Month: June 2018

Leftover jambalaya hash (w/ Rubarama) & scramble eggs

It was only 70 miles from Wrightsville Beach to Beaufort, but it was a long day given that we were only doing 3 knots when we left under such light winds. Of course, they picked up, and by mid afternoon we were reaching 8 knots under ½ jib only. Despite the rollers, it was slack tide and we sailed into Beaufort, dropping anchor just past the Coast Guard station.

Beaufort boat restoration center

Beaufort is a cute little coastal town. It’s a long dinghy ride from the anchorage, but the alternative (town anchorage) was way too crowded and I’m glad we opted to dinghy in. We walked the main docks and visited some of the local stores. There was a mobile library book stand (trailer) set up in a parking lot that allowed us to stock up on Stuart Woods and Carl Hiaasen books for the rest of the trip. After that it was off to the local brew pub and then Mexican (what else?) for lunch.

Stormy weather

We had debated staying later and trying one of the two fancier restaurants for dinner, but Trip was a bit anxious about the weather, so we headed back. Good thing, as just an hour after we got back the skies darkened. Soon enough the winds were howling in the 40’s, lightning was striking everywhere, and the rain was pouring. The anchor held beautifully, and the storm passed, though not without a few deep breaths on my part.

More stormy weather

Monday we opted to stay on the boat as the forecast was lousy all day. Turns out we could have easily headed back into town for the day, but that night brought torrential rains again. We thought we were leaving Tuesday, only to have our plans thwarted by a weather trough hitting a front and stalling off Cape Hatteras. Our weather router said we didn’t want to be anywhere near the cape Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, as he was predicting up to gale force winds near the trough (very messy sailing indeed). So it was another day of tucking into new books, pouring over weather reports, doing projects and waiting again.

Calm after the storm

Lunch from the Burger Boat on the docks before we left

Tuesday afternoon we were off again. What a rolly ride. Winds were in our favor coming from behind, but the seas were tossing us all over the place. I made chicken noodle soup from scratch with small bits of leftover, and then proceeded to dump half of it during a really big roll. I had just poured it in a bowl, and was pouring the second bowl, when the roll came and I watched the first slide across the counter and spill. The only good thing I can say is that at least it spilled into the sink, so there was nothing much to clean up. Trip graciously agreed to share the remaining bowl of soup and we sucked it down.

Savannah waterfront property

Despite the roll we had multiple visits from dolphins. Trip is still convinced they’ve been coming by just to prove how much faster they are than us, but I don’t care. At one point we had an entire pod – several mothers and calves. They swam with us for well over a half hour and we hung out at the bow watching them.

Shrimp season! They took as many picture of us sailing by as we did of them

We were originally heading for the Little River inlet on the south side of Cape Fear, but realized with the great speed we were doing (high winds from behind are always welcome) we would get into there much too early, so we opted to go out around the Frying Pan Shoals of Cape Fear and up into Wrightsville Beach on Thursday afternoon. We found a great spot to drop the hook just a few minutes inside the inlet. Very expensive area, with mega million dollar homes stacked on top of each other and lots of expensive motor boats. The next day we went exploring the town. They have a lovely long beach with plenty of dunes (though at this point, we’ve seen quite a few beaches). We grabbed fried shrimp for an appetizer at King Neptune’s, and then shared an order of chicken enchiladas at the local Mexican restaurant. And then it was back to the boat to rest before getting under way again.

Sunset over Money Point

Sunrise, sunset, it all blurs together after a couple of days

Four hundred miles to Savannah, our longest run yet, just the two of us! We left Tuesday morning, motoring out of Man o’ War Cay, and set sail for the US. The first two days were pretty uneventful, with the exception of the thunderstorms that formed around us every evening. Nothing ever hit us, but it was always unnerving to watch the sheet lightning passing back and forth between the clouds, followed by a bolt down to the water every once in a while.

The Gulf Stream definitely helped us zip along, but unfortunately at some point the winds shifted from the southeast/southwest to the west and then the stream wasn’t much help as we motorsailed and bashed into it. The engine stopped just outside Wassaw Sound, one of the entrances to Savannah. The good news is that we had been anticipating this might happen, and had the jerry jugs ready to dump the spare 10 gallons of diesel in. Close to shore, the seas had calmed so Trip was able to get the diesel fuel in with little problem. Despite the engine being a self-bleeder (to get the air out), Trip had to help it along and bleed it before it would fire back up smoothly.

