Thanksgiving in Titusville and onto Vero Beach

Titusville was to be our next stop and since we had been running everyday for several days we decided to take a break for the Thanksgiving holidays. The Titusville municipal marina was having a special of pay for two days get the third day free. Hummmmm, free is always good in our book so we took advantage of it and docked for three days enjoying the availability of long hot showers and of course catching up on some laundry.Above is Klabara & Georgia E following us as we had just passed under the Haulover Canal right before Titusville

Everyone took advantage of the water and used oil drop off to do much needed oil changes and boat wash downs. This past summer we had stopped here for fuel on the way north but had anchored up instead of docking. So far as a ship store goes they have a fairly good selection and their prices are very reasonable. Plus the staff was friendly and helpful which is always a plus in our book. The manatees seemed drawn to this place and on any given day you would see several just lounging about or positioned next to a boat washing down hoping to get some fresh water runoff.
They afforded our Canadian buddy boater friends a close up look at something only seen in photographs or at a distance before. The sad fact is that a few of the manatees seen day after day were covered with scars caused from a too close of an encounter with a boat. One actually had an open wound that was severely swollen and looked to be very painful.Thanksgiving day we were picked up By Dawn & Harvey whom we had met in March in the Bahamas on board S/V Sovereign Swan. We traveled together from the Abacos through the Exumas until we parted company in June to head back to the states. Sadly about two weeks after they returned to the states Sovereign Swan was destroyed in a fire caused by a neighboring boat. They are both still very distraught as they had put so much love and work into her. She was a gorgeous boat and we have many fond memories of times on board. Dawn & Harvey were kind enough to drive to Titusville to pick us up and take us to their church where we joined other folks and boaters that had no family around. The spread was incredible and if you left hungry it was your own fault. No one was allowed to leave without hauling a plate or two back with them. After cleaning up Dawn and Harvey drove us back to the marina and joined us aboard Tybee Time for a nightcap.Dawn left us with an incredible rum cake that she had baked and it didn’t have much chance on our boat of hanging around for too long.
On Friday we decided to head to Eau Gallie where we anchored for a quiet evening, than onto Vero Beach the following day. Dirk and I had passed it last year as we had to make tracks north, but we had heard so many great things about this place that we wanted to make a stop for a couple days to re-provision and do some other odds & ends. I had heard they raft you with other boats on the mooring balls but I had only seen rafting while at anchor, this should be interesting….We were going to be separated all on different balls with different folks until we spotted an open ball. We were then redirected to all take that ball. Dirk and I picked up the mooring first and readied bumpers on both sides of the boat with some additional lines. Klabara came in second along our port side and we did a quick job of securing them and then set about the task of having Georgia E come along our starboard side. After about a half hour we were all secured to the mooring ball and all secured to each other. Here all of us buddy boaters rafted together, not too far to go when you want to visit.

We are situated very close to a mangrove isle where daily we have an osprey sit upon his or hers tree and feed upon its catch. While here so far we have had s/v Ultra yet again catch up with us and also s/v Snoopy stayed a few days which allowed us to play catch up with them. The last time we had seen them was when we were in Wilmington. We also have finally met Kathy & Earl from s/v Seeker which is a 39 foot O’day. We have talked for about a year on facebook but have never caught up with each other in person before. Great is this lifestyle.....We have also realized why they call Vero Beach Velcro Beach, it grabs hold of you and well, it doesn’t like to let go. What was supposed to be a few day stop here has turned out to be almost a month. This town is very cruiser friendly as the public bus comes right to the marina so you don’t have far to walk and has stops right outside Wal-mart doors as well as the mall, West Marine, and a lot of other places us cruisers need to go. Your only limited by what you can pack mule back on your body. I have found I can really carry a lot of weight when I have a problem deciding between on what I want and what I really need. We will have to rent a car here one time in order to get the heavy & bulky items, plus we need to get kitty to the vet for his health certificate signed for the Bahamas. Ah, the health certificate….That’s another story..Last year I made the mistake of waiting till the last minute and ended up paying $50.00 to fed- ex the info in and get the paper fed-exed back to me. This year I took care of sending the paper work in with my $10.00 processing fee in early. Come a month later I had not received anything so we phoned the office up and after a few calls they were able to locate our stuff saying we should have received it already. Hummmmm, so they said since we had not that they would fax it to us which they did. About a week and a half later I received the original paper work they sent postmarked the same day in which we called. Hummmm, I think someone dropped the ball on that one but no biggie, at least we have it now. Note to self, next time send it out early and pay the extra five bucks to have it faxed back. Maybe there won’t be any problems then. On another note, it has been very cold here. We actually dropped into the 20’s a couple nights in a row which unfortunately caused a fish kill. You know the water has to be cold to do that. We did end up buying a Mr. Heater which is a small portable propane heater designed to be used indoors. I have to say it has been a lifesaver as we have no heat when we are not on a dock. Were hoping that soon we can put it away and break the shorts back out. There has only been one good window for crossing over to the Bahamas lately and we elected not to take it instead waiting on the next one. Klabara also elected to stay but Georgia E had to take it as they had guest coming into Marsh Harbor over Christmas. A couple days later we heard from them as they made it to Green Turtle where they checked in. So now we sit, enjoy Christmas and hope that perhaps soon there will be a window opening up in order for us to make tracks ourselves. Till next time...

