Date |
Report |
5/9/10
New Bern, NC
George Stateham |
We arrived in our home slip about 4:00 pm
after a fairly long day on the water. Wind was not as bad as
anticipated, so instead of staying out another night.
We got away from the dock at Swansboro early
while winds were low and favorable. Currents were good until we got to
Morehead City and then we struggled along at 4 and 5 knots until we were
almost to the Neuse River.
Marina staff and friends helped us get
into the slip and rig our lines. Then we had a little happy hour on the
boat until about 6:00 pm. Then we loaded a couple of carts of stuff in
the car and headed to the house. I wonder if we will be able to sleep on
a bed that isn't moving on the waves..
Now the drudge work of unloading,
cleaning the boat, and all the yard work at the house that has built up
over the late fall, winter, and early spring.
Had we stayed out that extra night, we
would have arrived home exactly 6 months from the day we left. I think
it is close enough to say we were gone half a year. |
5/8/10
Swansboro, NC
George Stateham |
OK, one more report while en route.
We got out of Myrtle Beach early and the
weather was conducive to going outside at the Little River and in at
Cape Fear. It is actually a little further that way but we skipped the
Sunset Beach bridge and two inlets that frequently shoal. There wasn't
really enough wind to sail but it was nice. We arrived at Wrightsville
Beach early enough to get a good anchoring spot. There were a lot of
wakes for a while as many speed boats zipped by with their displays of
hard bodies and bikini babes. About dark it settled down and we had a
nice evening on the hook.
Talk about early departure, today we had
the anchor up at 6:03 am and made the Wrightsville bridge before they
went on restriction. Then the Figure Eight Island and Surf City bridges
we timed almost perfectly.
Through the day the wind was building
steadily and we made better and better time with favorable current and
wind our speed approaching 9 knots at times. We made the Onslow Beach
bridge at 1230. We had 25 knots of wind at the New River inlet and the
ICW makes several turns there. Lynn jibed the sail all by herself and
did a great job.
The wind at the dock in Swansboro is
howling but we managed to slide up to the dock real easy. We have seen
30 knots here. We hope the wind changes direction a little through the
night or we will have a heck of a time getting off the dock tomorrow.
We do not plan to go all the way home
tomorrow. Don't want to try to get into our slip with these winds. We
will probably anchor in Cedar Creek or go into Oriental tomorrow evening
and then home on Monday.
An early Happy Mothers' Day to all the
wonderful mothers in our family. We won't have a chance to send a
message tomorrow. |
5/6/10
North Myrtle Beach, SC
George Stateham |
Tuesday we had an easy day from Charleston
to Georgetown, SC. Currents were with us most of the day and we were in
early enough to get one of the prime anchoring spots.
Lynn did an impromptu Cinco De Mayo dinner
and we simulated margaritas with our bug juice (Crystal Light) and
tequila. The Fauxgaritas were passable and the dinner was great.
Today was considerably different. The
tide times meant that we were fighting currents all day. Add to that a
heavy fog for the first 2 1/2 hours where we felt our way along at about
4 knots and it was a long day of piloting. Along the way, we were
overtaken and passed by a trawler type power boat with less than
pleasing lines. As it approached, Lynn put the binoculars on it and
couldn't tell if it was one boat or two. Finally, deciding it was only
once boat, she coined a new word. She said it was lubersome, apparently
a mix of lumbering and cumbersome. Original and appropriate.
We did make it in to Myrtle Beach to buy
diesel just before the fuel dock closed and we are on an end tie dock so
we can slip the lines and get out early tomorrow.
There are two plans for tomorrow. Plan A
is to go out at the Little River Inlet and back in at Cape Fear and from
there to Wrightsville, If the weather is not good outside we will do the
same journey on the ICW.
This is probably our last report while en
route. Any mishaps aside, we will arrive in our slip in New Bern late
Sunday or early Monday. Probably Monday. We will send a final report
from home and do a voyage summary as well. |
5/4/10
Isle of Palms Marina,
Charleston, SC
George Stateham |
We are taking a day off. Captain and crew
are tired, not so much physically as mentally. We have had some
stressful Days from Northern Florida to here. Weather today is forecast
to be showers and some severe thunderstorms, and we just decided to skip
a day. We made pretty good time on
Sunday getting away from Kilkenny about 6:20 am. There were dredges,
missing marks, missing ranges, boats hung up on fish traps, etc.
Steamboat Creek is a favorite anchorage
and we were in fairly early and had a chance to kick back for a few
hours. The strong winds continued and we had wind against current again,
but the creek is wide enough that it wasn't a problem.
All these creeks we're anchoring in don't
have the nice clean sandy bottom of the Bahamas, but black, stinky mud.
The foredeck is a mess and we hope the thunderstorms today give us a
good rinse. What the boat needs is a good scrub, but she will wait until
we are home for that.
Along our route on the Stono river, two
friends, Jim and Amy have a nice house and dock. Monday we picked up Jim
and he rode with us through Charleston Harbor to Isle of Palms Marina,
distance of about 20 miles.
The newly rebuilt Ben Sawyer Bridge had
workmen on it and we had to wait a while for an opening. When we
requested an opening, the bridge tender told me he had good news and
bad. I asked for the bad first and he said we would have to wait about
an hour. I then asked for the good news. He said, "I lied, there is no
good news." We just dropped the hook in the channel and visited while we
waited.
The strong winds really only piped up
while we were in the harbor so it was choppy out there, but at least for
one day the winds were less than forecast. Forecasts have been calling
for 15 to 20 knot winds and we have been seeing 25+ with regularity. If
winds had been blowing out of the south at 20 knots as forecast, we
wouldn't have been able to go into Jim's dock.
Currents at the marina were running
strong and docking was dicey but we got snuggled up without any hard
bumps. |
5/1/10
Skull Creek Marina,
Hilton Head Island, SC
George Stateham |
We left Brunswick Friday, 4/30 and headed
north. Approaching Doboy Sound, at Doboy Island, we spotted a pair
of bald eagles, each perched on one of two poles along the shore. Wish
we had a camera with a big lens. Through the binoculars they were
incredible.
We made good time and had lots of options
for anchoring and tried a new spot called Big Tom Creek. It may be
called Big but it is narrow. When we started getting strong wind against
strong current as we had in Ft. George River there was not enough room
to swing and we ended up with the bow stuck to the bank along the north
side.
Another attempt at anchoring just resulted
in the same so we decided to get out of there while we still had some
daylight and go into Kilkenny Creek, which is winder. Going in we could
see the masts of other boats anchored, almost certainly in the best
spots, and the Admiral opted to call the small marina there and ask for
space. It was probably the right answer and was certainly the easy one.
This morning we were away at first light
and made reasonable time getting here. We are well positioned to go to
Steamboat Creek tomorrow and into Charleston on Monday.
From there we are about a week from home
unless we stop somewhere to miss weather and/or enjoy a nice location.
We seem like horsed headed for the barn don't really need to be in a hurry.
After all, this is supposed to be fun, right? |
4/29/10
Brunswick, GA
George Stateham |
It's amazing how easy some jobs become when
you have the right set of tools assembled. The broken alternator
mounting bolt had about 1/2 inch still stuck in the head. With a right
angle drill to work in the confined space and a good "Easy Out" we had
it out in a few minutes. Pat
McCartin, our favorite mechanic met us here and worked on an oil leak on
the port engine. I hope we found the base cause because my bilge is
dirty and I am using a bunch of oil absorbers to try to keep it
reasonable.
Now, with the work we wanted to
accomplish finished, we are turning in our rent car and planning a
departure for tomorrow morning. We plan to stay in the ICW tomorrow and
will only go about 50 miles to a favorite anchorage. |
4/27/10
Brunswick, GA
Lynn Stateham |
We had a couple of windy days on the
water. Left St. Augustine Monday morning, and winds were light a good
part of the day. We anchored in the Fort George River, which has an
inlet to the ocean further out. Late afternoon and early evening we
had winds in the 20-25 knot range from the west, and a strong current
from the inlet to the east. Sunspot Baby was just like the
tilt-a-whirl at a carnival. We spun and spun, sometimes clockwise,
sometimes counterclockwise, and no stopping for a break in between.
Finally about 9 pm things calmed down, and we actually got a decent
night's sleep. This morning when George brought the anchor up, it
must have been snagged in some tree deadfall, but it finally broke
loose.
Today we had higher winds earlier, and
fought currents about half the day. George did a terrific job of
piloting, as always, through the very skinny water of Jekyll Creek,
and in choppy water, especially in St. Andrews Sound and in the river
leading to Brunswick, not to mention up the St. Mary's River with
changing systems of aids to navigation.
The "RO" water from the marina that we put
in our bottles in St. Augustine tasted terrible! We threw it all out,
and used the watermaker most of the day today so we are resupplied.
Our little watermaker makes the best tasting water anywhere. And it
was funny today...because some of the areas we transited today had
brackish (some fresh, some salt), it worked faster in those areas!
We will be here for a few days, and Pat
McArtin, the mechanic, will arrive Thursday morning. We'll get a
rental car, mostly to run parts, but it will be nice to have it for
other errands as well.
This is a nice marina with free laundry,
free wifi, and friendly staff. We are close to downtown which has
nice cafes and shops. We are glad to be here for a while.
|
4/25/10
St. Augustine, Fl
George Stateham |
It's been a week since our last update and
shame on us. We spent Monday and
Tuesday in Vero with a rent car checking in with customs and immigration
and running errands like crazy expecting to leave on Wednesday. Tuesday
afternoon, however, George said "I'm not ready to go." There were a lot
of small boat tasks to do after the crossing that remained undone so we
held off another day and left Thursday.
We had a fairly easy day on the water
going only as far as Cocoa. We anchored on the north side of the bridge
for a little wind protection and hoping to have a better few of the
rocket launch. It was not a space shuttle, but a smaller Atlas rocket so
it was not quite as spectacular, but we still thought it was pretty
cool.
Click here for an article about the mission.
Friday we had a long day motoring to
Daytona. A pleasant stretch is the Haul Over Canal. We usually see quite
a bit of wild life through here, often a manatee or two. This time there
were a group of manatee being very active. The water was roiling and we
saw parts of at least three animals rolling over each other. These are
pretty placid creatures and we assume it was mating activity. Lynn stood
on the fore deck ready with the camera. Of course, it took that
particular moment to flash the message "BATTERY EXHAUSTED." That's
probably OK, the picture would have been hard to decipher, just some
turbulence in the water unless we caught one of their large, flat tails
above the surface.
There was also a dolphin rounding up fish
and then running them ashore to catch them. We see this behavior
somewhere along the ICW almost every year.
Once we got to New Smyrna and the Ponce De Leon inlet, the
boating traffic became heavy and there was an ample supply of idiots
leaving big wakes. We anchored just north of the Seabreeze bridge, again
hoping for some protection from wind and chop. There is not a lot of
room here and two other boats were occupying the sweet spot so we were
just a few boat lengths further north but far enough that we were
outside the "No Wake" zone. As soon as the big power boats reach it, or
slightly before, they power up forcing a wall of water to the sides and
we had a couple of rough incidents. Have you seen what happens to a ripe
avocado when it leaps from the cabinet to the floor? We did. Fortunately
sunset sends the big power boats to their marinas and we had a pretty
pleasant night.
Saturday, our plan was to go only as far
as Palm Coast, a short run, to get off the water for the weekend when
the idiot factor increases. After George started the engines, the
alternator belt on the port side started squealing. We haven't had much
trouble with that this year after a long and successful search for just
the right length belt. I am sure if you read last year's reports, you
will remember. Slipping is usually not a big problem. Sometimes just
spraying the belt with a special dressing stops it, other wise George
just adjusts the tension. He had done this so many times that it usually
takes only a few minutes. This time however, something was different.
After dragging out all the necessary
tools, he saw the real problem. There are two alternator mounting boats,
one is a pivot, the other holds the tension. There was no pivot bolt.
WHAT? Oh well, it just probably vibrated out right? George fished the
bolt out of the bilge with a magnet and started trying to reinsert it.
Just couldn't seem to get the hole lined up. Tried running a screw diver
through to find the hole without luck. We could see the hole but
couldn't get anything to go in it. Finally, looking at the end of the
bolt, we determined it had sheared. There is apparently a piece still
threaded in the hole.
Now what do we do? Lots of options. We
could just go into a marina in Daytona and probably have to wait until
Monday to get a mechanic out. After careful consideration, we decided
the engine will run fine without an alternator, and the starboard engine
alternator would charge the batteries. No reason not to go on. We opted
out of the Palm Coast destination, deciding to go farther to St.
Augustine. We thought the chances of getting a mechanic on the weekend
were greater there.
Along the way, our plan continued to
develop and we decided to call our favorite mechanic Pat, the one who
overhauled our engines, to meet us in Brunswick, GA. The port engine has
a small oil leak and he will bring the part to fix that at the same
time.
We are in the
Camachee Cove Marina, a new
stop for us. There are some 25 knot winds over the next couple of days,
but we hope to depart tomorrow for Fort George and on to Brunswick on
Tuesday. Pat meets us there on Thursday. On Wednesday we will try to
find a couple of replacement bolts and maybe I can get the remainder of
the old bolt out. Otherwise the head may have to come off and go to a
machine shop.
It was a fairly long day and the area
around the Matanzas inlet is shoaling so steering was touchy. We only
draw four feet, but depths have been reported as shallow as three. We
got through just fine and never saw less than six feet. There were a
couple of keel boats (normal sail boats with a keel) that were very
interested in how we did and we reported back to them by radio.
We could go all the way home like this if
needed, but we are going to be close to Pat's home base and we trust his
work. We don't want to do an ocean passage unless everything is working.
Maybe after Brunswick there will be a good weather window so we can bite
off more miles than 60 or so per day.
From this report you can see that our
plan is constantly evolving so don't be surprised if what we do is
different than what we say here.
We are sorry for letting so much time
elapse between reports, but there wasn't much to say in Vero Beach and
since then, we haven't had internet. |
Passage Report - April
17-18 2010
Lynn Stateham |
We had a nice quiet
night at Crab Cay, and the wind, after days of blowing, finally died
down. We waited until 9:45 to depart Saturday morning, following a
schedule to arrive at the Fort Pierce inlet about 8:30 Sunday morning at
slack tide. I was fairly nervous about the possibility of squalls and
thunderstorms, but otherwise it looked like a good trip with moderate
sailing wind and a decent sea state.
I made breakfast
burritos while we waited to leave, with extras to warm up for our Sunday
breakfast. We had crab wraps for lunch – could have used some avocado
but had none, and in the afternoon George suggested we make some
frapuccinos (iced coffees), which were tasty and gave us a caffeine
hit. For supper we had pre-baked quiche with bacon, and a vegetable
salad, and in the fridge we had turkey and cheese sandwiches cut in half
for night watch snacking. We never go hungry when we are on a passage.
We had less wind than
forecast all day, and finally about sunset it picked up to about 10
knots easterly, behind us, and through the night a little more
southerly. We had the main and Genoa out all day, and with night coming
on, stowed the Genoa.
With the longer days,
we changed our watch schedules an hour. I took 7-10 and 1-4, George
took 10-1 and 4-7. That worked out well for us, and Toby took his
regular watch schedule of sleeping throughout, having taken his underway
anesthetic of Tums and cheese, which makes him drowsy.
I love the sunset
watch, and was rewarded with a spectacular sunset. I will put one on my
Facebook page, and I think George will put one on our web site as well.
We came off the Little
Bahama Bank around midnight, and it was lumpy, with the water moving
from one place to another between the shallow bank and the deep ocean,
but once we were in deep water conditions settled and we had a
comfortable sea state. We had little moon, but there were stars most of
the night.
Neither of us slept
well on our first off-watch, with various issues. The auto pilot
breaker switch tripped for some reason, but once George figured out what
happened and turned it back on it worked fine through the trip.
Approaching the Little Bahama Bank I was on watch and couldn’t figure
out some boat lights ahead, we were seeing red and green and white, and
it looked like a boat was going in circles, so woke George up early.
