On Notice!

Our visas finally have arrived (insert a very happy dance here) and so we are off in less than 3 weeks – OMG!  Right now, we are running in circles trying to organise ourselves.  Come what may, we will make those flights back to Trinidad! 

Our rough float plan comes with dates, although variables will include time spent at either end of the voyage for “TLC” purposes.  Miss WJ3 has to look her glamorous best!  Needless to say, we are some 2 months late at the start post for our run back to the Chesapeake (US); rather more than we hoped.  To further complicate matters, we’re now into a La Niña weather cycle so fresher conditions are expected.  We may have to shake those tail-feathers and move north at a clipper pace.  Always keeping a weather eye! 

Unbelievably, a waterspout flashed by us in 2023.
We certainly double checked that Exumas mooring!! 

Most of our sailing is planned as day hops with the odd overnighter (perhaps) & our longest trip of about 4 days to Turks Caicos.  At least we will be swimming with the tide (actually, the Trade Winds) to get back to the USA.  Well, here's the plan in legs:

Trinidad: 2-3 weeks then splash

Trinidad to Nevis: 2 weeks with rest stops at Bequia & St Lucia to reprovision

Nevis to St Croix: 1 week.  (Our US visa clock starts ticking in St Croix);

St Croix to Puerto Rico: 1 week & if the weather holds, then 2-3 weeks in Puerto Real Marina (south-east coast) for some touring.  The Cap’n is desperate to catch his own lobsters! 

Puerto Rico to Turks Caicos: 1 week (4-5 days open sea sailing).  Could be worse!

Turks Caicos to Georgetown, Bahamas: 1 week including a rest stop in Georgetown to reprovision.

Georgetown, Exumas to Freeport, Grand Bahama: 2-3 weeks; There is no plan to stay long in any one place except perhaps a stop at Warderick Wells, the Land & Sea Park.  Sadly, no time for island bars stocked with exotic cocktails.  We'll just have to make our own!!  At Freeport, we’ll sit in the marina to wait for weather to cross the Gulf Stream to West Palm Beach - an overnighter or very early morning departure.  (WPB entry to US; clear in at immigration). 

West Palm Beach, FL to Norfolk, VA: Intra-Coastal Waterway, 7 weeks motoring with stops along the way at historical or interesting towns including St Augustine, Beaufort & Savannah.  We usually do about 50 miles per day, anchoring (mostly).  Florida is the most settled part of the ICW; other areas can vary between settled but open, to quite remote. 

Norfolk to Deltaville:  Norfolk leads us north to Chesapeake Bay for a week of river sailing.  From here we can experience America’s early history with interesting settlements and Revolutionary War sites along the way.  Anything really, to distract us from the clean-up ahead.

Deltaville to haul & fly home: 2-3 weeks; Richmond Airport to Dallas to Sydney is our escape plan if Qantas is still offering this flight.

So, there you have it, a total of 30 odd weeks.  We still have high hopes of covering this in less, say 24 to 28 at the most.  Although, given this is our 5th trip along this route, we feel like we’re running a yacht delivery service!!  "Don't even think about it!" to quote GS...

Outlook as we travelled south on the ICW last year.