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This is a long post. I found it hard to cut out any more detail
I’d worked for 2 weeks at the Daytona 500 and with it being over on Sunday the 17th, the plan was to pick Doug up at the St. Augustine airport on Monday the 18th. Skybus has recently started flying out of Greensboro, NC (30 miles east of Winston-Salem – where my parents as well as Doug lives) direct to St. Augustine for super cheap fares. So, Jan and I left for the hour long drive to St. Augustine to pick up Doug and save him the car rental or taxi fare. For some reason, I didn’t even think that there would be thousands of people leaving the Daytona area and moving north on I-95 in the wake of the Daytona 500. So, the drive took us 2 hours instead of 1. No big deal, we retrieved Doug from the airport curb and then headed south knowing that traffic would be flowing normally an d we’d get back in the prescribed hour. No such luck – a pickup truck had rolled over in the southbound lanes and traffic was backed up again.
When we did finally get back home, Doug and I set out to provision the boat and were done in the mid-evening with a plan to cast off on Tuesday morning near sunrise.
Indeed, we cast off at 7am and headed south in the ICW with our goal for the day being the Cocoa anchorage. We arrived in the anchorage before dark and after setting the anchor, went ashore to old town Cocoa for some dinner. There was a place I remembered eating back in October when I was down in that area, so we went there and had an acceptable dinner.
Old Town Cocoa after dark
The Cocoa Anchorage
The next morning (Wednesday) we weighed anchor around 7 am with the initial goal of Ft. Pierce area and if the tides didn’t work against us – Jenson Beach anchorage about 2 hours further south. We hit the tides acceptably and never saw major tidal flow against us and so we pushed on to Jenson Beach getting there just before sunset. As moving through the anchorage at approx 3 knots in 7 ft. of water, we hit a submerged object that significantly upset the boat. Now, keep in mind that my boat weighs 22,000 pounds before I put all my crap in it – so to significantly upset the boat – I had to have hit a substantial object. My boat has a digital readout for the bilge pump that allows me to know how many times it has cycled on. After anchoring, I made note of the bilge counter and kept an eye on it so I could see if the hull had been compromised in anyway. It hadn’t and to accelerate this part of the story, I dove on the keel while in Great Guana Cay and saw that there was significant gouges in the keel – down low – about 1 foot above the bottom of the keel. This is not good in general for the boat – and I have my diver back home checking it out for urgency of repair this week – but it’s not compromising of the boat’s sailing integrity.
So, with us arriving at Jenson Beach anchorage just before sunset, we decided to eat on board and not go ashore. So we exactly that and then watched the full moon rise and the subsequent full lunar eclipse. Watching the eclipse through the binoculars gave a sense of the spherical nature of the moon that I’d never seen before. I suppose is was because it was full – yet not bright that allowed it to look like a ball and not just like a 2 dimensional disk. I’m really glad that I was on a sailing trip when this occurred because I don’t think I would have invested the same amount of time watching it – had I been at home like normal. As it was, Doug and I sat in the cockpit and took turns looking at it through the binoculars.
Up to this point, the weather forecasts had indicated that it would likely be good weather to cross to the Bahamas on Friday and so we’d made the extra miles to Jenson Beach with the thought of getting to our next anchorage – the Palm Beach area early in the day on Thursday. It turned out that the weather systems were moving a little slower than predicted and the best window was now moving to Saturday.
Sunrise at the Jenson Beach Anchorage
So, Thursday morning, we didn’t set any alarm to get up super early and instead we left the anchorage at 8:15, with our goal for the day being the North Palm Beach Anchorage – where I’d anchored on 2 separate occasions in the past. As you enter the Jupiter area from the north, you begin to enter a progressively worsening stretch of draw bridges. In the 100 statute miles between Jupiter and Miami, there’s an opening bridge every 2 miles on average. To put that in perspective – from Jupiter – north to Chesapeake bay – nearly 1000 statute miles – there’s a bridge every 15 miles on average. A significant difference. The major problem with this is that most of the bridges in southern florida are on a schedule. They open about every half our or so and some of them don’t open at all during major drive times. Often they will not open between 7am and 9 am as well as between 3:30 pm and 5 pm. All of the opening schedules are published and so you can plan your day accordingly. We only had to sit and wait for a significant amount of time at one bridge – so it wasn’t too bad. Just before we got to the N. Palm Beach anchorage, we filled up with fuel and water so we’d be completely ready for the crossing and would require no additional ‘side trips’ before heading across. We took on 27.4 gallons of diesel. We arrived at the anchorage at 2:45 pm.
