Cruising with Aloha Friday

2008-07-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

Weather & Mooring Balls

The weather has been fabulous, particularly at night. Unlike the Chesapeake Bay with its 24 hour humidity we have had wonderfully cooler nights. Have only had the AC on at Mystic when it was warmer and a bit more humid during the day.

The mooring balls up here have a pickup stick on them. It makes them so much easier to pick up. They also tend to have 2 lines vice one. I have to admit that the first time I picked one up and it had 2 lines attached to it, I did not know what to do with

City Island to Huntington Yacht Club

Here's the lighthouse that guards the entrance to the harbor.

You can see how busy the mooring field is.

We picked up a mooring ball here at HYC and reconnected with a bunch of MTOA Chesapeake Bay Cruisers.

Huntington Y.C. to Port Jefferson
I had a tough time picking up the mooring ball here. It was windy and that made it challenging for Ted to get me close enough and keep me close enough to get one line on a cleat. we later took the dinghy into town. Being a Sunday the place was mobbed. This memorial was erected to recall the shipyard that used to sit here.

Port Jefferson to Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island
First "anchorage" we've been in since Liberty State Park. Its large and the holding was excellent. Bouys mark the anchorage. We dinghied in to walk around a bit and check things out. This is where Billy Joel had his Shelter Island runabout built.

We took a self guided tour of the place the next day. Here's a shot of the anchorage (Cedar Island Cove).

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Here's another view that puts in in context on L.I. Sound.

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Coecles Harbor to Derring Harbor, Shelter Island
Derring Harbor put us across from Greenport, NY where the most recent TrawlerFest was held. We took a mooring ball at the Shelter Island Yacht Club. We took the ferry to Greenport to check out the town.

This is another busy mooring field.

Derring Harbor, NY to Mystic, Conn (Across the Sound)

To reach Mystic, Conn., one cruises up the narrow Mystic River past marinas, mooring fields, and through one railroad bridge and highway bridge.

Mystic Seaport lies just beyond the bridge.
As we headed in to dock we passed the Preservation Shipyard and this little sailboat you can rent.

Later that day we were treated to this colorful sight.

Long Island Sound - Conn Side
Mystic to Duck Island Roads

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The anchorage is inside the two breakwaters you see on the right hand side. Its a fair weather anchorage to say the least. The winds picked up and we started rolling in the anchorage. So we picked up the anchor and moved more "inside" - it made a big difference. It is a very popular day spot.

Duck Island Roads to Zieglers Cove
This was a really lovely anchorage. Tucked away into a little cove, you almost felt like you were in Maine surrounded by the large boulders. Unfortunately the only picture I took is too dark.

Zieglers Cove, Conn to City Island, NY

So here's a roundtrip view of where we've been. We came down the NY side of the Sound,, crossed over to Mystic and returned on the Conn side.

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Hudson River, here we come!

2008-07-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

7 July 2008 Manasquan to Atlantic Highlands, NJ
The fog lifted just enough to for us to get underway. Winds were light and passing through Manasquan Inlet was pleasant! After that we were in thick fog for 5 hours utnil we rounded the top of Sandy Hook. Visibility was less than 250 yards at times - we couldn't even see the boats passing us. Briefly the curtain lifted and we had 1-2 miles visibility. The fog horn, radar and navigation lights were on until Sandy Hook. Sandy Hook Bay is bounded by a spit of land on the ocean side (Sandy Hook) and long piers for the naval piers docking at the Naval Weapons Station, Earle, New Jersey.

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We anchored at the east end of the anchorage behind the breakwater. Fast, catamaran size ferries passing 2 miles off generated wakes that eventually reached us. The scenery here looks a lot different than when we are headed south.

8 July 2008 Atlantic Highlands, NJ to Liberty State Park, NJ
We took on 300 gallons of diesel fuel @$4.45/gal before leaving Atlantic Highlands. Everything we've read and heard indicates it will only be higher in New York. After leaving Atlantic Highlands we headed up toward New York City. We can see the Verrazano-Narrows bridge ahead and Rockaway Point on our right.

Manasquan -Atlantic Highlands - New York City - City Island

The bridge is a double decker bridge and I don't believe trucks are allowed. It connects Staten Island and Brooklyn and it is the starting point for the New York Marathon. We join the flow of the commercial traffic coming into NY Harbor as we pass under the bridge. We can see lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty ahead.

Our anchorage is well behind the Statue of Liberty close to the Jersey City side. In the photo below the anchorage can be seen in the corner of water on the far left.

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9 July 2008 Liberty State Park, NJ to City Island (Bronx), New York
I'm not sure there's another cruise through another city as impressive as cruising the East River from Lower Manhattan to Long Island Sound. This morning as we made the approach to The Battery, the park at the tip of Manhattan,we were competing with large and small water taxis and ferries for our "lane in the road".

This was rush hour on the water in lower Manhattan. Occasionally a helicopter lands or a seaplane takes off. Where else but the Big Apple? We pass under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Five miles from The Battery Roosevelt Island bisects the East River.
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Commercial traffic favors the west side (mid town Manhattan), we take the east side (Brooklyn). Familiar skyscrapers dominate the skyline on the Manhattan side. The Empire State, Chrysler and United Nations buildings. To look around New York City from the Empire State Bldg, create an account to use the ESB TowerCAMS here.

The 2008 Eldridge's (Tide & Pilot Book) was worth every penny ($12.95) we paid for it. We passed through Hell Gate without incident. Not long after we see Riker's Island - La Guardia Airport is next. The river widens and the breeze refreshes. We slide under the Bronx Whitestone Bridge and the Throgs Neck Bridge. A 90 degree turn to port and we're looking at Long Island Sound! The Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, is on our starboard side. Our destination for the night is the
Harlem Yacht Club, on City Island, New York

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2008-07-03T05:16:00.000-07:00

3 July 2008 Wildwood Crest to Point Pleasant, NJ
We've transited 4 inlets on this part of the cruise. Leaving Wildwood Crest, we passed through Cape May Inlet.

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It doesn't look like a big deal, right? I'm sure there are some days when its like a pond but when we left we had some opposing wind and current so we were doing a little pitching until we turned to head up the coast. With SW winds and some seas we were riding over swells for the entire trip. Being stabilized meant the difference between rolling horribly or simply riding over the wells. We wouldn't have gone out if we were not stabilized. The cats and I would not have been happy.

Next stop was Atlantic City. Seems like we surfed into all these inlets. New Jersey's tallest lighthouse, Absecon Lighthouse, greets you as you pass through the inlet. Once we transited Absecon Inlet,

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we anchored behind Sunflower Island just off the inlet. You can see the right turn just before the bridge. Didn't go ashore into Atlantic City as the wind really picked up and we would have gotten soaked. Nice spot to stop. One of the tall buildings was light up like an American flag at night. Very impressive. Leaving we did that pitching thing on the way out. Not as bad as Cape May - maybe because it was closer to slack water.

Barnegat Light, which is actually the name of a geographical area, was the next stop. The inlet had plenty of water. You favor the right side coming in. One thing of note. None of these inlets are show the navigation marks on the charts. The reason being that the Coast Guard moves them around every year depending upon where the sands have shifted. Barnegat Lighthouse is not operational as a light but as night is decoratively lit. We dinghied around to explore the surrounding area. The local MTOA port captains, Dot & Eric Erikson joined us all aboard M/V Insight (Jim & Julie Bertch) for dinner. Lots of fun.

The next morning we left headed for Manasquan Inlet, leaving the others behind to spend another day in Barnegat Light. The winds were even lighter today making the swells a bit smaller as well. The inlet is shorter so the ride, if there's an surfing, is minimized. I wouldn't care to drive in out out any of these inlets unless they were just about flat calm.

2008-06-26T06:09:00.000-07:00

0712-1643 23 June 2008 Solomons, MD to Tolchester, MD
Beautiful day on the Chesapeake Bay! It took us about 10 hours to cruise from Solomons to Tolchester Marina. Tolchester is north of the Bay Bridge.

The countryside on the eastern shore of the Bay is pretty rural all the way up to Tolchester. The marina put us in a covered slip 1 slip away from the parking lot. That will be very convenient for moving 2 8D batteries (100 lbs each) off the boat and 2 new 8D's onto the boat. A thunderstorm rolled through before sunset. Not an uncommon occurrence on the Bay these days.

1021-1526 24 June 2008 Tolchester to Chesapeake City, MD
Batteries installed, underway at 10:38 AM for Chesapeake City on the C&D Canal - our staging point for heading down the Delaware River/Bay. The landscape is just as rural heading north. Aberdeen Proving Ground is on the western shore. We pass by Fairlee Creek, Worton Creek and Still Pond on the east side - anchorages that we've stayed in before. Now we are in new territory. The Bay narrows as it heads into the C&D Canal.. A traffic light advises whether or not small boats should proceed. A dispatcher can be reached on the VHF radio if its red. We have a green light so we proceed. The anchorage basin which is just beyond the bridge in Chesapeake City is smaller than I expected. There are already 5 boats anchored. I think we've anchored too close to this little sailboat behind us but the Captain says, "Don't worry". I'm worried about how much rode (line) the other guy has out to anchor. We celebrate Ted's birthday with dinner at the Chesapeake Inn and locally made ice cream from Kilby Cream. 48 hours from cow to cone! The wind really dropped off tonight. Even so that sailboat has moved close enough for me to throw a fender out and call us "rafted" together. Ted starts to port engine to move us away.

No one is aboard. Ted goes to bed not worried. The anchorage had really filled up by the time we went to bed. I'd say there were close to 20 boats in there.

0514-1554 25 June 2008 Chesapeake City, MD to Cape May, NJ
The weather looks perfect for a run down the Delaware. Winds 5-10 knots, seas less than 1'. We leave earlier than ever before to try to take advantage of the tail end of a fair current going down the Bay. The C&D is ebbing toward the Chesapeake Bay. As we enter the Delaware our speed rapidly picks up and tops off at 10mph! We enjoy a good solid ride for 2 hours and gradually slow down. Here's Ship John Shoal.

We enter Cape May at the western end of the Cape May Canal - the same place the ferries from Lewes, Delaware enter. A dredge sits across from the ferry terminal. Which side do we pass on?

2 1/2 miles later we pass marinas and the USCG base. Our destination is beyond the Cape May Inlet in Sunset Lake. The lake is above the words "Wildwood Crest". You can click on the image and zoom in for a better look.

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The Krogen Manatee that has been behind us all day zips by us - I assume they want to get a good spot in the anchorage. The lake is good sized but no one is anchored. A large part of it is cordoned off by 4 floating buoys that indicate it is for Personal Water Craft (PWC) use. What's left is shallow. We hunt for 30 minutes looking for 8' to accommodate the 3-4' tidal range. We draw 4'10". After 10 1/2 hours we find a spot and drop the hook. Its a nice anchorage but now I know why nobody's here!

One more shot - here's the ground we've covered thus far. Up the Chesapeake, through the C&D Canal and down Delaware Bay to Cape May.

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2008-05-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

0804-1612 14 May 2008 Deltaville, VA to Solomons, MD

The weather is finally good enough to go after 4 days! We were actually rockin' and rollin' in our slip a couple days. This is not a good marina to hide out from a blow. Our laddar was moving laterally and up and down at one time - so much so Robbin Seal wouldn't get on the boat! Dick Lassman and Elle Osborn have been tied up next to us. Roger & Robbin Seal were a little farther up the Bay tied up at a friends dock.

