All posts by Sonas

Cumberland Island Fall Cruise

Sonas

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.

Leaving home dock on a calm morning

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.

Mayport Naval Station
Sailboats at the St John’s River inlet outbound
Pelicans over calm waters

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.

Cumberland Island anchorage

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!

Kings Bay Submarine Base

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.

Sunset

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.

Uncle Frank with Bella

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.

Dungeness
Wild horses

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.

Pipe Dream
We awake to a beautiful day!

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

Time for morning doggie ablutions!
Followed by morning coffee!

This is the perfect weather for Florida boating!!

Bahamas 2023 – Weeks 8 and 9

[Weeks 6 and 7 report here]

Beach at Tranquil Turtle, Bluff House

Sunday May 21st – Monday May 22nd – Green Turtle Club

Next stop on the grand tour of Abaco with our friends Frank and Julie was lovely Green Turtle Cay. This would be our third visit here on this year’s cruise.

On Sunday we used the Green Turtle Club’s pool and on Monday we rented a golf cart from D&P’s Cart Rental. We took our guests up to Coco Bay beach, then ran down to New Plymouth to show them the town and get some groceries from Syd’s Grocery. We also stopped by the monument to the British Loyalists who made Abaco their home during the American Revolution (rebellion!).

Loyalist Monument
Loyalist Monument

We had read about the bar and restaurant called Pineapples, just outside New Plymouth. We had never been there before so decided to go look for it. We followed Google Maps and ended up on a very narrow, rocky path more than a road. However it was worth it when we bounced along in the golf cart and arrived at the restaurant finding a cool place to have drinks and a meal. In future we will go there the way we were obviously meant to go – by dinghy from our boat!

Pineapples
Pineapples
Pineapples
Frank tries conch at Pineapples
Awesome sign at Pineapples bar

After a stop the beach at the Tranquil Turtle we checked our dinner reservation at Bluff House for this evening was in place.

Julie and Frank at Traquil Turtle Beach

When we came out of Bluff House we found the battery on our golf cart dead. When Paul called D&P it so happened that she had a cart left by other renters parked right there at the Bluff House Marina. We grabbed that and were quickly on our way!

That evening we had a very pleasant meal at the Bluff House, though we were bothered by a number of flies that suddenly appeared as soon as the food did. A lit Sterno soon helped resolve that!

Dinner at Bluff House

Tuesday May 23rd – Orchid Bay

We were working our way south through the Sea of Abaco on our guided tour of the islands. Next stop was to get back across the Whale Cay Channel and down to Great Guyana. There was more of a swell through the channel than when we came north but it was still pretty comfortable for our stabilized boat.

We had planned on taking Frank and Julie up to Nippers for dinner, but were disappointed to discover that it was closed on Tuesday. We were surprised as Tuesday seemed a strange day to close, however we should have checked into that during our planning.

We did go up and used Nippers’ beach access and walked the wonderful wild Atlantic beach before having dinner onboard.

Wednesday May 24th – Man O War

We thought it would be interesting to take Frank and Julie to see Man O War as it a unique place in the Abacos with its small boat building industry and other small businesses such as the canvas shop. It is also a dry island!

We picked up a mooring ball right off the marina, which is still in the rebuilding stage. The outer docks have been build but no slips. We went ashore and walked the interesting streets, looking in at some of the boat building and visiting the canvas shop, which unfortunately we found very expensive.

Rebuild of Man O War Marina in the early stages
A thank you to all those who came and helped rebuild after Dorian
Sign post with town names and distances of those who came to help
Small Methodist church
Great street name
Post office and primary school

It was dinner onboard that night as there are no restaurants up and running. Just as well as the clouds rolled in and the rain started pouring!. And boy did it pour!

We awoke Thursday morning to find a nearby mooring ball had gone under our stern during a wind shift in the night. Paul got into the dinghy and easily pushed the stern off the ball and it swung free well off our starboard given the new wind direction.

We had been told that there was a nice coffee shop in the settlement. We walked up and had an excellent breakfast and then visited the small museum attached to the coffee shop. This is well worth a stop if you are ever in Man O War. Julie stayed behind and investigated more of the island on foot. After we picked her up we dropped the mooring ball and headed off to our next stop, Hope Town.

Ordering coffee
Visiting the small museum
Departing the mooring field
Passing through the narrow Man O War entrance

Thursday May 25th – Friday May 26th – Hope Town

We entered the narrow entrance to Hope Town harbour towing the dinghy. As we got to the Lighthouse Marina we stopped and moved the dinghy to the bow to allow us to back into our slip and then bring the dinghy alongside. We needed the dinghy in the water as this was the only way to get across the harbour to Hope Town proper.

After Paul the dock master got us tied up we got into the dinghy and went across to Hope Town and walked through some of the town. We stopped at Munchies and got ourselves an ice cream. We had a golf cart rented for tomorrow, Friday, so we would be seeing more of Elbow Cay then.

This evening we had booked a table at Bridget’s Rum Bar at Hope Town Marina. We were able to walk there and back from our slip at Lighthouse Marina. While the food and service excellent unfortunately there had just been a cloud burst before we walked over and again as soon as the food arrived so did swarms of flies. The restaurant brought out three lit Sternos and that successfully chased the flies away!

Frank and Julie at Hope Town Marina

The next day Paul went across early and got the keys to the golf cart. After breakfast we all went over and drove around the town and then drove the length of Elbow Cay down to Tahiti Beach. On our way back we stopped at The Abaco Inn to take some photos and to grab a half dozen of their plastic cups. This was to replenish those we had as mementoes off previous visits.

Abaco Inn
Pool and beach at Abaco Inn
No Dumping!!

We also stopped by Sea Spray Marina to see how their rebuilding was coming along. We found the marina fully functional and a small Tiki bar in place. The rest of the on shore facilities were still being built.

Sea Spray Marina

We had a pleasant lunch at Capn Jacks. Frank and Julie then did what everyone should do when visiting Hope Town, they climbed the Lighthouse!

Capn Jacks
Hope Town Lighthouse
On top of the lighthouse

Saturday May 27th – Marsh Harbour

Sadly it was time for Frank and Julie to leave us. We left Hope Town and headed for Conch In Marina for the sixth time this trip! Eric was there to greet us and help tie us up on our favorite slip – slip 53 with the long T-Head. Meaning we could use both our lower gate and upper gate to get Bella off without trouble regardless of the tide.

Turtle behind the boat at Conch Inn

On our way to Marsh Harbour Paul contacted Lorenzo, the electronics guy who had ordered the replacement fuse to resolve our house charging issue. He gave us the sad news that the fuse had not arrived and we would have to manage the charging issue all the way back to Jacksonville.

Today was Sian’s birthday and this evening we went up to Snappas and had a birthday dinner, with Sian indulging in the Imperial Double Chocolate Cake!

Sian enjoying her birthday chocolate cake!

Sunday May 28th – Powell Cay

This morning Frank and Julie left mid-morning for the airport and we left our slip soon after. We took on some diesel, we probably had enough to get home, adding in the 150 gallon we lock down in our small forward tank “just in case.” But being conservative we took on an extra 250 gallons, which would give us plenty of reserve.

So off we went across Whale Cay Channel for the last time this trip. It was actually the least comfortable crossing we had experienced so far, with Paul having to manually handle Sonas for most of the run through the reefs, but we got through without issue.

We dropped anchor at Powell, launched the dinghy and took Bella ashore. Our trip out of Abaco had begun, tomorrow Great Sale, then West End and the Gulf Stream crossing.

Monday May 29th – Great Sale. Tuesday May 30th to West End

The trip to Great Sale from Powell was straightforward. We got there early afternoon and we were the first boat into the anchorage. By nightfall we had been joined by a dozen other boats, four of them arriving after dark. some heading back west towards Florida, some of them just starting their cruise through the Bahamas.

Because there was absolutely no wind this evening we ran the generator to run our air conditioning. Around 3am Sian woke up and heard a pump running. Paul went into the engine room and found a small stream of water running into the bilge there, triggering the bilge pump. After much checking he found the water coming from the generator. It was salty, hot and was coming from the coolant overflow hose. He checked that generator control panel and found the temperature gauge normal and the power output also normal. However he shut down the generator and tomorrow we will call our mechanic in Jacksonville and get some direction.

Next day we had another simple run to Old Bahama Bay. We had only booked in for the one night as all of the forecast sources indicated that a Gulf Stream crossing was available tomorrow, Wednesday. As we got within cell tower range at West End we found that the window had closed. In fact we found out that Saturday would be a possibility but it could be next week before we had an opening.

We ate at the marina restaurant this evening.

Wednesday 31st – West End

Paul called the marina office and extended our stay until Saturday. We walked the docks talking to boats that had arrived from Florida and hearing their stories about rough waters. We also talked to boaters who were, like us, waiting to cross back to Florida. All seemed aligned to waiting until Saturday at the earliest, maybe longer.

Wednesday morning west of West End

We used the resort pool and beach to relax.

That evening Paul checked all of our forecast resources and there seemed to be a small opening for tomorrow. However we decided to be conservative and wait until the morning Chris Parker and other forecasts.

Thursday June 1st – Crossing to Fort Pierce and Vero Beach

We set an early alarm for today in the hope that what we saw last night had firmed up. Sian took Bella for an early walk as we waited for the morning Chris Parker report. It finally came in around 7am and indicated 3 foot swells for the crossing. This meant some 4s or 5s but was doable for Sonas, The issue was the low in the Gulf Of Mexico creating severe storms off the coast of Central Florida during our arrival time, with winds to 40 knots and heavy downpours.

So we had a decision to make. Paul reached out directly to Matthew who had sent the Chris Parker report. He confirmed the doable conditions for the crossing itself but also confirmed the potentially nasty conditions we could meet off the coast of Florida.

We decided to go. Apart from a mega yacht heading further north we were the only boat out of the marina heading west. We had our ditch bag packed and our PLBs on us. We also updated those on our float plan of our decision.

And the conditions were fine all the way across. We had 12-14 knot winds from the north. Not what you would want in the gulf stream but the swells were consistently around four feet with minimal waves on top. The only issue was that the swells were not consistently from the same direction so it was a bit of a “washing machine” effect. However one good monitor of the conditions was Bella. If she was sick it was an uncomfortable crossing, and she wasn’t!!

Around 18 nautical miles from Fort Pierce, traveling north west on our Rhumb line, we got the emergency WX signal on our radio, warning of dangerous storms coming off Florida all the way from Lake Worth (West Palm) to Fort Pierce!

Well here we go!

We had our radar on. We have a Furuno “old fashioned” big box green radar. However we believe it is better than any fancy new multi color multi functional other radar. It clearly indicated not only the storms, their edges, but any boats in and around it. We saw the first storm coming, changed direction to due west to miss it. We did catch the extreme edge and our instruments showed gusts to 39 knots. But this was only for a few minutes until we got past it. Then we saw that if we changed course towards the north west and Fort Pierce again we would hit the gap between this storm and the next. And we successfully did it. We got a smattering of rain, but no wind or other impact.

Storms on radar
Storm to our north

We made the Fort Pierce inlet around 4pm and turned onto the AICW towards our booked slip at Vero Beach. 90 minutes later we were tied up with the help of the crew of a Sabre 45 called Bull Run, as the marina staff had gone home for the day. Sian took Bella off to the excellent dog park right by the marina.

We were across! We had left a float plan with a number of people so we updated them on our status. We also have a Garmin InReach which had been on while we were cruising, allowing people to track us. We now turned this off.

Friday June 2nd – Sunday June 4th – Titusville to Home Dock

We ran easily from Vero Beach to Titusville City Marina. We have traveled the AICW from Norfolk all the way to Miami and think this is the easiest stretch of the whole waterway. No bridges, no slow zones and plenty of deep water in the channel. We even had a face dock tie up at the marina which is always an easy in and out. Only slight issue we had was a dog was bullying at the dog park by the marina, so Sian had to take Bella for her walks elsewhere.

Morning at Titusville

Saturday we ran north through Haulover Canal, avoiding the manatees in the canal and noticed the Falcon rocket staged at the space station ready for its launch tomorrow. Then along Mosquito Lagoon, through the slow zone by the fish camps before transiting New Smyrna Beach. On through Daytona and up to Palm Coast Marina. Again we had an easy face dock tie. As mentioned before PCM is always our first stop on our trips south and our last stop on our trip back north. We walked across to The European Village and the 5th element Indian restaurant for our final cruising meal!

Falcon 9 ready for launch
5th Element Indian meal

Finally on Sunday we again headed north for the six hour trip through Marineland, St Augustine and into our lock for our home dock. As we progressed north the wind grew and grew, gusting in the low 30s. It stayed with us all the way home. We had no issues transiting the lock however and were tied up by 2pm.

This year’s Bahamas cruise was complete. We are already looking forward to next year and planning for Exuma and the far Bahamas again.

We did have some wind!!

Bahamas 2023 – Weeks 6 And 7

[Week 5 here]

Sailing the Sea of Abaco

Saturday May 6th – Sunday May 7th – Green Turtle Cay

We had just spent two wonderful days anchored at Powell Cay, but with wind with gusts to the mid-30s in the forecast we decided to head back to Green Turtle Club for a couple of days.

When we arrived Frisco grabbed the first line and then I heard Sian over the headset saying “you can come onboard if you want!” On our previous visit to GTC Frisco had secured the first line and then asked for permission to come board when he then secured all of the other lines, including the bow lines to the outside piles. I smiled because obviously Sian wasn’t waiting for him to ask anymore but was encouraging him to do it again!!

We had a very relaxing couple of days at GTC, using their pool, chatting with the sports fishermen, including Jimmy from Australia who was over captaining a boat for an owner. We had him on Sonas on Sunday for a lamb dinner – Australian lamb of course.

Swimming at GTC

Monday May 8th – Wednesday May 10th – Manjack Cay

The forecast had light winds for the rest of this week so we left Green Turtle and headed back north to Manjack Cay, (pronounced Munjack). This is also known as Nunjack Cay and is on the charts by that name.

We anchored off the beach on the north west side of the island. The beach was long and sandy and great for walking Bella. There were dozens of turtles at the south end of the beach, and rays frequented the waters around the dock in the middle of the beach.

Anchor set

We also took the dinghy over to the beach around the corner which faces due north. There were boats anchored in there but we could imagine it being untenable in any wind from the north as it was straight in from the Atlantic. There were people from small tour boats feeding the rays that would swim up and take food from the flat palm of their hands. Bella was fascinated by the rays but was very hesitant to go into the water!

Manjack Cay ray

Thursday May 11th – Monday May 15th – Tahiti Beach

Our friends and neighbors Frank and Julie were arriving on Wednesday the 17th to spend time with us on Sonas. As always we didn’t want to leave it too close to time to cross back over Whale Cay Channel. So on Thursday we headed back and ran down to Tahiti Beach for four nights.

Burning the trash on Great Abaco

This anchorage has great holding and has easy access to the small beach and large sandbar which appears at low tide. The Thirsty Cuda regularly pulls up on the sand bar and provides grilled food and drink.

Interesting spinnaker – we assume the insert is to keep the sail full in light winds

On Saturday we decided to dinghy over to Lubbers Quarters and try the new restaurant there, Lubbers Landing. There was a stiff easterly wind blowing right into their dock but we were able to tie up and get off safely. We passed the sad sight of the shuttered Cracker P’s, a fun place we had been to many times.

Lubbers Landing

We were the only customers at the restaurant, probably because of the on-shore wind. The food was good, though the selection of beers was limited. One of the waitresses told us that Cracker P’s had been bought by Pit Bull, a rapper, who was going to re-open the restaurant, although she said she had not seen any activity there yet. After we left we tried to confirm this on the internet but found nothing to substantiate it.

Lubbers Landing
Shuttered Cracker P’s
Lubber’s Landing

On Sunday we lost our drone! The winds were very light so we decided to take some video of Tahiti Beach and Lubbers Quarters. The drone started up fine without any errors or warnings. It took off as usual and responded to the controls. Then about two minutes into the flight it sent a message to the controller that it had a voltage fault and was landing. Since it was over water this was not going to be good. Paul was able to bring it back close to the boat and keep it in the air, but just as it got to Sonas it stopped responding to any commands and took off at speed towards Lubbers Quarters, then disappeared! We did get into the dinghy and go looking to see if we could see anything at the edge of Lubbers or in the water but since we had no idea which direction it went in or how far it was a futile search.

Sunset over Lubbers Quarters

Also on Sunday we heard music from Tahiti Beach and as the day wore on the beach filled with locals. It was Mother’s day and they were having a party with drinks, food and music on the beach.

Party time!

Tuesday May 16th – Conch Inn Marsh Harbour

It was time to head back to Marsh Harbour and the Conch Inn Marina to clean up and take on some water in preparation for the arrival of our guests tomorrow. We had scheduled a boat cleaning by Kevin McIntosh and his crew and they did a very thorough job.

We put the fresh water in and then went up to Colors Bahamian for dinner. We made sure to get there nice and early so that we could avoid the karaoke singing!!

Colors Bahamian

Wednesday May 17th – Conch Inn Marina

We were finally able to get Lorenzo, the electrician from Aqua Marine, to come and look at our house charging issue. He eventually found that the T-Level fuse between the alternator and house bank had blown. He told us that there weren’t any on the island but that he would order one from the states and it would be there when we came back to drop off our guests.

In the early afternoon Frank and Julie arrived. We got them settled, including a warm wagging welcome from Bella who stays with them when we travel.

Bella with “uncle” Frank.

We had a table booked at the Jib Room for dinner and were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the restaurant and food. Like all establishments in Abaco right now it was quite pricey, but well worth the visit.

Jib Room

Thursday May 18th – Powell Cay

We wanted to show Frank and Julie as much of Abaco as we could in the ten days they would be with us. So back north we headed. We crossed a very benign Whale Cay Channel. Se did advise our guests that there was always a chance that we would not be able to get back when we wanted and, worse case, they would have to get the ferry from Green Turtle to Treasure Cay and a taxi to the airport for their flight out!

We anchored off Powell, walked the beach, and also snorkeled the sunken boat just off the beach.

Sunset over Coopers Town

Friday May 19 – Saturday May 20th – Manjack Cay

We headed south to revisit Manjack, which has now become our favorite stop in Abaco! As we approached we got hit with a heavy downpour. Everyone dived below except the poor helmsman! Paul took the boat in circles until the rain eased off and we could anchor!

During our stay we went over to the north beach again so that our guests could feed the rays, which they did with pieces of shrimp!

Julie feeding the rays
Happy crew!

We also broke out the cards and played Sevens for hours each night!

Cockpit cards at Manjack!

Bahamas 2023 – Week 5

[Week four is here]

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

Calm before the storm, in the Sea of Abaco

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.

Entrance to White Sound
Bluff House Marina
Full mooring field

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.

Green Turtle Club bar

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!

Coco Cay
Coco Cay
One way to get to your Island home!
Coco cay dock

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!

New Plymouth
Nick’s Bakery
Wild Atlantic beach

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.

Steep cart cart path to Sundowners at Bluff House
Bluff House restaurant

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!

Strawberry grouper dinner

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.

Sunset over Great Abaco

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.

Stripped trees on Great Abaco

Bahamas 2003 – Week 4.

Saturday April 23rd – Hope Town to Fisher’s Bay

[Daughter Claire and her boyfriend Jerome are guests on board]

Claire and Jerome at Snappas

After breakfast Claire and Jerome took the dinghy in and walked to the beach by the reef off Elbow Cay. We had the drone ready for their return and got some nice video as they returned. The report was this was their favorite spot so far with loads of sea life! Though one local walking the beach warned them about the sharks!

After lunch we headed off to Great Guana Cay and anchored in Fisher Bay . We went into Grabbers with Bella, had a round of drinks and watched the friendly sting ray swimming off the beach.

Grabbers
Grabbers
Sonas crew at Grabbers

As always once the sun goes down we turn on the anchor light. Paul sticks his head up and checked that the light was on and tonight it was not, the bulb had gone out. For tonight he turned on both LED lights on the radar arch which would make us very visible.

Sunday and Monday April 24th and 25th – Orchid Bay Marina

We first visited Guyana Cay way back in 2002 with our young children. With family in 2009 we tied up at Orchid Bay Marina on a Moorings Cat Thee island has a lot to offer and we wanted to spend two days showing it to Claire and Jerome. So we had booked into the marina for two nights, specifically on a Sunday so that we could “do” a Sunday at Nippers!

Orchid Bay Marina

As we turned the corner heading from Fisher Bay to Orchid Bay we saw two sunken boats right off our port side. The water was flat calm so it came as a bit of a surprise. Though we were in fifteen feet and we are sure that these hulls were only fiver or six feet in height. After getting tied up the two youngsters headed off to snorkel the reef off Nippers and we met them afterwards for drinks and lunch.

Fishing the rock off Orchid Bay
C&J Playing off Nippers

Orchid Bay Marina has about 30 slips in operation, though there were only about six boats tied up. There was a team laying more docks so we don’t think it will be long until they have it all back up and running. The wonderful restaurant had been badly damaged by Dorian. It had subsequently opened serving drinks and snacks but then COVID shut it down again and it has yet to reopen.

Other than the marina there is quite a lot of building happening on the Cay and it seems to be quickly coming back.

Previous grocery closed since Dorian. Nippers has opened a new one further along the road.

Tuesday April 26th – to Marsh Harbour

Claire and Jerome are leaving tomorrow, so we checked back into Conch Inn Marina for the night. We walked over to Colors Bahamian for Dinner where, true to form, Claire sang a couple of Karaoke songs! We just got back to Sonas as a tremendous storm hit, with lots of rain and lightening.

Wednesday and Thursday April 27th and 28th. Manjack Cay

After our guests left for the airport we filled up the water tanks and walked over to Maxwells supermarket for fresh goods. We got out of the marina around 11 and headed north, through a relatively benign Whale Cay Channel and anchored in the south Nunjack (Manjack) anchorage. It was pretty full with mostly sail boats. Three charters cats with a large group of young French couples on board were ashore playing on the beach. We spent a very relaxing two days in the anchorage.

Manjack (Nunjack) Cay Anchorage
In case you want a coconut!
Remains of sunken vessel

Friday April 29th. Great Abaco Beach

The wind was forecasted to be pretty stiff from the south which would take it right into the anchorage so we crossed over to the beach on Great Abaco Island directly across from Manjack. When we went ashore we were shocked to find the first two rows of trees ripped off their stumps and next two rows stripped of any foliage. We assumed the result of Dorian.

Anchored off Great Abaco
Beach with destroyed tree line

All our weather forecast sources indicate a major blow coming in over the weekend with gusts over forty knots. We called Green Turtle Club and booked into the marina for three nights until it blows over.

Some photos of Claire and Jerome snorkeling

Bahamas 2023 – Week 3

[Week 2 report here]

Tahiti Beach

Saturday April 16th – Marsh Harbour to Tahiti Beach

We had our two days R&R at the Conch Inn Marina in Marsh Harbour, this after “hiding” from four days of bad weather in Treasure Cay. Now it was time to do a bit of cruising. We left the harbor and cruised slowly past Point Set Rock and through the shallow water north of Lubbers Quarters Cay to the anchorage off the beautiful Tahiti beach. Bella’s expectation is that as soon as the anchor splashes we launch the dinghy and take her ashore! She had a great time sprinting back and forth on the soft sand with a big grin on her face! We watched as the Thirsty Cuda floating bar arrived and anchored off the beach.

The Thirsty Cuda

As we pulled into the anchorage we were surprised to see re Fraiche, which is the same model boat as Sonas. We fist knew her as Mint Julip owner by the Shircliffs, then as Nagari, owned by Paul and Michelle Lewis, and now owned by the Fraiche’s.

re Fraiche

Sunday and Monday April 17th and 18th – Tilloo Bank and Tahiti Beach

Late Sunday morning we upped anchor and headed down to Tilloo Bank for the day. The breeze was from the south which makes the anchorage more open to the wind so we weren’t planning on overnighting. The charts and cruising guide indicated a Median Low Water (MLW) level of five to seven feet going south past Lubbers Quarters. We draw five feet so we would be idling along until we got to deeper water. At one stage we had less that a foot beneath the keel, which didn’t overly worry us as our running gear is protected by a lower keel plus the bottom in this area is really soft sand!

0.7 feet beneath the keel
Tilloo Beach

We anchored at the north east end of the beautiful large shallow bank and took the dinghy across the shallow clear water into the long beach. The bank is well known for sting rays and starfish, we saw some of the latter but none of the former.

picnic area put together by cruisers

Late afternoon we lifted the anchor and retraced our course back to Tahiti Beach. We passed the site of the famous Cracker P’s bar and grill which we had been to many times. Now sadly totally destroyed by Dorian. We did however notice a large OPEN sign on the building next door as we passed. We Googled later and discovered that it a new lodging and restaurant called Lubbers Landing. It didn’t have a dock but a small landing area for dinghys. We shall see if we can fit in a visit before the end of our trip.

Lubbers Landing

We stayed off Tahiti Beach on Monday. Just after dark a large thunder and lightning storm rolled in, with the wind changing one hundred and eighty degrees and blowing hard from the north with high gusts. Thankfully it had passed by before it was time to bunk down for the night. We have an excellent anchor alarm tied into our AIS system. The phone APP shows where the boat is in relation to the anchor and how it is moving within the scope of the anchor set. It has proven to be highly accurate. We know it works well because often we forget to turn it off before leaving an anchorage and when we pass outside the alarm limit we have set, the loud alarm goes off!

Tuesday April 19th- To Conch Inn Marina, Marsh Harbour.

Our daughter Claire and her boyfriend Jerome arrive tomorrow so we booked into Conch Inn for two nights. After tying up we went to Maxwell’s supermarket which this time was well stocked with fresh fruit and veggies. We also got in a couple of case of Sands beer to make sure we had plenty for our guests.

Tonight we went to Colors Bahamian for dinner again, and found that it was Karaoke night! And boy was it loud. We ate as quickly as we could and got back to the boat! We know Claire enjoys a good Karaoke so will likely take her next Tuesday before she leaves!

One unfortunate issue we had today – the remote screen for our water maker stopped working as did the screen on the water maker itself. Paul spoke with the tech at the manufacturer who asked him to take off the cover and put a meter on some points. Due to where the water maker is in the lazarette he needed a low profile ratchet screw driver, not to be found in the local hardware store. So we asked Claire to get him one and bring it over tomorrow.

Wednesday April 20th – Conch Inn, Marsh Harbour.

Claire and Jerome’s flight was delayed by an hour and a half which gave us more time to do some inside and outside “house work.” As soon as they arrived Paul grabbed the screw driver and took off the top of the water maker. Again working with the tech on the phone they worked out that the small 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch board supplying 24volts to the screen was likely bad. We were not going to even try to source this while here or have one flown in, We will buy the water we need from marinas as needed. So not a huge issue, just an annoyance. We all went up to Snappas for dinner.

Thursday April 21st- Back to Tahiti Beach

Claire and Jerome wanted to see the islands and snorkel, snorkel snorkel. Before they arrived we had checked out the Dodge Guide which has specific pages on where to snorkel the Abacos. From Marsh we ran back down to Tilloo Bank and they walked the beach and took the dinghy and explored the bank for sea life. We then retraced and anchored off Tahiti Beach for the night.

Bella the boat dog!

Friday April 22nd – Hope Town

The Dodge Guide indicated that there was a good snorkeling spot inside Tilloo Cut. Paul took Claire and Jerome over to check it out but the swell coming in through the cut was too rough. They snorkeled on the calmer side of the cut and then took the dinghy further south to Tavern Cay and snorkeled there. They saw plenty of fish and turtles and then a barracuda followed Claire so she hot flippered it back to the dinghy!

After lunch we headed up to Hope Town. We had considered going into the harbour and picking up a mooring ball. However the forecast was for a balmy evening with light winds. If we needed to use the generator for overnight AC we would rather be more in the open and not potentially annoying boaters in close proximity in the mooring field.

We took the dinghy in, tied up at the excellent brand new dinghy dock, then walked through town. We had a look at the reef on the Atlantic side of Elbow Cay where Claire and Jerome planned to snorkel. The town was well protected from the breeze and hot, so we found Munchies snack shop and had ice creams! We then took the dinghy across to the lighthouse and the “kids” climbed to the top before we returned to Sonas.

Week three is now complete!

New Hope Town dinghy dock
Apres beach Bella bath!
Sian checking that the anchor is set

Bahamas 2023 – Week 2

Walking Powell Cay beach

[The end of week one found us anchored off Powell Cay – Week 1]

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 too 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, with winds gusting to 38 knots from the south!

Early Sunday looked OK to cross Whale Cay Channel but we decided to not leave it another day 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.

Treasure Cay Channel and fuel dock

Sunday April 9th – Thursday April 14th. At Anchor Treasure Cay

On one of our trips into what is left of the marina we spoke to one of the charter captains and he told us that he had no idea if the moorings were being maintained, that we should dive on it if we wanted to use one.

So we initially anchored right behind the condos on the north side of the basin to get some protection from the north blow that was coming in. After a day more boats cam in and started picking up the mooring balls. since we were anchored in the middle of them, we lifted the anchor and moved to the back of the basin out of the way of the moorings. We had assumed others would not trust the mooring balls for the same reasons we didn’t but it seemed that was not the case. We did see one captain dive on the mooring who later reported his mooring looked secure and we did not see anyone drag while there. However, use at your own risk!

We had used Google satellite images and saw that there was a dock used by the charter boats along the side where the Tipsy Turtle used to be, it seemed that we could use this to take Bella to shore. However when we go there we found that it was a fixed dock about four feet off the water at high tide.

For the four days that we were there we had to put the doggie life jacket on Bella and use it to haul her up to the dock. This wasn’t without lots of wriggling and leg scratches! Most of the time she could jump back down unaided.

Treasure Cay was our “happy place” in Abaco. We first visited with the children in 2002, 21 years ago. And many times since. In fact we worked out that we visited the marina four times in 2018! We walked the wonderful beach, swam in the pool by the Tipsy turtle, drank in the bar and ate in the restaurant. Now it is totally gone, destroyed. Not beyond recognition, because we recognize the footprints of the different resort areas, but there is nothing there. It is such a sad, sad, sad emotional experience.

Treasure Cay destruction – marina office
Treasure Cay destruction
Treasure Cay destruction – Tipsy Seagull pool
Treasure Cay destruction – what is left og the Tipsy Seagull
Treasure Cay destruction – pizza station

We took Bella in twice a day, getting soaked it the wave action created by the wind. We walked the beach again, it is still wonderfully beautiful. I guess nature has a way of preserving its own. But the rest of the time we hunkered down on Sonas.

Sunday was Easter Sunday and Sian did a roast lamb dinner – and delicious it was!

Roast lamb diner- with mint sauce of course!

On Monday we watched as a 37 foot rented power cat come in. He went through the anchorage and moved about looking for a good place to drop the anchor. Soon after we saw it reappear between us and the sea wall in obvious distress. the anchor was dragging and the captain could not seem to motor the boat away from the sea wall. A fellow boater appears in a small dinghy and told us that he had fouled a prop and couldn’t maneuver. He was soon against the sea wall. Paul put on a PFD and grabbed two of our large fenders and took them over. He tried to give them to one of the women on board but she didn’t seem to understand what he was telling her to do. He spoke to the guy on board and he said he was going to try and cut the rope off the anchor. Paul asked if he had a sharp enough knife and he showed a kitchen knife which he seems to be able to run his finger along without injury. Paul came back to Sonas and grabbed his serrated folding knife and took it over to him,

He was unable to free the line. Eventually some locals got him a diver who got him free and onto a mooring ball. He got himself calmed down and then left the anchorage. Not long after two guys in a dinghy came by and gave Paul his knife back! We would meet this power cat and family later on in the week!

Power cat against the sea wall

One good thing (though bad as well) is that we “discovered’ the cinnamon rolls baked fresh every morning in the bakery. We bought two but when we got them out of the bag we realized that each one was a two person portion. So we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast two days in a row. Naughty!

Bella “dressed” ready to go ashore
Anchor snubber working hard!

Thursday and Friday April 14th – 15th Treasure Cay to Marsh Harbour

The storm finally abated and we were free to leave Treasure Cay! It was less than a two hour run to Marsh Harbour and we could not book into our reserved slip until midday. So we had another long walk on the beach, lifted the dinghy, got Sonas tidied up and left the Treasure Cay mooring basin at 10:30.

End of storm rainbow!

We had only planned on staying the one night at the Conch Inn Marina, but decided that we deserved another day of R&R so booked a second night. We very rarely stay in marinas which cruising the Bahamas since we are very self-sufficient with the equipment on Sonas, but after four days pretty much stuck on board during the blow we decided we deserved it!

As we backed into our slip both of us separately notices the burgee flying at the bow of the boat n the next slip. after we had settled everything down we had another look and, yes, it was a Queen’s Harbour Yacht Club burgee – a boat from our neighborhood! the owners Paul and Bev were unfortunately not on board.

Queen’s Harbour burgee

Later in the day a group from the Many Hands organization came and took off the Hope Buckets and school supplies that we had brought from Florida as part of the Hope Fleet initiative.

School supplies
The Many Hands team

We basically just chilled on Sonas and went up to Snappas right at the marina for for dinner. Paul had the largest mahi sandwich he has even seen!

Huge piece of Mahi!

The next day we went up to Maxwell’s Supermarket to replenish the fresh provisions. Maxwell’s is a very well stocked American sized supermarket and we have never been disappointed with the availability of goods there. However we found it pretty empty of fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, etc. We were told that, for some reason, they had not yet unloaded the supply boat that was in the harbour. We are coming back into Marsh next week so will try again.

Walking to the store we passed many many buildings destroyed by Dorian. There is building going on near the waterfront but we saw little activity elsewhere. We are going to do a post on the status of each of the settlements we visit at the end of our cruise.

Marsh destruction
Marsh destruction

We went to a new-to-us restaurant in the evening, Colors Bahamian. A deck restaurant painted in the yellow and blues of the Bahamian flag. We were looked after by Matthew and had an enjoyable meal.

Week two has ended and we are in the Hub of Abaco!

Bahamas 2023 – Week 1

Old Bahama Bay, West End Grand Bahama Sunset

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.

Pitted starboard shaft

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.

Leaving home dock
Not a ripple on the water as we approach the lock
…and off down the AICW!
First breakfast underway – bagels, cream cheese and lox!
Boating friends the Peelers taking some video and photos as we pass by their ICW home
St Augustine Lighthouse above the Conch House Marina

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!

The Fifth Element Indian Restaurant- being a Friday in lent we both had shrimp meals.

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.

You couldn’t wait to overtake, but push me out of the channel?
Derelict boat or result of hurricane Nicole last November?
A herd of manatees had settles right in the middle of the channel in Mosquito lagoon and never moved as boas went by. We think they were busy breeding!

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.

Full tanks!
Port oil leak

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.

Sunrise over NASA, Cape Canaveral
Nesting Osprey
Busy Sunday sand bar at Sebastian Inlet
Give the green a wide pass!
The height limiting NASA Causeway Bridge is being replaced!

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.

Hope Fleet supplies for schools in Abaco
Hope Buckets

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!

Departing Vero Beach City Marina at sunrise
Anchored boats now line both sides of the Fort Pierce Inlet

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!

One big guy in and one out at Lake Worth Inlet
Heading out Lake Worth Inlet
Picking up the pilot for Lake Worth

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.

Paul didn’t hold onto his coffee going through the inlet and one broken mug later…
Managing the Gulf Stream, a 22 degree offset!
The Gulf Stream wasn’t bothering Bella
Yellow quarantine flag is up.
Ditch bag
The first thing you see approaching West End is the water tower.

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.

Our slip right by the bar and 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.

The first Kalik of the year

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.

Sian tidying up the lines on the way to Indian Rock Channel

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.

Sunset over Powell Cay
Powell Cay sunset

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.

January Cumberland Island and Fernandina Mini-Cruise

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.

Destroyer 75 in dry dock at the BAE yard at the intersection of the AICW and the St Johns
Security keeping a close watch on passing boats
This must stink!
Busy free dock at Sister’s Creek
Neat little tug passes heading south
White pelicans
Our usual escort

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!

Paper Mill train on Kingsley Creek Bridge

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!”

Tug reversing off another grounding.
The tourists ae still playing on the water!
Cumberland Tree – how on earth is this still standing!!

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.

Sub and supply vessel
Amelia River Tour Boat on the East River at Cumberland
Cumberland Wild Horse
Wild horses
Empty Cumberland anchorage, though five other boats did join us later in the day
Walking the island

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

The blue marked part of the ferry dock that private boaters can use to tie up

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!)

Fernandina Harbor at sunset

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.

The hull sides have been badly gouged.

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.

The approach to Amelia Yacht Basin at low tide!

Bahamas Documentation

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/#

2018 DTOPS Decal

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!

Bringing Sonas Home

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.

Atlantis from the Sidney Poitier Bridge.
Beautiful Trumpy Arriva tied up in Nassau

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.

Exiting Salt Cay cut northbound

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.

Quickly getting to depths of 10,000 to 15,000 feet (3000 to 4700 meters)

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.

Calm enough for the crew to nap!

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.

Peter was ready to go play!

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

We eat well on Sonas, pasta and meat sauce!

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!

Early morning arrival

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!

Afternoon snacks!

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.

We didn’t have far to walk to the bar and restaurant!

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.

Sunrise over Indian Cay, West End Grand Bahama
Auto Pilot handling the gulf stream flow and getting a nice push from it. Black line is our heading, red line is the Rhumb Line.

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!

It is hard to beat this for a Gulf Stream crossing!

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!

Riverside Grill

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.

Vero Beach mooring field

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!

Lamb dinner with the required mint sauce! Who says cruising has to be hard!
I surprised Peter with his chocolate Easter eggs!

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!

Our Worst Nightmare – Realized!

Pieces in italics are from Sian.

“There’s Only One Kind Of Folk – Folk.”

I have a T-Shirt with that saying on the back. Sian bought it to me because it resonates with us. This blog entry is probably going to send shivers up a lot of cruisers spines, but what we really want to get across here, is that serious shit can happen out there, but when you reach out to people for help, the results can be heart warming.

As we spend time cruising we often discuss the ” what if….” not to be pessimistic but to have an idea for action as necessary.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hawksbill to Highbourne

Wednesday March 23 found us anchored off Hawksbill Cay in the Exuma Land and Sea Park. For some reason during the night we has a small surge from the south rolling Sonas slightly even though there was an easterly wind. The first cut to our south was some distance away.

Around lunch we discussed whether we wanted to stay another night or head south to Big Majors anchorage for a less rolly night. We decided to stay put. We instead decided to take a walk with Bella using the sandy path across Hawksbill to the beach on the Exuma Sound side.

“Flip flops or Trainers?”

“Flip flops of course!”

We got Bella into the dinghy and anchored it off the beach by the entrance to the cross-island path. And off we set. It was an easy flat walk for a quarter of a mile then it went up hill a bit onto some limestone rocks. We got to the top of the hill and looked down the steep rocky path onto the beach, and decided that this was far enough for a couple in flip flops so we turned back.

As we went back down the rocky part of the path I turned and held Sian’s hand to help her down. Once down I turned and began walking, and that is when it happened.

Sian screamed, and I turned around to find her on the ground.

“I think I’ve broken my leg!”

For those of you who have seen the movie Alien where the alien pushed out of John Hurt’s chest, you will relate to what I saw.

One of the bones, I don’t know which one, was pushing the skin out the side of her foot and as she held her leg up her ankle was just swinging free of her leg. The look on her face was one of complete shock.

It felt like a 10 second thought process but it was probably more like one second where I thought “I need to pop that ankle back in if we are to get down this hill and better to do it now while she already is in shock and before she realizes she has pain.”

I stepped to her and grabbed her foot and popped the ankle in as best I could. She just looked at me and asked “what did you just do?”

“I put your ankle back into your foot.”

And then we looked at each other and both thought “how the hell are we going to get back to the boat?”

I got her up and put her right am across my shoulder and she started hopping down the sandy path on her good leg. We hadn’t gone more than ten steps when we knew that this was futile. I was going to have to leave her there and go get help. Just then we saw a white shirt though the bushes and a young man turned the corner. The shirt had the logo of Not Enough, a mega yacht that was anchored off the island.

“Can I help you guys?”

We explained what happened and he took Sian under the other arm and helped us hop another few yards. He then decided that his was not going to work and scooped her up into his arms. He told me to run ahead and get his colleague who was on the beach with their clients.

I got onto the beach and called for the other crew. He came over and I explained what was happening. He ran back and told the yacht’s clients was was going on and, to their credit, they asked if they could come help.

The two guys, who we later learned were Calvin and Justin, got Sian to the beach. I had pulled our inflatable dinghy onto the beach ready to get Sian on, but they told me they were going to take her to the yacht’s tender and bring her out as it was bigger and more stable.

I got to Sonas before them and we managed, with some difficulty as there was significant wave action, to get Sian off their center console and onto Sonas. Soon after more help arrived. A couple who were out on their dinghy and saw what was happening came to Sonas. She was a nurse and they had splints on board their boat. While Nancy began the stabilizing process on Sian, her husband Dana helped Paul get Sonas ready to move.

This off season I have made a diligent effort to update our medical supplies, including a medical bag for our dog as this is her first Bahamas cruising season. I felt I had done as much as is reasonable. I was wrong. When it came down to it I did not have appropriate splints or wide enough bandages. Or stronger painkillers than Tylenol.

We needed to move as we had no cell or other signal apart from our In-Reach, at Hawksbill. ( And I didn’t think that this was quite the emergency to activate the In-Reach’s SOS function). Nor was there any facility for getting Sian quickly airlifted. I made the decision to motor the two plus hours north to Highbourne Cay. The alternative was Staniel Cay, with its airport, three hours south. However the marina there is not somewhere I thought getting Siân off the boat was feasible nor was I comfortable leaving Sonas for any period of time if we were both Medevac’d. I made the gut decision to go north to Highbourne. Which also happened to be closer to Nassau should we have to get there there by water.

With Sian on a couch on the salon holding the handheld radio so we could talk, we headed to Highbourne Cay. As we passed north of Norman’s I remembered the significant air traffic going in and out of the airport there and at the same time realized that I wasn’t aware of an airport at Highbourne.

Did I misstep?

I soon was within range of the cell tower at Highbourne and jumped on their web site to confirm that they did not have an airport – but they did have a sea plane ramp! I radioed in and told the lady that we had a medical emergency and required a Medevac.

She quickly got the resort manager Jason on the radio who advised that they did not have an airport, it might be best to go back to Normans. I asked about their sea plane ramp and the possibility of a Sea Plane.

“Are you requesting a sea plane for your wife?”

“Absolutely, if you can get one!”

“Give me a few minutes to make a call.”

It was indeed just three or four minutes and he came back to advise that the sea plane company that they use to provision the island had a plane already in the Exumas and they were diverting it! I was to get into the marina’s fuel dock and tied up ASAP. Which I did.

Jason and Mark came on board as soon as I tied up as did a doctor who was on a boat in the marina. They firmed up the splints round the leg, brought a medical back board and, as gently as they could strapped Sian onto it and four of them moved her onto the dock.

On the dock at Highbourne

They walked Sian down to their center console and laid her gently on the deck, and moved out towards the sea plane ramp. A few minutes later the plane landed and tied up at the ramp.

On the dock – the wonderful Highbourne staff
On Highbourne’s boat waiting for the sea plane

Pilots Ricardo and Dusty, jumped out and Ricardo came over and reassured Sian that they were going to get her to a hospital quickly and she was in good hands. They then changed the seat configuration in the plane to have two seats facing each other, and placed Sian across the seats, and strapped her in.

Getting Sian on the sea plane

Before they closed the doors Sian was able to see me and she waved. And I guess that is when I was no longer in control of things and I felt extremely emotional as I watched the plane take off.

I cannot thank the Highborne staff enough. They went above and beyond and I will be forever grateful.

On the plane Dusty stayed with me, explained what was happening and upon landing Ricardo stayed with me until I was loaded into the ambulance. Such kind people.

Mark helped me move Sonas to a slip. Sian called later that evening o say hat she had been admitted to the Emergency Room at the private Doctor’s Hospital in Nassau, which the people at the marina had highly recommended over the public hospital. And Bella and I spent a lonely night at Highbourne.

It had been a hell of a day.

NASSAU

Thursday March 24.

I paid for the slip at the marina office and asked for Jason’s contact details. Once things were more settled I wanted to make sure that we were able to reach out and thank him and his team. Stevie the dockmaster helped me untie Sonas and I headed for Nassau. The WX wasn’t exactly kind, calling for 4-6 foot seas between Highbourne and New Providence. And unfortunately they were from the south east, putting them on my starboard stern. This rendered the stabilizers useless and the auto pilot could not hold the course without regular broaches. I ended up manually steering the four and a half hours into Nassau.

When I got within radio range I called Bay Street Marina and asked for a slip for a week, which they were able to give me. I also told them to advise the dock hand that I was single handed and to grab the lines I prepared ahead of time.I got tied up successfully and checked into the marina by 2:30. David in the slip next to me asked why I was on my own , and I explained the circumstances.

After giving Bella a quick walk, I headed up to Doctor’s Hospital which was less than ten minutes from the marina. They had already taken images of Sian’s leg and moved her into her private room. She had three breaks, one lengthways in her fibula and two in her tibia and her ankle was broken. They had her in a soft cast. She told me that the doctor decided not to operate but to get her back to the US as soon as possible. They were working on a Medevac

Friday March 25th.

Yesterday I had tried to update Aetna ( our health care company) on what was going on, but wasn’t successful. I finally got through this morning and a case manager called me back with minutes. After updating her I got a call from Craig their Medevac provider. I told him that the hospital was trying to arrange a flight. He advised that if the company the hospital used was based in Nassau that might be quicker than using them, as they were Miami based. I told him I would find out and call him back.

Meanwhile the hospital had started the doctor to doctor transfer process to the hospital in Miami, which was their standard procedure. I wondered if we could instead get a transfer to Jacksonville. I called Craig back and after checking with Aetna he told me that I had been approved for a flight to Jacksonville instead on Miami.

I called the lady at the hospital and told her that I wanted a hospital in Jacksonville instead of Miami. And that is where things got difficult. She told me that the surgeon in Miami had already seen Sian’s images and had accepted the transfer. It was set. After I pushed back she told me that if I could find a hospital in Jacksonville to talk surgeon to surgeon reviewing the images, given it was now Friday afternoon, and accept the transfer she could change it.

I first spoke to the international transfer lady at Mayo and she could not handle it. I then tried Shands Trauma and that did not work out either. Eventually I told them to go ahead with the Miami transfer. I called Craig back and told him that we were going to Miami and that the service the Nassau hospital uses is US based. He arranged for his company to do the Medivac on Saturday morning.

I then told him about Bella. Saying that unless they could also Medevac her, then I needed to stay. He called me back to say Bella could come too, but that she would not be allowed on the ambulances on either end, so I would have to get my own transport. Craig was excellent and kept me updated on every step of the Medevac process.

When I finally got back to Sian in the hospital she told me that the surgeon in Miami has asked for an ankle reduction to be done prior to her being Medivac’d. That the surgeon in Nassau was going to try and do it tonight or, failing that, Saturday morning.

It didn’t happen. AND IF WE HAD KNOWN HOW CRITICAL THIS WAS AND THE IMPACT IT WOULD HAVE LATER ON WE WOULD HAVE INSISTED ON IT!

MIAMI

Saturday March 26th

We were being Medivac’d today. I went into the marina office and extended the slip rental until April 8th. That would give us two weeks to get things sorted out and for me to get back to bring Sonas home.

Last night I had dinner at the restaurant by the marina and David from the yacht in the next slip joined me. I told him I was leaving Sonas there for a couple of weeks and he offered to keep an eye on the boat, make sure the lines and fenders were protecting her etc. That was a great relief.

Craig had advised that the Medevac jet was landing in Nassau at 9:45. I had booked a taxi the night before and made sure the driver knew that Bella was with me. We got picked up at 8:45 and we were at Jet Nassau by 9:15.

The jet arrived accompanied by two great nurses who got Sian from the ambulance, hooked up to on board monitoring equipment. Bella and I followed, with the nurses sharing their snacks with Bella! I held onto Bella as we took off, she shook the whole way across and didn’t stop until we were off the jet in Fort Lauderdale. We had flown into FLL as Craig had advised that the entry process was easier than Miami, especially for Bella! The customs guy asked to see her Rabies certificate which I had on my phone and she was in!

Sian being loaded onto the Medevac flight.
Pampered Bella

Sian was picked up by the ambulance and transferred to Doctor’s Hospital Coral Gables. I got a dog friendly Uber for Bella and I and checked into a dog friendly hotel ten minutes from the hospital.

We weren’t home, but we were closer!

[Sian’s skin had been under pressure from the break for so long that the resultant blisters and ulcers meant that she could not have surgery for 10 days. She eventually had the surgery on Monday April 4. She was discharged on Wednesday April 6 and we drove to Jacksonville, where she is now facing a long rehab recovery. Paul leaves on Wednesday April 13th for Nassau with his brother Peter to bring Sonas back home. We look forward to getting back out on Sonas as soon as we can, but only when it is absolutely safe for Sian to do so.]

For photos of her leg pre and post surgery click here – warning, pretty gruesome.

Post operation cast
BA Bear (Broken Ankle Bear)
Back home.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sian and I could not publish this blog entry without highlighting the help and support we had during this ordeal from simply awesome people.

Calvin and Justin from the yacht Never Enough. Two strong young men who did what was necessary to get Sian back to Sonas.

Nancy and Dana, nurse and husband who helped at Hawksbill.

Jason, Mark and the magnificent team at Highbourne Cay, for the exemplary work they did in arranging the sea plane and minimizing the pain to get her from Sonas to the aircraft.

Ricardo and Dusty, the pilots on the sea plane, diverting to get her and gently getting her on board and to Nassau.

Randi, our case nurse from Aetna who focused on clearing our path through it all, and Craig from the Aetna Medevac company who worked all hours on Friday and Saturday to make it happen, and followed up multiple times after we got to Miami to make sure we were being taken care of.

And, while we did not detail Sian’s experiences at the hospital in Miami, we must give a shout out to the doctors and nurses there who put her back together again and put her on the road to recovery.

There were others as well, the staff at Bay Street Marina in Nassau who worked with me to extend Sonas multiple times even though they were full. The ambulance crews in the Bahamas and Florida, the pilots and nurses on the Medevac jet who looked after Sian and took Bella aboard as if she was their pet.

And finally our friends and neighbors in Jacksonville who drove down I95 to get Bella, cared for her in their homes, and after we got home inundated us with love, sustaining food and their most importantly, their time.

We are blessed!

BERRYS TO EXUMA LAND AND SEA PARK

We made it!

Day 22. Friday March 18.

Cabbage Cay Sunset

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!

Having fun off Atlantis.

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.

Salt Cay channel looking 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!

Norman’s Beach Party
Norman’s sunset

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.

One way of seeing the Bahamas!
Infinity
And Infinity’s support vessel!

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.

Sian ready to drop anchor is her most favoritist spot in the world!

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.

Hawksbill snorkeling
Hawksbill snorkeling
Queen Bella!

This was our last day before Sian’s accident!

The Crossing And To The Berrys!

Day 15. Friday March 11th.

And we are off across the stream at last!

We had set the alarm for 5:15am with the plan to be out of the Riviera Beach city Marina at first light. We had one of those restless nights that you have when you know you have a early start, despite trusting your alarm! We got out of bed at 4:30am.

Sian took Bella for a walk through Riviera Beach in the dark being careful to stay in well lit areas, while Paul prepared the lines and power cord for departure. We were going to get a head start and leave in the dark.

Sian untied the last two lines and stepped on board, using our headsets to tell Paul we were clear. With the engine bumped in gear we started to pull out until all of a sudden the boat stopped dead and yawled to one side. Paul immediately knew we have left a line tied! Our lines are black and in the dark we had missed one of the stern lines. Paul reversed the boat back so that Sian could step off the swim platform, untie the line, and step back on. We finally got underway, with a rush of adrenalin for good measure!

Port of West Palm in the dark!

We were out of the Lake Worth Inlet by 6am, with the first waypoint of Bahama Bay in the chart plotter feeding the auto pilot. We would be hands off the wheel until the channel into Lucaya ten hours away. We would let the auto pilot handle the significant drift caused by the gulf stream’s 3.5 knot current running to the north and across our path. In the middle of the stream the boat was pointing 130 degrees when our bearing to the waypoint was 112 degrees. An 18 degree difference!

Managing the flow of the Gulf Stream

The forecast held true and the gulf stream was pretty benign, with rolling two foot swells and very little wave action. So all was good. We exited the gulf stream and started to get a good current push toward the North West Providence Channel running along the south of Grand Bahama. Then things got a bit more uncomfortable.

Calm Atlantic approaching the Gulf Stream 12 miles off Lake Worth Inlet.
Sian wearing her Personal Locator Beacon.

The current was on our stern as we ran towards the south east and Lucaya, we estimated at around 3 knots. The wind was blowing 18 knots from the south east and the seas got up. Nothing dangerous, fours and fives, uncomfortable but not in any way dangerous. The only issues we had was Bella being sick a couple of times and me losing the handrail when going below for a bathroom break. I landed on the closed knife I keep in my pocket (to cut the life raft free if we ever had to deploy it)! Still sporting a good sized bruise from that one! After we passed Freeport we got out of the main current and things calmed down for our entry through Bell Channel and into Lacaya, and the Grand Bahama Yacht Club.

On the line!
Entering Port Lucaya

The harbormaster had us pull into the fuel dock first so that we could clear customs and immigration, and then helped us tie up in our slip. We booked into the marina for three nights until Monday. Though unless the forecast changes it looks more like Tuesday before we can start heading further south as some real nasty weather is hitting both Florida and the Bahamas over the next few days. In fact we heard from folks back home that the Players Championship back in Jacksonville was called and it would be Monday before they will be able to finish it!

