June 13-18 Stuart to Titusville

We did leave Loggerhead until around noon having only 22 miles to travel today.  It was just another day on the ICW.   Uneventful.  Or maybe we’re so experienced now that its all routine?  Who knows.

That's Ft. Pierce in the background

We didn’t go into Faber Cove but anchored outside of it across from Ft. Pierce municipal marina.  We found an ideal spot opposite marker G9 and the anchor held perfectly.

Since were secure so early in the afternoon we decided to take the dinghy down and do the starter test I was going to take care of the previous day.

So down she came, and in I went only to be confronted with nothing.  Nothing as in no starter sounds.  Dead silence except for a short and expressive oath uttered by me!

A meter on the showed 12.7 volts.  Meter on the solenoid showed 0 volts.  I really couldn’t think of anything to try at that point.   You just know how this is going to turn out in the end …

So we just hauled it right back up and we stayed on the boat while I fumed awhile over this stupid starter problem.

The dredge in the main channel

We left the anchorage in the morning for another day on the ICW.  The only excitement came south of Melbourne where they were dredging.  To avoid the dredge I had to momentarily leave the channel.  I just left it for too long and we almost went aground.  Twice.

We did notice lots of people frolicking on the spoil islands that border most of the ICW in this part of the state.  Heck with water in the mid 80’s why not!

And we had our usual accompaniment of dolphins despite Mary's singing.

Dolphins seem to enjoy her rendition of  "My only Sunshine"

We ran for 9.1 hours to an anchorage called Georgina, just south of Cocoa.  Great spot right off the ICW.  

Nice quiet anchorage 

We anchored in front of the typical array of big homes.  And, unexpectedly, a large number of jelly fish.  Big wide ones, the size of large dinner plates.  Unusual to see that.  No skinny dippin for us tonight. 

There were dozens of these floating around us

 Its here the generator remote start switch died.  I had to go below and manually start it with a start switch inside the sound shield.  Hard to describe how suffocatingly  hot it is down there after a long run like this.  But anyway,  I’m pretty sure I know what the problem is and can fix it, but we’ll be in Titusville tomorrow and its easier done at a dock when the engine room isn’t blistering hot.

I called ahead to a mechanic in Titusville who agreed to look at the outboard tomorrow afternoon when we pulled into the dock.

We did make water after I got the gen set running so at least we have plenty of water now.

The aft AC unit isn’t cooling at all any longer and even with the other two running full tilt with four fans, the stateroom was a balmy 86 degrees. 

For me, it will be a sleepless night.  I can really sleep when the temps hit over 80.   Maybe I should be an arctic cruiser and not ply these tropical waters?  But we’ve actually never been in Florida much past late April so this is out first taste of a Florida summer. 

Entering Titusville Marina

We left the anchorage at 8 and pulled into Titusville marina around noon.  They accommodated our request for a side tie so we could get the dinghy down in anticipation of a repairs.

T-head of A dock in Titusville

I called Phil from the repair place and he came over around 1:00pm.  We went up and he checked this and that for several seconds before clamoring down, getting his $60 from me and leaving.  He did give me a phone number of a local marine AC guy though so at least I got something out of the deal.

In 30 seconds he noticed what I completely overlooked.  And its something I always checked.  Except the day we tried the dinghy.  It seems my brain is now beginning its journey down the daisy lined path of senility.

I had the shift lever in gear which tripped the neutral safety switch hence cutting power to the solenoid which controls the starter.  Phil, before even getting his meter out, pushed the shifter into neutral and turned the key energizing the starter.

It was a classic 30 second repair job.  I felt like an iconic idiot.  He found my distress humorous and noted he gets calls like this once week.  Sometimes even from old salty fisherman who are probably sliding down the same daisy lined path I’m on.

Still feel like an idiot though.

Next I talked with Jim, the AC guy who’s name I received from Phil.  He arrived a few hours later and we talked and tinkered.  And then  arrived at the sad diagnosis of a dead compressor.  And just to make it really interesting when we measured, it turns out the unit will only be extractable through a bulkhead in the small closet where the washer and dryer are located.  In simple terms it means I’ll have to disassemble the laundry closet and then squeeze a stacked washer/dryer out into the stateroom before removing a wall and then manhandle an air conditioner unit out. 

The dead AC unit

I can send the whole unit to Mermaid in Ft. Meyers for a rebuild or buy a new AC unit.  With installation that’s about $4000.  So we’ll be cooling off with only the two forward AC units which cools off the aft stateroom with some degree of success, but only after I set up my intricate series of cascading fans to funnel the cold air from the front to the back where we sleep.

Right now its 86 and humid outside.  Inside the boat it’s a pleasant 75 and not overly humid.  Good sleeping tonight which is a what we both need since last night we didn’t sleep much at all with the heavy air hovering around 85 degrees.

Lousy picture but that Mary rubbing a Manatee's belly

We've had this Manatee loitering around the marina sine we arrived and Mary finally got her chance to break the law by petting it.  Not wanting her to rot in jail alone I sprinkled some fresh water for it too.  So it got its belly rubbed and was able to gulp down fresh water.  If we go to jail it better come visit us. 

Manatee visitor

Rolling over for a belly rub

Corroded exhaust hose clamps

So, tomorrow I tackle the generator and fix a few broken clamps on the exhaust ducting of the port engine.  Have to ride to Publix too for something so I can get some cash having dispensed all I had to Jim and Phil, the repair guys.

We did take the dinghy down and successfully started it reminding me what an idiot I was, and then went for a ride out in the river but it was getting rough an unlike Cocoa, there isn’t much here on the river in the form of bars or places to tie up.  So we came back after 30 minutes of bouncing around.