A Tad Bit of Catching up to do

I agree, I have been a slacker and thus have fallen behind on the blog. I have tried to catch you up a little bit but still working on getting you current. Since the weather has turned cold and nasty we shall be staying put for a while and hopefully will afford me the opportunity to catch up all the way. So here goes...

We left Wilmington Island on the 8th of November and anchored that evening in Big Tom Creek. The following day we made it to South River and put the anchor down in a deserted area. The only thing negative we heard about this area is that you have lots of shrimpers going out to and returning from the sea, so we decided once the sun went down to turn our cockpit lights on just to make sure we were seen in case anyone came in or left in the dark. That evening we were greeted by a beautiful sunset,

and an early morning departure was put off for an hour due to fog so thick we couldn't see the shore line in front of us.Once we did get underway we made our way to St. Simons and anchored in the anchorage in front of the Morning Star Marina. We knew that S/V Ultra would be there as we had been in contact with them the previous day. We have been running into JoAnne and Bill since before we left Panama City last year when they were transients at our marina. Melissa the dock master from the marina had gotten to know them and loaned her car out so we could do some shopping and sightseeing around the city on Veterans Day. We ended up at the water front by the lighthouse where they were having a ceremony in honor of the Veterans so we hung around there a bit before wandering off to do some sightseeing and re-provisioning.

We also took the time to head out to the airfield as they had the Liberty Belle, a B-17 Flying Fortress on display. We got there just in time to see her taxi down the runway and take off so it was nice to see history right before us. I have to say, she is an impressive aircraft.

Here we are, JoAnne & Bill and Dirk & myself

The following day we bid farewell yet again to s/v Ultra and made our way to Cumberland Island where we spotted a couple of the wild horses grazing as we were entering the anchorage. We were suppose to head into Fernandina onto a mooring ball but they were booked so we opted for an anchorage instead.Guess everyone enjoys the Fernandina area and many stay several days for R&R. That was our plan...The next morning we called ahead and they said there was a mooring coming available at about 11am, perfect as we would be arriving just about that time. We headed to the fuel dock to fill up diesel and top off the water tanks and ended up having to sit and wait as the person on the mooring ball was having problems and couldn’t leave. They assured us they would find a spot for us, just to hang out for a bit and they would accommodate us. We sat on the docks chatting with other cruisers which always seem to be the norm anytime we hit land. We really wanted to see Fernandina since we had been through this past summer. It was so pretty but we didn’t have the time to see it before. This time we stayed four days catching up on some much needed dirty laundry, walked the town and saw the sights, and met several new cruisers that I’m sure we will see again along our travels. On the 17th we finally let go of the mooring ball and said goodbye to Fernandina with an anchorage just north of the Sisters Creek Bridge in our sights. Above is a little sea bird that decided to catch a ride with us for a while.....
It was to be a short day so we were pretty sure we would be the first to be at the anchorage which is the way I like it. It’s a small anchorage so we were able to pick our way around until we found the best spot and dropped the hook. Later on two other boats came in and anchored one in front and one behind us. We all had the same idea of catching the bridge at the same time in the morning as they were I think only having one opening in the morning due to some maintenance issues so we had to make it through or be stuck. The following morning the boat anchored in front of us goes to pick up its anchor and ended up fouling its prop on its buoy line. So now the boats anchor is off the ground, the prop is fouled so it cannot move under power and there is a current quickly dragging the boat toward the bridge. I told Dirk I didn’t know whether to get my video camera or get on the radio and alert them of the impending disaster. Dirk grabbed the radio and told them if they had a second anchor they better deploy it now as they were headed for the bridge, the owner looked back and did a double take before running to the front and tossed his second anchor over which lucky for him was ready to go. We in the mean time were getting our anchor up just in case we needed to assist but the second anchor caught and stopped him before he went too much further. Poor guy ended up diving over the side to un foul his prop in water that was about 68 degrees. And to boot, it was a cool morning, poor guy. That's not the way I want to start my morning.We ended up getting through the bridge and made our way to St. Augustine where we took a mooring ball on the north side of the Bridge of Lions. We ended up meeting the boaters face to face and spent the first evening at a little place close to the marina called OC Whites getting to know each other over a couple beers at happy hour. Of course joking about the fact that one day you are the entertainment, one day you are entertained. Today they had been the entertainment. Klaus & Barbara have since become good friends along with Stu & Tony which were on the other boat anchored with us that day by the bridge. Dirk & I took a couple days and did the tourist thing walking around town, visiting the various shops and snapping many photos of the great architecture that the town has to offer.

We were due to leave on Saturday morning but decided to stay when we learned that they were doing the lighting of the city Saturday evening. What’s one more day when you have no place to be? We ended up going to the lighting ceremony with our new friends Klaus & Barbara from s/v Klabara and Stu & Tony from s/v Georgia E along with John & Nora from s/v Saber Tooth.

The city was lit and Dirk and I went and grabbed a bite to eat then headed back to the boat for a good night’s rest as we had an early departure the following morning.

Here is St. Augustine from our mooring ball that evening.