Along the way, we had spoken with a couple of boats that were headed our way and gotten their plans for crossing. Aeriel, (or Aerie – I can’t remember exactly) had crossed paths with us just 90 minutes into our journey and was planning on the same basic schedule that we’d planned on – EXCEPT they were planning on leaving for the crossing at midnight. My plan had been 4 am. We considered the midnight departure and did not immediately rule it out – but weren’t really leaning that way too hard. In Jenson Beach, we met up with Dolce Vida (Sweet Life) and spoke on the radio with them about their plans and they more matched ours and besides, at this point, we’d lost contact with Aeriel because they’d slowed down and were somewhere behind us. So we had a meeting on Dolce Vida’s Hunter 42 along with “I Dunno” and worked on a float plan for crossing. The plan was to move to the anchorage that was just inside the inlet on Friday afternoon and be within a 5 minute move to the inlet for the crossing.
So, with the plan in place, Doug and I went to have some dinner at drinks at Panama Hatties on the ICW near the anchorage. It was a cool place – if not somewhat empty due to rain showers - being an outdoor place. It had a “Cruzan Rum Bar” – (Cruzan being my favorite rum) and so we had some boat drinks and dinner while sitting at the bar. We later played the ‘ring’ game (where you have a stainless steel ring on a string and you try to swing it to get it on a hook). It’s the simplest of games no doubt – but a fun way to pass the time.
On Friday, Doug went up the mast to install my anemometer which had been off the mast for a couple of months. It’s now in place, yet is still isn’t working right. Oh well, I’ll put on the list of things that need to be done sometime.
A couple of photos that Doug took from the top of the mast
Afterward, we went ashore to the West Marine and then to Duffy’s sports bar for some lunch. In late afternoon, we moved to the West Palm Beach (Lake Worth) Inlet anchorage and had another good sunset there.
Sunset at the Lake Worth Inlet Anchorage
At 3:15 am, my alarm went off and we readied the boat for the crossing. We contacted Dolce Vida and I Dunno at 3:45 and by 4 am, we were all weighing anchor and heading toward the inlet. I Dunno already had it’s mainsail up as we moved into the inlet and we were second with Dolce Vita picking up the rear. In the darkness – about halfway through the inlet, it was obvious that I Dunno was moving very slowly. I called them on the radio to ask why and they said that they had a terrible current. I had already noticed that we did NOT have a current and so –either I or Dolce Vida ( I don’t remember who) asked them if they were in-gear. It turns out that they weren’t and so things moved much faster once they put then engine in gear.
We hit the Gulf Stream just 3 miles off shore and made our heading adjustments so that we’d still track easterly while in our 3 knot northerly flow of the Gulf Stream. The sea state was very enjoyable and with the full moon over our shoulders, we could see well enough to know what the swells and waves looked like as we moved along. I Dunno and Dolce Vida allowed the northerly current to move them off the course line further than I wanted to, so early on, we made adjustments to stay closer to the courseline that would have us making landfall at West End.
Sunrise as we cross the gulf stream
The sun rose as we continued our journey and as our buddy boats got further off toward the north. About half way across, they decided to enter the Little Bahama Bank at Memory rock – which is about 18 miles or so north of West End. We decided to continue our course to West End, check into customs there and stay in the marina there for the night before continuing onto the bank on Sunday.
The rest of the trip across the gulf stream and to West End was very enjoyable. The seas built to about 6 ft as we went and we saw plenty of flying fish – which I think are just amazing. We got to West End at 1:30 in the afternoon and entered a slip, tied up, connected to shore power and then went to clear in at customs. 20 minutes and $300 later, I was lowering the yellow quarantine flag (required when you enter the Bahamas – indicating you’ve not yet officially ‘entered’ the country) and hoisting the Bahamas Ensign on the starboard spreader.
Serenity at the Old Bahama Bay Marina
The marina is located inside the Old Bahama Bay resort and is quite nice. A couple of hours later, a boat came in and was headed for the slip beside of us. I went over and grabbed a line from them as they backed into the slip. Looking down into the cockpit, saw a 6 foot long mahi mahi and lots of blood all over the place. The captain (Kurt) had caught the fish just 20 minutes or so earlier and was all excited. He was so happy that he thanked me for helping and said he’d give us some of his fish. Doug has been learning and honing his filleting skills and so he offered to help Kurt filet the mahi mahi. They got quite a bit of meat out of that fish and we ended up with a couple of dinner’s worth of it.
The big Mahi Mahi that Kurt caught. Photo by Doug
The wind blew much harder that evening and night than was forecast and a number of boats who were planning on continuing on the next day – were a little concerned about the weather. The next morning, when we got up, the wind had laid down a bit and so around 8 am , I went to the marina and settled our bill which was $100 for the slip fee and the mandatory water fee (whether you use it or not). We cast off at 8:30am and set off to head across the bank. Our original plan had us cutting the corner through a small channel that was cut in the coral, but I allowed the guy in a boat next to us to freak me out about it. The markers were no longer there and we would have the current and the wind at our back, so I made the decision to take the longer way which added about 2 – 3 hours to our trip. Our plan was to go to Great Sale Cay, but with the detour, we may not be able to make it by dark, but as we approached Mangrove Cay we re-evaluated our schedule and decided we’d make it a little before sunset. We pressed on and were rewarded with one of the greatest evenings of the whole trip. The sunset was awesome – there was a lightening storm in the distance and the stars came out very bright for a couple of hours before the large moon rose in the east. It was magical.