Turned out it was Far and Away, who had no engine because of an
overheating issue, they are a big ketch and were trying to sail in light
winds and jibing often, when we passed them we finally saw they had
sails up and didn’t realize who they were or what the problem was until
much later. They had a very long sail toward the inlet, and finally
arrived under tow on Sunday night in a rain storm. During our second
off-watches, we were each able to get about 3 hours of good sleep.
And…drum roll….both my
on duty watches were ship free!
Approaching the Fort
Pierce inlet, we ate our warmed up breakfast burritos in the cockpit,
while a dolphin welcoming committee swam beside us. We came into the
inlet right on time, at 8:30 am, on a fairly slack tide, and by about 11
we were fueling at the Vero Beach City Marina. Shortly after leaving
the fuel dock, George heard a change in the port engine, and by the time
we were tied up he determined it is a bad impeller, which will have to
be replaced before we move on.
We have a car reserved
for a day or two, and numerous errands which will include clearing in at
Customs and Border Patrol at the Fort Pierce Airport.
It was a wonderful
Bahamas cruise, possibly our best one ever, and a good crossing back to
the US of 163.5 nautical miles. As usual, George did a splendid job of
navigating, troubleshooting, and timing.
We are glad to be here. |
4/18/10
Vero Beach, FL
George Stateham |
We are in Vero Beach after a good overnight
crossing. Staying at Bluff House at
Green Turtle gave us a heck of an excuse to eat out a lot, not something
we do often when cruising. But, hey, money paid in dockage was offset
dollar for dollar in the restaurant and bar.
It was still very windy, but better when
we pulled out on Friday, 4/16. Getting out of the strange slip layout
with the wind blowing us into it was tricky but with a little help from
folks on the dock tending lines and a first class crew, we were out
without a scratch. We had a very nice sail with good winds and moderate
seas to Crab Cay where we spent a good night in the protected anchorage.
Our plan was to go straight from there to
the Ft. Pierce inlet and then up the ICW to Vero. It was only 152 sea
miles to the inlet and not wanting to arrive in the dark, we delayed our
departure until 10:00 am. We were supposed to have 15 knot winds in the
morning and 11 in the afternoon. At first it looked like we could
maintain our planned 6 knots just sailing but the wind dropped instead
of filling and we ended up motor sailing the whole way.
Conditions in the Gulf Stream were pretty
much as forecast except the seas might have been a little lower than
expected. Showers and squalls waited until we were in to move into the
area.
As we approached the Ft. Pierce inlet, a
welcoming committee of dolphin joined us and swam with the boat for a
while. They must have been stealth dolphin because, usually, Toby hears
them before we spot them but this time we humans saw them first. Maybe
they were using sign language.
Now we are on a mooring and have a car
reserved tomorrow. We need to check in with customs in Ft. Pierce and
try to get Lynn a new phone. Her battery swelled and split during the
cruise.
As we started the engines after fueling
here, the port engine took on a funny sound. Looks like there is no
water coming out with the exhaust so I probably lost a pump impellor. It
would be an easy job to replace if it were a little more accessable, but
it is doable and I will attack it tomorrow.
Monday night while we have the car, we
are going to a movie. We went to one in December before departing and
are ready for night at the cinema. We don't even know what is showing
but will pick one.
We love the Bahamas but it is also great
to be back in the good old U.S of A!
|
4/14/10
White Sound, Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
It is still windy here, and Sunspot Baby
is staying put on the dock.
Yesterday we shared the rental of a golf
cart with Andy and Sally aboard Sequel, and spent the day touring the
island. We were away about 9:30 am, and headed for the little town of
New Plymouth. It's a charming spot, and we drove the narrow streets,
shopped (didn't buy much except a few fresh provisions), had a nice
tour of the local museum, and immersed ourselves in the history of the
loyalists in the Bahamas. We had probably our last conch fix, a
cracked conch lunch at The Wrecking Tree Cafe.
On the way back, we stopped to walk three
beaches, looking for shells and sea glass. Found a few things, and
enjoyed the view of the white water in the Atlantic, glad we weren't
out there. We had to be careful as many Portuguese men of war were
washed ashore.George has posted
some pictures of our outing.
We were invited to a get together back
in New Plymouth in the late afternoon, to hear a friend play his
guitar at a local bar and cafe, but we opted out, even though this
golf cart runs on gas and has headlights. We were pooped. Besides
that, the dinner special at the Bluff House Cafe was rack of lamb, so
we had an easy evening.
Today our legs are stiff from the beach
walking, so I'm sure it did us some goodI
There is a weather window this weekend
which we are watching with cautious optimism, hoping we could go
straight through to Fort Pierce, Florida. We are doing a few chores
every day toward that possibility. This morning George checked oil,
and I have bread rising in the galley.
|
4/10/10
White Sound, Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
George Stateham |
George says "there is always a weather
window a week out." There is certainly no opportunity to go earlier. A
cold front arrived this morning and as it dissipates, we will be right
between a strong high pressure area and a low. The winds will be strong
trying to get from the high to the low. That starts Tuesday but going
earlier is not wise as there is a stiff wind with a northerly component
over the Gulf Stream. That will stand the seas up and there is a small
boat warning out off the coast of Florida.
In this area sea conditions didn't break
down quite as quickly as George thought they might when he made the
decision to get north of the Whale (see below) but by now we are glad we
are and that we are tucked into a protected sound. Add to that a dock
with power and wi-fi located in a resort with restaurant, pool, and gift
shop. The docking for dollars means we will eat out FAR more than our
normal. We will be here until next Friday or Saturday if the weather
forecasters are right. We have been stuck in Nassau that long before but
the docking is cheaper here and we get to eat it up!
If we leave next weekend and take 3 weeks
or so getting home (about our normal) we should be back in NC sometime
about the end of the first week in May. No guarantees but that would
make this cruise almost exactly six months long.
Yesterday, we dinghied to another marina
and shuttled 16 gallons of diesel back to the boat in three trips. This
marina has no diesel. That pretty well filled us up and when the weather
window opens we plan to go straight through to Florida, probably the Ft.
Pierce inlet and then up the ICW to Vero Beach. |
4/07/10
White Sound, Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
George Stateham |
Yesterday we woke early to prepare for our
day of diving. Checking email early, we had an message from our eldest
granddaughter, Alisha asking when we would be home because she wants to
come visit. Wow! Good news on the doorstep . . .
We went to the Fowl Cay sea park to dive
with Froggy's Dive Shop of Hope Town. It was a fairly large boat without
too many divers and a very helpful crew. The drill was to dive as a
group and follow the dive master. The dive masters seemed intent on
circumnavigating the reef as opposed to dinking along looking in holes
and crevices. Not our favorite style but the reef was nice and we saw
good sea life. Visibility is not a great as in the out islands.
Lynn was pooped after the first dive and
skipped the second. George didn't miss the chance to get wet again and
as is typical, was the last to return to the boat.
This morning we received a weather report
significantly different than yesterday's. Seems a front everyone has
been discounting is going to be stronger and penetrate further south
than predicted. Our plan had been to go to Treasure Cay for a few days
and then Great Guana Cay before moving through the Whale Cut and points
farther north.
The Whale is one of the two major problem
possibilities between the Abacos and home, the other is the Gulf Stream.
After thinking things over this morning, George decided to take the good
conditions today, and get north of the Whale rather than wait another
week and then find that weather window evaporating.
Lynn doesn't much like sudden plan
changes, but kept her chin up and started getting ready. It was a good
day to do the Whale and except for the fact that the wind was so close
to the stern that the sail kept wanting to jibe, it was non-eventful.
We are at a dock at Bluff House where
they have "docking for dollars." Money we spend on dockage goes as a
credit against food, drinks, and laundry. That certainly takes the sting
out of paying for dockage.
We will probably be here at least a week
so we may not have a lot to report for a while. |
4/05/10
Hope Town, Abacos, Bahamas
George Stateham |
We were up really early this morning hoping
to see the space shuttle launch. Cape Canaveral is less than 300 miles
from here and the flight path was to take the shuttle over the Bahamas
so we were very hopeful. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see
anything. We saw some faint glowing spots through the clouds but nothing
defined. Easter Sunday was a nice
day here although we didn't find a church to attend. We had a sunrise
service at the "Prout Cathedral;" Sunspot Baby is a Prout. Late in the
morning we did eggs benedict and bloody marys. Wow, two bloody marys and
I was toast. I took a late morning nap.
We took the dinghy for a little harbor
cruise and photo op tour around the harbor and up the creeks. We will
post a couple of the better shots.
In the late afternoon, the crews of
Whispering Sea and Scandia came aboard for happy hour. We
shared some good snacks, liquid refreshments and great chats.
Today is still a national holiday so not
much is open. I do hope to visit a dive shop and see if I can get set up
to go out with them tomorrow. If we can get some good diving in here, we
may stick around a few more days. There are a couple of other locales in
the Abacos we hope to visit before we get serious about heading home.
Probably a couple of more weeks in this area. |
4/03/10
Hope Town, Abacos, Bahamas
George Stateham |
We've been so laid back, we haven't updated
reports even though we have had pretty good internet access. Sorry, my
bad. We enjoyed our time in Spanish Wells, renting a golf cart,
provisioning, buying stone crab claws, and going into pretty near every
shop on the island without buying any geegaws.
We visited the dock where Rita the manatee
hangs out. See the pictures page for more about this.
On Wednesday the wind was 10 knots or
less out of the north. Not good for sailing but OK for motoring so we
retained a pilot to take us out over the Ridley Head reef. We went
through here 4 years ago but didn't make a GPS track and our memory was
not enough to rely on.
We motored to the Abacos and except for a
little sloppy sea condition early, it turned into the kind of day we
used to enjoy on the Pacific with calm seas but a four foot swell on a
13 second interval.
Once conditions improved, Lynn put out
two fishing lines but no luck. Fortunately another boat, About Time,
caught a 48" mahi and we were invited aboard for dinner. The Little
Harbor cut was an easy passage but instead of turning to Little Harbor
as we have in the past, we turned north to Lynyard Cay. We picked a
great anchoring spot and started getting some rice ready to take to the
mahi dinner.
There was a nice beach for Toby's
exercise and the winds had turned easterly so it was not rough. We
decided to stay through Thursday and look to move on Friday. Friday
morning George was working on transferring data between the chart
plotter and the lap top with some frustrating results. We opted to just
stay put and he finally beat the software into submission. Still it was
a nice easy day on the hook.
Late in the day, we spotted more friends,
Scandia coming into the anchorage, We had a brief happy hour with them
before a nice dinner on board.
Today the wind was perfect for a sail to
Elbow Cay and Hope Town. We are on a mooring here and will stay a few
days. We will do our own sunrise service at the Prout Cathedral for
Easter tomorrow. We hope you may feel as close to God as do we.
Monday morning at 6:21 am NASA is set for
a launch. We should at least see a glow in the sky from here.
The Abacos are very different from the
Exumas and out islands. |
3/29/10
Spanish Wells, Bahamas
George Stateham |
We are in
Spanish
Wells, tied to a dock and last night neither of us could really believe
it.
We were hanging out in
Rock Sound wishing to go here but really needed two days to do it. One
day to get near Current Cut, someplace like Governors Harbor or Hatchet
Bay, so we could time our passage through the cut with the ebbing tide.
You really don’t want to try it against the flow in a boat without a lot
of power (i.e. a sailboat). Then, another day to the cut, through it and
to make our way here. The winds were forecast to be over 15 knots, sort
of our unofficial comfort limit. But low and behold, ye nonbelievers,
Lynn suggested leaving early, taking a route not recommended in the
guides and getting to Royal Island to anchor, then motor in the next
day.
George laid in a route
and it was to be 62 miles. Figuring a 6 knot average speed we were going
to have 10+ hours of high winds and some bumpy seas. We would, however,
be on a good point of sail for most of our time in open water.
Instead of going
through Current Cut, we planned to pass around the southern end of
Current Island which is charted as having some narrow and shallow spots
to transit.
Remember it was Lynn
who suggested this. George could barely believe it. Let’s give it a go.
By 6:00 we were up and
had things perking. At 6:25 we had the hook up and had just barely
enough light to miss any anchored boat not showing an anchor light.
After crossing the sound and turning north the sun rose. On that leg we
were fairly close to the lee of Eleuthera and had good wind without
rough seas. Then we turned for the 35 mile run to Current Island. The
further we got from Eleuthera, the rougher the seas became, but I don’t
think we saw anything over about 4’. We were on a good angle of sail
with wind and seas on the starboard quarter and we were making over 7
knots, even 8 at times surfing along a swell. By leaving about an hour
earlier than planned and making extra speed, we were rounding the south
end of Current Island at 1:30 pm, 2 ½ hours earlier than plan.
Shortly before getting
to Current Island there was a lot of second guessing from the crew.
“There has to be a reason, this route is not recommended in the charts
and cruising guides.” “I think I see waves breaking all across the
opening, there must be a reef there.” “I didn’t know there were sand
bars on this side of the island.” After a few exasperated comments from
the skipper, the Admiral asked “do you want me to just shut up?” “Yes.”
Needless to say we
rounded the point and except for some bumpy conditions and active
steering due to converging currents, we had no problem at all. At that
point we decided to turn for Spanish Wells instead of Royal Island and
Lynn called the marina to say we would be in a day early.
After making the turn
we were in the lee of Current Island and although we were a little too
close to the wind to sail well, we were making good time on the engines
and the water was easy to read so George managed to miss the shallow
parts.
Seas picked up again as
we angled away from land but we diverted from rhumb line to the lee of
Meeks Patch and while in calmer waters Lynn pre-rigged our lines for
docking. Then just another mile or so to the entry into Spanish Wells.
By 4:15 we were docked, plugged in, and at the office checking in. We
had planned to be dropping the hook in Royal Island at about 6:00 pm. |
3/26/10
Rock Sound
Eleuthera, Bahamas
George Stateham |
This is a good time to
summarize the general weather pattern. At some point, we mentioned that
we had pulled out a blanket for sleeping at night but that has long been
stowed and we are enjoying beautiful warm weather.
The southern branch of the Jet Stream
which has been so active during this El Nino year has diminished so low
pressure systems are not building in the Gulf of Mexico and dragging
through the Bahamas. Things are returning to normal spring type weather.
It has been a good year to go south with
lots of northerly winds, but now they last fewer days and the southeast
trade winds return.
We left Cat Island on Wednesday as
planned, but the wind was insufficient to sail so we became a fishing
boat and motored along the depth contours and drop offs trying to catch
so tuna or mahi mahi. It was a pleasant day and Lynn was active in
fishing, checking her lure often and changing to another color when we
had no luck with the first.
We thought she would have a limited
selection after losing two of them between Long and Cat Islands, but
when she got in her tackle box we found we had stocked up at West Marine
in Ft. Lauderdale and except for having no second line, she is well
equipped.
We spent the night at Little San Salvador
anchoring well away from the Holland America Noordam
cruise ship which had disgorged thousands of tourists on their faux
Bahamian village. We had to stay clear of parasailers, horse riders in
the surf, swimmers, sailing dinghies, and the like.
Late in the afternoon, the ship left, and
shortly thereafter boats carrying employees also departed leaving only a
skeleton staff ashore. We then moved into the more protected southeast
corner of the bay for the night.
After departing Thursday morning, we saw
the Carnival Destiny headed for the island. The island belongs to
Holland America and I wonder what deal Carnival has worked to use the
facility. It makes sense to get more use out of it and not have cruise
lines buying up more islands for their exclusive use.
Winds and seas were great for sailing on
Thursday except that wind speed varied quite a bit. We frequently either
had to add power to keep the boat up to 6 knots or cut everything back
to keep her under 7. We were trolling and too fast or too slow reduces
chances of catching fish. Still whatever we did didn’t work and Lynn was
skunked again.
Our plan was to
continue north Friday and Saturday arrive in Spanish Wells but a frontal
system has the winds from unfavorable directions and there is a chance
of some squalls. Thus, we decided to hang out in Rock Sound for a few
days. We purchased some Wi-Fi time from Dingle Motors and seem to have a
good signal. Maybe we can Skype some of the family over the weekend. |
3/21/10
The Bite
Cat Island, Bahamas
3/20/10
Lynn Stateham |
Fish Report: The One
That Got Away
George mentioned this
briefly in his Cat Island email, but thought I’d expand a little.
