We had planned to anchor off Cumberland Island during the July 4th weekend after a couple of nights at Fernandina Marina. However the “feels like” temperatures in the area were well over 100 degrees, meaning we would have had steamy walks on the island plus had to run the generator all day and stay inside the boat. Also Sian had tweaked her back a little so we opted to bring Sonas back to home dock.

Fast forward to Sunday July 28th and the temperatures had eased off a little so we provisioned for four days and cruised via the AICW up to Cumberland Island.

We had a very enjoyable three nights four days, in fact the temperatures really eased off where we had the boat open in pleasant breezes during the day and evenings, only running the AC during sleeping hours.

We walked the island, meeting a few campers, seeing lots of deer and wild horses. We had two sub come through the inlet with their many escorts and head for the base at Kings Bay.

On Wednesday we headed over to Port Consolidated and put in 500 gallons of fuel while talking to Bob, the very friendly dock master. Fuel was 3:20 a gallon cash/check and if you sign an affidavit that you are leaving Florida they do not charge you sales tax!

We then went out the St Mary’s Inlet and cruised back to home dock on the outside, with seas less that 2 feet.

Some photos of the short cruise.

Ohio Class Sub

USS Florida

One way to get your boat lifted!

Fort Clinch

Fort Clinch

Polaris LNG Bunker Ship

Polaris LNG Bunker Ship

Mayport Naval Base

St Johns River Ferry

Doing circles and bumps out of Mayport

Neighbors new Viking

Cumberland Island wheelchairs

Port Consolidated fuel dock

Beautiful day on the AICW

Cumberland White Tailed deer

Cumberland beach

Ghost Crab

Cumberland White Tailed Deer

Board walk to the 17 mile long beach

On the beach path

Walking the island

Protected dunes

Carts for the campers

Sea Camp beach entrance

Sea Camp Ranger Station

Sonas anchored off Sea Camp dock

Smooth seas on the way back home

To see a large version of any of these photos on a computer simply right click on the photo and select “open image in new tab.” On your cell phone just use two fingers to enlarge!

Sonas has been at home dock for the majority of late summer. Most of this was due to some traveling that we did off the boat, but we also took the opportunity to do some maintenance and updating.

We replaced every battery on the boat. 12 6v AGM golf cart batteries for the house. Both generator AGM start batteries (we have 24v system), both 12v AGM batteries for the electronics, and both AGM 8D batteries for the engine starts, windlass and bow thruster.

We also added a series of battery monitors which gives us a full read out of the batteries, their health, charge, draw etc.

We added a new touch screen display on the flybridge to replace the old one which had no longer worked, and added two Garmin marine cameras feeding into the screen. One on the radar arch looking backwards, and one in the engine room. This is replicated in the pilot house.

We replaced the port exhaust hose after noticing a small tear, the starboard was replaced two years ago.

So after all that was completed and we had settled from our travels we headed off the Cumberland Island for four days. Readers of this blog will already know that this is one of our “happy places,” and we go up there as often as we can.

We had been watching the forecast and were hoping it would hold as it was absolutely perfect boating weather! For all four days the forecast was for around 80f during the day and mid-60s at night. With zero wind.

On Tuesday we were out through our lock right as it opened at 8am. Ran north on the AICW to the St John’s and turned right for the ocean. Once past Mayport Naval Station and outside we found flat calm waters with hardly a swell. This held all the way to the St Mary’s Inlet. One thing we noticed was all the sailboats heading south out of the St Johns, all taking advantage of the weather.

We ran up to the Cumberland Island Anchorage on the East River right off the Sea Camp dock. As we passed the Dungeness/Ice House dock we saw that the yellow danger tape was still on the tender dock, then we saw the same on the Sea Camp dock. These docks had been damaged two or three years ago and had not yet been fixed. The good news was there were men working on the docks, so we were hopeful they would be open soon! For now we had to use the small 30 foot or so south portion of the Sea Camp dock temporarily allocated for tenders. Then on Friday we were notified that the work on both docks and the subsequent inspections were complete, and the docks were now open for tenders to use.

There were around 20 boats already anchored, and this was consistent over the 4 days. These were the northern climate boaters heading south , further into Florida and/or the Bahamas and Caribbean.

Once anchored we cranked up the generator just long enough to launch the dinghy. Sian took Bella ashore for a necessary, then we took her for a longer walk on the beach later in the afternoon. We had the 18 mile beach all to ourselves! As we were leaving the island to go back to Sonas we watch an Ohio class nuclear sub depart from Kings Bay. We would also see one coming in on day two and another leaving on day 3!

As forecast the air went still and the water to glass in the evening. We never heard a murmur all night. The sunset was glorious.

Next day, Wednesday, Frank and Julie arrived on their Larson, Escape and Don and Susan on their Grand Banks, Passage. We took Frank and Julie ashore for a ranger led beach walk.

In the evening we six had dinner aboard Passage. Again the waters were glassy and silent all night, with yet another beautiful sunset.

On Thursday Sian, Frank and Julie were dropped off at the Dungeness dock and took a ranger led tour of the Dungeness ruins, watching the wide horses graze nearby.

Around lunchtime Bill and Betsy arrived on their Great Harbor, Pipe Dream. Everyone came across to Sonas in the evening for grilled steaks and camaraderie. And for the third night we had a calm anchorage.

Finally on Friday everyone left late morning and we ran outside on even calmer water than our trip up.

This is the perfect weather for Florida boating!!

[Week four is here]

Saturday April 29th – Monday May 1st – Green Turtle Club

There was a serious blow forecasted to start Sunday with winds over 40 knots so we booked into Green Turtle Club Marina for three days until it blew over.

The wind arrived earlier than forecasted and we backed into the slip in a decent blow. Frisco jumped on board and handled all the lines. As the day wore on the marina filled up with boats avoiding the wind. Boaters on the docks answered cries for help as just about everyone had a challenging time getting into the slips. The dock hands were terrific and no damage to boats or humans occurred! The mooring field in White Sound was full and some boats were swinging wildly in the wind.

Saturday evening we walked over to the bar, planning to eat there. However the tables are not really conducive to eating so we asked if that had a table on the patio. They did not, so we ate in the inside restaurant. The food was excellent.

During the weekend Sian explored different parts of Green Turtle within walking distance of the marina and eventually found Coco Bay beach while walking Bella. While not worrisome in itself, when she got back to the boat she started looking at real estate for sale in that area. Hmmmmmm!

On Monday we rented a golf cart and explored more of the island, going into New Plymouth for breakfast and visiting a few beaches, including Coco Bay again!

We took the golf cart over for a look at Bluff House and booked a table for dinner later that evening. We had a very nice dinner on their patio by the marina.

There were a number of sportsfishers in the marina and we happily chatted to all of them. Darryl, who ran the sportsfisher that was in the slip next to us, came over and gave us some Strawberry Grouper that they had caught. Enough for two meals!

Tuesday May 2nd – Great Abaco Island beach

The wind finally slacked off. Since it was still from the south we headed off to the beach across from Manjack on Great Abaco Island for the afternoon and night. We had been to this beach a number of times, including once on this trip. It isn’t usually the most scenic location but with the protection from southerly winds, the good holding, and the long sandy, easily accessible beach it made a great place to relax. This year the beach is interesting in that Dorian had rendered it pretty wild with layers of tress ripped up or stripped of their foliage, plus the flotsam and jetsam washed up makes for interesting walks.

Wednesday May 3rd – Allans Pensacola

This was the most disappointing day of our trip so far. We had really wanted to visit Allans Pensacola on this trip. The winds were from the north west blowing at over 20 knots making the north anchorage less feasible, there is in a large anchorage on the east side of the cay which looked like it would work well in these winds. We put down the anchor and waited for a couple of hours to see if the side-on surge we were getting off the ocean would subside. It did not and was rolling Sonas and the other boats in the anchorage substantially. We decided to leave and go to the north anchorage to see if it was better after all. As we approached the anchorage it was clear that it would be pretty rough so we retraced our track and re-achored in the east anchorage. And indeed it was a miserable night with the boat rolling. However we were safe!

Thursday May 4th – Friday May 5th – Powell Cay

The wind had changed to the north east so we went to the north anchorage which was now protected. We were very disappointed in that, while very scenic, here were no beaches of any length. This may have been because it was high tide when we arrived. Photos we have seen of this anchorage showed plenty of sandy beaches. So after a short explore on the dinghy we upped anchor and cruised slowly down to Powell Cay. Earlier in this trip we only had the opportunity to spend once night at Powell as we had to get to Marsh Harbour to pick guests up, so we were happy to spend more time there. We spent two wonderful days anchored off the beaches there. Yet again the forecast called for wind, with gusts to 35. So we booked back into Green turtle Club for a couple of nights.

This year we are going back to Abaco, where we have not been since 2019. We do prefer Exuma and the Far Bahamas now that we are retired but we have a number of guests flying in and getting to the airport at Marsh or Treasure Cay is much easier than trying to time the weather and running Exuma Sound to Georgetown.

We had originally planned on leaving Jacksonville for the Bahamas on Tuesday March 21st. Before leaving Paul wanted to find the source of a water intrusion in the engine room. He finally lifted the floorboards over the dripless shaft seals and found that they were leaking. So off to the yard she had to go for a haul out and shaft check. Both shafts were found to be badly pitted under the seals. The shafts were sent off to Brunswick GA to see if they could be machined but they reported back that they were too far gone. So we ordered new shafts and put our departure date on hold. The shafts were delivered and installed and we reset the departure for Friday March 31st.

A few days before leaving we tested some of our critical systems including the anchor windlass and the dinghy davit. Unfortunately we discovered a pin had broken off the davit remote controller rendering it inoperable. We did have a spare on board however the upgraded unit wasn’t a direct replacement so meant an internal rewiring. Paul and our good neighbor Jack spent a several few hours on it and got it resolved. We were finally good to go!

Next step, book the marinas we required as we run from Jacksonville to West Palm. In years past we only needed to book the first stop and then reserve slips for the next night as we motored south. However two events have changed this substantially. First, because we were leaving later than before, we were sailing south as it was the time of the year for those boats who wintered in Florida and the Bahamas to move back north. Secondly, during the pandemic thousands of people were introduced to boating and bought new boats which required slips. So marinas were full, and slips were hard to come by unless you planned ahead. And we couldn’t plan ahead due to our shaft issue! However we managed to book everywhere except West Palm. This was the most important booking as it was where we prepare Sonas, ready to cross the Gulf Stream to West End Grand Bahama the next day

Friday March 31st. Jacksonville to Palm Coast Marina

We were off our home dock ten minutes before our lock opened and were professionally handles through by Steve and Jason. We had an uneventful run to Palm Coast Marina. In fact without planning we hit the Bridge of Lions bridge in St Augustine right at opening time.

Palm Coast is always our first stop on the way out and our last stop on the way back from our cruises south. There is a really good Indian restaurant there at the European Village and we do enjoy the food there!

We still do not have a confirmed marina slip in West Palm. We finally asked Safe Harbor North Palm Beach if we could use their fuel dock if we arrived after it was closed and they agreed. So at least we had somewhere to tie up.

Saturday April 1st – Palm Coast to Titusville.

Since we retired we made the decision to run shorter days given that time is no object, Our regular run from Palm Coast is to New Smyrna. However all of the marinas there were full, So we had to run through New Smyrna, along Mosquito Lagoon, through Haulover Canal and into Titusville City Marina. There is a dog park right beside the marina so Sian took Bella for a run. Unfortunately there was a big dog who wanted to bully Bella and another dog who tried to get in between them. Sian stayed just long enough for Bella to do the necessary then headed back.

We had been using WaterWay Guide to monitor fuel prices along our route. Titusville came out as the least expensive on our trip south – though still a dollar a gallon more expensive that last year’s pre-crossing fill up! However we filled up our smaller forward tank which holds 125 gallons. We lock this down and do not use it as it is our emergency “good stuff” should we get bad fuel in the islands. That fuel would get us over 200 miles to somewhere to rectify the issue if we needed to.

We added an addition 600 gallons to the main tanks, giving us a total of just under 900 gallons.

One concern today was Paul finding an oil leak on the bilge pad under the port engine while doing the morning engine room check. However after further inspection it was coming from the hose connection used for the Reverso oil change system. We had the engines serviced prior to leaving and the oil left in the extraction hose had leaked out. He changed out the bilge pad and decided that this fix can wait until we get back home.

This evening we walked to the Pier 220 Restaurant near the marina and had seafood dinners.

Sunday April 2nd – Titusville to Vero Beach

The next two days would be the easy runs, while still long days at eight hours. The ICW between Titusville and Vero Beach is wide and easily navigated, and the weather forecast for tomorrow indicated that we could run outside to Lake Worth Inlet. Even better the forecast for the Gulf Stream crossing on Tuesday had firmed up and looked very good.

We got safely tied up on the north dock at Vero. There is another dog park right by the marina. In fact this is the very first dog park that Bella ever went to, during our return from Fort Myers a couple of years ago and the first year we rescued her. She now visits at least twice a year on boating trips. Sian reported that as soon as she was off the boat she knew exactly where to head! She had a much better visit this time compared to Titusville!

We had signed up with an organization called Hope Fleet. They have a number of programs, Hope Buckets being one program. These are big blue buckets containing seeds and other products that allow people to grow back garden vegetables and use the bucket for irrigation. We had agreed to take some buckets but also school supplies. Our contact Danny turned up with three others and loaded twenty buckets and a full guest cabin full of school supplies; teaching kits and sports equipment.

