Leeward YC, Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay, on to Guana Cay

We were so smug, we ordered our Bahamian SIM card before leaving the US and thought we'd be "connected" right away.  It only took 10 days to work out the wrinkles!!  We did have limited WiFi at Leeward, but it didn't always work...  We signed up for a week at Leeward YC partly due to a good deal and partly due to the winds.  We enjoyed the whole atmosphere in Black Sound.  Lots of friendly people and lots to do.

Even the bathrooms had class at Leeward!

  We hung out with Debbie and Mike quite a lot....which means bars!

We both added our boat cards to the walls of Miss Emily's Blue Bee(home of the FAMOUS Goombay Samsh),  we had lunch and rum punch at Pineapples, watched sunset with a rum punch at Sundowners and had another lunch and punch (called the Snapping Turtle) at the Tranquil Turtle.  

We also made several trips to the beautiful beaches mostly on the windward side of the island.

We even found pigs!!  We thought Big Majors in the Exumas had the corner on pig entertainment, but No Name
Cay, just across from the southeastern end of Green Turtle has a family that loves vegetable "waste".  We also
were in search of sand dollars that are said to be plentiful on the flats at low tide.  We did find quite a few.

I even found a water aerobic group (unfortunately on our last day at the marina) .  We rented a golf cart the last day there (a 4 hour rental) and were able to explore the whole island including, White Sound, Black Sound and New Plymouth the settlement in Settlement Harbour. 

 The hardware store even had the right size pvc piping to support Dory's new bow seat in the dinghy.  

She was a little skeptical at first, but has settled right in and likes her front row seat.

It's been handy to have my Sailrite Sewing Machine along, and I'm thrilled with my latest machine (courtesy of Tess Hinckley), a vintage Singer featherweight portable.  It purrs like a kitten and sews like a dream.  Dan did have to replace the power cord...it had turned to powder inside the cord, but now

it's good for another 65 years!

SWEET!!

We were less than thrilled with the laundry at Leeward, the dryer didn't dry much, so we resorted to stringing a clothes line from the bow, down through the hatch and back to the companionway.  The tasteful teal clothesline was a gift from Jeanne Helldorfer,  she said it just looked like me!!

No comment....

We left Black Sound at 9:45am on Friday (high tide) and headed for the "Whale" as everyone calls the Whale Cut Passage with Resolve.  It is the only route to the southern part of the Sea of Abaco and you have to go out into the Atlantic through a narrow cut that is notorious for being rough and often dangerous.  We had a head wind so progress was slow, but not all that rough and we dropped the hook in Fisher Bay on Guana Cay by 1 pm.  

Resolve  just outside Whale Cay  - - - in the big A.

As we passed by Bakers Bay we spotted this sight....the three masted schooner is a relatively familiar sight in these waters, but we couldn't identify the other vessel until we got closed.  On the ports side is a three story inflatable slide and the starboard side sports an inflatable climbing wall!!  The 167' yacht Lazy Z probably calls Bakers Bay home.  Checking the AIS of the vessels in the harbor we saw Winning Drive (131') owned by the owner of the Ravens was the smallest one in there!!

Lots of other little "toys" were tied off the stern. 

For those of you who know Debbie, you know she is notorious for spoiling dogs... A few nights ago Dory got her first taste of turkey at the hand of Debbie, and she is ready to jump ship as you can see.  She sat here just watching Debbie in the distance!

We went ashore for a beer at Grabber's Beach Bar and took a walkabout around to the next bay, Settlement Harbor and the Orchid Bay Marina.  One of our new friends from the crossing, Mariner's Dream, had emailed to tell us they were there and it was 50 cents a foot!!  We found them nestled in and just across the dock .... what to our wondering eyes should we see but WEST WIND.  Luckily the Canadian  owners were "oot and aboot" and we verified that it was one and the same West Wind that was Bob and Joann Baum's old boat.  They talked about buying it in Annapolis from Bob and still loving it just as much.

She looks just like we remember her.

When we woke this morning we discovered the special engine davit for supporting the dinghy engine was missing!!   We found most of it hanging from the engine, dangling in the water.  One part of it is on the bottom easily visible in the clear water, but we are waiting for low tide before Dan goes diving for it.  He spent most of the morning drilling out the broken bolt and the rest of this afternoon cutting down another bolt to fit only to have it drop overboard just as he was cleaning the threads!! ..... LOW TIDE-- He just recovered the three foot bottom portion of the pole from 10 feet of water, but no luck finding a 5/16th  18, 3/4" long bolt!! We really would have had to get a lottery ticket if he had found it!!  Luckily Mike had one in his spares so we're in business.  Hopefully I'll be showing you a picture of the repaired davit next blog.

