Great Guana Cay to St. Marys

We are at our home port again so this will be the last post for winter 2011. We may add some photos later but no promises. We have always found it difficult for some reason. For our friends in Oregon, we will be back May 14th.

We left Great Guana the day after Easter headed west with southeast winds blowing 15 to 20 knots. So, once again we quickly did the 40 miles to Allans-Pensecola Cay. The weather was ok for snorkeling but great for sailing and with the wind expected to go north early Friday we made the decision to leave the next day for Florida. But we did meet the folks on all but one boat in the harbor, took a beach walk and retired early.

Around 3PM, Tuesday April 26th, we decided we may as well keep going past Great Sale Cay (the last decent anchoring spot heading west) and run all the way to Fernandina, over 300 miles away. We passed Mantilla Shoal at the western edge of the Bahama Bank at 11PM and bounced our way west to the gulf stream. The ride was pretty rough with following seas and swell but we were averaging over 7 knots and were not in the gulf stream yet.

Once we entered the gulf stream we put down the main and headed nort with following winds and confused seas. With only the jib and 3 knots of current our speed over ground (SOG) was 8.5 knots, which was okay given the wind direction. We sailed like this all the next day and night and then made the turn west towards St. Marys Inlet. The wind stopped for about an hour around 8AM so we motored but then it came back strong and we finished the ocean voyage by motoring on a close reach against the current in the inlet.

One other point about the sail, which Ann thinks is important. Once again, Ed fed the fish, this time three times during the three days but he came around quickly once the seas settled.

The inlet brings you into Cumberland Sound. Going west you enter the St. Marys, south you enter the Amelia, north is Cumberland. We went to Fernandina for the Isle of Eight Flags Festival or as everyone else calls it "the shrimp festival". After cleaning up the boat, refueling which we had not done since Sampson Cay, Exumas, we took a mooring ball for 3 nights to enjoy the festival which ran for the weekend.

This was our third straight time for the festival and again it did not dissapoint. Thursday night we caught a little of the opening parade before hitting our favorite restaurant, Espagne, which features Portuguese and Spanish foods. Friday, our friends from St. Marys began arriving on their boats.

Different bands this year but we enjoyed them, shrimp and artwork galor. Ann got some new jewelry to wear at our daughter Rachel's wedding in July. Actually, it was my idea but some how there are more pieces than expected, hmmm.

Tuesday, May 3rd we headed over to the boat yard and now the boat is onshore, we have rented a car, and we are closing the boat for the summer. We leave for Myrtle Beach to see Ann's folks at a condo for a week and then it's back to Oregon.

Hope you have enjoyed our travelog.

Ann and Ed

Meeks Patch,Harbor Island, Lynard Cay, Tiloo Cay, Man O War, Great Guana Cay

We were on the move this week with the goal of Great Guana Cay for the Easter Brunch celebration.
April 18th- We left Hatchett Bay for Meeks Patch sailing thru Current Cut on the ebb with spinnaker. It was enjoyable with just two boats in the anchorage. We enjoyed taking our Happy Hour to the beach sitting on the rocks watching the sunset and collecting a few shells.

April 19th we went through Devils Backbone with no pilot to Harbor Island. Ann was nervous being at the helm
but we had a GPS track from the last time we went through with a pilot and Never Bored led
the way with their catamaran having a 4 ft draft. We were successful; no hitting reefs. We left at 10AM so that we were traveling east bound through the backbone with the sun overhead. The trip took about 3 hours, the last hour was a beautiful sail between Harbor Island and Eleuthera Island to the anchorage off Harbor Island. This left plenty of time for the afternoon activities. We enjoyed the afternoon
walking around the town, walking the beach and going into the resorts which are beautiful.
In the Bahamas it is no problem to walk with beers in hand; the liquor store had a container of ice, a picnic
table and a vendor nearby sold conch fritters so we had a nice happy hour.

April 20th we traveled from Harbor Island to Lynyard Cay. We had a 6:30 am start; a nice morning till
we hit a narrow channel and 5 ft sand on the way out of the harbor. Fortunately, after putting the dinghy down to push the boat off, the current and the wind helped push us into deeper water and we were off in 20 min. Ann doesn't like
being called run-aground Annie but she wrote this not Ed. No damage done. As Ed was bringing in a nice mahi mahi for dinner in the afternoon, our rough start was remedied. The winds tapered off and the sail was beautiful as we entered Little Harbor Cut at 16:30 (that is 4:30PM for most of us) and anchored by 17:15. We shared dinner (catch of the day) with Never Bored. We had another great evening.