The next morning I walked to Enterprise to pick up the car.  A very competent young man, Simon, took care of setting me up and even gave me a free upgrade to an Chrysler M200.  It comes equipped with an 8 (or is it 9) speed transmission and a dial which replaces the shift lever.  It took me several seconds trying to shift into reverse and not turn the radio up.  I don’t find rotary dial knobs a good replacement for a normal old shift lever.  Oh well.  Progress for some, annoyance for other.

Since we were having some difficulties with our port side VHF radio I had taken it  the day before and  noticed the antenna wire was pretty beat up and the antenna itself was old.  So I just went t West Marine in Cocoa and bought a new one for $77.  

Before getting to the bat I stopped at Publix for some Jack shopping.  Jack our grandson is going to be with us for a few weeks as we make our way up to Brunswick, GA.  He’s 10 and all that implies as far as groceries.  The M200 has a large, commodious trunk.  We stocked up!

I returned early enough for us to haul all the stuff back to the now mostly clean boat before heading to Orlando Airport to meet Jack and his dad, David.  While we were waiting for them we purchased Space Center Tickets for tomorrows first Jack adventure.

Making sure David and Jack could find us, I sat next to a Disney icon

They arrived shortly after and we all went to the Hyatt in the Orlando airport for lunch/dinner.
After eating we had to peruse the various gift shops.  Well, they did being shop-o-holics.  I sat in a comfy seat waiting.

2 of 3 shoppers.

We soon left David who had to catch a flight back to Milwaukee and drove back to the boat where Mary and Jack watched Apollo 13 in preparation for tomorrows all day Space Center adventure.

We all went to bed early (thank god!).  Jack rises early, like 6:30AM.  We, subscribing to a more relaxed morning routine, don’t.  More like 9ish for us.  Except tomorrow when we have to be up early enough to drive to the Space Center and be entering the grounds by 10AM.

Should be an exciting day!

June 3-12, 2015 Lake Worth and Stuart

We left Lake Worth this morning after a lot of rain last night.  The boat is pretty much salt-less.  Gotta love these free boat washes.

Nothing exciting on the journey except we still marvel at how many lavish homes line the waterway.  

I wanted to fuel up before pulling into Loggerhead marina but was debating to get it before we arrived or wait and fuel up at Ft. Pierce where the price was $3/gal.  

But saw a fuel price in Manatee Pocket of  only $3.04/gallon.   

I couldn’t resist.  And of course I couldn't see the small print which, after I started filling the tanks, triggered an audible curse.  “Not including tax”.

We’ve only used 194 gallons of fuel from Nassau until we fueled here in Stuart (actually Port Salerno) at Sailfish Marina.  Gives us about 2 miles per gallon on average although coming across the Banks yesterday we were running pretty hard and I’m sure we weren’t getting that mileage.

Ugh …   So we ended up paying about about $20 more after figuring in the discounts for Boat/US and adding the Florida sales tax on fuel.

We left the dock rather messily banging our big ball fender against the dock several ties because the wind was so strong it was pushing us against the dock.  Normally I’d have backed away which is much more desirable than trying to get the bow off the dock first.  But here we were tied up only a few feet in front of a sport fish boat which was also fueling.  There was little room for us to back out. 

Following a Krogen 42

We left Manatee Pocket and ended up following a Kadey Krogen 42 through the Evans McCray bridge and then around the shortcut through the St. Lucie River.  But it was shallow and Mary says they went aground while we, drawing a few inches less than, puttered along without a problem.

The shortcut saves about a 1/2 mile off the normal channel route but also runs through much shallower water.

Well, almost no problems.  I usually run up our engines to near full throttle every ounce in a while to blow them out a bit.  This time there I noticed a definite vibration, so its either the port side prop or the shaft is misaligned.  Or the engine mounts are loose.  And this engine was also running a little warm at that speed so I’ll have to check the raw water pump and clean out the heat exchanger at some point..

Stuart and Loggerhead Marina on the right

We are stopping in Stuart to relax and recover from all the Bahamas fun.  We really like Loggerhead here and since we have spent many months around here it sort of has a homecoming feel to it.  Plus we know where most everything is located.

On H dock, our favorite dock at Loggerhead

Steve and Jim were waiting for us at the dock and we came in and tied up  even in the storing wind.  I just wish once someone would take a breast line and tie it off on a cleat so I could use the line to spring the boat around.  Much easier docking experience.

After kibitzing with them for awhile and learning all the local gossip (Wahoo’s the iconic bar/restaurant here has closed!) we went up  to the little marina eatery called Splash.  Or, if the sign is to be believed, the Boathouse.  We had hamburgers cooked by Sara the newest cook and general restaurant/bar person.  She's an engineering student and learned to cook while living with her Italian grandmother.  And its shows.  Very good food!   A good place made better.  And they are planning on still more improvements.

Later we did a few things on the boat and after I had all the hookups completed and the A/C units running.  Still trying to come up with a method  of venting the master stateroom head (bathroom).  Its probably 15 degrees hotter in there with only a tiny window.  Its becomes a heat sink for all the engine room heat which then stokes up the temps in the stateroom.  Nice in the colder months.  Not so nice now.

I took a much needed long walk across the Roosevelt Bridge into downtown Stuart. We've  been on the boat for so long with little chance for any exercise and I'm pretty stiff.   Stuart remains much the same except the Chicago school teacher’s hot dog stand we loved so much has disappeared.

Came back aboard and after a little TV and showers (we’re using dockside water so no water worries) we went to bed.

 

Tomorrow is breakfast at Cafe Roosevelt’s, ordering the starter for the dinghy outboard, Mary’s drugs, grocery shopping and pizza at a Taste of Brooklyn!  So much for relaxing!

