The last day

Spent Monday night in a beautiful anchorage called Mill Creek half way up the Chesapeake Bay. For at least half of Monday we had 20 knot winds, so the engine got a rest.

The 6am start we had planned was closer to 7. However it was another beautiful morning.

After a couple of hours motoring up the Chesapeake an exhausted migrating bird came aboard for a rest. Just like the previous one it had no fear of humans and sat in the sun out of the wind right next door to lizzie. Although there were differences of opinion we finally agreed it was a black and white warbler, migrating north after winter in Florida , not unlike kinky turtle.

By the time we get to Vince's dock it will be after sunset but we should do it in twighlight .

PRAISE THE KINKY TURTLE. 

Dismal Swamp

The Dismal Swamp Canal was hand dug by slaves in the late 1700s, what a terrible task, first they had cut their way through, trees, vines, roots, no mechanised equipment other than spades and axes.. Poor sods. No fancy boats on it in those days, it was first used to transport timber. 

 It has a lock at both ends and about 20 miles long, both locks open three times a day so you have to get your timings right when making the passage. In the middle there is a visitors centre  and a free dock for those who couldn't make it through in one day. That is where we started Sunday.

Our first plan for departure was to leave at 5.30 and get the first lock opening but that didn't work out because it was too dark and the crew were too tired!! 

Second plan was to leave at 8am and get the 11am lock opening. This looked like it might work until we saw the tree that was blocking the canal!!!  I think work was being done on the bank, thus the barges , this and the high winds that evening probably brought down the tree.

 

 So we doubled back to the visitors centre where we had spent the previous night.  The US Army Corp of engineers were summoned (they maintain the canal).  It was Mother's Day , Sunday, so we didn't have much hope of getting out of the canal that day.  However they turned up trumps, did their stuff and we got away a couple of hours later. 

Made our way to Norfolk Virginia where we stayed the night.

  It was quite a fancy Marina (Waterside Marina) but they had the worst showers on the ICW,  YUK!!!

Flies

Their are flies that look like innocent house flies, however they bite! You feel them bite and you bleed!

They were at their worst on the Aligator river, even though we were doing 6,7 and more knots in a 15 knot breeze the little buggers kept up with us hitching a ride on the rear of the boat an then coming in for the kill when least expected. Captain armed himself with a fly swat, helmsman stood on and danced on his seat trying to avoid them while the lovely lizzie (who got the worst bite of all) ran around the deck killing them with her shoe. By the time we got to the Aligator River Marina the worst was over.

Not all boats that go along the ICW are fancy cruisers .

Sailing

We sailed ! Even had the mainsail up. The Neuse river provided some relief from the sound of the droning engine, wide open water and a brisk wind that wasn't coming from the direction we planned to be going.

 Yesterday we seem to have head winds and adverse tide all the way, we avoided Beaufort instead headed for Adams creek were we found a fine spot to drop the anchor.

  90 degrees forcast today and I think the forcast is correct, blue sky and strong sun.

Belhaven marina on the Pungo river is our destination.

A very pleasant place with fine gazebo for drinks.

Inside we found a moth of enormouse size.

That's a 200cm. (4 inch) wingspan!

This marina has to get my vote as the best I've seen on the ICW, friendly, free ride to super market, free laundry, fantastic showers with towels! Everything as it should be.

Masonboro marina

A cold windy trip up the cape fear river got us to Masinboro marina in good time. We had two social engagements to attend.

  We had met Bob and Diane in the Abocos and they too were on the their way back home, and like us unfortunately having engine problems. Their problem was a little more severe and needed assistance from proper marine engineers unlike Murfet and Thomas bodgers. It was good to see them and exchange stories again , Diane showed lizzie around their boat Islandia and she couldn't

 believe the accommodation . Kitchen with a fridge freezer , bedroom with  double bed , built in wardrobes , en suite. Very comfy!  Lizzie wants one!

I've known John Ayres for many years, one of my dear American friends. He visited us on the way down to the Bahamas at Beaufort and now on the way back he came to see us with his delightful daughter Bonnie.  After drinks aboard we head to a local restaurant. I have to say it didn't look that great from the outside but the food was really tasty, I loved it and the company was wonderful.

  We ended the day worn out and happy.

Long day

We pulled away from Hague marina at about 6.30, a beautiful Sunday morning not a cloud in the sky with a cool wind. Thankfully nothing much happened, no breakdowns,  smoke, or water leaks.

 South harbour marina is a bout 60 miles away, and we arrive in reasonable time.

  A boring blog entry but what a relief .

Sunset throught the fly screen

More problems

You can tell if there is something wrong with water cooling pump because the engine takes on a very rounded deep note rather than the as  throaty cough you get when water is be expelled with the exhaust. 

 Having had cooling problems before we spotted it straight away, Vince confirms the water pump fan belt has broken. Also it looks like we are leaking diesel into the bilge.  The Hague marina isn't your average marina on the ICW, it was built in the 60s needs a little TLC but has character and a friendly proprietor , I liked it and was a great place to fix things. 

 In fact we practically did a full service new fuel filters, new oil filter, new oil, and two new fan belts.

Hague marina

Love bugs

 Our very temporary fix worked well apart from a few fumes, so with new confidence we decide to do a better temporary fix ourselves. That way we can continue our journey north. Napa auto parts provide the bandage, exhaust sealant and jubilee clips to effect a pretty good repair.

 George Town is a nice town, it once was rich probably from rice growing, big pleasant elderly houses fill the town centre. Now there is heavy industry on the outskirts, the smell of the paper mill fills the air in the otherwise very nice marina.

 We sail away into clouds of flies everywhere, we are told they are Love Bugs, they appear every May and only have 24 hours in their short life. For bugs that have a lot to do in a short time they seem to sit around a lot, he are a few on Vince and the back of the boat.

Thank god they don't bite!

Luck runs out on Mayday.

 The day started well. Sunshine a fair wind, we knew there was a thunderstorm coming so having learned from yesterday's storm we decide to anchor for lunch and sit out the storm. No storm arrived, lunch was tasty.

