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Thursday  the 7^{th  Chubs to the Berrys}

We left for Nassau at 10AM when the winds (as predicted) went South and moderated…. However, the seas had not moderated at all.  We were angling into 6 to 6 ½ footers out of Chubs, so we decided to go where the wind allowed – which was to make a left to look for calmer water somewhere up the Berry Islands rather than beat all the way to Nassau.  I knew about a nice anchorage at Bonds Cay, I had been here before so we agreed that would be our best option – that’s where we parked our Seawinds for the evening.  As we came in the cut he sun came out.. the waters went crystal clear over pure white sand and the waves went to nothing.  It was a blessing to get out of the leftover chop.. everyone was smiling.  After dropping the hook we explored the distant beaches by dinghy.  The scenery was great as we took separate directions from our beach landing point mid for the 2 hour beachcombing walk.  Jono and I enjoyed the low tide finds, and it gave Mike and Laurie some Bahamas alone time.

Mike and Laurie saw sea turtles, big star fish and even a fleet of 7’ sharks swimming by as they rode in the dinghy heading back from the beach.  Jono and I came back earlier than Jumanji’s two, Jono decided to do some fishing since we didn’t catch anything on the highly anticipated Chubs exit.  Chubs is sport fishing paradise and we had some pretty nice baits out but we didn’t do any good trolling, however…..  we cooked up 3 nice fish Jono caught at anchor, it was enough meat for all four of us.  I’m not sure what kind of fish they were but man they were good, fine little scales and with flaky white meat, each one over 2 feet long…. Nicely done Jono.   We brought them over to Jumanji right out of the pan and ate them while the batter was still sizzling.

Bonds is a great anchorage, lots of baby blue water, totally protected from the SE swell that was banging us on before we bailed out on the run to Nassau.  Winds outside – during our beating had died to 6 knots but the leftover seas were a true burden.  Hopefully they will have moderated in the morning to match the windspeed of the day.  Our plan is to sneak out at daylight and make another run for Nassau 32 miles away.  Going where the wind took us today was a great choice, we would not have found and experienced this fine day without the wavy persuasions of the morning.

It’s absolutely flat here in the anchorage tonight, very little wind of any kind – it’s like the boats are floating in the air…. It’s a magical place.  I see Jono back there fishing again…. I think he’s having a large time.  He caught our dinner on a small yellow white perch jig.

Sea Yawl Later !!  Rusty

It’s 8:30 in the morning now,  SUN!  the sun popped out here at Chubs.  Hopefully my solar panels will enjoy it; last night we used a lot of power so the batteries need a bump.  I didn’t expect to see much sun today so this is a treat.  Water color over the sandy white bottom absolutely lights up your eyes in full sun.  Jono is still sleeping, nothing to get up early for this morning, it’s nice to enjoy a lazy day.  I got up at 6:30 to listen to Chris so I could discuss the weather forecast with Mike.

Yesterday I declared war on rust spots.  Languishing in Louisiana SYL drooled a little…. sitting largely unattended while I worked so many hours she made a few rust spots.  I put in a couple hours yesterday and I may try to finish that clean up today.  It’s nice to work on improvements rather than necessary repairs.  I have some new lines I need to finish as well.  The ends of the lines fray unless you whip them with twine or manage some other finish.  I’m going to try Ted’s trick of using electrical shrink sleeves then cutting the line straight and clean.  I think I’ll like that result.

There goes a big yacht towing his 30’ dinghy.  He’s passing Chubs now heading for points South.  That boat is a Tiger Woods / rock star sized ship.  I often wonder how people do that.. who’s on that huge boat and how that all came about.  I’m quite happy with my little tub, but man…. there are so many big boats around I never imagined there were that many rich folks out there.  I guess it resets the bar to see that much fiberglass floating around.  OK, he’s coming back by the entrance the opposite direction; Chubs must have offered him a slip for under $1,000/day.  You can’t pass up a bargain like that, right?  Last night a ship almost that big anchored right in the entry channel, maybe that’s why he didn’t head right in.  Maybe I’ll get to meet Kenny Chesney after all… lol.  Nope, the flag on “Amarula Sun” is not American, it’s Jamaican.

9:00 and the sun is still out, what a bonus.  Jono took the dinghy into the harbor.  I think he’s dumping trash and getting the wifi passwords.