Skidaway River

Master mixologist Karen at work while Lyle looks on

The passage up the Wilmington & the Skidaway rivers was the longest, partly because of how tired we were and partly because of the tide being against us. We called the Isle of Hope Marina where we had reservations and they said they closed at 5:30 (when we were due to arrive), but they’d keep someone around to wait for us. I anxiously watched our speed and was happy to report we got there at 5:35. The dockhands got us secured to the dock (sweet spot on the fuel dock facing out the way we’d leave since it’s now low season and most transients have passed through). Customs came out to clear us back into the US and we were officially and legally back in native lands.

Low country boil birthday party

Friends Clark and Karen came to collect us for dinner. We hadn’t had Mexican food in months and that was their usual Friday night fare, so off we went. These two were the perfect welcoming committee, as they’re former boat owners themselves. They were kind enough to let me do piles of laundry, including our pillows which were getting a bit grungy from our greasy salty heads hitting them one too many times. And I cannot tell you how strange it was to sleep in a regular bed on land!

Ice cream!!!

The next day we headed to more friends Lyle (crew from our offshore run) and Christine and Christine’s mother, Karen. It was Lyle’s birthday and he decided to celebrate with a low country boil. Shrimp season had just started and it was the best way to celebrate being in the south as well as a birthday!

Baby peacocks & mom at Clark & Karen’s

We ran a bunch of errands the next day, stocking up on liquor, food, hand held anemometer (measures wind speed since the one on our mast doesn’t currently work), and another diesel jerry can. We had already topped off water and fuel at the marina, and were a bit alarmed to realize we had gone through all but 3 gallons of fuel motoring in against the tide for so many hours. Another 5 gallons would always be a good insurance policy and the new jerry can fit on deck nicely with the other two.

Kalyra under sail

The day before we left Spanish Wells, another boat pulled into our mooring field. Unfortunately, he came in during a massive downpour (we had just returned our golf cart and were standing under a roof, waiting to make a dash up the road for lunch without getting drenched). Fortunately, the downpour eventually ended and we met our new neighbor. Simon is a Brit who’s lived in Sarasota for the last 25 years running a successful café. More importantly, he owns a 1979 Cabo Rico, an absolutely stunningly beautiful boat. The Cabo Ricos are of a similar age and design as the Tayana 37 with classic lines and a long, cutaway full keel that makes for solid sailing, if not the speediest.

s/v Reverie and Captain Simon

Simon had taken on bad fuel in one tank and had spent hours and hours working on the engine instead of being able to enjoy being in the Bahamas on a sailboat. He managed to limp into Spanish Wells to get clean fuel, and over sundowners we realized we were moving in the same direction, up to the Abacos. We decided to do a bit of buddy boating the next day.

Simon is sailing solo, and the northern exit from Spanish Wells is a bit of a tricky one, going through several coral reefs. Some people hire pilots to guide them through, but we talked to the wife of one of the local pilots and she reassured us that we should be able to do it on our own, since it was settled weather. We waited till the sun was high enough, and then headed out with Simon just behind us. Putting our new headsets on again, I perched on the bow and called out reefs. It wasn’t as bad as I had worried, but Simon admitted that he had felt much better being able to follow us through without incident.

Hope Town, Abacos, Lighthouse

Once pointed to the Abacos, Simon set full sail and slowly pulled away from us as we were  under jib only. We had a moment:  We were doing less than 4 knots, and were only going to pick up speed by putting up the main. The mainsail? Don’t remember it. Haven’t seen it, much less used it in 2 months when we were back in the Virgin Islands. Would we remember all the details of hoisting it? Luckily, the sail was still in good shape and hoisted up easily enough (a little harder to do than just rolling out the jib – I had to put some muscle into it). We were soon enough back in the low 5’s and soon caught up to Simon and pulled just a little bit ahead. Of course, we both took the chance to take some great pictures of each other.