April 21 Snorkeling was the first order of the day. Sandy Cay coral gardens provided the perfect place.
We were out for several hours although it was a bit rough. We enjoyed seeing schools of fish and even
a manta ray along with brain coral and elkhorn coral.

April 22 We traveled from Lynard Cay to Tiloo Cay (all of 10 miles). We visited Lubbers Quarters and Cracker P's for
lunch; outdoors eating which was nice. They had a nice resort there also.

April 23 Left Tiloo Cay with some very shallow areas but a beautiful sail; very little use of the engine.
Stopped at Man O War Cay and saw some beautiful wood ship models. Another six miles followed by ten miles to Fisher Bay on Great Guana Cay. Happy Easter, today we shall enjoy drinks and food on the island.

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Pineapple Cays to Governor's Harbour and Hatchet Bay

The sailing has been slow but beautiful the last few days but because we are making short hops it does not matter. So what if we average 4 knots, it beats motoring any day. And the places are quite beautiful, we are relaxed and having fun.

On Friday we sailed wing on wing which we can only do with calm seas because we have to sail with the main to wind and the jib to the lee because we do not have a whisker pole for flying the jib to wind. We averaged about 4.5 knots over the six miles to Governors Harbour (note the Bahamian spelling).

Governors Harbour was the first capital of the Bahamas, prior to Nassau. It has good protection except from the west and is beautiful to see with its nice seawall, semi-circle of sand, government buildings and prettily painted houses climbing the hillsides.

Friday night we went to the fish fry that happens every week. The menu options were pork chops, fish or chicken with sides of mac'n'cheese, cole slaw and included peas and rice. Afterwards we enjoyed street dancing to the recorded sounds of rake'n'scrape and reggae. Ann and Sheila spent several hrs. checking out grocery stores and walking around while Ed and Chris spent the afternoon hanging out at a local pub, chatting with the owner, playing pool and we all chatted with a local musician, Dr. Seabreeze. The ladies meet a local woman who requested any items that we didn't want on our boat; clothes, household items, etc. so we were able to help her. It is nice to meet the local people. We have been taking turns with Never Bored sharing rides in the dinghy so we both don't put down our dinghy and we went into town at low tide and at night, Ed waded out, hiking up his shorts because the tide had come in. Always interesting times with the dinghy. Sometimes
we stay dry and other times not so much.

Saturday, we walked up the hill, about a 175 foot climb, and down to the Atlantic beach which has pink sand, private homes and one small resort. The large resort was cleared away by Hurricane Andrew. Naturally, we stopped and enjoyed shopping and libations on the way back. We visited the Beach House Bar and the Bucenneer Pub; we try to support the local hangouts.

Fisherman had brought their catch back to the harbour for cleaning and sale. Mostly snapper and grouper they caught with lines 500 feet down using 1/4 pound weights.

Sunday we went on to Hatchet Bay but the wind was very light between 2 and 8 knots. So it was a slow sail of 16 miles. We used the spinnaker but we did not finish until 3:15 after starting at 10:30. At the end the wind direction changed so we had a close reach the last 1.4 miles.

Hatchet Bay has a very narrow entrance with rock walls on either side. We went ashore and it was hot, about 88 degrees with little breeze. We walked around Alice Town which was not too different from a lot of communities with many churches, homes in various degrees of repair but the people well dressed, polite and friendly. We talked to a local man about his water purification plant and watched the fast ferry come in from Nassau unloading people and vehicles before loading the same for the trip back. We then adjourned for dinner back to Windswept Dreams.

We continue to sail with Never Bored, at least for one or two more days. We met a couple from California in the harbour and talked to them about Panama and other places. It is interesting to learn about the places to go from people who have gone before.