You can't come to Guana without going to Nipper's so we went in today for lunch and had one of Nippers famous frozen drinks made with 8 different rums!!!  Very tasty! Quiet night aboard.  We'll head to Marsh Harbor in the morning. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Brunelle "Back(b)log"

SOooo...if you're not too tired of reading here is a quick synopsis of our month in Palm Beach Gardens. We ate well!  Lots of dinners up on the deck by the office of the marina with Ragtime & Sevilla.   We also had dinner at Tessie's a few times.  We ate out,...we ate well!!  We also decided we needed to see how Dan's mom was, so we drove home for a whirlwind visit that included a non-Super Bowl party with our local crew, two short visits with Mom, a "white-out" send-off from Spring Grove and then a stop in St. Augustine on the way back to see Jay and Pegg and to pick up mail and "stuff" we had left there.

We also drove across to visit John and Brandi and arrived the same day as their new rescue dog, so we arranged for Dory to have a "sleepover" with Linda and Bill Shenko. During our 22 hour visit, we helped Linda buy a Hobie Mirage Sport! (She has been out several times and LOVES it.)

Dory and Linda have some beach time on Fort Myers Beach after her overnight.

Gerry (Ragtime) has been worried about the added weight of his new OB motor, so he bought some dynema line and Dan and Jeanne hauled him up the mast to install it to help support his dinghy davits.  On the way down, he polished the undersides of his spreaders.  "You missed a spot, Ger!"

Maureen has a friend (from Annapolis) who winters down here and is deeply involved and interested in the arts.  She took "the girls" to the Norton Museum to see a special exhibition about Women and the Arts.  It was an amazing museum---easily on a par with DC stuff.  I enjoyed it all, but was very taken by a special installation by Dale Chihuly in the ceiling of a separate room.  It made me more anxious to get to the reefs of the Bahamas!

AMAZING!!

See the putti riding a dolphin?

We were looking for things to do, so we went to a Trawler Fest in Riviera Beach, sorry, no pix, we're not quite ready to  go to the "dark side".  We also headed down to the Miami Boat show which was spread out across Biscayne Bay.  Strictly Sail was near downtown by the American Airlines Arena and the rest was a bus or water taxi ride across Biscayne Bay to the Marine Stadium.  All we came away with was tired feet and some super (better than superglue) glue!  Jeanne, Gerry and the Blisses met up with Mike and Debbie who had driven up from Marathon to join us.

The Miami skyline can be seen behind the Marine Stadium venue.  Traffic into the venue was busy including several seaplanes, the Rickenbacker Causeway is in the background.  I got a kick of this person trying to master the water
 jet pack powered by the jetski.

We were all set to meet Bill and Linda at the Dania Nautical Flea Market-largest in the world! (today) but when the "window" opened we "jumped out" and here we are loving being here, 

finally.        ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Resting comfortably at Leeward Yacht Club on Green Turtle Cay.

Sad to say good by to our friends and neighbors at Palm Beach Gardens.  We had a great time for 5 weeks, but the waiting
kept us on edge a bit.  When we heard there was a chance we TOOK IT!

A special thanks to Glen Nemecek who got up at 3:45 am to help us slip out of our slip and head down Lake Worth  toward to Lake Worth Inlet.  There was half a moon, but also lots of lights from all the homes along the water, including several eerie green underwater lights that don't seem to be attached anywhere!

We left the Inlet at 5:30 after making the 4:30 PGA bridge and the 4:45 Parker bridge openings.  True to the reports the seas and wind were calm and we reached to "triangulation point" near Memory Rock (one of the entrances to the Little Bahamas Bank) at 2:30 pm.  We saw a few flying fish, a few Portuguese Man of War jelly fish, and the AIS spotted a few ships (including the Carnival Fascination---which was bringing Pegg Bliss to Nassau with friends!)  We thought there would be lots more of us crossing, but didn't see or hear anyone until around noon when Resolve hailed us and we learned Mike and Debbie were about 12 miles behind us!  

We crossed onto the Bank and headed toward Mangrove Cay (23 nm away).  As luck would have it we reached to bank  right at high tide so were comfortable crossing over 6 ft spots.  Once on the bank, we saw 10-15 ft the rest of the way.

Starting upper left: We began to see the sky lightening just after leaving Lake Worth Inlet. The sun rose just under a bank of
clouds, it also set with enough haze just after we had anchored to keep the green flash at bay.  Dan did see this turtle which
was as big as a table. Dory and I both are wearing life jackets for the crossing.  Center:  I always love seeing our mainsail
reflected on the bottom in this crystal clear water.

