Adventures of the Jubilee

Returning from the Abacos to Port Canaveral and St. Augustine

May 9-10, 2009 - Great Guana Cay, Abacos, to Port Canaveral, FL -- 225.9 Miles

Our last night in Fisher's Bay treated us to a beautiful sunset over the anchorage ... hopefully a good omen for our upcoming passage.  We were up before first light for our long ~225-mile hop.  After breakfast and breakfast dishes the light was good enough to leave, so we were on our way out of Fisher's Bay by 6:30, and out of the Loggerhead Channel and into the Atlantic by 7:45.  A last listen to Chris Parker's 6:30 a.m. SSB weather forecast reconfirmed an excellent passage outlook through Monday night, albeit with very light winds.  And those SE winds were light ... only about 8 knots true with a slight "White Bear Lake" chop and a gentle swell outside on the ocean.  Heading WNW for the next two days we would need to keep our speed up at around 6½ knots, so motorsailing was definitely the plan, at least for the start of the crossing. 

The Sea of Abaco is divided into two segments where shoals run all the way out from Great Abaco Island to Whale Cay.  Vessels heading from the western to the eastern sections of the Sea of Abaco (or visa-versa) all need to exit the Whale and, a mile or so further SE, re-enter at the Loggerhead cut where we exited today.  The Whale Cut is infamous around here for "rage" conditions, where large swells driven by storm sometimes hundreds of miles away can make the channel impassable for days.  However, today the Whale was sleeping.  Both the Whale and the Loggerhead were a piece of cake, which was just fine with us, thank you.  Once out the cut we were truly on our way.

Around 10:00 a.m., about 20 miles out of our anchorage, a school of perhaps 30 representatives from the Bahamian Dolphin Chamber of Commerce visited to play around our bow wave for 10 or 15 minutes.  We took this encounter as a special gesture wishing us safe passage out of Bahamian waters and inviting us to be sure to return next season.

The Gulf Stream demands both respect and attention.  Unlike a river that always (or at least almost always) stays within its well defined banks, the Gulf Stream shifts and moves as it works its way from the Gulf or Mexico all the way to Europe.  In southern Florida the west wall of the stream generally lies quite close to the coast, perhaps 5 miles or less, runs in force (3 knots or more) for a width of about 30 miles, and then gradually lessens in intensity until approaching Grand Bahama and West End.  North of this choke point the stream undulates and moves, while also forming warm and cold eddies (like huge whirlpools) that can be scores of miles in diameter on either side of the stream.  One needs to carefully plan not only crossing the stream, but also try to avoid being on the wrong side (against the current) of an eddy or counter current.

The US Navy maintains Gulf Stream analysis and forecast charts on the internet for free public use.  This analysis may not be as detailed as that of a professional paid Gulf Stream router, but for our purposes in this location it was more than sufficient (see screen snap of the May 9 Gulf Stream forecast).

Although just north of the Abacos we did get caught in a ½ to 1-knot counter current for several hours, overall the stream lifted us for most of the passage, probably shaving 2 hours off our overall passage time.

There was almost no traffic on our passage other than a couple of freighters, one sailboat north of the Abacos heading due east (to where one might ask ... there's nothing but Africa due east of the Abacos), and a few sport fishing boats near the Abacos and near Florida.  Oh yes ... we did also cross paths with a nuclear submarine traveling on the surface at what looked to be over 25 knots.  That sub created a wake like we'd never seen from any freighter or cruise ship before.  Those folks can move!

In addition to the dolphin visit mentioned earlier, there were two other good omens during our passage.  First was a spectacular clear-sky open-ocean sunset where we both saw the elusive green flash a split second after the sun dropped below the horizon.  The second good omen was a full moon with that clear sky ... a sailor's overnight passage dream.  And to top that off, just before midnight the winds clocked slightly to the SSE and increased to about 15 true, giving us a wonderful hull-speed sail all night long and into the next morning when the breezes again eased and we had to return to motorsailing to keep our speed up and ensure our Port Canaveral arrival before nightfall on Sunday (evening breezes down here seem to always increase about 5 knots at night).

On our 5:00 p.m. entrance into Port Canaveral we were greeted by a string of three cruise ships departing for various Caribbean ports: one Carnival, one Royal Caribbean, and one Disney (the same boat that had entered Nassau as we were leaving).  By 5:30 we were docked at the Cape Marina (see photo with yet another cruise ship in the background).  An hour later we had obtained our clearance number by phone from customs, and shortly after that we were off to a local restaurant to celebrate our return to Florida. 

May 11-12 2009 -- Port Canaveral to St. Augustine - 125.2 Miles

Although we had each gotten some sleep during our prior overnight, we slept like babies Sunday night and were refreshed and raring to go again on Monday morning.  Our first order of business was a roughly 3-mile round trip walk to US Customs to show our smiling faces and passports to an agent in person.  Clearance back into the states was fairly easy here, with no expensive cab fares or rental car costs for traveling to a sometimes-distant airport customs office as one has to do while clearing in some other U.S. port cities. 

After a few calls to family and friends to let them know we hadn't been swept away in the Gulf Stream, we checked the weather which was showing another good window for a possible second overnight passage (with the exception of some "widely scattered thunderstorms" in the forecast).  Then a cell phone call to Judy's brother Gene and his wife Pat revealed that by happenstance they would be vacationing in St. Augustine that Tuesday through Thursday morning!  We had originally planned to stay a 2nd night in Port Canaveral, but with Gene and Pat in St. Augustine our decision was simple ... head outside again for the roughly 125-mile overnight run to Augustine.

Just look at all those people on the Port Canaveral pier to see us off!  Oh ... it turns out they weren't there for us.  The Space Shuttle Atlantis was set to lift off from Kennedy at 2:01, just about the time we would be clear of the entrance channel!  On our way out the channel all the restaurant and bar patios along the waterway were packed with launch viewers, as was the waterfront along the entrance channel and the fishing pier at the end of the channel.  After a lifetime of wanting to actually see a launch could this really be happening?  Two launches in a row (see March 15th Fort Pierce posting)! 

