Treasure Key, Green Turtle Key to Florida May 13-24 2016

September 2, 2016  
Tropical Storm Hermine passed over us and although it was very windy and bouncy here in the marina, we suffered no ill effects.  We were on the east side of the track and had a few hours of torrential downpours, but on this side it was windier.  The boat survived without damage as did we.  The dog, never having experienced a big storm, didn't sleep well but made up for it by napping for 12 hours straight, the next day.   The Valiant 47 next to us did shatter a portion of its rub rail on the side dock and its anchor split their dock box almost in half.  Other than that there were only reports of minor damage.

============================================================

Treasure Cay is really located on Great Abaco Island which is sort of the mainland of the Abacos.   To the west is Grand Bahama Island where Freeport is located.  All the other Cays are islands unto themselves bordering the ocean.  The water between Great Abaco and the smaller Cays is The Sea of Abaco.

We left Man-O-war around 9AM and made our way to Treasure Key.  The short journey to Treasure Cay was non eventful journey except for the entrance to the Treasure Cay channel which was shallow,  low of 5.2 feet for us.

Approaching Treasure Cay Channel

In the Treasure Cay entrance channel

Mary handing John a line (his dinghy cane be seen just to the right of the fenders)

We  entered the basin where all the mooring balls are located and tried to grab one but there was no pendant we could see   John on Evening Star, noting our dilemma,  came out in his dinghy and secured one of our lines to the half submerged pendant.

John's boat Evening star

We met John briefly in Marathon at Burdines as they were fueling up.  We were too … well eating.  Diesel for them.

Went to the Treasure Cay Beach Marina and Golf Resort office and paid for three days on the mooring ball.  And then took off to walk to the beach.

Great beach.  One of those picturesque places.

The marina pool to the left, bar in the center and office to the right

The beach.

The mooring basin

 Mary turned left (she’s a lefty) and I, being a righty, went right.  I ran into several big houses and breakwaters.  Money talks here too I guess.

What's a resort without a little strip mall of shops

The "right" side of the beach

A rather sordid looking beach house I walked by

After a few hours of beach walking we met back at Coco's Beach Bar and ran into John and Pat.  It's right on this gorgeous beach.

Pat, Mary and John at Coco's bar

We had a few drinks with them before they went back to their boat which was on a mooring ball near us.

We walked back towards the marina office and then stopped by the marina pool for a drink and I went in for a swim.  Nice.

We drove back to our boat, showered packed up some beer and went over to John and Pat’s boat for a cocktail.  They have a Defever 44 +5.  The +5 is 5 extra feet forming a cozy rear cockpit.  They are in their upper 70’s and still doing this.   He’s a retired PHD in chemical engineering.  Smart guy.  Enjoyed his cryptic, sense of humor.  And yummy eats Pat! 

We left them after a while an stopped by Merlin to visit with  Kevin and Mary Liz who we met a few days ago.  Merlin is an Island Packet 380, rigged as a cutter.   They are heading south to somewhere, no real plan.  Obviously having fun.

Mary, ravenous, kept trying to leave while I was discussing some technical boat detail with Kevin.  After a minute or two she just started the outboard and forced me to sit as she drove away, leaving them chuckling.

We  had wanted to stop and thank them for the heads up on radio regarding the moorings here.    Talked for awhile. He was a retired USGC and they lived for a while in Eurkea, CA close to where Mary was for a year.

Spinnakers.  Fine Dinning?

We tied up the dinghy and walked the short distance to Spinnakers.  The food was expense and so were the drinks.  I dont think we have have ever consumed as much alcohol in one day as today. 

We didn’t arrive back aboard until after 9 so I had to stay up running the generator until after 11. 

We both slept until 10 this morning and didn’t get off the boat.  The lesson here is we can not party like we are 40.  I finally took the dinghy in to shore just to be able to walk around.

And I did help a big grand banks 52 get their mooring.  A youngish couple.  He had a nifty shackle type fitting on a long bridle.  And a line attached to the release pin.  Nice.  I hooked the shackle on the mooring ball ring and they were set.

Other than the dinghy forays we didn’t move off the boat. 

We didn’t sleep well last night.  It was darn hot.  Once I turn the A/C off the boat goes from 72 to 79, equaling the outside air temp.  And it only takes a few hours.  So we run our little 12 volt fan to keep the air moving. 

Royal Bank of Canada again

Since we were both sort of awake rather early we went in to shore to eat breakfast and then do a little grocery shopping.  I went to the local ATM and for $5 was able to withdraw $100 from our checking account.   Money is Bahamian which, over here is the same as American bills.  The currency's are interchangeable.  Except once we get back to Florida, we’ll have to stash all the Bahamian money in our safe for the next year.

Just a bakery that served breakfast too.  Pretty good.

We found a nice little place for breakfast in the resorts little strip mall like area.  A Bakery who's name I've forgotten.  A fun place and cheap(er) good food.  And the food store is just across the parking lot.   So it was a quick trip.

