Spanish Wells

Our week on the mooring ball in Hopetown was up on Saturday but we chose to stay another night to let some weather pass before we moved on.  Saturday was laundry day and a trip to the fuel dock to fill up on diesel and gasoline.  We used a bit more than a half tank of diesel on the trip over and burned about 8 gallons of gas running the generator and running around with the dinghy.  We are not sure when or where we will be topping off again, so get it while you can.

Sunday we were ready to leave on the early high tide but then we watched as a cloud wall move in.

 It was interesting to watch, a straight line of clouds moving in with another line of dark clouds behind it.  Needless to say it rained, hard, but not for very long.  Once the rain passed we headed out followed by Willamia, Exit Stage Left and a few others that waited a little longer.  We took the short cut between Elbow Cay and Lubbers Quarter since we were at high tide but still saw some spots with about two feet under the keel.  From there we followed the waypoints around the shallows to Lynyard Cay, the jumping off point for the trip to Eleuthera.  On the way we got caught with another downpour but again it didn’t last long.  Since the forecast for the night was for west winds then shifting to northwest we chose to anchor off of and a little north of Bridges Cay for protection.  In all there were a dozen boats anchored here.

Monday morning we were up before sunrise to be ready to pull the anchor and motor down to Little Harbor Cut.  We joined the others and headed out the cut.  We had an incoming tide but not a lot of wind so the trip through the cut was uneventful.  Once clear of the opening we set course for Egg Island, about 50 miles away.  Cori had her fishing gear out as we went through the cut and as soon as we were clear she got a strike.  Whatever it was took everything, the lure and the leader.  She re-rigged and we were off.  The wind was out of the northwest with following seas about 4-6 feet.  Unfortunately when we tried to fly the headsail it kept collapsing and then filling with a sharp snap only to collapse as we rode over the next wave.  This is very bad for a sail and the rigging so we chose to motor.  As the day progressed the wind slowly shifted from NW to N to NE just as forecast.  We had about 10-15 knots of wind but going downwind about half to a third of that was canceled out so it wasn’t a good day to sail.  Along the way Cori started to get lucky, one of her handlines brought in a nice fish that we cannot identify but it was a keeper.

  Later in the afternoon the seas calmed a bit so we tried sailing again.  We were able keep the sail full but it dropped our speed to around 5 knots.  Just at that point a fish started stripping line off of her reel.  With the sail out I wasn’t able to slow the boat down while she fought her fish.  Once it was close to the boat we could see it was a nice Mahi Mahi.  It took a bit to get it alongside while I tried to get it into the net.  With the boat moving almost 5 knots there was too much drag on the net and I couldn’t get it under the fish.  Finally the handle bent and I grabbed the gaff hook.  Of all of the Mahi we have caught this is the first one we were able to get onboard using the advice from our friend Lee from last year.

  It measured 40” from tip to tip.  It was quickly dispatched and bagged and dropped into the refrigerator to be filleted later.  We thought that that would be the excitement for the day but the fishing gods were with her.  When we got close to Egg Island there are two choices, go through the narrow cut or go around the island.  We were going to go through the cut.  Once we were lined up on our waypoint the bell on the handline started ringing, another nice fish.  Cori got that one in but didn’t have here bottle of rum she used to kill them near her.  The technique is to squirt alcohol of some sort into their gills and they die quickly.  I was jumping from one side of the boat to the other looking for her squeeze bottle and knife.

  Once found the fish was quickly dispatched and gutted.  I moved back behind the wheel to discover that we were through the cut and ready to change course for Spanish Wells.  Autopilot is a wonderful thing, if there is nothing in front of you.  We continued on and finally dropped anchor with the others in the lee of Russell Island, close to the entrance to Spanish Wells about an hour before sunset, a trip of 62 miles.