Yes indeed it could happen ... and did!  The launch went off like clockwork, and from our open sea vista we could see the launch vehicle from the minute it lifted off the pad.  And we could hear it ... an unbelievable roar as it streaked skyward.  It's hard to comprehend the intensity of those booster rockets as they lift 4.5 million pounds of fuel, booster, and spacecraft weight into orbit.  What a sight!

After the shuttle was out of sight we raised sail and were off for St. Augustine at near hull speed in a beautiful 15-knot breeze.  Life was good ... at least for the first five or six hours.

Those "widely scattered thunderstorms" in today's forecast?  Well, in the broad scheme of things they may have been widely scattered, but they drew a bead on us and kept us in their grip from about 9:00 p.m. to midnight as we approached and passed the New Smyrna Beach area.  It did rain, but not too hard.  And it blew out of every direction, but not too hard.  However we hadn't seen this much electrical activity in a long time.  Florida is reputed to have more lightening strikes per square mile than any other state ... by far.  We certainly won't argue that statistic after Monday evening's light show.  Before entering center stage for the electrical fireworks we stowed our backup computer and other electronic gear not needed for immediate navigation in our oven as a "make shift" Faraday cage to protect it should we take a hit.  Luckily we didn't.  We gladly parted ways with the system around midnight and had a calm passage for the rest of the evening ... and with clear skies and a near-full moon lighting our way by around 3:00 a.m.  Life was again good!

One thing about stuff like this ... it certainly keeps the adrenalin flowing.  We had no difficulty staying up for our night watches.

We arrived in Augustine just 10 minutes before the 10:00 a.m. bridge opening, topped fuel, and were docked before 11:00 a.m.  Our two back to back overnight jumps were starting to catch up with us, so two nights here would be good.  It would also be great seeing Gene and Pat.

May 12-13, St. Augustine Layover

What a lucky coincidence to connect with Judy's brother Gene and his wife Pat in St. Augustine.  Gene and Pat have been the primary house watchers and mail screeners for us while we've been out cruising, and they well-deserved a vacation from those duties (as those who have cruised well-know, it would be impossible to be out here doing this stuff if it weren't for a friend or service to assist with things back on the home front that can't be done over the internet).  We celebrated with dinner together on Wednesday and Thursday nights (see accompanying photo), as well as some touring on Thursday afternoon.  Thursday morning we parted ways, they to visit Pat's brother in Florida and we to head outside up to Cumberland Island.  Our next posting will most likely be from Brunswick, GA, as we wrap up our spring 2009 Florida and Bahamas cruising loop, ready the boat for hurricane season storage, and start heading for home in Minnesota.  See you back in Georgia!

On to the Abacos

May 1, 2009 - Nassau to Royal Island, Eleuthera -- 42.1 Miles

Quite a few cruisers seemed have the same idea we did on Friday morning, as sailboat after sailboat filed out of Nassau harbor.  After a somewhat hurried and hectic departure when our over-eager marina dock assistant threw off our lines before either of us were at the helm, we managed to back out of our slip without incident and were on our way by 8:30 a.m.  We were finally free of Nassau! 

As we passed through the harbor we were met by this Mickey Mouse boat (see photo).  A Disney cruise ship came in and turned around right in front of us to dock bow-out at their quay.    We even caught a glimpse of Mickey and Donald working on the stern of the cruise ship.  Fun stuff.

90% of the boats departing Nassau this morning seemed to be heading for Chubb in the Berrys, West End, or perhaps straight through for Florida.  10% (only us as far as we could see) headed NE toward Eleuthera or the Abacos.  The 90% would have a nice, if rolling, beam reach or quartering sail.  Our lot was another upwind slog in the mile-deep open ocean almost directly into 3' to 5' chop with occasional higher waves that repeatedly buried the bow.  The angle was too tight to sail, and tacking would have made for an unduly long, slow trip.  Instead we motorsailed with reefed main while spray literally flew off the bow.  We at least could take some comfort in knowing that tomorrow's wind and wave angles should be much better. 

Unfortunately while repeatedly burying the bow we took a fair amount of water into the anchor locker, enough that the drains were not keeping up and some saltwater splashed down the haws hole and through the rode storage access doors at the peak of our V-berth, dampening the foot of our bedding.  This has happened three other times over the years, but we thought we had the problem solved.  Evidently not.  Looks like it will be back to the drawing board for a better solution.

Thankfully the seas started to lay down the last three hours of the day as we approached Eleuthera.  By  4:00 pm our anchor was down just astern of the six other boats already anchored in this snug little harbor. 

Friday night we fired up the barbecue to do some chicken.  As might be expected our barbecuing brought the first real rain we'd seen since coming to the Bahamas over three weeks ago.  It sure felt good even if Bill had to cook in the rain.  Plus it was nice to have Mother Nature wash all that salt off our decks and gear!

May 2, 2009 - Royal Island to Tilloo Cay, Abacos, plus May 3 Lay Day -- 70.6 Miles

Saturday shaped up as a beautiful day.  And better yet, more of this same good weather was now cautiously being forecast well into the next week per Chris Parker's 6:30 a.m. SSB weather briefing ... a significant change in outlook from recent prior forecasts due to some frontal activities weakening and stalling out.  We hope Chris is right with this one.  He usually is.

The anchor was up and we were steaming out the Royal Island cut by 7:30 to 8-10 knot ESE breezes and a 3-4' ESE ocean swell.  We sailed and motorsailed, but mostly ran the engine at lower revs to keep our speed up.  With the ocean a beautiful deep-water blue (2 to 2 1/2 miles deep through much of our course today), there was no land in sight in any direction most of the day.  Other than visually spotting a couple of sailboats and tracking a couple of cargo boats over the horizon on AIS, we had the ocean to ourselves ... a great day for a passage.

