Adventures of the Jubilee

Spring 2009 Cruising Reflections

May 26, 2009 - Brunswick, Georgia

While working around the almost-continuous rain storms this past week trying to get Jubilee prepped for hurricane season storage here in the Brunswick Landings Marina, we've had a little time to reflect on our last two and a half months of Florida and Bahamas travels and our last 12 months of cruising.

Our time in the Bahamas was shortened quite a bit by our late start from Brunswick and, of course, by our bow roller and refrigeration problems in Ft. Pierce and Lake Worth. However, even considering those delays we still were able to spend about 6 wonderful weeks in the islands... our first trip there on our own bottom. 

Between our March 6th Brunswick departure and our May 16th Brunswick return we logged a total of 1367.9 nautical miles, or about 1573 statute miles wending our way from Brunswick down the Florida coast to Lake Worth, over to the Bahamas at West End, down to explore the Exumas, back up through Nassau to Royal Island, Eluthera, and the Abacos, and then back to Florida and Georgia (see our Spring 2009 overview chart snap at right).

We simply loved the rugged beauty of the Exumas with their picturesque cays and wonderful snorkeling holes.  We were also surprised by the very different yet enticing Abacos.  Each of these two Bahamas cruising areas has their own appeal.  Where the Exumas felt wild and remote (albeit with scores of cruising boats also exploring from cay to cay), the Abacos felt more like the British Virgins, providing a beautiful tropical cruising setting but with shore-side amenities like restaurants and watering holes, marinas, mooring fields and the like all closely spaced (see Bahamas detail chart snap at left). 

However in only six weeks one can but touch the surface of a cruising area as large and varied as the Bahamas.  Others had told us we could spend years cruising there and never see it all.  They're no doubt right.  While our cruising plans for next season remain open at this point, we expect we'll likely forego moving on to the eastern Caribbean for a while to allow more time to explore the Bahamas.

When looking back at our cruising logs since departing Bayfield, WI, in June of 2007, we see that we've now traveled a total of 5306 nautical miles, or about 6102 statute miles.  No matter how it's measured that's a big number.  However more important than the numbers, having now completed our first stint in the Bahamas we have, in may ways, finally begun to realize part of that dream that started us thinking about this trip so many years ago. 

Bob Bitchin, publisher of the cruising rag Latitudes and Attitudes, regularly tells his readers "Don't Dream your Life ... Live Your Dream".  During this past 12 months we've truly started living our cruising dream, and in starting to live that dream we've each begun to learn more about ourselves and our respective yet intimately intertwined life journeys. 

During the past two and a half month's of cruising both of us thoroughly enjoyed reading the book "Fawn Island" (University of Minnesota Press) by Douglas Wood.  In one of the book's closing chapters Minnesota singer/songwriter/teacher/north country wilderness guide and author Doug Wood writes about his north woods dreams, however his words apply to dreams of every nature:

"But something was also lost when the dream came true - the dream itself.  For the only way to keep a dream intact, in all its inviolate perfection, is to never live it out, never realize it.  The day a dream becomes real it becomes subject to all the imperfections of reality.  The realization of any dream, particularly those things that bring deepest joy - love, marriage, the birth of a child, reaching a life-long goal - also brings care and worry, the risk of loss, the awareness of impermanence.  The surest way to end a dream, in fact, is to reach it; the only way to keep, to never live it out."

Truer words have seldom been spoken.  On reaching the Bahamas we, too, have begun realizing our dreams of so many years, and with the achievement of those dreams has come new understandings of the nature of those same dreams.  After spending nine of the past twelve months on board, Judy is ready and anxious for several months at home and off the boat.  Bill's more conflicted ... less certain about returning, even temporarily, to the life of a dirt dweller.  Both of us have come to realize how much more acutely our cruising lives are driven by the weather, particularly in the Bahamas which seem to be so directly affected by wave after wave of winter and early spring weather rolling off the United States and colliding with the northern reaches of the trade winds.   Judy was finding the constant newness of surroundings and its corresponding uncertainty to be emotionally wearing at times, while that same uncertainty helped keep Bill's adrenalin flowing.  And both of us, in varying degrees and in our own ways, have missed friends and family back home, while at the same time thoroughly enjoying the many cruising friendships struck up along the way.  We're both hoping to retain many of those special new friendships long beyond our cruising years.

As a partner-crew these past 5000+ miles we feel we've done extremely well, and feel our marriage has become even stronger as a result.  By the same token we're becoming more aware of each other's wants and needs as we begin thinking about what lies next.

Wood goes on to ask:

 "So how does a person who believes in the pursuit of dreams - in the possibility of attaining them - deal with this paradox? [i.e. the perfection of the dream vs. the imperfection of reality]" 

Wood responds to his own question:

"By consciously abandoning the quest for perfection in any material sense.  ... Up brings down, before creates after, gain is balanced by loss, joy accompanied by sorrow.  A dream need not be subject to these limitations.  A reality must be."  Wood continues "... one of the things most good about the realization of a dream - any dream - is that it lends courage and conviction to the future, to the dreaming of new dreams.  Some will be realized, some will not; none will be perfect, but all will be worth the dreaming. ... Part of the balance ... lies in anticipating and welcoming the beckoning future, the place where all dreams live, along with the opportunity to make them real and share them."

With those thoughts we temporarily close the book (or blog) on our cruising exploits thus far while we take some time to anticipate and welcome that beckoning future, wherever it might lead.  Aside from our own plans for time at home and other non-boating travels, our insurance company wants Jubilee to remain no further south than Brunswick until at least November 1st, the statistical end of hurricane season.  And so, too, this cruising Blog will remain largely inactive until at least that time.  To be alerted as soon as we start posting again, please consider registering for the Blog's RSS feed which will provide you with direct email versions of blog contents whenever a posting is made.

In the interim we hope to be seeing many of you during our time back in the Twin Cities and our land travels this coming summer.  Have a wonderful summer and fall, all!

St. Augustine, FL to Brunswick, GA

May 14, 2009 -- St. Augustine to St. Mary's River/Cumberland Island - 62.7 Miles

We caught the 7:30 a.m. bridge opening and headed out the channel into a 3-5' swell along with three other boats, all north-bound.  Once clear of the steep confused seas where the swell crossed the 16' bar and broke on the shallows to either side of the channel, we turned north, raised the main as a steadying sail, and motored in the 2 to 4-knot easterly breeze and accompanying easterly swells.  The hot and humid air had the feel of likely thunderstorm generation later in the day, but barring that complication our slightly over 60-mile passage promised to be fairly straightforward.

And it was.  During our passage we saw several cells producing heavy localized rains on shore, but thankfully everything missed us.  We only took a few sprinkles while working our way up the St. Mary's River entrance.  Sometimes it helps to be a bit lucky.

The day's only excitement came as we neared the St. Mary's entry channel.  There we first had to snake our way through several shrimpers while at the same time a submarine exited the channel under the guard of constant helicopter over flights.   In addition, while in the entrance channel a small container ship was exiting.  There has to be a little excitement every day, and all of ours for today happened during our last 5 miles of travel. 

Arriving at Cumberland Island's National Park Ranger Station with the anchor securely down by 5:30 p.m., we were ready to explore the island-park tomorrow.

May 15, 2009 -- Cumberland Island Lay Day

We had heard so much about Cumberland Island that unlike our first two trips when we quickly passed through this area we vowed we wouldn't miss seeing the island this time around.  Spending a full day on the island for this visit we wondered why we didn't do the same on our prior trips.

Cumberland Island has a rich history from it's original Native American residents, to the Spanish, to an attempted French incursion, and more recently the English and Americans.  But Cumberland is perhaps best known for the imprint left by the Andrew Carnegie family.  It turns out Andrew and his wife Lucy had been denied membership in the Jekyll Island Club (see prior posting) because they weren't considered "old money".   As preposterous as it might sound today, that would be like denying Bill Gates membership in an organization because he made his own billions rather than inheriting them!

Rebuffed by the Jekyll Island old money crowd, the Carnegies built their own retreat just south of Jekyll on a 4000 acre Cumberland Island tract.  Over 400 workers were employed in building the main mansion, Dungeness, surrounding buildings such as the recreation center, dairy facilities, ice houses and the like, plus mansions for each of their married children and living quarters for their staff.  Dungeness became the heart of a vibrant social life where senators, statesmen and celebrities were guests at elegant parties and functions.  Today some Carnegie heirs still use certain parcels of the property, but gradually the remaining life leases are running out under the provisions of an elaborate will where the Carnegies called for the property to transfer from their heirs to public control over time.

In 1959 an arsonist burned Dungeness down.  At that time the mansion had not been occupied for about 20 years and it was not rebuilt, but the magnificent ruins remain as a reminder of the grand days of yesteryear.  Note the attached photos, and photo copies, showing the current grounds today and in years past.

