2010.12.18 Lake Worth - Green Turtle cay CROSSING

 18^th December 2010.

The Bahamas at last!!!

If memory serves us aright we left you when we were on the way from St Augustine to Vero Beach.  We had uneventful days motoring down the ICW through Daytona, and Titusville to Vero Beach. 

Uneventful except that we went into marinas in each place so that we could plug in and use our heat pump, since the temperatures in Florida have been absolutely frigid!

We were lucky to get a berth , rather than a mooring ball , at Vero, enabling us to plug in once again and enjoy warmth, since the cold weather did not let up.  It was mainly O K when the sun was up but as soon as it went down you needed warm clothes and some heat in the boat.

We stayed in Vero Beach for six days allowing our friends on “Lady of Lorien” to catch up with us , as we intended to travel together across the Gulf Stream.  In actuality we lost nothing in the way of time since there was not a safe window to be had whilst in Vero Beach.  It is a nice marina and a nice town with free public transportation to all the main shopping areas that a cruiser would normally need to reach.   Publix….  Fresh Market….  West Marine and ABC liquors where 1.5 ltre bottles of  Appleton Estate Rum went for $23.50 and similar sized bottles of Bombay Sapphire Gin went for $ 21.00 per bottle !!   A good place to stock up.  We have also been turned on to boxed wines the equivalent of four bottles for $19.00 of very drinkable every day Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon .

Eventually all shopping was completed , no more space in the boat and a window to cross was approaching , so at 06.30 hrs on the 15^th December (son in law, Jamie’s birthday) we left Vero Beach for Lake Worth. 

Vero Beach..I love taking sunrises through bridges

A fast and trouble free trip, once more down the ICW saw us shave an hour off the time that we did the same trip the previous year, all the bridges cooperated and opened as advertised then a quick stop in North Palm Beach to top up our diesel.  I like to start an ocean passage with a full tank of fuel….  Topping up was not really necessary, just a case of “belt and braces” !!!

Lady of Lorien raising sails in Lake Worth anchorage to meet up with us

No belly showing this year...just classy lines

Then from North Palm Beach it was a quick hop to Lake Worth where at 16.00 hrs, e hailed  Mike and Angie on “Lady of Lorien” so they were  just coming out of the anchorage as we went by, and we were off out of the inlet and into the ocean.   What a difference a year makes!!   

 Last year with “Indian Summer” you might recall that both boats were leaping out of the water and showing their keels for the first couple of hours, not so this year however .  A nice long six odd foot swell gave us a nice gentle roll and with a NE to ENE 10/12 knot wind both sails were up and we romped along  at  7.00/7.5 and even 8.00 knots – just great !! 

Sun setting over  Palm Beach on the horizon.

Happiness is SAILING at last!!!

While David sails I navigate....this is my turf, the nav table.

The wind held pretty much most of the way and the swell also decreased the closer to the Bahama bank that we got, until we had to furl the genoa and haul in the main tight to steady us .   The long and the short of it was that we made the Gulf Stream crossing from 16.00 hrs on Wednesday 15^th until midnight thirty on Thursday 16^th morning when we crossed onto the Bahamian banks.  A record crossing for us!!

The Bahamian banks were their typical selves, flat calm and as clear as a bell.   About 03.00 both boats saw a bright white light on the horizon, looking very much like a large fishing boat or such and heading our way.   We maintained a watch on it until we discovered that instead of getting closer it was getting higher……  yes, we had seen the planet Mars rise above the horizon !!  Looked just like a ship at first too !!

Our first Bahamian sunrise of the season...may not look so special but after a long dark night it is a welcomed sight.

Our course took us direct from Memory Rock to Little Sale Cay which was passed at 07.00 hrs as the sun came up, our first real landfall since the skyscrapers of Palm Beach had disappeared below the horizon.   We pressed on to Spanish Cay, where we docked at 12.30 hrs after a perfect 31 hour voyage.   Customs and Immigration were seen and gave us no problems although we only got permission to stay in the Bahamas for 90 days as opposed to our normal 120 days,  we shall have to extend if we need to, but that should not be a big deal.  After all the formalities were completed we retired to the bar where we had our first Kaliks and blackened grouper with a Caesar salad….  Just as good as we remembered !!