The ride back to Solomons was uneventful. By 1330, we'd passed Point No Point 125 yards off our starboard beam.

At 1541 we passed Drum Point and shortly thereafter we were "home".

Here's a summary of some interesting tidbits regarding our 2007-2008 trip south.

Days Cruising (include day of departure/return): 189
Nights at anchor: 58
Nights at pier: 85
Nights on mooring ball: 41
Nautical/statute miles cruised: 2863/3292
Engine hours: port 442.3 starboard 452.9
Average speed: 6.39 knots
Generator hours: 406
Fuel purchased: 2494.590 gallons
Fuel consumed: 1795 gallons
Cost of fuel purchased: $8765.38
Average cost/gallon of fuel purchased: $3.51
Cost of fuel consumed: $6300.45
Gallon fuel burned per hour (includes generator): 3.96
Nautical/statute miles per gallon: 1.59/1.83

Total expenses: $34,256.53
Average daily cost: $182.76
Marina/mooring ball costs: $5280.35
Boat maintenance/repairs/upgrades: $7818.38
Drinking/dining ashore: $3803.13
Groceries/beverages: $2929.12

2008-05-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

0744-1516 10 May 08 Norfolk to Deltaville, VA

We've discovered we have a generator problem. While anchored in Broad Creek, the generator shut itself down. It does this if it is overheating. Ted checked the impeller and sure enough it needed to be replaced. We run the generator in great Bridge and this time it shuts down even sooner. A little more exploration by the Chief Engineer reveals that the heat exchanger needs to be replaced. So we won't be anchoring out on the way home. We've decided to take a slip in Deltaville for the night.

The weather prediction is ok. North winds 10-15, 2-3' seas. The sea state doesn't sound great but... We pass some commercial traffic on the Elizabeth River and head out into the Bay.

All the way to Wolf Trap Light (2 hours from Deltaville) the weatherman has been wrong. The seas have been flat and there's been little to no wind. At 1230 someone flips a switch. I can see the rain coming down the Bay and the visibility along the shoreline slipping away. Ted's napping in his chair while I drive. I decide its time to turn on the radar so I can "see" what is around me. Ted hears all the "chimes" associated with turning the radar on and wants to know immediately what is going on. The sea state starts to change and for the next 2 hours we have a minimum of 3-4' seas on our bow (ugh!) and some bigger sets. M/Y Summer Wind is ahead of us as is M/Y Sea Robbin. Everyone has the same experience.
So we're pitching and then we turn in toward Deltaville and now the boat wants to also roll. Fortunately the stabilizers take care of that. We dock in Deltaville and are greeted by our friends on Summer Wind as well as Craig Dozier (co-owner of the marina). We haven't seen Craig or her husband Jack since New Year's Eve (remember the progressive dinner?). We also learn that the weather will be so crappy on the Bay for the next several days that we won't be going anywhere until Wednesday.

The good news is the marina is putting on a happy hour tonight for the transients and permanent slip holders.

0846-1156 8 May 08 Great Bridge to Norfolk, VA

The bridge openings are coordinated with the Lock schedule in Great Bridge. Here's M/Y Sea Robbin getting ready to pass through the bridge.

We chose the left hand side of the lock to tie on; it is self serve on the left (no help). Leaving the lock takes you into the Elizabeth River and all kinds of commercial and naval activity. There are probably a half dozen bridges that need to open for us on the route. We take on more fuel at Ocean Marina ($3.82/gal includes taxes and a $.10 BoatUS discount) and end the day at Waterside Marina. We plan to visit with Defever friends, Marcie & Gale Mutum.

0746-1436 7 May 08 Broad Creek, N.C. to Great Bridge, VA
The North River takes us through Coinjock, NC an then out across the Currituck Sound. The Sound is shallow but can be nasty. We lucked out and had a nice crossing. From there you cross the NC/VA state line and enter another canal that ends in Great Bridge, VA. Here's one of the commercial barges we passed.

The Great Bridge Lock is to the left in this picture. There is free dockage on either side of the Great Bridge Bascule Bridge. That is where we stayed for the night. Not long after we tied up, M/Y Sea Robbin arrived and tied up behind us.

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0701-1549 6 May 08 Pungo River to Broad Creek, N.C.
When we got up to pull the anchor it was clear and sunny. In the time it took to pull the anchor and get underway we were completely enclosed in fog. We need the radar to navigate in the fog and we turned the fog horn on. Leaving the anchorage we turn into the 20 mile long Alligator-Pungo River Canal.

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I ran down to start the coffee and when I came back up on the deck I see a red trawler on our port side (passing) 10' away. Are these guys nuts? The fog is totally disorienting. You can't even see the sides of the canal and it is pretty narrow. The next thing I hear from the red boat is that they need to turn to starboard. We're right beside them, remember. Not only does he start moving to starboard, Ted has to put our engines in reverse so this clown doesn't hit us. Once he's back in the channel he falls behind us. It took an hour for the fog to lift.

The north end of the canal empties into the Alligator River. Here's the Alligator River (center, left) the Albemarle Sound and North River (top).

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The Sound can be nasty but we had one of the best crossings ever. We anchored off the North River in Broad Creek.

1033-1735 5 May 08 South River to Pungo River, N.C.

Thunderstorms and wind delayed our departure until late morning. As you can see we were wide open to the winds in the Pamlico Sound as we crossed the Pamlico River and headed up toward Belhaven. We hung a right at Belhaven and anchored where it looks like the Pungo River ends in the top of the picture (near 264).

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Here's a better shot of the anchorage. The Pungo River is the wider body of water in the bottom of the photo. Off to the right is a skinny canal that looks like a road - that's the Alligator-Pungo River Canal. And the anchorage is on the top.

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1318-1804 4 May 08 Spooners Creek to South River, N.C.

Beefore we left we had breakfast ashore with Roger & Robbin Seal and Mike and Karen Efford (Mi-T-Mo, a former Army T boat).

We anchored in the South River. You can see the Neuse above the South River and where the Neuse empties into the Pamlico Sound. Wind can make for an unpleasant passage on the Neuse and in the Sound.

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0639-1642 3 May 08 Wrightsville Beach to Spooners Creek, N.C.

We left Wrightsville Beach early and enjoyed a fair current a good bit of the way. Camp Lejeune is in our path and we saw another kind of wildlife there - the Osprey - also known as the V-22.

As we passed through Swansboro we saw the historic tug, T.B. McClintic, aground. We gave him a wake but with an 8' draft he had to wait for the tide to come in.

Here's Spooners Creek. You see see the very narrow channel into the creek. It is in the middle of a residential area. We stop here a lot.

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When we pulled into Spooners Creek Roger Seal, M/Y Sea Robbin, was there with his boat in a friend's slip. He hailed us and we later joined he and Robbin with their hosts for cocktails and dinner. We have an invitation to return and put our boat in the slip the next time we're passing though.

0851-1255 2 May 08 Pipeline Canal to Wrightsville Beach, N.C.
We had the current on our nose all the way up the Cape Fear River. You can see Southport and the Cape Fear River in this shot. Snows Cut is right below Sea Breeze. Wrightsville Beach is in the top right corner.

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There was a huge dredging operation underway as we exited Snows Cut. Shoaling is always a problem at the Carolina Beach Inlet. This area had already been dredged so when we passed through at low tide we had lots of water.

Dick Lassman and Elle Osborne anchored close by; we dinghied in together for lunch and walked over to the beach afterward. Wrightsville Beach is a university town (UNC Wilmington) and the beaches were full of coeds sunbathing. You'd have thought it was July. I'm walking around in jeans and a long sleeved shirt and windbreaker. All the kids were in bikinis.

We anchor on the south side of Causeway Drive. You can see the Intracoastal Waterway over on the left hand side.

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0755-1651 1 May 08 South Myrtle Beach, S.C. to Pipeline Canal, N.C.

Fuel was less expensive here (relatively speaking) so we took on 200 gallons at $3.889/gal. Ouch!

We timed our departure to have a fair current all the way up to the Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge in N.C. We passed through the Rockpile at low tide. You can see all the rock ledges that are just outside the narrow channel. Amazingly enough a Sea Ray style fast boat came up behind us on a plane, hailed Ted to ask permission to pass us. This is not a good idea in the Rockpile. Nonetheless this boat increased speed and had just gotten up on a plane when I heard a crunching sound. He was on a ledge. Fortunately he was able to back up. He slowed down significantly after that and did not pass us.

A couple miles before the Sunset Beach Pontoon bridge we saw another critter crossing the river. When we looked at it with binoculars it looked like a cat of some kind. We slowed down to watch it get out of the water and decided it was a bobcat. Unfortunately I did not get any good pictures of it.

Here's a shot of the Pipeline Canal (far left) and Southport, NC (on the right).

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0734-1434 30 April 08 Minim Creek to South Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Almost everyone else was gone when we got underway.

Passing through the Waccamaw River we saw tons of turtles on tree stumps in the Cypress Swamp. When we slowed down and pulled over to take pictures, all but one jumped off the stump.

We decided to stop at Osprey marina tonight - it is a great marina and the price is significantly less than most. Dick Lassman and Elle Osborne were also there aboard M/Y Summer Wind. We joined them for drinks after dinner.

0814-1519 29 April 08 Charleston to Minim Creek, S.C.

We had a great time in Charleston (as usual). Got together with Ted's cousin, Ben, and friends, Heinz & Sharon Maurer. We also had the opportunity to go out to Rabbit Lockwood's plantation for "Jazz & BBQ".

Passing under the Ben Sawyer Bridge alongside the Isle of Palms, I took this neat shot of all the sailboats ahead of us.

North of McClellanville on the North Santee River, we saw 2 alligators crossing the river. You may have to click on the picture to see them. The one on the left is easier to see than the one on the right.

We anchored in Minim Creek with a bunch of other boats and crab traps.

2008-04-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

1106-1146 25 April 2008 Wappoo Creek to Charleston, SC

So, here we are. You can see the marina and Lockwood Drive. Follow Lockwood Drive to Broad Street. All of the pricey homes are located "South of Broad". If you look below Broad Street, you can see Tradd Street. South Battery runs off of Tradd; that's where Ted lived until he was 13 years old.

We're here primarily to attend "Jazz & BBQ" at Rabbit Lockwood's plantation here. Rabbit is the senior harbor pilot here in Charleston and Lockwood Drive is named after his family.

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1137-1522 24 April 2008 Steamboat Creek to Wappoo Creek, South Carolina

Wappoo Creek runs along the bottom of the picture into the Ashley River in Charleston, South Carolina. You can see a little island in the creek and some boats on one side of it. This is where we anchored. You can also see the Charleston City marina over on the right hand side. We're positioned to go into the marina during slack water tomorrow.

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0634-1830 23 April 2008 Herb River, Georgia to Steamboat Creek, South Carolina

We set a record today; we traveled 87 miles! This will give us 2 easy days Thursday and Friday. Steamboat Creek is north of Edisto Island. The Edisto River flows out to the ocean.

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You can see where the Intracostal Waterway crosses the Savannah River from Georgia into South Carolina. We're almost to Charleston!