The thatched roof was pretty cool.  Literally too.

After returning to the boat and stowing the groceries, we packed up and went back to shore so we could walk to the beach.  For $10.75 we opted for beach chairs (which are free) under a tropical hut type awning (not free).   Great beach.  Water was low 80’s and are typically gin clear.  Wonderful.

We left the beach and headed for the showers at the marina pool.  But, as can be expected over here the power was fluctuating hence the water pumps were not operating.  No water.  No showers.

So we high tailed it back to the boat, showered off the salt and returned to order a drink.   After 20 minutes of that process, we tried to get a little pizza for a snack but the lady who took the order came over to us after a few minutes and told us about the power problems.  No electricity, no electric oven.  Even the TV’s were off. 

The pool with no one swimming... yet

With little else to do, we just sat around the pool for a bit.  Mary consumed two mudslingers, a chocolate frozen drink concoction.  I simply had Captain Morgan on the rocks.  Displaying unusual foresight,  I brought a can of seltzer and slyly made myself a drink.  Of course I could have just brought the rum too and save $7 but where's the fun in that.  Seltzer over here is a mystery.  All they have is club soda which isn't real tasty.

Back on the boat, Mary decide for some unfathomable reason to make stir fry.  It was in the mid 90’s already.  Whats a few more degrees.  We tried to watch a Frankie and Grace using the marina internet but they had no internet connection due to a fiber optic problem.  Basically, it meant the power fluctuations were effecting that too.  So we used our cell phone to watch the last episode.  Twice.  It was hilarious.

I was up at 6:30.  Why so early you maybe asking?  Tides.  I wanted to run through Whales Cay Passage at high tide becasue I was avoiding the route the sailboat we saw at Man-o-War Cay took when we was holed by that underwater piling.

Mary was not going to move so I got everything ready, started up and let go the lines and off we went.  Once outside the confines of Treasure Cay’s basin it was a little rougher than I thought.

I had asked a charter skipper yesterday if we could safely negotiate the channel that runs right past Whales Cay instead of using Old Ships Channel and its obstructions.   He used that route all the time so we would be fine.

The obstructions are old support iron for pilings used by Disney ships when they used to use one of the islands here for offloading passengers to enjoy the beach.  Some of these obstructions lie below the surface and have snagged more than one boat (the sailboat we saw at Man-o-War Cay) when the markers fail leaving the pilings unmarked.

It was all fine although the ocean swells meeting the ebbing tide caused some beam seas, 3-4 foot for a few minutes.  But that portion of the route is only a few miles so no problems.

Passing Whale Cay Light as we re-enter the Sea of Abaco

The Grand Banks we met at Treasure Island

We were hailed by a Grand Banks that wanted to pass us to port.  It was the same one we had helped take a mooring just the other day.  His girlfriend/wife (was never sure) flew back to Florida yesterday and he was headed to Great Sale Cay for the night before making for Ft. Pierce the next day.  Nice guy.  And fast boat.  His 15 mph to our 7.5 mph.

Finally a mega yacht!  We haven't seen one this whole trip

We passed the first mega yacht we have seen this trip.  Giant slide, and water toys all out and ready for use.

I finally went below and woke Mary up who now has the skill to sleep through rumbling engines, beam seas and my voice asking her to wake up and help set the anchor.  We pulled into the anchorage with maybe a half dozen other boats and set the hook.   We let it sit for awhile to be sure it was  holding.  Looks like possible squalls for the next several days.

Anchored at Green Turtle Cay near Settlement Creek

We eventually got into the dinghy around 3PM for a ride into New Plymouth.  It is WHIT Monday though, a Bahamian Holiday so nothing much will be open.

Green Turtle Cay is one of the more popular Cays.  It has several stores, a clinic and a number of marina's.  And its location makes it a good stopping over point for boats traveling further south and a terminus for Florida cruisers.

The town.  New Plymouth and the town dock

There are several dinghy docks here, but we chose the one in the sort-of inner harbor.  Tied up and started strolling the streets.  Most shops were closed  except Lowes Food Store.  It seems to be run by a British couple, or more likely New Plymouth residents who have a British accent since it was settled by Loyalist back in 1700’s. 

We bought a few things we needed, and although we have to return because the Liquor store, Plymouth Rock Café and Liquor, is open tomorrow.

Docks at the inner harbor of New Plymouth

I tied up again at the same spot I left and met Mary heading up Hill road which is, ah a hilly road.

We didn’t go far.  Instead we went back to the dinghy, and took a ride through Black Sound, and then out and around to White Sound.  The sounds are like fingers extended into the island.  White sound has a few marinas, notably Green Turtle Bay Club.  Black sound has several marinas and is closer to New Pymouth town center which is where all the shops and bars are located.

