Bermuda

Hi Everybody,

This is from Dani. It's my turn to write the group e-mail.

After finally leaving St. Thomas we spent two more nights in St. John and then went to Bitter End to watch for a weather window and to take advantage of free windsurfers. Steve and Linda Dashew met us there and Steve helped Dad find a good weather window. On our last night Dad, Matt and I windsurfed until dark. Then we all took our last salt water baths and we left for Bermuda the next day at noon.

As we sailed around Anagada, we couldn't see the island (it's totally flat and only 10' high) but we could tell where it was because the bottoms of the clouds above it were teal green, reflecting the color of the reef. Dad and Mom sailed the boat for a while, while Matt and I slept. And the last sight of the Virgin Islands was taken by a disposable camera.

The trip took a total of almost 5 days. The first night Calvin flew from one horizon to the next, the deck lighted with a quarter moon and clear skies above. In the first twenty-four hours we went 202 miles. That was our most exciting day. I contributed to the excitement by breaking Dad's new and expensive walkman.

The second morning we tight reached with less wind. That night we had high clouds, no moon and lightning in the distance. The next day we broad reached with the spinnaker and by night fall we motored with no sails. That night we had alot of squalls. The thunder and lightning scared us the most. The thunderheads were low clouds with black bottoms. They started out as small white cumulous clouds and would grow huge, turn black, go off in the form of storm and rain, and then break apart, all in the period of 45 minutes. Dad likes to call these Donnybrooks. They're big, dangerous, and you have to watch out or they'll hit you.

On the fourth day while Matt and I were on watch, Matt spotted out a big group of pilot whales. After pounding the deck, Mom and Dad came out dreary eyed. The whales swam in groups of five and every couple of seconds they would rise out of the water showing their blowhole, dorsal fin and tail. Some of them where black and a little bigger than a dolphin. The others were a dark, smokey gray color. One was light gray. It swam under the water right behind the transom. They swam with the boat for a while and then broke away into the distance.

The 4th day we were headed in very light wind and were forced to motor most of the day. We started to worry about fuel, and about the big cold front that was heading for Bermuda from the east coast. But on day 5 the wind came up in the early morning and we broad reached into Bermuda. We have been in Bermuda for almost a week now. It has been very rough weather so we have been touring the island and doing school work, waiting for a calm spot to leave in. When we got here we anchored in the harbor of St Georges. We were all shocked when we went into the customs building. Very efficient and even friendly! We were later to find out that the whole island is very formal, efficient and friendly. Our first time on shore was on a Sunday afternoon and all of the locals were strolling around town. The grown men wear shorts, knee-high knitted socks, and ties. And the boys Matt's age wear panty hose. The town is very clean, all of the buildings are painted pastel colors with white roofs. Matt describes it as "It's the Truman Show!" or "We're in Pleasantville!".

After a couple of days we went around to Hamilton Harbor with the Dashews. Hamilton is a real city, with department stores, traffic lights and most of all, traffic. We've all been very cold since we've gotten here and expect to be in big trouble when we get home. Today is Saturday, May 20. We might leave this afternoon because it looks like we will have southwest wind for long enough to get across the Gulf Stream. After that we are not sure about the wind but we are planning to be freezing the rest of the way home.