But aside from the ruins, one indelible mark left by the Carnegies is the pristine natural beauty of this island where developers were not permitted to develop and speculators were not allowed to strip the land of its resources.  The Carnegies even specified that the horses on the island be protected and allowed to roam free, creating a wild herd that now numbers around 130 horses (although wild is perhaps a misnomer ... these horses are well-accustomed to visiting tourists snapping their pictures).  From its beautiful live oak forests to the salt water marshes along its western shoreline and its stunning miles-long Atlantic coastline beaches, Cumberland is simply a gem.  We will be back, next time renting bikes to travel further afield along the island's narrow dirt roads.  Definitely stop and check it out if you're in the neighborhood.  If not coming by boat, it's also possible to get a ferry from nearby towns for a day visit.  You'll find it well worth your time.

May 16, 2009 -- Cumberland Island to Brunswick Landings Marina - 48.3 Miles

Rather than deal with the shallow spots and tide timing for the winding ICW trip up to Brunswick, we decided to again take the outside route.  We were rewarded with another easy, light wind, motor sail day in about 8 knots true but only 3 or 4 knots apparent wind as our course left the wind off the stern quarter most of the day.

However we did enjoy about 40 minutes of great flat-water sailing as soon as we entered St. Simon Sound from the Brunswick entrance channel, turning slightly upwind toward Brunswick's Lanier Bridge and Brunswick Landings Marina.  In no time we had our diesel tanks topped for Jubilee's upcoming summer and fall storage, moving on up to pier 12.  We're now docked adjacent to Jerry Cucci and Diane England's Night Star, an arrangement that would allow us to tie our two boats together to position both boats a bit off of their respective docks as one more bit of ensurance should any significant heavy weather hit the area.

We left the Abacos based on Chris Parker's longer term weather outlook, and his advice turned out to be spot on.  Each of our passages, from the Abacos to Brunswick with every mile done "outside", had been as easy and comfortable as one could imagine.  Parker had been admonishing northbound cruisers to find shelter by Sunday.  Having safely arrived in Brunswick Saturday afternoon, we were snugly secured in our slip when Parker's forecast front arrived with thunderstorms and rain Sunday afternoon and evening.  Monday brought more rain but with cooler temperatures (in the 50's!) and gale force offshore winds from Central Florida almost all the way to Virginia, with the rainy weather and winds forecast to remain for the next several days (see NOAA forecast at left).  The wet windy weather definitely slowed our exterior decommissioning tasks, but being "home" in Brunswick during this snotty weather sure felt good.

And thus ends our cruising chronicle for the 2009 tropical cruising season.  Watch for one last posting in the next day or so, reflecting on this year's Florida and Bahamas cruising experiences.  After that we'll be putting our cruising blog to rest for a while as we head back home to Minnesota.

  

Returning from the Abacos to Port Canaveral and St. Augustine

May 9-10, 2009 - Great Guana Cay, Abacos, to Port Canaveral, FL -- 225.9 Miles

Our last night in Fisher's Bay treated us to a beautiful sunset over the anchorage ... hopefully a good omen for our upcoming passage.  We were up before first light for our long ~225-mile hop.  After breakfast and breakfast dishes the light was good enough to leave, so we were on our way out of Fisher's Bay by 6:30, and out of the Loggerhead Channel and into the Atlantic by 7:45.  A last listen to Chris Parker's 6:30 a.m. SSB weather forecast reconfirmed an excellent passage outlook through Monday night, albeit with very light winds.  And those SE winds were light ... only about 8 knots true with a slight "White Bear Lake" chop and a gentle swell outside on the ocean.  Heading WNW for the next two days we would need to keep our speed up at around 6½ knots, so motorsailing was definitely the plan, at least for the start of the crossing. 

The Sea of Abaco is divided into two segments where shoals run all the way out from Great Abaco Island to Whale Cay.  Vessels heading from the western to the eastern sections of the Sea of Abaco (or visa-versa) all need to exit the Whale and, a mile or so further SE, re-enter at the Loggerhead cut where we exited today.  The Whale Cut is infamous around here for "rage" conditions, where large swells driven by storm sometimes hundreds of miles away can make the channel impassable for days.  However, today the Whale was sleeping.  Both the Whale and the Loggerhead were a piece of cake, which was just fine with us, thank you.  Once out the cut we were truly on our way.

Around 10:00 a.m., about 20 miles out of our anchorage, a school of perhaps 30 representatives from the Bahamian Dolphin Chamber of Commerce visited to play around our bow wave for 10 or 15 minutes.  We took this encounter as a special gesture wishing us safe passage out of Bahamian waters and inviting us to be sure to return next season.

The Gulf Stream demands both respect and attention.  Unlike a river that always (or at least almost always) stays within its well defined banks, the Gulf Stream shifts and moves as it works its way from the Gulf or Mexico all the way to Europe.  In southern Florida the west wall of the stream generally lies quite close to the coast, perhaps 5 miles or less, runs in force (3 knots or more) for a width of about 30 miles, and then gradually lessens in intensity until approaching Grand Bahama and West End.  North of this choke point the stream undulates and moves, while also forming warm and cold eddies (like huge whirlpools) that can be scores of miles in diameter on either side of the stream.  One needs to carefully plan not only crossing the stream, but also try to avoid being on the wrong side (against the current) of an eddy or counter current.

The US Navy maintains Gulf Stream analysis and forecast charts on the internet for free public use.  This analysis may not be as detailed as that of a professional paid Gulf Stream router, but for our purposes in this location it was more than sufficient (see screen snap of the May 9 Gulf Stream forecast).

Although just north of the Abacos we did get caught in a ½ to 1-knot counter current for several hours, overall the stream lifted us for most of the passage, probably shaving 2 hours off our overall passage time.

There was almost no traffic on our passage other than a couple of freighters, one sailboat north of the Abacos heading due east (to where one might ask ... there's nothing but Africa due east of the Abacos), and a few sport fishing boats near the Abacos and near Florida.  Oh yes ... we did also cross paths with a nuclear submarine traveling on the surface at what looked to be over 25 knots.  That sub created a wake like we'd never seen from any freighter or cruise ship before.  Those folks can move!

In addition to the dolphin visit mentioned earlier, there were two other good omens during our passage.  First was a spectacular clear-sky open-ocean sunset where we both saw the elusive green flash a split second after the sun dropped below the horizon.  The second good omen was a full moon with that clear sky ... a sailor's overnight passage dream.  And to top that off, just before midnight the winds clocked slightly to the SSE and increased to about 15 true, giving us a wonderful hull-speed sail all night long and into the next morning when the breezes again eased and we had to return to motorsailing to keep our speed up and ensure our Port Canaveral arrival before nightfall on Sunday (evening breezes down here seem to always increase about 5 knots at night).

On our 5:00 p.m. entrance into Port Canaveral we were greeted by a string of three cruise ships departing for various Caribbean ports: one Carnival, one Royal Caribbean, and one Disney (the same boat that had entered Nassau as we were leaving).  By 5:30 we were docked at the Cape Marina (see photo with yet another cruise ship in the background).  An hour later we had obtained our clearance number by phone from customs, and shortly after that we were off to a local restaurant to celebrate our return to Florida. 

May 11-12 2009 -- Port Canaveral to St. Augustine - 125.2 Miles

Although we had each gotten some sleep during our prior overnight, we slept like babies Sunday night and were refreshed and raring to go again on Monday morning.  Our first order of business was a roughly 3-mile round trip walk to US Customs to show our smiling faces and passports to an agent in person.  Clearance back into the states was fairly easy here, with no expensive cab fares or rental car costs for traveling to a sometimes-distant airport customs office as one has to do while clearing in some other U.S. port cities. 

After a few calls to family and friends to let them know we hadn't been swept away in the Gulf Stream, we checked the weather which was showing another good window for a possible second overnight passage (with the exception of some "widely scattered thunderstorms" in the forecast).  Then a cell phone call to Judy's brother Gene and his wife Pat revealed that by happenstance they would be vacationing in St. Augustine that Tuesday through Thursday morning!  We had originally planned to stay a 2nd night in Port Canaveral, but with Gene and Pat in St. Augustine our decision was simple ... head outside again for the roughly 125-mile overnight run to Augustine.

Just look at all those people on the Port Canaveral pier to see us off!  Oh ... it turns out they weren't there for us.  The Space Shuttle Atlantis was set to lift off from Kennedy at 2:01, just about the time we would be clear of the entrance channel!  On our way out the channel all the restaurant and bar patios along the waterway were packed with launch viewers, as was the waterfront along the entrance channel and the fishing pier at the end of the channel.  After a lifetime of wanting to actually see a launch could this really be happening?  Two launches in a row (see March 15th Fort Pierce posting)! 

Yes indeed it could happen ... and did!  The launch went off like clockwork, and from our open sea vista we could see the launch vehicle from the minute it lifted off the pad.  And we could hear it ... an unbelievable roar as it streaked skyward.  It's hard to comprehend the intensity of those booster rockets as they lift 4.5 million pounds of fuel, booster, and spacecraft weight into orbit.  What a sight!

After the shuttle was out of sight we raised sail and were off for St. Augustine at near hull speed in a beautiful 15-knot breeze.  Life was good ... at least for the first five or six hours.