Fiddled in the afternoon and then went to “Lady of Lorien” for drinks and a “picky” supper, my personal favourite, cheese, biscuits, some raw veggies and peanuts, smoked salmon and a delicious “stollen” cake etc. By eight pm our eyes were closing so it was off to bed – we were asleep before our heads hit the pillow and the next thing that we knew it was 07.30 the next morning and “Lady of Lorien” were getting ready to depart for Orchid Bay on Great Guana Cay where they were meeting other friends and spending Christmas, about two islands down from where we will spend Christmas and New Year.

Lady of Lorien cast off early in the morning.

We waved good bye to Mike and Angie...

After they left we had a very private marina....

 After a very lazy morning and we cast off just after 13.00 hrs to head to Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay  which we have to enter on high tide or very close thereto.  It was an idyllic 15 mile trip in a gentle southerly breeze and rippled sea, with the sun shining brightly and warmly.  Catherine reclined on the deck, whilst I pulled out the Genoa, reduced the engine revs and we gently motor sailed along.  Entry to Black Sound was accomplished without excitement and various friends were there to greet us and to help us tie up.  As you can see from one of the pictures this marina is getting very classy with staff in blazers and white shirts !!

Adrian and Kristi of the Leeward Yacht Club.

A nice evening on board with our friends from “Gone Away” who came to Green Turtle to see us and then bed.   This morning we launched the dinghy and put the engine on, which started, not exactly at first pull, but very soon there after, so now our car is once more up and running.   The weather today has been cooler and somewhat threatening although so far no rain, but there is some in the forecast.  We don’t mind as it will wash a fair amount of the salt off “Solitaire 1” and save us the job of doing so and having to pay for the water that we use!

As the days progress we shall gradually get back into the swing of island life – work a bit on the boat – read – walk on the various beaches – talk to friends – make new ones and generally relax.  On Christmas Day there is a cruiser’s pot luck luncheon put on by one of the local dive shops that we shall likely go to- should be a fun event.

I think that this brings everyone who is reading this up to date with what we have been doing.  One thing that have been pleased with so far is that we have not plugged in to the electricity since leaving Vero Beach…     the fridge has been running perfectly and all our systems are working and the solar panels and the wind generator are keeping our new AGM batteries fully charged.  Long may it last !!

That’s it for me, now over to our photographer and editor in chief !

All I have to add is after drinks and wonderful conversation on Gone away with Harvey and Mary Helen, I am pleased to report that the skipper's prediction turned out to be accurate and Soli is, as we speak, getting a great fresh water shower as it is raining cats and dogs .

Our Titusville blue heron

Going out for lunch

Gotcha!!!

2010.12.06 Titusville

6^th December 2010 St Augustine to Titusville FL

At last we are away from St Augustine, not that we minded our stay there at all, and once again on our way down south, in search of that elusive, it appears this year, warmer weather.

All the work that was needed to be done in St Augustine was done in a wonderfully professional manner and appears to have been most successful.   After two days of searching and testing, Mike Perrault (our tireless refrigeration engineer) found the freon leak having increased the pressure in our system significantly .  What a relief !!   A small valve at the back of the condenser which took about a minute to replace was the culprit.  Since that was done and the system purged, cleaned and refilled with fresh Freon, the electrical refrigeration has been working like a champ.   At Mike’s suggestion, we also gave First Mate the task of trying to get our engine driven compressor to stay in place, thus avoiding our never ending battles with the compressor belt.  With good American ingenuity and know how they came up trumps and low and behold we can use the engine driven compressor without any fear of the belt slacking off – marvelous !!!

Mike found a big freon leak!