Welcome sign on the main dock

We never had a chance to eat here

Road winding around the inner harbor

Main road

Over looking the harbor an us floating there

Yes, a pink jail.  Only in the Bahamas

One of several eclectic little food places in and around town

We arrived back at the boat we , grilled steaks, made water, did laundry, washed dishes, vacuumed and basically engaged in other other tropic vacation-like activities.  Its’ not all sleep late and drink late you know... every once in a while.

We had a brief shower pass us around 7:30 this morning.  I checked all the windows and screens which only leaked a little water.   Only unfortunate thing was I was up.  Others slept through the whole thing.

Last night it was steamy so I had two fans running all night off the battery.  Our new batteries took it without a whimper.  Now, if it can just stay sunny long enough to get some charge back into them through the solar panels we wont have to have a long generator run tonight.

I’m going to get our dive gear out today and get under the boat to clear out some growth on the water intakes below the hull.  Then, if the weather doesn’t deteriorate too much we’ll go over to one of the reefs here and snorkel with the scuba stuff.  We don’t have a BC though and regulating buoyancy without one is almost impossible.  It'll be like surface diving.

No dive stuff this morning.  I got lazy and didn't want to haul all that gear out so I just used a mask and fins. Under the boat, the intakes weren't too terribly clogged.  But the boat bottom is a garden of thin, sort of jelly-like growth. 

We did have one problem.  I took out our underwater camera to take pictures of this large starfish under the  boat but the damn camera froze up.  Removed the batteries, turned it back on and it wouldn’t even power up.  New batteries, same result.  It was not with sad heart I chucked this Polaroid underwater camera in our garbage bin.

It was a cheap thing we bought on a whim at WalMart a few years ago and I know enough to realize Polaroid is not a real good engineering company, but it did work several times so wasn't a total loss.

No more underwater pictures I fear and the best reefs are coming up as we make our way north.

The Post Office

We went into town.  Stopped at the post office where they reiterated what I said to Mary about mailing a package to Ixonia.  It’ll normally take 3 weeks.  The post office lady said exactly that.  I did not gloat even though some people just don’t listen.

The museum was closed but the curator drove up as we were leaving so we paid our $5 and went through.  Sorry, but it was like going through my great grandmothers house.  Not all that interesting for me anyway.

The museum's basement which has lots of old stuff

The Heads

After the museum we walked by a little park with busts of famous Green Turtle and Bahamian figures.  The Heads.

New Plymouth Rock Liquor Store and Cafe.  Tom and June in the back at the bar

Then down the street to the New Plymouth Rock liquor store for some wine.  We met Tom and June who hail from Virginia and are staying at Donnie's Marina.   They are on a 34 foot sailboat and she loves it.  Tom's been around the the block more than a few times and still enjoys living on the boat and hanging out in the islands.

The wine was beyond horrible.

Went to the Curry Grocery and bought a few things and then went back to the boat as the winds were picking up and rain is forecast for tonight and especially tomorrow. 

Idyll time had left by the time we returned, but another dozen boats came in so the anchorage it's well populated even with the forecast westerly winds which aren’t supposed to be very heavy.  The anchorage is open to the west so we will be bouncing some tomorrow and hopefully will get some rain to wash the salt off the boats.

We were eating salmon I just grilled with rice and vegetables watching a Remington Steele episode in a cool boat because the A/C units were all going.  We were rocking a bit, but were entirely  comfortable.  Rather strange to be anchored in a remote place like this and be watching TV in  cool comfy boat.

Hopefully tomorrow wont be too dire, weather wise.  We haven’t decide what to do yet when a LO pressure system is forecast to blow through here with string winds from the NW.  We either pick up a mooring here or go across to Abaco Island and anchor where we’d have some protection from NW winds.  We’ll see.

We were expecting thunderstorms today and the forecasts were close.  It started to rain around 8AM, right after I had everything buttoned up and the anchor checked.  What wasn’t in the forecast was the wind clocking from ESE to NW.   Driving rain, no visibility and winds that turned us 180 degrees.

The anchor didn’t take that well.  I was sitting in the salon and sensed a changed in the boats bouncing.  Sure enough we were 50 feet off the government dock and moving towards it.  We had dragged.  A lot!

I had to wake Mary up while I started the engines and moved the boat forward about 50 yards before putting them in neutral again.  That was enough time for me to get the windlass on, and dash out in the deluge to bring in the anchor enough so I could get the chain hook off the anchor chain and then get the snubber aboard.

The boat was pitching and yawing through 4-6 feet with me clinging to the rails.  But I got it up.  By then, Mary was at the helm and I gave her signals as to which way to head and which shifters to use.  We slowly puled away for the dock but the 125 feet of chain was mostly behind us by then so it took several minute to get the boat oriented so the bow was out from the general direction of the chain.

The rain intensified as I got the last of the chain up and switched positions with Mary.  She came out to get the anchor situated  while I tried to drive out between the anchored boats, 2 of which were leaving at the same time we were.  They no doubt dragged as well.

