On to Charleston . . .

We have been picking our way south about one month behind our schedule of two years ago.  As a result, we have experienced

Saying goodbye to Richard and Martin
Sandy Hook, NJ

cooler weather and more rain - lots more rain.  It’s been a long time since our foul weather gear and fleece jackets have been taken out of the closet. Our time in NE and Rhode Island was extended to allow time for our friends on Argosea to have repairs done after a most unfortunate lightening strike that produced a great deal of damage to the electronics.  

Passing Norfolk

Our journey through the Chesapeake was marked with highlights and new adventures.  Not only did we visit new spectacular little towns like St. Michaels, but we also witnessed amazing sunsets and sunrises as we gunkholed in marshlands up narrow, shallow creeks.  While in St. Michael’s we thorouoghly enjoyed a visit from Jim, a sailor and friend we met while in Grenada. He’s looking to buy a boat but in the meantime, perhaps he’ll join in on an Atalanta adventure. A real pleasure was our time in Portsmouth at mile 0 of the intercoastal.  What a charming and lovely place.  Best of all, Joe and Jorene, friends from Richmond came down to share an evening with us.  After two nights of feasting and drinking bourbons at a great restaurant called “Still” we began our journey down the intercoastal waterway.

The ICW was constructed by the Army Core of Engineers to allow military and commercial traffic to move north and south by water without having to worry about attack by German U boats and the like.  Now there is some commercial traffic but mostly its used by private boat owners.  We opted to do the section between Norfolk, VA and Beaufort, NC to avoid traveling the open water outside Cape Hatteras where unusual weather conditions, the gulf stream, winds, and continental shelf can conspire to create  hazardous weather conditions and high seas.   

We leave Beaufort (pronounced Bow-fort) Thursday and arrive in Charleston on Saturday.  Our course will take us about 40-50 miles offshore where winds are predicted to be weak (5-10mph) and the seas relatively calm (2-4 feet).  While these are not idea conditions for sailing,  they’re  superior to the weather moving in early next week.  

Once in Charleston, we will dock at City Marina for a month, visit with family, and perhaps take a side trip or two. One never knows. That is the joy of this way of traveling...

Sunset in Deleware Bay
The Cohansey River

Salem Nuclear Plant
Feel the Glow

St. Michaels, MD
Eastern Shore

Add caption

Atalanta and Argosea
Continue the Journey South Together

A side Trip to DC

2901 F Street
Infamous residence of Richard Schattman
1973-5

Annapolis

Great Bridge, VA

Made it to Beaufort, NC

Murray looking forward to the next port

Thanks for following and stay tuned for more.

Richard & Kay

Hurricane Joaquin

Sunset at Block Island

With October’s arrival, we hoped to be much further south than we are.  We enjoyed our time in Bristol, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Vermont and NY but we’re later to leave than anticipated since our friends on Argosea needed extensive repair work to their boat after a lightening strike in early September.  In the meantime, visiting with family and friends in the area was wonderful.

Lunch at the Oar

Now with Hurricane Joaquin coasting by the eastern edge of the US, we have retreated to Norwalk for safe harbor.  We must admit that we are enjoying being on the dock so we can turn on the heat.  We haven’t said that for quite awhile!  It’s also been a long time since we donned foul weather gear to walk Murray. . . . missing those palm tree lined beaches.

Atalanta has experienced three other hurricanes (Earl, Irene, Sandy) in the past 7 years and weathered them well.  We recognize the importance of being prudent and careful where bad weather is concerned.  Decades have passed since William Redfield’s serendipitous discovery that tropical storms have a circular rotation and cirrus clouds first observed by Father Benito Viñes still scurry across clear, blue skies in advance of an approaching hurricane. Now thanks to satellites and the extensive monitoring of storms by the National Weather Service and the Hurricane Center, we usually have at least a 5-day warning to prepare ourselves and Atalanta for severe weather. As of this morning, it appears that Joaquin will head off shore and not direct its fury at the NE coast.  Unfortunately, the Bahamas were dealt a severe hit and have incurred significant damage.

On Tuesday we hope for clearing skies and calming winds to begin our southbound travels. We’ll move quickly to the Chesapeake to enjoy its fine fall winds and will rejoin Argosea to share the adventure.  We hope to connect with friends in that area so here’s your heads up that we are on the way!  It’s time to enjoy some sundowners.

Thanks for following.

Richard & Kay

Part Two Begins

Model Sailing
Vineyard Haven, Marthas Vineyard

After completing our two year journey to South America and back, we have been comfortable resting in Bristol Rhode Island for the past month or so.  With opportunities to visit Vermont and family in New York, we are now planning our trip south.

Relaxing on Lake Champlain

The fall weather is closing in and the evenings are cooling.  On Wednesday we will push off once again, heading south west.  We will stop by Block Island for a day or so before catching a weather window 230 miles to Cape May, NJ.  From there its a day up the Delaware Bay into the C and D Canal and on to the Chesapeake for some Fall sailing and "gunk holing."  '

Our ultimate goal is to visit Cuba (if permits can be acquired), Columbia, and Panama.  We are looking forward to an exploration of the western Caribbean.  We hope you will follow our journey as we begin this adventure.  It should be exciting as we explore so many places that we have never been.


Let the adventure begin......again!

Thanks for following.