The water between Long
Island and Cat Island is deep, and good fishing grounds. We waited a
while after leaving Calabash Bay at the north end of Long Island, to
clear Cape Santa Maria and see if it was calm enough to fish.
Wind was about 10 knots
out of the northeast, and became more easterly through the day. We had
about a 1 foot surface chop and a 2 foot northeast swell, and we were
heading northwest, probably what you call a close reach, But it was
very doable, with the main and Genoa out, and quite comfortable, so we
put out two lines: The big trolling rod, with a green and yellow lure
and a pink thing that looks like a bird or an airplane about 6 feet from
the lure, which splashes along on the surface and hopefully attracts
fish. Lure Cost: $15; Pink Thing Cost: $25, a recent gift from
George. On the other side of the boat, we put out our trusty old hand
line, a plastic reel (we’ve had since Singapore days) with 100 feet of
clothesline, a similar $15 lure, and a blue plastic bird thing, which
didn’t cost quite as much as the pink one. We have caught most of our
fish on this line.
We fished along,
keeping a close eye on both lines and hauling them in to clear the
Sargasso weed if any appeared.
Our depth gage went off
soundings at 208 feet and kept reading “Last 208” while we sailed along
over thousands of feet of water. It was not expected to change until we
hit the contours right at the edge of Cat.
We were about 10 miles
from the Cat Island waypoint, in over 5,000 feet of water, when the line
on the big rod started stripping off the reel, indicating a strike. I
had barely arrived at the rod holder, when George said “Holy Cow –
there’s something really big back there!” I grabbed the big rod, and he
headed over to the port side to bring in the hand line, only to discover
there was nothing there except the reel, a little bit of line and the
snubber. Then the line on the big rod went slack.
After six years of
cruising, the hand line, on which we have caught the most of our fish,
is gone along with the lure and the blue bird thing. We lost the lure
on the big rod, but saved the $25 pink thing. So we probably lost about
$50 in tackle.
During this frenzy,
dolphins appeared near the end of where the line should have been, and
there were birds, both a sign of fish.
Once things calmed down
and we got back to sailing, we noticed the depth gage now read “Last 69
feet” indicating that something had been under our boat, big enough to
change our depth reading on our sonar.
So we lost some tackle,
but enjoyed several minutes of excitement, and are puzzling over the
depth thing. “T”, a Bahamian captain in charge of a fishing boat next
to us, said when that happened to him, a humpback whale was swimming
under his boat stomach up. We didn’t see any humpbacks, but suppose it
could have been a big school of fish that was causing all the activity,
or the dolphin themselves.
We don’t fish with big
lures, just enough to catch a fish for a few meals. “T” said he
suspected tuna, because they will go after a small lure. He said he
once caught a 400 plus pound tuna on a 4 inch lure.
We re-rigged the big
rod, and had no luck the rest of the way in. The hand line will have to
wait until we can buy some things to get it up and operable again.
We arrived at New Bight
at Cat Island, called the Blue Bird Café, and made a reservation for
dinner. We have to pre-order dinner there, because the two sisters who
run it don’t have a large menu. Our two options – chicken or grouper,
and since we had our palates set for fish, we ordered grouper and it was
tasty.
A nice ending to an
exciting day. |
3/21/10
The Bite
Cat Island, Bahamas
3/20/10
George Stateham |
On the 17th (George's birthday) we rented a
car and did a little exploring down the south end of Long Island. We
have posted pictures with comments and with Lynn's report below that pretty well describes the day.
Weather on the 18th was perfect for staying on the boat once we turned
the car in.
Friday, 3/19 we moved to Calabash Bay on
and had a comfortable night at anchor in a bay that can have a lot of
surge. We motor sailed into a moderately rough sea and there was a fair
amount of whining from the crew. Worried about a rough night. The
captain stood firm saying the wind would clock to the north and our
night would be fine. What a wise captain we have. Or lucky?
Saturday we had a wonderful sail to Cat
Island and were into the Bite and on the hook shortly after 2:00 pm. We
ordered dinner at the Blue Bird Cafe. The grouper was good if a little
pricey.
This morning the weather forecast
indicates the next cold front is arriving earlier than thought. Thus we
decided to duck into Hawks Nest Marina until Wednesday when we hope to
move on. The sail across the 10 miles of the Bite was great with the
winds building to 20 knots as we approached our way point to turn into
it. We doused sails and motored into a serious chop, spray coming over
the bow but no green water across the deck. We only had about three
miles of that and then we turned into the creek and things settled right
down.
We have Wi-Fi but it is not good enough
to Skype. We had hoped to call all our kids for the weekend. Bummer. We
are, at least, able to update the web site and get caught up on all our
email.
On the way from Calabash to Cat, Lynn was
trolling two lures and we had a wild "The One That Got Away" episode. I
am sure she will post a report. |
3/18/10
Thompson Bay
Long Island, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
We planned to go to
Long Island Breeze today to get internet, but wind and waves aren’t
good, so I’m typing this on Sunspot Baby and hoping to send it tomorrow
if wind and slosh abates.
We rented a car
yesterday (George’s Birthday), and had a nice day touring the southern
part of Long Island. The island is 80 miles long and 4 miles across at
its widest spot. A couple of years ago we had done the north part, but
never got all the way to the south end. Toby went with us on our
adventure.
Our rental car was a
small gray Nissan, the trunk of which was filled by two huge speakers.
It had a nice CD in the radio with music that included the “Party all
Night Long” Junkanoo song. This isn’t a dedicated rental car, but the
second car of Alton Fox and his wife, who own Fox Auto and car rental.
We wanted to see the
Dean’s Blue Hole, near the community of Deans, north of Clarence town.
It is supposedly the deepest blue hole in the world, and the world free
diving championship is held here every year in April. We were told that
there are often free divers there, but we didn’t encounter any.
The Bahamas are
sprinkled with blue holes, and Long Island has a number of them. It’s
basically a deep hole in an island that comes out at depth into the
ocean or sound. Ocean animals come and go through the hole: fish,
sharks, turtles, and some are affected by the ocean tides and currents.
This one is on the
Atlantic side, at the north end of a bay that is fairly protected by
reefs, and almost surrounded by a tall cliff. There is a floating
platform in the middle, and along one wall of the cliff a metal ladder.
A beautiful beach extends south of the hole along the bay. Several
years ago we rented a movie about free diving, we think it’s called the
Blue, and hope to find it on Netflix when we get home.
Our trip took us along
a dirt track for about 3 miles or so, and we were happy to have the gps
with us to find the right turns. Toby took off down the beach and
into the brush for a stick, and we marveled at the beautiful deep blue
hole. George walked up above to take some photos.
Back on the Queens
Highway, we revisited Clarence town, where we had spent some time on
Sunspot Baby several years ago. We had a nice birthday lunch for George
at the Rowdy Boys’ Restaurant, on the Winterhaven estate. Then we drove
through Clarence town, which was busy because the mail boat was in.
We stopped at the
agriculture depot where I bought a bunch of local bananas, a papaya
which will be ripe in a few days, four green tomatoes, and a green
pepper for $4. One of the employees was wearing a tee shirt with the
agriculture shield printed on the front, and on the back the words:
“Mutton or Nutton”. We got a kick out of that.
Stuffed from our lunch,
we took off for the south end of the island, driving the communities of
Dunmores, Hard Bargain, Roses, and Mortimers, to name a few, and noted
on our drive south there were plenty of free ranging goats, as well as
the “Goat Pond Bar,” bringing the mutton comment to mind. Finally
arrived at a beautiful beach at the end of the road, near the south end
and the community of Gordons. So now we have driven as far as the road
goes the length of Long Island.
On the way back, took
another sandy track to see what Little Harbour looks like, on the
Atlantic side. It’s a very protected anchorage and a hurricane hole,
but you have to be careful not to get stuck in there with easterly
winds. We stopped for a few groceries and some fishing tackle, parked
the car near our dinghy, and headed back to the boat.
We had a nice birthday
dinner on board, pan seared filets, spinach with a little cream, topped
with parmesan cheese, cucumber and tomato salad, and bread and butter.
We finished with some oatmeal coconut cake, a parting gift in George
Town from Scandia.
Today we had to return
the car, and wanted to get some additional groceries, and later take our
laptops to Long Island Breeze. But winds are northwesterly, and waves
and slosh are coming right into the dinghy landings. We managed to get
the car turned in and stop at the store, but George, especially, got
totally soaked on the ride back and we are staying put on the boat, thus
no internet.
Our plan was to leave
on Friday for the north end of Long Island, and Saturday to jump to the
Bight at Cat Island. However, winds are too much northwest for that to
be comfortable, and unless things have moderated considerably by Friday
morning, we will leave here Saturday and arrive in Cat on Sunday. |
3/16/10
Thompson Bay
Long Island, Bahamas
3/16/10
Lynn Stateham |
The wind blew yesterday, and we stayed on
the boat all day in the Thompson Bay anchorage. It's a pretty spot,
and we had a nice day at anchor doing boat stuff. Dave and Beth from
Grateful Attitudes (our next door slip neighbor in New Bern) came for
a pizza dinner. The pizza turned out good, made two, and they brought
a salad. We had date bars for dessert and George and Beth smoked a
cigar in the cockpit while Dave and I kept them company. They left
early this morning to start heading north by way of the west side of
Great Exuma.
Today we took Sunspot Baby closer to town
(Salt Pond), filled up with diesel and dinghy gas, and now are
anchored close to the Long Island Breeze resort, a cruiser friendly
spot. We brought in both our laptops, are doing laundry, have good
internet for a change, and have had a nice lunch. I had a cup of
lobster bisque soup and a half chicken sandwich. We will make a stop
at the grocery store before heading back to the big boat, and then
probably move back to Thompson Bay. There's a happy hour on the beach
at 5:00, and we would hate to miss a happy hour :)
We are not sure what we'll do for George's
birthday tomorrow, if we have a rental car we may go out, or have a
steak dinner on board. We have explored the north of Long Island from
Clarence Town, but haven't been south of there. There is a blue hole
in the community of Deans, the deepest blue hole in the world
supposedly, where they hold the world free diving championship every
year. Hopefully we'll see someone practicing, they tell us folks are
usually on site doing, that, and we may snorkel. Also there are
flamingos near the south end, and that would be nice to see.
We plan to head for Calabash Bay at the
north end of Long Island, a pretty but usually rolly anchorage, on
Friday, and on Saturday morning head for The Bight at Cat Island.
Usually we make a stop at Conception, but this year maybe straight to
Cat Island. Most of our boating has been on the banks, which is
shallow and not wonderful fishing, but once we leave Long Island we
will have deep water, and hopefully catch a fish. There's room in the
freezer and we're hungry for mahi!
|
3/12/10
Salt Pond, Long Island, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
Today is the last day of the 30th
Annual George Town Cruising Regatta. We have been here for the whole
thing, and we’ve had fun.
A few days ago we played in the Beach Golf
tournament, and last night I won a golf award! Drum roll…..for
perseverance and for neatness on my golf card! Now don’t laugh, because
the prize was great, a bottle of rum, and a very nice Regatta burgee
(flag). We were getting low on rum, so that’s a good thing today.
We have high winds today, in the mid 20’s
even here in our safe hidey hole. And momentarily we will have a front
pass through, with rain and higher wind. Sunspot Baby badly needs a
fresh water wash, and we are hoping for enough rain for that.
Yesterday was the sand sculpture contest,
with some kid teams and some adult teams. The sand sculptures were
great. The art group put on a clothes line art show, selling their
paintings and donating the funds to the local high school art
department. Cruisers displayed their crafts – basketry, jewelry, etc.
And in the afternoon there was a homemade sail boat race that was
organized by one of the cruising kids here. There were classes for
adults and kids, it was well organized, and lots of fun to watch. There
were some very innovative boat designs.
Tonight we are invited for dinner aboard
Scandia. They are also here in Hole #2, and Arne, our friend on Scandia
is getting better from his back injury. He is walking around the boat
some, and has had visits from a cruising orthopedic surgeon and a
massage therapist as well.
And tomorrow we may leave! The winds
will be out of the northwest, about 15 knots, and seas not too big, so
we are hoping to head for Thompson Bay in Long Island, about 38 nautical
miles. We have enjoyed our time here, but we’re looking forward to
moving on. With the end of regatta, we won’t be alone – there will
probably be many other boats heading the same direction.
Long Island is south and east of George
Town, and it will be our turn around point.
We hope everyone is having a good weekend. |
3/6/10
George Town, Bahamas
George Stateham |
We decided to go onto a dock for a couple of
days, do some shopping, laundry, and get more reliable internet. Before
we leave we will refill the water tanks.
Lynn has done laundry, I have filled fuel
cans, and we both have shopped and provisioned,
We plan to get out of here tomorrow and
go back to our mooring but it is just much easier to do this from the
dock and not have to lug everything across the harbor in the dinghy.
We will start looking for a weather
window to head out of here for other islands. We are signed up for beach
golf on Tuesday and Trivial Pursuit Wednesday night. Of course, there is
another front due on Thursday so no telling when we will get away. Soon
we hope. |
3/3/10
George Town, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
It’s been a while since
I have written an update, mainly because our internet has been
practically non-existent. If we are able to get on for a few minutes
every now and then to download email or have George post something, we
feel lucky. This is the height of the George Town Cruisers’ Regatta,
and with about 350 boats here, the already fluky internet services are
overloaded.
George reported on our
haul out, which was pretty successful, so I won’t go into that except to
say that we are happy to have it behind us.
This is an El Nino
year, and the weather has been weird, with numerous fronts passing
through that play havoc with all the social events, both ordinary and
regatta oriented. We feel sorry for the regatta organizers, who have
had to reschedule events that involve permits from the local officials,
rearranging dignitary appearances, and so on. The “Pass and Review” is
one such event, where many of the cruising boats fly all their flags,
the school children are assembled to watch the event with the cruising
children, local dignitaries are ferried across to participate on a
cruising boat or two, and the whole fleet passes in front of a packed
grandstand on Great Exuma, with radio commentary. The area in front of
the grandstand is quite shallow and must be traversed on a rising tide
that is approaching high. Now, that day has come and gone and Pass and
Review has been postponed because even if the weather improves, the
tides will be uncooperative. An organizational nightmare, but it will
be nice when it finally happens.
However, on Friday we
participated in a Bocce tournament, which was a pre-regatta event and
open to anyone, even those who don’t know how to play. We bought a
bocce set last summer, and this was a good chance for us to pick up a
few pointers. George’s team was eliminated in the first round, but my
team went on one more round, and were beaten by the duo who went on to
be champion. It was a fun beach event.
Saturday, we spent the
day in town to hear Chris Parker, the weather guru speak. There were
morning and afternoon sessions at the community center, lunch was served
by the Family Island Regatta ladies as a fund raiser (we cruising
regatta folks having purchased the raw materials for them), and we then
turned around and bought those hamburgers and hot dogs, and enjoyed them
sitting on the steps of the local Anglican church. Chris had
interesting stuff, some of it new since the last time we saw one of his
seminars a couple of years ago. Happily, we saw a number of friends for
the first time this cruise, and it was like Old Home Week.
Sunday a weather front
came through, but we organized a book and video exchange on Volleyball
beach. Now we have some new media on the boat…we always enjoy these
events. That night we played Trivial Pursuit at St. Francis, with the
folks who had been our partners last year when we placed first and got a
bottle of rum for each couple. This time we were second, and took home
a bottle of wine for each couple.
Monday (yesterday) was
very busy. We started out at the beach to help with the Opening Night
setup, getting the stage and surrounding area ready for opening night.
Then back to the boat for quick showers, and to get Toby for the pet
parade. He looked adorable in his sea blue and green bow tie (the theme
of this year’s Regatta is “Under the Deep Blue Sea Las Vegas Style” and
with lots of treats, he was able to get through the parade without any
incidents. Then back to the boat quickly to drop off Toby, and back to
the beach to ease into our deck chairs (already placed in a good spot)
to watch the Opening Night show. We always enjoy it, and this year was
great. We were worn out, and left before the dance to come home for an
easy dinner of soup and sandwiches.