We are finally in the Bahamas, 2022 version!

Sonas in her slip at Grand Bahama Yacht Club

Day 16. Saturday March 12th.

And We Wait!

The wind howled all day and got worse as the day progressed . With significant squalls that clocked 180 degrees numerous times.

We got the water hose out and rinsed off all of the sea salt that clung to Sonas from the crossing yesterday.

While sitting in the cockpit in the afternoon we saw the large seventy foot sailboat that had been docked in the slip next to us in Riviera Beach come into the marina. We had been chatting to the two couples and had helped handle their lines as they left. She had left Riviera Beach two days before us so we were surprised to see her come in – and noted that she had not yet cleared customs as the Bahamian courtesy flag was not raised. We also noticed that the foresails that were previously furled on her three fore stays were now missing.

Sian gave them some time to get settled then went over to see what had happened. They had had their furling gear serviced recently and as they were sailing across the gulf stream the furling gear all collapsed. They ended up losing two foresails. It seems that some retaining cotter pins had not been replaced causing the damage.

They managed to get to Grand Bahama and got anchored off shore trying to figure out what to do. However with the approaching storm they decided to get into the marina for safety.

As we were giving Bella her afternoon walk we met June, a dog from a boat a few slips down our dock. Sian and June’s owner Lauren took the dogs to a nearby field and let them run free!

This evening we walked over to the Bell Channel Inn and had conch and lobster in their restaurant, washed down with local Sands and Kalik beer!

Lobster dinner, hopefully the first of many!
And the first Kalik of the trip!

Day 18, 19, 20. Sunday through Tuesday March 13th, 14th and 15th.

And Still We Wait!

Seas on our route were forecasted to be 5-7, meaning probably 6-8!

Sian took Bella to Taino Beach every morning to let her run on the sand and paddle in the water. We did the laundry and filled up the water tanks.

After we topped up the tanks our drinks did not taste as fresh as they had done with US water. We are not sure why, as we thought they made their own water using reverse osmosis which is supposed to taste better. Later in the trip Sian read a thread on one of the FaceBook pages that Dorian had driven a lot of salt into the wells used in Grand Bahama which affected water quality. Once we are anchoring out we will take every opportunity to use our water maker to replace the water we added here.

Paul found a small fuel spot on a bilge pad and traced the leak to the starboard fuel lifter pump. He put the engine on warm and ran it up to 1500 and made sure that it wasn’t a significant issue. We will monitor it and wait until we get to Georgetown and replace it with the spare that we have on board.

We took the marina’s water taxi over to Lucaya and had a nice Greek lunch of moussaka and lamb gyro before walking down to Solomon’s supermarket for some fresh fruit and a ride back in the marina’s shuttle van.

The talk on the dock was a constant – “when will the weather break so that we can move!” We spoke with the crew of sailing vessel Ensandel on Monday night. They were leaving on Tuesday morning. Not all of the sources we use for weather were aligned, with NOAA saying 6-8 feet, so we were considering the better forecast for Wednesday. Ensandel offered to radio us when they were out there and let us know the conditions.

We watched them leave then waited for the call which came after about 90 minutes. “Stay Home” was the advice!

So it looks like Wednesday, first to Cabbage Cay. The wave action is forecasted from the south, which is good for that anchorage.

On Tuesday Paul finally got the authorization from the Bahamian Civil Aviation Authority to import and use his drone. We had applied for this back in early January but it had not come through before we left the US. Once in hand Paul walked over to the customs office and added it to our list of non duty paid items on board.

Day 21. Wednesday March 16th.

The forecasts are aligned, 2-3 foot seas and we are good to go.

We left the marina at 8:30. And we were back by 10:00 after a solid hour getting pounded by the 5-7 footers on the nose in the North West Providence Channel. It was bad enough that our DeFever burgee broke loose! After we tied back up in our slip Paul announced that he was NOT washing the salt off the boat again!

Loose burgee

The number of boaters stopping by to ask us what it was like “out there” was numerous. Everyone was eager to get going!

The only upside was that here was a fish fry over at Taino Beach tonight! Which we attended and had a nice time talking to other boaters.

Taino Beach fish fry! Red snappers.

Day 22. Thursday March 17th – St Patrick’s Day!

The previous evening’s forecasts were again looking good. The early forecasts also showed a doable crossing from Grand Bahama to the Berrys. So off we went – AGAIN!

And this time we made it. It wasn’t in any manner smooth, but Bella wasn’t sick – which was has become our litmus test of how the seas where. However it was still six hours of uncomfortable boating until we got to the east side of the Berrys.

We passed the four cruise ships from Celebrity and Royal Caribbean at their “private islands” of Great Stirrup and Great Harbour Cays in North Berrys, and later listened to some interesting radio chatter between the different companies as they prepared to get underway, to make sure they didn’t get in each others way.

Busy “private islands” in the Berry.

We pulled into the Cabbage Cay anchorage at 5:30 and found four other boats already there. We quickly got the dinghy launched and Bella to shore for her necessaries

Week three and we were closing in on our cruising grounds of the Exumas and south from there!

More photos.

Goodbye West Palm
Carnival cruise ship leaving Freeport
Too rough to put the quarantine flag on an antennae so it got bungeed to the bimini
Cabbage Cay sunset
TV stowed for sea!
Monitoring the busy inlet by radar
Our In-Reach satellite communicator with a clear view of the sky!
In the middle of the relatively benign Gulf Stream
Pre made lunch for the crossing
Bella chillaxing at Grand Bahamas Yacht Club, Lucaya.

Bahamas 2022 -Stuart To West Palm – And Waiting…

Tomato plants are coming along!

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.

Tiger Woods’ Privacy

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!

The 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.

Broken pulley

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.

Bella on Peanut Island

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.

Ditch bag

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

Weather!

[Post in italics are always by Sian]

Lets talk about weather. How it is applied to our boating adventures. When we leave home dock we are looking in terms of, is it nice enough to steer from up top? Is it a jeans day or a shorts day? Or even , can we run outside or is it an Intracoastal day? All decisions made quickly and generally without too much angst.

Then we start reading the forecasts from multiple sources. As we are a week away from our Bahamas crossing the reading is a type of overview. As in “weather looks unsettled mid week but let’s just see when we get there. “The closer we get to our departure point the more we pour over every word, reminding ourselves “it’s a forecast, not a guarantee”

When we arrive, this time at Riviera Beach, the weather is not looking appealing for a couple of days. That’s okay, time for Covid tests and fresh food provisioning, no big deal.

Now the weather as a topic of conversation is front and center with friends and strangers alike. Who’s forecast do you like? what are you thinking about a crossing? Why are the forecasts dissimilar and WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? We call boating friends, others call us and we discuss weather. Neighbors text and email?” it’s not looking good, what are your plans?” We examine charts for wave heights, wave frequency, wind speeds, when is the next front coming in? remembering its all a prediction. And then we do it all again. And again, looking for the elusive word that will lead us to a safe decision.

Now we are being delayed by nearly a week and even though there is no schedule to keep to its still a bit anxiety provoking. Is the north route (Lake Worth to Grand Bahama) more settled than the south (Miami to Bimini) should we move our staging point? What time is it? is the 6am forecast out, how long until the next update and why isn’t this guy similar in his forecast to the rest, does that make him more right or vice versa?

Add to this transient dockage is not as flexible as we have seen it in previous years. During Covid everyone and his brother bought a boat so they all have to sit somewhere. The upcoming West Palm beach boat show and inclement weather for travel adds more boats to this area making marinas very busy places. Can we find space at the inn? If not here ,where. And when we eventually can depart how far are we from our best departure point. As a slow boat this time of year every minute of daylight counts!

Bahamas 2022 – Jacksonville To Stuart and Trawlerfest

Crabber feeding a stray dog on the mud (at least we think its a dog!)

Day 1. Thursday February 24th.

At last! After missing out on our spring cruise to the Bahamas for the last two years due to the pandemic, we are finally leaving for the islands!

Due to depths in the channel from our home dock to the AICW we had to be away by 7:45am to be at the lock to the channel for the 8am opening time.

Before we left our next door neighbors Cindy and Dan came to to Sonas to see us on our way with some gifts for us and Bella. And as we approached the lock our neighbors Angela and John appeared to wish us bon voyage! What awesome neighbors we have.

We were a bit concerned when we got to the lock to see the channel out to the AICW was extremely low, lower that we expected given that it was 2 hours before low tide. Added to this the inside lock gates were not fully shutting, leaking water in during the pump down operation, making the process longer. We finally got out and ploughed mud all the way – but we got out, with 0.5 feet under us all the way! As we headed south we got communication that the lock had an issue and it was 10:30 before the next boat got out.

Queens Harbour Channel

We ran south and timed the Bridge of Lions in St Augustine nicely, with only a 5 minute wait until the 12:30 opening. On the way Bella again got frantic on the boat deck whenever dolphins came to play. We now have pads on the edge of the boat deck to make sure that she doesn’t lose her footing!

Bella Pads!
The Great Cross in St Augustine

We made Palm Coast Marina by 3p.m. They had assigned us an angled T-head by the fuel dock and we had some struggles to get in given the south wind and the current running out of the marina basin. After getting tied up and walking Bella, we rewarded ourselves with an Indian meal at The Fifth Element up at the European village, just a fifteen minute walk from the marina.

Fifth Element Indian Meal Palm Caost

We realized that we had left Bella’s pee pad behind so ordered one from Amazon to be delivered to Nettles Island in Stuart where we will be docked for Trawlerfest. She has never used one but we wanted one on board in case we get stuck on board for a period that is too long and detrimental for her.

Paul also realized that we left the charger for the drone behind so ordered that from amazon as well!

Day 2. Friday February 25th

The day started with a lovely walk along the Intracoastal Waterway trail for Bella and I. It’s a three mile loop, friendly for walkers, bike riders and dogs alike.

Palm Coast river walk

Today we were running to New Smyrna. However Paul had researched diesel prices and found that Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona had a comparatively excellent price on diesel. All of the other marinas between Jacksonville and West Palm had fuel at around $4,40-$4.50 a gallon. Halifax was $3.52 a gallon. 80-90 cents a gallon cheaper than anywhere else. To make sure Paul called them to confirm the price! So we planned to stop there on our way and fill up.

As we approached Main St Bridge in Daytona we saw the flashing lights of work vehicles on the span. We radioed and the bridge tender told us that he could not open. The board showed 18 feet, and there is an additional 4 feet in the middle of the span. Since we only require 21 feet with the antennae down we went through with a whopping foot to spare! The bridge tender warned us the Coranado Bridge in New Smyrna was also currently inoperable.

Working on the Main Street Bridge

When we pulled into the Halifax Harbor fuel dock we were disappointed to find that the price board showed $4.42! Questioning this the dock hand told us that they were still charging $3:52 but that it would be going up within the hour, we were one of the last boats to get it at the reduced price. So we took advantage and put in 630 gallons! We hold 1000 gallons in three tanks and we already had 300 on board so we we were pretty near full. We will top up the tanks in West Palm before we cross. A five cents a gallon BoatUS membership discount was also applied, so we estimated that we had saved around $600 on this fill alone!

One thing we should discuss here is the use of our small forward tank, We have three fuel tanks. Two saddle tanks at 425 gallons each and a center forward tank of 150 gallons. Our fuel valve system allows us to draw from any one tank, any two tanks or all three! Some boaters with a small tank use that as a “day tank,” running the engines frm that only and filling from the other tanks. However we fill this forward tank and then lock it down. Should we get “bad” fuel while in the islands we can shut down the main tanks and use this fuel to get us somewhere to resolve the issue. With good management it would get us around 250 – 300 nautical miles, likely more.

As we got into New Smyrna the CG communicated that the Coronado Bridge was indeed inoperable and would be until 4pm at the earliest. Unless we could get under, this would hold us up for at least two hours. Luckily we also got under that with about two feet to spare and tied up at New Smyrna Marina. Sian suggested the fuel we added in Daytona helped get under the bridge!

We had a pleasant dinner at the marina’s very busy Outrigger Restaurant.

Day 3. Saturday February 26th.

Early this morning we heard some female voices when it was still dark, then two girls on SUPs passed us! It was only just 6am so they must have had a very early start to their day!

Pre-dawn paddleboarders

We also overheard a radio conversation between a sportsfisherman a couple of slips over and the Coronado bridge. They were told that the bridge was still inoperable with the next update at 10am. We wondered if they had a charter today as it was Saturday. Sounded like lost money for the captain and crew.

It was an easy run today through the rest on New Smyrna, through the long slow zone past all of the fish camps in New Smyrna Beach and into Mosquito Lagoon. A sailboat going north hailed us and asked if had heard the latest on the bridge opening. We shared what we had heard, then minutes later the Coast Guard came on to say that there was still an issue but that there would only be openings at 2pm and 4pm today, and at 10am and 2pm tomorrow, Sunday.

We slowly cruise through Haulover Canal, avoiding the manatees that make their home there, through Titusville and were tied up in our slip at Cocoa Village Marina by 2:30. An uneventful run, which is what we like!

Haulover Canal and Bridge

As we checked in the marina advised us that here was a Mardi Gras event intown this weekend. Sian took Bella for her afternoon walk and retuned very frustrated. She had followed the usual walk through the downtown area to then find that they had erected barriers behind her for the ticketed Mardi Gras event. As she tried to return to the marina she found every avenue blocked. The “rent a cops” would not let her out. They even radioed the supervisor who told them not to open any of the barriers! She was getting very irate when a delivery truck approached and they had to open the barrier to let it in and she walked through. She never told me if she flipped them the bird or not!

This evening we went back into town and ignored the event and had a very casual dinner at Time Out Plus.

Day 4. Sunday February 27th.

We awoke this morning to germinating tomato plants in the AeroGarden! Once they are big enough we shall move them over to pots.

Tomato plants in the AeroGarden

We were running from Cocoa to Vero Beach today. We started off in shorts and t-shirts on an AICW bereft of any breeze whatsoever. As we cruised through Sebastian the wind got up and the sun went in and we end up going into the Vero Beach marina in sweaters! Since it was a sunny Sunday there were plenty of boats running the AICW and using the sand bars.

Enjoying the sandbars

One of the things we love about Vero Beach Marina is the dog park adjacent to the marina. In fact it was the very first dog park Bella ever went to. We took her over for a half hour’s romp with the other dogs.

This evening we went to Riverside Restaurant and had dinner at the bar as there was a one hour wait for a table.

The only issue today was that the salon AC unit would not trigger the cooling raw water pump so was turning off. If we turned on the pilot house AC unit the shared pump ran fine and we could also run the salon unit. However the salon unit is brand new as is the salon control pad. So we will be contacting the installer tomorrow, Monday, to hopefully work through a solution.

Day 5. Monday February 28th.

Today we were running from Vero Beach just 28 statute miles down the AICW to Nettles Island Marina on Hutchinson Island. Looking at the chart it looked a bit of a challenge to get in there as you go straight in from the ICW to the development and then follow the square counter-clockwise close to the houses. The charts show 6 feet MLW. However we found we had a minimum of 3.5 feet under the keel the whole way so had no issues.

Nettles Island Marina

We backed into slip S15 easily enough. The dockmaster Thomas is very competent and pleasant. The only thing I would say about the marina is that it is very open to the south with a long fetch, so not somewhere I would like to be is any south wind with strength.

We were staying on Hutchinson Island as there was a TrawlerFest at the Marriott nearby. Paul is signed up for the diesel engine troubleshooting class and Sian is attending the trouble free anchoring seminar. Then we are both signed up for Chris Parker’s marine weather seminar.

For the first time this trip we had dinner on board – but only because the restaurant at the marina is closed on Monday and Tuesday!!

Day 6. Tuesday March 1st.

The TrawlerFest seminars we had signed up for both started at 9am. So we started asking for an Uber at 7:50. No Ubers to be had after multiple times trying! We walked over to the small supermarket and asked them for the name of a cab company. “No idea, I’ve never even seen a cab in here,” the lady says! Oh oh! We are about seven miles from the hotel!

There was no other choice – we decided to go to the main road and stick a thumb out! The first time we have hitch-hiked in 40 years! We were thinking that we didn’t look like mass murderers so we may have some luck! We got to Ocean Blvd, faced south and Paul stuck out his thumb – and the very first car that came along pulled in! Our new delightful friend Debbie took us all the way and dropped us off at the Marriott front door. We were there in plenty of time.

We both found the seminars interesting, though Paul found the diesel troubleshooting seminar pretty long, running from 9am to past 5pm! He was ready for a stiff Jamesons when he got back to the boat.

Day 7. Wednesday March 2nd.

Oscar came this morning and replaced the bad trigger switch on the salon AC and we are up and running again!

Also our mechanic in Jacksonville finally got some engine parts that we needed and had not come in before we left. He is sending them overnight to our next stop in North West Palm. The idler pulley on the starboard engine needs replaced as does the serpentine belt. He is also contacting a mechanic in West Palm to see if they can come over and do the work.

We are now receiving the twice daily weather updates from Chris Parker and unfortunately it does not look like a Saturday east bound crossing is possible. It looks like the earliest is Tuesday, but more likely Wednesday the 9th. So we started calling around marinas to find dockage for the extra days. We finally got the extra four days we required at the Riviera Beach Marina.

Today’s seminar by Chris Parker on interpreting weather did not start until 1pm. However, given the trouble getting an Uber yesterday, we decided to start heading over to the Marriott at 11:20. This time we did get an Uber, and arrived in plenty of time.

Unfortunately the Chris Parker seminar did not meet our expectations. He spent some time up front telling us about his boating experience and then a lot of time on how he and other weather forecasters actually forecast – more on the technical aspects of forecasting. We were really looking for a boaters guide to not only being able to help ourselves with evaluating the weather, but also how to use the products that he sells. In other words how to use the end product of his forecasting. He was supposed to go through “20 things we didn’t know about forecasting,” and only got to 7 before his seminar time ran out.

We got back to Sonas where we s[pent some time investigating a water intrusion issue that we had. When ever the boat rocked to a swell or wake some water came in on the starboard side of the salon. Not a lot, but a small stream, then a drip which wet the couch on that side. We dropped the ceiling panels but did not find any wetness coming from the fresh water side of the boat.. So it was clearly coming in from the outside rather than any of the fresh water. But it happens while there is no rain. It was a bit of a conundrum.

Finally we looked at the channel that housed one of the deck drains from the boat deck. We decided to remove the channel and see if the hose running inside of it had been compromised. We removed the holding screws getting ready to cut off the sealant around the channel. There was a screw on the bottom of the channel and when we removed that water came out! So clearly there was a small pinhole leak in the hose that allowed water to sit in the channel and when the boat rolled for whatever reason the water was allowed to roll along the channel and into the salon.

Drain channel

We decided to put the retaining screws back in and leave the hose channel in place, but leave the “drain” screw off to allow the leaked water to drain, and we would deal with removing the channel and fixing the hose when we get back to home dock. Where it would be a much tidier job!

As a reward we walked off Nettles Island to Shuckers on the beach right by and had an excellent seafood meal – highly recommended, but boy did it get busy!

Week one now complete. Off further south tomorrow!

Some more photos.

Palm Valley Dredging
You can see why homeowners get fed up with derelict boats!
Downtown Daytona
Daytona fun
Ponce Lighthouse
New Smyrna sunrise
Boston Whaler plant Palm Coast
NASA Cape Canaveral
Sailing the Indian River
Warming the eggs!
Busy Sunday
Pelicans on a tree – we have not seen this before!
Nettles Island
Pale feet at the start of our trip – lets see what they are like at the end!
Sian was watching dolphins from the back of the boat and they splashed her!
Waiting for a weather window to cross!

Preparing For The Bahamas – 2022 Version!

We thought there might be some interest in how we provision for three months in the Bahamas. While there are some locations with decent supermarkets, these are usually few and far between. Where they do exist the normally have decent fruit and veggies, but the meat does leave something to be desired – apart from chicken that is! As for beer and wine, both are extremely expensive and the wine usually at the lower end of the quality scale. So we have set Sonas up to hold most of the provision for the three months, planning to get fresh where we can.

Here are some of the things we do.

Previously we have loaded Sonas up with bottles of wine stored in plastic crates. This resulted in bags and bags of empty bottles stored in the lazarette since recycling in the Bahamas is non-existent. Someone then told us to check out boxed wine with the statement “boxed wine these days is not the same as in our student days!” So we tried all of the brands without success, we just didn’t like the wines. As a last ditch effort we tried Costco’s Kirkland brand of Cabernet and voila! So now we buy these boxes and take the bags out of the cardboard and store the bags in the crates!

We do take some bottled wine, the Prosecco and for visiting other boat. These are put into a crate and a sock is put on each one to stop them from rattling!

Talking about cardboard, it s a big no-no onboard Sonas for two reasons. The first is the lack of recycling mentioned above, the second is that bugs are attracted to the cardboard as they just love to eat the glue used on it. So everything that comes in cardboard is repackaged. From bags of chips, to beer, to frozen and fresh foods. The only cardboard we allow on board is that which is on items going into the freezers. This is usually minimal.

Anything that cannot be removed from its packaging, like large bags of dog food is put into secondary packaging, like black bags.

We have a standard domestic side by side fridge freezer which we fill. However that is no where near big enough for three months worth of food. So we added an inexpensive 5.2 cu ft chest freezer which fits nicely in the corner of the salon. We then have small plastic totes where we spread the different meats and frozen food across so that we have a selection to use from each tote as we work our way down the freezer. If we put all chicken, all steak, all pork in one tote each we would be forever lifting totes out to get at what we wanted!

We also slice side vegetables like peppers and onions, freeze and bag them before putting on Sonas.

New this year is our Aero Garden. We use this small hydroponic garden to start off fresh tomatoes and vegetables such as lettuce before transplanting into bigger plastic pots. It works very well. The LED light is very bright so that is stored in the guest cabin with the door closed!

And finally a few logistic items we completed before we head off.

We need to mark the depth on the anchor chain every few years and it was due. We use the RYBWG code every 25 feet.

There were two old CRT television sets in the cabin when we bought Sonas and we had never taken them out. Since they are really deadwood it was time for them to go!

We also cleaned out the flybridge lockers which had been needing a clear out for a while. Paul is a compulsive hoarder when it comes to pieces of rope – he will just not throw any out. So he got brutal and removed all of it. He still couldn’t throw all of it out though, so we still have a tote full put back into the flybridge locker! “It will always come in handy,” says he!

Finally we loaded the two paddleboard onto the fly bridge and tucked them under the table until we get to the Bahamas and inflate them. Then they will be bungeed to the rails.

We are ready for the off!

Some provisioning photos!

Queens Harbour Lighted Boat Parade 2021

Click on the first photo and then on the arrow to the right of each photo to go through them one by one. Or click the arrow at the bottom of the screen to run a slideshow.

« of 3 »

An Afternoon At Fort George River – October 5th 2021.

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!

Summer Cruise 2021 – Week 4

Cars in the Golden Ray

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!

Do we go or do we stay?
We stayed to one side!

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!

Trumpy Jonathan II
Trumpy America

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!

Beautiful ICW home

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!

Kilkenny sunrise

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.

Two pieces left to lift
Crane removing the cars

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!

St Simons pelican

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.

Clearing the beach of debris

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.

Naval Station Mayport
Heli bumps and turns
Prop cargo plane bumps and turns
Golden Ray
Golden Ray
Car carrier cautiously passing the Golden Ray

Summer Cruise 2021 – Week 3

Ships passing on the Savannah River

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.

Crowded marina lagoon

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!

Georgetown sailing school

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.

Georgetown theater. We would have like to have seen this but we were there before it started.

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

Paul’s seafood stew
Sian’s lobster and seafood pasta

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.

Sian preparing lines and fenders for Charleston

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.

Beaufort home
Beaufort home
The hanging tree – used mainly on pirates!

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.

Tied up in Harbortown, Hilton Head.

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!)

The Ever Lyric
Playing off the bow of the ship

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.

Tied up at the Westin Savannah

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!

The Waving Girl Statue

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!

Leaving Georgetown in flat calm
Kissing clouds!
Bella making sure I stay on track!
Fort Jackson on the Savannah River
Dredge downtown Savannah, preparing for the larger Panama Canal ships
Georgia Belle
First church founded by freed slaves
Bella after a hard day’s cruising
Boarding the ferry to downtown Savanna

Summer Cruise 2021 – Week 2

Anchored in Winyah Bay

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.

Running ahead of the storms

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.

Winyah Bay

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.

Calm Atlantic

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.

Jet ski squads
Tour boat

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.

Near real stature overlooking the Myrtle Beach marina
Soulmate at Southport Marina

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.

A Carolina Beach Saturday
He blew past us as well
No, no, no, no!
Approaching the marina

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!

Dockhands at work!

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.

The McCarleys on board

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.

Entrance to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club

Some more photos from week 2;

Sad wreck
Bridge support
You’re never too old!
Looooooong docks
More sad wrecks
Interesting name for an eatery
Sunny Point army dock – the largest munitions depot in the nation
Red clay in Snows Cut
Dedicated fishermen
Three pelicans
Cape Fear River Ferry
A nest big enough for a family!
Little River Swing Bridge
Pointing the way south
Entering Rock Pile
Rocks!
Mineral rich ICW waters
Pirate ship!
Sticky Winyah Bay sand
Current ripping through Winyah Bay
Old Baldy light, Bald Head Island
Sian’s home made crab dip!
Clarks restaurant at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club
Running in the rain

Summer Cruise 2021 – Week 1

Georgetown Lighthouse

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.

Trying to beat the rain
And didn’t!

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.

Golden Ray
Golden Ray

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.

Sonas damage
Sonas damage
Sonas damage

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.

St Simons sunrise

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!

Running ahead of the storms

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!

Tourist time in Hilton Head!

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!

Ferry

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.

Sloping dock access!
Beaufort shrimper
Parris Island Marine Camp
“We Make Marines” water tower

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.

View from Morgan River restaurant
Sunset over Dataw Marina

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.

Waiting for the Wappoo Bridge

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.

Charleston harbor racing

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!

Fort Sumpter
Container ship entering Charleston

Summer Daytona Trip

Freedom coming through the Bridge of Lion, St Augustine

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!

Running ahead of a front.

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.

Docktail
Docktail

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!

Tortugas V. Flying Tigers
Well behaved fans!

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!

Sian nosing in on the wedding!

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:

DeFever Inshallah heading north
Cruising buddy Passage leaving Halifax Harbor Marina
Halifax River Girl’s crew getting ready.
Flagler Bridge Marina – still under litigation and still sitting empty.
The anchorage at the Cement Plant is still open.
Friday afternoon fishing the flats
Beautiful classical home on the ICW south of St Augustine
Liveaboard broken away and aground
Downtown St Augustine and Municipal Marina
Notice the new concrete piles where the old Santa Maria restaurant used to be – a new restaurant being built!
Another derelict boat
St Augustine Lighthouse archaeological boat
Palm Valley kayakers
Mayport Helo running the ICW south

Twice To Cumberland Island Again!

Our daughter and her boyfriend came from Montana for a week so we went up to Cumberland Island for a couple of days during the last week of April. Then during the last week of May we went back up for a few days to meet up with some boater friends who had cruised down from Wrightsville Beach. This was already our third and fourth trip there in 2021!

While there we met with a group of about 20 teens and some parents from a neighborhood in Atlanta. They come to the island every year after school lets out. They have been dong this since 2009.

Our friends are also members of the DeFever owners club, and while there another DeFever came in, River Girl. We invited everyone over to Sonas for dinner on Friday evening.

We headed back home on Saturday morning to try and avoid the Memorial Weekend madness, the sandbars were already jam packed!

Some photos.

Waiting in the ICW to let St Johns River traffic pass
Busy BAE shipyard
Doing the noisy tourist thing!
Cumberland Island wild horses
Gong to walk the island – a bit choppy so PFDs on!
Sunset over Kings Bay
This little fella turned his back on us!
Warship 82 coming into Mayport Naval Base
Warship 82 – The USS Lassen. An Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer
Back from the morning walk
Kings Bay Submarine Base supply ship
DeFever cruisers for dinner
Kids having fun!
The McCarleys on Water Colors
A first for us – a mega yacht anchored off Fernandina
Because the marina was full of other big yachts!
Counting the bird nests
The Memorial Day madness on Fort George River
Too many to count
And more coming!

Cumberland Island (AGAIN!) April 2021.

We got back from our six week Spring cruise to the Keys and Dry Tortugas on March 30th. It took a couple of days to tidy up Sonas and give her a wash. Then we sat at home for a week, after which we looked at each other and asked “want to go again?”

So we did! We decided to go up to one of our favorite anchorages at Cumberland Island. The weather looked favorable for a four day, three night trip.

On Thursday April 8th we left home dock around ten in the morning and locked out of the lagoon. The WX ( marine weather forecast) called for seas less than two feet offshore so we aimed for the mouth of the St Johns at Mayport. The current was ripping out so we were pushed along at nearly twelve knots!

Speeding!

We passed Mayport Naval Station and made the turn northwards towards the St Mary’s Entrance into Cumberland Sound. It just so happens that the direct route takes us outside the three mile limit for a half hour so that we can clear our holding tank.

Coast Guard working on a buoy
Mayport shrimp fleet

As we made the channel into Cumberland Sound it looked busy. We saw a navy helicopter doing low level exercises in the channel as well as dozens of small boats fishing the entrance. Inside the sound we saw five Coast Guard small boats doing chase exercises.

Chopper exercises
Fishing off Fernandina
CG chase exercises

We were surprised at how many boats were in the Cumberland Island anchorage. Then realized that we usually cruised the Bahamas for three months in the spring so had never anchored here at this time of the year. So these were probably boats on the move south to the Islands or Florida Keys or back north! (We had come up March and April last year but that was during the early days of COVID when boats were not moving along the eastern seaboard as much).

We spent a very relaxing two nights at the anchorage, walking the island, talking to the visitors, and doing some lights chores on board – like cleaning up the stainless rails, and putting another coat of varnish on the Portuguese bridge cap rail.

We had planned on staying a third night but the WX had worsened, so on Saturday morning we headed back down the ICW towards home. We were trying to beat a front that was coming in with lots of thunder and rain. It started blowing, with gusts to 36 knots.

Windy!

We had just made the channel into the lagoon when the heavens opened and we both got soaked along with Cameron who was on the lock that afternoon!

Incoming weather!

However it was worth it to spend another couple of days and nights on board!

Some other photos.

St Johns River ferry
Huge Mayport ramps
Rebuilding the breakwaters at Naval Station Mayport
Calm water at the mouth of the St John’s River
Tractor delivering the pilot to incoming warship
Placid Atlantic waters off Amelia Island
One of the many turtles we saw en route
ICW waters mixing with the ocean!
Morning Bella walk
ICW Cruise Ship Independence passing by the anchorage
Crossing Cumberland Sound in a blow
Cumberland wild horses
Skinny approach to Amelia Yacht Basin at low tide
Damage to Sister’s Creek bridge fender

Spring Cruise 2021 – Week 6

Foggy Titusville

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!

Lucky Dogs

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.

Dead manatee
Second dead manatee

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!

Salty looking trawler moored at Titusville
What its all about!
Drafting for exercise!
White pelicans
Someone needs to move over!!
Company onboard
Sportsfishermen in Camachee Cove.

Spring Cruise 2021 – Week 5

Race Start!

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.

Sea grass

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!

0.8 feet beneath the keel!

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.

No Name outside anchorage

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!

In the busy channel!

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

Manatee family

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!

Beautiful Nordhavn at Vero Beach

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!

Bella and a Vero Beach squirrel meet!

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.

« of 2 »

Spring Cruise 2021 – Week 4

Day 22. Sunday March 14.

We had been waiting for a break in the weather that would allow us to run outside and use Hawk’s Channel from Marathon to Key West. Using the inside route through Florida Bay would have meant running a longer more northerly route in very shallow waters. Sunday gave us the perfect window to get outside and set course for our next stop in Key West – actually Stock Island.

We were out of the marina by 9am (really 8am since the clocks had sprung forward with US daylight savings time). We went under the span for Seven Mile Bridge and set a waypoint for our entry into Stock island Marina.

Approaching Seven Mile Bridge

We encountered a lot of seagrass along the way. We tried to avoid the thickest parts since we didn’t want to risk sucking any up into our raw water strainers. We had a glorious run west through green and then royal blue waters.

Sea grass

As we entered the marina we requested a fuel stop. They said that we would have to nose in front of the mega yacht Huntress that was tied up to the dock. When we got there and found that the 248 foot yacht left just about enough room for us plus a foot, we declined and said we would get the fuel on our departure! (We later looked at the charter rates for Huntress to find that it was $995,000 per week after expenses!).

We navigated the very skinny marina entrance and fairways into our slip at D8. As we were backing in Sian communicated to Paul over the headsets that we were very close to the sports fisherman in the next slip, and she couldn’t understand why he kept getting closer to it as we backed in! It was only after we had tied up and were closing everything down that we realized that we had a sports fisherman on both sides of us and Paul happened to be facing the one that Sian was not talking about as she guided us in!! We will need to hone our communications skills a bit!

Our washing machine broke!! Sian put a wash in and half way through it stopped and CANCEL came up on the screen. She tried a couple of times with no luck. One symptom was that the water was not draining. Paul dug out the manual (not something he often does mind you!) and could not see anything for a CANCEL message in the troubleshooting section. So he looked at the part covering water not draining. One suggestion was to take a small cover off and uncap a small hose which would let the water drain. We did that, and then Paul tred to remove the drain filter to see if that was blocked, and it wouldn’t slide out. One big tug later out it came – along with a cotton face mask that had somehow found its way in there. Once that was removed and the drain reassembled, the machine ran fine! We knew we had lost a mask in a previous wash and couldn’t for the life of us figure out where it had gone!

Day 23 and 24. Monday, Tuesday March 15 and 16.

Stock island Marina is top class. There is a boutique hotel with restaurants and an oyster bar. Two swimming pools and a DOG PARK!!!They also have a hourly shuttle service to downtown Key West – which we decided to avoid given COVID.

Some cruising friends had recommended El Siboney Cuban restaurant, so we went there for dinner on Monday evening. Each evening we took a glass of wine down to the dog park and chatted to the other owners as the dogs played. On Tuesday we floated in one of the pools, ordered drinks from the bar, and had dinner at the Oyster Bar.

At El Siboney
Enjoying the Stock Island Marina pool

We had seen a DeFever 49 called Trust Me further along the dock from us so Paul looked it up on the DeFever Owners web site to see if they were members, and they were. We stopped by for a short chat with Mike and Jan Winkler.

Our plan was to try and get to the Dry Tortugas if the weather co-operated, and to date it had looked iffy at best. On Tuesday it looked like we could make a run to Marquesas Keys about 20 miles away but probably not the Dry Tortugas which were 70 miles west of Key West.

Sian had bought Paul a Garmin inReach for Christmas 2019 which he never activated or subscribed to since we hadn’t been anywhere since then due to the Pandemic. Since we were going to out of cell coverage Paul now activated it. The inReach is a small cell phone sized satellite enabled communication device. It allows us two-way communication through text no matter where we are in the world and family and friends can locate us anywhere in the world. It also provides the capability to receive regular and marine weather forecasts via satellite and it also has an SOS capability! So with our DSC radio, Personal Locator Beacons, EPIRB, and now the inReach, we feel if we set all of these off in an emergency someone somewhere will take it seriously!

Day 25. Wednesday March 17. St Patrick’s Day!

After Bella’s walk we left Stock Island Marina and headed for the Marquesas. We passed Key West and cruised through the North West Channel. The waters off Key West were busy with party boats, paragliders, and fishing charters. The Coast Guard were also warning mariners to stay away from their vessels that were doing gunnery exercises just off the coast!

Off to fire her guns

We had a pleasant cruise to the north coast of the Marquesas. The wind was from the east so we carried on around to the west and were able to anchor about 300 yards off the beach beside a half dozen other boats – one a catamaran with a bunch of teenagers on board who were having a fine time enjoying the paddle boards and doing summersaults off the top deck! It is quite satisfying seeing kids enjoying boating!

Kids having fun!

As we approached the island the Coast Guard warned of a “smouldering” vessel floating free north of the Marquesas. We did not see anything, and the next day the Coast Guard communicated that the boat was sunk to the waterline and there was likely debris in the area, mariners should proceed with caution. We put the coordinates of the sunken boat in the chartplotter and we were well away from it. Days later we heard that one of the generators had caused a fire and the folks on board had to take to their tender and were safe. As we sat at anchor a Navy chopper cam over and circled the anchorage. We had heard that the Marquesas is a popular spot for boats coming in from Cuba!

On patrol

We had a calm and pleasant night on board.

Day 26. Thursday March 18th.

We awoke to a light breeze, and many boats upping anchor and heading further west – towards the Dry Tortugas. Optimistically Paul requested an updated marine forecast on the inReach and based on what we read we decided to also head west!

As we moved further out into the Gulf of Mexico we were amazed at the number of crab/lobster pots we encountered. These folks need to travel 100 mile round trip to harvest their traps. There were literally hundreds of them.

About two hours out there was an almighty roar as two fighter jets went low, and we mean LOW over the top of Sonas. We were the only boat within miles so they were obviously having some fun with us.

Our finest at work – scaring the bejeebus out of us!

As we approached the Dry Tortugas we saw quite a number of masts on the Garden Key anchorage, and quite a number of boats anchored outside the anchorage, so we suspected that the anchorage was full. However we went in and had a look anyway – and found a nice spot to drop the hook, with deep water around us so if the wind changed direction we would not swing aground.

Overall we were very disappointed in the Dry Tortugas. With everything we had read on forums and FaceBook people thought it was awesome. However you can only go on two of the islands – and on Loggerhead you can only walk below the high water mark and dogs are not allowed at all. Fort Jefferson takes up ALL of Garden Key, and dogs are not allowed inside. Any grassy spots are either covered in debris or picnic tables. There is a long beach connecting Garden Key to Bush Key, which looks perfect to run a dog. However it and Bush Key are closed Between January and October due to the nesting bird population. We suspect that those thinking the Tortugas are “great” have never been to the Exumas!

Fort Jefferson

Late in the afternoon wesaw quite a number of crab boats come into the harbor and anchor. So now we know how they manage all of those crab and lobster pots way off the coast. They stay out multiple days and anchor in the Dry Tortugas at night!

Commercial boaters at rest

Day 27. Friday March 19.

We had originally planned to spend a couple of nights at Garden Key since we had been communicating with other boaters who said it was wonderful.

Basically humans and poochs are extremely restricted. To the extent that it is absolutely NOT worth the fuel to go there. We have heard that these restrictions are a recent thing. The park service may find that it becomes a no-go area for cruisers in the future – and maybe that is what they want. More for environment resource protection, which is fine. Just not for us.

So after one night, we left.

As we were leaving the anchorage we heard a VHF radio call from a lady asking if someone in the anchorage had a dinghy in the water and could help. We were already underway so did not respond. The call came a number of additional times. Once outside the anchorage we noticed a man in a dinghy rowing for all he was worth against the wind and getting nowhere! So we assumed that his engine had quit and this was the call for support. Paul laid on the horn to see if he could raise another cruiser in the anchorage, and repeated it. Finally someone popped their head up to see what the commotion was about and we went close to his boat and explained that someone needed a tow. He jumped into his boat and headed off to the rescue! Not even nine o’clock in the morning and our good deed was done! [see later for an amusing follow up on this!].

Towing the boat back to mother ship!

We had originally planned on stopping at the Marquesas anchorage on the way back but the weather suggested we continue on to Key West. We didn’t have a slip reservation and didn’t have communications until about 90 minutes out. We finally were able to raise Galleon Marina and snag a slip for one night at $6 a foot! The most we have ever paid for a marina slip!

As we turned towards the marina we heard Securite calls one after another. These were from boats entering and leaving Key West Bight, where our marina was. As we got nearer we saw the amount of commercial and other traffic moving about the narrow bight. So Paul got on the radio and announced our own arrival.

Key West Bight

Once tied up Sian took Bella ashore, to find sign after sign asking boaters to take their dogs off the resort! Then once off the resort there was not a single blade of green grass in Key West! There were thousands of people downtown and on the board walks. Party boats were jammed, with very few masks! We were really uncomfortable, so decided to leave the next day.

Day 28. Saturday March 20.

We decided to leave for Marathon rather than spend another day in KW. Our decision was later confirmed when we heard that Miami had been flooded with Spring Breakers and a state of emergency had been declared with road closures and curfews put in place. We felt that Key West should have done the same, it was a zoo!

Key West fun

We still hadn’t decided if we were going to go back through the Keys and Florida’s east coast or go up the west coast, spend some time at Captiva Island before crossing Lake O and back home that way. We were leaning to retracing our tracks through the keys and the east coast when we both got a call from the vaccine hotline. They were booking shots three days out. We had to tell them that we were not home and wouldn’t be until early April. They noted that and promised to call back at a closer date. That made up our minds to take the shorter route home as Sian had a flight coming up at the end of April and having both shots before traveling would be great. So back up through Florida’s east coast was it!

We had hoped to spend a couple of days in Marathon Marina and Resort, but they were full. We also tried Faro who were also full. So we went into Marlin Bay again for a couple of days.

A couple of hours after we tied up a boat came in two down from us. We had spoken to them the last time we were in the marina. We went down to have another chat. And to our surprise they thanked us for “rescuing” the captain when he needed to get a tow back to the mothership back in the Dry Tortugas!! What a very small world!

Week four completed!

Week fours photos below, click on the gallery and either click through them one by one or run a slide show.

« of 2 »

Spring Cruise 2021 – Week 3

Marathon Key sunset

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!

Lobster roll!

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!

Marker 88 sunset

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!

Plantation Key sunset

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!

Skinny water!

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.

Sian preparing to tie up at Marlin Bay

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.

Marlin Bay Resort and Marina

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.

Bubblers at the marina entrance

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!

Spring Cruise 2021 – Week 2

Day 9. Monday March 1.

Monday arrived and we were free from the threat of weekend Miami boaters! Paul had a look at the weather for a run outside as we really wanted to avoid all of the drawbridges between Fort Lauderdale and our final destination of No Name Harbor in Key Biscayne. Unfortunately it was calling for a combined swell and wave height of five to six feet. So while it would have been safe, inside was more comfortable for today.

While Sian took Bella for her morning walk among the moored mega yachts Paul got out the cruising guide and got on the web site and documented all of the bridges we needed to get through. In total there were 14 bridges. Given our air draft of around 21 feet with the antennas down we had two bridges that we definitely required an opening, two that were suspect, and the rest should be OK. The issue was that none of the bridges were open on request – all were either on the hour and half hour, or 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. So we needed to time our run so that we weren’t floating around in tight quarters, waiting for an opening.

Bridge plan

We ran for the whole day at well below cruise speed. It was very rare that we were not in a Idle Speed, No Wake or Slow Speed, Minimum Wake zone.

I was interesting though to see the Miami skyline approaching. And to see the idle Cruise ships tied up at the cruise terminals. The marinas full of mega yachts were also something to see! Dozens, if not hundreds of them!

Approaching Miami
Yachts a plenty!
Miami cruise port

One thing that we found odd was that the Coast Guard were still transmitting the exact same missing plane message that we had heard on Thursday with with no indication that it was from days ago.

We managed to time most of the bridges with only a few minutes to wait – until we got to Miami. There we found that the West 79th Street bridge and the Venetian West Bridge, which were only 4 miles apart. were both on the hour and half hour. This would have worked out fine if we could go at our usual cruise speed of 8 knots, but the whole area was a slow speed zone, with plenty of police boats around. So we had to wait for just under a half hour north of the Venetian bridge waiting for the opening.

After leaving Miami we entered the wide-open Biscayne Bay and headed for No Name Harbor. This is a small man-made harbor on the south end of Biscayne Key with room for about two dozen boats. It was originally supposed to be a residential neighborhood with a harbor, but the development fell through. The development never had a name, hence the name of the harbor! Now the area is a state park with walking trails and the Cape Florida Light House.

Cape Florida Lighthouse

There is a bulkhead around the harbor which was fine for getting Bella ashore at high tide, but when we went around 4;30 it was low and Paul had to lift her and physically throw her up on the dock!

This evening we tried to go without AC but it got too warm so we started the generator and put the AC on in our cabin and in the salon for Bella.

No Name Harbor

Day 10. Tuesday March 2.

Today was shaping up to be hot so we got everyone ashore early for a two and a half mile walk along the trails and past the Cape Florida Lighthouse. When we got back someone had grabbed a copy of the harbor rules and left them on our dinghy – showing that running generators in the anchorage was prohibited. Seems we had someone anchored in the harbor who was conflict averse!

We had a lazy day at anchor. The only chore that got completed was putting the registration numbers and registration decal on the new dinghy! However No Name Harbor is a very interesting place to sit at anchor as dozens of boats of all shapes and sizes come in. Some to anchor for lunch and disappear again. Some to tie up at the sea wall and stay, and some to arrive very late with running lights showing the way. There was a good mixture of monohull and multihull sailing boats, trawlers, Miami Vice type go-fasts, and express cruisers.

Powered wake board

An hour before sunset we took Bella for a walk and then sat at The Cleat MIA bar at the entrance to the harbor and had sundowners as we watched, what else, the sun go down!

No Name sunset

Day 11 . Wednesday March 3.

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 15-17 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 is quite shallow inshore from there. 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 didn’t help. Once the anchor was down Sonas settled bow into the waves and was comfortable. 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 floating 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 on 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 we hadn’t brought her leash or any poop bags. 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. The wind was supposed to pick up and continue like this all night. Bella still needed her evening walk and another one first thing in the morning. On the way back 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!

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.

When we took Bella ashore 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!

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!

Ruined T-Shirt

Day 12. Thursday March 4.

We spent a day in No Name basically just hanging out, talking to other doggie owners and watching the comings and goings in the harbor. We did contemplate running back down to Elliott Kay and anchoring for the night to get a head start on our run to Islamorada but decided we had enough of Elliott and No Name was much more interesting. The only chore that was completed was maintaining the generators batteries. The genset had an “episode” where it struggled to start so Paul took the box covers off the batteries, checked the connections and topped up with distilled water. It started on demand since. No idea what the issue was but we may look into it more when we get back home.

This evening brought a light breeze so we launched the drone at sunset and took some video of the anchorage and setting sun.

Day 13. Friday March 5.

On Friday, day 13, we set off for Islamorada. Paul had checked out the charts well before we left Jacksonville and we knew this was going to be an experience! There are two choices when leaving No Name, turn to the East and go out towards sea through Cape Florida Channel, or head off down the Intracoastal, to the west of the Keys. The first, leading to Hawks channel is wide and deep. The latter is narrow and shallow – VERY shallow. With MLW (Median Low Water) along the whole route in the six to eight foot range. And we draw five feet!

We wanted to go inside because our next stop was Islamorada and the better, more accessible marinas were on the western side of the keys. We had booked into Plantation Yacht Harbor. Initially we had booked for three days, but there was a blow comin in with wind in the mid-thirties, we we upped the reservation to seven days.

It took us seven half hours to run the 59 statute miles to Islamorada. It was a pretty tiring day and we needed to stay totally focused on the depth and the charts. We averaged 2.5 to 3 feet under the keel the whole way, getting to 0.6 feet under the keel on one section. Pretty much everytime we looked back we could see our wake churning up the soft sand. The controlled depth into our marina was five feet – which is what we draw, so we took it real easy and made it in OK.

Churning up sand
Easy to see the channel!

After closing the engines we both sat quietly in the cockpit enjoying a cold beer.

The marina is owned by the city of Islamorada and is part of a park which includes an Olympic sized swimming pool, tennis courts, pickleball courts, basketball courts, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, small sandy beach AND…… a dog park! So we marched Bella off to the park where she ran and wrestled with a growing number of other pooches. There were small water baths there for the dogs so by the time dogs got wet and rolled in the clay Bella was covered in mud. So back on Sonas she had another Aveeno bath on the swim platform.

An Aveeno dog bath!

This evening we walked to a small seafood place called Twisted Shrimp and had some shrimp and fish.

Day 14. Saturday March 6.

We spent a very pleasant day in Islamorada. The folks who liveaboard here are very welcoming and pleasant. The marina staff are also welcoming and professional. We had a relaxing time doing some boat chores – cleaning mostly.

Bella had a couple of visits to the dog park, and we enjoyed sunset cocktails on the flybridge. It was shaping up to be a very relaxing, albeit windy, week in Islamorada!

But… there are probably worse places to be “stuck!”

Swimming pool at the marina
Sonas at Plantation Yacht Harbor
« of 2 »

March 3rd 2021

Everything was soaked!

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!

New t-shirt required!
Boat deck
She put herself to bed!

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

Spring Cruise 2021 – Week 1

We had been hoping that the pandemic would have cleared up enough to allow us to go to the Bahamas for our regular three month cruise. While it is possible to go with pre and post COVID testing we felt that it was just not a sensible decision at this time – more from the standpoint of us getting COVID while out there and having to deal with either getting back or dealing with Bahamian healthcare.

Plus our eldest wrapped a snowmobile around a tree in Montana (hi Claire!) and is scheduled for surgery at the end of April, reducing our cruise time to two months.

So we discussed whether to take a spring cruise or not. Even considered waiting until later in the year and doing the Down East Loop. The latter was dismissed as we had no idea when Canada would open up again, and we really don’t see the value in doing the Down East Loop without being able to visit our northern neighbor.

So we landed on going ahead with a spring cruise down through south east Florida, through the Keys and, if the weather was conducive, out to Boca Grande, the Marquesas Keys and the Dry Tortugas. Then either returning the same way or heading up to Marco Island, Naples, Fort Myers and back across Lake Okeechobee.

We aimed our departure for February 21. For no other reason than it seemed a good time to meet the warming weather south of us!

Day 1, February 21st.

We like to exit our lock and get out through the channel at half tide or better. This meant being away from home dock at 7:30, having walked Bella and put the last things on board. It was blowing 15-20 from the NE as we left, with temps around 50. So as soon as we got to the ICW we headed down to the pilothouse and ran from there.

As we passed through palm Valley a vessel called Nomad hailed us. They read and enjoy our blog! They were on their way to Brunswick Georgia to have their boat hauled for hurricane season before heading back home to Canada. Nomad had been badly damaged by hurricane Dorian while in the Abacos and they had only just returned her to the US after repairs.

St Augustine Lighthouse.

As two months gives us plenty of time to do what we had intended we have decided for this trip that we were going to do much shorter days, and take our time. Today we ran for 6.5 hours, and were tied up at Palm Coast Marina by 2:30. Vic and Gigi from Salty Dawg, also members of the DeFever Cruisers Owners group, helped tie us up and we had a long chat with them after getting settled.

We like (always!) stopping at Palm Coast Marina on the first nights of our cruises as it is a nice length of run AND there is a really good Indian restaurant at The European Village The Fifth Element. We highly recommend it if you are ever in the area. After Bella got her afternoon walk we tidied up and headed off for a Lamb Rogan Josh and a Chicken Korma, with poppadoms and butter nan bread – plus a couple of beers each!

Day one successfully under our belt and Sonas is running really well!

First night Indian meal

Day 2. February 22nd.

In keeping with our plans of short and more enjoyable runs on this cruise we are aiming for New Smyrna today. This is only 43 statute miles down the ICW, taking about 4.5 hours. We really prefer to anchor out as much as we can as we find the quiet of an anchorage much more preferable to a marina. Plus some of the scenery and beaches to walk are often wonderful.

Palm Coast Marina

While Sian took Bella for two mile walk Paul completed an engine room check, including changing out the bilge pads and checking fuel tank sight glasses.

Our plan was to anchor in Rockhouse Creek, just inside Ponce Inlet. There are plenty of sandbars there and even a dog beach to walk Bella. However the forecast called for rain starting late afternoon and going all evening and night, so we decided to call the New Smyrna Beach City Marina and book a slip.

Main Street Drawbridge Daytona
We have an airdraft on 20.6 with the antennas down
We can just squeeze under!

We had an uneventful trip through Daytona and into New Smyrna. We arrived off the city marina around 2;00pm and radioed for our slip assignment. The dockmaster indicated the slip and walked down to help us tie up. As we entered the channel a small catamaran cut in ahead of us and radioed the dockmaster. The conversation went something like this;

Boater: I just entered the channel, can you direct me to my slip?

DM: I cannot help you right now, I have another boat coming in.

B: that slip you are standing at, that was the slip I was in the last time I was here, can I have that one?

DM: No, that is for the vessel coming in now.

B: Well can I have the one right next to it?

DM: No that is already assigned as well. Can you please wait.

The boater just carries on into the marina and starts backing into a slip a couple down from us. The dockmaster helped us in and immediately apologized and ran off to corral the other boater. He did come back later to check that we had everything we needed.

Some boaters are strange creatures!

Beautiful dock neighbor

We took Bella for a three mile walk around town, during which time we realized that we had crossed south a some imaginary line which separated north Florida from central Florida, and further identified when we should shed our jeans and long sleeved shirts for shorts and t-shirts – we had arrived in the warmth!

Enjoyed some apps and cocktails at the River Deck bar and grill. Then back to Sonas for chicken enchiladas.

Day 3. February 23rd.

We really are focused on started each day of this trip off at a leisurely pace. In many prior trips south we get up at the crack of light, quick walk for the dog if we have one, untie and get going, having breakfast underway and cruising ten plus hours to our next stop. The destination, usually somewhere in the Bahamas,so get there as quick as we could was the focus! Not this time! This trip we planned on shorter more relaxing days.

We didn’t even set an alarm but just woke up when we woke up! Sian took Bella for a one hour stroll while Paul did the engine room check, prepared the fruit for breakfast and uncovered the flybridge helm and seats. We has a leisurely breakfast and were still off the dock at 8:30.

We cruised south through Mosquito Lagoon, the Haulover Canal (where it is clearly still too early for the hoards of Manatees that live there during warmer water times), past Cape Canaveral, through Titusville and into Cocoa, arriving right at 2:00pm.

