The Transatlantic Journey of Swift in Photos!

 

Leaving Snead Island, Palmetto Florida.  This marina was Swift’s home for 6 months and

it would be difficult to find a more beautiful location.

Murphy is guiding us as we leave to begin our trip on May 3^rd, 2008

 

The manatees frolicking in the harbor at Snead Island.

Sunset at Venice – it was a beauty!

Murphy and David getting ready to leave Venice for Key West – a 24 hour passage.

A Pelican in Venice Florida

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The Monkey Paws group modeling in Miami Beach where the rich come to play.

Murphy Snoozing at Sea – the camera doesn’t make that much noise but she always seems to wake up for her picture! 

This picture was taken as we sailed between Miami Beach and the Bahamas.  This trip took us about 24 hours and

during that time we must have seen at least 5 cruise ships and as many cargo ships.  It is a very busy area,

but we arrived safe but tired in the Bahamas.

Port Lucaya Marina in the Bahamas – picture taken from the top of the mast.  I believe that building in the distance is

supposed to look like a cruise ship.  The marina has two sections, the quiet ‘garden section’ and the Village. 

We were in the quiet part.  We went to the village on a small ferry and it has lots of restaurants and the straw

market and the big hotels.

That is Alison’s foot -  when she was at the top of the mast.  She was up there to check the windvane. 

You get quite a view!

Port Lucaya Marina in Bahamas.  We were here the week before Memorial Day and the marina was not full. 

They said they were gearing up for a big weekend.

Things we see at sea – a big ship on his way – this was about a mile and a half away!

A visit by a Bermuda LongTail – we saw lots of longtails but this was our first and it came the closest, it kept

circling the boat but I just couldn’t seem to get a good picture!  We saw more later, they would fly up ‘caw’

a few times and fly off – I guess we were an unusual sight.

 

Murphy relaxing on the foredeck.  On calm days she loved to stretch out.  She was always tied on just in case

although she has much better balance than us.

Arriving in Bermuda at dawn, this cruise ship arrived just before us.

At dock in Bermuda, I’m up on the hill overlooking the marina.

 

We were on our morning walk around St Georges and I had remembered my camera.

As we came along the north shore, I remarked that it would be a great picture if a cruise ship came along. 

Lo and behold as we got further up the road that is what happened.  This cruise ship is in the channel 

between the reefs to the North and St Georges.  It is on its way to Hamilton (there are five pictures in the series).

 

I wasn’t really fast enough to catch this chicken, Murphy discovered them by the side of the road

(don’t worry she only had a social interest).  As mom leaped up, her little chicks popped out from

underneath.  I rushed to hand off Murphy’s leash and get the camera ready, you can see that

Mom and Dad were in a rush to get away.

 

This bird looked so cute perched in his tree.

Family portraits from the Fort at the entrance to St Georges Harbor.

 

Getting ready to Leave St Georges – June 14^th, 2008

 

Leaving St Georges – the ship in the distance is the State of Maine, the training ship

for the Maine Maritime Academy.

Philipides III left Bermuda about an hour after us – we all met up in the Azores, 2 weeks later.

The moon is awesome, it barely feels like night when it is out.  I tried to take its picture

but the boat was bouncing so much the picture ended up like this.

The sails wing and wing with the genoa held out on the pole.

When at sea, Murphy has one of the best bunks!  When the weather is not very nice she

spends time here sleeping and chewing her bone.  It looks cozy and sometimes I am quite jealous!

Looking out at the sea on a calm day, occasionally something interesting goes by, more often

than not it is a bit of plastic.  But here is a turtle.  We had seen one earlier at a distance and

thought it was dead and just floating by, later Murphy and I were hanging out on the foredeck

and I saw another ‘dead’ turtle coming towards me.  I shouted out for the camera, but the

turtle as it reached the boat suddenly woke up (yes it was sleeping) and swam away, finally diving back into the

ocean so this is all I got.  Interesting the sleeping turtle had a whole colony of small fish living

in its shadow underneath.

The dolphins were visiting, dancing and diving about the boat but you just never

knew where they were going to be next (you can see the fin on the left.

The crew relaxing

The beard didn’t last until the Azores

These pictures were taken the same day a few hours apart.  We’d had very windy weather as a storm had gone

through to the North of us.  The weather report said the wind would shift from the southwest to the north and

it had just shifted when I took this picture on the left.  We were a bit worried about the squall building up behind

us, but it never came our way.  Instead the sky cleared and we had a great sunset.  I thought we might see the

infamous green flash because the sea was quite large behind us, you see it when you rise up on a wave - but no –

but it was a great sunset anyway.

 

Milvina Is a Canadian boat that left Bermuda about the same time as us. 

They had stopped first in Flores, an island 100 miles to the north and

came to Faial the same day as us.

Our first glimpse of land in 18 days, Faial, Azores, Portugal.

If you look carefully in the middle left you can see a plane just

leaving the Horta airport.

Monte da Guia – just around this mountain in the harbor of Horta – and rest!

Looking up at Monte da Guia from the shore side.  In the foreground is

Porto Pim which is the original harbor for Horta.  Much too shallow for today’s ships.

The other side of Porto Pim

 

Miss Murphy Watkins modeling in Porto Pim!  In the right picture she is

intently watching a man on a motorcycle,

Pico is the island directly south of Horta.  Pico means Peak and you can see it there.  It spends

a lot of time shrouded in clouds, as I waited and took pictures the clouds lifted and Voila – the peak of Pico. 

A tradition in Horta is for the visiting yachts to paint their names around the walls of the marina. 

Some of the artwork is quite impressive.  We have painted Swift’s name and you will see the

pictures in the next installment.

Adios from Horta!