Jekyll Island, Georgia

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

This morning, we got a (deliberately) late start in order to time our arrival at the Fernandina Beach area to coincide with a mid-rising tide.  This gave us a better chance of avoiding trouble at the reported shoaling there.

After a slow, cautious transit of the area without mishap, we continued on, and crossed the St. Mary's River inlet and into Georgia.

On the way south last fall, we had skipped all of Georgia, and a big chunk of South Carolina, by going "outside" on the Atlantic at Charleston, SC all the way to St. Mary's inlet.   The reason for this was to avoid all of the reputed shallow water in Georgia.  But for this trip north, we decided to try it and see the parts of the ICW we had missed.

The first of these would have been Cumberland Island, but there was a problem.  With no public marinas on the island, the only way there was to either stay at the town of St Mary's and take a ferry over, or anchor out and dinghy in.  For us, anchoring out presented a problem, as we can only go two days on our holding tank without a pumpout, and we were already on our second day.  So, we called around and found that the ferries were all booked up for weeks!  Oh well.  Another item to put on the list for the next time! :)

So, we set out sights on Jekyll Island, and got to Jekyll Harbor Marina early in the afternoon.  After fueling and pumpout, we took a slip for two nights in order to give us a day to explore.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Jekyll Island was a true gem.  We will definitely go back there again. 

The marina has free loaner bikes, and the island is covered with the most extensive and well-maintained bike paths I have ever seen.  And it's all level!  Joan's knees were able to handle this, so off we went!

Great bike paths through tree-lined avenues

Yes!

Jekyll Island has a rich history.  It was a gathering place for the wealthy to vacation, and many of the stately manors are still there.  We rode into the historic part of town and played tourist.

The Jekyll Island Club

Afterwards, we biked over to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, which includes a rescue hospital where injured turtles are treated and usually released back into the wild.

One of the newest arrivals being cleaned and examined.

We biked to the north side of the island, and had lunch at Tortuga Jack's, then wandered home via a different path that took us thru a small but new village center with numerous shops.

Back at the boat, we watched another spetacular sunset.

End of another day in paradise

As usual...

Northern Florida

Tuesday, March 11, 2017
to
Monday, March 17, 2017

After our pleasant stay in Vero Beach, we pressed on for 2 days to Cocoa, FL where Joan's cousin Joe, and his wife Janice, live.  We had stopped there to visit on the way down at Thanksgiving, and had promised we'd stop in on the way back North.

It was nice to have a couple days of down time.  It was the first time we've slept off the boat since Christmas break!  Felt strange.  The bed didn't rock. ;)

Joe has a nice place on a small pond, inhabited by catfish and giant turtles.  He feeds the turtles, and they will come right up to the shore.  One big fellow is about 2 feet long at the shell!  They have a strange looking head, with a flattened neck and a tubular snout, looking more like a baby alligator head than a turtle!  We think its an Eastern Softshell Turtle.

Pond in Joe's Backyard

Strange looking snout

He's a big fellow! That shell is 2 ft long!

After Cocoa, we started really putting some miles under the keel.  45 NM the first day, a whopping 59 NM the second day, and 49 NM the third day.   This got us to an anchorage just south of Fernandina Beach, which is still closed due to damage from hurricane Matthew last fall.  Tomorrow, we will cross the St. Mary's River and begin our inside passage through Georgia!

The weather is perfect and life is good.

Vero Beach, FL

Saturday April 8, 2017
to
Monday April 10, 2017

Although it made for a 43 NM travel day, we decided to press on to Vero Beach today, based on numerous recommendations to see it. It was one of the places we did not see on the way down last fall.  I was so concerned about getting there before dark that we got going at 6:55 am, right at dawn.

I needn't have worried.  Even with a stop at Ft. Pierce for fuel and a pumpout, we still got there with almost 4 hours of daylight left!   I haven't yet gotten used to how much longer the days are, and how many miles on the ICW we can now cover in daylight!

Vero Beach is sometimes called "Velcro Beach" because many cruisers who stop there never leave!

This time, we took a slip.  We got one of the last ones available.  Our friends Vic and Marilyn on S/V Whisper were already here on a mooring.

Once here, we learned that the full-size replicas of two of Columbus' ships, the Nina and the Pinta, were tied up at the T-head docks for the last 8 days, and were staying through the weekend.  These Brazilian-built ships are all hand-made with period tools, and are felt to be the most accurate replicas ever built. 

