HOMEWARD BOUND!

St Augustine Lighthouse. Pretty sight!

It seems like a month since I last posted a blog, but in reality it has only been about 10 days. As I said in my last posting, it feels like we’ve been on the express lane since our return to the states and heading north. We are anxious to get home, but in many ways neither of us wants the trip to end.

            After leaving Marineland, we made a short run to St. Augustine, FL, one of my absolute favorite places along the ICW. This, the oldest city in America, has just the right amount of history, nightlife and yes, even tourist traps. Heck, Diane almost bought an alligator head here! We enjoyed two days at the city’s well-run mooring field and spent a lot of time enjoying the sights and sounds….and flavors of this great place with the crews of Veritas and Tehani. I even made not just one, but two pilgrimages to what I’m convinced is the best pizza joint south of NYC, PIZZA TIME. I “discovered” this place last fall and fell in love with their crispy, New York pizza and enjoyed meeting owner Dominic who brought his family recipes with him from their place in Brooklyn. If there had been room in the fridge, I’d have purchased several of his pies and eaten them the rest of the way north!

There are parts of St. Augustine that aren't doing all that
well. It appears as if this "Good Times" restaurant
fell upon Hard Times! 

            All too soon we had to leave St. Augustine and, with the crew of Veritas, made an offshore run up the coast to St. Simon’s Island, GA. In order to ensure a daylight arrival over 70 miles north we had to leave the mooring well before sunrise, never a pleasant option. We did wait just inside the channel for good light since the route offshore can be tricky with shifting sandbars requiring the Coast Guard to continually move the channel markers. Even with good light it was an interesting run with 10-foot seas that had both boats bobbing like corks in a bathtub! We thought that after we got away from land and headed north the seas would subside but once again the forecasters were wrong and we rocked and rolled for the next 50 miles. UGH!

Shot of Veritas as we depart the St. Augustine channel.
The photo doesn't do justice to the pitching we
were both doing!

 Still, we were able to skip a lot of the worst ICW currents and save a full day or more in our journey north.

            After an all-too-short night at anchor in St. Simon, we again turned north on the ICW for another series of long, boring days as we wound our way along the tidewaters of Georgia and South Carolina. Unfortunately, at our next stop in Kilkenny Creek, GA, Diane lost her “almost new” IPhone 5 overboard.  She tossed it onto a cockpit cushion and we watched it bounce…onto the side deck and bounce…right into the water! Our hearts sank faster than the phone as we watched her $600 phone drop out of sight and down into the muddy bottom 18 feet below. Big time ouch. Bless her heart, even though it was blowing 35 mph at the time, she insisted on launching the dingy and using our longest boat hook with a net on the end to try to find it. For those of you who know Diane, you know any attempt of mine to derail this futile attempt (the pole was only 10 feet long!) fell on deaf ears. Trust me, she has REALLY missed her phone ever since and has basically taken over mine! Not fair!

           

A comorant dries his wings on
an ICW daymarker

After Kilkenny Creek we had a series of incredibly long days on the water with runs of between 60-75 miles a day as we meandered (with the twists and turns of the ICW in this part of the world, I mean meander!) our way north. It seemed as if the boat was headed east and west as much as pointed north for much of Georgia and South Carolina! Still, the scenery was beautiful with miles and miles of marshlands in all directions while egrets, herons and the occasional eagle soared overhead. Totally used to the crystal clear, blue waters of the Bahamas and Florida, we were unprepared for the coffee-brown waterways of this area. The water was very clean, just tainted with tannins from nearby trees…and kind of ugly! We slowly passed by Savannah and soon after that, Hilton Head Island. Our original plan was to anchor near HH for the night, but decided to follow our buddy boats and continued another 20 miles to Port Royal, South Carolina. Another wind event was predicted to peak in the next couple days and we were anxious to be in a secure location with easy access to shore…guaranteed at a marina! On our way south we’d passed by Port Royal since it was just a few miles south of Beaufort where we’d spend 3 days, but I’m glad we decided to stop this time.

Spanish Moss hanging from
trees in a Port Royal park

You have to be over 60
to know what this is
and how it worked!

           

We found both the town and marina to be an almost perfect blend of southern hospitality and charm. Port Royal’s history dates back to well before the Revolutionary War and they celebrate both their part in that conflict and their location at the mouth of a large river with easy ocean access, beautiful Spanish moss, tree-lined streets and home to both the Paris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot and nearby Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station. The marina itself couldn’t have been better with yet another team of dedicated dockhands and a not-to-miss experience at their next door café/bar…you’ll have to ask me in person! We enjoyed it so much Diane and I decided to remain for 3 days while our buddy boats moved on to Charleston. We made great use of the courtesy car and reprovisioned at the commissary (grocery store) at the Marine base and visiting the unique Shoofly café in Beaufort where we had the best panini sandwiches ever!

