Day 73. Feb 28, 2017. Tuesday

Day 73. 2/28/17. Anchored off Amelia Island

We left St Augustine at 7:30am. We had current with us much of the day and made great time. We reached a place where they were doing work on a high bridge. There was a crane and other large equipment in the section under the bridge where boats are normally expected to pass. We were pretty sure we could not safely go through that section because of all the equipment. There was no indication of where one could safely go. We took a chance and went under in the section just to the right. It looked almost as high as the section we should have used. We held our breath and watched our mast which went under without touching the bridge. Probably had 3 ft to spare.
We had planned to tie up at a free dock but we reached it at
1 so decided to continue on. We got to Amelia Island about 3:30 and anchor there. Tomorrow we will finally leave FL and enter Georgia.

Day 72. Feb 27, 2017 Monday

Day 72.  2/27/17.   St Augustine, FL

We left Daytona Beach before 7am. We had current with us most of the day and sails up part of the day. We made 7+ kts a lot of the time, much better than yesterday. 

When we got to St. Augustine we got a mooring ball. We used their water taxi to go to shore. We walked past the Bridge of Lions to a restaurant that specialized in Louisiana food, lots of crawfish etc. I had a salad and we shared a dessert. It was fried Oreos. Wrapped in pancake batter, deep fried then covered in melted white chocolate & bourbon sauce . Super rich and delicious. Sinful!

Getting some bounce from wind not boat traffic. It was hot today but has cooled down now. We made 54 miles today. 

Live like every day is your last. 

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Day

Live like every day is your last. 

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Day 71 Feb 26, 2017. Sun

Day 71.   2/26/17.   Sun

We got high winds about 4am Sun morning. Our peaceful anchorage got rocking & rolling. We got up before sunrise and headed north. We had currents against us and could not get wind direction to sail so our progress was painfully slow. 3 & 4 kts. We reached Daytona Beach and anchored where a bridge used to be. There were cranes and other construction equipment there. Being Sun afternoon no one was operating any of it. We had a peaceful bugless night. Will try to make over 50 miles tomorrow. Hope wind & current is favorable.

Live like every day is your last. 

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Day 70 Feb 25, 2017. Sat.

Dat 70.  2/25/17.  Mosquito Lagoon.  Near Oak Hill, FL

We left our anchorage in light fog around 7:30.  We had winds vary from 3 to 21 kts, sometimes in only a few minutes. Wind direction was more stable. We were able to sail a lot of the day which cut about an hour off our travel time. It was pleasantly sunny but the water was pretty choppy.  Despite the name if our anchorage tonight it seems to have few bugs. The ones I have seen were no see 'ums not mosquitoes. I expected to have mosquito problems but am very happy to be wrong. 

Live like every day is your last. 

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Day 69. Feb 24, 2017. Friday

Day 69.   2/24/17.     At anchor near Satellite, FL

We left the mooring ball at Vero City Marina before 8.  The fuel dock did not open until 8. When we requested to tie up and get fuel we were told there was a trawler getting fuel and we should stand back til they were through.  We idled and hung around with the current pushing us it was not easy to just stay in one spot. I finally had to make a big circle to get positioned to approach the fuel dock when the other boat left.  This had been going on for 35 minutes, can not imagine what took so long.  It was a typical 34ft trawler, not some big boat.  Just as the trawler was getting lines off the dock to leave some jerk in a little skiff came motoring in and pulled up behind the trawler and blocked our access to the dock after we had waited well over 1/2 hour.  We waited another 15 minutes for the skiff to do it's thing and at 8:50 we finally pulled up to the fuel dock.  Being an elementary teacher  I am a big believer in taking your turn and not jumping line.  Would have liked to played bumper boat with the skiff, bet I would have won. It was after 9 when we got our fuel, water , ice, & paid our mooring ball charges and finally got under way.  It was a pleasantly warm  day with moderate wind.  We traveled 39 miles today and anchored near Satellite, FL a little before 5pm. 

Day 67 & 68. Feb 22 & 23, 2017. Wed. & Thurs.

Day 67.  2/22/17.  Wed.       Vero Beach FL on mooring ball

Today was supposed to be chore day.  I was to do laundry and Lee some  boat projects.  It started raining before day light and rained all day.  There was no way we were going anywhere in the dinghy. It was also chilly. So we bundled up and read and napped all day.  Pretty wasted day but that is how it goes sometimes.