Today would be Georgia E’s time to entertain us and she did a good one. Actually it wasn’t so much entertainment as it was nerve racking. There is a place on the ICW called Matanzas Inlet that has been a source of frustration for many a boater as it shoals in a lot of the time. One does their best to listen to other boaters transiting ahead of them in order to get the best take on depths. We headed through staying close to shore and the red buoy as suggested, calling out depths to the two boats following us. We draw close to 5 feet with Klabara drawing close to that and Georgia E drawing 6. Hummmm we bumped once which wasn’t going to be nice for them. Before we knew it they were aground and we still had an outgoing tide which meant we had to unground them or they would be stuck for hours. Dirk managed to get the dinghy off the davits as I kept the boat steady in the skinny channel and went to retrieve Georgia E's anchor to try and kedge off. This would entail Dirk taking their anchor out to some spot in deeper water, drop it and hope it catches as they begin to pull it in and hopefully pull themselves off the sandbar. No such luck, they were stuck. A passing motor yacht about 65 feet long offered to try and pull him off so Dirk did the work of transferring lines back and forth as both Klaus and I did our best staying inside the channel counteracting the current to stay close. It was a struggle but Georgia E finally was able to be pulled free. Geeeeeze, what next? Since the area between St. Augustine and Daytona has anchorages so few and far between we elected to take a marina in Palm Coast for the evening. The three of us travelling together got docked and met on s/v Klabara for sun downers and to discuss the next day’s adventure. Early to bed and early to rise for the next leg of the journey down to Daytona where we anchored in a somewhat crowded but big anchorage. My sister was in the area so we took the dinghy to the nearest dock and met her along with two of my nieces and went out to dinner to try and do some catching up. She is also our mail collector so we were greeted with many pounds of magazines and mail to go through. Yippie... We only had a few short hours to visit but it is always better than not seeing them at all. Big thanks go out to Kathy for taking her time to drive and meet us, we really appreciate how you take care of us. So folks, that's enough catching up for right now. Don't want to bore you to complete tears and hoping that soon we will be within those Bahamian waters.

Making slow tracks but still moving south

It’s been a couple weeks now since we have returned to cruising and it feels great. We have been taking our time and “smelling the roses” so to speak on our way south. After leaving Southport NC we basically made short day trips down the ICW ( Intracoastal Waterway) including Bull Creek on the Waccamaw River which is where we anchored on the way North last July. Beautiful little anchorage in the middle of nowhere where it’s just you and nature. As we pulled into our anchorage the fog was beginning to fill in the river and the owls were filling the evening with hoots and chatter of their own. We than found ourselves in Charleston Harbor and anchored there with mixed feelings on doing so. We had heard the current was bad and the bottom was littered with stuff to get snagged on. We didn’t have any problems with the current as our anchor was set well but as we were pulling in the anchor the next morning to leave we indeed got snagged on something. Dirk managed to get us un-snagged and we were on our way once again. A couple days later we found ourselves in Beaufort SC where we were joined by Vickie & Squeek from s/v POW MIA and Ron & Teresa from s/v Last Dance. They are cruisers and friends we met last year in Key West so we decided to stay a couple days and get some R&R in.

Ron's cousin Laurie & Randy from M/V Waistin' Aweigh joined us at Hemmingways

Here is Dirk with Squeek & Ron

We ended up frequenting a little place called Hemingways that was very cruiser friendly with a great staff. After two days our friends decided to move on and Dirk and I decided to stay put for an additional day to do a little shopping. We missed this stop on the way up but glad we made it this time as it’s a pretty little town. On Wednesday we had made reservations at a marina on Wilmington Island GA which is right next to Tybee Island. We planned on staying about a week here as this is where Dirk & I met and where Tybee Time got her name. We also have great friends there so it provided us some time to get off the boat and we spent the weekend living on land. We docked at a little place called Hogan’s Marina which is located on Turner Creek. The staff was incredible always asking if they could do anything to help. Bubba the owner was very accommodating and we would definitely go back there. The week ended up flying by and we had a great time as usual with Mac & Margie on the island.

Big thanks goes out to them for all they did for us while we were there and the hospitality they always extend to us. Tonight we find ourselves in yet another quiet anchorage void of other boats which surprises me due to the amount of boats we see traveling every day. Guess we are lucky with our picks….The weather had turned cold with breezy days causing us to wrap up tight trying to stay warm. This signals it is time to move even further south. So we travel, and enjoy, and look forward each day to new surrounding and adventures.