          

"Pigs on Sticks" outside the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station. Korean
War all the way to the present represented. Can you name them?

  Even with our enjoyable stay at Port Royal, we were ready to depart after 3 days and put another 75 miles beneath our keel as we continued north. Once again we had to time bridge openings which forced me to constantly keep track of not just our position but our progress toward the next bridge. We finally passed into Charleston harbor early in the evening with just enough light to continue north for another hour to a peaceful anchorage near the Isle of Palms. Our quiet night was a dramatic contrast to the wild one we spent while anchored nearby last fall when one of the boats in our anchorage dragged ashore in a violent wind storm.

            We’d been on the water for something over 5 months at this point and although we’d had our share of mechanical failures, only one minor incident with “boat meets bottom.” Well, over the next couple days we made up for it! On at least three occasions, Magic touched bottom as we worked our way along, unfortunately arriving at the most “thin” spots at/near low tide even though we were in the middle of a channel or closely following the advice of other boaters. We were lucky, Magic only bounced a few times and kept moving but we heard of other boats that found the bottom in the same areas and were stuck until they could be pulled off. Still, it was a nerve-wracking couple of days as Diane kept track of shoaling area after shoaling area while I tried to keep the boat away from the shallowest of spots.

          

A white heron comes in for a landing. Looks like
his buddies could care less as they sleep!

  Marinas at Myrtle Beach and Southport, South Carolina hosted our motley group as we continued to push (mostly against the current…why is that?) along the charted magenta line called the ICW. As Veritas and Magic arrived at Wrightsville Beach on a Sunday, we found ourselves literally in the middle of a huge stand-up-paddleboard (large surfboards with a single paddle) regatta! We had to wind ourselves in-and-around hundreds of these human-powered craft as we worked our way toward the anchorage. It was quite a sight and we didn’t hit a single one! After finally getting our hooks down we walked around the beach (nope, not the same as the Bahamas…nary a sea bean in sight!) and had lunch ashore. That night we hosted a “surf and turf” dinner on Magic with fresh shrimp right from the boat and steaks from our freezers…a perfect end to the day!

           

We’d planned to go offshore for the next leg of our journey and head directly for Moorehead City, NC, but once again the weather forced us to remain on the magenta line and battle not just adverse currents but bridge opening schedules. Still, after yet another 0600 departure we made it to a nice marina in Swansboro, NC by mid-afternoon and enjoyed yet another nice meal ashore and filled up with the cheapest diesel of the trip. I really didn’t need a lot of fuel but couldn’t resist $3.10/gal!

            I write this from another favorite stop, River Dunes Marina near Oriental, NC. We arrived here yesterday just like we did last fall on the way south…in a rainstorm! After several days of hard driving, both Veritas and us are ready for a short break so decided to remain for 2 nights, clean up the boats and recharge our shore batteries for the last drive home. We face just three more long days on the water before pulling into our freshly dredge Salt Ponds harbor in Hampton. My next blog will be my last for this trip and I plan to put together a few thoughts of this journey as a whole and maybe provide a bit of advice for others who are contemplating the same thing. For those of you who have continued to follow our trip, I thank you for hanging in there and hope to see all of you on the water sometime!

           

Diane celebrates scoring
one of her favorite snacks. I
just don't get it!!

This journey nears its end…but the adventure continues!

THE SLOG NORTH BEGINS...

Magic has been back in the states for just a bit more than a week and I feel like we’ve gotten on an Interstate highway! We’ve seen more miles under our keel in three days than we did for a month when we were in the Exumas! I’m writing this from a mooring in St. Augustine, FL, arriving just an hour ago. Let me retrace my steps…

            After what I’m convinced was the easiest arrival customs/immigration I’ve ever been through (and remember I did this for a living when I flew internationally for American Airlines!) we spent a quiet night at anchor in Ft. Pierce, had a wonderful celebratory dinner of our last stash of Stone Crabs (purchased cheap in Spanish Wells), and crashed by 8pm! We weren’t in any hurry the next day so even I slept till well past 7am the next day. I’d spent the last 4+ months waking up at 0600 just about every morning, making coffee then climbing (stumbling?) into a still dark cockpit to listen to weather guru Chris Parker’s forecast on short wave radio.

           

No, we didn't take on 150 gallons, but the price of
less than $4/gal floored us after paying over
$6/gal in the Bahamas!

Our second day back we did a short run north to Vero Beach, FL and  took a mooring ball at their very well laid out municipal marina. On the way in we purchased diesel fuel…for less than $4/gal! I know everyone in the states has watched fuel prices inch upward this year, but for a crew used to payng well over $6 per gallon for both diesel and gas, $4 is a real bargain! I didn’t even cringe when I saw the bill for my 30 gallons! I wanted to go use it and buy more!! Not to take anything away from this place, but as we’ve seen in many city-operated marinas along the ICW, the most of the dockhands there were less than helpful and in one case downright rude! When you work for a “non-profit” agency like a city, I guess you don’t feel your job hinges on how well you treat your customers. We had “issues” with the people here both on the way south and again now and I hope someone wakes up and realizes there are other options nearby with employees who actually want to serve their customers! Vero Beach is a wonderful stopover and I hate seeing such a nice place get a bad reputation from the boating public.

