WE FINALLLLLLLLY MADE IT TO THE BAHAMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made it across! We were beginning to question whether this would happen or not. We were even talking about the fact that winter in South Florida would still be better than winter in Chattanooga. We would just have to find a place other than Palm Beach.

We had been waiting for a suitable weather window to cross for several weeks. Every time we thought it was going to happen we would go through the whole list of things we needed to do to get ready to go (and I’m not going to bore you with the list) and then the forecast would change overnight and we would have to undo everything. We got tired of that real fast. We had three false starts and the last one was a doozy. I swam under the boat, the afternoon before we were to cross, to free up the paddle wheel on the knot meter (speedometer for you non-boat people) and then just started looking at everything on the boat that was below the water. I noticed something that looked strange to me and reported in to Jeff with my findings. Long and short, we discovered that we had a leak around the rudder post (again, for you non-boaters, it is the part that actually steers the boat when you turn the wheel). We stayed awake most of the night trying to decide if we should just go ahead and go across to the Bahamas and hope it wouldn’t get worse and we could bail water all winter and get it fixed next spring when we get back, or did we haul the boat out of the water and fix it first. We decided we needed to pull it out and fix it first. We were able to find a do-it-yourself boatyard in Riveria Beach (right across from where we were anchored) that could pull the boat out the following day. The boat was out of the water for a week while Jeff fixed it. It didn’t take that long to fix the problem, just that long for the materials to cure.

Because we were still in Florida, we were able to spend Christmas with our family, which was very nice.

But now we are in the Bahamas!!!! And the water is as beautiful as we thought it would be. We can’t wait to get in it and do some snorkeling. We had good weather for the crossing and the wind, waves and current were agreeable. We were able to motorsail most of the way. We left the Lake Worth Inlet at 4:15am, under a nearly full moon, and arrived at Great Sale Cay on the Bahamas Banks at 9pm that night. We anchored there and got up the next morning and came the rest of the way to Green Turtle Cay. We arrived at 3:30pm and promptly ran aground coming into the channel. We backed out of the channel and anchored with several other boats that were out there. They probably knew we were going to run aground and just watched the show. At least we were able to get ourselves off. We felt good about that. We heard today about two boats that recently tried to get in and had the channel blocked for 6- 8 hours while they waited for the tide to come in and float them off. There is a strong cold front coming in tomorrow, with winds in excess of 30 knots for the next several days, so we took a slip in a marina for the next several days. And it looks like everyone else had the same idea, because there doesn't appear to be a slip to be had. It was like old home week today for us. We met up with a lot of cruisers that we have met along the way, mostly in Palm Beach since we were there for so long. It was good to see them. Most of them came over the weekend before Christmas.

Tomorrow is Junkanoo. We were told it is like a mini Mardi Gras. The parade starts at 2pm. We plan to take in all the festivities and will make a full report.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!!

STUCK IN LAKE WORTH

Well, we are stuck in Lake Worth (West Palm Beach). We are waiting for a favorable weather window to get across to the Bahamas. And we don’t see one in sight.

We took a chance last Thursday and tried it. We thought we were smarter than all the other people in the anchorage! We left at 4:00 am. It became quickly apparent that we didn’t have what it takes to make a crossing in those conditions, if we had a choice. The wind was very benign, the gulf stream was running right off the coast (about 1 mile out), which we didn’t expect, but the waves, even though they were not large (2 – 3 feet), were hitting us mostly from the side, which in turn rolled us from side to side. We were rolling so much that it was not possible to do much moving around. And it didn’t take long for both of us to start feeling sick. I gave the dogs dramamine as we were leaving and they were nervous, but fine. I had one dog on each side of me. They became snuggle pups all of a sudden. So, after about 1 1/4 hours we decided to turn around and head back in, with our tails tucked tightly. We had another boat with us, Carol & Bill on ‘Interim’, and they followed us back. After we got back in and anchored, they came over and we talked, and they said they were not uncomfortable with the rolling motion, and in fact their boat was not doing much rolling. I guess it is a difference in hull shape or something. Anyway, they decided they were going back out and across and left out again by 8:00am. We wished them well and told them we would see them when we get there!

We learned some valuable lessons. One - don’t always believe the weather forecast. Second - have faith in the other cruisers that are waiting to go the same place you are, especially when they have done this before. Third – we will alter our course going across to make landfall in the daylight hours, even if it means going into someplace we really didn’t want to go – we did not like being out in the dark ‘on the big blue sea’. I told Jeff if Thursday was as good as it gets for making it across then I was going to have to find another way across (although other cruisers have told us that it will get better if we will wait). And he agreed with me. The people we bought our boat from, Dick & Judy Gardner, had a saying that I have repeated many times - ‘Nothing goes to weather like a 747!!!’

