Pete's Reflections

Pete's Reflections

Friday 24th Nov 2023

It is our tradition to have all our guests write a blog. Below is Pete's blog. I will also post some photos from our stay at Lameshur Bay.

Mike asked Simon and myself to help crew Cotinga on the passage from N Carolina to the US Virgin Islands. So where do I start? - perhaps first by stating that neither Simon nor myself are seasoned sailors which meant, whilst I thought it was going to be a great trip, the fact I hadn't experienced anything like this before, meant I did have some worries about sea sickness, whether the boat would deal with all the conditions we might face and indeed whether I would deal with everything we'd need to face!

After much debating around forecasts, we set off on the 6th Dec from Morehead City NC and immediately my world shrank to the 5m² of the cockpit - where we'd be for the next 10 days. A little bit like the Life of Pi but without the animals. It's odd to think that's the entire limit of your world but you soon grow accustomed to it.

As we crossed over the edge of the continental shelf it was also odd watching the depth meter go from several hundred feet to blank  - knowing there was 17,000ft+ beneath us. Similarly looking at our position mid trip - more than 400 miles to the nearest land was also a little unnerving! But by that time, I'd learnt that Cotinga was such a lovely yacht, built for this kind of travel and I'd become really confident in her sailing capabilities - so much so that I felt really secure despite my initial worries. We crossed the gulf stream on the first day and it was quite rough. I did feel a little nauseas but after that the scopoderm patches seemed to do what they're supposed to and there were no further problems. Having said that it was a few days more before Simon and I could cope with cooking dinners down below!!

We'd spent the days prior to our departure pouring over forecasts to find a suitable window to leave in. Ultimately the continually changing forecasts for 2/3 days time during the passage became what felt like a game of chess with the weather - we agreed a strategy, set off, the weather then plays a counter move, we respond, the weather serves up another surprise, we re-plan etc etc. We spent much time on the forecasts, what to do and endless calculations on how much diesel we had left as light winds turned out to be more of a problem then strong. We did manage to spot dolphins (or were they porpoises?), flying fish, frigate birds and boobys - they provided special rare moments that were enhanced by the lack of any other visible life for large parts of the journey.

I've read a few books by sailor/adventurers - Robin Knox Johnson, Ellen McCarther, Thor Heyerdhal (Kon Tiki), even Moby Dick and read a bit about  the early Atlantic  navigators. Whilst I'm not quite in their league I do have a slightly better understanding of what they faced and the size of their achievements.

Most importantly, Mike stressed beforehand that you need a crew that get on and can work as a team as the most important requirement. I think we did that.

Thank you Mike for giving me this fantastic opportunity and good luck to Gloria and yourself for the rest of your journey!

Pete

A beautiful sunset on our first evening at Lameshur Bay. The yawl behind belongs to a local couple who were out sailing with friends in a similar boat.

Zoomed in on the sunset

A similar view during daylight hours. We snorkeled off the point of land in the near background and it was beautiful - a wide variety of fish and relatively healthy coral

On a hike out to the same point of land we saw lots of wildlife ... of the insect type

Paper wasps building a nest

This spider was about an inch across (including legs)