Our plan to depart for Fort Lauderdale in the second week of May is postponed by tropical storm Adrian which is brewing in the Pacific off Central America.  She is expected to cross west to east over Central America and head for the Old Bahamas Channel which, of course, means that she will intersect with us!

So we delay our departure for a week until Hurricane Adrian blows itself out.  On Sunday, May 22nd, we sail from Honeymoon Bay, by the Spanish Virgin Islands, and encounter the squall from Hades off Puerto Rico.  Chris reminds Jackie how to steer running from the storm as the double thunderstorm pictured above develops while Jackie photographs the horizon with sails, rain and spray flying!

When Jackie arrived for her 0900 watch as SHIBUMI sailed between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, she discovered that she had been replaced on Chris's attention list. A small dehydrated bird, which we quickly named Mona for the famous passage we were crossing, had flown onboard and captured Chris's heart. 

Mona spent the day eating grapes that Chris sliced for her,  sipping water, and chasing Chris around the vessel.  She slept all night on the back of a chair in the saloon with Chris forgiving her small poops on the carpet.  It had to be love.  Thirty-six hours after Mona took over our ship, she flew out and back several times and then headed toward Cuba, now a short distance away.

After a hot but safe six day journey, SHIBUMI docked in Fort Lauderdale on Memorial Day Weekend, Sunday, May 29th at 1330.  We checked in with US Customs by phone after berthing at the City Marina on New River.  They explained that we would then have to go to US Immigration within 24 hours to check in.  Most of Monday we waited in line at the temporary office until the officers causally informed us that we did not have to announce our arrival since we departed from a US territory.  This was our first indication that Homeland Security did not coordinate its efforts at all.

Jackie departed to house-sit in North Carolina while Chris and two new crew members sailed to Wilmington to coordinate yet another round of antifouling at our old friend, Bennett Brothers Boatyard.

Two maintenance issues forced us to delay our arrival in Beaufort NC so we rescheduled our trip to attend the hit performance of King Mackerel and the Blues Are Running with Jackie's high school buddy and good friend, Bland Simpson.  Quite a great evening of fun and frolicking!    Hard to believe that the first time Jackie attended this performance was 1985.  It was a real treat to entertain the cast aboard SHIBUMI for lunch after we finally did arrive in the anchorage off Town Creek Marina!

Our home port of Beaufort NC continues to be one of our favorite stops.  There is a rumor around this town that SHIBUMI will receive a Notice of Race for the 2006 Tall Ships Regatta scheduled for the first week of July next summer.  Depending on what the 2006 hurricane season brews, we may sail the 1,300 miles to match our wits against Horatio Sindbad and his winning racer, Maco.

Once again, we wait for two days in Beaufort as heavy thunderstorms cross over us on June 12-13th.  Then our crewmember for the ride to Martha's Vineyard, Laura Leigh, arrives and we sail for New England.

Edgartown is one of Jackie's all-time favorite anchorages:  locals are friendly, the public library accommodates transients with temporary cards and free wireless connections 23/7, bus drivers are helpful, and there is a free bus route to the only grocery store in town.  The flat terrain encourages you to rent bikes and ride over the Chappaquiddick Ferry after you have transported yourself all over the main island by the friendliest bus service in the USA. 

Home of The Black Dog Cafe, Vineyard Haven is a dry community which requires you to "bring your own bottle" to dinner.  The hub of ferry service to major ports on the mainland, Vineyard Haven also hosts two tall ships owned by the Black Dog Cafe proprietor.  Evening sails in the mist and the fog as depicted here are frequent.

At the island's central Visitor's Center, you will find bus service to everywhere else on the island, but most frequently folks travel to Oak Bluffs, Martha Vineyard's Coney Island, to enjoy walking through the Methodist campgrounds and to eat at the multitude of restaurants.  The nation's oldest continuing running child carousel is available for a ride if you are under 16.  Here you learn where the expression:  "Grab the brass ring" originated.   The local Public Library is newer but not friendlier than Edgartown's. 

As we sailed between mainland New England and the offshore islands, we stopped several times in Woods Hole where Chris had spent many childhood summers.

These trips were memory lanes for Chris as we were lucky enough to secure a guest mooring at the Woods Hole Yacht Club. We also enjoyed several meals ashore at one of Chris's old haunts.

We first took possession of SHIBUMI at Fairhaven Shipyard after her first refit in 1996 so we were excited to return to familiar territory after more than nine years.

New Bedford Harbor is enclosed by a storm barrier, as pictured on the left, designed to prevent mainland damage in case of a hurricane.  The harbor itself is dominated by private moorings and anchoring is limited.

Nantucket is most Northeast barrier island on the US East coast.  The locals are descendants from a long line of seafaring, especially whaling, adventurers.  Indians living on Nantucket showed the original settlers how to harvest whales that drifted ashore.  In an eerie parallel to our oil crisis now, before the invention of the light bulb, whale oil was used to light the civilized world.  At least until they depleted the whale supply.

We found the mega-yachts from Antigua and Sint Maartin in the pricey marinas ashore.   We also discovered a second whaling museum focused on the whaling industry, rather than the whales.  The esteemed CLAM public library resided in a restored Nantucket town hall.

Home of the America's Cup and the mansions of the movers and shakers of the 19th century, Newport is more relaxed and inviting than one would guess.  A local suggested that we tie our dinghy to the Elm St dock where the locals congregate to fish when the blues run the pier.  Close to the bus terminal and visitor's center which is the heart of town, our almost private dinghy dock provided us with many days ashore exploring the sights.

October:  Annapolis MD

Under advice from several locals, we moved SHIBUMI from her anchorage next to the US Naval Academy to the most interior spot of Spa Creek that we could navigate.  Here we spent three weeks, one of which during the US Sailboat Show, among traditional sailboats, moorings, traditional homes, and other transients who escaped the wrath of the weather as it whipped through Annapolis.