Our slip was the first one inside the T-head, so we were right up next to the Nina.  This was both cool and annoying, as the tour crowds gave us almost no privacy during the day.

Dolce Vita next to the Nina on the North T-Head

The Pinta on the South T-Head

Vic and Marilyn had a rental car for one more day, so we drove into the beach side of town with them.  Once there, we encountered a car buff with his fully restored Thunderbird that he was showing off.

Afterward, the ladies went to the beach, and Vic and I hiked around town and chatted.  Its a a pretty typical beach town, but clean, well-maintained, and somewhat upscale.  A real contrast with the Bahamas!

Afterwards, the two couples went our separate ways.  We did some window shopping, then stopped at a recommended shop called "Cravings" for lunch and ice cream. :)   It's only a short walk from the beach part of town on "The Island" back to the marina, so we walked back.

That evening, we had Vic & Marilyn over for dinner aboard our boat.

Vic & Marilyn

The town has an extensive network of free buses, one of which stops right in the marina. But the schedule pamphlet is pretty indecipherable for trying to figure out when the next bus is due, and whether its going to the beach or the mainland.   Our best info came from other cruisers and locals. On Monday, we managed to take it in to the mainland part of town, and met up with Vic & Marilyn at West Marine to look for some supplies, then spent the rest of the afternoon picking up a few other things before returning to the marina.

The Vero Beach Municipal marina has some park-like grounds. Overall, it is a very pleasant place to stay, although they seem to be chronically understaffed.

Park-Like Marina Grounds

Relaxing under a Banyan Tree

Tomorrow, we'll press on Northward for two days, and then stop at Joan's cousin Joe's place in Cocoa FL for a few days, like we did last fall.

Life is good.

Return to the U.S.A.

Monday April 3, 2017
to
Wednesday, April 5, 2017

This time, our stay in Bimini was short, as a good weather window for a westbound crossing of the Gulf Stream was opening up in just two more days.  This gave us time to sherpa red jerry jugs of gas to the boat to top off our fuel tanks, and then sherpa blue jerry jugs of clean RO water to the boat to refill our water tanks.  Tedious and time consuming.

It also gave me a chance to re-hoist the radar reflector.  The flag halyard that it had been attached to parted back in Warderick Wells during the windstorm there, and I had been temporarily hoisting it using a sail halyard. 

Of course, I had to give Joan at least one afternoon on the beach, and a shopping trip to the straw market! 

The last evening, at the nightly gathering of cruisers for sundowners by the poolside, everyone was exchanging weather information and course selection ideas.

For this crossing, we were going to try and do it completely in daylight, as the days are significantly longer now then they were back in January when we made our overnight eastbound crossing to the Bahamas.  This extra daylight more than makes up for the slightly longer distance to our destination, Port Everglades Inlet at Ft. Lauderdale. 

Even so, at 5-6 knots (what we expect to do),  the ~50 mile trip should take around 10 hours, and with only 12 hours of daylight this might leave us hunting for an anchorage in Lauderdale as the sun set.  So we wanted to get as early a start as possible.  This meant getting going in the pre-dawn "first light".

We left Bimini at 6:30 am Wednesday morning.  The winds were light but favorable, so we motorsailed with the sails set in a beam reach. The sun rose behind us as Bimini fell astern.

Bimini falls astern as the sun rises

The waves built to 2-3 ft out of a southerly direction, as predicted.  This situation was described as "not ideal, but doable".   We thought it was going to be rollier than it actually was. The sails steadied things up quite a bit. 

Since the Gulf Stream travels North at a good clip (sometimes up to 3 knots!), our course had to be set to compensate for this so we didn't overshoot Port Everglades inlet.  This also meant that the stream gave our speed over ground a big boost. We maintained a minimum of 6 knots the whole time, and saw over 9 kts over ground at one point!   We made great time!

While we were still 29 miles out, Joan says "I think I can see the Florida skyline!"  I sad "Naw, too far.  It's got to be a container ship with stacks of containers."  But soon, more rectangular outlines appeared, and sure enough, it was the high-rises of the Florida coast!   By the time we were within 10 miles, that was all you could see!

Florida from 10 miles out

It got a little rough as we came up onto the shallows outside of Port Everglades, but we got the sails down without incident.  The tide was with us and we got into the channel easily.