Our entrance into the Sea of Abaco (the generally shallow, open water area between Great Abaco Island and the barrier cays and reefs defining the outlying perimeter) was through what is known as the North Bar Channel.  This is said to be the widest and deepest cut through the barrier cays.  Sometimes even wide entrances like this can be impassible, but today our entrance was a piece of cake, albeit the ocean swells were breaking along the reefs on either side as we approached.

After another 6.5 miles curving around shoals and interior islands north of the entry channel we were snuggly anchored behind Tilloo Cay along with three other boats spaced over the better part of a mile ... a perfect spot to chill out after two long travel days.  Hello Abacos!  We have arrived! 

And Tilloo Cay was the perfect spot to lay back for a couple of days (see accompanying photo of one of the beautiful sunsets off our stern).  We did a bit of dingy exploring Sunday afternoon, running about 3 miles NW up to Cracker P's on Lubber's Cay for a Sunday afternoon rum punch.  The rum punch was unremarkable, but the view from Cracker P's deck was fantastic (see photo).

 

 

 

May 4, 2009 - Tilloo Cay to Hope Town and May 5 Hope Town Lay Day -- 12.0 Miles

The Abacos are notoriously shallow, with the Sea of Abaco averaging about 10' or so least mean water (LMW) depths with about a 2 1/2 to 3 foot tidal range.  Many areas are much shallower than 10'.  For example, we needed at least 18" of tide to negotiate the entry into Hope Town harbor.  In addition, we would have to work our way around a large shoal area just to get to Elbow Cay where Hope Town is located, making what crows (or perhaps seagulls) would see as a 6 mile flight into a 12 mile sail (see accompanying chart snap).  With high tide at around 5:40 pm on Monday we didn't want to arrive in Hope Town much before 4:00, so we read and played guitar in the morning and raised anchor around 1:30 for a very slow, leisurely sail to Hope Town.  The second chart snap shows our circuitous route into the harbor, following the "deeper draft" channel with only about 4 ½ foot depths at least mean water (we draw 6').  Tide can be your friend.

Hope Town is one of the most picturesque settlements in the Bahamas ... a snug 360-degree protection harbor surrounded by colorful homes, businesses, and a few government building like the school, police station and library, and a beautiful ocean-side beach.  All this is presided over by the area's signature light house.

Elbow Cay is home to one of three remaining kerosene-lit Fresnel lens lighthouses in the Bahamas, and the first working kerosene lighthouse we'd ever seen.  Virtually every Fresnel lens light in the world has long since been replaced by a small electric strobe even as the physical lighthouses generally remain in place.   But here time seems to have stopped.  Every night the Elbow Cay lighthouse keeper primes the pressurized kerosene lantern and cranks up the weights to start turning the huge Fresnel lens to display its distinctive, precisely-timed pattern of "dots" of light reaching out to mariners as far as 20 miles to sea.  Kewl!

And the view from the top was kewl too!  (see accompanying photo).

Ashore in town we walked the narrow streets (no cars allowed ... only golf carts and bicycles), enjoying the well-kept colorful houses and gardens and stopping for lunch at one of the local eateries.  Hope Town quickly rose near the top of our list of little harbors.  We loved it so much we stayed two nights.

This might be a good spot to mention the neat little cruisers net conducted at 8:15 each morning on VHF channel 68.  The Abacos net is similar to the North Channel cruisers net we talked about during our 2007 Lake Huron travels, but much more laid back while also being a bit commercial in an off beat way (e.g. - every day watering holes and restaurants would tout their specials like carnival hawkers with, for example, one of the local watering holes advertising their "Drinko de Mayo" party on the 5th of May).  A Chris Parker weather broadcast this ain't, but amid all the banter one does hear excellent local weather forecasts, reports on the conditions in the cuts between the Atlantic and the Sea of Abaco, and other informative community information.  Make sure to listen when coming through this way.

May 6, 2009 - Hope Town to Marsh Harbor -- 10.5 Miles

Taking advantage of the tide, we cast off from our Hope Town mooring at 7:00 am (high tide) for a leisurely trip across the Sea of Abaco to nearby Marsh Harbor.  Marsh is a real town.  At 5000 residents it's the third largest in the Bahamas, with good grocery stores, hardware stores, and more, plus several marinas.  We filled diesel and took on water at the Conch Inn Marina (which is also the Moorings and SunSail charter base) before anchoring in about 7 ½ feet LMW in the harbor (we said it was shallow here ... and our 7 ½ foot spot was one of the deepest in the harbor!).

We had heard and read about Marsh Harbor, but after being here we would likely return only if we needed supplies.  Charming it's not, but if you do need something it will likely be here if it's to be found anywhere in the Bahamas. 

That said, we did enjoy a great lunch at Curly Tails (named after the little lizards that skitter around everywhere here in the Bahamas).  Curly Tails at the Conch Inn Marina is part of the Mooring's charter complex.  The harbor view from our seats was spectacular (we didn't even have to stand up to take the accompanying picture).  After lunch we browsed the shops and boutiques around the marinas, picking up a few trinkets to bring back to Minnesota.

May 7, 2009 - Marsh Harbor to Great Guana Cay plus May 8 lay day -- 9.7 Miles

We had another light downwind day for our jump from Marsh to Great Guana Cay.  With plenty of time to travel the less than 10 miles to Guana Cay we lazed out again, just unrolled the jib, and let "Auto" do the steering.  Poking along at around about 4 knots across the clear 10' depths and white sand bottom, Jubilee's shadow was clearly visible on the sand below as we silently moved along.

Great Guana has a small settlement (only 163 people in the 2000 census), a couple of resorts and restaurants, a beautiful five-mile-long beach on the ocean side of the island, a marina in Guana Cay Harbor, and a great anchorage for E to SE winds just west of the harbor in Fisher's Bay.  We chose to anchor in Fisher's for two nights.  It was time to start exploring. 

