Sunday Brunch

Today was a relaxing day at anchor. Ginny made bagels from scratch (with her green mascot, Dorthy). They were formed with loving hands by Roger. David's addition was three excellent Bloody Marys. The day was casual with David kayaking around the harbor and Ginny and Rodger taking a dingy tour.

Hope Town Arrival - Finally!!!!

Today we motored from Marsh Harbour to Hope Town - our original, final destination...
The trip was fine, except that we had to get up for high tide at 7:50 am (left at 7am to get to Hope Town at high). The difficulty is that the water at the entrance to hope town is very shallow (5ft) and we haven't been in with Wind-Lass before. We followed the routes for the deepest water and found that at anything but low tide, we should be able to get in.

The shallowest water is between the Parrot Cays and Hope Town - I mention the Parrot Cays since our good friends Maggie and Charlie stayed there many years ago when they were first together. Charlie tells the story of a cottage and a friendly landlord that basically let them have the run of the place...

Upon arrival in Hope Town, we grabbed a Hope Town Marina mooring - we knew which one they were form our friend Doug and Betsy on Surfsong - whom we met last year when we chartered out of Hope Town. Then came the ominous dingy to the marina office to straighten out our lost mooring contract. The proprietor, Rudy, was very nice, apologized for his brothers booking a mooring he didn't have and explaining that he was full. The best we could do was sit on a mooring while his other boats were out and hope someone canceled. At least he honored our deposit from last year!

So we have no home base, but Roger is easing into the nice cruising life here in the Abacos. Marsh Harbour provides a very nice and protected anchorage to use in bad weather, and not in bad weather - well, there are hundreds of beautiful places to go and see!

Since we arrived early we had the whole day. The captain finished his MURI proposal, but alas there are more proposals due in the coming weeks :( Around lunch time the gang dingied in and took a walk around town and bought some groceries. There are two stores on island - Vernan's and Harbour View. Vernan's has fresh bread and a good selection of cheese, Harbour View has a little more variety - just to orient everyone, 7-eleven has 2-4x the amount of stuff this place does! We also found a nice coffee shop and the fresh fish shop.

Later that afternoon the crew split up, the captain taking his kayak, loaded with a beach chair, towel, and book and kayaked around the harbour. He then went ashore (this is very tricky to get out of a kayak in the water and climb a ladder at a pier!!) to find some fish. Fresh snapper and grouper ($13/lb) and fresh lobster tail ($16/lb). he bought a few pounds of grouper and then paddled back to the boad - while loading he realized that he was a bit slower than the go-fast boats, as they waited not so patiently for him to get out of the way - they were hoping though, that he would fall in!

In the meantime, Ginny and Roger went for a long walk in town. The captain went back ashore and to the beach, which is just 1 block from the harbour, to sit and read his book.

The crew assembled at Capt'n Jack's for happy hour - very nice and low key, booze is cheap for the islands. Then back to the boat ( a little shnockered ) and the captain made fried rice and indian-spiced, sauteed grouper.

Marsh Harbour - Boxing Day, 2009

Today we spent a leisurely day at anchor. The captain continued working on his proposals for work, but took a late morning kayak trip around the other end of the harbor to a small cove, with 1 ft of water and all sand bottom. It was beautiful, and except for the million dollar homes, was deserted!

Ginny and Roger continued their email and photos, with a late Christmas skype with their daughter Beth and son Ben.

In the afternoon the crew all went for a walk in town - however, being Boxing day, everything was closed. They got the layout of the town, however, and ended up at Snappa's, a local bar on the waterfront, for an appetizer of conch fritters and drinks. Tomorrow we will go to Hope Town (about 7 mi) to check in an see what happened to our mooring. The marina changed hands and our reservation, paperwork and deposit disappeared....

Dinner will be the remains of the lasagna from Christmas - always better the next day, and a large salad (fresh vegetables are always hard to get!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, 2008

Today the crew spend a leisurely Christmas Day aboard Windlass. In the photo to the left you can see the Captain's Christmas present to himself - a 12 foot inflatable kayak. It has an internal aluminum frame which makes it paddle like a hard bottomed kayak. He spend the afternoon kayaking around Marsh Harbor while Ginny and Roger sipped wine and emailed their friends and family photos on the new internet service they signed up for!!