Ever have one of those days when you wake up early to a beautiful morning counting on a nice, easy day?  Yeah.  They certainly are wonderful. 

But not for me this morning.

My bike, our car as it were,  seemed to have suffered more harm than I thought when we were taking seas over the bow.  The chain was really rusted.  Even the sprockets were looking pretty nasty.  But it’s our car.  So it had to be ok, right?

I oiled up everything with Kathy’s magic bicycle oil and loosened the chain links. Good… or so I thought.  I get on the bike and work the pedals a little and then take off riding.

Broken derailleur

There was no sound really, just a sudden release of pressure.  The bracket holding the rear derailleur just sheared right off.  And the loosen chain wasn’t really all that loose as I discovered after examining the whole derailleur system.  Some links were rusty.  Well, actually rust/welded together.

Marvelous!  No Bike.

Ok, but we have Mary’s.  It too resembled a flaky orange colored piece of weird art.  But the chain and derailleur’s were in less bad shape than mine.  I’m speculating that it didn’t suffer as badly because it as on the starboard side and we had been taking big seas off the port side of the bow.

But no matter.  I got it off the boat and oiled it up and loosened up all the individual links and slathered the sprockets in oil.   Worked the pedals and took it off for a little ride and everything worked!  Well, most everything  The large drive sprocket derailleur was stuck but the rear gears worked.

The only issue was the bike and me. It’s a small bike so when I ride it my knees get a bit to close to the handle bars as a I pedal.  But at least it’s a functional bike.

Ok, that being done I tackled the outboard starter issue.  Turns out, after speaking with the head guy at Outboards Only, Yamaha and Mercury had an unholy alliance of sorts back in the late 90’s and early 2000.  They both used the same parts!  And of course the starter I had on our outboard was as Mercury starter.

After several phone conversations and exchanges of info with Phil, the parts manager guy, he ordered me a new starter.  From Fondulac. WI. Sheez .. Haunted by WI again?  But, it most likely wont get here until Thursday!  So I guess we'll be staying a few extra days.

Ok, now time for breakfast.  I woke Mary up and after a bit we walked to Roosevelt’s, a favorite of ours, for breakfast.

We finished eating and I talked with Pro Cycles, the bike repair shop explaining my bike problem and they said bring it in.  Luckily they weren't to far away.

The two real broken parts

Mary stayed on the boat while I walked and coasted my bike the mile to the bike shop where I learned, sadly they didn’t have such a part in stock.

The owner though, gave me another place to try because they sold Giant bikes which is what we have.  So I called The Bike Shop  but they needed to see the broken part.  Great.  And it was only a few miles down the road a piece.  Well more like 4 miles, but an an easy route.  And it was very near to Stuart Plastics where I had some sea strainer covers made for me three years ago before we even left on this sea voyage.  SO I knew where I was riding.

But first I had to walk a ways in the opposite direction to CVS for Mary's prescription.  That actually went more smoothly then I thought possible.  Its usually a documentation hassle but not this time. Once I returned to the boat it was time to take care of the bike derailleur hanger.

I had retrieved the broken part which was lying on the dock when the derailleur bracket snapped in half.   And I also picked up another metal piece which I assumed was the segment that was originally attached to the derailleur.  I didn't bother checking to see if both parts sort of fit together since it was lying on the dock right under the broken derailleur.  I mean if you found a little metal piece that appeared to be similar to another piece hanging on a derailleur would you fit them together to see if they were really 2 pieces of the same part?

So I rode the almost 4 miles to the bike shop where the kind lady there waded through a pile of derailleur hangers but could not find a match.  She turned to talk to the bike shop guru who took three seconds to say that the other part I had wasn't from the derailleur hanger but something else.  The real"other" part I needed was still on the bike.

Ok.  Back on Mary's bike and another 4 miles to the first bike shop where the kindly owner did indeed find other jagged metal part hanging on the axle nut.   He took it off and gave it to me and then I took off back to the second bike shop where, after they fitted the two pieces together found they didn't have anything like it in stock, but could order it.

$24 for the part plus $10 express shipping so I would have it early the following week.  Sounded good to me since the outboard starter wouldn't be here until later next week anyway.

Back on the bike, I headed towards out boat but first stopped off at Verizon and altered our calling plan.  For only a few dollars more a month we now can use 10 Gigs of data which helps us immensely.  We rarely have a decent internet connection anchored out or even in marinas.

Then I rode over to Publix for some staples and finally back to the boat.

I hopped in the showered and Mary and I walked to the Taste of Brooklyn (Uncle Giuseppe's) Pizza Restaurant and had the usual great food and the usual great wine.  Nice relaxing end to a busy day.

Mary was having digestive issue so after talking with the doctor in Green Bay, made an appointment with a clinic here in Stuart for Tuesday at 8am.

Meanwhile I rode to the Publix a few more times and then took a walk into Stuart.  Feels oddly feels like home I’m so familiar with everything.

We ate at Roosevelt’s again for breakfast this morning and Mary felt worse after so maybe we wont be going there anytime soon again.

I skipped the Derby party the marina was having at Splash, their little bar/restaurant.  I had the autopilot all disconnected trying to locate its problem with our GPS.  After taking it all apart and running the diagnostics, I put it back together and had the same problem.  Guess that means I didn't fix it.

Met a nice couple from Colorado, Mark and Joanna on the sailboat Marguerite.  We may see them again since they are heading up the same way we are.

I decided to walk the 3.5 miles to the Enterprise car rental place to pick up the car.  It took awhile, but it wasn’t all that hard so I guess I haven’t aged too badly over these last several months lolly-gagging around in the Keys and Bahamas.