Cape Canaveral

Our plan was to tie up at the free dock right by town which we had used before. When we got there it was pretty full. A small sailboat had tied up at one end and left a gap. If he pulled up next to the other boats we could have fitted on the end. But not to be. We called Cocoa Village Marina to see if they had a spot for us but they were full. So we dropped anchor just south of the Hubert Humphrey Bridge. We launched the (still new) dinghy and went ashore. Sian took Bella for yet another walk while Paul went to the famous hardware store for a few things we wanted.

While grilling on board this evening a nearby boater came over and warned us that two boats had been stolen from the free dock last night, one with an outboard and one without – his! So finally before bedding down we did something for the very first time – we put a cable and lock on the dinghy to keep it safe.

Cocoa Sunset

Day 4, February 23rd.

There was not a sound in the anchorage overnight and we awoke to a glassy anchorage, with a great sunrise. Paul took Sian and Bella ashore for their morning walk and returned to Sonas to complete the engine room check. Paul changed the fuel valves over so that we ran from the port tank so as to keep the boat balanced.

After dog walkies we lifted the dinghy and headed south again. We transited Eau Gallie, Melbourne, Sebastian, and into Vero Beach City Marina. It was an easy six hour run in warm sun and light winds.

Vero Beach mooring field

We had one little bit of excitement around 10:20. Our radios picked up a DSC call. Paul took a note of the coordinates and called the coast guard. Coast Guard Miami answered and took details of the transmission. The transmitting boat had properly set up their radio and their coordinates were sent. After a short time Coast Guard Miami got back to us telling us that Coast Guard Station Jacksonville had received the distress call and had all the details. Paul entered the received coordinates into our chart plotter and saw that the distress was sent for a vessel approximately 18 miles in the Atlantic off Daytona.

Vero Beach is Bella’s favorite, because there is a dog park right by the marina. This was the first dog park Bella ever experienced and she gets an afternoon and a morning run here every time we stop!

Muddy paws after the dog park!

Late afternoon a couple of teenagers came into the marina fuel dock on fumes. Unfortunately the fuel dock was closed but the boater next door to us had a small three gallon tank to give them and we lent a funnel. After getting the gas they hung around and fished the marina dock.

Day 5. February 25.

Paul checked the offshore forecast for today and it indicated 2 foot seas. So after the morning walk we left Vero Beach and motored the twelve nautical miles down the ICW to Fort Pierce inlet and turned left towards the Atlantic. The seas were calm, making us wish that we were heading across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas instead on turning south and heading for Lake Worth Inlet.

Well armed CG Cutter

We ran the five hours to Lake Worth, with the seas getting up slightly as the day wore on, but it was an easy and uneventful cruise. We entered the inlet around three pm and were tied up at Sailfish Marina in short order. The marina used to be all fixed docks but they have recently installed excellent floating docks with wide walkways and we were happy to get a slip there.

Bella helping with yoga

We took Bella for a long walk around Palm Beach Shores, got back to Sonas for showers and ate dinner at the VERY busy marina restaurant. We walked around outside until our table was ready and were fortunate to get a table in the far corner of the restaurant, so avoiding as many people as possible.

A few AIS signals in Lake Worth

Day 6. February 26.

The weather for an outside run was again very good so after the morning walk we were away from Sailfish by 8:00am. It only took 15 minutes to be through the inlet and turned south towards Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale). We angled east to get outside the three mile line to empty the holding tanks then headed directly for the next inlet. It was another beautiful day outside, and getting much warmer the further south we got.

Fort Lauderdale skyline

During the run we heard two DSC (distress) calls over the radio. Both times Coast Guard Station Miami also heard them and called the vessels. One ship they continually called without response was the MSC Barbara. Paul found this strange as it sounded like a commercial ship. He went onto MarineTraffic.com and entered the ship’s name to see if it was transmitting AIS. He found that Mediterranean Shipping Company ship Barbara was actively transmitting AIS, AND was securely tied up at Port Everglades.

Paul called the Coast Guard and gave them that information. They asked him to confirm what he just said, and thanked him. About a half hour later the ship came on the radio, gave their location, and cancelled the DSC! We suspect they called the port and had someone go to the ship or send a CG small ship to sort it out!

Then when we were passing Pompano Beach we heard a single very short transmission from a plane saying he was landing to the east. The Coast Guard came on again and advised that there was suspected plane crash landing and gave the coordinates about 12 miles east of Pompano Beach. They were asking people to keep a look-out and assist if possible. They continued to transmit that message but we never heard or read the result.

We were tied up in slip number 20 at 17th street Yacht Basin by 2:00pm. We were staying here in Fort Lauderdale for three nights as we really didn’t fancy the idea of cruising through Miami and anchoring off Elliott Kay during a weekend!

Our marina in Fort Lauderdale – we are tucked on the back somewhere!

Tonight we walked the ten minutes to The Boatyard seafood restaurant to find a one and a half hour wait. We booked a table for Sunday evening instead and ate at a nearby Indian restaurant. Since it was a Friday in Lent Sian had a vegetarian meal and Paul had shrimp.

Busy waterway!

Day 7 and 8.February 27-28.

We awoke to find police at the marina. The center console two boats over from us and another one four boats over had been broken into overnight and their electronics stolen. The police asked if we had heard anything and we said no, neither had Bella made a noise. They think the thieves had come by boat. The poor owner of one stalked the docks all day looking lost. The other, a Yellowfin, was the tender to a mega yacht called Stay Salty tied up at the outer dock.

Holes where the electronics should be.

We took advantage of the non-traveling days to clean both the inside and outside of Sonas.

We also had an excellent meal at The Boatyard on Sunday. Though we did feel a bit aggrieved to see that they had added a 2% COVID charge.

« of 2 »

A Couple Of Days At Cumberland

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.

Fall Cruise 2020 – Fort Myers Beach To Home

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.

Gulf of Mexico looking towards Naples

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

Pink Shell Resort from off shore

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!

Prerequisite tourist pirate ship!
Checking out the sunken sailboat – no idea why!
And yes, they have a floating Tiki bar here as well!

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.

Enjoying the heated pool
Pink Shell Resort Pools
Sian writing the Christmas cards, and wondering why she brought cards with glitter on the boat!

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.

Leaving sunrise at Pink Shell Resort

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.

Waiting to go through Ortona Lock
Interesting, who has a airplane wing out back of the house!
This boat hasn’t moved in a while!

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.

Chilly Florida morning
Steaming morning coffee!
Moore Haven Lock

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.

Tied up at Indiantown Marina

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.

Flemings galore

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!

Boats southbound

More boats southbound

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

Not for me, thank you!

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.

Early morning rowers at Vero Beach

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.

Sunset at the Cocoa free dock

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!

Ponce Inlet Lighthouse
(Small) pelican island!
Sian on the helm running north on the AICW

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.

Palm Coast airboat
Restored yacht Freedom, once owned by the daughter of Woolworth.
Looks like a flying club southbound
Interesting re-use of a car seat as a fishing spot!
St Augustine sunrise.

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.

Calm run offshore from St Augustine to Mayport

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.

Tug and barge dumping spoil.
Military supply ship out of Mayport.

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

Queen’s Harbour Lighted Boat Parade 2020

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.

« of 2 »

Fall Cruise 2020 – Cocoa To Fort Myers Beach For Thanksgiving

Gulf Shrimo Dinner

After we saw the last of the Queens Harbour fleet leave Cocoa Village Marina we untied Sonas and headed off southbound. The wind was still blowing a steady 34 knots but the run through Eau Gallie, Melbourne and Sebastian is one that we have done many many times before and it was very uneventful. We pulled into Vero around 2:00 and backed into our slip.

The first thing we did after tying up was put a hose and muffler on the dinghy outboard to run it. We hadn’t run it for over four months. It cranked but would not start. A guy on the dock heard us trying to start it and said he was a Yamaha tech, We decided, since the engine hadn’t been run for a length of time, the carburetor probably needed cleaning or rebuilt. At this point we had not decided if we would stay in marinas all the way or mix in some anchoring out. With our dog on board we needed the dinghy to get her ashore. Easy decision, no dinghy, marinas it is! We’ll get the problem resolved when we get back to Jacksonville.

Next up was to take Bella for a nice long walk. We saw that there was a dog park right by the marina. Since we rescued Bella we were always very cautious with her around other dogs, never quite sure if she just wanted to play or was being overly aggressive. So we took her into the park but kept her on the leash. She seemed to be very interested in playing.

During the afternoon we had a visit from Eric and Lyn, folks that Paul had met on Trawler Forum. We had a pleasant chat with them and after they left we decided to try Bella at the dog park again.

This time we let her off her leash and, to our amazement she ran and played and raced the other dogs, clearly very happy and content, with no aggression whatsoever. The owner of the biggest dog, Bandit, even asked us if she was a herding breed after he saw how she behaved with his dog!The next morning, Saturday the 22nd we again took Bella to the dog park where she again behaved impeccably.

We left the marina and headed for our next stop at Indiantown, on the St Lucie River, just to the East of Lake Okeechobee.We passed Fort Pierce, and down to Stuart. You have to run about 5 miles past Stuart and make a 180 degree turn back up the St Lucie River to begin the transit to Lake Okeechobee.

We continued up the St Lucie River, having to wait fifteen minutes for the Florida East Coast Railway bridge to open as it opens every twenty minutes not on request. We then passed American Custom Yacht, the marina and yard where Sonas was based and where we surveyed and bought her.

Next we passed a dock where there were about a dozen Flemings tied up. It could be that is where they are built?

Fleet of Flemings

We went through the first lock on this trip, the St Lucie Lock, part of the system that manages the water level in Lake Okeechobee.

We soon passed what seemed to be a large port project, but it seemed to be suspened. The equipment was abandoned and overgrown with grass.

Major project along the St Lucie River
Abandoned equipment

We arrived at Indiantown Marina mid afternoon. This marina and yard is where hundreds of boats are hauled to wait out hurricane season. We chatted to another couple in a downeaster called Jenny Rose who tied up next to us and who were also heading to Fort Myers.

Indiantown Marina

The plan for the next day, Sunday 23rd, was to run across the Lake and tie up at Roland Martin Marina immediately on the other side. We headed west again and through Mayaca Lock and into the massive body of water.

Port Mayaca Lock
Entering Lake Okeechobee

There are two routes across the lake. The shorter Route One across the middle, and Route Two along the south rim of the lake. We chose Route One as there is more water and less twisting and turning. The rim route may be of interest another time. There isn’t the usual series of markers showing the way but one eight miles away away on the horizon. The route is well marked on our chart plotters though, so it was an easy transit across a very placid lake. There were at least a half dozen controlled burns going on along the south bank as we crossed.

Controlled burns

As we neared our exit point at Clewiston we saw an unusual concrete structure just sitting on its own in the water. We did some Googling and discovered that it used to be the fresh water source for the town of Clewiston.

Old fresh water supply

There is a lock at Clewiston that protects the town from high lake water, and you need to pass through it to get to Roland Martin Marina. Most of the time it is open. Today it was closed. Since it was only 12:15 we decided that we could go on and make tomorrow’s run to Fort Myers shorter. So we called Roland Martin Marina to cancel our resevation, aiming for the town dock at Moore Haven about 15 miles further on.

We ran along the canal at he western edge of the lake, with large pieces of equipment working on raising the Herbert Hoover Dyke and got into the Moore Haven Town Dock before three and tied up. This is an unmanned dock which is on a first come basis, no reservations. There was only one other boat there so we had plenty of room to tie up. We walked Bella though the small town and we have never been barked at by as many yard dogs as we did in Moore Haven!! Around six pm a guy turned up in a city truck and asked us the length of our boat was, and we handed over our dock fee of one dollar a foot, water and electric included!

Herbert Hoover Dyke project
Canal west of Lake Okeechobee

The next day, Monday the 24th we were off as soon as Bella got her morning walk – with plenty of town dogs yet again barking at her! We started off in a morning fog, which caused enough wet mist that we ran from the pilot house.

Foggy morning

We met very few other boats going east or west on the river. We transited the Ortona Lock and the W.P Franklin Lock, and made Fort Myers Yacht Basin by three pm. We bunkered fuel before backing into slip East 44. An elderly gentleman on a interesting looking yacht in the next slip came out to greet us. He introduced himself as Captain Harding of HMS Turtle, meaning His Metal Ship Turtle, a small steel tug.

We got everything tidied away and took Bella for a walk to the large Centennial Park just south of the marina. We were disappointed to find that the entire park was closed off for redevelopment. There was another large park just north of the marina, but that too was fenced off. All in all we did not find downtown Fort Myers very “green,” which was surprising given the large number of dog owners and joggers we saw during our two day stay.

We did take the time at the marina to relax, do some boat chores and ate at Izzy’s seafood restaurant (just OK) and at Firestone which was excellent.

Paul needed a part from West Marine, which was seven miles away. We were chatting to Captain Harding and telling him we were going to get an Uber down to get the part. He told us that he was going to lunch with a friend and was quite happy to go pick it up. Paul called West Marine, paid for the part, and Captain Harding duly delivered it to the boat that afternoon. You meet many kind people while cruising!

We had identified Pink Shell Resort on Fort Myers Beach (Estero Island) as somewhere we wanted spend Thanksgiving weekend. It had a marina that by all accounts was top class and well run. In fact they state on their website that it has been recognized as one of the top 25 marinas to visit in North America. We had been trying to book it but the marina was full, Paul kept trying, hoping for a cancellation, but with no luck.

So we booked into small marina at the south end of Estero Island called Fish Tale for the day before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving Day. On Wednesday we ran slowly from Fort Myers to the south end of Estero Island where we had to enter though Big Carlos Pass and the low drawbridge there. When Paul looked at the charts of the area and the chart plotter, even though there is a marked channel, the depths showed nothing but one to four feet. Paul is a member of Trawler Forum and they have a new function where people identify themselves as Port Captains of the areas that they know. Paul contacted Larry who was a Port Captain for the Fort Myers area. With the feedback he got we felt more confident going through the pass. In fact we saw nothing less that 10 feet all the way through and the bridge tender was very accommodating when opening the draw.

Chart into big Carlos Pass
Big Carlos drawbridge

Fish Tale is a very tight marina, the approach and the marina itself. Plus they had tucked us into the back of the marina. But we took it slow and got into the slip with no issues.

In our slip at Fish Tale

We were only a block from the beach so took Bella over for a walk and went later for the sunset with drinks at Pinchers! That evening we had a very nice pavement dining meal at South Beach Grille. We would recommend both the food and the service.

Beach sunset

The next day was Thanksgiving. We walked the beach and had early afternoon drinks and shrimp at the Fish Tale restaurant. In fact for a couple who love Mayport shrimp, the gulf shrimp that we were served were large, moist and delicious!

Gulf shrimp

After watching another glorious sunset and back on Sonas, Sian cooked up a wonderful Thanksgiving meal of Turkey, roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, swede and carrot mash, and gravy! This cruising life ain’t so bad afterall!

We had a nice couple of days over Thanksgiving walking the beach. Next it will be off to Pink Shell Resort for a few days and then making the turn back east and home.

Walking Fort Myers Beach
Fort Myers Beach

Fall Cruise 2020 – Jacksonville To Cocoa

The first part of this year’s fall cruise was with four other boats from the Queen’s Harbour neighborhood. The plan was for everyone to run to Halifax Marina in Daytona on the first day. Since we are the slow boat of the fleet we decided to leave a day early and run to Palm Coast first to get a jump on the other boats.

Running the AICW

We left on Sunday November 15th and ran down through Palm Valley. As we entered the cut a blue hulled DownEaster named Meridian passed us. I recognized the make so asked for a chat on 17. I told him that we used to have a Vicem in our marina but that it was sold and the new owner took it to Rhode Island. He told us that this was the same boat, they had renamed it and were now on their way to their winter home in Key Largo! What were the odds that they would pass us a few miles from the marina it used to reside in! In fact we had just had dinner with the previous owners a week before! We chatted for a while before they took off.

Meridisn, used to be Tslly Ii

The tide was as high as we ever saw it through Palm Valley. Most of the docks were under water. The dock at the Palm Valley Outdoors Bar And Grill restaurant was busy with every table full.

Flooded Palm Valley
Flooded Plm Valley

We passed through St Augustine and arrived at Palm Coast Marina in time to get spruced up and go over to the European Village for an Indian meal. The restaurant was not doing any table service, we had to give our order at the door, then wait to pick up our takeaway which we ate at a table outside the restaurant.

Curries, pappadoma, and Nan bread.

Next day we took on some fuel, walked our dog then meandered to Halifax Marina in Daytona well in advance of the other boats.

Under way we were again hailed on the radio by Meridian, the Vicem yacht who had stopped over in St Augustine. We had another long conversation.

Meridian

The four other boats and crews eventually joined us one at a time during the afternoon. This evening we looked around for a restaurant that could serve us outside. We found most restaurants were closed or very limited. We found an Asian Fusion restaurant, Ichi Ni San, that had a courtyard and booked a table for ten. When we got there they had moved the table into an inside room which made us somewhat uncomfortable, but we were the only diners in the room. They were not quite staffed for a large group and the service was somewhat slow, but the food was very good.

Next day we left as soon as Bella got her walk and again got a jump on the group. We went through Mosquito Lagoon and past Cape Canaveral.

They soon overtook us though and they were made an audience on the Cocoa Village Marina dock watching us back into our slip on a gusty day! We got into the slip without incident.

NASA Vehicle Building
NASA Canaveral

That evening we had an outdoor docktail on the balcony overlooking the marina. The wind was still gusting and making things chilly, so we tucked ourselves into a corner and had good conversation and good food which we had all brought to share.

We were staying in Cocoa for a couple of days. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate. It blew like the dickens and rained often. We chatted about our boats and had lunches and dinners in the open air restaurants. We ate at Murdock’s, Tapas and Tacos, and Ryan’s Irish Pizzeria (who knew such a thing existed!).

Outside Cocoa Village Marina

On Friday morning the rest of the fleet left for home while we headed off further south to continue our fall cruise.

Sonas arriving at Cocoa Village Marina
Martin and Marian on M&M leaving the Cocoa
Glenn and Debbie on Etoile De Mer Leaving Cocoa
Gary and Carol on Lucky Dogs leaving Cocoa
Frank and Julie on Escape leaving Cocoa

Hilton Head October 2020

We provisioned Sonas for a ten day fall trip from Jacksonville to Hilton Head, South Carolina and back.

Because the tides weren’t right for us to leave our home dock early in the morning of Saturday Oct 10th we left the previous evening and tied up at the local free dock at Sister’s Creek.

Sister’s Creek Free Dock

The next day we headed north on the AICW. We looked to see if we could go outside but today the weather was calling for five footers so we decided to stay inside. We cruised through Fernandina (where the massive crane that will be cutting up the Golden Ray still sat). Knot Fast the Great Harbor that had visited with us in Queens Harbor the previous week was also tied up at the marina.

Knot Fast in Fernandina

Then past Kings Bay Submarine base where we saw a nuclear sub in the maintenance bay.

Ohio Class Sub at King’s Bay

We carried on up to St Simon’s and our overnight reservation at Morningstar Marina. On entering St Simon’s Sound we saw the Golden Ray car carrier laying on its side on the shallows right off the pier.

The Golden Ray

After tying up at the marina we took on 250 gallons of diesel, which would easily see us through this and the next couple of trips. We had booked a table at the Coastal Kitchen Restaurant and had a really nice socially distancing seafood meal.

The next day we left soon after first light, which these days is around 7:30am, and continued north. Our aim today was to stay at the marina in Sunbury GA. The wind was still blowing some so offshore was not an option. In the past we have been able to run directly from St Simon’s Sound to Calibogue Sound in Hilton Head, but with the heavy seas and shorter fall days we would have to break the trip into two, albeit shorter, days.

We had a nervous half hour as we hit the notorious Mud River right at low tide. This part of the AICW shoals badly and we were showing as low as 0.8 feet beneath us as we went through – slowly!

Not much water to play with!

We arrived in the rustic village of Sunbury mid-afternoon. That evening we dined at the Sunbury Crab Company restaurant. We had heard good things about the restaurant, but found it just OK. With the pandemic it was very quiet. We ordered a bottle of cabernet and were told that the bar man was using the last bottle for bar pours. But she had a bottle of Merlot. OK we said, and she turned up with a one and a half liter bottle.!We sent it back and stuck with beer. Clearly wine is not a big seller in these parts!

The next morning we headed out through St Catherine’s Sound into the Atlantic. The wind and seas had died down enough that we could run outside today. We had a very comfortable run into Hilton Head.

Sunbury sunrise

We had wanted to stay at the Shelter Cover Marina as we had stayed there before and found it handy for all of the restaurants and stores. However they had a waiting list for all of October. So instead we had booked into Windmill Harbor Marina.

Windmill Harbor is similar to our home set up. It is a marina in a neighborhood with a lock. When we arrived at the lock we found it narrower than our home lock. At 19 feet wide that gave us less than two feet of clearance on either side! As we got into the lock Paul went to use the bow thruster and found it wouldn’t respond. Rather than take Sonas down an unfamiliar fairway and reversing into an unfamiliar slip when we didn’t know what was going on mechanically, we asked if we could have a “lay-along” tie. The marina did not have one available but the harbormaster called over to the South Carolina Yacht Club asking if we could use theirs and they were fine with it. So that’s what we did!

Entrance to the lock at Windmill Harbor

We had planned on staying there for three days and had actually arranged reciprocal amenities with the yacht club from our club. We walked the neighborhood with Bella a few times a day and ate at the yacht club every evening The food was wonderful and we met some very nice people!

Sonas at South Carolina Yacht Club

Paul had tried to get a mechanic to come look at our bow thruster with no luck so we would have to leave that until we got back to Jacksonville.

On the day we had planned on leaving, Thursday the 15th Paul went to start the engines and found the batteries depleted. We had been plugged into shore power and charging so this was a surprise. Paul checked the start batteries and found them dead. They were only five years old. We arranged with the yacht club to spend another night and Paul found a company to come check the batteries and swap them out for new ones.

We finally left on Friday with new batteries. Though this was not quite the end of our mechanical issue!

Our aim today was a small remote village in Georgia called Kilkenny. It was the perfect distance for a short day’s run. We again were able to run outside and back in again at St Catherine’s, then a short trip back up the ICW.

Kilkenny marina was interesting. We watched as small shrimpers came in and offloaded. We also watched as they used a crane system to launch and lift small boats. The banks were so steep here that a ramp was out of the question. The marina charged a dollar a foot for a launch and retrieval! The marina did not have cleats but low wooden pieces that you wrapped your lines around.

Kilkenny cleats!

We had booked into the Market 107 Restaurant next door and had another seafood dinner, but we reckoned that the meal we had at Coastal Kitchen in St Simon’s was the best of the trip.

Next day we were off again. We had originally planned on staying at Morningstar Marina in St Simon’s again, then Cumberland Island the next night before home. But decided to go on to Jekyll Island Marina today and then go straight on home the next day, Sunday the 18th.

We passed by the Golden Ray again and entered Jekyll channel on low tide. We eased our way to the marina, often with less that two feet beneath the keel! We cooked a couple of steaks on the boat deck grill this evening!

Mother and baby manatee in Jekyll Harbor Marina

On Sunday the 18th we were again off at first light and followed a small sailboat out of the marina. We caught up to her as we made the turn into St Andrew’s Sound. The AICW in this area can be problematic as there are shoaling sandbars right across the middle of the sound. Boats transiting the AICW have to go out pretty much to the mouth of the sound. Today it was blowing on shore and nice big rollers were coming it. The little sailboat tucked in behind us to help it with the seas and then cut across earlier than us as it did not draw as much. We rounded the buoy getting hit somewhat by quite heavy seas but it because easier once we had them on our stern quarter.

Navigator Bella!

We again passed inside Cumberland Island, past Fernandina and we were tied up at home dock by 3:00pm. We did encounter an overcharging issue on our start batteries today. We suspect that one of our Balmar battery regulators has gone bad. We also suspect that is why we had the battery issue while we were in Hilton Head. Sonas is going to the yard for some new teak soon, so we will have them investigate the issue.

Click on the first photo below to scroll through them or start a slideshow.

« of 2 »

Cumberland and Fernandina Trip Oct 2020

For the third week in a row we had decent weather to do a mid-week mini cruise on Sonas. We left in cool conditions on Wednesday morning helming from the pilot house. Instead of using the small tender from our boat deck, which would have entailed using the davit to launch and retrieve it, we towed our larger 15′ RIB. This would make it easier to use and was much more stable for Paul getting off and on given that he is still limited by a back brace.

As we passed Fernandina we heard a Securite call over the VHF advising that a naval ship was on the way in through Cumberland Sound and to keep clear. The rule is no approach within 100 yards and go to steerage speed only within 500 yards. We had time to get across the Sound and into our anchorage before the Ohio Class submarine appeared and went towards the Kings Bay submarine base.

We were also passed by the mega yacht d’Natalin IV which we had seen just last week down in St Augustine.

We arrived at our anchorage off the Sea Camp dock in Cumberland. The day had turned warm so we headed off to the island for a walk across to the ocean-side beach. On landing Paul used the on-line National Parks payment system to pay our entry fee. It is $10 per person for seven days, under 16 years old is free.

Dogs are allowed on the island but not on the ferry so the only way they can get there is by private boat. Bella was the only dog on the Island! We had a gentle two mile walk through the sea forest and on the unspoilt beach before returning to Sonas.

Just before Sunset Paul launched the drone and took some video of the anchorage and the island.

The next day, Thursday, we again walked the beach in the morning before breakfast and some boat chores. After lunch we headed across and tied up at the Fernandina Harbor Marina. Some friends had come up in their boat and we were going to spend the evening with them.

We went to Joe’s Second Street Bistro and had an excellent meal in their courtyard before heading back to Sonas for conversation and wine!

We had left our plans open for Friday. We were either going to head home or down to one of our favorite anchorages on the Fort George River. Instead we decided to return to Cumberland Island. We again walked the island and beach, with Bella meeting wild horses and deer for the first time!

Saturday turned up very breezy, with 20 mph winds, but we returned to home dock without incident.

Click on a photo below to enlarge or to start a slideshow of the photos.

« of 2 »

September 2020 St Augustine Trip

We had planned on the short cruise up to Fort George River and anchoring out for a couple of nights. But, since I was still restricted after my back surgery, Sian had concerns over my ability to help out should there be any issues with the dinghy (especially the outboard) if she got into trouble. During the day would not be an issue as there usually were other boaters around, but the last trip ashore in the evening with Bella would be the issue.

So on Wednesday as we exited the channel from home dock we turned right on the AICW instead of left. Sian contacted St Augustine Marina and asked for reservations for two nights. We had an uneventful trip to St Augustine, tied up by 3:00. After a doggie walk and a nap, we went up to O.C. Whites for dinner. They have a nice sized courtyard for safe dining.

The next day, Thursday, a couple of mega yachts arrived, joining the two already there. This is the first time we have ever seen more than one of them at the marina when we have been there. We spent a relaxing day at the marina, walking the town, enjoying an ice cream, and general people and boat watching!

Sian completed a couple of boat jobs that Paul hadn’t been able to do. Replacing a bilge pad, replacing the fresh water filter, and a swapping out a 12v power receptacle on the foredeck.

We walked over to Harry’s Grill which also had a sizable courtyard and had dinner there.

We delayed our departure from the marina on Friday until late morning as we needed mid-tide or better to enter the channel into our home dock. Because we were running ahead of a light wind in 87 degree weather the trip back was hot but uneventful!

We may not have been able to enjoy a three month trip on Sonas this year but we are trying to squeeze in as many days as we can now!

« of 2 »

September 2020 Fernandina Cruise

After four months tied up due to both COVID 19 and Paul’s back surgery we finally got to take Sonas up to Fernandina for a couple of nights. Frank and Julie Proctor on Escape joined us. We had dinner on board the first night and then a birthday dinner (Paul’s) at Joe’s 2nd Street Bistro on the second night. The weather called for rain but we didn’t really get any – though there were plenty of clouds around as you can see from the photos!

This was Bella’s first over night cruise and she handled it like a champ, in fact she loved it. Seems we have ourselves a new boat dog!

« of 2 »

2020 Projects

Social Distancing – Fortunate To Have Sonas At Home

Well COVID-19 certainly put paid to our annual spring three months cruise to the Bahamas. Initially, like everyone else, we didn’t know how long we would be tied to the dock, and we were optimistic that the delay would only last a month or two. As time dragged on I began to complete one boat project, then another, and another, and I even thought we might get to the job that was on the very bottom of the project list – giving the engine room and bilges a good cleaning and repainting parts of the engine that needed touching up!

Dirty engine

Windlass

We were anchored off Cumberland Island for three nights back in March and Sian noticed a new sound when raising the anchor. When we got home I had a look at the Maxwell HWC 3500 and saw that two of the bolts that held the shaft to the port side gear box had either come loose or sheared off. They were grinding against the manual retrieval plate.

Maxwell 3500 Windlass

My mechanic dismantled the windlass and found everything well greased and easily came off the port side of the windlass, until he got to the clutch cone. It was seized solid to the shaft. No amount of cajoling, prizing, wedging would get it to budge. He decided to remove the starboard side of the windlass and see if he could remove the shaft to work on the port side, and found the starboard side clutch cone stuck as well.

Clutch cone

Next he used a heat gun to heat up the bronze cone to try and pop it from the shaft. After quite a while that did the trick. When he removed the manual retrieval plate he found that the four bolts holding the shaft to the motor housing had failed. One had sheared off completely, the three others were loose with two of them bent. We simply cannot remember an incident that would have caused that damage.

So the mechanic got the windlass off the deck and took it completely apart to full investigate what was going on. He found the gear housing plate cracked and the bolt holes worn, allowing the windlass to become loose. So we ordered all of the needed parts and rebuilt the windlass. It was obviously a catastrophic failure but we still don’t know what caused it.

Worn bolt holes and cracked housing
Rebuilt gear housing

Teak swim platform and steps

Over the past couple of seasons the caulking on the swim platform teak had been coming off. I asked the yard if anything could be done and they told us that the teak was so worn that it was now too thin to re-caulk. We had been finding that it was also uncomfortable to walk on in certain areas. The yard had given us a couple of names of people to do the work but they were busy and couldn’t get to our project. I was finally directed to a company called Teakdecking Systems out of Sarasota.

Teakdecking were very responsive, although they also said that they had a lot of work on the books they would schedule us as soon as they could. They gave me a quote based on a measurement sheet I sent them and then in early May they advised that they had a team going up to Savannah who would stop by Jacksonville on their way to take the measurements.

Ron stopped by on his way to an installation on a large Viking in Savannah to make the template. He took it back to Sarasota where they made a digital pattern and are currently fabricating the teak. They said they could send an installation team but recommended I use Huckins here in Jacksonville as they do tear out and installs and that would save me the travel and lodging. Huckins is waiting for the final shipping date before scheduling Sonas.

Swim platform template

I couldn’t persuade Ron into the engine Room either!

Floating dock

I treated myself to a new floating dock for our AB 15 DLX RIB. Even though the water at our home is mostly fresh we still get white worm on unpainted bottoms. We were continuously lifting the RIB and storing it in the garage, which was not very convenient.

The blocks arrived and Sian and I put it together ourselves. We had a couple of missteps, mainly from not making sure we were on a flat surface, but once we moved the build to the flat concrete dock it went smoothly. Once together and in the water roped to the inside of our dock, we ran the RIB up onto it – and only got half way! Talking to Dock Blocks they suggested adding more water to the entrance blocks to lower them. We did that and still couldn’t get the RIB more than half way on. I then noticed that the chines were getting caught in the channel of the floating dock and that was stopping the RIB from coming on. It needed to be lifted higher on entry.

Dock Blocks had a solution – circular bunks that install into each side of the channel. They sent me links to other installs and to the process. I decided that I didn’t want to retro-fit these so asked if they could install next time they were in the area.

I can’t say enough about Mark Partridge from Dock Blocks. He was passing through Jacksonville returning from visiting family. His wife and child amused themselves in Jacksonville while Mark came and installed the bunks – charging only for the parts.

He stayed and watched me successfully load the boat after the install!

Dock bunks

Marquipt Davit

Next up was tidying up the davit. We had been seeing flecks of rust on the deck underneath the winch area for some time and saw that the outside of the motor had a coat of rust. We had also bought a new cable and hook set from Marquipt over a year ago and it was time to install that as the current cable had kinks.

 I took the cover off and gave the winch a good sanding and a couple of coats of Rust-oleum rust converter. Then I gave the cable a yank from the top of the drum, it wouldn’t budge. Tried with pliers; wouldn’t move. I know on previous davits that a small piece is jammed into the drum groove to hold the cable in place so I turned the drum to punch a screwdriver from the bottom to dislodge the holding piece. Still nothing. So to get the cable out of the way I cut it and punched again. Still no movement. I sprayed with PB Blaster and tried again, and again. Finally I did what every red blooded man eventually does – I called the manufacturer for the Columbia 1000 winch!

Rusty winch

They kindly sent me the schematic for the cable replacement, clearly showing a tear drop piece inserted into the bottom of the drum (not in from the top) holding the loop of cable!  Once I saw this I quickly punched a screwdriver from the top of the slot and out popped the tear drop – and the cable replacement was a cinch – after a couple of days of trying!

Schematic showing tear drop

I was trying to persuade Sian into the ER while I was handling this, with no success!

New shades

First up was selecting and having new shades installed. Sonas still had her original wooded venetian blinds. Some of the cords had snapped, and some of the head mechanisms had become worn and stiff. After we broke off a part of a slat on one of the blinds it was time to replace them.

Old blinds

We first selected roller blinds and the manufacturer came and measured. Unfortunately when the installer came to check things before they were manufactured we discovered that the roller heads would not fit behind the bug screen frame on the rear salon doors. After discussion we decided to go with honeycomb blinds due to the smaller footprint. Again she measured, again we paid and again the installer came to check and said that the honeycomb would not fit either.

The choice was to change out everything but the door windows or leave as it. Somewhat frustrated we told them that we would hold off for now and stick with what we had.

Then I was on Yachtworld one day looking at another Grand Alaskan trying to answer a question for someone when I saw a boat for sale that had Roman Shades. They looked great and because of the way they work there was no large head mechanism. We called the company back and after measuring, paying, and a final installer visit we found that they worked. So Sonas is now sporting new window treatments!

New shades

Brightwork

The next project, while it was still somewhat cool for Florida, was putting new poly on the cap rails. We had neglected to add a couple of coats last year and the relentless Bahamian and Florida sun had taken spots back to the teak. I decided to separate the rails into three jobs. One around the rear side-walks and the cockpit. The second around the Portuguese Bridge, and the third the fore deck.  I spot scraped and sanded all of the spots back to the teak, filled with three coats of poly and finally went over all of the cap rails with an additional three coats.

Spotty teak

I did some research on how I could get the brightwork to look uniform but the overall consensus was that unless you take everything back to the bare teak, the new varnish spots will show as the older teak has been discolored by the sun and elements over time. Eventually the spots will start to merge.  Note to self – a light sanding and a couple of new coats every fall or spring will keep the bigger job at bay!

Thought for a second or two about cleaning the engine room next, but luckily managed to find other projects!

Power pedestal

We have our own dock behind our home. The power pedestal, probably original from 1998, was looking the worse for wear. So I carefully power washed it, and gave it three coast of bright white with a light sanding in between. I was quite pleased with the result!

Cleaned pedestal
Painted pedestal

Re-arming PFDs

It was time to replace the arming on our two West Marine Coastal and two Mustang Survival PFDs. We decided to have a bit of fun with this and jump into our pool wearing them. This proved that they were still good AND allow us the experience of having them go off while wearing them.

They worked fine and are now rearmed!

Two types of PFDs

They worked!!

So here we are in September and I still haven’t cleaned the engine room! I have found other ways to avoid it, including re-sanding the pavers around the house, re-painting the garden gnomes, and digitizing hundreds, if not more, old photographs and letters!

Pavers

Gnomes

May 1 RIB Cruise

A mixed day today on our planned trip up to Bird Island off Nassau Sound. First there was a scheduling issue at the lock and we couldn’t get out at our planned time. So ended up staying at home for lunch. We finally got out early afternoon, but too late for our planned destination. So we went up to Fort George River for an hour or so instead. Plus again, the forecasted wind of 15-16 turned into a strong blow. However any day on the water beats any day in the office!

Galapagos

We left Quito and arrived at the airport on Baltra Island. The airport bus takes you to the ferry dock when you boat across to Santa Cruz Island. In the afternoon we went to see the Galapagos Giant Tortoises and watched as the local liquor was made (and sampled it) . Next day we took a boat to Santa Fe Island and visited with the seals and took a walk through the island. On the second day we visited North Seymour Island and the Boobies, Frigates and iguanas. We had a chance to snorkel the clear waters on both days.

Click on the first photo below and it will give you the choice to play a slide show of the photos or you can use the arrow on the far right to click through them one at at time.

« of 3 »

Ecuador

We arrived in Quito from Lima and visited the Equator Museum and the church of the Virgen De Quito. Since Ecuador is the world’s largest producer of roses we went to a rose farm, and a humming bird sanctuary. We had lunch in the Cafe Plaza Grande and took the cable car ride up to the Pichincha volcano.

Click on the first photo below and it will give you the choice to play a slide show of the photos or you can use the arrow on the far right to click through them one at at time.

« of 2 »

Lima, Cuzco And The Sacred Valley

We started off in Lima, and then flew to Cuzco, eleven thousand feet above sea level. We entered the Sacred Valley and visited Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero, Macchu Picchu, back to Cuzco before leaving Peru for Ecuador.


Click on the first photo below and it will give you the choice to play a slide show of the photos or you can use the arrow on the far right to click through them one at at time.

« of 3 »

Self Isolation Picnic Cruise

We had planned to take Sonas up to Cumberland Island again, this time for two weeks. We had even bought all of the provisions. Then on Friday April 3, the island was closed to all, including private boaters, which was disappointing. So today we packed a picnic lunch and took our RIB up to Fort George river. If there were too many boats there we were going to leave and go find somewhere quiet. When we arrived we found the place virtually empty and we grabbed our own beach! We had a nice couple of hours before returning home. We cleaned up and then at sunset we took the RIB around the lagoon to wave and say hello to any neighbors who were hanging out behind their homes.

Machu Picchu

We left our base in the Scared Valley and rode the train along the Urubama River to the town of Mariposario de Machupicchu. From there we took a shuttle bus up the switch-back road to the Belmond Hotel right outside the gates of Machu Picchu. We did an afternoon walk through the ruins and then we were back in there again before sunrise the next morning to watch the sun hit the buildings.

Click on the first photo below and it will give you the choice to play a slide show of the photos or you can use the arrow on the far right to click through them one at at time.

« of 3 »

The Amazon

Landed in Iquitos and took the boat to our camp at Ciera Tops. Visited the village of Indiana (named by a missionary), visited the Yaqui tribe, and walked the second longest canopy walk in the world. Sian was also “blessed” by a Shaman.

Video pieces

Click on the first photo below and it will give you the choice to play a slide show of the photos or you can use the arrow on the far right to click through them one at at time.

« of 3 »

March Trip To Cumberland Island

We returned from our trip to South America and decided during the second week of our self-isolation from COVID-19 to take Sonas up to Cumberland Island for a few days. The island is closed to ferry and other charter traffic but still open to those arriving by private boat. The rangers are still working though all contact centers are closed. We had planned on staying two nights but the weather was so good and the island so empty we made our provisions last another night!

We went on the beach on the Atlantic side and we were the only people on the 17.5 mile long beach! We also visited the ruins on the mansion built by the Carnegies.

The forecast was fine so we returned home running outside. The only issue from the trip was that our gear change cable on the tender broke – so we will look to get that fixed this week so we can get up to Cumberland again very soon!

« of 2 »

Rio

Some Video snippets before the photos below!

Click on the first photo below and it will give you the choice to play a slide show of the photos or you can use the arrow on the far right to click through them one at at time.

« of 2 »

McGuyver ing

[This should have been posted early last summer but we forgot Sian had written it (or maybe Paul didn’t want to be reminded in writing!) The good news is that we are now able to add resolutions to the original issues!]

From Sian, on board Sonas.

There is a new to me verb on Sonas this year. McGuyvering.

The Oxford dictionary describes it thus “To McGuyer is to make a repair in an inventive way, making use of whatever items are at hand.”

There are those who would say that is simply boating! Others, like Paul, will define cruising as fixing broken things in exotic locations because there is always something breaking on a boat, you just don’t know what it is yet! For me, this has been a season where things, some big, some small, go haywire and I am not used to that!

Some of the McGuyvering that goes on is down right amusing.

For example a cockpit sun shield. In four years we have never felt the need for a rear sun shade but this year we definitely did. The prevalent wind in the Bahamas during spring is from the East. So the bow of the boat faces into the wind and the stern of the boat faces West – where the setting hot sun is in the evening! So rather than be forced indoors Paul rigged up a shade using the large old front window cover that we had stowed on board (but should have taken off the boat – Hooray for procrastination!), add clothes pegs and bungee cords, and it worked a treat. [Our canvas shop has now made us shades for the cockpit].

By the way what boat could possibly exist without numerous bungee cords and duct tape?

More seriously, the switch on the dinghy went bad so the work around wasn’t in the truest sense a McGuyer but we used the switch on the motor cowling to lift and lower the engine. Not such a big deal, really more of an inconvenience especially when running up on a beach. [Dingy went into the shop for a full work up and new fish finder/depth sounder. All good now].

Marine sanitation devices (MSDs), otherwise known as the heads or toilets, always give many opportunities to McGuyver. I shall spare you dear reader a rehash of previous posts or any nasty photos, but suffice it to say I have been promoted to bucket holder and feeder of paper rolls when an extra pair of hands is needed. A promotion I did not seek but as a dear friend said, it’s hard to hide when there’s only two of you on a boat! [Touch wood, all working fine since then!]

Our batteries are not recharging as they should, latest theory is the alternators need attention so we have to check battery levels and start the generator throughout the day, and even while we are cruising on longer (8+ hours) runs as the start batteries dropped close to the red. Again no huge deal but if the oven goes off while I’m making bread, heads will roll! [Alternators removed at yard and fully refurbished. Starboard one was not putting anything out at all due to bad wiring. Yard electrician went through the boat checking electrics , all good].

Earlier in our travels our hot water tank failed which meant an unscheduled lay over in Lucaya getting a new tank delivered from Florida and installed. Mission accomplished and off we went.

The sulphur goop that gathers at the bottom of marine water heater tanks!

However the new, smaller tank seems to put out a higher pressure and impacts the dish washer. Now some purists would be scathing about a dish washer on a boat but I didn’t put it there and if you don’t use it you loose it so yes we run the dishwasher. However with the force of water from the new tank the first time we did so the hose came off spewing water all over the salon. Used every towel we own, mopped it all up and tightened the hose and thought it was fixed. It was not. After the second water incident we “McGuyvered” the water flow into the dish washer by partially opening the valve and then turn it off after every use. Means you have to remember to turn it off otherwise get up at 1.30am when you think about it and rummage under the sink trying not to wake the whole boat. [The hose was attached with a simple hose clamp which couldn’t handle the pressure. The yard has now fitted a high pressure connection].

New dishwasher fitting.

And then we come to the windlass trouble. We had a slow drip onto the starter relay on the outside of the port engine from a raw water pipe. Because it was a slow saltwater drip that evaporated with the engine heat and never got to then bilge mats (diapers) we did not realize we had a leak. We found a mechanic in Marsh Harbour who located a 24v replacement replay and replaced it.

Rusted out starter relay.

Then we had an interesting issue! For some strange reason the port engine cranked and started when we used the windlass to lift the anchor. After the mechanic came back a couple of times he could not solve the issue. We were reduced to wearing our communication headsets with Paul in the engine room turning off the start batteries, and me on the bow lifting the anchor while the boat drifted without power. Then telling Paul the anchor was fully up so he could turn on the batteries back on and starting the engine once the winch had finished and moving on without, hopefully, bumping into anything. Which , I must say, Captain McGuvyer managed very well. We have since refined this by bypassing some something [the start relay] and starting the engine manually with jumper cables, then lifting the anchor! Happy days! [By the time we arrived home this had stopped occurring. Our mechanic and the yard electrician could not recreate the issue. The yard did find the windlass loose and the battery switch for the windlass-shared start batteries badly cracked. So it could have been arcing at the switch].

So the point of this is, some of us are the natural McGuyvering type (Paul) who quite enjoy the thrill of finding solutions and puzzling through. And some of us (me) have no imagination for McGuyvering situations and frankly get a little tired of the “game”

Good job we’re a team!

Palm Coast Cruise – Jan 2020

Three boats from Queen’s Harbour took advantage of the unusual January weather to run to Palm Coast Marina for three days. It was sunny and highs in the mid eighties, just perfect to be on the water.

Paul and Sian on Sonas, Julie and Frank on Escape, and Martin and Marian on M&M. We ran down on Tuesday and were all tied up by mid afternoon. We even had the pleasant surprise of finding that the shoaling at Matanzas had been totally dredged away and now carries 11-13 feet at low tide.

Sonas cruised the last third of the trip with Never Say Never and Sea Tripper, two boats that were cruising further south together. They also tied up at Palm Coast Marina that afternoon.

We had pot luck dinner on board Sonas on Tuesday evening with copious amounts of wine, went to the European Village for a pizza lunch at MezzaLuna, and then back to the European Village on Wednesday night for an Indian meal at The Fifth Element.

We did have a little excitement on Wednesday morning when Never Say Never was leaving the marina and had a small electrical “meltdown” and had to be hauled to a T-Head while things were sorted out. A mechanic that the marina uses was called and turned up within the hour. After a new starter and new ground wires they did a test cruise and the boat was declared ready to resume. We have to say , based on the smoke and smell of burning, we thought it was going to be a good week’s work! Kudos to the marina and mechanic for getting them underway again quickly!

All boats returned safely and without incident to Queen’s Harbour on Wednesday afternoon.

Some photos of the cruise:

Nights of Lights 2019

We left Friday morning and used the AICW to St Augustine. Coming back on Sunday we went out through St Augustine inlet and back in at Mayport. Friday and Saturday’s weather was great (sunny and low seventies), Sunday was chilly in the low sixties, so we came back running from the pilot house.

Click on the first photo and then scroll through using the arrow on the right of the page or start an auto play by using the arrow at the bottom of the screen. I would also suggest that you also click on the little “i” button at the bottom as well as this will display the photo descriptions.

« of 2 »
Turning on the lights!

Frustrating Engine Issue – And Back To Jacksonville

Guided Missile Destroyer leaving Naval Station Mayport

May 11. [See engine issue in last post here] Basil the mechanic promised he would be with us before nine, and he did show up on time. He added a diode to the part that he had installed yesterday and we tested the windlass to see if it was still starting the engine – and it was not! So we felt that the issue was finally resolved. Paul took Basil back to shore and came back ready to lift anchor and motor over to Fisher Bay on Guyana Cay for the night so we could make the Nipper’s pig roast tomorrow.

Sian lifted the anchor and the port engine started again – the same issue we thought was resolved. We quickly shut everything down and called the mechanic. We waited and waited until finally he called but told us he had nothing further he could try. We believe that we tested the fix by using the windlass to lower the anchor, which does not put as much of a draw on the batteries as lifting it. When we lifted it the increased battery draw fed to the port engine start relay.

So we decided that it was time to skip the rest of the Abacos and head back to Jacksonville to get the problem rectified – all this over a $60 part!

Paul turned off the engine start batteries so Sian could lift the anchor without causing an issue then once the anchor was up he quickly turned the engine start batteries back on and started the engines to leave the anchorage. The weather was good to cross the sometime treacherous Whale Cay Channel so we set our waypoints for the anchorage at Angel Fish Cay/Crab Cay. Along the way we let Paul and Michelle on Nagari know that we would not be joining them for the Sunday pig roast at Nippers.

Crab Cay anchorage

We made the anchorage late afternoon and had a very pleasant and calm night.

May 12. We had planned to use the same process to lift the anchor and start the engines as the day before, only to discover that neither using the windlass to raise the anchor or using the key to start the port engine worked – it seems the brand new installed start relay had totally gone!

So we now started the starboard engine as normal on the key, Paul used a jumper cable on the start motor to start the port engine and we could just go ahead and use the windlass to raise the anchor without any issues. Totally losing the relay actually helped the process! (We know, confusing for those who don’t have to worry about marine engines!).

We cruised in great weather to Mangrove Cay, our jumping off point for crossing the Gulf Stream back to Florida the next day. There was another trawler in the anchorage when we got there and the couple from Allie Dee came over for a chat. We agreed a departure time before sunrise the next morning and to buddy across the stream together.

Mangrove Cay anchorage

May 13. We had a SW wind during the night and were anchored off the NE of Mangrove Cay so had a comfortable night. We were off the anchorage before light at 5:30 and soon started to feel the wave action from considerable wind. Allie Dee followed us out and also expressed surprise at the seas. However it was comfortable enough and we crossed White Sands Ridge at left the Bahamas, crossing into the gulf stream, at which point we lowered the Bahamian courtesy flag. As the day wore on the seas sat down and it continued to be a very comfortable crossing.

Running on instruments in the dark
Our last Bahamian sunrise

We were about 12 miles out of Fort Pierce when NOAA broke into our VHF radio warning of a severe storm running from Port St Lucie to Sebastian. That was exactly on our path into Fort Pierce. We contacted our buddy boat and we focused our radars on the storm. We thought we could outrun it so both sped up, but when we were a couple of miles out from the start of the inlet all hell broke loose. We lost all visibility, and we had winds up to 40 knots, with cloud to sea lightning. We decided to bail on trying to enter the inlet and we did big circles in big seas and winds making sure to keep out of each other’s way as we couldn’t see each other on the storm cluttered radar.

Allie Dee under gathering storm clouds

We finally saw the weather clearing to the north of the inlet and both headed that way, and an hour after aborting our first approach we got in through the inlet. Allie Dee anchored right inside the inlet, but we decided to go on for an other hour or so to our reservation at the Vero Beach City Marina. We had already called them and made them aware of the delay due to the storm. They wold be closed by the time we got there, but gave us permission to tie up at their fuel dock, which was easier to do that a slip without a dock hand available. Once tied up we walked across to the Riverside Cafe right by the marina for dinner.

View by Riverside Cafe Restaurant
Flight of Ibis
Flight of pelicans

May 14. We added some fuel at Vero and then headed north. We had fine weather and smooth waters. We had originally planned to stop at the NASA Causeway Bridge anchorage but got there early so went on and anchored off Titusville, saving us an hour on the next day’s cruise. On the way we encountered a black snow fall of love bugs. They swarmed the boat and blanketed the fly bridge and us! After anchoring we spent an hour with the hose getting rid of the mess. Then we set a table and had our last meal on board for this trip!

Swarm of love bugs
Last meal on board

May 15. We were off at first light and through Haulover Canal, past the huge NASA rocket buildings, into Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna, Port Royal, Daytona, and our evening dock at Palm Coast Marina. After cleaning up we went over to the European Village (as is now our return ritual) and had a nice Italian dinner at La Piazza Cafe.

Haulover Canal
Haulover Canal manatee
NASA building
Ponce De Leon Lighthouse
Woodpecker on Palm Coast Marina roof
Strangely named boat at Palm Coast Marina

May 16. Due to the tides at the channel into our home dock (we can only transit in at mid tide or better) we had a lazy morning at Palm Coast and set off at 10am. We transited the Matanzas area and into St Augustine. We then went outside from St Augustine to Mayport as we wanted to get outside of the three mile zone for a final flush of our holding tanks. As we transited up the coast we saw the smoke from a large fire. We checked the local news but didn’t see anything, we decided it was a controlled burn at the Guyana State Park. just south of Ponte Vedra.

Smoke over south Ponte Vedra

As we approached Mayport inlet we received a lot of military naval radio traffic. A number of US and Canadian vessels were coming out. So we managed our approach to keep out of their way.

Escorted guided missile destroyer
Carnival Ecstasy leaving Jacksonville

We entered the St John’s at Mayport, got to the ICW south and our channel for Queen’s Harbour. We were tied up at Home dock by 5:00pm.

At home dock

Another spring Bahamas cruise completed. A week or so after we arrived Nagari paid us a visit before continuing on north.

Sister ships!

North Eleuthera And Back To Our Old Stomping Grounds Of Abaco!

Cracking conch

May 1. We were safely tied up at the Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina as the wind blew and the rain fell all day. The storm had popped up out of nowhere and we had folks in the US contacting us to make sure that we were OK, as the weather had been on their news. We chatted to people on the docks, including a young couple who were in a catamaran called Sea Monster (which we later found out was the name of their on board dog!). It was their first boat and they had taken a few months off work to cruise the islands, learning as they went! Later we went back up the the marina restaurant for a beverage, Paul looking forward to the Sky Juice in a coconut he was promised – but sadly, still no coconut!

May 2. We were still tied up in Cape Eleuthera. We again walked the four mile loop which we measured via phone GPS and found was really 4.4 miles! The wind was still howling but the forecast was for calming the next day. So, knowing that we would be leaving and would be at anchorage for the next week or so, we had another nice dinner up at the Harbour Pointe restaurant.

May 3. We finally left Cape Eleuthera and headed into the anchorage at New Bight just to the north. We wanted to get some fresh fruit and veggies from the supermarket there so dinghy’d ashore, tying up at the dock at The Frigate restaurant for lunch before groceries. A elderly Bahamian gentleman greeted us and introduced himself as Smooth Groove, who played the guitar for tips. We met two other couples, one staying at a place further up the coast called Ten Bay. After getting our groceries we decided that New Bight wasn’t the nicest of anchorage as it did not have a beach. So we upped anchor and headed up the coast to the pretty fishing village of Tarpum.

Tarpum

We went ashore and walked the colorful village. We found a little church called St Columba’s. St Columba founded a monastery in Derry, N.Ireland, where Paul comes from, before setting out to bring religion to the Scots and further afield.

