MAGIC IS HOME!!

     

A rare calm day for Magic on the way  home

Once again I’m going to jump ahead and say that after exactly 6 months of cruising, Magic is safely back at her home slip in Hampton, VA. We’ve enjoyed our first “Hollywood Showers” and flush toilets in half a year, and are very slowly re-introducing ourselves to life at home. Even driving our cars…on the “right” side of the road…has been an almost surreal experience! As I promised in my last blog, I’m going to detail our last few days on the water and then provide a few thoughts on the trip in general.

         We spent a couple great days enjoying the amenities at the River Dunes Marina in Oriental, NC, but even their comfortable hot tub couldn’t keep us in place, especially since Diane was really jonesing to get home and pick up our Golden Retriever Cruzer. He’d spent the past 6 months with wonderful family friends, but just like us, his “winter camp” full of new adventures had to come to an end! Magic and buddy boat Veritas once again executed a dawn departure for yet another really long day following the “magenta line” of the ICW northbound. You wouldn’t know it from the calendar and even though it was now May, the temperatures

So much for warm temperatures! Diane and
one of our "buddy boaters" Laura (Tehani)
trying to laugh off the chill.

never got over the low 60’s and with the wind building from the north, it was a cool, sloppy day as we worked our way through eastern North Carolina. It was a huge relief when we emerged 70 miles later from the Alligator Canal and spotted our anchorage. Our anchor went down and soon after, so did we! OK, not exactly since I made one last homemade pizza for us and we toasted our last really long day on the water with a couple slices and a nice bottle of wine. Then we crashed!!

         Our next day wasn’t a particularly long one but we had to transit the notorious Alligator River and then cross the equally infamous Albermale Sound toward Coinjock, NC. Alligator River mud must be the most tenacious in the world and our anchor reluctantly came up…coated with a ton of sticky, gooey mud that took me almost 10 minutes to clean off!

Not long after we got underway we were treated to an awesome low altitude air show from two F18 “Super Hornets” as they conducted low level bombing practice at the Dare County range just east of the Alligator River.

This is a terrible photo, but shows one of two
F-18's that "buzzed" us on the Alligator River.
They really did get a LOT closer than this! You
could almost see the sweat on the pilot's brow!

The two aircraft would zoom past us at 300’ on slightly different headings, bank hard to the east to make their run toward the range and then execute their “Hornet Pop” maneuver as they pulled almost vertical, roll inverted and dive on their targets. Really cool, so cool that I forgot to take any photos until they were almost too far behind us. I’d suck as a professional photographer!

I’ve talked about the “magenta line” of the ICW a number of times in my blog and I have to admit it can become mesmerizing spending hours and hours following that line on our chartplotter. Unfortunately, there are a number of cruisers (both power and sail) who become too attached to that line...and pay the price. There are a bunch of places where localized shoaling on the ICW has forced the Coast Guard to position temporary floating buoys to assist boaters to remain in the deepest part of the channel. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always follow the “yellow brick road” of the magenta line. At the north end of the Alligator River there is just such a place and during our transit of this admittedly confusing area, two different sailboats ran aground as they unerringly followed the ICW line, smack into a shoal! Yea, I know…but for the grace of God go I, but come on guys!

As the wind continued to build from the NE, we crossed a very angry Albermale Sound and fought 6+ foot seas for a couple hours. We just couldn’t catch a break as I got a great workout driving the boat through/around the largest waves and saw our normal 7 knot speed drop to less than 3 as we slammed into wave after wave. None-to-soon we were finally in the lee of the Outer Banks shoreline as we worked our way to what we hoped would be our last overnight stop at Coinjock, NC. OOPS…Again!

THE LAST BRIDGE OF THE TRIP! Our small convoy had just
passed under the new Gilmerton Bridge in Hampton Roads. That thing
is huge! 

The next day, after consuming what seemed like 5 pounds of the marina restaurants’ signature prime rib, we again departed early for what we thought would be our last push home.   This leg of the trip is a maze of bridges and locks, all of which open on schedules that required us to keep just as good an eye on the clock as our course! Lucky for us, our timing worked out well and we soon emerged into the bustling Norfolk harbor. Unfortunately, the wind had continued to increase which would make getting into our inlet in Hampton iffy at best, so we decided an early stop was in order. Of course, all the docking space in Portsmouth was taken and when we tried to tie up to a “free” area of Norfolk, we were informed that it would cost us $60…no thanks! So, our little convoy of Veritas and Magic were off once again, this time for downtown Hampton. Of course, it was another crappy slog north along the Elizabeth River, made even more exciting as we passed no less than 6 large container ships as they made their way to docks.

We finally made it to the Hampton City Marina, cleaned up with one last onboard shower and were soon mobbed as friends from our neighborhoods all came to greet us, retell stories of our collective adventures over the winter and enjoy a nice shoreside meal together. A wonderful way to almost end our trip. Of course, once again we were up at the crack of dawn for the 8-mile run home, but both boats wanted to get in early and take advantage of a very slight lull in the winds and enter the Salt Ponds channel near high tide. But finally, after almost exactly 6 months, 3000+ miles, 500 engine hours (420 gallons of diesel), many dozens of Kalik beers/gin tonics/rum drinks, WAAY too many “Cheeseburgers in Paradise,” and priceless memories, we returned to our home slip.

