Finally...The Bahamas

Please excuse us for not posting more. Getting connections in the Bahamas is a "hit or miss" thing. Today, it looks like a 'hit' from Treasure Cay. A week ago (Sat) we left Stuart for a night in Lake Worth. We always enjoy Lake Worth and anchoring near Tiger's boat. Still have not received an invitation! On Sunday (a week ago) we crossed the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. A pleasant ride with light East winds and 2'-4' waves. We arrived in the Bahamas at Memory Rock and continued across the Little Bahama Banks to Great Sale Cay to anchor for the night. There were 5 other sail boats (and us - a trawler). We were disappointed to see the water temps drop from 82 in the Gulf Stream to 68 on the Little Bahama Banks. The cold weather that has been gripping the East Coast has also affected the Bahamas. The next Day we went to Spanish Cay to check into the Bahamas. We were the only boat in the marina until the 5 other sail boats showed up later in the afternoon. We learned that they had been in Lake Worth waiting to cross for 3-4 weeks. Boy, did we time it right! After dinner on the boat, we ended up on the bar doing karaoke - what a laugh. On Tuesday we left for Green Turtle Cay - one of our favorites in the Abacos. We decided to stay at the Green Turtle Club due to the strong fronts expected. After 2 days of great weather, we had several days of miserable weather. The boats that we met at Spanish Cay also stayed in Green Turtle so the fun continued. We had an interesting neighbor next to us - a couple from Manteo. The wife is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the smallest waist in the world (15"). Really strange looking and we never could understand why anybody would want to do this. The weather patterns so far this year (similar to last year) have been a front moving across the Bahamas every 3-4 days. We get a few days of great temps and light winds and then get slammed again with high NW winds, cool temps (sometimes in the 40s at night) and occasionally some rain. Oh, I forgot the other reason why we like to go to the Green Turtle Club. They allow you to apply what to eat and drink to your dock fee which means (if you are careful) that you end up staying from free! Well almost. Business is down in the Bahamas and instead of marketing and offering deals to get people here, they are gouging a little. The dock fees are no higher, but in marinas you are not allowed to run your generator for electricity so you need to use the dock electricity. Instead of metering, they now charge a flat fee ranging from $50 per day in Spanish Cay (where we did use our generator due to so few boats being there to $22 per day in Green Turtle Cay and Treasure Cay). It is impossible for us to use that much juice in a day - but we try! I tun the water maker rather than buy water. And, we use our washer/dryer rather than the coin operated ($4.50 per load and $4.50 per dry load) units. And, because our washer/dryer is a combo unit, it is the most inefficient thing ever. It washes great but takes forever to dry (forget jeans or towels). Fortunately, we prefer anchoring and only come in when bad storms are predicted.  We are not so concerned about our anchor holding, but we see some really dumb things that other boaters do that make me nervous about being near them in adverse weather. Things like getting into an anchorage, putting out 40' of scope in 10' of water and then going ashore without waiting to see if the anchor is properly set. From Green Turtle we went back up to Munjack Cay for one night (back to anchoring). We were the only boat! A neat Cay worth exploring. Three years ago there were no homes. Now, there are at least 3 of them. Disappointing. From Munjack, we went to Treasure Cay yesterday. This involves going back into the ocean to cross Whale Pass, which means you need a weather window and yesterday was it. Initially, we anchored in Treasure. But, as the anchorage filled up and became over crowded (another very strong front was expected and, in fact, came through last night), we opted to go into the marina and were glad we did. Today, if the winds abate some we will play golf and then get back to anchoring. Another front is expected on Tuesday and hopefully it will not be as strong. We still love the beautiful waters and the people in the Bahamas. It is sad to see more and more development ruin the deserted cays. More later.

Cool Florida

Since cold Virginia Beach, we have been in cool Florida. We returned to Ft. Myers and spent several days with Jimmy & Peggy Savin. Did some boat chores. Played some lousy golf. Ate too much, and had fun doing it all. Shirley and I left last Sunday to cross the Okeechobee canal and Lake Okeechobee. Spent Sunday night at anchor in a swamp canal in Moore Haven (just before entering the Lake). Our company for the night was an alligator that just sat there watching us, birds and more bugs than you could imagine. I thought the bugs would all leave the boat come sunup, but they didn't. In fact, most of them never moved again until I hosed the boat off in Stuart. A scenic passage and one that we would do again. The South Rim of the Lake is closed since the last Hurricane so we simply crossed the lake (not too much to see on this route until you join back with the canal). There are 5 locks on the canal with the most dramatic lock lowering us 16 feet just before the St. Lucie River. In Stuart, we stayed at the Hinckley yard to get more boat chores completed before continuing our journey. Mostly work the past few days with one game of lousy golf. Tomorrow we are heading down to Lake Worth to be in position to cross to the Bahamas. It looks right now like Sunday will give us a good window. Sorry there are no pictures - we are on a slow connection. I mentioned 'cool Florida'. The past few nights have been in the 30s and not out of the 60s during the day. The 60s sounds warm, but the wind (until today) has been blowing 20-25 from the NW every day. It laid down this morning and is forecast to be light for the next few days (we need that to cross the Gulf Stream).