Everyone took some time to skype with their family. Ginny and Roger were able to reach there grandkids. In honor of the Rickett's tradition, Ginny made a wonderful lasagna that evening. While it baked, the crew had a bottle of champagne and watched the sun set. The lasagna was stellar - with a little bit of linguica to spice it up. Unfortunately, the great food and plentiful wine too advantage of the crew and they were all in bed by 8pm!

The crew aboard S/V Wind-Lass wish all of our families and friends very Merry Christmas greetings from Marsh Harbour, Abacos, Bahamas. May you all enjoy this wonderful day! We are thinking of you all and wish you could be here with us!

The captain enjoying a glass of wine at sunset. Note the most excellent hat, purchased in Charleston from a lovely hat shop in the market district. The hat was chosen by a very forward, and charming daughter of the hat shop owner. She gladly told you what looked good - and what didn't!






Christmas sunset in Marsh Harbour - a view of our traveling friend Song of Pogo, a Freedom 40 schooner.

Green Turtle Cay and New Plymouth

Today we stayed at anchor in White Sound in Green Turtle Cay due to large seas at Whale Cay (see previous post). After a pot of coffee and a workout by the captain (his trainer would be so proud), the captain and crew dingied out into the Sea of Abaco towards Black Sound, where the settlement of New Plymouth is. Only getting Ginny and Roger a little wet (sorry!) we tied up at the public dock and took a walk around the small town. Out main goal was to buy ingredients for Christmas dinner - we are doing lasagna in honor of my families tradition (my mother always made the best lasagna at Christmas - and not we aren't Italian!).

Below are a few shots from the town, including some scarry guard animals...

A typical street



Looking out from town



The guard animals




And finally, what would Christmas Eve be with out caroling!!! On the morning cruisers net (this is a morning radio broadcast that the cruisers organize in the area - mainly weather and activities) everyone in Green Turtle was invited for caroling aboard the catamaran Peace, anchored outside of the sound. Peace is a custom build catamaran that moores in the summer in... East Greenwich, just down the cove from Wind-Lass! (small world). Only the captain ventured out, as the crew just got internet access and were busily looking up photos of the grand kids and skyping with them. It was a bit of a treacherous dingy ride as it is over a mile out and in a little bit of rough water - and at night! About 35 of our neighbors made it (Peace is over 20ft wide, so there was plenty of room). We ate pot luck appetizers, drank whatever we had brought with us and sang Christmas carols until the food and drink were gone and all of the songs sang. For those who know the captain, he becomes particularly vocal at Christmas time since those are the only songs he can remember. A little alcohol and some good cheer and he was in rare form - never did "Five golden rings" sound so deep and full.... Seriously, there were some a bit shy at singing and the captains jolliness and loud voice seemed to bring the meekest of them out!

We all saw Santa's sleigh tonight - a falling start drifted below a faint cloud to create a bright streak of light over the Abacos. We all had each other as our presents, though!

After a safe dingy ride back, the captain found the crew still interneting away! Bed early, as we have to leave at sun up to catch the high tide to get out of the harbor - going to try to make Marsh Harbor tomorrow (across the Sea of Abaco from Hope town - can't get into there until the next daylight high tide!). We will spend Christmas at anchor and be baking lasagna!

A picture of Peace as we entered Green Turtle:

Spanish Cay to Green Turtle Cay

So today we followed the many cruisers who leave Spanish Cay every day and headed south. Ideally we would like to go around Whale Cay and on to Hopetown - our final (near term) destination. Unfortunately, the Abacos are a chain of Islands with a barrier reef separating them from the Atlantic ocean ( I believe it is the largest or second largest reef in the northern hemisphere). For most of our travels we can sail within the islands and reefs in the Sea of Abaco - this is the bay between the outer islands/reefs and the main island of Abaco. For those who would like a look-see at the layout, here you go (arranged from north to south, each map connects with the one below - little overlap though):





The difficulty is that at a place called Whale Cay (top of second map), the water inside of the islands is too shallow for us to cross, and we must go outside of the island (Whale Cay) and back into the bay, crossing out into the reef area. The water channels are deep enough, but large swells from the Atlantic often break over the reef and the passage around Whale Cay. This is called a "Rage" and makes the route unpassable. From the picture at the top of the this posting you can see the rough weather on the passage from Spanish to Green Turtle - it was blowing 30 kts in 3ft chop - one of the bouncy-est rides since Annapolis!

