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Bahamas, 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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New Feature!! Is Pat getting rained on? Click HERE to see the satellite map and radar loop. |
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After a long break I'm on the move again. Bill came down from Richmond to escape the cold and helped move the boat from Vero Beach to Peck Lake and then to North Lake Worth. Anchored there to wait for a weather window to cross over to the Bahamas. The first night there I cracked a tooth and had to visit a dentist the next day. He took impressions, put on a temporary crown, and scheduled me for a visit in 8 days when the permanent crown would be ready. So Bill went home and I settled in to wait for a new tooth. But what should pop up but a perfect window to cross the Gulf Stream. I decided to hell with the permanent crown, I'll get it done later... I want to get the boat to the Bahamas. If I don't go now, I might wait weeks for another window. So I moved Synchronicity to the anchorage near the inlet. Poised to leave tonight at 9pm. Chris Gordon on Midnight Mail will cross over at the same time - it's good to have company - I don't feel so alone out there if I see the lights of another boat. The weather window is great so I'm going while I can.
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Well, I did a solo, nightime crossing of the Gulf Stream from Lake Worth Inlet to West End, Grand Bahama Island (a distance 55 nautical miles. Even though Chris Gordon was a half mile ahead of me, it is still a solo crossing - I was the only person on my boat...) Pretty good stuff for a chicken sailor like me. Tonight the Gulf Stream was a kitten, light winds from the southeast that clocked around to the east as the night went on. Waves were 2-3 feet. Almost all the way to the Bahamas I could see the glow from the lights of Miami and the Palm Beaches. Even with that, the stars were very bright and clear, with meteors streaking across the sky every now and then.
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After checking in with Customs at West End, we continued across the banks to Great Sale Cay, a small uninhabited island with a somewhat protected anchorage, arriving just after dark. Dropped the hook and now I'm resting after not stopping for over 30 hours.
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Had a great sail over to Fox Town (sailing, finally, after all that motoring down the ICW!!) to anchor and wait out some predicted strong southerly winds. After I pulled the anchor up and headed out and was cleaning off the bow, a dolphin suddenly came out of nowhere and started playing in the bow wave right in front of me.
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I was able to pick up Barometer Bob's morning weather broadcast and did not like what I heard. I debated with myself all morning and at 11 or so I decided to make the 3 hour trip to the marina on Spanish Cay. Of course, I realized that at 8:30am, but because some strong winds were predicted for today, it took until 11:00 to really decide that the anchorage I was in was not a good place to be. (I was anchored off of Fox Town, between Little Abaco Island to the south, and Hawkbill Cay to the north. The forecast was for 20-25 knots winds from the SW, clocking around west and then north over the next 2 days. This anchorage was totally open to the west.) Of course, he who hesitates is lost - had I left at 8:30am, I would have been in Spanish Cay by 11:30am - leisurely sailing along under partly cloudly skies and 10 knots of wind. And indeed, those were the conditions when I did leave. But they quickly deteriorated into 20-25kts of wind and passing rain squalls, with drenching rain and gusts to 30 kts. dropping visibility to 1/2 mile. I was cussing myself all the way there. But I arrived there intact, and even got a break - the rain had stopped and the winds dropped for a while as I arrived to tie up at the marina. But I wanted to take advantage of the facilities here and get some laundry done, but the marina building had just burned down 2 months ago!! No laundry, no showers... but at least I got rid of my growing garbage bag collection. Spanish Cay is a private island, owned by a American, with a marina, guest cottages, an airstrip and The Wrecker's Bar, a small beachside bar.
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I arrived in Marsh Harbour and did a tour of the harbor and immediately saw Midnight Mail, DownEast Rover and Agassiz. So I will have some company, at least for a while. My wireless internet setup seems to be working, with some intermittent slowdowns; and my Verizon cell phone is working, so at least I can stay in touch.
2/4/04 - I sailed in the first leg of the Hopetown Cup race with Roger on board. Very light winds, and we were the 6th or 7th boat across the finish line out of 17 boats, but as usual we will probably get bumped back by the handicapping. The next leg is scheduled for Wednesday... |
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Came down to Little Harbour and Pete's Pub for some sun, beach, snorkeling and Little Harbour Blasters - a drink made with 5 kinds of rum - the motto here is "Rehab is for quitters..."
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Back to Marsh Harbour for water and other supplies...
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Finally, back to Baker's Bay on Great Guana Cay. It's one of my favorite places in the Abacos. This a deserted little bay at the north end of the island where it is pretty narrow. You can walk from the Sea of Abaco side to the Atlantic side or take a dinghy through the cut if the wind is not blowing too hard... Here is more about Bakers Bay from the last time I was here. Got to snorkel a little on the Atlantic side (no lobsters!) and had a pot luck dinner on the beach with (to use boat names...) Lee Ann and Chaliventures.
Directions to the Atlantic side: There is a shoe tree there with all kinds of shoes that have washed up on shore hanging from it. Next to it is a smaller tree with kids size shoes on it...
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Back to chicken harbour - it's been one cold front after another, all season long....
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Came to Fisher's Bay for the pig roast at Nippers. Check out the webcam at nippers - you may see me there!
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My hydraulic backstay adjuster gave up the ghost on the way up here - not a problem today, but it will need to be fixed as soon as I can.
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Removed the broken backstay adjuster and shipped it out to Florida to be fixed. I thought it would not be difficult to get the pieces needed to fabricate a substitute, but I ended up going to 5 different places trying to find what I needed, but I eventually found everything I needed to rig something up. I hope my backstay adjuster gets back soon! Waiting out strong winds - blowing for days...