           

Sensory overload at a HUGE Publix
supermarket. We bought a LOT of
fresh veggies and fruit!

Magic wound up spending 3 days in Vero Beach while we did a few maintenance chores, visited the large Publix grocery store a short (and free!) bus ride away, hooked up with crews of boats we met in the Bahamas, and had time to spend time with friends from home who were berthed at a nearby marina.

            From Vero Beach we decided to make tracks northbound and did a couple really long days…70-80 miles is a LOT for a sailboat moving along the ICW! We left Vero just a bit before dawn and cruised up the ICW to Titusville, FL which is very close to Cape Canaveral. This leg of the trip was a run through some very pretty parts of mid-coast Florida and we saw tons of birds, dolphins and intriguing plant life. There were also a number of interesting homes along the channel but most were just that, interesting, not the monuments to their owner’s success further south. Still, it was a long day and we were both glad to pick up a mooring ball at the city marina and accept an offer for dinner from Dean and Nancy full-time cruisers we’d met in the Exumas and who were there for some boat maintenance. Nancy is a wonderful cook and although anything would have tasted good that night, her corned beef and cabbage was to die for! Kind of an odd dish for a devoted Cajun from Louisiana! On top of that, she made one of my “favorite of all time” deserts, Amaretto bread pudding. We left with full stomachs and even a CARE package of leftovers…including more bread pudding! You know what I had the next day for lunch!

           

This didn't come out as well as I wanted, but what we thought
were rocks or even large shells on an island we passed were
actually thousands of heron's...still sleeping! Quite a sight.

The next day we once again were up with the roosters and well before sunrise were off again on an 80+ mile run to a place we’d seen on our way south and wanted to visit this time; Marineland, Florida, about 15 miles south of St. Augustine. When I’d made our reservations a few days prior, the dockmaster indicated it would be best if we could get there no later than 5 pm since low tide would be approaching and our arrival much later might prevent us from getting into our slip. I pushed Magic pretty hard that day since we were bucking the current most of the time but we made it to the marina a bit before 5. YEA! OOPS! The dockmaster was wrong…there was less water than even he thought and Magic was on the bottom well before we were fully in our slip! Luckily for us a number of good-sized men ashore won the tug-of-war contest with the boat and, with a lot of help from Magic’s engine, were able to pull us into the slip with one of my bow lines. Good news was we weren’t in a hurry to run dock lines since we were pretty much stuck until the tide rose!

          

This place was known throughout the world in its
heyday. It is hoped an infusion of cash will
rejuvenate the world's first "Oceanarium." 

  We found this marina to be a charming if out-of-the-way place with basically one attraction; the Marineland “Oceanarium” across the street. No stores close by, no pool, no bars. Still we liked the place. It is extremely well run by friendly and helpful guys who not only work for the marina but operate an Eco-tour business. One big plus was the free laundromat right at the head of our slip so Diane was able to get rid of the backlog of dirty clothes that was piling up. We had been paying $4-5 per load (that’s $10 wash/dry!) in the Bahamas, so Diane figured we saved about $40 in laundry alone! Diane and I did visit the Marineland facility and they do have a first-rate dolphin exhibit. They even offer a “swim with the dolphins” opportunity, but at over $200/person, we decided we’d just wait until our next trip to the Exumas where we saw them on a daily basis! Still, it was interesting to visit the first “Oceanarium” ever built and precursor to the Sea World’s found around the US. Originally built as an underwater movie studio, parts of “The Creature From the Black Lagoon” and TV show “Sea Hunt” were filmed there.  

No, this isn't some beach in the Bahamas! Just south of
Marineland is the only rocky coastline in all of
Florida!

The place fell on hard times until a couple years ago when the world-renowned Georgia Aquarium purchased it and has since infused several million dollars into upgrades. It isn’t a “must stop” place on the ICW, but if you happen to be in the area…

            Now, a quick word on how we almost sunk our boat! HUH? The first night we were at this marina, I was reading in the aft cabin with Diane watching TV forward when she commented she heard water. I didn’t hear a thing but wisely decided to look around and soon found water near the top of our bilge! NOT GOOD! I did some quick checking and found a slow flow of water from a leaking water pump cover late on the engine. I quickly stopped the water flow by closing the thru-hull valve, but couldn’t immediately understand why our automatic bilge pump hadn’t kicked in to rid the boat of the inflow of water. Turns out that the float switch (which detects rising water in the bilge) took that exact time to fail! I was able to manually turn on the bilge pump and rid the boat of the water so the immediacy of our problem was over. 