We anchored that night just behind Lynyard Cay with great protection, good holding, and just a few other boats in the vicinity. Simon popped over for sundowners and mentioned that he had been studying the charts and there was a marine park just north of us, on our way to Hope Town. It sounded like a good plan.

We got up the next morning and headed 3 miles north to drop anchor behind Sandy Cay at low tide. Simon picked us up in his dinghy and in just a few minutes we were on a mooring over the reefs. The snorkeling was very physical (even at slack tide there was a serious current) but the reefs were fabulous. Sea fans were everywhere and fish were swimming in and out of the coral heads. Diving would have been better to escape some of the current, but it really was great snorkeling. The two highlights were the black tipped shark and the sea turtle – neither of which get old when we’re in the water!

Bahamian architecture

A shower to rinse off the salt and a bit of lunch later, we were moving on to Hope Town. The Sea of Abaco isn’t as peppered with coral heads that warrants me standing on the bow with a headset, but shifting sands and shallows required a bit of active sailing, changing course multiple times to get to the anchorage. There were some crazy thunderstorms running parallel to us that we kept our eyes on, but nothing ever came close. (I think we’re a bit paranoid since recent friend Matthew reported being hit by lightning last week and losing all of his catamaran electronics). We dropped anchor off Parrot Cays at the end of the day, enjoyed our usual sundowners (Trip fell asleep, but we didn’t care because Simon and I were too busy talking about food), and made plans for the next day.

More Bahamian architecture

Sunday was a bit quiet in Hope Town, and it is low season, but it’s a remarkably charming place. We stopped at the Lighthouse Marina first to do a bit of laundry and walk up to the iconic red/white striped lighthouse that can be seen for miles. Then we headed across the harbor and wandered around, enjoying the tiny colorful cottages. We wound up at the Harbor’s Edge for lunch on the covered patio looking over the harbor. We’re hooked on the conch chowder (despite eating it in 90 degree heat) and I decided to try the cracked conch – very tasty!

Monday morning we got up and started with our usual routine of listening to our weather router, Chris Parker. Our original plan had been to do two or three day sails working our way over to Great Sale Cay (further north and west along the Abacos) and then to wait for our weather window. Imagine our surprise when Trip consulted with Chris who said, “I would leave tomorrow, from Hope Town direct to Savannah.” The weather window looks really good, with only one day (tomorrow) forecasting any significant squalls which should be short and hopefully will bring rain and not wind. All of the winds the next three days are coming from the southeast, exactly the opposite direction of where we’re heading. It’ll be a little light, but I’m not complaining if we have to motor a bit here or there!

Bike-riding selfie

So Trip loaded diesel jerry cans into the dinghy and I made a final provisioning list. We snagged Simon on the way and headed back into Hope Town where we rented bikes. (At $12 a day per person, it wasn’t worth the effort of getting ours out from under our v-berth.) With great biking paths (the ‘highway’ is really built for golf carts rather than standard cars or trucks) we headed as far south as we could get and enjoyed the views from both the Sea of Abaco and the Atlantic side. We stopped at Gaffers for a drink and a break (biking mid-day in the sun is haaaaaard work), and then continued back north again. We stopped at the six or so boutiques on the island, but I really couldn’t find anything I like (between Bahamas and St Barths, I really can’t justify spending $25-45 on a tshirt!) so it was on to lunch. We pulled up to Wine Down Sip Sip (awesome name) just 10 minutes before they stopped serving lunch. We hurriedly put in orders and then sat back to wait. The cheesey doo (cheese dip) and flatbread pizzas didn’t disappoint.

Trip and Simon

At that point we had to say farewell to Simon. Damn, you’d think with the number of times we get to know someone quickly and then say goodbye while cruising, it would get easier, but it doesn’t! Simon headed off and we turned back to return our bikes. After that it was a quick visit of the Hope Town Historical Museum (nice, but I much preferred Spanish Wells), a bit of provisioning (I’m hooked on the Sands Radlers (beer mixed with grapefruit soda)), and it was back to the boat. We had wanted to stop at the lighthouse again to actually go up this time, but the skies were threatening to open (as they do every afternoon), so we hustled back. Dinghy is up, outboard secured, Trip is pondering his charts, and I’m debating how early to start dinner before we sit down with the last of our Netflix downloads tonight.

