Another quite eventful day today. Remember the boat that ended up on the beach yesterday (see yesterday’s post)? They towed it back out into the anchorage to just put it about 30 feet from my boat. Who in his right mind f…. does that? After trying to reason with the guy and than swearing at him I decided to pickup anchor and move. This is not ok in my book. If you anchor near another boat be respectful and leave them their room to swing and not have them struggle on deck to put out fenders. All good now and I enjoy the last night here before moving on to Cape May. What better is there than to hunkering down below with the good old kerosine stove going for heat and watching your fave YT peeps (shout out to Bret and Marisa who we met in Hope Town).

This tornado warning for Norfolk that came out of the blue is not what I wanted to see for my anchorage. A tornado, really? I knew it would be blustery but a tornado is a whole different animal. Day started off with a neighboring boat on the beach already and 30 kts of wind again. Until noon winds were building to 40+ and a Tornado warning was issued for the area. I let out more anchor chain since re-anchoring alone in these conditions was a no go. By noon I had the engine going to give the hard working anchor that was slowly, very slowly dragging a bit of a relief. Than by about 1 the rain started and it was pouring until about 5. Now the waters are calm (for the moment) and I can breathe a sigh of relief, open a beer and relax. Only casualty of the day was our beloved lamp that toppled out of its charger in a gust and broke. I hope the next hrs will stay calm before the next blow tomorrow.

Early morning start with a beautiful sunrise. No wind, rounded Cape Hatteras at sunset, most likely have a broken turbo charger on the engine but who needs a turbo anyways. All in all a long overnighter from Cape Lookout to Norfolk, VA. Not the prettiest anchorage but home for the next 2 days. Now urgent food and a nap.

Not a good night at Cape Lookout. 40+ kts sustained winds in the last hr and swell is kicking up. So fat the anchor is holding fingers crossed it stays that way🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 Just had to add a second snubber just in case. Definitely not a lot of sleep tonight. Let’s hope it’ll let off soon. Not loving these conditions

What a ride. It started off really nice with a broad reach but than during the night the wind kicked up to 25 gusting 30, the waves went from 3 feet to 6+ feet and we were going dead downwind. The boat was rolling gunnel to gunnel but it was surprisingly still not too uncomfortable. Not too bad for my first 200+ solo miles on Utopia.

After our great Bahamas trip another great adventure is about to start. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for me. I’ll be single handing Utopia back to NYC. 700+ miles on the outside over the coming weeks. This is the first time I will be taking her out alone. On one hand I’m super excited and on the other hand I’m not sure what to expect. Wish me luck and some warmer weather…not looking forward to the cold part of the journey.

Sadly we had to point the bow north and had to leave the Bahamas and the nice weather behind. Eventless passage back to the US, thank god but the midway greeting by a whole pod of dolphins was something that will stick with me for a while. While Harper (the dog) was loosing her sh… we just enjoyed the company of the dolphins for at least 30+ min. Now cleaning and re-provisioning before the next leg on Friday.

After another sporty sail close hauled in 25 kts of wind we got to Walker’s Cay. Absolutely empty marina, 4 super nice workers, no office showers or any amenities but an airstrip. It is soli built for a couple of fishing tournaments per year. Never experienced anything like it

Upwind slog for 7 hrs in 20+ kts of breeze is not my ideal but it had to be done. s/v Utopia handled it like the champ she is, the dog only threw up once and the rest of the crew is fine. Is it 5 o’clock yet?