After being in Bermuda for a few days, the weather improved and we were ready to leave the island chain and venture out into the ocean once again.
Leaving Bermuda was a bit of a production. First, you have to get everything ready to go before you check out of the country. Once you clear out, you have 60 minutes to leave their waters!
The issue is we needed to raise and dismantle our anchor, deflate the dinghy, remove the outboard, as well as all the regular “setting the sails” activities to leave. To accomplish this, we set the stern anchor with its rope rode and retrieved the main bow anchor. Once the bow anchor was unbolted and disassembled (and stowed) we could then begin to get everything except the dinghy ready to go.
After everything was complete and we were laying to our stern anchor (fed around to the bow chock), i then went to shore to clear out. Upon return, I deflated Sophia in record time so that we could vacate the anchorage and avoid a hefty fine for overstaying after checking out.
It was a lot of hassle and hurry, and then we were out in the ocean sailing away without any cares. Ocean crossing is so much more relaxing once you are out there!