It’s a very bittersweet moment. The next country we clear into will be the good ol’ US of A. Though we won’t be home until a couple of weeks after that (does take a bit to wind your way up the coast during summer weather), this is the first ‘end’ to this adventure……Reflections on that later.

So long Bahamas, Savannah here we come!

New friend – continuously visited the boat for 2 days!

Nicole on coral head alert

Another day of sailing. Our final day running outside up the Exumas, we got caught in a torrential downpour. Though Chris Parker had called for mostly dry conditions, we got caught in one of the few squalls in the area. Luckily it was water and no wind, so both we and the boat got a good freshwater rinse-off.

Bush Cay sunset

We anchored off Bush Cay, one of the northernmost islands in the Exumas chain. The next morning as we were listening to weather forecasts and getting organized, I thought to look at Marine Traffic (an app that allows you to track other boats in their present locations). I’m sure it’s due to all the tourist traffic, but there are cell phone towers on nearly every island in the Bahamas and coverage is extensive. While I love being cut off from the world, it’s also pretty sweet to have coverage when you want it. Wouldn’t you know it, Tuvalu (our friends from Luperon) had passed only 5 miles south of us within the last hour or so. Trip got on the radio, and sure enough they were in hailing distance! We were thrilled to hear from Sandra that they all were feeling better and eating well once again. They had left 8 days after we had, and were pushing straight to Nassau, where they would be interviewing for visas to spend the summer in the states. Our friend Matthew had just gone through the process and was still in Nassau waiting for his passport, so we gave them each other’s contact details so they could share info as needed.

Fishing fleet

Then it was off for Eleuthera. The next step was the one that had me more than a little nervous. VPR (visual piloting rules) are required in much of the Bahamas because the water is so shallow and coral heads are everywhere. GPS can only be trusted so far, and you really need someone at the helm to keep a lookout. The three mile stretch that we were about to cross – Middle Bank (between the Exumas and Eleuthera) goes an extra step. It’s recommended that one person actually stand watch on the bow and point out coral heads to avoid. We put on our headsets and I headed up to the bow. Though we had had overcast skies earlier in the day, the sun came out now. I perched myself on the bow railing and called out coral clumps so Trip could adjust course as needed. It turned out to be rather easy and fun, though I certainly would not have wanted to do it in rough weather with limited visibility.

Mastering the golf cart

Though we had motored for all of the morning, once we made it through Fleeming Pass we were able to set sail again. We were only doing 3 knots or so, but it was a nice run up to Spanish Wells. We anchored off of Meeks Patch, a small island just south of town, and enjoyed the sunset in a new Bahamian island chain.

Bahamian flower

The next day we headed into Spanish Wells. It’s a narrow cut with mangroves and shoals on one side and lots of docks and local boats on the other, so we moved slow, but made our way to the mooring field. We wandered around town a bit and headed over to Wreckers, the bar at the local marina, where I had a killer smoked mozzarella, mushroom & arugula pizza. After that we wandered town some more, before winding up at the famous bar Budda’s (though everyone spells it Buddha’s probably because the poster had a Buddha image on it) for happy hour. We had the first tasty conch fritters we had had in a long time (gave up after nasty ones in the BVI & USVI).

Bahamian architecture

Wandering back along the main street, I couldn’t get over the fishing fleet. Spanish Wells provides half the fish and lobster to the entire island chain of the Bahamas, and judging by the size of the boats on the docks I could see how. It’s off season right now and most of the boats are in port for repair and maintenance. At one point I remarked to Trip that the harbor looked more like Gloucester, MA than what anyone would picture in the Bahamas. Unlucky for us, we won’t be enjoying lobster, as it won’t be in season again till August.

Watching a storm leave the island, whew

The next day we decided to rent a golf cart, which is pretty much what every local uses to get around the island. We did a giant circle of the island to get our bearings and then crossed over to Russell Island. At the far end of Russell is a cool bar and restaurant called the Sand Bar right on the water. Fried pickles, fish bites, and conch chowder, mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Sunset

After lunch we headed back to Spanish Wells and stopped a few times to enjoy the beach on the northern side of the island facing the Atlantic. We were going to stop for groceries, but discovered that the grocery store closes at noon on Wednesdays – go figure. We headed to Shipyard, the other bar on the island, and had a drink looking out over the water.