TYBEE TIME ON THE MOVE ONCE AGAIN

Tybee Time and her crew are once again on the move after months of sitting here and there. I really didn’t mean to leave everyone hanging but it seemed once we were idle so was my brain. When I last left you we were traveling up the ICW heading north. We made it up as far as Beaufort NC and found ourselves at a boat yard right on the ICW deciding to have a past issue repaired and Dirk decided that while we were pulled to go ahead and redo the bottom paint, replace the cutlass bearing and tighten the strut. The last time the bottom paint was done was in Panama City before leaving last year in November. I have to say that the Trinidad SR hard bottom paint held up very well for us and although it still looked good it was time to redo it. Other odds and ends were done while we were on the hard for 22 long hot days in July. We were very happy with Bock’s Marine. Very reasonable prices, shower and laundry facilities, a courtesy car, and they allowed you to stay onboard while doing work. Plus they have a great crew of people working for them, and we would defiantly recommend them to anyone. After leaving there we headed back south to Wilmington NC where we were given the use of a slip from a friend while his boat was being hauled for repairs. Lots of family time was had getting to know the nephews and niece again as Dirk’s Dad and other family live there. We also met another couple that sail on a smaller O’Day and fast became very close friends. What was supposed to be a few weeks there turned out to be almost seven. It was nice though as we were able to schedule doctor and kitty vet appointments, something that is hard to do while traveling all the time. We also visited with a couple boaters whom we have met along our travels such as Frank & Debbie from s/v Denali, Jon & Milane from s/v Snoopy, and Bill & Joanne from s/v Yacht Ultra whom we first met in Panama City before we left and now we find ourselves running into in the oddest places. So good to see everyone and we know we shall see you again. Small world this cruising community is and I like it…..We both want to extend special thanks to Christian for the use of his slip, what a great help that was, also to Dirk’s Sister Tammy for the use of her vehicle the entire length of our stay. I forgot what it was like to hop in a car at a whim and go where you want. Also want to thank Mike & Denise for showing us the hospitality that they did from the beginning of our friendship, we hope you keep that dream alive and can’t wait to see it happen for you. I know we will see you out there cruising yourselves one day. After doing some last minute provisioning we left Wilmington on the 22nd and made a short trip to Southport about eleven miles south. Denise joined us for the trip and hubby Mike joined us later in the evening and we had a final weekend at a dock. Today finds us about a day from Charleston SC and it feels great being on the water moving again. You can really tell it’s that time of year as the great migration of boaters is heading south. Our plan is to stay on the ICW taking our time and enjoying life as it comes at us. We have not yet decided how far south we will be going before we make the jump back to the Bahamas again. Much will depend on Mother Nature and how cold she will make the winter for us. So please join us again for yet another cruising season and we hope that it sparks some interest and desire to get out there for yourselves. Give us a couple days and I will post the latest.

What we have been up to

Well here it is the 8th of July and we still find ourselves in Florida, although much further north. We stayed in Riveria Beach for longer than we would have liked and began getting bored. Between having a huge case of laziness that grabbed both Dirk and I and the fact that we weren't sure what our next move was we were destined to sit and wait till the urge to move hit us. After a month of sitting on a dock with A/C, laundry on site and the Tiki Hut with killer drink and food specials we finally decided to cut loose and head north. On June 30 we pulled out of the dock and headed out the Lake Worth Inlet and traveled up the coast to the Fort Pierce Inlet. We found a small anchorage with one other boat in it and threw the hook out and called it a day. The following morning the winds were suppose to be non existent so we decided to do a day inside on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). We put in approximately 40 miles under our keel and landed right on the south tip of Merritt Island in Eau Gallie and found the anchorage to be empty. That's nice....A quiet evening and then up early to begin again this time getting to Titusville while timing bridges. We pulled into the Titusville marina to fill up with diesel and water then headed back out to the anchorage and threw down the hook. With views of the Kennedy Space center this must be a great anchorage to see a shuttle launch from. Of course it was up early again, and as we passed through the Haulover canal leaving the Indian River to Mosquito Lagoon it was such a pretty area. The fishing must be wonderful here as there were so many people out and about. As you go through the canal its very narrow and you are only a stones throw from shore.

