Great Harbour Cay to Little Whale Cay April 23

     After a delightful few days at Great Harbour Cay Marina, we departed for points farther south.  The evening before our departure, we participated in a “chill and grill”.  Locals, for $10 a head, provided steak, chicken, or ribs with two vegetables which they grilled at the marina.  It was very good—almost as good as the conch fritters we had enjoyed at noon the preceding day at Coolie Mae’s restaurant in Bullock Harbor, to which we had walked to see the town (not much to see).  Of course, after feeding us the cooks and their friends and relatives then set up their music and danced and partied until well past our bedtimes!  The next morning, we first headed north and rounded the northern point of the Berry Islands at Great Stirrup Cay.  There was a cruise ship anchored, with many local boats ferrying the passengers to shore.  One could, through the binoculars, see rows and rows of “auditorium chairs” set up on the beach for some impending tropical island performance.  I rather suspect that survival, even in the remote Berry Islands, depends upon catering to the tourists. 
     We proceeded south, spotting numerous possible inlets and overnight stops, but decided on Little Whale Cay.  While not particularly protected, almost calm weather, with easterly winds, was forecasted.  We passed Sister Rocks and entered the anchorage, dropping the hook in a beautiful area with a ring-side seat for the gorgeous sunset.

Port Lucaya to Great Harbor Cay, Berry Islands April 19

After a number of days in Port Lucaya, and a brief grocery store trip with new sailboat friends from Denmark, Cuba, and Venezuela, it is time to move on.  The weather is not perfect, but is better than it may be for another few days.  We left the dock about 0530 to arrive with the sun high overhead, and after a bumpy, but not unpleasant, day crossing the Northwest Providence Channel (4000 ft depth), we arrived in the Berry Islands chain at Great Harbour Cay about 1430.  We navigated the very shallow entrance visually (there are minimal if any channel markers), passed through a rock ledge cut, and entered the tortuous channel to the marina.  This would indeed be a hurricane hole!  As is common, the docks are high, concrete, and fixed, so one has to choose the direction of docking so that escape from the boat is possible at various tide heights.  Sometimes that is from forward, where the decks are high, and sometimes from the cockpit, where the gate is lower.  The dock staff here was quite efficient and friendly, and the marina is bustling.  Jeff and Karen (and their two yellow labs), founders/owners of Active Captain, have been here several weeks, and it is good to visit with them again in person. 

As is common here, both electricity and potable water are metered (0.75/KwH; 0.50/gal).  I can see why others prefer rum...it's not much more expensive, I'm told!  There are lots of offshore fishermen here...serious, BIG boats.  We have ordered a loaf of coconut bread from a local woman; it will be delivered tomorrow.  We will stay here for a few days before moving farther south.



Port Lucaya Beach



Port Lucaya Mermaid



Bahamian Waters



The Verge



The Fish--not the Foot!

Approaching Great Harbor Cay



It's Here Somewhere

Great Harbor Cay Marina

Off To The Bahamas April 13

FINALLY...the weather window of 2-3 favorable days to stage for and cross the Gulf Stream arrived.  Any wind from the north really riles up the Gulf Stream seas, and it takes a day or two after north winds to let the seas subside.  We departed Fort Pierce and ran down the ICW to Palm Beach, anchoring in Lake Worth behind the barrier island just south of the inlet.  There was enough dredge activity and dredge pipe in the area to almost walk across; it would have been roomier than the open water in which to navigate!  I very carefully accessed the path to the anchorage, so that if we departed during the dark it would be easy to safely follow the chartplotter's "bread crumb" path back out to the inlet.

About 0330 the next morning Kay awoke, and asked if we were ready to go.  Always the "morning person", I, of course, acceded to her request, and before she was awake enough to consult her clock, the engines were starting!  The anchor was up, and by 0400 we were underway.  By 0425 we had cleared the Lake Worth jetties and sea buoy, and were underway across the Atlantic and the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.  I had hoped to leave early enough to travel directly to Port Lucaya, rather than having to spend a night in West End to clear customs and immigration, and then travel to Port Lucaya the next day.  The sun rose beautifully over the Atlantic before 0700, but Kay was already back asleep!

