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. 

Merry Christmas Post

Good news to report, the new fuel tanks and all related plumbing is complete !!!  What a challenging job !!!  One day Steve said "it's like trying to build a picnic table in a phone booth"... a particularly memorable weekend was spent figuring out how to access the port side vent tube to attach the new hose without disassembling the entire galley, as the fittings were out of reach.   After a fair amount of cursing and brainstorming, a McGyver type solution evolved and hose was installed. 

Once the tanks were in place, there was an incredible amount of plumbing, hoses, clamps, valves, and fittings to be installed, along with an uncountable number of trips to the hardware store.  Steve crawls in and out of the engine room many times a day, for sure the physically hardest job he's tackled in many years.  The two racor fuel filters are built into a fuel polishing system, so that we can now "polish" (removed impurities) from any "bad" diesel that might find its way into our tanks. 

 

This little drawing and all the "stuff" attached to the board is the hardware for the filter system, without the two filters yet attached.  It's amazing what Steve has designed and built.  In the south, algae grows even in "good" fuel if it is left untreated and sits for a while in the tanks.  We apparently inherited some old fuel when we bought the boat.  The "scuz" produced from the algae settles into the bottom of the tank and when rough seas are encountered, the scuz is stirred up, clogs the fuel filters, and can stall the engine.  With our new system, Steve can "polish" the fuel at the dock, or if this happens while we are running, he can isolate each filter, running on one, while working on the other. Up north, the cold winters do not allow the algae to grow, but in the warm climate it's very common.  With our old tanks, there was no access to get the fuel polished, and we had 30 years worth of scuz sitting in the bottom of our tanks ... looks like this. 

No more scuz for Shingebiss. 

 

While Steve works on the fuel system, I take care of activities of daily living and continue interior varnishing ... 3 coats Satin and 2 coats Gloss MinWax Helmsman Spar Urethane.  Our Roughwater interior has white walls, but all 33 doors and 27 drawers are solid teak, and all need to be stripped to bare wood and refinished, so I've got no shortage of material to work with.  There must have been some incredible teak forests in Taiwan 30 years ago as even the drawer sides, supports and wood in the engine room is teak.  The room divider that I tackled earlier this year turned out pretty good. 

 

 

The weather so far has been darn near perfect and we have fun occasionally too.  Harbortown Marina is a great place to hang out and we like little Fort Pierce, a very non touristy Florida town.  There's over 300 slips here and it's a very busy place.  We've learned that the marina is owned by an investor from Minnesota, he is pouring money into improvements, and we suppose will eventually sell it ... and then the price will go up.  For now it's a reasonable place to stay and work on the boat.  The marina had it's 15 minutes of fame this past summer when AARRR Booty, a treasure hunting boat docked right across from us, hauled up $350,000 of gold treasure right outside the Fort Pierce Inlet.  The find included 80 feet of gold chain and coins from Peru dated from the 1700's.  This part of Florida is called the Treasure Coast, true for them.  You can google the boat name to see some of the treasure. 

 

Alot of the cruisers we met last year are here again gathering each afternoon for happy hour and sunset. 

 

The Marina, with affiliated boat repair company, throws a party once a month.  In November they served steak and shrimp to 150 of us, along with the pot luck dishes brought by the boaters it was quite a feast. 

 

For Thanksgiving, we had a traditional dinner in the shelter you see above and will do the same for Christmas.  Bill Esch, long time friend from MN who has lived in Fort Lauderdale for many years drives his Harley up to see us occasionally and we are always glad to see him. 

 

On Saturdays we go to the wonderful Fort Pierce Farmers Market downtown on the waterfront for produce, seafood, bakery, breakfast, music and browse the great art fair.

 

When the wind blows we often head out to the inlet to check out the waves and marvel at the skilled kite boarders.  I caught this one about 30 feet in the air, upside down.  It's mesmerizing to watch them and it looks like so much fun.  I  don't think either of us is going to try it, however.

 

We enjoy having friends over for dinner (and cards or dominoes).  Jerry and Marty are a cruising couple we met on the Great Loop who cruise Florida each winter.  They stopped by Harbortown for a couple of nights and we served Bang Bang Shrimp.  Marty is an accomplished cruising writer and has had her articles published in Lakeland Boating, Southern Boating, BOAT US magazine and Passagemaker. Google Marty Richardson.

 

 

 Our son, Dan, came down to visit in early December, so we took some time off from working and played a little.  He is a disc golfer and we found a great course where he played 18 holes and I walked and took pics.   

 

 

We got out for a dinghy ride.