We also discovered that we had left our Soda Stream machine behind! AAARRRGGGHH. We do not provision any soda or tonic water so as to reduce the recycling we have to store and bring back. Danny had offered to give us a ride if we needed it, so off we went to Target and bought a new Soda Stream.

As always on our visit to Vero Beach we walked over to the Riverside Cafe restaurant for more seafood! We also got the good news that Safe Harbor North Palm Beach found a slip for us so we wouldn’t have to sit at their fuel dock!

Monday April 3rd – Vero Beach to Lake Worth

We ran from Vero Beach down to Fort Pierce and through the inlet and made the turn for Lake Worth Inlet. This allows us to bypass all of the slow zones on the ICW in this area. It also allows us to set the waypoint for the inlet and let the auto pilot do all the steering!

We made Lake Worth around 3pm and headed back up the ICW for four miles to our marina for the night. As soon as we had the boat secured and Bella walked we called for an Uber and headed off to Publix to replenish our fresh vegetables, fruit and bread.

We checked all of our weather sources and confirmed that the gulf stream crossing tomorrow was still a go!

Tuesday April 4th – Lake Worth Inlet to West end Grand Bahama.

We were out of the slip by 7am and out the Lake Worth Inlet by 7:30. We put the coordinates for the Old Bahamas Bay Marina at West End Grand Bahama into our autopilot, it returned an arrival time of exactly 2:30pm – a run of seven hours. Given that is is 56 nautical miles away this was to be an average cruising speed of eight knots at our set 1800 rpms. As we hit the north flowing Gulf Stream we found the bearing to the marina to be 103 degrees and our boat heading to be 125 degrees. An offset of 22 degrees to account for the cross-current!

The crossing was BORING! Which was awesome! We have had a couple of nasty experiences crossing in the past so two foot waves and minimal swell was refreshing.

We reached the entrance to the marina’s turning basin right at 2:30 and were directed to come straight in. We were given a slip just a few down from the grill and bar. After Bella was allowed her necessaries we headed off to the pool for a cooling swim followed by grouper dinners at the West End restaurant.

We had planned on spending just the one night at West End before heading off onto the Bahamas Bank. However we felt it was time to slow down after some long days running down from Jacksonville, so we booked in for another night.

We used the rest day to wash the salt accumulation off Sonas and do some chores. We walked the nice beach and used the pool. We met a number of pleasant boaters who were, like us, heading further on to Abaco.

Thursday April 6th – West End to Great Sale

We headed out of Old Bahama Bay and turned north towards the shallow Indian Rock passage onto the Bahama Bank. This channel only carries 6-7 feet at MLW. Not only were we transiting at near high tide but over the years we have become comfortable motoring over sandy bottoms with only a foot or two underneath the keel. This route save us numerous hours on the alternative route via Memory Rock well to the north. We slowly passed through the channel and then headed to Mangrove Cay, rounding that we set the course for Great Sale. Arriving we found a dozen other boats there before us with more arriving afterwards; both those starting their Bahamas adventure and those heading the other way for home.

Great Sale is a pretty desolate place. No buildings, no people and no beach in the anchorage, just rough limestone. It’s one saving grace is that it is half way between West End and the first stops in the Sea of Abaco cruising grounds. We did meet one couple in their boat Peace VI at west end and they were skipping Great Sale and running the 125 miles to Green Turtle in one day. They were out of the marina before light. That length of trip is no longer something that we plan.

There is a very nice beach on the outer north west side of the island about a 15 minute dinghy ride out of the anchorage,. The winds were favorable that we could comfortably use it for Bella’s requirements.

Friday April 7th – Great Sale to Powell Cay

Powell Cay is our first stop proper in the Sea of Abaco. We motored past Angel Fish and Spanish Cay and set the nose on the anchorage . This was to the south west of the island and would protect us from the light northerly winds today. We anchored over a sandy bottom a 30 second dinghy ride from the mile long soft sand beach. As was her habit now, as soon as the anchor was down Bella wanted the dinghy launched and to be taken ashore, and we duly obliged her.

Saturday April 8th – Powell Cay to Treasure Cay

Under normal circumstances we would have spent a few days at Powell. However we had two things to contend with. The first is Whale Cay Channel, the second is the imminent arrival of heavy wind.

Whale Cay channel is wide and faces the open Atlantic. It is notorious for being in a rage – that is huge breaking seas that make transiting the channel dangerous, in fact regularly impassable. Back in the late 90s a cruise ship company built a “private island” inside the channel at Baker’s Bay. Within a short time they had to abandon the playground as the Whale Cay channel was often to rough for even their cruise ships to get in!

We use a number of sources for our weather forecast. Windy, Windfinder, NOAA, Barometer Bob, and subscribe to Chris Parker’s twice daily regional updates. All were aligned that there was a significant blow coming in starting Sunday evening, with winds gusting to 38 knots! Sunday morning looked okay to cross Whale Cay Channel but we decided to do it on Saturday, just in case it came in early.

We crossed the channel without incident, with rolly five foot swells for an hour. We made the turn to the south west and the entrance to Treasure Cay mooring basin. There are four mooring balls left but we had no idea if they had been maintained since Hurricane Dorian devastated the resort and marina. So we chose to trust our own ground tackle and tucked ourselves up behind a row of condos.

December and early January brought chilly weather to North East Florida – just like most of the country. Finally the forecast called for a few days of warm-ish weather so we quickly did some provisioning and untied from home dock on Tuesday January 17th with a plan to run the AICW up to Cumberland Island and anchor there for a night before going over to Fernandina on Wednesday for a nice dinner ashore before returning home on the outside on Thursday.

Most importantly this would be the first anchoring-out trip since Sian had her bad accident in the Exumas last March. Since then any boating has been to marinas. This would be a trial in handling the dinghy launch and retrieval and going ashore in it.

The public landing docks at Cumberland had been damaged by hurricane Ian. However we had heard that they had marked out a small section of the ferry dock for dingy landing. Before leaving Paul called the ranger office in St Mary’s and confirmed that there was a small section, painted blue, that we could tie up to. So off we went!

Unfortunately we were following a low tide all the way up – but we knew this part of the AICW really well so weren’t too concerned. The only real worry was the corner just before Fernandina and we would handle that when we got there.

We have been going up and down to Fernandina for over 22 years. This is the very first time that the Kingsley Creek Railway Bridge was in the closed position!

As we approach “that” corner we saw a commercial tug aground just ahead of us. They hadn’t cut across the the can buoy showing the channel right up against the western shore. The red marking on this chartplotter photo shows their AIS track.

Then when he finally got around the corner he left the channel and went to far to the north, running aground multiple times. I finally radioed over and directed him to the deep water, and he moved over. We later saw him heading further north on the AICW so assumed he wasn’t “from these here parts!”

After anchoring off the Cumberland Island Sea Camp dock we heard a radio transmission that we have heard numerous times before indicating a sub was coming into Kings Bay Submarine Base. And in it came. These are Ohio Class Nuclear Missile subs.

We had an amazing calm night, without a ripple on the water and not a sound heard as we slept.

On Wednesday afternoon we slowly crossed to Fernandina. The weather remained very pleasureable. Two friends from our neighborhood drove up and joined us for a very nice dinner at Espana, the Spanish restaurant. (They do great paella by the way!)

We tied up beside a large blue-hulled sailboat which had been demasted. Paul spoke to the marina staff and realized we had read about this incident on some of the trawler forums. The boat had just been re-rigged and while at sea the mast came down. The owner felt that a cotter pin had not been replaced by the yard. We are sure that this is going to be a nightmare to resolve.

We had planned to run outside on the return leg as both Windy and WindFinder called for 1.6 to 2 foot seas. But as the morning went on the wind got up and we saw on NOAA that they were calling for 4 plus foot seas. While the boat would be fine in those conditions there was no need to do it so we again followed the low tide back to home port.

An overview of how to prepare for a successful entry into the Bahamas by boat and return to the US. [Note: this is what we know and understand as of November 2022. Things are constantly changing (e.g. as they did with COVID), while this will point you at the areas you have to cover please make sure to do your own checking for the current situation as you prepare for your trip].

Annual DTOPS Decal

You will need to buy a DTOPS sticker from Homeland Security. You put this on your boat near a boarding point where it can easily be seen. We get notification in October each year that our renewal is due and get it immediately rather than waiting. Below is the description from the DHS web site.

“Decals are stickers that are placed on all private aircraft and private vessels (30 feet or more in length) as proof that the User Fee for entry into the U.S. has been paid for the calendar year. Any arriving vessel or aircraft that does not have an annual decal will be required to pay the non-refundable User Fee and complete an application, which will be forwarded to the processing center. The application will be processed, and a decal will be mailed from the processing center. A decal expires on December 31st of its issue year. A new decal is issued whenever the decal is renewed.”  https://dtops.cbp.dhs.gov/main/#

ROAM (Reporting Offsite Arrival – Mobile) App

ROAM was brought in for Florida boaters in April 2018 to replace the Small Vessel Reporting System. It is now widely available for entry into the United States. You will still need to register for a SVRS number or have another expedited entry program such as Global Entry.

It works as follows. You download the App. You will need to have a Login.gov account. You then add the people who will be checking in. This includes the names and passport details as well as taking a photo of the passport photo page using the App. It will also ask you for your SVRS number or Global Entry number etc. You also add in details of the vessel you are entering on. These detail are saved in the App for future use. You then enter details of this particular entry – which countries you had visited and then you answer the standard questions regarding anything you may be bringing in.

You then press submit. And this is the critical part. The submission will be reviewed real time by an officer. The officer will either approve the entry or request a video interview. You must keep the App open and watch it for the response. If you do not respond to a request for a video interview you will shorty receive an email telling you that your entry was not approved and you must report in person. This real time process is not intuitive and there is not a tutorial set up yet taking you through the process. So make sure to monitor the App after submission.

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/pleasure-boats-private-flyers/pleasure-boat-overview/roam

Passports Vs. Birth Certificates

Before 9/11 US boaters going to and returning from the Bahamas could do so on an original US Birth Certificate – with a raised seal (stamp). After 9/11 this is no longer the case and you must have your passport with you. Another option is using a US Passport Card. This is not valid for international air travel but can be used for travel by sea (and land) between the US and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/apply-renew-passport/card.html

Using Your VHF To Communicate With A Foreign Shore Base

US regulations dictate that any individual communicating with a foreign shore based station have a Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit.  Additionally any vessel communicating with a foreign shore base must have a Ship Station License. The Operator’s permit is lifetime, whereas the Ship’s license is for ten years. To obtain your licenses you must first register on the FCC’s CORES system. You will get a FCC Registration Number (FRN) and password. Using these you can then get your operator’s and Ships radio licenses.

COREs Registration

Bahamas Customs & Immigration

Entering Bahamian waters you must fly your national ensign as usual, and a yellow quarantine flag until you clear customs and immigration. The quarantine flag is usually flown off the starboard side of the boat. Once cleared you must then take down the yellow flag and replace it with the Bahamian (courtesy) flag. BE AWARE the penalties for taking fish prior to clearing are severe.

When traveling to the Bahamas by boat you may anchor out prior to clearing customs. Usually when running from West Palm to West End this is not necessary. However when running from Fort Pierce to the northern Abacos or from points further south to the Berries or Exumas for example, this may be necessary for slower vessels. While we have not personally heard of any issues with boats anchoring for two nights before clearing, we would not recommend it as it is hard to justify. BE AWARE that no one from the boat can go ashore if you chose to anchor prior to clearing customs.

You must clear at your first port of call in the Bahamas. So take care to make that an island that has a customs and immigration officer. You can see the list of locations here:

Customs locations

Also, it is stated that only the person checking in is allowed to leave the boat until the process is completed. [Though previously  when checking in at Lucaya after an 11 hour run we asked if Sian could take the dog ashore while Paul met with customs and they gave the OK]. We have heard that often everyone must go ashore to clear immigration, but that has not been our experience.

While you can print out and hand complete complete set of customs and immigration documents prior to leaving home, we strongly suggest that you use the new Click To Clear web site. This allows you to complete all of the forms on line and pay the relevant entry fee. When you arrive in the Bahamas they can bring up your completed forms and expedite the process. This will save a lot of time in the customs office.

Visit the link below for information.

Click To Clear 

There is a $300 entry fee, which includes your fishing license. ($150 for boats under 35 feet). This covers three people and is good for two entries within a 90 day period. Each additional person is $20. The only other cost would be if you requested out of hours processing when there may be overtime costs for the extra time.

Over the past couple of years all of the entry offices moved to accepting credit cards for fee payments – if you have not used the Click To Clear system!

BE AWARE that you must declare any firearms on board and have them secured. You must also declare every single round of ammunition on board. This is critical as if you are later boarded and found to have more ammunition than declared they will assume you planned to discharge. If they board you and find that you have less ammunition than declared they will assume you have already discharged!

One more point before we leave the customs and immigration process, and that is around tipping the customs officer after he has provided the services expected.  We will not suggest that you do it or not do it here, but we would recommend that you use on-line search tools and forums and based on your findings make your own decision.