11:30 – With the wind change we swung out too close to the harbor channel so I anchored up further into the cove while Jono was away.  While on the foredeck hooking up the anchor bridle I found a whole patch of new rust!  When I cut the old crusty lock off yesterday, apparently some grind filings got away from me (thought I had them contained) so I just finished scrubbing that off.  One step forward and two steps back….

We are still getting some intermittent sun; we gained .3 volts in the batteries from our solar panels so far today.  I normally operate between 12 and 12.9 volts so adding .3 is a good bump.

I’m starting to feel my weight loss, I always lose weight being active here on the boat, but with Jono on board all the heavy lifting is done for me so I’m not as active as voyages past.  I suspect I’ll still lose weight but not as rapidly as before.  It would be nice to drop 20 or 30# this trip.  In the past I’ve dropped 45, but that was over 6 months.  I haven’t shaved since I left so I’m getting pretty wooly.

I think I see a little gray sneaking in there, oh yeah… a lot of gray….. I gotta go for that windswept captain look out here you know… Jono’s styling prowess has me thinking “boat theme”.  Linda gave me a close hair cut before leaving so I’m OK there, but I have this sea captain thing going on right now with nobody to please but myself.  Actually I dislike sleeping with a beard and won’t keep it… but a salty sailor needs to look the part.

Chubs has wifi, and we have the passwords but we must be out too far from the source to hook up so I still can’t publish.  When I finally get to wifi I’ll have weeks to upload.  I can’t even get google to come up much less upload text or photos.

4PM:  I took the dink in to plan tomorrow’s trip with Jumanji, as I was pulling out of the harbor I ran into “Forever Young” as they came in to dock.  Richard and Laurie have a 78 foot Hatteras that may be the best example of the brand on the water.  We met them at “Pirate Beach” at Big Majors a few years ago.  They will be at Big Majors when we go thru there, that’s a huge plus for the Seawind flotilla.  Hopefully we can all go aboard the awesome motor yacht “Forever Young”.  They took a slip opposite Jumanji, I helped them tie up.

Jono is baking some breaded fish fillets and corn for dinner.  It smells fantastic.  Tomorrow our plan is to run the 120 to 140’ depth profile around the berry islands and see if we can pick up some fresh meat!  This will be one of the best opportunies to catch fish on the trip.  Unfortunately we lost a great hookup as we entered the NW channel yesterday.  I wasn’t prepared to turn into the wind and reel in a fish when the reel started singing, I was focused on transit rather than dinner.  When the fish hit I didn’t round up so we lost what could have been our first big catch.

Winds are laying now.. it’s almost 5PM.  I have high hopes that tomorrow’s sail will be one of those 10% days… Laurie and Mike need one of those.  WOW  the dinner Jono put out is reminiscent of one of Linda’s meals.  It’s not a one dish dinner like I make, it has great flavor and smells as good as it taste. Fish, corn and buttered bread!

Jono has all the best lures tied on the fishing rods for tomorrow.  We are super hopeful we get something to fry up between SYL and Jumanji when we hit Nassau.  We checked our fish fry stock and we are all good.

Sea Yawl Later !!  Jono and Rusty

I just listened to Chris Parker’s 6:30AM weather on the SSB for Wednesday 4-6-16.  As predicted we will get a clocking of wind from North to East and up to a 30 mph blow today as a weak front passes and dissipates.  The event is short lived; winds will lay tonight and move around from East to SE making tomorrow’s 30 mile trip to Nassau a downwind cake walk.  Listening to Chris, we are still stuck in the winter weather patterns.  Normally these fronts have quit pushing this far south.  Spring weather patterns normally moderate the winter blows by April… hopefully the Bahamas will come into “spring” soon.

Reason said we could have made the trip to Nassau yesterday, but after the 100 mile spirited sail from Bimini, a layover was definitely in order.  If we hadn’t waited… we would have all missed the great beach we found yesterday.  More often than not… waiting is the right answer but when your time limited like all vacations are, it’s hard to slow down enough to do the trip right.  Luckily we did it right this time.  So far we haven’t rushed through any destination.  We did Bimini justice, the Berry islands got a quick look and tomorrow we will go to the zoo.  Not literally the zoo, but to Nassau.

