FINALLY IN THE BAHAMAS -- the real Bahamas

Good Evening all from Green Turtle Cay Great Abacos Bahamas.. Ohh I love this place.

The water is gin clear off the settlement where we are anchored. There is a local bar blaring Bahamian music over the water front, the sky is clear, and the stars are bright and oh yes - the water is flat calm. I will sleep tonight!!!

Yesterday we left Lake Worth Inlet a little before 2pm and we arrived here at 3:45 pm today - NONSTOP. I slept an accumulation of maybe 1 hour.. I'm beat but so happy to be here in sheltered waters before another cold front roars in tomorrow night.

We arrived too late to make While Sound - need the high tide to get in. Tried to clear customs but the local agent was gone. We contacted her and she said it was fine if we cleared in Monday and in the meantime - we had the run of the town. Great folks here in GTC.

The crossing was SCARY!! We were mid stream in the gulf stream by dark and hit the Banks around midnight then ran the entire banks to Great Sale Cay in the DARK - a bit intimidating. Fortunately I used all the tools (Toys) available like my 24 mile Radar and my AIS receiver to track the boats around me and the commercial traffic traversing the gulf stream at night. All worked fine.

We had a nice flotilla and Diva and Rachel stayed close all night long. The most awe inspiring moment was when the ½ moon rose about 12:30am - what was it at first?? A cruise ship? A Christmas decoration?? A huge ship what?? It was just the moon. It made the water sparkle. It was great.

Overall the crossing was fine except for the dark parts. Gentle conditions and mild winds - it doesn't get better than this then to have these conditions over a 3 day daylight crossing. As it was - we did great.

Tonight Diva and Rachel and Temptations crews partied at PINEAPPLES (reason for late BLOG) in the Green Turtle Settlement to celebrate - we partied on a yellow table to appease the customs folks in that we had not yet officially cleared into the Bahamas.

Tomorrow we plan to use High Tide to enter White sound and stay a few days at the Bluff House marina -- At least Christmas -- then move to an anchorage and stay here through New Years for JUNKANOO!!!

You all have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year because we plan to here in Green Turtle Cay Abacos Bahamas. WE ARE FINALLY HERE!!!!

Night Crossing to Bahamas

We are underway!!! We had a meeting with Diva and Rachel this morning after the weather forecast and decided to leave earlier today - 2pm and possibly go all the way to Green Turtle Cay non stop.

The seas were a little lumpy when we started but got better - never expect really smooth but not too bad. Tonight we are in Flotilla formation. First Edition a Hylas 46 is in the lead followed by Cocopella, Then Rachel, Diva, and us in a line, followed by Sand Castle and way back Merlin and Rubyatt.

Good company on nearly the longest night of the year. We expect to make the banks at Memory Rock around 2am then push on to Great Sale Cay. The only dicey part is the first mile or 2 near Memory Rocks.

I'll send another report if the mood and conditions allow.

Rarin' to GO!!

We are now staged for a departure to the Bahamas. We went and fueled up, watered up and pumped out in anticipation of leaving for the Bahamas either tomorrow or Saturday morning. Since I began preparations for this trip today – I think that will satisfy the Friday superstitious folks – me included.

The departure was not how you say – smooth. A sailboat had anchored near me yesterday and as we pulled the hook up today I was rushed in my cleaning of the chain because we were drifting near that boat – unfortunately several feet of mud incased links went into the chain locker – more about that later.

Fuel price was a nice surprise -- $2.40 a gallon at Old Cove Marina. I took on 33 gallons. That is what I burned in 16 days of generator operation at Vero Beach mooring field, a day and half trip to North Lake Worth, then 8 days at North Lake Worth running the generator from 2 – 3 hours a day. What is that? -- 33 gallons for 24 days – not bad.

The anchorage south of the Inlet is very nice. Large and very clear water. When I dropped the hook here as usual the chain played out quickly. When that patch of mud in-cased links was reached it just sprayed mud straight up between my legs – I was straddling the chain winch – and drew a line up my shirt and right across my face depositing a BIG dollop of mud on the tip of my nose. Ohh YUCK!! Karen got a laugh after that. After setting the hoop I dropped another 40 feet of chain into the clear water just to clean them. The bottom here is nice sand.