Sunset Photo from Great Sale Cay
The next morning (Tuesday) we listened to the cruiser’s net – an hour long radio broadcast over VHF where the cruising community is brought up-to-speed on everything from weather, local sea state, sports, news and community events. After hearing the the Whale Passage to the south was in perfect condition for passage – we decided it was smart to go ahead and get across it while the weather was cooperating. In hindsight – this was a VERY good decision. On my way back across a month later – I met some people who never crossed the whale during their whole trip to the Abacos and really didn’t have a very good time. I’ll tell you that the really fun places in the Abacos are on the east side of the whale. I’m glad I didn’t get stuck on the W side of it.
Whale Cay - with the green bottomed clouds - created by reflecting the amazingly turquoise colored waters
We sailed to and across the whale in great crossing conditions and then onto Marsh Harbour. We anchored in Marsh Harbour in a spot where Serenity ended up spending almost 3 weeks. Doug and I stayed there about 4 days and then I left the boat there for 12 days while I came back to work the Atlanta Race. While we were there, Doug and I checked out most of the local restaurants, enjoyed a junkanoo, walked the town and performed some boat maintenance.
On Wednesday, with a front bearing down on us, we decided to take the Abaco Ferry over to Great Guana instead of sailing over in the blow. We arrived at Great Guana at 11am and went to Nippers – a cool restaurant and bar up on a dune overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The seas were flat when we arrived since the ocean side of the Cay was in the lee of the wind. While we sat there drinking bloody marys and eating some awesome seared sesame tuna, the front came through and gave us quite the show from mother nature. The winds switched around from the NW and the rains came. Later in the afternoon, we walked down to Grabbers – another bar/restaurant (that would later become a place I frequented quite a bit) and finished up our afternoon on Guana Cay there – sitting on the barstools just out of the rain.
The day before we needed to fly back to the U.S., Doug went up the mast again to work on a broken jib halyard. He put in a good hour up there and has my thanks for that. I’m not big on going up the mast when I can avoid it and Doug stepped up to the plate for this job – no doubt.
The front approaches while we're hangin at Nippers
The day before we needed to fly back to the U.S., Doug went up the mast again to work on a broken jib halyard. He put in a good hour up there and has my thanks for that. I’m not big on going up the mast when I can avoid it and Doug stepped up to the plate for this job – no doubt.
Marsh Harbour's Anchorage
One of our nice neighbors – at anchor beside of us -offered to take us ashore to catch a cab to the airport on our departure day. Doug and I flew back to Daytona Beach on Friday the 29th and then Jan and I took Doug back to St. Augustine on Saturday to catch his plane back to NC.
I went to work for a week in Atlanta – all the time wondering about the state of Serenity. I went onto the Abaco Forum (which I’ve been reading for about 6 months) and asked if anyone reading it was in Marsh Harbor and could check on my boat. The only reply I got was from Mary and Jeff on “Agur’s Wish” who were in Hope Town, but going over to Marsh Harbour and said they would check on her. I got an email a few days later saying that she looked good. Later, after I got back to Serenity, (actually as Jan and I were departing Marsh Harbour), we crossed paths with Dolce Vida again and he let me know he’d been anchored beside Serenity for the last week and had kept an eye on her for me.
Jan and I flew into Marsh Harbour on Wednesday the 5th of March and taxied to Curly Tails again, We were on island before 9am (I love that direct flight from Daytona Beach to Marsh Harbour). We sat outside at Curly Tails – next to the dingy dock and ordered breakfast while I waited for someone to come back to their dingy – so I could ask for a ride out to Serenity. I’d left my dingy on the Davits (big arms that hold the dingy out of the water on the back of the boat) when Doug and I had caught the ride in before. A fellow from Oriental, NC came out with his little dog and was cheerfully willing to drop me off at Serenity. Upon boarding, I did a quick check of all the major systems and she was in top notch shape. Turning on the my Garmin 76Csx handheld GPS that I use as an anchor monitor and alarm, I could see that Serenity was EXACTLY where I’d left her 12 days before. That’s a great thing when there’s been a couple of big blows come through. The holding ground in Marsh Harbour appears to be superb and everyone I’ve spoken to since then agrees with that assessment.