Tuesday dawned with heavy overcast and it rained off and on all morning.  In the afternoon it lightened up and looked ok for a trip to town.  We launched the dinghy and headed in stopping to talk to Phil and Theresa on See Ya.  Once in town we headed straight to the telephone office to get some information on my phone and data plan.  I was worried about running out of data and couldn’t remember how to check it.  While there we made the decision to get a sim card and purchase some data for Cori’s phone so she could use it more than just when she could find a WiFi signal.  After a stop at a couple of shops it started to rain again.  We headed back to the dinghy but chose to stop at Budda’s for a couple of beers until the rain let up.  Soon we were back on the dinghy heading back to the boat for some delicious Mahi for dinner.

Wednesday started with some light rain but then got better.  It was still overcast but it didn’t rain anymore.  We all headed into town, one to get propane, another to check on more fishing gear and all to stop at the grocery store and other shops.  It turned out the fishing shop was closed but since it was next to the beach we wandered down there.  Cori was in shell heaven with the number of sea urchins washed on the beach.  We walked the beach working our way back into town only to get to the grocery store at 12:00 as it closed.  Oh well.  From there we all wondered around town until meeting up again at the Anchor Cafe for lunch.  After lunch the others went back to their boats and we wondered around until we stopped at the Shipwreck to watch the water and have a beer.  There we met a gentleman originally from Wisconsin that had been living there for the last 14 years.  Stories and jokes soon started.  From there we took the dinghy for a tour of the harbor.  Spanish Wells is the fishing capital of the Bahamas and the harbor is filled with a variety of fishing boats of all sizes.

Thursday and Friday the forecast is for the winds to pick up and start to clock around from the NE to the SW in the 30’s and higher.  We need to move from our convenient spot to somewhere more protected.  After looking at all of the options we chose to move about 2 miles to Meeks Patch, a small island that will give us protection from anything east and then it is a short trip around the top of the island to the east side for protection from the SW and W.  We are now sitting at anchor waiting for the weather to do its thing as a pot of fish stew bubbles on the stove.

Hopetown

We are in Hopetown while the weather front went through, but first:

On New Years Day Cori had a successful day of deep drop fishing with Donny and a few others.

After the fishing trip it was into town for the annual Junkanoo.  This year I did not shoot photos but am in the process of editing the video I shot.  Watch for that coming on our YouTube channel.

On Saturday we caught the high tide and left Black Sound and moved down to Hopetown.  We had fairly calm seas and therefore a smooth ride through the Whale Cay passage.  To get from the northern Abaco to the southern part we have to go out into the Atlantic by going around Whale Cay.  It can be a smooth ride or it can be kicking up so much that there is no way to safely make the trip.  Cori used the opportunity to try her luck at fishing again.  She caught one fish, a good sized barracuda.

Unfortunately barracuda are not safe to eat so it was thrown back.  Once in Hopetown we picked up a mooring ball and settled in the week.  The weather forecast had a cold front coming through mid week and we needed a safe harbor for the duration. Once settled in we joined friends on their boat for a social hour.  We heard that Papa Nasty's BBQ was scheduled to close at the end of the week so on Sunday we joined Bo and Allison from Sehla(sp) for a walk there for lunch.  The women walked and jogged faster then Bo and I but we were able to catch them at Da Beach Bar when a nice lady offered us a ride on her golf cart.  The food at Papa Nasty's was as good as ever and we had a nice visit with Papa talking about his plans to move to Florida.  On the walk back we got caught in one of the showers that were passing through.

Monday Cori was able to join the yoga class she went to last year and I joined a group of cruisers in helping to launch one of the traditional abaco dinghy's.  These are small wooden boats that are either propelled by a sculling oar or with sails.

There is a movement here to maintain a small fleet of the boats.  In the afternoon we made the trip into town to buy some bread and pie at Vern's grocery.  We bought his last key lime pie but the bread wouldn't be available until Wednesday.  In the evening we went to Captain Jack's for burgers and bingo.  It was a very successful night since the burgers were good and I won one of the bingo games with a pot of $354. It was a pretty good day overall.