So here it is – we are big schickens! And we want to be comfortable.

Leaving Velcro Beach

We are leaving in the morning. When we got here Jeff wanted to stay 2 nights. We will have been here six nights, when we leave tomorrow. We were told Vero Beach has a nick name, at least by the cruisers, as Velcro Beach - you arrive and you can't pull yourselves away. We did not understand that, at least the first day. The boats are sooooo close together, it is like living in a trailer park! And there are sooooooooo mannnnny boats here. We have adjusted. There is free bus service that picks us up at the marina and takes us anywhere we want to go - Wal-Mart, Sam's, Lowe's, Home Depot, West Marine, Office Depot, Publix, the Beach, anywhere. And it runs 8 - 5. We certainly have taken advantage of it - many times! There is a 3 acre dog park (no leashes, plus they provide poop bags) next to the marina, that also provides poop bags (can you tell we like that aspect?). We can now see why people, and not just boat people come here and stay. It is a delightful city! The picture above was taken from the bridge that overlooks the mooring field we have been in. It doesn't do it justice. You can't really get the feel for how close the boats are together and how many there are.

By the way - we have Christmas lights on our boat, as well as a Christmas tree!! I am posting a picture. There are just a few boats with Christmas decorations - but by gosh, we are one of them!! You know I like my Christmas decorations!!! I know the picture is blurry, but it is the best I could get. Jeff put more lights around the rest of the boat this afternoon.

Anyway, we are pulling out in the morning, heading for Lake Worth and our weather window to cross. We don't know when we will next have internet, so don't be surprised if we don't post for a week or so. We just don't know what we will find. We will post as soon as we can.

Greetings from Vero Beach!

Edited 11/28/07 - pictures added

We have not had internet service for some time now. I’m sure some of you thought we had dropped off the face of the earth.

It’s been so long since we posted that I can hardly remember what we’ve been doing and where we’ve been! Thank goodness for the log book.

We spent a couple of days in St. Augustine, Florida being your typical tourists. Plus, Jeff managed to find a barber shop and got all of his hair cut!! St. Augustine has a lot of beautiful old buildings, especially churches. I’ve posted a few pictures from there (above). We even rode on the “Little Red Train”. We anchored right off the main street on the waterfront. It was a short dinghy ride to the marina and the downtown area. The town was busy getting ready to ‘light up’ for the holidays. They were putting white lights on all the buildings and trees along the waterfront. They were to have a festival on the 17th of November and light everything up that evening – we left that morning so we did not get to see it.

We were in New Smyrna Beach, Florida for a week or so and had a great time (more about that in the next paragraph). We spent Thanksgiving with our family. Those that don’t live in the area traveled in for the holiday. We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone. They all wanted to see the boat and how and where we are living now, and it was fun for us to show it off. We had two very exciting surprises over the Thanksgiving weekend – our niece Kelly, was proposed to by her boyfriend Corey. Corey is in the Army and surprised her by showing up at the house Thanksgiving afternoon. The second surprise was the announcement by our son and daughter in law that we are going to be grandparents a second time – in July! Wow, what a day! I’m posting a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving. By the way - we also had 9 dogs in attendance for Thanksgiving. When our family gathers, we bring our dogs also!!!

What a delightful place New Smyrna is – we really like it there. Growing up in Orlando we spent time at the beach in New Smyrna, but it sure is different when you are all grown up (and I would say we are all grown up!) and seeing it from the water side. We wouldn’t mind spending the winter there, but, there are no slips available. We left New Smyrna with our son Brian, daughter in law, Melanie, and 2 1/2 yr. old granddaughter, Kate aboard. They traveled to Titusville with us – a short day run, to see what it was like. They got off there and drove home to Birmingham, Alabama. It was fun to have them aboard. Kate really enjoyed watching the dolphins and pelicans, as well as feeding the catfish that were under the boat. She even managed to entice the seagulls to come to the boat to catch some bread that she was throwing, although it didn’t take much persuasion on her part!

We arrived in Vero Beach about an hour ago and will be staying here for a few days, then on to Lake Worth where we will leave from to cross over to the Bahamas.

Lowcountry Greetings!!

November 10, 2007

This post covers South Carolina as well as Georgia, in the lowcountry. It has been quite cold the last 3 or 4 mornings – in the 30’s and 40’s. We were not ready for this. Thank goodness for the cockpit enclosure! It has been in the high 50’s in the boat when we wake up, brrrrrrrr. We start out with about three or four layers, and peel them off as the sun comes up and warms the enclosure. It generally warms up to the upper 60’s – low 70’s by 2:00pm. We can actually wear shorts inside the enclosure by lunchtime, but it is a little chilly outside for that, but only because of the wind. The dogs think the temperature is perfect. And I guess if you wear a heavy winter coat all the time it does feel good.

