The EPIRB finally showed up so we finally cast off and set the sails around 14:00. We sailed rather closely to this ship shipping ship well setting our sails and headed off for the deep blue sea.
Casting Off
Provisioning and Preparations
Another cold wet day here on the Narragansett. It’s a Monday so everything is closed. We’re knocking out some last items so that Nauti Intentions will be ready to embark with a good weather outlook Wednesday.
Rainy Day on the Narragansett Bay
It’s a cold wet, miserable day here on the Narragansett Bay today. So, we’re spending the day provisioning and preparing the vessel for our journey.
Across the bay, we were able to watch a ship shipping ship load ships for transport to points unknown!
Travel Day
After an early morning start the day filled in quite nicely. I had a 3-hour layover in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was lucky enough to find the Aggie game on the TV in a bar near my gate!
I landed in Providence around 2:30 and was on the boat in Jamestown Harbour by 3: 00pm.
Nauti Intentions is just as lovely as I hoped she would be, a beautiful 45 ft catamaran and marvelous condition!
Tracking info
Here’s a link to my satellite tracker, you should be able to follow our journey here:
Packing Day!
Tomorrow is the travel day. I had planned to pack early this week, but a last minute wiring job came up and I was swamped with that all week long. Soooo, here I am packing at the last minute for a 1600+nm delivery.
Luckily, I already have everything that I need for this adventure so there was nothing to purchase, the only problem I see is I can’t find my 12v charger for my marine radio handheld. I’m off to storage to dig through bags and boxes in search of it.
Rhode Island to British Virgin Islands delivery
I’ve secured a spot on a wonderful boat for nice delivery. Nauti Intentions, a Fountaine Pajot, Elba 45 is a 2003 45′ catamaran and is currently used by a sailing school in Rhode Island for instruction and chartering services during the summer, and they want to use it over the winter in the BVI. That’s where I come in, with a crew of seasoned sailors, we can SAFELY deliver the vessel to the chosen destination.
Looking at the charts, this passage is 1652 nautical miles, I’m estimating ~2000nm with variations for winds and currents. With perfect conditions, this trip could take as little as 9 days, we are planning on ~14 days, and provisioning for ~20 days.
Currently, Hurricane Tammy is playing around in the central Atlantic, we are closely watching her and paying close attention to sea conditions.
221206 14:00 Cay Sal
Oscar saw this on the chart and wanted to do a little exploring, so we altered our course slightly and did a sail by of Cay Sal, the southwesternmost island of the Bahamas.
From about a mile or two offshore, it looked quite delightful. A tiny one half by one mile uninhabited island with crystal clear blue water surrounding it. We decided that we need to visit on another trip when we have time to stop, drop anchor and go ashore to explore.
We’re now about 90 miles from Key West and after crossing the Gulf stream we expect to make landfall there shortly before sunrise.
221205 16:15 Dolphins!
I heard a noise behind me that sounded different from the usual boat noises. When I turned to look I saw a splash that looked different from the standard wave splashes. A few minutes later I saw the first dolphin and called the general alarm. “All hands on deck. Dolphins!” It was a good sized pod of bottlenose dolphins that swam and played around the boat for 15 to 20 minutes. What a wonderful way to top off a great day of sailing. I shot quite a lot of video. I’ll have to take a look at it when I get home and edit it into a usable video. I’ll post it here when I get that knocked out.
221205 13:00 Cayo Lobos lighthouse
This life’s house marks the edge of the Bahamas bank where the water drops from 10 to 20 ft down to over 3,000 ft in a couple of miles! It also marks a turn in the Canal Viejos de Bahamas which is a regulated shipping channel between Cuba and the Bahamas.