The lagoon runs a long way and ends up narrowing down into a very tight channel as it runs past homes with docks and piers so close at times its scary if there is traffic coming at you. And this being the 4th of July weekend there was plenty of traffic. Both Dirk and I commented we have never seen so many dolphins or manatees in one area, they were everywhere and its nice to see them flourish here. I think we saw over 50 dolphins that day with about a dozen manatee sightings. Then we passed this guy in his "Earth Ball", he was actually putting down the ICW in what looks like his homemade floating home. Looks like he has everything he could need on board. Later that evening we threw the hook out in Daytona Beach and settled in for a quiet evening. July 4th we took off for St. Augustine and arrived in plenty of time to set the hook in the anchorage right downtown. One thing we forgot to take into account was that St. Augustine was putting on a fireworks display and the anchorage was full. We did find one spot to fit into with no problem but had the winds shifted that evening we would have been sitting on a shoal and that wouldn't have been too nice. We tried scooting up a bit but still no good as there was this boat or that boat that would have been to close so we decided to try going on the other side of the bridge and we could catch the last opening before the fireworks but someone said they weren't allowing anymore boats to anchor there and we didn't want to take a chance of getting stuck on the north side of the bridge with no where to anchor. The decision was made to backtrack about a mile and a half back to the anchorage we had seen on the way up. It was in southern part of St. Augustine so we didn't get the nice display of fireworks but there were other displays being set off everywhere you looked in the horizon. I think we were both too tired to enjoy them anyway and we threw some chicken on the grill, toasted the 4th with a cold one then headed to bed. We had to get up extra early the following morning as we had a long day ahead of us. We were aiming for a little anchorage just north of the Fort George Island close to the St. Johns River. For this being a Monday the holiday traffic was still horrible. I guess lots of people had a three day weekend which is great for them but not so nice for us when you see nothing but power boats and jet skies zipping in and out. I don't think we saw more then 2 or 3 sailboats out this day. Once we arrived to the anchorage we saw right away that it just wasn't going to do. Apparently this is the main channel to Ft. George Island and this is where everyone was in such a hurry to get to. It was like a major freeway with boat traffic and also once we looked at the depths we thought we would be too close to the channel for comfort as the depth would make it impossible to swing. Plan B, we pulled out the charts and saw the next available place to anchor was about an hour and a half north. Gee this had already been a long day and it was just getting longer. I decided to whip up something to eat while Dirk got us back underway as we were both hungry and tired. By the time dinner was cooked, eaten, and cleaned up we had arrived to our destination by Amelia Island. We dropped the hook in about 9 feet of water right next to the marshes and settled in for an early evening yet again. Tomorrow would be a very short day for us with only a few miles to our next stop. No alarm was set so we could sleep in, but after getting up so early the last couple days my eyes were open at daybreak. Dang it, I hate that...Dirk did take the opportunity to sleep in as I busied myself making coffee and playing a bit on the computer. Finally he was up and ready to go. As he is pulling in the anchor I'm behind the wheel and suddenly we were sitting in 4'8" of water. We draw about 5'. We managed to back her off and got back into the channel headed north. Not 2 minutes after being well inside the channel with Dirk at the wheel we are suddenly sitting in less than five foot of water. We both look at the channel markers, yes, we are well inside with what should be plenty of water. Apparently there has been a bit of shoaling between Red markers 34 and 32 so if you are heading that direction take note and stay toward your green markers. We weren't the only ones that noticed as there was another boat that had to hug us in order not to ground themselves. Granted we were on low tide heading to high but in the channels there should be plenty of water. So with only about a 2 hour day we picked up a mooring ball in Fernandina Beach. Not bad for 15 bucks a day and there is a very nice section of town with plenty of restaurants and shops to be had. This would be the first time since we left Riveria Beach that we have been off the boat. We have been here a few days resting and taking it easy. Tomorrow were gonna head off and restock our pantry before heading further north. Maybe if I'm lucky I wont let so much time lapse before posting again.

Back in the U.S. and hit by a big case of lazy

Our poor Bahama flag is showing some wear. This has been used exactly once and I guess will need to be replaced next season.

Sorry it's been a while since my last post, but in the last legs of our adventures in the Bahamas we didn't have Internet and since we have been back on U.S. soil I have been hit by a case of the lazies that wont let go. What got us from there to here is as follows...

On Wednesday the 25th of May, just one full day after coming back from my brothers wedding it was decided we would start making tracks back to the states. We decided on Compass Cay as we had bypassed it on the way down to Staniel before and after a bit of a confusing entrance into the cut we tucked in behind one of the islands and dropped the hook. We had taken the outside passage from Staniel up to Compass in hopes of perhaps landing another Mahi Mahi or even a Tuna. No luck, as the only fish willing to take our bait on this day was a spanish mackerel and a barracuda and both were released back. Oh well, we tried. We anchored with one other boat, Snoopy which we had seen on several other occasions and we stayed in radio contact on a couple runs on the outside. Dirk and him ended up conching that afternoon as I stayed on board doing a bit of housekeeping. Later that evening we had s/v Denali pull up and anchor behind us. We had first met Frank & Debbie in Ft. Lauderdale as we were waiting for weather to cross in February. Actually Dirk had run into them while In Staniel and now we had met up again here in Compass. We keep saying what a small world it is and it seems that everyone we have met we re meet or meet someone who knows them. On Wednesday we took time to go exploring the Pipe Creek area, do some snorkeling and ended up having Denali over to the boat for sundowners before we had to say good bye the following morning. Dirk snorkeling Pipe Creek area, look at that water

Another deserted beach we found in Pipe Creek

On Thursday we made a short hop up to Warderick Wells and this time we anchored out by their south mooring field as the weather and the winds were all good. We took the time to snorkel a few coral heads which we had missed before due to the winds then called it an early evening. Me checking things out

A little grouper

The following morning we headed up to Highborne Cay and anchored almost in our exact same spot as before according to our GPS. We spent two days here prepping the boat to travel the approximate 75 miles to Morgans Bluff on Andros Island. Stowing items, stocking up on fuel and water, and cleaning the decks which had accumulated all sorts of snorkel gear and shells. We did find the time to snorkel some reefs and Dirk did come home with a queen trigger fish for dinner one evening. If lobster season was open this one would have been dinner. At least we know where she will be waiting next season for us. See her laughing at us...