The other problem we had was the dinghy.  It was side tied to the boat and being beaten to death and worse, filling with water to the extent that it was sloshing around inside and out the back over the sides.  Yikes!  But at least it was fresh water.   But the bilge pump float switch was dead so none of the water was being pumped out.

We went out past the boats but I had to deal with the dinghy.  So we put the boat in neutral which gave it a wallowing corkscrew motion.  Still down pouring and as I took one of the dinghy lines off a wave knocked it, and the dinghy dock line out of my hands.  The dinghy was almost full of water making it twice as massive as it normally is.

I was about to dive in and get a line on it to swim back to the boat, but luckily I noticed the unattached dock line was trailing aft.  So I crawled out on the swim platform and using a boat hook grabbed the line, and heaved it close enough to get the tow line hooked on it, smashing my finger in the process.

Once that was on we slowly made out way to the opposite shore, about 3 miles away in the heavy seas, but slowly decreasing downpour. 

I made an attempt to to bail the dinghy out but getting into it from the swim platform was treacherous, and the bilge pump wouldn’t work because, well it was under water.

I hauled the dinghy close and made 9.5 leap in, timing the bounces perfectly.  I used a bucket for a few minutes but as fast as I bailed, the wild seas sloshed back in.   We needed a decent pump which we had on the dinghy but the outlet was a short stub and I couldn't get it to eject pumped water far enough out from the dinghy sides.

Time for a little creativeness.  From the pitching dinghy I took the pump and made another perfect leap back on the swim platform.  I'm thinking senior Olympics!

Once we reached this little indent on the western shoreline. We anchored.  The winds started to decrease and the rain, which had been a deluge, became on and off showers.

Taking the dinghy manual bilge pump I had retrieved, and old shop vac hose and some duct tape I fashioned a perfectly functional Rube Goldberg manual bilge pump from the dinghy.

Duct Tape.  Don't leave home without it!

Although a note about duct tape.  I have 2 rolls on board.  The first roll I grabbed had no adhesive power at all.  After two feet of trying to find the sticky stuff, I gave up and used the other, but older roll which worked as duct tape should.

Once the bilge pump was set, I pumped out the dinghy.  20 Minutes.  It had 6 inches of water in the floor boards.  The bilge was obliviously over flowing.  And, the bilge pump worked after I got the water level down.  It even started up thankfully.  I was afraid the wiring was done for, but apparently not.

We ended up anchored across on west side near ferry dock.  Over time I noted we were dragging so we reset anchor 4 times and it finally seemed to catch.  But when I dove on it, only one fluke was slightly buried.  And the the latest forecast was calling for more squalls with 30-40 mph gusts.  We decided we need some good sleeping so we pulled up the anchor and cruised back over to Green Turtle, entered Black Sound and hooked one of Donnie's moorings.

Actually we had called Donnie on the way over one our Bahamas phone.  A wonderful guy who even offered to help us get hooked on one of his moorings once we were able to talk with him over the radio.

He gave us precise directions for the ball he wanted us to take.  And Mary snagged it first time!

The mooring is right in front of  Leeward Marina and Yacht Club.  It started to rain later in the evening and the winds picked up a bit from the west so I'm glad we took the mooring ball.  Good night sleep but we have to run fans at night to keep reasonably cool.  The stateroom is insulated but gets hot and the window area is minimal so no cross ventilation.  The AC in there draws too much amperage to run off the inverter.  So at anchor we ares stuck with fans unless we have the generator running.

We grilled burgers, watched Remington Steel (Mary's choice) after taking in a Donna Reed (my choice) show.

I was up at 7:30.  Intuitive sensing of rain I guess.  Yes it started to rain and I had to closed up the boat for a time.

Also noted the Leeward Marina’s face dock emptied out and so I tried calling them on the phone to no avail.  But did reach them on the radio.  They might be able to take us tomorrow.  And I wanted to hang on the mooring ball another night anyway.  We do have reservations over in White Sound at Bluff House Marina and resort today and might change that.  We’ll see once we go over to pay Donnie and check the weather.

I had to get to the bank by 2PM becasue the branch here on the island is only open certain days of the week, and from 10AM until 2PM.  Mary wasn't quite ready so I went in alone.  $150 later I was walking down towards the dinghy when I almost ran into a lady attired in a nursing type clothes.  Scrubs.  She was in a hurry and was out in front of me until she turned up a little side alley with a "Clinic" sign on the side.

I decided to stop in.

Visiting a clinic?  Yes.

When we were in Marsh harbor I stepped where my bifocals (the magnifying part) showed where to plant my feet.  I did … right between the dock and the boat.  Consequently I banged my leg on the boat coming and after bleeding a bit forgot about it.

Now, well yesterday actually it began to throb and hurt.  I never quite felt pain like that so decided to have it checked out at the clinic

The clinic.  That's the Doctors car.  

My, what a change of pace.  Its cash only here $75 for me.  Lucky that I stopped at the bank.