I put the dingy back in the water and headed back over to Curly Tails’ dingy dock where Jan and I had a great breakfast and then we went back out to Serenity. We took the day getting Serenity back in sailing shape (I’d done an extensive job of leaving her buttoned up really well), we had lunch on the boat and dinner at Snappas in the Harbour. We toured the town a bit and I made sure Jan saw all the things I knew she’d like when I first ran across them. Jan’s a book freak, so we went to ‘buck-a-book’ which is a converted shipping container with tons of books for sale – for a buck each – to support the ‘save the wild horses of Abaco’ organization.
On Thursday, we made plans to go to Hope Town for a couple of days and so I radioed over and reserved a mooring bouy. Around noon, we weighed anchor (Jan did – and she did a superb job at it) and headed 200 yards to the Marsh Harbour marina where we filled up the fuel and water tanks. We then headed out into the sea of Abaco for the 2 hour or less sail to Elbow Cay (where Hope Town is located).
It was a great broad reach sail and we had a fun time being underway again. Approaching the Hope Town harbour entrance was a slightly tricky because the approach didn’t look at all like the photos in the guidebook – which tells you how to make your approach. Slowing down a bit and relying on the GPS to take me to the mouth of the entrance was the approach I decided to take and then a motor boat came OUT of the harbour and it was evident where to go at that point.
Entering the HT harbour requires making a sharp turn to the right and passing through an opening that’s no more than 30 feet wide. It is a tremendously protected anchorage. The harbour is filled with mooring balls – which allows for more boats to be in there. Mooring balls are firmly attached to the sea floor – usually with poured concrete – and so the rope which runs from the attachment point can go at a nearly vertical angle without worrying about pulling the “anchor point” loose. Contrast this to normal anchoring – which requires a 5:1 (and sometimes 7:1) anchor rode to keep the anchor dug in. What this means is, if you’re anchored in 10 feet of water AND your boat’s bow (the front) is another 5 feet off the water, then you’ll have about 75 feet of anchor rode out. (10ft water depth + 5 feet bowrise = 15 ft above the sea floor X 5 (to get 5:1 scope) = 75 feet of rode out.). The reason for this is all based on the way an anchor sets. An anchor – when pulled horizontally across the seafloor will try to did deeper and deeper. Using all chain for your anchor rode makes it want to lay on the bottom (as opposed to rope – which of course is not nearly as heavy) and so with a 5:1 scope out – even with a pretty good wind pushing against the boat, at least the last 1/3 of the rode is always laying on the sea floor, so the pull of the boat is trying to did it in more and more.
All of that to explain that if you anchor instead of attach to a mooring ball, you have to be further from surrounding boats so when the wind changes, you don’t swing into the other boats. Often when anchoring, it’s normal to ask the boats that were there before you how much rode they have out. Even if it’s not the amount you’d prefer (in theory more is better), it’s best if you match it, so as the wind switches, all boats keep their relative distance from all other boats. So, by having mostly all moorings in the Hope Town harbour, they are able to accommodate about twice as many boats safely. A downside to this is that it cost money to use a mooring – usually $15 to $20 a night short term. The upside of it is – you don’t have to worry about dragging anchor – something that never leaves the mind of the captain of an anchored boat.
So we picked up a mooring ball (another crew job that Jan did flawlessly) in the crowded harbour. From our serene spot in the harbour, we could see a Hunter 42 with a Colington Harbour ‘home port’ lettering on her transom. Also, a couple of boats away, we could see ‘Free Spirit” a 38ft Irwin center cockpit – just like (except the color) Serenity. We got in the dingy to head over and pay our mooring fee, stopping along the way to meet the folks on Free Spirit as well as Southern Heat – the Hunter from back home in Colington Harbour (where Jan and I lived for 8 years). This is one of my favorite parts of cruising – meeting the folks on the other boats. Certainly among sailboats – you have an instant connection and you can become better friend much quicker than you often do with the neighbors where you live.
(The next day, we all 6 met on Free Spirit for snacks and drinks. It’s funny because the women from all 3 boats were going back home during the next week and the guys would be left to themselves on their boats - Free Spirit’s family was flying in for a week).
So, the first evening in HopeTown, Jan and I were going to head into Harbour’s Edge to look at renting some bicycles, when we passed Agur’s Wish (the boat whom had taken the time to check on Serenity over in Marsh Harbour while I was at home working the race) and Mary and Jeff were getting into their dingy. I motored over and introduced myself and thanked them for looking in on Serenity for me. They were on their way to Captain Jack’s for Thursday night Trivia and invited us to join them. So we did and had a great time with these ‘semi-locals’. Jeff and Mary keep their boat moored in Hope Town year round and they spend about 8 months on it – leaving during the main hurricane season. Jeff is a bit of a celebrity with the cruising crowd – he hosts the cruiser’s net 2 mornings a week and has one of the best voices and personalities for it. We had a great time with them and later as we were dingying through the harbour that night, we passed “Agurs Wish” (a 40 foot sailboat) and heard loud southern rock coming from down below and I swear I think someone (Jeff) playing drums to the music. They were yelling along with the music. It was funny – but after meeting Jeff – not really out of character. But a drum set on a 40 ft. sailboat?