The failure of the original (replacement shown) could
allowed a lot of water into Magic! I now have a
backup and a spare!

The next day I replaced the engine water pump cover and looked into my spare parts box for a new bilge pump switch. Of course, that was another item that I didn’t have a spare part for but an ever-helpful marina staff member volunteered to stop by a local West Marine and pick up a switch for me. I had him get two! Bottom line here; thank God Diane has better ears than me because in a few hours at the most the water level would have been over the cabin floor! Also, I was shown…once again…you can’t have enough spares on a cruising boat! Trust me, I have lots, just not the right ones!

            My next blog will take us from one of my favorite destinations, St. Augustine, north to…well, wherever. More adventures await including a loss which is guaranteed to cost us….stay tuned!

            

MAGIC BID’S THE BAHAMAS A FOND FAREWELL…

         When I last wrote we were basically trapped on Magic at the Bluff House Marina on Green Turtle Cay as we were experiencing torrential rain, wind and even some lightning. In the harbor, a couple boats dragged anchor but luckily no damage was done. 

My "arty" shot of an old house at Green
Turtle. I loved the weathered clapboards.
Very reminiscent of New England.

The marina was pretty much full since word of this latest frontal passage had spread quickly and we got to watch more boater antics…not just from charter boats this time! One very large powerboat, after unsuccessfully trying to back into a very protected slip was given a far easier (but slightly less protected) spot to put his boat. I think this guy was a fighter pilot in a past life since he knew just two speeds on his engines…full ahead and full astern! In the course of about 15 minutes while attempting to bring his boat alongside a dock he rammed two pilings, the dock itself, and just about snapped one of his (far too small) dock lines as the assembled boaters tried to help this idiot from taking out more of the dock. I don’t know what the deal is. During our time in the Exumas we saw nothing but superb displays of seamanship on boats of all sizes  by sailors with a wide range of experience. In the Abacos, it seemed as if a huge number of boat skippers were (paraphrasing the song from Grease) “…Power Squadron Dropouts.” I’m buying more fenders before we go back!

            In any case, after looking at the weather a zillion times, and listening to the inevitable wharf-rat discussions on crossing techniques, Diane and I decided to throw our hat into the ring and head toward the states. Word from just about all the forecasters was that conditions would not favor a crossing for at least another week to 10 days and while it was tempting to extend our stay, we knew we needed to start working our way home. We had a narrow window and decided to go for it.

Green Turtle monument to the Loyalists

            Before we left, Diane and I had an opportunity to visit the small Green Turtle Cay museum (there is one on just about every island as residents try hard to preserve their history). This particular one, the size of a small house, did a great job of showing the history of not just the Green Turtle Cay, but the Abacos as a whole. I knew, but never fully appreciated the sacrifices these reluctant settlers made when they arrived at the most remote parts of the Bahamas just prior and during the Revolutionary War. To these displaced people, still loyal to their mother country, the colonists who insisted on independence from England were truly the terrorists of their era. Maybe that is a bit strong, but the 100,000 or so people who remained loyal to the crown were terribly persecuted as the independence movement gained strength. Many were murdered, their houses burned, businesses/farm destroyed and children shunned…sound familiar? These “loyalists” (or Tories as they have also been called) received little help from the British government other than an offer for cheap/free land in the Bahamas where they once again had to start anew. The United States was formed and has flourished on the backs of the immigrants and stories of these people, some of whom were second generation Americans, deserved far better. They were forced to pick up the pieces of their lives and immigrate once again to an unknown, desolate place. Kind of sad that a country that has always embraced and even encouraged immigration to our shores actually has in its history a period where the reverse happened. Sound familiar? Bottom line, the history of the Bahamas is fascinating and next time we come here, I’m going to spend more time studying it. OK, class dismissed!

       

We bid adieu to our last Abaco layover, Green Turtle Cay.
Loved this place!

     Early in the morning of April 7^th, full of fuel and water, Magic shed her dock lines and headed out. As we left the harbor and turned north in the Sea of Abaco, it was obvious we were not alone in casting our fates to the weather Gods as we sighted at least a dozen sailboats all headed in the same general direction. 

Our approach to the small Great Sale Cay at the western
end of the Little Bahama Bank where hundreds of cruisers
every year wait for crossing weather.

In our case, we’d decided to break the 190 nautical mile (nm) trip up into two sections. The first leg was a 60-mile sail to Great Sale Cay, a “Y” shaped, uninhabited island that is used as a jumping off point for many sailors headed back to the states. Many boats love the place with its well-protected bay and stay for days or even weeks at a time. Our stay was somewhat shorter…about 6 hours, enough time to eat dinner and get some sleep before heading out again around 10 pm. Well, we had a nice dinner, but sleep, not so much! Both of us were pretty ramped up about the next leg and sleep just wasn’t in the picture. Interestingly enough, in the middle of nowhere we actually were getting good TV signals so we even tried to watch some of that to lull us to sleep but no such luck. It was going to be a long night!

