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16-31 March 2010

Spanish Wells to Titusville, FL

 

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Date Location Log and Pictures
16 March 2010 Spanish Wells, Eleuthera Quiet night and we rose to sunshine and low winds.  We headed out for breakfast at a local cafe.  There are not any high end restaurants in Spanish Wells, probably because they do not serve alcohol on the island.  After breakfast we walked the town docks and noticed the high speed ferry loading for its trip to Harbour Island.  It had just come from Nassau.  We then jumped on the golf cart we rented yesterday and toured the town some more.  The government offices were painted a bright yellow and we smiled at the neat and clean streets of the town.  Weather prediction is still good for our ocean crossing tomorrow so we are planning on making our way to the Grand Abacos, just a 50 mile ocean trip away.  Tonight we'll eat aboard and go to sleep early.  Today we did several of those have to be done chores and are ready for the crossing.
   

   

17 March 2010 Guana Cay, Abacos, Grand Abaco Island Up at 7 am, we went to the fuel dock and fueled, returning to join the 5 boat transit thru the coral reefs to the Ocean and Grand Abaco Island.  The first two pictures are of three of the five boats, we were the fourth, following our pilot in a 20 foot open bow boat guiding us thru the reefs NW from Spanish Wells to the Ocean.  Carey took some more pictures of the town as we left.  It was a beautiful town that we really enjoyed.  We successfully passed the reefs and made the 50 mile trip across the Ocean to the Grand Abaco Island seeing two very large whales enroute.  Our travel mates stopped at Little Harbour, just after entering the Grand Abaco bank, but Carey and I continued on the Bahama Bank to Guana Cay, a 70 mile total trip for the day.  We did it in just 6 hours.  The Ocean transit was great, starting with 2 foot swells, 8 seconds apart and ending when we approached the Grand Abaco bank with 4 foot swells at 9 seconds.  Could not have been a better crossing.  The weather was predicted to deteriorate by late afternoon and it did just that after we moored at Orchid Bay Marina on Guana Cay at about 3 pm.  The 25 knots of wind are not effecting us much here in the marina.  We walked to Nipeprs for drinks and dinner, really enjoying ourselves.   The weather prediction just may allow us to get back to the states within the next week.  We'll see.  Tomorrow we'll stay here until the weather settles back to normal.  I should not say this, as it may prove the opposite, but the boat is really performing well.  We have had no equipment problem since leaving Beaufort, NC.  Today the boat was quietly and successfully traveling up the bank at 15 knots after crossing the Ocean at 12 knots to stay with our travel mates, all systems operating perfectly. 
   

   

   

18 March 2010 Guana Cay, Abacos, Grand Abaco Island Easy day as Carey did laundry and I checked the weather to plan our trip back to the states.  We walked the town again enjoying local homes and views of the harbour.  In the evening we went to Grabbers, where the owner of the beach restaurant put up a tent to use when the winds on the beach were too high.  We and the other customers enjoyed the meal and warmth of the tent on the beach  As we left we noticed the nice pool and lighted trees on the walkway home.  A very pleasant and relaxing day. 
   

   

   

19-20 March 2010 Green Turtle,  Black Sound, Grand Abaco The 19th gave us time to do some chores.  Carey did a lot of cleaning, polished some stainless steel and I changed the main engine oil and filters.  I had to take the laptop to the office to get wifi here but it was a good connection.  We ate a great meal aboard and went to bed early.  Saturday morning we walked to the Art Cafe and ate a normal eggs and bacon breakfast, then got underway and passed thru the Whale Cut, en route to Green Turtle Cay.  The Whale cut was our second of three open ocean passages.  The Whale is a short passage but can be nasty; today it was smooth.   The markers into Black Sound at Green Turtle Cay had arrows as well as the appropriate colors.  We wanted to tie to a mooring buoy but there were none available so the owner of the mooring buoys called a local who allowed us to tie to his pier for less than the price of a mooring buoy.  After securing the boat we walked the town and had dinner at a local eatery.  Nice but not fancy meal.  We're back aboard.  We may have to stay here a day or two as another front passes.  Our 3 hour 17 mile trip today at least got us around the Whale Cut and in position to make the transit across the bank to West End soon, which is only 55 miles from Florida.  
   

   

   

21-22 March 2010 Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas Sunday and Monday we spent walking the small town and doing a few chores on the boat as we watched the front move thru.  Checking the weather it still appears we may get across the Atlantic from West End on Thursday, so we'll move to West End starting tomorrow, Tuesday. 
23 March 2010 Great Sale Cay, Bahamas It's Tuesday, the 23rd.  We fueled and fixed a broken clamp on the raw water inlet hose for the generator this morning and headed out for Great Sale Cay, a 56 mile trip.  A bit rough to start with 3-4 foot seas, but true to forecast the winds relaxed and the seas reduced to a reasonably level.  By the end of the trip the seas and wind were mild and we pulled into Great Sale at 6 pm, not bad after starting at 11 am after working the leak on the generator this morning.  After starting the generator this evening it ran for 2 minutes and quit ... ouch.  Trouble shooting determined that we had taken on fuel at some time with a lot of water in it; the fuel filter on the generator was loaded with water.  I replaced the filters and the generator is running fine.  We'll keep a good eye on the filter and drain off any water so we can keep the generator running.  We enjoyed the long trek across the northern portion of  Grand Abacos and are ready to enjoy West End tomorrow night.  Carey finally caught me in the engine room working on the generator fuel filters in a picture you see below. 
   

