Stuck in Ft. Pierce

Well, the engine shop boss came out this afternoon and declared that we do, indeed, have a problem.  Best scenerio, they take it apart tomorrow, fix it, put it back together again on Thursday, and have a test motor run down the intercoastal on Friday morning.  sigh.  But, at least we are in the very nice marina, at a slip leased by the engine shop for their customers. So, we're at a free dock, free electricity, free water, free showers, free internet, pool, cheap laundry, restaurent with $1.50 beer happy hour, etc. (of course "free" is relative when we pay for this engine repair).  Also a fishing shop where we got a good deal on a new rod, so I can begin fishing when we leave here. Oh, and  a canvas place where we're already gotten some canvas restitched at a good price.  Within a block is a West Marine, Publix Supermarket, eyeglasses place (lost the screw out of my sunglasses a month ago), Dollar General, cheap pizza, CVS, etc. So, making lemonade out of these lemons isn't too bad...

The best laid plans....

ah, well... you know how it goes.  Rain today, but that was good.  It washed off the coating of salt that we acquired on our trip across to FL.  We knew this would delay us by a day, but that was ok.  We know we have to have extra days in our schedule.
BUT.  Checking out the boat, Luke found a nice crust of dried salt on our engine (you know, the one that runs the boat....).  It's so thick that some of it has dropped off in little clumps. 

So, now we are at the marina, waiting for the "engine guys" to come out tomorrow and check it out. Luke did talk to the engine manufacturer, who said that it should be a simple gasket replacement, but we still have to get it cleaned, fixed, etc, etc. Bummer.  I'll keep you posted.

Nippers to FLorida!

Unfortunately, our friends Phyllis and Peter didn’t get to sail with us….Pete fell into the water from his boat the evening before we were to leave. A slight slip on a wet gunnel (deck edge) and he went tumbling, catching his right arm as he fell. He WAS able to climb back up the dock ladder, but felt that his arm was broken. Off to the clinic in Marsh Harbor, compliments of the local Rescue Boat, he was well treated, X-rayed, given Swiss drugs, and learned that he has only a severely bruised arm, muscles, etc. Waaay too sore to try to sail with us, they will stay there a few more days and wait for another weather window.

We did leave with friends that we’ve been cruising with the last couple of weeks. Off at high tide to Great Guana Cay, home of the locally infamous Nippers Bar. Every sailing couple we meet asks the same question “have ya been to Nippers?!!??”. So, we went to Nippers. The island of Great Guana is fairly small, about 7 miles long, much more narrow. All 3 boats arrived about the same time, and we took a slip at the Orchard Resort. Beautiful, huh? Looks sort of American resort-ish…

But, the economy has hurt them. Electricity is not everywhere, diesel delivery was cut off a year ago due to unpaid diesel bills, the restaurant isn’t open, and the resort homes sit vacant and unbuilt. But everyone there was nice, helpful, and the slip fees cheap. As soon as we settled in, we walked to the small but well stocked grocery store and began to see a few American brand foods. (imagine a well stocked 7-11) The produce boat had just arrived that day, so we were able to snag lettuce, cheese, and apples. There was a line for milk.

A Georgia man who has a house on the island gave us a ride in his golf cart and a great tour of the island! We heard all of the places to eat, who lives where, and got a ride eventually to Nippers. There is a very exclusive gated community at the north end of the island, summer homes of Cher, Lance Armstrong,  A-Rod, etc.

Nippers is indeed a great island bar. Bright, colorful, sprawling, wide beach on the ocean, good drinks, and a couple of swimming pools (only rules there are no shoes in the pools). So we took off our shoes!

Here are a couple of shots of Nippers, including from the ocean side.

Nippers looks quiet now, but on April 1, the Barefoot Man  http://www.barefootman.com/ comes to town for a concert. The place will rock with over 2000 folks. I’m told it’s not  exactly “family friendly” then…(or on Sunday afternoons, for that matter…) oh, and we had to take the obligatory “drunks on the tractor” picture as we left.