Richard and Kay

Homeward Bound

Richard, Richard, Anne, Tony, Kay, and Martin
in
Newport, RI

It has been just about two years (682 days to be exact) since we set sail from Bristol for the adventure of a lifetime.  We knew we were heading south but our exact itinerary was planned day by day.  As the cool winds of the New England Fall began to blow, we moved south, mile by mile.  We found our way to the Chesapeake,  then on to North and South Carolina.  Finally we reached Florida at Thanksgiving time.  By Christmas we were in the Bahamas, having left the US only to return a year and a half later.  All we knew was we needed to be below the hurricane zone by June 1.  We headed south, exploring the islands of the eastern Caribbean before settling in Grenada for the majority of the H season.  With a urge to keep moving, we ventured to Trinidad and then on to South America before beginning our journey back north.  

Anchorage on the Way Home

In Suriname we were on the 4^th parallel, a mere 400 miles from the equator.  The Amazon Basin would mark our southern most point of travel. With time spent exploring new islands and ports as we sailed north, we also got to revisit a few of our favorite places like Les Saintes, Guadeloupe, and Anguilla, to name a few.  All in all  we visited over 25 countries and sailed close to 14,000 miles. 

Richard and Kay holding up the 500MT lift at Newport Shipyard

  We made many friends and have become close to a number of them.  We know these will be relationships that we will be enjoying for years to come. 

Now we are back in Bristol with nothing but great memories and more stories than our friends will want to hear.  It time to dream about the next phase of this adventure as we continue to live aboard Atalanta and continue to desire warm weather, calm seas, and new experiences. 

Listening to the Decemberists in Vermont

Thanks to those of you that have followed our blog as we ventured out.  Stay tuned and we look forward to reconnecting with those of you that we have be away from.

Best always

Richard and Kay

Charleston

 We arrived in Charleston at the end of May and have been taking up residence here for the past three weeks.  It is very easy and relaxing to be “dock potatoes.”  Soon after our arrival we hopped a jet and returned to the Caribbean for Jamaica.  Here we celebrated Tara and Chad’s marriage with friends and family.

Upon returning to the boat after a week in Jamaica, we arrived back at Atalanta at 3:00 AM.  After two hours of sleep we woke to the sound of fire and smell of smoke.  Just 5 feet away, the dock ignited from an electrical fire, threatening Atalanta and other boats in the area.  After trying to extinguish the fire (unsuccessfully) and then moving Atalanta, the Charleston Fire Department showed up to put out the fire.  A close call.  Besides having to clean up the soot, Atalanta had no damage. 

Charleston is an opportunity for us to have some family time with Jason, Amy, Ben, and Liam.  Ben has already spent two nights on board and hopes to spend more time.  Kay is getting to be Nana Kay and we are all enjoying the warmth of the sun as we endure the latest heat wave.  Each day, for the past week, has posted temps over 100.  It is making it difficult to work outside on Atalanta but makes beach time that much better.  Unfortunately, while in Charleston, 9 innocent people were murdered at a prayer meeting in their local church.  This event has brought great sadness to this community.  Charleston is a beautiful community that unfortunately has racism in its DNA.  Without radical reflection issues of racism will be a value that permeates this community.  On the surface, Charleston appears so civilized and sophisticated.  Just below the surface, life is less tranquil.  It is time for change.  At the very least, the Confederate Flag does not need to fly over the capitol building. 

We look forward to our last three weeks in Charleston.  With boat work, provisioning, and family time, we will be busy.  Next we head north toward New England for the summer and fall. 

Thanks for following.

Richard and Kay

Leaving the Bahamas for the USA

Wardrick Wells

After nearly two years at sea, we will enter US waters next week.  We continue our journey with Argosea, Tony and Anne’s 47-foot Moody from England.  Being in the Bahamas for the past three weeks has been a treat.  It is one of the most remote places we have traveled.  Grocery stores, chandleries, and repair services are few and far between.  If you have a mechanical issue on board, your choices are to fix it yourself, hope a fellow yachtsman can help, or do a work around until you get to place where services are available.  Although Atalanta behaved well for an extended period, she is now demanding some attention! The good news is, there are hundreds and hundreds of remote cays with sandy beaches just waiting to be your private place.  The water is the clearest and cleanest anywhere we have been and the fish are abundant.  We have been swimming with rays spanning four feet across not to mention nurse sharks 3-5 feet in length.  The snorkeling over coral is spectacular in the Bahamas as well.  We will miss it as we cross the Gulf Stream and enter the darker, colder waters off the east coast.

From Nassau, we will spend a little time in the Berry Islands before heading NW to the West End Point of Grand Bahama Island.  It will be here that we will check out of the Bahamas and begin the 380 mile passage directly to Charleston, SC.  The Gulf Stream can either be a friend or nemesis.  It can help move us along at an additional 2-3 knots in favourable conditions and the current can be as high as 4 kts. The rule is never get caught in the stream when the weather has a northerly component.  The wind against the current sets up a sea condition that you do NOT want to confront. 

South End of
Hawksbill Cay

We have sent a detailed sail plan to our friends Richard and Martin so that they can keep track of our progress.  This is a standard way to address the need for verification that we have arrived safe and sound at our final destination.  

Its with very mixed feelings that we return to US waters, having enjoyed the sail south so much.  So many adventures, new places visited, and friends made.

The adventure will continue and we will remain on Atalanta for the foreseeable future as it is our only home.  Once fall begins and winter approaches we will contemplate our southern passage once more.  Stay tuned as there is much more to come.

Thanks for following.  Richard and Kay

Moored at Hawksbill Cay

Murray making a mad dash for the beach