We Closed the Circle

We have closed the circle and are back in North Carolina. 

We left Eleuthera pulling anchor a little after midnight and crossed the Providence Channel arriving at Little Harbor Inlet and continuing on to Elbow Cay by mid-afternoon, a trip of 67 miles.  We had planned to anchor outside Hopetown for the night but we were offered the use of a mooring and we took advantage of the offer.  We went into town and got two loads of laundry done celebrating the trip with a few cold Kalik beers while waiting for the laundry.  The next morning we dropped the mooring and proceeded to Boat Harbor Marina to take on fuel.  From there we continued to Scotland Cay to visit friends.  We spent two days visiting with Rita and Will and enjoying being at their dock.  From there we continued on to Green Turtle Cay to spend some time with our friend Donny.

In the past we have made the crossing from Florida to Green Turtle to spend time at Donn's Docks before continuing further south. This year we promised him we would stop on the way back at the end of our season. While there we spent time revisiting the island and visiting with old and new friends.  We were monitoring the weather looking for an opportunity to make the trip back to the States.  After a week we had a short window forecasted and we said good-bye and started out.  We made the trip across the Little Bahamas Bank and made the crossing to Fernandina Beach in a three day, 352 nautical mile trip.  Arriving at Fernandina Beach we picked up a mooring, checked in with Customs and Immigration and rested up from the trip.  The next morning we checked into the marina and when we said we were gong to walk to Walmart to pick up some things Charlie offered us the use of his pickup.  With that out of the way spent some time in the Captains Lounge sucking up their wifi. After two days we had a good forecast to make the rest of the trip to North Carolina.  First we needed to top off our fuel.  The fuel dock is still out of commission since the last hurricane so we emptied the jerry jugs we carry and with another loan of Charlie's pickup for trips to the gas station with the jugs we had the tank topped off and rode the outgoing tide.

We spent another three days traveling 349 nautical miles in light winds arriving Beaufort Inlet after midnight and anchored near the Coast Guard Station.  We normally avoid entering a harbor at night but this inlet is well marked and we have several previous tracks to follow.  In the morning we pulled anchor and moves to Taylors Creek in downtown Beaufort and settled in for a couple of days.  We made several trips into town to help with the local economy at several restaurants, bars and pubs.  After the weekend we decided to move up to the Neuse River and anchor in Clubfoot Creek next to our old marina.

Now that we are back we are making the arrangements to be hauled out for summer storage.  We thought we were on a list at one of the yards but when we called they had no record of it.  Now we are working on plan B with calls in to several other yards.

Our winter cruise is now over with us covering 2317 nautical miles or 2666 statute miles. That is just short of a trip from New York City to Los Angles but traveling at about six miles an hour.  At least we didn't have to climb any mountains.

What is next?  Once we get the boat hauled out we will be loading up a rental truck with some of the stuff we have in storage here and bringing it with us to South Dakota.  We have a number of projects at the cabin we hope to get completed and plan to enjoy relaxing there before returning to the boat in the fall.  If you are in the Black Hills area this summer we would enjoy your company.

Each tick mark is our location at 6:00 am and 6:00 pm each day.

Starting Back

We have started back through the Bahamas working our way back to the States.  When we arrived we asked for a ninety day cruising permit and our time is counting down, we are inside of the final thirty days.

What have we been doing?

First and foremost  we wanted to spend as much time as we could in the Jumentos/Raggeds.  This is part of the southern area of the islands and is the most remote.  We have moved around to several of the islands while here but have once again spent most of it at Hog Cay.  Hog Cay is the central gathering place in the Raggeds and at times had up to forty boats which to us is too many, thus the side trips to other islands to enjoy the solitude.  We also have had more then normal weather events that have caused us and everyone else to move to protected anchorages.  One such event lasted a week with winds in the 20-40 knot range from several directions, most from the west and northwest where there are the least number of anchorages to find protection.  That doesn't mean we are confined to the boat, we were still are able to go ashore for gatherings, beach combing and kayaking.  There are trails that have been cleared on many of these islands so there is more opportunities to get off the boat and and get a little exercise and help with trail maintenance.