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0758-1649 22 April 2008 Duplin River to Herb River, Georgia

The Herb River is very close to Savannah; probably 20 minutes by car. Look for the Herb River in the picture below Thunderbolt. We anchor in the bend.

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0754-1659 21 April 2008 Fernandina, FL to Duplin River, Georgia

Took on 500 gallons of fuel at $4.13/gallon. Another pretty day for an outside run.
We left the St Mary's River, headed out the inlet and turned north. The beaches along Cumberland Island are beautiful and unspoiled. Let's hope they keep it that way. We miss all the S'ing through the marshes taking this route. We passed by Jekyll Island and St Simon's Island. Two other MTOA cruisers decided to go this way as well; it leaves the shallower areas of Georgia behind us. Doboy Sound is well marked and has plenty of water. The shrimp boats use it. You can see the Sound right below Sapelo Island. The winds picked up later in the day and the ride got a little bumpy. Once we turned into the sound, things smoothed out. We've anchored in the Duplin River before - its a nice spot.

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0916-1634 20 April 2008 Ortega Landing Marina, St John's River, Jacksonville, FL to Fernandina Beach, FL

Here's where we came back into the intracoastal waterway. Georgia is north of the inlet, Florida is south. We'll take on fuel tomorrow morning.

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Weather looks good enough for a short run outside to Fernandina Beach today. You can see where we exited the St John's River at Mayport into the ocean. Not much to look at along the way. There are some beautiful, long, undeveloped stretches of beach along the coast until you get to Amelia Island. Lots of small boats out fishing. A shrimper cruised with us all the way to Fernandina. He didn't put out his nets until he was in that area.

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Rendezvous is over. Good time met lots of nice people. You can see where we were relative to downtown Jacksonville.

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2008-04-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

0851-1540 14 April 2008 Pine Island to Ortega Landing, St Johns River, FL
The alternator isn't putting out any voltage now. The winds will be 20-25 mph out of the north tomorrow. So, rather than anchor tonight, we'll just head into the marina early. The MTOA Rendezvous starts Wed for us.

We drove from the lower helm - since the front came through the other day it has been pretty cool on the bridge. The St Johns River runs north. Not much commercial traffic on the river today. Not much to look at until you get to downtown Jacksonville.

0823-1701 13 April 2008 Daytona to Pine Island, FL
We decided to go a little farther than originally planned. Ted has noticed that the port alternator isn't putting out the voltage it should to charge the house batteries (that the inverter uses to provide 110 power) over the last couple days.

The anchorage filled up by dark - the most boats I've seen in this spot.

0725-1621 12 April 2008 Cocoa to Daytona, FL
Great boating day as evidenced by the number of boats on sand bars in Rockhouse Creek.
You probably have to click on the photo to see the smaller boats back in there.

The stretch between both ends of Ponce Inlet is being dredged. The operation spans a 2 mile area with pumps on 2 separate barges dumping the reclaimed sand on to the beach. All of you boaters should be able to look at the signals on the dredge itself and figure out which side to pass on.

The guys on the dredge were real hams.

11 April 2008 Moored as Before Cocoa Village Marina, Cocoa, FL
Hit the commissary, exchange and barber shop at Patrick AFB today to do some re-provisioning. Had lunch with the Berry's in a very good mexican restaurant called "Tijuana Flats".

0836-1240 10 April 2008 Palm Bay to Cocoa, FL
We cruised back into Cocoa today with plans to stay 2 nights to re-provision. Ted also desperately needs a haircut. Here's BEFORE
Here's AFTER.

Chuck & Pat Berry (M/V Got the Fever) were already moored at the marina and greeted us upon arrival. We met them on the mooring ball at Great Guana Cay.

0915-1614 9 April 2008 Jensen Beach to Palm Bay, FL
As we got underway this morning John & Janet Ferguson (M/V Arcadian) passed us. We wound up anchoring together behind some spoil islands in Palm Bay. They joined us for happy hour. It was fun catching up.

0851-1626 8 April 2008 Lake Worth to Jensen Beach, FL
We stopped by Admiral's Cove marina enroute to have lunch with Marian & Joel Busse. Passing through the intersection of Jupiter Inlet and the ICW, there was dredging underway. Freddie Olverson (M/V Freddie Bear) overtook us there and headed for Hutchison Island. We anchored out just north of Hutchison Island.

0816-1554 7 April 2008 West End, Bahamas to Lake Worth, Florida
Today is the best day for us to go or else we are stuck here until Thursday.
We had an uneventful trip across. We are anchored in Lake Worth presently;
Ted been on hold with Customs & Border Protection using 2 cell phones and 2
800 number for almost an hour now.

Conditions when we crossed..

As we left West End we had swells in the 4' range, confused seas. Although
the predominant direction the swells came from was southwest, they came from
other directions also. Winds were very light.

The conditions improved progressively the farther west we went.

At about the 3 hr mark, the swells were gone.

We had about a 1' chop on the water; winds had picked up a bit.

The winds were from the SW until we were an hour or so outside of Lake
Worth; then they were from the west.

Since this is only my second crossing I asked the delivery captain on the
Mainship we were traveling with was he'd give the trip on a scale of 1 to 10
- 10 being the best.

He said when we left West End he'd have given it a 5 but by the halfway mark
he'd raised it to a 7. He said he's seen a lot worse!

Singer Island was a welcome sight as we entered Lake Worth Inlet.

4-6 April 2008 Moored as before Old Bahama Bay Marina, GBI
Waiting for the right weather window to cross over! Met some more nice folks during our stay here. After 31 March dockage rates increased from $1.50/ft to $2.60/ft. We are now in peak season. The Henne family on M/V Sweet William came in ahead of us. We met them at Great Turtle Cay and have been lagging behind them by a day or so during our time in the Bahamas. They have 3 girls (triplets) who are 9 or 10 yers old and one boy (Sweet William) who is 6 yrs old. Nice family. We joined them on a run into Freeport/Lucaya on the other end of Grand Bahama Island. We figured we may never get back here again so why not. The public taxi was a van, $14.00 round trip for adults. We met some interesting locals going in and coming back. Lucaya is where all the tourists from the cruise ships end up. We really weren't too keen on that. We headed to a locals restaurant called "Simply Native" after multiple recommendations from sales folks we solicited. We took another public taxi ($1.00 fare) and that driver called Arnold (our driver from West End) to let him know where to pick us up. Dinner was great and much less expensive than anywhere else we've eaten. We even tried a local dessert, "Guava Duff". Sort of like a jelly roll with a cream sauce - short on the guava though. One of the triplets rode in the backseat with Ted on the way back - she had her way with him.

Here's a rare sight - Ted brushing Bonnie.

Late Sunday night a sailboat went aground on the Atlantic side of GBI. After a long day single handing this sailboat was so close to the marina entrance but unfortunately went aground.

1000-1727 3 April 2008 Great Sale Cay to West End, Grand Bahama Island
When we pulled the anchor up this morning, it was really stuck. Probably the best anchorage we've been in since we've been here.

It was a little windier during the run to West End. We timed our passage through Indian Key Channel to coincide with a mid-tide. Never saw less than 6'. When we left the bank there were some swells on our nose (east). Turning southeast we experienced a little mild pitching until we were in the marina basin. One more leg to go!

1317-1843 2 April 2008 Spanish Cay, Abacos to Great Sale Cay, Bahamas
Nice run over to Great Sale. Made a reservation at Old Bahama Bay marina before we left Spanish Cay using Skype. By the time we got over to Great Sale, the winds had shifted so we anchored on the northwest side of Great Sale.

View Larger Map

Two sailboats were anchored when we arrived but got underway at sunset to head across the Little Bahama Bank to cross the Gulf Stream. This is out last night on the Bank!

2008-04-02T05:10:00.000-07:00

1005-1238 1 April 2008 Manjack Cay to Spanish Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Underway again. The only way to see Spanish Cay is to stay in the marina. It is a privately owned island. A squall passed through just as we planned to enter the marina basin so we held off until it passed. As it was fairly windy we pulled into the slip bow-first. Internet access is available here for $10.00/day. We had lunch ashore - 2 choices; grouper or conch. We biked down the other end of the island. There's a 5,000' runway for private aircraft. We walked along the beach and reef; in places it looked like a conch graveyard. I found a nice conch that wasn't too beat up. The wind has shifted to the SE and our part of the marina is not sheltered from a SE wind. It almost feels (the motion of the boat) like we're anchored vice in a marina.

Don't think I've mentioned it before but I've used Skype (when I have internet access) to call my siblings. Its cheap ($.02/minute) and the connection has generally been excellent.

29-31 March 2008 Anchored as before Manjack Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Been doing lots of reading. Couldn't even get enthused enough to put the dinghy in the water the first day - after that it was choppy.

The holding here is good; we aren't moving and everyone else seems to be holding their position as well.

Ted discovered that our trip log (on the chartplotter) has stopped at 10,000 nm.

0900-1304 29 March 2009 Man O War Cay to Manjack Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
The weather forecast predicts E 20-25 kt winds for several days so we've decided to head to Manjack Cay. Today was our second best weather day on the water since we've been in the Bahamas. The water was almost flat. Once again we could follow the chain down from the bow - it went under the boat and the anchor was astern of us. Huge starfish could be seen everywhere we looked. A lone fish hung around the shady side of the boat. We listened to the Cruiser's Net for Whale Cay passage reports and got underway.

Once we were anchored Ted decided to get into the water and follow the anchor rode to see how well the anchor was set. Upon examination he picked up the anchor and set it himself. The he signaled me to start the engines and back down on it. We're ready for the wind now! A total of 18 boats had anchored at Manjack by sunset.

Stars, stars, stars. The night sky is breath taking. I wish I could take a picture.

28 March 2008 Moored as before Man O War Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
We rented a golf cart to drive around Man O War. First stop was Lola's Bakery for cinnamon rolls. Lola works out of her kitchen. The smell of cinnamon rolls greeted us as we headed for Lola's kitchen door. At 10am she already had a dozen cinnamon rolls plates and half a dozen loaves of bread ready to go - there were more in the oven and more waiting to go into the oven! We walked out with a plateful and headed for the beach. After that we headed north on the main road which is just wide enough for 2 golf carts. The road parallels the ocean side of the Cay. At "The Narrows" you are looking at the Atlantic Ocean and the Sea of Abaco separated only by 100' of reef. I think we went down every road on the island and into every shop that was open before we called it a day. I found a local fabric that is actually made on Andros Island for sale. Very expensive. 2 placemats were $50.000 - a little too rich for my wallet these days. The material is either a batik cotton or canvas with either turtles, hibiscus or the like on the material. Very pretty. By 3pm we were done and headed back to the boat.

We are hoping to transit The Whale on Saturday and make our way back to West End with hopes of crossing the Gulf Stream back to Florida next weekend.

1534-1649 27 March 2008 Elbow Cay to Man O War Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Seeing all we were going to see in Hopetown and realizing that we are starting to run out of time, we headed over to Man O War Cay. We entered the narrow channel to check out the harbor for anchoring. Once again it is so congested with mooring balls there is just no room for anchoring. You don't want to meet another big boat in that narrow channel. We anchored outside Man O War Cay with half a dozen other boats. We took a quick ride into town to check things out but everything was closed. This is a "dry" Cay - you cannot purchase alcohol in the stores.