Magic on her last run up to our canal-front home
in Hampton. She did great!

A number of you have asked how much a trip would cost. My answer remains the same; depends. I kept fairly accurate records throughout the trip but although we had a goal, we didn’t really follow a budget. We tried to avoid marinas, but didn’t deprive ourselves of occasional shoreside meals and excursions. Food and fuel was incredibly expensive (over twice stateside prices) but we still wound up spending almost exactly $100/day. Many we met spent far less or a lot more, but the great thing was that we all got to enjoy the same sun, warm beaches and crystal clear water and very few seemed to go “without.”

MAGIC’S TOP FIVE “MUST HAVE’S” FOR THE BAHAMAS

For those of you reading this who may be contemplating a similar trip to the Bahamas I offer my “Top 5” list of items I would not leave home again without. Mind you, I’m neither an expert on cruising necessities nor are these items in any way absolute requirements to safely and happily go cruising; they are just things we did for Magic which were critical to OUR enjoyment. Your mileage may vary:

1.    Full enclosure around our cockpit. We expected this addition to be helpful during our fall trip south and again on the way back up the east coast, but had no idea how we would rely on it once in the Bahamas. The side panels reduced morning dew in the cockpit, and kept the wind/rain out to allow more use of the cockpit even on the worst days. Even when offshore in heavy seas, the side panels deflected seas and kept the cockpit dry. Of course, it was really nice to cruise along the ICW on the coldest of days, clad in shorts and light shirts! I almost felt guilty as we passed enclosure-less boats with crews huddled under a dodger wearing heavy foul weather gear even on sunny, nice days! 

Good shot of our enclosure, davits and 3 solar panels.
Liferaft is mounted on the other side of the arch.

2.    Davits/Arch.  I wanted an easy way to hoist our rigid-hull inflatable out of the water and that desire led to either davits or an arch. For davits there are a number of good ones out there (my favorite would be Gauhaurer) but we chose to have an arch made by a local SS fabricator which has davits attached. Hoisting the dingy was a breeze and so easy I pulled our dingy out of the water nightly, both for its' security and to eliminate the noise from water slapping on its hull. On the arch I was able to mount all the antennas previously attached to our stern rail, hang our liferaft for easy access and deployment, and provide a unobstructed, secure mounting location for our…

3.     Solar Panels. Since I didn't want to sacrifice our scarce onboard storage space for additional batteries, we went with 3 135-watt Kyocera panels. Coupled with a high efficiency controller, I was able to produce about 180 amps per day (on a good, sunny day), more than we normally needed.  For days when it was overcast and we didn't move the boat, we relied on our…

4.    Generator. I'm cheap, so we went with a Honda portable 2000-watt generator (less than $1000) and couldn't be happier. It was amazing to see the number of these little red machines on the decks of boats in the Bahamas! Lightweight, reliable and extremely quiet. Our generator, which I stored in the aft lazarette did double duty, both to occasionally provide DC charging energy and provide a source of power for our...

Control panel in an aft
locker for our water maker

5.    Watermaker. For me, this easily made the top 5 although many boats do without. Just watching crews lugging water cans around, standing in line for use of a water hose, or paying .60/gal for sometimes not great tasting water convinced me that we made the right decision to install our water maker. Ours is a system from “Cruise RO” in California and is powered by our Honda generator. The real beauty it is that is produces 20 gph, far more than many/most others on the market at less than 1/2 the price.  I ran it every 3-4 days for 1.5 hours or so to keep our tanks full. I installed mine in the aft port-side lazarette, totally out of the way and it took up literally no useful storage space. If I were only planning one trip to the islands or just coastal cruising in the US, I wouldn't have purchased this item, but if you are planning multiple trips to the Bahamas, I'd seriously look at one.

Once I have a bit more time to reflect and put my thoughts together, I’ll post more information on the trials and tribulations of first time cruisers to the Bahamas.

For those of you who followed by blog, thank you for allowing me to ramble on and take up your time these past 6 months. If I was able to entertain, just a little, or inform, just a little, great. I’d originally intended to keep a daily journal and create this blog from that, but like many things in life, other events conspired to prevent me from maintaining such discipline…great sailing, cold adult beverages in Magic’s cockpit, relaxing walks on pristine beaches, meeting Bahamanian people, some of the most wonderful in the world, cruising with our “buddy” boats; Veritas, Peaceful Easy Feeling, and Tehani, and meeting other cruisers who provided us invaluable advice and camaraderie.  

Most importantly, and although it wasn’t easy at times for either of us, I got to renew my relationship with my “First Mate for Life,” Diane. Yes, we had our moments but she was the perfect partner for this trip and I cannot wait to head out again with Diane at my side.

         As I said in my last blog, this trip is finally over but our adventure continues….

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!