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Larry's LogAfter I turned off the engine, and blessed the best $10 investment I ever made, I investigated the cause of the sparks. It seemed that salt water had gotten on the engine and alternator when we took the wave over the boat the previous night. Although dry at this point, the salt was shorting the wire to the alternator case. I removed the old nut, cleaned the wire and put a new nut on. Of course, this required getting at my tools and supplies, a significant effort in itself, since sails covered the tools and the supplies were buried in a locker behind the tools. After changing the nut, I carefully started the engine and all looked well. We then motored the remaining distance to Bermuda. After motoring for about an hour, I decided the main wasn't doing much and so lowered it. It was only then that I noticed the twist to the boom and said we would not be using the main again that trip. The remainder of the passage was uneventful, except for the small, 3 pound tuna we caught just inside the reef before going through Town Cut. I had carefully plotted our course to stay north and east of the reef surrounding Bermuda, staying at least 2 miles off Kitchen Shoal. The approach is well lit, but we weren't going to go through until first light anyway. Arriving at the waypoint outside the reef, we slowly turned toward the channel when Brad, who had caught the fish and was cleaning it said, "Hey, I see the bottom." I ran below to check our position and the chart. We should have had at least 20 feet below us, and the depth sounder, which sometimes shows 600 feet in 40 feet of water, started to agree. I breathed again and we continued in. Nobody was used to such clear water. Going through Town Cut was straightforward, although I couldn't imagine large cruise ships passing through here as well. I had called Bermuda Harbour Radio before entering to get our final clearance and make sure no commercial traffic was also going through. Just as we cleared the channel, it started to rain. It rained so hard we couldn't see Ordnance Island where we had to clear in through customs. We just followed the line of anchored boats and eventually saw it. The dock was full from other boats getting in just before us but we then saw the person who was going to watch the boat while we flew back to the States arrive at the cruise ship dock. He waved us to dock there and so we did. Arrival in Bermuda - the first bluewater passage on my own boat - completed. Major Lessons:
Lets just say that I learned my lessons - on to the Caribbean! |