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| Escher's Seahorses. An Art Quilt, 23" x 16" |
Ed and I spent the 1983-84 winter ashore. We moved in with my sister, Lynn, and her
two young sons, in Arlington, Virginia.
I signed up with Kelly Girls.
They gave me a quickie course in how to use a word processor. The certificate I was awarded was larger
than either of my college diplomas! I
spent a couple months doing clerical work for Naval Supply, commuting daily on
the Metro. I was offered a permanent
job, but I turned it down. I explained
that Ed and I would be sailing across the Atlantic that summer.
Our journey to Europe began when we left the boatyard in
Oxford, Maryland, which had been Tropic Moon's home for the winter. We cruised south down the Chesapeake
Bay. Our jumping-off point was an
anchorage in the York River in the southern Chesapeake. We began our passage, heading east,
southeast, on June 5th, and arrived in St. George, Bermuda, on June 11th, six
days and 800 miles later. Our trip to
Bermuda was an easy one. The weather
was good through the whole passage, with wind for the first four days. Then the breeze faded out to a calm. We motored our last two days, but received
sufficient wind at the end of the trip to arrive at Bermuda under full sail,
much to Ed's delight.
The first day of the trip was panic-time for me. The realization of what one has committed
oneself to settles in with uncomfortable insistence; a voyage of endless hours
and days looms ahead. The second day
was given over to misery and seasickness as we crossed the Gulf Stream, a river
within the ocean, with rough, choppy seas.
My stomach, my fears and my watch-keeping all settled into routine on
the third day. By the fifth day we had
difficulty remembering which day it was.
When the passage drew to an end it was with a feeling of,
"What? Over so soon?"
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| Escher's Seahorses. Detail. |
We spent three lovely weeks in Bermuda. It was probably the prettiest island we
visited in our travels, and will surely always be a favorite. I refer to it as an island, but Bermuda is
actually a collection of some 120 islands and islets, some of which have been
joined together by bridges and causeways.
Bermuda's total area is about twenty square miles and the length, by
road, from end to end, is only twenty-two miles, at some places less than
one-half mile in width. The highest
hill is 260 feet above sea level, so you don't see the island at any great
distance when approaching by sea.
Bermuda is a land of colorful flowers - hibiscus, oleander,
bougainvillea - and lush, green foliage.
The greenery bordering the islands' roads gives way to glimpses of
secluded coves and opens up to panoramas of turquoise-colored bays with the
darker-hued sea beyond. While Bermuda's
homes come in every color imaginable, with bright yellows, pinks, and blues
predominating, all roofs are, by law, white-washed and similarly rutted in
style, as the roofs form the fresh water catchments system for the island. Visitors cannot rent cars on Bermuda, but can
rent bicycles and the very-popular mopeds, or travel by taxi or bus. Our favorites were the modern pink buses,
which could be taken from one end of the island chain to the other for less
than one dollar. We bought a book of
bus tickets on our arrival, and made good use of them during our stay.
Surprisingly, we ran into people we already knew. We met a boat (Rapid) that we’d known in
Road Town, Tortola, and another sailboat (Skuld), that we remembered from
Bequia, four years before. The Skuld
people were living ashore in North Carolina, and had sailed to Bermuda for
their vacation. They had one child, who
had been a baby when we met in Bequia, and now had a second child in diapers,
and nursing. They had sailed to Bermuda
with both kids!
We also met a man who was single-handing a 30-foot sailboat
from Spain to Long Island. He had done
the leg from the Azores to Bermuda in 24 days.
I’d never seen anyone so eager to talk to people. He rowed around the harbor visiting boats
every night. He had a wedding to attend
in Long Island at the end of the month, and we doubted he was going to make it
on time.