27 March 2008 Anchored as before Elbow Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
We dinghied in to town to take a self guided tour of the Elbow Cay Reed Lighthouse. The light is still operational. It was put into service back in 1863 as part of the British Imperial Lighthouse Services. It still uses a small kerosene fueled mantle to project light through the huge fresnel lens that can be seen for 20 miles. Once inside the lighthouse you can see the mechanism that pressurizes the kerosene to fuel the mantle for the light. The views were spectacular from the top.

We joined Trish & Jim touring around a bit and had lunch on the beach.

0954-1215 26 March 2008 Great Guana Cay to Elbow Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
We got underway a couple hours before high tide in anticipation of passing through some shallow areas. M/V Let's Went called to ask for a report when we passed by two cuts to the ocean. We found a sandy spot to drop the anchor and after we felt confident it was set Ted and I explored a little bit of Hopetown by dinghy. A candy striped lighthouse is a familiar landmark on Elbow Cay. Hopetown has 2 streets, Front St and Back St! The town is very picturesque and is probably the nicest place we've been to, after Green Turtle Cay. The harbor is full of mooring balls but it looks pretty full. There's no room for anchoring in here. We watched M/V Great Expectations, Trish Smith & Jim Riordan, grab a mooring ball, as we ate lunch at Cap'n Jacks. We met them in Ft Lauderdale earlier and then at West End upon our arrival in the Bahamas.

Three of us, including the catamaran "Anything's Pawsible" anchored outside Hopetown and got together for pizza on M/V Let's Went that evening.

25 March 2008 Moored as before Great Guana Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
At 0700 Ted decides it time to go back to the boat. The engine starts on the first pull and the choke is intact. In re-constructing the events from the night before we concluded that Ted probably never put the key into the ignition. He also thought he lost 2 pairs of glasses but I had one pair and the other was in the bilge in the dingy.

Later that day we walked back into town for some exercise. We ran into Bill and Elaine Berthiaume, M/V Let's Went, MTOA members. Looks like we will all head to Hopetown (Elbow Cay) tomorrow as the winds are favorable for anchoring in that area.

24 March 2008 Moored as before Great Guana Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
We'd watched a 37' Great Harbor attempt to snag a mooring in the wind. It was going to be challenging and I voted that the boat hook would win and it wold be over the side soon. Ted jumped in the dinghy to give these folks a hand. That afternoon we met them at Grabbers (another beach bar & grill) in Fisher Bay. Rum drinks are the "specials" over here and Ted started out with a "Grabber". I stuck with the white wine. We headed back to Nipper's to buy tee-shirts. Over the course of several hours, Ted had 2 Nipper's "specials" and later led the crowd appropriately when shots of "Fire in the Hole" were poured for all who were imbibing. Ted even danced .... he hates to dance.... so I knew he was feeling no pain. Time to head back to the dinghy and hit the sack. Its about a 1/4 mles from Nippers to Grabbers (where the dinghy was tied up). Somewhere along the line all those "specials" and shots caught up with Ted - unbeknowst to me at this point. Its dark and there are no lights on the dock. we get into the dinghy and Ted can't get the engine started. After multiple tries Ted concludes that he's pulled the choke off. I can't see anything but I'm thinking we'll just ask one of the folks who's still here to give us a tow when they head back to their boat. The next thing I know Ted is talking about getting a room here! I climb up the laddar into the dock; somehow Ted ends up in the water but its shallow enough to stand up. In hindsight I don't know how he ever made it back down the dock....
$235.36 later we have a room and Ted hits the sack.

23 March 2008 Moored as before Great Guana Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Nipper's hosts an easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday that we decided to check out. Lots of folks were there coming either by ferry from Marsh Harbor or staying locally. The easter egg hunt was fun to watch. Kids of all ages participated. Eggs (plastic) in the water had rocks in them and were inside a baggie sitting on the bottom. The "Pig Roast" is also a Sunday occurrence - one of the things you try at Nippers.

When we dinghied back to the boat, a 49' Defever, M/V Got the Fever, was moored next to us. Chuck & Pat Barry invited us aboard for cocktails.

1057-1313 22 Mar 2008 Green Turtle Cay to Great Guana Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
6 boats traveled from GTC to Great Guana Cay and Marsh Harbor today. The big event was the passage around Whale Cay. It is too shallow for us to travel behind the Whale so we have to go outside into the ocean to pass around. The Cruiser's Net this morning indicated that there was a 6'-8' swell and confused seas. We decided to wait a couple hours and see it it settled down and/or we heard any boats report on the conditions.
Then we all decided to have a look. As we got closer I did speak to a sport fish who had passed around and he said they had a 3'-4' beam sea with no problems. Off we all go - it was an uneventful passage.

We picked up a mooring ball in Fisher Bay. Using the headsets made a difference - its much easier to hear and understand each other. It took me 2 tries to get the pennant up with the boat hook. Winds are lighter today but we'll only get a short reprieve. By Monday it'll be NNE 15-20 knots again. The mooring balls are large concrete blocks.

Guana Cay is 5 1/2 miles long and home of famous Nipper's Beach Bar & Grill. I'm told that the beach is rated as one of the world's 10 best.

2008-03-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

17-21 March 2008 Moored as before Green Turtle Cay Club & Marina
We biked into the settlement of New Plymouth. This town is the complete opposite of the town in Grand Cay. Very clean and picturesque. There are 3-4 grocery stores, a library, museum, multiple small restaurants etc. About 400 people live in New Plymouth.

The second time we biked into town we had lunch at Pineapples. You can see its not a big place. Picked up some romaine and margarine at the grocery store ($6.43). We also went to the library. They have a great book exchange. We were curious about the reverse osmosis water plant on the island so I stopped a man coming out of the Post Office to ask some questions. The Green Turtle Cay Club (where we are) has its own R-O plant. The locals all use cisterns to collect water off their roofs. Next question I asked was about septic fields. The homes here have "cesspits". Given the limestone composition of the under lying substrate, it does provide great drainage.

Ted has figured out that one of the duck bill valves for the overboard black water pump is not working. One of the boaters we met in West End is here and he had a spare to loan us. We won't get to test this out again until we leave the marina.

We've been waiting for the wind to lay down so we can head over toward Great Guana Cay and Marsh Harbor. Tomorrow is the day. We have to go out into the ocean a bit to go around Whale Cay; its too shallow for us to transit behind it. Weather and wave conditions are important for a safe passage.

xxxx-xxxx 16 March 2008 Crab Cay to Green Turtle Cay
With a front on the way we opted to head into a marina on Green Turtle Cay. Ted wanted to tow the dinghy so we tried that out for the first time. We used our headsets during the mooring process. The slips have no finger piers but they all have a laddar against the dock. We normally back into a slip so in this case we'd get off the swim platform, use the laddar if necessary to get on the dock. There are 4 pilings to tie onto. Two near the bow and 2 against the dock. That's 2 less than we'd see at home. Normally there would be 2 more pilings amidships. Anyway Ted wanted the 2 lines (bow line and amidships line) on the forward piling. The dockhand here really knows his stuff. Backing as close to the pier as we did he was able to grab the stern lines while I worked the other 4 lines with a boat hook. Headsets are like baby monitors - the boat next door or across the way may share the same frequency and can "listen" in. We later learned at Happy Hour that the Nordhaven across the way had listened to the entire exchange between Ted & I.

First impressions indicate that this is the prettiest place we have visited to date.

Until the end of March, the marina allows you to use your daily dockage rate toward food and beverage credit at the Green Turtle Club. Quite a concept....
In the Bahamas you are normally charged separated for water and electricity. Here water is .25/gallon. Electricity is .45 per KWH.

To take advantage of the good deal offered, we'll eat dinner and lunch ashore often enough to break even!

15 March 2008 Anchored as before Crab Cay

Did some maintenance on the boat today before we set off exploring in the dinghy.
We found the causeway between Little Abaco and Great Abaco and stepped ashore to check things out. Not much to see. The "2 lane" highway does not have a dividing line on it and in 20 minutes time only 4 cars zoomed by.

Ted also noticed that the "midway full" indicator light on our black water tank came on today. Not a good sign since we thought we emptied the tank on the way down to Crab Cay.

Explored among the little cays between our boat and Little Abaco Island.

1014-1159 14 March 2008 Allans Pensacola Cay to Crab Cay
The water was like glass this morning. Without any ripples I can clearly see the bottom. We're in 6.6' of water. The metal plate on the bridle is sitting on the bottom. The anchor is about 15' off the port side of the boat. I can read the "Made in U.K." on the side of the anchor. Only one fluke is buried in the sand. It must have been the sheer weight of the chain that keeps us from dragging.

A sea ray circles the boat.

This is probably the best weather day we've had since we arrived in the Bahamas.

We got underway for the short run to Crab Cay.

Pumpouts are non-existent in the Bahamas. The "bank" gets "flushed" 4x a day which accounts for the clarity of the water. It was time to dump the black water tank so Ted flipped the valves and started the pump. Everything appeared to work fine....

Once anchored we put the dinghy into the water to see exactly how the anchor was set. I drove a line perpendicular to the bow; Ted hung over the dinghy with his mask on pointing one way or the other following the chain. Once he found the anchor he seemed satisfied that we were ok. Off we went to explore the beach combing for shells. We're anchored next to Great Abaco Island and Little Abaco Island.

13 March 2008 Anchored as before Allans Pensacola Cay
I've been able to pick up the NOAA weather forecast for the area 60 miles out from Jupiter, FL. That forecast gives us a good idea of what we can expect.

We dinghied into shore to explore. There's a path through the mangrove to the Atlantic ocean side. It was really blowing over there. People have left all kinds of things hanging on trees marking the year they were there.

Guineamans Cay sits adjacent to Allans; there's an inlet running out to the ocean.

0914-1456 12 March 2008 Grand Cays to Allans Pensacola Cay
We're headed east now toward the Abacos. Along the way we passed M/V Iffin, Barbara & Barry Kipnis boat. They've been in the Bahamas about 6 weeks and were headed back to Florida. They'd had it with the wind and constant fronts.

The holding at Allans Pensacola is reported to be poor but it offers protection from the north winds we expect. It took as a couple tries to get the anchor set. Fortunately the wind lay down and we got a good night's rest. Three of the couples we anchored with in Great Sale were here also. Little Abaco Island is about 5 miles across from us. We can actually see lights over there at night.

0920-1503 11 March 2008 Great Sale Cay to Grand Cays
It was a really quiet night at anchor last night. Everyone started splitting up today headed for different destinations. We headed north to Grand Cays - a small settlement is there.

Abeam of Double Brested Cays 2 dolphins joined us briefly. What with the super clear water, you can see the whole dolphin (vice the top fin only) heading toward you. I got a great movie of this pair and another pair that joined us. Unfortunately when I try to upload it, it just won't successfully upload.

We anchored outside of Grand Cay and dinghied into the settlement. The harbor is well protected. While we were looking for a place to tie the dinghy we noticed some fisherman had captured a very large sea turtle and had already popped the shell. The entrails remained.

We later learned that only the Hawksbill turtle is protected while the season for Loggerheads and Green turtles is August through March. The people on Grand Cay subsist on seafood. We walked through the town; there's a real problem with trash disposal in the more remote areas. It was depressing. The "road" is wide enough for a car but in reality golf carts are the vehicle of choice. We walked over to where the dead sea turtle was. Ted spoke to the adult men; I spoke to the 2 children. They proceeded to show me about 30 more turtle shells (for sale, I assume) and another baby turtle destined to become soup. The locals here also catch lobster and of course, conch. A generator provides power to Grand Cay.