Cindy Kern of  Custom Marine Canvas also completed our new “sun room” “verandah” or whatever you wish to call it !   Yes, “Solitaire 1” , is now sporting not only new canvas but a full enclosure so that yours truly doesn’t freeze whilst driving .  With the cold weather that we are currently having in Florida – the last two passages down the ICW have been sheer bliss as we have had a cold north westerly following wind, that without the enclosure would have made for a much more uncomfortable ride.

David admiring Cindy's  work.

Cindy reupholstered our salon cushions as well.

 
We had a pretty good signal while in St. Augustine and really made good use of Skype, we were treated to long conversation with Catherine and Veronica,http://www.homesrome.blogspot.com/ , unfortunately were not as successful with Elisabeth, http://www.wavesandrocks.blogspot.com/ ...we'll keep trying!

David had his own project, our jerry cans are now properly and smartly secured.

We stayed in St Augustine an extra day so that we  could join Mike and Angie Williams from “Lady of Lorien” for a trip to a local farmer’s market.  A very well worthwhile decision – lots of goodies to buy at reasonable prices.  There was even a stall selling all manner of English delicacies and we came back to the boat laden with Scotch eggs, steak and kidney pies etc etc .  The Scotch Eggs were superb !!!

That afternoon  we spent doing laundry, washing the boat and generally preparing to leave.  That evening we invited Mike and Angie and also Bob and Jane Fulton from “Voyageur” aboard for drinks and to christen the new cockpit enclosure which was done very happily.

Bob and Jane are the amazing couple that stayed up until 0200 one night last spring to greet and catch our lines when four boats came in from a sea passage from Cape Canaveral...they were God sent.
We have followed the adventures of Mike and Angie on Harriet's blog, http://moondance38.wordpress.com/  for the last few years, it was really good to get to know them better.

An early night to bed and then up at 06.15 to get out of the harbour and up to the Bridge of  Lions for the 07.00 hrs opening.

The new Bridge of Lions

Haulover canal bridge

Fresh Scottish eggs from the market YUM!

I got me a nice fish

Does look yummy...can I have some?

Nope!

'Tis very yummy!

Quite handsome in a scruffy sort of way...anyone know what I am?

 Made it with about five minutes to spare and so on down  the I C W.  Now we are in Titusville in the shadow of Cape Canaveral and all the NASA buildings (particularly the Vehicle Assembly Shed) which can be seen for miles .  Since the shuttle programme has been stopped we wonder what will be next from this cape.  

Tomorrow – weather permitting – it will be onward to the south with Vero Beach being our next stop .   We understand that there could be a weather window for crossing the Gulf Stream on or about the 11^th/12^th December, so we intend to try to be in position to make that window.  We shall see !!

Until the next time – au revoir!

2010.11.27  Camachee Cove, St. Augustine

We had a really good, easy day...this morning Angie (Lady of Lorien) came a knocking and said "the boat next to us left...there is an open slip if you want to move" and we did just that after topping up our tank.
It was a beautiful crisp sunny day....just the way I like them, no humidity a nice little breeze so no bugs...just perfect. I cleaned, tidied up, did some laundry, put my plants in the sun and generally enjoyed the simple life of a cruiser while at a dock. Tomorrow will maybe borrow a courtesy car and go for a spin around town...St Augustine is the oldest settlement in the USA.
It is awfully comfortable I must say, the A/C or heat running on shore power at will, no restriction on water etc., quite decadent...must find out their monthly rates...just kidding the high seas and Hope Town beckons us!!!

We had supper on board and went for a nice walk all the way around the harbor...we are on the north side (although they call it the East side) of the harbor so we have to walk all around to get to the happening part, where we stayed last year....there is a boat I am in love with, her name is "Blue Star" ...just understated elegance, must find out what she is! 'Tis a very nice evening, a fleece, skirt and crocs may not be the height of elegance but is me at my best.

We are awaiting a number of people to descend upon Soli on Monday to start canvas, rigging and most important refrigeration work...we cannot go to the Bahamas without it and right now our 12 volt refrigeration is totally  kaput ...so when Mike comes on board on Monday morning I will put shackles around his ankle and not let him off until it is working satisfactorily... hope he is not reading this or he may not come.