After drinks at Nippers, we freshened up and gathered at Grabbers  Bar for dinner. The other two boats were at slips closest to the restaurant, so we walked over there to meet them. As we headed their way, on the lone golf cart size road, we watched a man ambling down the road, following a rambunctious little boy with a skateboard. Dressed in island garb, he smiled, we spoke, and passed. About 10 seconds later it hit me – Lance Armstrong! No doubt about it. No, we didn’t turn around and ask for an autograph.

We left Great Guana on Friday morning, spent the night at Allens-Pensacola Cay (45 nm), and are now en route to Mangrove Cay for a short night (55nm). We’ll leave around 3 a.m. and head for Ft. Pierce. When you read this, we’ll be back in Florida, as that’s the first time I’ll be able to post!
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WE ARE HERE!   Got up at 2 a.m. for a fairly rocky ride for the first half of the 14 hour trip, nice sailing the last half. The Gulf stream is interesting -- about 10 miles out from the shallow Bahama bank (10 to 20 ft), the water temperature went from 77.8 to 81.1, and out speed over the bottom went from 7 kts to 9 kts, as we entered the current that maxes out at about 3.5 kts. About 12 miles from FL, the reverse happened. The trick is to stay in the Gulf Stream as long as possible -- tricky, as you don't really know where the edges are 'till you cross them. Here is Luke, at our anchorage in Ft. Pierce, taking down our somewhat battered Bahamian courtesy flag in the brisk breeze.  These things always make me sad.  I love being there, and I love being back in the States to see our families and friends, but leaving is always just a little sad.  You never know when you'll return, even with the best of intentions.  But we're back!!!!  See y'all soon!!!
 

The Devil's Backbone, Lynyard Cay, and Hope Town

We got off to an early, rather shaky start to our passage through Devil's Backbone.  A huge "roll-on/roll-off" cargo boat came in just as we left our slip and docked bow-on to the government dock, blocking the entire channel that we needed to pass through for our little trip. Here is Bandit, our "pilot" (guide), under "Tropical" trying to help the ship move some lines to allow us to pass. 

But we squeeked by - this is how close we were to the boat.  The shore on the other side is just as close!

 

Bandit picked up our 2 accompanying boats and off we went, into the sunrise, headed for the coral reef lined Devil's Backbone.

Next was an ocean  passage of fifty miles to the north. With moderate swells, some chop, moderate wind, close hauled, motor sailing, we arrived in the Abacos. That night, safe and sound, anchored at Lynyard Cay, we watched the super full moon with no light pollution.

The next day, all 3 boats took our dinghies over to Little Harbor, home of Pete's Pub.  You may remember it from last year - Pete and sons have a foundry on the island and make beautiful cast bronze sculptures.

Here are Luke and I beside one of the turtle sculptures.

The beach had to be checked out, of course.  I found a new pink fishing float!

Lunch at Pete's Pub!  We were celebrating the birth of Bonnie and Peter's (center couple)  new grandson.

Monday was terribly windy and chilly. We didn't leave the boat.  But Tuesday dawned calm and warm, and we headed for the "big city" of Hope Town and the beautiful, famous Hope Town Lighthouse.

We met up with friends from Georgetown, Phyllis and Peter (she's the one that taught me basket weaving 101!) and treked to the lighthouse.

The view from the top of the channel that leads to Hope Town...

The view from the top of the anchorage, town, and us.

Next, a dinghy ride across the small, crowded harbor to the town of Hope Town.  Hope Town is a quaint little town with brightly colored houses, narrow streets, bright flowers, and a few little shops.

A walk across the narrow island leads to the beach.

This morning, Phyllis and I did laundry while we made anklets from hemp and seashells.  Luke and the men on the 2 boats that stayed in Lynyard Cay with us took a long dinghy ride to some reefs and did a little snorkeling in the coolish water.

We plan to leave Hope Town on Thursday, headed eastward along the Abacos chain of islands.  Friends Phyllis and Peter will be accompaying us with their boat and crossing to Ft. Pierce with us on Saturday (probably).  Should be fun, and we'll have company for our crossing and return. 

Manatee baby and mommy at the marina

Oh, my gosh, how cute can such an ugly creature get!!!!  A mommy manatee and little one were swimming slowly between a couple of the boats this afternoon.  I can't get over how big they are.  Manatees love fresh water so one of the boaters was graciously pouring his $0.50/gallon water overboard to interest mom.  Here she is, mouth open, drinking the pouring water.