Day 68.   2/23/17.  Thurs.      Vero Beach FL on mooring ball

Today began sunny and warm.  Much better day than yesterday.  We dinked to shore and I got the laundry done.  Will probably be the last time before we get back home. Lee emptied 3 of our jerry cans of diesel into the tank.  For the first time in a long time we had to run our motor to charge our batteries.  Usually between the solar cells and the wind generator our batteries stay charged. Seems the rainy day yesterday and the lack of wind ran our batteries down.  We took the dinghy to Riverside Cafe for dinner this evening. It is just a little bit from the mooring field.  We saw dolphin on our way back to the boat after dinner. Tomorrow we will get water and more diesel and be on our way north again. 

Day 66. Feb. 21, 2017. Tuesday

Day 66. On mooring ball at Vero Beach City Marina.    2/21/17

We left our anchorage south of Ft Pierce early and headed to Vero Beach, FL.  We had over cast skies in the morning but it did not rain. We had winds from 5 to 11kts, at times we were able to sail.  The ICW is not always wide enough to sail so we also did a lot of motoring.  We arrived at Vero around 12:30.  At first we were told to raft up with another sail boat that was 6 ft shorter than us and had no one on the boat.  We tried but it was difficult and it had very few forward cleats and netting like there were pets or kids on the boat which made it hard to get to the cleats it did have. We looked around and thought we saw a empty mooring ball and radioed into the harbor master and asked if it was spoken for. He told us we could have it, so we detached from the little sail boat and got a ball to ourselves.  We got the dinghy down in the water and headed to the dinghy dock.  We were hoping to get to shore in time to catch the local free bus to Publix. We caught the 2 o'clock bus.  On the way to the dinghy dock we saw a boat we had chatted with last winter and traveled along with for several days.  The dinghy was at the boat so they were probably on board but we were in a hurry to get the bus.  After  our grocery trip when we returned to our boat the  other boat did not have the dinghy tied behind. We guessed they must have been ashore.  It was good to be able to buy milk, bread, & coke.  Hard to find in the Bahamas. While we were out and about we stopped at a place called Two Jays. We had eaten there before. Big serving and good food.  We decided since we had not had lunch we would have linner.  Then I would not have to cook tonight. We ate salads and got big pieces of Carrot cake to go, to eat for a late night snack since we were not eating another meal today.  Tomorrow I will do our laundry and we should be ready to head for home.  

Days 63, 64, & 65

Day 63.    Saturday.    2/18/17.     Sailing overnight

We left Chub Cay anchorage about 8am this morning.  We decided for several reasons to head back to the USA. Not the least of which is one of our sons is leaving NC soon to move to Denver and we want to see him before he moves to Colorado, and when it takes 2 plane tickets to go visit him instead of a day's drive.  We spent most of the day on the Bahama Bank. We had no wind so could not sail but the seas were only about 1 to 2 feet so not too rough. About 9:30pm we passed Great Isaac Light and Hens and Chickens, left the bank and went off into the really deep blue sea. It got a little rolly and pitching at times.  It was partly overcast and only a half moon so it was pretty dark compared to going over.   

Valentines Day may be happy for people but deadly for sea life.  We saw numerous plastic and mylar balloons floating on the surface. At least after 4 days nothing had eaten the ones we saw but could not help but think how many had probably been eaten and did or will do harm to sea creatures. Lee saw a pod of 6 or 8 dolphins jumping around the boat and they rode our bow wake for a bit.  

Day 64    Sunday.   2/19/17.     North Palm Beach, FL  at anchor

At 1am Sunday we were crossing the Atlantic heading toward Florida.  We had more wind this part of our trip but the angle was dead on out bow.  We saw many boat lights, most large boats like container ships or cruise ships. We also saw (which we always do) boats whose light patterns are not on the charts. Always wonder what they are but no way to know in the dark. A few smaller  boats like ours were out and properly lit for identification. 

We both stayed up all night, Lee took a couple of 15 min naps but I could not sleep at all.  We came in sight of land shortly after dawn and into the inlet to North Palm Beach around 10am.  As soon as we got in we the grabbed the first nearby anchorage, dropped our hook and went below for a nap.  We both slept 2 or 3 hours and rested the remainder of the day.  

We used WindyTV.com (web site) and Grib files for weather prediction on off shore passages. Both sites were fairly accurate. If you have not looked at WindyTV you should.  It is something special. 

Day 65.   Monday.    2/20/17.      S. Of Ft  Pierce at  Anchor

We left North Palm Beach anchorage early and headed north on the ICW.  We did 7 bridges today. 

We anchored just south of Ft Pierce and we had not even finished anchoring before a parade of boats went past us heading south on the waterway.  It was small 12' sail boat all pretty identical with main sail and colorful little spinnaker out on the bow. There were 50 or 60 of them.  It looked like mostly youth.  Must be kids sailing clubs or lessons around and this was like their recital, like piano students have.  Their own little regatta . I tried to get some pictures, the line of boats stretched as far as you could see. 