Thursday afternoon brought a short walk along golf cart-wide streets to the narrow island's ocean side to check out the famous beach and sample one of Nippers famous rum punches.  Things were a bit slow at Nippers this Thursday afternoon, but it must really hop at other times.  The view is as good as it gets, enhanced by the colorful eclectic Nippers bar, restaurant, multiple patios and fresh water swimming pool.  One could get used to this place (see photos)! 

You probably can't read the sign on the palm tree next to Judy (photo at right), but it says "Prepare to meet thy God".  With such a stern message along the path to Nippers we weren't sure if it was intended for Nippers customers, as a reminder to those walking to the graveyard another 25 yards down the way, or as a warning to folks like Judy who could very likely be beaned by a falling coconut from above!  I guess we'll never know (Judy survived).

Friday we decided to visit another famous watering hole and restaurant on Guana - Grabbers, located right on the beach near where we were anchored.  Although not as eclectic as Nippers, Grabbers is another place once could definitely "get used to". 

During our days in the Abacos we had enjoyed the best string of weather we'd seen since reaching the Bahamas.  The cycle of fronts and high clocking winds seemed to have finally been broken, at least for a while.  This stretch of good weather was forecast to hold at least through the weekend and hopefully into the next week.  As much as we could have stayed here for days, perhaps weeks more, with our end of May hurricane lay-up in sight this good Gulf Stream crossing weather window couldn't be passed up.  It was time to start heading back to Florida and working our way north.  So after two nights here on Guana we'll be raising anchor early Saturday morning for an over 200-mile two-day overnight run to Cape Canaveral.  Hopefully our next posting will be from somewhere in Florida.  See you again then!

Highbourn to Nassau, plus Nassau Weather Days

April 22, 2009 - Highbourn to Nassau - 40.0 Miles

The previously forecast "light and variables" for today had become about 15 NW with a 3' chop.  Of course our heading was almost directly NW, and not wanting to tack upwind through the yellow banks and their associated coral heads, it was clear we'd be motoring upwind into chop all day.  Apparently the front passed through a few hours earlier than forecast.

As we were about to untie the dock lines we noticed our PC wasn't receiving its GPS signal.  Crossing the banks and close to Nassau we definitely wanted the finer definition and enhanced navigation capabilities of Fugawi to guide us around charted coral areas.  It was time to do some immediate diagnosing.  After a a few tests it appeared that either the AIS or the AIS splitter were the culprits.  Rewiring the AIS out of the system solved the problem and we were finally off around 9:30, albeit with another diagnostic project on the docket for our time in Nassau.  As they say, cruising is all about fixing things in exotic places.  For a change this issue turned out to be simple ... a defective inline fuse holder inside the instrument panel had broken.  Bill quickly fixed it with $5.00 Radio Shack replacement in Nassau.

Our upwind course was a bit bumpy, but we were at least able to average between 6 and 6.5 knots on the rhumb line without too much trouble.  We're sure glad we repowered with the 75-horse Yanmar 5 years ago.  The Yanmar was comfortably humming along, but with the old Perkins we'd have been doing well to squeak out 5 knots in these sloppy opposing wind and wave conditions. 

But aside from the directly opposing NW wind it was a beautiful day for our run Nassau. After topping our diesel tanks we took a slip at the Nassau Harbor Club next to Bruce and Susan Harris on their beautiful Outbound 46, Andiamo 35.  After we arrived the winds clocked to the NE (directly from our next destination), increased to 20+ knots and then kept blowing that hard 24 hours a day for a full week.  That meant not only brisk opposing breezes, but also high seas out in the ocean and difficult if not unsafe conditions at many of the Abaco passes.  Our planned, "short", 2-day stay in Nassau quickly extended to a full week.

April 23-30 - Nassau Weather Layover

It had been about 15 years since we were last in Nassau, so we were looking forward to some touring.  Our arrival timing was perfect for joining the weekly Thursday Cruiser's Lunch at the Green Parrot along the waterfront.  It was a good opportunity to meet other cruisers also passing through the area ... and a great place to enjoy a HUGE cheeseburger in paradise.

Friday brought some downtown Nassau exploring.  For those who haven't been to Nassau, right in the middle of the downtown tourist/cruise ship area is Parliament Square with its bright pink government buildings and signature statues of Queen Victoria and Columbus.  But other than that, watching the traditional Bahamian Traffic Policeman (at only one street corner and mostly for tourist photo opportunities now days ... other intersections have lights), and the customary cruise ship gift shops one always finds in a place like this, the overall area seemed to have declined significantly since our last visit.

The culprit?  Paradise Island, just a short bridge ride or walk across the water from Providence Island, has been turned into the massive Atlantis hotel, casino, water park, restaurant, shopping and marina complex, and in the process has sucked much of the lifeblood out of the traditional Nassau city center. 

Lest we be too negative about Atlantis, it truly is awesome.  That said, Atlantis just ain't the Bahamas.  It's too bad that many cruise ship visitors spend all their time in Atlantis rather than seeing the real Bahamas and helping out the larger economy here.  In all truth, except for those passengers who actually do step off the beaten path during their stops, at places like Atlantis a typical cruise ship stop can easily become more like a visit to Disneyland or Las Vegas.  The difference between the plastic of Atlantis and the pristine, laid back, nature of the Exumas is almost beyond description.  I guess we're more the "off the beaten path" types.

All that aside, we did enjoy walking the Atlantis marina docks with Mega Yacht after Mega Yacht being carefully tended by their full time professional crews (see photo - we ran across Octopussy for the 4th time here).  And a tour of the Aquarium adjacent to the main hotel-casino complex (see photos) turned out to be the highlight of our island visit.

