Significant Deviation The Journal of s/v Alisios’ Seven Month Cruise from the Chesapeake Bay to the Southern Bahamas and Back By Matthew B. Jenkins Copyright © 2007 – 2008, Matthew B. Jenkins All rights reserved Table of Contents Preface ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Casting Off and Cruising Down the ICW .............................................................................. 3 1.1 KMAIBABIGOTS, 17 September 2007 ......................................................................... 4 1.2 Upright Carpentry by John Updike (1932 – ) ................................................................ 6 1.3 Everything Falling Into Place, 14 October 2007 ........................................................... 7 1.4 The Jumblies by Edward Lear (1812 – 1888) ............................................................... 8 1.5 Departure, 24 October 2007 .......................................................................................10 1.6 Southward Down The Chesapeake Bay, 28 October 2007 .........................................11 1.7 The ICW Dismal Swamp Canal to Elizabeth City, NC, 31 October 2007 .....................12 1.8 Re-joining the Main ICW, Riding Out a Gale at Anchor, 03 November 2007 ...............15 1.9 Night’s Mardi Gras, by Edward Jewitt Wheeler (1859 – 1922).....................................17 1.10 The Anchoring Dance, 05 November 2007 .................................................................17 1.11 Oriental, NC, Down Inside the Outer Banks, 08 November 2007 ................................18 1.12 Moana, 09 November 2007 .........................................................................................23 1.13 South Carolina, 12 November 2007 ............................................................................23 1.14 Georgia – Land of Tides, No-see-ums, and Great Beauty, 17 November 2007 ...........26 1.15 Florida to Daytona Beach, 20 November 2007 ............................................................30 1.16 Daytona Beach to Vero Beach, FL, 26 November 2007 ..............................................33 1.17 Fort Pierce to Miami, 11 December 2007 ....................................................................38 1.18 First Attempt at Crossing the Gulf Stream, 15 December 2007 ...................................44 1.19 Hurry Up And Wait, 19 December 2007 ......................................................................48 1.20 Second Attempt at Crossing the Gulf Stream, 22 December 2007 ..............................51 1.21 The Mundane, 27 December 2007 ..............................................................................52 1.22 Key Biscayne, 30 December 2007 ..............................................................................57 2 The Bahamas .....................................................................................................................65 2.1 Bimini, Bahamas, 08 January 2008 .............................................................................66 2.2 From Bimini to Nassau, 11 January 2008 ...................................................................75 2.3 Three Poems by Li Bai (a.k.a. Li Po, 701 – 762) .........................................................77 2.3.1 Drinking Alone Beneath The Moon ......................................................................77 2.3.2 Ancient Song .......................................................................................................79 2.3.3 Song Of The Merchant .........................................................................................79 2.4 The Northern Exumas, 25 January 2008 .....................................................................79 2.5 A Sonnet of the Moon by Charles Best (1570 – 1627) ................................................87 2.6 A Drinking Song by William Butler Yeats (1864 – 1939) ..............................................88 2.7 The Middle Exumas, 08 February 2008 ......................................................................88 2.8 The Southern Exumas: Georgetown I, 19 February 2008 ...........................................95 2.9 The Out Islands and Jumentos, 05 March 2008 ........................................................ 102 2.10 The Saga of the Conch Shell, 05 March 2008 ........................................................... 110 2.11 The Southern Exumas: Georgetown II, 22 March 2008 ............................................. 111 2.12 The Fool's Prayer by Edward Rowland Sill (1841 – 1887) ......................................... 120 2.13 Back North: Exumas, 08 April 2008 .......................................................................... 121 2.14 Eleuthera, 12 April 2008 ........................................................................................... 130 2.15 The Abacos, 01 May 2008 ........................................................................................ 134 3 The Return Home ............................................................................................................. 151 3.1 The Passage Back to the U.S.A., 04 May 2008 ........................................................ 153 3.2 Another Spring by Kenneth Rexroth (1905 – 1982) ................................................... 158 3.3 Southport, NC, To Oriental, NC, 11 May 2008 .......................................................... 159 3.4 Oriental, NC, To and Back Through The Great Dismal Swamp, 20 May 2008 .......... 162 3.5 Back Up The Chesapeake Bay, 29 May 2008 ........................................................... 168 3.6 The Seven Sins by Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869 – 1948) ........................................... 171 3.7 Back In The Real World, 21 June 2008 ..................................................................... 171 3.8 Next Steps ................................................................................................................ 174 Appendix ................................................................................................................................. 179 Charts and Cruising Guides ................................................................................................. 180 Stops Made ......................................................................................................................... 183 Alisios’ Track Through the Bahamas .................................................................................... 187 Books Read ......................................................................................................................... 188 Inventory and Checklist ........................................................................................................ 190 Provisions ............................................................................................................................ 205 Caribbean Weather Forecasts ............................................................................................. 213 The Dong With A Luminous Nose by Edward Lear (1812 – 1888) ....................................... 215 About the Author (and his wife) ............................................................................................ 218 “Trade winds: These steady winds which blow on either side of the equatorial doldrums were so called because of the assistance they gave to the trade of sailing ships. The early Spanish navigators gave them the more romantic sounding name of alisios.” – World Cruising Routes, Fifth Edition by Jimmy Cornell Preface In late October 2007 my wife, Gail, and I pulled our 35’ sloop Alisios away from her slip off the Chesapeake Bay in Deale, Maryland and embarked upon a seven month journey down the eastern coast of the United States, to the southern Bahamas and back. The dream which engendered this journey developed over ten years of local cruising. However, the hardest part was deciding the time had come and summoning the courage to go. Before departing I decided to keep a journal of our trip on my laptop which would be posted incrementally to my website1 whenever we could find a Wi-Fi hotspot. This task, which originated as a vehicle for sharing tales and photos of our journey with family and a few friends, grew into something much larger as I redirected some of the pent up energy that no longer had an outlet through my conventional job. As our trip progressed, it became clear that a number of people were with us vicariously, occasionally complaining when I was slow to post updates. The following pages reflect that journal, as posted, with only minor edits. If it’s somewhat disjointed, I’ll blame that on the serial nature of its development. If it’s too verbose, I must acknowledge a sin of my nature and beg forgiveness. A quick note on Alisios – She is a 35’ convertible cutter-rigged sloop of conservative design that was built in Clearwater, Florida by a small family-owned builder named Caliber Yachts. The hull was designed by Michael McCreary and introduced in 1985 as a 33 footer of which 66 were produced. In 1991 a swim platform was added increasing the length to 35’ and in 1994 the diesel and water carrying capacity were more than doubled, at which point Caliber added the moniker “LRC2” to the brand. In all, 33 Caliber 35s were built. Alisios was the last and is unique in having a completely re-designed electrical system in addition to numerous system, cabinetry and other upgrades not found on any of her sister