After we finished with the Caribbean 1500 parties, we headed back to Tortola to recover from all the fun. We left Virgin Gorda in a large North swell, and as we exit the harbor there were surfers ridding 5′ waves right next to Berekely East. It looked like we would need to go through the […]
US East coast to the British Virgin Islands After a great summer at home on the lake, visiting family and friends and collecting enough wine to restock the boat, we decided to head back to the Caribbean for the winter. We joined the Caribbean 1500 (the cruising rally we sailed with last year) for the […]
With the increase in hurricane activity, we needed to get Berkeley East further North and out of harms way, so we decided to take her up to Annapolis for the rest of the summer. While this is a relatively short 4 to 5-day trip, the passage around Cape Hatteras always puts us on edge. The […]
Charleston, SC USA We’ve done it before – sailed up the East Coast from Florida to South Carolina — but riding the Gulf Stream north is always a thrill. The Gulf Stream is a warm, rapid current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows northeastward along North America toward Newfoundland. While in the […]
Ft Lauderdale, Florida As we left Nassua Harbor, the weather was good so we changed our plans (again). Instead of a one-hour sail to the west end of New Providence, we headed off to Chub Cay. About half-way there we landed a 48″ Mahi Mahi, the fishing has been good since we left the Caribbean […]
New Providence, Bahamas As we reached the north end of the Exuma Cays, it was time to head across the Exuma Bank to New Providence (Nassua). Middle Bank is an area in the Bank that is passable and with limited coral heads, so we headed north of the Yellow Bank and directly from Allan Cay […]
Bahama’s The Exuma Cays (pronounced “keys”) are a chain of more than 300 islands stretching over 100 miles across the Southern part of the Bahamas. They are mostly small coral atolls with elevations less than 50 feet. The islands separate the Exuma Banks (an area of shallow reefs and sand bars), from the Exuma Sound […]
Great Exuma Island, Bahamas With good weather on the horizon, we (and the other 1500 boats) began to leave Puerto Rico and make our way north to the Turks and Caicos, and Bahamas. The three-night passage was a mix of fair winds and rolly seas but we made such good time that we passed the […]
San Juan Puerto Rico We set out from Antigua to St. John, US Virgin Islands. We had not done an overnight passage in quite some time, the last one being a challenging night from Tortola to Antigua. This passage was nearly the reverse trip, but luckily it was uneventful. The winds cooperated and we found […]
Antigua, West Indies As we left Antigua, boats were readying for the first in a series of races marking the 41st Annual Antigua Sailing Week. Many famous boats, such as Leopard 3, had come from all over the world to participate in the events. We chose a spot to watch the start of the race, […]
