(note: due to the storm, preparing for our passage, the 8 day passage, and sparse internet in the Caribbean, we are WAYYY behind.  Please stay tuned as we catch up on the exciting adventures of the past few weeks! Thanks for reading! -Erica, from the Bitter End Yacht Club, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands)

 

Aurora, North Carolina, October 22-30

It was supposed to be a week of projects, getting everything done for our trip to the British Virgin Islands.  Instead, we spent the bulk of the week getting ready for Hurricane Sandy.  To make matters worse, we have no cell service here and no internet service.  Chris’ phone can make a call if he is on the porch.  My phone will pick up some sort of signal every once in awhile, if it is in the center of our bed and the wind dies down, and I don’t breathe while hitting the “send” button.  This made it difficult to track the weather with the absorption and intensity to which we are accustomed.  We relied on our every other day trips to “town” to download email and send messages (town is 45 miles away).

Thank you to all those who follow us on our Facebook fanpage and sent concerned messages.  It was so nice to know that so many of our friends, family, and even our new “never met in person” friends and readers are thinking about us.  I could not get enough of a connection to post to our website or return many of the emails that were sent.  It was so frustrating, but again, all of your thoughts and concerns were very much appreciated.

I tried to get the message out that we were, indeed, safe.  We were in a hurricane hole, on Campbell Creek, in Aurora, North Carolina.  We were docked at my mom and stepfather Sal’s neighbors’ dock and moved to anchor on Saturday afternoon (there was not sufficient room at the dock for both boats to be safe).  We set two anchors and checked and rechecked them.  We removed the bimini, dodger, kayak, paddleboard, cushions, winch handles, lines, fenders, and anything else that could catch the wind and be damaged or cause damage.  Chris fixed the leaky seal in the forward hatch and looked for other minor leaks that could be shored up.  Finally, we were ready for Sandy.

The rains started, the winds picked up, and we moved to the house to ride out the storm.  We had to trudge out in the dark and the rain and the quickly rising tide to bail out the dinghy every couple of hours.  By the 11pm trip, it was getting a little creepy.  I was alone, the water was half way up my new seaboots, and the wind was threatening to blow me off the dock.  Standing in the dinghy, flashlight between my knees, pumping out the water, I made sure to keep my head down and ignored the scary howling of the wind in the swamp weeds.  Getting out of the dinghy, I momentarily thought about what would happen if I fell in.  Almost everyone was asleep back in the house.  It would be hard to get out of the water on my own with my full foul weather gear on.  I was very, very careful climbing back out onto the dock…  On the way back, I was convinced that I was going to be attacked by an alligator or a snake.  I had a flashlight in one hand and my open knife in my other hand as I ran/hyperventilated my way back to the house.

Meanwhile, in between all the hurricane preparations, we have a long and crazy list of things to do for our trip!  As a reminder, we will leave the U.S. on or about November 4^th, with the Salty Dawg Rally.  My dad will join us for the trip so that we have a third adult on board.  We will travel approximately 1,200 miles from Beaufort, NC to Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands.  The trip will take approximately ten days, if all goes well.

We will stay in the BVI’s through New Year’s and will then travel directly to Grenada, which is the last island in the eastern Caribbean chain.  We opted not to visit Venezuela or Trinidad and Tobago, due to security reasons.  We will then travel north through the Windward and Leeward Islands, back the to BVI’s in April.  In May, we will visit Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas.  We will return to the states by June 1 and will travel north from Florida back to New Jersey.  Our complete Floatplan (itinerary) is located on its own page on our website.

On one of our trips to the town of New Bern, we started provisioning for this next, biggest leg of our journey.  We set out for West Marine, and spent a bundle on supplies to finish our projects.  We went to Staples for school supplies and printer ink and Big Lots for watertight containers and little “gifts” for the kids to open each day of our passage.  Then we hit up Lowes for more project supplies.  By the time we got to Harris Teeter (supermarket), American Express had put the kibosh on our card.  Two carts and $680 later, the cashier told us, “I’ve never seen anyone spend so much on groceries.”  Apparently, American Express thought we were the New Bern Nabbers, buying up all the marine supplies in town on a mad spree with a stolen card.  We paid for the groceries with our Visa card instead and had to rearrange the car in the dark to fit all of our purchases in.  On the long car ride home, I tried to avoid thinking about how I was going to fit all this stuff on our already stuffed-to-the-gills Patronus.

If you are at all interested in how we are provisioning our boat for this voyage, check out the Provisioning page.  I’m not sure why I thought anyone would want to read our shopping list, but I know at least Lisa will check it out.  (Hi, Lisa!!!)  In addition to stocking up on our favorite “American” foods, which will be expensive or non-existent in the Caribbean, we bought 7 pounds of chopped meat for meatballs and 9 pounds of chicken to make breaded chicken cutlets.  We will freeze and vacuum seal them so that we have meals ready to go for our voyage.  I also made three lasagnas.  Kathy just sent me a message that she is also making macaroni and cheese and another chicken dish to send up with my dad!