Today there is a larger
and more dangerous front coming in, and we were looking forward to an
easy lounging day on the boat, maybe getting a few chores
accomplished. But George was over at the beach for the take down
projects, and he helped a couple of boats get moored who were dashing
back from the Jumentos to get positioned before this front arrives. In
the early afternoon we went to “Snow Cat”, a PDQ power cat for snacks
and drinks, and back at the boat, we finally have a fairly
decent wifi signal! Hope it lasts.
This weather front is
related to a southern jet stream low, and apparently they are
forecasting gale force winds in the Abacos. Not as bad here, but we are
happy to be in our hidey hole, because Chris says we will probably have
some strong squalls. |
2/24/10
George Town, Bahamas
George Stateham |
Sunday we moved the boat to our favorite
anchorage, Red Shanks. There were only three other boats when we arrived
but with the forecast frontal passage, several others came in. Near low
tide we held a meeting of the Red Shanks Yacht and Tennis Club at the
Clubs' beach facility. During the
day, we took the dinghy to look at the bridge that has blocked dinghy
traffic for the last two seasons. It is actually very attractive and has
plenty of room for boats to pass.
Monday early we were at the haul out
slip. What used to be George Town Marine is now Masters Harbor Marine
and while they are not officially open (target March 1) they did haul
us.
George replaced the missing boot on the
starboard sail drive and Lynn did a little hull cleaning. While we were
out of the water, George took the opportunity to replace the joker valve
in the toilet which would occasionally allow a little back flow. Mostly
we waited for the adhesive to cure.
We rode out the frontal passage while on
the hard and wondered if the winds were going to blow us off the blocks.
Good news, no problem. We got lots of rain that gave the top side a good
rinse.
Tuesday we launched very close to our
3:00 target time and were back in our hole at Stocking Island in the
late afternoon.
Wednesday we did our volunteer bit
selling T Shirts for the Cruisers Regatta. It is always a good time, we
get to meet and chat with so many other boats. Then lunch at the Town
Cafe. George filled water and gas cans while Lynn topped up our
provisions at the market.
We are now hunkered down for the next
blow, due late tonight or early tomorrow. |
2/20/10
George Town, Bahamas
George Stateham |
On Valentine’s Day we
had a dinner to die for, Lobster, fresh vegetables, and champagne. No
way we could have gone to a restaurant and had anything better.
The next morning, we
took it easy, doing coffee and tea at the marina office, walking the
dog, taking showers, etc. George filled some fuel cans and Lynn topped
off a couple of water jugs. About 11:00 we cast off the lines and
motored southeast back to George Town. We picked up the mooring in hole
number two where we spent several weeks last year. It is much more
protected in here and after the day with boats dragging anchor around
us, we preferred this spot and traded moorings.
After arriving, we hit
the beach, shared a burger and walked through all the activities saying
hi.
Tuesday, George started
a project to remove old clips left over from some previous owner’s
canvas enclosure. He is to fill the screw holes and then apply new gel
coat to match the boat. Shortly after removing them we had rain and it
rained softly, off and on, most of the rest of the day. In the evening,
we played trivial pursuit and tied for first place. However, we lost the
tie breaker and came home empty handed.
Wednesday we took a wet
dinghy ride to Hamburger Beach for the HAM luncheon. Met old and new
friends and enjoyed the program, “Radio Etiquette or, How to Irritate
Your Neighbors While Using Your Radio.” George made a little more
progress on the fill and cover project.
Today Lynn spent about
40 minutes polishing stainless and George completed another step in his
process. He left to attend a celestial navigation seminar, but went to
the wrong beach. By the time he figured out the problem, it was too
late. I guess if you can’t find your way to the right beach, you failed
the navigation course.
We have a tentative
appointment Monday morning to haul the boat and hope to be back in the
water Tuesday afternoon 2/23. If the schedule holds, we will move to Red
Shanks on Sunday to be near the marina.
While there was free
Wi-Fi at Emerald Bay, the response was terrible and they told us that
the phone company (BATELCO) was the problem. After getting back to
George Town, we are hearing the same thing here and although BATELCO
said they should be up and running by the 15th or 16th
as of the 18th we still had the problem. We can hardly check
email, much less do any work on line check Facebook or get into our
favorite forums. Finally today, it seems to be operating at close to
normal speed.
If you recall there was
big weather forecast for Valentine weekend so the scheduled dance at the
Chat n Chill was postponed until the 19th. That was last
night so we sort of celebrated Valentines again by going to the dance. I
will post a couple of pics on the Exumas and Out Islands photos page.
Today we are doing
chores preparatory to moving to the Redshanks anchorage tomorrow. That
will put us close to the haul out slip for our Monday morning
appointment. |
2/13/10
Emerald Bay, Bahamas
George Stateham |
We are now gearing up
for the next phase. We have our shipment from the US and the frontal
passage that was forecast to make life really exciting has passed.
The shipment exercise
was frustrating, especially as compared to last year. Then, we went to
the airport, waited for the plane to be unloaded and packages taken to
the customs office. The toughest part was finding your package among all
the others. Once you had it, you took it to the customs officer who
compared the contents to the shipping manifest, calculated the duty,
took your money, and you were on your way. Maybe a two hour process.
Well, they have fixed
that. Now you go to the airport and still have to wait for packages to
arrive at customs, but, you hire a customs broker who can’t do anything
until all customs paperwork is done. Thus, with a late afternoon plane
on Wednesday, it was Thursday morning before we could get the paperwork.
A drive into George Town followed with a trip to the customs office
there, where three different people had to handle our documents before I
paid a cashier, then wait for a stamp saying “OK to Clear.”
Back at the airport the
broker calls a customs agent to come to the area where packages are, we
find the package, and now have to open it to assure that contents match
the manifest. What bureaucratic drill would be required if they didn’t
match? Finally we had the package.
Fortunately we had
rented a car. It was expensive but was less than if we had taken taxis
to make all those trips. We were also able to use it for other things.
The severe weather
dodged us, going to the southwest over Cuba instead of through the
Bahamas. We still have the frontal passage and will have winds in the 25
knot range but not 50 knot squalls but nothing as rough as expected.
Wrapped around the
package retrieval activity we had a generator issue. Our little Honda
2000 generator starts with a pull cord, kind of like a lawn mower. The
cord broke and Lynn found the handle laying on the deck Tuesday morning.
There were those words I hate to hear. “George, you need to come take a
look at this.” Fixing this is no small feat. To get to the recoil
mechanism requires some major disassembly. Screws were rusted in place
and had to be drilled and removed with an easy-out. The toughest part
was unplugging a connector that clips closed and is virtually impossible
to reach. With the tools I have on board I needed to push down on the
clip with a screwdriver in one hand and pull back hard with the other
hand. There was no way. Fortunately, a boat in the next slip had a tool
that looked like a screw driver, but hooked on the end. He could both
press the clip and pull with the tool. I have to get one of those.
Finally the unit was
disassembled and I used the old cord minus about 4 inches on the end
where the fraying occurred. I test started the engine before
reassembling and it was fine. That was as far as I got on Tuesday.
We bought new screws in
town while doing the running around with the rent car and on Friday, I
reassembled completely. The darn thing wouldn’t start! I didn’t seem to
have a spark. Of course, my assumption was that something in the
reassembly had caused it. Take it all apart again. New screws not rusted
and borrowing the neighbors tool made it much easier this time. However,
the engine still would not start.
Using a screw driver
and a short jumper wire I could see that spark was available but not
getting to the spark plug. Cleaned contacts and bang, she started.
Starting problem completely unrelated to the disassembly and reassembly.
So, another assembly and she runs great.
Without the generator,
we charge our batteries by running the engines. Ever since our overhaul,
the diesels run a little rich and thus are “fumy.” It there isn’t enough
wind to carry it away quickly, it drifts into the boat and here in the
marina, into our neighbors boats. Yes they complained as well they
should. So we were on needles and pins trying to keep the batteries
charged and the neighbors happy at the same time.
Another issue that was
hanging over our head was our 60 day visa that ran only until the end of
February. We went to the immigration office in George Town, and after
groveling and begging got an extension until the 28th of May.
That should get us out of the Bahamas in good order.
We drove to the boat
yard, under new management, where we intend to haul Sunspot Baby
for a quick repair. There is a barge in the lift, and if they can get
that barge in and out, they certainly can handle us. Once back in George
Town, we will begin working a schedule to be hauled.
While we had the car,
we went to lunch a Big D’s Conch Shack. It is possible to walk there,
and we have done that before, but really convenient by car. We both had
cracked conch and enjoyed a meal out.
The marina has free
laundry, a HUGE benefit in the Bahamas, but with all the boats coming in
to avoid the forecast squalls it has been packed. Lynn has been making
multiple trips but there is a lot of tension and some bickering about
machine availability, who is next, and how many machines one boat is
using. Another cruiser said to Lynn today “it’s a bit bitchy in here
this morning, isn’t it?”
We have lobster tails
on board and plan a nice candle light dinner on board tomorrow night for
our Valentine celebration.
We will probably stay
here another couple of days waiting for winds favorable to move back
south to George Town. |
2/09/10
Emerald Bay, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
There is a big weather system on the way for
the weekend. Chris Parker, the weather guru, says he has never
seen anything like it where not only the front, but the low pressure
system itself, will be in our area. He is forecasting high winds
and 50 knot squalls. We still have a mooring ball in George Town,
but we will stay here at Emerald Bay which is better protected.
However, there is a surge in this marina, and we have adjusted lines
several times in the night last night and today. The last thing
George did today was to put an additional line from a stern cleat to a
cockpit winch, so we can winch the boat in if necessary.
Our "stuff" has arrived at Reggie Express
in Florida, and should arrive here on the plane tomorrow. We have
rented a car for the day, and have a long list of errands.
We started the morning by spotting the
pull handle for our Honda 2000 generator laying on the deck, with a
frayed end sticking out of the handle. See pictures posted by
George. He spent the better part of the day taking the generator
apart, dealing with seized screws, and a very intricate and complex
repair procedure. It's still not complete, but tomorrow we will
pick up a couple of things at the local marine hardware place "Top 2
Bottom", so he can finish it up. In the meantime we are charging
our batteries with the engines.
The Fairfield Harbour flotilla left here
yesterday, and were back today, having departed George Town in a hurry
when they heard the weather forecast. In addition to the usual
cast of characters, we met the boat across the dock from us, handed them
our boat card, and he said, "We live in New Bern too." I said,
"Where", and you know the answer - Fairfield Harbour. They don't
have their boat in Northwest Creek Marina, because their house is on the
water and they have a dock. But they are members of our yacht club
- MacGuffin, with Dennis and Gail aboard. Now they are introduced
to everyone, so we can add another boat to the fleet list. |
2/06/10
George Town, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
We are enjoying our time here, and there
is something going on every day. Lori is in the process of shipping
our package to us, which includes meds and the glue for the sail
drive. We have spoken with the (loosely termed) boat yard here, and
they say they can haul us whenever we are ready.
The activity for today is a pretty strong
weather front, which is in the process of arriving. We have had about
20 knots of wind most of the day, during which a number of boats
dragged, one of them right past us and almost into us. There were
boats going every which way for a while, and of course there was a
huge response of dinghies (including the Chase Boat), which were doing
everything they could by pushing on some of the dragging boats to keep
them away from anchored boats, helping to retrieve jettisoned anchors,
and so on.
That was the pre-front exercise. Then for
the "the front is almost here and there's a squall approaching"
activity, we looked out and saw that the Chase Boat was floating
backward off our stern by it's secondary line. The bow ring that
holds the painter had come unglued. Good we had a secondary line on
it. We grabbed some extraneous stuff, and George jumped into the
dinghy (hard to do in 20+ knots of wind and probably a 3 foot sea from
the stern). He started the engine while I grabbed more stuff, and he
cruised around in the chop, tying knots and making preparation. Then
back to the boat with the new line arrangement ready, and we are
snugly tied up again.
Then it was time for the squally portion
of the day. Boats at Hamburger Beach were talking about a 40 knot
squall, and before it got to us we experienced a wind shift which got
us behind a high bit of land, so we have seen only a little rain and
about 20 knots. It's pretty nice. As I type this, I can see the town
of George Town across Elizabeth Harbour, and it comes and goes in the
rain.
Tonight we are invited for drinks on
Sea Dancer, who is anchored behind, beside, or in front of us
depending on the present wind and current. We crossed from Florida as
part of their flotilla, except we aren't great at sticking with the
pack and we took a more southerly route across the banks while they
went northerly, all arriving in Nassau at various times.
Ron and Karen are an integral part of the
cruising community here, he is the DJ for dances, she gives
complimentary hair cuts on the beach (she's a hair stylist), and they
are most of the time chairpersons for the opening night ceremony event
of the Cruisers' Regatta. After we parted ways in Nassau, they came
down here while we ambled through the Exumas, and when we arrived here
we learned Ron had caught his hand in the anchor chain while it was
going up. They had both flown back to the states for his medical
treatment but are now back, He is missing a small part of one finger
and has the others pretty banged up, but on the mend. This is
probably the most common boating accident, and is why Lynn frequently
warns George to be careful about never getting his hands or feet near
the anchor chain. We know of at least three other people to whom this
has happened.
Anyway, I digress, I made crab dip for
tonight's happy hour, and have a box of Wheat Thins out to go along
with the dip. If conditions haven't deteriorated, we will probably
go.
Tomorrow is Superbowl Sunday, and we are
not far from St. Francis Resort. We will probably go up there, at
least for a while, and see some of the game.
|
2/03/10
George Town, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
We spent last night at Children's Bay Cay,
about 20 miles north of here, and this morning we were out of Ray Cay
Cut about 8 in the morning. The forecast sounded good, but we had to go
out close to mid tide, and the forecast included a swell of about 4
feet. This means that we could have been going out a cut against a
swell and meeting an incoming tide.
However, the swell was not coming directly into the cut and wasn't that
bad. George timed the tide to be near the end of the maximum flood, and
the cut was pretty flat, with beautiful blue water and spectacular rocks
on either side. Out in Exuma sound, the water was flat except for a
small swell, but we were able to sail with the genoa out for part of the
short trip.
Conch Cay Cut, the cut into George Town, went very well also, and by mid
day we were here. We decided to call Wendall, a Bahamian guy we know
who has moorings, and to our surprise he had a mooring ball available in
Hole #1, right near all the cruisers action spots - next to Volley Ball
Beach, the Chat and Chill Bar, and the St. Francis Resort. We have cut
a deal with him and will be here for the next several weeks.
This will give us a good location to plan the boat haul out to fix the
sail drive, and when that is completed, we can come back to this
mooring. We will have some wifi available during our stay - although it
won't be continuous. They sell tickets for $3 for 25 megabytes of
computer time, which will go fast if you are posting photos or using
Skype, but we can live with that.
Winds will be up for the next few days, so after we were settled we took
Toby to the Beach, and then headed off in the dinghy, across Elizabeth
Harbor, to George Town proper. George was able to buy some dinghy gas
at one station and fill a 5 gallon diesel can at another station - it's
the same old story - no diesel is expected at the fuel dock until
February 18. We bought a few groceries, chatted with some friends, and
headed back.
It's nice to be here, and to be in one place for a while. |
2/02/10
Childrens Bay Cay, Bahamas
George Stateham |
On Saturday 1/30 winds
were clocking to the south and swells were coming into the anchorage at
Sampson Cay and we decided to give up our Wi-Fi connection for a more
comfortable situation. We motored between the Majors but the wind was
blowing right up the channel and we opted for the west side of Big
Majors Spot. Wind and swells were from different directions so the boat
wanted to lay sideways to the swell. George adjusted our anchor bridle
to make the angle more comfortable.
We nearly always meet
friends from previous voyages when we go into a busy anchorage and were
especially glad to reconnect with Randy aboard Mariah who we
hadn’t seen in a couple of years. We had drinks on his boat and he came
to dinner on ours the next night.
