20 26 N  63 25 W

WHEW!!....loads of maintenance completed over the last 10 days in St Maartens; Sea Mist has probably never been more up to date and ready to rock and roll. Late on Friday, the last part needed for the Westerbeke Generator arrived by FEDEX and after I installed it, all seems to be operating fine on that important system.

At noon yesterday, Saturday, we got underway from Simpson Bay, St Maartens for the 900 nm passage to Bermuda. Started out very slow for the first 4 hours of little wind but then it has been good steady sailing ever since….reefed about half the time and full sails out the rest. Weather looks a bit mixed enroute but nothing serious by way of winds or seas is expected…just the local squalls that can be expected this time of year in these waters. Hopefully it will be a comfortable ride for the crew…even if a bit slower than we are generally used to….. Depending on how much wind we can find, the duration will be about 6 days give or take a day.! 

720 miles to go to St Georges on the East end of Bermuda where we have to check in and handle formalities. After that is done, it will be about another 18 nm to go inside the reef over to the Hamilton on the North-West of the Island.  Our time in Bermuda will be determined by the weather outlook for the onward passage to Newport, Rhode Island where we will make landfall to begin our cruising season in the North-East…..and where we will lose our great additional crew, our son – Ian, as he will then make his way to Toronto for work and income generation until the fall when he will rejoin us as we head back to the Caribbean.

Hope to continue to provide enroute updates…….nice pleasant sailing day today….

That’s all for now….more later>>>