The Final Two Watches- Fort Pierce, FL to St. Thomas.
Night Watch #7
20º02’68N 65º58’91W
1a-4a Wednesday 12/04/19
By now we have been on the water for over seven days, with no outside boat communication beyond what I have received on my INREACH Garmin, and that was only a couple of communications from Robin my Creative Director.
This morning’s watch is super easy, we are now motoring as we only have 8-9 knots of apparent wind.
Big news of the day is shower #3, it’s actually the third one in 8 days, which is unheard of on a passage.Keep in mind that we are completely self-contained so water, fuel, food and power for refrigeration are critical and constantly monitored. We watch the power on our Xantrex panel, Rod measures the fuel, we try to calculate how much water we are using. We actually wash dishes in salt water (it’s a faucet on the kitchen sink) and rinse in regular water from the water tanks.
The boat has been prepped tonight to handle a small squall or storm that may be coming upon us. By prepping it’s a case of making the “canvas” on the boat smaller. Shrink both your main sail and your jib, but tonight we rolled up the jib and then shortened the mainsail by furling up about 25% of her inside the mast, there is a motor in the mast that allows the mainsail to flow in/out as needed, great protection for the main sail also. Lightning is everywhere tonight, but no moisture. The lightning looks magnificent but can be deadly to your mast…I mean it’s a metal stick, protruding up all by itself as if to say, “…come on I dare you to strike me…”; unfortunately, many boats’ have been left on the hard (stored on land) due to a mast being hit by lightning.
Tonight, the guys gave me a cooking break, since I delivered an awesome breakfast and lunch they went with sandwiches and left overs…a welcomed rest from the galley and that’s because they are such sweeties!
We are now on Atlantic Time which is 2-hours ahead of Central, where my main office staff is located, so I will need to adjust to them. Coming up on the last watch of this passage!
The FINAL Nightwatch #8
18º39’48N 64º56’16W
Thursday Morning 12/05/19
Big happening on the boat today, Rod and Bruce landed a large dolphin (no not the flipper kind) it was absolutely beautiful and I know that sounds funny coming from me, miss animal activist, but that darn lady fish was full of little fish that she had gobbled up when it came time to cut her open; also she produced some of the most incredibly delicious fish. We think we have about 12 or more pounds of mahi in our freezer now, at $24.99 a pound, you can’t beat that! Nice work Rod and Bruce!
Rod and I switched watches so I’m back on with the 1a-4a, although this time I won’t wake Rod up until 5:30am because I knew he has to get us into the marina and into our new winter home, SLIP 84 Compass Pointe Marina, Benner Bay.
I can see the lights of St. Thomas glowing on the night sky, it’s 2:20am and I have instructions to reach the Waypoint heading of 140º and then go to starboard (right turn) to 188ºor directly south to the mouth of what will be our entry into the “split” between St. Thomas and St. John. We will wait there for daylight before we head east slightly to reach Compass Pointe Marina. This will be our home for the next 5.5 months as Rod pursues his career as a charter yacht captain. I will fly back and forth for work as needed for work, just like I did when we were based in Marsh Harbour.
Well this passage is now over, it wasn’t easy and it really isn’t that much fun…but until we can figure out the best way to get Cracker Jack to all these beautiful islands without having to sail her…I guess we are stuck!
If you are interested in sailing with us sometime in Spring 2020, then please reach out to Rod@crackerjacklife.com for 5-10 day excursions and island hopping.