We saw a man cracking conch on the beach, with a pile of about 60 shells to work on. Further along we watched at the fish table as the local fishermen prepared their very extensive catch for sale.

St Columba’s
Preparing today’s catch

May 4. We set off after breakfast for our lunch stop at Ten Bay. We had read that this remote village had a great beach. After a slow two hour cruise up the coast we turned into the picturesque town, with its long sandy beach. As soon as we had the anchor down and shut down the engines, Sian had the paddle board ready off our stern! She paddled into the beach as Paul followed along in the dinghy. We then walked the long beach, and met the couple that we had talked to at The Frigate restaurant in New Bight yesterday, their vacation cottage was right on the beach!

Paddling Ten Bay

After lunch we headed further up the coast as we wanted to visit Governors Harbour, the first capital of the Bahamas. Reading the charts and cruising guides we learned that the harbour itself is not a great anchorage because of the grass on the seabed. So we stopped just short of the harbour and pulled into Long Point behind Pigeon Cay. We found a calm spot right up against the rocky south shore.

Our anchorage at Governor’s Harbour
Not what you want to see in your overnight anchorage!

We now had to go outside and around a headland to get into the harbour, so we put on our PFDs and ran the dinghy around. We found a half dozen boats in the anchorage and spoke to a couple about the holding, which they said was “OK.” We anchored the dinghy off the beach and walked through the small town. We had a couple of Sands beers and a conch salad at the Buccaneer Club, chatting to a pilot who had flown in a group for a location wedding.

Conch salad and beer….all gone!
Governor’s Harbour Police Station.

May 5. We were out of the anchorage early and on our heading to Current Cut. This very narrow cut joins the Eleuthera bight to the bay south of Royal and Russell Islands, and the current really rips through there. It is best to be there at slack tide, and if not make sure to have the current with you. We got there with the current pushing us along and we pulled the throttles well back but still went through there at eleven and a half knots (our normal cruising speed at cruising RPM is between eight and nine knots).

Current Cut
Current Cut

We then headed across the shallow bay towards Spanish Wells. This village got its name from the time Spanish galleons plied back and forth between the New World and Spain. They had dug fresh water wells on the island to put fresh water on board the ships before crossing the Atlantic. We entered the narrow channel and tied up at Yacht Haven Marina. After a quick swim in the marina pool we went for a walk along the waterfront to the west of town. As we walked along we noticed how very well maintained the large fishing fleet was, comparing them to the sometimes rusty vessels we see around Mayport and Fernandina back home.

Entrance to Spanish Wells
Spanish Wells fishing fleet
Spanish Wells fishing fleet

Later that evening we walked along the waterfront to the East and had dinner at the Shipyard restaurant. At first we sat on the deck but as soon as the food arrived so did dozens of flies! So we scurried back inside to finish our seafood dinner! Back at the marina bar we had a night cap, with Paul deciding on a frozen margarita to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!.

Walking through Spanish Wells
The superyacht Anne-Marie in Spanish Wells.

May 6. We were leaving Spanish wells this morning via the east, which entailed going through the fishing fleet and then following waypoints that took us through a very narrow gap in the shallow reefs to the north. In fact the cruising notes said to only try this in good weather conditions with good visibility, and we had both this morning. Getting through the reef we pointed our bow towards Abaco – 45 miles and six hours away. We entered through North Bar cut and headed around Tilloo Bank, anchoring in Tilloo Pond right by our sister ship Nagari, and were invited over for dinner.

Passage through the reef.
Three ships on our AIS, one crossing close!

Later in the afternoon we went to start the generator to launch our dinghy and found that the generator was not pumping cooling water and the exhaust was dry. We quickly turned it off before it could overheat and Paul checked raw water strainer and found some weeds. He cleaned that out and checked that there was good flow from the through hull. Next to look at is the the impeller in the raw water pump. That takes some time and our concern was if we found that was not the problem we would have lost daylight and would be sitting all night without any way to charge our batteries. So before looking at the impeller we decided to head to the nearest marina, where we could plug into shore power, and get everything right with the generator.

So we started the engines, the starboard started fine and the port would not start at all! We had just run fine from Spanish Wells and the engine ran fine until we shut it down on anchoring, so this was really confusing. So we went over to Boat Harbour Marina on one engine, where they were helpful in getting us onto a T-Head using the one engine and bow thruster. Paul immediately put a new impeller on the generator and that ran fine.

Chewed up impeller

He next reached over and took photos of the outside of the port engine, which is hard to get at. Looking at the photos he found that the wiring for the engine starter solenoid/relay was all salt corroded and it seemed to be from a leaking exchanger drain right above it. So we are hopeful that correcting the leak and then getting all of the corrosion off the starter relay wiring tomorrow morning will resolve the issue without needing to call the yard.

May 7. immediately after breakfast Paul got into the engine room and started cleaning up the mess that was the solenoid. He made sure the leaking hose was well secured by adding a second clamp. He then started brushing the solenoid connectors to get rid of the rust and corrosion. Unfortunately the solenoid was too far gone and the connector posts were ruined.

Ruined starter relay

So Paul called Marsh Harbour Boat Yard. Their mechanic was backed up but they gave Paul the name of someone else who could do the job. Paul called him and he asked for photos. Paul sent off the photos – and then we heard nothing from him, even after some text follow up. After lunch we called the local parts store who said they had some 24V solenoids and we could come see if one would work. We walked the mile and a half into town and found that the solenoids they had were all 12v. Sigh. We tried a couple of other places with no luck. More sighing.

Pul then called our Mechanic back home in the US. He had previously told us that he would be able to ship us anything we might need to where ever we were cruising.. He said he would get on it and to call him back first thing in the morning to arrange shipping. After that conversation the local mechanic called back and told us that he had these in his inventory. He was going to come by first thing in the morning to have a look and let us know (hooray).

We went over to the Abaco Beach Resort restaurant for a couple of black fin grouper dinners – just to help us relax!

May 8. The local mechanic came by, looked at the problem and told us he did have the part we needed in stock. We told him we would motor around to Marsh Harbour on the one engine rather than stay at the marina and would let him know when we are there. Once in the harbour we called him and he said he had a restaurant generator problem he was working on and would come to us once he was finished. And so we waited. Sigh

The famous Hope Town lighthouse

Of course hie generator problem lasted all day and he called to say he would not be able to make us today, but by 11 am tomorrow! Sigh and hooray!

During the day we watched some folks on a sailboat struggling to raise their anchor. After a while it became clear that they had an issue. Paul jumped into the dinghy to see if he could help. When he got there he found that they were an elderly cruising trio. Their anchor had been fouled. At first Paul couldn’t see what it was fouled on, so was careful in case it was a power cable. He got them to raise it enough that he saw it was an abandoned mooring chain. He got a rope from the boat with a shackle on the end for weight, and dropped it through the back of the anchor and grabbed it on the other side with their boat hook. Now he could lift it backwards off the chain. As it came towards the surface Paul was able to grab the back of the anchor and after three or four tugs the chain fell off the anchor. and off they went!

Dropping the line through the anchbor.
Lifting the anchor from behind
And they’re off!

We went ashore and grabbed some fresh produce at the very well stocked Maxwell supermarket, which is pretty similar to a supermarket in the states. They even had diet tonic water, which we had not been able to find anywhere else in the Bahamas!

Success!

May 9. Basil Wilmore, the mechanic came along this morning and installed the new starter relay. He also found the source of the leak that corroded the old relay, it was a hairline crack on a heat exchanger drain pipe. So he also took that off and took it back to his shop and put epoxy on it. That will be fine until Sonas goes into the yard this fall when I will have them replace that drain pipe in both engines.

After seeing Basil back to shore Paul went into town for a couple of things. On his way back a young man on the dinghy dock asked him if we had any spare fishing line. When Paul told him that we could probably find him some, he then asked if we had any hooks and lures we could give him! Paul came back to the boat and went down to where we store the fishing gear. We have two heavy offshore Penn rods and reels on board but also two light combos that we had probably bought at Wal-Mart. Paul grabbed one of the light rod and reel combos and a small tackle box that we had with a decent number of hooks and suitable small plastic lures, and took them ashore and presented them to the boy, whose eyes lit up.

Happy new fisherman!

As Paul left the dinghy dock some larger boys came over and looked like they were going to take the rod. So Paul turned around and read them the riot act. Back on Sonas he watched through the binoculars and saw one of the bigger kids casting with the rod. So back into the dinghy he went and after getting the rod back to the kid he reamed the others out – to the extent that another boater at the dingy dock looked a bit shocked, until Paul explained what was happening. In a short while the boy trotted off home with his prize.

While all this was happening Paul and Michelle on Nagari, our sister ship, had anchored beside us and invited us over for dinner. We met Michelle’s sister Deb and had a lovely grilled steak dinner and some beverages on board.

May 10. Now that the part had been replaced on the engine we were finally ready to move on. We were going to nip around the corner to snorkel on Mermaid Reef before heading to Hope Town for the night.

Sian we up on the foredeck to retrieve the snubber using the windlass, while Paul nipped down below to use the toilet. Hmmmm, Paul heard an engine running! He opened the engine room door and sure enough the port engine, the one we had just been working on, was running without us starting it. Paul told Sian to stop with the windlass and went up and turned the engine off at the helm.

He then went into the engine room and asked Sian to run the windlass again and sure enough the relay got power from the windlass operation and started the engine! We got everything shut down and left a message for the mechanic to call us back. Meanwhile Paul called our mechanic in the US and chatted to Paul on Nagari, bouncing ideas around as to what might be happening.

Basil the mechanic finally called us back saying that he would finish up the job he was currently doing at a nearby marina and come right over. However he again called late in the day to say he wouldn’t be making it and we were first on his list tomorrow at 8:30am. Frustrating to say the least!

We will cover what happened in the next blog entry, we are currently on our way back to Florida early, but safely!

Cat, Little San Salvador, and Eleuthera!

Little San Salvador water spout

April 25. We left GeorgeTown this morning, saying good bye to the Cruisers Net and headed towards Cat Island. We had planned to leave by the north Elizabeth Harbour entrance but there were a few rain squalls up that way, we so went out the south entrance and managed to head to Cat behind the squalls. Crossing the Exuma Sound we were in a couple of thousand feet of water so Paul decided to get the fishing gear out and try his luck. After about 30 minutes he got a bull mahi on the line, and fifteen minutes or so fighting it he got it to the back of the boat. It ran across our stern and as Paul tried to get it to the cockpit gate it threw the hook! Ah well, we needed to either defrost something for dinner or find somewhere to eat once we put the anchor down!

We got to the anchorage off the beach at New Bight, on Cat Island. We saw what looked like a small blue painted bar/restaurant on the beach, looked at Trip Advisor and saw that it was a place called Hidden Treasure. So we waited until just before dinner time and launched the dinghy to go ashore. We first walked up to check on the place and confirm they were serving dinner, then went for a walk along the beach. We first went south and found the beach strewn with pieces of glass, turning around we headed the other way and found the beach in much better condition. We ordered a couple of grouper dinners and then joined another couple at the only table! They were on a sailing catamaran, and we shared cruising stories over dinner. Just before dinner was brought out a young lady grabbed a big handful of the pine needles from the beach and lit them by our table, billowing smoke over us, which was a bit surprising. She then told us that it would keep the flies off our food as we ate!

April 26. The next day we went ashore to visitThe Hermitage, which we found extremely interesting. You can read about Father Jerome and The Hermitage by clicking here. The Hermitage sits on top of the highest point in the Bahamas, at a dizzying 206 feet! As we got to the beach we found that the switch on the dinghy console that lifts and lowers the outboard had stopped working. There is another switch on the motor itself so we have a workaround for the rest of the trip.

Getting back to Sonas we lifted the anchor to head around the corner to a small bay called Fernandez, where there was a nice beach. When we got there we found it was rolling with the swell, so we carried on to Alligator Point and turned into the anchorage off the beach at Bennetts Creek. There was only one other boat there, so we had the beach all to ourselves and watched another great sunset!

Bennetts Beach
Bennetts Sunset

April 27. We decided to stay at Bennetts today. The one other boat left so we had the place to ourselves. We walked the beach and swam, did some small chores on Sonas. In the evening the wind died away and we had a very quiet night.

April 28. After breakfast we ran slowly north west towards Little San Salvador. The forecast was for thunderstorms passing through all day, but we arrived off the island without meeting any bad weather. In fact Sian was able to do some yoga on the boat deck. On the way we called Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina and booked a slip beginning Monday for four nights. There was some bad weather coming through and now seemed a good time to tie up to a dock for a few days As we approached the Little San Salvador anchorage we saw a large barge, crane, tug and other boats working. So we slowed down to minimise our wake. They didn’t have a diver-down flag displayed so we felt we could pass by relatively close. They then came on the radio and told us they did have divers down and were about to raise something large from the sea bed and could we give them wide berth – which we did. We went around them and into the anchorage.

Little San Salvador is owned by the Carnival Corp. and they use it as a private island for their cruise brands, including Norwegian Cruise Lines, Carnival, and Princess. We had previously been there on a Norwegian Cruise ship, where Sian took yoga on the Half Moon Cay beach. We swam to shore but our walk was curtailed by some thunder in the distance, so we turned around knowing it would take some time to swim back. There were storms around the island but not over it for most of the day. We watched the salvage crew working and listened to them on channel 6. We were extremely surprised at what they lifted from the water. When they were completed and ready to leave we radioed them and congratulated them on a job well done! There were only three boats in the anchorage that evening and we experienced strong thunderstorms as a weather event started to form We also saw at least one water spout. We didn’t know it then but this was to be the start of the first tropical disturbance of the season!

April 29. Around three in the morning an absolutely amazing electrical storm came through the anchorage. We went up to make sure we were not dragging anchor with the winds to see the whole bay lit up time after time with the lightning. It was a pretty restless night.

It finally calmed down and we got a few hours sleep, to awake to the sight of a Carnival cruise liner coming onto the anchorage. When this happens the ships tenders start to work, and we knew that they would throw wakes about the anchorage. So we had a quick breakfast and headed out for our next stop at the Cape Eleuthera Resort And Marina where we planned to ride out the coming storm.

Carnival Sensation
Cruisers going ashore
Running before the storm

We got into the well protected marina, which is still being developed. So far they have the marina, swimming pool, cottages and villas. After getting everything squared away we went up to the Harbour Ponte restaurant for drinks and dinner.

April 30. At 5:45a.m.mph and Paul woke thinking “did I just feel a bump?” He lay for a while and there it was again. He got out of bed and saw that the wind was howling and the rear of Sonas was up against the dock. After much pulling on lines and tightening the bow using the bow thruster we were able to get her where we wanted her. During the day the wind got even stronger, blowing over 40mph. We kept a close eye on our lines, but Sonas stayed tight in her slip. The weather stations were now saying that a tropical event had appeared over the Bahamas and, while they did not expect it to turn into a numbered storm, it would be a windy and rainy event!

We felt confident enough that we could leave Sonas and go for some exercise. There was a marked four mile trail, so we set off on that. The “trail” took us on miles of some very overgrown asphalt roads that we heard conflicting stories on – that these were the roads of an abandoned US military airbase, or the roads of a more recent abandoned housing development.

Resort sunset

Just after lunch a Nordhavn 47 entered the marina basin and made the turn for the slip next to us. After a couple of failed approaches due to the extremely high winds, Paul, who was on the dock with some others to lend a hand with lines, advised the marina staff that these boats only have one engine and, given the wind, couldn’t they find him a bulkhead to go against rather than trying to thread it into a slip with major cross winds. They eventually did just that and got him secured against an end dock. We later walked across and chatted to the couple on board. They had sold their home and were now off on their Nordhavn on the adventure of a lifetime. They planned to be at the Panama Canal by December, and then cruise the south Pacific – for starters!

Paul tried the resort speial!

Paul spent the afternoon walking the docks and chatting to many of the other boat owners, including Tim on a 40 foot cat and Ray on a 75 foot Fleming. We went up to the Harbour Pointe bar for a couple of pre-dinner cocktails, met a young man from London and another from down the road from us (Ponte Vedra) in Jacksonville. He worked at the Lexus dealership and in fact we discovered we had some friends in common! Paul asked bar lady Kenell for one of their cocktails – a Sky Juice. This required a coconut, which they didn’t have. Paul suggested they wait a while, given the wind, and one would land outside! Kenell told him to come back tomorrow and she would make sure that the coconut was in place!

Back To George Town For Easter and The Regattas

Sunset over Elizabeth Harbour

April 16. We had a wonderful day at Galliot Cay. The beach is about 1.5 miles long. We walked it and then paddle boarded. We basically had a lazy day off a wonderful beach. We got in touch with the Cape Santa Maria (named after Columbus’s boat) resort as we were planning on staying tomorrow night and would go in for dinner. They told us no reservations required, just come on in.

April 17. We had a horrible night at anchorage. There was zero wind but there was a swell coming in, rolling Sonas around (they call this a surge on the charts). We wanted to stay another night, have dinner at the resort, but not in those conditions. So we walked the beach, lifted the dinghy and set off for Elizabeth Harbour and George Town. We followed a few other boats who had also left Galliot Cay and overtook them before we turned into Elizabeth Harbour, We anchored off Sand Dollar beach, not needing to go across to the anchorage off the town until tomorrow for provisioning. We got everything secured then went in to Chat n’ Chill for a couple of beers. We were disappointed as the staff were very surly. They were more focused on their cell phones than the customers, were rude in their responses, and service was extremely poor. Sian left a very negative TripAdvisor review.

After leaving Chat n’ Chill we dinghy’d into the two hurricane holes and had a look around. Most of the boats looked like they had been sitting there for a long time, and many were unoccupied. We also saw some property for sale – with a very appropriately placed for sale sign!

Water front property for sale!

April 18. After breakfast this morning we moved across to George Town. We had seen the provisioning boat come is and tie up at the Government Dock. We rode the heavy wind and waves into the town dock and first went to a little souvenir store to buy birthday cards for Paul’s brother Paschal and Sian’s aunt Cath. After posting Paschal’s card at the post office Paul headed off to the bank to get some cash from the ATM while Sian started the grocery shopping. We then grabbed some items from the liquor store, got everything into the dinghy and pulled away from the dock.

CLUNK, and the outboard quit! What was that? Paul lifted the engine and we saw that our stern painter (rope) was wrapped around the prop! Luckily another couple were coming in on their dinghy and got us back to the dock. They were from New Zealand and on a round the world trip on their sail boat. We got the rope untangled, hand a long chat with the Kiwis, and then had a horrid ride back to Sonas getting totally soaked in the process – the wind and waves were building quite nicely.

April 19. The wind built to around 24 -26 knots today, meaning a mess of waves in the anchorage. So we stayed put on Sonas for the day, mostly reading! We did have one incident first thing during the Cruiser’s Net. The boat anchored next to us, name redacted, broke into the Net and said that his dinghy had broken free, could he have help getting it back! A guy with a 26 foot center console said he was on his way. We watched them search the harbour, finally disappearing into the far northern edge before returning with the dinghy. This suggests that it had broken free during the night and not just when he noticed it missing!

Canadian boat with an ice hockey stick as a flag pole!

By the way, we “double bag” our dinghy every night. We cleat it by the main bow painter and then have a length of half inch rope which we also tie down loosely. If one goes then the other should hold until we realize we have an issue! We do this even though there are light winds when we go to bed, as things can get wild during the night! [Now read on, to see how we were humbled!]

April 20. Finally the wind died down, and we had a nice calm anchorage. We ran to the new resort development at February Point for lunch at the Rusty Anchor. Given its name, it surprisingly turned out to be a rather posh restaurant, especially given we were in swimmers. However lunch was enjoyable and Troy our waiter was very attentive. Later that afternoon we took the dinghy across to Sand Dollar beach and walked a few laps of the beach. The wind had died away to nothing and we had to leave the generator and air conditioning on tonight so that we could sleep comfortably.

Paul towing some kids whose motor had stopped

April 21. Today is Easter! All this week we had been calling St Theresa’s Catholic Church to confirm the time for Easter Services, with no joy in getting through. We see from different sources that it is either 10:00 or 10:30. So this morning Paul asked on the Cruisers Net if anyone knew, the answer back was that they also had same conflicting information. So we decided to get there in time for the 10:00 start and, if we were early, say an extra few prayers!

We were there an hour early! So we sat quietly and thought our own thoughts. As the time for mass came near the little church became noisy with a surprising number of boys and girls in their Easter finery. The chapel held maybe 150 people max, and it was standing room only. Father Reggie was one of those happy boisterous priests, with a great singing voice. We had an organist accompanied by a man on a bongo drum! At the time of sharing a sign of the peace with each other there was pandamonium. People moved all over the little chapel hugging everyone and father Reggie walked among us and tightly hugged every single member of the congregation! We left there with the message of Easter ringing in our ears – he died for us, he rose from the dead, so now how do we walk in his footsteps!

The small St Theresa’a Church

We went back to Sonas in our dinghy, dressed in church clothes! Got changed, had lunch and then moved Sonas across to Sand Dollar Beach. Unless there is a need to be off George Town itself, like grocery shopping or church, we prefer to be across the harbour where Sand Dollar Beach is a quieter anchorage and somewhat away from the madness of the larger anchorages. It is also a lovely beach to walk and paddle board from. However it is still close enough for us to dinghy across to where they will have the regatta races on Wednesday!

Sian got on the paddle board, of which she was becoming quite proficient , and headed off for the beach. Paul took the safer route, using the dinghy! We walked the beach, Paul had a go on the Paddle board AND DID NOT FACE PLANT this time!

Back on board we prepared our traditional Easter dinner. A leg of lamb with aspharagus, roasted potatoes, home made mint sauce and gravy made from the lamb juice! We ate at the well set table in the pilot house looking out towards Sand Dollar beach. A delicious meal and a fine way to end Easter day.

We grabbed an after dinner drink and sat out on “our patio,” the boat’s cockpit. Around 9pm we saw a host of red, green and white lights descending on our stern, with searchlights flashing everywhere! It looked like aliens were landing. We saw that there was a catamaran in the middle of the pack and thought “why would anyone want to come into tricky Elizabeth Harbour in the dark?” After a period it all calmed down and went dark, what the heck was that all about!

Rescue fleet coming in

April 22. We work up today with the catamaran anchored behind us. Listening to the 8am Cruisers Net we got the answer to the puzzle. The French flagged catamaran Liladhoc has tried to enter the harbour by a route they had on their Navionics software, and not using well publicised waypoints. They hit a reef and were holed. A MayDay went out and the local salvage company, along with a good number of center consoles from the cruising community, went and got the vessel secured. They brought her into the anchorage safely. Those on board did not speak very good English so a call went out for translators and someone found them a hotel room for the night.

Old Navionics chart of the area
New Navionics chart of the area

Later this morning, seeing them on board, we motored over and offered the young couple the use of our washer and dryer, assuming that everything on board had received a good soaking. At first they seemed surprised that a boat had these facilities, but then thanked us and told us that they were going to go into George Town and use the laundry there.

We got after some boat chores and then dingy’d into the Sand Dollar beach for an hour’s walking. While ashore we met the owners of Nordhavn 68 Kava and their dog Penny. Australians Mike and Katie bought the boat in San Diego, came through the Panama Canal and were now working their way north to the US east Coast.

April 23. While listening to the Cruiser’s Net this morning the yacht “Bear” came on and said that they had snagged a runaway dinghy! Sian took a quick peek outside to make sure it wasn’t ours knowing of course it wasn’t because we double tie our boat – and the dinghy was gone! We got back on the radio and confirmed that it was our little duckling that had wandered in the night! We arranged to have it returned and when the crew of Bear brought it over we rewarded them with a nice chilled bottle of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc! Well, so much for thinking we had her well secured – we still have no idea how she came loose, as it wasn’t even a blowy night!

The rescuers reported that she was bumping against some coral when they found her, so Paul took her to the beach and checked her out, engine and hull, and everything was fine. What with getting the line caught around the prop a couple of days ago and now this, we were having some issues with our little boat – all operator error of course!

We went over to George Town and found the dinghy dock totally full. We managed to squeeze little us in and went to the grocery store for a couple of things. We got back to Sonas and after putting our purchases away we took ourselves off to Sand Dollar Beach for a long walk. Tomorrow is the start of the Family Island Regattas. We are going to watch the first day’s races, get some photos, and then on Thursday head off to Cat Island, another new-to-us destination!

Full George Town dinghy dock

April 24. The Exuma Family Island Regattas, the oldest regattas in the Bahamas, start today. There are three classes. C Class, the smallest boats with the smallest number of crew, B Class, the middle size, with slightly more crew, and A Class, the largest boats with around ten crew on board! Our plan was to wait for the Class A race, film the start and follow them in our dinghy for some photos.

Since the A Class was not scheduled to start until 3:30 we took ourselves over to Sand Dollar beach and waked both trails across to the “ocean side.” One trail took us to a long beach, with waves crashing onto the shore. Retracing our steps the second trail took us to an overlook, where we again saw waves crashing against the rocks below, but also a good view of the boats, including Sonas, anchored off the beach.

Sand Dollar Beach ray
Walking the ocean side of Stocking Island
Our dermatologist would have a fit!

We decided to treat ourselves to a dinner ashore tonight, but wanted to avoid the madness of George Town during the regattas. So we called The St Francis Resort and booked a lobster meal for Sian and a snapper meal for Paul.

We got ourselves in great position to film the start of the A Class. We got a great view of the start gun and the crew pulling in the anchor and raising the sails. Then followed the race . See below for video and photos!

After tidying ourselves up we went over to The St Francis for dinner – and found ourselves the only ones there apart from some of the boat crews! It seems everyone else wanted to go to the regatta madness over in George Town! We nevertheless had a nice dinner, and got back to Sonas in enough light to lift the dinghy onto the boat deck, ready to bid George Town farewell first thing in the morning.

At The St Francis Resort

Crossing Into The Tropics And Long Island

Dean’s Blue Hole

April 9 – April 15

Early today we checked the wind and wave forecast as we would be running for two and a half hours outside in the Exuma Sound to Georgetown. Everything looked decent so we upped anchor early and headed out past Lee Stocking Island, where there is a defunct marine research institute, and back out through Adderley Cut. Once we had Sonas on her waypoint to Georgetown we found pleasant conditions all the way into Elizabeth Harbour. As we passed Emerald Bay we looked to see if there was anything left of the disasterous Fryer Festival from two years ago, but everything had been cleaned up and there was no indication that anything had ever happened there – or more accurately, not happened there!

Marker At Adderley Cut

We entered Elizabeth Harbour by the pretty complicated north entrance, which necessitates navigating five waypoints past reefs and rocks. Once in the harbour we anchored right off Georgetown to make getting to the store easier. We were only planning on stopping for the night to provision before continuing south. We launched the dinghy and went to the Exuma Market and then the liquor store for some more Captain Morgan for Paul! We will be returning to Georgetown later for the Family Regattas.

George Town AIS signals

When we got back to the boat the crew of Maerin contacted Paul via the Trawler Forum (where Paul and Steve had often chatted) saying they had dinghy’d past Sonas while we were ashore. We then realized we had passed by them and their two dogs outside Exuma Market and sadly had not realized we “knew” each other.

Paul had been noticing that our engine start batteries were being drawn down while underway, which should not happen as the engine alternators should keep them charged. He suspected a piece of equipment called the Automatic Charge Relay. After researching how it works and starting a conversation on one of his boating forums, he was able to identify the issue and get it rectified.

ACR

We were also having trouble with our fridge freezer. Even though it is equipped with locks it still works its way open in heavy seas. So Paul came up with a hack that we can use when we know there is potential heavy weather.

April 10. We upped anchor before breakfast today as we were running the four and a half hours to Long Island. Still part of the Bahamas but not part of the Exuma chain. We tried calling Maerin on the VHF to chat with no success.

We headed out of the south channel of Elizabeth Harbour and set our heading for Long island. A coupe of hours later, watching our location closely, we crossed the Tropic Of Cancer – we were now officially in the Tropics! I told Sian that all of a sudden I fancied a Margarita! I was denied since it was only mid morning, I got a cup of green tea instead! And a chocolate digestive biscuit! It was a celebration after all!

Crossing the Tropic of Cancer
Passing a blue hole on our way to Long Island
Blue Hole

The weather forecast for the area was for scattered thunder storms, accompanied by high gusting winds. We had a very calm cruise for the four and a half hours to the turn into Thompson Harbour. Just as we turned in large black clouds gathered and as we laid the anchor out we had strong winds followed by heavy rain. This continued for most of the afternoon, but then laid down in the evening. We did not bother launching the dinghy or try to go ashore. We had chosen to anchor in the north part of Thompson Harbour as there was some protection from a headland. The three boats that later followed us in chose to do the same. As we sat at anchor we looked across to the beach and saw a building well lit up indicating that it could be a bar/restaurant – and worth investigating for tomorrow!

Sonas anchored in Thompon Harbour

April 11. We had a restless night on board as the wind and rain swung around 180 degrees during the night creating a bit of anchor and snubber noise. Then later it swung the 180 degrees back again! It was still raining in the morning so after breakfast Sian went up and washed the dinghy, allowing the rain to rinse it. She then got busy making bread, and Paul got after a couple of small chores he had been putting off – like adding velcro to the bottom of all of our wall hangings to stop them moving around as we cruise. The forecast is for the rain to move off after lunch and the wind to move to a favorable direction for going ashore.

Sian uses the breadmaker to make the dough
And then bakes it in the oven

After lunch the weather did improve as forecasted and we launched the dinghy. We ran to the dinghy dock at Salt Pond. Tying up we walked up to the top of the hill and found the location of the car hire as we planned to hire a car to see the island. We then went into the market which we found really well stocked. We will revisit tomorrow to get some provisions. While in the market we asked them if they knew of someone who would give us a tour of the island in his car, we wondered if it would be better to use a guide rather than go around the island in our own car. They made a call for us and we met with David. He said he would put a tour together for us for tomorrow and call us with the price. He later did call and give us an itinerary with a reasonable price using his car. However we decided that we would rather do it one our own, so we thanked David and called the hire place and reserved a car for two days over the weekend.

We then went to the Sou’ End Bar and Grill for a quick beer. Getting back into the dinghy and leaving the dock we decided to go and have a look at the place we saw from the boat last night that looked like a bar/restaurant. We pulled in through a small jetty and Sian jumped off and went up. And yes, it was Tiny’s Hurricane Hole – restaurant and bar!

Tiny’s Hurricane Hole

After cleaning up on board we took the dinghy across to Tiny’s Hurricane Hole bar and grill and had drinks and grouper dinners. We talked to a couple from Ottawa who were staying at one of the cottages there and met the owners, Michelle and Jason, who were very receptive and friendly. They had just found out that their location had made the top ten in a list of best beach bars on the Out Island Blog along with Nippers in the Abacos and Chat and Chill in Georgetown! Quite the achievement!

Dinner at Tiny’s

April 12. Today we decided to so some small chores on Sonas in the morning and then walk the beach on the NE side of Thompson Harbour. After lunch we went into Salt pond and picked up a few things from the grocery store. Paul then got in touch with the local Catholic Church and found out where Palm Sunday services were this weekend.

We had heard on the local Cruisers Net (transmission over the VHF every morning) that there was a Happy Hour at the Sou’ Side Bar and Grill starting at four, so around 4:30 we dinghy’d in and went up to see what was going on. There were folks there from three other boats anchored in the harbour along with some long term boaters staying on their boats off Long Island. Added to that were some locals – so all in all a very interesting conversation over a few beers! We did get some tips of where to go on the island with our rented car.

April 13. Every Saturday from 8 until 12 there is a well know farmers market in Salt Pond. The Cruisers Guide raved about it and we had heard about it from a couple of people. We were also warned to get there early as the produce sells out quickly. So promptly at 8 we were in the dinghy and off to the market. We returned to Sonas 30 minutes later disappointed in the market and having bought nothing!

Salt Pond Farmers Market

We picked up our rental car by noon and were glad to find that the little Toyota had air conditioning that worked really well! We decided we would go visit the south end of the island first. We had heard about some supposedly spectacular caves on the island, so we called the guy who owns the land they are on and made arrangements for a tour at 3:00 this afternoon.

Looking at the small tourist guide put out by the Long Island Chamber of Commerce Sian identified a potential for lunch – Max’s Conch Bar and Grill on Deadman’s Cay. We hadn’t had a conch salad so far on this trip, so time to rectify that! We found Max’s easily enough as it was well represented by flags on the roadside! We enjoyed a beer, conch salad and red snapper in a real Bahamian out island location!

Max’s Conch Bar and Grill
Conch salad!
Conch shell wall

After lunch we swung by the meeting place for the cave tour just to make sure we knew where we were going, and then drove to the south end of the island and the Long Island capital, Clarence Town. We saw from the tourist guide that there was a neat Catholic church atop a hill overlooking the town with an altar and windows that should be seen. We got there to find the church locked up. We drove over to the Clarence Town marina and found a brand new facility with pool, ships store and restaurants. There were some boats anchored in the bay and a few in the marina, well protected from the angry Atlantic broiling outside.

St Peter and St Paul Church

Leaving Clarence Town we headed over to find Dean’s Blue Hole. This blue hole is the second largest in the world at over 660 feet deep. We found it at the end of a private two mile long sand road. We didn’t have time to snorkel it but planned to go back after our cave tour.

It was time to go meet our guide Leonard and visit the caves. We got to the meeting point, met our guide and owner and his young grandson Austin. We followed them to the entrance to the caves, not knowing what to expect – and were astonished at what we were shown. These were huge caverns, full of stalagmites and stalactites. Five species of bats use the caverns, with three in residence right now. There have been excavations of the caves, used by the Lucayan Indians hundreds of years ago, and artifacts found of pottery, bones etc. We will let the photos show how awesome this place is. If this was on an island visited by cruise ships, or otherwise popular with tourists, this would be a gold mine for the owner. Though when I suggested this Leonard didn’t seem over enthused o the idea!

Saying our goodbyes to Leonard and Austin, we headed back to Dean’s Blue Hole. We put on our snorkeling gear and swam out. We have to tell you that it is a really eerie feeling, to swim from less than two feet of sandy water to a slope rapidly falling to a rough edge of limestone, and then to darkness. You can’t help but think, while floating there looking down, what is down there looking up!

Snorkeling Dean’s Blue Hole

Heading north back to Salt Pond, we parked the hire car by the dinghy dock and, after a quick beer at Sou’ Side we headed back to Sonas. It had been quite a full day!

April 14, Palm Sunday. Today arrived with a bit of wind and quite a chop in the anchorage. We were clearly going to get wet going to shore in the dinghy. So we put on shorts and tees and packed all of our church clothes in a black trash bag. We got to the dinghy dock to find the female crews of three powerboats standing chatting. Paul warned them to avert their eyes and there was going to be some change of clothing happening – involving trouser dropping! We got into our church clothes and headed off to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Hamiltons.

We got there in plenty of time, and as we gathered at the front for the palm procession who did we see – Leonard and Austin (from the caverns) , who were Eucharistic Minister and altar boy. Leonard’s other grandson was a second altar boy! The service in the pretty little church was enjoyable and we bade our farewells and headed to see the north side of the island.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church

We had decided to stay in our church clothes until we got to Stella Maris. We saw that there was a resort there with two restaurants. We would have a posh’ish lunch and then change into our casual clothes to explore the rest of the island. When we got to the resort we decided to go to the beach bar and grill instead of the main restaurant – so nipped into a restroom and changed into shorts and tees before having lunch overlooking the wild and raging Atlantic!

View from Stella Maris Resort beach bar
View from Stella Maris Resort beach bar

Leaving Stella Maris we headed to the very north of the Island and drove along a very rough sandy and rocky road, if it could be called a road, to the Columbus Monument. As we went out to the monument we saw that they were building what looked like a new road to it. When we arrived at the monument we also saw that they were redeveloping the monument site itself. We later read that there was a large expenditure assigned to improving the area as a tourist attraction.

We got to the monument, walking the last half mile as we were concerned that the “road” would soon rip the bottom off the engine! The monument signifies the landing point of Columbus’s longboat in the new world. There is also a plaque embedded in the sea floor off the coastline indicating where he laid anchor. The headland is named Cape Santa Maria.

A constant reminder that they drive on the left here!

Leaving the monument and slowly, very slowly, driving back to the main aphsalt road, we pulled out a list of recommended beaches that we had been given by Michelle at Tiny’s Hurricane Hole. There was a beach that she recommended at Galliot Cay, so we swung off the road and went to have a look at it. The beach looked spectacular, and there were a number of boats anchored in the bay. We decided, after leaving the hire car back tomorrow, we would head up here to anchor and enjoy the white sand and clear blue waters.

“Stop” sign on way to Galliot Cay

April 15. We had planned to use the car again this morning to hit one of the East side beaches and snorkel some near shore reefs. However the morning brought clouds and rain, so we took the car down to the gas station and filled it up along with a gas can for our dinghy. We left the rental back, upped anchor and headed off to the beach we had seen our drive yesterday.

We motored for two and a half hours to Galliot Cay and anchored in the clear blue waters about 150 feet off the beach. We swam to shore, walked the one and a half mile long beach, and swam back to Sonas. Sian got on the paddle board again. Life was good!

Tonight the wind completely died away. The water was so clear and still that we were able to see the anchor chain loop back under Sonas and see the anchor sitting off our swim platform! Paul took the opportunity to grab some drone footage, including seeing a number of small star fish on the bottom.

Galliot Cay, Long Island
Checking the anchor

And tonight, for the first time on this trip, we had to leave the generator running for the cabin air conditioner since there was no breeze for the Breeze Boosters and it was very warm.

Exuma – The Middle Cays

A wake of blue!

April 2 – April 7

April 2. The shallow water by the beach at Cambridge Cay was perfect for more paddle board practice. Plus we wanted to visit the coral garden at the entrance to the cut. So we decided early that we would stay a second night. As we had breakfast another mega yacht came in a and picked up a mooring, making three in the small anchorage. Later a fourth came in but there was no more “big boy” moorings available so they had to turn and go back out.

The winds were very light so Paul took advantage and sent the drone up for a quick video shoot. Then we put our snorkel gear in the dinghy along with the hand held VHF radio. We were running out into deep water and to the edge of the cut from Exuma sound. There were enough boats in the anchorage that if we needed help we would get a response via the VHF.

We ran through the cay and turned towards the inlet and Honeymoon Beach. We anchored the dinghy in the corner of the beach and snorkeled out to what we saw named on the charts as a “coral garden.: We were not disappointed. The coral reef was stunning and ran for quite a long way out. See the video below. As Paul was coming back to the boat he was shadowed by a barracuda. Paul wasn’t sure who was keeping a closer watch on who – and he kept his ring finger clamped to his side so as not to attract interest!

We had a very pleasant day at Cambridge, with more paddle board practice, and watching the charter guests play off the big yachts.

April 3. We headed out of Cambridge Cay, and left the Exuma Land and Sea Park for the last time this year. Our next stop was Sampson Cay, another stop we had never been to. Sampson is a private cay owned by the telecommunication billionaire, John Malone. It used to has a decent marina, restaurant and villas. But once it he bought it the marina was closed down. He has huge signs all over the area reminding everyone that the island is private. As with everywhere else in the Bahamas, all beaches below the waterline is public property and accessible, so we dinghy’d past the closed marine into the beautiful sandbars in the interior.

April 4. As we left Sampson this morning we noticed trash being burned on one of the beaches. We hoped that the owners were good stewards of the waters and that the remains were removed before the tide came in.

Burning Trash

While at Sampson Paul tried the back flip routine as a way to get out of the water and into the dinghy. The problem is, this works well with an inflatable dinghy that does not have a center console – and the console is pretty hard when hit by your shin!

OK, no more younger person stunts!

We cruised around the corner to Staniel. We know that the supply boat comes in on an Thursday (sometimes Friday) and wanted to be there to get fresh vegetables and fruit as well as milk. There is a great little anchorage right beside Staniel Cay Yacht Club that only has room for three boats, so we were aiming for there first in the hope that there was room. Plus we wanted to go into the Yacht Club for drinks and a dinner treat! If there wasn’t room we would go back to the large anchorage at Big Majors and take the long dinghy run into Staniel for the provisions.

Staniel Cay Yacht Club

We were in luck. there were only two boats in the little anchorage so we squeezed Sonas in! We went ashore and up to the joint laundry and liquor store, grabbed some beer, white rum, and Captain Morgan. Then around noon we saw the supply boat come in. It left around 2:00, so we gave the supermarket an hour to get the delivery up and went in. A number of others had the same idea and it was a bit of a zoo. Poor market people were trying to get the fresh stuff on the shelves but we were taking it off them as soon as it was out of the boxes!! All good though, and we got the fresh stuff we wanted! And, to say it is shipped from the states, via Nassau, it was excellent quality!

The restaurant at Staniel Cay Yacht Club has two seatings – 6:30p.m and 8:30p.m. You call to make reservations by 4:00 and tell them your food order! We called and confirmed a 6:30 reservation and ordered two lobster dinners! In we went at 5:30 to the bar for a couple of Sands beers, and promptly at 6:30 the dinner bell was rung and we went through for a delicious lobster dinner!

The bar at Staniel Cay Yacht Club
After the lobster dinner (and drawn butter on Paul’s shirt!)

We had recently bought a couple of Breeze Boosters. These are gadgets that you out out of your cabin window that deflects the breeze into your sleeping area. Since the evenings were starting to warm up, and we really wanted to hold off on using the generator and AC during the night for as long as possible, we deployed them for the first time. It took us a little while to get the adjustments right for our port holes, but we got there. And found that they worked very well indeed. In fact a couple of times we had to partially close the windows to keep the gale at bay!

Breeze Booster
Breeze Booster

April 5. Next day we decided to head over to Big Majors and see what was happening over there. As we approached we saw plenty of boats on the AIS system! We tucked ourselves well into the land and well away from the nonsense that is Pig Beach! We had previously visited the pigs a couple of years ago and felt no compunction to do so again. We took the paddle board over to the beach and added to our experience. Sian is becoming more and more proficient while Paul still has the occasional watery face plant! We have found that the blow up version of the SUP, being lighter, makes it harder to get back on when you fall off than a heavier fiberglass SUP would be. So we play in the shallow waters so as to be able to get back on without exhausting ourselves.

Big Majors AIS

April 6. The large busy anchorage at Big Majors, with the dozens of boats and constant tourist boats visiting the pigs, is not really what we enjoy. So we left early today amid strong rain squalls. We headed around Harvey Cay and set our course for Black Point. There is a busy fishing community on the north side of Black Point which we had visited before, but we were aiming for the beautiful quiet anchorage off the sandy beaches on the south side of the point, right by a house that was designed after a bucket-built-sandcastle.

Rain squalls approaching
Black Point sandcastle house

We anchored a hundred yards or so off the beach. Once we were set Sian did some strength building exercises on the fore deck, then we dinghy’d into the beach and walked up and down the 1/8 of a mile beach a number of times for some more exercise. Sian then swam back to Sonas. We had lunch and took the paddle board in for some more play time! We were later joined by two other boats, one a charter,and had a lovely quiet evening in this beautiful anchorage with just the three boats.

Fore deck work out

April 7. Back to the beach today for some more walking to get in our daily quota! During the morning an interesting vessel came in. Called Mirage, she had a thin monohull with a large outrigger. After anchoring she put out a half dozen kayaks and off they went. Paul Googled her and found out that the couple who owned her run kayak adventures in the Bahamas and Caribbean. Around lunchtime Nagari, our sister ship, with Paul and Michelle on board, came into the anchorage. We went over and said hello and grabbed a beer. When we asked them if they had paid a visit to Pig Beach while they were in Big Majors Michelle shared her horror story. She had been feeding the smaller pigs some carrots when a big sow chased her down, pushed her over and bit her on the butt. She showed us the bruising and it was quite substantial.

Michelle’s pig bite bruising

Later we met on the beach for a paddle board and chat while sitting in knee deep crystal clear Bahamian water. They came over and had dinner on board in the evening.

Mirage, Kayak Adventures

April 8. After breakfast we lifted the dinghy and paddle board as we would be going out into Exuma Sound for a portion of our trip this morning , and it was still quite windy. We left Black Point and Nagari and headed south again.

Nagari

This morning there was a pre-sale of a concert we wanted to go to back in Jacksonville which was sure to sell out. So right on time at 10am we jumped on line and got our two tickets to see Celine Dion! Then we headed south past Farmers Cay and in behind David Copperfield’s Musha Cay to Rudder Cut. We went through Rudder Cut and out into Exuma Sound. The water at the cut was pretty severe but once through and heading towards Adderley Cut eight miles away, we faced four foot rollers which wasn’t too bad given the short distance. Sian then decided to go below to check on the fridge freezer, to make sure that it wasn’t swinging open with the seas. The fridge was fine but she found that we had forgotten to close the windows in the forward guest cabin, right on the bow. The heavy seas were bringing water in both sides. So she closed the windows, and threw down some towels. We are not quite sure how we missed this as we have quite a robust “prepare for sea” process every time we go “outside.” The decks are totally cleared, nothing loose. The living quarters are prepped, with anything that could fall down placed on the floor or sofa (like lamps), fridge/freezer clamped, and all windows closed. We would have to clear up the watery mess once anchored!

Again at Adderley Cut the water got up as the SE wind bumped up against an outgoing tide, but we got through with no issues.

David Copperfield’s beautiful Musha Cay

We were heading for another one of our favorite anchorages – Williams Cay. We had hoped to spend a couple of nights here, but a change in wind direction to the SW and West is forecasted for tomorrow meaning wind straight into the anchorage so we will be moving on after only one night.

After anchoring Sian stripped and laundered the forward bed’s linen, and cleared up any water on the floor and window areas soaked as a result of leaving the forward ports (windows) open during our Exumas Sound run. We were all squared away by mid afternoon, so swam to the beach and back, before grilling dinner on board.

Not all mega yachts are power boats!

Northern Exumas And The Park

Snorkeling Exuma

March 25 – April 1

March 25th. Day break brought a beautiful calm day. We upped anchor and drifted slowly south to Long Cay. We navigated the north entrance by VPR (visual piloting required). This is a term used on charts and guides to indicate that there are no published waypoints and you must use your eyes in good light to work your way past the coral head and shallows. We had not visited Long before and found a beautiful anchorage and beach. We walked the beach and took some drone footage when back on Sonas. We slept the night through without a murmur from the water.

It’s really handy being able to see how your anchor is set!

March 26th. We cruised slowly from Long Cay to Normans Cay, entering from the north navigating through numerous coral heads. Once safely anchored we radioed McDuff’s Bar and Grill to make sure that they were serving lunch and received no response. So we dinghy’d in and walked over to the restaurant, where they told us that the whole Island had been privately reserved and closed to the public for the week. So we had lunch on board and then dinghy’d over to the south east side of the island. We had a look at the new marina that is currently being built there, and motored past the sunken plane left over from the islands past as a drug lord’s haven.

Norman’s lifeguard platform!

March 27th. Today we were hopping one island south to Shroud Cay, another island we has not previously visited. Shround is the northernmost island in the Exuma Land and Sea Park, the world’s oldest national marine preserve. There is no fishing or taking conch in the park. Since the water was a flat calm we ran the dinghy up over the top of the cay and ran down the Exuma Sound side, passing numerous unspoilt beaches. Stopped at the beach below Camp Driftwood and climbed the hill. This is a spot that was created by Ernest Scholtes who permanently anchored his boat in the creek and built steps to the top of the hill. The tradition was that visiting boaters had to find some gift to take up there, shells, driftwood etc. Nowadays the park rangers warn not to take anything as it will be removed so as not to ruin the area. The view from the top of the hill was splendid. At the top we met another couple, Jim and Pam who were admiring the views and then going to dive the nearby offshore reef. We took the opportunity to have photos taken of each couple!

The view from Camp Driftwood

That night an unexpected wind kicked up from the North West, driving straight into the anchorage. This brought four foot swells, tossing the ten or so boats in the anchorage around. We watched other boaters drag their anchors and then reset. We stayed awake during the night, taking turns to nap in the salon, along, we suspect, with everyone else in the anchorage! Our ground tackle held well with no issues.

Sian: As the wind got up we saw the sailboats around us swinging erratically on their anchors and in the dark watched the anchor lights sway like metronomes, slightly out of time. Even watching a boat of a similar size to us corckscrew around with no rhyme or reason., knowing we must be doing the same. It was a very long night but we were happy to see all our anchor mates still present and accounted for come the light of day.

March 28th. The weather forecast was for winds clocking from NNW to NE and then E. We upped anchor early and went to Hawksbill Cay north anchorage. One of our favorite places in the Exumas and a good stop for the forecast winds. We saw a power catamaran already in the anchorage and we watched about ten people on board dinghy to the beach, noticing how very well dressed they were for playing on the sand! Then realized that we were watching a wedding! We later walked the beach and chatted to the newly weds and family. They were engaged on this beach last Thanksgiving and had now returned to be married here!

Beach wedding

March 29th. We awoke after a solid night’s sleep. Most likely because of zero sleep the night before. We did a couple of hours of boat chores by which time the wedding party had departed and we had the anchorage all to ourselves. We spent a relaxing day (aren’t they all!) walking the beach, then going back in with our beach chairs to watch the sun set over Sonas!

Sunset over Sonas
Hawksbill drinks holder!

March 30th. The day started off cloudy and rainy. We stood by the radio and called the Exuma Park 9am broadcast. They come on air at this time every day to ask which boats are leaving the mooring and which boats require a new mooring booking. We reserved a mooring for tomorrow in the northern mooring field. The day cleared up so we took the dinghy north and cruised the beaches on the Western side of the cay, seeing lots of green turtles. We went ashore and walked up to the ruins of a loyalist settlement from 1785, then we had a short walk into the interior of the cay.

18th Century Loyalist Ruins
Old walls

Later we snorkeled over the small coral reef at the north end of the anchorage, seeing lots of varieties of coral and fish. On our way back to the dinghy we disturbed a huge ray and followed him for a bit (all the while thinking of Steve Irwin!).

March 31st. Today we said a fond farewell to our favorite anchorage and motored for a couple of hours to the north anchorage at Warderick Wells to pick up mooring ball number 16. After a quick lunch we put on our snorkel gear and swam from Sonas the short distance to the reef behind us. We found a turtle eating the grass underneath the boat! After that we prepared the Stand Up Paddle board that we bought just before we left Jacksonville. It was time to learn how to SUP!

Turtle having lunch

We towed the SUP over to the beach on the Western side of Warderick so as to be able to get on the board more easily when we fell off! Paul went first – though not successfully. First on his knees, then finally he stood up, wobbled, and then a magnificent face plant! After a couple of more attempts he finally relaxed and got it – paddling the board, turning it, and not falling off!

First on his knees…
Then up, but wobbly…
Then an amazing face plant!
Teaching the SUP a lesson!
Now it is behaving!

Now it was Sian’s turn. She clambered on, started paddling and off she went. After five minutes making sure she could do it, she paddled the board all the way back to Sonas!

Of course, Sian nails it right away!

Sian had prepared a joint of lamb in the slow cooker, which was delicious served with roasted potatoes, carrots, brussel sprouts – AND HOME MADE MINT SAUCE!!

Lamb dinner

April 1. Before the day got too hot we walked the Causeway Trail through Warderick Wells, across to Boo Boo Hill and back to the Park HQ, a hour and a quarter’s exercise. We paid for last night’s mooring ball, and the three nights anchorage at Hawksbill. Getting back to Sonas we went for another snorkel at the nearby reef, before untying from the mooring ball and leaving this beautiful anchorage.

Boo Boo Hill
Using the underwater camera

We ran for an hour and a half to the south entrance to Cambridge Cay. This is a tricky entrance and quite shallow. Most boats prefer the longer north route. We got through with no issues. We were planning on anchoring but the anchorage was quite crowded so we decided to pick up another mooring ball. Paul then went on-line and paid Exuma Park for the ball.

Sian: There is definitely a knack to picking up a mooring ball and today was my most successful “grab” to date! With an audience on the catamaran next door I might add! Acknowledging Pauls expertise in maneuvering Sonas into perfect position I still think the cat people could have given a ripple of applause for a job done right!

We had seen on the charts and read in the cruising guide that there were a couple of great snorkeling spot at the south end of the cay. So we went off in the dinghy to explore those. They were off Honeymoon Beach which is quite open to a SE breeze, so there was pretty good wave action over the reef. We snorkeled for 30 minutes or so then gave it up for today. We will plan on going back tomorrow morning if it is calmer.

We felt pretty good in our exercising today – a long hilly walk, and a couple of snorkels!

There are plenty of big mega yachts where ever we go, with the toys for their charter guests. We passed one yacht yesterday that was over 300 feet long!

Mega, mega yacht!
Yacht toys!

Finally Leaving Lucaya And Getting To Exuma

Monday March 18th – Sunday March 24th.

Monday March 18th found us still in Lucaya with a busted water heater.

It rained heavily all day, just to compound our misery at not being able to move on to Exuma. Charlton Knowles from the boat yard, as promised, swung by Sonas on his way home on Monday evening. He took a quick look at the water heater and agreed that it was done for. He told us that there was no chance of getting a replacement on the island and he would have his contacts back in Florida look for one. After he left we donned our rain jackets and headed for the pool bar to drown our sorrows. We had started to become good friends with Kelli the barman!

We just hung around the marina on Tuesday waiting to see if a replacement heater could be found. Paul took a cold shower on the boat while Sian went up to the marina and used their shower. Charlton reported back that a direct replacement could not be found at short notice and would have to be ordered. Paul told him that, for now, we didn’t need an exact replacement for what we had, any manufacturer would do, and it didn’t need to be a 20 gallon model, just big enough to get us through our cruise.

Finally on Wednesday he informed us that he had a heater put aside in Florida. He would fly over (on his own plane) and have it in hand by end of day. So we made plans to leave the Grand Bahama Yacht Club marina and get to his boat yard down the coast as soon as he opened on Thursday morning.