 

Swam in the ocean, even I went in, the water was pretty warm for this time of year.

 

and in the pool...

 

... ate seafood at the Harborview, marina restaurant.

 

Heathcote Gardens is a small botanical garden in Fort Pierce, so we thought we'd have a visit.  The garden was lovely, but the real gem is the world class display of over 50 bonsai plants, most of them have been in training since the 1970's and 80's.  I took a picture of just about everyone of them, because each one is so unique.  Here's a couple of them. 

 

 

 

One of our 70 gallon aluminum water tanks sprung a leak.  The water tanks are under our two aft stateroom beds, easy to pull out.   

Steve took it up to a local metal fabricator, who told him that it was likely not the original tank, appeared to be a "backyard" weld job, and though they could try to patch it up, there were no guarantees.  So ... it couldn't be fixed.  We opted to go with plastic as a replacement. We hoped we could find one at Marine Liquidators, an amazing place down the road, 2 huge rooms where they "liquidate" excess boat parts that they have purchased from boat manufacturers who no longer need them.  It's always a first stop when shopping for boat parts.  The wall on the right is all plastic tanks, alas, none of them the right size.  The left wall is all bimini tops.

 

 

  We ordered a new tank off the internet and Steve is going to add a site gauge, so we will know when the water is about to run out.  I am now offically calling this boat a "restoration" project".  We know, we know, all boats are alot of work, BOAT (Break Out Another Thousand), hole in the water into which one throws money, etc.etc.  It does require a heck of alot of determination and dedication to "live the dream".  We have our moments of doubt and pain, but can't see ourselves doing anything but this ... thank goodness Steve can do all the work, otherwise we could never afford this.  We still have our eyes on the Abacos (in the Bahamas) this season, targeting mid January as departure and that will make it all worthwhile. 

 

Unfortunately, Steve didn't get the fuel system completely up and ready for a test run until Dan had already left us, but we did take 'er out last week for a short ICW cruise and all was well.  Felt great to be moving. 

 

Well, this was a long narration, thanks for sticking with it.   I'm enjoying writing it, just wish I had travels, not repairs to report.  Thanks to all of ya that encouraged me to start it up again.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all !!!



Project Progess Report

 One of the first projects was to put our new settee, upolstery by Liz, in place.  Back home, Steve had built the cabinet to enclose our wonderful frig, so he installed that.  Big improvements for our interior. 

 Steve designed our new aluminum fuel tanks over the summer and we had them fabricated in a small shop about 2 hours away.  Once we got almost everything else out of the van, we went to pick them up.  There are four tanks, 54 gallons each, to replace the two old tanks. 





 First step is to cut out the old tanks.  A pump built into the old fuel system transferred the remaining fuel from the starboard tank into the port tank, but the "bottom of the barrel" had to be pumped out by hand through the deck fill.  Nigel took it off our hands and filtered it to use in his boat. 

Steve was admittedly a little nervous about sawing through the tanks, even though he had solid information that any remaining diesel would not ignite. but the time came, so he started cutting.  Crazy job, sawed the tank into four pieces and one by one, they came out the front floor hatch.  It was a dirty, messy, sweaty job in a small space.  Here's one of the tank sections and you can see the rust that necessitated replacing them. 



He prepped the surfaces where the first set of tanks would sit.  They won't fit through our doors, but came in through our big side windows, just like the frig did last fall....

 ... and with only inches to spare, down into the engine room.  The tanks were designed by Steve to fit precisely into this hatch.  To go into the much bigger main hatches, he would've had to move the engine.  This route, only had to move the generator. 

 Wriggling it into place, even I got to help.  Fittings had to be manuvered under bundles of wires and the tank had to be braced up and then dropped exactly onto the bunks and cribbing that had been coated with 3M 5200.  Here she is, tank number ONE, proudly in place. 

As you can see, it is a pretty roomy engine room, especially compared to the one Steve used to work in.  The second starboard tank is now also in place and some of what seems to be about a million fittings have been placed.  Today Steve pumped the fuel back over and into the new tank, which already has a working fuel gauge !!!  He's ready to start cutting on the port tank out. 

I have started my most challenging varnish job to date.  Last season I stripped, sanded, and varnished the column on the right of the picture below.  Like alot of the copious interior teak, this piece was so dirty that the grain of the wood could not even be seen.  I have tackled the railing and tiny spindles that ring this small peninsula that separates our galley from our salon.  There are 30 spindles, and it is putzy, putzy, so I do a bit each day. 

We do play a little bit too, and will cover that in next post.