I call Nassau a zoo because of all the tourist activity and boat traffic.  Nassau is almost always a stopover because of its geographical location; it’s on the way to the Exumas.  We might top off our fuel there, but we are only down 5 gallons since Bimini.  I probably will go to the grocer and to Batelco just across the parking lot to activate my Bahamian phone.  From the zoo, it’s South to paradise!  The Exumas…..  No more long trips for a while, I’ll try and slow down my mind to “Island Time” and enjoy every corner of each stop.  Unfortunately I already see the end of our trip approaching but choose not to dwell on it.  I don’t overstate it when I say this passage has been an intrepid endeavor.

There have been many difficult obstacles to overcome this year after leaving New Orleans on SYL.  Most would probably have called off the trip.  Some say I should have, but at this moment my eyes are filled with the amazing blue water colors of the Bahamas.  No it’s not sweeter for the trials; they have taken their toll on the volume of my happiness.  I guess “glad we persevered” is still to be determined.  The trips start gave us a lot to get over, hopefully the remainder of the trip will overcome the truly ugly start.

I have had special moments with Jonathon, and with the Jumanji crew.  It’s been very special sailing next to Mike on a sister ship.  I suspect when the full Seawind fleet of four assembles in the Exumas, I might be able to say “It was worth it”.  You know a woman’s home is her castle.. but for a man it’s his garage stuff.  I haven’t lost the lump in my throat when I think of the 15’ long dumpster full of my things I lost in the flood.  Linda falling and having to be operated on a second time for her knee was heart breaking, I went home for that and the flood but there was certainly no joy in it.. only love for Linda and duty of cleaning up after the flood.  We beat into weather for 2 weeks after making my way back to the boat trying to make Florida, the boat had issues… getting to where I sit was not an easy thing this year.  Linda is not with me so much of my joy is automatically missing in that, this trips joy may be more about getting to know my son, and training him to be a sailor.

Jonathon wants more than anything to buy a sailboat and cruise the Bahamas for an extended time.  I look at him and see his wheels rolling often.. thinking about what it would be like… writing down favorite places…. He’s processing the possibilities.  I’m glad I can pass along what I have learned about weather, navigation and the art of sailing.  He may choose not to do it, and that’s perfectly fine with me… but if he does he won’t start out at ground zero.

Tuesday April 4, 2016  Great Bahama Banks

SYL and Jumanji left Bimini at first light yesterday, Monday the 4^th.  We did not stop on the banks overnight for two reasons:  1. Waves were higher than expected so overnighting in the open water was not appealing.  2.  We made such good travel time it was possible to anchor in Chubs Cay – Berry Islands (another 15 miles or so) before dark.

This was a record setting Banks crossing.  With current against us the entire time we averaged almost 8 knots over water for this 100 mile sun up to sundown day.  We left at 7AM and planted our anchor at 7:30PM!  So far on this trip all weather reports should have been bumped by a factor of at least 1.5.  If they said winds were 10, they were 15 or better.  The sailing was great yesterday with waves off our port bow, we could roll them nicely but it was indeed another “man sailing” day ….. quite brisk.  I found a perfect sail set that made the boat drive through the waves sweetly.  I travelled down to put all the main sheet lift on the leeward hull.  That made the side to side motion less active.  Travelling down also opens the boom so the sail is powerful over the big waves all the way to the foot.

SYL.. Rusty

Crossing the gulfstream can be the most treacherous leg of our Bahamian argosy.  Often people never gather the courage to “cross the stream” due to its bermuda triangle / dangerous legacy.  Water currents flow North as fast as 3 knots along the East coast of the US, so if winds blow in any opposing direction to the relentless current waves can double in size and be very hard to traverse.  I have been lucky in years past, we crossed a dozen times, this traverse rates somewhere in the middle of the pack.

We left Islamorada for a night crossing with expectations of SE winds at 12 knots… going true South and up to 15 during the night.  That would have been perfect sailing conditions but true to crossing legacy we didn’t get that…. Winds were almost due East (in our face) for 80% of the trip luckily waves had some South direction in them so we weren’t pounding to weather; we were rolling them 45 degrees off the bow.  SYL and Jumanji were able to sail without engines the last 20 miles when we finally got some South component.

The crossing was fast, I haven’t done the math – but be saw almost 10 knots of ground speed late in the trip.  We planned for a 15 to 16 hour passage; our trip time was 13 hours so we made quick work of the 90+ miles from Snake Creek.  Unfortunately our early arrival put us here before the morning sun.  Entering the Bimini channel requires good light so we set our anchors in the sandy Bahamian beach just outside the cut and waited with great expectation as the sun filled in the colors of the beautiful baby blue watery canvas our boats were now a part of.