We were hanging out in the cockpit reading and I asked Lee if he was cold.  We had front and one side canvas panel open.  I was a little chilly.  He looked up and said, "No my side panel is closed. You are getting the wind from the front blowing back and out your side.  I can see the breeze blowing your hair. See my hair is not blowing" then he gestured to his hair.   I died laughing. I clipped his hair completely off yesterday. He does not have 1/8" on hair. I would have had to use a razor to get it any shorter. ( and then there is that thinning issue too)  He was so sincere, then when I started laughing he realized how silly he sounded.   

Day 62. Feb 17, 2017. Friday

Anchored off Chub Cay.  The Berry Islands.     Bahamas.  2/17/17

Today we motored over to Chub Cay.  The island is closed.  A few people are here I think to repair the damage from hurricane Matthew.  It destroyed the marina but the airport must be operating because we saw 2 small planes land on the island.  It has a BaTelCo tower so our cell phone strength is over the top.  We had 1/2 ft seas and 3kts winds coming to Chub.  Wish our trip home will be that benign. 

Tomorrow we hope to sail to Bimini. We sailed past it coming to the Bahamas. It was the middle of the night so all we saw were some lights. I wrote a blog last night but did not get it in my email today. Wondering if others did get it. Not much to say about today. Out of the 62 days we have been gone we only had hard rain 1 day, and sprinkles off & on a couple of days.  We could not have asked for better  weather.  Sunny almost every day, once in FL warm enough not to need a jacket or sweat shirt. 

Day 61. Feb 16, 2017 Thur

Anchored off Frasiers Hog Cay.     The Berry Islands.   Bahamas

Last night was exciting.  About 3 am a squall went through here.  We had pouring rain, lightning and thunder and very high winds.  We went flying 180 degrees. We thought at first our anchor did not hold and that it did not reset. We looked at the other 3 boats anchor lights and none of us seemed too close thankfully. Lee tracked our boats location on the tablet with Garmin blue chart soft wear.  As the hours wore on it became clear we were making an arc pattern but we had switched sides of the arc instantly.  The anchor either did hold or reset quickly.  The second set of squiggles slowly worked its way back to where the squiggles earlier in the evening had been making almost half a circle around our anchor.  We tried using Drag Queen (anchor  alarm program put out by Active Captain) but it did not alarm until it thought we were 350ft off from where we started.  Not impressed with Drag Queen.  Neither of us slept much til day light. This area is tough to set an anchor in because of the rocks, coral, and grass.  The wind blew all day which was predicted and we picked this spot expecting protection. In spite of the wind we did not have big bad waves. 

We are still able to get BTC signal and use Lee's phone as a hot spot.  This may be our last blog for a while.  

Day 60. Feb 15, 2017 Wednesday

Anchored at Frasiers Hog Cay,  The Berry Islands, Bahama.  2/15/17

The wind blew last night and made for a bouncy boat.  When we got up it was obvious that we had moved too far.  Our anchor did not hold well.  We were not in trouble because of it but we did motor to a better location and reset the anchor.  It seems to have held today.  We hope we are in the same place in the morning.  We have an anchor alarm set.  Tonight and tomorrow should be a pretty windy time.  Friday and Saturday look calm so we will probably leave here on Friday and head to West Bay on New Providence Cay.  

The freezer and bilge pump both are behaving today.  This location does not seem too infested with things that bite.  The Bahamas Tele Co tower that is in sight of us and Lee's SIM card is giving us a hot spot so we can send and receive email and internet. We are currently sharing the anchorage with 3 other boats.

Day 59. Feb 14, 2017. Tuesday

Anchored off Frasiers Hog Cay.   The Berry Islands.   Bahamas.   2/14/17

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY 

We got up this morning and tried to listen to weather guru Chris Parker.  We have had so much static on our single side band radio that we have been unable to hear him. Today we did a little better.  Lee turned off the modem and I unplugged and replugged the speaker and we could hear some of what he was saying.  Since we will often be where we can not get weather data on the internet being able to get the weather info for our location on single side band is important.  

We traveled about 28 nm today.  We had the sails up a lot of the time but the wind was square on our bow the whole time so it was probably pointless.  We had to keep the motor going the whole time.  We arrived here at noon.  We picked this place because it looked like it would give us protection from the high wind W & S that are predicted for Wed and Thurs.  As the afternoon passed 2 other sail boats came in this same anchorage and anchored.  There was always a boat of some sort in sight of us today, busy place.  