Given the poor weather we decided to duck into Green Turtle Cay. There are two harbours, both of which with very shallow inlets. We decided to brave White Sound (the other harbour is.... Black Sound!) entrance. It is marked 5-6 ft. at low tide. Wind-Lass draws 5.5 ft, so we are cutting things close, especially when the depths are not very reliable! We went in 2 hrs before high tide (should be a foot or two above the low tide depths, i.e. 6-7ft.) Right as we were entering the depth sounder started dropping from 10 ft....8ft...7ft..6ft...5.8ft!!!! and then back to 7 ft. We followed the buoys into the harbour, however they end just before the channel opens up into the harbour. Luckaly, the boat ahead of us (which draws the same amount of water as us) ran aground to the right of the channel....so we decided to go to the left side! (They got off fine after about 15 min). We anchored in 10 ft of water in 25 kt winds with boats 100ft from one another. Good thing Wind-lass crew is experiienced in Block Island! (The anchoring there is windy, poor holding, and lots of wind too!!). It took us 3 tries, but we got it and settled in for the night...except for the captain who heard that there was a live band at the Green Turtle Club Resort that evening! The music was typical Island, upbeat tempo and simple rhythms - kind of like a steel band, but with vocals and electronic instruments. Lot's of dancing, but not by the captain - he seemed to straddle the age groups by 15 year (older and younger!).

Arrival in Spanish Cay, Bahamas

Today we arrived in Spanish Cay in the Abacos. You can check out aerial shots of many of the Abaco islands, just scroll down till you see Spanish Cay.

We left Great Sail Cay this morning around 7:30am, following the 14 boats that were anchored in the harbor (we were second to last - guess we were sleeping in!). The seas were very calm and the only excitement was a discrepancy between my electronic chart and the Abaco cruising charts. The cruising charts had a waypoint that appeared 3/4 mi from a big rock, on my chart that waypoint was .1 mi from the rock and in 3ft of water!! We rerouted and continued on. Attached are a few pictures of our travels that day.

We arrived around 2:30pm and cleared customs with a very pleasant customs officer - she was very busy since the good weather this past weekend lead to many boats crossing.

Spanish Cay Marnia is a typical Bahamian marina/resort. Simple docks, small pool, bar and restaurant, and water views everywhere!

The adventures of Dorthy continue and can be found on Ginny's Picassa page.

The evening ended with David chatting up the locals at the bar and Ginny and Roger relaxing on the boat.

Ft. Pierce to Great Sail Cay - Gulf Stream Crossing

We left Ft. Pierce around 5:30pm after several days of rebuilding fuel related plumbing on both the dingy engine and the main engine. Due to our fuel problems on a previous trips, and our broken fuel-water seperatro bowl, we had to put a new bowl in and decided to setup a valve system so that we could switch between fuel filters while the engines were running. The dingy motor turned out just to be a loose fitting on the tank (after many hours of fumbling around....)

The crossing was calm, with no wind and 2-3 ft. swell. We ran into the Gulf Stream about 10 mile out when all of a sudden the water temp went form 75 to 85 and there was a 4.6kt current pushing us north!! We had 3+ knots all the way across the stream (approx. 25 min wide), so much for it averaging 2kts.....

We arrived at the Bahama bank around 7:30 am. The water depth goes from +500 ft to 20ft in about 1/2 mile! The crossing of the bank was very nice - completely calm waters, 20 ft depths and you could see the bottom the whole way! Capt. David climbed the spreaders more than once to take a look at the bottom whisking by (see photos below).

We arrived at Great Sail Cay around 3pm and anchored with 14 other boats! (this is the main stopping point for cruisers since you can't get to Spanish Cay or Green Turtle Cay (customs clearing) in one day. The captain went swimming and gives the Bahamian water a thumbs up! Beautiful sunset on glass smooth water.

Off to Spanish Cay tomorrow!