The most enjoyable is spending time on shore at the tiki hut visiting with friends, weaving baskets and watching the sunset looking for the elusive "green flash".  Usually there is a big party around Valentines Day put on by the locals from Ragged Island but this year it has been postponed until March and we will not be able to stay for it.

After about two months we had to say goodbye to our friends and start working our way north.  We started out on Friday the sixteenth pulling the anchor at 7:00 am motored for a bit to give the batteries a charge then hoisted sails and had an almost perfect day of sailing with fifteen knots of wind on the beam, the most efficient point of sail doing six to eight knots of speed..  We continued until sunset when the winds dropped to 10-13 knots and sailing four to six knots until 3:00 in the morning when we dropped anchor by Blackpoint Settlement.  We had covered 122 nautical miles or 140 statute miles.  Our alarms went off three hours later and about 7:00 am we again pulled anchor and motored out Dotham Cut and turned north for Eleuthera crossing Exuma Sound.  This time we had lighter winds from behind us and motored through the morning.  In the early afternoon the winds had shifted and increased allowing us to hoist the sails and shut off the motor.  We arrived at Rock Sound Eleuthera about 5:30 traveling 60 nautical miles or about 70 statute miles.  We had traveled 182 miles in two days sailing most of it.  This would normally have taken about four or five days to travel under normal circumstances.  One of the reasons we were in a hurry was that there was a forecast for another front to move down with high winds from the west and northwest and we wanted to be in the protection provided in Rock Sound.  The next morning before the winds kicked up we made a run to the grocery and liquor store.  We were low on a couple of items and I needed a loaf of bread for my lunches and was just about out of rum.  Back in the dinghy we had a wet ride back to the boat because the winds were kicking up and we got splashed a lot on the trip.  We then spent the next couple of days on the boat with the exception of one trip to the beach to visit with some of the other cruisers.

Thursday, the 22nd, we pulled anchor about 6:00 am and headed further north.  We needed an early start because there is a small cut between the island that has a strong current running except at tide change.  It is important to time your arrival at what is called "slack tide" in order to avoid the current.  Not to be surprised but the cut is called Current Cut.  The forecast called for light winds but they got it wrong and after motoring into the wind for several hours we made the turn to the cut and were able to sail once again.  The winds were in the 15-20 knot range most of the day with one gust hitting 25 knots.  we were fortunate to arrive at the cut at the right time and proceeded through.  If we had missed the tide change we had an anchorage picked out to wait to try again in the morning.  We proceeded to Meekes Patch near Spanish Wells and dropped anchor to await the upcoming weather front.  By the next morning we had thirty boats around us all waiting out the expected winds.

Our next destination is the northern islands called the Abaco's.  This involves a fifty mile jump in open ocean waters so we are waiting for the weather to move through and the arrival of east winds to sail across.  Once there we will make a couple of stops before arriving at Green Turtle Cay to see our friend Donny and spend a couple of days at his marina.  We will be monitoring the weather as always but will be looking for a window that will allow us to make the jump back to the States and work our way up to North Carolina.

Spending Our Time in the Bahamas

 Our last post had us in Georgetown on Great Exuma Island in the central Bahamas.

After several days of strong winds we left heading to the Southwestern area called the Jumentos/Raggeds.  We had moved the boat to an anchorage near town and made several runs in the dinghy to fill water jugs to top off our water tanks.  By midday the winds were dropping and we headed out.  We did a combination of sailing and motoring along the way.  The route takes us through some shallow areas where we were our depth gauge was showing only 2-3 feet below the keel much of it in the dark since we were traveling overnight.  There were storm clouds all around us with a lot of lightning but they all passed by without hitting us.  It was interesting watching them on our radar.  There are a number of small islands to stop at but this year we passed them by in order to get further into the Raggeds.  We finally stopped the next afternoon at Double Breasted Cay which would offer some protection from the forecasted winds.  Cori took the opportunity to kayak to shore to check out the beaches on the ocean side. After a couple of days we pulled anchor and continued on to Hog Cay, one of our favorite spots.  This is about as remote as you can find.  There is a small community on the next island with about sixty residents and is closer to Cuba then any other community. This will be our fourth time coming here and we want to spend as much time in the area as we can.