I turned the freezer on this morning and it has worked fine all day.  The temp now is down into the high 20s but was 47 this morning.  Seemed like everything stayed frozen over night even though we had the freezer turned off.  The bilge pump cut off when on automatic like it is supposed to today too.  This tempermental boat, was in a good mood today.  

We are in sight of Chub Cay which has a Bahama Telecommunication Co. tower so Lee can use his phone with the BTC SIM card as a hot spot.  That lets us send and receive email and get internet.  He only bought 4 gigabytes so do not know how fast we will run out but guess we will find out.  Should be able to get a blog out Wed and Thurs night as long as we stay here. 

DAY 58 Feb 13, 2017. Monday

At anchor at Soldiers Cay.  The Berry Islands, Bahamas.  2/13/17

Today we left the marina about 9am.  We were barely out of the harbor when we saw a sailboat coming toward us that we recognized.  It was Windbird.  Judy and Mark Handley owned this boat and are the people who we buddy boated to the Bahamas with 2 yrs ago.  The boat has been bought by another couple and this is their first cruise in her.  I got a few snap shots of Windbird to sent to Judy. 

Lee settled up our bill at the marina and we stopped at the fuel dock before we left the harbor.  Our fuel gauge said we had 7/8th of a tank.  Which would mean we needed about 8 gal. Of diesel.  At 

$4.25 a gallon  that would be $34.  I had given Lee $60 and he came back for more.  I said, that is too much.  After we got out of the harbor I asked what the fuel cost and he said, $127 I think.  I said that can't be right.  When we stopped this afternoon he figured the engine hrs at 8/10th of a gallon an hour.  We should have used around half a tank.  Our gauge is nuts.  We will have to track our engine hrs and not depend on the gauge or we will run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere. I hated to think they had cheated us because we have found the Bahamians to be very honest.

Winds were all over the place today.  3 to 20 kts, from almost on our bow to almost on our stern.  We put the sail out when we were headed in a favorable direction to catch good wind. 

The bilge pump is not cutting off on auto all the time.  Sometimes it does and other times it does not so you always have to be checking it.  The freezer light started blinking red again which meant it was unhappy. We shut it off for a while and when we turned it back on it did not blink red, but is up to 36 degrees from 23.  We have had trouble off and on with both of these issues.  When we get home we will have to try to fix what ever is behind it.  

No see 'ems at the marina yesterday and last night were vicious.  I am eaten up.  They even bit Lee and insects never bite him. 

Our anchorage is an uninhabited island called Soldiers Cay.  It has a beautiful beach and clear turquoise water.  We got here about 2pm.  We have a little motion from swell but nothing too bad as long as the wind stays down.  

 

Day 57. Feb 12, 2017. Sunday

Great Harbour Marina.   The Berries  Bahamas.     2/12/17

There was a mass exit today of boats.  About 1/2 the boats left. Sure was quiet, like a ghost town.   We only have 2 days to travel before we expect to sit out a couple of days of bad stuff and figured we might as well stay here and have access to water and electricity. 
It was super calm, the water looked like a mirror. Not a bit of breeze. We used the AC most of the day.  
We filled our jerry jugs with water and that was about all we had to do.  We will get diesel as we leave in the morning.  Last night the no see 'ems found me. The ones here are about 1/2 the size of the ones in FL and can get through even the smallest size screen. They hung around today too.  Maybe it was the lack of a breeze that brought them out.  We had not seen much in the way of annoying insects here. I hate being held hostage down below because of bugs. The screens for the canvas just do not fit tightly enough to keep any determined insect out so I go down in the hole.  I told someone living on a sail boat is like living on a jungle gym in a cave and when you can not go up top that is especially true. 
Late last night I knocked over a glass of coke.  We had our charts out right beside the glass.  The $75  Explorer chart of the Bahamas we found ruined at the start of the trip, that we replaced in Fort Lauderdale, got coked on.  I grabbed it up and tried to rinse it off with water but the little spiral holes let the coke and water disperse throughout the 70 plus pages.  We wiped of each page with a sponge and wiped it with a paper towel then put a piece of wax paper between the pages until we ran out. We used plastic wrap after we did not have waxed paper.  This morning most of the pages were dry and nothing had stuck together.  We got lucky, or I did. I might have been swimming with the fish if I had ruined the book.  New rule--- No food or drink on the table when charts are on the table.  
We do not expect to have internet access for several days so if you do not see a log that is why. 