Those "widely scattered thunderstorms" in today's forecast?  Well, in the broad scheme of things they may have been widely scattered, but they drew a bead on us and kept us in their grip from about 9:00 p.m. to midnight as we approached and passed the New Smyrna Beach area.  It did rain, but not too hard.  And it blew out of every direction, but not too hard.  However we hadn't seen this much electrical activity in a long time.  Florida is reputed to have more lightening strikes per square mile than any other state ... by far.  We certainly won't argue that statistic after Monday evening's light show.  Before entering center stage for the electrical fireworks we stowed our backup computer and other electronic gear not needed for immediate navigation in our oven as a "make shift" Faraday cage to protect it should we take a hit.  Luckily we didn't.  We gladly parted ways with the system around midnight and had a calm passage for the rest of the evening ... and with clear skies and a near-full moon lighting our way by around 3:00 a.m.  Life was again good!

One thing about stuff like this ... it certainly keeps the adrenalin flowing.  We had no difficulty staying up for our night watches.

We arrived in Augustine just 10 minutes before the 10:00 a.m. bridge opening, topped fuel, and were docked before 11:00 a.m.  Our two back to back overnight jumps were starting to catch up with us, so two nights here would be good.  It would also be great seeing Gene and Pat.

May 12-13, St. Augustine Layover

What a lucky coincidence to connect with Judy's brother Gene and his wife Pat in St. Augustine.  Gene and Pat have been the primary house watchers and mail screeners for us while we've been out cruising, and they well-deserved a vacation from those duties (as those who have cruised well-know, it would be impossible to be out here doing this stuff if it weren't for a friend or service to assist with things back on the home front that can't be done over the internet).  We celebrated with dinner together on Wednesday and Thursday nights (see accompanying photo), as well as some touring on Thursday afternoon.  Thursday morning we parted ways, they to visit Pat's brother in Florida and we to head outside up to Cumberland Island.  Our next posting will most likely be from Brunswick, GA, as we wrap up our spring 2009 Florida and Bahamas cruising loop, ready the boat for hurricane season storage, and start heading for home in Minnesota.  See you back in Georgia!

On to the Abacos

May 1, 2009 - Nassau to Royal Island, Eleuthera -- 42.1 Miles

Quite a few cruisers seemed have the same idea we did on Friday morning, as sailboat after sailboat filed out of Nassau harbor.  After a somewhat hurried and hectic departure when our over-eager marina dock assistant threw off our lines before either of us were at the helm, we managed to back out of our slip without incident and were on our way by 8:30 a.m.  We were finally free of Nassau! 

As we passed through the harbor we were met by this Mickey Mouse boat (see photo).  A Disney cruise ship came in and turned around right in front of us to dock bow-out at their quay.    We even caught a glimpse of Mickey and Donald working on the stern of the cruise ship.  Fun stuff.

90% of the boats departing Nassau this morning seemed to be heading for Chubb in the Berrys, West End, or perhaps straight through for Florida.  10% (only us as far as we could see) headed NE toward Eleuthera or the Abacos.  The 90% would have a nice, if rolling, beam reach or quartering sail.  Our lot was another upwind slog in the mile-deep open ocean almost directly into 3' to 5' chop with occasional higher waves that repeatedly buried the bow.  The angle was too tight to sail, and tacking would have made for an unduly long, slow trip.  Instead we motorsailed with reefed main while spray literally flew off the bow.  We at least could take some comfort in knowing that tomorrow's wind and wave angles should be much better. 

Unfortunately while repeatedly burying the bow we took a fair amount of water into the anchor locker, enough that the drains were not keeping up and some saltwater splashed down the haws hole and through the rode storage access doors at the peak of our V-berth, dampening the foot of our bedding.  This has happened three other times over the years, but we thought we had the problem solved.  Evidently not.  Looks like it will be back to the drawing board for a better solution.

Thankfully the seas started to lay down the last three hours of the day as we approached Eleuthera.  By  4:00 pm our anchor was down just astern of the six other boats already anchored in this snug little harbor. 

Friday night we fired up the barbecue to do some chicken.  As might be expected our barbecuing brought the first real rain we'd seen since coming to the Bahamas over three weeks ago.  It sure felt good even if Bill had to cook in the rain.  Plus it was nice to have Mother Nature wash all that salt off our decks and gear!

May 2, 2009 - Royal Island to Tilloo Cay, Abacos, plus May 3 Lay Day -- 70.6 Miles

Saturday shaped up as a beautiful day.  And better yet, more of this same good weather was now cautiously being forecast well into the next week per Chris Parker's 6:30 a.m. SSB weather briefing ... a significant change in outlook from recent prior forecasts due to some frontal activities weakening and stalling out.  We hope Chris is right with this one.  He usually is.

The anchor was up and we were steaming out the Royal Island cut by 7:30 to 8-10 knot ESE breezes and a 3-4' ESE ocean swell.  We sailed and motorsailed, but mostly ran the engine at lower revs to keep our speed up.  With the ocean a beautiful deep-water blue (2 to 2 1/2 miles deep through much of our course today), there was no land in sight in any direction most of the day.  Other than visually spotting a couple of sailboats and tracking a couple of cargo boats over the horizon on AIS, we had the ocean to ourselves ... a great day for a passage.

Our entrance into the Sea of Abaco (the generally shallow, open water area between Great Abaco Island and the barrier cays and reefs defining the outlying perimeter) was through what is known as the North Bar Channel.  This is said to be the widest and deepest cut through the barrier cays.  Sometimes even wide entrances like this can be impassible, but today our entrance was a piece of cake, albeit the ocean swells were breaking along the reefs on either side as we approached.

After another 6.5 miles curving around shoals and interior islands north of the entry channel we were snuggly anchored behind Tilloo Cay along with three other boats spaced over the better part of a mile ... a perfect spot to chill out after two long travel days.  Hello Abacos!  We have arrived! 

And Tilloo Cay was the perfect spot to lay back for a couple of days (see accompanying photo of one of the beautiful sunsets off our stern).  We did a bit of dingy exploring Sunday afternoon, running about 3 miles NW up to Cracker P's on Lubber's Cay for a Sunday afternoon rum punch.  The rum punch was unremarkable, but the view from Cracker P's deck was fantastic (see photo).

 

 

 

May 4, 2009 - Tilloo Cay to Hope Town and May 5 Hope Town Lay Day -- 12.0 Miles

The Abacos are notoriously shallow, with the Sea of Abaco averaging about 10' or so least mean water (LMW) depths with about a 2 1/2 to 3 foot tidal range.  Many areas are much shallower than 10'.  For example, we needed at least 18" of tide to negotiate the entry into Hope Town harbor.  In addition, we would have to work our way around a large shoal area just to get to Elbow Cay where Hope Town is located, making what crows (or perhaps seagulls) would see as a 6 mile flight into a 12 mile sail (see accompanying chart snap).  With high tide at around 5:40 pm on Monday we didn't want to arrive in Hope Town much before 4:00, so we read and played guitar in the morning and raised anchor around 1:30 for a very slow, leisurely sail to Hope Town.  The second chart snap shows our circuitous route into the harbor, following the "deeper draft" channel with only about 4 ½ foot depths at least mean water (we draw 6').  Tide can be your friend.

Hope Town is one of the most picturesque settlements in the Bahamas ... a snug 360-degree protection harbor surrounded by colorful homes, businesses, and a few government building like the school, police station and library, and a beautiful ocean-side beach.  All this is presided over by the area's signature light house.

Elbow Cay is home to one of three remaining kerosene-lit Fresnel lens lighthouses in the Bahamas, and the first working kerosene lighthouse we'd ever seen.  Virtually every Fresnel lens light in the world has long since been replaced by a small electric strobe even as the physical lighthouses generally remain in place.   But here time seems to have stopped.  Every night the Elbow Cay lighthouse keeper primes the pressurized kerosene lantern and cranks up the weights to start turning the huge Fresnel lens to display its distinctive, precisely-timed pattern of "dots" of light reaching out to mariners as far as 20 miles to sea.  Kewl!

And the view from the top was kewl too!  (see accompanying photo).

Ashore in town we walked the narrow streets (no cars allowed ... only golf carts and bicycles), enjoying the well-kept colorful houses and gardens and stopping for lunch at one of the local eateries.  Hope Town quickly rose near the top of our list of little harbors.  We loved it so much we stayed two nights.

This might be a good spot to mention the neat little cruisers net conducted at 8:15 each morning on VHF channel 68.  The Abacos net is similar to the North Channel cruisers net we talked about during our 2007 Lake Huron travels, but much more laid back while also being a bit commercial in an off beat way (e.g. - every day watering holes and restaurants would tout their specials like carnival hawkers with, for example, one of the local watering holes advertising their "Drinko de Mayo" party on the 5th of May).  A Chris Parker weather broadcast this ain't, but amid all the banter one does hear excellent local weather forecasts, reports on the conditions in the cuts between the Atlantic and the Sea of Abaco, and other informative community information.  Make sure to listen when coming through this way.