Just a pretty fan

On Sunday the 30th we took off shortly after day break along with s/v Snoopy and started our long day. We soon left Snoopy behind as they decided to head south a bit in hopes to catch a better wind angle. I busied myself hand washing some clothing which always seems to take twice as long as it should. It had been since Hatchet Bay in Eleuthera that I had done any laundry and I was running low on some essentials. One thing to note about laundry in the Exumas, its hard to come by. I hear Black Point has a Laundromat and than of course George Town. We didn't make it to either....If your lucky you can ask around the small towns for one of the local ladies and you may find someone willing to do it for a mere $10.00 for washing, then its hung on a line to dry. That is, it will dry if there isn't 98 percent humidity which seemed to be the case the last couple weeks. So by now I had quiet the laundry piled up of mostly towels and sheets as we were trying to wear our other clothing over and over till it finally protested enough to throw up the white flag. It was a long day but we finally hit the channel to Morgans Bluff and found a spot to throw the anchor down once we hit the cove. Our plan was to leave the next morning and head out to Hen & Chickens which Is north of Bimini then make the jump from there over to the coast of Florida somewhere the following day. We still had not seen Snoopy yet and the last radio contact with them had them about 3 hours behind us. We found out the next morning that they didn't get in till after midnight to the anchorage so we weren't too much in a hurry to get moving as it wasn't due to be too bad of a day for us and we wanted to let Snoopy get some rest. We pulled out about 10:30ish and headed west with about 75 miles to cover this day. The winds were coming out of the east so we had the wing on wing configuration going getting a nice push from behind.I believe we were due to get to Hen & Chickens which is basically a couple small isles about 1 am giving us a fairly long day but doable.We had talked about anchoring on the banks, getting a couple hours sleep then picking up the next morning. Once we arrived there the waters were just a bit too rough to imagine anchoring out and it wasn't too bad of a ride, we would make the push for the east coast tonight. Snoopy was in agreeance with us and we also had one other boat traveling close to us that was heading to Miami so there would be at least three of us out there just in case. We were about an hour and a half ahead of Snoopy into the Gulf Stream and the waters had gotten a bit rolly, there were thunderstorms popping up on the radar and our auto pilot decided to give up the ghost. We were gonna be in for a long night. We got a radio call from Snoopy saying they were stopping, with the night they had before and the conditions that were building they decided to stop in Bimini and rest before heading on. We wished we had done that also but decided to push on. As I hand steered Dirk started disassembling the auto pilot and discovered the belt was tearing and so it was not grabbing. Now to find the extra we had on board. Somewhere.....After tearing everything apart he still could not locate it so he had the idea to get some sail thread and sew the belt back together. It has a couple metal threads running through it so it had not totally broken but the rubber was gone. After a few minutes he put it back together and lo & behold we had auto pilot back up and steering for us. That was a relief, I can't imagine hand steering all night long. Through out the night, and it was a long one, we dodged thunderstorms that seemed to follow us. Dirk says the Serius weather that we have paid for itself that night due to all the good information it gave us. It shows where lighting strikes are happening, the wind speeds, direction of travel with the radar satellite overlay. We ended up taking the sails down as some of the storms looked pretty nasty and we didn't want to wait too late to bring in the sails. Especially the spinnaker pole as we had broken one bracket this season already. At some points we were actually going against the gulf stream only getting .8 knots, yes .8 of speed. After a somewhat nail biting night we finally started having daylight and we could now see what the radar was seeing with the storms. Not pretty....We were only a couple miles off the Florida coast, yet Mother Nature was not letting us get there without a fight. Soon we decided that we would have to bite the bullet and take a chance with one of the storms as they were all closing in around us. We were just hoping there wasn't any lighting. At least the seas were following which means we were taking the waves from the rear which is a lot nicer and safer then taking then from the side or front. We trudged through the storm with our foul weather gear but still managed to get soaked. As we were entering the Lake Worth Inlet the rain stopped and the sun came out. It felt like we had just won a game and wwere being rewarded with fair weather in order to get through the last 15 minutes or so. We had called ahead to the Riviera Municipal Marina and had a slip reserved for a couple days to catch up on sleep and laundry before planning our next move. It's situated by Palm Beach and is right in front of Peanut Island which we heard is a happening place on the weekends. We eased into the slip, tied up and plugged in A/C which is something we had not had in some time. Finally the boat would be able to dry out a bit. We hit the showers and I found the last set of clean sheets to put on the bed. I put the shade covers on all the hatches as Dirk called the coast guard and got us cleared back into the states. We then ran up to the Tiki Restaurant and had a quick meal as we had not eaten in many hours, headed back to the boat and climbed in bed. It wasn't until 14 hours later when we finally emerged again finally feeling rested. It took us about 25 hours all in all to make the trip back and I forgot to mention that a few miles out the patch that Dirk had done on the auto pilot finally gave out. When he looked for the belt again he actually found it right in the cockpit lazerette right on top. Hummmmm guess when you are tired its easy to over look things. We haven't decided yet to head south back to Key West or to head north. We have decided to stay here a bit just to get our bearings back and deal with some items we have in the works. We shall keep you all posted with our next move. We are missing the Bahamas already and looking forward to our next cruise.

Swimming pigs, grottos, and flights home

On the 15th we headed to Big Majors and tucked in behind the island with the pig beach slightly to the right of us. Soon we were off to the beach to see what trouble we could get into with the pigs as we heard they can be slightly aggressive when it comes to food and will try and climb into the dinghy if you dare get close enough where they can touch bottom. I had a few veggies that had seen better days so I had been saving them plus some scraps of other things for this occasion. We only had one pig come and greet us but I know I had seen about four on the beach a while ago. Oh well one pig is easier to deal with then having to fend off four. As soon as he/she knew we were headed that way it waded out and began its swim out to us as I kept telling Dirk not to get too close.

