To the Bahamas - Abacos !

Bahamas - Abacos!

November 29th -- December 9th, 2013
We left St Mary's, Georgia in the mid-afternoon on Friday, Nov 29, planning for a one-night overnight passage to Ponce Inlet.  For a variety of reasons -- primarily cold front fatigue and concerns regarding news at Thanksgiving that Dorothy's older brother Bill was having health issues -- we decided en route  to extend the trip to a two-night passage all the way to south Florida, Worth inlet -- Palm Beach and West Palm Beach.

This was our first two-night passage!  Some highlights:

• wind wind wind wind ... over 20 knots for much of the trip, gusting to 29; occasionally down to only 15
• waves waves waves to 9 feet or more, never less than 4
• we got pooped!
• rain showers
• rain squalls
• heavy boat traffic off Jacksonville and Cape Canaveral, making night watches in those regions stimulating

Sounds awesome, doesn't it!!  Seriously, it WAS awesome, in that we got experience in more wind and sea conditions, and we were mostly able to sail as opposed to motoring.  We felt a great sense of accomplishment, and are building confidence that we will be able to take on longer passages if/when we want to.

And -- when we got into Lake Worth, we could hardly believe that we had finally came out of cold fronts and chilly nights and into Florida warmth!  And clear water -- no longer the brown / murky ICW water, here in Lake Worth (not really a lake, its the coastal waterway behind the barrier dune) known as Palm Beach, the water was green and you could see the sandy bottom -- and temperatures were in the high 70's/low 80's!  Warmth at last!

As soon as we emerged from post-passage recovery, we learned that Dorothy's brother, diagnosed with advanced abdominal cancer, was continuing to decline daily.  Dorothy made plans to fly to Indianapolis.

On Tuesday, Dec 3, Fred dinghied Dorothy to a nearby boat yard in the early morning to taxi to the airport.  During the time Dorothy was in Indianapolis, Fred did a number of boat chores, such as getting out the scuba equipment and checking/replacing the zinc anodes, cleaning the hull and bottom, and installing Dorothy's Christmas present -- a stern swim platform shower for a freshwater rinse after snorkeling.  Other chores included getting propane tanks filled, jerry cans filled with water and lashed on the rail, cleaning out the aft cabin, etc -- all in preparation for Dewey joining us and our passage to the Bahamas.  Hurray, Fred!!

During the week, Fred also toured West Palm Beach, and picked up a handheld VHF and handheld depth sounder that we had ordered and had sent to the big West Marine store in Ft Lauderdale.

Some pictures of Lake Worth, Palm Beach/West Palm  and Fort Lauderdale:

Lake Worth 

Lake Worth  - Rybovich megayacht  rebuild/refit facility

S/V  Keewaydin - at Rybovich Marina

The Breakers - hotel at Palm Beach

West Palm Beach - built to service Palm Beach homes

West Palm Beach Town Hall

Flagler Park, West Palm Beach waterfront on Lake Worth - holiday decorations 

Fort Lauderdale, the Wall Street of megayachts

Sadly, Dorothy's brother Bill passed away after only a few days.  This blog is not the place to elaborate on this very unexpected loss and and its profound impact on the family, other than to say that Dorothy feels fortunate to have been able to be with him and with family members in this time.  A couple of pictures of Bill:

Bill and wife Pam, sailing on Fred's boat in Lake Champlain

Bill, Chuck, Dorothy, and Betty

Rest in peace, Bill!  We will think of you with every cold front and crazy weather pattern!


December 10-31, 2013

Fred's son Dewey joined us for the passage from Palm Beach, Worth Inlet to West End, Grand Bahama Island and the first part of our cruise in the northwest Bahamas.  Fred picked up Dewey in Ft. Lauderdale and Dorothy in West Palm Beach on Monday, Dec 9.

Dewey had brought a small Christmas tree from Werner's Christmas Tree Farm in Middlebury, in his backpack! -- which won a place on stern pulpit seat -- in a VT Maple Syrup stand, of course!

Dewey and our Christmas Tree

Dewey said that having a Christmas Tree caused some wrinkled brows on those pesky TSA and airport / customs officials.    Probably a first or a new category in the annals of odd airplane carry-on bag contents, but the tree (and Dewey) made it through -- and the tree has held its needles through New Year's!  (thanks to occasional watering from squalls)...

Our crossing of the Straight of Florida from Florida to West End, Bahamas, would be at least 55 miles, about due East. The cruising literature strongly suggests arriving at the Bahamas banks in daylight (to be able to see and avoid hitting the reefs).  So,  given the distance and our speed we planned an overnight passage, leaving about midnight, so as to arrive mid-day.  And, experienced cruisers had advised us not to go in any North, Northwest or Northeast winds, which cause large and steep waves in the Gulf Stream as it flows against those winds.  Moreover, since the Gulf Stream flows North and we are headed East, we had to plot our course southeasterly about 30 degrees ... and so an East or Southeast wind would also not be ideal to have to head straight into ... and waiting for a nice South or West wind, well, one could wait days or weeks...

SO, we were keenly looking for a suitable crossing window, and very closely watching the weather forecasts with data from several sources.  Luck was with us and we did find this narrow weather window just before a cold front ... just one night after Dewey's arrival and Dorothy's return to the boat!  The winds would be clocking around South to West --  but it turned out that our winds would be very light, so our passage included a fair bit of motoring.  We would rather have sailed, naturally, but we took this window while we had it, and are grateful to have motored across in light winds rather than slogged through rough conditions by any means!