           

This is about as much "rest" as either of us
got during our crossing!

Our next leg was an almost direct shot of 130 nm to Ft. Pierce and we’d planned our nighttime departure from Great Sale to get us the rest of the way across the “Little Bahama Bank” at night and then allow both a daylight passage across the Gulf Stream and arrival at the city’s channel entrance at slack (least) current. Both of these were important since I knew the Atlantic Ocean could be a bit rough when we hit the strong Gulf Stream current, (which could run at over 3 knots!) and it is a lot easier to steer when you can see the seas coming at you! A daylight crossing of the Florida Straits would also give us a better chance to spot the large cargo vessels that run north and south along this major shipping lane. In addition, the Ft. Pierce inlet can be very rough when the current and wind oppose each other. All those factors dictated a 10 pm departure from our anchorage. With no moon but under a brilliantly clear sky displaying more stars than I’d seen in years (no light pollution from near-by cities, cars, etc.), we brought up our anchor, wound our way around the dozen or so other boats in our anchorage and headed generally northwest toward the states. Although I raised our large mainsail to help propel us along, there was almost no wind so this sail was more for decoration than propulsion as we basically droned along all night under the power of our trusty diesel engine.

            The first 50 miles was on the “Little Bahama Bank” where water depths are never more than 12 feet and can be extremely choppy in the wrong wind. We were lucky. The wind was light and the “bank” was almost flat. Throughout the night Diane and I took turns at the helm (actually monitoring the autopilot) while the other napped either in the cockpit or down below. As dawn was breaking we left the shallow bank and entered the Atlantic Ocean, watching the depths rapidly go from 12 to 3000 feet in less time than it takes me to type this sentence!  Unfortunately, we also started seeing the effect of a sea swell of 5 or more feet that gave us a somewhat uncomfortable rolling motion. We’d both taken a very effective (and side effect free!) sea-sickness medications so we were fine…although neither of us planned to spend much time whipping up gourmet food in the galley! We still had no helpful wind and had no choice but to motor along toward our distant waypoint at the entrance to Ft. Pierce, sucking down that $6+/gal Bahamas diesel fuel. As we entered the grip of the strong northward 3 knot Gulf Stream current I found we were being pushed well north of our projected landfall and had to make a 30 degree course correction just to stay on our original course line! For you non-sailors this is a little like walking sideways to cross a room! This was the strongest Gulf Stream I’d ever seen and it was just a bit frustrating since this heading put the seas off our right stern and made the ride even a bit worse! Oh well, so much for the glorious cruising life!  

We were lucky. This was the only ship we encountered during our
crossing. Just a small adjustment in our course and we cleared
by lot!

At mid-day, both of us were kind of hungry so I volunteered to make sandwiches in the galley despite the seas. Although we don’t have any photographing evidence, I’m sure it was pretty funny watching me try to (literally) throw together bread, some sort of meat, cheese, lettuce and mayo as the boat lurched around under me. My job would have been a lot easier had God given me three arms!

            Right on schedule around 2pm we sighted the tallest buildings of Ft. Pierce and soon after was released from the clutches of the Gulf Stream. Our timing was just about right and 2 hours later we were on time for a slack current entry into the harbor. We cruised into Ft. Pierce and anchored in a very snug cove recommended by other cruising friends. Magic and her crew were back in the United States! Well, not so fast! For those of you used to international travel, you know of the formalities, paperwork and endless lines when your flight returns to the US. I steeled myself for the same with possibly an expensive taxicab ride to the airport to complete the entry customs and immigration paperwork. Luckily for us Diane had done some preliminary work even before we left for the Bahamas and, believe it or not, our entire re-entry into the US was done with a simple 5 minute phone call! I was stunned when the agent on the phone provided me with our entry “code” and wished me a good day. What, no drug test, no questions about activities abroad, no uniformed agents tearing apart the boat looking for an illegal apple? What has this country come to??!!! I wasn’t complaining and before the agent could change his mind, I hung up and we toasted our return with a glass of wine!

           

The Bahamas part of our trip complete, we lowered our
courtesy flag and celebrated a successful crossing. We obviously
had to leave...the flag was in tatters!

My next blog will detail our trip up the “Snowbird Highway,” the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), basically retracing our steps from last fall. This time we are hoping to do a bit more offshore sailing and I promise there will be some excitement to report! 

OUR BAHAMAS ADVENTURE SLOWLY DRAWS TO A CLOSE...

            I’m sitting on the boat in Green Turtle Cay watching the heavens dump on us like a cow does to a flat rock (how’s that for a simile!) as a very strong low pressure passes over the Abacos. Thus far the dire predictions of weather guru Chris Parker have not materialized with a minimum of wind and only brief lightning storms, but we know more is to come and the rain amount is incredible! Even so, our time here has almost come to an end we have very mixed emotions about leaving. But, I get about a week ahead of myself…

One of our favorite marinas of the trip...and they
have a wonderful baker!