On Saturday Judy and Susan trekked off to visit "The Retreat", one of the Bahamian National Trust parks in Nassau which among other things is the home of some 170 species of rare Palm trees ... reportedly the largest collection in the world.  A carnival fundraiser was in process while they were there, with activities galore for all ages.

Our friends Jerry Cucci and Diane England on Night Star arrived on Sunday (see photo), just in time for the informal appetizer pot luck Susan Harris had arranged at the pool for everyone in the marina.  By now the marina was chock-a-block full of cruisers waiting for a break in the weather.  Nearly all attended, several having moved to the marina after repeatedly dragging anchor during the high winds in Nassau harbor's notoriously poor holding ground.

On Tuesday Bill decided to take his life in his own hands with an extended bike ride down the busy, narrow, winding, left-hand-driver streets of Nassau.  It was quite the experience, providing a chance to see the Nassau one seldom visits on foot.  Nassau is not a wealthy city. 

When visiting different foreign places we always enjoy some of the signs and bumper stickers we run across.  Here are two Nassau examples:  

The only "damage" suffered during the bike excursion was a little hair loss, the result not of traffic but of stopping at a local barber shop.

In the adjacent port-side slip was Frere Coyote, a beautiful Jeanneau 45.2 sailed by Helene and Alain Boutevin of Le Mans, France (home of the world famous road race).  After cruising the Med for several years, particularly Turkey, Helene and Alain sailed Frere Coyote out the Straits of Gibralter to the Canary Islands.  Helene then flew home from the Canaries while three crew members flew in to join Alain for a jump across the pond to Martinique.  It sounded like a fairly easy, mostly down wind, three week crossing.  Once in the Islands Helene and Alain sailed the entire Eastern Caribbean up to the Virgins, then cruised downwind through Puerto Rico, the DR, the Turks and Caicos, and now the Bahamas.  This summer they plan to head north up the US east coast, the Hudson River, and the the canal system to Quebec.  Wonderful people.  We so enjoyed visiting with them and hearing about their adventures. 

Tuesday evening Jerry and Diane invited the Frere Coyote, Andiamo 35, and Jubilee crews over for dinner aboard Nightstar, after which Luc from the trawler Innu (out of Montreal) also joined us for an international gathering of French, Canadian and US Anglophone and Francophone cruisers (see photo ... L-R Luc, Susan, Helene, Alain, Bruce, Diane, Jerry and Judy).

As the week progressed conditions started to moderate.  Before everyone broke up to head their separate ways the crews of Night Star, Andiamo 35, and Jubilee had dinner together at an outstanding local Chinese restaurant near the marina ... East Villa.  Quite a few boats started leaving on Thursday, among them Alain and Helene on Frere Coyote and Diane and Jerry, with Twin Cities crew Don Sullivan on Nightstar.  We decided to hang in Nassau one more day, since our next jump was upwind and against the seas while theirs was downwind.  Thursday also was Judy's birthday, so a celebration at Cafe Matisse, one of Nassau's better restaurants, with Bruce and Susan from Andiamo 35 seemed in order.  (Outstanding resto, btw ... see photo at right.)  A good time was had by all. 

Nassau had been a fun stop, but a much longer one than we had planned.  It was definitely time to take advantage of this weather window and head out of Dodge for the Abacos before the next forecast front rolls through.  We'll be joining you in the Abacos with our next blog installment.   'Til then ...

Sampson Cay & Exuma Park to Highborne

April 11-12, 2009 - Additional Lay Days in Emerald Bay

We initially were going to head further south on Saturday the 11th, but the weather here at the Park was so good, Emerald Bay so beautiful, and the Park-sponsored Easter Sunday beach buffet and pot luck so inviting that we decided to stay.  It was another good decision.

The downside was that our freezer seemed to be acting up again.  Although not as bad as before, we started having on again/off again troubles getting the box to zero and below.  It being Easter weekend all we could do is leave emails and voicemails with IceMarine in Palm Beach.  If push comes to shove we may need to head back to Nassau to have it checked again, but hopefully we can get by for another week or so.  At times we were able to chill the box down to 5 below, but other times the best we seemed to be able to do was 5 above.  After 6 months of trouble free cruising in 2008, and 3 months in 2007, it seems things are catching up with us in 2009.

Both days were almost still, sunny and in the mid-80's, but the water in our anchorage was beautiful for swimming off the boat to cool down (mid-70's, but it really felt refreshing).  We just can't get over how beautiful this area is.

Easter Sunday's beach brunch was attended by about 60-70 cruisers and park staff.  The park provided ham and turkey, and each cruiser brought something for the accompanying pot luck.  These cruisers are good cooks.  The spread was fantastic.  The function also gave us a chance to meet some of the other cruisers anchored in different parts of the park.  It's hard to believe we've been here in Emerald Bay 5 days, plus another two in nearby Cambridge Cay which is also part of the Park.  But as beautiful as this area is, its time to continue exploring further south.

 

April 13, 2009 - Emerald Bay to Sampson Cay --  24.6 Miles (Plus 4/14 Lay Day)

Monday brought 10-23 knot SE winds for our sail to Sampson.  We were able to lay about half of the distance on port tack, and the rest tacking our way back and forth upwind.  Several other boats were headed the same way which, as always is the case, resulted in a little informal "racing" to get the adrenalin flowing.

Paul and Elizabeth Weigel on Liesel (a wonderful Canadian couple we had dinner with on Waffensmith's boat a week prior) heard us on the radio and were heading to Sampson too!  That afternoon Paul brought in his refrigeration gages which indicated that our high pressure side might be running a bit low.  But in the mean time the unit now seemed to be running better again.  Go figure!  Perhaps the slight gassing off when connecting the gages did the trick.  Or perhaps the drier finally got some pesky moisture out of the system.  Who knows?  Whatever was happening, we seemed to be in business again, or at least well enough in business so as not to have to cut our Exuma days short & jump back to Nassau.  It was time to celebrate with appetizers in the gazebo with Paul and Elizabeth as the sun slowly sank on the horizon.