Savannah has caught on to the dolphins surfacing around us, and watches for them. We had dolphins all around us the other evening after we anchored and she got quite excited.

We don’t travel very fast, maybe 6 kts., but we passed a little yellow sailboat the other day, approx. 23’ towing a 14’-15’ skiff. We arrived at our anchorage for the evening and about 2 hours later in comes the little yellow boat. We leave in the morning about 6:15am, and go til 3 or 4 and here comes the little yellow boat in about 2 hrs or so after we are anchored. What’s the point in going faster, he gets to the same place we do almost every night. We are all heading south.

We check out the names of some of the boats we’ve see – here are some unusual ones: BUTTER & EGGS; CHIPS AHOY; RUM TUM TIGER; WISHES GRANTED.

Cumberland Island National Park

November 13, 2007

We are at Cumberland Island, Ga., just above the Florida line, as I am writing this, although we have no internet so it won’t be posted probably for a few days. Cumberland Island is 85% National Park, with herds of wild horses roaming free, although we have only seen 1/2 dozen or so. The island is 20 miles long and about 1 mile wide. You can only get here by boat. There is a ferry that comes in at 10:15am to drop people off and then again at 4:45pm to pick them. There are campsites here, but you must bring everything with you and take everything back, including your garbage. We talked to a couple of people from the Atlanta area that had come to camp for the weekend; this was their 2nd time to come here. We walked out to the beach this morning and looked for shells. It was really strange to be on such a nice beach and have only a handful of people out there. It is truly a beautiful place and we have collected our share of sea shells.

Above - the path to the beach

Below left - some of the horses on the island

Below right - the Dungeness Ruins - this was quite a castle in it's time.

Bottom left - a baby racoon that got separated from his family - they crossed the path and he lagged behind.

Bottom center - some of the shells we collected

'Sandpiper' does an About Face and Heads North

November 8, 2007

Jan, Bob’s friend, flew home last Sunday to Mystic, Connecticut. We left them in Beaufort, SC several days ago and Bob said he would meet up with us somewhere around St. Augustine in the next week or so. It was so good to meet Jan – she makes Bob happy, and she said Bob makes her happy as well. We had heard so much about Jan and truly enjoyed spending some time with her. We received a call from Bob this morning 11/8 – he has decided not to go any farther south, but to head back to Deltaville, Virginia and haul his boat out of the water for the winter, and spend the winter in Mystic, Connecticut with Jan. We were not at all surprised. We are grateful to him for showing us the ropes and now feel confident to head South alone. We realized about a week ago that he was leaning this way. We will miss Bob very much, but couldn’t be happier for him and for Jan as well. We are hoping to talk them into coming to the Bahamas this winter to spend time on the boat with us. Bob left a jug of Virginia’s Bowman Scotch aboard, which we expect him to reclaim. Jan was already planning to spend time in the Bahamas with Bob, and Bob was planning to be there the whole winter, so this sounds like a no-brainer to me.

Charleston, SC

We have spent about a week in Charleston. Tropical Storm Noel and a strong cold front kept us in port, as well as Jeff’s dental appointment on the 5th of November (he rented a car and drove to Chattanooga). We anchored in the Ashley River for the first several days during the most severe weather, which is probably nothing compared to what we are going to see in the Bahamas when the cold fronts come through. The anchorage is open and we rocked and rolled. Winds up to 30 knots and tidal currents of 2 knots tested our ground tackle and our sea legs (as well as Shelby and Savannah’s). We did fine, although we were uncomfortable for a day when the wind was out of the ENE blowing across the harbor against the current causing large rollers in the anchorage. It was very difficult to access the dinghy. We moved to the Charleston City Marina for three days when Jeff went to Chattanooga (wouldn’t you know it, the weather cleared up) while Bob moved to a marina on the Cooper River. We were one of the much smaller boats in the marina. There were unbelievably huge boats in the marina – some will be there for several more days to several more months. They mostly had the ‘crew’ aboard, and not the owners, although a few did have an owner aboard, but not many. The crew moves the boat wherever the owner wants it moved to. We talked to crew members on numerous boats. Most said they live permanently on the boat and the owner just flies in for a weekend several times a year. We are talking boats that are in excess of 85 feet, some as large as 125 feet or more. We have posted a picture of a couple of them.