Taking a Dog [this is for a vacation visit, permanent import has a different process]

If you want to take your pet to the islands with you you must first apply to the Bahamian Department of Agriculture (Veterinary Services Unit) for a permit. This is a pretty straight forward process, just make sure to do it well before you plan on leaving.

There are certain breeds that are not allowed. Also you will need your vet to give you a declaration of health for the dog as well as confirmation that the dog is up to date on all of its rabies shots. BE AWARE that they ask you to have your vet complete the health form within 24 hours of your departure! This is impossible if your home and vet is multiple days away from your crossing point. However we have not had an issue with “very recent” dating on this form.

You will find the application form, with instructions here, along with many, if not all, of the forms you require for your trip. Just use the Search Form menu item and enter Dog.

Bahamian form

Additionally an individual in Nassau set up a service whereby he takes your application over his web site, walks it across the road and submits it and then emails your approval (or rejection). This take some of the mailing times and risk out of the process. A link to his web site is below.

Bahamas Pet Import

Consumables

One of the most frequent question we see asked about going to the Bahamas is around the limits for bringing in food and alcohol. While we cannot speak to doing so when flying, there is absolutely no issue with bringing in as much food and drink as you require for your cruise. Clearly this must be for your own consumption. Just state that on the Inward Report – Pleasure Vessels form under B(2) Stores Onboard “Sufficient Food and beverages for master and crew consumption only.”

BE AWARE that your boat will obviously have spares for maintenance of your boat for the duration of the cruise. These will be on board as you arrive and depart. However if you are bringing parts for another vessel these will need to be reported. You will have to pay a stamp tax on those parts BUT, based on latest information, if they are replacement parts, you should not have to pay duty. Obviously check the latest rules on this prior to bringing in replacement parts for someone else.

Taking an Unmanned Aircraft (Drone)

If you want to use a drone in the Bahamas you will have to either have it registered with the FAA in the US and then apply for an Authorization To Fly In the Bahamas Airspace, or register it with the Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority and ask for the authorization. Since it is now a rule that you must register in the US it makes sense to go ahead and go the US registration route. BTW, new in the US is that you must have your FAA registration on the outside of the drone, no longer allowed just inside somewhere.

The Bahamian authorization request process is very straight forward.

Bahamas Drone Registration

When registering in 2022 I received an email back asking for the following information:

• The intended purpose for the use of your drone while in the Bahamas (recreational or commercial)
• Arrival and departure dates
• Location of drone operations (Island)
• An attached copy of your country’s Drone Registration Certificate/License or equivalent (if applicable) if your drone weighs more than 249g
• Scanned Copy of Passport photo page
• Complete Mailing Address

After sending this in I received a letter authorizing my drone. Just be aware that the authorization only last for 30 days so complete this as close to departure date as possible. You can extend this, but make sure to do it before the original 30 days expires.

We hope this help anyone planning a trip to the Islands! They really are a paradise!

For the previous post on Sian’s accident click here.

Sian, Bella and I were Medivaced from Nassau on March 26th. Sonas was safely tied up at the Bay Street Marina in Nassau, where I had booked the slip until April 8th, thinking that it would give me time to get Sian home and me back to collect her.

As detailed in our previous post for a number of reasons Sian could not have surgery until April 4th, and we got home to Jacksonville on April 6th. Our daughter Claire came in from Montana to help look after Sian, which allowed me to look for a weather window to get Sonas back from Nassau.

As many boaters are aware this year was particularly bad for spring winds, which constantly blew week after week. We have a number of boating neighbors who were willing and able to go with me to bring Sonas back, but all had hard deadlines for upcoming trips. My brother Peter, who lives in Derry, Ireland, is self employed and has family members who can watch the business. He offered to be on short notice stand-by to come help, all I had to do is wait for a weather window and he would come immediately! I kept in touch with the marina in Nassau, extending the reservation when I needed to.

Finally on Sunday April 10th the weather firmed up giving a good weather window to get north from Nassau and across the Gulf Stream the following weekend. I got Peter booked on a flight from Dublin on Tuesday April 12th, and then we both flew from Jacksonville to Nassau via Miami the next day, Wednesday April 13th.

As Peter told many people during the trip back, there is always a silver lining to every negative event, and he was fortunate to be able to get the experience of a Bahamas to Florida delivery cruise, including a Gulf Stream crossing! In fact once in Nassau, while I did the engine room and other boat checks, Peter walked over the Sidney Poitier Bridge and visited Atlantis as he had heard so much about it.

Thursday April 14th

To ensure that we were conservative with the weather window in case it changed, I had planned out a pretty grueling trip back. On Thursday the 14th we left the marina before sun up. We went east to The Narrows to by pass Nassau Harbour Control and avoid the incoming cruise ships.

First stop was Slaughter Bay, on the very northern tip on The Berrys. We first had to cross the Tongue of The Ocean north of New Providence Island. From the forecast for the next few days this was the only real questionable section. The strong easterly winds of the last couple of weeks has resulted in large reported swells. The Tongue has a long fetch from the east and it can get up significantly, even though current conditions were mild. We had stowed Sonas for sea, locked everything down, prepared a ditch bag, and we were wearing our Personal Locator Beacons.

Thankfully, while we had some swell on the beam, it was nothing that the stabilizers couldn’t handle. We had an uneventful cruise north and by mid afternoon we made the turn towards Slaughter Bay.

Slaughter Bay sits between the Little Stirrup Cay and Great Stirrup Cay. However these are two islands set up as private islands by Royal Caribbean and Norweigan Cruise Lines respectively. While all Bahamian Islands are public lands below the high water mark, it is not advisable to go ashore on these islands as security will move you off. There were no NCL ships there and we watched the Caribbean ships leave at 5pm.

We had a pleasant dinner and sat in the cockpit watching the sunset to the west.

We also wondered at the fact that the Caribbean cruise resort kept all of their lights on after the ships had left. As we prepared to lift anchor the next morning we found out why! The next two ships arrived well before sun up, and we guessed that they wanted to resort to look welcoming to any passengers on deck as they approached!

Friday April 15th.

Soon after first light we went out of the anchorage past the two newly arrived Royal Caribbean cruise ships, then headed north west towards West End Grand Bahama, our jumping off point for the Gulf Stream crossing tomorrow morning. We passed south of Freeport and arrived outside the turning basin for the marina at Old Bahama Bay.

One thing I must confess to now. When cruising with Sian I am allowed one cookie with my afternoon tea. With just myself and Peter onboard all bets are off!

When we arrived there was a boat waiting outside for the harbormaster to give the all-clear to enter the turning basin and the marina. I slowed and waited behind him, listening to him chatting to the harbormaster on the radio. As we waited a power boat approached from the north west (Florida) and radioed the harbormaster that he was coming in and wanted the same slip he had on the last visit. Without waiting for a response he passed us and entered the turning basin and pretty much demanded that he be next in. He did get in first but not in the slip he wanted – the one right outside the restaurant. In fact we were assigned that slip when we entered in an orderly fashion.

After securing Sonas we showered, walked the few steps to the Dockside Bar and Grill to eat a relaxing dinner. As we walked back to boat we got chatting with the couple in the boat next to Sonas, Geoff and Susan on First Love. They were also based out of Jacksonville and were also heading back tomorrow.

Saturday April 16th

Again we were off at first light and once out of the turning basin we set the auto pilon on “Nav” for Fort Pierce Inlet. The AP would handle the northwards push of the Gulf Stream for us. After an hour First Love passed us also on their way to Fort Pierce, though going faster than us.

The crossing was thankfully, uneventful, in fact pretty boring, which is what you want when crossing The Stream! The northward flow of the gulf stream pushed us along at over four knots faster than our usual cruising speed at the set engine RPMs. We did not really hit any wave action until we met the outgoing water at Fort Pierce Inlet – which took a few knots off our speed and was rather lumpy. We watched as as a small trawler, who clearly had local knowledge, head towards the shore well below the inlet and follow the beach north to the inlet and he overtook us easily in smoother water!

Rather than stopping at Fort Pierce we had a slip booked in Vero Beach. I wanted to tack on the extra one and a half hours to use the daylight to get us further up the ICW towards Jacksonville and home. Since it was 4 o’clock before got through the inlet we had to call the Vero Beach City Marina and get our slip assignment as they would be closed by the time we got there at 5:30. When we arrived another transient boater came down and caught our lines.

This evening we walked over to the busy Riverside Grill for dinner!

Before going to dinner I used the ROAM APP to check us in. My details were already in the system and I had added Peter’s information before I left for the Bahamas. I was checked in with no issue but the officer who called back told us that Peter had to report as he was a foreign national. This was an issue since the office at Fort Pierce was now closed and wouldn’t open again until 10am tomorrow given it was Sunday. I found that there was an office in Melbourne AND a marina within a 15 minute UBER. My plan was to stop there on the way north tomorrow and check Peter in. I called and left a message with the marina asking for a one hour transient stop in the morning. This would mean we could keep going and not be impacted too much.

Easter Sunday April 17th.

Our plan today called for us to travel north on the AICW to the anchorage just to the south east of the NASA Causeway Bridge. After getting underway I checked the Homeland Security website to find that the Melbourne office did not open at all on a Sunday! That was an issue as the officer had told us that they would like Peter to check in with 24 hours of arrival. The next office was St Augustine. We would not be passing through there until Monday, but since we would also be arriving home in Jacksonville on Monday afternoon I decided that we would keep going and take Peter to the office in Jacksonville on Tuesday morning.

We made very good time and we were at the NASA Causeway Bridge by 3:30 so we again decided to keep going to shave time off tomorrow’s run. We continued another hour and a half and anchored just north of the mooring field in Titusville. I had anchored there numerous times before and knew the holding was very good. As we got the anchor down Geoff and Susan arrived on First Love and hailed the marina asking for a slip assignment.

It was Easter Sunday and since a lamb roast dinner was our Easter tradition back in Ireland we had defrosted a leg of lamb from the freezer. I called Sian for cooking instructions for the convection oven and duly poured some cooking oil into a pan added the basted lamb and set the oven to the suggested 440 degrees. We got the boiled potatoes and asparagus ready to go once the lamb was nearly ready.

Then we went out into the cockpit and cracked a couple of beers!

And soon there was smoke billowing out of the galley!

Long story made short, the lamb was cooked and so was the convection oven! The result was an enjoyable Easter dinner and an oven that would be thrown out when we got home! We talked back and forth on what exactly we had done wrong. I blamed Peter, he blamed me, but then we both settled on the fact that we must have had the wrong instructions from Sian!

Monday April 18th.

Two more days to go. Today we ran from Titusville through Haulover Canal, up through Mosquito Lagoon, through New Smyrna, Daytona, Ormond Beach and into the slip we had reserved at Palm Coast Marina. About an hour after we tied up First Love came in and tied up behind us on the transient dock. We had a nice long chat with Geoff and Susan before heading off to the European Village for an Asian dinner at the only restaurant open on an Monday evening!

Tuesday April 19th.

Today we finished our trip with a short five and a half hour run north from Palm Coast. Through St Augustine, Palm Valley to our home slip in Queens Harbour. As we turned into the channel we heard First Love on the radio at the bridge about 3 miles behind us. We had travelled together, but not together, all the way from West End!

As we got through the lock and tied up at home dock Sian was sitting in her wheelchair on the patio watching us. It was an emotional ending to a very difficult four weeks.

Her accident happened on March 23rd on Hawksbill Cay and we were all finally home on April 19th, Sonas included! We have been blessed with a great extended family, awesome friends, and a fantastic boating community, we are so very grateful for all the help we received!

Oh, by the way, the new convection oven replacing the one Peter blew up is installed!

We made it!

Day 22. Friday March 18.

We slipped out of the Cabbage Cay anchorage after Bella had her beach walk and headed south towards New Providence. We had some decent swells but they were well apart and the cruising was comfortable.

After a couple of hours we were surprised to hear Joi de Vivre (neighbors from back home) come over the radio hailing another boat. We cut in and surprised them. They were coming through the Tongue Of The Ocean from Chub Cay and heading for Nassau as we were coming down the east side of the Berrys and going through the cut east of Nassau to continue to Exuma. We listened as they hailed their marina and tied up!

We made the narrow Salt Cay channel and managed to safely stay out of the way of the many tourist boats bombing through. We passed by Porgee Rocks and over Yellow Bank with all of its coral heads, leaving Nassau behind. The water was now coral blues and greens. We still had a choppy sea but again the swells were well spaced apart and it was a comfortable ride all of the way to Norman’s Cay. We had considered anchoring off Highbourne Cay, but the owners of this private island are quite fussy about people coming onto their island who were not paying guests! So we passed on south.

We got nice and close into the beach at Normans, perfect for beach walks and to have lunch at MacDuffs restaurant. The last time we were at Normans there were just three boats anchored there, this time about 20! Also the airport on the island was very busy with private and chartered planes regularly coming in.

Day 23 and 24. Saturday March 19th and Sunday March 20th.

Sonas needed a good wash down outside and a good vacuumn and polish inside, so that is what we did Saturday morning. We then treated ourselves to lunch at MacDuffs restaurant. Twenty one dollars for a fish sandwich and 31 dollars for a Cobb salad! We made sure to clean our plate to make sure we got our money’s worth!

There was also a Bahamian Party going on at the beach with music, booze, food and plenty of loud music!