The nurse, the one I almost ran into earlier,  took down everything on a written form.  She had this shy sense of humor. “so when were your tonsils removed? “ "A long time ago", I said.  Straight faced she says, “Ok, 60 years ago?”  "YES", I muttered.  I'm 65".  Her response?  A almost audible chuckle armed with this really disarming smile.  Thus the banter continued through the whole interview.  She seemed to enjoy making sure my age was correct. "So you had knee surgery when you were in your late 60's?"  "Yes.  Early, not LATE sixties".   "Ok.  Now do you have arthritis?"  

The end result, when I met with the less than impressive doctor (she was more consumed with securing a properly colored outfit than my knee) was a mild infection..  "Here, use this ointment".  Or basically, "take two aspirin and don't call me in the morning."

I felt better knowing my bones were not infected (I hope).  And my nice nurse came running out after me when I left because I left my wallet behind on her desk.  Same disarming smile reserved for quirky old people maybe?  But she made some chuckling comment about being forgetful ... sheez

I stopped at the grocery store, Curry's, and bought a few things including shortbread cookies for Mary.  She seemed to like them.  4 of 6 consumed within 2 minutes of bringing them aboard.

Then we took the dinghy over to White Sound to check out the marina, Bluff House Marina and Yacht Club, where we had planned on staying tomorrow.

Green Turtle has two sounds, Black on the southern middle end, and White to the north.  Black Sound, where we are on a mooring, is closer to New Plymouth (the town).  White Sound is a much larger body of water.  I've been told the ocean side beaches are better on this end.  And it's also where the premiere resort is located.

Bluff House Marina.  Pretty empty.

Bluff House though wasn't what were hoping.  It lacked finger piers using a sort of angle main dock arrangement which would leave us without easy boarding options.  Basically it meant we;d have to use the swim platform to get on and off the boat.  And I wasn't sure how we'd be able to tie up there with a finger piers normal array of cleats.

In a dire emergency maybe I'd go in there.  I'm thinking docking would maybe require a Med Mooring?  We've only done once and is not a practice I'd like to repeat.  So in light of all that, we wont be going here. 

The bar (and Mary) at Green Turtle Marina

The Green Turtle Marina bar is gaily decorated

So went across the bay to the premiere resort, Green Turtle Resort/Marina.   We walked around for a few minutes  and had a beer at the really comfy bar and lounge.  $16 for 2 beers?  The marina was full up.  Nice place.  Although a bit over our price range.

We took the dinghy back down the sound, through the very large channel markers, back around to Black Sound (only a mile or so).  We stopped again at Leeward Marina to be sure the dock master knew we were looking to tie up to his T-head.  Seems there is a sailboat arriving later this evening and is taking "our" spot.  Leeward has no slips per say so we we'll be on a T-head regardless ... if they have something available.  But if we cant get a slip we will stay here on the mooring ball.  

The weather forecasts seem to be trending towards nasty as the week progress so we may end up staying here all through next week.

Late in the afternoon we did take the dinghy over to NoName Cay, a small island on the southern end of Green Turtle.  They have several feral pigs there and so stopped and watched the little (and large mamma pigs) gobble up any offerings the two other boats had brought along.  We hadn't though to bring anything.  They really do eat almost anything, but their favorites are bread, veggie scraps and other such things.

One of the boats there was a dive boat from the Brendal Dive Shop in White Sound.  There was a cute family aboard and the little kids were feeding the little pigs.  Funny to watch.

Brendal sort of takes care of the pigs and will make sure they are fed.  They are not light eaters

The chow line.  That's Brendal in the gray shirt

The pigs have their own little building

Mamma coming out to check on the action

I talked with the guide, Brendal himself, and he said they had a boar here for awhile but it was trying to mate with every female, and everything else.  It was known to bite a few folks when it was frustrated in its mating attempts.  So they took it off island and now there is just a very big mamma pig and lots of little piglets running around.  Nice beach though.  2 charter catamarans pulled in shortly after we did with more munchies for the pigs.  

We returned to the boat, had a cocktail and went the 50 yards over to Leeward Marina where I talked with the dock master again about getting a place to tie up.  Not looking good for us.

LeeWard Bar patrons (Turned out to be Tom and June)

While we were there we stopped up at the Leeward bar and met a very nice, and accomplished couple on a Lagoon catamaran, but a custom built one.  Forrest and Marjolein are avid divers and travelers having sailed all over the Caribbean.    BTW, Marjolein is Dutch and this is the correct spelling.

He said he was an inventor and CEO but no specifics.  They were  incredibly interesting regaling us with tales of their journeys.  We may stop over tomorrow to see them if we are all still here.  He offered to share his notes and charts for the lower Bahamas and beyond.  He mentioned he has copious notes too!

Marjolein also had riveting tales of her time on mega yachts before she met Forrest. 

Looking down towards the dock from Leeward marina bar

But we had to vacate the bar because, they closed, and the mosquito sprayers where out in force fogging the area.  The bugs have blossomed in clouds I've never witnessed before, and they, as we all know,  are out for blood at dusk.