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Big Majors to Eleuthera Pineapple Cays

Leaving the Exumas for Eleuthera represents the turning point for us of heading northwards. Still, we will enjoy the last several weeks of our time. We definitely feel as if we would like to keep cruising in May. Anyway, we left Sampsons Cay out the unnamed cut just south of Over Yonder Cut after spending two nights at Sampsons Cay where we fueled up with diesel (26 gallons), did laundry and topped off the water tanks. We enjoyed snorkeling in Pipe Creek with our friends from Lena Bea. We left with light ENE winds motor sailing then just sailing then had to motor the rest of the way arriving in Rock Sound about six-thirty. Our friends on Never Bored were able to sail 2/3 of the way using their Code Zero sail as a huge jib.

We stayed two nights in Rock Sound enjoying walks, dinghying to the airport so that Never Bored could extend their Visas before heading northward to Tarpum Bay, a nice little community with a nice beach and houses. It was 15 miles to Tarpum Bay which we were able to sail entirely, having just enough wind to get out of the harbor and north. We will be accepting children books for their library next year as per the request of the librarian. We had grouper fingers at a restaurant across from the beach and talking to the fisherman as they cleaned their catch.

We then moved on to the Pineapple Cays off of the twin Palmetto cities. It was 10 miles which we did motoring in sprinkles and heavy rain arriving early enough to walk across Eleuthera and to both cities. The houses were well taken care of and prettily colored. Today we are moving on, six miles north to Governors Harbor and their Friday Night Fish Fry. We anticipate going to the Abacos Monday or Tuesday but are enjoying our short hops up Eleuthera's coast.

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March 18th to April 10th

We took this picture from Big Darby Island on the veranda of an old abandoned house that has since been purchased with the island for $38M.

We met up with our friends from Never Bored at the Darby Islands on the 19th and have been sailing with them ever since. That day "Run Aground Annie" got her nickname after we got stuck in the approach to an anchorage at low tide. We waited two hours for the tide to come up, pulled off with an anchor, got stuck again, and again before getting free and into the anchorage. She lost confidence for a few days but is learning to read the water much better and has her confidence back.

We enjoyed the Darbys, spending time with boaters from two other boats and snorkeling nearly every day, appetizers and cocktails at night. One night we all played instruments and made some real noise. Bob and Carol from Time Enough II played violin, guitar and flute, Ann played keyboards and I played guitar (as quietly as possible).

We then went on to Georgetown for four days of fun on the beaches. Also, I began varnishing the cockpit rails, a job that completed a week later but only because I am low on varnish. We then started north going to little places like Rollville, Barataria, Square Rock and Lee Stocking Island where we climbed Perry Peak, at 137 feet the highest in the Exumas. This picture is of Stocking Island from the stone navigation marker high on the hill looking towards Elizabeth Harbor.

We have yet to catch fish but not for lack of effort. One day, rather than heading along the inside we went out to the sound for the deep water fishing. The wind was light with 5 foot seas plus we went out through Rudder Cut which had large standing waves. All to no avail, the wind was crappy, waves large and we caught only one tiny barracuda. Oh, well we will have another chance Monday when we head to Eleuthera.

We've been at Big Majors Spot feeding the feral pigs, going to Staniel Cay and meeting with other boaters. Today we went three miles to Sampson Cay to get diesel, top off the water tank, do internet and wash clothes. Monday we start north. Tomorrow we will head back to Big Major Spot and join back up with our traveling companions on Never Bored.

Of course we've also been snorkeling at Thunderball Cave, so named because of it was featured in the James Bond movie "Thunderball". It is protected from fishing so the fish are plentiful and tame.

Next stop: Eleuthera

Bimini to Staniel Cay

Happy St. Patricks Day, it is March 17th. We are in Stanel Cay, the temperature is low 80's and the weather is perfect for the tropics. The wind is blowing 15 from the east so sailing is great northwest to southeast along the Exuma Island chain. What a difference from yesterday although we cannot complain about anything.

We left Bimini on Sunday March 6th anchoring out overnight on the Bahama Banks after a long day sailing east. We then went onto Chub Cay where we snorkeled and enjoyed a beautiful sunset before heading to Nassau the next day. It was a close reach (upwind sail) so we had to tack a couple of times before a late arrival in Nassau harbor. We took a slip at a marina so that we could sleep in peace without worrying about dragging: the harbor is scoured by tides so the holding is tenuous at best. We bought some groceries, filled up on fuel and headed out to Rose Island about an hour and a half away where we met up with Wes and Jan of "Dances with Dolphins" on the north side by Sandy Cay. What a ride but the anchorage was peaceful and the bottom sand which is the best holding.