Boats like computers are finicky things....they are wonderful when everything works, but a lot of hassle and worry when that's not the case....and of course I am waiting for that freezer to work so I can stock up on goodies.

I have just finished reading "The strange last voyage of Donald Crawhurst" and am amazed at how these round the world sailors, in the sixties, used to be gone offshore for eight months and manage to stow enough provisions and especially water....what extraordinary courage and tenacity they had...
g'night.

2010.11.25 St.Simons Is - Thanksgiving in Fernandina Beach

I have not got off to a very good start , but of course David has been writing so I did not have to. …I spent a WHOLE day on Tuesday to get the blog up and running again as it looked like I could not upload pics anymore then it went from bad to worse and I thought I had lost or killed the whole thing …but tenacity prevailed and we are up and running with a slightly new and improved format. (that BTW is not either one of us surfing in case you were wondering!!!).

We had a longer than expected stay on St. Simons Island as we needed to make repairs to our raw water pump…so after the parts were Fedexed to our friendly local West Marine and Wayne installed  the new impeller with much huffing and puffing and "sorry Mam" and we had to battle again with the alternator belt which had somehow gotten loose AGAIN!

We woke up this morning in an absolute pea soup but by 1000 it had cleared up enough for the skipper to see his way through and we cast off. It was a good day’s run to Fernandina, with no trouble….we were very glad to have gone inside this time as we could see the thick fog banks to the East. It was especially easy for me as David drove and I cleaned up our nav table and tidied up below.

Good thing the skipper has radar and a track and of course old salt savvy!

Still looks pretty foggy to me!

The gang that hangs out under Jekyll Bridge.

Look at that fog bank to the East.

Sunset in Fernandina beach.

I did come up on a couple of occasions…one of them was to look at the horses on Cumberland Island WITH MY BINOCULARS…we WILL stop next time!!!!

We arrived in Fernandina Beach (never have seen the beach mind you) and we are soon going to hit the showers and go for a hopefully nice turkey dinner….so nice Americans walking by our boat said “of course you don’t celebrate our Than

ksgiving” to which we replied “yes we do, we swing both ways”. Pretty sure our favorite ice cream and fudge shop will be closed ..

I did break out the old conch shell ....pretty rusty... ME not the shell, just missing my buddy Steve !

                                       HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

2010.11.22 Thunderbolt - St Simon's Island

St. Simon’s Island ………….

The last few days of our stay in Thunderbolt  was a flurry of activity…..   preparing  the boat, cleaning and preparing our dinghy – Catherine doing her provisioning and making sure that her herb garden was arranged to her specifications.  The market garden which has prepared all her herb gardens have really done a super job this time !  We complained that over last voyage much of the soil/peat moss was blown into the cockpit by the wind, this time we have small pebbles covering the soil and we think that this will prevent much of the soil blowing in the wind!

Our new herb garden safely tucked away in the galley sink ready for our first sea passage

.

We stowed VV in a locked garage and bid her farewell.

Looking good

On  Sunday at 07.00 hrs we finally cast off our moorings and sailed alone down the Wilmington River.  “Indian Summer” looked forlorn, alone in the yard, but we have had nothing but encouraging news of our friend Steve and his battle, so are confident that we shall indeed sail together next year. 

Instead of turning out of the Wilmington river into the ICW, we kept going, as we did last year, and headed for the sea.  It was a picture perfect day…..  hot sun, clear blue sky and unlimited visibility.  The wind from the NE was gentle at maybe 10 knots most of the time, and pretty much astern.  Since we were wanting to make time I am afraid that we did not sail (or motor sail) but motored and made a very steady 7.5 knots over the ground.

Consequently our arrival in St Simon’s Island was well before dark, which had been worrying the Admiral somewhat.

An interesting tidbit we found that we could use Catherine’s Blackberry most of the time even though we were between ten and twelve miles off the coast on the voyage.  Impressive !!!