This crossing was “not for the faint of heart”.  Linda knows exactly what that means because we have made this type crossing before… doable but more to the liking of burly men than faint of heart.  I can’t say I liked it, but it was not a disaster either…. I would repeat rather than regret the endeavor.

Bimini customs has moved, so naturally we parked in the wrong place.  A bit weary after the all night voyage we moved our ships to “Bimini Big Game Club” to check in first at customs, then to immigrations.  The process was painless, $150 and 4 or 5 sheets of paperwork and we are in!  It does require two trips if you have crew, they can’t come with you to immigration but they have to sign their own entry papers.

Mike and I debated about dockage, if we wanted to plug and pay….. but we found a decent anchorage at the North end of North Bimini next to the big fancy resort.  After getting our hooks placed in the sand we all took a nap… when I say I napped.. I actually did what I call “slobber sleeping” I went unconscious for 3 hours.  Reconvening  as a group after noon, we discussed our options for the day.

Weather looked OK for a spirited run to the Exumas the next day (April 2^nd but there was a chance (if we didn’t hurry) we would be in open water for a northern blow.  We all wanted to see Bimini rather than just say “we went there” but were too wiped out to enjoy the day ashore.  We decided to move on…. Then we all took another nap.

I woke up and saw Mike and Laurie heading to the resort in their dink.  When my eyes cleared I drank a big glass of water and followed them ashore while Jono slept.  As it turned out the resort welcomes anyone to come spend their money, even trashy boat people that park at their doorstep for free… so we did.  After the first 15 dollar drink I found out why they were good with it… lol.  One drink, then I came back for Jono, we all ate pizza at the pizza joint.  So… with clearer minds (and a 15 dollar Bahama Mama) we revised our float schedule.

After finding a great off boat option we decided to do Bimini right and spend a few days here at our leisure.  We spent the extra hours getting here instead of blasting across the banks immediately so we might as well enjoy it.  This morning (April 2^nd) we slept in.  I can see people stirring on Jumanji as I write.  The wind has picked up, I feel happy we aren’t out in it.  Today winds start our high but are forecast to lay during the day so our trip would have started briskly putting everyone on edge right off… glad we stayed.  The rigging sings at 12 knots and it’s singing to me now.  Without looking at instruments I generally know conditions by the sounds of the boat.  I guess 50,000 miles of sailing gives you that.. at least.

We rented a golf cart for $85/day for the trek to Alice Town (old Bimini) today… we bought some bimini bread and shopped the wares around the small circular tourist heart of North Bimini.  I bought Jono a chartreuse green long sleeve Bimini shirt for his birthday.  Two roads run most of the islands length.  The main road has businesses along both sides but the second road is primarily local housing.  We were driving down the residential coast road on the golf cart and smelled some great cooking as we passed a little take away shop about 1:30 so we turned around and discovered some true Bahamian food on the “locals” side of the island.  Fried fish, potato salad with peas and rice.  The four of us took our local fare to a shady spot overlooking the water and had a mini feast just above the beach.  Earlier we found loads of descent sea glass on the North end of the islands sand bar, our lunch spot beach had the same allotment, so we did very good on sea glass here at Bimini.  Check that one off the list!

Mike and Jono just brought our empty gas cans (two per boat) to town on the cart to be filled.  That will top us off for the next long run toward the Exumas.  Gas was $4.20 per gallon.. very good for the islands.

We normally see one or two sea planes landing somewhere every trip.  But parked here at the resort, they we are getting 5 or 6 turbopropped 16 seater sea planes per day.

They circle in right by our boat offloading 8 to 12 people per load.  RWB also has a couple signature red/orange ferries running from the commercial airport on South Bimini.  They seem to have a booming business here at “Resorts World Bimini”.  The anchorage is fine, holding seems good but there is not a lot of room, 5 or 6 boats fill it up.

8PM Saturday night:  We found so much sea glass on our earlier excursion we decided to make another run at it so we loaded back on the cart and went to the ocean side beach about the middle of Bimini Road.  The four of us probably picked up another quart of glass.. nice haul.  After beachcombing we went back to the resort and had our obligatory $15 dollar Bahama Mama rum drink overlooking the big expensive boats in the harbor – then turned in our golf cart for the day.  As I sit back on the boat I’m enjoying one of Jono’s famous chili dogs..