We started by hiking one of the trails to the ocean side to look for sea beans and to collect palm fronds to start weaving baskets again.  The winds have been strong but we are protected by the island so it was comfortable.  There was a forecast for a front coming through that would have winds from the west.  We are not protected form the west.  We moved with several other boats to an area between Ragged Island and Little Ragged Island.  Here we were protected on all sides.  We took the opportunity to spend several days walking the beaches on Little Ragged for more sea beans.  I have mentioned sea beans in several other post and what they are is seeds, ranging from about the size of a quarter to a half dollar that float down the rivers in South America into the ocean and the winds and currents wash them up on the beaches in the Bahamas and further west to Central America.  There are several types and this year we are limiting ourselves to the type called "hamburgers" which look like a small hamburger.  They are rarer and harder to find.  The more common are "sea hearts" which are larger and shaped somewhat like a heart.  It quickly becomes an obsession.

After several days the forecast was for the winds to lessen and we moved back to Hog Cay.  More boats were arriving and we started getting together at the tiki hut in the afternoon for sundowners and visiting.  

Christmas Eve we spent at Hog Cay and Christmas Day we were included  with several other cruisers to join the residents of Duncan Town for Christmas dinner.  The cruisers brought deserts and the community provided everything else.  There were as many cruisers as there were locals including the crew from the Defense Force boat  After dinner there were fun games for the adults and children.

The forecast once again talked of winds from the west and we dispersed to a variety of protected harbors. This time we moved up to an area between Buena Vista Cay and Low Water Cay.  We had never anchored there before but it was reported to be a secure anchorage in a west wind.  We ended up having the anchorage to ourselves.  When the front arrived the winds clocked around from SE until it was from the NE.  When it was coming from the south we found we were exposed to waves causing a rolling motion but calmed when it shifted to west.  We stayed for three days dinghying to the close by beaches to once again look for "treasures".  

New Years Eve we pulled anchor and moved back to Hog Cay.  When we arrived we found we were the only boat in the anchorage but the other boats came back from where they had been hiding over the next couple of days.  Once again we all settled into the various activities of hiking the trails, walking the beaches, socializing at the hut and meeting in the late afternoon for sundowners and watching for the elusive "Green Flash" at sunset.  On the 3rd we joined a group of cruisers have lunch in Duncan Town.  While there we had a jerry jug filled with gasoline to keep the outboards and generator running and picked up a couple of items at the grocery store.  All and all it was a very good day.  

The days were beginning to blend together so for some variety we decided to pull anchor and move up to Double Breasted Cay for a couple of days.  This gave us a couple of different beaches to search for "treasures".  We spent four days there while the other boats came and went and on our last night we were the only boat in the anchorage.  While there we were able to see another rocket go overhead after a launch from Cape Canaveral.  We once again pulled anchor and moved back to Hog Cay.

The forecast is calling for high winds but not from the west so we will stay and ride it out here.  We had plans to make a run to Duncan Town for gasoline before the winds kicked up.  There is a local fisherman that has gas shipped in and we contacted him to be sure it was available.  He offered to deliver some and today he showed up with five gallons and took our empty jug to refill and returned it along with two cold Kalik beers.  We are still fighting a problem with our batteries and keep having to run the generator to keep them topped off.

It may seem like we are doing nothing but sitting at anchor and that is true.  The majority of time spent cruising is just sitting in a location and enjoying yourself.  This is our favorite area and we arrived early this year to just sit back, relax and enjoy the experience rather then keep on the move.