Took the car down to Hobe Sound in search of Campobello Chianti, a favorite wine we discovered at a Taste of Brooklyn restaurant here.  The liquor store there used to stock it, but no longer.  A 20 mile drive for nothing.

Went back and got Mary and we drove around discovering where the clinic was located so we wouldn't be looking for it in the morning.  Then it was of to do some shopping.   

I decided we'll need to buy either a stand up room air conditioner or a small dehumidifier.  Leaving the boat closed up for almost 2 months without some form of de-humidification is just asking for trouble.  Wal-Mart didn’t have the AC unit and only had dehumidifiers with no drain in the drip pan.  Oh well.

We made it back and after once again going to Taste of Brooklyn for dinner.  They didn't have any of our favorite wine though which was a disappointment, but the pizza was still good.

We arrived the next morning at the clinic where Mary filled out a ream of paperwork before being shepherded back into the examine rooms.  After some time she emerged and we had to go pick up a prescription.   

The prescription was went to CVS and to be filled.  It was the CVS where I had picked up her previous prescription a few days ago.  Wrong!

It was sent to a CVS very near the liquor store I had driven to the previous day in my quest for our hard to find, favorite wine.  Luckily I like to drive.

We  made an interim stop at home depot where I mulled over their AC units or dehumidifiers.  The AC units were almost $300 and weighed a ton.  The little 30 pint dehumidifier was less than half that.  Was still mulling that over as we shopped in Wal-Mart for groceries and other assorted junk.

We hauled all that back to the boat and then I went for a walk while Mary napped.  I had to have the car back the next day at 9AM so I decided to just go buy the dehumidifier at Home Depot and then stop at Wal-Mart where they had Rotella engine oil back at the original price from a few years ago! 

$12.74 / gallon.  When I change the oil on the main engines it takes 4 gallons each.  The generator takes 1.5 gallons.  So I need a lot of oil and since I’ll be changing oil again soon I stocked up!

Sorry Jack.  Your shower has become an oil store room of sorts unless I can find another place to store it!

Next morning I helped  Marguerite off the dock as they headed out to Faber Cove near Ft. Pierce.  We've been to Faber Cove a few times so I relayed what I knew about it.  

I returned the car and they dropped me off at Sunset Marina a bit down the road here.  I had some old clothes to drop off at the mall near there so just walked there and then back to the boat.

Mary wasn’t feeling well so I dug in and started cleaning stuff.  The outside was washed off by the parade of showers we’re having at the moment although yesterday I did wash and wax the stern.

Took care (cleaned) the guest cabin, fly bridge and sundeck.   Used my beloved green machine upholstery cleaner to do the sundeck couch.  Lots of salt build up but not as dirty as before. 

We did clean some windows too but the stuff Mary used isn’t real good because it leaves a residue. I ended up going over most of the fly bridge windows with a spray foam cleaner called Klear-to-Sea which is pretty good.

I gave it my last shot with the Auto Pilot/GPS interface and its still not working.  Might be time to get a techie in here to diagnosis the darn thing. 

Outboards Only called me around 2:30 and said the starter for out 40HP outboard was in!  Good old Phil came through.  All I had to do was pick it up.  So as the dark clouds built up I peddled Mary’s bike a few miles into Rio and picked up the starter.  I admit it was nice to only pay hundreds not thousands for boat parts for a change.  I installed it when I got back but couldn't take the dinghy down to try it out because of the weather.  

The old and the new.  Starters that is ...

So tomorrow we haul the dinghy down and take a little ride around to Sunset Marina and the bar there, Sailor Return for a celebratory cocktail.  I hope …

I started taking walks again into Stuart.  Always something interesting

Sunday farmers market and local music

Little guy was napping when I walked by.   

I've seen these colorful crabs a number of times walking along the river

On one of my usual evening walks into Stuart and had a fun conversation with an exuberant young hostess at an Italian place.  She was trying to convince me to stop in and eat.  Soon after I somehow was drawn into another conversation with an older couple who were in the middle of their 50th high school reunion party.   They were looking for directions to an Oyster Bar which of course I didn't know. They thought I was a local because,  "you looked like you live here".

Stuart is a wonderful place to stroll around.  There is a river walk adjacent to the smallish downtown area where all the bars and shops are located.  Its usually quite busy with bustling crowds strolling along the streets and rivers.

Heck, maybe we'll settle down here!

May 31-June 2 2015 Black Point Settlement to Lake Worth, FL

I was up really early again with the sun.  Not by choice either.  Since I was up anyway I checked the weather and found the latest update suggesting that we had Tuesday as the last decent day to cross the Gulf Stream.

Today is Sunday.  It’s 250 miles from where we are to Florida.  If we don’t make the June 2 crossing we will be here another week in a marina somewhere because the weather is going to turn nasty.  In fact there is, now, an almost 50% chance there will be a tropical storm forming and making its way up across the Bahamas and Florida.

So its 5:30 AM.  Mary is dead asleep.  Two sailboats near us are pulling anchor.  A quick computation says we can be in Nassau by 8 tonight if we leave right away.  That commits us to attempting a North West Channel crossing tomorrow which is 38 miles of open ocean, and then a 75 mile crossing of the Gulf Stream Tuesday.

What to do?  Easy.  Wake up Mary.

Leaving Black Point Settlement

We were on our way at 6:30 AM out into a calm Bank with only a slight swell and sunlight galore.  Wonderful cruising.

Just stowed the dinghy and didn't bother deflating it

I had to let Jeff know we wouldn’t be able to met up with them now that we’re trying to make this weather window.  So he doesn’t get his hat right away, and we don’t get our movies right away either.  But we’ll be seeing them this fall when we return here.