Tuesday the front arrived and it rained all day.  Cori made a trip off the boat to meet with the manager of the marina gift shop to sell some of her jewelry made with shells and seaglass found here in the Abacos.  Wednesday it continued to rain with winds in the 20's and 30's.  This being a very protected harbor we had no problems other then cabin fever.  Cori did make one trip off the boat to pick up milk and fresh baked bread at Vern's.

Thursday dawned clear and calm, another beautiful day in paradise. We started our day with a trip to check out the new gift shop at the lighthouse where Cori donated some of her bags made from old sails.  From there we went exploring in the dinghy traveling down to Tahiti Beach and the Tilloo Cut area.  We stopped off at Lubbers Landing on Lubbers Quarter Cay for lunch.  We highly recommend the tuna burger, it was just as good as we remembered.  After lunch and a few drinks we started back to Hopetown.  The wind had kicked up a bit and it was a bit bumpy on the ride back.  Evidently something got stirred up in the fuel tank and the engine stalled.  It would restart but would die as soon as I gave it any gas.  We started motoring back at idle speed until I found that it would run about half speed if I pulled out the choke.  When we made it back to the harbor we stopped immediately Arteries to see if Will could check it out.  In no time the carburetor was pulled, dismantled, cleaned and adjusted.  Once it was reinstalled everything ran perfectly,  Thanks You Will!  Once back on the boat I had to run the generator to bring the batteries back up since we had several days without the solar panels doing any charging

It is Friday, Cori is at yoga and I am at the marina using their WiFi.  We need to get more weather information for next week to make a decision to stay or to move on.  We will see what happens..

Message in a bottle

First and foremost we want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

We spent Christmas Day with a group of other cruisers for the annual cruisers pot luck.  The location had to be moved but we had a great view of the water while meeting new friends and getting reacquainted with old.  We had also been invited up to Donny's for dinner with his family and friends.  All in all it was an enjoyable Christmas.  We weren't able to spend it with our families but were with our new extended families.  We had plans to leave the dock and go out to one of the Cays to anchor on Saturday but held off and spent another day at the dock.

On Sunday at high tide we slipped the lines and had a great sail up to Munjack Cay.  This is the first anchorage we went to last year and we had enjoyed a great deal.  After the anchor was set we joined a couple of other boats that had been at the dock and dinghied around to the north end of the island to a beach we had not been to yet.  Cori did not find many shells and I had no luck finding any conch large enough to keep.  Maybe get them next year.  Monday we went to the southern point of the island and while Cori walked the beach I snorkeled out by the rocks looking for lobster.  No luck.  This is one of the beaches we videoed and uploaded to our YouTube channel, check it out.  Later Cori took her kayak to the ocean side of Crab Cay where she knew of a location to find seaglass, making a pretty good haul.  Seaglass is pieces of glass from broken bottles that get abraded by the sand and rocks to take the shine off of it and it makes nice jewelry which is what Cori is doing with it.

Tuesday we joined the others and went back to the south point again and once more I snorkeled for lobster and they walked the beach.  I went out further to a different group of rocks but again no lobsters.  There was a good variety of coral and small fish.  I tried to shoot some video but didn't get anything good.  After that we made a run to another beach on the Sea Of Abaco side.  There is a dock there and trails that will take us to a nice beach on the Atlantic side (see another video from last year).  To our surprise as soon as we got out of the dinghy we were greeted by a ray, possibly a stingray but all rays look alike to me.  It turned out to be friendly and had gotten used to people coming to feed it.  I didn't have anything for it to eat but I held the video camera under the water to shoot some video of it.  It even bumped the camera with its nose to see if it was something to eat.  I have posted the video on YouTube.  There is a link to them in the upper right hand side of this blog.  Check it out.

After walking that beach we headed across to the beach on the Atlantic side.  While walking and looking for shells and seabeans Cori spotted a wine bottle that looked like there was something in it.  Sure enough we had found a message in a bottle.  We brought it back to the boat to open it.