Once back aboard the boat the wind started to lay down and it looked like it would be a nice evening. Such was not the case. At midnight the wind and seas picked up. Ted let some more scope out on the bridle as well as the chain rode. We moved the dinghy astern of the boat and then we tried to sleep. It was not a restful night.

0830-1424 10 March 2008 Old Bahama Bay Marina, West End to Great Sale Cay

Six boats left the marina this morning; three of us are traveling together. Wind is predicted to be NE at 17 mph with a 1' chop on the bank. There are no navigation aids
over here. All the navigation is done using waypoints from the chart books. We timed our departure from West End to pass through Indian Cay Channel on a rising tide. Two hours later the winds have picked up and the wind is on our nose. One of the couples we're traveling with has made multiple trips to the Bahamas - its like having a security blanket with you.

Twenty miles later we pass Mangrove Cay.
The wind has fallen off a bit so the ride is more to my liking. 25 miles to go.

We anchored in about 9' of water at Great Sale Cay. There's nothing here; just an overnight spot protected from all but south winds. We put the dingy into the water to explore the shoreline; there's no beach on this side. There were 2 spots to get off the dinghy - the rest of the shoreline is a limestone ledge 1'-2' above the waterline. Pretty rugged here - the mangroves are dense.

We hosted cocktails on our boat. Tim & Jan (M/V Lambchop); Pat & John (M/V Gypsy Time); Steve & Jean (M/V Sun Cat); Jim & Trish (M/V Great Expectations) and Myke & Bill (M/V Footprints) joined us.

Blowing the conch shell is a boating thing at sunset in the Bahamas and Key West. I need a lot more practise!

The stars were gorgeous - bright, close with no distraction from any city lights.

8 March 2008 Moored as before Old Bahama May Marina, West End, Grand Bahama Island
Shells I collected on the beach here.....

The Bahamian flag flies next to our US Navy flag....

2008-03-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

7 March 2008 Moored as before Old Bahama Bay Marina, West End, Grand Bahama Island
It looks like we will be here until at least Monday sitting out weather (lots of wind from the wrong direction).

6 of us decided to bike in to the Village of West End. That's Trish Smith and Jim Riordan (M/V Great Expectations), Bill & Myke Oppold (M/V Footprints) and Ted. There was not a lot to see. As we rode along the coastline we noticed several large piles of conch shells.
Conch is a staple here in the Bahamas and it is a very popular dish in restaurants. Conch soup, conch fritters, conch sandwiches - you get the idea. We are 25 miles from Freeport and while we are in a nice resort its not Paradise Island and Atlantis! We suspect that the local population is wholly dependent on the resort for employment. We stopped at a grocery store to check things out and what we found were "basics" on the shelves. The local liquor store front door was locked. We rang the doorbell but no one answered. We stopped at the Bahamas Telecommunication Company (BATELCO) to buy phone cards but no one was home. WELCOME TO THE BAHAMAS, MON!

We also rode through a new residential area adjacent to the resort. What's wrong with this picture?

Back at the ranch I walked around a bit and took a few more shots. Here's Customs & Immigration.

I also noticed a lot of these lizards on the edge of the sidewalk sunning themselves. Some of the tails looked like curly-q's.

Gasoline here at the marina is $4.67 and diesel fule is $4.48. OUCH!

2008-03-07T11:06:00.000-08:00

6 March 0549-1505 Ft Lauderdale, FL to West End, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas
The weather forecast was extremely favorable so we got underway early. As we passed through Port Everglades, 3 cruise ships had just come in. We passed a 4th coming in the channel as we were going out.

An hour out I notice two things; the depth sounder is showing over 300 ft and the wind is blowing from the north. Hmmmm.....not the prediction I saw. Its supposed to be 5kts out of the SE. After 400 ft the depth sounder is just showing dashes or 3-5 ft.

Two hours out I can still hear requests for bridge openings on the VHF radio.

Three hours out the cell service drops off, the Ft Lauderdale skyline is gone, the Verizon aircard is off-the-air, but we can still hear the weather forecast on the VHF radio. As I look into the sea chest (in the engine room), the water is clear with an indigo hue.

Four hours out we are halfway; 35 miles are behind us. We've been in the Gulf Stream for a couple hours. We still have light north winds. The water temperature has increased 1 degree per hour. It will be 80 degrees by the time we get to West End.

Five hours out, we get a rainstorm with 3-4' swells amidships. The winds have shifted to SE. Thank heavens for stabilizers!

Eight hours later we enter the channel for the Old Bahama Bay resort.

We tie up right next to a 49' Defever, M/V Footprints, belonging to Bill & Myke Oppold. Behind us is M/V Great Expectations; Trish Smith & Jim Riordan (originally our cruising buddies but they came a day earlier)

We end the day with champagne on M/V Footprints celebrating three firsts for us.

First time crossing an ocean,
First time in a foreign port,
First time in the Bahamas

2008-03-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

29 Feb 08 - 5 Mar 08 Moored as before, Las Olas Mooring Field, Ft Lauderdale, FL
We like Ft Lauderdale. Lots to do from our location. Beach is very close, lots of restaurants & shops also. Here's a last shot of us before we head for the Bahamas Thursday.

28 Feb 08 1211-1219 New River Fuel Dock to Las Olas Mooring Field, Ft Lauderdale, FL
Yippee! We got a mooring ball. Its tough to anchor around Ft Lauderdale without being run off by the police. The city marinas are less expensive than the normal
marinas and a mooring ball is even better.

We rode our bikes over to Boat Owners Warehouse - about 9 miles round trip. There's one high bridge we had to bike over and we had to contend with east winds on the return trip. This was the first day I've had jeans on in ages. Some of the sights..

28 Feb 08 0803-0834 Lake Sylvia to New River Marina Fuel Dock

Back up the river again to meet a truck delivering diesel to us. The city marina has a fuel dock we can use. This was the best price we found after calling around....$3.23/gal + 6% tax. We wanted to top over the saddle tanks and fill the starboard tank in aanticipation of a possible trip to the Bahamas later this week.

27 Feb 08 1213-1312 New River Marina to Lake Sylvia, Ft Lauderdale, FL
We saw a number of yachts with tows on the front and the back; no doubt giving the Captain a safety margin negotiating the narrow New River.

You've already seen the "before" shot; here's the after! So far this oven has been great. A quantum improvement over the previous oven.

We pulled into a slip at Las Olas City Marina to pump out - its free. No room in the mooring field so we anchored in Lake Sylvia. Amazingly enough when we entered the lake, no one else was there. Its a popular anchorage but the local police generally make you leave after 24 hours.

2008-02-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

25 February 2008 Ft Lauderdale Riverfront
We moved to the south side of the riverfront so we're not on the ledge at low tide.
The small boat traffic has diminished today but lots of yachts are coming up the New River. Here's one going through the 3rd Ave bridge.

Te old oven was removed yesterday. Dennis picked up Ted today and they made the rounds; Boat Owners Warehouse, Sailorman and West Marine. The old oven is on consignment at Sailorman. Here's the "before" picture.

24 February 2008 0855-1130 Haulover Beach Park Marina, North Miami Beach to Ft Lauderdale Riverfront, FL
We moved up to Ft Lauderdale to pick up the new oven on Monday. Dennis Chandler went with Ted on the boat; I drove the car and went grocery shopping. As they came up the New River I was on shore snapping a few photos. You can get a real perspective for how narrow the river is. Its not uncommon for large yachts to pass each other side by side. On Sunday lots of little boats were cruising. You can dock alongside many of the restaurants along the Riverwalk while you dine.

Later in the day as the tide was running out, we heard a few "thunks". It wasn't the boat hitting the pier since the fender was between the boat and the pier. Ted got out the extendable boat hook and discovered a ledge... our starboard stabilizer was hitting the ledge and then sitting on the ledge. We couldn't even push the boat farther away. Needless to say you-know-who was not a happy camper. Here's a shot looking down at the fenders.The large yacht behind us was defnitely aground; Ted spoke to one of the crew. Their stabilizer hits the ledge also. As the tide started coming in again we started hanging fenders - one pair was hanging down with our new, extra large fender perpendicular to the first two. That put us a good two feet off the pier and seemed to make a difference. We didn't hear anymore thunks at the next low tide.

15-23 February 2008 Moored as before Haulover Beach Park Marina

We went down to Key Largo with our neighbor from Solomons, Dennis Chandler, to the Gigantic Nautical Flea Market sponsored by the Rotary Club. This is an annual event but the first time we've been in a position to go. Ran into people we knew who winter in the Keys. Bought a few things; Keys honey, notecards and extra large blow up fenders. Here's a few shots I took along the way. The beach is on the Bay side near the Upper Keys Yacht Club.

After the flea market we stopped by The Mandalay Bar for lunch but it was closed. Rodriguez Key sits out in front of it.
We wound up at Sundowners for lunch instead. Here's a shot of Ted & Dennis.

We went to the Miami Boat Show for 1 1/2 days. Its huge. It is spread out in 4 different locations. The convention center in Miami Beach has all the stuff. Photo comes from Robin Roberts (M/V Adventures) blog.
Mia Marina on the Miami side has the Strictly Sail portion (sail stuff and sailboats), Sea Isle Marina on the Miami side has the trawlers and smaller power boats. Along Indian Creek, the Yacht Brokerage is set up along the lines of the floating docks for the Annapolis Boat Show. All of the magayachts are here. We've decided to buy Skymate for weather forecasts it offers. This was purchased with a trip to the Bahamas and Canada in mind. Email is a secondary feature. I'm also getting a new oven and range - hallelujah! My oven has been practically worthless. Bought charts and a chip for the Bahamas trip and ordered what we need (charts and chips) for the trip north this summer.

Ted has already started doing the groundwork for the installation of the new antenna the Skymate requires. We'll leave the old oven on consignment at Sailorman; an emporium for used and new boat stuff.

Had a new bank of 4 8D batteries installed Monday. This is for the "house" bank. These things are really heavy - about 100 lbs each. Someone else schlepped the new ones onto the boat and removed the old ones as well.

Since the boat show ended (Monday) there's been a steady parade of boats on the ICW. They come in waves with the bridge opening at quarter of and quarter after the hour. Here's one with a special tow.

0757-1057 14 February 2008 Key Biscayne to Haulover Beach Park Marina
Short run today past downtown Miami today.

We're headed for the city marina in North Miami Beach. We initially tied up on the outside of the face dock but a few wakes from passing boats changed that. We moved on the inside where the barrier wall attenuates the effects of the wakes. The city marina is largely home to a commercial fishing fleet. They take tourists out fishing multiple times a day and make at least one night trip

Here's a google earth view of Haulover Beach Park. You can see the marina below the green arrow.

0755-1651 13 February 2008 Lignumvitae Key to west side of Key Biscayne, FL
Underway early again. Today we have SW winds and more of a following sea. Stabilizers were on all day. Seas and winds picked up and lay down several times during the day. It was nice to have the wind behind us inside of in our face. About 3PM a major storm approached us from the west. WOW! When that wind hit us, you knew it. Radar kept us on course since you couldn't see anything around us. It didn't last too long but it was long enough for me. When we approached Key Biscayne Channel the weather had cleared. We dropped into No Name Harbor to pump out but decided it was too crowded to anchor here. Decided to anchor on the west side of Key Biscayne where we didn't have to worry about anyone dragging and running into us. We anchored off Harbor Point above the area marked Biscayne Bay Aquatic Reserve. Take a look at the Google earth picture.

