October 31st – November 18th, 2024

It’s hard to believe it was over 3 weeks ago that we departed Hampton, VA for Antigua. The trip was amazing and even more remarkable was the fact that we actually arrived into Antigua (with a 2 day stop in Bermuda) just in time to fly back to the states for our niece Casey’s wedding. It was a crazy whirlwind, but it all worked out despite a few glitches (detailed below).

Back on October 30th we got the thumbs up from the weather router Chris Parker that it was a good window to head to Antigua. With our amazing crew, Karl and Scott, we dropped the lines from Bluewater Marina and headed off for the ~11 day passage. It was Halloween morning and we made our way out through Hampton Roads with about 60 other Salty Dawg boats. As we made our exit, we passed an incoming US Navy submarine – this was our first time seeing a submarine and it was so cool. We had to stay 500 yards away as she ghosted by heading into the Norfolk Naval base. The winds were relatively mlld as we headed out across the entrance to the Chesapeake, we set the sails and headed due east.

Our first waypoint was to enter the western edge of the Gulf Stream, which took us just over a day to reach. We certainly knew we were there as soon as we entered (~ 2 am on Friday Nov 1) as the ride got really bumpy. The Gulf Stream sends 5-6 knots of current heading north, plus we had a south wind. We were heading due east so it was quite rocky with the waves hitting us from the starboard side making the boat feel like a bouncy house – but we all got used to it and while it was bumpy – we were flying! We reached over 14 knots (speed over ground).

In a total reversal of last years fishing misfortunes – we started catching fish right way (a beautiful Mahi Mahi) and had yummy fish tacos for dinner!

The plan was for the fleet to pass close to Bermuda just in case we needed to pull off to avoid a bad weather system. The winds were steady 15-20 kts and we continued to make good time, BUT…….on day 2, Scott noticed that the port engine bilge pump light was going on and off – meaning there was water in the port engine compartment – not a good sign. Billy checked it out and the port rudder was leaking sea water. This was so incredibly frustrating. This is the same rudder that was leaking last spring and which we spent 6 weeks and of course plenty of money to have “fixed” in the Bahamas. It’s honestly the last thing we expected to go wrong. Billy put some marine putty around the rudder post and stemmed the flow of the sea water so we were able to keep sailing east. The weather forecast changed a bit and most of the fleet decided to stop in Bermuda to let a bad weather system pass. So we too decided to pull off to let the weather pass and to check on the port rudder.

We pulled into Georgetown Bermuda around 7 pm (notably after dark) on Sunday November 3rd after 3 1/2 days at sea. Since Billy and Karl had both entered the harbor before with Todd Barbera aboard Tramontana, we offered to lead our nearby Salty Dawgs in in the dark. We followed the chart through the very narrow “Town Cut” and safely set the anchor. Funny (now), when we woke up the next morning we realized we had come alarmingly close to a large (immoveable) cement mooring!

Bermuda turned out to be a really fun stop. Most of the Salty Dawgs chose to pull in, plus we connected with a fleet of about 15 boats coming down from Newport which made our customs arrival very easy as the organization had alerted the authorities to our arrival and negotiated a duty free stop. We had cocktails at the Dingy Club and at the infamous White Horse Tavern and were able to have a relaxing lunch at Tobacco Bay beach bar. We toured the church and fort ruins and learned a lot about the history of the island. We ultimately found that our rudder issue couldn’t be fixed in Bermuda so Billy worked to “MacGyver” fix it well enough so we could continue and make the run to Antigua.

With the bad weather passed, we headed out of Bermuda on Wednesday November 4th southbound for Antigua. Conditions were mild with good winds. As many of you may know – while the goal was to reach Antigua – the REAL GOAL was to reach Antigua by Tuesday November 11th in time to be able to catch a flight back to the states for our niece Casey’s wedding in New Jersey on November 15th. At this point, the schedule looked like it would work, but of course with sailing and weather it’s always “iffy” and was just a little stressful.

