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Updated January 15, 2012 | |||
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Sunrise Over the Navy Base | |||
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On the 29th we slid down the Patapsco River again, headed for the open Bay and Norfolk. The day started out with light winds, but as the day wore on the wind increased from the north, but this was forecast, and the wind behind us was unlikely to cause any problem.
Baltimore Harbor is a busy place, and in general we kept out of everyone's way, but we did move to the other side of the channel at the request of the tug Charles Burton who was coming out of a side channel pushing a barge. The VHF was busy the whole trip, as we enountered lots of commercial traffic. Radio contact removes a lot of uncertainty from a commercial skipper's mind, and that is a very good thing. In the Annapolis anchorage, just south of the bridge that crosses the bay, we counted five empty bulk carriers, probably waiting their turn to load coal at Sparrow's Point. We had read in the papers about increased coal exports, mainly to China, and on this trip we saw some real evidence of it. |
Splitting Wood for the Stove | ||
| At dusk we were off the mouth of the Patuxent River. We had been hearing radio traffic from two ships that left Baltimore after we did but were moving much faster, Triton Condor and Maersk Belfast. One of them was slowly passing the other, so they were more-or-less running abreast for a good while. We were keeping to the west of the deep-water channel, but leaving room for two ships between ourselves and the red buoys meant that we shifted further west than we really wanted to. |
Norfolk Lights | ||
| Nonetheless, both ships got by without incident, and we succeeded in clearing all the oncoming tug traffic as well. We had a chat with the pilot aboard Tonsberg, bound up for Baltimore, and passed just ahead of her. During the night, on Barbara's watch, we were overtaken by the container ship American Companion; Barbara called the pilot on the VHF and negotiated the pass herself. There is now little need for her to call me, and I was very proud of her. |
An Outbound Bulk Carrier | ||
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Just before dawn, as we approached Norfolk, we had to join the Thimble Shoals Channel almost at right angles.
Two inbound ships, Rekjafoss and our old friend Atlantic Companion were a little concerned, but they relaxed when they learned we intended to turn and keep just outside the green buoys as we ran into Norfolk.
We ran past the line of ships at the naval base and into Norfolk harbor just as the sun was coming up and by 9:00 were anchored under the old naval hospital. |
The Tanker SN Azzurra Passes Our Berth, Shepherded by 2 Tugs | ||
| Here we had a few days to kill, because the weather was not very suitable for the run to Bermuda. We could have waited in Baltimore, of course, but Norfolk has the advantage of being much closer to the open ocean, and we wanted to be able to jump when a weather window appeared. We spent New Year's Eve relatively quietly on the boat. |
A Tug and Tank Barge Passing | ||
| It seemed that Wednesday, the 4th of January, would give us a chance along. We wanted to get fuel before we left, but on Tuesday we had 20-25 knot winds gusting to 30 knots, and we decided that the fuel could wait. |
Lots of Gray Ships | ||
| On the 4th we ran up the river (Norfolk harbor is really the mouth of the Elizabeth River) to Ocean Marine and filled our starboard tank, and then headed down-river again toward the Bay and eventually the Ocean. Our plan was to head southeast along the coast so as to get south as soon as possible and outflank a developing weather system. At first conditions were good, but after nightfall the wind and sea increased in that shoal water to the point that I considered it dangerous to run (as we were) in the trough of the waves. So it was time for plan B. |
Sunset at Sea | ||
| We headed just south of east, to take the seas on the quarter, and had a much more comfortable ride, although we knew we would pay in higher winds later. The Gulf Stream gave us a nice push eastward, and once through the stream we headed southeast, going back to the original plan of getting south as fast as possible. Our track looks a little like the path through a maze, and in a sense it is; the hedges of this maze, however, are weather systems and currents. We think of Herb Hilgenberg, back in Canada, looking at isobars and satellite photos and translating them into real-world conditions two thousdand miles away. |
The Gulf Stream | ||
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Probably because we were well west of our usual course to Bermuda, we saw many more vessels than usual; Bahia Negra for Savannah, Ornak for Sparrow's Point, probably to load coal, Galateia (who had loaded coal at Norfolk) for Port Said and the Suez Canal.