Entering Port Everglades Inlet

Because of the big speed boost we got from the Gulf Stream, it took us just 8 hours to cross the Straights of Florida from Bimini to Port Everglades Inlet!  And another hour to get in and up to our anchorage in Sunrise Bay just north of Las Olas.   

Much harder than the crossing was the customs & border patrol's "streamlined" clearing in by phone. Felt like it almost took longer than getting here! But eventually we prevailed and successfully cleared in. 

 And so, we're back in the US, the three month Bahamas portion of our adventure complete.  We still have another six or seven weeks of travel back up the ICW to be back in the Chesapeake by June, the official beginning of hurricane season.

We plan to do more sightseeing on the ICW, especially catching places we skipped on the way South when we were running to stay ahead of the cold.

At this point, I plan to reduce the frequency of blog entries, reserving them for new places that we visit, or significant events.

And since we're back in the land of Verizon, with widespread reliable Internet, we'll again be broadcasting our position to the Marine Traffic web site so people can check on our progress.

Life is very good.

Back to Bimini

Friday, March 31, 2017

Today we began a 3-day passage from New Providence Island, across the infamous tongue of the ocean and the Bahama banks to Bimini Island.

We had been watching the weather since back in the Exumas, looking for a good window for this crossing, since we would be spending one night anchored out on the banks, and didn't want to get bounced around too badly.

Not only did we find one, but it looked like, if we were lucky, there would be a Westbound crossing window to Florida from Bimini opening up shortly after we got there!

We departed Palm Cay Marina at 8:00 am and started on the first leg of this trip.  This 51 mile leg took us most of the way across the deep Tongue of the Ocean to Frasier's Hog Cay, near Chub Cay, in the southern part of the Berry Islands.  Two foot swells were coming out of the SSE, so we tucked up several miles up along Frasier's Hog Cay, to a point opposite the Berry Islands Club.  The swells were blocked by Fowl Cay and the shallows, just as we were told they would be.

We anchored just North of the newly renovated mooring field, and discovered that our friends Jeb and Ursula (s/v/Wisper) were anchored next to us.

The bottom was grass beds over sand, and we took great care to drop our anchor in a sandy patch to make sure it would set well (it did). After the long day, we ate and retired to bed.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

8:00 am we were off again.  Today, we would finish the last part of the Tongue of the Ocean, and leave its 3000+ foot depths for the 20 foot depths of the Bahama Banks.  The plan was to go about halfway across the banks to a shallow place called Mackie Shoal and anchor there for the night.  We had timed the weather for this to be a windless night, and it was shaping up that way already.

Once up on the Banks, I spotted something in the water.  Changing course to investigate, we discovered that it was a derelict hard-bottomed dinghy! 

A Derelict Dinghy!

One tube was deflated, and the other was soft.  And it had clearly been in the water for some time, as it had some algae growing on it.

For most of this trip, we have been suffering from "Dinghy Envy", as our small, soft-bottomed Dinghy won't get up on plane, and thus goes places very slowly while getting the occupants very wet.  A salvaged hard-bottomed dinghy might be just the ticket!

We carefully circled it to be sure it wasn't trailing any long lines, before coming up along side of it and getting a couple of lines on it.

Secured alongside

At first glance, it seemed to be in pretty good shape, so we proceeded to get a halyard on it to try and raise it aboard.  But we could only get it partway up due to the weight of the water in it.  We looked for registration numbers, or a hull identification plate on the transom, but found nothing.  But we also discovered that it wasn't in that great a shape anyway.  The transom was partially detached from the tubes, and there were several large patches on it, one of which was peeling up.

At this point, it was looking more like a trash disposal problem than a windfall, so we lowered it back down and turned it free to resume its solitary journey across the Banks.

The dinghy diversion had cost us time, and we didn't get to our anchor spot until almost sunset.

Mackie Shoal is a sandbar on the Bahama Banks.  There, we were able to anchor in 10 feet of water, with nothing but water to the horizon in all directions!  It's a strange feeling.

The sun and clouds put on an extra special show for us at sunset, and the wind died down until the water surface was as smooth as a lake.

Joan watching the show

Ahhhh

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Morning dawned on a sea that was positively glossy!  Not a breath of wind and you could see the bottom easily, with only occssional cats-paws on the surface.

We picked a really good night to anchor on the Banks!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  We motored on autopilot and I got another book read!  Eventually, Bimini hove into view, and we rounded the North Rock Light and headed into North Bimini and took a slip at Blue Water Marina.

Bimini Ho!