We pulled into his yard around 8:30 the next morning. He had the water heater and two of his guys waiting on the dock. They came aboard, ripped out the old unit (emptying it of all of the sediment when they got it on the dock) and put in the new heater. We were away from the yard at 10:15. They were efficient and courteous and did a great job. A yard we would highly recommend if you need one in the area.

What is probably at the bottom of your water heater!

Since we got a late start on the day we could not make our planned first stop at Cabbage Cay half way down the Berrys, which gives an easy hop through New Providence and into Exuma. So we aimed for Great Harbour in the northern Berrys.

Half way down we saw a cruise ship approaching from the south east. Our AIS told us that we would be passing within a half mile if we continued our course. Amazing that across hundreds of miles of water we would bump into a cruise ship! So we adjusted a couple of degrees and passed by the stern of The Disney Dream by over a mile.

Disney cruise ship on AIS
Disney Dream

We then passed through some heavy rain squalls and arrived just as two more cruise ships had completed getting their passengers off their “private islands,” and were getting under way. The Great Harbour anchorage was well protected and we had a comfortable night.

Incoming rain!
Watching the rain and cruise ships on radar
NCL Cruise Ship off the northern Berrys

The next day, Friday 22nd, brought a weather forecast indicating that the run through the Northwest Passage and into New Providence would be rough. So we spent the morning at the anchorage doing some cleaning and engine room tidy up. Sian took the opportunity to keep up with her yoga, and do some laundry.


Yoga on the foredeck
In the laundry “room”
Great Harbour bird

After lunch we ran a couple of hours down the Berrys island chain to Cabbage Cay so as to get a jump on our trip to Exuma the next day. There were two other boats in the anchorage, and we watched as they took their dogs to shore. We have been thinking a lot about Grace this trip as she was with us the last time we were in the Exumas and has been gone exactly a year.

Cabbage Cay beach

We checked the forecast again on Saturday morning and we were good to go. It was calling for only two foot seas into New Providence and one foot seas from there to Exuma. Perfect!

We were awake and up before first light on Saturday, eager to get going. The night before Paul had taken a nice moon rise shot of the sailboat anchored behind us, and got another again this morning of the sunrise behind it.

Moon rise
Sunrise

We were out of the anchorage at 7:15 and headed south east. As forecast the seas were calm so we rode from the fly bridge. It always amazes us how quickly you leave the Bahamas Bank and get into really deep water.

From 77 feet to 10,000 feet in a few miles!

As we approached New Providence we saw a Carnival cruise ship leave Nassau heading back to Port Canaveral (based on their AIS) and right behind us came a Royal Caribbean cruise shop heading into Nassau.

The first time through here we called Nassau Harbour Control and asked for permission to transit the harbour. Then we wanted to pass through and see the cruise ships and take photos as we sailed past Atlantis. However it can take some time to get permission and then it is a slow zone all the way through the harbour. So now when we pass through New Providence we use a cut to the east which avoids the harbour altogether.

Atlantis, Paradise Island

We were through New Providence by noon and set course for Allen’s Cay at the northern end of the Exumas. We arrived at the Allen Cay waypoint around 3:30 to find a number of boats already in there. We tried a couple of spots but found them too close to the rocks given we had an easterly wind pushing us that way, so we opted to go back out and down to the more open and safer anchorage at Highbourn Cay.

Entering Allen’s Cay anchorage

We had our anchor down by 4:30, amid a number of other sail and power boats and a few mega yachts with their toys. The end of a longish day, but worth it – because we are here! And to celebrate Sian put the swim steps down and completed her inaugural swim around Sonas! Though when we threw some bread out the next day and a number of baby sharks chomped down, she was less than thrilled!

Sian: I had promised steak for our first night in Exumas and even went as far as suggesting the blog entry be titled “Tonight We Eat Steak in Exumas!” Well, you know about pride and what it comes before!

I defrosted steak after breakfast and was quite surprised when I went to marinade it to discover it was pork! Never mind, time was on my side so I pulled out another parcel of steak and left that to defrost. Only to discover that too was pork! And yes, I had written that on the package! Oh, and guess what we had just eaten for lunch? Yep, left over port!At this point it felt like we had a version of the Monty Python skit going on but instead of “spam,spam, and more spam” we were doing pork!

Highbourn anchorage
Relaxing with a cold drink
Sian’s first swim of the year
Baby sharks

During the evening the wind got up into the low twenties and stayed there through Sunday. So we remained at the Highbourn Cay anchorage tidying up the boat, checking the engine room, and planning our stops for the next month or so. We also took the opportunity to use our new watermaker to top up the tanks. We had some milk that would be going out of date and, for those that follow our blog, we treat milk like gold dust. So we froze the remaining milk in usable portions to use for bread making.

Making 20 gallons per hour
Frozen milk portions

Sian: AND I finally found the steak buried deep in the chest freezer!

Exumas, Bahamas – 2019 Version

Full chest freezer

Sunday March 10th.

We had originally targeted Monday to leave for this year’s trip but, since we were all ready to go, we decided to set off Sunday instead. The Queen’s Harbour lock opened at 8:am, and we aimed for a 9:00 am start. We radioed the lock shortly after 9 to find that there were gate sensor problems and we had to wait at our dock. The lock had just recently been upgraded with new electronics and I guess they needed some bedding down. We finally got through around 10:15.

Leaving home dock

Our plan was to stop briefly at Palm Cove Marina and get sufficient fuel to get us to our marina in Lake Worth. That way we wouldn’t be unnecessarily carrying full tankage on our trip south. We called the fuel dock to make sure that their fuel dock was up and operational and were told that it was. When we got there we were then told that only one of the diesel pumps was working and that was going very slow. A boat had just pulled in ahead of us and was taking on fuel. After waiting a half hour we found he still had a long way to finish, so we decided to leave and head to our next stop, and get fuel there. I guess their definition of “operational” is different to ours!

Beautiful vessel at Palm Cove

Apart from navigating through a large boat sailing race north of St Augustine, we had an uneventful trip to Palm Coast where we arrived just after 5:00. We went up to the European Village for dinner at Lisbon Nights, which was becoming our tradition for trip “first nights.”

Busy Palm Valley Restaurant
St Augustine racing
St Augustine Lighthouse and Conch House Marina

We got back to Sonas and found that the salon AC had stopped working. The pump would come on for a few seconds, then go off. We found that by turning on the pilothouse unit it would fire up the pump it shared with the salon, and then the salon would be fine – as long as the pilot house AC was running.

Next morning started off foggy. We took on the fuel we wanted and were away by 8:00. It was again an uneventful trip through Daytona, New Smyrna, Titusville and into our anchorage just south of the NASA Causeway Bridge at 5:00. Sian was hesitant to launch the newly galvanized anchor and chain, as she knew it would never look as good again!

Morning fog

While under way we contacted our AC company and he suggested the issue was a pump trigger. he offered to send his guy to us at Palm Coast but we were already underway. We called a company in West Palm and arranged for them to fix the issue when we were down there, and before we crossed to the Bahamas.

The anchorage was peaceful, this was the second time we stayed there and both times were excellent. We upped anchor at 8 and headed south through Cocoa, Melbourne and into Vero. We found that the diesel at Vero Beach City Marina was an exceptionally good price ($2.90) so decided to top up our tanks there rather than Lake Worth. We were really surprised at the number of boats that were sharing mooring balls – sometimes three to a ball. We had thought that Tuesday would not be busy – but Vero was jumping. The dock master was lining people up on the radio and on the fuel dock, with more arriving as we fueled. We went over to the Riverview restaurant for dinner, which offered deck seating and a typical bar menu.

Vero Beach moorings
Sunrise south of Vero Beach

We left Vero at first light. Ran through Fort Pierce, Stuart, St Lucie, Jupiter down into Lake Worth. For choice we would rather leave out of Fort Pierce which works well for the Abacos. But since we were heading to Lucaya and then further south we needed to leave out of West Palm to avoid bumping up against the Gulf Stream flow. Our peeve with running from Fort Pierce south to Lake Worth is the number and different types of slow zones, some of them are pretty long. This adds significant time to the trip.

Ship aground inside Fort Pierce Inlet

We also passed an international sailing regatta at Jensen Beach.

International racing
Jupiter mansion with private beach
Jupiter Lighthouse
Why anyone would want to call this over the VHF?

We had planned on staying at Sailfish Marina, which is right inside the inlet. But there was a sports fishing tournament on and the marina was fully booked. So we arrived at Lake Park marina and tied up in some gusty wind. We used Trip Advisor for restaurant suggestions and walked a mile or so to a grubby looking run down windowless crab shack with a single car outside, which had been listed as a top 4 pick! We kept walking and eventually ended up at the more up-market Pelican Cafe where we had a lovely dinner.

Steve from Gulfstream came and replaced the bad AC pump trigger. He had another in the van so I asked him to leave it with me, and we put it into the spares inventory.

The conditions were not right for a crossing on Thursday, with Friday looking good. So we went to the Boat Owners store and got a new filter for our holding tank vent which Paul installed. We also paid a visit to Publix supermarket for some more fresh produce. That night we went to Frigates for dinner. We still weren’t making much of a dent into our on board supplies!

Old holding tank vent filter

The weather from our sources told us that it would be good for crossing the Gulf Stream on Friday. In fact NOAA used the word “benign!” So at first light Friday we set off. The first challenge we faced was exiting the Lake Worth inlet with a strong outgoing current facing a SE wind. It certainly got lumpy.

Cruise ship coming into West Palm
Lots of AIS signals in Lake Worth

Once outside we put the waypoint in for Grand Bahama to the ESE. The weather forecasts had called for 2-3 foot seas with a 2 foot swell. We don’t know if going nose into them made them feel worse, but we basically “hobby-horsed” across for 7 hours until we got out of the stream. We were also getting a strong ammonia-like smell from the cabin area, which needed to be investigated once tied up.

As we got closer to our destination we realized that we would not make the marina by their closing time so radioed for directions. When we got there a few guys on the dock came and helped tie us up. We were puzzled for a while as to why we didn’t make it in time as we had done this exact same trip two years ago and made it with just under an hour before closing. We then realized that last time we had gone before daylight savings time, this year after. So we were basically an hour later before leaving West Palm due to light, therefore an hour later getting to the marina in Lucaya!

The folks at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club had contacted customs and immigration on our behalf (who also close at 5!) and they gave us permission to come ashore and check in the next morning. So once cleaned up we went up to the pool bar for drinks and dinner.

We had originally planned on staying just one night, but now needed to clear customs and immigration the next morning. This could happen anytime between 8 and 10! We decided not to set out for our next stop in the Berries that late in the day, so stayed an extra night at the marina.

Full freezer
Full chest freezer

Plus we found we had an issue! And in investigating that issue, we found a second! When we woke on Saturday morning we heard both the fresh water pump cycling and the forward bilge pump going off. Paul turned off the fresh water system while he searched for the culprit. He quickly found that water was pouring out of our water heater. At first it seems to be coming from the heat exchanger outlet so he put plenty of silicone on that, left it to harden and turned the water supply on again. The leak had slowed considerably.

Busted water heater

Next he started to investigate the ammonia smell – which got worse when we turned on the AC for the master cabin. So he started with the bilge area. When he lifted the hatch by the VacuFlush system he found that the bellows had failed and sprayed toilet material everywhere creating a right royal mess! He has a photo but not to be shared!! So for the next hour or so he cleaned up that mess and got the bilge as clean as he could. We turned off that toilet and used the guest from then on. We could replace the bellows with one of our spares while we were continuing to cruise.

His reward was going up to the bar and grabbing a few beers while watching Manchester United get knocked out of the FA Cup. Not the best day he has ever had!

So with the water heater somewhat operating and the bilge cleaned up we set off at first light Sunday. About two hours out we checked the water heater again to make sure it was behaving, to find water pouring out again!

The choice was, continue cruising and do without hot water for three months, or turn back to Lucaya and have it replaced. We turned back, and into the same slip at Grand Bahama Yacht Club. Since it was Sunday we knew we could get nothing done today. Instead Paul jumped into the bilge and, after three hours and many scraped knuckles and cursing, got the bellows on the the Vacuflush replaced and the bilge fully cleaned. We now have two working heads again!

First thing on Monday we called the local boat yard. Owner Charlton Knowles came over on his way home from the yard and agreed that the water heater needed to be replaced. He doubted that one could be found on the island so would probably have to have one flown in from the mainland.

So now we sit in Lucaya and await further developments! AND it is raining heavily! Though one benefit is that Sian had time to make some scones – great with butter and jam!

Home made scones

Off Season Projects – 2019

Here are the projects completed before we start the busy 2019 boating season. [To see last year’s projects click here.]

Now we kinda know what they mean when they say “maintained with an open check book!”

Water Maker; we had Hansen Marine Service out of St Augustine install a Blue Water LGD 475, fully automatic water maker that is capable of 20 gallons per hour. We also has a remote screen installed in the Pilot House.

20 GPH water maker
Remote water maker panel

Pilot House wood; when we bought Sonas she had a thin mesh screen for the pilot house windows. Over time this had allowed the sun to badly damage the varnish on the beautiful wood work. We contracted with a painter we had used on our home to re do the wood. He sanded, stained, poly’d, wire-wooled and poly’d again. The result was spectacular.

To see the before, during and after photos click here.

New chart plotters and AIS; the RX on our AIS failed last year, and one of the buttons on the fly bridge chart plotter stopped working. We replaced the AIS with a Vesper XB-8000 with Wi-Wi and dedicated antenna. We also replaced both the fly bridge and pilot house chart plotters with the latest Garmin 8610 models. We had the chart plotter feeding the Green Marine 17” screen in the pilot house which replicates on the fly bridge.

Anchor and Chain; during a January trip we lowered the anchor to find rust dust on the deck. So when we got back to home dock we removed the anchor and the 400 pounds of 3/8 inch chain and took it up to the galvanizers. Easy to write, but quite a job to get it off the boat, up from the dock, and into the SUV! The anchor and chain was hot dipped in zinc and any fused links loosened by hammer. The results were excellent.

Anchor before
Anchor after

Cockpit speakers; the original cockpit speakers had seen better days. The rubber inside was falling apart and the metal face plates were rusty. So we replaced them with a pair of Pyle waterproof speakers.

New Speakers

Radar arch downlights; the original lights had the small two prong halogen bulbs. We find that these can no longer be replaced as the receiving hole in the fittings are worn too large to hold the bulbs. So we replaced both downlights with LEDs. While these are in and working we are not happy with the overall quality of the fittings and will keep looking for better quality and will likely replace these next year.

New laptop and GPS puck; we decided to buy a dedicated lap top for Sonas rather than bringing the older model we had at home. We also bought a GPS puck which allows us to use the laptop as a back-up chart plotter should we have to. However the main use will be in route planning and blogging while on our cruises. We will also link this to our phone’s hot spot for Wi-Fi.

Canvas work; one of our frustrations as we cruise was having to close the pilot house doors because of bugs. Since Sonas usually sits bow-into the wind this significantly impacted the amount of air movement we get through the boat on balmy Bahamian and Floridian days. So we had our canvas guys install roll-up bug screens on the doors. At the same time we had them make a Sunbrella hatch cover for the fore hatch over the guest bed. This has helped darken that cabin.

Tender updates; our Novurania tender’s seat had seen better days. It was worn and discolored. So we had the canvas guys redo the seat. We also had them put a large zipper on top of the dinghy cover, so that we can now attach the davit wire and put the cover on before we lift the dinghy out of the water. Much safer and easier than walking around the edge of the boat deck. Additionally we cleaned off the old painted-on registration numbers, acetone cleaned the whole boat, painted new bases for the numbers, and replaced them.  

Lazarette washing machine; during our Chesapeake trip last year the washing machine starting screeching like a banshee! OK while anchored on our own, but a real annoyance in a busy anchorage. It was either fix it or replace it. We pulled it out and took the back off to look at the belt to find that it was direct drive. Paul did some Google research and found one source of the squeal could be stones in the input filter – the water squeals as the pump pulls it past the partially closed filter. Hoping for the best we took off the hose and pulled out the filter and a number of small calcium stones fell out! We put it all back together and no noise!

Hatch push locks; we have these black push locks on all of our exterior lockers. About a third of them were broken or jammed. We found a source for the exact replacement and now all locks are working!

Lazarette handle; we had a little accident with our lazerette, leaving one of the handles protruding from the side of the hatch and then dropping the hatch. We were able to find the exact replacement.

Portlight chain for master bath; the strut for the master head port light was not connected when we bought Sonas. We contacted the manufacturer to find that these are welded on and the whole window would have to removed and taken to a welder. Rather than risk compromising the window seal we spoke to the supplier who suggested a port light chain. We installed this and it works great!

SMXII AC key pads; we continue to replace these control pads with replacements from Flight Systems. We initially bought two new pads for non-fully working ones. Since then we always like to have a couple in the spares inventory, so bought two more.

PH Door seals; our purchase survey for Sonas indicated that the pilothouse doors did not have seals. We weren’t too concerned about this aa we have a Portuguese Bridge protecting the doors. However we found that the doors did not “dog” fully because of the lack of seals, and could rattle while underway. Also we felt that having gaps around the doors would allow little buggies in. So we installed seals that now have the doors solidly tight.

New pilothouse door seals

Engines and generator service; including exhaust tube replacement; Control Master Inc, completed the annual service on the twin Luggers and Northern Lights generator. There was a crack in the semi-flexible exhaust tube outer coating, so they replaced that for us as well.

ACs serviced; Hansen Marine Services serviced the AC units, and replaced a faulty reversing valve solenoid on the master cabin AC.

Wireless cameras; the camera in the engine room got knocked free and broken. These Swann cameras were on close out so we bought two, replaced the ER camera and put the other one into the spares inventory.

Spare tender prop; While running about the Bahamas we often accidentally bump sand before raising the engine, and sometime hear the potentially fatal “clunk!” So we decided to add a spare prop and hub to the inventory.

EarTec Communications; The older model EarTec headsets were wired to a waist band transmitter. As Sian moved about the boat and docks the transmitter kept falling off, and eventually stopped working. The new model are fully contained in the head set so we upgraded to a pair of the EarTec Ultralites, plus a lanyard for Sian as she moves around.

Manta Hook; When we anchor we always put the snubber on. Previously we simply shackled the snubber to the chain. We decided to buy a Manta Hook, a specialized snubber attachment which is quicker to deploy and remove, critical if you have to raise the anchor in a hurry. This turned out to be much larger than we thought and we need to work on the process of getting it past the anchor roller to see if this is going to work for us.

Projects coming with us to the Bahamas!

We have a few projects that we haven’t been able to get to so we are taking what we need to the Bahamas with us and will complete as we cruise.

Wood rail poly; I lightly sanded and put two coats on the rails last year. So far this year I lightly sanded and touched up any bare spots, but before I could add another full coat or two the pine pollen arrived. Since I don’t want pine pollen embedded in my bright work I will have to do while on our Exumas trip!

Davit maintenance; We have a new cable and hook for the davit. The current one is serviceable but has little loose strands so time to replace. I also notice little metal pieces under the davit motor so I want to wire wool that, coat with Rustoleum, and finish with a coat of enamel.

Guest head; the VacuFlush pump for the guest head is directly under the floorboard in the guest cabin, and can be clearly heard. Not an issue during the day, but can be annoying when flushed at night. So we have bought a Whisper motor upgrade kit for the guest head.

Wood Project

When we first got Sonas in 2016 she had white fine mesh covers for the pilot house windows, which allowed in a significant amount of sun. Over time the sun had bleached the finish on a lot of the interior wood. We knew sooner or later we would have to have the wood refinished. At the start of 2018 we asked our yard for some recommendations for people who could do this. One declined the project over the phone, the other came over and looked at the job. She later called and said that it was not something that she was interested in doing. It seems that people would prefer to work on more straightforward pieces of wood – like rails etc.

After the season’s cruising we finally contacted the guy who did all of the interior and exterior of our home when we bought it in 2014. We were very satisfied with his workmanship so decided to see what he thought of this project. Mike came over and checked out the pilot house. He then told us that he would be honored to be trusted to do this work. He told us that his dad used to build wooden boats and they would both finish them. In fact, that is how he got started on his career!

He laid out his plan. Hand sanding to make sure the sanding went with the grain. Then staining with a matching stain, in our case Pecan. Then a first coat of poly, followed by a fine rub with wire wool to take the first coat into the stain. Finally another coat of poly, and a third where necessary. The floors would be last. He would use a horse hair brush for the stain and apply the poly with rags. The estimated time was three to four weeks, it ended up as around five weeks elapsed. Below are the before, during and after photos.

Plus we had our canvas guy make us a new set of lined Sunbrella covers for the pilot house windows!

Before

During

After

Mid Week Run To St Augustine

Calm St Augustine

The joys of being retired! We decided to make an effort to blow away the post-holiday blahs so planned a mid-week run to the nations oldest city Tuesday January 15th through Thursday 17th. We were joined by three other yacht club boats and their crews. Frank and Julie on Escape, Ed and Cindy on Tally II, and Gary and Carol on Dog Days. George and Carolyn drove down and stayed on board Wednesday.

We actually had to leave on Monday afternoon as the tides were wrong for going through the lock and out the channel on Tuesday morning . We just ran a mile south and anchored off the ICW north of the Atlantic Blvd bridge. Next morning, Tuesday we ran south to St Augustine, noticing while passing the Beach Blvd area that some of the liveaboard boats were now sinking. Until about three years ago there were no liveaboards anchored here, now there are ten or so.

Sunken liveaboards
Barge passing in Palm Valley

Two of the faster club boats passed us just north of the Vilano Bridge.

Ed and Cindy on Tally II

St Augustine Municipal Marina was hit pretty hard by the 2017 storms but we found the marina totally up and running, with all docks fully repaired after the storms. They have a large crew working on the Bellingham dock’s piping and woodwork. They have upgraded their WIFI network with ten separate SSID transmitters on the docks and transmitters dedicated to the north mooring field and the south mooring field. The office staff were at great pains to point out this WIFI upgrade, and it worked really well with strong signal and speed.
They have pump out facilities right at the slips, plus a free mobile pump out tender to the moorings on request weather dependent. They also have a free water tender to the mooring fields – all 365 days a year. They also provide the pump out boat to anchored boat for a modest fee.
No pre-payments and cancel at any time! Staff walking the docks 24 hours a day!
A municipal marina doing it right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRrutH8jDcY (By the way they also have this video in French for our northern neighbors!)

Upgrading the docks

We walked the docks and chatted to the other club boats. Then arranged for a pump out as we wanted to start the new year with an empty holding tank, and this should last us now until we head across to the Exumas in March.

On Tuesday evening we hosted everyone on Sonas for a pot luck dinner and drinks. We had brought a folding table in hopes of being able to eat on the dock, but it was too chilly. However there was plenty of room in Sonas’ salon.

Next day, Wednesday we did some small chores and then got together as a group and walked through George street, finally arriving at Prohibition Kitchen for lunch, and were joined by George and Carolyn who were joining us for the night on Sonas. This is a relatively new restaurant with an extensive beer list and simply awesome burgers!

After lunch we all walked over to the Lightner Museum. We had heard that there was a special exhibition of model boats by a St Augustine native, Thomas Rahner. Not a big exhibition, but his detailed work is worth seeing.

That evening we had hoped to eat at Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grill, right on the waterfront. They don’t take reservations, but we thought it would not be busy on a January mid-week. Boy were we wrong! Got there to find an hour and a half wait. We waited for a while but even the bar was full, so we headed across the street to the A1A Ale House and got seated right away. Good food and the waitress was excellent.

The Group at A1A Ale House, left to right: George, Carolyn, Carol, Gary. Sian, Paul, Ed, Cindy, Frank, and Julie

Thursday morning and more clear skies but chilly temperatures. We were the last boat out as we didn’t need to be back at the channel to the lock until late afternoon. As we cruised back north we saw a number of police, rescue, and FWC boats off to one side. As we slowed down to pass them a Coast Guard helicopter came over. They then proceeded to do what looked like interdiction exercises. The helicopter first went after Ed and Cindy in Tally II ahead of us, chased by the small boats. Then it was our turn, the chopper came to us circled, and then I saw the small boats chasing us using the rear camera. No stops, just exercising.

Frank and Julie on Escape going under the Bridge of Lions
Coast Guard Chopper

Got back home and we were tied up by 3:30.

South Carolina, Georgia, and Home!

August 20th. After the run through skinny water yesterday we really wanted to run outside to Georgetown. We looked at the three sources we use for weather and found that it was calling for two to three feet, with swells possible to five. Since it hard to know what impact the swells would have on our ride we decided to head out through the Little River inlet and turn south. We prepared Sonas for sea and headed out behind a shrimper and a number of fishing charters. It was really lumpy through the mouth of the inlet because we had a strong outgoing tide with a southwest wind running across it .

As we were going through that Paul decided to stand up on his seat and have a look at the anchor to make sure it was secured. And it had slipped out a bit (only a foot or two). We clearly hadn’t put the pawl (lock) on it. Sian offered to go onto the bow and fix it but Paul said it was alright , he could use the remote control on the bridge to bring it back in. He pushed the up button and heard more chain running out. Realizing his mistake, being confused by the button indicators, he quick revered and brought the anchor back in. Then he wondered if the anchor had been swinging onto the bow with the wave actions and damaged the gelcoat.

Pulling the lever towards you drops the anchor!

We ran south in really lumpy conditions for a half hour. The GPS indicated that we would be running for another six hours to Georgetown. We decided it was just not worth being uncomfortable for that long and turned around to come back in through the inlet. We then turned south again on the ICW.

We went through Myrtle Beach, which seemed to go on forever, and because it was low tide we again had areas, mainly where there were small inlets into the sea or marshes where there was very skinny water. We had now realized that this was because it had been blowing hard from the south for at least a week and the water had been blown out of the ICW in places. One three mile stretch, ,formally known as Pine Island Cut, but locally known as Rock Pile, is cut out of rocks and the cruising guides quite accurately advise you to keep to the middle, lest you need the services of prop and strut businesses that have grown up nearby!

Entering Rock Pile

Rock Pile

Also on this stretch we saw some interestingly painted houses and, given the steepness of the backyards wondered how on earth they cut them. Then we saw a gentleman cutting his lawn, with a mower on a rope!

Now THAT’S pink!

Mowing the lawn!

We then hit the Waccamaw River and had a very enjoyable ride through the Waccamaw State Park, with its lush trees and vegetation.

Waccamaw River

We also saw an individual with one of those “jet packs” driven by a jet ski!

Jet Pack!

Exiting the park we looked at where we were on the run and decided to tack on another two hours to make our run to Charleston tomorrow a short one. We targeted a couple of anchorages on the Minims River. The one to the West of the ICW had decent reviews on the Waterway Guide so we opted for that. We got to the anchorage and found crab pots all the way up the middle of the anchorage. We picked a spot between two pots and dropped the anchor. We had the wind and tide against each other which pushed Sonas sideways across the anchorage and near the crab pots. After waiting to see if it would sort itself out we finally gave up and went across to the anchorage to the east of the ICW. Here there was little current, wind protection from a stand of trees AND what crab pots there were, were placed along the edge. It turned out to be a very safe and peaceful anchorage.

August 21st

We awoke today to find that our AC was out in the salon. We usually leave it on at night but raise the temperature to 74. The breaker was also off. Paul reset the breaker but there was still no power coming to the control pad. We had a spare pad so he switch them out and still no power. So this issue must be with the AC unit itself. Paul went below and had a quick look to see if he could find a breaker on the AC unit itself with no success.

Our anchorage was at mile marker 415, and Charleston City Marina was at mile marker 469, so we only had 54 statute miles, or 46 nautical miles to go today. Again we were running along at low tide so had to be very mindful of the depth sounder. We had a few spots where we had to pull back on the throttles and zig-zag a bit until we found better depth, but we made it out into Charleston Sound safely, watching the big ships pass by first, and made our way west of Fort Sumpter and into the Ashley River. On our way down we often saw hardhats and other stuff mailed to markers. We had read somewhere that there were in memorial to someone who worked the waterways and had died. [Though also see comment from David below].

Hat and boots

Earlier the Coast Guard had warned us that one of their cutters was doing diving exercises by the Coast Guard station and to pass with caution. The Coast Guard station is right before the marina, so we went to idle as we passed, and saw the divers in the water.

Coast Guard divers

During the morning Paul called the Charleston City Dock and requested an AC tech. We got tied up on the marina’s Mega Dock and checked in. Paul then went into the Charleston City Dock mobile office right on the marina and filled in the order form for the AC Tech. He would be coming to look at the system at 9:00 tomorrow morning.

Burnt AC Controller

We called Stella’s Greek restaurant and tried to book a table for this evening but they were fully booked. At 6:30 we got the marina shuttle into the restaurant and took one of their walk-in tables on the back patio. The food and wine were fine, unfortunately there was no breeze on the patio and the single wall fan wasn’t much help, so we were quite hot out there.

Thankfully when we got back to Sonas there was a cool breeze blowing across the cockpit so we were able to sit outside rather than in the stuffy salon.

August 22nd

We had a walking tour booked for today starting at 10:30, so we would have to be away from the marina at 10. We were hoping that the AC tech would be on time and would be able to diagnose the issue in time for us to go on the tour. By 10 the tech still had not showed so we went to the yard office and left the key for them, and we took the marina shuttle to the tour starting place in Washington Park.

The very interesting walking tour lasted two hours and fifteen minutes and covered the original walled city as well as the “new” area down by the harbor. The lady giving the tour was a Charlestonian and her family had been there for over two hundred years. She was very knowledgeable, and seemed to know everyone we passed!

Midway through the tour the yard called and advised us that the AC unit, the capacitor, the evaparator, the compressor and the mother board, was dead. So I sent an email to my Florida mechanic asking if he could send someone over after we get back next week to put in a new one.

We had lunch at Cru, right on the corner of Motely Street, a very popular Charleston lunch spot. Afterwards we walked over to Harris Teeter for some fresh veggies before calling the marina shuttle and going back to Sonas.

When we got back to Sonas we had a bit of a surprise, the salon AC was on and blasting lots of cool air! Paul sent a text to the yard guy saying “OK, you got me!” He replied with a “???” He wasn’t in his office the rest of the afternoon so finally we connected by phone. He was as surprised as we were that the AC was running. His AC tech had told him that is was dead, that he could get it started but because of the amps it was trying to pull and the bad capacitor, it would not restart. He assumed that the tech got it started one more time and left it for us. We told him that we were going out to dinner but would not leave the air running when we not there just in case, We would turn it off at the breaker when we left and then try and restart it when we got back. He told us to let him know what happened

We turned off the AC and got the shuttle into Slightly North Of Broad (SNOB) for dinner.

A little anecdote on SNOB. Many US cities have a rail line running through them. And the cities are divided into the “other side of the track,” meaning there is a good part of the city and a not so good part. Charleston does not have a rail line through the city, but Broad Street does divide the city. It was the case that South of Broad was the “nice” part and North of Broad not so nice. When this restaurant set up it was Slightly North Of Broad – so called itself that, otherwise known as SNOB, to thumb their nose at the South side of Broad!

We had a wonderful meal with Jenna as our waitress. Afterwards we got an Uber back to Sonas.

While Paul went below to watch the faulty AC unit, Sian switched it on at the breaker. And it started up with no issues! It remained on and delivered cool air for the rest of the evening. Paul sent a text to the boat yard manager asking him for a full write up on the issue and what was done to the unit so that our own mechanics can have a good starting point when we get back. For safety reasons we tuned off the unit before bunking down.

August 23rd

In the hope of running outside we again checked our weather sources. It still did not look good, so we opted to stay in the ICW again. We had an easy run south from Charleston, passing Briney Bug in the anchorage (we first saw her in Deltaville on the Chesapeake), through Beaufort (pronounced BEWfort, whereas the NC version is pronounced BOWfort), past Parris Island, which is the boot camp for the US Marines, and towards Hilton Head Island.

Briney Bug

Along the way we saw dozens of dolphins, sometimes in large pods. At one stage we had three or four jumping on the starboard side of the boat and at the same time three or four jumping on the port side – quite the escort on our way home. We even had a group playing off the back of Sonas after we anchored! We also noticed that the tidal drop up this way is a lot larger than in the Chesapeake and even in Florida.

Low tide

We arrived at the anchorage in Skull Creek, Hilton Head around four. Paul had a quick look on Google Maps to see what was around and we saw that there was a ClubCorp country club about a half mile away! Because our own country club is owned by them we get to use the facilities AND get a free entrée due to our membership level! We were sorely tempted to launch the dinghy and go in, but then decided to just relax and enjoy the anchorage since we just had a couple of evenings in Charleston!

After we started the generator Paul went into the lazarette and watched the salon AC unit again as Sian turned it on – it started without issue and ran fine! What the heck is going on?

August 24th

As Sian was preparing the flybridge to get underway a large shrimper passed us very close! She grabbed a quick photo.

Morning shrimper

After lifting the anchor this morning Sian turned around with a smile on her face – no mud, we were back in the country of soft sand! We headed south again through Hilton Head and down to the Savannah River. As we approached we could see the huge container ships going both ways on the river. As we got to the ICW-Savannah River intersection we had a ship crossing in front of us going downriver. We held Sonas steady inside the ICW as the big ship passed, before running quickly across and back into the ICW.

Waiting our turn!

Shrimper in Wahoo River Anchorage

We ran through Wilmington Island, Skidaway Island, Ossabaw Island, and then across St Catherine Sound, where the wind was howling and the chop pretty substantial.

Running through St Catherine’s Sound:

After transiting St Catherine Island we were passed by a Tow Boat US boat, who later hailed us on 16 asking for a slow pass around the next corner. When we got there we saw them successfully dragging a sailboat off a shoal. We turned for our anchorage for the night, to see a shrimper had also tucked himself in there waiting the winds to die. We passed them and went a further half mile up the Wahoo River to shelter behind a stand of trees.

Leaving our well protected anchorage in Wahoo River

One thing worth mentioning is that we passed quite a number of “Slow, No Wake” signs put up by residents or marinas, not the Coast Guard (CG signs have the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) number at the bottom). What was different about these signs was that they referenced the state code about obeying all CG posted signs while not official signs themselves – a cute way of making boaters think that they were official signs! Most of them were so old that they were illegible anyway.

Well worn signs

We haven’t had rain for months and Sonas was getting a bit “dusty,” so Paul broke out the boat bucket and hauled in water to swab the decks. Not the perfect job, more of a “lick and a promise” as we say in Ireland!

We are anchored at Mile Marker 630, on the Wahoo River, tomorrow’s stop will be at the anchorage of Cumberland Island, Mile Marker 711. Then by Sunday lunchtime we will complete our journey at home, Mile Marker 742!

August 25th

We were off again shorthly after 7:00. Headed south across Sapelo Sound, down the Mud River and across Doboys Sound, past Wolf Island and then across Altamaha Sound. This took us to the inside run to the West of St Simons Island, across St Simons Sound, and down through the very skinny water of Jekyll Island. After Jekyll we had to head out into the Atlantic for a bit to pass the shoaling in St Andrew Sound, which took us to Cumberland Island. Even from the ICW side you can see the beauty of this island. It is also a surprisingly long island, taking over 20 miles to pass! We saw a large buoy washed up on the island, probably from a recent hurricane. We also got to watch some of the wild horses grazing.

Don’t think we will be ’rounding this marker!

Cumberland wild horses

As we came near the south end of the island we came to a really shallow area where we intersect with the Brickhill River. The markers were really confusing and we slowed to go through. Just as well as we softly bumped the sand. We reversed off and got around the corner. We passed the submarine base at Kings Bay and approached our planed anchorage off Cumberland Island.

It was only three o’clock and we were about three and a half hours from home. It had been an easy enough run today so we decided to carry on. As we crossed Cumberland Sound towards Fernandina we decided to see if they had a tie-up for us where we could go in for dinner and maybe stay there for the night. The city marina there was badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew but we had heard that they had some spaces now open. When we hailed them they informed us that they only had four spaces and only for boats 45 feet and under. So we continued on.

Fernandina City Marina

Boat washed onto shore at Fernandina

The shrimp are running!

We approached the home port lock at Queen’s Harbour at 7:15 and hailed for a lock in., to be told that there was another boat in the lock and we would have to wait. A two thousand mile round trip, and we had to wait another 20 minutes!!

But we were home!

Safely tucked up at home

Norfolk, And Some Challenging Runs On The ICW South

August 13th

Well today we left the Chesapeake. Heading South West from Cape Charles we went through the fifteen large cargo ships anchored waiting their turn for Baltimore or Norfolk. As we neared the channel into Hampton Roads we saw a military helicopter off towards the mouth of the Chesapeake lower something into the water and then drag it through the water at speed. This went on for about an hour before the helicopter went off to the naval base where it seemed to drop whatever it was towing. We have no idea what it was doing.

Helicopter lowering something into the water…

… dragging it through the water…

…taking it back ashore.

As we crossed into Hampton Roads we stayed to the north of the channel as warship 55 was exiting. After she passed us we crossed the channel and made our way past the Naval Station and down to Norfolk. We backed into our slip at the Waterfront Marina, right downtown.

Warship 55

The last time we were in Norfolk we had tried to get a boat tour of the shipyards and the naval station, but since it was the July Fourth week everything was booked up. So yesterday Paul went on-line and booked us onto the 5:30 tour. Since we were all tied up by one o’clock we went over to the ticket booth and changed our tickets to the two o’clock sailing.

The tour boat we would be taking ourselves later!

As we waited we visited the Armed Forces Memorial. This very well done memorial consisted of 20 bronze cast letters from service people who fought and died in all the major wars, the Revolutionary through the Gulf War. They were replicated on bronze and placed on the ground as if windblown.

Armed Forces Memorial

Some of the letters:

We boarded the Victory Rover which took us on a narrated tour of the shipyards and navy base. Each of the ship names and types were indicated along with the cost to build each. We were surprised to learn that most of the non-fighting ships, while owned by the navy, were managed and manned by civilian companies.

This evening we walked over to the Waterside complex and had Cioppino seafood dinners at Stripers.

August 14th

Today was one of the few days where we were staying in the same location for a couple of days. So we decided to get in some exercise. We put on our walking shoes and walked the Norfolk waterfront and the Freemason district for an hour. We had lunch on board and then headed over to Nautilus.

The Nautilus is part museum, part hands on for young adults and also home of the battleship Wisconsin. The museum was very well done, starting with the history and data on the Port of Virginia and the Norfolk Naval Base. It then covered ships communications and weaponry, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), sealife in a small aquarium, plus 3D movies titled Blue Sea and Aircraft Carrier. We then toured the upper decks and deck two of the huge Wisconsin.

Crew sleeping quarters.

The museum also had a special exhibit underway called Shipwreck, with 500 artifacts recovered from shipwrecks, though we chose not to visit this.

Overall a very great value at only $16 – less for us seniors!

We got back to Sonas to tidy ourselves up and then walked the half mile to Freemason Abbey, a restaurant Sian picked up from TripAdvisor. This restaurant is in a refurbished church, with the original interior roofing and some of the original stain glass windows. The food and wine were excellent and economical. Our server Jordan was delightful. A very good meal indeed.

August 15th

Now it was time to head for home. We got out the charts and cruising guides and laid out our plan for the run inside to Beaufort and then, hopefully, outside to Jacksonville. We had two things we wanted to do along the way. Stop in Wrightsville in enough time to have dinner with cruising buddies John and Suzie Mc Carley, and also stop in Charleston for two nights giving us an evening and full day to enjoy that beautiful city.

Today we aimed to do 61 miles, timing the lock and bridge at Great Bridge, and passing Coinjock to anchor in the North River. We made the Great Bridge Lock at 8:30 which was perfect timing to get through the lock and straight onto the nearby Great Bridge bridge for their 9:00am opening. Just like clockwork.

The next challenge was the Centerville Bridge. It opened on the hour and half hour. Since it was just 3.2 miles away and we had 25 minutes to make it we pulled back on the throttles with the aim of getting there right at the 9:30 opening.

Then a power catamaran popped out of a marina and fell in behind us. As we got to within a mile of the bridge I switched to the bridge channel 13 and advised the bridge tender that we were approaching southbound and would be standing by on channel 13 for their 9:30 opening. He acknowledged.

A minute or two later it got a bit weird!

Catamaran on 13: “Bridge we are the catamaran behind Sonas wanting to pass them to get to your bridge, but we can’t raise Sonas on channel 16, they must not have their radio on.”

Bridge on 13: “Just pass them then.”

Me on 13: “This is Sonas, we had already contacted the bridge and were monitoring the bridge channel 13.”

Catamaran: “Ok, we will come behind you.”

Catamaran a minute later: “Actually Sonas can we pass you on your starboard side?”

Me: “Roger I will move to port to give you room.”

Catamaran: “No sorry, we want to pass you on your port side.”

Me: “Roger I will move to starboard to give you room.”

The catamaran then passes us towards the bridge. We continue at our decreased speed timing the bridge opening.

Catamaran to bridge: “Bridge we are approaching, do we have to wait for Sonas before you will open the bridge?”

Bridge: “I will be opening the bridge in a few minutes.”

Catamaran slows to wait for the 9:30 opening, which by the time the tender drops the road barriers and open the span, is more like 9:33.  By which time we go through the bridge right behind the catamaran. I smile broadly at the bridge tender and he smiles back.

And on we went! Some of us smelling the roses, some of us burning the diesel!

We got to the anchorage at the North River at two o’clock so decided to keep on going as the weather was perfect for crossing the Albemarle. We crossed the sound in glassy water and anchored just the other side at mile marker 81 on the Little Alligator River along with three other boats.

Crossing the Albemarle Sound

August 16th

Under way at 7:00. We decided to do another 80 miles today, which would get us to anchorage inside Bear Creek just north of the Neuse River. Our plan was to give us a half day run to Cape Fear the next day where we would anchor and have a relaxing beach day.

Our first challenge of the day was getting through the Alligator River Highway Bridge. This is a swing bridge with only a 14 foot clearance when closed. We radioed the bridge tender as we approached. He told us to come on down and he would open it. As we approached he asked us to stand by and they only had one lane of traffic open, and there were men at each end of the bridge releasing traffic in alternative directions. We waited until the traffic flowing eastbound passed by. Then we waited until traffic flowing west bound passed by, then the bridge opened and we were told to continue. Thankfully this was to be the last bridge opening request today and, if we can run outside from Beaufort, the last one of the trip!

We continued south through the Alligator River and arrived at the Alligator and Pungo Canal. This canal is 21 miles long and is probably the most boring part of our trip (as it was on the way up!). We got through the canal without incident, seeing a young deer along the way, transited the Pungo River and across the Pamlico. We arrived at our anchorage at mile marker 161 around 4. We managed to get the anchor down and get below before a lighting storm hit, which passed without causing any issues. It was blowing quite strongly so we laid out one hundred feet of chain just to be on the safe side.

A&P Canal

Mineral rich water

A&P Deer

Jacksonville is at ICW mile marker 734 – so only another 573 miles to go!!

August 17th

Today we  aimed to get to the Beaufort Inlet, nip out there and across to the Cape Look Out Bight. Inside the bight there is a great anchorage, well protected from wind from any direction, with wonderful sandy beaches. We could swim and walk the beaches. Then the next day we can pop out from the Bight and head south west on the outside for our next anchorage at Wrightsville Beach.

Well, it didn’t take long for that plan to unravel. By the time we have crossed the Neuse Rived and north of Morehead City the wind was blowing a gale. Paul checked the weather and found that North Carolina was sitting right between a high pressure  a low pressure trough, and would likely be so for most of the coming week! We checked the sea conditions and found that the waves were 3-4 feet, building to 4-5 feet tomorrow running from the south west!  The boat would be fine, but who wants to spend seven or eight hours pounding straight into five foot waves?

So we decided to stay inside. We grabbed the charts and cruising guide and targeted Swansboro as a good stop for today. We got to Morehead City, turned into the AICW south and continued to Swansboro buffeted by 20 knot winds. We called the town docks and reserved their T-Head, which was open.

We urned into the creek leading into town, and saw that there were two center consoles taking up the T-Head. We held off the T-Head in a strong current (and still strong wind) until a guy sitting in his Ranger Tug saw us. He went off and found the boat owners and got them to quickly move their boats. He then came down to the dock and helped us tie up. When we were all secure Paul went over with a six pack and our thanks. Dave introduced himself and they chatted about the area for a while.

The restaurant at Swansboro Town Dock

We then went for a walk around the quaint waterfront area of Swansboro. There are a number of unique stores, a candy store, and a café that sells beer and wine making products, craft beers and wine. They also do evening wine tastings.

After cleaning up we left Sonas to go eat at The Ice House. On our way up the dock Dave called us over and introduced us to Michael, who runs a sailboat for hire out of the dock. He does sailing education cruises and sunset cruises.

After dinner we sat on the back cockpit with a glass of wine, later joined by Michael and his “crew” Shannon.

August 18th

This morning we had to pour over the charts and cruising guide and work out our plan for getting from Swansboro to Wrightsville Beach, out next stop. While it was only 54 miles in distance it was complicated by the fact that there were four low bridges that we had to go through that were restricted to either half hourly opening or hourly openings. We had to time our departure from the marina to meet the first bridge and then the run between each bridge. Another potential complication was that Marine camp Lejeune was also on our route and they could have live fire exercises that would close the ICW to traffic.

Six miles after leaving Swansboro we saw the control tower for Camp Lejeune, and the warning signs. The good news was that there were no exercises planned for today. As we passed through the camp we saw additional warning signs and the results of their previous live fire practices!

Camp Lejeune Watch Tower

Then we started our timed runs through the bridges!

  • The Onslow Beach Bridge 11 miles away (0nly 12 feet clearance when closed) opened every half hour. So we got under way at 8:15 to make the 9:30 opening. Which we did without issues.
  • Then it was the Surf City Highway Bridge, 20 miles away (12 feet clearance) which only opened on the hour. We gave ourselves a relaxing two and a half hours to get there, again done without issue for the 12:00 opening.
  • Now the Figure Eight Island Bridge, 17.5 miles away (20 feet clearance) which opened every half hour. We needed to get there on the half hour because the bridge after that was  4.8 miles away and only opened on the hour, and we only needed a half hour to do that final run. So we gave ourselves two and a half hours to make the Figure Eight and made it with plenty to spare for the 2:30 opening.
  • Then we had a problem. We hadn’t factored in the fact that it would take five minutes or more for the bridge to open and for us to get through. Meaning we didn’t have a full half hour to do the nearly five miles to the next bridge! AND we got hit with a bit of a head current! We usually cruise at 8 knots (9.2statute miles). If we missed the opening we would have to hang around another hour for the next opening! So we cranked up the RPMs and prayed! At 2:55, when we were about a mile and a half from the bridge Paul called the bridge tender and told him we were a mile out and standing by for the opening. He acknowledged. Four minutes later he called us back and asked us if we would make it as he could not wait! We cranked some more (and maybe went a wee bit too fast through a congested area!). The tender then raised the bridge and called us to tell us that there was a boat coming the other way so by the time he got through we would be fine! In fact he did keep the bridge open for a couple of extra minutes for us to get through, especially since there were a number of smaller boats ahead of us that we had to slow down for! We radioed and thanked him profusely!

On the way through all this we ran aground at the junction of the New River and ICW. This is a three way junction. The inlet coming in, the ICW crossing it, and the river continuing to Jacksonville, North Carolina. There are red buoys going in all directions. The Coast Guard have placed two red can buoys there so that they can move them around with the shoaling. We bumped the nose of our keel aground when our depth sounder was showing eight feet (the transducer is on the middle of the boat) so we were able to back off easily, then in the supposed middle of the ICW channel between the two can buoys we passed one point with only one foot under the keel. With the help of a couple of folks fishing and a passing jet skier we were able to get past the confusion and on our way.

Wrightsville Bridge and big yachts

After tying up at the marina we contacted John and Suzie McCarley and told them we had arrived. We arranged to meet for dinner at six and had a nice meal at Bluewater Grill.

One thing we discussed at the end of this day is that we also have tricky areas in the ICW where we live but we move around with confidence because we know the waters and have local knowledge. We watched today as dozens of other boaters flew around us as we worked our way around some very skinny water, and it certainly has brought home to use the immense value of local knowledge.

August 19th

We decided to stay inside again today as it was still blowing hard. We set off from Wrightsville Beach, southbound on the ICW. Our aim today was to get to the Anchorage on the Little River, just inside the inlet and below Calabash.

The trip along the ICW was uneventful except for the fact that we were running during low tide AND the tide times are later going south so we were following the lowest water as we went along! This really didn’t give us much of an issue except at the intersection of inlets. Every time we got to one of these there was shoaling and we had to go slow and search for the deepest water. It got to be very tedious.

At one inlet intersection we were behind a small trawler who hailed us as we came to the inlet, and asked to switch to a working channel.

“Sonas, this is XYZ ahead of you. If you like we can give you water readings as we go through here?”

Of course we said yes! Then all of a sudden:

“Sonas we are seeing three and a half foot!!!” Then they swerved to starboard.

“Sorry about that Sonas, we mistook the inlet markers as the ICW markers and were cutting the corner. We are fine now!”

Looking at the markers we can certainly understand how they made that mistake and, as Sian said “we’re glad you are leading the way!”

We ended up passing through in 12 feet of water! Soon after passing the inlet intersection we  overtook the small trawler.

The rest of the day was uneventful, we saw some sky divers parachuting down to a field beside the ICW, and  saw dozens  of “Slow, no wake” signs put up on private docks with the requisite red circles, and not one of them legal! We reached the anchorage for an early stop at 2:00. We are checking the weather for tomorrow and it looks like we can finally run outside to Georgetown Inlet to anchor and then afterwards to Charleston.

Sky divers

No wake zone sign

 

St Michaels, Baltimore, And The Turn For Home

Sonas downtown Baltimore

August 6th

Before we cast off this morning John and Paul walked over to J M Clayton Company just by the boat. This seafood processing company claims that it is the “World’s Oldest Crab Company” and has been in business through five generations.  They bought three pounds of fresh crab meat, one of which went into the freezer as a gift for some friends back home.

Three pounds of crab meat!

We cast off and proceeded back out through the Choptank and into the Bay. We rounded Tilghman Island and into Eastern Bay, and ran the two hours into St Michaels. As we approached our lunch anchorage a sail boat with green canvas passed us going in the opposite direction. Suddenly Paul shouted “hey, look at the name!” And there it was, in Irish script on the side of the boat –Sonas! Paul grabbed the radio: “Sonas, Sonas, Sonas, this is Sonas.” No response. He tried a few times more with no response. So sadly we drifted apart, none the wiser of their story! So if there is anyone in Annapolis who knows them, point them here!

Sailing vessel Sonas!

We stopped just short of the town and dropped the anchor for lunch and a swim. Our plan was to go inside to the anchorage in the town.  But as we approached we found three other boats already there in  tight anchorage, so went back out to the open anchorage just outside of town.

We launched he dinghy and went in for a walk through the town. It is quite a lively town with lots of art galleries and stores. We bought a souvenir Christmas Tree ornament and had some ice cream to help with the day’s heat – which was a “feels like” 97 degrees! We also found the small grocery store and bought a fresh lettuce!

However a nice cooler breeze came through the anchorage in the evening so we grilled the dinner and ate on the fly bridge watching the sail boats taking sunset cruises on the Miles River.

Sunset over St Michaels

Later that evening we were surrounded by electrical storms that passed around us but did present us with some magnificent dark skies and forked lightning!

August 7th

We woke this morning to a boat covered in small flies! So much so that we could not use the back door but had to go out and in the side pilothouse door. The number of flies got progressively worse as the day went on, and the number of spider webs appearing to snag them increased as well! We also noticed little green spots appearing on the fiberglass. We will be tying up alongside tomorrow night in Rock Hall so will get to work with the hose and soapy water.

Attack of the flies!

After a lazy morning swimming and reading in the sun we went ashore. We had lunch at the Carpenter Street Saloon before walking down to the St Michaels winery for some afternoon wine tasting. We found the wines there to be very acidic so did not buy any bottles. We considered paying a visit to the Maritime Museum but were driven back to the boat by the heat.

Tasting the wine – no sips here, we went with full glasses!

Returning to Sonas we all had a nap to allow the wine to wear off!! Then we made good use of the crab that we bought making crab spaghetti with lemon gremolata.

August 8th

Paul was interested in taking a direct route to Rock Hall via the Kent Narrows. Last night he had used both the charts and the GPS to look at the depth through the channel, and it looked pretty shallow. He went on to the Trawler Forum and asked for local knowledge and received a good deal of input – in summary, due to the skinny water through the Narrows, it suggested taking the time to go back out through the East Bay and take the long way around. Which is what we did.

We went North past the large ships waiting their turn for Baltimore, then raced a tug and barge to the Chesapeake Bay bridge (until Sian told Paul to slow down and let the tug win!).

Racing the tug and barge!

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Immediately past the bridge we made the turn to the North East and the channel into Rock Hall. First we went past the entrance to Rock Hall and entered Swan Creek to anchor for lunch and a cooling swim. As we turned the corner into the creek we were surprised by the number of large marinas back in there. After lunch we backtracked and entered Rock Hall harbor. There are two way to get across the harbor. Around the well-marked edge of the harbor, or straight across. Paul had received some local knowledge from the Trawler Forum advising us to go around the edge as the cut across only had a starting and ending markers and was very shallow out of the channel. We passed the blow up Waterman at the harbor entrance and got to our T-Head dock at the Waterman’s Crab House, and found that we had no power pedestal! We walked over to the restaurant and found the general manager, Ken, busy getting bushels of crabs ready for the evening dinner crowd. He pointed us to the only slip that had a 50 amp power. So we backed Sonas down to slip number 5 and we tied up stern onto the bar and restaurant – about five steps away!

Waterman guarding the entrance

Can we get any closer to the restaurant!

