Home is where our boat is

What an enjoyable night our last night in the Bahamas turned out to be. We got into Grand Cay and was able to tie up to Rosie’s Marina. The marina was not fancy but in better condition than many other places we’ve seen. It was part of a little enterprise that included guest cottages, a restaurant, liquor store and the government dock.

We had the lobster dinner with a couple of cold Sands beers to celebrate our last night in the islands. Price was reasonable compared to most of what we saw on the other islands.

Then this morning we began our trip after waiting for low tide to pass. The harbor channel and area around the dock was shallow so we wanted to be sure if we got stuck the tide was going the right way. But, we made it out successfully after sliding across the sand coming out of the dock and once clear of the shoals got our sails out and had a nice sail until we needed to turn west. The wind was east-southeast so it was dead behind us. We could have gone out a thorny pass to the ocean but opted 

(our last view of the Bahamas)

to stay on the Bank for comfort and to get as far west as quickly as possible to pick up the Gulf Stream. So to sail the course we raised the spinnaker and sailed. We sailed the entire way off the Bank but the wind was waning and night was coming so we didn’t want to fly the Spinnaker at night 

so we opted to motor sail and hopefully when we turn north in the Gulf Stream the wind will be on our beam and we can sail from there.

As we got away from the Bahama Bank the swells built to at least 3-5' and wind continued from behind and we were running at 9-9.5 kts toward the stream. We had waypoints in the stream and when we got close to that lay line we turned to get out of the way of the Disney Dreams cruise ship coming at us. After we turned I pulled out the jib and cut the engine and we were flying. We were rocking along over 10 kts and hit 11-11.5 kts at times. But it didn't last. The wind quieted down and got right behind us and eventually the rocking overcame the power of the sails so we had to go back to power. We continued running at 9-10 kts all night and came out of the stream about 0800 but with the strong swells behind us we continued running between 8-9 kts all the way up the coast to St Augustine.

During early Monday evening several squalls appeared around us but none came close. As night fell we saw lightning in the sky off in the distance but nothing close. When the moon finally rose the sky and sea were beautiful with the phosphorescence lighting up in our bow wave and in our wake animating the water along our track.

Monday morning the wind died but with the swell we continued running quickly. At one point 3 spotted dolphins were swimming under our bow. We went up to the bowsprit and watched them swim to keep up and dive under the bow surfacing frequently for air and even jumping over the wake. The only distance between us was the boat free board. They swam with us for close to 5 mins and were quite an enjoyable amusement.

When we got to the St Augustine sea buoy and turned toward the channel the sky started to darken and show signs of an impending squall. We kept a weather eye on it but were really focused on finding the channel. We've come in this inlet in the dark 2x but never in daylight. We've come out but we just followed our track. The marks area all floating marks because they are moved frequently as the shoals shift. We never saw any water less than 15' of water and  eventually found all the marks and worked our way in against the out coming tide, the now gusting wind and the northbound swells against the tide.  Eventually we got behind the shore and the swells abated but the wind built and once inside the pass the current lessened and we got up to the Bridge of Lions and onto our mooring about 1930 and settled down to dinner and to bed.

Our home is now in St Augustine for the next few days. In the army we used to say that our home is where our hat is. Now, home is where our boat is and it is no longer in the Bahamas but back in Florida,

Waiting to launch

Today, Sunday 10 May, Mother's Day in the rest of the world, we left the pretty confines of Spanish Cay and motor sailed up the Grand Cay. The last civilization in the Bahamas before jumping off into large expanses of water leading to the US mainland.

Sail Cay Rocks

With each step our Bahamian experience comes one step closer to ending. It has been an incredible run and even though it has been less than 2 months it seems like it was a lifetime because the weeks flew by so quickly and we have done so many things and seen so many places. Down at Emerald Bay we crossed into the tropics and now we are at the same latitude as Stuart, Florida.  When we dock again we will be in St Augustine almost 7 degrees further north and then 8 more to go until we're back in the Bay.