Today truly felt like the first day of our vacation.. not just a “get there day” like we have had so many of on our intrepid journey toward the Bahamas.  At times turning for home seemed to be the right answer.. and we did.  Somehow the allure of blue water was so strong with me.. and my plans to sail so ingrained we persevered…. thru all the turmoil and troubles we finally made it.. we are here.. finally enjoying the Bahamas.

It seems the front may come thru a day early so we may not have to wait out a blow on Monday, it may come tomorrow!  That puts us on the move again monday morning as the cool dry North winds clear out the skies and blow us East then South to our final destination in the Exumas.  It’s likely we will make a long 140 mile leg this next time.. all the way to Highborne Cay or Normans.  As always our plans are in sand and that washes off easily with a bit of water…. so long for now.

We have been expecting a front to come thru, it just did.  We are still comfortably anchored in Bimini to wait out the weather event.  It just began raining so SYL is getting a free bath….

Tomorrow we will check weather but conditions should be favorable to make a run to the Exumas.  It will be a long leg if we go all the way across the banks and down to Allen’s Cay.  Travelling South behind a weak cold front is a great option.  The weather clears, you get low humidity and sunny days with favorable winds for several days in a row.  This front is not only cleaning our boat, its setting us up for a nice run to our destination.

We got a bonus really, this front wasn’t due until tomorrow.  It’s great that it will come and go a day early so we can too!  We are filled with gas so all services on the boat are ready, We motored quite a bit on the crossing but only burned 8 gallons.

Not much else to report today.. we will nap and be lazy while it rains.  Jono put Rain X on the front windows and this morning you can certainly tell they are cleaner.  Water sheets on the unprotected windows but beads off the front.

I may play with my radar and watch the rain clouds go by….. All is good here, Sea Yawl Later !!

7:30PM  The rain has passed, it’s only partly cloudy now…  winds would have been good to travel on today.. but it wasn’t a given with all the clouds.   There could have been embedded gusts and squalls, but it didn’t happen in Bimini.   We played it safe and stayed one more day… that’s usually the best idea.  In the morning we are good to go…… our goal is to get out of here at 7AM, drive 60 miles and park on the banks overnight….  then make another 60 miles to Nassau Tuesday where we will pick up fuel and head South for Allen’s Cay.  At that point we will be in the Exumas and make short hops down toward Georgetown as weather allows.

Tonight we will leave Bimini resort wifi… our journey leads us to more and more remote locations so I’m not sure when we will post again.  It may be several days before we pick up the world wide web again.  Follow us on Spot….. we hope you have as much fun watching as we do sailing….

Sea Yawl Later !!  Rusty

Crossing the gulfstream can be the most treacherous leg of our Bahamian argosy.  Often people never gather the courage to “cross the stream” due to its bermuda triangle / dangerous legacy.  Water currents flow North as fast as 3 knots along the East coast of the US, so if winds blow in any opposing direction to the relentless current waves can double in size and be very hard to traverse.  I have been lucky in years past, we crossed a dozen times, this traverse rates somewhere in the middle of the pack. 

We left Islamorada for a night crossing with expectations of SE winds at 12 knots… going true South and up to 15 during the night.  That would have been perfect sailing conditions but true to crossing legacy we didn’t get that…. Winds were almost due East (in our face) for 80% of the trip luckily waves had some South direction in them so we weren’t pounding to weather; we were rolling them 45 degrees off the bow.  SYL and Jumanji were able to sail without engines the last 20 miles when we finally got some South component.

The crossing was fast, I haven’t done the math – but be saw almost 10 knots of ground speed late in the trip.  We planned for a 15 to 16 hour passage; our trip time was 13 hours so we made quick work of the 90+ miles from Snake Creek.  Unfortunately our early arrival put us here before the morning sun.  Entering the Bimini channel requires good light so we set our anchors in the sandy Bahamian beach just outside the cut and waited with great expectation as the sun filled in the colors of the beautiful baby blue watery canvas our boats were now a part of.

This crossing was “not for the faint of heart”.  Linda knows exactly what that means because we have made this type crossing before… doable but more to the liking of burly men than faint of heart.  I can’t say I liked it, but it was not a disaster either…. I would repeat rather than regret the endeavor.