And here are mommy and junior.  The baby wasn't interested in the fresh water or the bits of lettuce thrown into the water (mom was!).  I suspect the baby is still nursing.  That glow behind mom is actually her tail.

It was such a treat to watch them, probably for almost 30 minutes.  We'll be checking the waters carefully tomorrow before we start our engine.

Back in Spanish Wells, Eluthera.  Spanish Wells is the home of about 3 streets, all narrow with houses one one side and the water often on the other.

The houses are mostly small and very close together.  The are always brightly painted!

Tomorrow (Saturday), weather permitting, we will leave with 2 other sailboats, headed for the Abacos.  We have hired a pilot boat (standard procedure here) to lead us through the narrow, coral reef/shallow water lined channel from Spanish Wells to the open Atlantic Ocean.  Our pilot is "Bandit".... seems that 'ol Bandit earned his name by bringing booze from the nearby "wet" islands to Spanish Wells, still a "dry" island.  Lots of booze, we think... Anyway, we'll go through an area called the Northeast Providence Channel .  The trip is 50 miles and will take about 8 hours.  Here is the local mailboat/fresh produce boat, coming in through the channel into Spanish Wells, part of the channel that Bandit will take us through tomorrow.  That narrow strip of dark blue water is our goal.

Oh, and our little Smokey became quite the escape artist last night.  We'd had friends over for "sundowners" and were cleaning up afterwards.  She was sleeping quietly (too quietly---I'm a mom, I should have known!) in the cockpit.  All of the enclosure was up, but she obviously found a little place where she could slip through.  When we called her to come inside for bedtime, she was gone.  In a panic, we grabbed flashlights and bounded off of the boat calling her.  The French Canadian lady in the next boat  called out "le chat!!! le chat!!!"  and pointed to the field leading to the main road.  Sure enough, our flashlights caught her gleaming yellow eyes.  She knew she had to come back, but was confused and ran down the wrong dock, almost getting on a different boat.  I called her, she came, and I toted her back to Latitudes. Today she was quite a good little girl, but we dare not let her out of the interior of the boat at night, not when we are at a dock and not outside with her.  Little rascal ... must be a cat...

Dolphins herding Latitudes....

You can't believe it without the video!  As we crossed from Cat Island to Eluthera, Luke shouted that a "big fish" was ahead of us in the water.  As we watched in amazement, at least a dozen dolphins came swimming madly and frantically towards Latitudes, from hundreds of yards away.  Suddenly the bow of the boat was foaming with the dozen dolphins playing in the bow wave.  Big ones, mamas with babies, everybody.   They swam with us for 15 minutes, as we watched them dart back and forth under the bow, swarm around the sides and splash, zip back to the bow again, over and under each other.  It was the most amazing thing ever.  Here are 3 pictures, showing 8 of them.

I knelt on the bow of the boat and hung over the edge, not 4 ft from them as they played.  Occasionally one would look up at me as it swam past. Awsome!

That wasn't the only "fishy" incident!  Two more fish dinners, proving that even a broken rod will work if the fish are small enough.  We caught a Yellow Jack but something helped himself to the rear end.  There was still plenty left for a meal (that would be Luke's handy-dandy fish cleaning station!).

The next day we caught an Almaco Jack; this one looks small but the little puggy guy had enough meat for 2 meals.  The freezer is beginning to stock up on fish finally.

Crossing to Eluthera, we passed a big cruise liner, the "Grand Princess, anchored off the cruise line's private beach area on south west Eluthra.  This is what 3600 people in a box look like.