Our friends Sara and Michael, who we met in Deltaville, Va. where they keep their sailboat “White Star”, live in Mt. Pleasant (a suburb of Charleston) and were very gracious hosts while we were here. We had dinner at their home and met them on several occasions in Charleston. Michael is a professor at the Citadel, where we attended the Homecoming parade Friday afternoon. Thanks Sarah and Michael!






Cadets forming up for the Parade (right)








Cadets passing for review during Parade (below)







Bob’s friend Jan arrived in Charleston Saturday evening Nov. 3. We have not met Jan yet, as Bob’s boat was on the other side of Charleston from us. We are to meet them somewhere down around Beaufort, SC. and look forward to that.

Charleston is a uniquely beautiful city. Here are a couple of pictures from the water.

Top picture - Bridge over the Cooper River

Right picture - Downtown Charleston

Bottom picture - the anchorage we were in (with the marina in the background). There sure were a lot of boats at anchor. This was taken as we were leaving.

Nothing Could Be Finer .....

…..than to be in Carolina.


It has been a while since our last post (no internet service), so let’s see if we can catch you up on where we’ve been and what we’ve seen.

People who have made the trip up and down the ICW (Intercoastal Waterway) before have told us it is boring and it may be if you’ve made the trip many times, but for us it is all new. I thought I would get a lot of reading done on the trip – not so at all. We are both so busy looking all around us at the scenery. Some is ho-hum, but most is so beautiful. And if we get bored with that we still have to watch for the next marker so we make sure we stay in the channel and don’t run aground. We have taken many pictures while underway – nature, birds, other boats, lighthouses, mile-long docks, etc.

One of the pictures we are posting is of an overhead lift (like on ski slopes), only it is for a golf course (in Myrtle Beach, SC). The golf course is on one side of the ICW and the lift takes people from Myrtle Beach on the other side – very interesting! The sailboat in that picture is of “Interim”, New York, NY with Carol, Bill, and Simon (dog) aboard. We first met them in Annapolis and struck up a conversation because they have a Gulfstar also. Unplanned, we ran into them weeks later at Camp Lejeune, Little River, Wrightsville Beach, and Charleston. Enjoyed happy hour and dinner with them several times. Hope to see them later in Vero Beach.

We left Wrightsville Beach Saturday, 10/27/07 and headed for Little River, SC, which is right on the SC/NC border – nothing noteworthy there. Headed to Georgetown, SC on Sunday, the 28th. It is a pleasant, quaint southern town. We stayed there for two nights to let the wind blow itself out – and boy did it (the first night anyway). Left there Tuesday morning, heading towards Charleston, SC. We stopped in Price Creek, about 25 miles north of Charleston, SC. We could see the lights of Charleston on the horizon. Price Creek goes out to the Atlantic Ocean and is very narrow, although quite deep (20’), as far as the ICW goes. We were about a mile or so from the beach and thought we would take the dogs out to run, as well as watch the breakers come in, but, the current was strong when we anchored so we decided not to. Instead we sat on the boat and watched the dolphins, actually porpoises, swim all around us.

We arrived in Charleston on Halloween. We had no trick or treaters. The pictures below are along the way to Charleston. More about Charleston later.

'Interim' (above & right)

Georgetown

City Clock

Tower

(left)

We are far enough south to finally see Palm trees!

Shelby and Savannah Go to the Beach in the Rain

It was Savannah’s first Atlantic Ocean beach experience. She ran full speed up and down chasing the waves, several times getting caught as the wave broke on the beach. She also chased sea gulls running in and out of the surf. Her adventure ended when the Park Ranger came by and required the dogs to be leashed. Needless to say, she had salt and sand all over her. We rinsed her off the best we could, but now we have sand all over Salty Dog’s decks. Fortunately the rain is flushing the sand down the scuppers. Shelby could have cared less. I guess at her age, no need to run and chase. She just casually walked along with Jeff (he's not caring about much at his age either). No beach pictures due to the rain (to keep the camera dry).

Traveling with "Sandpiper"

We are fortunate to be traveling with Bob Webb on “Sandpiper”, a Marine Trader 34 trawler. We met Bob at Stingray Point in Deltaville last year. Bob, who holds a Coast Guard Captain’s license, has made this trip four times. No substitute for skill and experience. We rely on him to show the way as well as to advise us on docking maneuvers, etc. Jeff returns the favor by fixing stuff on Bob’s boat.

We generally gather on “Salty Dog” for evening happy hour. It is good traveling together.

Bob mentioned that he didn’t plan a blog, but would refer his friends and family to this one. So welcome to all readers.

Attached are some additional pictures taken along the way: