In the Bahamas

We are in the Bahamas and enjoying being back.

We left Fort Pierce at first light and motored south against mild headwinds working our way down to West Palm Beach.  The winds had started to build so we made the left turn to cross the gulf stream overnight under sail.  Once across we again turned south and motor/sailed to the Great Bahamas Bank.  We were again able to sail as we crossed the Bank.  During night #2 we moved into The Tongue of the Ocean, a deep area between the different island groups.  We continued on until we reached a channel that is shown on our charts and crossed the banks to Big Majors Spot and anchored just after sunset.  Big Majors Spot is famous for the pigs that will swim out to your dinghy as you attempt to come ashore to feed them.  Any Google search will bring up many photos and videos.  We anchored for the night and in the morning we moved to the fuel dock at Staniel Cay to top off the fuel tank.  Leaving the fuel dock we worked our way around Harvey's Cay sailed down to Little Farmers Cay to stage for the trip through the cut between islands the next morning.  In the morning we caught an outgoing current going out the cut into Exuma Sound.  Turning south we then sailed down to Great Exuma Island and motored into Elizabeth Harbor and set anchor near several of our cruising friends.  We had arrived at Georgetown.  397 nautical miles, or 456 land miles in five days.   The harbor is large and last time when we were here there were over three hundred boats. It's still early in the season and there are only thirty boats with more arriving every day.  We dinghied into town the next morning to check in with Customs and Immigration.  Once cleared in we visited the phone company store to get a sim card for our Bahamian hotspot.  We suspend our US phone service and rely on the hotspot for data and phone service while we are in the islands.  The next stop was at a restaurant to celebrate arrival with a Kalik, a local Bahamian beer.

The winds are blowing in the 15-20 knot range so we will stay here for a few days.  We have checked out several of the hiking trails, relaxed on the beach, collected shells on the ocean side and visited with friends.  When the winds let up we will continue on.

Our Spot position locator has died and I am experimenting with other means to show our travels.

Winter Cruise Is Underway

We have started our winter cruise.

The survey is done with no serious issues, the part arrived and has been installed and we have started off.

We spent a couple of days in Oriental waiting on a water pump that gave out.  The town has two docks that cruisers can stay at for 48 hours free of charge.  We were allowed to stay a couple of extra days since without the pump we could not run the engine.  Once the pump was installed we left the dock and moved down to Morehead City and anchored to wait for a weather window to move on.  Several days later on Saturday we had a good forecast and we headed out the entrance setting a course for Beaufort SC. The opening was for only two days and after sailing and motoring we arrived midday on Monday and moved up a creek to wait out the weather.  The forecast was correct and we sat out several days of the wind blowing hard but we were well protected.  Thanksgiving morning we headed off again with our next stop St Augustine.  We arrived midday on Friday and set anchor by the fort.  Saturday we dinghied into town and got together with several other cruisers for drinks and stories.  After dinner at our favorite barbeque place we went back to the boat for the night.  We planned to move on Sunday but it was a rainy chilly day so we stayed at anchor.

Monday morning we caught the first bridge opening and moved down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) making a long run of eighty miles and anchored for the night at New Smyrna Beach.  We were only fifty miles from Cape Canaveral and were able to watch a rocket launch that evening, once it cleared the buildings that were in our way.  The next morning we started off early again and made a sixty mile run to Melbourne FL and anchored for the night.  The next morning we were underway early again to make our way to Vero Beach.  Vero Beach is very cruiser friendly and is often referred to as "Velcro Beach" since it is hard to leave once you show up.  Cori has gotten several loads of laundry done, I have worked on getting the boat ready for the next leg and we have made several trips on the free bus to stock up on groceries for the winter.

We have just about everything ready and will be moving on further down the Florida coast before making the turn to the Bahamas.