   

24 March 2010 North Palm Beach, Florida Underway from Great Sale Cay at 8:30 am.  Water was flat and winds were calm.  Along the way Carey took pictures of the floor of the bank and the weeds growing there.  Amazing and we marveled at how clear the water is.  Talking to the many boaters moving west we all discovered that the weather window to cross the Atlantic and Gulf Stream was closing.  This afternoon the prediction was 1-3 foot seas and mild winds, increasing tomorrow to 18 knots with 2-4 foot seas.  We'd planned to stop at West End after 46 miles from Great Sale.  We changed our minds, pulled into West end with its homes and palm trees, took on 100 gallons of fuel and immediately got underway for the states.  We were underway by 1:30 pm and traveled in 2-3 foot seas arriving at North Palm Beach at 6 pm.  Grand total of 102 nautical miles for the day.  Not the best of crossings but much better than tomorrow would have been so we are happy we made it.  After tying up we took the kind offer of another boating couple to give us a ride to a local Tiki Bar so we could have dinner.  They dropped us off, we ate a great meal and took a cab back.  We're on board the boat and relaxing now after a long day on the water.  We'll check in with customs tomorrow and start moving north either tomorrow or the next day.
   

   

25 March 2010 North Palm Beach, Florida A few chores and relaxing from the long trek yesterday, we also grabbed a cab and went to the airport to complete the customs check-in.  We're now back aboard and Carey is playing master chef for the evening.  I had to play repairman today as the generator developed another problem.  The mechanical fuel stop plunger broke.  Luckily it was an easy fix.  I'll get the correct part when we return to Virginia.  For now, my "jerry rig" fix will work just fine.  I knew I should not have said how well the boat was behaving as something would surely break.  Luckily the two problems with the generator have been minor and easily fixed.  We'll leave tomorrow for Fort Pierce. 
26 March 2010 Fort Pierce City Marina Underway at 8:30 am for Fort Pierce, an easy 50 statue mile trip at 8 knots, we arrived at 3:00 pm.  The night before we watched Paul an Dugan Lumpkin, a couple we met at New Port Cove leave for the Bahamas on their sailboat, doing an overnight sail.  On our trip today we saw some beautiful old boats, enjoyed watching a couple paddle on their water boards down the waterway, and finally tried to determine how a beautiful powerboat could sink like the one below.  After mooring we enjoyed the antics of a manatee swimming around the boats at the slip.  Tom and Bonnie Scanlin stopped by and gave us one of their cars so we could provision for the trip north up the waterway.  We're out of wine and that is a problem.  The four of us went to dinner at a local restaurant and we're back aboard relaxing.  We'll spend tomorrow and Sunday here doing some chores and visiting Tom and Bonnie, then continue north.   
   

   

   

27-28 March 2010 Fort Pierce City Marina, Fort Pierce, FL Saturday morning we did our provisioning for the trip north using Tom and Bonnie's car including finding a raw water pump for the aft cabin AC that failed last evening.  I replaced it in the afternoon and that evening we enjoyed a great T-bone steak at Tom and Bonnie's new home they just closed on the St Lucie.  They will finish the furnishing when they return next year but are enjoying their beautiful home now, prior to returning to Virginia.  Carey and Bonnie enjoyed sitting in and wondering around the house.  Sunday we relaxed on board and said hi to Ross and Kathy who pulled into Fort Pierce this afternoon.  We'll be traveling a bit with them on the trip back to Virginia in April.  If the weather is right, we'll leave tomorrow morning.  Sunday afternoon we continued our great visit with Tom and Bonnie, joining them at the resort where they keep their RV.  Now that they have purchased a home in Florida we guess the RV will be a thing of the past soon.  We have really enjoyed seeing these dear friends.  It has been a very nice stop.  
   

   

   

29 March 2010 Ft Pierce, FL Easy start to day with steady and heavy rain.  We relaxed, did a few chores and relaxed.  With the forecast of heavy winds we decided to stay another day.  We went to dinner at a local pizza restaurant with Ross and Kathy who we will travel with up the ICW over the next week or so.  Hopefully tomorrow will provide reasonable weather for traveling north. 
30 March 2010 Dragon Point, Merritt Island, Fl Left Ft Pierce at 9 am and headed for Dragon Point on Merritt Island.  The weather is great.   We moved slow, 7 knots, and enjoyed the sunshine and low winds, making the 42 NM trip in 6 hours.  We rafted with Ross and Kathy on Pilgrim and talked about the dolphins running along with us all day long.  Carey was cooking for the 4 of us.  We started the generator to cook the potatoes and it stopped after 2 minutes.  Investigation showed that more water was in the filters which had to come from the fuel tank.  Cleaned the filters and still got water so had to open the drain valve from the lowest point of the tank and I got 1 gallon of water out of the tank.  The fill up in Green Turtle was the problem we're sure.  After draining the bottom of the tank all was well, the generator ran fine and we had a great dinner just 30 minutes later than expected.  All is well and running fine.   
   

   

31 March 2010 Titusville, Florida Easy underway at 9 am again for the 30 NM trip to Titusville, FL.  We rafted again with Pilgrim.  After rafting at 2 pm we enjoyed watching beautiful boats running by the anchorage and a glass of wine on the back of our boats. 
   

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