There had been a bit of a surge in the anchorage last night so we took the dinghy and visited with a boat that had anchored well to the north of us. We wanted to ask if they had surge there as well. As we approached the boat we were surprised to see the boat name – Sonas! On chatting with the owner we discovered that this was the Sonas that we saw at Saint Simon’s Marina last Summer. He had just bought her. We now know of three boats with the Sonas name. Us, this boat, and a sailboat we passed in the Chesapeake back in 2018.

On Sunday evening we tried to fly the drone for the first time to find that Norman’s Cay Airport was programmed into the firmware and we were forbidden to take off!

Day 25. Monday March 21.

We were leaving Normans today and heading south to Sian’s favorite anchorage in all of the Bahamas – Hawksbill Cay north anchorage. Since this was just a slow hours cruise we did not life the anchor until after 10am. On the way we passed a number of nice mega yachts one with a chopper that took off as we passed.

As we approached the anchorage we saw a large yacht named Huntress appear on the AIS. We knew that boat. This was the boat that prevented us from getting fuel in Stock Island (Key West) last spring. It had been tied up at the fuel dock and since it was 300 feet long, took up the whole dock!

As we got into the anchorage we saw that there were tables, umbrellas, chairs, kayaks, jet skis and all the paraphernalia that comes with mega yachts on the beach. We watched as the guests used the facility for a couple of hours, then the poor crew having to ship it all back to Huntress! They were still packing up when we took Bella on her afternoon walk and we commiserated with them.

Day 26. Tuesday March 22.

Today was just a day for chillaxing, doing some tidy-up on Sonas and taking walks on the beach. We also got out the snorkel gear for the first time and snorkeled the small but rich coral head at the north end of the anchorage. Afterwards we inflated one of the SUPs and went paddling off the beach. As Sian was paddling along the shoreline Bella ran after her looking like she wanted a go. So we loaded onto the SUP and she sat there like a queen as Sian did all the work.

This was our last day before Sian’s accident!

Day 8. Thursday March 3rd.

The day started off on a positive note and stayed that way!

Walking Bella through the Nettles Island neighborhood someone told Sian that she could take Bella over to the beach and let her off the leash! So off she went and came back with Bella panting heavily and Sian (not panting heavily) with a big smile on her face. Bella had run in and out of the water, letting the waves chase her and played with a number of other dogs also running free on the beach. They had a great time. Sian only wished someone had told her that dogs could run freely on the beach as soon as we got there. We will be adding this information to the WaterWay Guide for other boaters.

We had a leisurely breakfast at the marina and then were off by 9:30a.m. We ran through the Crossroads (the intersection of the AICW, St Lucie River and the St Lucie Inlet), and down through the big mansions on Jupiter Island. We exited the AICW in North Palm Beach and tied up without issue at Old Port Cove Marina.

This evening we went for dinner at Belle’s, the marina restaurant and had a table right by the big window overlooking Privacy, Tiger Woods yacht, which he keeps at the marina.

Day 9. Friday March 4th.

Today is a down day for us, which means doing some chores on Sonas. Sian did some housekeeping, we started to store some “stuff” ready for the crossing whenever we have a weather window, and Paul took the hose to the decks.

And Bella got a soapy wash on the swim platform and her toe nails dremelled!

We also received the box of parts that our mechanic in Jacksonville had sent. We stored the spare first and secondary filters, impellers and belts. We also got the tensioner pulley that we wanted to replace.

Paul called three different diesel servicing companies who all told us that they did not work on our engines. He tried to explain the the one hour job was not engine manufacturer specific, but was having a hard time getting the concept across. Then he saw two mechanics getting off the boat next door, and called them over. He saw by the company name on their t-shirts that they worked for one of the companies he had called this morning. Paul explained the job and the mechanic said he would talk to the service manager about it on Monday morning. As they were leaving later in the day Paul reminded them to have that conversation!

However we have now decided that if we cannot get a mechanic Paul feels confident he can do the job himself on Tuesday before we cross.

Sian had retrieved some seafood out of the freezer for dinner as it was a Friday in Lent. But as dinner time approached we decided to go grab quick showers and go back up to Belle’s Restaurant for a seafood dinner! Our argument was that we would be without restaurants for the next three months, so better to get them in now while we can!

Day 10 and 11. Saturday and Sunday March 5th and 6th.

Today was the day we had been hoping to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. But the forecast was calling for 6-8 foot seas all the way across. We had known this for a few days so had booked into Riviera Beach Marina until Wednesday when it was forecast that we should have a weather window. As the morning progressed and the wind gusts began to reach gale levels we decided that there was no advantage to moving the boat just four miles down the AICW today or tomorrow in these winds. Paul walked up to the Old Port Cove marina office and confirmed that we could have our existing slip for another two days. Then he called Riviera Beach and changed our reservations to Monday through Wednesday. It did look like a window was opening up for a Wednesday crossing.

We also booked a rental car for Tuesday so that we could get fresh food and also buy some items that we were missing. The rest of the day was spent at rest!

On the second down day we started securing some of the looser items for the crossing, for example bungee cording the bags holding the paddle boards on the flybridge.

Before we depart for the Bahamas we top up the fuel tanks. Even though prices are climbing here in the States they are even higher in the Islands. We used our fuel transfer system to move fuel to totally fill two of the tanks, so that when we pull into the fuel dock at Riviera Beach Marina on Monday we would only have to top off the one tank.

So tomorrow we run the short 4 miles south the Lake Worth, and then watch the weather for a good crossing window.

And Paul’s cruise beard is coming in!

Day 12. Monday March 7th.

The day started as the previous few days had been, with vey strong winds. We asked the marina to send down a couple of guys to hold the lines as we left the slip successfully heading south to Riviera Beach.

We pulled into the fuel dock and filled up the port tank with 140 gallons of diesel. We then went to our slip in S12. Paul spoke to the company we hoped could help us with our engine issue, and they could not. He contacted a mechanic we were referred to who could potentially help us with the starboard engine pulley. He told us he would be over this evening to work on it.

The Bahamas require a negative antigen COVID test taken within 72 hours of our entry. We got an Uber to the testing site and did the nose swabs. Two hours later we got the negative results. We will enter those into the online health visa site tomorrow and receive our OK to enter. All we need now is for the winds to subside so we can actually cross the Gulf Stream on Wednesday or Thursday! Unfortunately the recent weather updates were still not looking good for a crossing this week.

Dennis the mechanic arrived shortly after 6pm. It wasn’t as easy a job as we were led to believe. Paul spent some time with him in the engine room and after a couple of hours everything was resolved, with an admonition from the mechanic of what to watch to watch for, plus a couple of projects to be worked on once we got back to home dock.

We went up to RafitiTiki restaurant by the marina for a very late dinner.

Day 13. Tuesday March 8th.

We had a car hired for today. After breakfast Paul took an Uber and picked it up. We used it to go to the hardware store and Publix and had lunch at Frigates.

Our biggest issue right now is the weather forecast for the crossing. After we couldn’t go last Saturday our hope was for tomorrow, Wednesday. But the latest forecast was not good. There was a possibility of a Friday crossing. But if that did not work out then the weather was closing in, meaning the whole of next week would not be possible. We already knew that the COVID test we had last Monday would be no good as they had to be within three days of entry.

When we had arrived at the current marina we had asked if it was possible to extend our stay if we had to and were told no. We decided to start looking for a marina to hole up in. The issue is that the Palm Beach Boat Show is coming up. The marinas that they are using are kicking out a lot of their contracted slip renters. The other marinas in the area have been booked up by these displaced boats. We finally called the marina office again to see if anything had changed and miraculously the slip we were in was available for another two nights – that would take us to Friday. If a weather window did not open up by then we would have to start scrambling for dockage again! We even identified a couple of nearby anchorages with places to get to shore in a dinghy for Bella if we had to, but given the wind levels we hoped Friday was going to give us an opportunity to cross.

Late today our Queens Harbor Neighbors John and Angela came in on Joie de Vie. The only spot they had for them was the fuel dock, and they have to be off early the next day. They too are trying to managing the weather as best they can. We used the rental car to get their fresh goods from Publix.

Day 14, Wednesday March 9th.

The forecasts are starting to firm up showing a possible Friday crossing! So first thing today we went on-line and booked two more COVID tests. We used the rental car to get to the test center soon after they opened and within the hour we had a pair of negative results again! After Paul took the rental car back we started to prepare the boat for a crossing, Paul did some tidying up in the engine room and Sian in the living quarters.

We again went up to RafitiTiki for dinner.

Day 15. Thursday March 10.

A Friday (tomorrow) crossing is now becoming more likely. Since Bella would be stuck on a boat for most of the day we took the little ferry across to Peanut island and let her run on the beach.

When we got back Paul started the rather tedious work of using the Bahamian systems to generate our Health Visa using the negative COVD tests and then the Click To Clear system to set us up for customs and immigration. After a couple of hours struggling with this he was finally able to pay our entry fee and print out our cruising permit. This would save us a ton of time once we got there.

We also called the Bahamian Yacht Club in Lucaya and booked a slip for three nights beginning Friday. We usually just stay one night to check in and then set off for the Berrys the next day. But the same weather system that was affecting Florida over the coming days was also hitting the Bahamas so we planned to sit still for a few days.

During the afternoon Craig from Lady C, the boat two slips down came by for a chat. We were both MTOA members and found lots to yarn about. Later in the evening both Craig and Cathy came by for a cocktail. They are on their way to the Keys in the new to them Tollycraft.

Sian also packed the Ditch Bag. This is a bag with items that we would require if we had to ditch – that is leave Sonas and go into the life raft. While the life raft does have many of the items, such as flares and water, we also like to have the ditch bag with flares, extra Type 1 PFDs, bottled water, handheld radio, etc. We each also have Personal Locater Beacons which we were wear when crossing. Sonas also has an automatic deploying EPIRB, which will grab if we have the time.

We were as ready as we could be if the weather holds for tomorrow!

We had a pause in our master bathroom remodel, and we decided we needed some on-the-water time! Sonas is still at Lamb’s Yacht Center for some TLC, so we decided to take the big RIB out for a spin.

Little Sonas is an AB 15 DLX Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) with a 60 horse power Yamaha engine. We bought her in 2010 after our jet ski had been sunk by one of the children for the umteenth time and we weren’t going to have it rebuilt again! We still wanted something that we could pull a towable and wakeboard with. Plus take us for shrimp and beer to the local waterfront establishments!

Paul had been looking for a replacement RIB for a year or so when this one came up on the local classifieds. An elderly gentleman had bought it with the hope of going fishing, but wasn’t using it. It was two years old and only had 27 hours on the engine. We offered him full asking price as it was in as-new condition and a very good value. We have it on a floating dock on the inside of our dock behind the house.

Sian ran over to Firehouse Subs and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and we packed them in a cooler along with drinks for ourselves and water for Bella. We were off the dock by 12:15 and out through the Queen’s Harbour lock by 12:30.

Bella was. as always, ready to go!

The AICW was nice and flat and we were able to open the throttle up a bit and run along at around 30 knots. As we were in the slow zone approaching Sister’s Creek bridge we were surrounded by a pod of dolphin – Bella’s friends!

As we passed the free dock we found it totally empty. Not something we usually see when we have boats transiting south and then north for the season!

Fort George River was totally empty of people, we were the only ones there. Low tide was at 3:20 so we had plenty of sandbar to play on. We walked as Bella discovered bait fish in the water’s edge and chased them – sometimes getting confused with the splashes her own feet were making- resulting in a lot of spinning!!

An empty Fort George

We had our picnic and walked the sandbar, watching Bella wade up to the haunches in the water, and wondered at how she was able to read the color of the water and avoid the deeper parts of the tide pools.

Back through the lock at 3:00. A lovely afternoon on the water, carefree, and relaxing!

Wednesday August 11th Day 23. Savannah to Kilkenny.

We were off the Westin Hotel dock just after 8am and headed down river. We hadn’t gone five minutes when we reached the large dredge on the north side of the river downtown. As we went to pass we saw a mammoth container ship just beyond the dredge being shepherded by three tugs. One on each side and one at the stern. They were maneuvering her around the dredge. We thought it smart to just pull to the south bank and idle. We dodged debris and crab pots in the current until they had the three block long, and ten story high ship straightened out and we could slip past!

We made the ICW off the Savannah River within the hour and headed south with pretty much high tide all the way. We passed two beautiful Trumpys on the way and we even went through the notorious Hell Gate at high tide and had 15 feet all the way!

We were at Kilkenny Marina around 1:15 and tied up easily. This is a pretty rustic marina that we had been to once before. While the amenities are lacking somewhat it is a very handily situated marina half way between Hilton Head/Savannah and St Simons. The owner runs the marina pretty much by himself. He is the son of the original owner who started it in 1961. So it has been family run, and probably not changed much, in 60 years! And it is in a nice quiet location – with no large container ships passing through waking the living daylights out of us like at Savannah!

We had a table reserved at Market 107 restaurant for seven after which we settled down to catch up on the sleep that was disturbed violently last night in Savannah!

Thursday August 12th Day 23. Kilkenny to St Simons.

We had flat calm conditions this morning and the WX called for 1.6 feet offshore so we exited St Catherine’s sound and headed south toward St Simon’s sound. We had lake-like seas the whole way, though it was hot. We do have the choice to go below and run from the pilot house and turn on the AC but we prefer running from the fly bridge as we can enjoy the views more. We have a large fan which we bring up on hot days and we also plug our Amazon Echo in and enjoy the BBC World Service while we cruise!