Cold Virginia Beach

This morning, Shirley and I flew home for Chrissy's 23rd birthday. It is cold and a good reminder why we go South in the winter. We will rejoin our boat in Ft. Myers on Thursday and start for the Bahamas. Since Marathon, here is a brief update.  On Monday 2/1/10 we departed Marathon around noon. We had ordered fuel to be delivered by truck and when the truck showed up the Cuban owner of the marina had a fit. End result was that the driver didn't want to make the owner mad so we did not get the bargain we were looking for. Instead we paid about $340 more then we should have. What a rip. The trip across Florida Bay to Cape Sable was rainy and cool. Lots of crab pots (looked like Maine!) and it was hard to see them in the rain. We have shaft cutters in the event that we snag one but we found that they don't always work.  Shirley announced that she thought I had run over one when she heard a strange sound. I looked behind the boat and we were dragging not only the pot, but the trap was bouncing along in our wake.I was not successful trying to get Shirley to dive in and check things out, so I had to do it. Some captain I am. Let me tell you that the water was cold (66 degrees) and murky. I had to get on my spring suit, get out the tank and regulator (the one with a 50' hose) and feel my way around under the boat to cut what was left of the pots (2 of them). All this while the boat (and me) were drifting in the current trying not to snag more pots. The lesson learned is that we cannot read and let the auto pilot drive the boat while surrounded by crab pots. That Monday night we anchored in the Everglades up Snake River. We had not seen a boat the entire trip and nothing (and I mean nothing) was anywhere around our anchorage. Other than the rain and some wildlife, we were alone.  The quiet and solitude made it one of our most memorable anchorages. Just a beautiful spot. I got up in the middle of the night to check the anchor and the skies were clear, the moon was bright and I could see more stars than I could count. What a sight. Tuesday we went to Naples for a visit. Neither of us had been before. It didn't take long to realize that we wanted to stay for more than one day, so we did. We called Jimmy and Peggy Savin (who now live in Ft.Myers) and they joined us to give us the tour of the city on Wednesday. We did look at some modest houses for fun - the least expensive was $9,900,000. Not bad looking. Shirley kept reminding me that we are trying to downsize - not upsize. On Thursday, we went to Ft. Myers and the Sweetwater Marina to visit Jimmy and Peggy. We have been staying at their beautiful new home ever since. They probably thought we would never leave! A gorgeous  home in the River Hall Country Club with a wonderful golf course (yes, we did play - poorly, but we played). They have taken us all around the Ft. Myers area and we better understand why they left Va Beach for Florida. We will resume our cruise on Thursday.

Rainy Marathon

Well, it it is raining today! But, we have had wonderful weather with zero snow in the forecast. Today is the first rain day in some time. This will be a brief update with no pictures (the connection is so slow where we are). Since St. Augustine, we traveled down the ICW until Lake Worth with overnight stops in Titusville, Vero Beach and then Lake Worth. Sunny days with not much boat traffic. Our major entertainment were the dolphins that play in our wake. On the sailboat, we saw them in our bow wake only when we were offshore. In the ICW, at trawl speeds (9 knots for Persystence) it was not unusual to see a couple up to 8 dolphins playing in the wake throughout the day. Sometimes on both sides of the boat. What fun these guys have - multiple jumps - barrel rolls - swimming on their sides so they can watch us - just having fun with each other. And, what a distraction! I spent more time looking backward than where I was going. Thanks for accurate autopilots. We do have some amazing pictures and video if we can ever get it posted. In Vero, we were able to spend a few hours with Pepper and Geoff Holmes from the Chesapeake Bay Grand Banks Owners Association (also from Oxford). They spend the winter on their boat (also a GB 42 Classic) in Vero. In Lake Worth, we were once again treated to Tiger's boat coming in. One difference this year - the name boards were covered! It seems that Privacy (the boats's name) wants some privacy. And, for the third year running, we were not invited for adult beverages. From Lake Worth, we went offshore (if you can call being 2 miles offshore offshore) to Cape Florida - the southern end of Biscayne - and No Name Harbor. Then, on Thursday, we ran in Hawk Channel to Marathon arriving at 1530. We were expecting the harbor to be half filled based on information we had from our friend Bucky Harrison. When he was down in early January there were not many boats and the marinas didn't have any reservations. What a change. Marathon in packed. There was not a mooring ball or slip available. The anchorage field in Boot Key was over crowded. We anchored in Sister's Creek one night and then, by luck, got into Pancho's Fuel Dock and Marine (not much of a marina). We would rather be anchored, but there isn't adequate space. It seems the cold weather in January motivated a lot of Florida boaters from mid to upper Florida to bring their boats to Marathon. Go figure! We were able to see Bucky and Leslie in Marathon - they had come down to spend a long weekend on their boat and Leslie ran in the half Marathon in Key West yesterday. Today, we are waiting on a fuel truck to fill up (the truck price is $.70 cheaper than the pump price) and then will head over to the West Coast of Florida. We plan on getting to Ft. Myers by Wednesday or Thursday to spend time with Jimmy and Peggy Savin. We are excited to see their new home and play some golf.