It was a glorious, beautiful, and perfect day for a crossing, and my accurate navigational plotting to account for the northward flow of the Gulf Stream current placed us on a perfect course for entry into the Northwest Providence Channel and arrival at Port Lucaya.  We passed West End, Freeport, and entered Bell Channel about 1530.  We docked at the Customs and Immigration dock, satisfied the bureaucracy as to the submission of adequate repetitive duplicative (or "triplicative"?) paperwork and cash.  With my immigration papers, cruising permit, and fishing license in hand, we then proceeded around the harbor to our dock at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club.  It's not what it may have been at one time or was imagined to be, but at least the docks are substantial. 

Sailors Centuries Ago Saw Clouds Before Land

Approaching Port Lucaya

Grand Bahama Yacht Club

Docked in Port Lucaya

Sprint has a Global Roaming Plan that allows us (for free) to roam onto Bahamas Telephone Co.'s system with free data (at 2G), free texting, and 0.20/minute for voice phone within the Bahamas or back to the U.S.  We walked a couple of miles to the BTC office for Port Lucaya to purchase a SIM card and (faster) pre-paid data plan for Kay's I-pad.  Alas, they were out of about 80% of the phones that they had on display in the store, and were out of SIM cards!  However, the store in downtown Freeport had SIM cards, and so we caught a bus (alias a minivan) and for $ 1.25 each, they transported us to the Freeport store, where we procured the SIM card.  Return was the same $ 1.25 each.  Needless to say, with this and a half-dozen other stories I will not relate, we are "adjusting" (with some resistance from the 'type A" personality of our duo) to "island time".

Ready to Move On! April 1

We have had a delightful (at least most of it) time in Fort Pierce this winter, but we've been more than ready to move on since at least mid-March.  We were delayed in Corpus Christi waiting on visits to a new physician, etc., but finally returned to Fort Pierce mid-February.  It seems we had missed about the worst winter weather experienced in that area in years, and we were warmly welcomed as the better weather arrived with us!  After some time enjoying the area, including its superb Farmers' Markets and visits with good friends in nearby Vero Beach and Stuart, we passed up the one marginally adequate weather window for travel south to attend the Kadey Krogen Open House where we saw many interesting boats and good friends.  Well, that decision led to almost another full month of delayed departure.

This has been a bizarre winter in Florida.  It hasn't been as severe ashore as some other winters, but the frequency of cold fronts has been much greater, averaging every 2-3 days instead of the more typical 5-6 day interval.  There are usually a few light-wind days between fronts, but this year those have been occupied by severe thunderstorms across central and south Florida.  We met many new friends at the marina, gave advice regarding the "removal" of an osprey that delighted in spending time (and relieving itself) on the mast of the boat upwind of some friends across the pier, and installed a wind vane/anemometer and DirecTV on the boat, honed weather forecasting skills, and WAITED...

Ft. Pierce, FL October 27

     We left Bald Head Island (Southport, NC) and ran offshore overnight all the way down to Fernandina Beach, FL.  It was a little sloppy and with higher seas than forecast offshore, particularly off Savannah, but at that point we were about 50 miles out.  Seas were aft of the beam, so it really wasn't an unpleasant ride.  We spent a couple of nights in Fernandina Beach, then headed down the ICW toward our destination of Ft. Pierce.  Another couple of nights in St. Augustine provided sightseeing, and then we moved on with one-night stops at or anchored near New Smyrna Beach and Melbourne.  We met some new friends, owners of a Kadey-Krogen 39, in New Smyrna Beach, and then arrived at our berth for the next few months in Ft. Pierce early in the afternoon.  BUT, the low temperature in Ft. Pierce was higher than the high temperature in Solomons, MD!  I promptly toured the town by bicycle, and located a barbershop to relieve me of significant overgrowth. 
     The water in this marina is amazingly clear, and schools of catfish (unfortunately, the salt-water, non-edible kind of catfish) abound.  We have met a number of new friends who winter here, and also renewed friendships with previous acquaintances.  We have had a car at times, and attended the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, one of the premier shows in the world.  It has five venues, and we didn't even scratch the surface of what was there to be seen, but we did spend a fair amount of time in the equipment and electronics tents (but not on the 200-foot super-yachts).  We will shortly take a break from cruising and return to Texas to visit family for the holidays.

