Category Archives: Passage

Time spent between destinations travelling on the water.

Passage from Dominica to Bonaire – Days 1 – 3

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Day 1

We spent the morning getting ready to go and pulled out around 11:45. We decided to run with dual stabilization, so we left the paravanes out when we took off. We like the idea of the smoothest ride possible.

Initially, we were in the lee of Dominica and seas were calm and pleasant. Even after leaving the lee, the ride was nice. At 1730, the seas started to pick up some, but only enough to move us from the “nice” to the “fairly good” category. It was a dark night with no moon.

Pretty much the entire ride the wind was 8 14 apparent on the aft (directly behind us), which means the usual problems with the hot air from the engine room getting blown into the downstairs cabins. It is definitely stuffy and stinky down there. Since it is calm, we have the hatches and portholes open, which helps a lot.

Day 2

Conditions were status quo until the early afternoon, when the wind picked up to 11 20 apparent. The seas followed suit and Continue reading →

Welcome to Portsmouth, Dominica

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At midnight we heard a loud crash on the top deck. It was windy and rainy and very dark out from the lack of stars and moon. We turned on the lights and looked out the back windows. Everything looked fine. The kayaks, dinghy and dock boxes were all secure. Eric went outside briefly and glanced at the top deck. All looked fine. We couldn’t figure out for the life of us what caused the crashing sound.

About the same time as the crash, the wind calmed down some and the seas started to improve a little. By 0100, we were in the lee of Guadalupe and the ride became smooth and nice. The wind was blocked by the big mountains on Basse Terre, so it died down to 3 5 knots. There are definitely a lot more lights at night on Guadeloupe than on Antigua, but it is no surprise since Guadeloupe has 450,000 people and Antigua only has 72,000.

We left the shelter of Guadalupe at about 0400 and it was instantly back to not being a fun ride. At sunrise, Dominica was visible, but the big mountains were mostly enshrouded in clouds. As morning progressed Continue reading →

Start of the Passage from English Harbor to Portsmith, Dominica

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Yesterday was chore day. Eric changed the forward racor fuel filter, changed the generator racor fuel filter, changed the main on engine fuel filter, changed the generator on engine fuel filter, changed the transmission oil and filter, ran the wing engine, and replaced the sea strainer for the diaphragm bilge pump. Eric also put the storm plates back on the salon (living room) windows, which we had taken down for the boat waxing. He also put Lanicote corrosion protector on the screws for the storm plates.

Christi did laundry, cleaned, and did the never ending and thankless job of reorganizing storage spaces.

This morning we walked over to Falmouth Harbor to go Continue reading →

Passage to English Harbor, Antigua

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This morning Eric was up early. The waves had picked up considerably during the night, and our once fairly flat anchorage was now rocky as all get out. Eric was having a hard time sleeping with all the motion. We got ready quickly and pulled up anchor at 0745.

A little bit southwest of the sand bar is a long, thin strip of especially shallow water. While the water in the rest of the bay is about 15 feet deep, this strip is only 9 feet deep. We were stunned as we watched enormous waves breaking on the 9 foot strip. We mean enormous. Oddly, the Continue reading →

Batch 14 Fuel Treatment

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So we did something absolutely insane. We didn’t mention it at the time because we knew we would be bombarded with criticism and we just didn’t want to hear it, so we kept it to ourselves. But, it looks like our insanity turned out to be a smart choice after all, and since it worked out, we are going to tell you about it.

While we were in Guadeloupe, we met a fellow boater on the docks and started chatting with him. He is Continue reading →