May 6, 2009 - Hope Town to Marsh Harbor -- 10.5 Miles

Taking advantage of the tide, we cast off from our Hope Town mooring at 7:00 am (high tide) for a leisurely trip across the Sea of Abaco to nearby Marsh Harbor.  Marsh is a real town.  At 5000 residents it's the third largest in the Bahamas, with good grocery stores, hardware stores, and more, plus several marinas.  We filled diesel and took on water at the Conch Inn Marina (which is also the Moorings and SunSail charter base) before anchoring in about 7 ½ feet LMW in the harbor (we said it was shallow here ... and our 7 ½ foot spot was one of the deepest in the harbor!).

We had heard and read about Marsh Harbor, but after being here we would likely return only if we needed supplies.  Charming it's not, but if you do need something it will likely be here if it's to be found anywhere in the Bahamas. 

That said, we did enjoy a great lunch at Curly Tails (named after the little lizards that skitter around everywhere here in the Bahamas).  Curly Tails at the Conch Inn Marina is part of the Mooring's charter complex.  The harbor view from our seats was spectacular (we didn't even have to stand up to take the accompanying picture).  After lunch we browsed the shops and boutiques around the marinas, picking up a few trinkets to bring back to Minnesota.

May 7, 2009 - Marsh Harbor to Great Guana Cay plus May 8 lay day -- 9.7 Miles

We had another light downwind day for our jump from Marsh to Great Guana Cay.  With plenty of time to travel the less than 10 miles to Guana Cay we lazed out again, just unrolled the jib, and let "Auto" do the steering.  Poking along at around about 4 knots across the clear 10' depths and white sand bottom, Jubilee's shadow was clearly visible on the sand below as we silently moved along.

Great Guana has a small settlement (only 163 people in the 2000 census), a couple of resorts and restaurants, a beautiful five-mile-long beach on the ocean side of the island, a marina in Guana Cay Harbor, and a great anchorage for E to SE winds just west of the harbor in Fisher's Bay.  We chose to anchor in Fisher's for two nights.  It was time to start exploring. 

Thursday afternoon brought a short walk along golf cart-wide streets to the narrow island's ocean side to check out the famous beach and sample one of Nippers famous rum punches.  Things were a bit slow at Nippers this Thursday afternoon, but it must really hop at other times.  The view is as good as it gets, enhanced by the colorful eclectic Nippers bar, restaurant, multiple patios and fresh water swimming pool.  One could get used to this place (see photos)! 

You probably can't read the sign on the palm tree next to Judy (photo at right), but it says "Prepare to meet thy God".  With such a stern message along the path to Nippers we weren't sure if it was intended for Nippers customers, as a reminder to those walking to the graveyard another 25 yards down the way, or as a warning to folks like Judy who could very likely be beaned by a falling coconut from above!  I guess we'll never know (Judy survived).

Friday we decided to visit another famous watering hole and restaurant on Guana - Grabbers, located right on the beach near where we were anchored.  Although not as eclectic as Nippers, Grabbers is another place once could definitely "get used to". 

During our days in the Abacos we had enjoyed the best string of weather we'd seen since reaching the Bahamas.  The cycle of fronts and high clocking winds seemed to have finally been broken, at least for a while.  This stretch of good weather was forecast to hold at least through the weekend and hopefully into the next week.  As much as we could have stayed here for days, perhaps weeks more, with our end of May hurricane lay-up in sight this good Gulf Stream crossing weather window couldn't be passed up.  It was time to start heading back to Florida and working our way north.  So after two nights here on Guana we'll be raising anchor early Saturday morning for an over 200-mile two-day overnight run to Cape Canaveral.  Hopefully our next posting will be from somewhere in Florida.  See you again then!

Highbourn to Nassau, plus Nassau Weather Days

April 22, 2009 - Highbourn to Nassau - 40.0 Miles

The previously forecast "light and variables" for today had become about 15 NW with a 3' chop.  Of course our heading was almost directly NW, and not wanting to tack upwind through the yellow banks and their associated coral heads, it was clear we'd be motoring upwind into chop all day.  Apparently the front passed through a few hours earlier than forecast.

As we were about to untie the dock lines we noticed our PC wasn't receiving its GPS signal.  Crossing the banks and close to Nassau we definitely wanted the finer definition and enhanced navigation capabilities of Fugawi to guide us around charted coral areas.  It was time to do some immediate diagnosing.  After a a few tests it appeared that either the AIS or the AIS splitter were the culprits.  Rewiring the AIS out of the system solved the problem and we were finally off around 9:30, albeit with another diagnostic project on the docket for our time in Nassau.  As they say, cruising is all about fixing things in exotic places.  For a change this issue turned out to be simple ... a defective inline fuse holder inside the instrument panel had broken.  Bill quickly fixed it with $5.00 Radio Shack replacement in Nassau.

Our upwind course was a bit bumpy, but we were at least able to average between 6 and 6.5 knots on the rhumb line without too much trouble.  We're sure glad we repowered with the 75-horse Yanmar 5 years ago.  The Yanmar was comfortably humming along, but with the old Perkins we'd have been doing well to squeak out 5 knots in these sloppy opposing wind and wave conditions. 

But aside from the directly opposing NW wind it was a beautiful day for our run Nassau. After topping our diesel tanks we took a slip at the Nassau Harbor Club next to Bruce and Susan Harris on their beautiful Outbound 46, Andiamo 35.  After we arrived the winds clocked to the NE (directly from our next destination), increased to 20+ knots and then kept blowing that hard 24 hours a day for a full week.  That meant not only brisk opposing breezes, but also high seas out in the ocean and difficult if not unsafe conditions at many of the Abaco passes.  Our planned, "short", 2-day stay in Nassau quickly extended to a full week.

April 23-30 - Nassau Weather Layover

It had been about 15 years since we were last in Nassau, so we were looking forward to some touring.  Our arrival timing was perfect for joining the weekly Thursday Cruiser's Lunch at the Green Parrot along the waterfront.  It was a good opportunity to meet other cruisers also passing through the area ... and a great place to enjoy a HUGE cheeseburger in paradise.

Friday brought some downtown Nassau exploring.  For those who haven't been to Nassau, right in the middle of the downtown tourist/cruise ship area is Parliament Square with its bright pink government buildings and signature statues of Queen Victoria and Columbus.  But other than that, watching the traditional Bahamian Traffic Policeman (at only one street corner and mostly for tourist photo opportunities now days ... other intersections have lights), and the customary cruise ship gift shops one always finds in a place like this, the overall area seemed to have declined significantly since our last visit.

The culprit?  Paradise Island, just a short bridge ride or walk across the water from Providence Island, has been turned into the massive Atlantis hotel, casino, water park, restaurant, shopping and marina complex, and in the process has sucked much of the lifeblood out of the traditional Nassau city center. 

Lest we be too negative about Atlantis, it truly is awesome.  That said, Atlantis just ain't the Bahamas.  It's too bad that many cruise ship visitors spend all their time in Atlantis rather than seeing the real Bahamas and helping out the larger economy here.  In all truth, except for those passengers who actually do step off the beaten path during their stops, at places like Atlantis a typical cruise ship stop can easily become more like a visit to Disneyland or Las Vegas.  The difference between the plastic of Atlantis and the pristine, laid back, nature of the Exumas is almost beyond description.  I guess we're more the "off the beaten path" types.

All that aside, we did enjoy walking the Atlantis marina docks with Mega Yacht after Mega Yacht being carefully tended by their full time professional crews (see photo - we ran across Octopussy for the 4th time here).  And a tour of the Aquarium adjacent to the main hotel-casino complex (see photos) turned out to be the highlight of our island visit.

On Saturday Judy and Susan trekked off to visit "The Retreat", one of the Bahamian National Trust parks in Nassau which among other things is the home of some 170 species of rare Palm trees ... reportedly the largest collection in the world.  A carnival fundraiser was in process while they were there, with activities galore for all ages.

Our friends Jerry Cucci and Diane England on Night Star arrived on Sunday (see photo), just in time for the informal appetizer pot luck Susan Harris had arranged at the pool for everyone in the marina.  By now the marina was chock-a-block full of cruisers waiting for a break in the weather.  Nearly all attended, several having moved to the marina after repeatedly dragging anchor during the high winds in Nassau harbor's notoriously poor holding ground.

On Tuesday Bill decided to take his life in his own hands with an extended bike ride down the busy, narrow, winding, left-hand-driver streets of Nassau.  It was quite the experience, providing a chance to see the Nassau one seldom visits on foot.  Nassau is not a wealthy city. 

When visiting different foreign places we always enjoy some of the signs and bumper stickers we run across.  Here are two Nassau examples:  

The only "damage" suffered during the bike excursion was a little hair loss, the result not of traffic but of stopping at a local barber shop.

In the adjacent port-side slip was Frere Coyote, a beautiful Jeanneau 45.2 sailed by Helene and Alain Boutevin of Le Mans, France (home of the world famous road race).  After cruising the Med for several years, particularly Turkey, Helene and Alain sailed Frere Coyote out the Straits of Gibralter to the Canary Islands.  Helene then flew home from the Canaries while three crew members flew in to join Alain for a jump across the pond to Martinique.  It sounded like a fairly easy, mostly down wind, three week crossing.  Once in the Islands Helene and Alain sailed the entire Eastern Caribbean up to the Virgins, then cruised downwind through Puerto Rico, the DR, the Turks and Caicos, and now the Bahamas.  This summer they plan to head north up the US east coast, the Hudson River, and the the canal system to Quebec.  Wonderful people.  We so enjoyed visiting with them and hearing about their adventures. 