It was an endless day cruising at 7.5 MPH for 14 hours.

Nassau gets its oil by tankers like this one

We came up towards Nassau and followed the southern coast of the island, past a tanker ship and then using charts carefully, went into the anchorage area.  There were only a few other boats there so we picked a spot and, mindful of the reports of poor holding, laid out 100 feet of chain and the snuber.  I’m pretty sure we were hooked well.

Pulling into the anchorage

We didn’t run the generator or make water because we were leaving at 6AM the next morning and  running for 12 hours or more which will charge up the batteries and then some

We just enjoyed a drink and a sunset and then went below but not before watching another boat come

in well after dark and anchor near us.  Brave soul doing this at night, but there as lots of moon light.  His arrival did jog my memory about fixing the starboard running light.  Better do that tomorrow because I’m pretty sure we wont be arriving at the Bimini Northwest anchorage until nightfall.  It’s a 121 miles!

I was able to post a blog entry, taking advantage of the strong Nassau cell signal.  Earlier I had added 5 GB to our BTC phone because I had a ton of pictures to up load.  And I got most of them uploaded.  The rest I’ll do when we’re anchored at Bimini.

The stateroom was a sizzling 83 degrees but all I could do was run a fan since the A/C units wont run on the inverter.  Oh well!

A rare (for us) sunrise

Neither of slept very well so we were both up at 6.  I did an engine room check and made coffee.  While it was brewing we raised the anchor and made our way over the small, shallow bar at the western end of the anchorage then out to Northwest Channel.

Chart plotter displaying our position as we slowly travel west

The Northwest Channel is the ocean.  And deep, like 3000 feet and more.  Ocean swells have a much different motion than those on the bank.  They tend to have a longer period and are deeper so the motion of the boat is a slow rolling in most cases.  And this was one of those cases where we pretty much rolled our way towards the Bahama Bank about 43 miles to the west.  It was actually a pretty good day to be out here and except for the endless hours.

Once we entered the Bahama Banks the water depths went from several thousand feet to 15 feet in the span of a few minutes.  I wonder what that looks like.   A big cliff maybe?

And we had 6 hours to go 61 miles before nightfall.  Easy in a car.  Not so easy in boat going around 8 mph.  This was going to be an, anchor at night situation.

As we motored along in the calm seas of the bank the autopilot was steering flawlessly while I fixed the starboard running light made sure the two spot lights we have on the bow worked.   After that it was seemingly endless hours of being hot up on the fly bridge and marveling at how clear the water was.  And how shallow it appeared even though we were in near 20 feet. 

We passed over the Mackie Shoal, very close to where we anchored on our way from Bimini to the Berry Islands.

As the sun set we were still almost 20 miles from the anchorage.  Its just a place near Bimini and we can anchor really anywhere out here on the Banks.  But being near the island is a little safer since there is commercial traffic out here and they are not always diligent watch standers.    In this case tonight we'll be on a windward shore so there wont be any wind or swell protection form the island.

It was dark, but with an almost full moon as wound our way through the various shoals.  But we made it to the spot we wanted and I turned the boat around to face back into the disturbingly energized waves from the east.  Ironic that we are anchoring in a wide open spot, that’s facing east.  We were already bouncing pretty good before even setting the anchor.

We let out abut 20 feet of chain and it pulled up tight so I let out another 100’ feet and we attached the snubber.  We weren’t moving except up and down with the waves. 

By now it was 10PM and I still had to run the generator so we could cool down the boats interior and make water. 

That took until 11:30 so we didn’t settle in to bed until midnight.  And its another 6AM morning for us because the weather forecast describes tomorrow as a delightful crossing day but only before evening because that’s when the bad weather is predicted to arrive in Florida.

Luckily, we have coffee!

Good bye Bahamas.  Leaving Bimini for Lake Worth

We had the anchor up, and coffee made by 6:15.  We motored through the northern shoal by North Rock and out into the ocean and the Gulf Stream.

We were making for Lake Worth which is basically Palm Beach, about 85 miles away.  Luckily the Gulf Stream will push us that way, giving us a speed boost of about 3 miles per hour.  We’ll be flying. 

And we were. Almost 11mph for a few hours.

Half way to Lake Worth

I had the radar on and we were in company with quite a few other boats either coming or going to the islands.  The seas were almost flat calm.  Well for the ocean they were calm, just a gentle swell almost on our stern.  If it weren’t for the overcast skies this would be the perfect ocean cruising day.

We began picking up the coast line on radar (I had it set for 25 miles) and the Gulf Stream continued to push us along at 10.8 mph.  I wont admit this to Mary, but it is rather nice to be zipping along
almost 3 mph faster than we normally travel.

Mary tried calling the immigration people when we were in sight of the coast.  The procedure is to call and let them know we are back in the country but she was scolded because your not supposed to call before your anchored or at a marina.

Entering the harbor at Lake Worth 

We came into the Lake Worth inlet and tried to anchor in the south anchorage near the turning basin for the commercial harbor.  I read about some shallow spots where dredging had pushed large amounts of silt into the anchorage.  An sure enough we found them.  Went momentarily aground but it was soft silt so I was able to back off.

What a great way to reenter the country.  Aground in Palm Beach!

I was too tired to try and poke around to find a decent spot to toss the hook.  The whole area seemed iffy to me anyway.  Especially this one spot where a whirlpool was swirling around.  Weird to see that.

North Anchorage which we left for one further south

So we went south about  mile and dropped the anchor right in front of Rybovich Marina, a mega yacht marina.  It's almost the same spot where we anchored last year.

Mary called the immigration people and they dutifully noted our information and didn't ask any questions.  So I guess we have legally re-entered the country.