Day 56. Feb 11, 2017. Saturday

Great Harbour Cay Marina,   Bahama.     2/11/16

Today was a do nothing kind of day.  Lee got up and went to a conch sell horn making class.  Except they ran short on conch shells so he just watched.  We have 2 on board and one works quite well so we really did not need another one.  I gathered the laundry and headed to the washer and dryer.  I figured I had 4 loads and there are 2 washers and 2 dryers so needed to get there early.  It costs $10  to wash and dry a load of clothes.  I know the fresh water is desalinated sea water which is not cheap and the dryers are usually run on propane gas, but $40 for laundry is a bit much.  While Lee was watching the horn making he met a couple who have their boat at the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club.  They are power boaters.  She happened to come with a load of clothes just as I was putting in load 3 so I met her too.  Seemed very nice. Forget her name but the boat is Pirates Pleasure.
By the time I finished the laundry my knee was killing me so I returned to the boat and tried to take a nap.  Did not sleep but did rest my leg and took some aspirins.  Lee washed dishes.  That is the first time he has ever washed dishes on the boat.  I talked him through the  complicated parts, LOL.   He helped me wrestle the clean sheets on the bed. I HATE boat beds.  You do not have access to but one side and that is usually an end, not a long side.  We rearranged some space to stash winter clothes we are assuming we will not need again.
Once again we worked on our next leg of our trip,  We plan to leave here and travel to another Berry Island and anchor out Monday night. Then continue on Tues to one of the most southern of the Berries where we will stay at anchor for Thur and Friday waiting out high winds and seas.  After that passes we will be off to West Bay at the opposite end of New Providence Cay from Nassau.  We are not sure what after that.
Tonight we had an invasion of No See Ums.  They are smaller than the FL ones.  Hope they do not decide to feast on me while I try to sleep tonight.

Day 55. Feb 10, 2017. Friday

At Great Harbour Cay Marina in the Berries Bahamas             Friday     2/10/17

After I did last nights log I twisted my bad knee trying to get on the boat at low tide (no floating deck). I can not bend it more than about 100 degrees with out the pain being impossible.  It is swollen  and there is no ice on the boat.  I could not manage on a boat tossing and turning in the shape I am in so we may be here longer than we planned. A sail boat leans and bobs and footing takes 2 good legs. Lee brought me pineapple turnover in bed this morning. Being docked near the little pastry shop has its advantages. 

We rented a rattle trap golf cart to explore the island. I could not get in and out of the dinghy or ride one of the free marina bikes. It was so loud you could hardly talk and so rough it was like riding a buck board.  We saw what of town there was, a couple of tiny stores that did not have as much as your typical gas station convenience store at home. A liquor store, couple of churches, police station and the school. It is typical of the other islands we have seen in that most of  the buildings are in disrepair and half are abandoned.  The only nicely kept homes were on the road to the airport and I doubt they belong to locals. Everyone is very helpful and friendly also like the other islands we have visited.  

We drove out to the huge crescent beach on the eastern side of the island.  There were a few other people there too.  It was whitest sand you ever saw and that bright topaz blue water.  One of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, even prettier than Hawaii. When we left and started back to the marina we saw some of the people who had biked to the beach from the marina were stopped in the road. A woman was lying in the road and her friends had gathered around her.  She had a bike wreck.  We loaded her on our golf cart and her bike too and returned her to the marina where they had their boat docked.  Do not think she broke  anything but will be sore and bruised for a while. 

Tonight the marina had a Bahama dinner and music.  Lee ate the dinner and the music was canned not live. It was cool, actually felt good to have on jeans and a jacket.  Yesterday this time we had the AC on in the boat, tonight we have everything closed up but no heat on.  