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Went to the The Barefoot Man concert at Nipper's... This is a major Abaco event with 1000 - 1500 people showing up. It was a great time, running into just about everybody that I know down here. Good music, dancing and a little craziness thrown in for good measure.
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Blowing like crazy, so it was up with the sun and motoring into 20-25 kts of wind all the way to Marsh Harbour. Later that day I my temporary crown popped off again. So I broke down and scheduled my dental appointment in Florida for my permanent crown. So I go to a local dentist and get my temporary crown glued back on until my appointment, but that evening it came off again and broke in two pieces. So I was able to get an appointment in Florida for Thursday morning, and was able to get a reasonably priced plane ticket.
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OK, it's just me here, Synchronicity is still anchored in Marsh Harbour, with Roger on Agassiz keeping an eye on her. Going to the dentist tomorrow morning.... Everything seems to be fixed up with my tooth now and I flew back to Marsh Harbour. Synchronicity was fine, still where I left her, and even better than that, when I returned my backstay adjuster was sitting in the cockpit. Thanks, Roger!
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Had a nice sail up to Baker's in 8-12 kts of wind, watching my temporary backstay repair the whole way. I sailed most of the way, with a few minutes of motoring when the wind died, but it picked up again and I started sailing again, even sailing into the anchorage and dropping the anchor without using the engine. Jeff and Mary on Agur's Wish are organizing a beach barbeque - and as always - it was a great time. Replaced my temporary backstay fix with the repaired adjuster (almost taking out an eye in the process!). Gary from Lee Ann came over and helped, otherwise I would never have got it done by myself. It feels a LOT better to have a solid rig again. Raised the mainsail and pulled the anchor up and sailed away, again without using the engine. I'm starting to get the hang of this sailing stuff....
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Back to 'Chicken' Harbour - another cold front on the way. It has been one cold front after another this season. The Jim and Joyce on Flying Fortress organized a sing-along and I got drafted to play along. (Did not do too well, I was not familiar with most of the songs and could not even fake it well...). Jim and Joyce are from the Isle of Wight in England and Jim plays the ukelele. But it was fun with more people than I expected joining in with these 1930's and 1940's era songs.
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Came down to Little Harbour for the Pig Roast at Pete's Pub. Pete and his son Greg shot a wild boar so they decided to have a pig roast a little earlier in the season than usual. It was mighty tasty, too! Some ducks came out to visit in the morning - I have never seen ducks in anything but dead still water (Hence the term 'duck pond'!) but they handled the small waves with no problem at all...
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OK, OK. So I have not updated the site in a long time. The Bahamas will do that to you. So shoot me. I will try to recap the high points of the last month. I have basically been bouncing between Little Harbour, Baker's Bay, and Fisher's Bay as the weather allows. I have become the sportscaster on the local Cruiser's Net on the VHF radio. The Cruiser's Net is a group of volunteers, some local, some boaters, who broadcast every morning, giving weather, news, local events and open mike sessions where cruisers look for parts, services, other boaters, etc... During the NCAA Basketball tournament, I offered to announce the scores (because I had internet access) and ended up doing it every day I am in radio range after that. Maybe I have another career in the offing... More music! I got to sit in with Grouper Lips and the Toilettes - a local couple playing for fun at the Sunset Beach Bar & Grill on Great Guana Cay. Fairly rum-fueled at the start and then downhill from there!
There were more beach parties at Baker's Bay including a joint birthday bash for me and Jeff on Agur's Wish, with his wife Mary, who have become good friends. Our birthday bash was pretty memorable as the first night eneded abruptly when it got dark and the wind and waves picked up suddenly and left us making a mad dash to bail out dinghies and bash our way through the waves back to our boats - me being all the way across the bay anchored in the lee of the Spoil Cay. An excellent place to anchor in a SW wind, but a long way in a small boat through the waves in the dark...
But the next night we tried again and the weather cooperated. Tom from Becky Thatcher joined the party, bringing his entire karaoke setup. (Note: Normally I consider karaoke an invention of the devil and to be avoided at all costs, but it is pretty funny when you know all the people making fools of themselves and it is surprising who can really sing. I, myself, in deference to all the boats anchored in the bay, did NOT sing...)
Then it was back to Marsh Harbour where I finally hooked up with Sampson, one of the local 'colorful characters' who hangs out at the dinghy dock and does carvings. I got my birds! My friend Dan came down to visit and was again cursed with bad weather. We only got out to the pig roast at Nippers and then got stuck in Marsh Harbour for the rest of his stay...
The best part of the cruising lifestyle is making new friends and hanging out together. This is Christina and Tony of Escrimmador II and Jeff and Mary of Agur's Wish.
Another great part of cruising is the ability to conjure up a party. Just get on the radio, put out an invitation, add rum and stir. We organized a two day bash up at Baker's as a kind of farewell as I will soon be going north and Agur's Wish will soon be heading south. We put out a notice on the net and had a bunch of people show up. This one went on for 2 nights. We were supposed to go to Fisher's Bay the next day, but very few boats actually moved....
A magnificent sunset to crown a perfect evening. |
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And so the voyage home begins. Once again it is heartbreaking to leave Abaco. Another cruising season over, new friends, new stories, old friendships renewed... This journey began this morning at Baker's Bay following another farewell dinner with Roger on Agassiz and Jeff on Concerto the night before. Roger and I headed across Whale Cay Passage, with Roger stopping at Greene Turtle Cay and me bound for Allan's-Pensacola Cay. But with a perfect sailing day and an early start I was able to make it all the way to Great Sale Cay, dropping the hook as darkness closed in, regaining the day I lost when I stopped at Baker's Bay yesterday because the waves were too high at the Whale.
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