We're anchored right near Rybovich Super-Yacht Marina.

We are firmly secured to the bottom and just waiting for the rain to get here.  Tomorrow we leave for Stuart and a week at Loggerhead but we may have to spend one night at the Hampton Inn because the marina is still embroiled in this silly controversy regarding live-aboards.  It basically means we can be on the boat over-night for only four consecutive days.  We’re staying a week.  So, one night in a hotel.   I think we can manage!

May 25-30 Big Major to Black Point Settlement

Waking up these last few days is an adventure.  Dead sleep suddenly interrupted by this brilliant light.  It takes a few seconds to remember its not an interrogation.  Tropical sun light can be intensely bright!

Speaking of tropical sunshine, we are getting brown out here.  Very tan.  But we're still pale compared to some of the people we've met who stay down here all year long.

By the way, here's a link to a bountiful cruising guide to the Bahamas if further details beckon to you.

The only thing I did this morning was take some old and failing veggies I found in the fridge over to Pig Beach to feed the pigs.  Only big old mother pig was right on the beach came rumbling out in the water to greet me.  She is bigger than our small dinghy  I took this morning.

I was able to get out of the dinghy without her knocking me out and starting feeding here celery and sweet potatoes.  She seemed quite enamored of the sweet potatoes uttering this very non-pig like bellow.  She would open her mouth and tilt it up waiting for me to drop in the food and if I wasn’t fast enough she’d bellow and walk forward, a few times knocking me backwards.

So I tried to hurry the pace.  I was feeding her a smaller slice of sweet potato when she crunched down it and almost my finger.  Ouch!

Once I was out of food I started to walk back to the dinghy but she followed at a trot.  So I picked up the pace.  And so did she.  It was like a race even in the deeper water where she was swimming.

I reached it and pulled it into deeper water up to my chest but the determined pig was swimming right along side me knocking into the dinghy. 

As I said she was bigger than the whole dinghy and I was thinking she could swamp the thing.  So I clamored in as quickly as I could start started the engine which seemed to dampen her enthusiasm a bit. 

And luckily another boat was just coming in which diverted her attention away from me making my escape a bit easier.

Whew!   

When I got back we just sat out on the sundeck watching all the big yachts come and go.  One, Awatea, is a beautiful boat.  If we ever charter something like this, that will be the one!   Yeah, like that's ever going to happen.

We headed over to Pirate Beach in the small dinghy in hopes of finding a cocktail party.  It's rumored to be an almost every night occurrence.  We took the small dinghy simply to avoid me yanking on the starter rope a dozen times.

 I’m hoping to get a picture of us in this thing.  It would be comical especially if there were any swells at all.  Together we're nearing its weight limit and it rides pretty low in the water.   Others have commented that we appear to be just gliding on the water since the dinghy isn't easily spotted.

We got there and pulled the dinghy up and much to our surprise we saw Stay Cation there (Rush and Beth).  They along with David, Richard, Linda and Lorie were also there with all sorts of munchies and alcohol.  What a delightful time!  Richard and Laurie are on a large Hatters and have been living aboard for almost 15 years.  David and Linda are on a catamaran anchored on the other side of Big Majors next to Staniel Cay.

We had great fun with them and plan on returning tomorrow. 

We ended up leaving only after a few hours and had dinner, and pretty much went to bed as the winds began to escalate.  The forecast was correct this time.  20-25 mph winds with gusts to 35. 

But with the winds came cooler air and it was good sleeping!

It was a lazy day today. I’m still waiting to hear back from Rose Point engineering about this chart plotter problem.  And the winds are maintaining a good 25 mph from the east which gives the anchorage a nice chop. 

We read and I, being the antsy one, swam out to check the anchor again just to be able to move around.  The anchor remains unchanged,  the heavy swells are moving the boat gently up and down but the anchor isn’t visible any longer because its buried so deeply in the sand.  And only about 50 feet of the chain along the bottom is moving with the boat.  To say we are fixed on the bottom is putting it mildly.

We were planning on heading over to the beach again tonight but its so bouncy we’re sort of hedging.  We’d have to take the large dinghy which means I have to pull start it which isn’t easy in these swells.   But a good party is hard to pass up.

As it turns out Mary didn’t want to go so I did.   And in the small dinghy and getting soaked in the process.  Another wonderful time with Richard, Laurie, David  and Linda.  And our budding friends, Rush and Beth from Stay-Cation.

We had an additional visitor who’s name I’ve forgotten.  But they are building a house on Staniel Cay and  have a large boat tied up to their dock.  From his description its quite a  refurbishing project made all the more interesting because of the Bahamian practice of un-frantic work.  More like sashaying with a saw and hammer.  In other words not much gets done quickly.   

I headed back after a while and we ate dinner and then headed off to bed

Next morning I put a call into Coastal Explorer about this odd chart plotter problem.   Our main navigation suite is Coastal Explorer.

I Talked with Aaron who was able to remotely connect to our ship computer through the BTC cell phone data connection.  He didn’t find anything a miss so we set up a logging function to record data which I will send them after we arrive at Black Point Settlement south of here.

I guess I didn’t mention we were heading there this morning.  Its only about 10 miles and provides a change of scenery.  Tantalizingly close, lies Farmers Cay where I wanted to spend some time but we have to be back in Florida in 3 weeks so we'll leave that visit for our return trip next year.  We’ll head  back toward Florida after a few days here and find a rendezvous point to hook up with Jeff and Judy along the way.

After  I talked with Coastal Explorer and Aaron the CE engineer, we pulled the anchor and head out.  The anchor was dug so deep it took some maneuvering to yank it up,  The chart plotter was doing its non-updating things again so I had it and my tablet running to be sure we were where we were supposed to be.

