Where to go next on Pegu Club has been a frequent topic of discussion.  Originally we had planned to take our time, poking north, exploring North Carolina, and going as far as the Chesapeake.  We would then start moving south again, aiming to be on the ICW by October 1st so we could try to avoid freezing as autumn moved in, and arrive in the Bahamas ideally by Christmas or even Thanksgiving.  As it has for so many other people, Covid-19 completely upended those plans.

This is the first time since we began cruising that I’ve wished we had a land base we could return to.  Several of our cruiser friends have hauled their boat for the summer and gone home.  Stay-at-home orders are a completely different thing when you have an apartment or a house to wander around in vs. a 30 foot sailboat.  But we have to work with what we’ve got, so we started brainstorming.

Continue reading “So now what?” →

After finally escaping George Town it was time to head back to Lee Stocking for some more hiking, snorkeling, and lazing about on Boneham Beach. The Cruiser’s Regatta had finished so we joined an exodus of about fifty boats on a fantastic day for sailing.

We had a great, rollicking sail and joined about 25 other boats in the anchorage. Hmmm. Not what we had in mind, given that there were 8 or less the last time we were there. However, we figured a large number of the boats were on their way back north to head home. Since we weren’t leaving the Bahamas until late May, we decided to wait them out and let the crowds get well ahead of us.

Our strategy worked with more boats leaving each day, so that by the end of the third day there were only four of us, well spaced out. Ahhh. Much better. We needed to renew our immigration in a few weeks, so we decided we’d stay in Lee Stocking for the rest of the week, move north a bit, and then if the weather permitted we’d head to Barreterre and rent a car to drive to the immigration office in George Town, saving us a 25 nautical mile beat into the prevailing wind.

Enjoying the view from another hike on Lee Stocking.

We keep up with the news online while in the Bahamas, and as each day passed in Lee Stocking the increasing restrictions resulting from COVID-19 resulted in repeated discussions each day regarding whether we should consider going back to the U.S. early. Staying in the Bahamas meant a reduced risk of exposure (which is a concern given Jeff’s CHF), but there are only two hospitals in the Bahamas – both requiring an airplane flight to get there – and the quality of medical care in the U.S. would be better if it was needed. If we stayed in the Bahamas we could keep enjoying the beaches and the pretty water, which we couldn’t do in the U.S. We balanced the risks and decided to stay for now.

Continue reading “Bahamas interruptus.” →

As long as I can remember, I’ve never had a problem with changing my mind. Fortunately, Jeff doesn’t have a problem with it either! As a result, we’re not going to Luperon this summer.

Everything is fine. We simply decided that we don’t want to go deeper into the Caribbean. The more we researched sailing to and cruising in the Caribbean, the less the positives outweighed the negatives for us. The Bahamas are relatively close, the water is gorgeous, the air is warm, the Bahamians are friendly, the islands are safe, and the sailing is fantastic (once the winter winds settle down). We really don’t need anything else right now.

Once we decided that we didn’t want to sail to the Caribbean, going to Luperon made less sense for us. I’ve really been disliking the fact that there’s so much we keep missing as we travel north and south, hurrying along to outrun the cold weather or make it to Connecticut before it’s time to turn around again. There’s so much of North Carolina we’d like to explore, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of the Chesapeake or New England beyond Connecticut and Rhode Island.

So what’s our plan? Assuming that fate doesn’t decide to overturn the card table, we are going to stay in the Bahamas until mid-to-late May before making the jump to the Florida/Georgia border, or perhaps the Georgia/South Carolina border. From there we are going to S L O W L Y work our way north, sailing along as much as we can, even if it’s only 10 miles in a day.

The goal is to be back on the ICW by October 1st, so we won’t go any farther north than the Chesapeake this summer. In fact, I won’t be surprised if we don’t make it north of North Carolina. Of course if it’s simply too hot and humid for us we can be in Connecticut with the right weather window in under a week.

Once we start heading south we are going into delivery mode, aiming to get to Georgetown by Thanksgiving. We’ll stay in that region, including the southern Bahamian islands, until late February or early March, at which point we’ll work our way north again through the Bahamas with a plan to cruise in New England in the summer of 2021.

Occasionally on the various cruising forums it feels like some participants are in a competition with others. Like you aren’t really cruising if you never leave the ICW, or if you don’t go to the Caribbean, or to Europe, or around the world. Before we cut the dock lines, I’ll admit that I felt a bit that way myself. But now that we’re out here it’s obvious there are so many different ways to cruise. From blitzing around the world in an organized rally to moving 20 miles every six months. The most important thing is to cruise it in a way that brings you the most satisfaction.

It’s taken us a while to get there, but I think we’re finally starting to figure it out. The East Coast and the Bahamas, not too fast, not too slow. It works for us, and we’ll keep doing it as long as it’s fun – or until we change our minds again!