0655-1228 12 February 2008 Boot Key Entrance to Lignumvitae Key, FL
Underway early. Not sure why we thought this would be a good day to travel in Hawk Channel. We had 20 kts on the nose and were doing that pitching thing. After 30 minutes Ted decided to turn around, go under the 7 Mile Bridge and head up the inside route on Florida Bay. It was a much better ride but it was still windy. I don't think we had the stabilizers on all day. We heel a little bit as our hardtop acts like a sail but we lose a little speed with them on. We cut our trip short (since we would have had to go back out into Hawk Channel) and grabbed a mooring ball behind Lignumvitae Key. We had great protection from the strong SE winds. Not long after we anchored we had heavy showers for an hour or so.

About 9PM we noticed a boat trying to find its way in. There are lots of crabpots in the area. He had his spotlight on and seemed to be looking for something. Ted hailed him and it turned out he was looking for a mooring ball. Ted was able to give him the location of one on our port side, relative to our location.

2008-02-11T15:38:00.000-08:00

11 February 2008 Anchored as before Marathon, FL
We dinghied in to see Robin & Jim Roberts on M/V Adventures, a 49' Defever. We took a ride with them down to Big Pine Key to see the home they are building. The foundation was poured today. After that we had lunch at the No Name Pub. Check it out at http://www.nonamepub.com . This place has become quite a tourist attraction thanks to best selling book author, Tom Dorsey.

Not far from No Name Pub is National Wildlife Refuge that is home to endangered Key deer. http://www.fws.gov/nationalkeydeer/

0720-1317 10 February 2008 NAS Boca Chica to Marathon, FL

We got underway early to try and beat the increasing wind forecast for the area. Not a bad ride all in all. We never turned on the stabilizers but it was sure windy. By 1100 there were small whitecaps but the seas never got too big. The wind was about 15kts out of the NE. The waves were hitting us off our bow. The foredeck got washed quite a bit and there was sea salt all over the stanchions by the end of the day. We'd had hopes of snagging a mooring in Boot Key Harbor. When I contacted the City Marina to inquire about a mooring ball they told me they were full. Being "doubting thomases" we cruised through anyway and guess what? They were right - they were full. So we went outside of Boot Key itself and anchored with a handful of other boats. Take a look.
http://tinyurl.com/2dpvlf

We were anchored on the left hand side of Boot Key. You can see the channel into Boot Key Harbor above Boot Key and the mooring field beyond the bridge. The latitude/longitude and the description is incorrect. I messed up when I was trying to save this to "My Maps" on google.

We've decided to stay here 2 nights since its supposed to be even windier Monday.
I keep forgetting to mention the stars. Without any interference from city lights, the night sky is drop dead gorgeous. The stars are so bright and they even appear close. Last night we had a gorgeous cresent moon, lying on its back.

Here's a few photos of Clyde & Bonnie in their baskets. Clyde's is located behind the steps going down to the master stateroom. Bonnie's is in the closet in the master stateroom.

2008-02-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

8 February 2008 Garrison Bight Mooring Field to Naval Air Station Boca Chica, Key West

We left downtown Key West today; we're headed to the Miami Boat Show (14-18 Feb). First stop is NAS Boca Chica to do laundry, take on water, spend time with friends, etc. Here's a photo I grabbed from the base web site. You can see the marina; its just to the left of the highway where the water starts.

Naval Air Station Boca Chica from 10,000 feet.

Boca Chica Wildlife

Manatee between our boat and M/V Blessings; a 44' Defever belonging to Mike & Jane Ross.

Jane Ross in front of M/V Aloha Friday and M/V Blessings.

Godiva, the chocolate lab on Blessings.

Goodbye Key West - for a little perspective see the url below. You can zoom in on this image. The mooring field looks like dots.
http://tinyurl.com/2y6cbb

Maintenance on the windlass

Key West Sights

Mounted Key West policeman stops by the reception for a wedding at the Conch Harbor restaurant

Father of the Bride in a kilt

Garrison Bight Marina
We dinghied into the marina and caught these pelicans waiting for a handout and hanging out on a rope.

2008-01-29T16:10:00.000-08:00

29 January 2008
Moored as before - Garrison Bight Mooring Field - Key West, FL

A bunch of us met at Salute' on Higgs beach (Atlantic Ocean side) in Key West for lunch. We wound up doing some informal planning for the MTOA Northern Rendezvous to be held in Cambridge, MD in Sept 2008.

Saw the manatees again this afternoon.

28 January 2008
Moored as before - Garrison Bight Mooring Field - Key West, FL

Seems like we shop at Key West Marine Hardware weekly for boat stuff. The wind has dropped off so it was a dry ride in.

Stopped at M/V Lowe Key (Mike & Kay Jones Krogen) on the way back. Ted helped Mike troubleshoot his windlass; the switch was always "hot" (not to the touch but in the sense that the voltage was always on, even when the switch was off). Turns out it was not wired properly. I started reading a book while I was waiting; "How Starbucks Saved My Life". Good read so I borrowed it! I'm reading "Charlie Wilson's War" on the boat; the movie was pretty good.

Nice dry dinghy ride back to the boat!

Spotted a couple manatees in the marina. Take a look.

27 January 2008
Moored as before - Garrison Bight Mooring Field - Key West, FL

Checked the weather forecast before we dinghied in. The forecast called for a shift in the wind and velocity around noon. We took our jackets in with us anticipating a breezy ride back to the boat later.

I took a few photos of the boat, the mooring field, the "grass" hut that is new and the bird's nest in the power lines. Take a look. You ought to be able to pick out our boat in the photo with Ted driving the dinghy and the boats in the background. The photo with the mooring field gives you a better sense of the number of boats out there. We're a little harder to pick but we're over on the right.

Enjoyed brunch at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Trumbo Annex Visitor Quarters. While we were eating, it poured rain and the wind picked up. When we left it was overcast and cool; there were whitecaps in the mooring field.

Biked into town to check out the art & crafts fair on Whitehead Street. We've checked it out every year we've been here. Decided to tour the Customs House as well. It was pretty interesting. Lots of information about Ernest Hemingway and some of the local artists along with a description of the restoration of the Customs House. When we exited the building the sun was shining once again. As we headed out we ran into Mike & Jane Ross, Defever owners of M/V Blessings. They caught the bus down from NAS Boca Chica. Next we run into Tom & Linda Conroy; neighbors from Solomons Landing. we knew they were down here; they camp every year in The Keys. While we played tourist around Key West with the Ross's, we saw a lot of the sailboats from Race Week. The Fast Frigate (FFG-37) USS Crommelin (http://www.crommelin.navy.mil/) was also in port nose to nose with a cruise ship.

After a beer with the Ross's, they headed for the bus stop and we rode the bikes back to the dinghy dock. The wind was still blowing and it was out of the north. That meant it was going to be right on our bow as we dinghied back to the boat. I sit in the bow with my back to the bow when its windy. By the time we got to the boat, I was soaked. The good news is the water was WARM! Ted was only wet from the waist down. Once we were back aboard, I stripped and took a shower.

2008-01-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

23 January 2008
Moored as before City Marina at Garrison Bight Mooring Field

Beautiful day! The sun is back out and it is returning to normal.

22 January 2008
Moored as before City Marina at Garrison Bight Mooring Field

We dinghied in to do some shopping today. Biked over to the Navy Exchange, Boater's World, Key West Hardware etc. weather even better today. Race week is this week though I doubt we'll see anything. The races are well offshore from what I've heard.

21 January 2008
Moored as before City Marina at Garrison Bight Mooring Field

ENE winds today and much calmer since we're in the lee of Sigsbee Park. Still rainy off and on. So we spent part of the day cleaning the evaporators for the AC. One was clogged a bit; the others were not as bad. We use peroxide to flush them. Continued to watch our mini-series at night.

20 January 2008
Moored as before City Marina at Garrison Bight Mooring Field

Along with the cold front was lots of wind. We stayed aboard all day doing other things. Early in the day it was blowing 20-25 mph with 3' seas. Later that day it was 2530 gusting at 35 mph. Intermittent rain showers and overcast skies kept us indoors. We decided to watch movies. Friends (Carolyn Frazier and Bert Miller) loaned us the HBO mini-series, "From the Earth To The Moom". It was great. If you haven't seen it, rent it. You've never seen some of these stories in any other movies about the astronauts. We went to bed about 1130; it was rolling more than I like to sleeping.

19 January 2008
Moored as before City Marina at Garrison Bight Mooring Field

Gorgeous weather today. we took off on the bikes to run some errands. Also looked at a Grand Banks 42, Europa style, for Yadra and Raoul. Beautiful boat; ready to cruise. Moored right across from the GB was Liz & Dave Weinstein on "Blueberry Gull".
Later on we joined the Weinsteins, Mike & Kay Jones and Jim & Robin Roberts at Finnegan's Wake. This is the place that makes the Back & Tan's with Young's Double Chocolate Stout & Bass Ale. We dinghied back to thebpat around 8pm. Opened every door and window to let what breeze there was, in. A cold front was predicted to come through later that night. It announced itself suddenly with rainstorm sometime in the middle of the night. So, now, we're racing around to close the side doors, v-berth hatch and port galley window - all places where the rain pours in if its raining hard. The front definitely cooled things off. The bedspread went back on the bed with us under it.

2008-01-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

19 January 2008
NAS Boca Chica to Garrison Bight City Marina Mooring Field, Key West, FL
I should have mentioned that I'd been practising making a bowlin in anticipation of picking up the mooring ball in Key West. We've never done it successfully ourselves. So I've got my bowlin down pat practising with a piece of line. Next I practise putting it through a loop (like I'll have to do on the mooring ball). Somehow I was missing the boat. But with a little help from you-know-who I was back on track.

So, we get underway and take about 2 hours to get to the mooring field. I stage a line from the amidships cleat back to the sampson post on the stern of the port side of the boat. Ted's going to back the stern of the boat to the ball so I can get the line onto it. These mooring balls have no pennants. So ground rules are laid down. No yelling at me is a big one. I must say that I was quite tickled with myself when Ted got me to the mooring ball and I successfully got the line through the loop and made my bowlin. Now its time to move the amidships line up to the bow and hope the boat moves with us such that we are astern of the mooring ball. But something is not right. The mooring ball seems stuck under the swim platform. The Captain looks under the swim platform and can see the bottom of the mooring ball and that line is around the rudder. Hmmmm. Ted gets into the water and turns the propeller (the mooring ball line was right behind a blade) and the line is free. Now we can move our line to the bow. We get the dinghy into the water so Ted can get the bridle onto the mooring ball. Guess what? I made a bowlin alright but made my little loop on the wrong side. Take a look at this picture and see what I'm talking about.

Here's the view at the end of our day.....

15-18 January 2008
Moored as before NAS Boca Chica Marina, FL
More laundry. Tuesday night we joined a crowd from the marina at Chico's for dinner and then the theater at the local college to see "Defending the Caveman". Quite entertaining; there's something in it for everyone.