We weighed anchor from Lake Worth just after midnight, and Dewey and Fred took the first watch, until around 4am, when Dorothy came on.  The sea state was quite calm, and our only course changes were to head astern of a couple of northbound ships, plus a line of 3' high little LED flashing lights -- a drift net? -- in any case, best avoided, and fortunately we were able to skirt them.  With our hourly chart plots and heading adjustments made for the current, the crossing was otherwise uneventful.

Our depth sounder includes a water temperature gauge, and we were interested to see it climb from 82 degrees at Palm Beach to 88 degrees around 4 AM, in the middle of the Gulf Stream!  We made good time under power and sighted "Land HO" (well, West End, HO ) about 10:30 AM.   We raised our yellow "Q" (Quarantine) flag and by 11:30 a.m. we were at the Customs doc, where Dorothy (captain of the day) cleared us in and got our Bahamas Cruising Permit without difficulty.

The next day, in advance of that cold front coming off the US mainland, we crossed onto the shallow Bahamas Banks, through Indian Cut, threading our way through the coral heads.  It was the calm before the storm -- incredibly flat -- and a bit unnerving to be out of sight of land, with only 1-2 feet below our keel -- but beautiful clear green water and sandy bottom below:

hello,  Starfish...

Motoring across the Little Bahama Banks...

Finally a bit of North wind - the jib out (sunshade for the foredeck crew)

But to the Northwest, here comes that front...with a squall line... 

Looking a bit more menacing...time to reef the sails...

As the squall line got closer, the wind came up briskly from the north... Log entry at 15:30:  NE wind gusting 28..." blowing like Stink!"(one of Fred's father's expressions...).  We anchored at Double Breasted Cays under the lee of the shore and in calm water, still with plenty of ventilation breeze (25 knots or so).  Our final log entry: "we're finally here -- WOO HOOO!"

Next day we were all snorkeling, both off the boat and via dinghy, to the sandy cay between the Double Breasted rocks... and settling in to the Bahamas cruising life:

Dewey's and his banjo -- so nice to have live music on board...

Next, we went to Grand Cay, which had a little harbor, and we went ashore to explore:

Grand Cay - Rosie's Place Marina & Restaurant

"Main Street," Grand Cay (a typical island golf cart road...)

        

some nice homes... and below, across the street,  still rebuilding after the last hurricane...

Then we were off again, on a close reach to Spanish Cay, with Dewey at the helm.  Spanish Cay had good internet, but was a private island, so not available to be explored.

the marina at Spanish Cay

Green Turtle Cay

New Plymouth, on Green Turtle Cay

exploring New Plymouth and Green Turtle Cay by bike

Anglican Church, Christmas Eve

Sid's Market - featuring awesome local baked coconut bread

Parliament St.  -- Christmas decorations

Historical sculpture garden to founders of New Plymouth

walkways in the pattern/color of the British flag...

New Plymouth's  Customs, Post Office and  public bathrooms 

Town Administrator's home and office, walkway posts decked out for Christmas,
 next to the Customs/Post Office building

New England style village buildings - from New Plymouth's heritage as a Loyalist community 

Good-Bye, Dewey -- boarding the ferry to Treasure Cay Airport for his flight back to VT

We so enjoyed having Dewey with us...so sad to see him leave...

Christmas Pot luck cruiser's dinner

Cruisers' Pot luck Christmas dinner, behind Brendal's Dive Shop

Yes, that's wet gear that some are wearing --  it was raining a bit, but being hearty cruisers, we ate on...
despite some showers...then it cleared a bit...and then:

Guy, George, and John provide a live Christmas concert

Guy, George and John -- great pickin'

the beach we snorkeled off - - Fred caught a lobster! (with help from Scott)

New Year's

 new cruiser-friends George (a different George, who we met in the Chesapeake at Tangier),  Guy (as well a different Guy and his wife Pika, on their lovely sailboat  Tina,  with Dorothy on New Year's eve

New Year's Eve dinner at the Jolly Roger Restaurant, Bluff House Marina

Dorothy with our new friends Jim and Marci Trantham, and George and Jackie

Fireworks on the beach -- those folks in the pink and blue jeans, Guy and Pika Spencer, are professional captains on a 100'+ Swan sailboat -- but are on vacation here on their own boat, Tina.
The Spencers are amazing folks - they have logged 21 Atlantic crossings!

Green Turtle Cay fireworks

Guy and Pika Spencer's boat,  Tina

Two cruising boats from Sarnia, Ontario, George on Heritage  and Guy & Louise from
Miss Ellie Boat partly visible on the left

Aviva (left) with her neighbors, Rainbeau, Miss Ellie, Heritage and Malaika

Whoops, an unfortunate New Year's morning surprise for someone ... across the dock from us... perhaps a sudden failure of a thru hull drain/hose fitting....

Junkanoo -- a Bahamian New Year's Day festival in New Plymouth

Junkanoo dancers

and more Junkanoo dancers

cowbell-like instruments - a rockin' Bahamian  beat for the dancers/parade procession

 pounding those drums -- keeping the Junkanoo dance/parade beat...

Our new cruiser friends Jim and Marci Trantham at Junkanoo

Scott and Michelle - Scott is a fantastic lobster spearfisherman 

Dorothy with Louise, Guy, George and Jackie watching the dancers and the music at Junkanoo

Looks like a weather window coming up between cold fronts, for passage to Marsh Harbour ... stay tuned!