 After a week at Hope Town, both Diane and I were anxious to continue moving and ready for a change in venue, even though we had a wonderful time and met equally wonderful people in this picturesque harbor. Our next destination was to be our last “big city” before heading home, so we were looking forward to both a marina stay, a place to stretch our legs and do a bit of shopping. We stayed at what has become one of my favorite marinas, Mango’s Marina in the heart of Marsh Harbor. We’d had a bit of a run around with our slip reservation with both parties thinking we were coming on different days. 

The Marsh Harbor anchorage flanked by several
very nice marinas.

When I’d called them the day prior to our arrival I was told that they were “hoping” to have a slip for us. What about our reservation?!!! The morning we crossed over from Hope Town I called the marina on the radio to hopefully confirm our arrival and get a slip assignment. The voice on the other end of the mike (Ray, the dockmaster), in a heavily accented Bahamanian accent immediately came back with a; “….sorry Captain, we are full up and have no space!” There was a short delay and then he came back with;  “…JUST KIDDING, come on in, we’re ready for you!” A few minutes later we pulled into the last available slip at this small marina with Ray ready to take lines and generally scurry about both the dock and our boat to ensure we were securely and correctly tied up. I must say that he was easily the most professional dockmaster we’ve seen since leaving home last fall and actually knew what all our lines were supposed to do. During our entire stay, we was a wealth of information and interesting to chat with.

            At the same marina and in the anchorage were a couple other boats we’d been with throughout our Exuma cruise and it was fun to reunite with the crews of Pegasus, Java, Lipari, Hooligan and Sunbow. Tied up to a marina dock for the first time in over 2 months, we took advantage of the free water (almost unheard of here in the Bahamas where water is metered and costs between .20-.60/gal!), inexpensive electrical power (unlike most US marinas, power at most marinas here is metered and usually costs a fraction what is charged at home), and the ability to jump off the boat for a walk, trip to the grocery or a jog. We were livin high on the hog! Oh yea, the restaurant at Mango’s has a baker who made the best sticky buns I’ve ever eaten! Just a few second walk from Magic was bakery heaven!

            Marsh Harbor is the largest “settlement” in the Bahamas after Nassau and Freeport and has almost all the amenities found in similar-sized towns in the US, including a really nice grocery, hardware stores, shops, etc. Although this is slowly changing as the internet generation homogenizes our societies (not sure if this is entirely a good thing), every settlement in the Bahamas has a distinct flavor. Dialects and customs are different and all are fiercely independent. For those of use who sail on the Chesapeake Bay, once again the residents of Tangier and Smith Islands come to mind. Only a few miles apart geographically, they are totally different, just like all the towns here. It was interesting to meet the locals and get a flavor for each place.

The "Castle in the Clouds" in Marsh Harbor.
In an area with lots of interesting architecture,
this one stood out!

            Both Diane and I were keeping one eye on the calendar, knowing our time here in the Bahamas was necessarily coming to a close. Our stay in Marsh Harbor was only three days, but we both felt we got a great feel for the place. We walked (and occasionally jogged) all over the place and even found the “Castle in the Clouds” a beautiful home built by the “Out Island Doctor,” Evans Cottman, who moved to the Bahamas in the early 1940’s and although not a “real” MD, was licensed by the government as a “practical doctor” and traveled throughout the islands taking care of the locals until his death in the late 1970’s. A fascinating story detailed in his autobiography, “Out Island Doctor.” Anyone interested in reading about life in the islands before the days of phones, reliable transportation, electricity, etc., should pick up a copy….you just can’t have mine!

         

Cold beer, toes in a pool
Doesn't get much better!

   From Marsh Harbor we made short runs to both Guana Cay (home of one of the most famous watering holes in the Bahamas, Nipper’s), to the place with reportedly the 4^th prettiest beach in the world; Treasure Cay. At Guana we finally were able to rent bikes and explored the island on two wheels and spent Easter Sunday afternoon at Nippers watching a beach-side egg hunt and eating some pretty good local food. With more weather coming, Diane and I moved to a secure cove at Treasure Cay where we enjoyed a couple days in this snug harbor, walking the beaches, and exploring their world-class marina/resort. It was a nice place, but whoever said it was the 4^th nicest in the world missed a couple better ones in the Exumas! After our two days here we were again ready to move.

Charter catamaran. STAY CLEAR!!

In order to get to the northern part of the Abacos, we had to navigate “Whale Cut” channel which is the only passage between the lower and upper Sea of Abaco. Winds out of the wrong direction creates sea states in this area that make passage no only a bad idea, but downright dangerous! Magic was lucky, it was just about calm when we transited this tricky channel and the elephant seas this passage is infamous for produced only bunny rabbits!