  The cork was almost gone and came out easily.  The message was rolled up in a ziplock bag but had gotten wet.  When we opened it up and read it we were in for a surprise.  It turned out to be a message thrown overboard by a group on a boat run by Sea Education Association on a trip from the Virgin Islands to Nova Scotia in May of 2005.

Sea Education Associations web site tells of their mission to offer college semesters at sea and this was part of one of their "drift bottle experiments".  This bottle had been thrown overboard at a spot about 350 miles East of Nantucket Island in the Gulf Stream.  Where it had traveled during the past ten and a half years is anyone's guess.  It is possible that it made a complete circle of the Atlantic ocean following the currents until it washed up on a beach in the Bahamas.  We have notified SEA that it has been found and will be following up with more information for them.  That evening we decided that this was "the best day ever" with visiting several beaches, finding seabeans, snorkeling, finding a message in a bottle and spending it with friends that we popped a bottle of champagne to toast the sundown.

Wednesday morning we pulled anchor and moved to No Name Cay just on the other side of Green Turtle Cay.  The attraction here is the good shelling for Cori and the wild pigs that live on the island, not to mention the seclusion.  There are a lot of boats that come over to see the pigs but very few stay for the night so we almost always have the anchorage to ourselves.

Cori took her kayak to shore to walk the beach and I stayed on the boat to read and relax.  Later I took the dinghy ashore to join her and stopped to check out the pigs before dinghing around for a while.  I dropped her off at her kayak and I headed back to the boat where she joined me later.

We had a quiet night at anchor and in the morning (New Years Eve) we motored back to Black Sound to tie up for Donny's dock again.  We made a quick run into town for a couple of last minute purchases and then hung out on the dock.  In the evening we joined the other couples we had spent time at Munjack Cay for snacks and stories until everyone called it a night.  Back on the boat we managed to stay up until midnight to wish each other a Happy New Year then off to bed to be ready for the next day.

It is New Years day and Cori was up early to go fishing with Donny and a couple of others and when they get back it will be time to head into town for their annual Junkanoo.  I posted a lot of pictures from last years Junkanoo and we enjoyed it so much that we made plans to be here for it this year.  Watch for upcoming photos and video of the event.

Here is a photo of some of the jewelry Cori has been making:

Our plans are to leave soon and move further down the Abaco, possibly with a stop in Hopetown and then continue moving south into the Exumas, the central part of the Bahamas.

Once again, we wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

First off we want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We have been taking it easy here in paradise, what else would you expect, but we have also been busy.  The weekend was windy so not much happened.  Sunday we made a trip into town and visited Vertram at his model ship shop.  We visited him last year and wanted to catch up on his latest work.  He builds wooden models of ships that were used, built or have a history here in the Bahamas. Here is some of his work:

Monday morning and again this morning we joined in with some of the locals and cruisers for a tradition here on Green Turtle Cay.  For two weeks leading up to Christmas they have a tradition of "welcoming the Christmas spirit'.  What they do, and we joined in, is they meet at 5:00 am and march through the town several times beating drums and singing Christmas carols.  There was one problem that I picked up on right away.  They hand out song booklets so everyone has the words but unless you are passing under a street light you cannot read them.  It is still dark.  It is a small town so several passes are made going up and down all of the streets.

After marching for about an hour they serve breakfast.  On Monday it was fish stew and grits and sausage and grits.  Christmas Eve there was a larger group and they served scrambled eggs, sausage and grits.

After that I took a nap and since it was low tide Cori headed out to Gilliam Beach to look for shells.

This is one of her favorite beaches since it is so easy to find the sand dollars if you know the technique.  Last year she didn't learn it until we came back on our way home.  So far she has spent several days collecting Here is an example of just a few she has collected:

It also would not be Christmas without a batch of caramels.  She brought the fixing with since there is no guarantee she could buy them here or if we could afford them.  So far she has only handed out a few, we still need to cut and wrap them.

