Wayne
02/01/2012, Green Turtle Cay

The morning following our Gulf Stream crossing dawned bright, warm and beautiful but before we could all enjoy the day the engine on Tranquility needed repair. So Derek and Laurence got to work and within about 45 minutes had the problem fixed. It turned out that the electrical connection to the fuel pump was faulty and a quick re-wire was all that was needed. So with that problem out of the way we all started to enjoy all that West End had to offer and so we puttered on the boats, walked on the beach, swam in the pool, played billiards and generally did a lot of nothing for the day. To cap off a great day Joan and Laurence treated us to a lovely dinner at the resort of cracked conch chowder and red snapper with rice and beans in the traditional Bahamian method. Mmm...good.

While walking around the resort we met Pat and Tutti Phelan off Keltic Kat whom I had met in Indiantown and we discussed transiting the very narrow and shallow Indian Cay Channel. Pat has made the trip many times and assured us that our boats could make the passage and that it would significantly reduce our travelling time to Great Sale Cay. So at 7am Tuesday morning we all rendezvoused in the channel and followed Keltic Kat onto the Bahama bank past Barracuda Shoal. This was my first real experience with the Bahamian buoyage system (or rather lack of) because the entire Indian Cay Channel is unmarked and you must rely on your GPS and visual piloting to make your way through it. Thanks to Pat and Tutti's assist we made it safely over the shallows and set our sails on the turquoise water that are so striking on the bank towards Great Sale Cay.

Once we were clear of the shoal we started motor sailing in light winds from the SE. We were all enjoying the brilliant sunshine and were fascinated by the shallow, crystal-clear water beneath. It is rather unnerving to be sailing at 6+ knots with 2-3 feet of water under the keel for hour after hour. Slowly Mangrove Cay came over the horizon and we got our first look at an uninhabited Bahamian Cay which was low, covered with scrub vegetation and, in this case, a lonely outpost on the bank that some cruisers use as an overnight anchorage in settled weather.

We carried on and over the next few hours Great Sale Cay came into view and we sailed into the crescent shaped anchorage by mid-afternoon. We anchored in sand and mud just 300 feet from south and we were well protected from winds from the north and east. We spent a beautiful night at anchor and were amazed how much brighter the stars were with no ambient light around to dilute their effect. I continued to try to find a water problem on board that was causing the bilge pumps to cycle on but a solution was not to be found this day. We tried to barbeque dinner but now I realize why so many cruisers give up on BBQs because the strong winds made getting dinner ready outside impossible.

The next morning we raised the anchor at about 8:30 and headed for Great Sale Rocks and Carter's Bank where we would leave the North Atlantic Ocean and turn the corner into the more protected Sea of Abaco. A couple of miles north of the anchorage the bilge pumps once again cycled on and the high water alarm sounded. So I dove below to try to sort out the problem and soon discovered that the bilge hose was actually siphoning water back into the bilge when we were motoring on a flat sea. So my day was spent with my head in the bilge re-installing the one-way valve that was removed when the Indiantown mechanics installed the new bilge pumps.

Meanwhile Derek and Sue enjoyed a glorious day motoring along with Tranquility off the stern they passed Hawksbill Cay, Allan-Pensacola Cay, and a succession of others along the eastern shore of Great Abaco Island that made for picturesque sailing. We had originally thought about going to Crab Cay to anchor for the night but we heard on the radio of several other boats headed there so we decided to press on to Powell Cay for the evening so that we would have a quieter anchorage. We arrived at Powell in the mid-afternoon and anchored on the west shore of the cay in about 7 ft of water. Powell Cay is uninhabited and as soon as the anchors were down both boats splashed their dinghies and headed ashore. The group of us spent a pleasant couple of hours walking the pristine beaches, crossing over the Atlantic side of the cay, and splashing our ankles in the water. It was marvellous to beach comb on a truly deserted tropical island. We spent a somewhat choppy night in the anchor but nothing very severe.