 On we went, Vince noticed that one of the exhaust pipe fittings appeared to be lose, we continued as the thing was so corroded it could not be tightened. 

We were at low tide and there was very little water, several times we went aground trying to find a route through the low water.  On one such occasion after a very hard stint of reversing to pull ourselves out of the mud Lizzie spots black smoke billowing from the engine compartment. My first impression was that we were on fire but once the smoke had cleared, and there was a lot to clear, all looked safe. The anchor was dropped and we investigate. It looked like leaking exhaust had filled the engine compartment and starved the engine of air causing the black smoke. Vince's lovely clean engine and the whole of the engine compartment was as black as the ace of spades.

  It was now getting dark and nothing to do but stay put anchored where one shouldn't be, right in the middle of the ICW.

 At about 2am Vince checks depth and realises we have swung round to a very shallow piece of water so we have to reset the anchor in deeper water, all done we now keep a watch for the rest of the night.

 Come morning bits of wire hold the exhaust together as we very gingerly head to George Town to find somebody to fix it.

Church creek to Charleston

Only sixteen miles a quick hop and we would be there. We knew there were thunderstorms forcast and as we motored down river the humidity and gathering clouds didn't look so good. We exchanged a few words with Bob and Diane who we had met in the Bahamas, they were in a boatyard waiting for some spare parts to fix their boat. We didn't stop but rushed on to catch the 11oclock opening of the next bridge. By the time we got though the bridge it was obvious there was a thunder storm coming our way lightening flashed all around as we crossed the cooper river estuary, 30knot winds and rain like stair rods. Lizzie wisely hid below, Vince's boat is built for sun and there is little protection .  It was scary . In a lull we decide moor kinky turtle on the marina fuel pontoon, two goes gets her secure and we retire below, cold, very wet, and relieved. Here is the radar pic of the storm.

Beaufort to anchorage in church creek

Once again our life is controlled by the timing of bridge openings. The first opening of the bridge in Beaufort is 9.00am . Leaving the dock was messy I do hope nobody saw us, the wind pushed us on to the pontoon, one of the fenders popped out and caught on a cleat, it was left behind when the rope broke. Had to do another circuit to go back and pick it up but we made it to the bridge for 9.

I've never seen a wild boar before, we spotted two probably a sow and her piglet. These were both very black they appeared to be grazing by the water but soon scuttled off into the undergrowth as we passed , too quick to get a photo but they were something like this.

  

To Beaufort South Carolina

Augustine at 6.30 in the morning is pretty quiet. We aim to go through the lifting bridge to the ocean when they lift it at 7.30, so there is time for a shower, a shit and all those other things that one does before a long journey. Lizzie takes a little longer than us blokes so she jumps aboard at the last moment before we pull away from the pontoon.

  After the drama of the Ponce de Leon grounding there was a conciderable tension aboard as we gingerly edged out into the Atlantic through the inlet, no need to worry, lots of feet below the keel, all good for an overnight sail 150 miles away to Beaufort South Carolina.

 Vince said he checked the port light, I don't doubt him but when I came on watch there was no port light, we were invisible to all those boats to our west. With lizzie at the helm the guys set about fixing the light,  precariously hanging over the bow in the dark  we determine that the corroded contacts onto the bulb were the problem, a quick rub with emery paper saved the day.

The rest of the night passed without incident, in the morning the fast tide pouring out of the Beaufort River slowed us down, we arrived a little late at 1pm. Beaufort is a pretty town.

Mon Capitan, so sweat.......

Crew

 

ICW to Augustine

From Ponce de Leon we decide to do the 50mile hop to Augustine on the ICW, it made a break from the high seas and there is more to look at, fancy houses, pelicans, speed boats and the chance of seeing a manatee ( which we didn't). It's Saturday and everybody is out in the spring sunshine. 

 The municiple marina sounds a dreary place to stay but it's right in the centre of town and buzzing.

 

Aground again

Canaveral to Ponce de Leon

Ponce de Leon Inlet is a rather fancy name, it used to be called Mosquito Inlet but the locals decided it would do the tourist business no good at all. So now we head for Ponce de Leon , a fairly uneventful trip, the usual sun, little wind and the motor running all the way. The entrance at Ponce de Leon was pretty easy once inside you either turn south or north. The route south is the main channel but there is a well marked channel to the north that would save us a lot of time. I say well marked in fact it was dreadfully marked on my iPad and the paper chart, which we found when the boat came to a shocking halt the rig and mast shuddered and the incoming tidal current pushed us harder on to the shoal. Somehow Vince managed to reverse us off enough to then turn into the current and we scrapped our way back off the shoal. I saw 2.3 feet on the depth, we go aground at 3.9 !   A very nice man from Seatow saw the incident and came over to us with the welcome words  'follow me' !  The actual channel was a good 150 yards to the south. After all the tension we abandoned the anchoring plan and went to a marina . The harbour inlet marina seemed to be the party location for the town, live band, loud music and lots of people.

  Sunset at inlet harbour marina.

Back to the USA

The sail cover remained in place for the whole of the return trip, no wind and thank goodness no waves. The roughest part was actually the first part of the trip across the Bahamas bank to Ocean and Gulf Stream.

Sunset

Once out to sea we only had a slight swell and some times it was glass smooth so that you could see reflections of the stars. Little other traffic to worry about. Lizzy slept  from midnight till about 4 whilst Vince and I  swapped watches every couple of hours grabbing restless sleep in between. Lizzie and I saw the sun rise at about 6.30.

Sunrise

Another day with blue sky and a light warm breeze. It's a hard life sailing, playing cards helps, and the autohelm makes it possible.

The sea became quite smooth so that you could deep into the ocean, we motored through clouds of jelly fish and below them you could see dots of bright blue light coming on and going off as we passed, like little blue LEDs. We watched from the bow of the boat and suddenly a dolphin appeared swimming just in front of the boat only a few feet from us, then two more appeared and they all swam along side each other almost at our feet. It was mesmerising the surface of the water was smooth and crystal clear you could see every detail. Then suddenly they peeled off in unison to the left and dived  down deep.

