I went back into the water on 31 May. The engine and propeller shaft repairs appeared to have worked perfectly, but the alternator wasn’t charging the batteries, so it was removed, repaired and refitted. I’ve taken the boat for a spin around the harbour this morning, and everything seems to be working perfectly, so I’ve been to the Marina, Port Authority, Customs, and Immigration and signed myself out of the country for tomorrow morning. I just need to buy a ton of fruit and one or two other bits, go for a final swim on Jolly Beach, and go for a final happy hour at the Crow’s Nest bar. Then I’ll be off early tomorrow, probably still for Bermuda.
I’ve been changing my mind constantly as regards whether to sail to Bermuda or the Azores, but the current weather forecasts indicate that the large ridge of calm across the Atlantic will extend roughly to Bermuda’s longitude, and the steady west winds should be reached in around Bermuda’s latitude. As I don’t want to have to motor too much, it looks like it will make sense to go there, but I may possibly change my mind as I go north. If you’re interested in looking at the Atlantic weather patterns as I’m sailing up and across, I find windy.com to be particularly good.
I will send occasional twitter updates, as before, which should pop up on my blog homepage. I don’t have internet access, so I cannot see any answering tweets. If you urgently need to get in touch with me, contact my dad, brother or Matt Brown. My position should be updated every six hours on the ‘where’ page.
Love to all, and wish me luck!