It was only a 10 mile journey.  The waves were on the beam which tends to roll us a bit but nothing bad. 

Pulling into Black Point Settlement Anchorage 

When we arrived, we noticed Sandpiper (David and Linda and Stay-Cation, Rush and Beth) and anchored between them.  The anchor hooked just fine but I went out and dove on it to be sure.  The water was its normal tepid 82 degrees.

We stayed aboard most of the afternoon and watched Sandpiper leave with their guests who had flown in to Black Point where David picked them up.  Soon after they pulled anchor and headed back to Big Major.

I should mention a number of the islands here have air strips.  Not airports in the traditional sense, but a runway where planes can land and take off.  And they seemed to be used regularly by mostly private planes, but also a commercial outfit that flies between the islands.

Later Rush and Beth buzzed by saying “”Cocktails on the beach”.  Mary was in the shower so we didn’t leave right away.

Mary, Rush and Bet in the foreground

The beach here is located across an expansive sand flat.  But it was high tide and I refused to yank on the big dinghy starter for such a short trip, so we  took the little dinghy.  And yes I suffered spousal abuse because a few little waves may have splashed us during the 1 mile journey across the sand flats.  It was high tide thankfully.

We met Rush and Beth there and another couple off a Krogen 52.  It’s a boat I lust after.  Unfortunately our finances preclude any hope of procuring one, but still, they are awe inspiring.    I picked the Krogen couples brain a bit about Korgens in general and soon after they left, leaving us with the admonition to try Scorpions for happy hour.  We’ll be here a few days so we will be dong that.

Rush, Mary and Beth

Rush, Beth, Mary and I had the beach to ourselves for a few hours and it was wonderful.  The wind had died down and the seas began to flatten.  And I tried one of Beth’s Margaritas.  Oh my  Very Good!  We will be making a point to see them when we visit Key West again this winter.

After a while Mary was getting antsy so we had to leave. They are planning on heading to Georgetown tomorrow so no more parties for us for a few days I guess.

Always a great sunset

Mussing about the Bahamas, I can say it’s wonderful over here.  Numerous islands, all with anchorages consisting predominantly sandy bottoms make visiting these little spots pretty easy.   Although some of these place can tax your nerve sometimes because of the shallow waters which are sometimes difficult to judge.  The water is so clear, 20 feet appears to be 2 feet.  It takes some practice to discern the differences.    But the island anchorages provide great protection from the prevailing trades winds so the anchorages are generally very calm.  Well, most of the time anyway.

The communities are comprised of maybe a few hundred residents. The stores are really homes with shelves.  The one bakery where we bought our first few loafs of bread was essentially someone’s kitchen, the back door was the entrance.  You had to know where to find it.

Two inter-island supply boats passing behind our neighbors boat

There is an exhilarating factor too in that there are no services here.  No tow boats, mechanics or 911.  It is quite desolate in that regard.

But on some of the islands there is construction,  albeit at the normal Bahamian pace which is glacial, but construction none the less.  In the majority of cases it’s private homes, and people who have bought an entire island and building lavish mansions.  As I've been told, these places are equipped with solar panels, wind generators, diesel generators and RO water makers so they can, and do exist off what minimal grid there is here.

The number of large, mega yachts cruising around between the islands is astounding to me.  They are, by far the dominate style of boats over here.  Our puny 46 foot boat is barely noticeable among all the Goliaths.

That little red wire was pretty much broken off.

On a high note I found the problem which was giving out navigation system fits.   CE was happy to hear it was corrected I think because I sent them almost 5 MB of log data. 

This morning we hung around the boat most of the morning reading and debating whether to use the small dinghy to go into town, or the big dinghy which I’m beginning to loath because the necessity of manually starting the darn thing.

We needed to go ashore to dispose of our trash and visit a food store.  We’ve run out of a few things, namely bread.

We loitered a bit too long because the supply boat came into the government dock.  The supply boats are little coastal freighter type vessels which deliver to each of the inhabited islands a few times each week.  And each island has a government dock which serves as the freighter commercial dock.  The dock also serves as a convenient place for us to tie dinghies so we can access the town.

But anyway we decided to take the big dinghy so I dutifully completed my 15 pulls on the starter rope and we headed into the dock where the island supply boat was still tied up.

Tied up where the mail boat was a few moments before

We circled a bit on each side of the dock and as we were coming around near the supply boat it began moving off the dock leaving a whole lot of room!  Yeah!  A place to tie up which we did right next to an access ladder.  These docks are fixed and wood.  And high.

But someone was yelling at me to get the red onions.  Red Onions?  Huh?

Turns out the supply boat forgot to drop off a bag of things including red onions and they were trying to ask me to drive out the few hundred yards to the supply boat and bring the onions back to the dock.  By the time I finally understood what they were saying one of the small inter-island ferries from Staniel left the dock and went to the supply boat and fetched the bag.

We had tied up by then so they tossed the bag to me up on the dock and I delivered to a guy who was the neighbor of the lady who was anxiously waiting for the red onions.

Mystery and intrigue here at Black Point Settlement

Taking our trash

Complete guide to Black Pont

We tossed our trash in the trash trailer, and left a few dollars in the metal donation box.  The town doesn’t charge for trash hauling but does ask for donations.  It’s not an unusual practice and I did find out the money does go to help the local school here.

We took in the information on the unusual sign by the road and headed up towards the shops and restaurants.

According to the cruising guides and people we talk with, Loraine's is another one of these must visit places to eat.   But first we stopped to checkout Adderley's Friendly Grocery store.  Its a typical Bahamian grocery store and pretty well stocked compared to some we've visited.  But it isn't surprising

Adderley's Friendly Grocery Store

considering Black Point Settlement is the second most populated island here behind Georgetown which is another 30 some miles south.