 In the vernacular 'f***ing brilliant'.

 Lizzie spotted a little bird landing on the boat , it is a orange-crowned warbler.

   It hopped around and looked a little unsteady, our presence did not bother it at all , it sat on the port hole and looked in at Vince , actually came inside the cabin and sat on the rear cabin door. Then to my amazement as I stood in the companionway looking up the bird in my National Geographies Birds of the USA it came and sat on my hand. They winter in South Florida and breed in the northern states, I guess it was on its way north and stopped for a ride. A few times it flew off and returned to the boat, and then it was gone. A very welcome visitor .

 All very tired we stayed the night at Cape Marina, Cape Canaveral.

Waiting for the tide

Its hot again, blue sky, little wind and not enough water for us to get out of the harbour. So we wait, when we came in the depth gauge was at 4 feet, only just enough for us to float, as the tide went out further our keel nestles into the muddy sand. Right now the tide is rising and the gauge says 3.3 and wait for 4, maybe another hour.

 Just about everything here is owned by Rosie, the marina, shop, bar , and liquor store. Rosie is rotund male of 60 with a pleasant manor. We had to go look for him this morning to pay our dues, money was exchanged on the pontoon , no receipts just a hand shake and good wishes for our voyage home.

 Photo taken the evening before at the harbour as the sun goes down spot lizzie returning with bag of fish having done deal with fishermen.

 The gauge now reads 3.4 feet, at least another hour before we can leave for the States.

Lizzie and Phil arrive

17th. Thursday

Arrived at Harbour view marina at around 1900 to find Vince sitting outside waiting for his crew,

 It had been a long day , three separate flights to get us from Washington to Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas . The previous day had also been tiring too, poor Lizzie passed out on the flight from Heathrow , thank goodness she was sitting in her seat at the time. Flight attendants were wonderful and she came round after a few wiffs of oxygen and having her feet raised above her head, a tricky operation in a airline seat. The flight attendants reassured Lizzie that this sort of thing happens about once a week and not to worry, however it was a little scary at the time . 

   Warm welcomes over and luggage on board we head for mangoes restaurant.

Good Friday

The plan for the return trip to the states starts to emerge,the weather doesn't look suitable for the crossing until mid the following week so we have time to cross the Bahamas to our departure point at a reasonably leasurely pace. So for Friday we set off with Orchid bay marina in mind but do so well we decide to go further to Green turtle Cay. This involves going out into the Atlantic for a couple of miles the back into the relatively tranquil sea of Abaco. A great sailing day wind a few waves and everybody enjoying it. Am particularly pleased how Lizzie copes with the Atlantic swell.

Saturday

Rain and wind forcast so we stay in Green Turtle Marina. A fine place to be stranded in.

Sunday

 Fine weather and a cracking sail up to Spanish Cay Marina, this place is expensive 2.75 a foot per night, but why not pamper ourselves? Jacuzzi, tennis courts, bars, pool, private beaches a hotel and we expected lots of other boats, a place with atmosphere and style. It was practically empty! Slips for 60+ boats and only six occupied, half I think were marina boats. Yes there were tennis courts.

And bars

This is Wreckers Bar, wrecked by a hurricane.

A lovely hermit crab that lizzie wanted as a pet!

It was strange. A deserted once fancy resort now rather down at the heel.

Easter Monday

Whilst tacking our way to Great Sale Cay we celebrated Easter with the only chocolate we had, a twix bar bought at Heathrow. On the second half of the journey we did a twenty mile reach at 7 knots plus can't be bad, here is the track

Tuesday morning,  predictions of 9 foot swell in the Gulf Stream scupper plans to leave early so we head for Grand Cay, diesel, milk, onions, and meat on shopping list. 

Lizzie doing breakfast.

Lizzie doing the Titanic thing whilst sailing.

Grand cay is very layed back place , everything is done slowly. We arrived early and had a lazy afternoon.

Tomorrow we head for the USA.

My last night...

So to recap :

We left Great Guana first thing in the morning and had a good sail over to Treasure Cay.  It's amazing sailing and being in the middle of the sea of Abaco and still be in only roughly 13-15 ft of water - the ocean so clear that you can see the bottom.  It kinda makes the shallow bits really unnerving :) It was an easy sail and we soon reached our destination.  We left Kinky Turtle and went for a lovely stroll through town to the beach.  The beach is over 3miles long and looks as if it has been used for many a front cover of holiday brochures - bright blue ocean as far the eye can see, fine white endless sand and the odd bar thrown in for good measure.  We made our way back to the path and found we were a bit further away than anticipated, which was fine - it was interesting to see how one side of the road had been developed with hotels, homes and holiday lets and the other had been left to its own devices and just grown.

We made it back to the marina and treated ourselves to a shower and said we would meet at the bar.  Two Sands beers (I like them) and dads tropical punch with rum later and we headed back to the boat.  We ate, facetimed family, snuggled down and slept - day 5.