Tuesday evening Jerry and Diane invited the Frere Coyote, Andiamo 35, and Jubilee crews over for dinner aboard Nightstar, after which Luc from the trawler Innu (out of Montreal) also joined us for an international gathering of French, Canadian and US Anglophone and Francophone cruisers (see photo ... L-R Luc, Susan, Helene, Alain, Bruce, Diane, Jerry and Judy).

As the week progressed conditions started to moderate.  Before everyone broke up to head their separate ways the crews of Night Star, Andiamo 35, and Jubilee had dinner together at an outstanding local Chinese restaurant near the marina ... East Villa.  Quite a few boats started leaving on Thursday, among them Alain and Helene on Frere Coyote and Diane and Jerry, with Twin Cities crew Don Sullivan on Nightstar.  We decided to hang in Nassau one more day, since our next jump was upwind and against the seas while theirs was downwind.  Thursday also was Judy's birthday, so a celebration at Cafe Matisse, one of Nassau's better restaurants, with Bruce and Susan from Andiamo 35 seemed in order.  (Outstanding resto, btw ... see photo at right.)  A good time was had by all. 

Nassau had been a fun stop, but a much longer one than we had planned.  It was definitely time to take advantage of this weather window and head out of Dodge for the Abacos before the next forecast front rolls through.  We'll be joining you in the Abacos with our next blog installment.   'Til then ...

Sampson Cay & Exuma Park to Highborne

April 11-12, 2009 - Additional Lay Days in Emerald Bay

We initially were going to head further south on Saturday the 11th, but the weather here at the Park was so good, Emerald Bay so beautiful, and the Park-sponsored Easter Sunday beach buffet and pot luck so inviting that we decided to stay.  It was another good decision.

The downside was that our freezer seemed to be acting up again.  Although not as bad as before, we started having on again/off again troubles getting the box to zero and below.  It being Easter weekend all we could do is leave emails and voicemails with IceMarine in Palm Beach.  If push comes to shove we may need to head back to Nassau to have it checked again, but hopefully we can get by for another week or so.  At times we were able to chill the box down to 5 below, but other times the best we seemed to be able to do was 5 above.  After 6 months of trouble free cruising in 2008, and 3 months in 2007, it seems things are catching up with us in 2009.

Both days were almost still, sunny and in the mid-80's, but the water in our anchorage was beautiful for swimming off the boat to cool down (mid-70's, but it really felt refreshing).  We just can't get over how beautiful this area is.

Easter Sunday's beach brunch was attended by about 60-70 cruisers and park staff.  The park provided ham and turkey, and each cruiser brought something for the accompanying pot luck.  These cruisers are good cooks.  The spread was fantastic.  The function also gave us a chance to meet some of the other cruisers anchored in different parts of the park.  It's hard to believe we've been here in Emerald Bay 5 days, plus another two in nearby Cambridge Cay which is also part of the Park.  But as beautiful as this area is, its time to continue exploring further south.

 

April 13, 2009 - Emerald Bay to Sampson Cay --  24.6 Miles (Plus 4/14 Lay Day)

Monday brought 10-23 knot SE winds for our sail to Sampson.  We were able to lay about half of the distance on port tack, and the rest tacking our way back and forth upwind.  Several other boats were headed the same way which, as always is the case, resulted in a little informal "racing" to get the adrenalin flowing.

Paul and Elizabeth Weigel on Liesel (a wonderful Canadian couple we had dinner with on Waffensmith's boat a week prior) heard us on the radio and were heading to Sampson too!  That afternoon Paul brought in his refrigeration gages which indicated that our high pressure side might be running a bit low.  But in the mean time the unit now seemed to be running better again.  Go figure!  Perhaps the slight gassing off when connecting the gages did the trick.  Or perhaps the drier finally got some pesky moisture out of the system.  Who knows?  Whatever was happening, we seemed to be in business again, or at least well enough in business so as not to have to cut our Exuma days short & jump back to Nassau.  It was time to celebrate with appetizers in the gazebo with Paul and Elizabeth as the sun slowly sank on the horizon.

Sampson was a mega-yacht haven ... at least while we were there.   With our little 42' sailboat we almost felt like a dinghy moored amongst cruise ships.  Most had professional crews continuously cleaning the boats and preparing gourmet meals for the owner and guests served on the aft deck with white linen tablecloths and fancy tableware.  Three true mega-mega-yachts were there, including the long, sleek, Octopussy (Remember the James Bond movie?  This 42-meter monstrosity is one of the worlds fastest private yachts, reportedly capable of doing 53 knots.  We wonder how many gallons a minute it uses at those speeds!). These three big vessels were too large to attempt the inner harbor, so instead were moored to a long outside dock.  Here at Sampson we were definitely enjoying life among the rich and famous (or perhaps rich and infamous ... who knows?). 

On the quieter side we enjoyed hiking the surrounding trails around this hurricane hole marina and resort complex.  Their "internet outhouse" provided direct Ethernet connection in each "stall", plus served as a WiFi hotspot ... handy for placing Skype calls to the refrigeration folks in West Palm and downloading emails and weather. 

Tuesday morning we were invited to breakfast on Liesel, after which we decided to stay over Tuesday night, both to give ourselves some assurance that the freezer was in fact working again and so Judy could catch up on a couple of week's worth of laundry with the machines here.  Although mooring here was not cheap, we had to admit it was a pretty nice hood for hanging out.

April 15, 2009 - Sampson Cay to Cambridge Cay -- 15.1 Miles (Plus 4/16-18 Lay Days)

On Wednesday we literally flew the short distance north to Cambridge Cay on a 15-17 knot SW wind.  Our prior visit to Cambridge was during some windy weather where we didn't get to snorkel, visit nearby beaches or hike.  This visit would be different.

Paul and Elizabeth had arrived the prior day and instantly became our Cambridge Cay tour guides.  We started with a short dinghy ride to a beach near the "blue hole" to the south of our mooring area ... a great swimming area where we spotted a Ray.  On the beach we ran into several other cruisers, including Sam Rae and Wendy Thompson on Maestro, their beautiful blue Valiant 50.   We had previously met Sam at the Annapolis Boat Show (Sam owns the Fugawi navigation software company ... the system we use aboard Jubilee).  Five of us then dinghy'd across the Conch Cut to Rocky Dundas, a small rocky Cay with a great snorkeling area and spectacular sea caves (see photo at right of Sam and Wendy with us in one of the caves).  We capped the night with dinner aboard Jubilee with Paul and Elizabeth, spotting a pair of Bull Sharks circling below the boat where we had recently dumped some meat juices.  Hmmm ... don't think we'll do any swimming in this mooring area, at least not tonight!

Thursday the Maestro, Liesel and Jubilee crews dinghy'd over to the "Aquarium" for some snorkeling.  Conditions were perfect.  We can't remember ever seeing so many tropical fish in one area of reef.  Wow!  We capped the evening with appetizers ashore at a small sand cay near the anchorage ... a perfect way to end the perfect day.  (Check the Bahamas Photo album link on the left of the main blog page for additional snorkeling and area pictures.)

  

Next on Friday we dinghy'd into one of the Cambridge Cay beaches, hiked across to the other side, and then hiked along its rugged coastline to the north.  Simply spectacular!  (Perhaps we're overusing that word, but it truly is spectacular.)   Capping the day off, Elana and Rick on Movin' On, the volunteer Cambridge Cay mooring coordinators for the park, organized an all-anchorage appetizer pot luck on that same little sand cay near the anchorage Friday afternoon, giving us a chance to meet a number other boaters also moored in Cambridge.

Saturday morning we decided to hold tight here for one more day, taking the dinghy back to the "blue hole" beach, then hiking across to Honeymoon Beach adjacent to the Conch Cut.  With ENE winds running 17-20 knots the waves were literally crashing up on the long sand beach ... no swimming there today.  Instead Bill went for a quick dip in the blue hole before returning to the boat and inviting Dan and Carol Rohr, m/v Lucky Stars, over for appetizers (we had learned the prior afternoon that Dan and Carol, originally from northern Illinois, had met in Hayward, WI ... small world again). 

It had been a great four days in Cambridge.  We will return some day, but tomorrow morning we'll jump northward again.

April 19, 2009 - Cambridge to Hawksbill Cay -- 24.6 Miles

Sunday brought another glorious, if windy, day ... about 17-20 knots from the SE.  However the direction couldn't have been better for our run up to Hawksbill Cay.  After working our way out of Cambridge Cay's reefs and sand bores we ran a steady 6.5-7.5 knots (hull speed is 7.2!) with the wind on the starboard quarter the entire way - a single reef in the main, reduced headsail, and the autopilot steering the entire trip.  It doesn't get much better than this.

