16-31 January 2009
Fort Pierce, FL. to Marsh Harbour, Abaco
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| Date | Location | Log and Pictures | |
| 16 Jan 2010 | Fort Pierce, FL | Still here. 75 degrees, some clouds today. We finished provisioning for the Bahamas. Carey stocks in heavy on beef because it's hardly edible in the Bahamas, unless in a restaurant. We've learned a few lessons on our last two trips. Tom and Bonnie came by for a early afternoon lunch and now we're now on the boat planning our trip to Stuart tomorrow. The next best crossing weather day is next Wednesday, so we'll move slowly to Lake Worth, anchoring/mooring along the way as it is much cheaper than waiting here in the marina. . | |
| 17 Jan 2010 | Fort Pierce, FL. | Windy but warm we stayed and relaxed watching the Vikings beat the Cowboys and the Jets win over the Chargers. Good day with pizza and wine. We're now in the vacation mode. Tomorrow we're heading south to position for crossing as there is a weather window on Wednesday. | |
| 18 Jan 2010 | Stuart, FL | Underway at 9:30 for Stuart a 28 mile 4 hour trip. Moored to a buoy and started the generator. Put the dinghy down, toured the area, filled its gas tank with fuel and visited with good friends Ross and Kathy who are moored in the same area. The nighttime view of a close by bridge was beautiful and we enjoyed a great dinner onboard. We will travel to Lake Worth instead of waiting to leave via Lt. Lucie Inlet. Weather still favorable for a Wednesday transit. |
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| 19 Jan 2010 | Lake Worth, FL. | Completed some business by phone this morning, then underway at 11 am for Lake Worth. Moving slow thru no wake zones we arrived 5 hours later after 33 miles of travel, anchoring in the Lake's designated anchorage off Old Port Cove Marina. Tiger Woods' boat is moored at the marina. With a bit of money you could buy a nice home on the water and enjoy playing on a palm tree surrounded golf course. Or, as we are doing, enjoy a beautiful anchorage spot next to Palm Beach. Lake Worth has a great outlet to the Ocean and is one of a few key channels used by cruisers heading to the Bahamas, just 56 miles from the US at this point. The Gulf Stream is 12 miles off shore and pushes north at 3 knots which is why all small boats want wind from the south (keeps the waves down) when they cross. Tomorrow's weather is predicted to have south west winds at 5-10 and less than 2 foot seas so we' plan to leave early tomorrow . We found our buddy boat via VHF. |
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| 20 Jan 2010 | Old Bahama Bay, West End, Bahamas | Up before sunrise and underway just as the sun was rising. We left Lake Worth Inlet by 8 am and headed west at 13 knots until we saw the light turquoise water of the Bahamas, just 4.5 hours after leaving. We tied up at Old Bahama Bay Resort among palm trees and several sport fishing boats, who gave us 10 pounds of Wahoo that they could not take back into the States. They caught 120 pounds today. We traveled across the Atlantic to West End with Rich and Pam Atwood on Adena, now new friends who will travel with us to Marsh Harbor. We're loving it as we sat on the beach this afternoon and tasted the Goombay Smashes ... very good! This is one of our favorite spots. |
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| 21Jan 2010 | Old Bahama Bay, West End, Bahamas | Strong winds this morning kept us in Old Bahama Bay. Tough! We relaxed, did a few chores and enjoyed visiting with fellow boaters. Forecast indicates we may stay tomorrow also, but we'll know more in the morning. | |
| 22 Jan 2010 | Old Bahama Bay, West End, Bahamas | Continued strong winds. We enjoyed another day at the beach in Old Bahama Bay. Carey sat on the beach and read as I cleaned the brown mustache on the bow. We enjoyed the afternoon with Rich and Pam and Rich and I sat up his Ray Marine Chart Plotter with the route for tomorrow. We taught them Farkle and I enjoyed one of Rich's great big cigars. Another fine day in paradise. | |
| 23-24 Jan 2010 | Green Turtle Cay, Abaco, Bahamas | Morning of 23rd we're underway across top of Grand Bahamas Island. We anchored at Great Sale Cay after traveling 45 nautical miles. With Rich and Pam (boat pictured below) we enjoyed a lobster dinner aboard Apolonia while at anchor. Underway on Sunday the 24th we traveled 54 NM to Green Turtle Cay, the last 2 hours in 35 knot winds and high seas. Glad we were on the Bahamian Bank instead of the ocean as we saw large Ocean waves crashing into a small inlet to the bank. That gives high and confused seas, called a Rage Sea here. Something you don't want to be in. We watched it from a mile away and felt some effects. Before the weather deteriorated we passed a local area cargo ship. Carey caught me sleeping somewhere along the way. We pulled into Green Turtle Cay, Black