Sunday we made a dinghy
run into Staniel to drop off some garbage which was becoming more than a
little aromatic. We had burgers for lunch at Staniel Cay Yacht Club
while we were there.
Monday we started
heading south but had a little trouble with the single sideband radio;
couldn’t get through to our weather guru for some reason. A boat nearby
relayed our request but we were later than normal getting away and
George didn’t report on the BASRA weather net as he usually does.
Our route took us to
new waters. We have always gone out into the sound at Black Point or
Staniel and did a one day sail south to George Town or once into Lee
Stocking Island. This year we opted for the inside route and spent
Monday night at Rudder Cut Cay which is just south of Musha Cay, an
island owned by David Copperfield and frequently leased to ultra wealth
types for vacations.
On Tuesday we did
weather as normal; George figured out what was wrong with the radio.
Then we took a circuitous route through The Pimlico Cays, with extreme
shallows finally making it to deeper waters near Lee Stocking and down
to Rat Cay. We anchored there last year before going into the sound to
finish our voyage to George Town. This year the anchorage at Rat Cay,
while doable, had more swell than we like so we back tracked about a
mile to Childrens Bay Cay where we are now comfortably hooked up. We
recalled that this anchorage comes highly recommended by Wayne and Jill
on Born to Cruise.
The trip was only 17
miles but the steering through the shallows was difficult. We were on a
rising tide, which we wanted for deeper water and if we ran aground the
rising tide would help us off. For this we sacrificed visibility. It
would have been nice to go later in the day with the sun higher, but the
tide wouldn’t wait. We did find a sand bar briefly but had no problem
getting back into deeper water. Funny thing the place where we touched
bottom was right on the route line suggested on our charts. The sand
bars move around and the morning light was glaring on our path. We could
read the water well to both sides and behind but into the sun, even with
polarized glasses we could only make educated guesses where the good
water was.
Thus, we were in here
about 1:00 pm but felt like we had had a much longer day. |
1/28/10
Sampson Cay, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
We have finished our mooring host assignment
at Cambridge Cay, and it was great fun. We met many nice folks,
cruisers, park officials and employees, Bahamas Defense Force guys, and
thoroughly enjoyed them all (except for one barely cordial megayacht...other
megayachts we came in contact with were pleasant).
The scenery was spectacular, the fish life nice, and the weather
cooperative, for a change. The mooring field is quite protected, with
one big island on the east side and smaller islands with sand bars on
the west side. North and south curves around, so there was protection
there as well.
When we arrived at Cambridge, we came in from the South, about two hours
after low tide, through a tricky reef system. Of course George did a
great job of piloting, and we never saw less than 7 feet under our keel.
Departing today, we left by the north route. We went almost to the
O'Brien's Cay waypoint, turned left, skirted around the top of Bell
Island, headed south along the west side of Bell (which is owned by very
wealthy Arabs), and headed west for the Banks. The O'Brien's waypoint
is at a cut, which was very rolly. I had not stowed for a rough trip,
and fortunately nothing went flying. The rolly part only lasted about
15 or 20 minutes. Next was a very tight spot as we came around the top
of Bell Island, where George had to hug a rock on one side and avoid a
shallow sand bore on the other. Fortunately by the time we got there,
the water was protected and calm and he could read the water well.
Reading the water means that the shallow spots, sandy places, and hard
places show up well as different colors with good light and calm
conditions. You stay away from the brown stuff (hard), and follow the
deeper, darker water to get where you are going.
Sampson Cay is upscale, but friendly to cruisers, even if you are
anchored off their marina. Too bad they are out of eggs today, because
we gave our last 5 eggs away as we left Cambridge. However there's
supposed to be a supply boat here tomorrow, and we are in good shape.
In two weeks time, we spent no money (yes, I did say no money). We made
up for that a little today, buying fuel for the big boat and the dinghy,
and water at 50 cents a gallon. I did some laundry, and we had a beer
at the bar with some cruising acquaintances.
We are enjoying being on Internet again. |
1/28/10
Sampson Cay, Bahamas
George Stateham |
The second half of our volunteer time seemed
to fly by and now we are out of the park. We have fueled, filled with
water, bought a little gas for the generator, and purchased a few
provisions. A few food items we had expected to buy were out of stock
and the expected supply boat didn't show. Welcome to the Bahamas.
We had a little less excitement than the
last report but were busy none the less.
Until this year we had not been into
Sampson Cay, but their fueling situation is so much better than Staniel,
no ripping currents, protected from prevailing winds, less congested,
etc. that if we continue to travel this way, I am sure we will stop here
more often.
Lynn did a little laundry today and we
are cramming in the the internet and email time, trying to get caught
up.
We caught a break on the missing sail
drive boot. Instead of having to order one, Grateful Attitudes
had a spare to give us. I have ordered some adhesive sent to Bret & Lori
to install it. I might be able to get something suitable in George Town,
but I have used this stuff before and have had good luck with it.
We are considering going down the old
mail boat route along the inside and on the banks rather than to sail
down Exuma Sound to George Town. We have never been that way and new
experiences are always interesting. |
1/24/10
Cambridge Cay, Bahamas
George Stateham |
We are a little over
half way through our planned volunteer stint at Cambridge Cay and this
report will be posted after we are back in Wi-Fi range but it seems a
good time to catch up on things.
On the Tuesday 12th
when we planned to sail to Staniel Cay and fill with fuel and water, we
heard on the VHF that their fuel dock was down for repairs and should be
back in operation by noon the next day. We decided to spend an extra day
so spent the night at Big Majors Spot and at about slack tide on
Wednesday went into the dock. When we reserved the dock, we told them we
wanted to fuel and they were to put us on the inside of the face dock so
they could reach us with the hose without us moving around onto the
regular place.
As we approached, they
directed us to a different location spot. Lynn told them we were
supposed to be on the inside of the face dock. They shouted back that
the fueling system was not working yet. It seems the part they needed
was due on the mail boat but the boat didn’t come in.
“Don’t worry Mon, soon
come. Be on da boat in da morning. Only take 15 minutes to fix when it
come.”
We had planned to spend
the night any way and made reservations for dinner at the Yacht Club.
Lynn doesn’t get many meals she doesn’t cook, so it is nice to do that
occasionally. During the day we went to the Batelco (Bahamas Telephone
Company) office to get a borrowed phone to work. Then we hit the Blue
Store and bought a few needed items. They gave us a deal on a chunk of
cheese with mold on it that we could skim off.
The next morning, we
could see the mail boat on the horizon, coming in as promised. The dock
master, Chubby, made several trips to the government dock to get the
part without success. He started trying to call the supplier to assure
it was really on the boat. “Da man in Honduras; he will call me back in
20 minutes.”
By 11:30 on Thursday
1/14 we decided that the part was not “soon come,” so we settled our
bill and headed for the nearest fuel supply at Sampson Cay. All was not
lost because we had never been there and really wanted to see it this
year. After standing off about ½ hour waiting for another boat, we
filled with fuel, bought a few more supplies and headed for our
volunteer assignment at Cambridge. There are not many places in the
Exumas where two fueling facilites are close to each other so luck was
on our side. We were on station late in the day and had no work to do
because the park boat had already collected from everyone for the day.
We have had easy days,
a couple when we were the only boat here, and some very busy days. A
megayacht came in that had caused trouble here before. We had been
warned by Park personnel. On the earlier trip a recording star (I won’t
mention names) was on board and the crew had little influence on the
guests. They ran jet skis through the mooring field, buzzed boats with
an ultralight airplane, fished in the Park and caught the resident bull
shark, etc.
We, however, had no
problem with them; the owner was on board and attended a little happy
hour on the beach with the “regular” boats and was very nice. One of the
crew pulled me aside and promised there would be no problems. That was
when he told me about the recording artist and posse.
Amazingly we now have
five boats here from our home marina, Scandia, Kumbaya, Leprechaun, and
Grateful Attitudes are here with us. At one of the get togethers, we
took photos to send to the Marina Staff. Hi Bud, Dawn, and Clancy. One
of the boats is also a member of our yacht club so we held our club
burgees for a picture. Maybe we can get it in the club newsletter.
For excitement we have
done some snorkeling and Lynn has proved very adept at using our “sled”
and at using the dinghy to tow me along. The sled is a flat plane with
two vertical handles and is attached by rope to the dinghy. By changing
the angle of the sled, you can go left or right and to a limited degree
up or down. If you tow too fast, it pulls the swim suit bottom right
down, a good reason to wear a wet suit. We snorkeled the “Sea Aquarium,”
“Airplane Reef,” and some soft coral south of the boat. There are a
couple of other spots we want to see before leaving, weather permitting.
On Friday a boat lost
engine power just outside the cut coming in and George took our dinghy
out to help them. Soon two other dinghies joined the effort. It took a
couple of hours but they are in, safe, and on a mooring.
Saturday a boat
anchored just outside the southern boundary of the park, not far from
us, lost a snorkeler and made an emergency call to the Park. Near the
cuts, the tidal current can be very strong and we were afraid he had
been swept away. Fortunately, the tide was rising so he would be swept
onto the banks and not out to sea. By saying the banks, we don’t mean on
shore, but over the calmer water of the Great Bahama Bank. About the
time we got there, he came back into view of the boat and was OK. It was
good, however, that his wife was concerned and placed the call for help.
Twice we have organized
happy hours on a small island just to the south. Cambridge Cay itself is
privately owned and the Park asks that social events be held on Park
property, not private islands.
One task of the
volunteers is to check the condition of the moorings. One ball had a
pennant that was severely frayed and we reported it to the Park. They
said they would fix it, but the patrol boats have been very busy and
they dropped off a new one at our boat yesterday. George said he would
fix it. It was a bigger job than he thought, but it is done and other
than some very slimy clothes, he is no worse for wear.
Our relief, Dave and
Beth on Grateful Attitudes are now here. They need to make a provision
run to Staniel Cay before taking over and the wind is high (read seas
rough) for the next couple of days, so the timing should be good for
when they get back. We might be out a day or two early or late but very
close to our planned term here.
A couple of times while
motoring on the way here, we had a noise on the starboard side that was
apparently caused by the prop or something in it. If I put the engine in
neutral for a minute and then reengaged it the noise seemed to go away.
I told Lynn I would take a look next time I was in the water. Yesterday
I cleaned the water line on the inside of the hulls and while there took
a look at the prop. Our sail drives have rubber a boot that fits over
the housing where it enters the hull to give a smooth, hydrodynamic
surface. The thing is glued on and we have heard tons of lip service
from our mechanic about how careful he is installing them and how his
never come loose. Well, not so on this one. It came completely unglued
from the hull, slipped down the shaft and was chewed up by the prop. It
was still around the shaft and I had to cut it off. We plan to haul the
boat in George Town and fix it. As soon as we have Wi-Fi again, I will
order the part and adhesive. This boot has nothing to do with keeping
the boat water tight, so it is not a real problem, but is not one I want
to ignore until our next usual haul out. |
01/11/10
Warderick Wells, Bahamas
George Stateham |
The last couple of days have been VERY windy
but it looks like a break tomorrow. We plan to sail south to Staniel Cay
in the afternoon, and on Wednesday, fill with fuel, buy a few
provisions, and take care of a couple of other issues.
Thursday we plan to go back north the the
Cambridge Cay mooring field in the Land and Sea Park where we will be
volunteer mooring field hosts for two weeks. There is no Wi-Fi there so
we will be out of touch for a while. We promise to file reports and
photos as soon thereafter as we can. |
01/09/10
Warderick Wells, Bahamas
George Stateham |
Yesterday we took
our annual trek up Boo Boo Hill to plant our sign for this year. It
seems the signs just don’t last long up there. We have seen signs that
have obliviously have some preplanning but like most people we usually
just find a piece of drift wood and use whatever supplies are on board
to make it. This year, we did preplan and brought a plank from home with
our boat name routed into the surface. We even screwed it to a larger
piece of wood already on the hill so maybe it won’t blow away.
We took along the
camera and got some nice shots. That’s pretty easy here, the place is so
photogenic.
We are going to be
volunteer mooring field hosts at Cambridge Cay, near the south end of
the park, for a couple of weeks starting mid week next week. We are
waiting for a weather system to move through before we go. We also need
to go to Staniel Cay first to fill with fuel and buy a few perishable
provisions.
Because we haven’t
been to Cambridge before, George rode in the park ranger boat on their
patrol yesterday to get a lay of the land (water?). We don’t spend much
time on go fast boats so it was nice to cover so much territory so
quickly.
Once we leave park
headquarters we won’t have internet access so there will be a big gap in
report and photo posting. To those of you who check regularly, our
apologies. |
01/07/10
Warderick Wells, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
We waited until Highborne opened yesterday
to get off the dock - with a northwest wind and a charming little
Bahamian sloop sharing our slip to the south of us, we decided to get
help. The lines were off a couple of minutes before eight, and we went
out the Highborne entrance cut with a tide that was beginning to flood
onto the banks, heading basically west into a northwest wind.
It was pretty rough (according to my estimations) coming out the cut but
of course we did fine. We had water over the big black windows at
times, and now George's nice wash job from Nassau is replaced with salt
sluice and spray. Once we turned south (after about 2 miles) the sea
direction was better for us, and we motor sailed with the genoa all the
way.
This was not great weather for boats going north, but we passed a number
of them. Some were tacking back and forth to minimize the effects, but
others were just taking their lumps. We probably had a four foot sea at
times, with some chop.
Arriving at the Park, having been assigned mooring ball #22, we were
patting outselves on the back at getting the last mooring ball, around
the bend, which has less current that some of the others. However, we
had pretty stiff wind and a strong current, so George had his work cut
out getting me to the ball.
We usually do so well at picking up a mooring, using our hand signals,
and no shouting, that we have received applause from other boats.
However, I missed the ball on the first run, and on a second attempt, I
got our nice big extendable boat hook caught in the line and we drifted away in a
hurry, leaving our boat hook floating nearby. A fuel can from
another boat floated by in the current and headed for open water.
Not a good sign for my wayward boat hook. I grabbed the other boat
hook, and while waiting to get positioned near the ball again, I was
able to grab the floating one by the handle, of all places, and haul it
aboard. It was an exciting few minutes, and some shouting was involved,
but we are all tied up snug, and enjoying the beautiful scenery here.
We will probably stay here until the next frontal system goes through.
Usually there is some volunteer work to be done which offsets our
mooring fees. |
01/04/10
Highborne Cay, Bahamas
George Stateham |
Pretty, protected and expensive. We are at
Highborne Cay marina tucked in to ride out a couple of days of rough
weather. We departed Nassau on Sunday, 1/03 and headed to Allen's Cays
to anchor and sit out the big winds. Allen's is a relatively well
protected anchorage from all directions but the cays are small and big
swells can work into the area between them. Usually that big swell comes
in off Exuma Sound (easterly) and this winds are forecast to have a more
westerly component, but one member of the crew was pretty nervous about
the next couple of days, so we bit the bullet and came in here.
It is nice that we are getting some
northerly winds so that moving south is easier. The pattern seems to be,
get a couple of nice days to move, then ride out the frontal passage. It
means that about once a week, you can move a couple of days. Having said
that, if you were desperate, the blustery winds are nearly all less than
gale force and it would be uncomfortable but not unsafe to go. It is
good to be in the Bahamas and have the Gulf Stream behind us. That is
one place you don't want to be caught in unfavorable conditions.
We hope to move again on Wednesday, and
if there is space available we will go into Warderick Wells, the Exumas
Land and Sea Park. There is another frontal passage due over the weekend
so we will probably be there about a week.
One advantage of our change of plans is
that we have internet access here. Thus, this updated report. |
01/01/10
Nassau, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
We have had a good stay
in Nassau. Many cruisers avoid it, but we are comfortable here. We
like the large city with British overtones, and in many aspects it
reminds us of Singapore.
We were tired after our
overnight passage from Florida, but managed to stay up all day and even
get a few things done. It is nice to be plugged in to electricity, have
fresh water available, and round the clock internet access. We’ve done
lots of on line administrative stuff – dealing with flood insurance,
boat insurance, paying some bills, etc. But the best part has been
being able to email and use Skype.