John and Anne Marie went for a walk into town but found most placed closed by five. They had an ice cream as a reward!

We had originally planned to grill some steaks on the boat deck, but as the breeze was blowing towards the restaurant we thought it a bit cheeky having the smell of privately grilling steaks waft over the guests there! So we decided on dinner at the restaurant where we had the crab pots; crabs, mussels, clams, potato, and sweet corn, with the requisite brown paper table cloths. Our waitress Tiffany showed us how to professionally clean the crabs, and Ken, the general manager, came and sat with us for a chat. Overall one of the great evenings of our trip.

Yummy yummy!

Not much left!

August 9th

This morning we ran back out the Rock Hall channel and then across to the northern extension to the Brewerton Channel towards Baltimore. We passed through the Baltimore docks and entered the inner channel, slowing to 6 miles per hour as per the signs downtown. We found the Harbor East Marina and were directed to slip A10. We had a little bump on the way into the slip as the slips have long fingers on both sides and are only 18 feet wide –and Sonas is 15.5 feet wide!

Right downtown Baltimore

We would describe the marina as nothing short of magnificent. It is a brand new marina that has only been open for a month. The walkways are very wide and safe, they had slip-side pump outs, and best of all it is right downtown beside Piers 4 and 5. There were Adirondack chairs and tables spread among the slips for our use.

After checking in we went to visit a couple of the Historic Ships. First the WWII submarine Torsk, which sank the last enemy ship of the war. Then we went on the tall ship USS Constellation. We thought two was enough so did not visit the Coast Guard cutter (last surviving ship from Pearl Harbour) and a lightship. It was getting very hot again so we paid a visit to the Tir na Nog Irish bar afterwards John and Anne Marie did some more sightseeing while we went to Fresh Market for some groceries.

USS Constellation

USS Connstellation

That evening we grilled our steaks and set up one of the tables on the dock. We ate and drank wine under the lights of downtown Baltimore. Stephen Bisciotti’s Winning Drive mega yacht was docked next to us as the Ravens had a pre-season game tonight. We chatted and watched the river traffic until late, before bunking down, the final comment from John; “this is the best marina I have ever been to!”

Dinner on the dock

August 10th

For some reason Paul woke up this morning and fancied a breakfast out. He Googled breakfast places and lo and behold found an Irish Pub, The Slainte, only a fifteen minute walk away, AND they did a full Irish breakfast! So we walked over to the Fells Point area and walked through the cobbled streets of the old port district to the pub. As promised Paul had his breakfast of bangers (sausages), egg, mushrooms, bacon, baked beans, black pudding and white pudding, topped with toast! The rest of us had a more modest fare, though John and Anne Marie did start their day off with large Mimosas!

Back on Sonas John and Anne Marie finished their packing. They booked an Uber for one o’clock and we saw them off to Philadelphia airport. We left the marina and “made the turn”, beginning our journey south towards home port. We promised ourselves that we were going to take it slow and continue with short days, rather than long days in a rush to get home. We went under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, past the Severn River and Annapolis and entered the Rhode River. We anchored inside the river by the large marinas in there, as dozens of sailboats passed us on their Friday evening sails.

Rhode River sunset

August 11th

Looking at the charts and cruising guide we saw that there were no good anchorages on the Western Bay between Rhode Island and the Solomons/Potomac River area. Plus we were aiming to get to Cape Charles tomorrow, so decided to put in a longer day today to make tomorrow a short run, getting us to Cape Charles early in the day to visit the town. We set the course for the Great Wicomico River and the protected anchorage on Cockrell Creek. The day stared much cooler than it had been, though thunderstorms were forecast for later in the day.

We made the anchorage in about eight hours. Along the way we booked our slip at Cape Charles and also booked two nights in Norfolk, the next stop.

As we turned into our anchorage we saw the large north Atlantic Menhaden fleet tied up just north of us at Reedsville. Menhaden are an oily fish that are harvested for their Omega 3 oil.

Menhaden fleet

August 12th

We headed south east to Cape Charles. The day started out cloudy and cool, which was a welcome relief after the recent very hot days. Our GPS showed that we would be at the channel for Cape Charles at 12:30. It was a short four hour run. As we neared noon the breeze died away and it got hot and steamy again. Then just as we passed off shore Cape Charles we were hit by a swarm of little black no-seeums. They flooded the fly bridge and were a ticklish nuisance. We were glad when we hit the channel and turned back north into whatever breeze there was and the flies got blown away.

We pulled into the fuel dock at the City Dock and topped up with enough three dollar diesel to see us all the way back home to Jacksonville. We also pumped out the holding tank. Then we went over and tied up at the Dock B T-head. We had a cold beer and a nap before taking a walk into the small quaint town of Cape Charles. Paul got an ice cream at Tim’s Convenience Store and Sian got some milk and lettuce!

This evening we went up to the restaurant by the marina, Shanty, for dinner. But found that there was a one hour wait. So we walked across to the town and had a good crabcake dinner in the Gingernut Irish Pub.

Back Down The Potomac, On to Annapolis And Cambridge

July 30th

Today was to be our last full day in DC. Paschal and Margaret were aiming for the American History Museum and then the monuments and memorials on the Mall. The four of us on the boat set off for a walking tour of the Capitol Building. We watched a movie about the history of the Capitol and the process followed to decide the political structure of the country. We then visited the Crypt, the Rotunda and the hall of statues. After lunch at the Capitol we took the tunnel connecting the Capitol to the Library of Congress. We had a look at the Guttenberg Bible, the Reading Room overlook before walking back down the mall. We returned to Sonas where John and Anne Marie packed, leaving Sonas the next day for a few days on the beach at Ocean City MD.

The Capitol Rotunda

The Reading Room at The Library of Congress

Later that afternoon Ocean Dancer, an Ocean Yacht 48, pulled into the T-Head behind us. Paul went out to say hello and found out that we had previously spoken to the owners on the radio while in the Exumas last year! We swapped cards and, since Bill and KelliRae would be following us to our other destinations, we hope to catch up later.

This evening we all met up and took an Uber to Chinatown and had dinner at Reren. This was one of the top picks on TripAdvisor and the food was excellent, though one or two of us (well really only one of us) didn’t realize that bean curd was tofu and got a shock when it was delivered!! We were eating family style so it really didn’t matter!

ChinaTown

July 31st

First thing we put on our backpacks and walked the half mile to Safeway and reprovisioned with milk, veggies, fruit, bread and necessities. Then we said goodbye for now to John and Anne Marie and hello to Paschal and Margaret who were coming on board for a four day trip to Annapolis. John and Anne Marie were renting a car  for a few days and then meeting  us in Annapolis.

Debris taken from marina

We headed back down the Potomac, keeping a close watch for flood debris. Surprisingly we saw very little. Our target anchorage was Chapel Point on the Tobacco River and we pulled in and were anchored by mid-afternoon. Sian and Paschal went for a swim and we had a blissfully quiet night in the anchorage.

Swimming in the Chesapeake – Not exactly the clear waters of the Exumas!

August 1st

We were out of the Chapel Point anchorage by eight as we wanted to get to our next anchorage off Historic St Mary’s in time to go ashore and visit the old city, parts of which have been restored. Again it was an uneventful trip, with no sign of any debris, although the coast guard came on regularly to warn of debris in both the Potomac and Chesapeake.

We dropped anchor off St Mary’s around one thirty. We launched the dinghy and went ashore to walk up the historic village. Since it was closing at four we got reduced admission. We quickly headed down to the dock and went on board the Maryland Dove – a recreated 17th century sailing vessel. We took the tour below and above decks and chatted with the reenactor. We then headed off to the Indian village and then the chapel. This was all we had time for before the historical village closed for the day. Definitely a worthwhile stop, if you can fit it in.

The Maryland Dove

Back on Sonas Paul decided to have a look at the guest head which had been leaking a little previously but had gotten much worse in the last couple of days. He dismantled the Vacuflush commode and identified the issue. He replaced the vacuum breaker but then struggled to get the head back together again – in the end requiring three pairs of hands to hold all the parts together while he tightened everything. So far so good and the toilet is now behaving!

Dismantled guest head

August 2nd

The anchorage at St Mary’s is very well protected from any wind from the south, and we awoke to a light wind. When we turned the point to leave the anchor we found an eighteen knot wind on our bow. It was from the south so was quite warm. We got to the Potomac and headed east towards Point Look Out. As we were leaving Mary’s River a blue hulled Kady Krogen was behind us. As Invictus passed us on the Chesapeake we realized that we had shared a marina in the Abacos in the spring.  We radioed them and had a pleasant chat about the Abacos, where they been and where they were going.

We arrived at our overnight stop at Harbor Island Marina in Solomons and hailed the dock, with no luck. Another boater advised us to call on the phone instead, which we did, still with no luck. We continued to radio and call until we stood off the marina. Still no answer. So we tied up at the long fuel dock. About a half hour later a dockhand came along and moved us further along the fuel dock for the night.

AND… the guest toilet got plugged up. So while Paschal and Margaret went for coffee and Key Lime Pie, Paul got busy with the plunger and got it freed up.

This evening we went to the Lighthouse Grill for an excellent seafood meal.

Beautiful little tug anchored in Solomons

August 3rd

We tried to sneak off the dock without using the bow thruster this morning so as to let Paschal and Margaret stay in bed. However once they heard the engines start they got up to help us set off! We went back out into the Bay and set a course to Thomas Point, just off Annapolis. The GPS showed that it was 35KM away. Our course took us diagonally across the bay which curves from a north west direction to a north east direction. So we headed towards the east bank and then back gain to the west bank! We passed a few barges and bulk carriers on our way. We also were passed by three beautiful restored 1920s Chesapeake Oyster skips.

Once at our mark Paul took Sonas into the river. We were surprised at the number of crab pots and clam lines that were strung across the river entrance, given that Annapolis is such a busy river. As we went further in Paul realized that there was not a city ahead of us. Slowing Sonas and checking the paper charts he realized that we had turned directly east before Thomas Point and entered the South River. We needed to go past Thomas Point light and then turn to the north wast to enter the Severn River. That explained all the crab and clam lines we saw!

Thomas Point Light

We backed out and went around Thomas Point light and past the big ships that were waiting there for their turn into Baltimore. As we made the turn for the Severn River we saw plenty of boating. Entering Annapolis we had to made our way slowly past three different sets of children in small racing dinghies, followed by the well laid out mooring field. We then called Yacht Basin Company for our slip assignment and were assigned the 104 foot long slip number five.

On the Severn River approaching Annapolis

After tying up Paul arranged an Uber for Sian and Margaret to go to the supermarket while he checked in. By the time they got back John and Anne Marie had rejoined us and we took a walk through town, and had dinner at Red Red Wine. After dinner we walked over to the Naval Academy to find where we were starting our walking tour, planned for the next morning.

August 4th

John and Anne Marie brought their luggage from their hotel as Paschal and Margaret were leaving us today to fly back to Ireland. We then went over to the US Naval Academy and took a guided walking tour of the impressive facility. We heard about how the 4500 midshipmen are selected, go through Plebe Summer, and later shed their dixie cup hats and move to third class midshipmen. We saw their training facilities, the dorm, Memorial Hall, chapel, and heard about the various traditions.

Bancroft Hall, the Naval Academy Dormitory

Naval Academy Centennial of US Submariner Force – with Royal Navy Submarine veteran John.

Sarcophagus of John Paul Jones

Candle for the MIA in the Naval Academy Chapel

Naval Academy Memorial Hall

After lunch on board Paschal and Margaret bade farewell and caught an Uber to Dulles. Just before they left some old friends of ours from Yardley PA, Jim and Eve, who had run their sailboat down from the Bohemia River, came to visit.

We went to Saturday mass at the beautiful St Mary’s church before  the four of us who were left had a light dinner at Harvest.

St Mary’s Church altar

St Mary’s Church

August 5th

We left our slip and went over to the fuel dock and pumped out the holding tank, then set out for our next stop of Cambridge, Southbound on the Eastern shore. There was not a breath of wind and water of glass. We made very good time so decided to go into the very pleasant Lecompte Bay, drop the anchor and have lunch and a swim.

John and Anne Marie

We then continued into Cambridge. We read on the cruising guide that we could tie up at a bulkhead wall in front of the county building. This was easy to find and there were no boats there when we arrived, so tying up was simple. The cleats on the wall are quite small and in need of repair so would be suspect in a blow. Also there are no power pedestals there so we turned on the generator.

Tied up at the Dorchester County Building bulkhead

We walked through the small downtown and, due to the heat, we were the only people on foot, meeting no one else on our walk. We discovered that Cambridge was a key stopping point on the Underground Railway.

Cambridge’s role in the Underground Railway

We were so hot that we decided to stop in at the RAR microbrewery for a beer. Afterwards we walked through the graveyard of the Grace Episcopal Church, which was previously one of the original Church of England churches set up by King William and Queen Mary in 1693. Buried here are five Maryland governors with graves dating from 1674, including many revolutionary war dead.

Grace Church graveyard

We then decided we were still a bit hot so walked past Sonas to Snappers restaurant and Tiki Bar for another round!

Meanwhile, back on Sonas, Sian had a joint of lamb cooking in the slow cooker and when we got back we added roast potatoes, asparagus, and some onion and mushroom gravy to it for a great meal back on board.

To Washington DC And Family

“Blue” helicopter flying overhead

July 23rd

Today our planned anchorage is at Mattawoman Creek. Before we left Paul went on line and checked the chart. He got confused when the whole creek showed depths of only 2-3 feet. So he looked at the paper charts and saw 7-8 feet. After some more investigation we found that there are two Mattawoman creeks, one off the Potomac (our planned stop) and one off the Chesapeake Bay proper! It took us under three hours to make the anchorage, again passing through debris fields of serious sized pieces, some large tree trunks and pieces of dock.

Large debris

Large debris

We passed Quantico to our port where helicopters were constantly circling and a number of V-22 Ospreys taking off. It is interesting to watch these lift off slowly in helicopter mode and then transition to prop planes. We knew that Qualtico was home to the Marines, but didn’t realize until we looked it up that many many military departments have their training and HQs there. From Wiki: The base is the site of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and HMX-1 (the presidential helicopter squadron), Officer Candidate School, and The Basic School. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration‘s training academy, the FBI Academy, the FBI Laboratory, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations headquarters are on the base.

Osprey aircraft from Quantico

We slowly went into the anchorage a hundred yards off the shore which gave us nice protection from the southerly wind, though it stayed a light breeze most of the night. After anchoring we saw signs along the north bank telling us that it was a restricted area. It had a number of objects laid along the shoreline. After it got dark we saw that these were large bright lights pointed upwards. We have no idea what that place was so will do some research later.

Nice tight anchorage!

Lights from restricted area

July 24th

Today was without doubt the most stressful of our cruise so far. Maybe even the most stressful since we got Sonas!

Our plan was to run the three hours to Alexandria, tie up at the city dock there, and have a walk around and dinner. Then tomorrow head for the Capital Yacht Club right downtown for a six day stay.

We left the anchorage and immediately started seeing more and more debris fields. Again some pieces were very large. We pulled back on the throttles and took our time keeping a close watch on the water. As we got to the final bend before seeing the Alexandria Bridge Paul saw a huge piece of tree right on our bow. It had a grey bark and had been well hidden by the water. He immediately threw the helm over and took the tree down our starboard side. When it got half way down the hull he threw the helm the other way to try and spin the stern of the boat away from the tree. As we waited for what seemed an age but was only a second or two we heard and felt a number of quick crunches, then the tree passed behind us. Paul slowed down the boat and went below to check everything out. Thankfully all seemed fine.  He then slowly increased the engine revs listening and feeling for any vibration, fortunately there was none. He moved the helm and the rudders responded as they should with no vibration. We believe the tree had branches and one was low enough that the prop cut it, but was fine enough not to do any damage.  Making the turn towards Alexandria Paul went to cruise speed for a while and all was good.

As we went under the Alexandria Bridge we hailed them for our docking assignment. They assigned us a T-Head. As we approached we saw that the T-Head was only about 25 feet long, requiring us to also tie up both bow and stern to remote piles. The second issue was that the dock was absolutely full of debris, including large pieces. We slowing went in, pushing the debris to one side. The wind was pushing us on to the dock, which usually is a help. This time however, because of the small dock length and we could only tie to one pile at a time, or stern was pushed around a pile. We decided to leave the dock and go back out and come in again. When we left the dock we decided that it generally was not a suitable dock and the debris field was worrying so we radioed them and told them we were going to look for somewhere else.

Twenty foot piece of tree near Alexandria

Sian then called the Capital Yacht Club to see if we could come in a day early. No one answered the phone so she left a message. She kept trying with no luck. It was 11:30 so we assumed they had gone to lunch.

None of the three marinas in downtown sell fuel and we weren’t sure that they had holding tank pump out facilities. So we popped into James Creek Marina and took a pump out, and topped up with a small amount of fuel. We didn’t really need the fuel but since we were there anyway for the pump out we took advantage to save time later on.

Meanwhile Sian kept trying CYC. Still no answer. When we left James Creek we then tried them on the VHF. Still no response from the dockmaster. We slowly cruised down to The Wharf and stopped right off the marina, calling and radioing. Still no answer. There is a small anchorage just south of the marinas so we decided to anchor there until we could get in touch with them. No sooner had we put the anchor down than they answered the phone and confirmed that they had space for us. We lifted the anchor and tied up at the T-Head on dock A, within view of The Washington Monument.

Downtown berth.

We checked in and were given a tour of the private yacht club facilities and electronic key cards. The club was founded in 1872 but had just moved into these brand new first class facilities last October.

After tidying up we walked along the Wharf District. We had friends coming in tomorrow night to have dinner so we were scouting out somewhere to eat. We went into the Anchor, a ships store, and saw that they had a selection of wine. Since they deliver to boats we ordered some wine which would be delivered on Thursday. We then had a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Later that night we had dinner at Hank’s Oyster Bar, before settling in for the evening.

July 25th

After breakfast we walked the half mile to Safeway supermarket for some supplies. Because we had bought some heavy things like bottles of milk and vinegar we grabbed an Uber back. After putting away the purchases we walked over to CVS as Paul wanted to replace our small flashlight. As we checked out Sian looked at the name tag of the manager who was checking us out and thought she recognized it.

“Did you use to live in Yardley PA?”

Yes, this young lady was friends with our daughter when we lived there and we were friends with her parents. We hadn’t seen them in at least eighteen years! What a coincidence, especially since she told us she had just moved to DC a week ago. So Paul took a photo of Sian and Emily and sent it to Claire and asked her if she knew who this was – about a minute later she came back with her name! They were 11 when they were last saw each other!

Emily and Sian

We had lunch at Taylor Gourmet before heading back to Sonas. Paul wanted to give the boat a soapy wash and scrub to get rid of some of the mud from the anchor area on the foredeck and wash away all of the salt and dirt that had gathered on the boat on our run up. We then got ourselves tidied up as we were having an early dinner with  friends.

Chris and Paul worked together at Johnson & Johnson and Chris had retired from the company one year earlier than Paul. He was spending some time in Baltimore so suggested that we get together for a tour of Sonas and an early dinner. He and his wife Nancy arrived and took the brief tour of the boat and then we set off for dinner at Landini Brothers in Old Town Alexandria. We had a delicious Italian dinner while the rain poured outside yet again. It was so heavy that at one stage all of the cell phones in the restaurant went off with a local flash flood warning.  Afterwards Chris and Nancy dropped us off at our marina where we ran through the steady downpour to the boat!

July 26th

We decided to try and get some exercise in this morning. So after breakfast we walked towards the National Mall, planning to briskly walk a half hour out then back. As we walked in the warmth of the bright sunshine we saw lot of ladies in light sun dresses. Sian regretted not packing any as they would have been perfect for this upcoming hot days in DC. So we Google mapped some stores and off we went to do some dress shopping!

After a successful shop we had lunch at Kilwin’s Irish Pub then swung by the Anchor ship store to ask about our wine order. It had just been delivered to the store and they would soon be delivering it to the boat, and sure enough fifteen minutes later it arrives dockside.

After storing the wine we went up to the wharf and has a drink at Kilwin’s where we could watch the yacht club building. We have family joining us for the next few days. John and Anne Marie arrived by train at Union Station We needed to meet them to get them access through the secured gate. They arrived and after hugs they joined us for a drink before stowing their luggage on Sonas.

Afterwards we grabbed an Uber and went for an evening walk on the National Mall. We had the Uber drop us off at the Air and Space Museum around seven. It was closing at seven thirty so we just walked through from the rear entrance through the lobby, briefly showing John and Anne Marie what was there, and then immediately exited the front entrance. We walked down the Mall to the World War II memorial and then caught another Uber back to the boat, where we had dinner on board.

Cooling off in the WW II fountains

July 27th

Today would be our first full day as tourists! We grabbed the free bus that runs from the District Wharf to the Mall, then walked across to the National Archives. We waited until it opened at ten and then visited the Rotunda to see originals of the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and the Constitution. We also went through the Freedom and Vietnam exhibits there. Heading towards the Air and Space Museum we grabbed lunch at Quiznos before all four of us took in the Journey to the Stars IMAX movie. We then split up, with the ladies going off to the Newseum, the story of journalism and the reporting of major world events, while the boys stayed for hours at the air and space museum. Meeting back at Sonas we got cleaned up, had a cocktail on board before having an Asian dinner at Kaliwa on the Wharf.

International Sailor at the Navy Memorial

A second brother and sister-in-law, Paschal and Margaret, had arrived late afternoon from Ireland. It took them over two hours to get through immigration, and then an hour and a half to get into the city from Dulles airport due to heavy traffic. They checked into their hotel and later in the evening Paschal came down to visit and lay out our tourist plan for the next day.

July 28th

John and Anne Marie set off for the Newseum, while Paul bought six tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus that does the circuit of DC. We had to go up to Union Station to convert the E-Tickets to boarding stickers, so we all met up there for lunch at ROTI Mediterranean, and to join the next bus. We took the narrated tour by the Capitol Building and along the south side of the National Mall. We got off at Arlington National Cemetery and transferred to the tour trolley that would take us around the cemetery. We visited the Kennedy eternal flame and then got off at the amphitheater to watch the emotional changing of the guard at the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier.

The tomb of the unknown

Monitor sailors grave

Arlington Cemetery

Kennedy eternal flame

Changing Of The Guard at The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier

We returned to the transit center at the Lincoln Memorial and grabbed an Uber back to the Wharf. After relaxing and a couple of cocktails we headed off to The Pearl Street Warehouse as we had tickets to see a young female country trio Maybe April. We had bar food at the venue and were out of there and back to the boat by 10:30.

Drinks at Pearl Street Warehouse

Maybe April

July 29th

Today Paschal and Margaret headed for The American Indian Museum, The Air and Space Museum and The Sculpture Garden. The rest of us walked over to the White House Visitor’s Center, which was very well done, before taking some photos in front of the iconic building itself. We then walked over to the World War II Memorial, and along the Reflecting Pool to the Vietnam War Memorial. Following that we walked up the steps into the Lincoln Memorial, finishing at the Korean War Memorial.

The Whitehouse

Lincoln Monument

The Reflecting Pool

Korea War Memorial

We then split up with John and Anne Marie off to do some shopping while we headed back to Sonas for a well deserved nap.

For this evening we had reserved a table at the upscale Del Mar restaurant right at the Wharf.  We had a delicious Spanish meal with lots of Paella before night caps on Sonas.

 

Crossing Back To The West Side And The Potomac

Preparing dinner!

July 16th

As soon as the post office opened in Onancock today we were there to send off our passports to get visas for a trip we are doing in October.  We couldn’t do this before we left home as the visas are only valid for 90 days and doing it then then would have been too early. Afterwards we walked to Ker Place, a mansion and grounds preserved by the Eastern Virginia Historical Society. The house itself was not open on a Monday but we were able to walk around the gardens and the large fishing canoe that they are restoring.

Ker PLace

We returned to Sonas, lifted the dinghy, and headed back to the Chesapeake Bay and towards Tangier Island. As we went down the river we saw some beautiful houses with even more beautiful views!

Onancock houses

Onancock houses

Onancock houses

Tangier Island is from a time past. Rather than us trying to describe it clicko HERE to read about the history of the island and the threat to its future.

We ran at 1400 RPM and around six knots as it was only 17 miles from Onancock. We also wanted to get there at a minimum of a rising mid-tide as the channel is quite shallow. We pulled into the eastern channel around 1:15 and slowly passed the watermen “shantytown” on stilts, with crabbers unloading their catch.

Tangier watermen town

We tried calling Parks Marina multiple time to no avail. We like to call early enough that Sian had time to get the lines and fenders ready on the correct side. We didn’t get an answer until we were right on top of the marina. Then he answered and told us he was in the house and would be right out. Mr. Parks, about 80 years old, soon appeared. He then spoke animatedly into his handheld radio but we heard nothing. Paul signaled that he wasn’t coming through so we then shouted at each other, enough to work out that we were taking the T-head. We also needed to tie the bow to a pile out in front of the bulkhead. Since we had not been made aware of the tie-up we had no line ready and Sian scrambled to get a loop made and the line around the pile. It took a while but we were soon tied and double tied to the bulkhead.

Paul paid Mr. Parks in cash – $70 ($30 per night for the boat and $5 per night for the power)! This is a pretty inexpensive place!

After ensuring ourselves that Sonas was well secured we started to head into town. On the dock we met John, an Englishman from Norfolk – the one in England. He lives over in Crisfield but comes to the island to help out once a week. He gave us an overview and then told us that there was a crab festival in Crisfield on Wednesday that we would enjoy.

We walked up the main street of Tangier and read the many historical signs. We visited their small but very well done museum, and called into a couple of little one room stores. We bought a postcard and a Christmas ornament. Everyone we met along the way were happy to chat.

We had been given a recommendation to try the stuffed flounder at the Fisherman’s Corner restaurant. Walking past just after four we saw that it closed at six. So we stopped in to ask is that meant last food orders at six, or out the door at six. They told us, because the ferries had not brought many tourists over today, they were just about to close! We also discovered that the island is dry, so no beer or wine with dinner! The only other restaurant right across the corner already had a closed sign up!

So we planned on eating on board this evening. We then watched as a neatly dressed couple left their  boat, which was tied up beside us, and headed into town looking like they were off to dinner! So Paul took a walk in and found the other restaurant now open. He went in and found that they were serving until nine. We got cleaned up and off we went to Lorraine’s for dinner. There we bumped into another John, from Leister in England this time, who we had previously  spoke with over in Onancock. He was cruising around alone in his cuddy cabin boat. He had his food delivered to our table and joined us for dinner.

July 17th

Plan was to spend a very relaxing day here at Tangier Island. We walked the marsh side of the island past some splendid houses, but also past some very low lying areas of the island where both the houses and the golf carts needed to be stored on elevations because the high tides came in across the properties. Even the school playing field was tidal!

Tidal baseball field

Ramps to keep the carts out of the tide

Garden ornaments

We visited the lovely Methodist Church, wondered at the gravestones that people had in their front yards (because they needed to be buried in elevated areas that would not be flooded), waved and chatted to everyone we passed.

Tangier Methodist Church

We went in to Fisherman’s Corner for lunch – Crab Cake salad and Crab bites no less! Then back to Sonas for some light maintenance . We then spent a relaxing afternoon reading on board. During the afternoon a Kady Krogen 52, Kay Dee Anna, came down the channel. Knowing the challenge they would have contact Mr. Parks, Paul turned in the radio and we helped them connect with Mr. Parks – which included Paul shouting to him and Sian telling him that he wasn’t on the right channel on his handheld VHF radio. We got onto the dock and helped them tie up.

Also during the afternoon some sail boats crewed by boy scouts came in looking to tie up. They hung about off the marina trying to raise Mr. Parks. At one stage one of the sailboats ran aground over by the crab shacks and had to be towed off by some watermen. They eventually gave up and went off somewhere else.

July 18th

We planned to leave today after breakfast. We noticed a golf cart with some scouts on board watching us. When we started the engines they came up and asked if we needed some help. They were waiting to move into our spot on the dock. Which we were getting ready to go the folks on Kay Dee Anna told us that Mr Parks had a bad fall off the little scooter that he rides up and down the dock. His foot had been in a cast and his hands bandaged up and he was likely going back to the mainland with his daughter. He had earlier told us that he had just recovered from a broken hip bone. We suspect that the old marina will not be around much longer.

We headed back out into Tangier Sound and followed the chart heading towards Crisfield. Suddenly we were running out of water, not indicated on the chart. There was a shoal off to our port which we suspected had spread. So we headed further away from the shoal and the depth improved.

We ran along the outside of a number of crab pot lines, eventually having to nip between a line of pots to make the Chrisfield channel. We backed into slip G3 at the Somers Cove Marina. After checking in we walked past the thousands of people attending the crab and clam bake. We decided at $50 a head, we wouldn’t go there for lunch. We walked up Main Street and noticed a lot of the building were empty, and those that did contain a business were not in great condition. The overall impression we got is that this is a town in serious decline. Even the marina, with 450 slips, was only about 20% occupied. We finally stopped off at Capn. Tyler’s Crab House and had a nice, what else, CRAB CAKE lunch!

Crisfield

Returning to Sonas we did some small chores and then spent the afternoon and evening relaxing on the back deck. There were a couple of transient boaters in the slips around us and we chatted to one owner who owned a boat dealership.

July 19th

Paul went up to the main dock to drop off some recycling and while he was away a gentleman from a nearly boat knocked on Sonas and asked if he was around. He told Sian that he knew Paul from the Trawler Forum. So when Paul got back he went over to his boat and Ted and he had a good chin-wag! We then cast off and went over to the fuel dock to pump out our holding tank. We have a holding tank monitor and it had just gone to two thirds full. We had another week to go until our next marina in DC, so we decided to pump out today rather than take the risk of it filling up.

We then headed out and across Kedges Channel towards the mouth of the Potomac River. We passed the rusted out remains of the Hannibal, which was scuttled on a sand bar near Smith Island and is used for firing practice by US Air Force jets and helicopters.

Target ship Hannibal

We entered the Potomac and turned into St Mary’s River, going all the way up to anchor off the Historic City of St Mary’s along with a half dozen other boats. Once the capital of Maryland before it was moved to Annapolis, it is now a historic site with some restored buildings and a lot of archeological sites. St Mary’s College is also there, and there were a number of school racing dinghies practicing with their coach when we got to the anchorage. When we looked up the college on the Web we found that they do a concert series and the next one is tomorrow night. We were planning on heading out tomorrow but decided to stay and attend the concert.

Historic St Mary’s anchorage

St Mary’s anchorage sunset

Our dinghy had a leak. We first noticed this in the Abacos earlier in the year and had put up with it by pumping it up on a daily basis. We decided it was time to find the leak and fix it. We raised the dinghy and turned it in the boat deck so we could wipe the hypalon tubes with soapy water. The resultant bubbles told us where the leak was – and it was a long scratch along the bottom of one tube – probably from a Bahamian Beach! We cut pieces of hypalon repair patches to match the scratch and put on two layers of glue. We will know within 24 hours if we have fixed the issue. [Update: no, still leaking. We will have to have another go at fixing this later].

July 20th

By the time we got up this morning the majority of the other boats had left the anchorage. We got going on some more boat chores. Paul tightened some head bolts, got the transfer pump primed and transferred fuel, and cleaned out the forward bilge. Sian cleaned windows, and added vinegar to all of the shower and AC drains to keep them clear. Then she made the boat smell delicious by baking a loaf of bread!

Sian doing some maintenance on the master cabin AC!

After chores we lounged on the back deck reading until it was time to launch the dinghy and go to the concert. We got to the College green and bought some dinner from one of the numerous food trucks. The concert was billed as classical music with Dancing Under The Stars. Unfortunately the bright sun was setting right behind the stage and it was hard to see unless you had something to shade your eyes. After about twenty minutes of sitting on our blanket with the orchestra playing pieces of Swan Lake,  we decided this was not our cup of tea, so headed back to Sonas.

July 21st

The forecast called for serious gale-force winds and rain all day today beginning late morning. So we were off the anchorage shortly after seven.

Since we arrived on the Chesapeake we find that every time we lift the anchor it brings up loads of mud, which ends up covering the deck. Sian now lays out a hose and cleans the chain and anchor as it comes up.

Muddy foredeck

We retraced our path back to the Potomac and turned northwest past Piney Point and towards Breton Bay. Not one other vessel of any size passed us, and none appeared on the radar. We followed the bay north to Leonardtown and anchored close by the high banks there which would give us solid protection against any wind. We laid down plenty of chain and added the snubber.

It did rain all day and into the night, sometimes very heavily, however we felt nothing of the wind due to our protected spot. The forecast had called for potentially over two inches of rain today. We took the time to do a couple of small boat chores, of which there always seems to be plenty! We watched a movie – Sweet Home Alabama and read as the rain hammered down.

July 22nd

We woke to calm winds and blue sky, but with another nasty weather forecast for this afternoon. We got underway quickly and headed out to the Potomac. We again headed north toward Tobacco River and our next anchorage. Suddenly we were in the middle of a debris field, with hundreds of pieces of wood, some a decent size. We slowed down and navigated our way through it.

Debris field

We went under the Route 301 bridge and headed for Tobacco River on the Maryland side of the Potomac. As we approached the mouth of the river we saw that the anchorage was exposed to the Southeast – and that was where the wind was coming from. So we quickly looked at the charts and saw a potential good anchorage just ahead on the Virginia side, behind Mathais Point Neck. During the trip we also saw some houses up on the high banks, with some innovative ways of getting to their boat docks.

Personal lift to the boat dock

We pulled in there as far as we could before we reached the huge crab pot field. As we were anchoring we listened as a boat  just ahead of us on the river put out a Securite call on the VHF warning all boaters that there was another significant debris field at his location “with pieces of wood large enough to damage a boat!”

After getting the anchor down we used the Internet to find that counties up river had over five inches of rain yesterday with flash flooding, and flooded roads. Clearly the debris fields were the result of that movement of water into the river.

We re-scanned for TV channels on our digital antennae and watched the last couple of hours of the British Open golf. Thunder storms continued to roll through for the rest of the day, and a warning came over the radio advising people to stay indoors in St George and Charles Counties on the Maryland side of the river, but we were snug in our anchorage.

Potomac Beauty and the Beast

 

Cruising the South West Shores of the Chesapeake

July 9th

We watched as a Hampton crab fisherman came by in the early morning and cleared his pots. He lifted and moved the one that had been placed near the middle of the anchorage and was bothering us. We then lifted our anchor – leaving it dangling in the water for a while to get the dark mud off it before bringing it on board. We radioed in to the Hampton Public Piers dock master to thank him for his hospitality and help with the drifting boat and headed back out to Hampton Roads.

As we cleared the channel and headed out into the Chesapeake we realized that storm Chris was still sending stiff winds and swells our way. We had the stabilizers on and Sonas took us comfortably north towards York River. Two hours later we turned towards the river and Yorktown.

Along the way we saw all of the big ships sitting off Cape Charles waiting for their pilots to take them to Norfolk to the south and Baltimore and other ports to the north.

Dozens of ships wait for their pilots

We had called the Yorktown Riverwalk Marina earlier and asked them about their mooring balls. They were first come first served. As we approached the town we called again to get directions to the balls. We were somewhat concerned as the NE wind was blowing straight up the river and causing quite a chop. When we got to the mooring field we found heavy metal cans, well encrusted with shells at the waterline, and no pennant (the piece of floating rope that you pick up to tie off to). There was a piece of metal in the shape of a cross on top that looked like it needed to be lassoed or cleated to using a dinghy.  We went alongside but it was clear we were not going to be able to tie off to the mooring as it was set up.

We considered the Yorktown City Marina, but there were no boats in there so we decided against it. Later, on visiting Yorktown, we saw that the marina was closed down and the power pedestals all covered over.

Empty Yorktown City Marina

So we had a close look at the cruising guide and decided to go across the river to the York River Yacht Haven and tie up.

We went ashore to check in and have lunch at the marina’s restaurant, the York River Oyster Company, then called the Yorktown Shuttle as suggested by the marina.

Lunch with Sonas in the background.

We were transported into the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown and spent a couple of hours there. When we went to pay our admission Paul asked the lady if we could get a discount because Sian was English. That didn’t work!

Outside the Revolutionary Museum

After visiting the museum we caught the free Yorktown shuttle tram that took us through the town. We got off at the Victory Monument by the Yorktown Battlefield and walked back into town by way of the historic main street, with houses that remain from the siege.

The Victory Monument

We had beer and tapas at the Water Street Grill before getting an Uber back to the marina. We reserved a car with Enterprise Car Rental in Gloucester for tomorrow, with arrangement to pick us up at the marina. We planned to go see the colonial towns of Jamestown and Williamsburg!

July 10th 

We had a car reserved with Enterprise from 8am this morning to 8am tomorrow morning. I called them yesterday and told them that I would need to be picked up at the marina. They said it would be around 8:30 since they didn’t open until 8. When they hadn’t showed by 8:40 we called them, finally getting them to show at 9:15. We  headed off to Williamsburg, getting there around 10:15. We had an interesting six hours there, visiting all of the homes, the stores, the foundry, coopery, Capitol etc. We had lunch in the Shields Tavern and then met our tour lady for a history walk. We were the only people to sign up so had a private one and a half hour tour!

Williamsburg

The Capitol Williamsurg

The Governor’s Palace Williamsburg

Williamsurg

Capitol Committee Room

Capitol Courtroom

After leaving Williamsburg we went to the store and bought some fresh veggies and fruit, bread, and milk. We then drove to Newport News and picked up some wine at Total Wine. We had planned on going to have a look at Jamestown, but passed as there was not a breath of wind and it was really hot by now, and we frankly had enough history for one day! We returned to Sonas, put the purchases away and returned to the York River Oyster Company for dinner.

July 11th

After breakfast Paul took the rental car back to Enterprise and got a ride back to the marina. He then filled the bucket with hot water and soap and gave the port side, which was against the dock, a good wash down. Sian meanwhile topped up the water tanks, did a laundry load, cleaned the galley and heads. We were ready to set out again for the next stop!

We headed out to the York River and found about eight coast guard vessels running exercises. There is a Coast Guard training base right here on the south shore on the York River. We held our breath hoping that vessel boarding for safety checks was not part of the morning exercises. It wasn’t, and we passed by uninterrupted!

We cut across to the entrance to Mobjack Bay, which is north of the York River. Based on the cruising guides the East River, running north from Mobjack was a place with beautiful vistas and safe gunk hole anchorages. We wanted to get there in plenty of time to set the anchor and watch the World Cup match between England and Croatia. We motored passed the village of Mobjack and pulled in behind green market #7, dropped anchor in 11 feet depth and he anchor held on first asking.

It was a delightful anchorage, with soft winds, no current, and beautiful landscaping in the shoreline.

East River, Mobjack

After lunch we sat and watched the soccer match, which sadly England lost. Sian then got her swimming costume on and swam six laps around Sonas while Paul set the snubber. We had a very tasty fajita dinner and then sat in the foredeck seats and watch the sunset.

Fajitas!

Unfortunately we had left both our Chesapeake Chart Book and Cruising Guide on the fly bridge and while we were watching the soccer game a rain storm had come through and they were soaked. We will dry them out and hopefully save them!

July 12th

Our plan today to is to do a bit of tidying on Sonas, clean some stainless, wash the fore deck to get rid of the mud and dirt that the anchor brings up, and clear some of the “cruising items” to their respective storage lockers (like weather gear). While Paul swabbed the fore deck Sian used Never Dull on the swim platform staples, swim steps, and on the cockpit cleats and other stainless.

Paul then went below to do an engine room check. This is just a regular check on the engine oil and transmission levels, a general look around the engines and the bilges. On lifting one of the bilge covers he discovered about a quart of “red!” For non-sailors, marine diesel has a red coloring in it to differentiate it from road diesel as it has a different tax treatment. It is not a good sign to have diesel in your bilge compartments!

Paul cleaned up the fuel, putting it into a container as we did not want it being pumped overboard by the bilge pumps. He grabbed our strong LED flashlight and walked around the fuel lines, engines and generator, and could see nothing amiss. We then started the engines and ran them for 30 minutes and watched for any leaks. We did the same with the generator. And found nothing.

There was one other consideration. The fuel transfer pump. As mentioned we had been transferring fuel from one tank to the other to balance the boat. Given that we had found noting with the rest of the fuel system, and had used the transfer pump a few days ago, Paul suspected that the pump might be leaking.

So we switched on the transfer pump and watched it – and it was leaking! We turned it off and Paul took some photos of the pump from all angles. He saw that there were three small screws holding a face plate on the pump, and it seemed to be leaking from that plate. He got the right size ratchet and tightened the screws. After we ran the pump again –and no leak! Problem resolved! No more fuel in the bilge – which is a good thing!

Leaking transfer pump

By the time we had resolved the issue we didn’t feel like launching the dinghy to go visit the village of Mobjack, which we had planned to do. So we broke out our Kindles and had a relaxing evening reading with cool light winds across the anchorage.

July 13th

We had decided, now that we were in the Chesapeake proper and we were only doing short two to three hour runs when moving locations, that we should take an hour or so each day and keep Sonas clean and tidy. So today Paul washed the Portuguese Bridge and pilothouse while Sian tackled the stainless on the foredeck – which is quite substantial. We paused to watch as a ladies rowing crew went past in the early morning light.

Ladies coxless fours at sunrise

After that Paul upped anchor while Sian was on the helm getting some practice maneuvering Sonas out of anchorage. As the chain and anchor came up they were covered in grey mud, good for holding the anchor on the bottom, not so great when it comes aboard a freshly cleaned foredeck!

We ran for two and a half hours out of Mobjack bay, past Port Comfort Lighthouse and into the Chesapeake. We went north passing Wolf Trap light. Turning into the Piankatank River, we then navigated the narrow channel into Jackson Creek at Deltaville, our next stop. Along the way we had to keep focused watch for crab pots as we passed endless row upon row of the things. While Sonas has line cutters on her props, we certainly don’t want to be cutting some guy’s livlihood away.

Port Comfort Lighthouse

Wolf Trap Light

Deltaville is known as a boating destination, with the main concentration being in Broad Creek on the north east end of the peninsula. Unfortunately there are no good anchorages in there, only marinas and boat yards. Since we love anchoring out we chose Jackson Creek. From what we read there was a public dock that we could dinghy to and then only a three block walk to town. We launched the dinghy and went over to the public dock to find that there were no ladders to get up. We tried a couple of times but finally gave up. Instead we went over to Deltaville Marina and Boatyard and tied up to their dinghy dock, went and paid the $5 fee and then had to walk one mile into town! Paul says he may consider writing to the town suggestion they install a couple of ladders to facilitate cruisers and their dinghys.

Deltaville Public Dock

The town of Deltaville proper is basically one road with a few buildings. We went to the post office and posted some mail, then to the hardware store to buy a new mop as Paul had worn out the old one! Then we looked to see if we could sit somewhere and get a cold drink and maybe an ice cream. The little coffee shop had closed at three and the restaurant didn’t open until five thirty! So we were out of luck, and headed back to Sonas. Clearly the place to be in the Deltaville area was Broad Creek. Perhaps we will visit on our way back south.

We also had zero connectivity as here was no AT&T signal. Now and then it came in as “one bar”, and we received emails but didn’t stay long enough for us to reply. Paul was able to get a quick read of the Trawler Forum to find that the other boat in the anchorage, Briney Brig from Miami, was a member and had earlier given us some information on the channel into the anchorage.

Briney Brig at anchor in Jackson Creek

July 14th

This morning, Saturday, brought us a beautiful sunrise into a sky without a cloud and glassy water. We saw Briney Brig already on her way out of the anchorage at six am. We contacted them through the Trawler Forum once we had connectivity and found that they were heading back south as we were heading north. So we would not be seeing other again on this trip.

Briney Brig heading out at first light

We had originally planned on staying two nights at anchorage but had decided last night to move on today. We looked at the Chesapeake Magazine Cruising Guide to see where we might want to visit before making our way up the Potomac River at the end of next week. One creek and town caught our interest – Onancock. This was on the Virginia eastern shore of the Chesapeake so we would be cutting across the bay for the first time.

We left Deltaville. As we exited Jackson Creek we set our course directly for the mouth of the Piankatank river. We saw that this would take us through a series of crab pots, but we were not concerned as there was no wind and flat calm water, so the pot markers were easy to see. We waved as we passed a crabber busy at work, He yelled at us that the channel was “over that way,” and got really annoyed when we continued our more direct, and deep water, course. Seemed he didn’t like us navigating our way through his pots.

We set our auto pilot for the mouth of Onancock Creek and just short of three hours later we entered the creek. We then had a very pleasant cruise up the creek for about five miles, past beautiful houses with well manicured lawns. We tied up at the Onancock city wharf and, after getting the boat settled, took a walk through the historic village. We walked up Market Street and visited a couple of art galleries. Had a beer at the Blarney Stone Irish pub and then made our way back to Sonas. Paul had asked for restaurant recommendations when at the dock masters office and we reserved a table at Bizzotto’s Italian restaurant. We had a very nice meal there, and would highly recommend the restaurant and staff to anyone visiting this quaint Eastern Chesapeake town.

Sunset from the Onancock Wharf

July 15th

We wanted to get some things from Wal-Mart so we unloaded the bicycles and, like good riders, we donned our helmets and set off. It was three miles each way, but on pretty flat terrain. Along the way we noticed the office supply place that managed FedEx shipments as we had something we needed to send, and Ker House, a mansion and gardens that we planned on visiting.

Bicycle helmets on!

When we got back from Wal-Mart Paul went to the dockmaster’s office to see if it was possible to stay a second night. We had originally asked for two nights but a catamaran had specifically booked the bulkhead for the second night and we were hoping they had cancelled. But no. There wasn’t a slip suitable for us, so we loaded the bicycles and went over to the anchorage. After anchoring we were visiting by the crew of Pelican which was anchored nearby.

Later that evening we went in to Mallard-On-The-Wharf for dinner – what else, crab cakes!

Of course no catamaran had turned up and the bulk head was empty for the evening!

Sonas anchored at Onancock

Ker Place

Finally Arriving On The Chesapeake!

July 2nd

The soft overnight winds again gave us a restful night and we were up and under way by 6:15. Our plan today was to run to the northern end of the Alligator River/Pungo River Canal (A&P Canal) and anchor off to one side after exiting the canal.

We went east on the Neuse River towards the Outer Banks, then the Intracoastal Waterway line out of the Neuse and into the A&P Canal. The canal is a 20 mile cut that, apart from a couple of houses early on, is devoid of any semblance of life – human, fish, land, or bird. The banks were lined with the stumps of trees that had long ago fallen and were sticking out like grisly sentinels waiting to catch the unwary captain. In fact I would vote it the best scenery for the next horror movie. It was hot, long and boring.

Now our opinion of the canal might also be clouded somewhat by the fact that we met a tug pushing a huge barge soon after we entered. It took up most of the channel. We moved to the right edge of the canal, being careful to stay away from the stumps while keeping a little headway to make sure we had steerage. As the barge got to us we watched our depth slowly creep down to very skinny territory, until finally we softly bumped aground. There was nothing we could do about it until the tug and barge had passed. After they passed we slowly put Sonas in reverse to take her back the way she came to the channel. Then our starboard prop hit the bottom and stalled the engine. We put her in neutral and restarted it, spun Sonas on her keel so that the stern was facing mid-channel and slowly backed out. We then got back on heading north up the canal.

Tug and barge in the A&P Canal

There was a loud cheer from the two on board when we finally exited the canal onto the broad Alligator River. We had planned on anchoring right there for the night but since it was only two o’clock we decided to carry on up the river to give us a shorter day tomorrow. We then caught up with the sister ship to the tug and barge we had trouble with earlier, but because the river was wide with plenty of water we had no issues passing her.

Crab pots galore!

When we were ready to anchor we turned to the east off the river and headed to Cypress Point. We then knew that we were getting closer to the Chesapeake because there were literally hundreds of crab pots in the water. We navigated these until we were within the shelter of the east bank, between two rows of pots, and dropped anchor. Now we only had a short 40 mile run to our stopping point tomorrow so we could have a relaxing start to the day and still get to tomorrow’s marina in time to watch England’s World Cup match against Colombia!

July 3rd

We actually sat and had conversation and coffee this morning rather than falling out of bed and making coffee on the way! However we were still away from the anchorage by 7:00! The light was more than sufficient to again navigate our way through the myriad of crab pots. As we raised the anchor a crabber can by in his boat working his pots. We wonder what he made of us, anchored right on the middle of them!

Looking at the boat anchored among his pots

We continued on north on the Alligator River and through the “Middle Grounds” separating the river from the Albemarle Sound. This is a major sound that runs West to East towards the outer banks. It can get rather nasty in heavy winds. However today it  laid down nicely. Along the way we passed quite a lot of duck blinds.

Duck blinds across the sound

We had also been noticing that nearly every marker had as Osprey nest on it! Most of these seemed to be the male guarding the female as she sat on the eggs. We Googled the hatching time and found that it was coming up in the next couple of weeks. We did see one nest with at least one chick in it.

Osprey nest

Just after entering the Albemarle Sound you have to decide on one of two routes to continue on the IntraCoastal Waterway. Route One, which we were taking, would take us through CoinJock, the Big Bridge Lock and up into Portsmouth and Norfolk. The second route takes you through Elizabeth City, and the Dismal Swamp into the Norfolk area.

We took the slight turn to starboard and turned into the North River towards Coinjock. We arrived at Coinjack Marina and Restaurant at 11:45. Our earliest stopping point on this trip. We had heard that Coinjack had the cheapest diesel prices in America! While I am not sure if they are or not, we did take the opportunity to top up our tanks at $3.07 tax included. We also topped up our water tanks.

Abandoned house at Coinjck

Paul then  disappeared to the bar to watch the England game. Sian was keeping an eye on the score via the internet and when she saw that it was going into extra time and potentially penalties, it was time to get to the bar – and see England win on penalties.  We went back later for dinner and of course had crab. Something we believe will be happening a lot over the next couple of months.

After dinner we walked to dock and chatted with some of the folks in the big yachts that had pulled in. We talked crab pots, bridge opening times and locks!

 July 4th

We thought, given that we only had 40 miles to go to Norfolk, that we would take our time getting going today. Surprisingly by the time we had a lazy cup of coffee and went up to prepare the fly bridge for departure we were the last boat out! The eight or nine other boats who had checked in the previous day had already gone!

So we begrudgingly cast off and followed. We had a few challenges today. First there were two low bridges that only opened on the hour and half hour. Then we had a bridge that only opened on the hour and coordinated with a lock just beyond it. We thought it was too complicated to try and work out what time to leave the marina to tie into the bridge so we decided to just go and make it up along the way!

The only concern traveling today was that we heard and felt light bumps against the hull twice. It felt like some floating wood had run down the hull, but when we looked back we could not see anything. We suspect they were floating just under the surface.

As we got near the first bridge, the North Landing Swing Bridge, we realized that we had timed it pretty well, more by accident than anything else. We got there about four minutes before it opened at 9:30. The next low bridge was only 4 miles away do we decided that we were geninuses and we would also be there right when it was ready to open. And that worked out as well, and we made the Centerville Bridge 10:00 opening! Boy we were good at this! We then checked the chart for the biggie – the hourly opening Great Bridge which was right before the Great Bridge Lock we had to go through, which opened at the same time as the bridge.

North Landing Swing Bridge

Oh oh, it was only 3 miles away. And we had just passed 10:00, meaning the next opening was not until 11:00. Sigh!

So we pulled Sonas back to idle and meandered towards the next bridge. We still got there 40 minutes early. So we turned and meandered back for a while then turned again for the bridge. We basically sat around for 40 minutes waiting for the opening. And finally got through at the 11:00 opening. We were not so smart after all!

Great Bridge

We entered the lock and tied to the bollards. The upper water level was not so far off the lower level so it was not long until they opened the lock again and moved us through.

Great Bridge Lock

We them motored the ten miles or so to Norfolk. As we passed through the naval shipyards and Norfolk Navy Base  a series of rain clouds passed through. We put on our wet weather gear and got the lines and fenders ready for out reserved slip.

IKE – Aircraft carrier Dwight D Eisenhower

Around 1:45 we pulled into Tidewater Marina, which is right at Mile Market 0 on the ICW and tied up. After checking in we went for a walk through the old Portsmouth downtown area. We had a beer at the Ron Brown bar (local boy who made good in the NFL), and returned to Sonas to get ready for dinner.

Mile Marker 0. With AICW Distances.

We had dinner at the marina restaurant – Fish and Slips. Then we got the chairs set up on Sonas’ boat deck to watch the fireworks over Hampton Roads right behind us. We had an awesome view of the fireworks from our vantage point at Mile 0.

Fireworks Over Hampton Roads

July 5th

Happy days! No coffee on the go, we are staying put today! First time in this trip we are staying two days in one place! The sightseeing plan was to tour the naval ship yards by boat (someone else driving and narrating), re provision fresh foods, check out the maritime museum, buy Mile Zero tee-shirts and eat out as it is our thirty eighth wedding anniversary.

So let us tell you how the day actually went.

Stopped in at the visitor center and were delighted to find there was indeed a narrated boat tour of the navy ship yards. With three times to choose from we didn’t book, figuring we would grocery shop then mosey over to the ferry with plenty of time.

To Food Lion we go, its early, not too hot, so we walked. And then it started raining. Thank goodness for our Helly Hansens (boat rain jackets). Never the less we were soaked by the time we got there and given the fierce air conditioning in Food Lion we feel pneumonia is only a few days away.

Excuse us while we knock on wood and up our vitamin C intake immediately.

It was still raining when we came out so treated ourselves to an Uber back to the boat. Stayed in until the rain stopped, got the exact change for the ferry and set off to Norfolk for the boat yard tour. An hour ahead of the tour time we were disappointed to find out it was sold out. Sigh.