We started early out of Treasure Cay to make the most of the day as the weather has been all over the shop this week.  We made the right decision, we sailed out to be greeted by bright blue skies and perfect winds for our direction.  We screamed across the bluest of blue water - an absolutely brilliant sail across to Man Of War, everything in our favour.  We reached Man of War just in time, picked up a mooring - out of wifi range - grabbed our things and headed to the Dock n Dine.  I was looking forward to this my first fresh fish supper (was lunch actually but felt later).  I ordered the Mahi Mahi and a beer and was promptly told it was a dry island - shame would have gone nicely with my lunch:)  However did not change an immensely enjoyable lunch - Mahi Mahi is a very tasty fish, pretty colours too. As we ate lunch we watched the rain come down and when it eased off  we headed for a walk towards the beach - would have been rude not to stop off for some dessert at the ice cream parlour.  Mahoosive helpings of ice cream in hand we headed to the beach only to be distracted by the odd gift shop - children would never forgive me going home empty handed. I had every intention of swimming in the ocean but when we reached the beach the waves were crashing and we both felt it was probably best left:(  We walked aways along the beach and again we snuck through to the main road, slightly off course - must start paying more attention on our lil strolls:) Made it back to the marina and decided to go back to the boat as the weather was starting to look a little off with great grey clouds looming.  No sooner had we got back the rain poured and continued for the best part of two hours and when the rain let up the wind came.  It was defo movie night on the Kinky Turtle and we had some beers;) On going to bed I heard this kind of buzzing static noise - turns out its thought to be krill eating the stuff off of the bottom of the boat - very cool! Day 6

Again an early ish start, sun was out and the winds were still there but not as harsh.  We went out of Man Of War stuck a tiny bit of the jib out (not much bigger than a handkerchief:) and again raced along at some 4.7knts - beautiful sail - only thing I've noticed is that it doesn't take long to get anywhere around here.  Still amazed by the oceans colours and depth or lack of - it really is the best way to see the Bahamas.  We hurtled across to Marsh Harbor as I have an early date with a taxi tomorrow morning.  Couldn't get on to a pontoon - would have been too luxurious anyway and anchored. We decided to reward ourselves with a little lazy time and I made the most of the sunshine on deck:)  However as the afternoon wore on, the ominous grey clouds that have been following us were arriving.  We grabbed our things and made a hasty exit to try and make the most of Marsh Harbour before the storm hit.  We managed to get a mile and a half up the road before we decided to go and hold up in Snappas for more Mahi Mahi (although Dad had a burger and was longingly looking at my fish dish:) and a few beverages - yay not a dry island:) Just as we were ordering our tea the rain came - perfect timing.  As we were sat eating lovely food, drinking lovely beer - I made a squeaky noise and pointed and there in the harbor were two dolphins! An absolutely splendid way to bring this whole amazing journey to a perfect end.  I feel I have really seen a huge part of the Abacus and made the most of the opportunities I could with weather permitting. Dad has been such fun to explore with and also great company to laze with.  Snorkeling was amazing and the difference between just off the beach at Hope Town and off the dive drop at Fowl Cay was really interesting.  Fowl Cay was so clear and had an abundance of flora/coral on the reef which was beautiful and very different to Hope Town.  Also at Fowl Cay you had the Reef on one side and as you turned and looked behind you there was just ocean to infinity and beyond it seemed. I really liked the harbor as Great Guana, think because it was surrounded by trees and the water was clear and you could see the bottom.  Hope Town is a great place to mooch and has a lovely community vibe - seeing the kids catch the school boat was a new one for me. So basically all in all and everything said and done - it's been a wonderful experience and I feel so lucky to have seen it all from the Kinky Turtle with her Captan my Dad - Day 7

Safe travels homewards X

My turn:-)

Arrived after to find my Dad where he said he'd meet me some 3000 miles from where I started, waiting on the pontoon at Hope Town. I had already been blown away by the truly amazing colours  of the ocean here but to be able to spend the next few days exploring it was just a dream come true.  We headed back to the Kinky Turtle - just have to say how cool it is to her all the way down here on an adventure - dropped off backpack and headed to the beach. We stopped for a coffee - I had iced chai tea - in a lovely coffee shop full of scrummy food. After we felt slightly more alive, we headed to the beach. It's the first time I've been snorkeling but headed straight in without hesitation, could not wait to see what was out there...ish. I had heard mention on the previous blogs of barracuda, nurse sharks and sting rays so was definitely craning my neck around a lot to make sure nothing crept up from behind. Instead I was treated to an array of reef fish without to much effort to look. Dad led the way and I followed until I had I have a break. We sat in the beach amazed at my luck for a first snorkeling sesh. When we asked up the beach I noticed the sand was so fine and soft it felt like flour under foot and when the waves covered it, it left it shiny almost looked like silk. When you walk along the beach you leave a deep footprint  from where you've been. As we headed back to the boat, we called in to Vernon's store for some famous fresh coconut bread. Then dad showed me the two chairs at the end of the road (see earlier blogs) this is a perfect spot to sit and relax or look for shells that have washed up on the shore. I picked one up not realising it still belonged to the occupant, a hermit crab:-) I put him down and watched his slow relaxed journey back up the shore. Just off in the shallows a man was fishing and caught a baby barracuda, he threw it back in after.
The colours of the houses, shops are complimented by the flowers - everything embraces colour and is so vibrant it gives you a happy feeling. As we reached the dinghy I saw my first sting ray glide under the pontoon - don't even need to snorkel and you can see amazing things. Back to the boat, tea, catch up and bed - day 1.
5 Woke up absolutely burnt to a cinder - be warned the sun is crazy hot! I never burn but I did yesterday and still do today.  Dad made me a lovely breakfast of French toast made with the coconut bread and some fresh coffee, had it up on deck and boy was the view good - what a way to start the day. In a kind of lucky way it is overcast which means I don't feel too bad about covering up and dodging along the roads to find shade when needed and also dodging golf carts as there are no cars here. Today consisted of mooching - we stopped at Sugar Shack for some YUM ice cream! Lots of nice gift and stuff to buy in there. I bought a diet coke. We were going to rent a golf cart but didn't get round to it. The wind was picking up and a storm was due. Headed to the beach for a quick dip to calm my amazing new hairstyle that had seemed to take over and turn into a matted bush. Sea tamed the mane of monstrosity and we went further down the beach to a place with a bar and decided to watch the ever impending clouds make their way towards us with a Sands Beer in hand - lovely beer and rather refreshing. Back to the boat and the detoured to go and have a look at the lighthouse. Such a treat to be able to climb to the top and a great opportunity to see all the mechanics of it - especially as it's a working lighthouse.  Then back to the boat then tea, more putting the world to rights and we managed to sneak in a couple of episodes of Only Fools and Horses (classic) before bed - day 2.