The anchorage here just south of the Lake Worth Inlet has seen a steady stream of boats coming in and staging. Both Rachel and Diva are here. I spoke with them. Diva wants to leave at midnight tomorrow night and Rachel wants to leave at noon till 4pm tomorrow. I was in the 4pm crowd but now I’m considering Diva’s plan – decisions decisions. How to best use this weather window and maximize the calmest times of crossing. Then again I don’t really want to run non-stop for 30 hours – I get a little cranky when I miss my sleep!!

Today is another fine weather day. Just blowing 10 - 15 kts form the East. Partly cloudy and warm – high 79 degrees low 67 this morning.

The boat seemed a little sluggish on the 6 mile run here today so once the hook was down I dove in and examined the propeller – clean as a whistle. The rudder has some grass like substance growing out if its hinge so I scrapped that out. The basic hull looked pretty good with just a bit of slime on it. I guess I just want to go fast!!

Ohhh the water here near the inlet is quite clean and clear with maybe 15 feet visibility. Out of curiosity I swam over the anchor and I could see that the old claw had pulled completely into the sand with just the barest of shank visible at 1800 RPMs in reverse.

Tonight we will relax and put a few more things away in case of some rough water tomorrow and we will reconnoiter the lights near shore in case we do leave in the dark from here.

This could be the last BLOG update via the Verizon broadband card.

The pictures tonight are a wide-angle via of the anchorage here and the big ol gambling ship that comes in and leaves about every 6 hours. What a waste of resources!!! To be legal they have to out 3 miles then they can gamble. I don’t understand it.

BAHAMAS FEVER!!

Got the fever -- probably a little early though.

The crossing window looks very good for Friday late, Saturday, and Sunday. Decisions decisions though – go just to West End and hold a couple of days or go with the crowd non-stop to Green Turtle Cay (that’s about 30 hours). It will depend on the latest weather forecast.

I started preparations today. Found the Jack lines and tethers and the Inflatable jackets and harnesses are already at the ready. I made up a new anchor snubber line today – featured in the picture gallery – note that fine eye splice – I did that – not purchased.

The boats keep coming in to anchor here too – currently 61 boats. It will be terrible at the dinghy landing tomorrow. Probably very crowded at the local marinas on Friday as everyone fuels and waters up for a crossing.

I think we will do a final provisioning run in the morning and then head to a local marina for fuel water and pump out. Then down to the staging area in Lake Worth just South of the Inlet.

Tomorrow will be busy so blog may be late. The decision for a Friday vs. Saturday crossing won’t be made until late Friday morning. Thus a couple of good blog entries yet.

Once we cross I will have to provide updates via the SSB radio. Unfortunately it is limited to text only so no pictures until I find an internet connection.

There might be an issue with the SSB update so if the Blog page does not update then drop me an email to ejquick@nc.rr.com and I’ll add you to a list of recipients that can receive the updates via an email via SSB. Hopefully that won’t be necessary.

Today has been a day of focusing on the crossing. Checking charts, refreshing my memory on possible tracks, verifying the SSB, Airmail, and voice contacts are fine – checked into the Maritime Service Net this afternoon. Did some experimenting to determine the best freqs and times to send position reports.

Ohhh while we cross, and I’ll let you know when that will be – check our position reports. I’ll send intermediate reports as we cross the Gulf Stream into the Bahamas.

A little bit of rain falling today

Ahhh another nice but slightly rainy day today. The forecast was for Partly Sunny and 10% chance of rain. We have had drizzle style showers off an on all day today beginning about 5:30am. No biggie because it is nearly 78 degrees. Thus kind of humid… AND no wind today. A little would have been nice but none today.

I have had to run the genset today because both the Solar Collector and Wind Generator have had little to no output.

We did some provisioning runs today and a long walk to West Marine to get some Coax connectors for the Marine VHF. Karen bought some fancy Crocks and an early Xmas present for me – a red/green light for the bow of the dinghy. Here in Florida you need all the lights on the dinghy not just a stern light. Don’t argue just equip the dinghy.

After a lunch of leftovers I “Attacked” the VHF. I cutoff the old connector and checked it with a VOM – sure enough it had a high resistance intermittent short in it. I installed the new connector and tested with the S/V Rachel and they gave me a great signal report. They are about 7 miles from here right now near Peanut Island.

Another provisioning run this afternoon and then stowed it all.

Tonight we are watching a parade of new boats come in and anchor and watched several others leave. There is currently a good weather window to Miami and they are taking it.

Not much else to report.

I’ve included a couple of pictures tonight. The cutie pie (Sailboat) came in an anchored near us tonight. The one with the young man trying a sail kite on his cool little wooden dinghy was taken 2 days ago when it was blowing like stink here. Most people were fretting over too much wind and motion and he was having a blast.. Different folks – different strokes.