Sampson was a mega-yacht haven ... at least while we were there.   With our little 42' sailboat we almost felt like a dinghy moored amongst cruise ships.  Most had professional crews continuously cleaning the boats and preparing gourmet meals for the owner and guests served on the aft deck with white linen tablecloths and fancy tableware.  Three true mega-mega-yachts were there, including the long, sleek, Octopussy (Remember the James Bond movie?  This 42-meter monstrosity is one of the worlds fastest private yachts, reportedly capable of doing 53 knots.  We wonder how many gallons a minute it uses at those speeds!). These three big vessels were too large to attempt the inner harbor, so instead were moored to a long outside dock.  Here at Sampson we were definitely enjoying life among the rich and famous (or perhaps rich and infamous ... who knows?). 

On the quieter side we enjoyed hiking the surrounding trails around this hurricane hole marina and resort complex.  Their "internet outhouse" provided direct Ethernet connection in each "stall", plus served as a WiFi hotspot ... handy for placing Skype calls to the refrigeration folks in West Palm and downloading emails and weather. 

Tuesday morning we were invited to breakfast on Liesel, after which we decided to stay over Tuesday night, both to give ourselves some assurance that the freezer was in fact working again and so Judy could catch up on a couple of week's worth of laundry with the machines here.  Although mooring here was not cheap, we had to admit it was a pretty nice hood for hanging out.

April 15, 2009 - Sampson Cay to Cambridge Cay -- 15.1 Miles (Plus 4/16-18 Lay Days)

On Wednesday we literally flew the short distance north to Cambridge Cay on a 15-17 knot SW wind.  Our prior visit to Cambridge was during some windy weather where we didn't get to snorkel, visit nearby beaches or hike.  This visit would be different.

Paul and Elizabeth had arrived the prior day and instantly became our Cambridge Cay tour guides.  We started with a short dinghy ride to a beach near the "blue hole" to the south of our mooring area ... a great swimming area where we spotted a Ray.  On the beach we ran into several other cruisers, including Sam Rae and Wendy Thompson on Maestro, their beautiful blue Valiant 50.   We had previously met Sam at the Annapolis Boat Show (Sam owns the Fugawi navigation software company ... the system we use aboard Jubilee).  Five of us then dinghy'd across the Conch Cut to Rocky Dundas, a small rocky Cay with a great snorkeling area and spectacular sea caves (see photo at right of Sam and Wendy with us in one of the caves).  We capped the night with dinner aboard Jubilee with Paul and Elizabeth, spotting a pair of Bull Sharks circling below the boat where we had recently dumped some meat juices.  Hmmm ... don't think we'll do any swimming in this mooring area, at least not tonight!

Thursday the Maestro, Liesel and Jubilee crews dinghy'd over to the "Aquarium" for some snorkeling.  Conditions were perfect.  We can't remember ever seeing so many tropical fish in one area of reef.  Wow!  We capped the evening with appetizers ashore at a small sand cay near the anchorage ... a perfect way to end the perfect day.  (Check the Bahamas Photo album link on the left of the main blog page for additional snorkeling and area pictures.)

  

Next on Friday we dinghy'd into one of the Cambridge Cay beaches, hiked across to the other side, and then hiked along its rugged coastline to the north.  Simply spectacular!  (Perhaps we're overusing that word, but it truly is spectacular.)   Capping the day off, Elana and Rick on Movin' On, the volunteer Cambridge Cay mooring coordinators for the park, organized an all-anchorage appetizer pot luck on that same little sand cay near the anchorage Friday afternoon, giving us a chance to meet a number other boaters also moored in Cambridge.

Saturday morning we decided to hold tight here for one more day, taking the dinghy back to the "blue hole" beach, then hiking across to Honeymoon Beach adjacent to the Conch Cut.  With ENE winds running 17-20 knots the waves were literally crashing up on the long sand beach ... no swimming there today.  Instead Bill went for a quick dip in the blue hole before returning to the boat and inviting Dan and Carol Rohr, m/v Lucky Stars, over for appetizers (we had learned the prior afternoon that Dan and Carol, originally from northern Illinois, had met in Hayward, WI ... small world again). 

It had been a great four days in Cambridge.  We will return some day, but tomorrow morning we'll jump northward again.

April 19, 2009 - Cambridge to Hawksbill Cay -- 24.6 Miles

Sunday brought another glorious, if windy, day ... about 17-20 knots from the SE.  However the direction couldn't have been better for our run up to Hawksbill Cay.  After working our way out of Cambridge Cay's reefs and sand bores we ran a steady 6.5-7.5 knots (hull speed is 7.2!) with the wind on the starboard quarter the entire way - a single reef in the main, reduced headsail, and the autopilot steering the entire trip.  It doesn't get much better than this.

We were hoping the charted depths for Hawksbill's mooring balls were wrong, perhaps too conservative, but they weren't.  After inching our way in toward the balls we turned tail, realizing there wouldn't be enough water for us at low tide.  Instead we anchored just outside some coral heads in 12' (at high tide - 10' at low tide) about 1/2 mile from shore.  With all the wind it was a little lumpy out there, but not too bad, and we certainly had our privacy that far out. 

April 20, 2009 - Hawksbill to Highborne Cay -- 19.0 Miles (Plus 4/21 Lay Day)

On Monday morning we were off the quarter again in 15 to 18-knot SE breezes for another wonderful sail.  With clear skies, good winds in the right direction, and pleasant temperatures, one couldn't ask for more.  Some unsettled weather with squalls was set to come in with the next front, so we decided to stay in Highborne two nights and explore the area a bit this time around (see photo of east-shore beach and the bus stop on the island's ~1-mile of paved road ... bus service here is reputed to be somewhat undependable).  Wednesday morning it will be off to Nassau for a few days of boat work and citified bumming around.  Stay tuned.