The No-See-Ums.  They are worse becasue you cant see them for one, but their bites have a distressing longevity.  They bite, a day later you scratch and the bite turns into a little red mark which itches thus making you scratch it and then it gets mildly infected while still itching like crazy

Note to belabor the No-See-Um dilemma but here's a little write up from some ones sailing blog.

The no-see-ums  (Leptoconops torrens) belong to the family Ceratopogonidae and are about 1/16-inch long. They are so tiny they could pass through window screens.   They can and do slip beneath loose clothing, unnoticed, to get a blood meal.  Like mosquitoes, only the female no-see-ums bite. The insects breed when the weather warms in the spring, usually in May and June, and they remain a pest for several weeks. They need a blood meal to complete their reproductive cycle.  They also bite domestic and wild animals and birds.  The females inject saliva into the skin, which pools the blood just beneath the surface, resulting in a small red dot that becomes excruciatingly itchy. A single bite can welt into a one-or two-inch diameter spot, which lasts about two weeks.  People should not scratch the welts, as scratching makes the itchy bites last twice as long and can lead to infected sores.

Note to self.  Wear socks when in No-See-Ums territory (I didn't).

Once the No-See-Ums were out we all went and re-dressed into long shirts, pants and bug spray and sat at the bar side tables for a short while.  But and then it was just getting to bad with the bugs, so we just retreated back to our boats.

Tomorrow we’ll head out to make water and find out if we can stay at the Leeward Marina and Yacht Club.  Otherwise we’ll stay on  Donnie's ball for several more days.

That empty spot is what were were lusting after.  A newly arrived sailboat just took it

It was with dismay that I saw a sailboat ghost in to the empty spot on the T-head this morning.  They arrived just before 8.  We both had no sleep.  The food we ate last night and the drinks combined with the 1001 No-See-Ums bites took their toll.  Not to mention it was 82 even with the fans running.

We are in this little harbor, Black Sound which is very protected from storms but also cuts the normal sea breeze to almost zero.  Translation, lots of bugs, and high heat.  Result.  No sleep.

I called Leeward Marina and Yacht Club anyway thinking maybe we could squeeze in there somewhere.  This time Toni, the regular dock master who had been away for a few days, answered up on the radio and ultimately said we, we could go on the T-Head in slip 16 which is basically the end of the dock.

Slip 16 at Leeward Marina

Donnie's Mooring ball

Yeah!!  It was maybe a 50 yard journey for us,  Edward, the other dock master was already there so we hurried up getting ready to depart.  I started up the engines, we took off the lines and traveled the 50 yards and tied up at the dock.  Done.

15 minutes later we had power and tied into the dockside water system.  And the A/C was running.  It was near 90 and this was at 9am!

We went in to see Toni, and noted the additional charge per Kilowatt of electric use, and 20 cents a gallon for water.  The price per foot was only $1.25 though.  And they have a pool here, but given the vicious nature of the insect population we’ll probably skip that and stay huddled in the air conditioned cabin or out on the dinghy.

We did a few loads of laundry but basically just lazed around in the boat out of the heat and the bugs.

Later we dinghied over to Donnie's to pay him.  He runs a boat rental business, and has a pier with a few transient spots.  And of course he owns a few mooring balls too.  Donnie moved here decades ago and is content to stay.  We would have tied up here except he only runs a few 15 amp power cords out to the dock which means no power for us.

Then went into town for groceries at Lowes this time.  And beer, wine and rum. But no one sells seltzer here!  I’ve only got 12 cans left.

We stopped to eat lunch at New Plymouth Rock  Liquor Store and Cafe.  We didn't purchase wine this time!

And since we ate lunch at a liquor we bought some liquor.  And passed on their god awful, horrible wine even though it was on sale.

Speaking of stores, there are three grocery stores here and most double as bakeries and general goods stores too.  Usually if you cant find something at one store another may have it.   And they aren't shy about recommending one of their competitors if they don't stock something you need.

Curry's is owned by Gene and Debbie Lowe.  It's right on the inner harbor  and their daughter, Michelle operates the store along with Shana.  Debbie goes to Marsh Harbour a couple of times a week and if you are looking for something in particular  Michelle will ask Debbie to bring it with her. 

Lowe's is owned by Minerva and the Lowe family and operated by three lovely ladies Betsy,Jessica and Tanya . Minerva's husband Pat travels to Marsh Harbour most days so check in daily to see what new items he has been able to pick up in the "big city ".

Sids Food Store is owned and operated by brother and sister Scott Lowe and Martha Roberts.  The store is large and spacious and has a large variety of fruits and vegetables and dried goods.  They also have gifts and kitchen accessories.  

Too tired to go out, we had soup and some turkey sandwiches.  Mary watched a Remington Steele episode and then we turned in for a good, and cool nights sleep!