We decided to go eat lunch before getting groceries so we walked the long block to Lorraine's. Well I sensed it was about block but there are no real delineated blocks here, just a road.  But anyway, it was a short stroll.

Lorraine's

Lorraine's is a little house-like place with a smallish bar and tables inside.  We arrived and Mary bolted right in while I wandered a short distance looking for Mom's bread store/house.

Inside Lorraine's there is the little bar and long tables.  Tables are just that.  Tables where you sit if there's room.   If there isn't room you stand.

Inside Lorraine's

Lorraine herself

We had arrived just as a little tour group from Georgetown arrived too.  They arrived for a sort of cafeteria style lunch while we were here to have a beer and a sandwich.  It seems there were maybe 20 people, all from a go-fast type boat that originated in Georgetown.  The boat stops at various interesting islands and for lunch stops at Lorraine's.  I think part of the reason is that there is a dock behind the place.

By the time I walked in Mary was sitting drinking a beer and had already ordered a hamburger.  I wasn't all that hungry so she got up and ordered me a beer having been schooled in the proper procedure.

Mom's white house behind Lorraine's Restaurant 

While we waited we discovered that Moms Bread store was right behind Lorraine's.  For you really astute types you may have thought there might be a connection between  Mom's and Lorraine's.  Your Jeopardy championship material  if you did.

Mom is Lorraine's mother and they all live in the house behind the restaurant.  The house also serves as the bakery too.    I went over and asked an older man, (Who is this man? Lorraine's Father, Mom's husband) about bread and he pointed and said, "inside".  So we walked into their house.

Mom.  And her loaves of bread!

The kitchen is large and sure enough on the counter were a good dozen loafs of bread.  And mom.  Standing behind the counter.

We bought 2 loaves.  Its reported to be the best ever.  We'll see when we get back aboard.

What delightful people mom, and Lorraine are!

We walked back to the restaurant and after Mary took care of the hamburger  we strolled back to Adderleys for some grocery shopping.  I cant quite recall the name of the owner, and elderly lady who's the mother of ten children!  Very nice conversation with her as she related all kinds of information about all her kids.  Three of he boys are small inter island freighter captains,  while others scattered in the states as engineers or attending college.  Quite a diverse family.

When we walked in she was patiently explaining the harsh lesson of not enough money for all the candy they wanted.  They had  a a single dollar but the bill was $1.75.

So we paid the difference for them and stood there as she instructed the two little guys to say thank you.  Which they did between mouthfuls and gulps.  Pretty funny.

The currency used in the islands is mixed.  Bahamian dollars or us currency so when we get change its a true mix of currency.

Inside Scorpions

After picking up a few items we went back to the boat and then returned to Scorpion for happy hour.  No people,  loud music and no Captain Morgan.  It was rather disappointing.

So we had a beer and then returned to the boat, and made water.  Exciting!

We are trying to draw up a plan to get back to Florida.  Bad weather is forecast for later next week which is when we wanted to cross the Gulf Stream.  But now we thinking of heading at least to Cat Cay or Bimini before Thursday to take advantage of the weather to cross the North West Channel, a stretch of ocean about 30 miles wide between Nassau and the Bahamian Bank.

We again loitered around the boat this morning deciding to stay here at Black Point another day so we could go visit the blow hole and see the beach.  Tomorrow we head to Shroud Cay to anchor before making our way towards west end of Nassau to anchor.  Monday we cross the North West Channel and try to get to Cat Cay.  If we’re lucky we might cross over before the bad weather hits.  

That's us in the middle

We took the small dinghy into the dock and tied up next to our neighbors dinghy, a 15 foot Caribe similar to our big dinghy.  Only theirs was quite a bit bigger.  You could barley see our little dinghy thing tied to the dock.

Blow Hole Lane

Hiking up to the Blow Hole area

This is it!  The Blow Hole.  Impressive, isn't it?

We headed out to find the blow hole and sure enough there was a sign of sorts indicating where it was.  A craggy path led off towards the Sound side of the island.  After passing through a debris strewn rocky flat we were at the blow hole.

It’s rather tiny, maybe 3 feet in diameter but from all accounts, is as regular as old faithful.  Regular that is, when the tide is up which is wasn’t.  So all we could see were some little gurgles when a particularly high wave would wander in.

Sand flats near low tide

After a few minutes we left and continued up the road past the very flat sand flats which are completely exposed at low tide.  Just the other day we were sitting here with cocktail watching the sun go down.

There wasn’t much further up the road except for a house or two and a view north out towards the other islands.

On the way back we met a happy go lucky guy who was off to the reef at Dotham Point for some spear fishing.  That’s about 2 mile walk one way  But he was young.

I stooped and talked to Dave, an old sailor who lives on the island and is planning on moving to Tonga as soon as his wife retires.  He was brought up in the Keys and never experienced snow.  Ever.

We stopped in at Scorpions so Mary could have a beer and then headed back to the dinghy.  I brought it into a little beach by the dock so she could get in and we went back to the boat.

We decided to leave tomorrow for Shroud Cay and spend the night there before moving on to Nassau.  So with that plan in mind we rigged the big dinghy for hoisting, took the engine off the small dinghy and then went out on the bow for cocktails.

Before we grilled I started the generator and we hoisted the big dinghy up on the top deck and I secured it.   We have been keeping the small dinghy inflated and simply haul it into the sundeck. Its light enough and fits fine although I’m pretty sure I can lash it to the swim platform.  Just haven’t been motivated enough to try that yet.

After a late dinner we went to bed with the idea we’d leave around 9AM since its only a 40 mile journey.