Day 53 & 54. Feb. 8 & 9, 2017. Wednesday & Thursday

Day 53 & 54    Anchored at Cape Florida  to Great Harbour Cay, Bahamas

We woke up about 3:30am and left our anchorage at a little after 4am.  We were not familiar with the channel and oddly 2 red marks that were supposed to be lit were not.  We could see the green lights so depended on them.  It was a little tense getting out.  About 1 1/2 hours out we hit the Gulf Stream. We read how to figure your course and thought we knew what to do but still it was our first time doing it without another boat to follow.  The first part of the Gulf Stream sail was something akin to riding over a washboard up hill.  Not fun at all.  After we changed positions enough to not be fighting the current so much it was much better.  It took us about 8 hrs to get through the Gulf Stream part of the trip.  We got a lot bigger push than we expected. Winds were 3 to 15kts and at times we made over 9kts headway.  By late morning we turned the motor off and just sailed the rest of the day.  It was faster than using the motor too.  We could see 4 and 5 sailboats most of the time.  Going to the Bahamas too no doubt.
About 2:30 in the afternoon Wed we entered the Bahamas Bank.  This took us from 1700ft to 20 to 30 ft of depth.  The deep ocean looked dark blue sapphire in color, when we entered the Bank the water almost instantly turned bright turquoise topaz blue.  It was so clear and the sand bottom so white it reflected the sunlight off the bottom back up through the water so it looked lit from below like you see in pools sometimes.  I had gone below deck for a few minutes and it was dark sapphire and when I came up we were on the bank and the water had gone to bright topaz blue. I had forgotten how striking it was from 2 winters ago when we cruised the Bahamas for a month.
We made such good speed that we were going to arrive at the Great Harbour Marina in the wee hours of the morning.  We decided about 3am to drop our anchor in 30ft of water and sleep til dawn. We got up at 6am and came the rest of the way in to the marina.  We arrived about 9:30am.  Customs was right there on the dock when we tied up and our paperwork was all done in no time.  It was much less of a hassle than two yrs ago.
The night sailing Wed night was not bad.  It was warm enough to cause condensation on the outside of our front window so we rolled it up.  Fortunately it was warm enough that it was comfortable to have it open. We needed to see.  Would not want to run over some sailboater taking a nap.  Both of us took a turn sleeping while the other one kept watch. The moon was almost full and reflected almost like the boat had headlights.  It was more pleasant than the first 5 hours of the trip for sure. Our first night sailing all night several years ago was not so pleasant.  (Pitch dark and cold)
Lee got a Bahama Telephone Co sims card for his phone so his USA cell number won't work until we return to the states. If anyone needs to phone us you will need to use my cell number. We think this will let us get on the internet easier and be cheaper in the long run than buying international minutes from Verizon like we did before.


Lee's version

We waited for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream.  Wednesday and Thursday looked like what we were looking for so we went.  Our plan was to cross to North Rock just North of Bimini and then to Great Harbor Cay in the Bahamas.  It is one of what is called the Berry Islands.  

Not being confident in our (my) calculations on the impact of the Gulf Stream which runs 2-2.5 knots to the North, we decided to allow as much time as possible and be sure to get on the Bahama Bank before sunset.  As a consequence we decided to leave our anchorage at Cape Florida (aka Outside No Name Harbor at 4 am. ) 

We got out in the ocean and held South of our rhumb line to allow for the Gulf Stream effect.  We  held a course of 110 degrees as calculated by the instructions on The Cruising Guide to the Bahamas.  I don't know what would have happened if we had held that course but it became obvious that we were bucking the current, so we turned North some to take advantage of the Stream.  We swung North and crossed our rhumb line then held East and NE to North Rock.  I was unable to make North Rock due to the direction of the waves and the continued effect of the stream but we went onto the Bahama Bank just South of Mossell Bank about a mile and a half South of where I intended.  I’ll take that. 

As we crossed onto the Bank the color of the water changed from deep dark blue to bright, vivid turquoise blue.  Lynda says it was the color of blue topaz.  It was beautiful.  We arrived there at 2:51 on Wednesday.  Our concern about arriving while in daylight was overblown.  We calculated that part of trip would take 10 hours and that's what it took.  Hooray for piloting skills.

We had been unable to sail due to the wind being exactly on our nose so we had motored the first half of the Gulf Stream.  Once we got to the second half of the GS & the Bank we had favorable wind direction and speed of 9 knots.  We put up the sails and turned off the motor.  Glorious silence.  We sailed until dark when one of the crew didn’t want to deal with  the sails in the dark so we resumed motoring. 

We had calculated that at the whole trip would take 30 hours.  It became obvious that we were going to get the Great Harbor Cay in about 24.  The was going to put us at the marina at about 4 am and that wouldn't work.  We decided to pull off the beaten track by a mile or so and drop the anchor for a few hours much needed sleep. We anchored in 30 feet of water.  Slept like a log until the swell started jerking at the anchor rode.  When we stopped it was calm, so being the lazy creature Lynda accuses me of being, I decided we didn't  need the snubber.  I awoke about 7 with the anchor rode making a terrible noise.  We decided it was near  time to go on to the marina so we pulled up all 150 feet of rode and headed to the marina.  

The marina was tricky to get into.  I had read all at the descriptions and looked at all the charts and aerial photos.  As I approached the entrance I was looking to the right for the entrance when it became obvious that I needed to turn 90 degrees to the left.  That took us through a very narrow cut in the rock and into Bullock Harbor.  I almost missed it completely.  We meander through the channel and made it into our assigned slip 46.  Marinas tell you that you have slip 46 like you would obviously know just where that is.  

Anyway we got into the slip with considerable effort and got tied up.  We were met by the dock hand and customs officer.  Customs check in was very easy and comfortable.  One thing.  Concerning firearms.  I was under the impression that a lock box was required.  I was told that I could do whatever with the arms and ammo on the boat but, not to take it off at the boat.  If you do, BIG trouble.  Anyway, here we are and ready to explore the Berry Islands.  Bad weather the next couple of days and then off we go.  

