Green Turtle Update

We spent 4 nights at the lovely Bluff House Marina and Resort.  The property extended just a short hike up the hill and then back down this steep hill to the Sea of Abaco.

This is the beach bar...

... as seen from this pier, with beach in background.

 

But the place was largely deserted, apparently for sale, so we have moved a mile or so into Black Sound, where we are on a $10/night mooring ball.  One of the advantages of cruising:  if you don't like the neighborhood, move. There's more going on here, we've since met quite a few people and we feel like we are finally relaxing into the idea of being in the Abacos.  It's less than a mile walk into town from here, so we've been in frequently. A short detour leads to this beach, where the folks that own homes on part of it are building a huge retaining wall to prevent beach erosion.  They are open to the Atlantic waves here and I guess they don't want their homes to wash into the ocean.  A notice on a board in town said the wall will eventurally be covered with sand and totally unseen. 

 

Last evening we went to the Friday Night gathering at Plymouth Rock Bar, about as big as a single car garage, and soon packed with happy chattering cruisers.  Later, the party moved to an outdoor venue called Pineapples where we had our first fresh conch salad and listened to some local musicians.  I'm not sure if it was the traditional "rake and scrape" style of music, but instuments included cowbells, a hand saw, a washboard, and lots of energy.  Okay, we were home by 9:30, but still it was good to be out. 

 

A beautiful calm day today so went out for a long dinghy ride.  There are a couple of boats here with some mechanical issues, so we went by to check up on their progress.  Side bar: Feeling great about our boat, nothing has broken since we left Florida ... Steve got the itch yesterday so he prepped and painted one of the white walls in the salon that had been calling his name.  Looks fresh and new !! 

 

On our ride, we passed by the other well known marina in White Sound, the Green Turtle Club. 

 

We stopped at the public dock in New Plymouth to get a few grocery items.  Of note, a gallon of milk is $10 and a package of Oreos goes for $7, but you have to think of all the expense of bringing supplies out here.  This is why our forward cabin is full of canned and packaged foods.  We love this little town, here's a few more pictures of it, these taken as we entered the harbor. 

 

 

The "construction" on the far right here is going to be a new park. 

 

This is the old jail, one of the oldest buildings in town and PINK.  Now used to store the town's Christmas decorations.

 

This is the statue at the center of Monument Park honoring the founders and their contributions.

 

 

Our cruising grounds is the Sea of Abaco, about a 100 mile long, mostly protected water, that runs northwest to southeast.  It is bordered by Great Abaco Island on one side and the Cays (think barrier islands) on the other side.  We are about 2/3 of the way down the chain.  The sea is navigable for all kinds of vessels all the way down except for one section just beyond here where the channel is too shallow for all but the shallowest draft vessels.  So we'll have to exit out into the big bad Atlantic Ocean, go around the small barrier island (Whale Cay) and come back in to get past the shallows.  We're waiting for just the right conditions and it should happen in a couple of days. 

 

We've purchased three months of unlimited data WiFi, so keep those emails coming and I'll keep blogging.  Meanwhile, we remain grateful to be here, especially when we hear about the weather back in MN.  People told us the Abacos were too cold in the winter; while the water temp is a bit too cool for me to swim, air temps of 70's during the day and 60's at night are feeling great to us. 

Green Turtle Cay

A few more pics from Grand Cay:  A pile of discarded conch shells along side of the fisherman's boat, along with some other miscellaneous trash.

The Grand Cay residents don't seem too concerned with trash, it's everywhere.  On a small island away from the town, there is a dump with evidence of periodic trash burnings.  Not attractive, but what are their options?

Many of the buildings appear to be unfinished and in other states of disrepair.  Here's one built on the very edge of the island, housing a family. 

The island took a hit with Hurricane Sandy as evidenced by the ruined docks in this little canal.  The island is littered with abandoned boats in all stages of decay scattered along the shore and beside the houses.