We walked to a nearby
Chinese restaurant for dinner one night. And on another day we set out
for lunch at Sailor’s Choice waterfront café, (on Wednesday of course
because their lunch special is mutton curry that day). We arrived to
find it closed and a chained gate across the parking lot. A victim of
the economy, probably.
There is a dive shop at
the entrance to our marina. It’s a good sized dive shop, and they run
several boats a day out of there. The owner and staff have started
feeding a pack of potcakes, the local stray dogs. So now in order to
take Toby for a walk where there is some grass, we have to run the
potcake gauntlet. These are tough dogs, and on a one to one basis they
are ok to deal with, but when they pack up it’s a different story. So
Toby has had a number of walks just in the side parking lot so we don’t
have the hassle.
Sunspot Baby has
had a fair amount of boat chores for us (mostly George) to do – flushing
the water maker and getting it ready to make reverse osmosis water when
we get into the clear waters of the Exumas, filling the water tanks,
filling the big fuel tanks and dinghy fuel cans, washing the boat down
(she really looks better after that)…the list goes on. The radar
stopped working on our passage and George cleaned the connection and
fiddled with it – it’s working again. And yesterday we caught up on
laundry as well.
We walked about a mile
down East Bay Street to the Green Parrot restaurant for the weekly
“yachtspeople’s lunch” organized by Nick and Carolyn Wardle, a British
couple who are an integral part of the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue
Association, and they forecast the weather every morning in several
formats – vhf radio, single sideband radio, and ham radio. It’s always
good to see them, and the cruisers who show up here – some we knew and
some were new acquaintances.
Nick reported that
construction of Tiger Wood’s big resort on the west end of the island is
still in progress. He said it was rumored that he spent Christmas on
his yacht in the Exumas.
We had a nice New
Year’s Eve – we had a slightly more upscale Happy Hour than usual
because it included duck rillettes which I had made at home. The Happy
Hour was in lieu of dinner, and we sat on the bow in our deck chairs
with a bottle of champagne at midnight to toast the new year and watch
the fireworks at Atlantis.
Weather for the next
week or so will be somewhat different, out of the northwest for an
extended period of time, the result of several back-to-back cold
fronts. We plan to leave here on Sunday in fairly light northwest
winds, and get on a mooring in the Exumas Land and Sea Park, probably at
Hawksbill or Shroud Cay. Then we will have two days of higher northwest
winds, and when those subside a little we will try to move to park
headquarters at Warderick Wells. Hawksbill and Shroud are open to the
west, so we won’t have much protection in the 20 knot winds but we think
we will be ok. There are a couple of hidey-holes with protection, but
we figure those will be full up with anchored boats. However, we might
check out the south end of Norman’s cay on our way down, just to see if
we can snug in.
We are planning a lox
and bagel brunch today, and then of course our traditional black eyed
peas and ham for good luck and prosperity, and a little cabbage thrown
in the pot to ensure folding money.
Happy New Year,
Lynn |
12/29/09
Nassau, Bahamas
George Stateham |
It looked for a while
like there might be a weather window late Christmas Day; that we could
leave in the early evening to cross the Gulf Stream at night. It would
have meant a real re-think of our entry process since we would then have
arrived in Nassau at night. Not what we wanted to do.
We could have run over
night to Bimini and entered there. We could have sailed to the Berrys
and either entered there or spent a night on the hook and sailed to
Nassau arriving in the afternoon. All options were probably OK.
The weather window was
to wait until some squalls had subsided, and then get across before the
wind turned north. We have been caught in gale force squalls and have
been in north winds in the Stream and while we are here to tell the
tales, they were some uncomfortable times. We opted to give it a miss.
We have been told “you
can have a nice sail” across the Stream with a light north wind. There
is also conventional wisdom that says, “don’t go in any wind with a
north component.” We tend to believe the latter. It’s not the wind we
fear, it is the sea state. Wind against current in the Stream builds
some very unforgiving seas.
The weather guru Chris
Parker indicated, however, that although the winds would be north on
Sunday, there were 10 knots or less and the seas would be mild. The
National Weather Service (NWS), other sources on line, and our Skymate
weather all seemed to agree. On Saturday, we started getting ready. Then
in the afternoon, the NWS forecast had winds of 13 knots. Often, when
the forecast starts moving in an unfavorable direction, it just keeps
getting worse. If winds are forecast 13, you are likely to see 17 to 20.
We went to bed only partially prepared to go, thinking we would wait for
better weather. After all, Chris thought there would be a Thursday
window (there is always a window a week outJ).
Sunday morning, we rose
at 5:00 am, George pulled Skymate weather and Lynn listened to and wrote
down the NWS forecast. Both had winds 7 to 10 and seas 2’ or less; winds
at the Fowey Rocks buoy were 9 knots. Head in hands, deeply conflicted,
George spouted platitudes like, the bird in the hand . . ., The devil we
know . . . etc. He said “let’s try it, we can turn around if we don’t
like it.” Then, hand on heart, he said , “I promise.” We spent a frantic
hour and a half finishing preparations to cross.
By 6:45 we were raising
the anchor. Well, trying to raise it anyway. It was well and truly
buried and we were closely packed with other boats and couldn’t use the
engines to pull it free so, it took a while. Still, by 7:00 we were out
of the harbor and headed for Cape Florida with the rising sun.
We are not great “buddy
boaters” but we did check in often with five other boats making the
crossing at the same time. See Lynn’s report for that information.
The early part of the
crossing was pretty much as advertised, mild winds and a 2’ swell with a
long period so pretty smooth. The Captain offered to turn around if the
Admiral wanted. She said, a bit shakily, “no, this is OK.” But, as we
approached the axis of the Stream the winds picked up to 13 and the
swell increased to 4’ to 5’. Many of the waves were starting to break.
Not a good omen. George started thinking of different ways to beg
forgiveness. At this point, turning around is not a great option because
you are just about as close to the Bahamas and protected waters as you
are from Florida. Then only a couple of miles beyond the axis, the wind
moderated, shifted about 30 degrees to the east and the seas were back
to a comfortable 2’. The crew breathed sighs of relief. Lynn because she
truly hates rough, uncomfortable conditions, and George because he could
stop thinking of apologies and avoid a couple of days of icy stares.
So, I guess it is true;
you can have a nice sail across the stream in light north winds. This is
a theory we will not test too often. I think we were fortunate. In the
end after six eastbound crossings we are batting 50/50. Three that were
good crossings, and three that were not so much fun. This was one of the
good ones. It was not the smoothest of conditions, but it was by far the
best sailing.
Because we had
favorable winds, Sunspot Baby could zip along and we were above 7 knots
for virtually the whole crossing. By 1:40 we had crossed the Nixon’s
Harbor waypoint and were on the banks. This is about two hours faster
than we planned. Our plan had us arriving in Nassau at 10:00 and if we
kept up at this pace we would be coming in the dark and before fuel
docks, marinas, and customs and immigration were open.
On the banks,
conditions were even better and Sunspot Baby was feeling her oats.
Unfortunately, just when we get great conditions, we don’t want them. We
slowed everything down and George said to keep her below 6.5 knots. Good
news, bad news, a little after dark, the wind shifted more on the nose
and then died almost completely. We furled the Genoa and from then on,
we were a motor boat. Winds were forecast to kick up in the Tongue of
the Ocean later on Monday but we were into Nassau Harbor about 8:30,
almost perfect timing.
We are fueled and
checked in. There is decent weather to go further south today, but we
have a few things we want to do in Nassau and will wait until after the
next frontal passage to move on. |
SOUTHBOUND SUMMARY |
Now that we are in the
Bahamas and the southbound East Coast is behind us I feel compelled to
summarize our trip south along the U.S. East Coast, because, in my
opinion it is the best we have had. Why do I think it was so good?
We left a week earlier
than last year, our previous earliest departure. Whether it was the
earlier departure, the El Nino effect, or happenstance, it was our
warmest trip yet. We had some cool days but we never had ice on the deck
in the morning. We didn’t fire up our little propane gas heater to break
the chill, and never had to go into a marina to ride out a cold spell
hooked into shore power to run our small electric heater. I didn’t have
to wear my foul weather pants over jeans to stay warm, wear my heavy ski
gloves, sail with a muffler around my face, or wear 5 layers on top.
It was the wettest
year. We took off into the remains of Hurricane Ida and spent our first
two days on the anchor waiting for that. There was a lot of other wet
weather, but I will take wet over cold anytime. We didn’t try to make
miles on days with a lot of rain, didn’t need to hurry, and thus the
rainy days were days to take it easy.
We frittered away our
early departure extra time in Vero Beach waiting for parts and repairs
but we used the bus system to do some shopping, and took the time to
smell the roses instead of fretting to get going.
There were two nice
offshore or at least outside legs. We ran overnight from Thunderbolt, GA
to St. Augustine, FL. This was at the suggestion of the Admiral. Wow,
atta-girl Lynn. Then we had a nice day sail from Lake Worth to Ft.
Lauderdale, FL.
Our new folding bikes
were put to great use in Ft. Lauderdale and Key Biscayne. They made life
easier and more fun. We even found reasonable places to stow them, not
too difficult to stow or retrieve and not in the way when stowed.
The anchor was used a
lot more than the dock lines. This improves the experience and saves
some $$.
Special recognition
goes to the four legged member of the crew, Toby. Last year, near the
end of the cruise, he was beginning to use the deck instead of the shore
for his necessaries. This year, right from the start he accepted the
need so while riding out weather on the hook, we didn’t have to launch
the dinghy and take him to some muddy bank. We didn’t lose a half hour
morning and night to shore patrol and we didn’t feel guilty about it. In
fact we didn’t launch the dinghy until we were on a mooring in Vero
Beach. He even used the deck while on the tether during offshore
passages. GOOD DOG TOBY! I can’t fully express how much easier this
makes the trip.
Our layovers were all
pleasant. The first two nights riding out Ida we were able to just
decompress after the hectic period getting ready to go; the similar
period in Thunderbolt was also stress free but with the addition of
Krispy Kreme doughnuts brought to the boat each day. Like we need
doughnuts in our diets
Vero Beach had a lot of
other boats from New Bern so we got to socialize a bit. Lynn was able to
take care of a chipped tooth and we found everything we needed while
shopping. We ate out a few times and even went to a movie. George
finally worked through the software issues on our Radio Labs wi-fi
antenna and it works great.
Tying up in downtown
Ft. Lauderdale is pleasant. We enjoyed the River Walk, spent time at the
library, ate at favorite spots and even took the city bus to West Marine
a couple of times. Good time, no hassle.
No Name Harbor brought
more socializing and great Cuban coffee at the Boaters Grill. Biking
around the park and into town was very pleasant.
With the extra time due
to not doing shore trips, the days seemed much easier. We made our
targeted anchorage every day and occasionally made many more miles than
planned, like the day we caught the currents just perfect near
Georgetown, SC.
We were able to sail,
or at least motor sail in the ICW some saving both time and fuel.
Usually it seems the wind is always unfavorable. We delayed departure a
couple of days to let the fog lift, but were never caught in heavy fog
with little or no visibility as in some past trips.
Bridge tenders were
courteous (yes really) and with the engines in good shape, we could make
the speed needed to catch convenient openings. The difficult gap between
Surf City and Wrightsville bridges we made 9 knots and caught the
opening in ½ hour. That made a one hour difference on when we got to
Carolina Beach giving us the sweet spot in the anchorage.
There are just too many
bright spots to mention them all. On previous trips the good always far
outweighed the bad, but this year there has been little if any bad to
consider. What a great trip! |
12/28/09
Nassau Bahamas
Lynn Stateham |
Saturday, December
26, 2009 – On the Fence.
The cruising experts
say not to cross the Gulf Stream with any north wind. This is because
the Gulf Stream is just a big river in the ocean, moving north at about
3 knots. With any opposing wind, the waves stand up and create
conditions anywhere from uncomfortable to downright nasty.
We subscribe to Chris
Parker, the cruisers’ weather guru, who forecasts on single sideband
radio on an almost daily basis. Subscribing patrons call in for a
targeted forecast. There was a marginal opportunity to get across the
Gulf Stream, and after speaking with Chris, who did say it was an
opportunity, and pulling our own weather the night before, we decided we
probably would not to go. We went to bed undecided, and not quite ready
to leave.
Sunday, December 27,
2009 – Under Way.
At 5:00 am we listened
to the morning weather and George pulled our Skymate virtual buoy
weather. While there was still a north component, the seas and winds
were light. At the last minute, we committed. Morning found us stowing
the dinghy and generator, finalizing passage food, and raising the main
while at anchor. By 7:00 am we were heading out toward Stiltsville to
the south and the Cape Florida lighthouse to the north of the channel.
Stiltsville is an historical collection of modest homes on (you
guessed it – stilts) sitting in shallow water, some fishing shacks, some
actual residences, which have survived numerous hurricanes and are now
fighting their county and state of Florida to remain. Out of about 26
Stiltsville buildings, many have been condemned, destroyed or lost the
political fight, and less than ten survive.
The Cape Florida
lighthouse was an important feature in the underground railroad for
slaves escaping to the Bahamas. In this instance, it did more harm than
good, because it cast a light on the small boats making their escape.
Sticking our nose out,
conditions looked ok. Four other boats – Sea Dancer, Shenandoah,
Joda, and Southern Estate, left just before us, and Sea
Dancer conducted an every- our check in radio net for all of us. Even
though out of sight, it’s nice to stay in touch.
I was pretty jittery.
We had made one other crossing with a light north wind, from Fort
Lauderdale to West End, Grand Bahama, and we banged all 70+ miles.
The Gulf Stream is
about 35 miles wide, and we started seeing large numbers of Portuguese
Man-O-War jellyfish, which look like inflated plastic bags floating on
the surface. The swells increased, and George saw a dolphin in the face
of a wave. Near the axis of the Gulf Stream the swells were larger
still, and winds continued to rise. At this point I think both of us
were hoping conditions would not deteriorate, and instead they improved
as we approached Bimini. The wind turned more easterly in direction and
stayed light. I don’t think we banged once on this voyage, which is
when Sunspot Baby launches herself off a wave and slams into the
trough – which George likens to being dropped onto a parking lot.
There are two options
for heading to Nassau – the North Rock waypoint north of Bimini is a
deeper draft route over the Great Bahama Bank, and the Nixon’s Harbor
waypoint south of Bimini begins a shallower route. The other boats
drifted with the stream to North Rock, but we had a better angle on the
wind, and could keep our sails filled, by sticking with North Rock.
Along the way, we talked with Beans, whom we haven’t met, but are
friends of Born to Cruise.
They were on the shallow banks route with us, and we checked in on a two
hour basis, while still checking in every hour with Sea Dancer and their
flotilla. Ron and Karen on Sea Dancer are an integral part of
the George Town cruising community and the annual Cruisers’ Regatta. We
were entertained with rock and roll trivia questions on the hourly
check-ins.
December 28, 2009 –
Bahamas Again.
George and I stand
three hour watches. Me from 6-9pm, and from 12-3am, and he from 9-12pm
and 3-6am. We have learned to actually get some sleep this way, and
tonight was clear with a beautiful moon all the way until about 3:30 in
the morning. We had supper just before starting watches, cold baked
chicken (made at home in New Bern and vacuum packed), thick wedges of
brie cheese, and bread and butter. Easy, comfortable food to sustain us
through the night. We had a good supply of coffee, cookies, passage
sandwiches, and fruit. If it’s sloshy, it’s good to eat a little every
now and then so your stomach doesn’t turn over.
Our watches went well,
and we saw very little ship traffic. The shallow banks route is good
for this, but even in the deeper water, we were ship-less. At midnight
we passed Northwest Channel Light and came out into the Tongue of the
Ocean, a deep water channel that can be very rough in fairly ordinary
conditions. Sea Dancer had a bad trip through here last year,
and I think they were dreading this part. However, the forecast
remained light and variable, and winds even became more southerly, a
good direction for us as we headed east southeast toward the Nassau
waypoint.
It was a good trip,
probably our fastest ever (25.5 hours) and it could have been faster had
we not slowed down so we wouldn’t arrive in Nassau in the dark.