Day 52. Feb 7, 2017. Tuesday

Friends and Family

We plan to leave in the morning for Great Harbor Cay in the Bahamas.  If you don’t see us on Facebook or Words with Friends you will know why.  Internet access will be severely limited and sporadic.  We will try to get out emails occasionally .  To help us out, please do not email pictures until we get back in the USA. If answering an email please delete the original post to reduce data usage.  Lynda will try to keep our log updated when she can get internet access.  Lee    VoyagesOfSeaTurtle.blogspot.com


Day 52.  Tuesday.  2/7/17.      Anchored outside  No Name Harbor, FL.  
Today we checked everything we could think of, from course plotting to filters to weather reports.  We think we are ready to go.  The bad weather that was going to arrive Friday has creeped up to Thurs evening but we expect to be tucked away in a safe spot in Great Harbor Cay by then.  Not sure what time we will get there Thurs but expect it to be by early afternoon.  We will leave a couple of hours before dawn Wed. morning and go just north of Bimini (about 40 miles) then over to Great Harbor Cay (about another 75 miles).  It will take us 30 hours which means sailing through the night.  It should be a full moon and if the sea state is friendly it should be a pleasant night sail.  We have night sailed before but always with another boat along too. We are not buddying up with any other boats this time so hope all goes well.  We should have gotten an EPIRB, but did not think of it until today.  For you non sailors it is an emergency beacon signal that makes you easy to locate if you are in trouble.  Do not know when I can post blogs again so don't think we sank just because you do not hear anything for a few days.  

Day 51. Feb 6, 2017. Monday

Anchored outside No Name Harbor,   just S. of Miami

Day 51. Monday
We left Barnes Sound about 8 this morning.  Last night was calm and bugless. We traveled until 3:30 when we reached our jumping off place to go to the Bahamas.  We were able to sail most of the day. We had winds 8-15kts about 30degrees off our starboard side.  We made 5.9 a lot of the time which we thought was pretty good.  We will do research and double check everything tomorrow and if the sea conditions and winds still look good we will cross starting Wednesday morning.  
We will have about 30hours worth of sailing to do, so will sail Wed, Wed night and til mid day Thurs before we reach Great Harbor Cay.  We will stay at the marina there til we clear customs and maybe Fri and Sat if the conditions are as rough as the forecast now indicates. Then we will go to the other side of the island which has 2 beautiful beaches with super fine sand and anchor.  Dinghy in and enjoy the clear water and nice clean sand.  
We have read some reviews and logs of other cruisers who think it is definitely worth several days stay.  We shall see.  

Day 50. Feb 5, 2017. Sunday

Day 50    Anchored in Barnes Sound.   2/5/17

Last night it began, my battle with mosquitoes.  I am apparently on the gourmet  menu for the little varmints.  They never seem to be interested in Lee but celebrate when they find out I am around.  I lost the battle.  I got many bites and only killed one.  We thought we anchored far enough from land to be safe but were wrong.  We moved out farther and did not see any during the day but after dark I killed 2 after dinner.  We have everything closed and fine screens in the hatch we do have opened.  Can not figure how they get in.  We checked weather and still think Wed might be a day to head across the Gulf Stream and to the Exumas. It was a nice sunny day with mild breeze. We will see how the over night goes.  Bug bites are the bane of my existence.

Day 48 & Day 49. . February 3 & 4. Friday & Saturday

Day 48.  Friday. 2/3/17.     Upper Keys Sailing Club marina

Today we walked to the drug store, laundromat, and Family Dollar.  It was about 1/2 mile walk and we took a foldable dolly and a collapsable crate with a handle to haul things to and from.  We had 3 large loads of clothes which I did while Lee argued with the drug store about my Rx.  Our insurance has a mail order pharmacy for things you take routinely but while sailing we do not have an address for them to send any meds to.  We periodically find a drug store we can get to and have them communicate with our insurance and fill the Rx.  Sounds simple but seldom is.  Today was no different.  I had finished washing and drying the laundry and had most of it folded before Lee came back from the drugstore. We picked up some bottled water and soft drinks and other odds and ends at Family Dollar right next door to the laundromat and grabbed a bit of lunch at a deli. All these were in sight of each other. We packed up all our stuff and walked back to the marina.
A club member sitting on the porch of the bar invited us to come to TGIF in the evening.  They just said drinks and food.  We were not sure if you bought food at the bar or brought food like as in pot luck.  We went to the club bar around 7:30 and TGIF was in full swing.  It was pot luck but I had not prepped anything not knowing that.  We chatted with several members and drank and ate.  Everyone was extremely friendly.  They were all sail boaters, no power boaters.  We would stop there again if we are that way and they have space.  It is a small marina and it word gets out how welcoming everyone is it may not be have space next time, so going to keep it our secret. Oops, Lee posted a positive note on Active Captain, so much for that.