St. Augistine to Ft. Pierce - Around Cape Canaveral

Once again our attempts at an easy voyage where hampered. We awoke with news of coastal fog. St. Augustine have 1-2 mi visibility, but it was unclear how it was at the entrance. Around 9 am we up anchored and headed out. Now, recall, that this is an inlet with breaking waves on either side, small buoys (no radar signature) and nothing on the chart to go by with the GPS. As we headed out we saw the first two reds to port, but as we headed out base the land we were not able to see the first green, which marked the southern shoal. It was pea-soup fog and without any way to navigate, we turned tail and headed back to town. We anchored for 45 min and tried it again, at which time the fog had lifted enough to see the buoys and make a safe passage out. Very light winds with a slight sea of 2-3 ft rollers.

It is a straight shot down to Cape Canaveral and then around the cape to St. Lucie (our original destination). At 4:30 am the captain, paranoid by the previous fuel problem, notices a very slight variation in engine sound. Getting up, he went to the engine room to check the filer bowls (they are clear so you can see how dirty the fuel is). The fuel was clean, but bubbles where coming up from the drain plug (any kind of bubble in the fuel will stall a diesel engine). After having Ginny stop the engine, he tightened the drain plug, only to learn after restarting the engine that the bubbles were even more and the engine wouldn't run at all!!

Once again, on the floor of the engine room, the captain cut the fuel line to the generator and rerouted it to the engine (the generator and engine use the same type of fuel filters, so they can be interchanged). After that the engine ran fine, except for small micro-bubbles in the bowls, apparently coming from the tank. The engine ran fine, but upon investigation the leaking filter bowl, a large break in the drain plug was seen - a new bowl would be needed.

Our original destination was St. Lucie, which is the inlet that allows boats to go to Lake Okeechobee and the western part of FL. There is one marine store there, however it was unclear where we could anchor. After a little research and a little googling on the iPhone, we learned that the town, Stuart, FL, was one of those leaders in anti-cruising legislation, prohibiting any typ eof live-aboard anchoring, i.e. you can't sleep aboard. You can, however, anchor your boat for 10 days if you stay in a hotel in their town!

We looked for other options and found that there was a marine store at Ft. Pierce (20 miles north of St. Lucie) and that it was 1 block from the water. Also the cruising books noted an anchorage right of the intercoastal waterway that isn't marked on the chart. We decided to go for it. The anchorage is right in front of a marina and about 10 ft. off the intercoastal waterway.

We lowered the dingy from the deck and reattached the motor. The fuel line was leaking to the engine (a constant problem due to a faulty quick connect that you can buy anymore). We went ashore and started to buy our parts. Tieing the dingy up became a problem since the marina wanted to charge $15. Turns out other cruisers in the anchorage used a fishing pier on the other side of the bridge. It is shallow and pelicans are everywhere!!!

During the dingy excursions the fuel problem became worse so the captain looked for some solutions, which involved buying some parts, trying them, trying them a different way, all with the same result - nothing worked. We had to wait one day for the new fuel filter bowls to come in and decided to install a valve system that would allow us to switch between fuel filters while the engines are running - so when your engine starts to go at the entrance to St. Mary's, you just switch to the clean filter. So now there are three projects: fuel bowl, fuel valves, and the outboard engine. We are not on our second day in Ft. Pierce and hoped to leave that evening. The outboard still didn't work and Roger suggested that we wait another day, since the weather seemed good through Sat. With the pressure off, the bowl was installed and the dingy examined. The captain took off the fuel pump (he had to learn where it was) and cleaned it - this entailed removing parts that probably aren't meant to be removed - your supposed to buy a new one. Still no solution. We called a marina in town and they said they might be able to look at it the next day, but no guarantees. After figuring out how long the row was going to be to the marina to deliver the outboard the Captain had the faint idea to make sure there wasn't a problem with the tank. He disconnected the hose and stuck it straight into the fuel - everything ran just fine!! Not sure where the problem was, but after tightening all of the tank fittings, some hidden leak was closed and everything ran great.

The final day (day 3) the fuel valve assembly was installed, we has lunch at the marina an fueled the boat and left for the Bahamas that evening....


All was not lost, as Fr. Pierce was a nice town on the waterway and we saw many Dolphins and Manatees. Good place to stop and do repairs.