Day 2 - night time was when the storm came through, wasn't much but the wind blew, the boat rocked, the lightening rolled around in the sky, the rain came down and we took turns getting up to sort things.

The morning brought with it much of the same weather wise but in daylight.  The rain had stopped and so had the lightening but the wind was still blowing hard. We spent much of the day on the boat lazin' which was a luxury:-) I sat at the bow and read a book. As I read something caught my eye, I couldn't believe it, I slowly moved down the boat and got dad and told him there was a dolphin swimming around the boat - how cool was that! Then another appeared and they played in the wake of little dinghys, it was such a treat. We only went on land for more coconut bread:-) Also a quick dip in the ocean because I could:-) Also helped the hair again.  The wind stayed with us all day and night - day 3.

Today we woke, the wind was settling and this was it a break in the weather so we could move on to explore more. As soon as all was sorted aboard we headed towards Fowl Cay , Dad had said this was a good place to snorkel. The winds were still high  and the waves were rolling but we anchored. Dad set his fancy drift alert thang for the anchor but  the alarm kept going off so  I got my snorkel on and made sure that the anchor was in properly - the water was so clear, the shadow of the boat on the ocean floor and the anchor had taken and all was well.  Quick brunch, then set to getting everything ready. We got in the dinghy and headed to the dive point. Was starting to get concerned by the size of the waves but dad kept trying to reassure me. Saw a nurse shark just off of the dinghy we tried to follow it but it lost us pretty quickly. We kept crashing through the waves to the dive point, hooked up and dad jumped in. I stayed in the boat watching. When dad returned I stuck my head over the side of the dinghy and  could not resist - made dad wait in the boat to keep an eye me incase I got in to trouble  and jumped off the side in to the ocean. Was so nervous to begin with but then  just kind of relaxed and stopped worrying. A Sargent major came up about 30cms from my face - kinda looking at me like  strange but I guess he was probably thinking the same thing;-)  The reef was pretty and colourful and when you turned there was just vast ocean - amazing! Headed back to the dinghy and gracefully got in - not!  Getting in a dinghy in an ocean with biggish waves, flippers on and a slippery side on the dinghy ain't gonna be pretty -  infact slid right in, nearly slipped right the other side but saved myself with mahoosiive nose dive in to the bottom of the dinghy where upon heard dad having a little chuckle  offering to help take my flippers off as I was well and truly stuck!  Once regained composure went to the little beach and looked for shells. Then snorkelled from the beach back to the boat.  We had lunch and then dad came up with the fantastic idea of cleaning the bottom of the boat - what fun! I agreed and we decided one side each. After drinking part of the ocean and banging my head  several times with the waves , I decided my job was done ish! I headed to the back of the boat noticing dad wasn't in the water - apparently he had decided the tool he had wasn't good enough. The kitchen spatula I used worked rather well!!!;-) jobs done we set off towards Guana.  The clouds were starting to roll in but not before a  good spell in the sunshine. However as we sailed towed as the entrance the wind won and yes folks I had to put on a hoodie!!! What!! Picked up a mooring. Watched the last bit if sun fight it's way through the clouds, got togged up for the bar on the beach but then decided to have a looksee in the morning. We started to settle and heard a cry from another boat and sure enough another dolphin was swimming around the boats - just beautiful to watch and how privileged am I ? Two sightings in four days. Went down below deck - both dad and feeling like we should go out but just not loving the cool wind and that when the rain came for a spell, kinds made our minds up for us;-)  - day 4

The Power and the Glory...
Today is the day that I forsake the close to nature world of the wind driven, and get an introduction into the hydrocarbon driven world of power boating and sport fishing. Doug(The Owner), Mikey(The Captain) and Kendell(The 1st Mate) have kindly invited me along to take pictures during their offshore fishing trip. I'm excited and not a little nervous because the motion on a high speed power boat is quite different from anything I have experienced and I would hate to disgrace myself. The boat is about 50ft long, has a beam of about 14ft and draws 3ft. It is very luxurious and even has a button operated sliding door from the cockpit into the saloon. The bridge is way above my head, (I'm not allowed up there) and is reached by climbing a vertical ladder. We have twin turbocharged caterpillar diesels, each delivering 1000HP - goodness knows what the fuel consumption is.

For this adventure I have to get up early and I take a picture of the sunrise just for the record, then a few shots to record the amazing nature of the boat itself. We leave the dock at a stately 5 knots, the engines murmuring quietly below my feet. Everything feels quite normal. As we leave the harbour in a light, choppy sea the engines come to life with a roar, the deck trembles and we are off. Only 15 to 20 knots as yet, still too close to other people. Finally, there is an almighty rumble, coupled with the high pitched whine of the turbochargers and the boat gets up on a plane at around 25-30knots. It is exhilarating, noisy, wet (I stowed the camera inside) and, after a while, strangely hypnotic. The wake stretches out behind us in a white ribbon, the spray whips past the cockpit like tracer bullets and I retreat into a slight coma, my senses overwhelmed.

We travel like this for, I'm told, about an hour until we reach a stretch of the Atlantic Ocean identical to my eye to all other stretches. This is the place! The boat slows down and Kendell starts rigging not one, not two, but six fishing lines, arranged along 20ft outriggers each side of the boat. There are also two or three "teasers" which are lines with brightly coloure lures and no hooks, just to get the attention of any fish in the area. We then start to motor at low speed back and forth over various identical pieces of sea. Doug favours 6.8knots, Mikey 6.2knots. Kendell keeps quiet, this is obviously a delicate subject.
After about an hour, Kendell leaps into action, yelling "Fish" and doing many unknown things with rods and lines, the culmination of which is Doug in the hot seat reeling in a Mahi Mahi (Blue Dolphin, although a fish not a mammal!) The fish is brought alongside and Kendell gaffs it and drops it into the ice box. All this happens faster than I can keep up with. I got a picture of the hot seat, a picture of the fish alongside the boat, and that’s it. All over.