Grand Alaskan 53 Nagari

We walked back along the waterway and a boat like ours caught Paul’s eye. In fact the more he looked at it the more he was sure he knew this boat. Turns out it is the Grand Alaskan, Nagari, which is the same model as ours. We first met this boat in the Exumas, when she was called Mint Julep under different ownership. We had previously had a few online chats with the new owners so popped over to say hello. They were out. We left a boat card and headed inside for a water break. Thought we would stroll back towards their boat see if they were back, they were not but we enjoyed a long chat with Walter and Jeanette on the Seline next door. The result of which was we missed the ferry. Sigh.

Caught the next ferry and headed to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyards Museum. Which is closed for repairs. Sigh.

As more storm clouds loomed we beat a retreat to Sonas just in the nick of time.

Oh, we did get our tee-shirts though so not all was lost! If our restaurant reservation doesn’t work out it will be another beans on toast night,

No, the day was not quite done with us yet. We showered and changed, I even wore a dress and jewelry and we walked into town for our fancy pants dinner. Only to arrive at the restaurant and find another sign, saying Restaurant Closed. The fates were really stacked against us today! Paul saw movement inside, banged on the door and when a gentleman opened it we complained. They need to update their website, their phone message system and Open Table who took AND CONFIRMED our reservation. He apologized, recommended somewhere down the street and beat a hasty retreat. I wrote a dissatisfied review on Trip Advisor , that’ll show them! They do have two other locations by the way.

We followed his recommendation and had what can only be described as a mediocre meal elsewhere.

Universe 1 – Lawrances 0. We went back to Sonas and drank wine!

July 6th

Our plan today was to cruise through the Norfolk Navy Base and turn the corner into Hampton River. We were targeting the anchorage right off Hampton Public Piers. We were tucked into a very tight dock in Tidewater Marina so it took a while to “wiggle and jiggle” our way off the dock so we could spin and head up the fairway. We got out of the marina around 7:30 and headed north on the Elizabeth River. We passed dozens of warships in the navy base, concluding with passing three huge Nimitz Class aircraft carriers – the Abraham Lincoln, The George H Bush and the Gerald Ford.

Battleship Wisconsin

As we exited the Elizabeth River we saw two naval ships, a supply ship and a destroyer coming up Hampton Roads. We increased speed and crossed to the north side of the Roads to get out of their ay. We entered the channel into the Hampton River and navigated out way up the CG designated anchorage right downtown Hampton.

Incoming

We used the davit to launch the dinghy and went across to the dinghy dock by the public piers. They are very receptive to anchored boats. The dinghy dock is free, and they offer all the facilities like showers for $1 a day. They take your phone number and will watch your boat and call you if needed. They even had a herb and veggie plant garden for boaters!

Free plants!

We then called an Uber to take us over to Newport News and the Mariners Museum. This excellent museum took us through the building of the first Ironclads which faced off in the Civil War. The finding and recovery of the turret and artifacts from the Monitor, and the background to how the Virginia and Monitor came to face each other. We also walked through the history of shipbuilding, ships used in various wars – Civil, Revolutionary, 1812, Spanish, WWI, and WWII. There was a very interesting display on Horatio Nelson and his strategies, all the way to the boats used in America’s Cup racing.

America’s Cup winner Oracle

We caught an Uber back to Hampton and Sonas just as bad weather closed in. There was a pretty strong band of storm weather passing through, followed by rain off and on all night.

We were having an issue with the sump pumps on Sonas. These are the pumps that handle our shower water. Paul spent an hour trying to resolve the issue with no result. We will buy a new pump as soon as we can to make sure we don’t have a bad pump.

July 7th

We awoke this morning to the news that Tropical Depression 3 had formed just off the cost. We looked at the forecast and found high winds for the next couple of days. So we decided to stay put at our anchorage off downtown. Paul went ashore as soon as the hardware store opened and bought some things he needed to resolve the issue with our shower sump pumps. He disappeared into the showers and got the guest shower sump working as it should be. The master shower, however, requires a new switch that we need to get from a marine store.

At 10:00 it was time to watch the England Quarter final World Cup match against Sweden. Which they won 2-0. After the game we decided to go ashore for a walk. As we were preparing to get into the dinghy Paul passed through the pilothouse and noticed the little trawler anchored ahead of us was getting closer, and closer with each wind gust. She was dragging anchor down on top of us. Her dinghy was gone so her folks were ashore. We gave a couple of blast of the horn just in case someone was on board but no response. Sian started getting some fenders ready in case we had to fend her off.
We called the dockmaster. When we anchor and dinghy ashore they ask us to leave contact details in case they need to call us. We told him what was going on and asked him to check to see if he had contact details for these people, he did – but he tried multiple times with no answer so left messages. We took our snubber off and laid out more chain to back away from the boat. The dockmaster also called the Hampton police who responded both on land and by water. A rescue boat and a police patrol boat showed up. They grabbed the runaway and held her ahead of us. The owners finally showed up and lifted her dragging anchor. They apologized to us before taking off.

Getting closer

Held by the Hampton rescue boat

Owners back on board

We went ashore for dinner at Oyster Alley, then back on board for the evening.

July 8th.

It was cool enough due to the winds from the  tropical depression that we were able to turn off the AC and generator and sleep in relative quiet. Or so we thought. A few minutes after hopping into bed we head a thump against the hull. Then a minute later it happened again. We knew right away it was the crab pot float that had been hanging by the side of the boat all day! We weren’t going to be able to sleep with that so we got up to take a look. Fortunately it was at our stern and by taking in about fifteen feet of chain and reapplying the snubber, we were able to pull in front of it! After that a quiet and solid night’s sleep!

Today, Sunday, we looked at Google Maps to see where the nearest Catholic Church was. Coincidentally the church was only a mile from the West Marine store. We needed a new bilge pump float for the master shower sump pump so that would work out nicely. An Uber to the church, an hour’s spiriualizing, a 20 minute walk afterwards, and an Uber back to the boat. Perfect!

We got to the church in plenty of time to be handed the day’s service. Uh oh. It seems that we have chosen to attend the final mass being said by their departing pastor. One hour and thirty-five minutes later we emerged. There were speeches, tears, wailing and gnashing of teeth. We were stuck in the middle of a row so didn’t dare sneak away!

We did get to West Marine and the part we needed. Paul disappeared down below and emerged an hour later victorious.

The weather looks to be clearing  for tomorrow, so before dinner we lifted our tender back onto the boat deck. It is time to leave the safe anchorage of Hampton and make our way around to Yorktown tomorrow.

Chesapeake! The Outside Run – With a Ton Of Fun Along The Way!

Following the trawler

[This is a longer post than usual as we wanted to cover all of the run outside in one post]

June 25th

So the day of departure was here. The lock opened at 8:00 and we called at that time and arranged for a lock out.

We headed north on the ICW to the St John’s River, then through Mayport, into the Atlantic, and set the new auto pilot on the St Simon’s waypoint. As we were passing Naval Station Mayport a Coast Guard Cutter came through the inlet.

Naval Station Mayport

Coast Guard Cutter

Weather was light winds from the south and calm seas. Just off St Mary’s Sound three Coast Guard boats came running out on their way directly east, this was accompanied by two large military helicopters patrolling above. Given were we where we assumed that one of the big nuclear submarines from Kings Bay Submarine Base was heading in. We have been in the channel previously when one was coming in and they are quite the sight.

Coast Guard and Choppers

We had an uneventful trip to St Simon’s Sound entrance. Along the way we saw a basking shark and large turtle which dived before we saw which kind it was. Arrived at our anchorage just south of the Morningstar Marina at 3:00pm. This anchorage has been designated by the Coast Guard as a “Special Anchorage,” meaning that it was a recognized anchorage where boats staying there did not have to display an anchor light. Regardless we felt it safer to put our anchor light on.

St Simon’s Lighthouse

June 26th

We were really fortunate in that the weather this week calls for light southerly winds and waves around 2 feet all week. At 6:00am we made the coffee and headed back out through the St Simon’s Sound to the ocean.

Sunrise off St Simon’s

We entered the Tybee Roads GPS waypoint leading us to Calibogue Sound and Hilton Head. Again we had calm seas. Because we were running with the wind we were not getting the benefit of any breeze and it was pretty hot. We arrived at Tybee Roads at 3:00pm and crossed into Calibogue Sound and our reserved slip at the Harbour Town Marina at the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island.

During the day John and Suzie Mc Carley, friends we had first met in the Exumas, and who had recently stopped by Queens Harbour in their boat Escape, a 49′ DeFever, got it touch via email. They were running the same track as us on the ICW and we found out that we would both be in Charleston tomorrow, so arranged to get together for dinner downtown.

Paul left the blowers on trying to cool the engine room as we had some work to do in there after we anchored. We needed to move fuel from our port tank to the starboard tank to balance the boat. This is because we have 12 heavy glass mat house batteries on the port side of the engine room that make Sonas lean slightly that way. The yard suggested that we could put in ballast to offset the batteries, but we decided that we had enough weight on board without adding lead! So we always keep more fuel in the starboard tank than the port and that resolves the issue. In fact, as we talk to other boaters, this is a common issue and a common solution! Also the camera that monitors our engine room had been knocked loose. Paul worked on that but could not fix it. Will need to have a replacement delivered during our trip.

After we cleaned up we went up to the Quarterdeck restaurant right by the marina. Paul had curried grouper and Sian had the pesto Salmon.

June 27th

We were up again and away by 6:00am from the marina, retraced our path to the ocean and set our autopilot to the Charleston channel.

Leaving St Simon’s

Looking along the track we found that we would have to head offshore for the first hour  to avoid the Garvin Shoal just north of St Simon’s. After passing the shoal we then reset the track to head directly for the jetties at Charleston. During our run the wind died completed and we had glassy water for most of the way. We reached the jetties at 2:50pm and turned in.

As we passed Fort Sumter Paul went live on Facebook and gave some short details of the role the fort played in the American Civil War. Once past the fort we turned to the south and headed for our overnight stop at the Charleston City Marina.

Fort Sumter

As we came alongside John and Suzie came out from Escape and helped the dockhand tie us up. We were on the 1100 foot face dock and found that we were one of the few non-mega yachts on the dock. The rest were 100+ foot yachts.

Sonas tied up with the “Big Boys!”

We got all of the air conditioners cranked up and got cleaned up for dinner. The marina runs a complementary shuttle to downtown so,  with John and Suzie, we arrived at Blossoms in time for our reservation at 7:00. The food and company were both excellent.

One thing we did notice today, which has hit us in the past, is that after a couple of days on board we have begun to switch from our shore routine to our on board routine. We rise earlier, each of us know our “jobs” without saying anything, and we run our cruising day in an efficient and orderly fashion. That included regular drinks to ensure hydration, meals at set times, and engine room and instruments checks. By now we are also reintroducing some exercise routines, Sian with her resistance training using bands and Paul with his core stretches so as to avoid the sciatica issues we had in the Bahamas earlier this year.

July 28th

Our plan today was to run from Charleston to Georgetown, setting us up for a run to Bald Head Island on Friday. Since it was a relative short and easy run we thought we would relax and leave a little later than we had been. However our body clocks thought otherwise and we were still casting off the lines before seven! Several boats followed us out of the marina, including the Canadian boat Ennui, whose crew  we had chatted to as we were getting ready to go. They were also going to our next stop. Unfortunately we watched them turn back and radio the marina to say they were returning with engine trouble.

The unfortunate Ennui behind us

Fort Folly with the aircrft carrier USS Yorktown

About half way to the next stop we saw a Coast Guard ship dead ahead, which did not seem to be moving. Paul zoomed in on them using his camera and saw that they were working on a buoy. So we turned east a few degrees so as to give them a wide berth. About five minutes after doing so the CG vessel, Willow, called us on the radio and asked us to give them a wide pass to port, which we told them we had already changed course. She later passed us going south.

USCG Vessel Willow

We ran the 50NM and pulled into the Georgetown inlet at 2:00 and were anchored by the lighthouse before 3.

John and Suzie McCarley joined us as Buddy Boats on our run as they are headed back to their home port of Wrightsville and our next two stops are on their way. Escape, their DeFever 49 arrived about 45 minutes after us and anchored next to Sonas.

Escape

On the way up the channel Sian checked the weather for Georgetown and found it was 93 degrees! We thought it would get cooler as we moved north!!

It got a bit blustery in the anchorage as the wind direction blew straight into the inlet but, like most days, after the sun set, it calmed right down.

Around 4:30pm Sian’s phone rang. It was our home cleaning company telling us that we had a major issue. Today was our cleaning day. We had decided to have them come in one more time to clean and then lock the house up until our return from this cruise. One of their cleaners knocked a print off a bathroom wall and it fell on the water feed pipe for the toilet – cutting it. Water was pouring out. We called our neighbors who quickly got over there. Paul explained how to turn off the main valve into the house. Bill and Sally then diligently brushed all of the water out of our wood-floored bedrooms and got an industrial drier to start the clean-up process. Meanwhile the cleaning company sent some supervisors to plan the full correction. We also called our plumber to have him schedule to fix the broken pipe. We owe Bill and Sally a major steak meal when we get back!

This is NOT what we had in mind for the first week of our cruise!

June 29th

We had a great overnight under the Georgetown Lighthouse. Not a ripple was felt on board. We woke at 6:00 am without the alarm and got ready for the off.

Escape left the anchorage a half hour before us and we were off by 6:45. We did bump up against a bit of an incoming current but once outside we caught a push from the offshore current and at times were cruising at a whole 10 knots – supersonic speed for us!

The run to the inlet at Cape Fear River was 66 KM and again the winds were light from the south. While light winds are always a blessing when running offshore, the problem you get is that the boat is moving at the same speed as the wind so you get absolutely no breeze – and it was stifling hot. We brought the big fan up from down below and got some relief. The alternative is to run the boat from the pilot house and turn on the generator and AC. But we really like running from up above and seeing what is around.

Calm ocean waters

Escape runs efficiently about 1.5 knots slower than Sonas so we passed them after a couple of hours but we were always had sight of each other and VHF connection.

We turned towards the inlet around 2:00pm and found a significant wave action. We had to avoid a large dredge and her auxiliary vessels which was spread right across the channel. We made the turn into Bald Head Island Marina and were tied up in slip 3A by 3:30pm. Paul got the power plugged in and all four AC units blasting cold air. He then went off to check in at the marina office and ten minutes after he left the power went out! When he came back he checked everything on the boat and couldn’t get it working. The boat was getting a bit steamy. He checked the breakers at the shore pedestal, switching them off and on. Finally he called the marina office out and they switched us to another supply and we were up and running! Whew!

Meanwhile Escape came in and tied up across from us.

Betty Robinson, who Paul worked with at J&J, keeps Li Li (For Living Life) her beautiful Kady Krogen 48’ at  Bald Head Island Marina and lives on the island. We had both been in the Abacos earlier in the year but missed each other. We had been in touch and told her we would be stopping by the island. Betty had just returned from a trip to New York and Baltimore and was very generous with her hospitality. She gave us time to get cleaned up and then came in her golf cart (no cars on the island) and took us to her home on the dunes. We had some wine and nibbles, talked boats, retirement, travel plans, family, after which Betty blessed us with a golf cart for the evening and next morning along with a map and instructions on how to navigate the island.

Bald Head Island Ferry

We drove along the beach road to the marina. We plugged the golf cart into the charging area that Betty had pointed out earlier and went to Delphina Mexican restaurant for dinner. After dinner we swung by Escape to say goodbye to our travelling boat buddies. They were leaving early the next morning for their home marina 21 miles up the ICW in Wrightsville Beach.

[An update on the house. We have a great plumbing company who do all of our tile and plumbing work. They had people at our house at 9:00 am on Friday. They cut a hole in the wall behind the toilet and fixed and tested the pipe. They then suggested that they leave the water into the house off for the rest of our trip and also turned off the gas to the two water heaters. They told us to call them the day before we were due to get back and they would go in and turn everything back on. They also advised us to have someone run a moisture meter on our drywall to make sure that it was all OK and we didn’t have a mold issue in future. We have a neighbor,a  general contractor who worked on major renovations on our last home. He was no longer in that business but we called him to see if he knew of anyone who could help. He volunteered to go over himself and run his meter on the dry wall. Later that evening he called us and told us that the insulation right by the break would need to be dried out and that we should open up a few small check holes in the rest of that wall just to be sure. He also suggested that, even though the moisture readings where fine on the other walls, we open up similar check holes in those to make sure. His argument was that dry wall is easy to open and then redo, whereas mold was not! We asked him to recommend someone who could do that and he said he would come over on Sunday and do it himself. He would also go and rent a couple of heaters for the wall he knew was wet. As I said before, having such neighbors is a God send!]

June 30th

Today we were only travelling 21KM up the ICW to Wrightsville Beach to anchor right inside the inlet, ready to jump outside and run to Morehead City tomorrow. We had to run inside as going outside means going all the way around Cape Fear and the shoals there – which go straight out 15 miles! That would be a 50km mile run! So, since we did not have far to go, we decided to spend the morning at Bald Head and have a look around.

First thing after coffee Paul got the water hose out and gave Sonas a wash. He then moved some more fuel over to the starboard tank. After a shower we jumped into the golf cart that Betty had lent us and took our recycling to the recycling center on the island. Then we drove over to Betty’s home where she joined us and took us on an interesting tour of the island. She told us some of the history, how many actual residents there were compared to vacationers, where the children go to school, and generally how you live life in a small island community. Betty took us to the Turtle Conservatory where she volunteers and supports their graduate intern program and then we went to the beach to find the turtle nest that she had adopted! She explained the turtle nesting process and how the volunteers guard the nest and help the young on their way after birth! We visited the beach club, and then the very pretty little non-denominational church, and the nearby lighthouse, which has now been decommissioned. After stopping by the post office to post a card and to pick up some packages, Betty took us back to the marina.

 

BHI Lighthouse

Pretty non denominational church

Paul had a tour of Betty’s Kady Krogen 48 Li Li and we then said our goodbyes. We untied and followed the ferry out of the harbor. We went north on the ICW, through Southport and Carolina Beach and into our very sheltered anchorage at Wrightsville Beach. Being a Saturday and a hot day, there was a lot of boat traffic, and we even had a narrow call with a paddle boarder. We were able to anchor in 15’ of water just a hundred feet or so off the beach. Sian went for a swim and walk on the sand. We were visited by a number of other boaters who inquired about Sonas, and the trawler lifestyle.

Wrightsville Beach at night

July 1st

We had a great overnight at Wrightsville Beach. There was not a murmur of wind and no wake or wave action. We hadn’t even bothered putting a snubber on and did not hear a sound all night. We were up and ready at our usual 6:00 am, and ground the coffee. Sian was a bit surprised to see an elderly paddle boarder pass the boat as she was preparing the flybridge for travel, of course she grabbed the camera and got the evidence! Who goes paddle boarding at 6:00 am on am Sunday?!

Paddle boarding under a morning moon

We Iifted the anchor and headed for the inlet, to be passed by dozens of small fishing boats headed out. Then we made the turn at the inlet and saw a couple of dozen people fishing off the shore – and it wasn’t 6:30 yet! What an active community!

Fishing the Inlet

We entered the waypoint to Beaufort Inlet into the GPS, and it advised us that it was 61nm. We would be at the channel at 1:30 and inside 45 minutes later. The run was completed uneventfully – and we had water like glass the whole way. We brought our Bose wireless speaker up to the flybridge and put on Margaritaville through Sirius. Jimmy Buffett himself was doing a two hour show from Florida.  We made the Beaufort Inlet channel right on time and were amazed at the number of boats using the inlet.

Very busy Beaufort inlet

Since it was early afternoon we then made the decision to carry on up the ICW. From Beaufort it was 178 miles to Norfolk and the start of the Chesapeake. We had planned to take four days to do this, but that would have meant we would have been sitting out in the country at a place called Coinjack on the Fourth of July. There was nothing else there apart from a marina and restaurant.

By taking another three hours to get to the Neuse River, then adding an hour each of the next two days, we would be able to reduce that by a day and be in the Portsmouth/Norfolk area on the big day. We entered the Neuse River and saw a nice anchorage on the south bank of the river. We anchored in 10 feet of water, again in calm waters, and had a wonderful evening.

We had now completed the Atlantic Ocean outside portion of our trip north!

 

 

 

 

Marsh Harbour To Home, and Seeing Our Nation’s Finest At Work!

Osprey with lunch

Let us start off by saying we had absolutely no issues getting from Marsh Harbour, Abaco to 18 nautical miles south east of Fort Pierce. Then our challenges started. Stay tuned for the “rest of the story!”

Saturday May 5th.  We set the alarm to make sure we were up, dressed, coffee made, and boat prepared for crossing Whale Cay. Finally the wind had calmed and move around to the south east. By our reckoning we were good to go.

Saying goodbye to Marsh Harbour

We lifted the anchor and started out of the harbour. We had a number of people pop their heads out of their boats to see who was leaving, including a lady in her nice nightgown, but no other boat out of the dozens there made a move. Hmmm, were we sure we had this right? We put the waypoints into the GPS and put Whale Cay on our bow. Two hours later we were through. There were four to five feet swells rolling in from the Atlantic, but no waves or white caps. Sonas handled it perfectly. As we made the turn to the northwest we were contacted by two other boats asking us about the conditions, and then later another boater, still on his mooring in Green Turtle, asked us the same. We relayed the sea state.

Whale Cay

From there to our first overnight stop at Mangrove Cay everything went as planned. Mangrove is one of the first cays you hit when you get onto the Bahamas Bank and one of the last you can stop at before you make the leap across the Gulf Stream. We arrived just before seven to find a half dozen boats already anchored and joined them. As we sat in the cockpit enjoying a cocktail we saw a number of sail boats come by and carry on into the gulf stream towards Florida. Because they move so slow many sailors chose to make the passage overnight, if the weather is cooperating, so as to arrive in Florida in daylight. We had just finished a twelve hour run and were pretty tired and can only imagine how worn out these good people must be  by the time they make landfall.

Mangrove Cay anchorage

Sunday May 6th. We had a so-so night’s sleep. Initially Mangrove protected us from the south west wind, but overnight it went to the south east.We were then exposed somewhat and the boat bounced around a bit. Nothing worrying, more annoying. We had our alarm set for 5am. Sunrise wasn’t until around 6:30 but the anchorage was easy to get out of in the dark and we wanted to get a jump on another long day. We got off around 5:15 and ran the first hour or so in the dark. Daylight brought us fine sailing weather, light winds from the SSW and a moderate sea. We managed to catch the WX (NOAA weather) station from West Palm so heard that our crossing would be pretty uneventful – 3 footers in the stream.

Running on instruments in the dark

After four hours we crossed from the Bahamas Bank and into the stream, and pointed to the waypoint for Fort Pierce. The GPS told us that our estimated time of arrival at the inlet would be 3:30pm. We passed a few Bahamian fishing boats but very little other boat traffic. A few hours in a beautiful downeaster called Firefly crossed our bow and radioed us, saying “nice to see another boat out here!” We had a nice long chat before they continued on their route to Port Canaveral.

From 20 feet to 2500 feet in a half mile!

The rest of our trip across was uneventful, in fact we would say tedious – but that was OK given what we faced coming over!

Calm Gulf Stream

Then, just as our GPS showed 18 NM to our destination, things took a wrong turn – literally!

A plane flew directly over us, then over the VHF came: “trawler at location XYZ, this is navy plane overhead.” We looked at our latitude and longitude and yep, they meant us! Paul replied and they took us to their working channel. The conversation went something like this:

“This is trawler Sonas to the navy plane.”

“Sonas, we are doing live fire exercises in this area. You are two miles into our box. We need you to turn to the south for two miles and then head toward land until you are within ten miles of shore and then you may proceed staying within ten miles of shore.”

At that time we were being pushed along nicely by the Gulf Stream. Turning south meants going directly into the stream. So Paul asked:

“Navy plane, can we head north until we are out of the box and then proceed towards land?”

“Negative Sonas. You must head south  and out of the area.”

“Roger navy plan. Changing course now.”

“Thank you Sonas.”

We had been making around 10 knots up until that point with the help f the stream. Once we turned into it that help turned against us and we crawled to 5 knots. We finally got out of the “box” and headed towards St Lucie. And a number of rain squalls! We managed to use the radar to avoid most of the squall and finally were able to turn towards Fort Pierce again once inside ten miles of land. But now we started to get wind in the 23-25 mph range. It was on our stern so not really an issue – until we finally got to the Fort Pierce inlet. There was a strong outgoing tide, and the seas from the south were crossing this current, making for a very unsavory inlet. Paul turned off the auto pilot and the engine syncronizers and took manual control. We nearly made it through but just when Paul said “sixty more seconds to calm waters” we were hit by a huge wave that broached us sideways. Paul got control back but furniture went a-tumbling!

But we were in!

Going through Fort Pierce Inlet

We eased back on the throttles as the inlet is a slow zone. We had originally planned to get in around 3:30 and then run a couple of hours north before anchoring and calling Customs and Border Patrol to process in. Since we had the navy detour we decided to anchor just off the ICW inside the inlet.

AND…. just as we approached the turn for the ICW a Coast Guard boat appeared and called us the VHF.

“Vessel Sonas, this is US Coast Guard vessel. What was your last port of call and where are you headed?”

“The Bahamas, and we are going to put down anchor right ahead and call CBP.”

“Sonas, we are going to board and do an inspection.”

And so they did. Two young men, armed but very polite, came aboard. While Paul kept Sonas steady on the ICW, Sian took them around the boat showing them flares, PFDs, bilges, engine room, Fire Extinguishers, Inland Rules to Navigation book, etc. etc. We passed the inspection and were given our “You Are Gold” copy. This supposedly helps keep us away from another inspection for six months or so – but is not guaranteed to do so!

Waving goodbye to our new friends we finally put our anchor down right outside HarboTown marina by the ICW. This is the same anchorage we used before we crossed to the Bahamas.

Next step was to call into the Customs and Border Protection 1-800 number. We  are enrolled in a program called the Small Vessel Reportng System and had filed a float plan. All we needed to do was call them and, so long as everything checked out, we would not have to report in person at Fort Pierce airport. But there was a problem:

“Hello, we have returned into the US And have a float plan.”

“Sorry sir we no longer use SVRS. It was discontinued a month ago.”

“But I left the country two months ago, how was I to know.”

“We now have an smart device app called ROAM. Download that and fill in your information and we can process you.”

“Oh, OK. I will do that right away. Thank you.”

So Paul downloaded the app. It seemed pretty straight forward and intuitive. You enter the personal details of those on board , their passport number, their SRVS registration number, and a photo of the passports. You also add details of your vessel and answer the usual questions about where you have been and what you might be bringing into the country.

Well pretty intuitive until it isn’t!

Paul completed everything and then pressed “submit” to have the entry reviewed by a CBP officer. He received a screen back saying “pending review.”

So, that done, we went to he pilot house to have dinner.

After dinner and clearing up, Paul went back to the phone to see if the status had changed. He then saw that he had missed a video conferencing call with a CBP officer. He had also received an message two minutes after the video request saying:

Thank you for your recent U.S. CBP ROAM submission. Unfortunately, your U.S. CBP ROAM Trip ID XXXX has not been approved and you may not enter the U.S. at this time. You may contact the nearest Port of Entry for information or clarification.

Sincerely, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

What?

Paul called the 1-800 number back and it was explained to him that the app worked real time. When you submit an entry request an officer gets it right away and either accepts it or requests a video interview. Since we did not accept the video interview he rejected our submission. The officer told Paul to go ahead and resubmit and that he would pick it up (using our phone number) and process it again. Paul did so and we were successful.

Obviously there are still some teething issues with the process (for example the app user could be taken through a tutorial on first installing the app)  but it is a very neat way of using technology to handle recreational boat traffic into Florida.

The winds melted away to light breezes which moved Sonas around the anchorage sedately. We sleep the sleep of the innocent.

And awoke the next day well aground!

An unsuccessful Sea Tow call.

Monday May 7th. We noticed that all of the other boats at anchor were pointing one way into the wind and we were pointing another. That was the clue that the tide had gone out and left us aground. We called Sea Tow (our AAA on the water). He said he would be there in 40 minutes. He arrived and spent about an hour trying to pull our bow into deeper water. He eventually gave up and told us that he would come back at high tide and try again. After about 30 minutes Paul walked to the bow and noticed that that the bow was jammed onto a mound of shale. He walked to the stern of Sonas and grabbed our long boat hook. He stuck the boat hook into the water until it hit sand and measured the depth. It was six feet, We only needed five feet to float It seems that the outgoing tide had placed our bow on a shallow shelf but the rest of the boat in water deeper water. So Paul started the engines and powered us into reverse and we were off!

Shale mound

We entered the ICW and started our journey north.Paul grabbed he chart book and, given our late departure, targeted an anchorage just south of Titusville, to the south east of the NASA Causeway bridge. We arrived at the anchorage around 7:00 and hailed a Kady Krogen named Sweet Ride which was already in there. They confirmed that we would have enough depth so in we went and dropped the hook. The wind died to a light breeze overnight and we had a very quiet sleep full night!

Sunrise over the NASA Assembly Building

Tuesday May 8th. We upped anchor just before 7:00 and again headed north through Titusville and towards Haulover Canal. On entering the canal we saw movement in the water ahead of us. Manatees! Then more manatees, and more again! We saw around thirty or forty mainly along the north edge of the canal, and quite a number right in the middle of the canal that we had to avoid. There was even one attached to a small buoy – we suspect that it had been tagged for research.

Manatees

More manatees

And even more manatees!

We left the canal and headed through Mosquito Lagoon, and into New Smyrna, then Daytona, and finally Palm Coast, arriving at Palm Coast Marina around 4:00pm. We had passed the Kady Krogen Sweet Ride in Daytona and a half hour later she also came in to the marina and tied up beside us.

We walked into the European Village and had a seafood dinner at Lisbon Nights. Sian has Sea Bass and Paul had the Portuguese version of Paella, which included a lobster tail!  We returned to Sonas and sat on the back deck with a glass of red. Christopher and Alexandra, the owners of Sweet Ride, came by and we had a nice chat for a half hour or so.

Sweet Ride leaving Palm Coast Marina

Wednesday May 9th. We are on the last leg of our trip and on our way home today. Since it will “only” take us six hours today we had a later start, leaving the marina at 8:00. High tide at Queens Harbour was 6:00pm so we were looking to arrive at the channel around 3:00pm.

Big yacht aground south of St Augustine

AS we passed through St Augustine we were passed by a half dozen Customs and Border Patrol go-fast boats, then we saw this coming in the inlet – seems they were having a bit of target practice out there!

Towing the targets

We arrived outside the Queens Harbour lock around 2:30 and were tied up at home dock at 3:00.

Another Bahamas trip completed!

 

Beautiful Beaches, Fabulous Bars, And Mad Dogs And Irishmen

April 26th — May 4th

Thursday April 26th, dawned with beautiful , clear blue skies and found us anchored underneath the Elbow Reef Lighthouse. After breakfast we motored VERY slowly to the south east, with sometimes less than two feet clearance beneath the keel based on both charts and depth sounder! We were targeting a visit to Tahiti Beach, a snorkel on the reef off Sandy Cay, finally anchoring in the bay outside Little Harbour for dinner at Pete’s Pub. We weren’t able to go into the harbour there as we can only cross on a high tide. High tide was at 6:00pm, great for getting in, but then it was at 6:30 am – not so great for getting out after a night in the pub! So we were aiming for an anchorage outside!

Anchored Off Tahiti Beach

Well that was the plan, but the wind had other ideas. It turned to the south east and stared blowing hard. We were able to lay down a lunch anchor off Tahiti Beach and walk the soft sand there. After lunch we navigated our way around the shallows of Tilloo Bank and entered the anchorage behind Sandy Cay to find a strong surge from the swell rolling in from the Atlantic through North Bar Channel. So we skipped the snorkeling and headed on down to Little Harbour. As we approached the bay outside Little Harbour we saw big breakers hitting the beach and realized that there was also a strong surge running through there from the ocean inlet by Little Harbour. That meant an overnight anchorage there was out of the question. We backtracked and joined a dozen boats anchored in the shelter off Lynyard Cay. This unfortunately meant that we would not be making it into Pete’s Pub this trip as the journey across in the dinghy was simply too dangerous in the large swell. So we broke out the rum and gin and made do!

Friday April 27th. Next morning we headed back towards the hub of Abaco. The wind had tracked to the south so the anchorage behind Sandy Cay was more sheltered enabling us to drop the hook and get the snorkel gear ready – including the new full face masks we now had. Dive Guana had suggested we clean the masks with toothpaste, smear it on with finger tips, rinse and apply anti fog gel before rinsing again. We followed instructions to the letter and had great results. We dinghy’d out of the anchorage and picked up one of the small mooring balls placed there for people to tie up and get over the reef.

Tied up over the reef

We snorkeled the reef for an hour before heading back to Sonas. Those of us with “adult bodies” struggled to get into the inflatable dingy from the water with any modicum of dignity but managed by clawing, pushing and pulling. Adam, young, fit and able gave one almighty heave and climbed aboard in a simple fluid movement, no problems. Auntie Sian pushed him in the back ready to throw him overboard, but like a good Auntie, restrained at the last moment, but only just!

Sandy Cay Reef

Off we went for a little treat. We entered the shallow waters between Elbow and Lubbers again and anchored right off Cracker P’s! We went in, squeezed our tender in between the many others tied up, and had a great lunch with a view! And another few adult beverages!

Sonas anchored off Cracker P’s

Welcome to Cracker P’s

Boozin’ it up at Cracker P’s

We ran from Lubbers Quarters to Man O War Cay. After going through the very narrow entrance we turned right and entered the east anchorage. We picked up a mooring buoy, got into the dinghy and headed into town. Half way there the heavens opened but luckily the covered Albury’s Ferry dock was clear so Paul steered the dinghy in there and we waited out the heavy rain, praying that a ferry would not turn up!

Hiding under the Albury’s Ferry doclk!

We tied up at the Man O’War marina and walked through the town. We had hoped to grab an ice cream but the  stand had just closed by the time we got there. So we walked up to the beach on the Atlantic side and then then bought a few things in the little store before heading back to Sonas.

Saturday April 28th. Adam was flying out from Marsh Harbour on Sunday, On leaving Man O’War we motored the short distance to the beach that sits between Scotland Cay and Great Guyana. There is no big boat anchorage so we had to anchor off the cay in an on shore wind so Paul stayed on board as anchor watch as there was quite a sea running into the beach. The others went ashore.

Paula on Scotland Cay beach

There was a rocky bar across the beach so Adam had to haul the dinghy across!

“Gulliver” Adam!

Paula finds a Conch!

Leaving this beautiful spot we ran across to Mermaid Reef, just outside Marsh, and snorkeled the reef there. We first visited the reef way back in 2002 with our children and it is always a pleasure to go back. The reef is full of fish of many species, and we even saw a huge lobster. Paul had a bag of peas in his pocket so we gathered around him as he emptied the bag and we were engulfed in feeding fish!

Leaving the reef we headed into the harbour and anchored. That night, Adam’s last, we went into Snappa’s for dinner. They had a live band so there was dancing, with Peter providing a partner for the local single ladies!

Dinner at Snappa’s

Sunday April 29th. The next afternoon Peter and Paula said goodbye to Adam at the dock and we upped anchor and headed off.

Bye bye Adam!

We wanted to visit Matt Lowe’s Cay as we saw there were a couple of beautiful beaches there, and the anchorage was good for the wind we would get that night. After dropping anchor we took a cooler with beer and wine, deck chairs, and beach towels ashore and set up on the beach.

Beach at Matt Lowe’s Cay

The island has been bought by a developer who has built a small canal system and is selling lots. We saw signs along the high water mark advising that the island was private and to be mindful of the guard dogs. No problem, we were fine just sitting on the beach.All beaches in the Bahamas are public up to the high water mark so we felt confident we were following the rules so all would be well.  As we used the beach we could hear the dogs, which sounded like they were locked up somewhere. The constant barking was a bit annoying.

Picnic on Matt Lowe’s

Before the dog attack!

Sian and Paula had gone for a walk along the beach and Paul was wading in the water, when all of a sudden three large dogs came out of the treeline barking and heading for Peter who was sitting on one of the beach chairs. He jumped up and, using the chair as a shield , backed into the water. The dogs (one brown, one white and brown and the other black) stopped at the water’s edge. Paul went to the dinghy, grabbed the metal bar that’s used to support the dinghy cover and walked towards the dogs smacking the bar into the water and then the sand. They went back into the trees but they were never far away, and appeared now and then in the tree line. We decided to pack up and go back to the boat!Unfortunately Paul did not have his camera with him or he would have taken video which would have helped the proper authorities deal with this issue. We will be reporting it.

That night we had the wonderful experience of a sunset over the port side of Sonas and then, about twenty minutes later, a wonderful moon rise over the starboard side!

Matt Lowe’s Sunset

Matt Lowe’s Moonrise!

Monday April 30th. The next morning we set sail, yet again, to spend two days in our favorite spot in the Abacos – Treasure Cay. This time we picked up a mooring in the basin and dinghy’d in to walk the beach, have drinks at the beach bar, sit by the pool (and have more drinks). The well protected basin kept the still high winds at bay.

Wednesday May 2nd. Leaving Treasure Cay we ran the hub of Abaco, past Man O’ War, past Hope Town and into the well protected Sea Spray Marina. This was a very tight marina, and the wind was still howling, but maneuvering a heavy boat like Sonas helps as it does not easily get pushed around by the wind. So we had no issues squeezing her into her slip.

Entering Sea Spray, Elbow Cay

We were on a deadline as the team Peter supports, Liverpool, were playing an important soccer game that afternoon. He headed off to the bar where they put the game on the TV for him. He was a happy man when they won the tie.

Sea Spray Bar

Casualty of the trip was the herb garden which apparently did not enjoy the salty spray washing over them. Another time we will bring them in doors to shelter in rough seas but its too late now!

In the evening we got cleaned up and headed to The Abaco Inn for dinner. The Abaco Inn sits on a hill overlooking both the Sea of Abaco on one side and the Atlantic on the other. It is both a fabulous location and an excellent establishment. On the way up we were passed by a young man on a motor bike. A couple of minutes later he came back along the road and Paul put his thumb out. The driver was game and put Paula on the back seat and off she went to the restaurant. He then returned and did the same with Sian!

Abaco Inn

The view from Abaco Inn

We had a wonderful meal and would highly recommend the Abaco Inn to anyone looking for a quality meal on Elbow Cay.

Thursday May 3rd. Peter and Paul’s time with us was coming to an end. They were flying out of Marsh Harbour on Friday May 4th. So on Thursday we untied from Sea Spray and headed back over to Marsh. After anchoring we walked through town and up to Abaco Beach Resort/Boat Harbour to have a look around, some drinks and appetizers. We had booked a table at Wally’s across from Harbour View Marina for that evening, but then decided that a quiet evening aboard was the order of the day, so cancelled our reservation, and enjoyed dinner, drinks, and card games on board!

Friday May 4th. Sadly Friday arrived. Our guests packed up and, wrapping their luggage in black plastic bags due to the winds and choppy water, loaded up the dinghy. They hugged Sian and then Paul took them ashore. More hugs and they were off on the taxi to the airport. Right on time their flight took off and did a fly-by right over Sonas in the harbour!

Farewell fly-by!

We had originally planned on starting our journey back to the US right after they left. However the forecast was calling for winds over 30mph and thunderstorms. Since these winds were from the NE they made Whale Cay Channel dangerous. We spent the afternoon readying the boat for sea crossings, hunkered down when the wind gusts were high and planned an early night for an early departure. Looking ahead the weather for crossing the Gulf Stream is decent for Sunday, even better for Monday and Tuesday, so we knew we could ride out the weather in Marsh Harbour and head off on Saturday when the forecast suggested some calmer weather..

Guests On Board and Improving Weather (and health)

Marsh Harbour from the Conch Inn (Da Blue Hole)

April 19th – 20th

Hooray! Today is the day Peter and Paula arrive! At last cleaning can stop and with some decent weather we can start having fun! Paul is making steady improvement, by no means back to full strength but in the land of the living.

The flight from Atlanta was on time with the taxi ride delivering them to Conch House Hotel and Marina where they got their first look at the beautiful clear Bahamian water and Paul’s new beard. Paula declared “he looks like Santa Claus.”

Peter with Sian and Santa.

Now comes the hard part. Adam, their son, was flying in from Toronto where he is living, as a surprise for his Mum. He was due to arrive the next day so somehow we had to keep Paula in place but without arousing suspicion. So we told her that we needed some supermarket supplies in the morning so would have to stay at anchor in Marsh Harbour, and that we would go back ashore for lunch before we left. We had arranged with Adam to walk into the Conch House bar while we were having lunch.

Under cloudy skies we tackled the grocery shopping and considered ourselves fortunate we made it back to the boat before the heavens opened. It rained and rained and then rained some more! We were was beginning to wonder how we could insist we needed to go ashore for lunch when we would all have been drowned rats just getting there.

Paula and Adam

Fortune smiled, the skies cleared and in we went. Right on cue Adam bounded up the stairs hugged his Mum tight and there were tears all round. Most of them, we must admit, from Sian! What a lovely surprise! Mission accomplished we headed back to the boat, upped anchor heading over to Fisher Bay for a swim before cocktails ashore at Grabbers, a walk on the beach, a Spaghetti Bolognese dinner on board and card games before bed.

Trying out the new full face masks

April 21st to April 25rd

The forecast called for scattered thunderstorms and wind for the next four days, but with plenty of sunshine. Plus we wanted to go to the Pig Roast at Nipper’s on the Sunday. So we booked into Orchid Bay Marina in Settlement Harbour, Great Guyana Cay for two days.

After docking and preparing the boat we walked over to town, bought some snorkel mask spray at Dive Guyana then walked to Grabbers to see if we could get the Manchester United FA Cup semi-final football match on TV – but no go.

A couple of sports fishermen from the Panhandle and Alabama came in, on their way to a tournament out of Boat Harbour and tied up next to us. After dinner we spent a couple of hours chatting with them. We also watched the 140 foot Palmer Johnson Lady J come in and tie up, struggling a bit with the wind.

Lady J fighting the wind to tie up

On Sunday we went over to Nipper’s and walked the beautiful Atlantic beach, then going up to a very busy Nipper’s for lunch, some beers chased down by a couple of Nippers cocktails! We staggered back to Sonas for a nap and a light dinner, followed by more socializing on the dock.

Nippers and the beach

Nipper’s

Mid-morning Monday, still expecting another two days of wind, we untied and headed across the Sea of Abaco towards Treasure Cay. We tied up early afternoon and headed off to walk the beach, then lay by the swimming pool with a cocktail Later Lady J appeared again and tied up on the T-Dock next to us.

Adam hanging off Sonas with Far Niente next door.

It was more of the same relaxation on Tuesday, beach, pool, drinks, and quick runs to the grocery and wine store for replenishment of the provisions! Lady J left and was soon replaced by Far Niente, a 130 foot Westport. Paul got to chat to one of the crew as he waited on the dock to tie her up and discovered he was from Durban but had lived in Belfast for a couple of years. He later joined us for a beer before dinner and we had a good chat about how he got into that business and what it would take if Adam wanted to do the same. The captain also stopped by for a chat – he was originally from Grimsby in England.

Peter and Adam in the Tipsy Seagull pool

Sian and Paula on the Treasure Cay dock

It was quite interesting watching the comings and goings of the crews and guests of these big yachts. In both cases we found that  owners were on board rather than charter guests. Far Nuente was on its way to Nassau, where they were hosting a bachelor party for their son.

Adam on Treasure Cay beach

On Wednesday the 25th we untied and headed east towards Hope Town. We had called the three businesses who owned mooring buoys in the harbour but either they were not available or were not suitable for Sonas. So we anchored outside the harbour right under the famous candy stripped Elbow Reef Lighthouse. We took the dinghy into the harbour and tied up at the lighthouse dock.

Elbow Reef Lighthouse, the only manned kerosene lighthouse remaining in the world.

Visiting Elbow Reef Lighthouse

Everyone went up the lighthouse while Paul chose to visit the gift store manned by lighthouse volunteers rather than risk his leg climbing the 101 steps to the top. We then crossed the harbour to the public dock and walked through the quaint town. We ended up at Harbour’s Edge restaurant and bar for snacks and drinks. Peter went and fetched the dinghy from the public dock and brought it to the restaurant so that we wouldn’t have to walk back through town. While we were there we watched a Kady Krogen 48 (overall length the same as Sonas at 53 feet) come in and pick up a mooring ball that we were told was not suitable for us. As we were leaving we spoke to them and they told us that they were always able to pick one up – go figure.

Daily yoga on the boat deck

We went back to Sonas where Sian had a lamb roast in the slow cooker for a delicious dinner, followed by everyone sitting on the bow trying to identify the stars and constellations.

The weather had set into a pattern, thunderstorms and rain overnight, but plenty of sun during the day with absolutely stunning sunsets nearly every evening.

Sunset

Sunset

A Re-Visit To Our Favorite Abaco Destination And To Marsh Harbour

The bread maker is back in action!

April 12th – April 17th

Our last post covered just two days. A night at Allans-Pensacola where our anchor dragged, then the trip back into the Hub of Abaco to anchor at Baker’s Bay. Sian ended that blog post with “Anyway I for one am thrilled to be tucked in (fingers crossed with no anchor issues) for a nice quiet night out of the north wind.”

Paul had started to take ill with the meds he was on. He was taking a muscle relaxer twice a day, one Tramadol pain med per day (he self-reduced from two), nine Motrin anti-inflammatory per day, and a prescription anti-acid twice a day. So he put himself to bed early with a tummy sounding lie Mount Etna about to erupt! Sian came down later, but lay in bed listening to the sounds of the boat, the waves, and the snubber. It ended up that she spent another restless night worried about the anchor! And that is what an anchor drag will do to you for a while – make you suspect your ground tackle

I was busy watching the shore line and hoping like mad that we could stay put and Paul could sleep,which we did but truthfully my nerves were fried from the worry and greeted the dawn thinking “we need to sell the boat, I cannot be anxious like this any more”I like to think that revelation prompted our swift entry into the marina and equilibrium has been restored. 

Paul had a decent night’s sleep, but was violently ill when he got up. We made the decision that we needed to get into a marina, get tied up, and Paul was to stay pretty much boat-bound until we saw real progress. We had some options of marinas but decided to get back to our favorite – Treasure Cay. We could focus on Paul’s health whilst Sian could still enjoy the fabulous beach and marina-hotel amenities. High winds for a couple of days but I did meet some lovely people,and their dogs and even saw a dead shark washed up on the beach. Don’t know what happened to him, he looked fine, just dead!

We  wanted to be over in Marsh Harbour by Tuesday to prepare for family arriving, so went ahead and booked a slip until then – 5 days.

Water colored sails

Paul focused on his Priformis stretches, four sessions each day. By the end of the five days he had also weaned himself off all of the meds except the anti-acids. Sian walked the beach every day and did some boat chores. When we were ready to leave for Marsh Paul was finally feeling much better, even without the meds.

Sunny morning in Marsh Harbour

On Tuesday we set off for Marsh late morning. We were in no particular hurry so ran at just six knots and arrived to anchor off Marsh Harbour Marina and Jib Room. After launching the dinghy we went over and tied up at Union Jack dock, where the local Marsh Harbour Yacht Club had built and installed a dingy dock for visiting cruisers. We picked up a few  things at the store, including a gallon of distilled water for battery maintenance.  We visited the Jib Room for lunch the next day, but really spent the time, as planned, spiffing up Sonas for her visitors.

Sunset and moon over Marsh Harbour

IT’S NOT ALL SUN AND GAMES AT SEA!

Treasure Cay again!

[Paul is still in pain with with Sciatica so this update from Sian]

April 10th – April 11th

We get up Tuesday morning, like always the first check is the weather. Winds clocking round ( whatever THAT means) but ending up in the North. So we study the chart, decide we have the morning where we are across from Manjack and then head to Allans-Pensacola to a nice safe anchorage suitable for a stiff breeze from the North for the next few days. The plan was to be sheltered, to walk on the beach, swim and really let the weather do it’s thing.

Coopers Town on Great Abaco Island

Lots of wind for sailing

We motored up and found two other like-minded boats anchored where we were heading but hey it’s all good, we can share. Dropped the hook, it didn’t take first go so up she came and try again. This for me is a new experience. Last spring in the Exumas I don’t remember ever resetting the anchor but here its grassier and if the anchor rolls to the side it doesn’t dig in and hence the redo. Second try and all is well. We leave the snubber off for three hours just to be sure but are finally convinced we’re holding so I go to work.

Being responsible for the snubber is new to me this year. Paul is more under the weather with sciatica than he cares to admit so I am picking up some extra skills. One of which is the snubber. For our non-boating friends, the snubber is a rope or rope-rubber combination that connects to the chain and takes the load from the chain to the rope and then to both sides of the bow. This does two things. It reduces chain noise since it is  now rope moving not steel chain, and it lowers the “pull point” on the chain helping the anchor stay buried. Earlier in this trip the strain on the shackle that attaches the ropes to the anchor chain bent the pin making that shackle unusable. But hey, we’re boaters so no problem, we improvised. I have become adept at attaching a clip to the chain, the shackle to the clip, tightening the ropes and taking the strain off the chain.

So snubber on, time to relax. Suddenly we are hit with rain and increased winds. Race round closing hatches and doors to hear Paul calling the anchor is dragging. Forget the windows, all hands on deck! He starts the engines, I race to remove the snubber so we can gather the anchor in. I need pliers on a usual day and now am trying to keep calm in 40 knot winds (recorded by our instruments). Is it righty tightly , lefty loosy and which way is up on this damn shackle anyway? Look up to see we are way too close to our nearest neighbor so put my head down, try to focus and keep trying. Paul abandons his post at the throttles, gets the shackle loosened for me, darts back while I get the ropes out of the way, lift the anchor and, as they say, disaster is narrowly averted.

Now, what to do? Choices are: use the engines to keep steady and re anchor when it’s all over, which will be after dark, or head round the corner to a more exposed anchorage but with better holding where we can anchor in twilight. We chose the second option. Now we worry, will the anchor drag again?

On our GPS we can set a drag alarm, well that seems handy so we did. Nothing happened for three hours so we went to bed. Well let me tell you it’s a very quiet little alarm, almost like it didn’t really want to wake any one! Heard it at 11.30 pm and both jumped up ready for who knows what.

Anchor watch on the GPS

Nothing bad was happening, swinging around a bit but Paul slept in the pilot house and I checked on him every couple of hours. Arrived at 7 am, exhausted but safe. Headed off to Green Turtle, our next safe bolt hole, looking forward to a long nap.

Arrived and entered White Sound to find no room at the inn for Sonas. There are spaces to anchor and mooring buoys and a couple of marinas. We called the private owner of the only open mooring  buoy to be told that it could not accommodate our size, no room to anchor and the marina only had space for one night. After a brief tour of the harbor on we slogged on, finally ending up in Bakers Bay which has changed beyond all recognition in the last 20 years.

A full White Sound at Green Turtle Cay

Bakers Bay used to be a stop for the Big Red Boat cruise line but it didn’t work out well due to rage that Whale Cay turns into in  a north or northeast blow. The first time we came, back in  2002, the cruise line’s “Private Island” had not long been abandoned and we explored, as a family of five, this abandoned, sad space which was attractive in its isolation. There were kitchens, tables, tree top forts and all the other paraphernalia of a holiday cruise destination quickly being returned to nature. Today Bakers Bay is a private residential development with many houses on the shore line, and a member’s only marina and golf resort. Good luck to them boosting the economy here but it is somewhat spoiled, if you like the quieter side of the Abacos. Anyway I for one am thrilled to be tucked in (fingers crossed with no anchor issues) for a nice quiet night out of the north wind.

Another beautiful sunset, or sun rise….!

Green Turtle, Treasure, And Manjack

Using every sail

March 30th – April 10th.

We left Great Sale and set off south east past Hawksbill, Fox Town, Moraine, Allans-Pensacola, Spanish, Powell and Manjack cays and arrived at the anchorage off New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay around noon. We plan to go back to visit some of these beautiful islands later in our trip. Along the way we passed dozens of boats of all shapes and sizes.

Small Nordhavn off New Plymouth

The bottom at the New Plymouth is grass covered sand. We had some challenges getting our plough anchor to set. It finally held on the third try, though looking at the anchor the next day as we were lifting it, it was sitting on its side rather than the point set in the bottom. Clearly the boat had been held by the weight of the chain only. We launched the dinghy and Sian headed off to town to get some fresh veggies and milk returning after a successful trip.

Local taxi over Whale Cay channel

The next day was flat calm, a perfect day for crossing Whale Cay channel. This cut can be atrocious in a blow from the north through northeast, to the extent that a cruise line, which had built a “private Island” in Baker’s Bay by the cut, had so much trouble getting in and out they abandoned the area.

We crossed the channel with no issues and headed for Treasure Cay. Initially we had planned to either pick up a mooring or anchor in the basin there, but we decided to go into the marina for a few days to help give Paul’s sciatica a chance to clear up as it was still very painful. Those “few days” turned into a very relaxing week at the marina!

Paul trying to walk off his Piriformis Syndrome

Our daily routine (if you could call it that) was breakfast on board, then off to the wonderful award winning beach where Sian walked on the fine coral sand and Paul walked in the water to exercise while  reducing the weight on his periformis and sciatic nerve. Back to the boat for lunch and then over to lie by the marina pool for a couple of hours. Back to the boat for nap, finishing with dinner and drinks. If we had to be “stuck” somewhere this was as good a place as anywhere in the Caribbean!

The beautiful Treasure Cay Beach

We also scored a bag of lobster tails and grilled them up! There was also a little Saturday market that we walked around, but saw nothing of interest.

A few tails!