Bimini customs has moved, so naturally we parked in the wrong place.  A bit weary after the all night voyage we moved our ships to “Bimini Big Game Club” to check in first at customs, then to immigration.  The process was painless, $150 and 4 or 5 sheets of paperwork and we are in!  It does require two trips if you have crew, they can’t come with you to immigration but they have to sign their own entry papers.

Mike and I debated about dockage, if we wanted to plug and pay….. but we found a decent anchorage at the North end of North Bimini next to the big fancy resort.  After getting our hooks placed in the sand we all took a nap… when I say I napped.. I actually did what I call “slobber sleeping” I went unconscious for 3 hours.  Reconvening  as a group after noon, we discussed our options for the day.

Weather looked OK for a spirited run to the Exumas the next day (April 2^nd but there was a chance (if we didn’t hurry) we would be in open water for a northern blow.  We all wanted to see Bimini rather than just say “we went there” but were too wiped out to enjoy the day ashore.  We decided to move on…. Then we all took another nap.

I woke up and saw Mike and Laurie heading to the resort in their dink.  When my eyes cleared I drank a big glass of water and followed them ashore while Jono slept.  As it turned out the resort welcomes anyone to come spend their money, even trashy boat people that park at their doorstep for free… so we did.  After the first 15 dollar drink I found out why they were good with it… lol.  One drink, then I came back for Jono, we all ate pizza at the pizza joint.  So… with clearer minds (and a 15 dollar Bahama Mama) we revised our float schedule.

After finding a great off boat option we decided to do Bimini right and spend a few days here at our leisure.  We spent the extra hours getting here instead of blasting across the banks immediately so we might as well enjoy it.  This morning (April 2^nd) we slept in.  I can see people stirring on Jumanji as I write.  The wind has picked up, I feel happy we aren’t out in it.  Today winds start out high but are forecast to lay during the day so our trip would have started briskly putting everyone on edge right off… I’m glad we stayed to enjoy Bimini.  The rigging on SYL sings at about 12 knots and it’s singing to me now, so without looking at the instruments I generally know conditions by the sounds of the boat.  I guess 50,000 miles of sailing gives you that.. at least.

We rented a golf cart for $85/day for the trek to Alice Town (old Bimini) today… we bought some bimini bread and shopped the wares around the small circular tourist heart of North Bimini.  I bought Jono a chartreuse green long sleeve Bimini shirt for his birthday.

Two roads run most of the islands length.  The main road has businesses along both sides but the second road is primarily local housing.  We were driving down the residential coast road on the golf cart and smelled some great cooking as we passed a little take away shop about 1:30 so we turned around and discovered some true Bahamian food on the “locals” side of the island.  Fried fish, potato salad with peas and rice.  The four of us took our local fare to a shady spot overlooking the water and had a mini feast just above the beach.  Earlier we found loads of descent sea glass on the North end of the islands sand bar, our lunch spot beach had the same allotment, so we did very good on sea glass here at Bimini.  Check that one off the list!

Mike and Jono just brought our empty gas cans (two per boat) to town on the cart to be filled.  That will top us off for the next long run toward the Exumas.  Gas was $4.20 per gallon.. very good for the islands.

We normally see one or two sea planes landing somewhere per trip.  But while parked here at the resort, they land 5 or 6 turbopropped 16 seater sea planes per day.  They circle in right by our boat offloading 8 to 12 people per load.  RWB also has a couple signature red/orange ferries running from the commercial airport on South Bimini.  They seem to have a booming business here at “Resorts World Bimini”.  The anchorage is fine, holding seems good but there is not a lot of room, 5 or 6 boats fill it up.

8PM Saturday night:  We found so much sea glass on our earlier excursion we decided to make another run at it so we loaded back on the cart and went to the ocean side beach about the middle of Bimini Road.  The four of us probably picked up another quart of glass.. nice haul.  After beachcombing we went back to the resort and had our obligatory $15 dollar Bahama Mama rum drink overlooking the big expensive boats in the harbor – then turned in our golf cart for the day.  As I sit back on the boat I’m enjoying one of Jono’s famous chili dogs..

Today truly felt like the first day of our vacation.. not just a “get there day” like we have had so many of on our intrepid journey toward the Bahamas.  At times turning for home seemed to be the right answer.. and we did.  Somehow the allure of blue water was so strong with me.. and my plans to sail so ingrained in my mind we persevered…. thru all the turmoil and troubles we finally made it.. we are here.. finally enjoying the Bahamas.