Should have stayed in bed today

Some days should be spent in bed all day for what gets accomplished.

Last night the wind blew hard again – 25kts with higher gusts (forecast was for 10 - 15).. It started around 10:30pm so I moved back into the salon. Fortunately it died away by 4am and has been a mild calm day all day today. The forecast is for 10 – 15 or less the rest of the week. In fact there is talk of a fairly nice weather window this Saturday and Sunday so we just might be on our way…

The weather will be pretty good for running down the coast to Miami so several boats left today. Then again several more came in so it is still very crowded here. Boy if this weather window hold for the weekend it will be like a freeway leaving here then.

We heard from Vic and Gigi as they past North Lake Worth. They decided to continue on to Fort Lauderdale so I guess we won’t see them for a while again.

Vic was fairly close and gave me a poor signal report so when we were done I tore into my Marine VHF. I determined that the connector under the floor that selects between the old and new radio is bad – unfortunately I installed it so no one to blame but me!! I do not have a large enough soldering iron on board to replace it so I need to go to WM tomorrow to get one of those fancy no solder, no strip connectors.

Let me back up to why I should have stayed in bed today. Karen insisted I accompany her on a bus trip this morning to a craft shop. We made the dinghy landing but it was high tide and only about 2 feet of the beach was exposed. Now that is a circle 2 feet in diameter mind you. We locked the dinghy up with some difficulty then headed to the bus site. The bus schedule says 9:45am. At 9:35 am we are approaching the bus stop and the bus just blows by us… It will be an hour now!!! Grrrrrr. We went and did some provisioning at the grocery store and our hearts weren’t in it. I made a run back to the boat to dump it off and Karen went to wait on the bus. Freeing the dinghy and unloading the groceries took longer than expected. That and with only one lane at the grocery store open and the guy in front of us – cook on the Mega Yacht Reno buying $400 dollars of groceries I missed the bus. That is why I was working on the radio..

Later in the afternoon when Karen called for a pickup at the dinghy landing I was heading in when a cruiser on Jocks Lodge flagged me down and asked if I had an SWR meter since he was having radio problems. I thought how fortuitous since my equipment was still out. I said I would return in a few minutes. After dropping Karen at the boat I took my gear to Jocks Lodge. Damn if my MFJ (More something Junk) SWR meter would not work. Ohhh I was embarrassed. After wasting some time I apologized and returned to Temptation and played with my radio. -- probably the needle was stuck since it hadn’t been used in a year or more. At first it did not work then it did.. I went back to Jocks Lodge and still it would not work -- must be in the Bermuda triangle or something. While there I noticed there was a loose screw in my Dummy Load.

Packing my crap back up and returning to Temptation I tried this stuff again and finally got it all working. I then went to put the stuff away and I heard that loose screw in the dummy load. I tore the dummy load down and found were the screw had vibrated loose from. I tore more down to reattach it and now I can’t get the other screws back in – GRRRRR.

I’ m calling it quits today. Produce this blog and then just enjoy the sunset for the rest of the evening and maybe take a census of all the new boats that arrived today – sans GiGi’s Island.

Just a breezy day in Lake Worth

Just another VERY breezy day in paradise. Well the paradise part not completely. Last night it was blowing 20 – 25 with gusts to 35 so I did sleep, sort of, in the salon. I need to get up several times to assure myself that I’m not dragging anchor or another is dragging down on me.. Winds 0 – 15kts are not a problem since the anchor chain is never stretched all the way. Now when you get around 20 kts the anchor rode does get stretched out and could move the anchor – thus the anxiety.

Well it was fine last night. Stayed put all night and all day today. Tonight it is back to 10 – 15 kts so I can sleep in my bed tonight.

Not much done today. Finished the riding sail but this afternoon it was blowing 20 – 25 kts and things could happen fast so I’ll test it another day.

Diva called and asked us to join them and Rachel at 4pm today at the Sports bar next to the Publix Grocery store – Duffeys. It was nice and the drinks and the appetizers which served as dinner were fine. I could care less about the sporting events but enjoyed the conversation – mainly political stuff that got very heated but we all blamed the rum punches and left as friends still. There was also a lot of good cruising stories told too.

The ride back was a little wet but Temptation proved easy to find tonight in the dark -- I think she is finally really warming to us now.

Not much else to report. Just cooling our heels for a weather window to the Abacos and so here we will stay for awhile.