Another interesting tidbit was to see the thousands (maybe millions) of jelly fish in the water….  We have never seen so many in a constant stream between the entrance to the Wilmington River in Wassaw sound and the entrance channel to Brunswick Harbour just floating along .  They were a dullish brown in colour with a dark purple fringe around the bottom where their  tentacles would have been, although they did not seem to have any tentacles.  Not nice and slightly unnerving as had heard a story some time ago of a boat which had sucked jelly fish into its water cooling resulting in the engine overheating and eventually stopping.  Not sure whether this is an old wives tale or not but thankfully it did not happen to us!

We were also treated to the spectacle of a very large fish – no idea what it was  - and by the time Catherine was primed to take a snap, it disappeared.   It was large – I thought that it could have been a shark by the shape of its tail but don’t really have any idea.  It was clearing the surface of the sea by some four or five feet, we would estimate.

Did not catch the flying shark ...this awful looking car carrier is poor substitute....sorry!

Sunset over the Brunswick bridge.

New moon smiling down on us at Golden Isles  marina

Our arrival at Golden Isles Marina was uneventful and it was nice to be greeted by Melissa the dock master par excellence !!   A quiet night with an early turn in time. 

This morning we started the engine for our normal fridge temperature reduction…  remember our electrical refrigeration is still not working, so we must run the engine at least once a day to keep the freezer frozen.  All was well for fifteen minutes or so but then disaster – no water coming out of the back.   Switch the engine off quickly to avoid overheating and then start looking for trouble.

Open up the raw water strainer hoping not to find too many mashed up jelly fish  (see above) – all clean and actually remarkably so considering some of the junk that is floating in the rivers around the Georgia marshes.  The next on the list is the water pump which we chose to have looked at professionally .   Wayne arrived this evening and removed the pump and although the impeller looked to be not totally destroyed it was condemned as being shot.  We produced the four spares that we have kept aboard for just this eventuality and …oh no….  all were condemned as being used or too old for use !

So here we are …. Tomorrow our first telephone call is to West Marine to order (we hope) a new impeller or two actually and have one of them fitted in the evening by our friend Wayne.   After that it is onwards to the south……  we are running afoul of the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA, which is almost as big or bigger holiday as Christmas, and consequently all our gentlemen and women who are to descend upon the boat in St Augustine are busy celebrating until Monday 29^th.

So……..present plans are to dawdle to St Augustine and get there on or about Saturday  so that we have the weekend to gather ourselves for the hordes to board “Solitaire 1” on Monday and complete the bits and pieces that need to be completed…..  hopefully we shall have a fully working refrigeration working before we leave !!!

Bi 4 now.

2010.11.17 It’s Fall…… so it must be Thunderbolt !!!

Yes, indeed, here we are once again getting “Soli” ready for her 2010/2011 cruise southwards and she has weathered her summer well !!

We left Montreal on Monday 8^th after a delicious lunch chez Mrs. B. aka Wendy, Catherine’s youngest. The U S border posed no problems thanks to our Nexus cards but once into the Adirondacks, the rain which had been falling steadily all day, turned to sleet and eventually snow as we were crossing the higher elevations. Not particularly fun, and we passed several cars which had slipped off the road, however we had no problem and arrived at our friends, Rick and Diane, in Clifton Park on schedule. We were treated to a delicious supper and turned in early as we had an early start the next day.

Our next stop was in New Bern NC to visit cruising buddies from last year and to visit a town, about which we had heard very good things. The distance was 1050 kms or 753 miles which meant that we had to be up and on the road in good time, but owing to a good breakfast and good conversation we did not get away until 07.45 hrs. The driving was easy, traffic comparatively light for the area through which we were travelling and delays none, so we were pulling into our friends driveway in New Bern at 20.30 hrs.

It was nice to watch the outside air temperature slowly rise as we moved south, from a chilly 1* C as we left Clifton Park to a high of 19* C and a cooler 12* C as we arrived.