We ran into Tom & Ollie Foster, sailboaters we met in Vero Beach last year. In fact, Tom just happen to notice that there was a line on our prop! Tom got into the water and it came right off; it wasn't wound tightly around the propeller.

I rode around the base to check things out...its a small base but in the intervening year a post office had been added and some new barracks.

Our last night found us in the Navigator Bar & Grill enjoying (what else?) happy hour and a light dinner. Throughout our stay we had an air show daily! The new F-18 Super Hornets are scheduled to fly here; we had to make do with the present aircraft!

14 January 2008
Marathon, FL to Naval Air Station Boca Chica Marina, FL
Little to no breeze as we got underway this morning. That also translates into little or no seas :-) The first mate is always happens with that. I noticed that it was low tide as we passed under the bridge in Boot Key Harbor. The western sky looked a little threatening. I thought rain; Ted said fog. Ted was right. In no time as all a fog bank totally enveloped us. The radar was on; the foghorn went on and in less than 5 minutes we'd started to drift out of the channel. Visibility was zero. We got back into the channel, albeit not without stirring up a lot of mud. As fast as the fog bank came in, it exited. Other than dodging crabpots and rain showers, the rest of the cruise into Boca Chica was uneventful.

We have a number of friends and acquaintances staying some or all of the season in Boca Chica. Once we were docked I started doing laundry; its quite inexpensive here and I can grab several machines. We joined Mike & Jane Ross aboard M/V Blessings, their Defever 44 for dinner. Nice time; met a new couple on a sailboat.

13 January 2008
Moored as before, Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, FL

The smorgasboat delivered my Sunday paper today. What a great service.

Made a Publix run. Stopped at Keys Fisheries for fresh fish. Dinghied to happy hour down at Sombrero Marina. Met a lot of new folks and saw MTOA folks we've run into at rendezvous' or on the Chesapeake Bay. Nice crowd and good fun!

2008-01-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

12 January 2008
Moored as before - Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, FL
It rained hard last night - so hard I had to get up to close the side doors and the galley window. The rain really pours into the galley window. It was like heaven sleeping though; no swells to contend with. I slept like a log.
We got together with Fergusons and Andy & Dineda Misovec (M/V Frobenius) on their boat at the Marathon Yacht Club for pizza. We were interested in the Misovec's experience putting their boat in heated storage for the winter. Great evening renewing friendships.
If you're curious about what a Frobenius is see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Georg_Frobenius
Andy is a mathematician.

11 January 2008
Rodriguez Key to Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, FL
It was a real challenge last night to fall asleep. We had ESE wiinds at 15-20 mph. The boat was well anchored but riding over swell after swell all night. It was exasperating for me. Finally the wind fell out and I zoned out for awhile.

Making our way down to Marathon we still had a good breeze and pretty consistent 2' seas. Our male cat, Clyde, does not like the motion at all. You can see him finally at rest when we stopped for the day. After lunch the winds dropped a bit and for me it was a much pleasanter ride.

As we cruised into Marathon we contacted the city marina to see if a mooring ball was available. The city has transformed 95% of the former anchorage into a mooring field. Amazingly enough there was not only one ball available but many. They separate boats by size. Under 45' overall or over 45' overall. So we're actually on the third mooring in as you approach the harbor. Most of the boats are sailboats. Once we anchored we put the dinghy into the water and cruised over to the dinghy docks to check in. The dinghy docks are re-configured and supposedly there is more lineal feet of dockage using this configuration. Dinghies are separated by hard side or soft side. Once we checked in we hopped back into the dinghy and ran into John & Janet Ferguson on M/V Arcadian. Janet & John are MTOA (Marine Trawler Owners Association) members. There are quite a few MTOA folks who spend the winter in Marathon in slips. We headed to Fergusons boat to catch up on their news and share a beer and popcorn.

Here's a view of Boot Key Harbor.

10 January 2008
No Name Harbor to Rodriguez Key
The water is absolutely gorgeous down here; a lot like Hawaii. Its clear and various shades of blue depending upon the depths. We headed toward Hawk Channel from Key Biscayne. We were pitching a bit and I was hoping the whole trip wasn't going to be like this. Once we turned south and had the reef between us and the Atlantic Ocean it settled down a bit. It was still breezy and I think there were more 2' seas than 1' seas. I spotted a large sea turtle but he was so encrusted with growth I thought it was a stubby log. That's Rodriguez Key below.

7-9 January 2008
Moored as before No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne, FL
Th primary reason we hung around here was to pick up mail on Wednesday. In the meantime, Ted used the time to add fasteners to the covers on our teak rails. The sun and salt have taken a toll on the velcro closures that line the undersides. We also got together with Bert & Carolyn (M/V Double Dragons) for sunset happy hour. Chloe joined us also.

On Wednesday we hopped the bus into downtown Miami and took a short walk to the post office. Our bus driver was very friendly and bilingual. I think we were the only people on the bus who did not speak Spanish. Kind of an odd experience.

2008-01-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

7 January 2008
Lake Sylvia to No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne (Cape Florida State Park)
We decided to get an early start so we'd arrive in early afternoon. No Name Harbor is a popular spot and the anchorage is small. The ICW from Ft Lauderdale to Miami is a canal lined with high rise condos. At the north Miami end, it opens up to become Biscayne Bay. Miami Beach on the far east side and Miami proper on the west side. We were able to slip under most of the bridges with the exception of 2. We got a break on the second one as the bridge opens on demand for commercial traffic. The last bridge is actually the Rickenbacker Causeway to Key Biscayne. The wind picked up all the way into the anchorage. We had visitors at one point so Ted ran the engines up to see if we couldn't attract more dolphins to run with us. they are fun to watch and the water here is soooo clear. As we cruised into the anchorage we could see the new friends we'd met in Vero Beach (Carolyn Frazier & Bert Miller on M/V Double Dragons) already at anchor. It took us forever to anchor (or so it seemed). The bottom here tends to be hard sand. FINALLY we got the anchor to stick and we were able to relax. Ted decided it was time to make a dive under the and see how things looked. 35 minutes later he was done though he said there were more barnacles than usual. Probably due to the sitting we've done in Cocoa, Vero, and Jupiter.

See http://www.key-biscayne.com/kb/capeflorida/nonameharborcapeflorida.shtml
for pictures.

6 January 2008
Lake Santa Barbara to Lake Sylvia, FL

We decided to stop short again and anchor in the Ft Lauderdale area. Once the dinghy was in the water we spent a couple hours exploring the canals and waterway. Its a good thing we bought fuel at Admirals Cove. Diesel here was almost $5.00/gallon. OUCH! We paid $4.99/gal for gasoline for the dinghy. Saw large tarpon (fish) at the Lauderdale Marina. The kids were feeding them shrimp. The waterway was busy but not as busy as we've seen it on some weekends. It can get crazy in this area with all the small boat traffic.

5 January 2008
Lake Worth to Lake Santa Barbara, FL

16 bridges later we are anchored. As we passed through Palm Beach, I noticed the Trump Tower. It wasn't as big or as lavish looking as some of the newer buildings in the area. Temperatures are slowly inching their way back up after our cold front. We both has lightweight jackets on while we cruised from the bridge. The anchorage we're in is in the middle of a residential area. We're at the southern end of Pompano Beach. Ft Lauderdale is just south of us -along with more bridges!

4 January 2008
Jupiter to Lake Worth, FL

Leaving Admiral's Cove was like leaving a resort. Behind our dock was a very nice marina cafe, swimming pool and jacuzzi. The Club sat behind all that. A full service salon, beautiful exercise facilities, locker rooms, dining rooms and Pro Shop were all available. The wine selection at the Ships Store was amazing and the prices were very good. Beautiful homes and landscaping complete the picture. Home sell for .5M to 10M. Celine Dion owns one of the big ones. The best deal in Admirals Cove would be the annual lease for dockage since all of the amenities come with it. It wasn't hard to pry Ted out of paradise; he was getting antsy. So before we left we took on 400 gallons of fuel @$3.39/gal (member's price). Nothing else came close. We'd compared prices to that of other marinas and the fuel barges that operate out of Ft Lauderdale. So, goo-by Admirlas Cove - maybe we'll see in the spring!

It was too windy to even consider an outside run today. The prediction for 15-25 mph winds extends out for the next 5 days. So, we'll have to take (like in twist my arm!) the scenic route through Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale and Miami.

The new voltage regulator LEDs do not appear to be operating as expected. So we cut the day's cruise short to take advantage of what remained of Friday afternoon to afford Ted the opportunity to talk with technicians today. We anchored in Lake Worth 2 hours after we let Jupiter.

31 December 2007

Happy New Year! Here's our "progressive dinner" group aboard ALOHA FRIDAY for dessert and to welcome the New Year.

2007-12-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

28 December 2007 Moored as before - Admirals Cove Marina, Jupiter, FL
Sunrise at Admirals Cove....

27 December 2007 Vero Beach to Jupiter, FL
As we prepared to get underway Ted pulled up to the mooring buoy so I can pull the pennant off our starboard hawse cleat. I handed that over to Bert Miller on M/V Double Dragons (who had rafted up next to us). Next I handed off each of their lines and we were free. Off we go. Not long after that I started the coffee going in the galley. Right after that I hear an alarm; it is the LOW VOLTAGE ALARM on the inverter. I report to the Captain. To make a long story short, it turns out that there were 2 purple wires on the new voltage regulator; only one of which gets hooked up. The wrong one had been chosen so the voltage regulator shut off. How was that missed earlier? We think that the reflection of the fluorescent lights in the engine room led the Captain to erroneously think he saw a green light on the new voltage regulator. Nonetheless we think we are home free; time will tell.
As we approach the Ft Pierce Inlet Ted decides it looks nice enough to cruise "outside" to Jupiter Inlet. What we don't know is whether Jupiter Inlet is do-able today. Ted calls Joel Busse for some "local" knowledge. Joel gives us the green light after telling Ted how to make the approach. It must be max flood as we transit the the Ft Pierce Inlet. We're doing 2000 rpm and only making 6 mph. You can really see the effects of the current on the navigation marks. A much smaller powerboat passes us. He has 3 engines totaling 900 HP; we have 2 totaling 270 HP. We plow through the Inlet and hang a right to the south. We avoid all the bridges and no-wake zones this way but there's not as much to see. The wind is negligible so the only motion affecting us are the gentle swells from the east. Several hours into the trip 4 dolphins converge on our bow and give us a good show. As we approach the St Lucie Inlet, Ted calls Towboat U.S. in Jupiter to verify the conditions. We make good time and by 2:30PM we are closing on Jupiter Inlet. We avoid a shoal on the north side and "surf" into the Inlet. I'm glad I wasn't driving. Moments later we're back in the Intracoastal Waterway with the rest of the traffic. It is a gorgeous day to be on the water. A few more miles and we arrive at our destination for the week - Admirals Cove Marina - where our friends Joel and Marian Busse reside.

24 December 2007 - Moored as before Vero Beach Municipal Marina
Our little Christmas tree; not too many decorations; those are angels you see hanging.

Here we are - ready for Christmas Eve dinner in Vero Beach.

21 December 2007 - Moored as before Vero Beach Municipal Marina
I think there are fewer powerboats here this year. There are over 100 boats here; only 25 power when we checked in at the marina. Here's one shot looking behind us. No one is in front of us since we're on mooring #1.