 

After 5 nights, we got our weather to get down the island chain to Green Turtle Cay.  We wanted to visit some of the islands in between, but with the northern winds, there were no options for protected anchorages.  So we took advantage of the good day that we had and went about 60 miles in light seas and sunshine.  A beautiful cruise through previously unseen by us waters.  What could be better?

 

Green Turtle Cay is an island of much different character than Grand Cay.  There are two large totally protected sounds with marinas and anchorages and a historic town to tour.  We are in White Sound at Bluff House Marina and Beach Resort.  A pretty good price on dockage, this is, afterall, the off season, and decent enough WiFi that I can blog from the pilot house.  There is a pool, bar and restaurant and beautiful deck overlooking the harbor. 

 

 

Yesterday was another perfect weather day, sunny, light winds and 75 degrees, so we unloaded the bikes and pedaled the 4-5 miles into town.  On the way, we saw many well kept homes for sale and for rent and stopped briefly at two beautiful beaches right along side the road.  This one was in a little protected cove....

 

... and this one open to the Atlantic.

 

 

New Plymouth is about as charming and quaint as they come, with well maintained homes and small businesses lining its two main streets, each a narrow one way. 

 

The settlement was founded shortly after the American Revolutionary War by the Loyalists, colonists opposed to separating from England.  About one in five people opposed the war and the effort toward independence.  After the war, many of them fled to England, Burmuda, and the Bahamas. The town is very proud of its heritage and has done a great job in archiving the history.  We toured the Museum named after Albert Lowe, one the influential boat builders, fishermen, and civic leaders.  It is in one of the homes that date back to the early 1800's.

We met Albert's son, Vert, in his model ship building shop.  He shared some of his family's history with us and showed us his dozens of model boats.  His father's model boats are displayed in the museum.  His daughter runs a restaurant in town and his son is harbor master at the Green Turtle Club Marina.  Great guy and a bit of a living legend.  

This is the building where he has his shop.

 

And lastly, a view of the town as we approached it.  The two one way streets converge here and the house in front is probably the biggest house in the town. 

Today we are just relaxing on the boat and around the marina.  It's raining intermittently, and the winds are gonna pick up again tonight and tomorrow.  There is one more navigational challenge between us and our destination marina.  The challenge is a brief open ocean passage called "The Whale" and the destination is Sea Spray Marina on Elbow Cay, where we have a slip reserved for a month .... details to follow. 

Back with some pics

Calm and beautiful today. Shoulda left for Green Turtle. We are having difficulty figuring out the weather patterns here and what the parameters should be for moving to the next destination.  Teaching us some patience and learning.  As first timers over here, we feel like rookies all over again. 

To get caught up, here's the marina at West End where we cleared customs after crossing the Stream. 
Perhaps you can pick out the boat to the right of the big yacht. 

Here's a couple pics from crossing the bank, one of me driving.  I'm making more effort learning to pilot this boat.  I'm taking the helm when we anchor, as our windlass situation is functional, but less than optimal so I prefer to have Steve do anchor duty.  View from the pilothouse: 

 

 

 

The camera cannot do justice to the water colors.  It's beautiful !!!

Our daily dinghy trip to town includes a stop at Iris and Daughters Bakery for delicious fresh bread and other treats. 

 

 

...and here is the infamous BaTelCo office where we pick up the WiFi. 

 

 

 

Calm enough to go for a dinghy ride today.  We had to take a picture of the humble Shingebiss at anchor, looking good. 

 

 

Steve drove us out a shallow cut between the islands into the ocean and we just gazed through the crystal  clear water to see what we could see. 

 

 

 

Stopped at this beach and walked a little.  It's not a palm tree and raked sand tourist kinda place.  We think of it more like the real Bahamas, that only those of us lucky enough to be on our own cruising boat get to experience. 

 

One more interesting pic.  This is the bottom seen from the dinghy ... yes, looking through water.  This is also the sea grass that fills the harbor and causes the boats to drag if your anchor is set in it.  Ours must be in a patch of sand, that's what Steve tried to do and it worked !!