Jeff and Mary from "Agurs Wish"
Jan and I at Capt. Jack's
The next day we walked the town – and a couple of miles south of the town . It’s a beautiful Cay with well maintained streets and no vehicular traffic allowed inside the actual town. Most of the vehicles on these small cays are golf carts and any car or truck is of the ‘very small’ variety. The beach is just a few hundred yards from the harbour and the town has 2 and 1/2 small markets for getting your supplies. Because we spent the late afternoon on Free Spirit with our neighbors, we didn’t tour the Hope Town lighthouse until Saturday morning.
Photos from Hope Town:
Hope Town Beach
The harbour view from the top of the lighthouse
Mr Lizard hanging out near the graveyard
Lizard Lodge
Neighborhood view
The Elbow Reef Light
Grave Yard
Serenity in the Harbour
The Hope Town Lighthouse (or actually the Elbow Reef Light) is one of only 3 of it’s type left in the world. It was not converted to be an automated light as others have been. Still, a light keeper has to tend to the light. It’s really very interesting. The light is supplied by pressurized kerosene that’s fed to a ‘mantle’. The mantle is a fabric mesh about the circumference of a tube sock. The light itself is bright, but then it’s focused through fresnel lense. The lens configuration weighs 8000 pounds and to make it so that there is minimal friction while it’s turning, it floats in a large bath of lubricant – instead of riding on wheels or gears. To make it turn, there’s heavy weights attached to cables that have to be cranked up by hand every 2 hours by the light keeper. It works like the weights on a cuckoo clock. It’s obvious when you visit, that the light is in a 3rd world country because of it’s ‘less than pristine’ state of repair (other than the mechanics of the actual light). Much of the upkeep of the grounds and exterior of the light falls to the volunteer organization – The Bahamas Lighthouse Preservation Society. Touring the light is free – with a donation box available at the entrance. It’s a ‘must see’ for anyone visiting the area.
In the early afternoon, we dropped the mooring and sailed at 7 knots toward Great Guana Cay where we picked up another mooring in Settlement Harbour. We came here to get a mooring and be in place for the Sunday afternoon pig roast at Nippers – something we were told by a number of people not to miss. It certainly was a good time. Jan and I hung out for a few days on Great Guana – bouncing back an forth between Nippers and Grabbers and spending some time on the beautiful beach there. Jan had to fly home on Tuesday afternoon and our original plan was to sail back to Marsh Harbour on Tuesday morning and then her catch a cab to the airport. Since there was nothing in Marsh Harbour that I needed to go there for other than that, we modified the plan and Jan caught the ferry back to Marsh Harbour instead. It was tough watching her pull away from the dock as the reality of me being hundreds of miles from home alone again on the boat hit me. I always have a few hours of sadness when this happens and I’m taking the boat home by myself – but it’s just a byproduct of having –and using- the boat at this stage in our lives. If I wait for everything to come together perfectly – then I’ll never get to use the boat.
So, I was now safely on a mooring ball on Great Guana Cay and needed to plan my next move. With a full on rage going on with seas up to 35 feet at the height of the rage, there was no need to think about heading across the Whale Cay passage for a while, so I just sat tight and decided to get to ‘know’ island a bit. I explored the island as far as I could both to the north and to the south. I became really good friends with the folks that own and run Grabbers as well as quite friendly with the folks up at Nippers as well. I had the great luck to run across and meet the MacIntosh’s on several occasions. Mr. MacIntosh is over 90 years old and a boat designer. He and his wife were out sailing one of his small sailing designs – the Mary Mac – named after his wife one day and then another day I met them under the fig tree – this island’s equivalent of the town square. I had some enjoyable conversations with them and they also attended one of the pot luck dinners at Grabbers.
Waves during the Rage at Guana. This wave you see in the photo is about 12 feet tall.
Sunset at Grabbers
During my time on Guana, I ran into Jerry – from Free Spirit- again. He was spending a week with his son, daughter-in-law as well as grand daughter on the boat and was planning on starting back across and heading home after they flew out of Marsh Harbour. Looking at the long term weather, it looked as if our schedules and the weather might come together and I’d have a buddy boat to head home with. Even though he was bouncing between Marsh Harbour, Treasure Cay, Hope Town and Guana, we stayed in touch via VHF radio to keep our plan going. The plan turned out to be meeting in White Sound (Green Turtle Cay) on Tuesday evening with a ‘planned’ departure from that point on Wednesday.
On Easter morning, I got up at 5:45 and went to the Easter sunrise service on the south end of the island. It was an enjoyable service and like normal - all the people were incredibly nice.
On Easter morning, I got up at 5:45 and went to the Easter sunrise service on the south end of the island. It was an enjoyable service and like normal - all the people were incredibly nice.