Our motor sail today was very pleasant. The wind was about 10 kts most of the way but almost dead behind us. I would have liked to sail in it but we needed to make it Grand Cay and get ensconced near a wifi so we could download our final weather charts before leaving tomorrow. That meant we needed to arrive before it was too late. We had our sails up the entire trip getting at least a half-knot of lift from them and were able to average at 7.5 kts so when we made the final turn I poled out the headsail and we went wing-on-wing with the engine off. I even pulled out the staysail for extra lift and that worked until the wind got way behind us. So we were able to sail the final leg.

As we got close to Grand Cay the radio was really quiet. There were no AIS vessels on our screen and we became concerned that things might be closed when we got here so I tried to reach folks here with little success. Finally I found a note in the cruising guide to call "Love train" on VHF 68 and I did and got a response. We got a slip, wifi and dinner reservations. Everything worked out. So we're sitting here tonight after dinner listening to the music from a local lounge with the breeze ripping while we enjoy our last night in the Bahamas.

In the morning we clear out of the marina, wait for low tide to pass and then head out to the deep blue ocean.

Next update from St Augustine. This morning I filed our float plan with the US Customs and Border Protection Small Vessel Reporting System so when we get back all we need to do is call in to clear through customs and immigration and we'll be back legally.

A small step

Today, Saturday we left Guana Cay early so we could go through the Whale Passage at a slack tide. We reasoned if we did that there would be the least likelihood of issues with current and tide running against the wind.  So we left our mooring at just about sunrise and motored to the passage.

Whale Cay.

The Whale passage is notorious for rages caused when large swells come in from the north with heavy winds and then run against the current. In all the Bahama passages rages occur when the tide runs against the wind but the Whale can be especially treacherous. However, this morning it was easily negotiable.

After we made the passage out the cut and back into the Sea of Abaco it was still early so we took advantage of the little wind there was and sailed. For the most part the wind was behind us but about halfway there the wind came up to the beam and we shot out and made our intended stop jut after noon.

We took a slip at Spanish Cay Marina, one of the last places (or first places depending which way you're going) in the Abacos for support before heading out across the Bahama Bank and then into the ocean.

A pleasant place. 2 Nurse Sharks patrol the depths for fish thrown from the many fishing boats the visit the marina and clean their catch. This little fella was beneath Linda's lounge chair at the pool.

Tomorrow we go to Grand Cay. The last inhabited Cay in the Abacos on the way north and west. After than St Augustine.

Leaving the shelter

We’re now in passage mode again. We left Man O War Cay this morning about 930 and motored the short 8 miles over to Great Guana Cay. When we started out the wind was only about 5 kt but in the middle of the Sea of Abaco it increased to about 10 kts and we could have sailed. But, we had less than an hour to go so I decided we would just motor to our destination. I will have to change the engine oil in St Augustine when we get there so motoring is not a worry. I changed it in Marathon and currently have about 110 hour on the oil. The manual says to change it every 150 hours.

The Albury Ferry heading into Settlement Harbor on Great Guana Cay.

We got a mooring in Fishers Bay in Great Guana Cay and there were no other boats here. We dropped the dink and ran into the Dive Guana dock. 8 years ago when we chartered here I did a dive with them so it was déjà vu. Anyway we inquired at the dive shop about paying the mooring fee and the young fellow who was holding down the shop while his boss was away said someone would be out in the morning to collect. We told him we expected to leave early. He said to stop back later. We did and the shop was closed.

Anyway, we walked over to Nippers for lunch and to hung out at the bar. What a cool place. It is what every dock bar wants to be. A cool bar, lots of different seating arrangements, a cool pool, wifi and a beautiful beach. Add to that a great view and you have it. Plus it doesn’t get cold here (or at least too cold). After lunch we went for a swim until the skies looked threatening.

This afternoon a storm blew up and while it didn’t come by here there was lightning and thunder in the distance so we came back to the boat to be sure everything was secured and to be on the boat in case of any emergency. The storm never got here so we just chilled out.

At 5 o’clock or actually later we dinghied in to Grabbers Beach bar which was at the end of the Bay. When we were here 8 yrs ago our crew had dinner there one night. Well the bar was also way cool. So we worked email and enjoyed a couple of Red Stripes. Seems they were out of Sands Beer and lobster (plus a few other things). Not sure why they were inventory challenged (other than lobster is out of season) because one of the things I’ve noticed about the Abacos compared to the Exumas is they seem to get freight here regularly. In the Exumas they said they got mailboats at least 3 times a month but nobody knew when. In Man O War I saw freight deliveries 3 times this week. I guess the Abacos have a better logistics system.