Today we are at Rock Sound (on Eluthera) doing wonderful things like laundry (yeah!!!), groceries (yeah!!!), beer store (yeah!!!!!!) and treated ourselves to lunch out at a little waterside tiki hut.  There were 3 small groups of people there, when suddenly 50 more showed up.  The cruise ship side trip.  It was amazing.  These folks were herded in from the bus, an energetic lady with a microphone shouting directions, and introducing the place as the real Bahamas experience.  In only 45 minutes they went through the buffet line (just for them) and grabbed little cups of local drinks from the bar.  Almost before they could eat, they were gathered to watch a poor tiny conch being "shucked" from it's shell , hacked to little bits, and made into conch salad.  Each person got a bathroom size Dixie cup of conch salad.  As they finished that off, the tiki hut staff and some school age kids partied out, dressed in junkanoo costumes, blowing the whistles, pounding on goatskin drums, shaking cow bells, and yelling to the beat.  (if you don't know junkanoo, check out http://www.bahamasgateway.com/junkanoo.htm).  Poor bystanders (and some willing participants) were grabbed, put in a circle to "junkanoo" with the locals for 5 minutes, and then everyone was told to do a conga line back to the bus by the lady with the big microphone.  Suddenly it went deadly quiet and the 3 tables looked at each other, breathed a sigh of relief, and said "ahhh...now this is the real Bahamas experience!"  We took a camera but left the battery at the boat.  drat!!! We talked with one Canadian tourist, who said they left Ft Lauderdale a couple days ago, tomorrow St Martin, next day St Thomas, and then back to Ft Lauderdale. 

One more picture of Latitudes and our dinghy at Orange Creek Point, Cat Island ....this is the real  Bahamas experience~



Alligator Point, Cat Island

Just a quick blog while we wait out wind at Alligator Point. Last evening, after we arrived, we did a little tour of the mangroves in Alligator Creek, running down the middle of a 3 mile long Alligator Point. Can’t do them justice on just pictures. We were greeted with the familiar screeching of two Bahamian ospreys. Similar to the ones we know in the Chesapeake, these guys sound the same but look slightly different. I think they are a little smaller and the black stripe across their eyes is thinner. Here they are, guarding their nest (no babies).

Here is the creek. Very deep, often 5 to 6 ft, for a little mangrove creek, but extremely clear.

There were lots of spotted rays (Eagle Rays, I think), LOADS of turtles, a few heron, and a few schools of fish.

Today we stayed on the boat, as the wind has created a wave surge that makes landing on the beach difficult and very wet. After the passing of a cold front, the wind has turned north, and we are sheltered behind the E–W running Alligator point. Luke has done some weather checking, fixed some light fixtures, moped the entire boat after a short rain storm!, and cleaned all of the plastic enclosures & ports. I made cookies (raison/cherry oatmeal cookies), egg puffs for breakfasts, and split pea soup for dinner. Smokey has enjoyed having us on the boat while at anchor. She’s pestered the dickens out of Luke for “rub me, rub me, rub me more….” We have TV here, so we’re watching the news about the earthquake in Japan. Terrible!

That’s it for now. We should be able to cross to the Elutheras either tomorrow or Sunday. We’ll see what tomorrow’s wind and waves bring.

Fernandez Bay on Cat Island

After a rather rolling night at anchor at Rum Cay, we left early for our sail to Cat Island,  about 8 hours away. It was an interesting trip. We finally caught our first fish! We got a nice fat skipjack tuna. The fish book says the meat is strong and "not to everone's taste" but nutrious. I was hesitant, but we went ahead and filleted him on Luke’s new fish table! The fish cleaning table is intended to keep the blood and gore off the deck! Thanks to Charlie at home for all of the assistance he gave Luke in making this table! Nice, huh???  (you can see a few of our newly collected old fishing floats there in the bottom right of the picture).

The guy was larger than he looks on the table - we got 4 nice size fillets.  I cooked one for dinner and it was great! The meat was almost as white as a yellow fin tuna and very mild. Thank goodness!!! We thought Smokey would be fascinated with the fish, but she was just a little gun shy. No big adventure here, as she stared at it,, frozen, from a safe distance. She wouldn’t even eat any of the fresh fish tidbits.

Next, we caught something so big that it broke my fishing rod. We could see the darn thing under water as I reeled it in, and it was large, roundish/flatish, and brown. I think it was a shark of some sort. He did fight for a while, but finally took the leader and lure and broke my 150 lb test fishing line. The rod was bent over so badly during the effort that 3 of the top 4 little round line guides broke off of the rod. We agreed we didn't want to boat him/it anyway.

Diesel and water were a top agenda for us. We stopped at Hawks Nest Marina, at the southwestern tip of Cat Island for both. $6/gallon for gas!  Good thing we're a sail boat; vowed to sail more, motor less!