We were hoping the charted depths for Hawksbill's mooring balls were wrong, perhaps too conservative, but they weren't.  After inching our way in toward the balls we turned tail, realizing there wouldn't be enough water for us at low tide.  Instead we anchored just outside some coral heads in 12' (at high tide - 10' at low tide) about 1/2 mile from shore.  With all the wind it was a little lumpy out there, but not too bad, and we certainly had our privacy that far out. 

April 20, 2009 - Hawksbill to Highborne Cay -- 19.0 Miles (Plus 4/21 Lay Day)

On Monday morning we were off the quarter again in 15 to 18-knot SE breezes for another wonderful sail.  With clear skies, good winds in the right direction, and pleasant temperatures, one couldn't ask for more.  Some unsettled weather with squalls was set to come in with the next front, so we decided to stay in Highborne two nights and explore the area a bit this time around (see photo of east-shore beach and the bus stop on the island's ~1-mile of paved road ... bus service here is reputed to be somewhat undependable).  Wednesday morning it will be off to Nassau for a few days of boat work and citified bumming around.  Stay tuned.

West End to Exuma Land and Sea Park

April 4-5, 2009 - West End, Grand Bahama Is. to Highbourn Cay, Exumas - Overnight Run --  183.1 Miles

After the 20 to 25-knot southerly blow all day on Friday the weather gurus were forecasting the winds to lay down for two days and then build to 25 knots again starting Sunday night into Monday.  With about 140 miles to go to Nassau it would take us three daylight segments to get there.  Unfortunately we didn't have three consecutive good passage days to make daylight jumps.  Instead we decided to take advantage of the two lighter days and go the distance in one overnight jump.

We opted to pull out of the dock around 11:00 am, finding very light (7-10 knots true) northerlies which slowly clocked around to very light (3-4 knots true) south easterlies.  As the winds bent around we were able to cut the engine for a bit when the winds went east, but they quickly eased to the low single digits as we ground out the rest of the passage under power.

It was an easy trip, with light winds, relatively smooth seas, a bright slightly more than half moon, the autopilot doing the steering, and AIS and radar helping our eyes find any traffic.

And traffic there was.  Near Freeport, Grand Bahama, and following for the next 20 miles or so we encountered numerous salties.  Many of them appeared to be anchored in very deep water, probably waiting for a load in a worldwide recession-slowed shipping economy.

However, after dark things really got interesting.  About 10 miles NW of Great Stirrup Cay, the most northerly point of the Berry Islands group, we started encountering cruise ships big time.  We've encountered cruise ships before ... perhaps one or two a night when traveling through areas they frequent, but this area was abuzz with cruise activity.  We lost count, but easily met or were passed by about 20 ships all lit up for the festivities that were sure to be occurring on board.  AIS (Automatic Identification System) targets filled our navigation screen ... 90% of them cruise ships plus a few tankers and freighters (see accompanying screen snap taken around 11:00 pm).  There were ships going to Miami, ships going to Port Everglades, ships going to Grand Turk, ships going to Palm Beach, ships going to San Juan, ships going to ... you name it.  If these floating hotels were anywhere near  full there can't be any recession in the cruise industry.

We had to raise two of the cruise ships to agree/confirm on a passing strategy.  For one ship we needed to divert off course for about 20 minutes, since the captain of the cruise ship didn't have room to bear off to the south due to another two cruise ships heading westbound for the states.  Our AIS really paid for itself that night!

After our 7:30 a.m. SSB chat with MN cruising friends (Snyder's, Waffensmiths, Cucci-England's) we decided to go right through Nassau harbor without stopping, and proceed on across the banks to Highbourn Cay to take maximum advantage of the current weather window.  We left the boat drift for a half hour just outside Nassau and had a proper breakfast before transiting Nassau Harbor (see photo of Alantis Resort on Paradise Island) and piloting our way around the Yellow Banks, a shallow area with coral heads along the way to the Exumas.  Although it made our long trip even longer, heading on was a good decision. 

We still had plenty of fuel from our last fill at Ft. Pierce, but we decided to top off in Highbourn for the trip south before taking our slip for the night.  We're consistently using slightly over 1 gallon an hour, which with our 120 gallon capacity gives us plenty of range.  After the long overnight run with each of us having gotten but a few hours sleep since Friday night, we didn't do much Highbourn exploring ... just fueled, showered, caught up on some email, ate and crashed.  We'll probably stop there again on our way north (see photo of megayachts lying outside the marina at Highbourn).

April 6, 2009 - Highbourn Cay to Cambridge Is/Bell Island Anchorage -- 39.7 Miles

With winds 10-15 almost directly on the nose (south), our almost 40 miles today was done on the engine with a little sail help when we were able to turn slightly to the SSE.  Other than cutting the Sand Bar off Normans a little too close (we weren't paying enough attention to the details), the trip down was uneventful.

The Explorer Chartbooks describe the Exumas as "... an emerald necklace bedecking the periwinkle and turquoise waters of the Bahamas".  It's a fitting description.  The hundreds (thousands?) of cays (pronounced keys - little islands) that comprise the Exuma group run for about 100 miles NW to SE.   About 30 miles to the west of the islands lies the over one-mile-deep Tongue of the Ocean.  Between the Tongue and the islands sits a wide swath of shallow water, the Great Bahamas Bank, with most of the navigable part being 12' to 20' deep but sprinkled in places with shallow coral heads.  Shallow sand bores and channels extend out 1-3 miles off the Cays.  

Immediately east of the Cays is Exuma Sound, which almost immediately drops to over a mile deep.  Between the cays are various cuts where one can cross from the banks to the sound and back if weather and current permit (nasty tidal currents exacerbated by contrary winds can make these cuts difficult).  Most of the cruising and virtually all of the anchoring is done on the western, "banks side" of the chain. 

Navigation is correspondingly a bit tricky, but is helped by the Bahamas' gin-clear waters where "VPR" (Visual Piloting Rules) prevail.  VPR is the practice of piloting based on reading depths from the color of the water with polarized sun glasses and (this is critical) with the sun high or at your back:  Dark Blue is deep, white or very light is very shallow sand, and shades of turquoise represent generally navigable channels.  Dark patches, the toughest to accurately read, are usually grass in the sand (a non-issue), but they can be coral heads (a big issue if they're shallower than your boat!).  Passing clouds also can make patches of water temporarily look darker, but after a while it all starts making sense.  That said, one needs to be cautious and stay alert when piloting in this area.  A good example of VPR is shown in the accompanying photo taken as we left through the literally 30' wide cut between rocks and a shallow sand bore at the NW tip of Bell Is.

And things like sand bores (long fingers of shallower sand bars which often separate narrow channels) do move, making the latest charts a must, but also meaning that you have to keep your eyes on the water as well as on your charts.

The accompanying chart snap of our Cambridge Cay entry serves as a good Bahamas piloting example.  As shown by the blue track on the chart, we first had to run a bit South of Bell Island.  We then snaked up the channel between shallows to our port and shoal water off the island to our starboard until eventually reaching the NW tip of Bell and passing through a 30' or so wide cut between rocks to the right and shallow sand to the left (same area as the above picture).  We then snaked our way through the channel north of  Bell, turning south just before exiting O'Brien Cut to Exuma Sound.  A little more snaking around shoals brought us to our anchorage, protected by islands and shoals on all sides.  in addition to our route in blue, the accompaning chart snap shows the channels and shoals.  (Note: Depths on the accompanying chart are in meters.)

Inside we caught up with good friends Wally and Connie Waffensmith from Golden Valley (Summer of '42) and Bob & Judy Snyder of Andover (Greenstone).  It was great seeing them again, and doubly great being with them in this beautiful, secure spot as the winds piped up and clocked around on Tuesday with the passing of yet another front.

April 7 - Cambridge Cay Lay Day

After our longer-jump travels of the past several days it was good to simply sit for a while and soak it all in.  Done for a while are the days of one big jump after another to "get there".  We had now "arrived", and were well past due getting into Island Time.  Tuesday was too windy for snorkeling or much other exploring, so we stayed put and read, baked bread (Judy), caught up on a couple of maintenance chores and got the guitar out (Bill), and joined Snyders and another cruising couple on Waffensmith's boat for dinner Tuesday evening.  Great time!

April 8 - Cambridge Cay to Emerald Bay, Warderick Wells -- 13.9 Miles

Late Wednesday morning Summer of '42, Greenstone, and we departed Cambridge for a short jump to Warderick Wells, the main island in the Exuma Sea Park.  Cambridge Cay is also in the sea park, and the rhumb line distance between our two anchorages was less than 7 miles, but we had to travel twice that to work our way out and around the shoals.

We'd last visited Warderick Wells about 15 years ago when cruising the Exumas with Ron Hitzeman and Kate O'Reilly aboard their sailboat Anne.  Warderick was a favorite stop during that trip, and it remains one of the best spots in the Exumas.  There are miles of hiking trails, numerous beaches, and great swimming and snorkeling in its gin-clear waters.  No fishing, spearing, lobstering or conch harvesting is allowed in the park, so it's a great spot to see sea life.