North Rock Light

We had completed our (abbreviated) loop through the Bahamas, and were back to where we had started nearly three months ago!  It's hard to believe that much time, and so many miles, have passed already!

The weather predictions are holding, and it looks like we'll get our crossing window in two days, on Wednesday.  It'll give us just enough time to top off the tanks, make a few repairs, and take one last look at Bimini before departing.

Life is good.

Palm Cay Marina on New Providence Island

Tuesday, March 28, 2017
through
Thursday, March 30, 2017

After spending a quiet night in the lee of Highbourne Cay, in the company of a half-dozen other boats, we hauled up the anchor.  This was the deepest we had set the anchor while we were in the Bahamas (17 ft at high tide), and I was encouraged that, although difficult,  I was still able to haul it up by hand.  17 ft of 3/8" chain plus a 33 lb anchor is a LOT of weight to pull up!

And so, we turned towards New Providence in the North West and bid the Exumas a sad farewell as Highbourne Cay shrank into the distance.

Goodby Exumas! :(

Today's travel would be 32 miles to Palm Cay marina on the south side of the East end of New Providence Island.  On the recommendations of several other cruisers, we decided to go there instead back to depressing, crime-ridden downtown Nassau.  Prices in Palm Cay are comparable to where we previously stayed in Nassau, but the facilities are much nicer, well maintained, and the security is better.  They even have a chain gate that they hoist across the narrow entrance channel at night!

Chain Gate Across Entrance

The marina is attached to a gated community, and the transient slips are only a sideline for them. But the excellent clubhouse restaurant, store, laundry, and showers are all available to transients.  The only disadvantage to the place is that it is in the middle of nowhere.  But they do have a loaner car which you can check out for 2 hours, and this would allow us to drive to the big grocery store next to Nassau Harbor for our re-provisioning.

Clubhouse & Restaurant

Outdoor Grill

I must admit that we splurged a bit here, having lunch and dinner at the restaurant quite a number of times.  We even got ice cream!  What a treat!


Based on the weather, we planned a 3-day stay here which would allow for defrosting our freezer, getting our food provisioning done and getting in a few loads of laundry before starting out on the 3-day trip back to Bimini.  While here, we noticed quite a bit of sea life in the marina, including a small barracuda and numerous spotted eagle rays.

Small Barracuda hovering by the docks

Spotted Eagle Ray

We drove the loaner car, a cute little Toyota called a "FunCargo", into Nassau and filled up on a bunch of ridiculously expensive groceries, and more stove fuel (alcohol).  I hope the defrosting (badly needed) helps the freezer perform better than it has been, as we gambled on purchasing more than a weeks worth of frozen meats.

So now, the freezer & fridge are full,  gas and water tanks are topped off,  the laundry is clean, and we're ready to begin the 3-day trek across the Bahama Banks to Bimini.  The first night we will anchor by Frasier's Hog Cay, next to Chub Cay, and the second night we will anchor out on the banks at Mackie Shoal, absolutely in the middle of nowhere!

Life is good.

Highbourne Cay: Bent Metal

Monday, March 27, 2017

8:15 am and we were underway.  It was going to be a longish run (31 miles) up to Highbourne Cay today, our last stop in the Exumas, and I wanted to be there while the sun was still high so I could read the waters.  

We were glad we waited the extra day to let the water calm down.  It was a bit bumpy as it was.

We were able to motor sail for a while, but had to drop the sails when we got too close on the wind.

Once at Highbourne Cay, the entrance channel is convoluted and tight.  It has not one, but two sets of range markers to follow in, and has you passing within a boatlength of a rocky island outcropping.  Once inside, you are protected from the waves, but the wind is still strong.  It had us pressed up against the fuel dock.  This made for a difficult departure.  Once cast off, I found myself in a jam: I had to apply power and turn into the wind to get the bow out far enough to miss the protruding bow of a multi-million dollar megayacht, but this was going to bring our stern into the dock pilings!

No choice.  No time. I turned.

As we scraped along the dock, part of the solar array framework snagged on a piling, bent, and ripped itself out of a fitting! :(   But I missed the mega-yacht (by inches!).  Still, I was very upset with myself for letting this happen!

Fortunately, there was no damage to the wiring or panels.  Once anchored on the West side of the Cay,  I got out the tools and went to work.  The end result is not pretty, but it should hold together until we get back.  Could have been much worse!

Somehow, that doesn't make me feel any better.