We dropped the hook just after 5:30 and fired up the grill to have a celebratory dinner.  Steak, potato packets and salad.  Everything tastes better in the Bahamas!!!   It was still twilight when  Resolve and two other boats dropped anchor near us. As we were radioing back and forth with Resolve we heard from another boat also anchored near us who was looking for the fastest way to get internet access, we also heard from one of the boats traveling with Resolve  that he had clinking noise in his engine. With radio chatter going round and round Dan offered to pick up the internet seeker who was an engine mechanic to take over to the clinking engine in the AM.  The prognosis came back potential head gasket, so the OC40 Merlin headed back to Ft. Pierce!  That left Resolve, Brunelle, Sea Wolf(50' Prout Catamaran), and  Mariners Dream (44' coverted Canadian style lobster boat) to head on toward Crab Cay.

Sunrise over Mangrove Cay.  Not an ideal spot for "watering"  Dory, but it worked.               

We're glad to have finally met up with Resolve.  

We had a great sail from Mangrove 62 nm to Crab Cay, just off the tip of Little Abaco Cay.   Sea Wolf  had been trolling across the Gulf Stream and pulled in a Mackerel.  They invited us all over for a potluck dinner.  Mariners Dream  declined, so there were 6 of us enjoying our second dinner in the Bahamas.  

Thursday the wind had shifted, but that just made it easier to make the turn and head for Green Turtle Cay.  We anchored off New Plymouth settlement just outside of Black Sound and dinghied in to check in at the Customs office.  We got there at 12:50 and were out just in time for the Customs lady to go to lunch at 1:00!  After several hundred dollars and much angst, Dory was "in" without a hitch!

The wind kept strengthening as we sat at anchor waiting for high tide (the entrance to Black Sound has a shallow spot) and we saw the gauge hit 27 knots!

We headed in just before 3 pm and didn't see anything shallower than 7'.  We found out it was pizza night here at the Tiki Bar so we had Resolve, Sea Wolf and Mariners Dream over for drinks and pizza

Brunelle  happily in a slip at Leeward Yacht Club on Green Turtle Cay.

SOooo...if you're not tired of reading here is a quick synopsis of our month in Palm Beach Gardens. We ate well!  Lots of dinners up on the deck by the office of the marina with Ragtime & Sevilla.   We also had dinner at Tessie's a few times.  We ate out,...we ate well!!  We also decided we needed to see how Dan's mom was, so we drove home for a whirlwind visit that included a non-Super Bowl party with our local crew.  Two short visits with Mom and then a stop in St. Augustine on the way back to see Jay and Pegg and to pick up mail and "stuff" we had left there.  We also drove across to visit John and Brandi and arrived the same day as their new rescue dog, so we arranged for Dory to have a "sleepover" with Linda and Bill Shenko. During our 22 hour visit, we helped Linda buy a Hobie Mirage Sport!

"On the road again"!!

After listening to several weather reports this AM Dad declared our window had arrived. We spent the day getting Dory "papers". stocking up. returning car, etc. etc. so we hope to head out of here at 4 am tomorrow to head across to the Little Bahamas Bank north of Grand Bahama Island. We hope to check in at Spanish Cay and then head around the Abacos for a while. ~~~_/)~~~M&D (Edited from email Tuesday March 1 by your humble blog admin, Sam)

We are still alive and well and in Florida!!

Back to the story...we left Vero Beach early Saturday morning over a week ago. After a hairy rainy windy day on Friday, our early morning trip ashore with Dory was lovely

We had made reservations at Lake Park Marina at the south end of Lake Worth but started exploring other options as we made our way south.  We knew we were in for a big blow on Sunday and wanted to be as protected as possible.  We called Old Port Cove Marina (about 5 miles north of Lake Park) and found that they could accommodate us so we headed there instead.  

Every time we leave Vero, we seem to have some engine issue and this time was no different, barely under the bridge just south of the mooring field the alternator belt started screeching.  I shut down and we drifted while Dan tightened it.  We did that two more times and decided to slow back for a while.  We concluded that the batteries were low enough that they were demanding too much from alternator and thus the engine.  Everything settled down after an hour or so.  

Vero mooring field at its best!  Ready to head toward Lake Worth area. 

We arrived at Old Port Cove before 4:30 and settled in wait for the blow.  We called Tess Hinckley who we connected with the last time we were in the area and found that we were even closer to her here in OPC.  She has been dealing with some health issues so offered to pick us up and lend us her car for a while.  We took her up on the offer and  of course found the nearest Publix.    

The blow came in with a vengence and we rocked and rolled and creaked and groaned for a LONG time.   When things settled down we contacted Tess again and have had several good visits and shopping trips with her!  

Tess, Jeanne and I went for nail treatment.
The ladies asked me to remove age spots and wrinkles....sorry I don't have that much time or patience.  We are what we are!

