Days 5 of Our Passage from Norfolk to Marsh Harbor, Abacos, Bahamas

Sunday, November 16 – By midnight, the seas had begun to deteriorate. It was still a nice ride, but the storm up north was affecting sea conditions down here. If all went according to plan, we’d be arriving to Abacos before the seas got bad. Since the wind direction had changed a little bit, Eric change our course a little bit for a smoother ride.

As the day went on, the conditions continued to worsen, which surprised us. When Eric checked the weather, he saw we were in the convergence zone of three weather systems, making the seas seriously confused. Swells were 3 – 4 feet at rapid intervals coming from three different directions, and once in a while we’d get a 5- 6 footer that would slam into us hard. There was 2 – 3 feet of wind chop, too.

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Start of the Passage from Norfolk to Marsh Harbor, Abacos, Bahamas – Cape Hatteras and Crossing the Gulf Stream

Wednesday, November 12, 2025 — Christi woke up feeling like she was fighting a cold. It was warmer today than it was yesterday, but it was still too cold for our comfort. In the morning, we drove to Cova for lattes. Christi also stocked up on coffee since she knew finding good coffee in The Bahamas was not easy. Then Eric returned car while Christi and Keith did school. 

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon getting things ready to go. Since it was a major passage, we had to make sure that everything was put away and securely packed in the cabinets and drawers. Eric rinsed the boat down and cleaned the exterior windows. Even though we’d run water over the lazarette and it seemed water tight, we decided to be extra cautious and put tape around the seals of the lazarette.

We untied at 1500. At first, the ride was not bad. We ran at 1625 RPM and averaged in the high 5s for speed. The sunset and twilight were… striped.

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Finishing the Repairs in Drayden, Maryland

Friday, Nov. 7 — The full moon was still up this morning and shining brightly.

Since we’ve missed our weather window to Bermuda, we needed to form a new cruising plan. We’ve decided that once the repairs were completed, we’ll go back to Little Creek to wait for another weather window to Bermuda.

Eric continued to work on repairs/maintenance while Christi and Keith did school. He noticed that the bilge pump sea strainer and hose was leaking. That part was awkward to access, so tightening the sea strainer was difficult.

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Replacing the Low Water Bilge Pump in Drayden, Maryland

Thursday, November 6, 2025 — Despite going to bed so late, we were all up by 0730. While we did managed to get some sleep, we didn’t sleep particularly well — especially Eric. The anchorage was beautiful.

The full moon hadn’t yet set, and was still huge and bright, even at 0730. And yes, the little boat was a working waterman boat.

Eric determined that it would be best to fix the problems in a marina. There happened to be a marina, called Dennis Point Marina, a short distance away. Eric called promptly at 0900, when they opened. They said they did have a slip for us, which was a relief.

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