 The tiny marina is peppered with sharks and large rays, waiting for the cleaning scraps of the many fishing boats that pass that way. It’s a pretty view of the mangrove lined inlet.

We even saw a blue heron! We don’t see many here.

We arrived at New Bight,just in time to set the anchor and watch the green flash.  Early the next morning we left for the big 6 mile trip to Fernandez Bay to meet up with friends Dee and Dave, from Savannah. They are on their boat in the Abacos, but their in-laws Jan and Rick flew down from Iowa (burrrrrr), picked them up, and flew them all to Fernandez! What a treat to see them again and meet Jan and Rick! Here they are on the beach.

We all piled into a rented a car and took off to explore the island. First, of course, a return visit to Father Jerome’s Hermitage, Mt. Alvernia. http://www.examiner.com/caribbean-travel-in-stockton/father-jerome-s-hermitage-a-cat-island-destination?render=print This was his home for the last 17 years of his life. It is built on the highest point in the Bahamas, a whopping 206 ft high. Here is the view of the back of the hermitage.

You may remember from last year’s blog --- Father Jerome was a very short man… here is Luke standing in his chapel.

Luke took this postcard pretty shot of our anchorage at Fernandez Bay.

The next morning we resumed our auto tour and headed northward on the island. There are more of the old Loyalist ruins here than we’ve seen on any other island. Here is a beautiful example of an old Loyalist church, along the shore.

And of course, one more shot of Latitudes at sunset.  We're tried an assortment of ways to catch a green flash, but unsuccessfully.  We'll keep trying - it IS real!

The current anchorage is 16 miles further north, still on Cat Island, at Pigeon Cay.  The forecast is for high winds (25 knots) on Friday (3-11) and this is a good place to ride them out.  After that the plan is to make one more stop on Cat and then cross to the Eluthera Island on Sunday/Monday.  By the way, for those of you still struggling with winter, it's 93 and sunny, not humid, balmy breezes (don't hate us!!!!!) and we're leaving now for a late afternoon mangrove cruise by dinghy.

Rum Cay touring

We are still in Rum Cay, but have left the marina where we had a slip for the past 4 nights.  We stayed there to hide out from a cold front that brought several days of 20 kt winds, gusting 25, out of the NE. The channel into the marina is shallow, narrow through reefs, and we are hoping for a 6 a.m. departure tomorrow for a 50 mile run to Cat Cay, after the seas settle down a bit further.  So, we left around noon, high tide, and made our way to an anchorage spot outside of the town.  It's a little rolly, but Luke rigged up an "anchor bridle" that points the boat into the swells, so that it pitches instead of rolls, and that helped a lot.  Also, we are close to the BATELCO tower in town, and have much better internet!  So, I thought I'd shoot out a quick blog.

There is new artwork on the shore of the Sumner Point Marina where we took a slip. mmm...

While on Rum, we rented a questionable golf cart that had anemic starts, and running fits, and toured around the island.  It's a bit disconcerting to be 3-4 miles out in the boonies, and have some uncertainty about whether we're riding or walking back. Here is the road to the beach across the island.

Once at the beach, the wind was a-howling and the seas were rough.  There is a substantial coral reef a hundred yards or so off of the shore.  Here are the waves breaking on that reef.

Another endless beach -- made the more interesting with the threatening clouds of the "squalls" associated with the approaching cold front. The small horizontal roof of the golf cart doesn't do much against horizontal wind driven drizzle!

Along the dirt road, we passed the old schoolhouse.  At least I guess that's what it is, a little one-room house with a school bell in the side yard.  Very cute.  There are only 50 inhabitants of Rum Cay now, with very few children.  I don't know where they go to school - haven't seen one.  This building is not in use.

Later we explored another beach and found more antique fishing floats!

Here is a view of some of the many reef surounding Rum. Quite dangerous if you don't have a chart and do visual piloting!

I wanted to put this in the last blog but ran out of everything... as we sailed from Long Island to Calibash Bay, we were escorted by 3 porposes who wanted to play in our bow wake.  They were fascinating.  Here is one from above, just as he broke through the water and gave a little spout.

We'll be relaxing and taking it easy the rest of the day.  It's sunny, warm, and breezy (duh....) and we like it!