 

Well there ya go Loyal Friends and Blog Followers !!!  Written at a fever pace on a clandestine network ... probably not the quality of some of my previous efforts, but still a great way to share with you all. 

 

One more, view of the boat from the Marina,you can see how small the harbor is. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

socked in at Grand Cay

Hi all !!!  We have a Bahamian Phone now, but were unable to make the tether connection that we had hoped for in able to have internet on the boat.  So we are currently sitting on a picnic table in the sunshine talking to some other cruisers.  We are across the "street" from the Batelco office and they have graciously logged Steve's laptop onto their WiFi.  No access to my pics from his laptop, however. 

We crossed the Little Bahama Bank on Tuesday, lovely cruise with a gentle rocking over.  We are anchored in the harbor across from town.  The north winds are back and fierce at 10-20 for about the next week.  We are pleased with the holding ability of our anchor, Steve added 30 feet of heavy chain, but we are on the same 45# Manson anchor that we had on the Mainship, so it's good to know it will hold a bigger boat.

Yesterday I bought 4 medium sized just caught lobster on the dock and had them for supper .... $10.  Last night the only other boat anchored started to drag, I noticed it when I got up to check us about 4 am.  They were so close to us that I was able to wake them with a loud shout, so they could get up and reset.  This small town of 200 has no roads, just concrete paved paths for walking  and golf carts.  Commercial fishing is the main occupation and Boston Whalers are the preferred boat. 

We are in the far northern section of the Abacos, less traveled and less commercial.  Our next destination will be Green Turtle Cay, about 60 miles down, and much more developed.  Hope to find some WiFi there and get you caught up with some pictures. 

We made it

Bucket List Item:  Cruise Shingebiss to the Bahamas, check !!!!    just a quick update on the crossing from Florida.  Sorry, no pics, after losing my camera on the cruise ship last year, I'm taking all my photos with my iPhone, which I turned off this am after putting service with AT & T on hold (yes, you can do that for $10/device), forgetting that it was also my camera.  I was too ill during the crossing to go dig it out and at sunset tonight, I was too technologically challenged and couldn't get it to turn on. 

We had a lovely anchorage in Lake Worth last evening, spent the eve battening down everything that moves both inside and outside the boat.  This morning, we topped off the fuel tank (deisel is reportedly over $6/gallon here in paradise), increased our boat insurance to cover the Bahamas, and cut off our AT & T.  It was rough going out the inlet, the old "wind against current", current being the outgoing tide, and we had high hopes that it would smooth out once we got into the OOOOOcean.  Alas it was not to be.  If the seas we endured were truly 2-3 feet, I'd be surprised, they looked and felt much bigger.  It had been years since we did a passage like this (12/6/09 to be exact), and I forgot that a.) I get seasick when I go below and b.) one should bring food and beverage into the pilothouse ahead of time to avoid a.  Reminded me once again that we are coastal cruisers, not blue water sailors.  I'll do it to reach a destination, but don't enjoy it.

Imagine riding a low level roller coaster with a little Tilt-A-Whirl tossed in for 6 hours straight with absolutely no break in the action ... then imagine that you brought your pet with you for this lovely experience.  Poor Lucy lost her breakfast early on, and suffered all day along with me.  Steve did not get sick, but he is tuckered out tonight.  Although this boat steers like a dream, we have no auto pilot and steering by hand for eight hours is very tiring.  Ah, what we do to live the dream.  I recently heard that true adventure must include some discomfort, so we earned our adventure badge today.  The last two hours were much smoother, thank goodness.  Altogether an 8 hour trip to go 61 miles, the rough water really slows the boat down. 

We cleared customs (they didn't even ask about a pet) and took a slip for the night at Old Bahama Bay Marina and Resort.  A lovely place, pool, beach, condos, clear turquoise water, the whole nine yards.  $97 a night, includes the $15 mandatory water fee, so we washed the salt crust off the boat and then off of us in the showers.  Great complimentary WiFi, but they wanted $27 to plug in, so we are enjoying the ambieance of our computer screens enhanced with those great solar garden lights ... charge em up outside during the day, and bring em in for light at night. 