Bluff House Marina in Green Turtle Cay.
Another great place to relax for a few days!

           Our last real Bahamas stop was Green Turtle Cay, This is one of the last settlements in the Abacos chain and, in my opinion, one of the prettiest! We motored into “White Sound” at high tide (yup, we are still slaves to water level!) and proceeded to the Bluff House marina/resort. For those of you who may eventually come to the Abacos, this marina is a true do-not-miss place. First of all, it is well run with experienced, friendly staff and up-to-date facilities. Best of all it is the cheapest place we’ve been since leaving home over 5 months ago! Although we were only here 4 nights, we thoroughly enjoyed our time even though we experienced yet another bad cold frontal passage.

            Tomorrow (Sunday, 7 April), Diane and I plan to leave here and begin a two day sail back to the US mainland. We are both terribly sorry our time here in the Bahamas is coming to an end and very excited to be getting back to the “world.” If the God of calm seas and gentle winds behaves, we will drop anchor in Ft. Pierce, FL just 36 hours from now. Not sure how we’ll react when we walk into our first Publix’s SUPER GROCERY STORE, or see our first traffic light in 5 months, but we’re looking forward to it all! I'll blog more about our hopefully uneventful crossing adventure as soon as we have internet access back in the states. Thanks for reading. The adventure really does continue!

Peaceful anchorage...somewhere in the Abacos!

       

THE MARCH NORTH CONTINUES!

We bid a mostly fond farewell to Spanish Wells after 11 days on “the island time forgot.” While I highly recommend a visit to the place, not sure you need to spend that long, but weather has ruled our lives since leaving home in early November and it hasn’t changed! After one last beach walk by Fleet Admiral’s Diane and Patty, we dropped our secure moorings in the harbor and motored to Royal Island, only 6 miles away but a great jumping off point for our separate trips toward Miami (Veritas) and north to the Abacos (Magic).  

Think this was the cook-house at
the Royal Island mansion

Huge living room and fireplace.
Beautiful, but sad

Believe it or not, there is a
building under there!

Although we were only there for an afternoon and evening, there was exploring to be done! The four of us jumped into our dingy and explored both this very protected anchorage by water and then went ashore to walk around this interesting place. Once on land we discovered the ruins of a huge, abandoned estate with crumbling concrete piers, buildings with ornate tile-work still intact, and old paved paths which led all over the island. The guidebooks say that the place was built, 30 bricks at a time (that was all which could be brought on small boats from Nassau) by a very wealthy man (duh!) from England in the 1930’s. Abandoned in the aftermath of World War II, it has sat, slowing being reclaimed by island growth, ever since. I could definitely see a Steven King novel/movie set in this place! Beautiful, but spooky at the same time.

            There are signs of life on the island however. A developer has fairly big plans to build a resort here, complete with a golf course, marina, restaurant and both time-share and rental villas. While I doubt it will ever compete with Harbor Island to the east, Royal has potential and hopefully will be able to succeed where many others in the area have failed.  

            Jennings on Veritas is a well-known night owl and it takes a minor emergency to get him out of a snug bed before 7 or 8 every morning. Well, their departure at 0400 (!!!) was an emergency of sorts…they were running out of Sierra Nevada beer and the closest dealer was in Miami! I happened to get up (yea, had to p--!) about that same time and watched our buddy boat crank his anchor up and motor out of this very snug but comfortable harbor. We heard from them a couple days later that they got to Miami, safe and sound but only after Jennings drank his last Sierra Nevada as they entered the harbor! Whew!! Our plans had been to remain at Royal Island for an extra day to wait for slightly calmer seas, but around 7 am when we saw the anchorage literally empty with a parade of boats all headed to the Abacos, we decided to join this flotilla, thinking that many boats can’t all be wrong! It was a hurried departure for us, but we quickly joined this group of almost 30 (!) sailboats as we all sailed (well, mostly motored) the 50 miles north to the Abaco Island group.

Pete's Pub in Little Harbor,
Abacos. Next door is
Johnson'sStudios, famous
for their sea life
bronze sculptures. 

The Abacos is a large group of islands east and north of Grand Bahama with literally hundreds of cays, many with beautiful anchorages. You could easily spend years here and not see all this area has to offer. Unfortunately, many of the most popular attractions have pretty “skinny” water and boats such as ours with over 5’ draft are restricted to close to high tide entry and exit. On the good side, the Sea of Abaco, where many of t
he best destinations are located is fairly small and if you time it right you can leave one harbor and make it to the next during the same high tide cycle. Still, most cruisers tell us that if you are going to hit bottom during your cruise to the Bahamas, it will be here in the Sea of Abaco! I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Our first landfall here was atJ the southern end of the Sea of Abaco, Little Harbor. Aptly named, this tiny anchorage gave us our first taste navigating through a really “skinny” channel where even at high tide we saw only a couple inches below our keel as we s  l  o  w  l  y worked our way in. We stayed here for 2 nights, enjoying lunch at Pete’s Pub and long walks along the back roads and beaches where Diane continued her never-ending search for the perfect sea bean.