As for weather and our sail plans… It seems the front may come thru a day early so we may not have to wait out a blow on Monday, it may come tomorrow!  That puts us on the move again Monday morning as the cool dry North winds clear out the skies to blow us Eastward then South to our final destination in the Exumas.  It’s likely we will make a long 140 mile leg this next time.. all the way to Highborne Cay or Normans.  As always our plans are in sand and that washes off easily with a bit of water…. so long for now.

Here are some pictures in an effort to share our last few days:

It’s Thursday morning, we have enjoyed Islamorada quite a bit since we arrived Tuesday evening, we found laundry, fuel, grocery, hardware store and of course Lorelei’s beach cabana restaurant.  Its fun to listen to live music at night, we can hear it from the boat.  We have slept well in the comfortable anchorage but it’s time to move on.   We have developed a plan for the gulfstream crossing to the Bahamas.

This evening at 5:30 we will weigh our anchors and head North 7 miles to Snake Creek, go thru the draw bridge and into Hawks Channel and begin our Eastward passage to Bimini.  The first islands of the Bahamas are about 90 miles from here, 54 miles due East of Miami, we expect to cover it in 15 to 16 hours.  To arrive in daylight we have opted to make most of the passage at night.  We studied weather, waves and predictions to death, we even listened to Chris Parker’s SSB radio net this morning at 6:30, he said it was a go as well.  I think we will be able to sail instead of motor across today.  Tomorrow it lays down possibly too much tt sail so we will make a go of it tonight.

Jono has been fishing off the boat quite a bit here in Islamorada, but he’s only seeing small perch like fish.  In Cayo Costa he caught 2 speckled trout, one was too small and the other that was nice enough to keep flopped and got away so nothing to eat yet…

There probably won’t be much posting for a while until we get close to Wifi in the Bahamas.  We will leave you with some pictures from the past few days.

Tuesday 3/29/16

We broke away from our overnight raft up with Jumanji at precisely 7AM.  Our motors cranked at an idle this morning.. what a lovely thing… validation of our mechanic prowess made the morning brighter.  Better than that, we realized there was a useable wind angle so we put up the cloth and are running 5.4 kts toward the Florida Keys under sail!

The morning sun revealed clearer skies than yesterday.  Sailing in Florida toward the big orange ball….  sunrays paint a shimmering path across the water up to its source… CCR blaring out of the speakers….  A 10% morning!

Winds are forecast to shift around all day, so we know we won’t be able to enjoy this sweetness long.  Mike’s weather machine said the word of the day is 3 mile an hour winds touching all quadrants of the compass…. so we are enjoying it all the more, this moment in time.  Jono is running around trimming sails… trying to keep up with the shifts and slacks.  He and I are enjoying and learning each other all over again, what a joy.

Out of the balls and into the weeds…. As we enter Florida Bay the fishing floats are less numerous, but.. floating weeds will get thicker and thicker for the next 12 miles crossing the shallow weed bottomed bay just offshore of the Everglades.  9:50AM motoring into 8 knots true of wind, seas less than a foot.

We are as of noon today officially in the Florida Keys.  We turned East up the inside passage from bay to bay heading for Islamorada just now.

Rusty here: It’s almost 8PM, we fueled up at my favorite Islamorada spot Caribe  boat sales about 3PM, we walked to the grocery store next door “Traders” and stocked up on last minute foodstuffs, Mike and Laurie found a laundromat and made a final laundry run, then we met at Lorelei’s for dinner and a nice sunset.  Lorelei’s is an outdoor dinner spot / beer joint that is on every cruisers visit list.  We had a great evening… We had a little blow right at sunset so we scrambled back to the boats in our dinghies, we got a little wet driving directly into the building waves but it wasn’t too bad.

Tomorrow might be a sleep late / weather day.  We are close to our staging point for the crossing to the Bahamas so now it’s wait on the right weather.  Jono and I took a swim in the 80 degree water around the boat when we arrived.  It cooled our core down and turned out to be a nice dip in the very salty water.

I’m going to sleep 10 hours tomorrow.. no need to get up and pull out early for the first time in this trip… that will be nice.

SYL  Rusty

We started out fresh and dry from Naples after sleeping in the air conditioned comfort afforded by our swanky dock choice and its comforting 110 volt shore power station.  I was up early so I washed the boat off with fresh water between mosquito slaps… I’ve seen worse mosquito infestations but not lately.