Sound and tied to a mooring buoy, enjoying pretty homes along the way. Adena took a slip in the marina as their refrigerator stopped working and they wanted to get it fixed. We have crossed north of Grand Bahamas Island, passed north of Little Abaco Island and are now moving south alongside of Grand Abaco Island en route to Marsh Harbor. We're about 140 miles east of Florida. The Bahamas was first discovered by Christopher Columbus and after a varied history became a separate country in 1973 after the British gave it up as a possession. The indigenous population was destroyed by the Spanish and today's Bahamian population stems largely from American loyalists that fled the US during the Revolutionary War and immigrants from neighboring island populations, such as Haiti. Visitors are surprised to find that native foods include fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, cornbread, in addition to the local seafoods. | |
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| 25 Jan 2010 | Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas | Still here. Wind howling and we're safely tied to a mooring ball at Donny's Boat Rental Services in Black Sound. Nice stop and we're enjoying the small town and ocean beaches in a protected harbor. | |
| 26 Jan 2010 | Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas | Waiting yet another day for the winds to die down before going thru the Whale Cay Cut to Marsh Harbor. Rented a golf cart with Rich and Pam to tour Green Turtle that includes two bays, White and Black Sounds. Black Sound is within the local community. White sound is a short golf cart ride away and is the Cay's resort area. Beautiful homes on the water surround old outdoor museums and sandy beaches on the Atlantic, where Rich and Pam enjoyed walking in the surf. Of course, there were a few bars nearby so we enjoyed local rum drinks. White Sound has a beautiful beach area with dining areas on the water and tends to draw those who prefer resort atmospheres. While moored in Black Sound Harry and Hilary came aboard to take a tour of Apolonia. They live in Edinburgh, Scotland and spend 1/3rd of their time there, 1/3rd in their home in Naples, Florida, and the remainder on their 44 foot sail boat. They're interested in buying a power boat, particularly a Vista.. Their visit convinced them that a Vista was perfect for them and they are off to find one to purchase! Lovely and interesting couple.. | |
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| 27 Jan 2010 | Marsh Harbor, Bahamas | Underway at 9:30 am we traveled 21 NM to Marsh Harbor thru the Whale Cay Cut where for a few miles we were in the Atlantic in 4 foot swells. Bounced around a bit, we finally traveled back into the Sea of Abaco on the Bahamian Bank and traveled quietly to Marsh Harbor, arriving just after noon. We enjoyed the familiar views of Marsh Harbor as we arrived. After settling in Rich and I helped a neighboring boater remove 8 very heavy and large batteries from his boat. Interestingly, another boater made the 150 mile trip to Palm Beach last week to pick up new batteries for the boater, a 40 hour round trip. Amazing. This evening Rich, Pam, Carey and I went to the Jib Room across the bay for the weekly barbequed rib dinner where a local limbo artist dances under an 18 inch high bar. Good food and entertainment. Yep, it's a great trip. | |
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| 28 Jan 2010 | Marsh Harbor, Bahamas | Today was simply relaxing. Other than Carey doing a load or two of wash we simply took the day off and relaxed on the boat, unwinding and meeting up with some old friends from previous trips. | |
| 29 Jan 2010 | Marsh Harbor, Bahamas | Great day with sun and warm weather. Carey opened the back deck windows early, then we walked around the town and reacquainted ourselves with this great little town. We lunched at a local restaurant, followed by some work on the Single Side Band radio. Dinner we Snappas with their 2 beers for $5 and special dinners, then returned to play a game of Farkle with Rich and Pam. Big storm coming this weekend so we'll stick around here and start traveling to the surrounding Cays early next week. |
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| 30-31 Jan 2010 | Marsh Harbor, Bahamas | We've decided to keep a slip at Harbor View Marina at Marsh Harbor for a month, unwind and make weekly visits around the surrounding cays, particularly Guana ( with Nippers) and Elbow Cay, with its unsurpassed community of Hope Town. At the end of February we'll head south to the Exuma and its less inhabited cays. A strong cold front came in yesterday and today is cloudy with rain. Nice day to read and relax on board, which we did. We'll update the web site every several days from now on as we're not traveling much this month. Off to Buck-a-Book! | |
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