We again passed the grounded Golden Ray and the salvage equipment. This time however they had a segment cut and lifted. It looks like there are just two more segments left to be cut. A crane was picking our the autos and placing them on a barge. You could see cars stacked on the remaining part of the ship.

We got to St Simon’s Morningstar Marina mid-afternoon. Walter the dock assistant had us tied up and we were the only boat on the long dock – so no one to hit us this time!

Friday August 13th. St Simon’s to Home Dock.

We had considered stopping over at Cumberland Island today and finishing up our cruise tomorrow. However the weather looked like it was turning wet for the weekend plus we had friends coming to stay on Sunday. We we exited St Simons Sound and headed down to Mayport. On our way past St Simons we noticed dozens of people wearing bright shirts patrolling the shoreline with large bags. We think these are people employed to clean up the beaches from any debris off the Golden Ray. It was another uneventful cruise offshore, though the rolling swell did get up somewhat as the day progressed.

We entered Mayport to a couple of helicopters and a large plane doing turns and bumps from Naval Station Mayport. We were through the lock and tied up at home dock before three. Another successful summer cruise completed – though we did bring back a badly bruised boat! Sonas is booked into Lambs Yacht Center for Tuesday to start the repairs.

Tuesday August 3rd Day 15 – Myrtle Beach to Georgetown, SC.

The Myrtle Beach Yacht Club is in a small lagoon that also house two other marinas. In total there are 365 slips available between the three locations.

We were out of our slip and underway begore 8am. As we traveled south on the ICW we realized just how spread out Myrtle Beach was. It was over three hours before we were south of the city. Along the way we encountered many businesses setting up for the tourist day, with party fishing boats, jet ski docks, and even a pirate ship!

The forecast called for serious thunderstorms starting late morning. We checked the Doppler radar on line and could see them moving in. So we initially ran from the fly bridge but prepared the Pilot House for a quick move below when the weather changed. And change it did, the rain absolutely poured down. Given it was a week day there were not to many other boats around but we did crank up the radar just in case.

After about an hour of the driving rain Paul had to use the head. When he went below he found rain had been getting into the master cabin bathroom. We realized it was from the damaged area from the collision in St Simons. Sian went below and dried it up and thankfully the rain eased off and it stopped coming in. As soon as we got tied up in Georgetown South Carolina Paul dried off the damaged area and secured everything with good old duct tape!

We had never been to Georgetown proper before, though we had passed it a number of times on the ICW. So we planned to spend two nights here to be able to have a good look at the town. And even better, after we had tied up and looked to see what there was we found a DOG PARK within a half mile of the marina. We took Bella over there and, due to the heavy rains, both Bella and owners were covered in mud before we were through!

Wednesday August 4th Day 16. Georgetown SC.

Time for another casual and relaxing day at the dock. The temperatures had also dropped about 15 degrees so a good day to explore this historic fishing village.

We went ashore and had breakfast at Thomas Cafe. The food was excellent and the prices extremely reasonable.

After breakfast we walked over to the Gullah museum as we were interested in hearing all about these people.

The Gullah museum was rather disappointing, in fact very disappointing. We walked into a one room building filled with “nic nacs.” We were greeted by a gentleman, Mr Rodrigues. He sat us in two chairs and began to tell us about the slave trade, going way back to the Portuguese in Africa. And he talked and talked without break and no opportunity to ask questions. Over half an hour later and we still hadn’t heard anything about the Gullahs! We were looking for a way to make our exit. Then another couple walked in and we used their arrival to make our escape. We later learned that he was a well know track star in the 50s. He wasn’t even a local, he had moved from Boston to attend university down south. His wife made beautiful quilts detailing the history of the Gullah people and one showing the story of Michelle Obama, which were hanging on the wall. But we never got to discuss them.

After lunch we decide to try our luck at the Maritime Museum. This small two floor museum tells the story of commercial shipping in the area, plus an exhibit on shipwrecks off the coast. It also had a large section on the battleship South Carolina. All in all an interesting place to visit.

This evening we went into town and had a pleasant seafood dinner at the Tuscany Bistro.

Thursday August 5th Day 17 Georgetown to Charleston.

The forecast today was for rain, followed by rain, then more rain. So we ran from the Pilothouse the whole way from Georgetown to Charleston, apart from leaving and arriving at the marinas where Paul used the better visibility of the fly bridge.

We were unlucky in the we were following a falling tide all the way south, in fact getting north of Charleston right at low tide. Since we were running inside on the ICW this called for full focus on the chart plotter, the depth sounders, the Waterway Guide and on the bob423 tracks! At times we had less than two feet beneath the keel. While we would have preferred deeper water we were comfortable in that we knew our running gear was well protected by the keel, plus the bottom for this part of the ICW was soft mud.

We made it all the way to just before exiting the ICW into Charleston harbor when we had a strange experience.

At ICW Mile 462, right after the Ben Sawyer Bridge, our depth sounders matched chart plotter showing more than 10 feet under the keel, giving us 15 feet in total. Then we bumped the bottom! Sonas did not stop but carried on and her sounders showed 10 feet again. There was was a creek to our left emptying into the ICW at the spot so we assumed that it had created a short “ridge shoal” for a couple of feet.

We made the Mega Dock at Charleston City Harbor before the rain started again, and had a quiet night tied up.

Friday August 6th, Day 18 Charleston to Beaufort, South Carolina.

We awoke to a strong line of thunderstorms running through Charleston. So Sian and Bella had to wait for a while to start their walk. We had a bit of a late start and ran from below for all of today’s trip as storms passed overhead all day.

For the second day we were basically following the low tide south which made for some interesting stretches of water. We had two especially skinny stretches where we had lowest depth of 1.3 and 0.6 below the keel.

We safely made Beaufort, pronounced BEEW-Fert, as opposed to North Carolina’s Beaufort, pronounced BOW-Fert! We have never been able to find out why the two pronunciations came about, and asking locals they don’t know either! We did receive a suggestion that one was an English pronunciation and the other French.

We were tied up by 3pm and waited for a gap in the rain to take a walkthrough the town filled with beautiful old southern mansions. When we got back Sian booked us a golf cart tour for tomorrow. Later we walked back into town for dinner at Wren. We were placed at a table beside a wedding rehearsal dinner and Sian had a fine time talking to the bridesmaids – about boob tape of all things!!

Saturday August 7th Day 19. In Beaufort South Carolina.

We spent a very pleasant day in Beaufort. We had been here before by car, but only stopped for lunch and didn’t really get the flavor of this small town of 12,500 people. Today we started off by having breakfast at the “venerable” (Google description) Blackstone Cafe. then headed off for our golf cart tour. Our guide Walker took us through some of the history covering Indian wars, the flags the town has been under, and some of the notable people and movies that have been shot here. The star of the tour though were the homes – amazing stately columned homes from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Some in serious need of upkeep but amazing to see non-the-less.

Later we took Bella for a walk through the town ending up at Kilwins Ice Cream shop for ice cream all around – even for Bella! This evening we grilled sweet Italian sausage on the Magma grill.

Sunday August 8th Day 20. Beaufort to Harbor Town, Hilton Head.

We had a number of nice short daily runs coming up including only 30 statute miles today, so had a lazy start with breakfast at the dock. We were off by 9:00am running from the fly bridge in glorious sunshine and a light cooling breeze.

We had been having trouble with the chart plotter on the fly bridge. On the last couple of runs it kept turning itself off and on. Paul suspected that our 12v battery may need replaced, though all of the other 12v electronics, including the chart plotter in the pilot house, were working fine. We had the cover off the pilot house windows in case we needed to go back down and drive from there. But inexplicitly it worked fine today! One of those mysteries, though Paul is still going to check out the battery when we get back.

We ran down the Beaufort River past the Marine boot camp on Parris Island, across Port Royal Sound and into Skull Creek at the northern end of Hilton Head. The day remained calm and pleasant all the way to our slip in Harbortown Yacht Basin in Sea Isles Resort. After getting tied up, the covers on and lunch completed, we headed off to the resort’s pool for an hour. This evening we had dinner at the CQ restaurant right by the marina.

Monday August 9th Day 21. Hilton Head to Savannah.

The pump out station at Harbortown was out of order and it has been over two weeks since we had the holding tank emptied. Our next stop at the Westin Resort in downtown Savannah does not have a pump out facility. So today we decided to exit Calibogue Sound on our way to Savannah and go outside the three mile limit to deal with that.

On the way back into Tybee Roads we stayed off the channel as a large Maersk container ship was heading in. As we worked our way up the Savannah River and number of huge container ships came out, we kept well over to the red side of the channel as they passed. One was an Evergreen vessel – but the river remained unblocked (I know, naughty!)

We approached the Westin Resort dock and radioed a number of times with no response. Paul called the hotel direct and tried to raise them but couldn’t find a path through the phone system to a person. He finally tried the concierge desk and got a person on the line who told us he would send someone right down. But no one showed. We did not want Sian to step off and tie up as the current was rushing through and it was a high step down to the dock. Paul finally laid on the horn – ours is quite loud, and a young man appeared. While he was friendly and helpful he had no clue at all about tying a boat up or connecting to the power. We got it all worked out and were tied up by 1:00pm.

We quickly got into our swimmers and headed up to the large hotel pool for a cooling swim, a couple of cocktails and a shared side of fries! After walking Bella we had a chicken curry on board and drinks in the cooling air of the cockpit while watching the boat traffic on the river. A couple of pairs of dolphins came past which had Bella frantic!

Tuesday August 10th Day 22. Savannah.

We had booked a walking tour of Savannah this morning. So we caught the 9:10 ferry right by the Westin and took the 2 minute crossing to The Waving Girl Landing. We then grabbed a coffee at Debi’s Deli before meeting our tour at Warren Park. This was a History and Civil War tour and was very interesting. It was supposed to run for an hour and a half but took over two hours. We had lunch in town before heading back to Sonas for another swim in the hotel pool and a well deserved nap!

This evening we had tried to reserve a table at The Old Pink House but found it was “promised” for weeks ahead, So we booked a table at the French cuisine Circa 1875 instead and had a fabulous meal.

That night, at around 1:30am, we were awoken by loud engine noises and a huge wake hitting Sonas. Paul quickly looked out our cabin window to find that two huge container ships were passing each other right by us – and the one nearest to us was being guided by tugs. It took us quite a while to get back to sleep after that!

Tuesday July 28th Day 8 – Charleston.

Our second day in Charleston started off stormy and pretty much stayed that way the whole day! We completed a couple of chores and then took the marina courtesy shuttle into town. We had lunch at the Brown Dog Deli before visiting the Slave Market Museum. We had been once before about 7 years ago but wanted to go again as a refresher. This museum focuses not on the international slave trade but on domestic (internal) slavery. We were a bit startled by one of the displays that detailed the slave ship Lawrance. Unique in that it is the exact spelling of our last name – with the second “a” instead of “e”.

Afterwards we walked over to the Charleston Market and bought a couple of ice creams at Kilwins before getting an Uber back to the marina. We went back into town this evening an had an excellent meal at Hank’s Seafood Restaurant – in fact we reckon it was the best meal of the trip so far.

Wednesday July 29th Day 9 – Charleston to Winyah Bay.

We awoke to another stormy day but the forecast called for it to be less so north of Charleston. So we waited for a couple of rain storms to pass through then went north through the inlet running from the pilot house. We watched as storm after storm hit Charleston behind us, but we stayed ahead of them. It was a choppy sea though, with sharp swells.

At lunchtime Sian went below to prepare lunch. Just as she was coming back up the steps from the galley a swell hit us and Sian was tossed back into the galley, hitting the countertop on the way down. She was holding the handrail at the time but the swell was so sharp that she couldn’t hold on. She ended up with a nice bruise on her thigh and sore hand and forearm.

The seas did calm somewhat an hour before entered Winyah Bay inlet. We had an easy entry and anchored beneath the Georgetown lighthouse. We took Bella for an off-leash walk on the long soft sand beach.

Thursday July 29th Day 10- Winyah Bay to Little River.

We had an excellent and very quiet night at anchor. It was a short run today so Sian took Bella to the beach again for an hour. Bella had a lovely time running free ahead of her on the shore. We then headed back out the inlet and had a excellent run north to Little River inlet on a calm Atlantic Ocean – totally different from yesterday.

We tried booking a slip at Ocean Isle Marina and Yacht Club but they told us that sands blown in from recent storms had reduced their dockside depth to four feet at low tide, and we need a minimum of six. So we back tracked for two miles on the ICW and tied up on the face dock at Cricket Cove marina. We noticed plenty of no wake signs, but people were still blowing past at speed. A large number of jet ski groups flew past relentlessly. Paul asked the dockmaster about it and was told that the signs were unofficial! It was a rocky evening tied up to the face dock and Bella was worried by the movement of the boat. We went up to Snooky’s restaurant and had excellent shrimp and cocktails, then later return for a very nice dinner. Thankfully traffic died down and it was a quiet night at the dock.

Friday July 30th Day 11 – Little River to Bald Head Island.