A face so sweet

It seemed to like the celery I had selected for it and was eager for yet another bite.
Treading water waiting for another bite

Once we realized the pig was tiring from treading water we figured it was safe enough to travel closer to shore. No sooner did we get within distance that the pig could walk it tried to climb up the dinghy in search of more food.

Soon the food was gone and we headed back to the boat where we had a relaxing evening and called it an early night.
The following day we joined Dawn and Harvey from s/v Sovereign Swan as they took their dinghy ride to pig beach as I found a few more food scraps that were destined for the trash. They didn’t heed the warning and headed right up to the beach. As soon as they were close enough the pig decided to ambush and Dawn ended up just throwing all the food at once as Dirk and I sat back taking photos.
After that we decided to head over to Thunderball Grotto which is a cave in which you snorkel into at low tide as it opens up into a beautiful grotto. Apparently this setting was used in the James Bond film Thunderball. The fish are very friendly and I was prepared with a bag of freshly boiled rice which they gladly accepted. Dirk took the underwater video and we got some great footage of the fishes. This was an area I wanted to revisit once I got my new camera with the underwater feature that was waiting state side for me. If you recall I had destroyed mine in Spanish Wells when the dinghy almost flipped several weeks back. I spent the next several days packing and getting the boat set for Dirk while I was to attend my brother’s wedding in Oklahoma City on the weekend. Thursday morning Dirk dinghied me and my bag up to Isles General store dock and we walked over the bridge to the airfield/ parking lot and waited. The terminal is an outdoor pavilion, that’s all it is. Dirk and waited and waited as my flight was due to leave at 9am. Finally about 9:30 someone shows up in a golf cart and it’s the lady there to take my ticket as a few other people trickle up. About 10am my flight arrives, good thing I had a long layover in Nassau. It is a nine seater plane, 10 if you count the pilot and it was a full flight. I was extremely nervous as I had never flown in such a small aircraft and as it taxied and used as much airstrip as was allowed I knew why. Before long I was busy looking at the islands that by now had become familiar as we had traveled the chain. Thirty five minutes later and we landed in Nassau and I was already home sick for the boat, my husband, and kitty that I left behind in paradise several islands down. Nassau reminded me too much of the states and somehow I knew at that point that traveling was what I wanted to do for as long as I could. From Nassau I found myself in Atlanta and as usual with delays I arrived at my destination an hour late. If it weren’t for those complimentary .42 oz size of mini pretzels they so graciously passed out I might have been upset. A very quick weekend flew by and in the end I gained a new sister in law, another beautiful niece, and a very happy brother. After the wedding Saturday night we got back to the hotel and settled in about midnight, a nap and then it was up at 3:30 am to make it for the 5:30am flight back to Atlanta. Less than an hour layover and it was off to Nassau where I was sure my bag would not meet me but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it come down the baggage ramp. Two hour layover then a packed flight on that nine seater back to Staniel Cay, but we had to first fly past it to go into Blackpoint and Farmers Cay. I took the opportunity to take some photos of the islands that we had visited with my new camera.

My view of the pilot & passanger in the co pilot seat

A view of our anchorage, We anchored right in front of pig beach which is the beach to the right. Tybee Time is down there somewhere
Staniel Cay air strip on our approach

After three takeoffs in the tiny plane I was ready for the final landing which was about 2:30. Yippie, I was back in paradise with my family once again. We had dinner at the yacht club in the evening with a couple we had met in Ft. Lauderdale way back when we were waiting to cross and once back to the boat I fell into bed exhausted from lack of sleep and travel. The following morning we decided to try out the new camera I had gotten as it has an underwater feature on it so we went back to Thunderball Grotto to snorkel that again. As usual, it was beautiful and we tried out the camera and found that for the price we were happy.

Dirk heading for the entrance of the cave
Right inside the entrance looking out

the view once inside the cave and looking up

The pretty sun rays flooding down into the water A queen angel coming to say hello

Anther shot of the queen angel

On Tuesday morning we decided that it was time to leave Staniel Cay and unfortunately we are not heading any further south this season. The trek north was to begin today so we headed up to Compass Cay as we had passed it up on the way down. We shall leave here tomorrow, destination not yet known. Our plan thus far is to head up towards New Providence then hop to the Berry Islands or Morgans Bluff on Andros Island. From there we will travel across the banks, hit Bimini and then make the decision of what part of Florida we will aim for. We hate that the season has ended for us, but there are a few things back in the states that need our attention. We will be back as we have fallen in love and look forward to traveling to further points south. Heres hoping you stay tuned for more updates as soon as we hit the states.

Exuma Land & Sea Park

On the 9th we decided to head down to Shroud Cay which is the first big Cay in the Land and Sea Park. The Land and Sea Park is a marine protected area where no fishing, spearing, and shelling are observed. Basically nothing alive or dead can be removed. It’s a 176 square mile area and covers 15 large islands and a lot of smaller ones which means the guys will have to put their hunt and gather mode away for a while. We dropped anchor in about 9 feet of water so clear it looked like we stopped in a swimming pool. No problem seeing the anchor here…..

