My most stressful nighttime landfall was Bermuda. We rounded Northeast Breakers in daylight, but by the time we were approaching the Town Cut entrance to St George harbour, it was as dark as pitch. Cloudy, no moon. Only one of the four on board had been through it before, in daylight, and it wasn't me.
Town Cut, as many of you know, is a narrow channel between two tall, rocky cliffs. The Spit Buoy light, which marks a rocky shoal to the south of the entrance was out. The weather wasn't bad, so we decided go in. We contacted Bermuda
Radio ZBR, and got permission to enter the Cut. The
radar helped
line us up, and a strong Q-Beam spotlight picked up each set of buoys. The approach to the Cut was the worst part. We couldn't see the buoys until they were maybe three boatlengths away. Once between the cliffs, it was easier to know exactly where we were.
I didn't breath a sigh of relief until we were tied up at the Customs House dock.
The
radar display was at the nav station, down below. I've since added a
chartplotter/radar repeater in a Navpod next to the helm. It's a great comfort to be able to see it myself while at the
wheel, rather than calling up and down the companionway to a crewmember.