Our dream house

Still looking good after a non-stop year on the water!

Hot dogs on board!

Georgetown was fun, but it was time to keep moving. We’re already a month behind from the weather delays in the Dominican Republic. There’s one big change now though. We can really only sail during daylight hours due to shallow and reefs and cuts (entrances to islands). Our first day leaving Georgetown we went back outside into the Atlantic and sailed 45 miles up to Big Farmers Cay. There were two other boats anchored a couple of miles away, but we pretty much had the entire anchorage to ourselves that night. The second day we sailed inside the islands in Exuma sound. It’s pretty surreal doing four knots under jib in brilliant turquoise waters that are only 10-12 feet deep!

Bahamian cottages

Thunderball Grotto

Nurse sharks

We got to Staniel Cay early afternoon and dropped anchor right in the middle, away from the hoi poloi. I nearly dropped the anchor on a massive stingray while we were anchoring, but it was fun to watch him swim by. We were now in the land of mega yachts and it was fun ogling. Our first outing, though, was to the Thunderball Grotto. Named after the James Bond film from the 60’s, one of the major scenes from the film was shot in that grotto. If you go at low tide, you can swim in, otherwise you’re forced to dive. Once inside the grotto, it opens up into a giant underwater cave with holes in the ceiling that let the sun shine through. Combined with all the fish swimming underneath you, it was hard to know where to look. Again, being low season, almost no one was there and we had the place to ourselves.

Bond, James Bond…..inside the Thunderball Grotto

Trip also managed to fix the water pump which had stopped working while we were offshore. The footpump was still working, so it was only filtered water (we had spare gallons on board so no risk there) and the shower that caused an issue. I remembered that we had an old camping solar shower bag on board, so even showers turned out to be relatively easy. But all was good again once Trip realized what the problem was and provided the fix! We celebrated with showers, filtered water, and watched Thunderball on DVD.

Swimming pig

Water for the piggies

The next morning we dinghied over to the other main attraction of the Staniel Cay area – the famous swimming pigs. About two dozen pigs live on the island called Big Majors Spot, though no one quite knows how they got there. Rumours are from pirates abandoning them, to sailors leaving them as a food supply as the population of the islands grew, to someone prepping a modern day food supply just before Y2K hit and then abandoning them once Y2K passed without an issue. They’re cute – well the little ones are anyway. You do have to be careful as some of the big sows do bite. There were only two other people there so we had the pigs to ourselves. We had brought lettuce and cucumbers, as well as fresh drinking water – everything was gobbled up. We hung out for a while, but then the hoards of tourists from the local charter boats started arriving, so it was time to go. We popped over to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for lunch – the grouper bites were huge and amazing to taste. We also got to watch the locals feed the nurse sharks – if you’re brave you can actually swim with them!

No eating in the dinghy!

Feeding the piglets

Georgetown

We finally made it out of Luperon! After weeks of waiting out high winds and squalls, Chris Parker predicted a decent weather window and gave us the all clear to make the jump up to the Bahamas. Winds were still going to be high, as the diurnal pattern of heavy winds every late day/early evening was showing no signs of abating, but at least the squalls had passed. And we were moving west, going in the right direction for a comfortable ride.

Stingray

We had hoped to be sailing with Tuvalu, but Tobias was still really sick. He had come down with a nasty bout of food poisoning after eating bad anchovies and hadn’t left the boat in five days. We finally got our yoga teacher, Veronique, who also happens to be a nurse, to pay him a visit. She made us all feel a bit better when she reported that he was absorbing enough electrolytes and fluids from what he was consuming that he didn’t have to get to a medical clinic. We stayed an extra day and were thrilled to see him on shore eating solid foods for the first time in days.