Tomorrow we go through the infamous Whale passage. It is frequently very difficult but we’ll see.

More tomorrow.

Time to get on down the road

The winds and weather have finally calmed down. Tonight at sunset the water was nearly glass-like for the first time since we've been here in this beautiful place. With the calm it is time to move on even though we've enjoyed our time on this little island. But, since the storm hasn't moved far enough north, we can't jump off tomorrow to St Augustine as we hoped. So we're going to spend a few days moving north and west through some other islands and then jump off with a shorter trip to St Augustine.

Tomorrow, Friday, we plan to make the short trip over to Great Guana Cay just 10 miles north to hangout at Nippers. A well-known beach bar and resort with lots to do and some other cool places on the island. Saturday our plan is to take a longer sail for about 40 miles northwest to Spanish Cay and then Sunday another 40 mile trip to Grand Cay. From there the Gulf Stream is about a half-day sail where we can turn north and pick up speed using the current flow.
 
I've made many comments in other blog articles about the island we're leaving but it is such a pleasant place and even though they only have a few restaurants they are very good. Tonight we ate at the little restaurant by the marina and had very nice and fresh salads with a veggie pizza that was as good or better than most pizzas we've had.

But overall the island is clean, orderly and prosperous unlike many other islands in the Bahamas. The original settlers of these islands were Americans who left the America during the revolution because they remained loyal to the British crown. They are very much like people on Virginia's Eastern shore who were similar and actually still speak with a similar brogue.

But many of the homes here grow fruit and vegetables in their yard. The stores are well stocked. There is a hardware store here that has as much stuff as many Ace hardware stores in the US. When we visited other islands the stores had nothing in them and nothing much was being grown. I don't have information about all the factors but I'm curious what is different here that makes these islands so much more productive and attractive. There are also far more people in these islands probably because there are jobs here. But, most jobs and opportunities are from entrepreneurs who are performing a need in the community.

Folks in the Abacos are very religious and on this island everything is closed on Sunday (even the marina office) and alcohol is not sold on the island. But whatever it is the island is almost completely built up now with many beautiful houses.

Well, tomorrow we start our trip back to the US where we will work through the issues we've uncovered in the boat, visit family, take care of medical events and spend the summer in New England visiting friends and enjoying the sights.

Laying low in Abaco

As you've read in our previous postings and probably heard on the news there is a preseason tropical depression forming just to the north. The result is high winds, squalls and high seas for probably most of the coming week. So we are back to the Man O War Cay Marina to ride it out. The marina here is well protected in just about every direction and based on the forecasts we should be on the lee side. It certainly won't be worse than Marathon where we had 20 kt or better winds on our nose just about every day. The really strange thing is that it has gotten cool. The temperatures for the past few days ave only been in the 70's. It has been in the 80's for the past 2 months. Certainly an omen of impending change.

Last week we had heavy squalls go through with 40+ kt winds and in one of them it hailed. The locals were talking about it because it doesn't happen often.

The sky here today was very eerie and prescient of  tropical weather. Here is today's sunset with the lower dark cumulus clouds and then constant upper level cirrus clouds and here at sunset the lower clouds look darker and the higher clouds reflect the sun's light. Rain showers or squalls are forecasted to start sometime during the overnight. I've put down and buttoned our cockpit enclosures to keep our patio dry.

We chose to hunker down here for several reasons. Besides the great protection the town is very pleasant. The island is dry so there's no bars to hangout in but the scenery is very pleasant, the people are friendly and industrious. This island unlike those in the Exumas actually has a thriving boat building industry, several well-stocked shops and stores. The island has lush vegetation with fruit trees and marketable fish in the nearby waters.

A very loaded mango tree next to a cactus with flowers.

Today we did boat chores as everything on the island was closed for Sunday. Since we will be here for a while I will see if I can get some of my tasks done that I had planned to do later. I did have a chance to dive under the boat and inspect the keel for damage from the grounding. As far as I could tell only the bottom paint and barrier coat were scratched off of about 4' of the bottom of the keel. Does not appear to be any gouges that will need filling. So that was good news!