Not to worry I think, now I know what's going on I will do better next time.
Alas, there is no next time. We cruise around for another 4 hours without a single bite. Various changes to lures, lines and rods are made but to no avail. At 3pm they decide to call it a day. Unrig the lines, put stuff away and the whole noisy, high speed race starts again. We come back through the whale channel at 30knots and get back to the dock around 4pm. We have traveled further in 6 hours than Kinky Turtle can manage in a whole day or more. My body trembles slightly for about 4 hours, and my head buzzes all night.

Kendell shows Vince and I how to fillet the fish and gives us a big bag of mahi mahi steaks. I'm impressed by its size, but the crew are most definately not! We have fish and rice for dinner and excellent it was too! I go to bed exhausted. It's probably not the sport for me!

Return to Green Turtle, Syd Jumps Ship

March 28th - Time to head back South again. We return to Green Turtle. Fugue, the boat next to us in the marina tells us of the night they had in White Sound (where the marina is) on Monday night. They were anchored and the wind got up and they dragged across the Sound. They started up the engine and tried to anchor another three times but each time they dragged. They motored around for a 3-4 hours and then saw a private dock and decided they didn't care if they got chewed out the next day so they tied up to it. In fact the owner did come down the next day but was very sympathetic and said they did the right thing.
What a week for weather. Another boat came into the marina that had anchored out on Monday night. They were in a 55ft steel sail boat and when the anchor dragged they ended up stuck on the rocks (ironshore). They let off flares but no one noticed and then they called a May Day and the police turned up. With the help of another boat they were pulled off apparently with only scratches to the hull (I can't imagine this but he says he dived down to inspect it). When the police threw the tow rope back to him it missed and ended up wrapped around the prop. So they had to dive down to free that.
Syd is going out on the sport fish boat tomorrow, trading our 35HP diesel for twin 1,000HP. I'll let him blog about that.

Manjack Cay, What a Drag!

March 26th - Yesterday Syd came up with the idea of going out with Mike and Kendal (and Doug the owner) and photographing them fishing. They said it would probably be OK so we were going to stay another day but they didn't go out so we left and headed up to Manjack Cay. The wind was still blowing 18-20kts and we had to beat into to it but we enjoyed the sail and put into the southern anchorage next to Rat Cay (obviously no realtors involved in naming that Cay). It's reasonably sheltered from the NE and we were the first boat in so we tucked in close. Finished off the last of the mahi mahi for dinner, what a wonderful fish.

March 27th - still blowing 18-23kts. At first we planned to sail up to the next Cay, Powell Cay, but decided to stay where we were. We intended to go ashore and follow the two hiking trails that the guide book said were there but the day was cloudy and windy and we never did. Dinner is now back to dynamite chile and rice (we're working hard to make some impression on the inexhaustible sack of rice in the ship's stores). Syd turns in for the night. The wind has gone round to the SE and is still blowing hard. I go up on deck with the torch just to have a look around and tighten everything up. There is no moon and the night is really dark, you can't see any boundary between water, land and sky. The torch happens to pick out a white buoy off to side. I'm a bit puzzled as I don't remember there being one there during the day. I put on the chartplotter which takes a couple of minutes to start up and horror of horrors we appear to have dragged about 400yds. It's looks like we are not very far off a lee shore so I wake up Syd to get his opinion. He agrees with the situation and he's not happy either so we pull up the anchor which is caked in sand and grass and motor back to where we had originally anchored and drop the hook again with 120ft of line. It seems to be holding. I set an anchor alarm and get into bed. Syd stays at the helm for an hour and a half, making sure we don't have trouble with the falling tide as well as the anchor, before he goes back to bed.
Here's the plot, you can see that luckily we dragged along the shoreline although that was about to change and we would have been on the rocks if we had dragged another 100yds or so. Scary.

and here's the little white buoy that we were passing on our starboard side going backwards and the place we were heading towards. I don't know if the anchor would have held where it was but neither Syd nor I were comfortable waiting to find out.

Like Jonah We Make it Through the Whale

March 23rd - The window is blowing out of the North so we motor through the Loggerhead channel and then through the Whale. Once through we beat up to Green Turtle Cay, even had to break out the reef in the main. Our intention is to pick up a mooring in Black Sound and to explore the New Plymouth settlement but we can't find a mooring and are told the holding isn't very good so we go back out and up to White Sound. We pick up a mooring but then decide to put into the marina. The forecast is for bad weather on Monday night/Tuesday so we are going to be here for three nights.
The restaurant here is good so decided to eat there. When we're paying the bill Syd points out that the menu said that 15pct gratuity was included. It's a bit sneaky as it doesn't appear as an item on the bill. We ask the waitress and she says it is included but then she explains that the 15pct is divided among all the staff in the restaurant whereas if we had put a tip on the bill it would have just been her's. As we signed the check to the boat she says she has to ask us where the name came from. I explain that it was the previous owner gave the boat the name and not only is it bad luck to change the name but it has a good story to it. So she pulls up a chair and sits down, waiting for us to tell the story which I do. Don't you just love the Bahamians attitude to life.
After dinner we walk to the end of the dock and get talking to Kendal and Mike who are on a big sport fishing boat. We said that we were surprised at how few fish there were in the Sea of Abaco and they explained that they had just caught 12 mahi mahi (or blue dolphin - a fish not a mammal) and they gave us some. They go fishing outside the barrier reef. They're really experienced so we try to pick up as many tips as possible.
March 24th - We rent a golf cart and drive into New Plymouth. We stop at the museum but unfortunately it's lunch hour. So we get an ice cream and explore some more. We go down to the beach and watch a young barracuda stalking the other young fish in the shallows. New Plymouth is a small settlement but it does have a one way system so we drive around again to get back to the museum, still closed. We drive down to the statuary honoring the founders and VIPs. The plaque doesn't pull any punches when talking about the patriots treatment of the loyalists, about how they were tar'ed and feathered, run out of their homes and their property confiscated.
Round again and still the museum is closed must be a big lunch. We head down the hill and do some grocery shopping. Back round to the museum, still closed. The lady in the bakery says he is also a realtor so might be out showing property. We give up but then get a message that Nicholas is back in surgery again for his wisdom tooth. Can't get a connection. Where was it we found a signal. We drive round again. This is beginning to feel like the golf cart version of the Monte Carlo rally. Finally give up and head back for the marina. When we get back we have time to spare on the golf cart so we drive over to Bluff House marina to see what that is like. The road is very bad with lots of pot holes. We stop at a sign that says "warning steep hill" and faces down to the beach and the Sea of Abaco. We decide to go for it and I put my foot down on the accelerator, nothing happens. Like the golf cart is saying "No way am I going down there". A guy passing by looks into the golf cart and says "it's your battery" and tells us to coast down the other hill to the marina. We do, apparently BTC is having problems, the phones are out. We ask the marina staff to call the dive center (where we rented the cart) on VHF and they do and they come and pick us up
March 25th - We do the laundry and generally hang out as this is the bad weather day. A boat comes into the slip next to us and nearly takes out the piling as the wind is blowing it hard on to it. Apparently they were at anchor last night rafted up with their friends boat. They said it was a nightmare. I can only imagine, given the aft cleat had been torn out and the rubbing strake was badly damaged.