Sunrise at the Easter Service on Guana
The sea started to lay down a bit on this day and on Monday morning – after listening to the cruiser’s net for the weather reports, I slipped the mooring and headed north toward the Whale Cay passage with the plan to anchor in White Sound and wait for Jerry to show up on Tuesday. The weather was great as I exited Settlement Harbour on Guana and as I transited the “whale’ I would estimate that the swell was about 8 inches. It was a perfect day to cross the whale. The weather forecast was for a front to come through on Monday afternoon and the winds to increase to 20+ out of the NE – not good for the Whale. So with Jerry on the south side of the whale – waiting for his family to fly out on Tuesday, I had to wonder about how he was going to get to White Sound for our planned meeting on Tuesday evening.
During the day on Tuesday, I worked on the boat – making some rigging adjustments and getting some general work done. I tried numerous times to contact Jerry by radio, but couldn’t for most of the day. I took a long walk on the island and when I dingied back to Serenity, I stopped by my neighbor’s boat “Raven” to ask them about how much anchor rode they had out – because the wind was supposed to switch a bit during the night. These fine folks – David and Hilde, invited me to dinner with them and the folks from “Duet” within 90 seconds of my meeting them.
I went back to Serenity to change clothes and try Jerry again. This time, when I tried to get him, he replied. I asked him where he was and he said he was in the Whale – with steep 10 ft. seas and his engine was giving him problems. It turns out that he has stirred up some ‘trash’ in his fuel tanks in the rough seas and it was clogging his fuel filter. With the type of seas he was in, he couldn’t turn around safely (the seas were too steep and too close together) and he was pointed into the wind too much to use the sails. He guesses that he may have had to abandon the boat if the engine would have given out completely. Jerry’s tolerance for trying things in questionable weather is much higher than mine. It’s good that the Whale passage is less than 3 miles. Jerry was able to throttle back and get through at a lower rpm.
While all of this was finishing playing out, I went over to Raven and enjoyed an excellent pasta dinner with some fine folks – topped off with brownies. As we were finishing up dinner, Jerry arrived in White Sound and after saying thanks to David and Hilde, I dingied over to Jerry’s boat to hear his story of his crossing. I was glad it was him and not me – because I can tell you with absolute certainty that I would not have even tried to cross the whale with those seas and I would not have made the gulf stream crossing on thurs/Friday because of it - which is okay. I've learned over the years that when you put things like flying and sailing on a schedule - the chances of mishap go up greatly. I'm trying to make sure that with my sailing, I don't get in a hurry to get anywhere - thus keeping myself out of bad weather as much as possible.
With the weather cooperating, our plan stayed in tact. Jerry had crew (Mike) flying in from New Hampshire on Wednesday afternoon. Crew flying into Treasure Cay can take a 20 minute ferry ride over to White Sound quite conveniently. I wanted to clean the slime off the bottom of Serenity, so I’d make the best time possible during my crossing and I’d prefer to do that at an open anchorage rather than a protected harbour (the water is clearer and cleaner).
While all of this was finishing playing out, I went over to Raven and enjoyed an excellent pasta dinner with some fine folks – topped off with brownies. As we were finishing up dinner, Jerry arrived in White Sound and after saying thanks to David and Hilde, I dingied over to Jerry’s boat to hear his story of his crossing. I was glad it was him and not me – because I can tell you with absolute certainty that I would not have even tried to cross the whale with those seas and I would not have made the gulf stream crossing on thurs/Friday because of it - which is okay. I've learned over the years that when you put things like flying and sailing on a schedule - the chances of mishap go up greatly. I'm trying to make sure that with my sailing, I don't get in a hurry to get anywhere - thus keeping myself out of bad weather as much as possible.
With the weather cooperating, our plan stayed in tact. Jerry had crew (Mike) flying in from New Hampshire on Wednesday afternoon. Crew flying into Treasure Cay can take a 20 minute ferry ride over to White Sound quite conveniently. I wanted to clean the slime off the bottom of Serenity, so I’d make the best time possible during my crossing and I’d prefer to do that at an open anchorage rather than a protected harbour (the water is clearer and cleaner).
So, at noon, I weighed anchor, motored over to the Green Turtle Club Marina, topped off fuel and added 40 gallons of water. By 12:30, I was headed out the shallow, winding harbour entrance and into the Sea of Abaco. The wind was perfect. With only a 12 mile sail to the Powell Cay anchorage, I put out about 75% of the headsail and cruised along at nearly 7 knots with a beam reach. When I arrived at Powel Cay, there were 4 boats at anchor there, (with room for about 30), so I left plenty of room between myself and the next boat to the north.
After setting the anchor, I snorkeled the boat and cleaned the hull bottom. When I was finished, I was a little chilled, so I took a hot shower and when I was drying off, I could see Jerry in Free Spirit heading toward the anchorage. Jerry anchored to the north of me and after the anchor was set, I went over to his boat for dinner.