West End to Exuma Land and Sea Park

April 4-5, 2009 - West End, Grand Bahama Is. to Highbourn Cay, Exumas - Overnight Run --  183.1 Miles

After the 20 to 25-knot southerly blow all day on Friday the weather gurus were forecasting the winds to lay down for two days and then build to 25 knots again starting Sunday night into Monday.  With about 140 miles to go to Nassau it would take us three daylight segments to get there.  Unfortunately we didn't have three consecutive good passage days to make daylight jumps.  Instead we decided to take advantage of the two lighter days and go the distance in one overnight jump.

We opted to pull out of the dock around 11:00 am, finding very light (7-10 knots true) northerlies which slowly clocked around to very light (3-4 knots true) south easterlies.  As the winds bent around we were able to cut the engine for a bit when the winds went east, but they quickly eased to the low single digits as we ground out the rest of the passage under power.

It was an easy trip, with light winds, relatively smooth seas, a bright slightly more than half moon, the autopilot doing the steering, and AIS and radar helping our eyes find any traffic.

And traffic there was.  Near Freeport, Grand Bahama, and following for the next 20 miles or so we encountered numerous salties.  Many of them appeared to be anchored in very deep water, probably waiting for a load in a worldwide recession-slowed shipping economy.

However, after dark things really got interesting.  About 10 miles NW of Great Stirrup Cay, the most northerly point of the Berry Islands group, we started encountering cruise ships big time.  We've encountered cruise ships before ... perhaps one or two a night when traveling through areas they frequent, but this area was abuzz with cruise activity.  We lost count, but easily met or were passed by about 20 ships all lit up for the festivities that were sure to be occurring on board.  AIS (Automatic Identification System) targets filled our navigation screen ... 90% of them cruise ships plus a few tankers and freighters (see accompanying screen snap taken around 11:00 pm).  There were ships going to Miami, ships going to Port Everglades, ships going to Grand Turk, ships going to Palm Beach, ships going to San Juan, ships going to ... you name it.  If these floating hotels were anywhere near  full there can't be any recession in the cruise industry.

We had to raise two of the cruise ships to agree/confirm on a passing strategy.  For one ship we needed to divert off course for about 20 minutes, since the captain of the cruise ship didn't have room to bear off to the south due to another two cruise ships heading westbound for the states.  Our AIS really paid for itself that night!

After our 7:30 a.m. SSB chat with MN cruising friends (Snyder's, Waffensmiths, Cucci-England's) we decided to go right through Nassau harbor without stopping, and proceed on across the banks to Highbourn Cay to take maximum advantage of the current weather window.  We left the boat drift for a half hour just outside Nassau and had a proper breakfast before transiting Nassau Harbor (see photo of Alantis Resort on Paradise Island) and piloting our way around the Yellow Banks, a shallow area with coral heads along the way to the Exumas.  Although it made our long trip even longer, heading on was a good decision. 

We still had plenty of fuel from our last fill at Ft. Pierce, but we decided to top off in Highbourn for the trip south before taking our slip for the night.  We're consistently using slightly over 1 gallon an hour, which with our 120 gallon capacity gives us plenty of range.  After the long overnight run with each of us having gotten but a few hours sleep since Friday night, we didn't do much Highbourn exploring ... just fueled, showered, caught up on some email, ate and crashed.  We'll probably stop there again on our way north (see photo of megayachts lying outside the marina at Highbourn).

April 6, 2009 - Highbourn Cay to Cambridge Is/Bell Island Anchorage -- 39.7 Miles

With winds 10-15 almost directly on the nose (south), our almost 40 miles today was done on the engine with a little sail help when we were able to turn slightly to the SSE.  Other than cutting the Sand Bar off Normans a little too close (we weren't paying enough attention to the details), the trip down was uneventful.

The Explorer Chartbooks describe the Exumas as "... an emerald necklace bedecking the periwinkle and turquoise waters of the Bahamas".  It's a fitting description.  The hundreds (thousands?) of cays (pronounced keys - little islands) that comprise the Exuma group run for about 100 miles NW to SE.   About 30 miles to the west of the islands lies the over one-mile-deep Tongue of the Ocean.  Between the Tongue and the islands sits a wide swath of shallow water, the Great Bahamas Bank, with most of the navigable part being 12' to 20' deep but sprinkled in places with shallow coral heads.  Shallow sand bores and channels extend out 1-3 miles off the Cays.  

Immediately east of the Cays is Exuma Sound, which almost immediately drops to over a mile deep.  Between the cays are various cuts where one can cross from the banks to the sound and back if weather and current permit (nasty tidal currents exacerbated by contrary winds can make these cuts difficult).  Most of the cruising and virtually all of the anchoring is done on the western, "banks side" of the chain. 

Navigation is correspondingly a bit tricky, but is helped by the Bahamas' gin-clear waters where "VPR" (Visual Piloting Rules) prevail.  VPR is the practice of piloting based on reading depths from the color of the water with polarized sun glasses and (this is critical) with the sun high or at your back:  Dark Blue is deep, white or very light is very shallow sand, and shades of turquoise represent generally navigable channels.  Dark patches, the toughest to accurately read, are usually grass in the sand (a non-issue), but they can be coral heads (a big issue if they're shallower than your boat!).  Passing clouds also can make patches of water temporarily look darker, but after a while it all starts making sense.  That said, one needs to be cautious and stay alert when piloting in this area.  A good example of VPR is shown in the accompanying photo taken as we left through the literally 30' wide cut between rocks and a shallow sand bore at the NW tip of Bell Is.

And things like sand bores (long fingers of shallower sand bars which often separate narrow channels) do move, making the latest charts a must, but also meaning that you have to keep your eyes on the water as well as on your charts.