This is a Bahamian "A" Class racing sloop called "The Rage"
based in Hope Town. That's human ballast onboard...
28 people this day for a local race! NO LIFEJACKETS!!

Moving north along the Sea of Abaco we stopped for a couple hours at one of the best snorkeling spots in the area where we swam among some beautiful coral formations and, as we were about to complete our dive, saw a formation of 7 spotted eagle rays glide below us. Absolutely breathtaking sight! Once again, wished I’d had an underwater camera even though I know no photo would have done it justice.

The next stop on our slow journey through the Abacos was Hopetown harbor on Elbow Cay. Yet another skinny channel greeted us into the harbor where we were incredibly lucky (luck seems to be a theme for us this cruise!) to snag the very last mooring in this picturesque harbor, and then only because its’ owner shooed several boats off to hold it for us! We were incredibly lucky this time since that night we saw the worst thunderstorm we’ve seen in several years…an almost unheard of event in this tropical environment. Even the locals were amazed at the amount of rain, wind and violence of the lightning.

This is  "Queens Road" in Hope Town, the main
street through the settlement and one of the
widest! Unlike (unfortunately) much of the
Bahamas, the houses were all pretty
and well maintained.

Hopetown was easily the prettiest, most quaint settlement we have been to this trip. It reminded me of a small coastal town in New England, just with a Caribbean flavor. Guarded at the entrance by the only oil-lit, manually operated lighthouse remaining in the Western Hemisphere, this place is a magnet to people from the mainland (US, Canada, England, etc.) who want to escape the cold, get away from it all, but still want to be close to shops, restaurants, grocery stores, churches, etc. The small harbor has about 30+ moorings and a couple marinas, all of which were absolutely full the entire 7 days we were here. This is a very popular place but still retains that small town closeness I’ve always loved. We met any number of “ex-pat” Americans who have either moved here permanently or keep a house/boat here 5-6 months a year and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Capn Jack's. Our home away from
home in Hope Town 30 seconds
from Magic's mooring!

We spent hours exploring the island, checking the beaches for sea beans, walking the narrow streets of Hopetown and eating WAAY too much fried food at Capn Jack’s bar right in front Magic’s mooring.
    One of the highlights for me was exploring the lighthouse where we could see where the volunteer keepers light the “wick” every evening and then hoist the counterweights (a lot like a grandfather’s clock) that rotate the Fresnel Lenses…a task that must be repeated every 2 hours all night long!

View of the Hope Town lighthouse
with Magic at left.

Harbor view from lighthouse

     I can understand why this is the last one like this but thankful the Bahamian government and local citizens banded together to ensure this slice of maritime history remains intact.

100 stairs to the top. 

WELL WORTH THE EFFORT!

"Grandfather clock" machinery

in lighthouse. Must be wound by

hand every 2 hours at night!

This is the "doorknob" leading to 

viewing platform. Symbolizes

the keeper pulling a cable to 

keep the lens rotating. Cool!

Before I end this particular blog I have to say something…about Bareboat Charterers. When Diane and I chartered boats in the past, I always wondered why long-term cruisers in anchorages where we dropped the hook always stayed pretty far from us. Well, now I know why! There is an old saying that you should never, EVER buy a rental car. The same is true for charter boats. During our time in the Exumas, nary a charter was to be seen. Here in the Abacos, it seems like every other boat has “Moorings,” or “Sunsail” on the hull and the anchoring techniques we’ve seen are nothing short of amazing. I have a feeling that these companies use a credit card as proof of boat handling expertise! In Hopetown we saw a young couple pick up a mooring next to us. At one point they decided to adjust their lines and in so doing, allowed the boat to drift free of the mooring. With the engine shutdown and no one at the helm this large catamaran spun around and literally speared a cat on the other side, hitting that boat (not a charter) with a huge crunch of cracked fiberglass and gelcoat. OUCH. Later after they finally got back on their mooring I was below when Diane loudly called me to the cockpit. When I got there I could see that this charter cat had decided to run their engine on the mooring but forgot to take it out of gear and was about to ram Magic! We were charging our batteries with the engine so I quickly put the engine in gear and narrowly avoided yet another collision. Clueless. My advice here….STAY WELL AWAY FROM CHARTER BOATS!! Nuff said!

What a beautiful sight of the Hope Town Harbor from the lighthouse.
Magic is to the left near shore.

     Our next stop is Marsh Harbor, biggest town in the Abacos, a whopping 7 miles across the Sea of Abaco from Hopetown and I’ll write more about our time there soon. The adventure continues!!!!

    Smooth Sailing!