We left the dock promptly at 7AM.  At this moment we are clearing Big Marco Pass after 12.7 miles of travel.  Winds were a bit higher than forecast as we left Naples, but they have now dropped off to the forecasted 7 knots true.  The overcast is heavy so it’s still muggy and damp.

Jono and I have been finding little refinements on SYL this morning as we motor along.  We adjusted the lazy jacks, changes positions of the starboard jib line in the line organizers and thru a different rope clutch so it would lead out better forward.  We are just tinkering with busy work as we putt along at 5.4 knots.

We have a slight 2 point adverse current.. but what else is new.  My engines must love travelling with Mike because he keeps his motors at a very comfortable fuel sipping RPM.  I have learned to be patient, and give my engines some love too…. I tend to use engines up and replace them when their tongue starts hanging out.  Mike is a good influence on me.

The parasail boats are out this morning giving Marco visitors a 100’ elevated view of the semi foggy beach front.  Marco, like many other Florida coastal towns are lined with high rise condos and tall gantry cranes building new ones.

The dynamic duo of Seawinds boats Jumanji and SYL are flying close formation down Florida’s West coast.  Our next waypoint stands us just off Romano Shoals 14 miles away.  Given the sleepy weather forecast we feel comfortable stopping anywhere along the way once we get into Florida Bay.  That probably means we will continue straight through to the keys.. knowing we have options.

SYL is an hour and a half past Marco now, about to round the Romano Shoals.  That will bring us from travelling due South to SE.  Winds are light as expected, but with the turn we will have an angle on the wind so we will probably set the mainsail for the first time with the replacement halyard.  I called and ordered a new line to replace it, but probably won’t have it until mid-April.  Mike and I are both tired of dodging crab traps.  He caught one with his engine this morning.

I was right!  11:30 and we have sails up.  Our speed went from 5.3 to 7 knots with reduced engine power.  I take the engines off at 7.2 so if we get a few more kts of wind we might just get to sail to the keys but it’s not expected.  Wouldn’t that be a kick in the pants….. actually sailing on a sailboat.

WooHoooo… 25 miles South of Marco the current changed from 2 points on our nose to 6 points of push behind us!  Thank you world.  Almost a knot of free progress over ground is useful when you’re going 6 knots, that’s about 17% (too lazy to do the exact math).  Thirty minutes ago I called out to a boat heading South in front of us, turns out it is a Leopard 38 from Mike’s home port in Aransas Pass Texas.  He said he was stopping about 6 this evening to spend the night on the hook.  That just might convince our little travelling band to stop and visit as well.  We are doing great right now.  If we continue this progress as comfortable as we are, it seems wrong to stop.  I sighted another sailboat off our starboard stern, but haven’t contacted him.

40 miles are behind us today, about 60 yet to sail to officially enter the Keys.  We are still making wonderful progress in very comfortable conditions, if we saw a little sun it would be perfect.  My new/old halyard is taking a new stretch.  It hasn’t been used in a long time so I have to keep tightening it to hold the main straight.  I got up before 5 this morning and Jono is down for a nap, I’m getting a little sleepy too.  When Jono gets up I’ll get me a nice nap as we sail along softly… with the boat gently lifting over the swells…. listening to the rustle of the wakes behind our sterns (and the motors).

Our anchorage for the night was 23 miles from the keys in the open water, 71 miles made today.  We could have driven all the way to the keys but there are so many crab pots night travel would have been tedious.  The line on those pesky floating balls cause havoc when they wrap around the props.

Speaking of motors, today’s challenge was the port side engine.  Recently when I stopped and idled the suspect engine flooded and died, often at the most inopportune times, like when we were hovering in place waiting for a draw bridge.  This evening I took the time to clean the carburetor.  Unfortunately my standard cleaning job didn’t help.  Mike had some new gaskets so we replaced those and the spark plugs but still no joy.  On Mikes suggestion I tried a different method of cleaning the smallest ports on the carb, he has a set of tip cleaners so instead of just spraying the very small ports we rodded them out with his tip cleaners.  She cranked and idled like a dream!  We finished the motor work about 11PM and ended up star gazing for another hour before hitting the sack.

Today was nice, easy sea state and very few problems, an overall win.  One day closer to paradise!

SYL and Jumanji