Jerry believes fully in cooking on the boat just like it were home. I respect that and I hope to get a little more into cooking on board after spending some time with him. He made a pasta dinner with a sausage sauce, cooked garlic bread in the toaster oven while baking a cake in the galley. We had a great dinner on board Free Spirit and sometime around 9:30, I went back to Serenity to get some sleep. Our plan was to weigh anchor at 7 am sharp and head across the Little Bahama Bank to spend the night in the lee side of Mangrove Cay.
Just before 7, I raised the mainsail – while still at anchor and and sheeted it tight to centerline. I then went to the bow and began pulling up the anchor. When the anchor cleared the water, I quickly pulled it into the bow roller and snubbed it up, then ran back to the helm and steered the boat downwind and then on a broad reach – up the Sea of Abaco.
Our boats, being the same model and size, traveled at nearly the same speeds and so staying together was very easy. We sailed along at nearly 7 knots for several hours and then when we turned more westerly to head across the bank, our apparent wind went almost straight behind us and so to keep our average speed over 6.0 knots, we motorsailed.
Our planned course took us north of Great Sale Cay (see the earlier blog post : The Land of Unanswered Questions) and then westerly to Mangrove Cay. The plan was to spend the night at Mangrove Cay and head the last 20 miles or so across the bank and then across the gulf stream over to Ft. Pierce. From Ft. Pierce, it would be 2 full days up the ICW to get home. As we were approaching Great Sale Cay, Jerry called me on the radio and said he had an idea. He suggested that with the great weather window we had, that we could continue further NW across the bank and then sail to Port Canaveral without stopping and get there late morning on Friday. He suggested that he would get rested up during the afternoon and then transfer Mike over to my boat just before dark. Mike an d I could then take turns on watch through the night and in the morning, transfer Mike back to Free Spirt. This would put us a day and a half ahead of schedule. With the weather forecast being so good, this sounded like a good idea to me.
Jerry believes fully in cooking on the boat just like it were home. I respect that and I hope to get a little more into cooking on board after spending some time with him. He made a pasta dinner with a sausage sauce, cooked garlic bread in the toaster oven while baking a cake in the galley. We had a great dinner on board Free Spirit and sometime around 9:30, I went back to Serenity to get some sleep. Our plan was to weigh anchor at 7 am sharp and head across the Little Bahama Bank to spend the night in the lee side of Mangrove Cay.
Just before 7, I raised the mainsail – while still at anchor and and sheeted it tight to centerline. I then went to the bow and began pulling up the anchor. When the anchor cleared the water, I quickly pulled it into the bow roller and snubbed it up, then ran back to the helm and steered the boat downwind and then on a broad reach – up the Sea of Abaco.
Leaving the Powell Cay anchorage (Powell Cay in the background)
Our boats, being the same model and size, traveled at nearly the same speeds and so staying together was very easy. We sailed along at nearly 7 knots for several hours and then when we turned more westerly to head across the bank, our apparent wind went almost straight behind us and so to keep our average speed over 6.0 knots, we motorsailed.
Our planned course took us north of Great Sale Cay (see the earlier blog post : The Land of Unanswered Questions) and then westerly to Mangrove Cay. The plan was to spend the night at Mangrove Cay and head the last 20 miles or so across the bank and then across the gulf stream over to Ft. Pierce. From Ft. Pierce, it would be 2 full days up the ICW to get home. As we were approaching Great Sale Cay, Jerry called me on the radio and said he had an idea. He suggested that with the great weather window we had, that we could continue further NW across the bank and then sail to Port Canaveral without stopping and get there late morning on Friday. He suggested that he would get rested up during the afternoon and then transfer Mike over to my boat just before dark. Mike an d I could then take turns on watch through the night and in the morning, transfer Mike back to Free Spirt. This would put us a day and a half ahead of schedule. With the weather forecast being so good, this sounded like a good idea to me.
Free Spirit as we cross the Little Bahama Bank
Just before sunset, we rolled in our headsails and put our mainsails on centerline. Jerry then put out a couple of fenders. The plan was for me to hold a heading at around 3 knots and Jerry would negotiate next to my boat and Mike would step from Jerry’s boat to mine. With us having the same boat – the rails were the same height above the water and our boats would behave the same in the 3-4 foot following seas. It worked perfectly and 3 minutes after we slowed down to execute the maneuver, we were back underway at full speed.
Not until after we came off the bank at 10 pm and headed more NNW toward Port Canaveral and were in 2000 ft. + of water, did I take my first rest. I was able to sleep about a total of 1 hour during my first 2 hour rest. I then took a watch while Mike got some rest. The stars were amazingly bright up and the boat was stirring up the bio-luminescence in the water and the wake was full of the glowing bacteria fanning out like thousands of fireflies in the water. It was so beautiful. I swam in the ocean a good number of times both in the atlantic and the pacific, but this was more mesmerizing than ever before. A little after 1am, the moon rose bright off the stern and although it dimmed the view of the stars, it lit up the waves and made the ocean feel more present.