Mary was not feeling well today so she stayed in the boat all day.   We are both suffering from the damn No-See-Um bites we received the other night.  We were both bitten at least 50 times.  They aren’t noticeable until about a day after then they form little bumps that  itch like hell.  The only way to we’ve found to relieve the itching is to scratch them for awhile then douse with alcohol. 

I slept really well last night so was energetic.  Re-caulked the forward hatch, shampooed the sundeck couch, took off the aluminium trim on the port side and cleaned it up, and then re-caulked it and the screw holes.   Then, not quite ready to rest, I vacuumed the sundeck.

After that I retired to the cabin to escape the little critters and cool off.  Its been beastly hot here.  Maybe we're getting a tad soft.  We used to be salty old cruisers living on the hook for weeks at a time.  Now though, the thought of A/C and  a nice restaurant and no power restrictions is becoming a powerful draw.  Yikes, we my end up being those marina people who never leave the dock? 

We ate a little dinner, watched an Iron Man movie and, as it was ending I was treated to a view of thunderstorms and lightening out to the west.  Yup, more storms and lightening but at least we’re here on a dock near a sailboat with a tall mast so they'll likely get hit first.  Well, that’s the theory anyway.

This morning we spent some time viewing weather info and washing windows.  Looks like our only opportunity to cross over to Florida with reasonable seas is Tuesday.  Otherwise we'll be here at least another week.

So we are leaving tomorrow for Mangrove Cay (85 miles).  It's a small island in the Sea of Abaco  very near the pass through to the ocean.   From there we'll leave before sunup for Loggerhead in Stuart Florida.

Weather is forecast to worsens beginning the following day.  Hopefully this wont change too much tomorrow when we leave.  Our only alternative, after seeing the  forecasts, is to remain here for another week.  Nice place but too long in one spot for us.

We got in the dinghy and went over to New Plymouth again and tied up at the government docks this time.

Hill Road (going back down towards town) 

We decided to stroll the town again and then headed up Hill road which leads up a hill towards the ocean side and the beach.

We never did make it to Gilliam Beach last week.  So we have one last chance today.

The beach forms part of Gilliam Bay which is very shallow bay in the southeast side of the island forming sort of a channel between NoName Cay and Green Turtle Cay.  Those in the know describe it as a Sand Dollar paradise meaning they are found in abundance here.    It's usually very calm in here with warm and shallow water.

After scaling Hill road we ended up on a dirt road, then a sandy path and then the beach.  As you can see, its very well marked, each bend or turn clearly indicated.

Beach sign #1

Beach sign #2

Beach sign #3

The beach is a large stretch of very shallow water over white sand surrounded by mostly undeveloped shoreline.   As we walked along we seem to have acquired a pet.  A Barracuda friend who followed us for quite a distance about 10 yards out in the water where it was deeper.  I instinctively reached in my pocket for a treat but the sudden realization that he was probably looking at me as a tasty morsel quelled any further thoughts along those lines.

 Up the beach we ran into Riley, a little girl accompanied by her mother and I guess grandmother.  They were all walking the beach and had found sand dollars for which this place is supposedly famous.  After talking with the grandmother though, Sand Dollars aren't nearly as large and  plentiful as they once were.

Gilliam Bay

Gilliam Beach

Gilliam Beach and one of the few beach houses

Looking out towards NoName Cay

The development on the north side of the bay seems to have disrupted the chain of events which deposits Sand Dollars here.  But she seemed to have found several.  Mary, in a jealous rage didn’t assault her, but went out to the sand spit hunting and ended up getting in deep water and basically swimming ashore.  She only found a few anemic specimens.

Riley, the little girl was funny.  Precocious.  She’d waddled at a furious pace away from her parents back out on a sand spit where their two black labs were hanging out chasing fish.  Poor mother looked a little tired.  Riley must have been a few months shy of 2.  She had one of those sweet, devilish smiles,  Cute for us, exhausting for her mother I'm sure.

The two labs, from what they explained, would hang on the beach all day and wander back at night to eat and sleep.  Everyone, Riley, mom, grandmother and dogs lived very near the water from what I gathered.

We spent a few hours poking along the beach and then walked back to town and then back to the boat.

When we arrived back we got the laundry together and took it up to the where the marina had their washing machine and dryers, right under the bar as it turns out.  While Mary started a few loads, I went back to the boat and got the davit and harness set up so we could haul up the dinghy.

Mary was at the bar when I returned so we, of course, we stayed and ate (the food was much better this time) and met Lenard. 

That's Lenard on the left at the Leeward Marina bar

Lenard manages the Leeward Marina.  He was at the bar when we stopped up.  And he's from Milwaukee of all places.

A cabinet maker by trade his friend, Doug, talked him into leaving Milwaukee to be the general manager here at Leeward besides the small marina, is a large vacation condo rental resort.   The rental  units are huge he told me.  Each can handle 13 + people.

The marina was originally managed by his daughter and husband but they left for NC a 16 months ago and Doug, Lenard's friend asked him to manage it too.  Not long after Doug, the friend put the whole place up for sale.