I should add that internet access really sucks in Green Turtle Cay hence the lack of posts.

Who the Fuck is Barefoot Man?

March 22nd - I'm not angry or vexed, it's just that we went to Nippers to hear Barefoot Man and one of the songs he sang was Smokie's 1976 hit "Alice", the Gompie version.

Alice at Nipper's

Nipper's March 2013

You Don't Have to Be Gay to Ride a Ferry

BEC

yet more

I thought it was Barefoot Man's parody of the song but it turns out that Smokie did a parody of their own song. Anyway, it was a fun evening as Barefoot Man has some great songs, including one titled "I Should Have Used a Condom" which he introduced by saying that he had two daughters that his wife describes as "her little angels" and he calls "mistakes". He says since he played it to them they haven't spoken to him in a year other than to ask for money.
We had left the dingy at the dive dock and walked along the beach to get to Nippers. We had remembered to get out the anchor light and the torch and yet somehow we had left the torch so after leaving Nippers we walked down to the harbour and then headed up a road that we we had walked once in the daytime and was now complete blackness so that that you couldn't even see where the road ended and the bushes began. With no moon Abaco can be really dark. I guess it was a good thing that we hadn't drunk much as we did find our way back to the dock. The night before there had been some incident between a boat and the ferry and it was suggested alcohol played a part.

Syd's Quiet Days in Marsh Harbour

So the plan was for Vince to go to see the family in Nassau and for me to boat sit. I'd do laundry, write some postcards, take the ferry to Hopetown and Man O'War and spend a couple of days photographing the local area. Well, that was the plan.
Vince left Monday evening, weather warm and pleasant. I had a quiet meal in Mangoes (blackened grouper, excellent) and pottered gently back to the boat for the night. At about 06.30 I was woken by lots of bumping and banging. Got up in time to see an empty tender plus outboard, which had bounced off our hull, heading down wind with another (manned) tender in pursuit. As I watched the attempts to catch the loose boat I realised that there was rather more wind than I expected. Forcast was 10 to 20 and it was already over 20 knots. I also realised that whereas we were anchored on 70ft of chain with lots of room early last night, we were now on 70ft of chain with neighbours only 30ft away. Many late arrivals during the night and early morning! Looking at their chain angles it was clear that some of them were on a very short scope.I spent the next 6 hours sitting in the companionway taking transits on all the nearby boats and listening to the sound of engines running, more chain being released, and general mayhem. Another dingy went by, not being chased this time and all the time the wind was rising and veering so that it was now blowing uninterrupted into the harbour. 10:00, 25, 30, 35 knots, wind still rising. At around 11.00 I heard a loud splash behind me as our dingy, which was tied up as short as I could get it, took off and turned over. It was a major struggle to get it back up the right way and to retie it even tighter to the transom.I sat another couple of hours, just watching with my fingers crossed (and my toes) and slowly, oh so slowly, the wind started to ease. By 14.00 it was down to 30 knots and by 15:00, down to 25.People started to emerge from hidey holes and collect the pieces.
I drained some fuel from the outboard and filled the bore with WD40 but couldn't empty the water from the carburettor, so no usable engine. Worse still, at some time the oars had vanished overboard, never to be seen again. Luckily I was able to arrange a tow with my nearest neighbour for the next morning (we were close enough to have a pleasant conversation without shouting!). I went to bed exhausted from all the nervous tension of the day.
Next day was spent getting the outboard serviced and in a fruitless search for oars. Seems that no-one rows a dingy these days! The stores had lots of paddles, or decorative oars, but none had any that were useful for the avon dingy. I asked around and was given a fantastic amount of help by folk trying to locate a used pair (in the garage under the dock, in the loft...) but to no avail. I finally found a pair of used longish paddles (thanks, Moorings) which were usable. Collected the outboard which had been emptied, cleaned, serviced and refuelled and went back to the boat. Most of my closest neighbours had left, so I could relax.
The talk in Snappers bar (I was forced to go there to get decent wifi coverage, honest, nothing to do with the beer) was 35, 40 and as the evening went on 45, 50 knots, flying debris, missing tenders, dragging anchors, and multiple close encounters. Naturally, the events escalated as the evening wore on, but the middle of the morning remains in my mind as a very tense 2 to 3 hours. Its probably good that Vince wasn't here!
Vince returned to a quiet, warm, relaxed evening having had a great time visiting his family. He took the news of the events very calmly and wanted to know why I hadn't taken any pictures for the blog! Laundry, ferry and photography will have to wait for another occasion!