Visiting the Saturday market

After four days we saw some improvement in Paul’s pain but not enough to leaving the marina. So on Thursday Paul walked over to the private Corbett Medical center. He was seen by Doctor Hull and had a quality conversation with him on his condition. Dr. Hull was not supportive of Baralgin and gave Paul two weeks supply of a muscle relaxer and Tramadol pain killer – known as Ultram in the states. Downside was no alcohol, so now Paul has to sit on his boat in the Bahamas for two weeks without a lick of booze!

Sian’s herb garden – Rosemary, Oregano, Cilantro. The Basil ddn’t make it due to the heat and the Cilantro is struggling.

For the month or two before leaving Jacksonville we had been trying to get Sonas cleaned and waxed, with four different businesses contacted, two coming to estimate the work, but zero follow up. So we decided that we would look to have it done will we were in Abaco if we could. We asked the dockmaster at the marina if he could recommend someone and he introduced us to Ray and his side kick Gary. We negotiated a price and Ray turned up punctually at 7:30 to begin work. They worked diligently for two full days, hand compounding and waxing and then a wash down. Sonas is looking spiffy, though I will probably run a buffer over her when we get home.

Ray and Gary cleaning up Sonas

On Saturday the 7th, with a marked improvement in Paul’s condition,  we finally said goodbye to Treasure Cay Marina and headed off through Whale Cay Channel again to visit some of the islands we had passed earlier. Our first stop was Manjack Cay, where there is a marine park. We spent a couple of days there and walked the mile through the mini-jungle to the beach on the Atlantic side. In the evenings we took Sonas the short run across the Sea of Abaco to the Great Abaco Island side to anchor, as the south winds were blowing straight into Manjack and creating quite a lumpy sea.

Manjack Cay sign

Manjack Cay ocean beach

Anchored off Great Abaco Island

Tomorrow, Tuesday, we are going to continue to the North West with plans to visit the small anchorage at Crab Cay and then Allans-Pensacola Cay, where I hope the winds are calm enough that I can get some drone footage.

A beautiful sunset most nights

The Crossing

The Crossing.

Leaving Fort Pierce Inlet

After satisfying ourselves that we has resolved the water leak/bilge pump issue we did one final check on the weather for crossing the gulf stream. We use a number of sources for this: NOAA, WindFinder, Windy, and Marvsweather.com. We had been keeping an eye on a front that was coming down from the North East. The forecasts were all pretty consistent, the front would arrive early evening, there would be 2-3 foot seas until 2pm, then gradually rising to 5 foot seas by 5pm, bigger by 8pm. Our planned course and speed would have us on the Bahamas Bank and shallow waters by 2pm. So the window was good to go.

The morning was warm with light winds from the north east so we rode out of the inlet on the flybridge. NOAA indicated that the west wall of the Gulf Stream was 14 miles east of the inlet. Two hours into the trip we entered the stream, with seas as predicted. About two hours later, and approximately 15 miles into the stream, the wind and seas started to get up so we moved into the Pilothouse.

The weather then turned really nasty. The wind was blowing 25-27 from the north east, gusting to 30 true on our instruments. The seas were pretty confused rather than coming steady from one direction. The stabilizers struggled to keep Sonas from rolling and it got really unpleasant. We had planned to cross onto the bank between 2 and 3, find calmer water and head to Grand Cay. We pounded for another five hours and finally made the bank at White Sand Ridge around 4pm.

However the blow from the east meant that the bank was nasty as well, with short seas right on our nose. We realized that our timing meant we would be entering the very shallow and tight anchorage at Grand Cay in the dark, so we opted to turn about 14 degrees south to take the seas on our forward quarter and head for Great Sale anchorage. We knew this anchorage from before and although we would be running in the dark for about three hours and entering the anchorage using only instruments, we felt it was the wiser option. Around 10pm, using GPS for depth and radar for other boat avoidance, we laid anchor at Great Sale.

Sian here, whilst the above narrative is factually accurate I feel it does not do our rough crossing justice! We thrashed about for hours, lunch had been made but I did not dare open the fridge. (Note to self: put it all in the cooler next time. Next time? Who AM I kidding) At one stage the fridge, although locked down, flew open resulting in soda cans, food and wine bottles rolling madly in high seas. Fortunately only one bottle smashed so I threw paper towels down, retrieved what I could and sat myself back down.

Sian went into the galley to prepare a late dinner and appeared with baked beans on toast – not our usual quality fare. Paul took one look and declared that he was being punished for one silly bad decision!

Sian again. Once anchored we had to restore order, furniture had rolled, broken glass needed lifting and yes the Captain did get beans on toast. At 11.30 pm after a sixteen hour day, he was lucky to see that!

Great Sale Anchorage

The next day, Tuesday March 27th, the wind was still blowing in the mid-twenties, gusting to 30, so we remained in Great Sale with about 10 other boats. We used the time to tidy up the boat from the day before and unwind after our crossing. We also hoisted the yellow quarantine flag indicating that we had yet to clear customs. Paul was suffering from a pretty bad onslaught of Sciatica (actually Piriformis syndrome) so it helped for him to lie still for a day. He did have to quickly nip into the engine room to lock down the port stabilizer as it was moving with the wave motion and making a knocking noise. Paul does not think that it should be that loose so will be contacting Lambs boat yard after the Easter weekend and discussing it with them.

On Wednesday the winds finally calmed so we headed north to Grand Cay. We arrived at mid-day, launched the dinghy and Paul went ashore to clear customs and buy a Bahamas Telephone Company SIM card. While he was ashore he found the clinic and spoke to the nurse about his sciatica. She made him an appointment with the doctor for the next day. Meanwhile San put him on a stretching regimen, which including using a BBQ gas canister as a roller for deep tissue massage!

Grand Cay

On Thursday we went ashore for Paul’s doctor appointment. The clinic was very busy as the doctor only comes to the island once a week. When it was Paul’s turn a man walked into the doctor’s office ahead of him taking Paul a bit by surprise. So much for their version of HIPAA! He was there to tell the doctor that his 10 pound bag of red snapper was 44 dollars! Paul thought about asking for a bag as well but he knew our fridge freezer on Sonas was still bursting at the seams as we had only just arrived.

The doctor wrote a prescription for Lyrica, and then told him that they didn’t have any. That we should take the prescription with us as we may be able to find it on other islands! He also prescribed, and supplied, a week’s supply of a pain killer, Baralgin. We Googled this as we hadn’t heard of it, to find that it was developed back in 1920 and had actually been banned from the US back in 1977! However, needs must, and Paul started shoveling them down his throat!

Storm Damage Grand Cay

Sea Plane arriving at Grand Cay.

We headed back to the boat and took off to our next anchorage at Double Breasted. This island is one of the most beautiful in Abaco and we were looking forward to walking its sandbars and maybe taking some drone video. However, arriving at the turn for the anchorage we found that the wind was blowing straight in and it was not very sheltered.  We really want to visit here so need to try again later on this trip! We turned south east and started our way towards the Sea of Abaco. We were aiming for Green Turtle on Friday and then Treasure Cay on Saturday, ready to attend Easter Mass at the little Catholic chapel there.

Our first stop was back at Great Sale, which was a nice short cruise and a good setting off point for Green Turtle the next day.

Bahamas 2018 Version!

 March 23rd – March 25th 2018 Queen’s Harbour to Fort Pierce

With heavy hearts, missing our four legged crew memberSee Tribute to Grace , the Worlds Best boat Dog – we left the dock. We miss her and as of yet, things just feel “off”

We had to wait until about 11am to be sure  we had enough water to clear the channel at Queens Harbour.

Saying goodbye to the harbourmaster

We then ran south through Palm Valley, St Augustine to Palm Coast. On previous trips we had booked a slip at Hammock Beach, but this time we did not want to be bothered with taking the shuttle up to the hotel for dinner. So we tied up at Palm Coast Marina on the West side of the ICW, arriving at 5:30.

Small cruise ship in the Palm Valley cut.

We made things ship shape and then walked over to the European Village for dinner. We chose the Lisbon Nights Portuguese restaurant which specializes in seafood – since it was a Friday in Lent. We washed down our seafood with a bottle of Malbec and then headed back to Sonas. Our plans this week were for early nights and early mornings until we got to the Bahamas.

Waiting for our turn under the Bridge of Lions, St Augustine.

On day two we got a long day under our belts  to get to Fort Pierce in plenty of time the third day for fuel and water prior to crossing to the Bahamas. So we untied and were off the dock by 7:15am. We headed south through Daytona, New Smyrna, and Mosquito Lagoon, through Haulover Canal, past Cape Canaveral, Titusville and Cocoa. We dropped anchor offshore a residential area called The Point about six miles south of Cocoa around 6:30 for a total run of just over eleven hours.

Washing down the muddy anchor.

We were off again at7:15am on the third day, March 25th. We ran down the Indian River through Melbourne and Sebastian to arrive in Vero Beach around noon. We went into the Vero Beach City Marina to filled up with diesel and water. Finally arriving at our anchorage just inside the inlet at Fort Pierce around 2:30pm. We made everything secure and then went below for a well deserved nap!

As we lay there we heard the forward bilge pump cycling. Not something you really want to hear when you are about to cross the Gulf Stream! We started the search for the source of the water. We checked all of the through hulls, and all of the fresh water lines, finding absolutely nothing. Paul watched the rate of water entering the bilge and decided that it was nothing to be overly concerned about, though a puzzle.

Later that evening Burntside, a Kady Krogen 39 entered the anchorage and dropped the hook right behind us. Then Paul’s cell phone rang and a gentleman by the name of Steve Park introduced himself and told us that he was on the Kady Krogen right behind us. We are both members of the Marine Trawler Owners Association (MTOA) and he recognized Sonas. He also had been following our blog. We had a chat about our immediate cruising plans. Steve was returning from the Exumas, leaving his boat at Brunswick GA before returning home to Minnesota for the summer.

Burntside, Kady Krogen 39 at the Fort Pierce anchorage.

We rose at 5:30 on Monday the 26th. The bilge pump had been cycling regularly throughout the night so we were determined to find the issue or delay our crossing until we did. Paul checked the fresh water gauge and it was lower. He then put the mop into the forward bilge and drew out some water, then gave it a good sniff to confirm that it was fresh water. We had already checked all the fresh water lines the day before which left he water heater or the tank itself as the chief suspects. The water heater checked out fine. Since the 350 gallon water tank is beneath the master berth we had to fold our mattress forward and then remove all of the totes with the cans of beer and soda that we store there! We then lifted the hatch and immediately found the issue.

Originally there been an ozone maker sitting on top of the tank feeing into the water via a plastic tube. Paul had removed this and plugged the tubing. Somehow the plug ad come out and the hose had fallen off the tank into the bilge causing a syphon effect, and the fresh water was running out through that. We secured the hose, planning to remove it altogether later, and were now clear to cross!

Another beautiful sunrise at anchor!

Fall & Winter Projects

“Quiet” Season Projects

As always with boat ownership, there are plenty of things to do during the “quiet” fall and winter months, though here in Florida winter is relative! One thing we did notice after we had written this is that it doesn’t seem like a lot when you are doing these things one at a time, but looking back we got through a substantial amount – albeit some small general maintenance stuff.

Some we did ourselves, some we “outsourced,” and some were general ongoing maintenance.

Ourselves

We don’t have much wood on the exterior of Sonas, but all of the rails are teak. Over time the salt and sun take their toll and the varnish starts to flake. It was time for some light sanding and a couple of coats of Helmsman.

Refinished brightwork

Sonas has a teak and holly floor. While not exposed to the elements as is the exterior bright work, it does get scuffed and scratched over time. We gave the galley and salon floor a light sanding and then two coats of Minwax polyurethane.

Before

After sanding

After a couple of coats

The salon walls were also looking a bit dull so we cleaned these and coated a couple of times with Murphy’s Oil Soap.

Dull walls

We also noticed that the varnish on one of the interior window sills and frames needed attention,most likely because the window was left open during a salty run. We sanded those down and gave them a couple of coats as well.

One of our biggest aggravations in the two years we have owned Sonas has been the 24 volt halogen ceiling lights. The bulbs on these go out on a frequent basis, and if they don’t go out they come loose and constantly need to to pushed back in.  So we decided to replace all 34 of the lights with 24v LEDs.

Old light fixtures

 

Pilothouse change

LED light.

Sonas had a very nice Ekornes recliner and foot stool which unfortunately was getting well past its best. With the two person sofa, this only provided seating for three in the salon (though we do have two stools at the galley counter). So we swapped out the recliner for two replacements, now we have plenty of seating for four.

We have three lights above the galley counter which are controlled by a resistor type dimmer switch. This had gone bad. Also, since we were replacing the lights with LEDs we needed a different type of dimmer. After searching high and low for a 24v dimmer, we decided to go with a simple on/off switch instead, especially since every time we switched those lights on we turned the dimmer to full anyway!

Old bar dimmer

Old bar dimmer

 

Other Stuff

A couple of times in the Bahamas last year we tied to piles that were well in front of our spring cleats, necessitating tying two of our lines together to set the springs. So we decided to buy some 50 foot 3/4 inch lines to have on board for those times we have to do that again.

New 50′ 3/4″ lines

After a winter being pushed up against the concrete dock and sitting partially in the water the fenders were looking a bit shabby. After a good wash and spray with restorer they come up a bit more ready for the new season – though I do see some new fenders in our near future as they still look a bit tired.

Yukky fender

Now it just needs a shine!

We also added some new artwork – the nicest piece was a blown up drone photo of Sonas at Williams Cay! You will want to click on this photo to enlarge it – we are really pleased with how it came out.

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0005.JPG

For our three month trip to the Exumas we put a small freezer in the corner of the salon to ensure that we had enough frozen goods for the duration. Since in 2017 we will only spend about six weeks in the Abacos before three months in the Chesapeake (where fresh supplies are readily available) we removed the freezer and stored it in the garage.

Outsourced

One side benefit of a nice long cruise like three months in the Exumas is that you really get to know your boat. As things cropped up or were found we kept a log of the items we wanted our yard to work on. So we took Sonas over to Lambs Yacht Center on the Ortega River with the to-do list. We had divided these into must dos, the A list, and if time and cost allowed a B list. So we had the following completed:

  • Both fiberglass exhaust tubes in the engine room were ground down and re-glassed. The original survey had found spider cracks that allowed salt water to spray against the engine room bulk head.
  • The A/C unit in the guest cabin ran continuously so the control board need to be replaced.
  • All of the wet cell house batteries (12), and the two generator batteries were swapped out for no-maintenance gels.
  • The Halon fire suppression system was recertified.
  • The starboard stabilizer was leaking a small amount of fluid and squeaking. The yard had Naiad techs service both stabilizers.
  • We had a minor accident in the Exumas and damaged the corner of the swim platform. The yard brought his back to like new. And while they had it out of the water they replaced all the zincs.

  • The vacuum pump for the master cabin head was very inconsistent and the pump for the guest head was leaking so we had the yard totally replace the pumps and rebuild both head systems.
  • The PathMaker unit, which allows parallel use of house and start batteries to start the engines was malfunctioning and continuously connecting the batteries, meaning that the start batteries were being drawn down by house usage. This is a big no-no as you could end up with flat start batteries after a period at anchorage.  We had the yard remove the PathMaker completely.

The Stidd pilothouse helm chair had seen better days. So we asked Stephen Mousa at Mousa Auto  and Marine Interiors to redo it. We also had the metal powder coated to the same color. We are very pleased by the finished product!

Before helm chair

After helm chair

Our galley faucet had corroded and siezed in one position. The faucet was one where you could extend the faucet end with a hose. This hose had also blocked up over time reducing the amount of water coming out. So we had Atlantic Coast Plumbing and Tile come and swap out the faucet for a new one, which did not have the hose extension. Sometimes simple is best on a boat!

Mike from MPG Electronics resolved some issues we were having with the electronics. The Autopilot was not getting a feed from either of the GPS systems, or the computer.  Seems the J300X computer had gone bad so had to be replaced by a used part as they no longer make these. Also the flybridge monitor was not working so that we could monitor the engine room and rear cameras while underway. The power supply had gone bad so we had to order a replacement from the original manufacturer in Canada.

Ongoing Maintenance

Because we anchor out a lot a fully working and reliable tender is critical. We took the Novurnia RIB and its 25 horse power Yamaha to Isle of Palms Marine at Palm Cove Marina for a service. This included emptying out the fuel tank and cleaning it, as well as replacing the fuel hose and bulb.

In early February I had Ryan from the Pier 88 Diving franchise here is Jacksonville come and give the bottom a good clean and replace the zincs.

Josh from Control Master Inc, the mechanics that we use on Sonas, came and completed an annual service on the Lugger engines and Northern Lights generator.  He de-gunked both engine heat exchangers, replaced a generator fuel injector valve and the generator fresh water circulating pump.

One area we are struggling with is getting the boat compounded and waxed. We have had three people around to look at her and so far so one works on boats this size. Asking around it seems there is a dearth of detailing companies in Jacksonville. Still waiting to get this completed.

All-in-all, we are more than ready for the season!

 

 

Spring 2018 Has Sprung

After a pretty cold January (for Florida anyway) February has brought spring! Today, February 25th, we got into the mid 80s up here in North East Florida.

We have been putting a lot of time into Sonas getting her ready for the upcoming cruise to the Abacos and to the Chesapeake. So today we decided to treat ourselves and (after Paul watched Manchester United beat Chelsea in the Premier League!) we jumped into our RIB, Little Sonas, and headed out for a few hours.

Approached Queen’s Harbour lock

Today’s conditions

Lock master Harry ready to throw the lines

Guarding the channel

Number 82 in for some work

Outer Reef Rencontre

While we understand the fishing connotation, not sure on this name!

Little Talbot State Park and Fort George River was pretty busy for a February!

On the beach for a picnic lunch at Little Talbot State Park

Home again!

 

2017 Queens Harbour Lighted Boat Parade

On December 2nd the Queens Harbour Yacht Club sponsored the 2017 Lighted Boat Parade around the lagoon. We entered our RIB this year instead of Sonas.

Click the link  below for the story, photos and winners! We won Best Costumes for the second year running!

Who Let The Dogs Out!

http://queensharbouryc.com/2017/12/03/2017-lighted-boat-parade/

 

 

St Augustine Nights of Lights 2017

 

Out National bird and animal on marker 41, just north of the route 202 Turner Butler bridge

We had ten yacht club boats and eighteen land-yachters head down to St Augustine for the first weekend of the 2017 Nights of Lights. There were a number of new members  we got to meet and introduce to the QHYC lifestyle! Due to the damage to the St Augustine Municipal Marina from hurricane Irma we had to spread the boats between the city marina and Comanche Cove Marina. Even then, not all of the boats at the city marina had a power supply and some had to rely on their on-board generators. The club had reserved specific private times with the the water-taxi between Comanche Cove and the city docks to make sure that people could get over easily to enjoy the town and the events we had planned.

Our schedule for the weekend was:

Friday,

  • Boats arrive before sunset 5:38PM
  • Dinner at the Columbia Restaurant.

Saturday

  • During the day explore St Augustine
  • At 6:00PM gather at City Marina for pre-lighting drinks and walk into town for the Lighting Ceremony
  • The Countdown for Light Up to start at 6:30PM
  • Pizza Dock Party after the Light Up (7:00PM)

Sunday

  • Leave at your leisure

Sonas  had a slip one in from the fuel dock. Initially it was supposed to be with no power. But we noticed that the nearest boat to us on the fuel dock was just using the 30amp. So we asked if we could use their 50amp. We were able to piggy back a 50 foot and 25 foot cord and get power to our boat.

Due to good planning and excellent volunteers, the weekend went to plan. The staff at the marinas, as always, were top notch. We had also set up a WhatsApp group specifically for the trip so people where able to stay connected to what was happening, find out where others were having lunch, and what they were doing during the day. It was also helpful to answer any questions and get information.

Passing under the notorious Atlantic Blvd Bridge

We could not have asked for better weather on Friday and Saturday. Most of us were able to stay in shorts and t-shirts during the day. Sunday, for the return trips, started off cloudy, cold and rainy. But improved by afternoon.

The food at the Columbia was excellent (although one paella meal went astray for a while (the one Sian and I were sharing), but we got that sorted out!).

Columbia Restaurant

Friday evening and overnight was calm with no winds whatsoever, resulting in restful nights for those in the condos at Camanche cove and those staying on board.

Saturday arrived with a wonderful sunrise, and bright blue skies.

Saturday sunrise

On Saturday members walked through town where some had breakfast. Sian organized a group to visit the Lightner Museum to see the Downton Abbey exhibition currently underway there. Most members had lunch in town before heading back to the condos and boats to prepares for the Docktail and the Lighting ceremony.

Lightner and the Downton Abbey exibit

Sian and I had lunch at the Prohibition Inn. The beer list was awesome, and the burgers were too!

Everyone got to the meeting place on the dock on time, had a warming drink, before walking into Constitution Square where a band was playing on the stage. Amazingly promptly at 6:30 the MC introduced the VIPs for the lighting, including those who led the recovery from this year’s storms. There was a short ten second countdown to turn on the Christmas tree lights first, followed by another to switch on the millions of lights throughout the city.

Fleet Captain Dan and willing volunteer Russ setting up the Docktail!

Dan and Russ setting up the mobile bar!

Click below to run the video of the lighting.

After the ceremony we all headed back to the marina and got the docktail underway. At 7:00 the Pizzas arrived, we added the cheese plates, dips and fruit, and we ate and drank our fill listening to Christmas music until around 10:00, at which time the last water taxi took people back and the boaters retired happy to perhaps one final night cap and bed!

During the evening Paul chatted to Winky and Cindy aboard Vagabond, which tied up in the next slip. They were on their way to Hope Town in the Abacos to spend the winter months. We told them, if all things worked out, we would see them there next March!

Click below to run the video of the Docktail.

An excellent day’s fun and entertainment.

Sunday arrived cloudy and cold, with a promise of rain. All of the boaters left early and everyone was safely back in home port by lunchtime. All of the land yachters meandered their way home safely as well.

Rain on the ICW

Running Sonas from the Pilot House

Even the St Augustine birds clustered together to stay warm! Click below to run the video of the birds on the dock.

Some more photographs of the weekend in the gallery below.

2017 Jacksonville Air Show

The annual Jacksonville Air Show alternates between Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach (where it is an Air and Sea Show). The 2017 event was at NAS JAX.

Hundreds of boats anchor off the end of the runway on the St John’s River. Previously, when we had a faster boat, we would go over there for the day, then back to our slip the same day.

Now that we have moved to a trawler we cannot make the round trip to the NAS  show and back before dark, unless we leave before the Blue Angels – and what is the point of doing that!!

So we decided to run down there in our 15′ AB RIB. There were some other boats from the Yacht Club going so we would be able to raft up to them and go on board.

The day was warm, with blue skies and a light breeze.

So we packed a soft-sided cooler with some lunch and drinks, and ran up the ICW to the St John’s, turned to port (left) and headed up the Mighty St John’s River. We passed under Dames Point Bridge, past the Carnival Elation that was boarding passengers, past the container terminals, and then into downtown Jacksonville.

Carnival Elation

A yacht club boat passed us just as we got downtown but then was held up by a train crossing the railway bridge. Because we were in the small boat we were able to sneak through using the small boat access!

Sneaking under the train!

It took slightly over an hour to run the 25 miles to the show.

We then headed south to where there were literally hundreds of boats anchored watching the show. Thee was a tiki boat and a converted tug boat!

Tiki boat

Tugging it!

We found One Moor and Escape already rafted up and we tied on behind. We went on board and enjoyed good company and an excellent show by the Blue Angels in clear skies.

After the Blue Angels finished there was a mad dash by boats of all sizes back towards downtown and home ports and slips.

All in all a very pleasant day on the water.

For a gallery of all of the days photos see below. Click on the first photo to enlarge and scroll through.

Trial Run To Fort George River – For Grace The Boat Dog!

Grace guarding her Kalik

Rewind to September 2016. Sian was taking Grace The World’s Best Boat Dog to the vet’s for a regular visit. Paul was in Prague on business. The vet dropped the bombshell news on Sian – “Grace is a very poorly dog, she only has a short time to live, probably weeks.”

After the shock had worn off Sian spoke to the veterinary assistant asking if there was anything at all that we could do. She was told to try giving Grace a steroid every other day (along with an anti-acid to prevent stomach issues).

Meanwhile we simply accepted that our three month trip to the Exumas, which Grace was originally coming on, would now just be the two of us.

Well, for those that read our Exumas posts, Grace clearly was not listening to the vet. Not only did she come with us to the Exumas, but she thrived. Maybe not as sprightly off an on the boat and dinghy as she once was, but she had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Grace in the Exumas

However soon after we got back from the Exumas at the end of May Grace started to struggle. She now has severe limps and moves very slowly. Her steroids are now once a day and every four weeks she goes for an Adequan shot to help with her stiffness.

We continue to check for signs of pain and discuss with the vet, and so far Grace still is enjoying life and seems happy. Even though her morning walks around the neighborhood are now more morning staggers to the end of the street!

We do like going up to the local river for weekends and we have a trip to St Augustine coming up. We were debating whether or not Grace was up to these, or was the kennel the best alternative. So we decided to do an afternoon-one night-morning run to Fort George river to see how she coped.

Overall she did fine. She can no longer get herself to the flybridge where we like to run the boat from. So Sian spent more time in the salon keeping her company. However sitting at anchor, as soon as we grab her life jacket (which is used to lift her up and down), she heads for the swim platform. And getting onto the dinghy for evening and morning ablutions, and getting onto the salon couch when we went to bed, was not a problem for her.

See gallery of photos from the overnighter below.

So Grace, The World’s Best Boat Dog, still has a few short trips in her. She will be coming along to St Augustine for the Night of Lights trip, and perhaps a trip downtown Jacksonville while we attend the Symphony, and even another night or two up at Fort George River.

The jury is still out on our longer Abacos and Chesapeake trips next year though. But that is a story for another time.

Time For Some Work At The Yard & Preparing For Hurricane Irma

Sonas

After three months at sea we had a list of items we wanted worked on over at Lamb’s boat yard. Some of these were left over from time of purchase and had been raised by the survey. Others were general maintenance items, and one (the swim platform that we dinged in the Exumas).

So at the end of July we took Sonas over to the yard with a list of A items that we definitely wanted to get done, and a list of B items that I wanted to discuss with the yard.

The A List.

The survey found last year that the port fiberglass exhaust tube had hairline cracks that was allowing raw water into the engine room. The yard couldn’t see this last year when we asked them to look at it. When we were in the Exumas I saw salt accumulating on a bulkhead so investigated and found the cracks on the inside top of the tube – which you could not see unless you put a camera behind the tube (which I did with my phone). The yard ground out and replaced the fiberglass on both exhaust tubes.

Small cracks in exhaust tube

Both Vacuflush heads were giving us issues while in the Exumas. The master cabin head would prime inconsistently and the guest cabin head had a leak in the vacuum cylinder as well as a fresh water leak behind the toilet seat itself. We had the yard do a full service on both heads.

We found that the bank of twelve wet cell deep cycle house batteries would drain overnight when maintaining the house without the generator. We do have a full size fridge freezer and another chest freezer, and a few other things like lights and heads flush running off the batteries. However they should have enough to manage that. The yard checked the batteries and found that they were on their last legs, so switched them out for twelve low maintenance AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) batteries.

Sonas had a PathMaker system. What this allows you to do is link all of your batteries together to support starting your engines if your engine start batteries were too low. When turned on it would link the house batteries with the start batteries to give them more amperage. The Pathmaker was not working, and in fact was continuously linking the batteries. Which meant that we were also running everything off not only the house batteries but also the engine start batteries when at anchor. This is not the best idea as you could end up running your start batteries too low to start the engines. Rather than try and fix the PathMaker, we had the yard remove it altogether to keep the batteries always separate.

Sonas has stabilizers. These are fins that stick out of the side of each side of the boat and are managed by gyros. As the gyros feel a wave they move the stabilizers so as to keep the boat on a more even keel, which makes for a much more comfortable ride. While our stabilizers worked fine, the starboard one would move and squeak while we were at anchor and asleep as waves rolled across it. This was so annoying that we had to manually lock it down at the end of every day. We had the yard bring in a stabilizer tech who had to replace a few parts and resolve the issue.

Stabilizers

Noisy stabilizer inside Sonas

Repair swim platform damage. For those that read our posts from the Exumas you read about our incident with the Glendinning Controls, resulting is a bashed swim platform. The yard did a great job repairing this back to new! See here for that story. 

Dinged swim platform

To fix the swim platform dent the yard had to haul Sonas. So we had them replace all of the zincs, including bonding zincs.

We have a large automatic halon fire suppressant system in the engine room. This has to be re-certified every few years. The yard had the local tech come in and re-certify our system.

Halon system

Finally, the fan for the guest cabin A/C System was running continuously even when the A/C was not running. The yard found that the A/C control board had gone bad and replaced that for us. Now our guests can sleep in quiet!

We also had a secondary list of item that we wanted completed if time allowed. Unfortunately hurricane Irma appeared before that list was started. The yard still had Sonas up on the hard and offered to keep her there for us during the storm. However we felt that she was safer in Queen’s Harbour at our fixed dock, and protected from storm surge by our lock. So we had them launch her and we went and brought her home.

The B list will have to wait for another year.

Below is a gallery of some photos of the hurricane preparation work we saw on the St Johns on our way home.

Once Sonas was home we stripped off the canvas and doubled up on the lines and fenders. We cleared off all loose items and window coverings. We also bungee-corded the helm covers and seat covers down. The storm came through but she rode it out with no difficulties. Unfortunately downtown Jacksonville did not fare so well as the storm surge flooded the city pretty badly.

One lesson we learned was that we should have made sure we had plenty of diesel on Sonas. So that when the power went out at the house we could use the boat generator to keep everything frozen and use the TV, radio, and even sleep on board with the A/C if we had to. We probably only had enough for a few days in the tanks when the storm came through. Fortunately we only lost power for a few hours.

July 4th 2017 – QHYC Trip To Palm Coast

It has become a bit of a tradition that the  Queen’s Harbour Yacht Club run down to Hammock Beach Resort  for the Fourth of July weekend. This year we had twelve boats and, with those who stayed in the condos and hotel,  over 40 people in attendance!

After tying up we got Sonas ready for the weekend!

Sonas decked out in red, white and blue.

We started off the weekend with a Saturday Docktail party in the ground level common area of the condos at Yacht Harbor Village & Marina. With a kitchen/bar area and plenty of indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the pool. We had taken along the mobile bar and had prepared a Mexican buffet. It was a very successful evening.

QHYC Mobile Bar

Home made Mexican buffet

 

Docktail

Days were spent walking the beach, lazing at the resort pools (including a lazy river), the pool by the marina, or playing golf.

On Sunday we had dinner over at the European Village, at La Piazza Cafe. We had enough land yachters with cars that the boaters were able to get rides over. Another very enjoyable evening of camaraderie, and libations.

Sian with friends at La Piazza Cafe

The resort had their July Forth fireworks on the Monday.  This was preceded by a fine BBQ under the main tent where we had reserved tables for those of us who were BBQ’ing. Others eat at resort restaurants and joined us later for the fireworks.

BBQ before the fireworks

Fireworks

On Tuesday everyone headed back to Jacksonville after a very successful weekend. We took Sonas out through the St Augustine inlet and back in at Mayport . Passing a very busy Huguenot Beach and a helicopter carrier at Mayport Naval Station.

 

Huguenot Beach

Helo carrier at Mayport

What We Learned

Setting Out

The Things We Learned On This Trip

Sian

So, this is the last one from me, at least for this time around. Here are some of the things we learned along the way.

Starting at the end it’s important to make the journey home part of the trip. Plan places to stop and things to enjoy along the way. I have been heading for the barn door since we made the turn in Georgetown which has left the days at sea long and tedious “just getting home” Yes John Lawrance you were right, we should have taken more time…

In the Islands avoid shopping around lunch time – a one hour lunch break can be very flexible, there is a good reason for the expression “Island time Mon!”

Provisioning has been worth all the planning up front. We head home with only fixings for four dinners available, not bad out of three months. However, the gentleman who said not to bother with celery in the freezer was right! The celery left home, and the celery came home too!

When preparing for sea always lock the fridge down, yes even when its flat calm because you just never know. Oh, and close the toilet lid for the same reason, it stops the towel from falling in!

If you forget to use the fresh herbs at home you will forget on the boat as well! Even though the galley is twenty steps from the garden I still managed to forget. Sigh.

Herb garden

Rusty Wilson was a bad boat dog. He will not be invited again! He fell over breaking the television, and also chipped the floor when he bounced in rough seas. I don’t want to hear it folks, it’s not his owners fault he misbehaves!

Rusty Wilson

On the other hand, Grace, The World’s Best Dog, can come cruising any time she likes! What a trooper!

Grace the swimmer

When preparing for this trip we knew we would spend most of our time in swimmers with the occasional shorts and t shirt dinners but even so we packed too many clothes! Keep it to the minimum and then leave ten percent of that at home anyway!

This trip has been a great experience, we are already talking about the next one! Many thanks to our friends who helped make it great, from those who were able to join us and those who gave us Tupperware to t-shirts to bowls, tea towels and plate covers. You know who you are and these touches of home were appreciated more than you know.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story, can’t tell you how tickled we have been to meet people who are familiar with the adventure even though we have not met in person before!

Finally (this is like the movie credits, right?)  A huge shout out to the skipper. All the planning, care and consideration made for a fabulous trip. I appreciate you waiting until the last week to say…”the boat has done everything I asked of her” and I will come with you again my love. Even though there were days of rough seas when I threatened to fly me and Grace home!

Paul

It was a great three months and, looking back, I have to say that things went mostly to plan, even though we only had Sonas for ten months before starting out. Some specific lessons learned:

Fly guests into Staniel or Norman’s. Having to be in Georgetown on specific dates meant going out into the Exuma Sound in weather which we would have chosen to avoid. We would have made one trip to Georgetown to see it, but at a time of our choosing. Having folks fly in to central Exuma would also have meant less fuel burn.

Outside the cut

As for the weather itself, more than a few times the forecast called for wind from one direction and, after anchoring with that direction in mind, the wind shifted 180 degrees and blew into the anchorage. There is not a lot that can be done about that apart from lifting the anchor and moving, but often it is too late in the day for that.

I also learned that “surge” on the guides and charts does not mean what I thought it meant – a quick rise in water levels. It means that there will be a swell running into the anchorage. Plan for this accordingly!

As an addendum to the above issues, I should also have practiced and become more comfortable deploying dual anchors.

I should have paid more attention to connectivity and planned a bit better there. We had planned to get a Bahamas SIM when we got to Lucaya. When we got there we were talked into getting a SIM from a new company called ALIV rather than BTC. That was a mistake as, while they have good coverage in Grand Bahama, New Providence and the Abacos, coverage in the Exumas in non-existent. When we got to Staniel we had to buy a BTC card and data. Also I considered a wireless booster before we left but decided against it mainly because I didn’t have enough time to research the best options properly. Reception in the islands was fine, and the only time we really missed this was around Exuma Park. There is a BTC tower in Highbourne with the next one at Staniel. With the Exumas Park being right in the middle it did not have reception. The park has WiFi you can buy at $15 per day, but you need a booster to get that on the boat. While people may think it is wonderful to be disconnected for a time, when you rely on this connectivity to get the weather and so that family can contact you in an emergency, it is pretty important.

On the positive side, I had never really used the tethering feature on my phone before, and I was really happy with the simplicity of the process and how it allowed us to have one phone on a data plan and the other phones and iPad connected to it.

Looking back at the specific issue I had with the controls leaving Exuma Yacht Club, it was then that I realized that I should never rush things. (see story here:   http://atanchor.com/?p=1318  ) We were there on a three month trip. We had all the time in the world, why save a few seconds by hurrying things along? You can be sure this will never happen again.

Glendinning controls

Practice picking up a mooring ball, would have not only got more comfortable doing it but also realized that all three of our boat hooks were too short for our bow to waterline distance.

When it comes to the equipment I would say there is only one thing that I would have done differently. We have a Pathmaker installed. This separates or links all of my batteries together. The house batteries, the generator batteries and the engine start batteries. This should always be off unless I need to link them to give more power to the engine start batteries. I knew before I left that this was not functioning. I assumed it was in the off position, but discovered during the trip that it was locked in the on position – meaning all my batteries were linked together. As we used the batteries at anchor not only were the house batteries draining down, but so were the generator and start batteries. Not a good scenario. I should have had this fixed before we left, no question. I managed through this by closely watching battery levels and recharging when necessary.

Fishing gear

One regret was that I just wasn’t able to get in the fishing that I had planned. I made sure to upgrade my fishing gear before we left with the plan of getting some Mahi, Whaoo, or Yellowfin. However the wind basically howled for the three months we were there and fishing was nearly impossible in the Sound, where the deep water was. Ah, well, next time.

On a more positive note I now know for a fact that Sonas is a well found vessel. She kept us safe and ran beautifully, her engines not missing a beat, and her equipment fully up to the job of long term boating.

Sonas

I also know what I knew before, that my crew is more than capable of long term cruising as a couple – with occasional guests!

It surprised me, when we got back, the number of people who asked if we had relationship issues while “cooped up together” for that long. This was something that did not occur to either of us and I was taken aback somewhat by the comments. I can honestly say that, for us, this was never an issue. We had plenty of together time and lots of opportunity for quiet time where we wanted. I would say that this trip had proved to us that we can go ahead a plan for a similar trip next year and others further out in confidence. Will there be bumps in the road, probably. But unless you experience bumps you will never recognize what a smooth path feels like.

A cruising couple

So that’s it for the Exumas trip. A few local trips coming up and then planning for the Chesapeake next year!

The Run Home

Our poor wind-battered Bahamian courtesy flag!

The Run Home

We can start this post off with admitting that we had a difference of opinion regarding our trip back to Jacksonville. Let’s call it a “discussion,” rather than a disagreement!

Once our last guests left for the airport it was always our plan to immediately depart the Marina at Emerald Bay and start making our way home. However as the day got closer Paul started dropping hints that maybe we could swing by the Abacos for another few weeks on our way home. Sian was not impressed and was of the opinion that three months away was enough for now and that we could visit the Abacos at a later date.

Sian won!

The most critical part of leaving the Bahamas and coming back to Florida is crossing the gulf stream. We had been watching the mid-range weather forecast, and, while the forecast could not be relied upon 100%, it did look like Tuesday May 23rd would bring winds from the south (moving with the gulf stream) at around ten knots. Perfect for a crossing.

Given that we were leaving Emerald Bay on the 17th, we could back into that date, giving us five days to get to our jumping off point of West End, Grand Bahama Island, overnight there and cross the next day.

So we made a plan to do a couple of long days to get to New Providence Island and stay at a resort marina there called Palm Cay, where there was a restaurant, a pool, a spa if we wanted a massage, and just chill for a few days. We ran from Emerald Bay to Emerald Rock on the Wednesday. Then we ran from Emerald Rock across to Palm Cay on the Thursday. We arrived at the marina mid-afternoon.

Palm Cay restaurant and beach

We stayed at Palm Cay until Sunday. We used the pool, beach and beach bar each day, and ate at the restaurant each night, finally taking a break from on-board dining (and cooking!). Our slip was at the furthest end of the marina, and  the marina staff recommended that we launch our dinghy to access the facilities. We decided that the walk would do us good, so each visit over to the beach and restaurant was 1.5 miles round trip!

Captain and coke, and a G&T at the Palm Cay beach bar.

At first light on Sunday we untied, called marina security to lower the chain that blocked the marina entrance every evening, and headed off for the Berry Islands, where we would then jump across the North Providence Channel towards West End. We had another long two days ahead of us.

We first ran to the northern tip of the Berry’s. We had a choice of two anchorages. Great Harbour or Slaughter Harbour. We would wait until we got there to see which would give us best protection from the swell which was coming in from the North East Channel. The best anchorage turned out to be the more north facing Slaughter Harbour.

As we approached the anchorage we saw two huge cruise ships anchored. The anchorage sits behind two cays,  Great Stirrup Cay owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines and Cocoa Cay owned by Royal Caribbean. The ships were the Norwegian Sky and The Monarch Of The Seas.

Cruise ships off their private islands

Since we would be going shore-side the NCL ship which was running cruise guests on tenders back and forth, Paul radioed the ship to confirm whether it was OK to continue between them and their guest facilities or if they wanted us to go outside of them. They thanked us and said it was fine to continue inside.

Monarch Of The Seas

We anchored in Slaughter Harbour and launched the dinghy to take Grace to shore. Unfortunately the best beaches were full of cruise guests and their paraphernalia so we ended up on a sandy roadway, which did the job but was not the prettiest! Later on a nice blue-hulled Selene joined us in the anchorage. We would be following each other the next couple of days to West End and then to Fort Pierce.

Selene

After the cruise ships left we saw a huge pall of black smoke come over the island. We soon realized that this was the way the Bahamian workers got rid of all of the trash accumulated by the cruise guests.

Burning the cruise trash

Burning cruise trash

On Monday we sailed north across the North East Channel and arrived at Old Bahama Bay resort at West End. We delivered our departure cards to the customs office, had a lovely meal at the Dockside Bar and Grill restaurant, where the staff were extremely pleasant.

After overnighting there we crossed to Fort Pierce Tuesday morning, arriving mid afternoon. The crossing was uneventful – which is just what you want for this particular leg of the journey! We had a slip booked at Harbortown Marina, but after taking on some fuel we were offered the fuel dock, which was an easier departure the next morning so we took that.

While Paul was taking on the fuel Sian called the Small Vessel Registration System 1-800 number (also known in Florida as the Local Boater Option or LBO) and checked us back in through immigration and customs. This new system allows boaters to apply to  SVRS prior to leaving and then, after a interview with Customs and Border Protection, we were each assigned a SVRS Boater’s Registration number. You can then use that to file a float plan and, on arriving back in the country, you make a call to a 1-800 number and you are processed without needing to turn up in person (in most cases).

Leaving Fort Pierce (Wednesday) we went up to Cocoa and the Cocoa Village Marina. Our son Matthew drove over from Orlando and had dinner with us at Cafe Margaux in the town.

Thursday we traveled to Daytona, tying up at Halifax Harbor Marina. We noticed extremely low tides during our trip (and into the next day). It seems that there had been a series of strong west winds blowing the water out eastwards so, along with spring tides, it was the lowest we had ever seen it. To the extent that we bumped the bottom slightly at New Symrna even though we were right between the markers in the ICW.

And just as they escorted us on our way to the Exumas in March, here they were again escorting us home! IT JUST NEVER GETS OLD WATCHING THESE BEAUTIFUL CREATURES HAVE FUN WITH US!

 

Once in Daytona we did some research and decided to treat ourselves to another nice restaurant since this was to be the very last night of our trip. We chose an excellent Italian restaurant called The Cellar, and had a lovely meal and conversation with the lady owner.

Finally on Friday we arrived back at our home port in Queen’s Harbour, Jacksonville. We arrived outside the channel exactly on low tide and, again because of the very low water, we had to anchor for a couple of hours before proceeding in through the lock and to our dock.

So after 12 weeks, 83 days, many adventures, much wind, and a lot of fun, we were finally home!

Sonas at home dock

Last Guests And Heading Home

The Irish Contingent Arrive!

Tuesday May 2nd through Wednesday May 17th   

On Tuesday May 2nd we were in Georgetown awaiting the arrival of our final guests, Paul’s brother John and sister-in-law AnneMarie. Around the time their plane was to land we went over to the Exuma Yacht Club marina for a small fuel top up, gas in the dinghy tanks, and most importantly, to fill the water tanks, which we down to less than 50 gallons and wouldn’t last a crew of four for very long. When we got there we found out that the main water pipe feeding the marina was broken and there was no water. The dock master told us it would be about 45 minutes to repair. So we loaded the fuel, got a few things from the store, and waited. In the end it took over two hours to get the water flowing – and even then it was leaking at the newly mended joint as we filled the tanks.

John and AnneMarie arrived safely and we headed out of the marina. We had an issue as we left which turned out not too serious in the end, but could have been a lot worse. See previous blog entry about this here:

First Damage!

We left Elizabeth Harbour and into Exuma Sound. The winds were light which made the trip outside comfortable for once! Paul took some photos of the site for the doomed Fyre Festival, with dozens of trailers lined up above the beach and work going on to dismantle the site.

Site of the failed Fyre Festival

We went back into the Exuma Bank side via Adderly Cut and on to Williams Cay. We had light winds all day and evening and for the first time this trip, since March 2nd, we had to run the generator for AC during the night! Since it is one of our favorite anchorages we stayed at Williams for two very comfortable days.

Storm off Williams Cay

On the fourth we exited Adderly Cut for the short eight mile run to come back in at Rudder Cut. We then had a slow leisurely motor past Cave Cay and Musha Cay and on into Little Farmers Cay.

We anchored right off the Government Dock. Sian, AnneMarie and John went ashore for a few things (including some more Captain Morgan and some tonic water to go with the gin)! We called the Ocean Cabin restaurant and asked what seafood they had for dinner to hear that they only had tilapia. Certainly not a fish we wanted to eat here in the islands! Next we called Little Farmers Yacht Club and were told that they had grouper, so we ordered four meals for 7pm.

Ready for dinner.

As we were eating our dinner, the only guests in the restaurant, and chatting to the owner Roosevelt Nixon, we saw a small coaster come in to his dock. We then watched as they unloaded an F150 right onto the end of the marina and drove it along the marina and up onto the road. The process was pretty interesting – so we had dinner and a show!

Someone is getting a new truck!

Leaving Little Farmers we went to Big Majors Spot. Our intent was to go through the little cut to get behind Fowl Cay, since there was a swell running into the Big Majors anchorage. However the current was running through the cut pretty hard so we decided to anchor and wait for slack tide. After a couple of hours we went through and anchored in very calm conditions.

It was at this point that John looked for his wallet, which was in the pocket of his nice Musto sailing jacket, and realized that he had left it on the ground back at the Exuma Yacht Club in Georgetown. We immediately called both the marina and the nearby restaurant and they did not have it. Luckily John had kept all of his cash separately so got busy calling to cancel his cards and order new ones.

Then of course we took John and AnneMarie over to meet the pigs!

Pig Beach

Since it was May 5th and Cinco De Mayo, we made a pitcher of margaritas and sat on the boat deck watching the sunset!

Cinco de Mayo margaritas

The next morning we made sure to be by the radio when Exuma Park came online to see if we could get a mooring buoy at Warderick Wells for that day – and we were successful! We upped anchor and headed to Warderick where we got assigned the same mooring ball as our last visit – # 17.

And finally the weather changed to blue skies and very light winds – and even better it was forecast to stay that way for the rest of our time in the islands. We walked up Boo-Boo hill and John and AnneMarie continued and walked the longer trail.

John and AnneMarie on Boo Boo Hill

As we got back on board Mint Julep came into the mooring field and picked up number 18 right by us. They were on their way to Nassau to visit with a dentist as a crown needed some work.

We stayed at Warderick for two days and then we warned our families back home that we would be out of communication capability for a few days. We  motored north to the anchorage off the beach at Hawksbill Cay, still in the Exuma Park. The big yacht Alder was still there. Paul had a chat with one of the crew who said that the owner just wanted to stay in place for a month before heading back to Florida.

Alder and sea plane

We stayed there a couple of days, snorkeling the reefs, with plenty of turtles and rays surrounding the boat. We also watched as a Seaplane came in each day and motored up on the beach to allow the passengers to play.

One (easy) way to see the islands

This was as far north in the Island chain that we were going with our guests. So on Wednesday the 10th we motored down to Cambridge Cay. We had been told that it was easy to dinghy from there across to the small Rocky Dundas cays where there were some amazing caves. The Cambridge Cay anchorage was another simply beautiful anchorage, with long sandbars to walk on.

Cambridge Cay

We took Grace to the caves with us to stop her from disrupting the anchorage, barking non-stop after us as she had taken to doing. Paul and AnneMarie stayed with her in the dinghy while John and Sian snorkeled the caves.

Rocky Dundas Caves

On Thursday we went outside to Staniel and anchored just to the west of the yacht club. We took trash ashore and had a couple of beers as we watched the tour boat customers wade with the nurse sharks and rays. That night we went in to the yacht club for dinner.

Nurse shark paying Sonas a visit

On Friday we snorkeled the sunken plane to the west of Staniel Cay and then Thunderball grotto.

On the Saturday we started our run back towards Georgetown so that we would have our guests there in time for their flight on Wednesday 17th. Saturday’s plan was to anchor off Plain Beach just south of Black Point. The wind was stiff from the southwest blowing straight in to that anchorage with a swell. So we anchored at Black Point Settlement, and went into Lorraine’s Café for lunch.

Early next morning, Mother’s Day,  we lifted anchor and set off for Elizabeth Harbour again, a six hour run. When we got there we anchored right off the town and went ashore to see if anyone had picked up John’s sailing jacket, with no luck. We had lunch at Peace and Plenty, got some provisions (including more milk!) before taking the boat over to Sand Dollar beach where we would spend a couple of nights. We made sure to have a couple of final drinks at Chat n Chill, and then on Tuesday we took Sonas over to The Marina at Emerald bay.

We had booked our final hurrah meal at the Pallapa restaurant in the Grand Isle Resort  for Tuesday night. We had a really nice meal, a “few” cocktails and dancing to the live band.

Pallapa

On Wednesday morning we had a sad farewell with John and AnneMarie at the marina after which we left immediately to start the journey back to Florida.

The Irish Contingent Leave, slightly more tanned!

First Damage!

Controls power switch and Pilot House controls

First Damage

Tuesday May 2nd 2017   

I damaged Sonas, and it could have been a lot, lot worse!

We had pulled into the Exuma Yacht Club in Georgetown to take on water and to pick up my brother and sister-in-law who had just flown in.

We were tucked into the fuel dock, squeezed between two other vessels – see photo below from a similar set up at the same fuel dock the last time we were in there.

Squeezed into the fuel dock

After we had the water and our guests on board we were ready for the off. I turned on the engines and all of the instruments. Then stepped off the boat to pay for the water. After paying I went back on board and as I entered the pilothouse I called to the two dock hands to go ahead and free the lines.

I walked up the six steps to the flybridge, had a look to make sure that the lines were clear, and put the starboard engine into reverse to take my starboard stern out first to go around the boat behind me.

And nothing happened.

I looked down and realized that I had not turned on the engine controls – which are on a separate switch on the pilot house panel. No real panic, the boat wasn’t moving. I put the control back into neutral and stepped back into the pilot house and switched on the controls. The controls in the pilot house blinked on as active.

I quickly went back to the flybridge and pressed “active” twice on the controls and “warm sync” once to give me control, and immediately put the starboard engine into reverse, and the stern started moving out. I then put the starboard engine back into neutral so as to slow the maneuver down – and the starboard engine kept right on going! I quickly tried again with the control, into reverse and back to neutral, no good.

Sian then told me through our headsets that we had cleared the boat behind us, I could now straighten up so the bow wouldn’t hit that boat. She of course wasn’t aware of the issue. I decided to go ahead and put the port engine into reverse and goose it a bit and that would straighten the boat up so that I could at least avoid the boat behind us. Then we could exit the marina, turn off the engines and sort out the issue.

Except the port engine would not respond to the controls either and stayed in neutral! Sonas was going astern and pulling to the left and the bow was swinging to the right towards the boat behind us. So I quickly hit the bow thruster taking the bow to the left and straightened her out that way. That took us past the other vessel but still yawing to the left going astern. I put as much urgency into my voice as I could and told Sian to drop the anchor quickly. Without as much as a comment she ran to the bow and did that. I ran to the pilothouse to kill the engines, just as she told me that we were about to hit the dock behind us, and a second or two later we did, striking our swim platform against a piling, where my brother stuck on a fender and line. With that, the engines off and the anchor out we were stopped, albeit it at an angle across the marina fairway.

I then went to start the engines again to see if I still had an issue, and the starboard engine would not start.

With all of the controls in neutral and the engines off I went into the engine room to see what was going on. I immediately saw that the starboard engine transmission was in reverse (why the engine would not start) and the port in neutral. Yet the controls were both set to neutral.

I then realized what I had done.

I went back to the pilothouse and turned off the power switch to the controls, waited about twenty seconds, and turned them back on. I went back into the engine room and both transmissions were now in neutral and responding to the controls. I went back up top and reassured everyone that I had identified what had both caused the issue and the resolution.

I started both engines, give them a little bump in gear to confirm all was well. We raised the anchor, released the stern and left the marina. Sian went back and checked the swim platform and reported damage, though pretty cosmetic along the stern rub rail.

Swim platform rub rail

Thinking over it afterwards I realized how fortunate we were that the dock to our left side was completely empty due to damage last year from Hurricane Matthew, and that no other boat or dinghy was coming up the fairway at the time, though I wouldn’t have started leaving if that were the case. I was also relieved that no one on board our vessel had tried to get between the boat and dock.

I also thought about what I could have done differently to avoid this (apart from the obvious of making sure that the controls were switched on along with the other electronics). Should I have waited until at the flybridge controls before calling for the lines to be released? I don’t think that would have helped because I would not have looked to engage the engine until after the lines were free, so I would have had the same result.

So what caused this issue?

When I ran down and turned on the power switch for the controls in the pilothouse, the controls in the pilothouse are activated. I then went quickly up top and activated the upper control and at the same time threw the starboard engine into reverse. The engine responded, but because I did not wait for even a second after activating to sending an order, I believe I confused the electronic Glendinning control system. Either it was caught between the two sets of controls or somehow, after I gave the reverse order, it reverted to the pilothouse controls. The fact that the starboard engine transmission stayed in reverse after I had the engines off and both sets of controls in neutral seems to indicate that I confused the electronics by not waiting a couple of seconds for the upper station to pair with the units in the engine room.

So now I make sure to check the power is turned on along with the other electronics AND I wait a few seconds after transferring the controls before I change gear. I have no issues with the controls since.

Reading the Glendinning manual it does not mention a wait period, though it does say that you can have the gears for the set you are transferring to already in the position you want before activating so as not to lose RPMs.