Now Tina and her husband took over managing the marina while the sale goes through which seems to be hung up in the government for some trivial detail which I don't recall.

Lenard, inherited 70 acres on Great Abaco island from his grandparents.  They bought the land in 1915.  He’s recent;y started to refurbish old furniture which he loves.  That and gardening.  When the sale goes through he's going to his 70 acres.

On the way back to our boat another sailboat had come into the marina.  A single handler, he's been in the islands for the last 6 months and is here to rest up a bit.This is the first marina he's stayed at since he came over.  

The people who own the Power cat docked a few slips away for us (and who went out yesterday and returned last night, having an interesting time getting to his slip around out boat in the dark) are from  St. Pete’s and fly here every so often to play with their boat.  Must be nice.

We hauled the dinghy up and got it secured .  Earlier in the day I went in the engine room and everything looks good.  We have more the half full fuel tanks. 

Mary finished up the last of the laundry and I’ve got routes plotted to Stuart from here so we are all prepared.  Unless the weather changes again we are off to Florida.

Met a family at the bar this evening.  The father wearing a Packer shirt.  His son goes to Beloit college.  Wisconsinites seem to be everywhere.

We saw Toni at 9AM this morning and she took all the water/electrical readings.  Over here they tend to meter consumables.  We also saw Eddie briefly.  He was our first contact here and wasn't to sure we could stay.  But he came by and left Mary 3 big conch shells to add to her diverse collection of dead stuff.

Leaving as we follow the Black Sound entrance channel

And then we left about 9:20.  It was near enough to high tide that we didn't have much to worry about going out the channel.  At low tide it can get a little dicey using the Black Sound channel.

Our plan was to go 85 miles to Mangrove cay which is 20 miles from the end of the Bahama Banks.  Loggerhead Marina is 105 miles from Mangrove Cay.

Long day ahead.  But … I caught a weather update from Chris Parker who said crossing today and tonight would be in light winds and swells.  That means no big waves out on the ocean, and a lesser  chance of squalls.

So, since we weren’t arriving at Mangrove until 9:30 or 10 PM tonight and we would have to leave at at least 5AM to make it to Loggerhead in Stuart Florida before they closed, we just decided to keep going all night and take advantage of the weather window.

The prospects for crossing back to Florida are not very promising the rest of the week and into next.  We don’t want to be stuck over here into June because we have to be up in Norfolk by end of June.

Crab Cay Light as we start our turn to head west

Center of the World Rock.  I didn't confer the name on it.

Our track

It was about a 200 mile journey.  Our longest continuous run but we've been in the ocean a number of times at night so no big deal really.

It was a great night out, clear in half the sky to the east but large thunderstorms splaying lightning well south and west of us.  The storms never moved far enough north to give us any concern thank goodness.

Lots of ran from back there 

Sunset on the Sea of Abaco

The moon, much much prettier than the picture

Even though the swells were from the NE and we were going NW, we enjoyed almost flat calm seas on the Bank and then, crossing out into the Atlantic we had gentle 1-3 foot swells which provided a soothing rocking motion.  Actually made it hard to stay awake.  

Mary went to bed around 8 and came back up to the bridge at 3AM for an hour or so giving me time for a short nap.

There weren't a lot of radar contacts crossing the Gulf Stream but we sure enjoyed a nice push, doing 9mph for a good portion of the journey.

Sunrise, was wonderful if not a bit startling since we are normally fast asleep.

Entering the St. Lucie Inlet

We came through the St. Lucie Inlet which was recently dredged so no depth worries.  Followed the  well marked channel along with several other fishing boats, as we went through the crossroads  (where the ICW, St. Lucie inlet and St. Lucie river all meet).  We made the familiar turn past Manatee Pocket into the St. Lucie River and after an hour made the turn into Loggerhead Marina.

Tied up on H dock after an all nighter

Steve, the dock master for all the year we have been coming here has moved on to some other job and Karolynn, who was in the office for many year is now the new dock master.  Jim the other dock master is still here though.

We were in our old spot on H dock, We were both so tired we just went to the little pool bar, had a burger and came back to the boat and napped.  Exciting I know.

The engines, bless their heavy and hearty souls, ran for 27 hours straight without a hiccup.  Well I haven’t been down to look at them yet, but no indications of any problems or over heating.

Even the navigation system held up fine, only dropped its GPS data stream once the whole trip.

This Bahamas trip, specifically the Abaco's, wasn’t particularly fruitful.  We rarely had  a chance to even consider diving on the many reefs around here, either because we found out about them too late or more commonly the weather was too crappy.  It seemed we had days on end of high winds, rough seas and cloudy weather.  Not typical over here.

But I think when we return we'll head down for the Exumas again.  

Meanwhile we are in bed at 8:30 anticipating a long sleep even though its blowing 20mph+ here now.

Maybe it's us.  Wherever we go the winds follow?