Looks like a swimming pool

Wow, check out this water, so clear you can see the anchor chain

We piled in the dinghies and headed to the north end of the island to Sanctuary Creek which is a winding shallow creek that eventually dumps you out to Driftwood Beach. We all keep saying “How can this get any prettier” but somehow it does. What met us at the end of the creek was an incredible sight with water yet again so beautiful it it’s hard to describe.

The end of the channel we followed

On the other side of the channel with dinghies beached

We made our way up the hillside to Camp Driftwood which once was used by drug agents in the 80’s to spy on aircraft flying from Norman’s Cay. Today it is only a marker showing the spot but it affords an incredible view of the eastern shore and the creek.
Beautiful view of the beach below

Another view from the top of Camp Driftwood

We made our way back through the creek and stopped along all the coral heads to snorkel on the way back to the boats seeing lots of queen angel fish, queen triggerfish, snapper, grouper, lobster and blue tangs. We did see a nice size nurse shark asleep under a coral head and Dirk had fun corralling a barracuda my direction and landing me back in the dinghy. I have never heard of a barracuda attacking a person but I don’t want to be the first either. We got back to the boat cleaned up, ate and retired early to bed.
On the 10th we pulled anchor shortly after breakfast and headed to Warderick Wells Cay which is the headquarters for the Exuma Land & Sea Park. We decided this would be a good place to be with the winds that were due to hit us the following day as we would be on a mooring ball. It is a beautiful area with a channel winding its way through sandbanks that are dry during low tide. In fact during low tide we can jump off the back of the boat and in a couple of strokes be on shore. There are several trails to hike that wind around the island taking you to blow holes, beaches and the famous Boo Boo Hill. We had been looking on our travels all along for that perfect piece of driftwood that we could put the boat name on and leave on the hill, finally finding one at Normans Cay.

This way to Boo Boo Hill

Here is the sign I made for Boo Boo Hill

We made the hike up the hill and what a spectacular view awaited us. Looking back over Exuma Sound the water was angry with white caps and waves as the winds were blowing a good 18 to 20 knots. The view of the park interior was beautiful and we took this time for photo opps of the boat.

We looked through the pile of driftwood looking for familiar boat names and spotted several that we have met along the way then ended up finding a nice place to nestle ours to leave so we might be granted fair weather and safe travel.

Here, I found the perfect spot Dirk making sure the sign is good

We then traveled down the trail to the blow holes and noted the tide was still too low for there to be any action so we would have to return as the tide was higher. After the hike Dirk & I decided to go for a snorkel at a couple coral heads inside the mooring field called The Rangers Garden. Unfortunately with the winds being so strong for several days and the current being very strong the clarity of the water wasn’t that great and I soon found myself tiring from fighting the current so we headed back to the dinghy and back to the boat. We ended up jumping off the back of the boat, walking the sand bar and playing in the sand like two children at the beach for the first time. Soon the tide was coming in and the sand bar began getting smaller so we swam back to the boat, cleaned up, ate, and called it an evening.
This is us in relation to the sand bar behind us

And one more

The following day we decided to give the Rangers Garden snorkel another try during slack tide. This time it was a lot easier and seemed to be a bit clearer. I bet on a calm day this would be a beautiful little reef to see as there were several huge lobsters just hanging out in plain view. Guess they know that it’s a no take zone and have no fear of humans eyeing them. There was also a huge black grouper hanging out big enough that if he made any sudden moves I would have walked on water to get away. There were also several very large gray angel fish, tangs, and snapper. We got cleaned up and hiked back up to the blow holes where this time we got to experience the blast of warm sea air that met us as you look down into the hole. Better hold on to your hat for that one. Today is the 14th and we have been here now for four days waiting on the winds to die a bit so we can head further south. We were suppose to take off today but decided to wait one more day due to the winds being around 23 knots gusting to 28. Not exactly the best winds to sail in especially when they are coming out of the direction in which we want to travel. Also neither s/v Sovereign Swan nor us got much sleep last night due to the major rocking and rolling we were doing all night. . It was a lazy day on board doing minor chores, reading, playing on the computer and in the evening we had sun downers in the cockpit as we watched about 4 good sized Black Tip or sand sharks, can’t be sure but Dirk feels they were black tips hanging out under our boat. Dirk stood on the swim platform with the looky bucket which is basically a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom cut out and replaced with plexi glass. Most cruisers we know own one and they are great for checking the anchor or looking at reefs before diving in. Anyway Dirk would slap the water with the bucket and they would swim by to take a look see as we would be taking a look see at them. We were both trying to look and I was trying to take photos through the bucket but could never get a good shot. Dirk finally went below and returned with the underwater video camera, hung over the back and videoed them. Wonder why they picked our boat, perhaps our location and the tidal currents? Hummm ever since we have been here we have been having nurse sharks, eagle rays, barracuda, and now these guys hanging out, and to think we were swimming off the back. Yikes…. Perhaps tomorrow will be better and we can make it down to Big Majors Spot which is right next to Staniel Cay. We have to make it there in a couple days as I am due to fly out of Staniel for a wedding next week and still need to deal with some laundry, groceries, and Flamingo Air before I go.