2007-12-21T07:26:00.000-08:00

20 December 2007
Cocoa to Vero Beach, FL
Beautiful day for cruising! As we approached the Wabasso Bridge on the
last stretch into Vero Beach, Ted ran both engines up to 9.6 mph to do his
"stress" test. Take a look at this. Leaping dolphins!.

So that was the best part of the day. Earlier we had a series of "events" occur in the following order. The high voltage alarm on the inverter came on. While troubleshooting that anomaly, the temperature alarm for the starboard engine came on. That turned out to be easy to fix. Ted had inadvertently turn the valve off (thinking it was the port engine which was shut down). We expect a new voltage regulator to arrive tomorrow; hopefully that will resolve the issue. The question is, what caused it? Ted was speculating that 1) it just broke, 2)when we was painting the bilge he removed the vltage regulator. He noticed while troubleshooting the problem that the ground wired was not securely attached, or 3) while equalizing the batteries, he overdid it. The symptom is this: when Ted measures the voltage coming off the port alternator/voltage regulator, its 16v+. The port engine charges the house bank of batteries. The inverter monitors those batteries; that's why the alarm triggered there.

18 December 2007 Moored as before - Cocoa Village Marina
Rented a car for the day so we could get the propane tank refilled,
buy a new hose for it and get some polypropylene ripped. The hose end
of the propane tank appears to be one source of the leak.

17 December 2007
2007 Moored as before - Cocoa Village Marina
Brrrr.....its cold this morning! 41 degrees outside. Windy, whitecaps
on the Indian River. Wearing my polartec again.
FLASH!
Ted finally agrees that we have a gas leak. WHY? Because the
tank is empty! Since we have departed Solomons, I have intermittently
smelled propane in the galley (when the stove was off) and on the
bridge where the tank is stored. since you-know-who cannot smell it, I
was summarily dismissed. It was full when we left Solomons

2007-12-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

6-15 December 2007
Moored Cocoa Village Marina.
We never had any luck getting the dinghy engine started. So the first order of business when we arrived in Cocoa was to buy a new Honda 8HP engine. We got a great deal on it but I'll spare you the details. I can even start it with the pull rope. The technical showed me a trick that makes it easier. He told me to pull the rope out slowly until I "break" the compression lock. Then pull as usual. WOW! I was impressed that it worked for me. This could be tantamount to getting a drivers license! We (no, Ted) debated about keeping the Tohatsu, fixing it, etc. The additional logistics of keeping it aboard securely, being able to work on it, etc. kept Ted awake at night. So we gave it away to one of the technicians where we bought the Honda. I'm glad we're done with that. Ted's been breaking in the new engine.

Ted has referred to this period in the marina as a "restricted availability" period. This is a naval term and I suppose all it really means it that he has a limited opportunity with unlimited power shore side to get a bunch of stuff done. Since he added the last bilge pump (to catch the drips from the shafts) we now have a dry bilge. So what must one do next? Clean it and re-paint it of course! Sounds like busy work to me.

As you probably already know, the shuttle never left. We did get to see an Atlas rocket launch since we've been in Cocoa, FL. That was interesting.

Meanwhile I got a library card here and have been checking out books & movies. We visited friends on another 44' Defever who are moored at Patrick AFB presently. Visited with some other boaters that we met there as well. We'll be here until 20 December.

5 December 2007
Anchored as before Titusville, FL
Today was a shopping day for both of us...online shopping that is. Ted spoke to the folks in Annapolis about the dinghy. They suggested that our fuel might be no good. Specifically the fuel should be clear with a color like water. Well, our fuel was clear but it was leaning towaard an amber color. Hmmmm..... Ted also asked me to call BoatUS and find out if they had towing services in Titusville. They do so I gave Ted the local number. He calls them to find out if our coverage includes bringing us some fuel for the dinghy. Yes, it does. So at 6PM a few gallons of fuel will be delivered. In the meantime, Ted dumps all the old fuel into a large plastic bucket. Cleans the carburetor again using carburetor cleaner. What came out was not pretty. The moment of truth later today!

4 December 2007
Daytona to Titusville, FL
Since we can't go anywhere we decided to move on to Titusville to get our spot. The anchorage there is god sized but we have no idea if a lot of boats will come in to watch the launch from here.

A faster sailboat passed us along the way and there were 3-4 dolphins alongside playing in the wake. That was fun to see.

10 miles + away from the Kennedy Space Center and the Vehicle Assembly Building can be see. It is huge. The weather is terrific and we're driving from the bridge.We achored off the Titusville Marina by 2pm.

At night we can see "practice shuttle landings" ongoing. We heard that on the news and we can see it. The angle of descent we observed is much steeper than that of a normal aircraft landing.

3 December 2007
Anchored as before, Daytona, FL
We decided to hang back a day and explore Daytona some more. The space shuttle launches 6 Dec and our next stop is Titusville where we plan to watch the launch. Ted puts the dinghy into the water for the first time since we've left Solomons. The engine had been over hauled in Annapolis right before we left. Guess what? It wouldn't start? Ted pulled that cord so many times with both arms I was sure he'd be sore later on. We cleaned the fuel 3x. It looked fine to me (it was clear vice cloudy). Ted expelled all the old fuel from the carburetor before he tried starting it again. NO JOY. Does this story sound familiar? It happened last year in vero Beach BUT we finally got the engine started there. Ted cleaned the carburetor and tried it again. Nothing. Ted is not a happy camper. We bring the dinghy up and stow it. Ted spoke to a full service Honda Ddealer locally.

By sunset we had 14 boats in the anchorage; 11 sail, 2 cats and us.

2 December 2007
St Augustine to Daytona, FL
The water was like glass this morning at 0645. It was a beautiful sunrise. I took these pictures as the sun was coming up.

On to Daytona. By 1020 it was time to put on shorts! We tried to go into the anchorage in Daytona another way but we kept running out of water. I was wondering if this wasn't going to be a towBoatUS day. So we went down a little farther and entered where we normally do. Only 2 other sailboats were in the anchorage.

2007-11-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

1 December 2007
Ft George River to St Augustine, FL
Clear blue skies as we got underway today. As we approached the St Johns River, Ted headed for the upper helm. The visibility is much better from the bridge and the river gets a lot of large, commercial traffic. We stayed on the bridge all the way into St Augustine. There were lots of small fishing boats out and the traffic increased as we got closer to St Augustine. We anchored here in front of the Bridge of Lions. A short day for us. We were anchored by 2pm. Its a little rolly in here with NE winds at 10-15 mph. BUT its supposed to drop off later today.

30 November 2007
Brunswick, GA to Ft George River, FL
The Brunswick River Bridge looks alot like the new bridge in Charleston and Savannah.

Our departure this morning was timed to catch a rising tide on Jekyll Creek. We were not the only ones with that idea. Several sailboats were behind us. When you head out into St Andrews Sound from Jekyll Creek, you'er pretty exposed. It was a little rolly but not bad. It was great when we turned back inland! We passed through St Mary's, GA where the submarine base is located. Nothing to see today. The papermills in Fernandina Beach were running full steam; there's an odor, not necessarily unpleasant, that pervades the area when you are downwind. We set a new record (for us today) - 3 weeks and a day to Florida. When we checked last years log we noted that we passed through the same area today also in 2006 BUT we'd left 10 days earlier. The Ft George River is a nice anchorage. We joined 2 powerboats and 2 sailboats already in the anchorage.

29 November 2007
Duplin River to Brunswick, GA
Fogged in; visibility 100 yds. Radar confirmed the presence of the 3 sailboats and the Krogen who were anchored with us last night.The fog lifted just enough to be able to see those around is and you-know-who decided it was time to go. As we moved across Doboy Sound back onto the ICW you could see 50 yds around you. It was like a white-out. The Krogen followed us out. We both had our foghorns on (1 blast every 2 minutes). At 1103 visibility had increased enough to turn the fog horn off. The rest of the day was very overcast with a low ceiling. When we crossed St Simon's Sound it seemed to get foggier once again. We headed up the Brunswick River to check out the Brunswick Landing Marina for the night.

28 November 2007
Herb River to Duplin River, GA
Looks like we'll be runnng into current all day long. We're entered that part of Georgia where the ICW meanders through the marshes and in and out of the various Sounds one crosses here. It has been windy and cool all day - cozy inside the salon. As we entered each Sound, we got a ride on the outgoing tide. As we made the turn back into the ICW, we had it on our nose (the current, that is). Passed through Hell Gate without incident since it was approaching high tide. A fair number of boats have passed us today; I guess a lot of folks are still heading south. We're anchored here with a 48' Krogen and 2 of the saiboats from Five Fathom Creek (S.C.). If the wind doesn't settle down tonight this will be a "bathtub" night for sleeping.

27 November 2007
Beaufort, SC to Herb River, GA
There was just enough of a breeze last night to remind me that I'm sleeping in a bathtub.....I mean boat. I finally got to sleep in spite of the sloshing sounds. Nightime temps were in the lower 60's so I didn't need that electric blanket or bedspread on top of me along with 2 cats and Ted.

Underway for where today? Not sure yet but I expect we'll cross into Georgia. Heard there's a 600' vessel aground near the intersection we cross. Beautiful day today. The inside of the boat is like a greenhouse when the sun is out. Had to switch into a short sleeved top. Port Royal Sound was a little rolly but once we turned west toward Hilton Head things got smoother.
When we crossed the Savannah River we could see the cargo ship aground. We decided to run all the way to the Herb River, just outside of Thunderbolt, GA, for the night. We anchored once and then we re-anchored. There's a 7' tidal range here and we still have 2 hours to go until low tide. The depth sounder was only showing 6' the first time we anchored so we moved out into slightly deeper water.

26 November 2007
Charleston to Beaufort, SC

Got underway @ slack water. Skies looked theatening and prediction is for rain. Temps will be in the mid-70's. Bring it on! Passed a stell hull sailing vessel (a schooner, perhaps) moored in Wapoo Cree; S/V Windy from Chicago. Enjoyed a fair curent for about 1 1/2 hours, then lost 2 kts as we headed into the tail end of high tide from the North Edisto River. We've observed higher than normal tides the last several days. The water had moved into the parking lots at the marina. It was no different today while we were cruising. Another 1 1/2 hours and we're enjoying a fair current once again on the outgoing tide for the North Edisto River. Hit the southern end of the Ashepoo-Coosaw Cutoff 1 hour before low tide. Never saw less than 5'. Decided to anchor in Beaufort off the city docks. Got there after sunset but were anchored before it was dark.

Sidenote: My dryer has never worked well. It takes 3 hours to dry stuff. I could entertain you for hours if I described the discussions between Ted & I on this subject. Suffice it to say Ted decided to pull off both ends of the dryer hose to see what, if any, obstruction was present. The extreme end of the hose vents out the engine exhaust vents on the port side of the boat. When Ted pulled the hose off the connection, he saw why the dryer hasn't worked well. The "vent" had 10 pencil size holes in it. That was it. He modified the vent and opened it up to a more normal size. I gave it a test drive on Sunday and what a difference!

25 November 2007
Moored as before Charleston City Marina

Before we left Charleston we took a run out to the old Naval Base where Ted & his family lived in Qtrs LL. There's a Navy Memorial and boardwalk along the water in front of the house Ted lived in twice.