Tomorrow, we will head back to New providence Island (32 NM).  This time, instead of staying in Nassau, we will stay in an upscale marina on the South side of the East end of NP Island.  It has better security, nicer facilities, but is in the middle of nowhere.  Fortunately, they provide a free loaner car.  We will use it to go shopping for food and other provisions.

Warderick Wells Redux

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

We weren't in any rush this morning, because we had to wait for the 9:00 am radio net from the Exuma Park headquarters to see if we had a mooring ball free up for us.  No point in leaving unless we have someplace to go!

And the news was "No".  Only one boat left the park moorings, and there were others in line ahead of us.  So it looked like we'd have to stay anchored here at O'Brien's Cay another day.  Not the best spot in a blow, but we could move a little south to the better protected Cambridge Cay if it came to that.  So we settled in for a lazy day.

Two hours later at 11:00 am, the park called us on the VHF and said that they had had a mooring ball open up, and wanted to know if we still wanted it!  We quickly accepted and went into "secure the boat for traveling" mode.

The trip up to Warderick Wells was an easy 15 miles.  The winds were light and variable, so we motored. 

Two and a half hours later, we once again turned into the crazy narrow mooring field that is Warderick Wells.  The field is roughly shaped like a distorted capital "J", and this time we were all the way at the end of the hook on the "J", at the next to the last mooring.

On the way in, we passed our friends from Georgetown, Steve and Natasha on "Turning Points", just a few moorings away.  We got to talk to them briefly, but they were heading out the next day to pick up a visitor who was coming in to Staniel Cay.

The winds weren't supposed to kick up until tomorrow (Thursday) night, and the weather was sunny and fine, and it was close to high slack tide, so we once again got out our snorkel gear and went snorkeling on the "Ranger's Coral Garden".    Joan had the underwater still camera, but I had forgotten to recharge the GoPro.

And it was a great dive!  Fish, Rays, and even turtles! We finally figured out how to properly setup the underwater camera for the best exposures.

Butterfly Fish

Adult Stoplight Parrotfish

Needlenose Fish

Wrasse?

Eagle Ray

Green Turtle

Another Eagle Ray

Afterwards, we met Doug and Debbie on s/v Sundowner, who took the next mooring ball up from us. Several other couples joined us, and it developed into a regular party!


Thursday March 23, 2017

The next morning, the low-slack tide was at 9:30 am, so we got up in time for it.  Joan got some great shots of a mature Stoplight Parrotfish. I had the GoPro all charged up, and I got some good  footage, although I'll have to edit it down to the good parts.  Unfortunately, video seems really slow to load on this blog, so it'll have to wait for another time.  I'll just be content with some stills from it.

Joan's new wallpaper on her laptop!

Parrotfish eating coral

Still from GoPro mounted on mask

 We went back to the boat and were lazy and read for the rest of the afternoon.

In the late afternoon, we had Doug and Debbie, from s/v Sundowner, and Mike and Linda, from s/v Fairwinds, over for snacks and drinks.

As predicted, the winds shifted to the North West and started to pipe up in the late afternoon, and by evening they were blowing good.  We saw gusts up to 38 knots. Storms rolled through in the evening, but stayed north of us, the distant unheard lightning outlining the storm clouds on the horizon in a flickering strobeing light. 

Friday March 24, 2017

Blew hard all day.  Too rough and unpleasant for a dinghy ride, so we stayed aboard and read.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Still blowing, but  starting to calm down.  Looking ahead at the sea state forecast, we decided to stay one more day to give things a chance to calm down after the winds abated. We stayed aboard for most of the day, but got ashore at 5:00 pm for the weekly cruisers sundowners at the pavilion on the beach.

Weekly Cruisers GetTogether

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Went ashore in the morning to settle up our bill with the park, then put the outboard AND the dinghy up on deck.  That evening, our friends from s/v Sundowner gave us a lift in their dinghy over to drinks & snacks aboard s/v Fairwinds.  This is a 41 ft Lord Nelson double-ender, and it is built to cross oceans.  Everything on it is oversize!  And tons of bronze and teak everywhere.  A beautiful boat.

Mike & Doug aboard s/v Fairwinds

Debbie, Linda, Joan...

and Riley!

Tomorrow morning we will head up to Highbourn Cay to get fuel and water, and then anchor overnight before departing the Exumas and beginning the long run back to New Providence Island.

As we began to prepare for the trip tomorrow, I found my spare glasses!

Life is good.