So for this week we will try to effectively employ this time while we wait for a return to a summer weather pattern.

Storms of winter return

When we first arrived here in the Bahamas North America was engulfed in an active winter weather pattern with strong north winds. Then after a severe cold front came through the weather changed to a typical spring trade wind pattern with winds from the east. Then a few weeks ago the weather switched to a summer pattern with winds from the southwest. Last week the weather switched back to winter.

The severe weather of mid-week has moved on and today – Friday – was a very nice but cool day. We did some provisioning in Marsh Harbor for next week and some boat chores in prep for our eventual crossing back to the US and then on up to the Chesapeake.

The weather has become a big issue. Rather than being able to cross sometime next week, the tropical depression that I mentioned before is getting more attention and will probably dominate the weather all week. We’re hoping we may be able to move more north and west on Wednesday but probably won’t be able to cross until perhaps the weekend. So we are returning to Man O War Cay to ride out the weather since it is very well protected. The island people are very friendly and I will write more about it as we spend time there.

Our trip to Marsh Harbor was one that we want to forget but probably won’t.  We were in a slip in Man O War Cay and I had taken off the dock lines and set up the lines for aiding us in getting out of the slip. But, as we backed out of the slip we realized I had forgotten one of the spring lines. Well that screwed up everything because as we waited for the dock attendant to get it off we off course blew around in the 20 kts of wind coming across the marina. It took some doing but we finally got out. I had worn down the batteries with the bow thruster so I couldn't use that as I needed so we had to work it out and we did.

The next struggle came as I was slowly approaching the narrow exit channel that we had successfully negotiated at low tide to come in. While following the GPS tracking we got blown out of the channel and aground with tide running out. I tried to back off but couldn't. I called one of the local boatyards but there crew that could help was out.

So after some effort a small power boat came in. Ironically it was the people from the boatyard I had just called. They worked and we were able to move a little bit. Then a fishing boat came in and they offered to help. With them pulling and the small boat pushing we were able to get off the shoal and out of the channel. I will have to dive on the bottom someplace to see if there as any damage. As a minimum I’m sure we lost paint but I suspect there are some gouges in the keel that I will have to fill in the not too distant future. This is the first time we’ve been aground with this boat.  Anyway, thanks to those guys that helped us get off before low tide. We suspect that had we stayed there through low tide the damage could have been worse. If we had a differently designed boat it could have been very bad but the design of the IP with the full keel will take a beating. The keel is lead encapsulated in concrete encapsulated in fiberglass. 

  

The next challenge was getting into the slip in Marsh Harbor. The marina was fully exposed to the full brunt of the 15-25 kt winds and seas currently blowing. After we found where we were going I approached the slip on the leeward side of the dock slowly but with the wind, the narrow fairway and a boat in the slip in front of us protruding into the fairway I opted for a slip on the windward side where I could back in. There were 2 challenges with that as I discovered. The area around the slip was shallow and our shallow water alarms kept going off and with the wind blowing me toward the boats in their slips I had to turn so far out that the wind and waves moved us out of position too much. So we went back to the original slip and we got right into it weaving our way through the tight fairway and the protruding bow. Getting out tomorrow should be a bit easier as the wind should blow our stern down and using lines we can keep the bow up so we can motor right out into the wind. I can supplement with the bow thruster. Then back to Man O War to ride out the storms.

The storms that are forecasted to form next week are supposed to produce near-gale force winds here for sustained periods plus heavy periods of rain. We had 40+ winds last week in 2 squalls and probably several inches of rain. Waves offshore are projected to be 4-6 meters up to 5-8 meters from the northeast. That doesn't make for a good crossing.

So we’re looking for alternate routes and timing to minimize the challenges.

We had a beautiful sunset as we enjoyed the happy hour at Snappas right next door to the marina. We also purchased conch salads from a guy outside the marina and 4 conch to grill for dinner sometime next week. By Monday the weather will probably be getting bad and we’ll be forced to stay in the boat for a couple days. At least we’ll have TV and internet so we’ll have lots to do.