After getting settled we checked in at park headquarters about 3/4's of a mile NE of our anchorage and then hiked up to Boo Boo Hill, a scenic overlook which has become the spot where passing cruisers leave mementos, typically a chunk of driftwood with their boat name and date carved into the wood.  Snyders found the driftwood piece they had left there a few years back, while Waffensmith's added their freshly carved driftwood plaque to the collection (see photos).  Not to be outdone, the Jubilee crew will definitely be on the lookout for a suitable piece of driftwood to add to the collection, hopefully when we pass through here heading north in a couple of weeks.

Oh ... why the name Boo Boo Hill?  It turns out this hill is about 100 yards from a series of blow holes on the eastern coast of the island.  Waves washing into caverns below force air up through these holes, making a ghost-like heavy breathing sound as if coming from some large creature.  Thus the Boo Boo ... the place is haunted with the ghosts of lost mariners! 

Views of the north and Emerald Bay anchorages from Boo Boo Hill were truly stunning.  Note how the north anchorage is comprised of a narrow channel that winds around a sand bore that's mostly dry at low tide!

After our exploring the Waffensmiths and Snyders came over to Jubilee Wednesday evening for appetizers (see photo) as the sun set off our stern.  It's been so good to meet up with them down here, if only for a few days.  Thursday morning they planned to head north toward Nassau and then Freeport, while we planned to stay here a few more days before exploring further south along the Exuma chain.

April 9-10 - Lay Days to explore the Exumas Land & Sea Park

This is what cruising is all about.  The accompanying photo of Jubilee pretty well sums up the beauty of this place.  While moored in Emerald Bay one feels like they are truly laying on a shimmering emerald ... the water having such a clear, beautiful turquoise hue.

Taking the dingy ashore, we hiked the somewhat rough trail over millennia-old coral rocks to the 1780 ruins of a plantation.  It turns out that after the American Revolution many British Loyalists left America for either Nova Scotia or the Bahamas.  Those of you following our blog for a while will remember places like Shelburne, Nova Scotia, which was settled by Loyalists after the Revolution.  They made a good life for themselves to the north, but one can't imagine actually trying to scrape out a living growing anything on this Loyalist "plantation" in the Bahamas.  The soil here hardly supports a few hardy scrub trees atop the limestone just below the surface (and more often than not at the surface).  The plantation did not succeed, but some of its building foundations and rock walls remain to this day.  Judy dubbed the attached wall the "Great Wall of the Exumas", reminding her of a small scale version of the Great Wall we recently climbed in China.

Late Thursday Afternoon Barry Hammerberg, one of Bill's fraternity brothers from college, stopped over to chat.  Bill and Barry have been in occasional email contact for the past couple of years or so while each of us has been out cruising, but we've never found ourselves in the same place at the same time except at the Annapolis Boat Show.  It was way back in 1965 when we were last in school together, and almost that long since we had seen each other before recently reconnecting.  It was good to get together again.  Barry and his wife Ruth planned to move on Friday, making one more stop before Ruth's daughter and grandson had to catch a plane back to Appleton, WI, from Nassau.  Hopefully we'll cross paths again in the not so distant future.

As of this posting, Friday morning 4/10, we have another beautiful day.  On today's agenda is is exploring the hiking trails on the north end of the island.  We also plan to start an Exuma Park photo album before we leave the park to head further south, so do check back for more photos.

Additional Blog Note:  We noted in our Blog statistics that our web site crossed the 10,000 hits threshold within the past couple of days (10,091 hits as of this morning).  Either we've been putting a lot of people to sleep, or folks are enjoying our ongoing chronicles.  The answer is probably a little of each.  Sweet dreams!

Ft. Pierce via Lake Worth, FL, to West End, Grand Bahama

March 24, 2009 - Ft. Pierce to Peck Lake Anchorage -- 25.2 Miles

We waited for slack water (no current) before departing our Ft. Pierce slip around 9:40 a.m.  Unlike our miserably failed slip entry in the cross current two weeks prior, departure this morning was a piece of cake.  It sure felt good to be on our way again.  Hooray!

Much of our day's run followed the Indian River, a wide spot in the waterway that was whipping up a slight chop as we followed the comparatively narrow marked channel.  Much of the Indian River is just a few feet deep, so it was important to religiously follow those markers.

That said, it was a pretty easy trip.  We went through two bridges, both of them high and fixed, so we didn't have to work around any opening schedules. 

With Lake Worth almost 50 miles south of Ft. Pierce, we decided to take it easy and split the trip in half at Peck Lake, a wide spot in the waterway having a small anchorage billed by one of our guides as "the prettiest anchorage on the ICW".  We don't know that we'd accord it those honors, but it was nice and very comfortable for the 9 boats anchoring there with us.  Our new Delta anchor held securely in the breezy conditions as we turned in after our first day back in the saddle.

March 25, 2009 - Peck Lake Anchorage to North Lake Worth Anchorage -- 21.5 Miles

The stretch below Peck Lake was totally different than the prior day's run.  The waterway narrowed here and was more picturesque, much like some of the stretches we experienced up in North Carolina.  We also started to encounter more bridges ... 7 bascule bridges in all, about half of them opening on demand and the others following an every half hour opening schedule.  And the closer we got to Palm Beach the more the adjoining waterway property was developed ... one mega-waterfront-home after another, and where there wasn't already a mega-house a new mansion was under construction.  We weren't in Kansas anymore.

North Lake Worth's large anchorage basin was filled with boats.  Many were working their way up and down the waterway, some just chilling out here for a while, and others, like us, waiting for a Gulf Stream weather window.  A couple from Breckenridge, CO, on Drake's Dream, a powerboat we had chatted with on VHF the prior day, stopped by to visit after dingying their dog to shore.  They completed the Great Loop in 2006, and were now thinking about doing the Downeast Circle out the St. Lawrence and around Nova Scotia much like we did last year.  They were also curious about pilothouse sailboats.  It turned out they were starting to think about a switch to sail, in part to reduce fuel costs, while at the same time we often envy the space and relative speed of powerboats like theirs ... the grass is always greener on that other side of the fence.

While anchored in Lake Worth we dingied to shore and walked to Publix and West Marine for some things, picking up some recent sailing magazines at West for reading in the Bahamas.  Of special interest was the April 2009 issue of Cruising World, which we knew contained Bill's recent "Classic Plastic" article on the Tayana 42 sailboat (our boat).  It was fun seeing it in print.  If you're interested in an on-line look click http://www.cruisingworld.com/boats-and-gear/boat-reviews-and-previews/vancouver-42-a-stately-passagemaker-1000070378.html to view the article on Cruising World's web site.

March 26-April 1 - Waiting at Worth for a Weather Window (and other things)

Each day Lake Worth seemed to be more and more populated with anchored boats while strong winds were whipping up heavy seas outside, and especially in the Gulf Stream.  We talked with one boat who had gone down to the inlet only to return after briefly experiencing the seas on the outside.  Even Lake Worth itself was getting rough, with white caps and the constant whine of the wind.

It was during this time we started experiencing problems with our freezer.  We couldn't get the box below 18 or so degrees even if the genset and compressor were run for three hours, and at that temperature we weren't even freezing the eutectic holdover plates.  Something was seriously wrong.

On Friday we were able to get a slip at the nearby Old Port Cove marina and schedule a technician to look at our system.  Bottom line, our 18-year-old compressor was simply giving out ... no longer building proper pressure, not good but not surprising for a unit that old with that much use over the years.  Luckily a replacement compressor was available locally for installation on Monday. 

Having to experience yet another repair delay was frustrating, but on the other hand we had nowhere to go due to the unfavorable weather window.  20/20 hindsight, it was good that this problem turned up when it did.  Had we jumped over to the Bahamas by now such a quick repair might not have been possible.  Plus by being in the marina over the weekend we had access to shore power to run the compressor continuously, keeping the box just cold enough to hold our frozen meats. 

Old Port Cove is a secure-gated high rise and marina complex situated on a peninsula jutting between the North Lake Worth anchorage and the ICW channel just to the west.  Billed as a Megayacht facility (although they also had scores of slips for more modest boats like ours) several huge yachts were berthed here, including Tiger Wood's 155 footer (photo at right ... note little Judy beside her dream yacht).  You golfers out there, keep working on that game and you can have one of these reportedly $20 million dollar yachts too!   Among the several other mega-yachts at Old Port Cove was High Banx, one of several huge yachts reportedly owned by the France family who has the NASCAR franchise.  We were in pretty good company here.

Sunday brought a special treat.  Nick Morgan and Sherri Smith (Sweet Time), who we buddy boated with for several weeks in Canada and New England last summer, stopped by to join us for lunch while driving through Palm Beach from Marathon in the Keys to Sherri's brother's home in Melbourne, FL.  It was great seeing them again, and fun sharing our separate experiences of the past few months.  Next week they plan to get underway again, leaving Marathon for Annapolis and eventually working their way up to Canada before returning to Marathon again next winter.