The accompanying chart snap of our Cambridge Cay entry serves as a good Bahamas piloting example.  As shown by the blue track on the chart, we first had to run a bit South of Bell Island.  We then snaked up the channel between shallows to our port and shoal water off the island to our starboard until eventually reaching the NW tip of Bell and passing through a 30' or so wide cut between rocks to the right and shallow sand to the left (same area as the above picture).  We then snaked our way through the channel north of  Bell, turning south just before exiting O'Brien Cut to Exuma Sound.  A little more snaking around shoals brought us to our anchorage, protected by islands and shoals on all sides.  in addition to our route in blue, the accompaning chart snap shows the channels and shoals.  (Note: Depths on the accompanying chart are in meters.)

Inside we caught up with good friends Wally and Connie Waffensmith from Golden Valley (Summer of '42) and Bob & Judy Snyder of Andover (Greenstone).  It was great seeing them again, and doubly great being with them in this beautiful, secure spot as the winds piped up and clocked around on Tuesday with the passing of yet another front.

April 7 - Cambridge Cay Lay Day

After our longer-jump travels of the past several days it was good to simply sit for a while and soak it all in.  Done for a while are the days of one big jump after another to "get there".  We had now "arrived", and were well past due getting into Island Time.  Tuesday was too windy for snorkeling or much other exploring, so we stayed put and read, baked bread (Judy), caught up on a couple of maintenance chores and got the guitar out (Bill), and joined Snyders and another cruising couple on Waffensmith's boat for dinner Tuesday evening.  Great time!

April 8 - Cambridge Cay to Emerald Bay, Warderick Wells -- 13.9 Miles

Late Wednesday morning Summer of '42, Greenstone, and we departed Cambridge for a short jump to Warderick Wells, the main island in the Exuma Sea Park.  Cambridge Cay is also in the sea park, and the rhumb line distance between our two anchorages was less than 7 miles, but we had to travel twice that to work our way out and around the shoals.

We'd last visited Warderick Wells about 15 years ago when cruising the Exumas with Ron Hitzeman and Kate O'Reilly aboard their sailboat Anne.  Warderick was a favorite stop during that trip, and it remains one of the best spots in the Exumas.  There are miles of hiking trails, numerous beaches, and great swimming and snorkeling in its gin-clear waters.  No fishing, spearing, lobstering or conch harvesting is allowed in the park, so it's a great spot to see sea life.

After getting settled we checked in at park headquarters about 3/4's of a mile NE of our anchorage and then hiked up to Boo Boo Hill, a scenic overlook which has become the spot where passing cruisers leave mementos, typically a chunk of driftwood with their boat name and date carved into the wood.  Snyders found the driftwood piece they had left there a few years back, while Waffensmith's added their freshly carved driftwood plaque to the collection (see photos).  Not to be outdone, the Jubilee crew will definitely be on the lookout for a suitable piece of driftwood to add to the collection, hopefully when we pass through here heading north in a couple of weeks.

Oh ... why the name Boo Boo Hill?  It turns out this hill is about 100 yards from a series of blow holes on the eastern coast of the island.  Waves washing into caverns below force air up through these holes, making a ghost-like heavy breathing sound as if coming from some large creature.  Thus the Boo Boo ... the place is haunted with the ghosts of lost mariners! 

Views of the north and Emerald Bay anchorages from Boo Boo Hill were truly stunning.  Note how the north anchorage is comprised of a narrow channel that winds around a sand bore that's mostly dry at low tide!

After our exploring the Waffensmiths and Snyders came over to Jubilee Wednesday evening for appetizers (see photo) as the sun set off our stern.  It's been so good to meet up with them down here, if only for a few days.  Thursday morning they planned to head north toward Nassau and then Freeport, while we planned to stay here a few more days before exploring further south along the Exuma chain.

April 9-10 - Lay Days to explore the Exumas Land & Sea Park

This is what cruising is all about.  The accompanying photo of Jubilee pretty well sums up the beauty of this place.  While moored in Emerald Bay one feels like they are truly laying on a shimmering emerald ... the water having such a clear, beautiful turquoise hue.

Taking the dingy ashore, we hiked the somewhat rough trail over millennia-old coral rocks to the 1780 ruins of a plantation.  It turns out that after the American Revolution many British Loyalists left America for either Nova Scotia or the Bahamas.  Those of you following our blog for a while will remember places like Shelburne, Nova Scotia, which was settled by Loyalists after the Revolution.  They made a good life for themselves to the north, but one can't imagine actually trying to scrape out a living growing anything on this Loyalist "plantation" in the Bahamas.  The soil here hardly supports a few hardy scrub trees atop the limestone just below the surface (and more often than not at the surface).  The plantation did not succeed, but some of its building foundations and rock walls remain to this day.  Judy dubbed the attached wall the "Great Wall of the Exumas", reminding her of a small scale version of the Great Wall we recently climbed in China.

Late Thursday Afternoon Barry Hammerberg, one of Bill's fraternity brothers from college, stopped over to chat.  Bill and Barry have been in occasional email contact for the past couple of years or so while each of us has been out cruising, but we've never found ourselves in the same place at the same time except at the Annapolis Boat Show.  It was way back in 1965 when we were last in school together, and almost that long since we had seen each other before recently reconnecting.  It was good to get together again.  Barry and his wife Ruth planned to move on Friday, making one more stop before Ruth's daughter and grandson had to catch a plane back to Appleton, WI, from Nassau.  Hopefully we'll cross paths again in the not so distant future.

As of this posting, Friday morning 4/10, we have another beautiful day.  On today's agenda is is exploring the hiking trails on the north end of the island.  We also plan to start an Exuma Park photo album before we leave the park to head further south, so do check back for more photos.

Additional Blog Note:  We noted in our Blog statistics that our web site crossed the 10,000 hits threshold within the past couple of days (10,091 hits as of this morning).  Either we've been putting a lot of people to sleep, or folks are enjoying our ongoing chronicles.  The answer is probably a little of each.  Sweet dreams!