Yikes! Unknown training exercise

And that was it – we were off. We had the predictable big seas and high winds the first day/evening, but we still wound up making 6 knots+ under a 1/3 jib and it was a decent ride, if a little rolly. After the first 24 hours both the winds and the seas calmed further, so we opted to skip the first possible points of landing – Turks & Caicos (we had already been there previously anyway), and Mayaguana in the Bahamas. By the end of the second 24 hours we opted to skip Rum Cay, Conception Cay, and even Long Island. However, we knew we weren’t going to make it to Georgetown until the middle of the night, and you don’t try to pass through reefs in the dark (daylight and visual piloting is required to spot coral heads and rocks that could otherwise do some damage to the keel). We tucked around the northernmost point of Long Island and anchored just behind the reefs in Calabash Bay. It was just enough to block both the wind and the swell, so it was a great place to rest – and to celebrate our longest offshore run yet as a couple -340 miles! (We’ve done longer obviously, but it’s always been with crew). We’ve nicknamed the autopilot “Ray” (short for the manufacturer Raymarine), our official third crew member that makes these longer hauls much more possible.

Bahamas blues

We got up the next morning to grey skies. The first tropical storm of the year, Alberto, was moving up the coast of Florida. Though he was in the Gulf of Mexico, winds and rain could be felt as far as the Bahamas. We were pretty far away from any potential action, but decided to sit tight for the day. Sure enough, mid afternoon we got an hour of high winds (gusting well into the 30’s) and torrential rain. Could we have sailed in it? Sure. Would it have been a messy and potentially dangerous entry to the Bahamas. Oh yes.

Sunset

Sunday we finally made our way over to Georgetown. From the entry cut in the reefs, it’s still a few miles of zigzagging between reefs and other shallow spots to find your way to port. Happily, there was plenty of room to drop anchor, mostly because it’s now low season. There were maybe twenty boats total in the harbor, and in high season there would be 400+ – really glad to not have to compete with that!  As it was, we were a little too aggressive with the depth of our anchoring. We woke up at 2 AM to the slight jerking of the boat as we scraped bottom at dead low tide. No damage done, and as soon as the tide came up we were fine again. The next morning as we moved out a bit to a slightly deeper spot, Trip pointed out that it was a full moon – tides are always at an extreme during those days so the low would have been especially low. The color of the water is the most exquisite shades of blue anyway – during a full moon those shades of blue are still apparent at 2 AM!

Stormy weather blowing past

Monday morning we went into Georgetown to clear in. Sniff, sniff, this was the last foreign country we’d be entering as part of this year-long adventure. We found laundry (whew, hadn’t been able to do laundry the last week in Luperon due to a broken water main for the entire town) and a local cell phone store. Cruising friends on Contigo had given us their Bahamas SIM card. For only $30, you get 1,000 minutes of talking, unlimited texts, unlimited WhatsApp, and 15 GB of data. Hello – Verizon, AT&T? Talk about a deal.

Stocking Island, Atlantic side

We had lunch at the Driftwood Café, only to find that they don’t serve alcohol. I was so hungry I didn’t care, but Trip wasn’t pleased. And then we found out they were missing several dishes featured on their menus. I gulped down a $13 caesar salad (ouch, get used to really expensive eating in the Bahamas!) and we went in search for a beer and to explore more. Georgetown, though one of the major towns of the Bahamas, is walkable in an hour. We stopped for a beer at Eddies, to find that Kalik (the local beer) is about as dry and boring as the Medalla in Puerto Rico had been. Luckily we also discovered Sands, another local beer that’s quite tasty.

Chat n’ Chill, Stocking Island

We took the laundry and some groceries back to the boat and got organized, then came back ashore for dinner. Eddies was featuring a ‘rake & scrape’, BBQ dinner with a live band. The BBQ was amazing, and the band was quite lively. Loud, but not so loud you didn’t enjoy yourselves. And we danced! Funny enough, when we were wandering through town the next day, members of the band recognized Trip and called out to tell us where they were going to be next so we could come back for more dancing! How often does the band recognize you????? Only Trip.

Trip at the beach

Winds were just high enough to make for wet dinghy rides, so we opted to bring Kalyra a mile across the bay to anchor off Volleyball Beach on Stocking Island. There we dinghied ashore to check out the Chat n’ Chill, a beach front bar much like Foxy’s in the BVI. Sandwiches were tasty, beer slid down easily, and it was fun to walk the beach watching all the sting rays swimming in the shallows. We even went out the back beach, waded across a shallow spot, and crossed over to the Atlantic side. It was a shallow beach, but it went on for miles and the water crashing over the reefs was spectacular.