Here we are at Old Port Cove,  not exactly a sailboat haven!  We are the mast just under the moon a little to the left.
Ragtime  did nave a few more  sailboat neighbors than we did.

Our whole time at Old Port Cove I felt like a hanging chad...here we are in Florida and are full of indecision!  Where to go??  No areas south of here seem to have any slips, it seems everyone is sitting tight waiting for El Nino to settle down!  Jeanne and Gerry had decided to hang at OPC for the duration - - - and not worry about trying to cross to the Bahamas.  We spent the next week saying "What are we going to do???"  No answers seemed to arise.   We have enjoyed OPC, but it is relatively expensive and we didn't want to keep bugging Tess to use her car.  

While driving around yesterday we went to one of the large malls in Palm Beach, of course Dan and
Gerry didn't mind, it was Sunday and it was before noon so all the stores were closed, but there was
a wonderful art exhibit of loads of Dr. Seuss illustrations.

Finally yesterday Jeanne, Gerry, Dan and I drove around the area checking out other marinas and found that Loggerhead Marina at Palm Beach Gardens had a good monthly rate and we learned that Sevilla had just made a reservation to spend a month there, so we moved HERE this morning.  It was a 4 mile trip NORTH!!  We have rented a car for a month and will do our worrying again in a month!!

Dan has had fun with his camera, here are some of his shots.

We passed Edge, Bud and Tessie's old boat as we went through the PGA bridge and also got a kick of the "hard top" setup on the sailboat in front of it.  I assume they do a lot of cocktails "up" on deck!!

We've been fascinated by the banyan trees down here.  This one was pretty amazing.

We wish we knew who this creature was, we're just glad he was on the piling and not on the boat!

As we won't be moving much for a month, I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be doing, but we'll see...   ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Vero Beach (also known as Velcro Beach) has us "stuck"

We waited until the sun was up before leaving Cocoa.

The trip from Cocoa to Vero Beach was a little shorter than the trip from Daytona, so we were comfortable putting off our departure until 8 am.  The day was still chilly, but the sun made intermittent appearances and the breeze was still from the north so we were able to use the jenny and for the first time in a long time we used our whisker pole to keep the jenny full.

Ragtime led the way all day. ....including passing under the bridge just past the
channel for the Vero Beach Municipal Marina.  Just as we called him on the
radio he got a text from his son (who was obviously hard at work) saying,
"Hey Dad, you missed your exit!"  Reminded us of some of Sam's "lurking"
experiences in the past!

We had called ahead and were told there weren't any open moorings, but by the time we got to Vero, we were assigned to #57 at the northern most spot in the mooring field,   We were moored by 4 pm.

Ragtime hadn't used their dinghy for quite a while and were unhappy to find out that their engine kept stalling when they tried to head into the marine office to check in.  After some research and wheeling and dealing Gerry found a good deal on a 4 stroke Honda 9.9 from a dealer in Port St. Lucie who delivered the engine today!

The New Engine!

The weather forecast predicted rain so we are hanging here until at least Saturday. We rode the free city bus into the shopping mall yesterday and then took it the other direction today and checked out the beach.  Rain held off until this afternoon, but it didn't stop the rowing practice!  Would you believe a 24 man shell!?!?  It went by several times, they seemed to be right in sync in the beginning but a little less in sync on the way back.  

After watching these rowers go by I am amazed that pelicans don't "catch a crab" as they skim over the water...

Low flyer.

We were encouraged to see that the solar panels can actually put a few amps back into the batteries when the sun is actually shining...now we just need some sun!  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Second long day. We're at Cocoa Village Marina

Ragtine & Brunelle are back together again.

It was another 7 am start this morning.
We stopped at the fuel dock and filled 
up before heading out.

Unfortunately we didn't have the current with us until after we passed the Ponce Inlet, but we still made just under 60 nm and arrived at the marina just after 4 pm. The wind was behind us all day, so we rolled out the jib when we could and got a little boost.

We had originally planned to take a mooring in Titusville, but as we were moving well we decided to push on to Cocoa Beach.  There was a method to our madness, today was sunny, but COLD and with the forecast for a clear night we knew temps would be really low.  We are happily plugged in and cozy tonight.

We walked into town and had a yummy pizza at Ryan's. The  marina dockmaster had recommended it.  He must have spread the word to everyone in town.  It was amazingly crowded for a Monday night.

Dan really likes this lighthouse at Ponce Inlet.  I must agree it is a pretty one.

Finally a gratuitous porpoise shot.  We have started seeing more of them.  We hardly saw any back in the fall.

Hopefully tomorrow will be warmer and we won't have quite as early a start. ~~~_/)~~~M&D