After lamb dinner with them and a day of snorkeling we moved the boats to a protected hole in the island to avoid a big NE blow. Next day we moved to an achorage on the southside and enjoyed several more days with them. All good times come to an end, Monday we headed into the Exumas under perfect conditions. We arrived in Normans Cay where we snorkeled and made some new friends who invited us for happy hour and showed off (in a nice way) their beautiful IP445, a center cockpit sailboat. It was a great day.

We then moved to Big Majors spot, but a mini-ordeal given winds on the nose twice as strong as expected. We had to tack several times and ran the motor all day as we sailed close to the wind. Steaks on the barbee at 19:30 and a nice quiet harbor.

Big Majors Spot is five minutes from Staniel where tonight we enjoy a band from 4-7 then dinner. Our friends were very understanding when we changed our destination to wait one more day before venturing futher south. We look forward to being with "Never Bored" soon.

I guess to sum it up: we are truly enjoying the best of the Bahamas now that the weather is warmer and we are in the heart of the Exumas. Somewhat gone but not forgotten are all the difficulties we've overcome and the maintenance work needing to be done. Livin for today, yeah mon.

Stuart to Ft Lauderdale and Bimini

After leaving Stuart we followed the ICW to Lake Worth for one picture perfect night with a calm harbor, perfect lighting and the boats sitting at anchor. But we needed to press on so that we could make Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday so we could go to the Miami boat show on Sunday.

The outside run to Ft. Lauderdale was uneventful and once again we motored staying close to shore to escape the Gulf Stream.

Sunday, we dinghied ashore to meet our friends, Frank and Joanne who drove us to the show. We left our dinghy at the public boat ramp next to the police dock, enjoyed the show, dinner and company. Upon our return however our dinghy was missing which we were informed by a bystander had been placed in protective custody by the police department. We walked over to the station but it was not staffed after who knows what time because there was absolutely no information explaning there hours or who to call. Seeing the dinghy at their dock behind a fence I realized that from the water I could easily get our dinghy so we could get home to our boat anchored in Lake Sylvia. Another boater took me to the dinghy, we went home and to sleep.

There are right ways to do things and sometimes they elude me as we quickly found out. In the morning I called the police department and two officers came over in their boat to tell me that I should have called 911, I should not have taken my dinghy and that we should not have left it at the sea wall near the public boat ramp on the busiest day of the year so far. They also went so far as to tell us that a boat must be registered in some state regardless of state laws to which I thought "huh, that is news to me". Then they asked us if we wanted to prosecute and that they had the guy on four drug violations. I stated that we did not want to travel all the way back from Oregon for a trial so they said "sign here" and we did. The offices left after warning us again and we thought it was all over.

Next, the arresting officer who had since come on duty called to give us all the same warnings plus tell us how he had put his life on the line for us and we did not even want to prosecute. We said we would be glad to now that we knew a little more about the circumstances but he said it would only look like he made us do it if it came to court, but after telling us it was an open and shut case and that the guy would have pleaded out anyway. Then had asked us when we were leaving and said that we should be moving on. I think he watched to many westerns. Overall, we feel bad for what happened and know we would make different choices in the future but he was definitely over the top.

During the week we got our wind generator back, did boat chores, went to a cruisers pot luck with Frank and Joanne then on Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday night joined with our friends on Siya Sinana, Gary and Lisa for some sun downers plus a tour of the cities water front. It was great but Monday they headed north and us to Miami.

We tried to go outside to Miami but had know luck tacking south as we went out to far and got driven north by the Gulf Stream. An hour later we got back to where we started so we went inside down to No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne just south of Miami. It was pretty nice in the little harbor and the coolest thing was that they were shooting scenes for a TV show, either Burn Notice or maybe Bones. It had something to do with a little sea plane.

Tuesday we headed for Bimini where we have been for a few days and will be until the wind dies down. I did not realize how far it was to the next protected anchorage so we have to wait until we can anchor in the shallow waters of the Bahama bank for a night, right now it is too rough. If we were to go all over again I would have made very different choices but a few days will not hurt us. Today we have been vanishing some spots inside that need it. There is always work to do on the boat. Hopefully we will head towards Nassau either Monday or Tuesday.