Waiting . . .

A quick update. I am sure that some of you are aware that there is a fair amount of storm activity in the south Atlantic. It cropped up quickly last weekend and has put a wrench in our plans. So far, we are not sure how much. We moved ourselves to Newport, Rhode Island, in preparation to leave the country. Our cruising license expired on the 21st and we were hoping to leave that day. However, one of the storms that came up was tropical storm Emily, and it’s projected path was directly in line with ours. So, of course we couldn’t leave. We thought perhaps we would give it 2 days to see what the storm does. Luckily, it is petering out and downgraded to a tropical depression again. However, at the same time, Franklin started to become more and more organized, and is now predicted to be a hurricane later this week. Normally, storms in the Caribbean do not make it up north very much (although obviously they can), but Franklin might. Or, might wear itself out but still be a pretty significant post hurricane remnant that would still cross our path. What’s more, when we use our weather routing program, Fastseas, which looks at both the forecast as well as the specifics of our boat, it predicts that we would actually have very little wind before Franklin and after came further north, so we wouldn’t get far (or would have to motor). We can’t motor for as much of the route as it suggest because we don’t carry that much fuel. We have enough fuel to get us about a third of the way across. So, we wait for a better opportunity and hope that it comes soon. If not, then the fall storms come to the North Atlantic and we will lose our opportunity to go to Europe.

We have been very excited to go to Europe. I think was Kevin’s main goal for the whole trip. But we have been told that not to hold too tightly to plans when sailing because you are often at the mercy of the weather and boat maintenance. We very much wanted to be up the coast and ready to cross the Atlantic much sooner than we are; aware of hurricane season, the fall storm season and our time limit. However, our boat repairs proved much more onerous than initially anticipated. Plus, we are new to it all! It takes a great deal of time to get tasks accomplished, especially if you are in a foreign location (like our start in Carriacou) or just having to dinghy/uber/drive to stores. So, the other question people often ask us is, what happens if you can’t cross the Atlantic? Do we have a contengency plan? The answer is yes, basically. If we don’t get across, then we will head south again, after the hurricane season and then decide where to go from there – probably to Mexico and through the Panama Canal. Or perhaps we would do everything again in reverse, at a slower pace, enjoying the ocean and journey a little more. We will see. For now, we wait. But we hope to make the best of our waiting time. More projects can be completed on the boat, of course, and we might take some day trips to see the surrounding areas. My one annoyance is that I might have to reprovision our food stores if we stay here long enough!