32º 22.70’ N, 64º 40.36’ W
I apologise for the long silence but, after the Northwest Passage, we have been so busy relaxing and taking it easy that I just haven't had the time to write anything. But, that is about to change now.
After spending two weeks in Halifax, we began our southbound journey by sailing to Lunenburg, some 30 nautical miles to the west. From there, on the 31st of October, we made our first attempt to sail to Bermuda. The weather forecast for the next several days looked promising, and we made good progress until we heard on the SSB radio that hurricane Tomas too was on its way to Bermuda. Being allergic to hurricanes, we immediately decided to change our course and head for Cape Cod instead. After that it went all wrong; the winds started to shift eventually blowing straight on the nose, after pushing against headwinds for several hours we found ourselves in the midst of a hail- and thunder-storm, short lasting but extremely vicious, during which we broke our windscreen, and after the squall, the winds never dropped below 35 knots. As there seemed to be too many things against us, we decided to return to Canada, this time to the loyalist town of Shelburne.
We spent the next twelve days safely tucked in the town fishing harbour, waiting for Tomas to wither away and the major depression that had developed on the US east coast to blow itself out. Once again Sarema was alongside a vessel that was alongside a vessel that was alongside the wharf. And once again, Latte fell into the water between two vessels and this time it was not at all easy to get her up again. Luckily for Pekka, there were two other sailors present who gave him a helping hand. This just goes to show that Latte has learned absolutely nothing from his previous accidents (ref. NWP Blog!)
We fell in love with Shelburne and its people, so much in fact that we almost bought a house there while waiting for the storms to pass. Two local sailors, MaryJane and Rick, took us under their wings assisting us in numerous ways, wining and dining us, taking us shopping, sightseeing as well as house-hunting. The Shelburne yacht club was open three days a week which enabled us to do the laundry, surf on the internet, and mingle with locals during the Happy Hour.
But, on the 13th of November, the weather window opened up, and we were ready for our second attempt to reach Bermuda. Sailing was good all the way to the Gulf Stream which took us more than twelve hours to cross. But the good thing was that, while in the Stream, the temperature rose above 25 degrees Celsius and we were finally able to abandon our winter clothes and change into shorts and T-shirts. And we also caught a fish, the very first for a long, long time. It was a yellow fin tuna: 125 cm and 34.6 kg!
On the 19th of November, we arrived in Bermuda and are now anchored in St. George's Bay waiting for the weather to improve. At the moment, the wind is gusting at up to 40 knots but it is supposed to ease by Sunday. Our next leg, Bermuda - St. Martin, should commence on Monday, weather permitting, of course.
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