All in all it doesn't feel like Christmas with everything so green and the temperatures in the high 70's but we are doing our best to get into the Christmas spirit.  We will be staying here at the dock through Christmas then we will go out to one of the islands to anchor and get away for a couple of days then come back for Junkanoo.

Again, we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

In the Bahamas

We made it.  We are at Green Turtle Cay for the Holidays.

Monday was a long day, very long.  We pulled anchor again at sunrise and started motoring down the ICW with several others.  Our goal was to make it to Ft. Pierce and make the crossing from there.  The day went well, we arrived at Vero Beach around 1:00 pm.  Normally Vero Beach is the waiting spot for a weather window.  We already had our window scheduled so we only stopped to refuel and to fill water tanks.  We took on only 65 gallons of diesel, our first refueling since we left Morehead City in NC and we burned half of that motoring from St Augustine.  We made it to Ft Pierce about 4:30 pm and dropped anchor.  About that time we got one of our weather update emails from Chris Parker, our weather adviser and it was still positive for a crossing on Tuesday.  The wind had blown hard all day but it was dropping as predicted.  At 5:00 pm Chris does a weather update on the single-sideband radio and we asked about proceeding now rather then wait until morning.  His advise was it shouldn't be a problem.  After a quick dinner we pulled the anchor again and started out the inlet just as the sun set.  We were greeted with 4-6 foot waves as we got out of the inlet.  As we proceeded to get further offshore the waves lessened as the water got deeper.  We set course and started to our first waypoint.  The wind was out of the southeast and was just close enough on our nose that we could not sail, we were going to have to motor.  Throughout the night the waves dropped until we were only dealing with 1-2 footers and the wind continued to die.  By the time we crossed into the Sea of Abaco were dealing with 1 footers and about 10 knots of wind, still too close on the nose for sailing.

We continued following our route from waypoint to waypoint through the day.  A lovely day with light winds and a light chop in the water.  Last year we crossed during the day and traveled this area in the dark, this time is was nice to see the wide open expanse of the Sea of Abaco with it's light turquoise color and the ability to see all of the way to the bottom.  Evening came as we got closer to Green Turtle Cay and we arrived about 10:00 pm and dropped anchor.  We would wait until daylight and high tide to continue into Black Sound and tie up at Donny's Dock.

In the morning we called Donny to let him know we were coming in but he was not available.  While they were looking for him he pulled up alongside to welcome us and tell us where he was putting us.  We followed him in and got tied up to the dock.  We had talked to him previously letting him know when we were coming and he had also been following us on our Spot location reports.

Once settled in at the dock we proceeded to the Customs office to check in.  Another couple arrived at the office at the same time.  We were behind them at the fuel dock in Vero Beach and had anchored next to them in Ft. Pierce.  They waited until morning to leave and had just arrived.  We on the other hand were clean and rested having arrived the night before and were showered and rested.  We did learn one thing from them.  We learned about checking in as "co-captains".  If we sign in with both of our names listed as the captains we can eliminate problems if something happens to me (on the Immigration documents as sole captain) and Cori tries to take the boat out of the country by herself and only listed as crew.  Something we hope to never have to deal with.

Once checked in we are now "free to wander aimlessly about the Abaco" as Will on Anteries announces on the local radio net.  We are planning to stay in Green Turtle Cay through New Years and then start moving further south.

So far we have dinghied around the area, going up to White Sound to see who was there, into town for a bit of walking around and picking up some milk at the grocery store and relaxing.  Cori was able to get over to Gilliam Beach to start shelling. Not a lot of relaxing has happened yet.  Donny is adding to the docks and we gave him a hand with some of that,  He had planned to go fishing on Friday and taking Cori along but things got a bit busy with all of the boats coming in so we were giving him a hand moving boats around.  Friday evening was a highlight, Donny was going to be in his churches Christmas play and we went to watch.  He had two lines but he did great (There is no room here.  Go somewhere else.) and even got applause for it.  It was a typical small town, small church production with songs from the kids and two short plays about the real meanings of Christmas.  It brought back a lot of memories of the productions we would put on at Christmas when we were in grade school.  After the church production we walked around town looking at the lights and came on a birthday party.  Everyone was welcome, Cori got hit on by the birthday boy, they had an open bar for drinks and were serving big plates of beans and rice, mac and cheese, coleslaw, fried snapper and roasted pig.  It was a great celebration and typical of the Islanders friendliness.