We had another short run today. We wanted to stop at Bald Head Island and see our cruising friend Betty Robinson. Offshore conditions were not forecast to be comfortable so we ran up the ICW. Paul and Theresa on Soulmate (folks we met in Charleston) had emailed us to say they were at Safe Harbor Marina in Southport and we passed them and their beautiful sailing cat on the way. They came out to wave as we passed. We wanted to enter Bald Head Island marina at slack tide as their entrance channel could be difficult in a strong current. We were ahead of schedule so we stopped at St James Plantation Marina for fuel. As we exited the ICW into the Cape Fear River we found heavy seas running from the inlet. In fact when we called the marina to say we were nearing they warned us that conditions were “a little salty”. However we got in OK. Our friend Betty picked us up in her golf cart and took us to her beautiful home perched on the sand dunes of the island, and cooked us a wonderful dinner finished off with homemade ice cream.

Saturday July 31st Day 12 – Bald Head Island to Wrightsville Beach.

We had another short run of just three hours to the Wrightsville Beach Marina. We wanted to visit with our cruising friends the McCarleys who live in Rayleigh but keep their Hatteras 63 in Wrightsville Beach. They were going to come stay on their boat for the weekend and meet us. Given that it was a summer Saturday the waterways were extremely busy and we were looking forward to getting off the water by lunchtime! After we tied up Suzie McCarley picked us up and took us over to the supermarket for fresh veggies and fruit. We then joined John and Suzie on their 63 foot Hatteras fora wonderful dinner, completed with peach pie.

Sunday August 1st Day 13 – At Wrightsville Beach.

We awoke to an email from Paul and Theresa on Soulmate saying they were here in Wrightsville Beach. We went out to our cockpit and saw that they were tied up directly across he ICW from us at the Bridge Keeper Marina! We called across to them as they were leaving later in the morning. We had a relaxing day in Wrightsville Beach. After Sian took Bella for her walk at the local park we walked over to the Gulfstream restaurant right by the marina for breakfast. Then Sian did a couple of loads of laundry while Paul filled the fresh water tanks.

Sian walked the dock and talked to the couple on the 80 foot Marlow “Scott Free” tied up in front of us while Bella stood on our foredeck and kept an eye on their dog!

John and Suzie joined us for a while in the afternoon and then we went up to the Bluewater Grill for dinner. On the way we passed the beautiful 53 foot Selene Slip Away in the marina and chatted with the owners who had just bought her and were on their way to cruise the Chesapeake.

Monday August 2nd Day 14 – Wrightsville Beach to Myrtle Beach.

Another shortish day’s cruise today (we are getting to like the idea of shorter days!). It was amazing the difference between Saturday and Monday regarding the number of boats on the water! The temperature had dropped as well from the 90s to the 80s! We had an uneventful pleasant run through Carolina Beach, the Cape Fear river into the ICW at Southport. We were tied up at our slip at the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club by 3pm. We went up to Clark’s Restaurant for dinner overlooking the marina and Sonas.

Some more photos from week 2;

We are having our master bath demolished back to the walls and totally remodeled. Our “guy” gave us a start date of August 19th. Since it was only early July we thought we could squeeze in a three or four week cruise – to somewhere!

We had gone south through Florida and the Keys in the spring, and since it was summer and heading north out of Florida seemed like a good idea, we decided to turn left and head north for as long a time allowed before heading back! No schedule, just go!

Tuesday July 20th Day 1 – Home to Cumberland Island.

Due to other plans we couldn’t get away from home dock until after two so we were aiming for our favorite anchorage at Cumberland Island today. Afternoon thunderstorms were forecast so we used the AICW rather than running offshore. We didn’t want to be tallest thing out there if a storm hit! We beat the storms to the anchorage and quickly launched the dinghy so Sian could take Bella ashore. Unfortunately the heavens opened with an almighty downpour when she was on her way back and both got drenched. An hour later the storms had passed through and we had a wonderful calm night at anchor.

Wednesday July 21st Day 2. Cumberland to St Simons.

The marine forecast was for 1.5 – 2 foot seas all week, plus we had an outgoing tide to push us out the St Mary’s inlet so went outside to St Simons. it was a very enjoyable run offshore. We passed the Golden Ray, about half of it still there two years after it capsized, and tied up on the face dock at Morningstar Marina. Marina attendant Walter helped us load up with a couple of hundred gallons of diesel.

Paul chatted with the owner of the Kady Krogen 48 tied up behind us, stern to stern. He had bought the boat a month ago in Tennessee having moved up from a sailboat. They were leaving soon to run offshore to Beaufort, North Carolina. We then went down below for a nap when we felt a slight bump. We got up just as there was an almighty crash. Paul opened the starboard side pilot house door to find a bow and anchor pointing at his chest.

The KK had reversed out of his berth, kissed Sonas on the way past our stern, over corrected and plowed into our starboard side right by the pilothouse. He pulled away and got tied up further down the dock. He came onboard and apologized and gave us his personal and insurance information. The damage unfortunately is extensive, though not in a location which would stop us from completing our cruise. We contacted our yard back in Jacksonville and arranged to have her repaired soon after we get back.

Walking down the dock we saw another trawler called Sonas! This is only the second other boat with our name we have come across after seeing a sailboat with the name in the Chesapeake. This evening we had dinner booked at Southern Kitchen at the marina. The place was packed with tourists and we found a number of menu items sold out. We generally found the menu and service was not as great as previous visits when we were more out of high season.

Thursday July 22nd Day 3. St Simons to Hilton Head.

The offshore weather was holding so we went outside again today. This was likely to be our longest run of the cruise if all goes to plan. Some of this was the distance offshore inlet-to-inlet, but also the long run once inside Tybee Roads, crossing into Calibogue Sound and up to our marina for the next two nights, which would take another 90 minutes. We untied at 7am and were tied up at Shelter Cover Marina by four.

As we got off Sapelo and St Catherine’s Sound a line of fast moving strong thunderstorms developed along the coast and started moving offshore towards us. We had one or two pass in front of us and a couple behind us so we thought we were going to get lucky, then one hit us square on, with downpours and lightning. We were in it for only 30 minutes but it felt a lot longer!

As we approached our turn into Tybee Roads we saw a massive thunderstorm to the north of us, with lots of rolling black clouds and forked lightning. The CG came on and put a Pan Pan out warning boating of the dangerous storms that the weather services had indicated could contain waterspouts! That all boaters should seek shelter immediately. Thankfully it was passing north of our inlet so wouldn’t affect us.

After we had tied up at Shelter Cove we took Bella for a walk and were stopped by the gentleman in the boat two slips in. “So you were the boat that got hit in St Simon’s!” He has a friend who keeps his boat at St Simons who had told him of the incident plus our boat name. Bad news sure travels fast!

Since we were running a long day today Sian had prepared a creamy tarragon chicken dinner in the slow cooker and it was perfect by the time we arrived.

Friday July 23rd Day 4. At Hilton Head.

We had a relaxing day at Shelter Cover. We took Bella for a walk over to the Kroger supermarket for a few things. In the evening we walked over to Scott’s Fish Market for dinner, eating outside on the deck overlooking the marina. We had also looked at next days trip to Charleston and decided we didn’t want to do another long day offshore. So we looked to split that run in two. Beaufort was too close at only three hours away, so we chose Dataw Island Marina as our next stop. We called Charleston City Marina and pushed our reservation back a day, and booked into Dataw Island. Meaning we would be running inside for the next two days.

Saturday July 24th Day 5. Hilton Head to Dataw.

We followed the Haig Point IV ferry boat out of our marina and saw him take a shortcut through a gap in Broad Creek. If we could also do that it would save is 45 minutes! So Paul radioed the captain and asked him about the cut and was informed that there was plenty of water. We got permission to follow the ferry across!

We had a relaxing five hour run today through some beautiful low country. Since it was a Saturday there were quite a number of smaller boats out, especially around Beaufort. As we passed through Beaufort we saw numerous flags along the waterfront and later learned that there was a festival on that draws in seven thousand visitors to the small town.

The Dataw Island Marina on the Morgan River is attached to a gated residential community of 900 houses. The marina was totally destroyed by Hurricane Matthew and the previous owners refused to clear it up or rebuild. So the community purchased the rights to the marina, along with the dry stack and boat fork lift. They have only built one long dock so far, with plans to add. They had space for Sonas right at the end of the dock, with about 13 feet of her bow sticking over the end of the dock! Chad the dockmaster was excellent and we chatted to many of the residents who kept their boats on the dock. That evening we went for dinner at the Morgan River Grill.

Sunday July 25th Day 6. Dataw to Charleston inside.

Today’s run was only five and a half hours so we took our time leaving Dataw. We ran north along the AICW with good water all the way. It was very pleasant sailing – until we got to Elliot Cut that links the Stono and Ashley rivers. There were dozens of boats running the cut and the current was fierce on our stern. There were two sail boats and a sports fisherman waiting for the Wappoo bridge and the current was pushing us down on top of them even though we had the engines in idle.

After everyone passed the bridge we had to apologize to the two sail boats as we had to slip past them. The current was grabbing our broad stern and unless we went to neutral we were quickly catching the sailboats! They understood and waved us by. We were tied up at the Safe Harbor Charleston City Dock by 1:30.

Jacksonville neighbors John and Angela on Joie de Vivre were spending a month in Charleston and invited us over for cocktails before we headed off to Magnolias where we had a 6:30 reservation.

Monday July 27th Day 7. Charleston.

Monday brought housekeeping! Sian vacuumed and polished the interior while Paul laid new bilge pads, installed a new fresh water filter and completed some other engine room chores. He also got after the galley faucet which had decided to come loose!

This evening we had John and Angela on board for a cookout/in. Steaks, sweetcorn and green beans. With Angela’s home made dip as an appetizer.

Week one is in the books!

We were getting ready for a trip to Montana when our boating neighbor wondered if we couldn’t squeeze in a trip with them and other neighbors to Daytona before we went west. We looked at the calendar and said, “heck, why not!”

Of the five boats going we were, of course always, the slowest! They were leaving Tuesday and running directly to Daytona, then leaving Friday and running all the way back. The crew on Sonas needed to leave Monday, overnight somewhere and meet up Tuesday, and then leave a day early Thursday and get back at the same time Friday!

So off we set Monday morning, down the AICW, through St Augustine to Palm Coast Marina. This usually isn’t a hardship for us as we love the marina, more so for the European Village and it’s restaurants nearby – especially the Indian restaurant. However every restaurant was closed on a Monday except one – the Red Koi. We had never eaten there before but decided to try it. It is a Hibachi restaurant and the food was very good and reasonably priced!

Next day, Tuesday, we made the short three hour run south and got to Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona just after lunch. That evening, as we do on the first night at the dock on every cruise with other boaters, we had a docktail. This time on the back of Glen and Debbie Ross’s Prestige.

Next day we walked to Chef Pappa’s Cafe for an excellent lunch and then in the evening we had a special treat. The Daytona Tortugas (Cincinnati Red affiliate) play in Jackie Robinson Ballpark, known as The Jack, which is right next to Halifax Harbor Marina. Lakeland Flying Tigers (Detroit Tigers) were in town for a series so we bought tickets to the game. Which was also “The Gut Buster” – $17 for the entrance and all you could eat burgers, dogs, and pizza! The Tortugas won 5-0. I must say the group were very well behaved and only had one round of burgers – plus a couple of beers of course!

Come Thursday the other boats were staying for another night but Sonas was starting the trip back. We can make Daytona to home dock in one day but it is at least a nine hour cruise, so we chose to break it up. This time we had a slip reserved at Hammock Beach Marina. This 209 slip marina is part of the Hammock Beach Resort, which is a wonderful facility in Palm Coast. We had been there a number of times before. https://www.hammockbeach.com/

The marina is right on the ICW and there is a pool and Lures tapas bar right there. A free shuttle take you up to the main resort where there are four restaurants, a lazy river, pools and a wonderful Atlantic beach. We took the shuttle up to the resort and ate at the Atlantic Grill overlooking the ocean – and overlooking a wedding that was taking place right outside the restaurant!

Early next morning we made the six hour run through St Augustine and back to home port in Queens Harbour. Two of our fellow cruising boats coming up from Daytona caught up with us just south of home!

Some more photos:

Day 35. Sunday March 28.

Our plan for the final few days of our spring cruise was to run from Titusville City Marina to Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona, to Camachee Cove Marina in St Augustine, and then to home dock.

We left Titusville once some the morning fog had lifted getting into Halifax Harbor early afternoon. We took the opportunity to give Sonas a spritz to get rid of the salt on the hull. Afterwards, as we were sitting in the cockpit enjoying a cocktail we saw a nice blue hulled Sabre 48 come into the fuel dock across the way from us. We thought it looked familiar but couldn’t read the boat name as it was obscured by the dinghy. We looked to see if there were a couple of black labs on board – and up popped two black heads. It was Lucky Dogs out of our neighborhood!

After they had fueled up the marina had them tie up right behind us on the face dock and Gary and Carol came on board for a drink. They were on their way to the Keys for a couple of weeks! We had a table booked at the Charthouse restaurant right beside the marina so we called them and changed the reservation to a party of four. We had an excellent dinner with great company.

Day 36. Monday March 29.

We had an easy run from Daytona To Camachee Cove. On the way we passed the carcasses of two dead manatees by the side of the ICW in Ormond Beach. The previous day, Sunday, had been one of the first good days of the year and there were hundreds of boats out. We guessed someone had been careless. We called the FWC and reported the deaths and they told us that they would send a team out to investigate.

We had dinner this evening at the Kingfish Grill at the marina.

Day 37. Tuesday March 30.