The next morning we left before 8 am so we would have a rising high tide when we reached our next destination at Green Turtle Cay. In order to get into either of the harbours on Green Turtle one must do so when there is, at least, half tide because of shallow sandbars at the entrances. Leeway, being the larger and deeper boat, felt her way in along the dog-leg channel into White Sound without incident and anchored about 500 ft from shore between the two marinas located in the harbour.

Green Turtle was to be our base for a while because a new low front was forecasted to bring high winds for the next couple of days and so that we would find the right weather to transverse the Whale Cut. The Whale Channel Cut is where deep-draft boats must go outside into the open ocean through a narrow cut and re-enter the Sea of Abaco miles further south. Good weather is important for two reasons: 1) you are venturing onto the open ocean and the breaking waves can be highly dangerous, and 2) the tides create rip currents as the water moves on and off the shallow bank. So care must be taken in making passage even though the trip is not a long one.

So our little flotilla settled in for a few days stay on Green Turtle. Green Turtle is a moderate sized cay and New Plymouth, founded into 1780s (and not much has changed), is its main settlement. Our anchorage was well protected on all sides and it was hard to believe that on a couple of those days 25-30 knot winds were raging outside as we enjoyed the bright sunshine and toured the islands.

A couple of days were overcast and rather nasty but that didn't stop us from jumping in the dinghies to check out Black Sound (the other harbour) and explore New Plymouth for a day. Unfortunately the weather remained unsettled and the reports on the Whale Passage were not good so we were forced to remain in Green Turtle longer than we had planned.

In fact, the time was drawing close for Derek and Sue to return home to Canada and it appeared that we would not be able to make it any further south within the next couple of days. So on Sunday, January 29 they took the Green Turtle Ferry over to Treasure Cay and got a taxi from there to Marsh Harbour for their flight home on Monday.

It's hard to believe that our time together had gone by so quickly. I really enjoyed having them aboard and appreciated their help as crew. Good friends are hard to come by and they're the best.

Now I'm alone.........wonder what kind of trouble I can get into now. Mmmm!?!

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Wayne
01/24/2012, West End, Bahamas

We upped the anchor at 4:15 am from the anchorage south east of Peanut Island and made our way out the channel on what turned out to be a very dark night. Going out the channel in the pitch black I must say was slightly eerie but we cleared the channel and set our course for West End, Bahamas about 57 miles away in flat seas and light winds.

The darkness gave way to a most glorious sunrise about 2 1/2 hours later and that led into a nearly perfect day for a Gulf Stream crossing. All three of us were enjoying the day, watching the US shoreline disappear, and marvelling at the power of the Gulf Stream even on a placid day like today. We soon found ourselves about 10 miles off the coast and we were already about 2 miles north of the rhumbline. For you non-sailors that means we were being pushed at nearly 5 knots (about 8 mph) north away from our destination. We decided to give up a little bit of our forward progress to head into the current to move closer to our course. Not only did we have a buddy boat travelling with us but there were about a dozen other boats spread out across the horizon both ahead and behind us.

Our small navigation correction was working and we were slowly making our way across and enjoying our adventure when we received a radio call from Tranquility, our buddy boat. They were about as far south of the rhumbline (a better navigational position) as we were north and a couple of miles behind us. But, they were currently adrift because their engine suddenly quit. Laurence & Joan Wright, our travelling buddies, live near the Scarborough Bluffs in Toronto and I met them in Indiantown while we were both working on our boats. They bought a lovely 1984 Tartan 33 sloop that was new to them this year and they worked like crazy in the boatyard getting the boat ready for their trip. But, despite all the planning in the world any new boat will present all kinds of daunting challenges to new owners. Unfortunately, for the crew of Tranquility this current challenge came in the middle of the Gulf Stream with only light and variable winds.

Leeway altered course and in about an hour rendezvoused with Tranquility which was still without power. The decision was made to take Tranquility under tow while Laurence continued to troubleshoot the engine problems. And so, the tethered boats continued eastward towards the Bahamas.

