Green Turtle Cay to St. Augustine, FL

      Just about 48 hours from Green Turtle to the sea buoy off St. Augustine.
      We turned in at the St. Augustine sea buoy at ten past seven this morning.  We would have been here earlier, but didn't want to come in at night, so we left the Gulf Stream early and headed in toward shore where we could easily make 5+ knots, not the 7 or 8 we were making with the help of the Gulf Stream!  
      We left Green Turtle at 7:00 am and powered most of the day in 2-3 knots of wind.  We had originally thought we would anchor in the lee of Great Sale Cay for the night and then head across the bank and stream, but the night was so beautiful we decided to keep going and figure out how to slow down somewhere along the line.  The full moon made it very easy to see that we were alone except for the company of "Road to the Isles", a pretty schooner we had seen often in the Exumas, and we also docked with them at Green Turtle. 
      We were able to sail starting in the afternoon on Thursday and had the jib out the rest of the time, sometimes with the help of the engine, but at least half the time we were under jib alone.  The ride was a bit rolly as the wind was almost directly behind us, sometimes as strong as 20 knots, but running before it made it seem like it was less.  We tried doing 3 hour watches, but antsy Dan just couldn't stay asleep for long, so I kept "sending him to his room" to get a few more winks!  We plan to have a good nap today after we deal with the customs guy who is due around noon.
     We are scheduled for a haul out on Monday to paint the bottom before heading up the "ditch."  We are due back in the water Wednesday, and will be on our way as soon as we get organized.  ~~~(\_~~~D&M
Google Earth track file for 4/09-4/11

Road to the Isles accompanied us on our trip across from the Bahamas.

Not much to see during two days and nights at sea.

Green Turtle Cay

     The window of opportunity is here!  We have been sitting in Black Sound on Green Turtle Cay for three days while the wind howled and the rigging whistled, but today dawned with a beautiful change.  The wind is around 10 knots from the Nw and the sun is out, so we decided to rent a golf cart and tour the island. We hit both beaches near Black Sound - - one on the windward side where we found beautiful shells  and the other in Gillam Bay where the scenery was spectacular and there is a development being built.... but not what you are thinking.  The houses are all at least $2 million, and the one we saw advertised is 4.4 mil!  Amazingly there was lots of activity at the building sites.  Maybe they don't know about the money crunch the rest of the world is facing.
     We had the golf cart for the whole day, so we headed to White Sound after lunch and checked out the fancier marinas there.  We are happy to be where we are in Black Sound.  We are near town and the atmosphere in Black Sound is much quieter.  After dinner ashore, our last night on Bahamas soil, we will get to bed early so we are ready for an early departure for Great Sale Cay.  We'll anchor there overnight and then leave early to head across the Little Bahama Bank and the Gulf Stream (as long as the weather does what the weathermen say it is supposed to do.)   We hope to be in Florida by Easter! ~~~(\_~~~D&M

We really enjoyed our dune buggy style golf cart for our ride around the island---some roads were less than smooth!!

Brunelle and Arete enjoyed their stay at the new and not quite finished Leeward Yacht Club. Luckily the rates reflected the unfinished state of affairs -- $.63/ft per night!

Hopetown to Green Turtle Cay

      With our six foot draft we had to wait for an almost high tide to leave Hopetown and faced the same issue for entering the very tight Man O War Cay channel on Friday. Luckily it was only an hour sail between the two, so we accomplished both!  We got to Man O War Cay Friday afternoon and picked up a mooring in a very crowded harbor.  We then dinghied around looking for another one for Arete and luckily found one.  We pooled resources for a joint dinner ashore (we sent Robby to Marsh Harbour on the ferry Saturday morning for an ATM run).  
      Saturday  was Sojer Day, the first (hopefully annual) heritage festival on Man O War Cay.  Man O War is a very religious (therefore dry) community that was established by loyalists right after the Revolution.  It is almost entirely white and has a history of fine boat building which still continues today.  We enjoyed following the Heritage Trail set up by the residents and were invited into private homes, churches, museums and of course shops!  We were surprised that at least half of the people attending the festival were residents and we continually heard exclamations about this or that old relative's picture. After a sumptuous lunch of  deviled eggs, conch salad, lobster fritters, broccoli salad, homemade ice cream and chocolate cake, Carol and I did more adventuring ashore while Rob and Dan headed out to Brunelle to "chill."   We had bought some conch chowder at the festival which we took back for dinner.
     Sunday morning found us leaving relatively early to get out before it became too shallow and we took a leisurely motorsail in very light winds, arriving off Green Turtle Cay around 1:00 pm.  We anchored out and put the dingy down to check out the three different harbors on Green Turtle.  We decided to stay in Black Sound (at the southern end of the cay) instead of White Sound at the north.  There is also a small, shallow harbor where the settlement of New Plymouth is located, but it isn't suitable for cruising boats.  We are tied up at a brand new marina called Leeward Yacht Club - - so new that the showers and bathrooms are not ready yet!  Also no wifi, so we will be sending this from "Pineapples" - a beach bar on the other side of the harbor whenever we go over there.  We are pretty sure we are going to be here for 3 or 4 days because there is a major cold front coming through tomorrow and the winds will be strong and northwesterly - not conducive to heading across to Florida. We hope to be able to head off by next weekend, but that will be dictated by the weather!
~~~(\_~~~D&M
Googel Eart track file for 4/3
Googel Eart track file for 4/5

We enjoyed learning all about Man O War Cay at Sojer Heritage Day. Rob and Carol bought a gorgeous half model and Carol and Martha got several great photos from a local artist.

The "William Albury" schooner was built on Man O War Cay.

Martha (with new haircut---thanks Carol!) enjoys her Kindle as we sail from Man O War Cay to Green Turtle Cay.