Back to Marsh Harbour

Saturday 15th - we have a great sail beating back to Marsh Harbour. The plan is to anchor there for the week while I join the family down in Nassau. We had come to the conclusion that the Abacos wouldn't work for Nick, so we're Atlantis bound. It's my 63rd birthday so we go to Mangoes for dinner, a good meal unfortunately they don't have key lime pie as "the lady hadn't made them that morning". So, not store bought so doubly disappointing, still something to look forward to.
Sunday 16th - We walk to the Abaco Beach Resort to hear the Bahamas Symphony Orchestra.

It's a fund raiser for the Pathfinders organization that helps put Abacos students through college. We enjoyed it very much and not just because of the free wine and food. There was also a silent auction and I was just outbid on a glass bowl with a spiral pattern, but at least I managed to get the price up. When we come out we hear a mockingbird singing in a tree as if having an audience of music lovers he was going to show what he could do. We stood for a long time listening to his songs.

We decided to take a walk around the harbour to the point. The gardens have some interesting trees that seem to grow roots by crawling across the rocks.

One of the things I hate to see in the Abacos is access to the water being cut off by private property. Man o ' War and Elbow Cay have roads or paths that go to the beach, or harbour but newer developments seem to be allowed to parcel up the land into a jigsaw of private enclaves. Seems we used to understand they were communal resources that required access to all and we've lost that understanding.
No more blogging until I get back from Nassau. Sad to say there's yet another cold front coming through on Tuesday.

Hope Town Marina

Wednesday 12th - Low tide is 1pm so we figure we need to be in Hope Town by 11am. We skip breakfast and head out. The wind is blowing 15-20kt on our nose so we motor. Syd realizes we have left the outboard on the dinghy. We didn't want to try bringing it up in the dark last night and completely forgot about it this morning. We slow down, Syd climbs down and tilts the motor up but the bow is still lifting high as the wind gets under it. We tie it lower and cut our speed to 4kts.
We get into to the harbour OK but the few moorings that are available are private or not usable. Now we're trapped we don't want to risk going out again on a falling tide so pick up a private mooring and consider our options. We call Hope Town marina and they have a slip so we take it. It's a resort marina with pool, poolside bar, restaurant etc.. We do go in the pool but don't attempt the table tennis as it's too windy. We dinghy over to Hope Town to get some of Vernon's coconut bread. We take a walk to the and of the upper road and sit in the chairs (I call it the cialis view).

It didn't look like this, the wind is blowing hard and there were white caps on the waves so we were pretty comfortable with our decision to stay in the marina.
Thursday 13th - We do our laundry.
Friday 14th - The wind has shifted round to the SE and is blowing into the marina. We consider staying for another day but it's $2/ft and we've had enough of sitting in a marina. They can't find the key to unlock the water, then they can't find the bolt cutters so we lend them ours. We fill up and leave. We had a great sail up to Fisher's Bay and picked up a mooring there.

Fowl Cay - Yes We Have No Barracuda

Tuesday 11th - We sail to Fowl Cay and in the spirit of you have to get straight back on the horse we go snorkeling. Only see blue tangs, queen parrot fish, yellow tail snappers and sergeant majors but today that's goodness.
We are going to have to hide out for a couple of days so we head for Hope Town but we worry there may be no moorings left. The tide is falling too so we put into Man o' War. After the entrance we decide to go into the eastern harbour (so called because it is to the south of the main harbour). The fear was that if we went into the main harbour first and found there weren't any moorings we may not have enough water to get back into the eastern harbour. Seems a good choice until we find that we can't get any internet from our mooring and we have to dinghy up to the other harbor anyway just to go ashore, which we do and dock and dine it again.

Baker's Bay and the Barracuda

Monday 10th - The weather hadn't cooperated with our plans to go to Green Turtle Cay and beyond so we have time to kill so we relax this morning.

We have two days of light and variable winds ahead of us then come Thursday we'll be hiding out from the wind again. So we take things easy. We go to the grocery store which is quite good here and we're tempted to stay for another night but around midday we shake off the lethargy and decide to sail to Baker's Bay and take the dinghy around the top of the island to the dive sites. Well it seemed a good idea at the time. Here's Baker's Bay looking toward the top of the island.

There is a marina but they've just decided it's only open to members and those who stay for at least two nights, i.e. no riff raff. We anchor. The rather ambitious plan was to take the dinghy round to the Atlantic side where there are reefs and dive buoys. It takes about forty minutes to motor round including having to run between two rocks with waves breaking on either side. We're about to turn around and come back but Syd spots a dive buoy over by the barrier reef. We tie up to the buoy and I jump in (Syd has chosen not to snorkel and is wearing slacks and has a book to read). After a short while (Syd claims it was 30 seconds) I'm climbing back into the dinghy saying "I hate barracuda". I'd reached the reef and ran into a gang of three of them.

I really couldn't just give up after the effort to come all that way so I go back in. Over to the reef again. I swim over the shallower parts in the hope the barracudas don't swim there. I come round a corner and there is the gang of three. I do a 180 trying to look casual rather than panicky. The next corner I run into another. He eyes me steadily swims a little closer while I put my head up to look for the dinghy. Syd is standing in the dinghy and waving his arms. I head for the dinghy with one eye on the barracuda. It's swimming along in the same direction. I notice it has a hook wedged in it's mouth. OK so he's had a really bad day and now looks like a punk with a nose piercing. I swim steadily back to the dinghy and haul myself out hoping nothing attacks my legs as I struggle to get in. Syd says he was really worried about me as something about 6' long and about a foot in diameter swam around the dinghy twice about 3' underneath it. At this point we decide that is enough adrenaline for one day and head back to the boat, with visions of a nice hot cup of tea.

This bay defeats all attempts at connecting to the internet but I find I have a note from Phil which I presumably got before leaving Treasure Cay. It contains the sad news that our friend Martin Trotter died of cancer this morning at 11:30am. A kind, thoughtful and generous man with a great mind. I had hoped he would be able to come on this trip but he'd said no he had to look after his chickens which I think meant he knew he wouldn't be able to do it. We ate dinner on deck as the sun went down and toasted Martin our absent friend. We'll always remember you fondly until there are none of us left to remember.