Crossing the Gulf Stream, we usually don’t get onto the Great Bahama
Bank until close to dusk, and this trip we were there by 1:40 in the
afternoon.
Of course, we couldn’t
have a passage without one ship encounter. Approaching Nassau, the
Disney Wonder called for a pilot, and our entry into the harbor
was very close to their time of approach. George called Nassau Harbor
Control for permission to enter, and he was told to “Make it Snappy” and
he did. We took down the main sail in the container port turning basin,
filled with diesel at the Texaco Starport, and found Sidney, one of our
favorite dock masters, waiting for us at the “birdpoop” dock, which we
like because even though it sometimes has seagull guano on it, it’s the
one spot where we can get off on our own in a strong wind or current.
We have cleared customs
and immigration, which only had one glitch. We only got 60 days on our
visas. The immigration agent said she couldn’t give us more, because we
plan to go to the Exumas, which were out of her jurisdiction. This has
never happened before, and will entail a visit to immigration somewhere
down island, Staniel Cay or George Town probably.
So here we are again in
Nassau. We like it here. Except for having to pay dockage, that is.
The weather isn’t conducive for heading to the Exumas in the next few
days, and at our birdpoop dock we will have a great view of Atlantis
Resort’s New Year’s fireworks display if we are still here.
I always tell George at
the end of a trip, “You did a good job getting us here.” He always
does, but for this passage, even more so.
Lynn Stateham |
12/23/09
Key Biscayne, FL
George Stateham |
We departed Ft.
Lauderdale on Sunday, 12/19 and had an easy run down the ICW, through
Hollywood and Miami to Key Biscayne’s No Name Harbor located in the Bill
Baggs Cape Florida State Park. Anchoring fees have gone up to $20 per
night but it is such a good jumping off spot to cross the Gulf Stream
that we feel it’s a good value.
We tied up along the
wall to walk Toby and unload the bikes. The rules say no docking at the
wall between 11:00 pm and 6:00 am but I’m unaware of them ever chasing
anybody off and we have just stuck to it. We may move over to the hook,
but no rush.
Monday we biked into
town, wnet to the library to read email and hit a hardware store for
contact cleaner. Tuesday we biked around the park and took a few
pictures. Like North Carolina, the mostly level ground here means we can
use the bikes pretty well, great for old folks and very young kids.
Serious riders would find it boring.
There may be a weather
window on Christmas for us to cross to the Bahamas but even if it holds,
we wouldn’t have time to make our usual 28 or so hour hop all the way to
Nassau. So, if we go we will probably do the immigration entry in either
Bimini or Chub Cay and we would hole up until we had a chance to move
on.
This is an El Nino year
and the weather gurus feel the southern arm of the Jet Stream will hang
around for several weeks and we may just quit focusing on the Bahamas
and explore some of the Florida Keys by boat. We would start with some
of the more northern so that we could come back up here to cross if a
window opened but having no set plan gives us some flexibility. We might
spend two to four weeks in the keys and then cross. We would still have
plenty of time to do the Exumas and/or the far islands of the Bahamas.
Basically, we feel our
southbound east coast leg is over and we have started a new phase of the
cruise, either the Bahamas or the Florida Keys leg. Thus, in the photos
section we have entered a new Florida Keys section. If it happens that
we get that Christmas window and go sooner than we think, I will
recombine them with the southbound section.
Cruising means we are
separated from family and during the Holidays we miss them even more.
Lynn has a duck in the freezer on which we will feast either on
Christmas Eve or the day itself, again, all dependent on weather. This
is almost certainly our last post before then so let us wish you
Merry Christmas.
|
12/16/09
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
George Stateham |
We began to really like
Ft. Lauderdale while we were in the market for a boat in the 1999 to
2001 time frame. Many of the catamarans on the market were here. When we
found Sunspot Baby she too was here. After the purchase, George spent a
couple of weeks getting her ready for the trip north and became familiar
with a lot of great places. In a way, it almost feels like coming home
when we bring Sunspot Baby into town.
This time is no
different. We are tied up at the wall along the New River right down
town just east of the 3rd Ave. Bridge. So, how did we get
here?
We slipped the mooring
at Vero on Friday, Dec 11, destination, Peck Lake. There was only one
opening bridge along the way and we were back on the hook by early
afternoon. There was a small dredge at the entry to the ICW from the St.
Lucie River but other than that we had few navigational challenges. Toby
cooperated by doing deck duty so the dinghy remained in the davits; no
shore trip.
Unless we are pressed
we generally avoid the ICW on weekends but on Saturday we had a short
run to Lake Worth, seven bridges along the way. Lake Worth (Palm Beach)
is a popular stop for cruisers, but never before have we seen so many
that the anchorage was crowded. We did find a good spot near where we
normally hook up and settled in. Even though we moved Saturday morning,
we planned to sit out Sunday at anchor.
We did lots of boat
chores. Sunspot Baby has a few nicks of an aesthetic nature, not
structural, which we have been intending to work on. George picked one
near the main hatch to experiment with the process. In Vero Beach we had
purchased some pre-mixed beige gel coat. It is not a perfect color
match, but is pretty good.
Monday the weather was
forecast for east winds 6 to 11 knots with 2 foot seas; perfect for a
sail down the coast. We went out the Lake Worth inlet and turned south.
The wind was more light and variable than east at 6 but we had raised
the main sail at anchor and decided to leave it up. There was a line of
rain squalls that we were dodging. Only one hit us and it was more of a
good rinse than a storm. The forecast said to expect 20 knots in the
showers, but we saw little change.
Finally shortly after
noon, the wind filled and we unfurled the Genoa and had a good sail to
the Port Everglades (Ft, Lauderdale) inlet. We had trouble maintaining 6
knots in the morning even running the engines a little harder than
normal but by 1:00 we were motor sailing at close to 8 knots.
So here we are tied
among the high rises along the river walk with palm trees and buildings
decorated for Christmas. We have ridden our bikes to The Floridian a
classic Ft. Lauderdale eatery, spent some time at the library catching
up on email, and this morning we took the #1 bus to the large West
Marine store here and got everything on our list. The store in Vero
Beach is small and has limited inventory.
Wi-Fi availability
along the river is spotty. I used to always be able to find an
unprotected signal to use but people are learning to protect their
systems so there is less opportunity. A little further up the river we
used to get the library system, but it is not a straight enough shot to
this slip. Thus we hike about 3 blocks to the library to get a reliable
connection. After a Publix run this afternoon George will make the trip
and post this report.
Normally we would
depart tomorrow and move to Key Biscayne and No Name Harbor but there is
no weather window this week and we might just hang out here until the
weekend. We have lots of things we could do while here and it is so
convenient. |
12/15/09
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Lynn Stateham |
Sunspot Baby in Ft. Lauderale:
We walked over to the library and are
sitting in air conditioned comfort, catching up on email. Nice.
Later George will post a report and some
pictures, but for now, we are enjoying reading regular emails,
e-holiday letters and getting caught up on the news, stock market, and
sports.
We had a pretty good trip "outside"
yesterday - we left Lake Worth (Palm Beach) about 7:30 and were out
the inlet by eight-ish. I had pre-made breakfast burritos, so these
were warming in the oven and once outside we had breakfast. Winds
were light, but they couldn't decide which side of the boat to be on.
So the main (which we put up at anchor) was banging a little most of
the day. Seas were not big, but a little sloshy. We talked to
another Prout catamaran along the way, it's always nice to see another
Prout and chat on the radio if not in person. These folks were from
Cornwall, England.
George dodged some rain showers, some
of which looked pretty significant on the radar, which then stopped
working. The problem appears to have been a loose connection, which
he has now cleaned and reattached. It rained enough for us to get a
good dousing and boat rinse. We both thought the AIS system, which
identifies ships, where they are going and whether or not they plan to
hit us, was acting fluky on our overnight trip from Thunderbolt,
Georgia, to St. Augustine, Florida. However, it seems to be working
fine now. It's a great tool to have, along with the radar, to see
what's "out there."
The New River Marina is right in downtown
Ft. Lauderdale. There are tall glassy buildings, nice waterfront
parks, and this time of year, many holiday lights and decorations.
The river is narrow and we are tied to a sea wall, but we have
electricity and water. Big yachts, party boats, excursion boats,
water taxis, and even a portable fuel barge and up and down the river
a good part of the time - a great spot to sit in the cockpit and watch
the comings and goings. There are luxury apartments here, and the one
we are docked in front of has valet parking.
This morning we rode our bikes over to
Broward street to check out the bus terminal, and whether the busses
had bike racks (they do). On the way it rained, and for a while we
took shelter in a gazebo with a bunch of street folks, who were nice
enough. Then on to the bus terminal where we got a schedule and some
information. Then back to the boat to close the overhead windows
which I had left open. Then back on the bikes, back over the very
pink bridge which we are tied next to, and down Los Olas Avenue to the
Floridian Cafe, a landmark spot for locals and tourists alike. You
know the type of place, many photos on the walls of movie stars and
sports figures who have been there. We sat below Elvis and Muhammad
Ali, as he was called at the time, looking very friendly in the same
photo. George had eggs benedict for $6.99, and both of us had a
delicious breakfast. Now we have walked to the library, George has a
rolling bag for his laptop and I have a rolling cart for mine.
We will hang out here for a few days and
then probably start meandering south. No particular great weather
window for now.
|
12/10/09
Vero Beach, FL
George Stateham |
Some people call this Velcro Beach because
it is so easy to get stuck here. I have started calling it the Vero
Beach Triangle. Every day, we think we are about ready to move on, and
then something happens to keep us here.
On Monday, Pearl Harbor Day, while cleaning
up after dinner, Lynn flipped a light switch and every light on the
starboard side circuit went out.
Tuesday, George pulled out the multimeter
and tools and started searching for the gremlin that caused the problem.
All day he was checking connections, voltages, jumping circuits to
isolate the cause and could only work it down to something in the
breaker panel and/or its connections. The marina recommended service
people and in the late afternoon, we made an appointment with them the
the next morning.
Wednesday they were on the boat about
9:00 and started doing the things George had done already. Accepting his
word that he thought the problem was behind the breaker panel, they
started wiggling connections and looking for the obvious. Suddenly the
lights were back on. They don't know what they wiggled or did to cause
it. George hates it when things self cure because it means the root
cause has not been found or fixed. Oh well, why complain? The lights
work now.
After the electricians left, George
reinstalled the head liner and hanging rod in the locker that has been
repaired. Now we are ready to put thing back in. Frustration has been
high with Captain and Crew and they decided to say to heck with it and
go to the beach for lunch. Nice. Then they rode the bus to Publix which
has a small clinic in the front of the store. They had H1N1 flu shots
available and we are now innoculated.
Lynn's message mentioned that it was cool
and we were wearing long pants. It has warmed up and we are back in
shorts. It has been very damp and we are hoping the warmer weather will
dry things out in the boat.
We hope for an easier day today but will
do some rearranging and boat cleaning. Our plan is to depart Friday
morning and to to Peck Lake, an anchorage just south of Stuart, FL. On
Saturday we should have a short day moving to Lake Worth. The ICW on
weekends is crazy but maybe with the short day, it won't be too bad and
we will sit it out on Sunday. Monday we should start moving south again,
taking a couple of days to get to Ft. Lauderdale where we will spend a
couple of more days before moving on.
Beyond Ft. Lauderdale we plan to stage up
near the south end of Key Biscayne and wait for a weather window
to cross to the Bahamas. Of course, should a good window open sooner, we
could abort all these plans and just turn left, cross the Gulf Stream
and enter at whatever port of entry is convenient. |
12/06/09
Vero Beach, FL
Lynn Stateham |
We have had lots of
rain on Cruise 6, starting with the remnants of Ida on the first few
days of our trip while we were still close to home, and again in
Thunderbolt, Georgia, where it poured for a couple of days. We arrived
here in Vero Beach, Florida a week ago Friday on a sunny and beautiful
day, wearing shorts For the past three days we are back to clouds with
rain, and lots of it, and we’re back to wearing jeans. Could it be we
are carrying this weather along with us?
However, we are making
the most of our stay here. George has been working hard on several
repairs which have all come to successful conclusions, including the
repair of the hanging locker in our guest cabin (which was dislodged
when we hit a piling in New Smyrna Beach, but we don’t want to talk
about that event which we both had a part in), coaxing the dinghy motor
to start running again after it ingested bad gas (that took about 1,000
pulls on the motor after new fuel was made available), and installing a
replacement regulator on our on-demand water heater. He has ordered
parts for other projects that he’ll undertake in the future. Vero is a
good place to regroup and receive mail before we head for the Bahamas.
I have caught up the
laundry and finalized the provisioning. We rented a car and ran
errands, errands and more errands. Tomorrow the car goes back and we
are rather happy to be done with it.
We moved to a dock to
have the fiberglass work done on the hanging locker, and tomorrow we
will move back to a mooring ball here at the municipal marina. Then in
a day or so, we will start moving further south. There doesn’t seem to
be a good crossing-to-the-Bahamas weather window in the foreseeable
future, but we can start moving down the ICW or outside along the coast
as conditions permit, so we are better positioned.
Meanwhile, we are
enjoying the social camaraderie of new friends and old. We participated
in a happy hour last Saturday on shore which was attended by lots of
cruisers, and joined several couples on Scandia for drinks a few nights
later. We also got together several times with our rafting mates before
we moved to a dock, John and Norma on the catamaran Happy Times, who
have a big “flame” ragdoll cat named Bailey. We have a grandcat who is
a ragdoll, named Pumpkin, a new member of the Ramona Stateham family.
We haven’t seen Pumpkin yet, but Bailey is a charming young gentleman
cat, and he caused us to remember and miss our Oreo, who is enjoying
life with the McKnights on the Trent River.
So that’s what’s going
on with us – we think of you often and hope you are thinking of us. |
12/04/09
Vero Beach, FL
George Stateham |
Vero Beach must be an exotic place given
that one definition of cruising is "working on your boat in exotic
locales. On Wednesday Lynn made an independent bus/town trip and George
spent most of the day working on the water heater. He had reviewed all
the service bulletins on line and it appeared a "locked" regulator was
the problem. After following all the procedures, there was still no gas
getting to the pilot. He talked to a local appliance serviceman who was
helpful but could not work on the unit because, according to Bosch it is
not approved for marine applications (heck, we know that). It seems
likely that the regulator is toast so betting on the most likely cause
but without knowing for sure, we ordered a new regulator and paid
expedited shipping. Later that day
another problem. It is illegal to dump sewage in inland waters and our
boat is set up with a holding tank which must be pumped. We can also
discharge overboard where allowed. Lynn had cleaned the head and rather
than fill our tank she just did a good flush overboard. Then when she
tried to move the Y valve back to the tank position, the handle broke
and we could not switch it. Another project.
Thursday we ordered a new Y valve. The
handle is not available as a separate part. Another expedited shipping
fee. Then a bit of good luck, we were able to get the displaced locker
to move a bit and finally George felt we could get it into position and
secured with screws if he had a ratcheting cargo strap. A quick trip to
Wal-Mart and we were back and IT WORKED. Now the fiberglass guy is
scheduled for Saturday morning to finish the project.
Today while taking Toby for his morning
shore patrol, the outboard motor conked out and George rowed us back to
the boat. He thinks the problem is gas we brought with us that was
getting old. He just put it in the night before so that is the first
thing he will attack when it starts working on it.
This was not the day for that however. We
moved to the dock so the fiberglass guy can work on the boat tomorrow,
so George just stowed the dinghy. Then we got an Enterprise rent-a-car
and ran errands the rest of the morning and afternoon.
It is much less expensive to be on a
mooring but it is nice to be plugged into 110v and Toby can jump onto
the deck for an easy shore duty.
Rain has come and gone through the day
and the winds are up a bit. Going off shore is not in the cards but
early next week we should start to move again.