Sunday night we got together with our slip neighbors, a couple also "en route" further south.  Originally from England and now New Zealand citizens, Bill and Rosemary on Levity, a beautiful Nordhavn 43 trawler, were completing some equipment upgrades prior to a jump to the Eastern Caribbean for the remainder of the current cruising season.  Their ultimate plan in a year or two is to run through the Panama Canal and cross the Pacific to Australia or New Zealand.  Big plans, but they certainly have the boat to do it!

Our refrigeration guy was at the boat by 8:30 a.m. Monday to remove the compressor assembly. (Doesn't it look like fun removing a 60+ pound compressor unit from a near-impossible location?  A good job for contortionists.)  The tech returned a little after 1:00 with a new compressor and other new parts all pre-assembled and bench tested.  By about 4:00 it looked like we were in business again!  Knowing that we wanted to leave for the Bahamas early the next morning while this weather window held, our technician volunteered to return at 5:30 a.m. to test everything again before we left.  It was good he stopped by early.  The compressor was clearly working well, but from our overnight trial it appeared the new thermostat was defective, starting another round of diagnosis and parts replacement that continued through Wednesday morning, when everything was finally working.

In the midst of all this, on Tuesday afternoon the Palm Beach area was hit with a number of ferocious thundercells, and possibly even a small tornado.   Power lines were blown down, there was street flooding, roofs were damaged, trees overturned, and numerous electrical lines were down in the area.  About 3-5" of rain fell in an hour.  65 mph winds were reported in some areas, but the adjacent high rises probably shielded us some.  Dock boxes & other stuff were blown into the water all around the marina. 

A ~38' sport fisher docked across from us was in the ICW just North of Worth when it hit.  They're convinced they were in a small tornado, as the winds turned their boat right around like a top.  With literally zero visibility they couldn't see either the shore or the channel marks.  Their radar was useless because of the incredibly heavy rain.  We were in our slip and couldn't see a thing, but weathered just fine, albeit things were a bit tense for a while.  TV weather radar subsequently showed the system moving east toward Grand Bahama.  Maybe it was good that the freezer thermostat had to be replaced and we couldn't jump across on Tuesday ... it couldn't be much fun in the open ocean when a cell like that hits.

However this, too, passed.  The thunderstorms cleared out and the weather started to take a turn for the better.  With that, after almost 3 weeks of delays this past month plus months of anticipation before that, we were finally ready to jump to the Bahamas at first light Thursday morning!  It was time.

April 2, 2009 - Lake Worth to West End, Grand Bahama Island - 66.9 Miles

  Leaving West Palm at first light Thursday morning (~6:45 am), we arrived in West End around 5:30 pm.  Through the fastest flow of the gulf stream we needed to point between 20 and 30 degrees further south than our course to offset the northerly set of the stream (2.5 knots and above!).  As a result we had to add a few motor revs to our sail power during the first part of our crossing, as we were pointing too close to the wind and wave trains to punch through the seas and keep up our desired speed.  But when the stream started moderating as we went further east, and as the wind correspondingly came up a bit, we were finally able to kill the engine and enjoy a great, albeit lumpy, close reach the rest of the way (in deference to accurate reporting, Judy probably wouldn't rate it a great sail -- 10 hours of rocking and rolling into 6' seas with lots of spray flying).  Winds started the morning at 12-15 S, gradually rose to 20+, and then dropped to the high teens as we approached West End. 

West End's harbor entrance is straightforward and deep, albeit a bit narrow (see photo).  We were in our slip by 5:30 p.m. and cleared our customs formalities by 6:00pm, our brand new "Q" (quarantine) flag flying all of an hour.  Up came the Bahamian courtesy flag.  We had officially arrived!

At West End we anticipated a laid back Bahamian harbor.  We were in for a surprise.  The former Jack Tar marina was now the Old Bahama Bay resort, a luxury hotel and marina complex that apparently materialized on the former Jack Tar property over the course of the past couple of years.  The place was first class all the way ... a PGA championship golf course is even under construction next door!  The only downside was the accompanying first class pricing. 

But with the "first class" pricing came a number of nice amenities.  Bikes, kayaks, Hobie Cats, a pool, work-out facility, and everything else on the gated premises was available to slip renters as well as hotel guests.  We took a bike ride toward "the settlement", but beyond the immediate area of the resort there wasn't much of interest.  And our timing was perfect!  Every Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. the beach bar has a free cocktail hour for all resort guests, accompanied by a nice appetizer spread (conch fritters, fried fish pieces, smoked salmon on toast points, etc.).   We definitely felt welcome.

Meanwhile outside it blew like a bandit all day Friday, exactly following all the forecasts (see photo at right of the harbor entry taken Friday morning).  It was a good day to chill out and start enjoying the Bahamas.  Tomorrow morning (Saturday) the winds are supposed to sharply moderate for about 48 hours, opening a perfect window for an overnight run to Nassau.  But more on that in our next posting.  As we always say ... stay tuned!

On Our Way Again

3/10/2009 - 3/24/2009 - Repair Layover at Ft. Pierce

It took a while ... a long while, but Jubilee is finally "whole" again.  As of Tuesday morning the 24th we're finally moving on from Ft. Pierce after two weeks delayed here.

We were fairly easily able to track down a stainless steel fabrication shop to work on our stem head/bow roller assembly, but they couldn't get to the project until the following Monday, 3/16.  It took their two people plus Bill about two hours to get the old assembly off the boat ... Tayana doesn't build anything light.  By then we had also received our new Delta anchor, so the SS Fab guys now had both our bow assembly and the two anchors we'd need riding on it when the re-work and re-design to accommodate the new Delta were completed.

The next day a woodworker was out to help repair the teak deck pieces damaged in the accident and from removal of the bow assembly.  There wasn't much work to do, but without a planer and good tools it wasn't something Bill could tackle.  The job was done in less than half a day and very reasonably.  Things were looking up ... that is until we received a call Wednesday afternoon from the SS shop indicating they needed to get more material for the job, their new estimate for completion being Friday afternoon.

  Friday afternoon they arrived around 2:00 pm, and the assembly was back on by 5:00.  By 7:00 p.m. Bill had the other previously-removed hardware remounted and we were back together again except for hoisting the sail.

Which brought us to our next issue.  A front moved in late on Friday, bringing with it several days of strong NE and E winds.  We weren't able to re-raise the sail until a slight lull on Sunday (see dockside photo of Jubilee, whole again with the sail back on), but then we decided to remain sitting tight in Ft. Pierce until this thing blew through.  Because of the wind intensity and direction out on the ocean, a Gulf Stream crossing was going to be out of the question until at least the end of the week anyway.

So after some more exploring of Ft. Pierce, including part of Sunday afternoon spent at Archie's, the biker/beach-bum/boater bar near the beach about 8 blocks from the Yacht Club (great burgers btw), and then a car and cab trip on Monday to explore Vero Beach about 20 miles to the north, we are finally able to wave goodby to Ft. Pierce.  We're planning to head south down the ditch, anchor somewhere near the Lake Worth Inlet, and wait for a good departure window.  Hopefully our next posting will be from the Bahamas in about a week. 

'Til then, stay tuned!

Viewing the Shuttle Discovery Launch

March 15, 2009 -- STS-119 Space Shuttle Discovery Launch

Sometimes things are just meant to be.  For us our little mishap with the dock post, requiring us to hold over in Ft. Pierce for repairs tomorrow (Monday), was the triggering event that allowed us to view the delayed/re-scheduled Discovery Launch right from our own north-facing cockpit!  Synchronicity or serendipity one will never know, but the thrill of viewing the launch has been more than worth our delay.

And what a thrill it was.  We had NASA TV up on our WiFi connection so we could track the countdown and view ignition there (see NASA lift-off image at right), then almost immediately we could see the shuttle blast into the sky, some 60 miles north of us.

It was a thrill beyond belief.  One of the early photos we shot (at left) showed the Shuttle shortly after liftoff as seen from our boat. 

Just a little over two years ago we traveled these waters with Jerry Cucci and Diane England aboard their beautiful Outbound 44 sailboat Nightstar.  With them we laid over in Titusville for weather, renting a car to tour the Kennedy Space Center for a day.  During that visit we saw the assembly building, shuttle launch pad, and displays of prior spacecraft and launch vehicles.  One highlight was seeing the Apollo, and in particular the capsule escape rocket topped by the escape guidance module that Jerry and another engineer had designed those many years ago (See photo at right of Jerry with capsule escape rocket and nose-cone guidance system just ahead of and above him).

But what we didn't see during that visit was an actual launch.  That happened tonight just after sundown and it was spectacular (see another of our launch photos at left).  In fact, the mission director used that very word in describing this launch as “the most spectacular he had ever seen”. 

Who are we to argue?

And the thrill of seeing all this from our own boat was an unbelievably experience.  As we pursue our travels aboard a centuries-old form of transportation and exploration -- a sailboat, seven astronauts lifted off for orbit this very evening only 60 miles from us -- that launch viewable with our naked eyes from the deck of our relatively primitive craft.  

To cap everything off, it wasn't until about eight minutes later that we started hearing the low frequency rumble from the engines at lift-off.  Wow!

It has been an incredibly moving evening.