One night the cruise ship Celebrity Silhouette passed astern of us. She is over 1000 feet long, and even 12 miles away she looked like a small city full of lights. At this time of year she runs from New York Harbor to various ports in the Caribbean; she would be 2-1/2 days underway each way, so of her twelve-day cruises, only seven days are actually spent in the Caribbean, but she is really a floating hotel, so there are no doubt lots of things for the pasengers to do. |
The White Horse, St. George's | ||
| One beautifully sunny day the huge car-carrier Centaurus Leader passed us. As she passed, I remembered standing on a beautifully manicured Rugby pitch in Twickenham and seeing one of the last Concordes during her climb-out from Heathrow over the South-London suburb of Richmond. She appeared to hang motionless, glowing in the late afternoon sun, but in a few seconds she was out of sight. In just that way Centaurus Leader sat for a monent on the horizon, shining in the sun, and when I looked again a little later she was gone, over the horizon on her way to the Suez Canal. |
A Too-Outspoken Woman is Punished in the Ducking Stool |
We finally came close to the latitude of Bermuda and found the promised lighter winds. The sun shone and the temperature was in the 70s as we ran our easting down until we came to the point where we were past the reefs north of Bermuda and could head south for Town Cut, the entrance to St. George's Harbor.
Early in the morning of Sunday, the 8th, we began to hear the familiar voice of Bermuda Radio on the VHF, long before we had any hope of talking to them ourselves, but eventually we were able to call and check in. |
Barbara In Her Berth on Ordnance Island |
At 14:36 we were abeam of Northeast Breaker and could begin to turn southward again, a little at a time, following the curve of the reef from a respectful distance. These reefs have claimed many ships. Fishermen do work in among them in small boats, but they know where they are going.
Bermuda Radio were very welcoming, and so were the customs officers, with many handshakes and "Welcome back". We cleared in in record time and moved just a few yards further along the north shore of Ordnance Island, to a berth just ahead of the spanking new pilot boat that will be very snug in the high winds that are forecast for the next day or so. |
The New Pilot Boat |
We were no sooner berthed with the engine shut down, when our friends Steve and Suzanne Hollis came by to welcome us. they had heard our conversations with Bermuda Radio on thte VHF and then saw the boat while returning form an errand. So we had a bottle of wine in the saloon and later in the evening went to their new house for dinner.
The wind blew hard, as promised, and the harbor was full of whitecaps, but in our sheltered berth we hardly noticed it. We caught up with our email correspondence via the good internet service from Bermuda Yacht Services, and I did some maintenance jobs on the boat. |
A Yacht Converted from an Ocean Salvage Tug |
Tuesday evening Steve and Suzanne came to the boat for dinner, anad on Wednesday the winds finally quieted, so that afternoon we ran the 14 or so miles to the other end of the country to the former Royal Naval Dockyard, where we would stay through the weekend. Our usual berth was taken, so we lay on the south wall of the camber, just ahead of the stand-by pilot boat and the rescue tug Edward M. Stowe.
This is in a tight corner, but Barbara slid in with just a tweak of the throttle and a touch of bow thruster here and there, and our good friend Doug Sutherland was there to take our lines. |
Barbara Berthed in the Camber at the Old Royal Dockyard |
Doug is the manager of West End Yachts, the boatyard, and it was good to re-connect with him and the other people from this end of the island we had met over the years. I changed the oil in the engine and generator, and began work on some of the waiting improvements to the boat, ones that were not too disruptive. |
The South Wall of the Dockyard and the Casemate Barracks |
One night we had a very pleasant dinner with Doug and his daughter Kaitlyn and a group of her friends, and a few drinks afterwards at the Bonefish Bar and Grill. There we also met some new friends we will probably see more of in the next few days. We will most likely be here in Dockyard until the 17th, then back to St. George's. We'll probably leave for the BVI on the 19th or 20th. |
One Corner of the Victualling Yard |