Somewhere around 2:30 or 3am, Mike came up from below and said he’d stand watch. I then hit the lee settee in the saloon and slept pretty hard for a couple of hours. When I took over watch again around 4:30, Mike got a good solid 2 hours sleep again. During this watch, I was looking at the chart and realized that Jerry could make much better time heading home if he were to continue northerly as I headed in to Port Canaveral. Because of the way the cape sticks out with it’s many shoals, he would need to head a different heading than I pretty soon. So I called him on the radio and he had been thinking the same thing. So as soon as it got light enough to see well outside, we transferred Mike back to Free Spirit in 5-6 foot swells and it went as smoothly as the first time. When the sun rose around 7:15m I was already a mile to the west of Free Spirit as our paths took different headings for the first time in 24 hours. We were almost 30 miles out when we made the crew transfer and so I had 5 hours before making landfall.
Sunrise as I head toward Port CanaveralI went below and made myself some coffee, then some breakfast and then I took a hot shower. About 15 miles out, I started picking up quite a few boats of all sizes on the radar screen – indicating I was getting near land. Just under 10 miles out, I could see buildings on shore. My new plan was to enter the port and then continue on to the anchorage outside of the Titusville Marina and spend the night there – then it would be just a 7 hour trip home the next day. Before I could enter the inlet into Port Canaveral, the Coast Guard announced on channel 16 that the Titusville Swing Bridge was closed – which meant I wouldn’t be able to make the anchorage. My plan had been to clear customs in Daytona the next day, but since I didn’t know when I’d be able to get through the bridge – which had been having maintenance problems for a couple of days – I decided to tie up at Harbourtown Marina at Port Everglades and clear customs there. Jan could then pick me up after work (just 15 minutes away) and I’d go home until the bridge was opening again.
I tied up at the marina and cleaned up the boat a bit – then caught a taxi to the Customs and Immigration building in Port Everglades. After a painless 10 minutes, I was headed back to the boat. Jan called and said she was on the way, so I locked up the boat an d went to the marina office and asked them if they knew how to contact the Titusville Bridge by phone – so I could get an estimate of when they would be working again. They called the bridge for me and was informed that the bridge has been working all day – that the Coast Guard had mistakenly continued announcing the closure longer than they should. Bummer.. It was too late to get to the Titusville anchorage now, so I headed home with Jan. I slept hard the whole hour drive home.
The next day, I was casting off from the Harbourtown Marina at 8 am and motorsailed the 10 hours and 60 miles or so back to Daytona. Jan was on the dock as I pulled into the slip. I was dead tired and so I quickly tied the boat up, secured the sails and headed home. Over the next couple of days, I cleaned up the boat, decommissioned the dingy and had my mechanic come over and check out the oil leak that’s been plaguing me for over a year.
That’s the recap of my first Bahamas trip. I met some fine folks, had some good times sailing, discovered a wonderful crew person in my wife and got a real taste of cruising.
Here’s the numbers:
41 days elapsed – slip to slip
28 days on board
17 days with crew
11 days single handing
Engine Hours 114 (estimate 6 hours heating water for showers and battery charging)
Fuel used: approx 78 gallons
Water Purchased: 75 gallons
Distance Travelled:
Trip over to Marsh Harbour - via ICW to Lake Worth: 400 statute miles
Return trip via Port Canaveral: 325 statute miles
Cost of Trip
It’s not cheap to berth and maintain a $90,000 boat, but I won’t throw any of the ‘ownership’ costs into the trip costs.
Water and Fuel Costs $375
(water costs .20 - .25 cents per gallon in Bahamas, fuel is $4.75 - $5.25 for diesel)
Groceries (around $150)
Marina $140
Entry to Bahamas $300
Meals and Drinks ashore (I don’t want to know)
Total ‘on boat’ expenses: $925 (pretty cheap for such a trip)
Other costs: Round trip flight for me to come home to work $500
Round Trip flight for Jan to come to boat $500
Cost of Trip
It’s not cheap to berth and maintain a $90,000 boat, but I won’t throw any of the ‘ownership’ costs into the trip costs.
Water and Fuel Costs $375
(water costs .20 - .25 cents per gallon in Bahamas, fuel is $4.75 - $5.25 for diesel)
Groceries (around $150)
Marina $140
Entry to Bahamas $300
Meals and Drinks ashore (I don’t want to know)
Total ‘on boat’ expenses: $925 (pretty cheap for such a trip)
Other costs: Round trip flight for me to come home to work $500
Round Trip flight for Jan to come to boat $500