While the sailing was fine and we were making good time, about a day out of Bermuda we found that the port rudder fix wasn’t holding. It was determined that the best solution was to disconnect the port rudder entirely, secure it and then use the starboard rudder alone to reach Antigua (with 900 more miles to go). It certainly was nice to have two rudders! We also appreciated the Salty Dawg Shoreside team who tracked the situation and provided support. The crew was amazing, stayed calm and in the face of a big challenge worked calmly to secure the port rudder using the emergency tiller and some unique tie offs – it wasn’t pretty, but it worked!

On a good news note (which we needed): while underway we learned that our nephew Christopher and his wife Daniela had welcomed a new baby boy to the world. On November 7th, Michael Galdo Snow was born at a healthy 7 pounds. He’s an adorable bundle of joy and we can’t wait to meet him!

Fortunately, for most of the trip to Antigua the sailing was fair and mild. With winds 15-20 knots with gusts to 25 knots we moved right along. The key to sailing to the Caribbean is to try to get as far east as possible as the prevailing winds come out of the east and so if you go far enough east you have the wind slightly behind you or at least a beam (a good sailing angle). We were able to sail almost the whole time using the engines very little. We made our way SSE (South-Southeast) and as we went, we caught more fish!! We ended up catching 6 more fish – but only kept 1 to eat – the rest were returned to the sea.

As we got closer to the Northern Caribbean islands, we did encounter about 16 hours of pretty rough weather – the wind was a steady 20-25 knots with gusts to 30 and up to 35 with within numerous strong squalls. This was definitely the roughest patch. We double reefed the main and the genoa. The winds were so strong, that while the direction wasn’t bad (abeam) it was still tiring keeping and eye out for the squalls. Some boats just behind us had it much worse and got stuck in the bad weather for 2 full days. We all share a messaging system and someone dubbed it “Squallageddon” as the squalls were relentless and one salty Salty Dawg posted:

I have to say that post made me laugh so hard – it brought a great moment of humor during a tiring and stressful time.

Finally the wind laid down, so much so that we had to motor-sail for the final couple of days. Of course I was so focused on making it to Antigua to get back for Caseys wedding that every time I had a shift I put both throttles a little forward to pick up and extra knot or two :).

We passed Barbuda which lies just north of Antigua in the early evening on Monday November 11th and then could just see the lights of Antigua as the sun went down. We were making good time and actually pulled in to Falmouth Harbor at 12:30 am on Tuesday November 12th. We set the anchor, had a toast to our arrival and the crew took their ceremonial swim. We had made it and made it on time!!!

Tuesday morning we were up early to motor around to English Harbor and Nelson’s Dockyard where we had a marina reservation. We pulled in first thing in the morning, got tied up “mediterranean” style where you go stern to the dock, we quickly got checked into customs and they cleared us out to fly out the next day.

Karl and Scott stayed on the boat and enjoyed the Salty Dawg welcome activities – including hikes, cocktails and dinners while Billy and I headed back to the states. We caught the afternoon flight back to JFK, rented a car to get to my brother Marks house for Wednesday night and then down to the Jersey shore for Casey and Garretts wedding. I was particularly glad to make it in time as I was honored to speak at the rehearsal dinner – which was an AMAZING event – though I definitely had too much wine!

Casey and Garretts wedding day was picture-book perfect! A beautiful couple on a beautiful day with joyful families surrounding them. And of course – the most important part – they said “I do”! WAHOO!!! We had a blast. How lucky were were to be there!

After the wedding we had a lovely brunch up in Lavalette at the Vander Mays home and then Billy and I drove up to Stamford, CT to spend the night with Peter and catch our flight back to Antigua on Sunday morning.

It was a crazy turn around to get to NJ and back – but I do believe our angels in heaven, including my mom, Jane Ho-Jo (Casey’s mom) and Billy’s sister Bonnie were with us every minute of our journey – making sure we not only made it safely to Antigua – but with just enough time to spare, we made it to New Jersey to celebrate with Casey and Garrett – PHEW! We did it!!!!!

Well thanks for reading, that was a lot to cover! Next we’ll be off to Jolly Harbor Antigua (just 11 miles north) to get the boat hauled and the rudder fixed (we hope!). Then I’ll I have time to provide a quick update on our time here in English/Falmouth harbor.