Now, they say that you should never tow your dinghy behind your boat while crossing the stream and suddenly here I was towing a 10,000 lb boat. Oh well, we all do what we got to do and we all carried on with Leeway chugging away at about 2900 rpm to keep up a decent pace while the crew of Tranquility had to hand-steer the entire day. Anyone who has helmed a boat for an hour knows how tiring it can be and Laurence and Joan (I'm told mostly Joan) had to do so for over 5 hours.

Slowly we made our way across the stream strapped to each others' hip getting closer and closer, but Mother Nature wasn't through with us yet. As predicted the winds picked up in the afternoon out of the east (and of course, what direction were we travelling?) and slowed our forward progress to less that 3.5 knots for a couple of hours. So we all settled in for a long afternoon, but fortunately, as we got closer to the Bahama bank the waves abated somewhat and allow our speed to creep back up to about 5.5 knots.

We contacted Old Bahama Bay Marina and they were ready for our arrival and sent crew out to the dock to help the disabled Tranquility get into a slip. We entered the channel just after 6pm in rapidly diminishing light and by the time we handed over Tranquility to the dock crew, turned around and found our own slip it was dark. To say the least it was a very interesting day - good, productive, one that you have a good feeling about - but nevertheless interesting.

We hadn't even finished tying up the boats and the dock crew were hustling us off to Bahamas customs and immigration so we could clear into the country. We walked around the marina basin to the customs office and in a flurry of paperwork were cleared into the country, paid all our fees, been granted fishing licenses, and we were all back to our boats by 7pm. Try that in Canada.

So we're here. In the Bahamas. Currently residing at Old Bahama Bay at West End, Bahamas. Tomorrow we'll try to solve Tranquility's engine problem and figure out where we're going from here. But right now, I just want to catch my breath.

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Wayne
01/20/2012, Lake Worth, Florida

Our close friends, Derek & Susan Bernard, arrived on the 11th to spend a couple of weeks with me on the boat and help with the crossing over to the Bahamas. The first couple of days were busy ones filled with getting provisions (yes more) and taking their car down to West Palm airport so it would be there upon their return to the States.

Initially, we thought that we might have a weather window to cross over on the weekend but that failed to materialize but hope sprang eternal for the following Wednesday. So, in anticipation of a favourable forecast we cast off from the mooring in Stuart on Monday the 16th and headed down the ICW towards Lake Worth. Derek was with me for much of the passage down the ICW last year but Sue had never seen it before and she seemed to get a kick out of seeing both the wild side of the scenery interspersed with the ever present development that never seems very far away.

We arrived in Lake Worth mid-afternoon and joined up with our buddy boat Tranquility who had moved down a few days earlier. Soon after our arrival, we started concentrating on the Cruisers' Dance -- watching the weather and waiting. It's a complicated dance that involves intricate footwork - one step forward, two steps back. We caught every forecast, discussed what we heard and sought out the opinions of anyone who would listen. We thought that Wednesday would be our chance, but by Tuesday morning it became apparent that that window was collapsing rapidly and our trip would have to wait a little while longer. So our little flotilla of two, along with dozens of others, sat anchored securely waiting for the next opportunity.

The weather is supposed to cooperate on Saturday and Sunday by moving a high pressure system into the region. We will give the Gulf Stream a chance to lay down on Saturday and have made our plans to cross over on Sunday, January 22nd.

So late Saturday afternoon we will move from the north anchorage down to the Peanut Island anchorage at Lake Worth which gives easy access out the channel to the ocean. We'll stage ourselves in the anchorage so that we will have as little to do to get underway in the wee morning hours as possible. Everything will be stowed carefully, sail covers off, spotlights charged, and the boat will be on a short rode. Our dance is almost complete.

Derek, Sue, Cindy and I have been sailing together for over 30 years and here we are again having one more new and exciting time together. But, we all miss the Admiral. It's hard to dance alone.

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