We left Camachee Cove mid morning and we were tied up at our home dock by two pm. 37 days in all. It didn’t take long to get all of the provisions and clothing off Sonas. In fact it wasn’t long before we decided to head on out again for a few days anchored up at Cumberland Island the following week!

The next day we booked Sian’s first COVID 19 vaccine shot in preparation for her trip to Montana late April!

Day 29. Sunday March 21.

We spent the day in Marlin Bay, Marathon just chillaxing, doing some house cleaning, laundry, and relaxing, before heading home. This was also because we have a really bad boating habit. Whenever we make the turn for home, be it five days away in Hilton Head, or 14 days away in the Far Bahamas, we are like the horse bolting for the barn door. We cruise long days and look to get home as fast as we can. And then when we finally get home we are exhausted from the trip back, even though we may have been relaxing for three months in the islands!!

And we always say we have to change this and make the trip back part of the enjoyable journey.

We were determined not to do it his time, however… once we got a call saying we were eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, we were back in the “get home quick” mode! So we are going to return to Jacksonville the way we came, up the east coast rather than to Cape Sable, Naples and spending some time in Captiva, before heading across Lake Okeechobee to home.

There is one issue with Marlin Bay Marina, any west wind brings in large amounts of sea grass. Sonas was surrounded by grass while there.

Day 30. Monday March 22.

We ran from Marathon to Gilbert’s Marina and Resort. The resort had been described as rustic in cruising guide comments, however we found it great. Good docks, and a massive Tiki hut with three large bars. They assigned us a T-Head position right in front of the Tiki hut so we had quite the audience when docking! We did have some REAL shallow water to navigates on our way – getting down to 0.8 of a foot under the keel at one stage!

Day 31. Tuesday March 23.

Today we would have liked to run from Gilbert’s to somewhere north of Miami. However all of the marinas were full, with no dockage for a transient. We suspect because of the constant bad weather off shore, meaning those boats preparing to cross to the Bahamas had to hunker down. So we decided to have a short day and run as far as No Name and anchor outside so that we could run the generator tonight if it got too hot in the cabin.

We also booked a marina at Boynton Beach for tomorrow, which would take us half way between Fort Lauderdale and Lake Worth. This evening Paul mapped out the low bridges we would have to transit to get to Boynton Beach and decided that there was no way we could make it in one day. So we will call tomorrow and make other plans.

Day 32. Wednesday March 24.

First thing this morning we called Pier 66 marina and got a slip assignment, so cancelled our booking at Boynton Beach. As we travelled through Miami we listened to a distress call (DSC from another boat). This was a dive boat with divers down, The divers were drifting away on the current and the boat would not start to go retrieve them. We thought that the boat captain didn’t seem to be in control of things. Tow Boat US got there and relayed to CG that the boat owner was one of the divers and the person on the radio did not know the boat so couldn’t start it to go after the divers. Tow Boat recovered the divers and the owner later got on the radio and said everything was fine and all were safe. So actually the person left in charge did really well!

As we transited downtown Miami we saw a really strange sight, a man with a sea scooter, his head barely above water, crossing the main channel! We thought this was just downright crazy!

Later we passed two adult manatees and a baby. We moved out of the way and also called an oncoming boat to be mindful.

Pier 66 Marina was completely full of mega yachts – power and sail. The hotel and pool areas are being rebuilt but there were still plenty of people (and dogs) around.

Day 33. Thursday March 25

Due to the number of low bridges between Fort Lauderdale and Lake Worth we preferred to do this part of the journey on the outside. The weather applications that we use were calling for three foot seas on top of two foot swells. We decided that it would be fine and prepared for sea*. The inlet was more than lumpy, but once outside and headed north it subsided somewhat. On the way out of the channel we saw a ship shipping ships! A boat transport ship either loading or unloading yachts.

Because the seas were on our stern quarter the auto pilot was struggling to keep the boat from broaching. After a couple of nasty broaches Sian “suggested” to Paul that he take the helm and steer manually. After which we were much more comfortable. We safely got into Lake Worth and our slip at Riviera Beach City Marina. As we turned into the fairway a pilot boat coming right at us, clearly not going to slow down or stop! He may have dome a securite call on channel 16 prior to his departure but we were on the marina’s working channel 11. We now have a new process where we have the handheld radio at the helm on channel 16 so we can monitor both a marina’s working channel and 16 in future.

*“Prepare for sea”, he said. Thought you might be interested in what that actually entails.

Starting from the cabins, lock the windows! Lumpy seas do not need to be coming in the portholes! Put all toiletries away or down on the floor. Close the toilet lid, so the towels don’t jump off the racks and end up in the bowl (ask me how I know….)

In the galley prepare a cooler with food and drinks to get through the rough seas. Once things are rolling it isn’t wise to open the fridge under any circumstances! Not heading far off shore (i.e. crossing the stream) I admit to being sloppy and not even bringing a cooler this trip. Fortunately the run was not expected to be too long so we did without. Check all cupboard doors are latched and clamp the fridge-freezer shut. We have door clips on the fridge but they aren’t always able to stay closed under rough conditions (again ask me how I know, I may also tell you how to get red wine stains out of the rug!) So we also add a C-Clamp to the doors).

The crew, that is me, also needs to make sure that I have put the restraining clips on the anchor chains. The windlass has pawls to stop the chains running out but in rough seas the chain could jump off the gypsy, and the last thing we need is three hundred, or even six hundred, feet of chain dropping into the ocean while underway!!

In the salon take anything that may travel, like lamps or pictures not secured with Velcro and tuck them in somewhere they cannot move. Finally get yourself into a chair and stay put! Inevitably Paul is delighted with the capability of the boat. The boat can handle much more than this crew member!

Day 33. Friday March 26.

Riviera Beach had put us in a slip right on the inside of the marina, in fact the second slip from the bulkhead. So it was a pretty tight exit in the morning. Paul was focused on getting out, while in the background the Coast Guard Station Miami was working a distress call.

After we exited the marina and headed north Paul was able to listen better to what was happening. A boater had got his anchor line wrapped around his prop and was heading for the rocks. He was giving his coordinates to the coast guard but they weren’t responding.

Paul broke into the conversation and asked the coast guard if they were hearing him, they were not. He relayed the coordinates. The boater was offshore parallel with where we were in the ICW, so we had clear communications. The boater had previously said he was just north of Boyton Inlet, once we communicated the accurate coordinates the coast guard realized he was just north of the Lake Worth Inlet instead. Just after we relayed the coordinates a coast guard small boat came roaring past us, lights flashing. We told the boater that he was on his way. Unfortunately by that time he was on the rocks, although we both commented how calm he sounded.

We were soon out of radio range so unfortunately we never heard the result of the event. We do know the name of the boat, Escappe so may try and look it up over the next few days.

We cruised from Lake Worth to Vero Beach without incident. The only things of note where a stray dredge pipe floating across half of the ICW north of Jupiter Inlet that we made the dredge aware of, and a sailing regatta with about forty boats in Jensen Beach.

We also called a boating friend of ours back in our neighborhood who turned 80 today and sang Happy Birthday to him. He was taking his family out to a local restaurant for lunch on his boat. We surely hope we are also boating into our eighties!

Once at Vero Beach City Marina we docked at the fuel dock to take on some diesel and pump out prior to backing into our slip. We have family coming in soon after we get back to Jacksonville and wanted to have the boat fueled and ready as they had requested a Sonas trip!

Day 34. Saturday March 27.

The mornings were getting light earlier so Bella had her romp in the Vero Beach dog park and we were off the dock at 7:50! We had a very uneventful (that is no Coast Guard distresses to listen into or be part of!!) run north towards Cocoa. We had planned to tie up at the free dock there or, if there wasn’t room, anchor off as we had done on the way down. However we made great time and approached Cocoa at 1:30, much to early to stop. So we called Titusville City Marina and managed to get a transient slip. That would give us a nearly two hour start on tomorrow’s run to Daytona!

On the way we passed the DeFever Jusnic northbound and DeFever Sea Breeze southbound. Both were DeFever Cruisers Club members so we chatted for a while over the radio.

As we passed the free dock we noticed three boats tied up. They were taking up all of the dock, and if they had snugged up a bit there would be room for two more decent sized boats. In fact one of the boats was a center console which was clearly not overnighting – there are a dozen or so slips for day boats just beside the overnight dock.

We arrived in Titusville around 3:30 and found a nice park right at the marina. The Titusville Marina Park has a small moto-cross field, a skate park, AND a dog park!

Week five was now in the books!

All photos in the gallery below, you can click on them one by one or run a slideshow.

Only 0.8 feet below us

No Name anchorage at night

Crazy guy crossing the channel

Fuel delivery

Towing a run down mega yacht

Manatee family

Boat transporter

Waiting off Fort Lauderdale for the cruising season to start

Divers offshore

Large drawbridge

Another derelict sunken boat

Jensen Beach regatta

Starting line

Lunch

Beautiful Nordhavn

Vero Beach mooring field

DeFever Jusnic

Plane versus jet skis

DeFever Sea Breeze

Saturday at the Sand bar

Our daily dolphin escort

Show off!

NASA building

A boat called Johnson & Johnson - it was their last names!

Marlin Bay sea grass

Marlin Bay sea grass

No Name outside anchorage

Bella and squirrel

Bella bath!

Bella watching the ICW go by!

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Day 15 – 18, Sunday March 7 through Wednesday March 10.

The wind blew and blew, well over 30 knots each day. In fact the Plantation Yacht Harbor marina had the star and stripes flying on the flag pole the day we arrived and replaced it with a read flag for the duration of our stay!

The marina is part of Founder’s Park. This is a facility owned by the City of Islamorada. Islamorada is actually made up of six of the Florida Keys. If interested click here for more on the “village.“

There is a craft village right by the park called Rain Village which is a small artists community. Though it is better know for the giant lobster outside by the Overseas Highway – known as Big Betsy! We went there for coffee and for some of their famous lobster rolls. As we sat at the picnic tables dozens of tourists stopped, jumped out of their vehicles, snapped pics of them with the lobster, and took off southbound!

We launched the dinghy while in the slip with the intention of snorkeling the coral right outside the marina. Folks at the marina had told us it was great snorkeling and a favorite spot of the tour boats in the area. Unfortunately the wind kept blowing, which reduced the air and water temperatures, so we never got the opportunity. We brought the dinghy back on board unused!

There was yoga on the beach every day so Sian went up to the office and prepaid for every day we were going to be there and joined the 15-20 ladies every morning on the beach. While she was doing that Paul took Bella for an hour at the dog park where she wrestled with the many other pooches and got plenty dirty in the process!

Islamorada has a free bus system called Freebee. We downloaded the App which allows you to tell the drivers where you wanted picked up and dropped off. But, while we had to pay for it, we preferred to use Uber as it was much quicker and user-friendly.

We ate on board every night but Tuesday, when we walked to Marker 88 restaurant and had a very nice seafood dinner, before Ubering back to the marina. We were later told that we could have dingy’d to the restaurant, but we really wouldn’t have wanted to make that trip for the first time in the dark!

One issue (and could have been pretty critical) we had while at the marina was that their pump out system went down. They were waiting on a company out of St. Petersburg to get it fixed but didn’t have a definite ETA. We hadn’t pumped out in ten days, so we really wanted to get the holding tank cleared. The whole of the Keys is a no discharge area. On Tuesday they brought in the city pump truck, connected it to the system, and processed every boat – thank goodness we were first!

Overall we had a pretty lazy time of it. We ignored most boat chores apart from cleaning the boat and painting the depth markers on the anchor chain as the previous paint job had worn off. Most evenings we sat in the Pilothouse and watched the sunsets right off our bow!

On Wednesday the wind started to clock more to the east and ease off somewhat. The forecast called for more improvement through the rest of the week. So we made plans to depart Plantation on Thursday, and run down to Marathon. Our original plan was to exit the bay through Snake Creek and run down Hawk’s Channel and anchor in Boot Harbor. Since the wind was forecast from the east and wave action in the five foot range we decided to stay inside and use the ICW, as shallow as it is. And then tie up at a pretty new marina and resort – Marlin Bay.

Day 19. Thursday March 11.

Since it was only 35 statute miles (30.5KM) from Plantation Yacht Harbor to the turn for our next marina in Marathon we had decided on a mid morning departure, which would allow for a breakfast in the slip plus allow Sian one more yoga session on the beach!

However Sian decided that we should get a jump on the day and get going after Bella’s walk and breakfast. Bella had developed a weeping from her left eye so we decided that it would not be a good idea going to the dog park today. It may have been dirt and dust from the park when she wrestled with the other dogs. We looked to Dr. Google for home remedies for Bellas weepy eye and treated her with a salt water rinse ever hour or so. So, no dog park, no yoga, we were off the dock before nine and heading back out in the Florida Bay to intersect the ICW and head south to our next stop in Marathon.

The wind was still blowing around 20 knots from the north east but because it was on our stern we had a very comfortable ride, though we did pass through some real skinny water -including a well known two mile stretch from Cotton Key to Steamboat Channel where at times we only had a half a foot under the keel!

We got to green marker 17 off Marathon and turned to steer 160 degrees toward Marlin Bay Resort and Marina. Once sideways to the wind we realized how hard it was blowing. The entry to the marina basin was about 40 foot wide, which seemed fine for our 15 ft beam, and we crabbed though it and safely tied up in slip 26. An indication of how hard it was blowing – the marina had four, count them, FOUR, hands on the the dock to help us tie up! We had zero issues backing in and tying up to the piles.