Local wildlife at the fuel dock:

St. Mary's to St. Augistine

We left the quiet harbor of St. Mary's and motored down the river, back out the ominous channel to sea. Once again, the tide was against us, but flooding current ran with the waves and did not create a large sea at the inlet. The trip down calm, with only 60 mile to go. We had just enough time to get there before dark.

During our trip, our review of the St. Augustine entrance became more and more concerned. The reading discussed breakers on sand bars on either side of the entrance. The channel changes so much that there are no regular buoys on the chart, simple noted "bouys are moved often to adapt to the changing channel. The photo above is of the breakers on the south side.

Upon arrival the sun was setting and we were trying to enter before dusk so that we could still see the unlit channel buoys (the chart and GPS were useless, as they buys weren't marked!). As we entered there were breakers to the left of us and breakers to the right of us! We were guided by the large (read size of light house) cross that is the harbor. Once inside, it was calm and we passed a schooner out for a chartered sunset tour. We anchored right in front of the city, north of the Bridge of Lions. It was very peaceful, with the town all decorated with Christmas lights. The only excitement was an accident on the road along the harbor retaining wall. Not sure what happened, but there was a screech, and then people running down (away) the street. Cops and ambulance came shortly thereafter, but nothing serious, it seems.

Our only regret was that we didn't stay longer - something we would certainly like to do in the future.

We did learn, however, what makes an "All Weather Inlet" and all weather inlet. Things like: wide, non moving channel; lighted entrance buoys that can bee seen day or night and are large enough to have radar reflections for reduced visibility. Oh, an no breakers 10 ft from the entrance!


Breaking seas at the inlet:

Charleston to St. Mary's

We left Cooper River Marina at 9am, with Glen waving to us from the dock as we departed. We headed to City Marina, on the Ashley River (other side of the Charleston Peninsula) to fuel. After a brief stay we left at noon for travels south. Cold windy day, larger following seas, cold wind off the stern. Long night with large seas on the quarter, with little wind to balance. Hoods, scarves and gloves where the apparrel of the trip. Ginny was the savior with her hand and foot warmer packets!

During the night we noticed that the engine was surging, hmmmm...hmm..hmmmm..hmm.. We thought it was the seas and didn't pay much attention until the tachometer started to fluctuate....

Arrived entrance to St. Mary's at 12:20pm, with rollers on the stern and a 2-3 kt current coming out of the inlet. The inlet is boarded by two jagged rock jetties, which lie just under the surface at high tide, waves breaking over them. The seas build from 2-4 on the stern to 3-6 ft in a steep chop. The more we rolled, the worse engine surged. 100 ft from the southern jetty (awash), the engine begins to surge dramatically. Fearing a dead engine and a leeward jetty, and not wind to sail by, the Captain abruptly called for a 180 degree turn to head back out to sea. During the turn the engine finally died as we were spit back our into the ocean by the ebbing current. Nearing the buoy marking the jetty, Roger calls that we must try to pass down current of it, since the 2-3kt current will quickly sweep us into it. A quick change of the wheel, and the mightily Wind-Lass labored under stay sail alone to make the turn to avoid the buoy. All of this with the both planting itself in the face of each oncoming wave. After clearing back out to sea, David went below to to discover the fuel filters have become incredibly clogged. In wallowing seas, he changed the tank filter and also dug into the aft pantry to locate a new engine fuel filter. After replacing both, covered in diesel, fingers bleeding and ready to rid himself of the days meals, he came back on deck and the motor was successfully started and the second attempt was made into the harbor, with success!

To the south was Fernandina Beach, which is supposed to be very poplar, however all that could be seen was an ugly, large factory. We decided to head up river to St. Mary's, a small charming village on the Ga FL boarder. It is located on The St. Mary's river, 2 mi from the entrance after a very tight snake turn with several shallow banks. We anchored out in front of the town in very light winds and rested. The next morning we went to the marina to fuel up and was greeted by someone apparently out of a by gone era. He looked and spoke like he just got of a Bubba Gump Shrimp boat, but had the gray and tell tale wrinkles of a man born in the early part of last century. It took us a long time to discover that the "unicorns" on the fuel dock were actually "orange cones". The rates are cheap, but beware of the bugs!