A drink and a slice of pizza went down well, as we caught up with Gail and Dennis but it was an early night for us after all the driving..

 David & Dennis
Gail and Dennis with a New Bern bear (bern is bear in German!)

A quiet morning and then a visit to New Bern and lunch overlooking the Neuse River , followed by a walking tour of the town. What a delightful town it is too, twinned with Berne in Switzerland and with many Swiss connections etc. Gail and Dennis’ house is a delight, somewhat out of the main town but on a creek, “Macguffin” moored at the bottom of the back garden with her own jetty. For us the house was reminiscent of the old southern plantation houses with covered balconies all the way across the back overlooking the creek , boat and back garden. A wonderful visit and we shall miss the Kennedys on our voyage to the Bahamas this year.

We departed New Bern around 10.00 hrs and had a trouble and stress free trip down I 95 and into Savannah. Our first visit, of course, was to “Solitaire 1” whom we found in very good shape, even the Admiral had no complaints, and a cheery Kevin was even there to greet us. After a quick inspection it was off to find our hotel, it’s getting more expensive but still only USD 55.00 - a good steak dinner and bed finished the day.

Wonderful Victory drive in Savannah

Soli and VV were reaquinted!!!

Since our arrival we have been hard at work, the Admiral particularly so in the boat, cleaning and tidying the storage and complaining about the amount of bits and pieces that we have managed to accumulate over the years. My motto “you never know when

It will come in handy “ has tended to fall upon deaf ears for the most part !!!

We had a slight scare t’other day when we were unable to get hold of the chap who was storing our sails… did not answer our e mails, did not answer his office ‘phone or cell ‘phone and we were unable to leave a message as his mail box was filled…. etc etc . We had visions of being all set to leave but with no sails. A quick trip to Hilton Head Island reassured us that the loft was still in business and a very helpful neighbour promised to ensure that the loft delivered our sails in the morning. Whilst having dinner that evening we received an e mail saying …. sorry I have been camping and out of touch but I will deliver your sails in the morning………!!! Not very professional but all’s well that ends well and we now have our sails.

Today (17^th) it was a beautiful bright sunny Savannah morning and we did indeed put up our sail . We were launched yesterday morning and in fact for the first time in living memory we were not in attendance for the launch, too busy chatting to Catherine Jnr. in Rome and ogling our newest grand daughter on Skype!! It was different to be able to admire that gorgeous dark green hulled machine gliding across the harbour from our car….. who are those lucky people to own that boat …???? Apparently the engine started first crank always a big plus!!

David and Kevin after the "splash"

Our new full cockpit enclosure is slowly taking shape and will be very nice once finished. Cindy our canvas maker was on board doing some last minute fitting just before we were launched and it is going to be very nice when all finished and will give us about a third more living space. We are impressed with the quality of work of the bimini and dodger . We are looking forward to getting to St Augustine Fl. and getting everything completed..

In fact we may well go directly to St Augustine and stay there for a week not only to complete the canvas but also to get all the bugs out of our refrigeration which needs some heavy duty attention… we really do not wish to have the same problems with that system as we have had for the past three years. I have promised Catherine a day or more in Cumberland Island just north of Fernandina Beach for the past eight passings and on this occasion we were all prepared to drop the hook and walk through the reserve (the whole island is a nature reserve), but maybe we will give it a miss on the southbound voyage in order to get all our work done quickly in St Augustine and visit north bound next year.

So that’s it for us so far – the admiral will probably do some editing and add some words of wisdom … probably the next will be from St Augustine Florida.

Binow.

2010.11.25 busy summer

We did have a busy summer... traveled across Canada in our trusty 11 year old Volvo,  went on a cruise to Alaska and drove back across the USA....I will not bore you at this point with some of the pics I took of the spectacular places we visited, this is not what this blog is about ...but maybe later in the season on a lean day!!!

 We added two new grand children to our brood...they now number eight.

Veronica Anne MacLellan

Henry Christopher Allin