head back home and arrange for a flight the next day but when he arrived the next morning he learned that he was going to be on standby on the second leg.

As luck would have it, while he made it to Miami he didn’t make it onboard the second leg to Trinidad. However, it wasn’t until an alternate flight later that day took off that he learned that the bag was now in Trinidad as he had been told that since he wasn’t on the flight, his bag didn’t make it. We both thought that the airline always cross-referenced every passenger with their bag. I guess not, at least not for the transfer to the second flight. Live and learn.

So now, here we are several days later and he’s finally going to arrive and assuming no surprises, we should be able to depart on Sunday morning, tomorrow. Better late than never.

While the delay was frustrating, and ate into the time that we have to get to St Maarten, where I will lead the Salty Dawg Rally to Bermuda, I was able to get some last minute work done on Pandora and to spend time “smelling the roses”.

In this case, the “roses” consisted of trying some of the local food and seeing some really interesting fauna. How about this iguana? He/she was more than 2′ long. Quite a beautiful shade of green. They are at their most brightly colored when they are alarmed. Somehow it is comforting that there is at least one creature that feels threatened by Moi.

This amazing beetle wasn’t amused to have me pick him up.

Top and bottom, a remarkable critter.

I also was able to finish a number of other projects that were well underway. Given my concerns about having my primary rudder bitten off by a juvenile orca near Gibraltar, I had an auxiliary tiller fabricated for my vane steering. It is probably a bit over-engineered and a work of art in itself.

The idea is that If my primary steering fails I will be able to steer the boat and move the auxiliary vane tiller with lines connected to pullies on the radar arch. Well, that’s the theory. I hope that I do not have to test the theory in rough conditions. If it isn’t clear, it’s the S shaped handle. Lot’s of stainless around Pandora.

To that point, you can really get a feel for the complexity of the stainless work on Pandora in this photo.

In addition to the metal work I also had some canvas work, electrical and engine work, some of which would probably not have been completed unless Ken was delayed. I guess that is the silver lining.

Pandora is an impressive boat but what a contrast she is against this lovely teak festooned ketch. What a contrast to the “sans wood” Pandora. She is a virtual teak forest and in perfect condition. She’s beautiful but I can only imagine what it costs to keep her in perfect varnish.

The local craftsman are known for their woodworking skills and they use a LOT of teak. It’s is sourced here in Trinidad and is farm raised and harvested from trees that are about 75 years old. These boards easily weigh more than a hundred pounds each and a single piece one foot square and 2″ thick costs more than $20. Each board is worth in the neighborhood of $800-$1,000 and a boat can use a lot of teak. A friends of mine are getting new teak decks on their boat and the installation is likely to cost somewhere in the $60,000 range. And that assumes that everything else is AOK on their boat. Big job.

Ken won’t arrive here until around 8:00 tonight and we will still have to clear out with customs near the marina. Fortunately, they are open 24 hours a day due to the very busy commercial ship traffic. But it’s still a process.

With luck we will depart early tomorrow morning to make the 145 mile run to Bequia. I expect that the run will take about 20-22 hours assuming good wind.

Wish us luck. Departing is good and better late than never.

Don’t forget that you can sign up to get a notice when I post and I will be posting regularly for the next few months.

There is also a tracker aboard so you can see where we are in real time under “where in the world is Pandora”. As the rallies get underway I will also be posting a page so you can follow the rally fleet and see where all of the boats are located