Of course, a 10 day passage is no time for gourmet cooking.  If the weather or seas are bad, it can be uncomfortable moving about the boat.  If the boat is heeled (tipped over) a lot, you have to brace yourself against the wall in the galley in order to cook.  The range gimbals (tilts to stay with the pull of gravity, instead of the boat) but the fridge and cabinets don’t, so food might fly out of them when you open the doors.  Staying down below and trying to concentrate on cooking is much like reading in a moving car.  Not a great combo.  During those times, we will hunker down and do only what is absolutely necessary: drive the boat, sleep, take care of the kids, and eat.

We will have lots of nutritious snacks available that are “grab and go”.  We will also have lots of foods that the kids can make and eat on their own as they get hungry.  But the night watches require a little old school energy.  Think about those college all-nighters, fueled by a pot of coffee, or in my case, a quart of Wegman’s sweetened iced tea.  Chris is planning on subsisting on Triscuits, Gatorade, Tea, and Circus Peanuts for 10 days.  He will probably also get about 10 hours of sleep the whole time.  My secret stash for night watches is two bags of Swedish Fish and two pounds of Twizzlers.  If I am feeling particularly healthy, I will try starting out with my Chinese herbs, made up as tea.  I am also stocked up on Hammer products, which is the nutrition-packed fuel that endurance athletes use.  (Little did we know that Mema had more food surprises for us, including her famous peanut butter balls!)

After all our Hurricane Sandy preparations and all our projects and provisioning, we somehow managed to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner.  This is my mostest favoritist holiday, because it’s all about focusing on Gratitude.  This year, as always,  I am grateful for family, friends, my personal growth as a Bodhisattva-in-training, and the possibility that all beings, everywhere, may be peaceful, happy, and free.  I am also thankful for stuffing and sweet potato pie.  Chris even got to watch the Cowboys on our pre-Thanksgiving Day.

Following is a partial list of jobs we had to complete before our departure (minus one: today my mom helped me dye my hair).

Chris:

Aft head

Change engine oil

Change outboard oil

Fix leak in forward cabin

Install watermaker

Make bookshelf

Satellite phone data

Anchor locker

Install WiFi

Set up flags

Generator: move fresh water bottle higher

Generator:  secure exhaust to make level with downhill run, add clamp

Set up fishing gear

Install zincs

Fix macerator

Install Float Switch in bilge

Install U-Bolts and store delta anchor

Move anchor rode to bilge

Attach new snubber

Fix wetlocker

Splice new anchor rode

 

Sieze shackles to anchor

Set up storm anchor with shackle

Install Serpentine pulleys

Fix leaks in rail

Compass lights

Outboard gear oil

Water leak from after shower

Reroute 2 head siphons

Reroute  a/c siphon

gel coat port side

coolant leak

liferaft

floor board

oven gimbal

check for leaks, fix

mast leak

fridge fan

courtesy lights

check Ventilation – power ventilation operable (blower) and natural ventilations cowls open and clear

check Gauges – functional and reading properly

 

Erica:

Call Atlass Insurance to add Caribbean rider

Measure welcome mat area

Put pictures on flashdrives

Brendan/Rosemary: get stuff from home

Clean boat

Provision: food

Provision: HABA

Provision: school supplies

Measure companionway

Check for mildew in game cabinet/forward cabin

Clean railings (started)

Tape railings

Buff hull

Fill propane tanks

Fill SCUBA tanks

Check NOAA database for our EPIRB

Clean/treat/seal/tape forward hatches

Make cabin wall bags

Measure for aft starboard locker shelving

Install magazine racks

 

Clean/Buff companionway covers

Clean/buff all hatches/portholes

Post emergency information/label MOB and ER buttons

Phone meeting to review Floatplan with Tom, Rosemary, Kathy

reTraining: EPIRB

reTraining: Engine start/shut down

reTraining: SOS call

reTraining: Satellite phones

Dye Hair

Clean Vents

 

To order/buy:

Replacement PFD cartridges

Fridge fans

Railing drink holders

Freezer shelf

Bilge bins

Bin for forward dresser top

Book shelf supplies

Temperature sensors for fridge/freezer

McMastercar.com for electric motor mount for watermaker

French flag, Antigua flag

Tiger Cub Handbook, Misty of Chincoteague, Heal Your Body A-Z, Mitching/Beautiful swimmers

Camera Lens

Batteries AAA, C, D

Pelican hook for stern lifeline

2 brass flag clips

Bigger flag halyard

Potholders

Coffee Pot

Heel-Tastic

Seasick patches

Plastic page protectors

Bonine for kids

Ginger gum

Red/Black Scrubbies

 

And yes, we are supposedly leaving in 1 week…