All our parts and Lynn's prescriptions
arrived today and the Y valve is working (for now anyway). Lynn is
addressing Christmas letters and we have appropriate music on the
stereo. We are getting in the mood for the season. |
12/01/09
Vero Beach, FL
George Stateham |
The consensus of everyone who has looked at
our displaced hanging locker is that it is not structural and is no big
deal. However, no one seems available to fix it. It's beginning to look
like we won't let it delay our departure and that the captain and chief
engineer on the boat will have to fix it himself. A little glass work
and some teak trim should have it ship shape. It is not certain whether
work will be accomplished here in Vero or elsewhere along the way.
The Admiral had a chipped tooth and wonder
of wonders, was able to walk into a dentist office yesterday and get it
restored. She spent a fair amount of time in the waiting room, but was
then and out of the dentist chair fairly quickly.
Vero Beach has a free bus/shuttle system
that services the marina. Although Sunspot Baby has been here many
times, the crew has never used the bus. Yesterday was a first and things
worked fairly well except when we were in town and the fiberglass guy
called to say he would be at the boat earlier than planned. The bus runs
once per hour and had recently passed so fidget as he might, the captain
was late getting back to the boat. He was able to hook up with the glass
guy and the result has been discussed above.
George spent several hours trouble
shooting our fancy new wifi antenna over the last few weeks. It seems to
be working well now, but the boat rafted up to us has similar problems
and he has been helping them with theirs. Finally, it looks like they
will have to ship the unit in for service.
We will probably go onto a dock for a
couple of days so that we can load supplies without ferrying them back
to the boat in the dinghy a little at a time.
FWIW, Lynn went three weeks without
hitting a grocery store so we are certainly well provisioned. We will
restock with fresh stuff and a few items missed or forgotten.
George has a list of things for various
boat projects to be undertaken along the way. The West Marine store here
is one of their "Express" versions which carries fewer items. We have
ordered some to arrive this week and will probably hit some larger
stores farther south. |
11/28/09
Vero Beach, FL
George Stateham |
The plan for Wednesday
the 25th was a short one, so it was almost 8:00 before
Sunspot Baby departed Palm Coast. The crew was in shorts and it was a
beautiful day. For some reason, currents have been far more favorable
than unfavorable this year and the average speed has been easily a half
to one knot faster than the norm. Thus, on an average day, we are on the
hook or at the dock in the early afternoon. Sometimes, it allows us to
reach little farther to a more convenient stopover. Today, however, the
currents got even. Not by slowing us down but by giving an unwanted
boost while docking.
There is a free dock at
New Smyrna, FL. There are signs that say “No Overnight Docking” but it
is not often enforced. The location is along the edge of a nice park and
it gives Toby a chance to do shore patrol without paying for dockage or
launching the dinghy. There is not always space available but on this
afternoon, the dock was empty so we headed in. The waterway curves and
there is a sea wall from which the dock extends in an arc. The wind was
piping along at 15 kts as we approached. George, who is always cautious
approaching docks, underestimated the forces at work. He brought the
boat in on a curve and stalled her about five feet from the dock,
planning to let the wind carry us in and oppose the current by reversing
the engines. Well, the current was not flowing more or less parallel to
the dock as he thought, but rushing under it toward the sea wall. Now
both wind and current were pushing Sunspot Baby broadside into the dock.
Engaging the engines would only have changed the point of impact. George
announced that we were going to “hit hard” but there was little else we
could do at that point. Lynn had fenders out and one cushioned the
impact on one piling but we contacted two, the unprotected one made a
serious crunching sound. Wood pilings can absorb a lot of shock and we
saw no apparent damage. Captain and crew breathed a deep sigh of relief,
prematurely I might add.
On Thanksgiving Day,
the 26th, currents were mild at the dock and we had an easy
time departing at 6:50. It has all the makings of a very pleasant day on
the water. Lynn brought that to a halt by stepping into the cockpit and
announcing “You need to go below.” She had noticed that the door to the
hanging locker in the guest cabin was open. When she looked inside she
saw what appeared to be a crack in the fiberglass. After clearing out
many of the items in the locker and several close examinations, we don’t
think there is structural damage but we hit hard enough to dislodge the
hanging locker which had fiberglass bonding it to the hull. What
appeared to be a crack is where it pulled free of the hull.
The rest of the day was
easy enough despite our frequent trips below to assure there was no
damage we weren’t seeing, or worse yet, water coming into the boat. No
new problems presented themselves and by the time we anchored at Cocoa,
our minds were at rest, well nearly so.
Winds were forecast to
increase and temperatures drop. By late afternoon there was a definite
chill in the air but we were still in shorts. Soon we heard the sounds
of bagpipes across the water. We poured ourselves a glass of wine and
retired to the cockpit to enjoy our free concert. A boater anchored
nearby was at his bow playing the pipes. He continued for quite a while
and it was lovely. A nice little extra to our Thanksgiving.
Later Lynn fixed roast
pork loin with cranberry and orange dressing and acorn squash for our
Holiday feast. We do truly have a lot for which to be thankful.
On Friday, the 27th
the anchor was up first light and the crew was in full snuggies. Wind
was blowing into the cockpit at 17 kts. The low for the night was in the
40s and it wasn’t much warmer this morning. ICW waters were choppy and
with following wind and seas the Autohelm was “hunting” swinging farther
left and right with each attempt to hold our heading. This called for a
lot of manual steering. Lynn fixed hot oatmeal for breakfast and we took
turns going into the cabin to warm up a bit.
By 10:00 conditions
were moderating and by noon, it was downright pleasant. At 2:00 pm we
were on a mooring at Vero Beach Municipal Marina with two other
catamarans.
Along the way, we
contacted a boat yard, and got references for fiberglass and cabinetry
craftsman to take a look and recommend repairs. We are hopeful
fiberglass guy will come over the weekend and we may not need the
carpenter. Thanks to Born to Cruise for the boat yard
referral. It is possible, though we think not likely that we might
have to haul the boat for repairs and if that happens we will move down
the ICW to Ft. Pierce.
We have Wi-Fi here and
will update as we go along. We planned to be here several days anyway
and this may extend the stay a bit. |
11/24/09
Palm Coast, FL
George Stateham |
We left Isle of Palms on the 18th
and motored all the way to Steamboat Creek, a favorite anchorage. Along
the way, we visited with our friend Jim who lives on the Stono River. We
just floated off his dock and chatted a while before proceeding.
On the 19th another easy run to
Beaufort, SC. Waters have been unusually high with quite a bit of
coastal flooding and we had to anchor in 25’. We let out all our chain
and we able to stay put for the night.
On the 20th we moved to
Thunderbolt, GA and went into a marina. The forecast for Sunday was lots
of rain and wind and we didn't want to be in the unprotected anchorages
of the marshes, so decided to hang out here until Monday. We did
consider a new place but on Saturday, when we would have moved, there
was a heavy fog until 11:00 am and by then it was too late to make the
40 miles or so we had planned.
The Internet connection at Thunderbolt
has been OK in the past but is really bad now. We did manage to be on
line long enough to do some needed banking, but it was sheer luck. We
could never stay connected long enough to email, much less post an
update.
We laid over here a couple of extra
nights to let some rainy weather blow through. They bring us a paper and
6 Krispy Kreme doughnuts each morning which makes it a favorite spot
and some of the most expensive paper and doughnuts around.
On Monday we cast off lines at about
10:00 for an overnight run, off shore to St. Augustine. We didn’t want
to do the entrance in the dark so held our speed down to an average of 6
kts. We sailed most of the daylight hours, but wind was forecast to
clock around and we didn’t want Lynn jibing sails in the dark on her
watch so we switched to straight motoring. The seas were a little rolly,
especially the first several hours, but for once, the actual weather was
better than the forecast and we had a nice night, shooting the entry at
8:00 am. Conditions in the entry were rough but not brutal and after we
crossed the 12’ shoal things settled down.
We both felt pretty good and decided to
run another 25+ miles to Palm Coast for the night. It means another
marina bill but positions us well to be in Vero Beach on our target
date, the day after Thanksgiving. |
11/17/09
Isle of Palms, SC
George Stateham |
We departed New Bern one week ago today and
started Cruise 5 exactly one year ago.
It was a little foggy departing Myrtle Beach
yesterday but it cleared quickly and it was a beautiful day on the
water. We planned to stop in Georgetown, SC but we had a great push
current and we decided to pick up an extra 15 miles and anchor at Minum
Creek. It is in Tom Yawkey Wildlife Heritage Preserve for water fowl. We
think it must also be a mosquito preserve and we are probably in trouble
for killing so many.
We anchored about an hour before sundown
and there was considerable glare on the water. At least that's the
excuse George is using for anchoring almost right on top of a crab pot.
It went undiscovered until it was tapping on our hull about 7:30 pm. At
that point it was a little dark to reanchor and George was on pins and
needles through the night about it wrapping in the anchor line or prop.
This morning, however, we were free and clear.
Today was a short day and Sunspot Baby
is tied up at Isle
Of Palms Marina and is full of fuel. We plan another relatively
short day tomorrow mileage wise, but we have two bridges to negotiate
with restrictive schedules. Tomorrow night we will probably anchor
in Steamboat Creek. |
11/15/09
Myrtle Beach, SC
George Stateham |
The Tuesday 11/10
departure date was made good. One set of neighbors came by the house
early to say goodbye and three other sets came to the boat for a Bon
Voyage. We certainly have great neighbors in New Bern.
We left knowing we were
sailing into the remnants of Hurricane Ida but couldn’t stand to delay
longer. The weather was dry and calm as the lines were cast off, but by
the time Sunspot Baby reached our first planned anchorage, weather
deteriorated. Cedar Creek is a good anchorage and we were well hooked.
We spent two extra nights there to let conditions moderate.
Friday conditions were
not perfect but much improved. The only bridge on the route was the
Onslow Beach Bridge; we timed the opening well and spent the night
with at least a dozen other boats in Mile Hammock Bay located in Camp Lejeune.
An early Saturday
departure from Mile Hammock and some amazing luck timing bridges took
the boat to Carolina Beach and another good anchorage. The three bridges
along the way are spaced and timed to be hard for sail boats. The first
is Surf City which opens only on the hour. Then 18 miles further is the
Figure Eight, opening each ½ hour. It is too far to make in two hours
and one really has to drag along to take three so inevitably we do it in
2 ½ which would be great except the third bridge, Wrightsville beach is
5 miles away and opens only on the hour. So, if you go through Figure
Eight on the half hour, you either have to make about 9 knots to get the
next opening or spend 1 ½ hour going only 5 miles (a little less than 2
knots).
After passing Figure
Eight, I poured the coals to Lavern & Shirley (our Volvo diesels) and we
were making good time motor sailing, but were going to be about five
minutes late for the opening. The bridge tenders at Wrightsville have
been hard to deal with in the past and we expected to be turned away.
Miracle of miracles, the tender held the opening a couple of minutes and
we made it through. Thank you Mr. Bridge Tender. Lynn manned the sails
alone on this stretch, deploying, trimming, and furling the Genoa all
alone. Good job Lynn.
It was foggy this
morning so departure was delayed about ½ hour, but it seemed to be
lifting so we left about 7:00 am. Conditions in the Cape Fear were near
perfect, depths in Lockwood’s Folly and Shallotte Inlet were good and we
somehow timed the Sunset Beach Bridge perfectly. Sunspot Baby now has
full fuel tanks and is tied to the dock in Myrtle Beach. Toby went
ashore for the first time since departure. At the risk of giving too
much information he has been great at doing is duty on deck and we are
very proud of him. |
11/09/09
New Bern, NC
George Stateham |
Only a few items remain on our check list
and we plan to leave tomorrow 11/10, on schedule. We expected to spend tonight on the
boat, but the Broncos are playing the Monday night game so we will stay
at the house to watch it. Hurricane
Ida's remnants are headed up the East Coast and we should have some
heavy rain late tomorrow and on Wednesday. We considered staying here to
let it blow through but are both so psyched that we aren't considering
any further delay.
Computers are moving to the boat today so
our email capability is curtailed. When we get where there is decent
Wi-Fi, we will update the web site and catch up on messages.
Wish us well. |
11/06/09
New Bern, NC
George Stateham |
For a while it looked like we might leave
Sunday, two days earlier than our target but received a recall notice on
George's pickup. The earliest the Ford dealer can get us in is Monday
morning. It's probably not wise to leave this until next year, so we are
opting to stay through Monday and leave Tuesday as planned.
Right now the weather looks perfect for
departure but it is still several days away and forecasts have a habit
of changing for the worse when we plan to far ahead.
Rewiring the HF radio seems to have fixed
the problem of cutting out when the transmit button is pushed. Good. |
11/03/09
New Bern, NC
George Stateham |
Things are progressing fairly well.
Yesterday we ran new #10 duplex wire from the battery compartment to the
nav station where the single sideband radio is located. There were a
couple of areas where the run was very difficult but now it's there.
Terminals and connection are next on the action list, then the
reassembly of the cabinetry and remounting the radio.o
Over the weekend we completely emptied and
cleaned out the water tanks so the voyage will begin with completely
fresh water.
These are the last of the big "get the
boat ready" tasks and loading of provision and gear is already well
underway. There are a couple of shipments that must arrive prior to
departure but next Tuesday still looks good.
Today, Toby is getting bathed, brushed,
and nail trim. At least we won't start with a smelly dog. |
10/28/09
New Bern, NC
George Stateham |
Don’t you just love it
when things just fall into place? If that is happening for you, let us
know what it is like. Every task on the to-do list ends in a chain of
things that must be done before the other.
Example: One task is to
pull the outboard motor off the boat, service it with new zincs, spark
plugs and lubrication. That fairly easy task was started last Sunday.
When attempting to
unlock the engine so it could be removed, the key would not go into the
lock. This has happened before, but a recurrence has been averted by
keeping the lock lubricated. A new lock was acquired last year and being
new and clean, no lubrication, it froze up with corrosion. It is
possible, if not probable that given enough time and penetrating oil, it
could have been freed, but time was short so the next step was to cut it
off.
The lock is shaped such
that it fits tight to the locking bar and the bolt cutters could not get
a purchase to cut it.
No problem, just pull
out the Dremel. The unit on board is battery powered which is often a
big advantage but after several minutes of grinding, it over heated. It
reset each time it was turned off but it also worked for a shorter
period with every attempt.
No problem, just dash
to the house and get the plug-in Dremel. Oops, there is no mandrel to
hold the cutting wheel.
No problem, just use
the one from the battery unit. Oops, the spring stop that keeps the
spindle from turning when the chuck is loosened on the battery unit
won’t hold the spindle so the mandrel cannot be removed..
Finally, disassemble
the battery unit so the spindle can be held with pliers while the chuck
is opened, the mandrel removed and installed in the plug-in unit. After
reassembling the battery unit short work was made of cutting off the
lock.
Of course, a new lock
assembly was required. The local West Marine showed one in stock and
would hold it for us. Oops, the computer was wrong and there are none in
stock. A wasted trip to town.
No problem, the
Oriental store has one in stock and will bring it up the next day.
The new lock assembly
is now in hand, the outboard has been serviced and in ready to go back
on the boat.
If this were an
isolated case, it would be a big “so what?” However, events such as
these seem to plague every item on the check list. Perseverance is a
must.
A target departure date
of November 10, still seems possible but may be adjusted one way or the
other depending on check list completion and weather. |
10/15/09
New Bern, NC
George Stateham |
Preparations are underway for Cruise #6. We
have been calling our trips south "Bahamas Cruises" but this year we are
not absolutely sure or our intended destination. It is likely it will be
the Bahamas but possible we could stay in the Florida Keys or elsewhere.
This will mostly be driven by where the wind blows.
Lynn has begun the food pre preparation. We
have a big batch of chutney, and several frozen containers of red and
green chili. This week she intends to make Irish Stew and probably next
week, chicken curry.
The storage unit that has held many of
Ray's possessions for the last year+ is now the staging area for
provisions. Once we have other work complete in the cabin we will start
loading the boat.
Tuesday, George changed the oil, filters,
and generator belts on both engines and changed the primary fuel
filters. Laverne and Shirley (the two engines) are now ready for the
trip.
There are a few other important
repair/maintenance actions to complete before departing, but we think
they are manageable. We are checking the calendar and personal
commitments and will try to set a target date soon. We feel confident we
can beat last year's 11/17 departure. |
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