Over night the predicted front came through and the temperature has dropped a bit but the winds are blowing 20-30 knots.  This is why everyone was in a hurry to get here and hunker down instead of waiting several more weeks in Florida before crossing.

On the move again

We have left Palm Coast.  Our visit there lasted longer than we expected.  We ordered some stuff from Amazon and part of the order was delayed.  Delayed to the point we have not gotten it yet, they keep moving the arrival date out from the original.  Our friend Jim is willing to pick it up for us.  Jim has done a lot for us while we were there: loaning us a vehicle, including us in runs for shopping and to visit other friends passing through St. Augustine and providing airport pickup and delivery and much more.  Thanks Jim!

We decided to leave because our weather advisor stated in his Friday report that “you need to get where you want to be for Christmas by Wednesday.”  There is some nasty weather coming in later in the week.  We did not want to be in Palm Coast but would rather be in the Bahamas, more specifically Green Turtle Cay.  We made the decision Friday evening and were moving on the water Saturday by 8:00 am.  We had wanted to go back up to St Augustine and go out the inlet and sail or motor offshore to either Ft Pierce or West Palm Beach and then make the crossing.  Two things changed that plan.  The weather offshore for Sunday was going to be nasty.  Also there is a report of a barge losing 25 shipping containers somewhere around Cape Canaveral.  Hitting one of them will really ruin your day.  We know they are out there because stuff has been washing up on shore: coffee cans, pet food, boxes of wine and other assorted flotsam.

We made it to New Smyrna on Saturday and anchored for the night across from the yacht club.  We were treated to dolphins swimming around the boat in the dark and then the Christmas boat parade passed by.  We had a very eventful evening then a quiet night at anchor.

We were up before dawn on Sunday and had the anchor up by 7:00 as the sun came up.  We are on the ICW so it is a motorboat ride but we made the best of it by raising the mainsail and motorsailing for part of it.  Having the sail up while you motor will give some extra speed if the winds are right.  We are anchor down at Dragon Point near Melbourne FL.  We had a good day traveling 58.8 nautical miles which converts to 67.6 statute miles.  A long day on the water running ten hours at around 6 knots.

We plan another early and long day tomorrow in hopes of making the crossing on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Our next report should be from the Bahamas.

Back in Palm Coast

We are back from our Thanksgiving break in South Dakota.  All of Cori's siblings were home and she did not want to be left out.  The trip out was good, the only delay was the final flight from Minneapolis to Rapid City.  The return flight was a bit more problematic.  We had an hour layover in Minneapolis scheduled but the flight out of Rapid City was delayed an hour.  This put us on later flights and would mean we would arrive in Daytona Beach around midnight.  We lucked out in Minneapolis and cleared the standby list and got an earlier flight.  We were boarding the plane as the people whose seats we had taken showed up to find their seats had been given away.  We were then able to get back on our original flight out of Atlanta and arrived on time.  Thanks to our friend Jim for picking us up and getting us back to the boat.

Oh ya, it snowed several times while we were there.

Back on the boat we have to wait for some things we ordered from Amazon to be shipped but are finishing off some small projects.  I needed to replace a block on deck for the mainsheet and had to take out a ceiling panel and trim.  Cori used this as an excuse to re-varnish the trim.  While in SD we made a run to Deadwood to transfer the registration for the dinghy to SD.  We now do not have to worry about the Florida Wildlife stopping us when out for a ride.  Cori has her sewing machine out and is working some sewing projects.

We are antsy to get moving but need to wait for Amazon.  Fortunately the marina has a monthly rate instead of weekly rates so instead of renting a slip for just the days we were going to be gone we have it for a month.