The resort is in the early stage of development, Based on the model in the marina office it is around 20% developed. However the pool and bar area is excellent. We went up for a couple of sundowners and chatted to the bar lady about the development.

Day 20. March 12.

Bella’s eye was still weeping significantly this morning so Sian called a local Vet and got her an afternoon appointment. The vet examined her and gave us drops and an ointment to help clear it up.

It was still blowing hard so we decided to add an additional day to our stay in Marathon, planning on leaving on Sunday now. We used the resort’s swimming pool and hot tub, before walking over to the Fisheries Market nearby where we heard their stone crab legs were worth the walk. We got there to find a long line and full tables so returned to Sonas. Tonight Sian made a delicious Sicilian fish stew.

Day 21. March 13.

Bella’s eye is clearing up – hurray! We took a walk this morning to the post office for Sian to post a card to her aunt in England and Paul to post his tax check to the IRS -boo!

When we got back Paul took a walk to the north marina basin as a couple we had previously cruised with told us that they kept their boat there. Paul found it and sent them a photo showing all was well! He also saw the marina staff hard at work clearing out the turtle grass that was a constant nuisance in the marina. One marina basin was completely covered in it, which sent a nice composting smell over part of the marina. The marina had installed bubblers across the entrance to try and keep the grass out but it obviously wasn’t working.

We again used the pool at the resort before showering and heading off to the Florida Keys Steak and Lobster House. We had used Trip Advisor and saw that this was the number one recommended restaurant in Marathon – and it just happened to be a one block walk for the marina! The food and service were excellent!

Week three was now complete – and the wind still hasn’t died down!

Plantation Key sunset

Racing off Plantation Key

Dolphins

Dolphins everywhere

Kicking up the sand

Sea turtle

Approaching Marathon

Marathon sunset

Rainbow over Plantation Key

We kept a close eye on Bella

Marker 88 dinner sunset

Lobster roll

PLantation Key sunset

Shallow water

Marathon sunset

Sian in the hot tub

Marlin Bay Resort and Marina

Bubblers across the marina entrance

Ally Dee

Lobster pots ready to go

Broiled seafood platter - shrimp, crab cakes, scallops, Mahi!

Well this was one of “those” days! You know, the day you had planned where everything was going to be awesome and it went to hell in a hand basket?

Our plan was to run from No Name Harbor to the anchorage off Elliott Key. Spend two nights there before heading off to our next stop in Islamorada. It was only a short two hour cruise south, so we eased into the day.

Paul checked the weather. It showed 15 knot winds from the west. That would be directly into the anchorage but he felt it was a moderate breeze and nothing that would bother us on Sonas. Hmmmmm.

We got into the anchorage with a really nice wave action. We had to anchor about a half mile from the Ranger Station as it was too shallow inshore from there. Surprise, surprise, the wind gauge showed a steady blow at 26-27 knots! We soon learned that the fetch from the west, all the way from Turkey Point 8 miles away, resulted in steady three to four foot waves, with a five thrown in now and then! We were only anchored in 7.5 feet so the shallow depth probably didn’t help. Once the anchor was down Sonas settled bow into the waves and was comfortable enough. If it was just the two of us on board we would be quite OK sitting there.

BUT, we have Bella, and her expectation was, once the anchor was down, she gets to go ashore!

So we had lunch, and waited to see if the bay would calm down. It didn’t. So we decided to launch the dinghy and take the pooch ashore. We managed to get the boat launched and all of us on board the bouncing dinghy – everyone with PFDs on! And the waterproof and floatable VHF radio we had recently bought! Going ashore was relatively easy as Paul kept the dinghy speed aligned with the waves, which were surfing us to shore.

We got ashore to the Ranger Station to find that it was abandoned with not a soul to be seen and everything locked up. We suspect they did not expect anyone ashore due to the forecast! We tied up at the ranger dock and Bella immediately jumped off. It was then that we realized that in our struggles to get on the dinghy we hadn’t brought her leash or any poop bags. However we were NOT going back!

We had an extra length of rope on board so tied that to her collar and Sian found a plastic bag near one of the BBQ pits, so poop collection was back under control!

So off we set on one of the trails, and then realized that, even though we had read that Elliott Key was rife with mosquitos, we had not sprayed! 45 minutes later we emerged from the trail back at the dock with dozens of bites apiece! Sian was especially disappointed as usually when she has Paul with her the bugs attack him and leave her alone. We guessed that there were enough mosquitos to go around!

We got back on the dinghy and now had to pound the half mile back to Sonas directly into the wave action. By the time we got back on board all three were saturated. A check of the updated weather told us that the wind was to continue like this all night. Bella still needed her evening walk and another one first thing in the morning. On the way back to Sonas Sian looked at Paul and said “when we get onboard we are going to have a “DISCUSSION” about what we do next.”

Within five minutes of getting back on board the engines were started and we headed back to No Name Harbor to ride out the weather. We really need to start training Bella to go on the boat, something we didn’t think we would have to do on this trip!

When we got into the harbor we were pleased to find that there was plenty of space for us to anchor, but with the gusting winds it took three or four anchoring attempts until we could get ourselves somewhere where we felt comfortable that we would not swing into another boat’s water – especially with Sonas’ large windage.

It was low tide when we took Bella ashore and she tried the high jump, leaping from the dinghy to the top of the sea wall and missed! Paul was able to grab the handle on her life jacket and drag her back onto the boat. Then he helped her up! We were getting all the mis-steps out of the way today!

With the anchor down, Paul with a cold beer, Bella with an evening walk, and Sian with a hot shower all seemed to be good in the cruising world yet again!

Until Paul went up top and put the steak on the grill. When he went to turn it over a gust hit the grill mat tossing the hot fat over Paul and the boat deck. A small blister on a finger and ankle. and one totally ruined t-shirt!

It was a DAY! And since conditions were so bad we didn’t get any photos or video!

We hadn’t been out on Sonas since we returned from Fort Myers mid December. We were looking for a decent weather window but kept getting thwarted. Finally we saw that Tuesday through Friday (and potentially Saturday) this week (Feb 9-12) looked good. So we provisioned up until Saturday and got ready to leave on Tuesday.

Tuesday arrived with rain, and more rain! So we sulked and stayed home.

Wednesday arrived hopeful so we decided we would put up with whatever the day threw at us, untied and left. We had a great run north, with light winds all the way to Cumberland Island. It was a bit chilly so we ran from the pilothouse.

Getting the anchor down we had a quick cuppa (tea), then took Bella for nice long walk. We launched the NEW RIB!!!! and tied up at Sea Camp dock. We walked through to the beach and walked along it for a mile or so.

Later in the day a heavy fog rolled in, and by the time Bella had to go ashore for her nightly we could barely make out the light on the Sea Camp dock.

The next day, Thursday, arrived with dense fog. We were glad we were staying in the anchorage! We took Bella ashore and walked the river trail down to the Ice House and then back along Grand Avenue (which of course is just a dirt road!) and back to the dock.

After lunch the fog had burned off and the sun had come out warm and bright, with temperatures in the low seventies. Paul had read about the Plum Orchard Mansion and we decided to take the dinghy and go see it. Off we headed and after 45 minutes or so we were only half way there. It was further than we thought. So we turned back, deciding to leave that for a day when we could anchor Sonas closer to the mansion and make it a shorter dinghy ride.

Instead we walked the parallel trail and the beach, three miles in total.

On Friday morning we checked the latest weather and found that rain was coming in for all of Friday afternoon and all weekend, so we high-tailed it back to home dock.

Enjoy our highlights below from our Voyages Of Sonas YouTube Channel.

The day after Thanksgiving we untied from Fish Tales and slowly worked our way through the small marina. The bridge tender at Big Carlos Pass was pleasantly chatty as he opened the draw for us, and we exited onto a very calm Gulf of Mexico.

We went straight outside the three mile limit and ran north towards Matanzas Pass and the marina at Pink Shell Resort.

The marina at Pick Shell Resort has been voted Top 25 places To Tie Up In North America. The marina has a row of slips facing open water, so are easy to turn and back into. Once checked in each person is given a rubber wrist band that allows access to all parts of the resort. This includes three restaurants and three heated swimming pools. Marina guests also have complementary beach chairs and umbrellas as well as stand up paddle boards. Overall the resort if a family location, with lots of young children. There is a constant stream of boats passing the marina!

There was a city park right beside the resort so we decided to take Bella for a walk. When we got there we found that no dogs were allowed! We suspect it was because there were a lot of birds and it could have been a bird sanctuary. So we took a sharp left and walked along the beach. From then on we walked Bella one way along Estero Blvd and then walked back along the beach.

During our stay we used the adult pool for lunch and drinks, chatting with other guest from the frozen north! We ate at both of the restaurants and at a good seafood restaurant in town.

Our original plan was to leave Fort Myers Beach and go south to Naples and Marco island before retracing our steps. However the weather was forecast to turn cold (for Florida) with a decent blow from the north. Since you have to run outside in the Gulf to and from Naples, we decided it was time to just turn and head for home, and Christmas.

We left Pink Shell Resort at first light on Monday, November 3oth. We had decided to stop at the Glades Marina at Okeechobee Water Way (OWW) mile marker 89. Once underway however we found that we were not as impacted by the westward flow of the river as we thought so decided to go on to Moore Haven at MM 78and again tie up at the city dock. This would shorten our run tomorrow by an hour.

There was a Fleming 65 tied up nearby and Paul chatted with the owners. They were on their way to Stuart to leave the boat for a month for some work. Paul mentioned that on the way west bound we has seen a dock on the St Lucie River with a dozen or more Flemings. They told him that that was the site of the South East Fleming brokerage, where boats were commissioned and worked on.

Next day, Tuesday December 1st arrived very chilly (for Florida!). We were again off early and transited through the Moore Haven Lock and southeast to Clewiston.

As we made the turn at Clewiston Paul noticed white caps out on the lake. We had been in the well protected calm waterway so had not expected a blow in the lake. Sian went below and stowed for sea and we headed across a pretty rough lake with winds gusting to 28 from the north. We even had waves follow us in to Port Mayaca lock, but were ready for that as the lock tender had warned us after we called him.

An hour after leaving the Port Mayaca lock we pulled into Indiantown Marina at MM 29 and tied up at their bulkhead.

We had bought Bella a Doggie Advent Calendar, with treats behind every door. She got to open her first door this evening!

On Wednesday we had an uneventful run from Indiantown to Vero Beach, beginning to retrace our west bound route from three weeks previously. On the way we passed a large number of Fleming yachts tied up at the Burr Yacht facility, the southeast distributor for the model.

As soon as we turned onto the Atlantic Intra coastal Waterway (AICW) we soon realized that by going north, we were going the wrong way for this time of year. Dozens, if not a couple of hundred boats would pass us going south over the next four days with very few going our way!

We also saw an interesting way to inspect and work on bridges over the AICW. We have learned that these vehicles are called Snoopers!

Arriving at Vero Beach Bella got to enjoy a couple of visits to the dog park right by the marina.

Add video

On Thursday we headed north to Cocoa. The AICW immediately exiting Vero Beach takes you at exactly 000 degrees (north) on the AICW.

We had planned on staying at the Cocoa Village Marina again but on our last visit we had walked by the new free dock in Lee Wenner Park, right downtown. There is no water or power but it was cool enough in the evening that we did not need AC or heat so didn’t require the generator. We walked across to Murdock’s for dinner on their back patio.

Next stop Daytona and the Halifax Harbor Marina. Again another uneventful day’s boating north through Titusville and New Smyrna. We were tied up mid afternoon in plenty of time for showers and putting on our glad rags for dinner booked at The Cellar – a restaurant we had used before on a trip back from the Bahamas. We were not disappointed, and had a wonderful meal with a bottle of red from their award winning cellar. A young lady was waiting for us by the front door, took our temperature and asked us to use hand sanitizer before entering!

On Saturday we headed off to St Augustine. We could have made it all the way to home dock but the tides were not right for our entry through the channel and lock at home. So we tied up early in St Augustine and took Bella for a long walk through the south part of town to avoid the crowds. After dark, rather than go into town to see the Nights of Lights which we do every year, we opted to stay on board for dinner and drinks.

The last day of our trip Sunday, December 6th, we gave a couple who were interested in Grand Alaskans a tour of Sonas before heading out. The weather was perfect for a run outside so we exited St Augustine inlet. It was a bit confusing at first as a number of the inlet markers were no longer there then we realized that they had been dredging the inlet for the past month or two so we could head straight for the sea buoy then turn north for Mayport. We had hoped to see a SpaceX launch while offshore as it was a clear day. The planned launch went off on time but we didn’t see anything. We ran well outside the three mile line so give the holding tank a final cleanse. It was a very calm day offshore.

Ahead of us a tug towing a barge came out through Mayport and asked boats to stay clear as it dumped spoil from the dredging that is going on in the river to accommodate the larger boats from the new Panama Canal. Went went in through Mayport, and as we prepared to turn down the AICW for home a car carrier came through with a dolphin playing off its bow.

We went through our lock and were all tied up at home by 3:30. Just before it started to rain!

Photos in the gallery below. Click on the first photo to enlarge it and then you can run this as a slide show or click through them one by one. Once enlarged you can right click and save and image you want to download.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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