Day 49,    Saturday.  2/4/17.   Anchored in Barnes Sound,
 
We made a quick trip back to the shopping area where Lee loaded up at the liquor store and I went back to the drug store. We filled our water tank and pushed our way out from between the two 13' apart posts. Then started our motor and eased out of the slip.   We traveled north through Blackwater Sound and into Barnes Sound.  It was early afternoon and the area was large and deep enough to get in some sailing.  We sailed just for the fun of it in Barnes Sound for about 3 hours with 7 to 15 kts of wind.  Sweet sound of silence.  We went to the Northern part of the sound and dropped anchor about 4:30.  It was low 70s mostly sunny so a fun afternoon.
 Lee tried again for the 4th or 5th time to see if he could get my Apple I phone to down load ebooks from BookBub.  It would load them to an I pad he uses but not my phone.  Previous attempts to fix the issue have gone nowhere.  Today we got someone with some sense (a senior advisor) and it is finally working like it should.  Booked offers free, 1,2, &3 dollar ebooks... Everyday they send you 8 or so offerings from the genre you select.  much handier and cheaper than buying paper books. Really have used it a lot on this trip.  We will hang out here until we see a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream and do some day sailing to kill time and hone our skills.

Day 47. Feb 2, 2017. Thursday

Upper Keys Sailing Club.   Key Largo, FL

We pulled up anchor in 6 ft of clear water and motored into Upper Keys Sailing Club marina.  There are no finger docks, just 2 posts and the slips are very narrow.  We have a 12 1/2ft beam and it is about 13ft.  We have two smashed fenders between the boat and the posts.  Getting off the boat is a bit of an acrobatic task.  You climb out the bow sprit and climb over the anchor and hope you are close enough to step on the dock without falling in.  It is private clu but allows transients when space is available.  
It is a walk of a few blocks to Wendys, and the Holiday RV supply store.  So we ate lunch and Lee went to get the cooking propane tank topped off.  Tomorrow we will walk in the other direction to Walgreens to get a Rx for me and to a laundromat to do our clothes.   Dread toting the clothes a mile to the laundromat and back. We only plan to spend 2 nights here.  It is a flat $50 instead of by the foot fee.  We are one of the bigger boats here.  
While we were waiting for the sun to set and sitting on the deck I heard a sound that sounded 1/2 way between a bark and a cough.  I thought there was an animal on the sail boat beside us. ( 6 to 10 ft away) It was a dolphin swimming between us and the other boat blowing water each time he came up.  He did not seem afraid of us at all. Later 3 manatees came to check us out.  One had a big chunk out of its tail.  They were in 5 ft of water both beside the boat and directly under our swim platform.  They never seem shy around people.  These were particularly large ones. They would only stick their nose up to breath but with the water being so shallow and clear we had a long time to observe them. 

Day 46. Feb 1, 2017. Wed.

Anchored  in Buttonwood Big Boat anchorage.     Wed. 

Today we went to Plantation Yacht Harbor to get diesel, water, get rid of trash and prep to move on north.  After taking care of business Lee tried to back out of the fuel dock.  It required a 90 degree turn to get headed out.  It also was not a floating dock but had heavy posts higher than our solar cells which are mounted on the back just under the boom.  Unfortunately despite 2 people on the dock supposedly helping, Lee ran into one of the posts.  He was motoring backward and the back of the port side solar cell caught squarely on a post.  Before he realized it he had bent the frame holding the 3 solar cells forward so far they tore the canvas and almost collapsed the canvas.  The frame is 2" aluminum tubing and is welded to the tubing on the back of the boat and mounted on the swim platform.  Everything got bent out of position as things pushed and shoved against each other.  The boat does not have "back up" genes.  We probably can not get it fixed properly till we get home but we hope in the next day or two to get it pushed more or less back in position.  Looks pretty bad right now.  Was not one of his smartest moves.  

We motored on about 2 hours to Buttonwood where there is a yachting club marina that we are going to stay in tomorrow and maybe next day.  We can walk to a place from there to get propane and a drug store where we can get some other necessities.  Hopefully someone at the marina will have some ideas about how or who could help us get the frame and solar cells bent back where they belong.  

Some days you just wish you had stayed in bed! This is one of them.