We left Britain in October 1984 and after some bad weather enroute to the Canary Islands we finally made our Atlantic crossing in January arriving at Bequia St. Vincent on February 4th. We sailed the Caribbean Islands until mid May and then began our voyage to the U.S.A.

Our boat is a Nicholson 38ft yawl with all the usual equipment, RDF, Log, Echo sounder, Liferaft, VHF and sextant. The crew consists of my husband Dave, myself and our daughter Sarah aged 12.

Our final two days in the British Virgins were spent exploring our anchorage, The Bight on Norman Island, reputedly the 'Treasure Island' R.L.Stephenson wrote of in his classic novel. Our trusty Avon dinghy took us to the treasure caves and we spent the whole day exploring. Next day Friday May 24th was spent passage planning. A passage direct from the BVI to Beaufort, North Carolina, 1300 miles, right through the Bermuda Triangle.

Saturday 25th May. We finally set sail at 13.00 hrs. After an hour discovered that the B&G log was mis-reading. We passed Jost-Van Dyke Island at 16.00 hrs and Dave fitted the Walker trailing log. The wind was N.E. force 3.

Sunday 26th May. Dave took a sextant sight this morning and we crossed it with the Aero Beacon on Puerto Rico. The afternoon sight gave us a good position, 5 miles east of our estimated position.

Monday 27th May. We had to reef down during the night as the wind increased and changed direction. We moved the boom across and fitted a boom preventor. We got 2 good fixes again and crossed them with the aero beacon. We saw 2 ships today and found several flying fish on deck.

Tuesday 28th May. We are settling into our watch system now. Dave and I do 5 hour watches. I do 10.00am to 3.00pm and 10.00pm to 3.00am. Dave does 3.00am to 8.00am and 5.00pm to 10.00pm. Sarah does 8.00am to 10.00am and 3.00pm to 5.00pm.. We find this works very well.

We only got a morning fix. It was not too good as the horizon was misty. Perhaps it's because we have entered the Bermuda Triangle?

Wednesday 29th May. Dave woke me with a good breakfast of boiled eggs today. All the bedding is very damp, it must be the humidity. It was lovely weather this morning so we dried everything off on deck. After lunch it suddenly became very dark, we reefed right down just before the storm hit us. The rain was torrential and the wind increased rapidly to force 7 and changed direction. As usual the boat sailed on happily under reefed headsail and triple reefed main. The storm lasted 4 hours then left us as rapidly as it arrived. We hoisted all sail once more and headed north.

Thursday 30th May. The trailing log is not working very well as it keeps getting blocked by Sargasso weed. We calculated that the B&G log is showing two thirds of the distance run, so now we are adding a third on to give the distance run. We had an enormous Dorado fish swimming beside the boat for 2 hours. It was over 3ft. long and much too pretty to catch.

Friday 31st May. There is not much wind today, we got a morning and afternoon sight but they put us much further north than our estimated position, and the horizon is still hazy, so we are ignoring them. We passed a 45 gallon oil drum today; it had a large dint in it. I am glad we did not hit it. We got another big storm tonight, complete with thunder and lightning. It was very spectacular.

Saturday 1st June. There is a lot of weed about, also lots of flotsam. We saw a tug pulling an enormous platform. We called up on the VHF to try to get a position but he did not reply. Perhaps the radio has stopped working; we are in the Bermuda Triangle after all.

Sunday 2nd June. It was a beautiful day today. There was a large shark under the boat today for several hours. We finally got some good fixes today, although our speed is low, and there is not much wind. We saw some varnished food cans floating past; there must be a yacht ahead.

Monday 3rd June. The trailing log is almost cut through near the impeller. Perhaps the shark took a bite of it. Nothing seems to fancy our fishing lures, we've trailed them since we left and caught nothing. The weather is hazy today and the sextant sights were not too good. Two wine bottles floated past today, the yacht ahead must be having a party.

Tuesday 4th June. Sarah saw a paper aeroplane floating past today, what a party that must have been. The weather forecast said tornadoes are sweeping through the Great Lake states, and out into the Atlantic. I hope they don't come this way.

Wednesday 5th June. The barometer dropped 6 millibars overnight, and there is a large swell from the N.W. Dave woke me early so that we could reef down before the wind arrives. The wind gradually increased and began to blow from the north. The seas have become very high and confused, but the boat is taking it okay. Something has eaten our fishing lure, I hope it gets bellyache! It must have been big because it was a 100lb line. The wind is easing a little now. We are just passing out of the Bermuda Triangle.

Thursday 6th June. The barometer has started to rise again It is a lovely day and we got two good sextant sights this morning and noon. The boat was surrounded by pilot whales most of the day, they were doing acrobatics. We saw 2 very big ships on the horizon and called them up for a position, and a radio check. We were answered by a helicopter who gave us our position. We are exactly on course! There was not much wind today but it started to blow at 2.00am and our speed increased to 6 knots.

Friday 7th June. We motor sailed today, as we were so close to our destination and there was very little wind. We sighted land at 20.00hrs; we were about 3 miles from the entrance to the Morehead/Beaufort channel. It was getting dark and we did not want to lay off in case we were swept onto Cape Lookout by the Gulf Stream, so we entered the channel and sailed to Port Macon, just inside the harbour, where we dropped anchor for the night. We will go upriver to Beaufort tomorrow in daylight.

Saturday 8th June. Dave's Birthday. I hadn't had time to buy him a present, and we have not been near land for 13 days, so I gave him the USA for his present. Unfortunately I didn't have any gift wrapping paper so I could not wrap it up. WE motored up to Beaufort and tied up alongside the dock. The customs man was very friendly he gave us a lovely welcome to the USA. During the day we had a procession of people attracted by our British ensign. And found the hospitality overwhelming.

The town of Beaufort is very pretty and picturesque and we are looking forward to exploring it, and the surrounding countryside. Our voyage took 13 days, some bad weather and some good. We were plagued by Sargasso weed the whole time we were inside the Bermuda Triangle but funnily it disappeared as we passed out of the triangle, also the horizon became clear again and our sextant positions tallied with our estimated positions once more.

Next year we plan to go down the Inter-coastal waterway to the Bahamas, Jamaica and Panama, but first we are going to spend six months touring the USA. By VW Bus.

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