We are studying up on the next crossing, which is over the Little Bahama Bank, should be a much more sheltered 50 miles, with our sites set on Grand Cay where we will anchor and search out the elusive BaTelCo SIM card.  After that it's a leisurely skip down the island chain to our destination in Hope Town on Elbow Cay, much more on that later. 

Bahamas, Here we Come !!!



Yes, yes, blogging in the pilot house, while cruising south on the ICW to stage for a crossing tomorrow.  First, let's catch up on repairs and social activities.  New water tanks went in great and Steve built a sight gauge out of clear PVC and a couple of fittings mounted on the wall so we can actually see how much water we have left.  The main exhaust pipe runs along the hull in that same compartment ... 30 year old 5" stainless steel pipe, you can see it on the ground below, a 14 foot length and a couple of bends to reach the engine .... rusted enough to need replacement. 

So we had to come outta the water for just one overnight last week, and Steve worked hard replacing it with a fiberglass pipe with hose attachments.   On our way back to our slip at Harbortown, we were followed by a large pod of dolphins, gotta be a good sign, right?  We've had way more rain this winter than we had last winter.  But after the rain comes  the rainbow, and that's gotta be another good sign.

We really like this marina and have made many good friends here.  Last night there was a Chili Cook Off and I made my Sante Fe Chicken Chili.  Nine entries and alot of yummie side dishes.  Did I mention it was 80 degrees?

I won the prize for "Outside of the Box Chili". That doesn't mean I made it out of a box, it means it was different than traditional chili.  Here is my first "selfie" with my $25 gift certificate, which I applied to our fuel fill up today. 

and here's the F Dock gang wishing us smooth sailing. 

Which brings us up to present time.  We had been looking at a weather window all last week and prepping to leave.  Our forward cabin is filled with canned goods and freezer packed with meat for 40 meals.  I've applied twice to the Bahamian Dept. of Agriculture for a permit to bring Lucy into the country and still don't have a permit.  But we have all her papers and a copy of the form (gotten from another boater) signed by our Florida Vet that she is vaccinated and healthy.  Other cruisers tell us to not even worry, they often don't even ask.  BFF Sue sent us our old iPhone3 and we've gotten it "unlocked" to accept a BaTelCo sim card and will be able to access the internet through the phone.  We are headed for the Abacos, which is the more civilized part of the Bahamas and is reported to have a good cell phone network. 

So what's the big deal with the weather for a short 54 mile day time crossing?  Well, it's the Gulf Stream .... a 25-30 mile wide "river" in the ocean that flows north up the entire east coast ... here in Florida, it's only 5-10 miles off shore, flowing between us and the Bahamas.  When the wind is from the north, or has any northerly component to it, you have "wind against current" and that is a set up that should be avoided .... big waves.  It's like petting a cat backwards.  In the winter the prevailing wind is north and every couple of weeks it "clocks around" to the east, then south, then west, then back to north.  So all us snowbirds watch the weather, and scoot over when the wind clocks to the south and the sea lies down.  Just make sure you get there before it clocks back to the north.  One of the local Floridian boaters said to me "oh we don't go to the Bahamas in the winter, it's too rough" ... but us crazy snowbird cruisers do and then run for cover during hurricane season when the Floridians are cruising leisurely to the Bahamas.   

We had been anticipating a "weather window" to cross this weekend, but then yesterday it didn't look that good, so we lazed about.  Got up this am, and it looked better, so we really scurried with last minute prep:  filled the water tanks, loaded the bikes, got last minute groceries, cash and dinghy gas, and got the car to storage.  Fueled up, pumped out, showered and here we are.  We should pull into Lake Worth by dark, this is a popular place to anchor for the night before leaving out the Inlet there for the crossing.  We will be checking into West End on Grand Bahama Island tomorrow afternoon.  Forcast is for 2-3 foot waves 6 seconds apart.  Not smooth, but hopefully tolerable.  Stay tuned, will get back on as soon as we are back on the grid.