Old Friend--Fernandina

Ft. Pierce



Ft. Pierce



Marina Denizens



New Ft. Pierce Friend--Winston
 

Headed South October 19

      After the lunar eclipse, vividly visible from the remote and dark-sky area of Deltaville, we finally caught a day with acceptable weather and traveled north to Solomons, MD in preparation for the annual Kadey-Krogen Rendezvous.  While there, we not only continued to experience weather from the low pressure area stalled just offshore, but had the threat of Hurricane Joaquin.   In the end, the threat mitigated and a wonderful Rendezvous was enjoyed by approximately 100 attendees and 40 boats.  There was, however, a very noticeable cold front, and so we know it is time to be headed south.
     We left Solomons and headed for Florida, spending thus far nights in Deltaville, Chesapeake, Coinjock, Slade Creek, and Morehead City.  Lauryl Anne has been traveling with us some of those days, and it has been a great experience to get to know David and Tricia better.  At Morehead City we were able to visit and have dinner with the Poags--friends who previously lived in Corpus Christi--and had a wonderful opportunity to catch up on old times.  We thought we would be trapped there several days by a potent cold front, but awoke to find we could squeeze in one more travel day, so we hopped offshore and made it down to Southport, NC where we are comfortably docked at Bald Head Island Marina.  The major force of the wind and the much colder temperatures that had held off for a day behind the passage of the original front came through last night, and so we will stay here a day or two before traveling again.  The annual migration of yachts down the ICW is in full swing, and, once again, no dredging has occurred since our last transit.

Kadey Krogen Rendezvous

Kadey Krogen Rendezvous

Bald Head Island

Old Baldy

Old Baldy
 

Deltaville...still? August--September

     We spent some time on the boat as various small projects were tackled.  One that required some improvisation by the boatyard folks was redesigning and reinstalling the name boards on top of the pilothouse roof.  These also contain the navigation lights for port and starboard, and the original design leaves the possibility of water intrusion as time and wear occur.  A number of boats have lamented similar problems, but I decided to tackle a redesign, and the DBY technicians did a great job of devising a solution.  With that, and several routine maintenance items well in hand, Kay and I returned to Texas to visit kids and grandkids, and do various projects at home and in Houston.  We also kept the grandkids for a weekend while their parents escaped to take in a Baylor football game in Waco.
     On September 22, we drove to Houston, and the following day flew, via a long layover in Atlanta, to Richmond.  Everything ran on schedule, all bags arrived with us, and we were soon picking up a number of items at Sam's Club en route to the boat.  The following morning we made a major grocery store run, and then returned the rental car.  The plan was to depart on the next day, but a low pressure area stalled off the East Coast is providing lots of wind and rain.  Since the strong winds are predominantly from the north and northeast (our direction of travel), the fetch of the waves all the way down Chesapeake Bay would make for a very uncomfortable ride.  We, along with a lot of other boaters, many of whom are already headed south, have elected to wait for calmer seas.  I have used the time for several projects, including changing oil and transmission fluids.  When better travel conditions arrive in a few days, we will head for Solomons, MD and the annual Krogen Cruisers Rendezvous.  It is obviously no longer summertime in the Chesapeake!