One thing that we have encountered and have had to take into consideration is the weather and the winds, especially when we have to cross the very deep channels that divide the different chains – in this case we had to cross the Exuma Sound to reach the Exumas. After checking various weather sources and programs a window was only going to last two days, so we up anchored and headed south and west.
We left Rock Sound, out through the Davis Channel, a natural passage through the rocks, coral heads and reefs, to Powell Point and out to the Sound. As expected the winds were on the nose and the seas were three to four feet. The trip was only 24 nm, but it appeared to be forever, and after four hours we saw the hills and tower on Highbourne Cay. An hour later we dropped anchor off the beach in front of the Marina.
The charts noted that the anchorage was subject to “surge”, as the Cay is only just a mile from the wall of the sound, which is over 6,000 deep, so when the tide comes in in flows through the cuts at a fast clip. In the middle of the night the winds picked-up to over 20 kts. and with the tide we were facing east, over-rode the anchor and the wind were on the stern – not a very comfortable night.
Next morning we up anchored and head for Warderick Wells Cay, the headquarters for the Exuma Land and Sea Park as another large cold front was moving in and we were looking for shelter from the north winds and wanted to be on a mooring ball.

After spending almost a month in the Abacos we have made the crossing from the Abacos to Eleuthera Island crossing the Northeast Providence Channel, 15,000 ft. deep. The winds were out of the south, the direction we were heading, so it was for the most part a motor day, and long nine hours.
The Abacos are very much the developed part of the Bahamas with extensive services, marinas and places to go. We bounced from cay to cay, Man-of-War, Hope Town, Great Guana, Marsh Harbour and Little Harbour. All different and unique with up-scale shopping markets, coffee shops, bars and restaurants and other amenities. The one thing we all complain about is the customs duties cruisers get charged to receive boat parts, essential to the boat - it is 80% of the value of the goods. The Government publishes one thing but does something completely different and it does no good to complain as you are met with a shrug of the shoulders and "blame customs" and every one of the offices is different - it is almost arbitrary!
We have walked the beaches on the Atlantic side from wind swept sand to rock with the surf pounding in. At Great Guana it is protected by the world's third largest barrier reef, and it is overlook by Nipper's a local bar - very interesting. At Hope Town, the last manned and operated light house dominates the sky line and shines its light at night - has to be manually wound-up every two hours and the flame is powered by jet fuel - pretty explosive!
All in all it is easy to understand why many cruisers come to and stay in the Abacos - it has all of the amenities and has excellent air transport to Nassau and to the USA. From here on south the islands are more remote and lack some of the amenities, so all the stocking and storing of foods and the basics, especially paper products will be few and far between.
We have fixed the water maker, so now we have a great deal of freedom where we go - water is not readily available further south, so you have to carry several extra water cans on the deck (we do, in case the water maker fails) as well as diesel, but now we can have showers, wash the boat to keep the salt down and not have to be concerned on making a specific destination to obtain water, and you have to pay for it - up to $0.50 per gallon. We will still conserve, but the freedom is nice!
On arriving here we anchored at the west end of Royal Island as there was now no wind and the seas were flat. Gary from Horizons wanted to have a beach bonfire, so we with another couple in the anchorage went ashore, gathered up drift wood and had a fire. Hot dogs and sausages were roasted over the five and we watched the sun set over deep blue water - like being kids again! And then! First Horizons dingy grounded as the tide was way out; we tried to help but as it was pitch black out and we did not have a spot light and we also grounded; Catherine was in the process of getting us into deeper water with the oar when Nigel and Elizabeth came to the rescue and gave us a tow. Next time we will be sure to take the spot light!
We have taken a mooring ball in Spanish Wells as there is no room to anchor inside the harbour. It is home to a large fleet of lobster boats that almost look like the shrimp boats we saw in the Carolinas and Georgia. They provide 75% of the world's Bahamian type of lobsters, so it is a prosperous and industrious town with many of the local industries supporting the fleet. It is also the jump-off for the ferries to Nassau, Harbour Island and George Town as well as the 'interior' of the Eleutheras. There is much to see here, so we will stay in the Eleutheras for a week or so, and then on the Exumas, a short journey of approximately 35 miles, and again over very deep water.

We spent three days at Green Turtle and then moved down to Man of War Cay on Saturday as another cold front has moved through with high winds out of the north. The anchorage at Man of War is well protected – the wind generator roared all night and most of the day so the batteries were fully charged.
Man of War was an isolated community for almost two hundred years and is a unique community. It is a ‘dry’ island – no alcohol is sold and there are no bars. Sunday was a very quiet day. We wandered through the town and then over the Cay to the Atlantic side – the wind was still blowing and the surf was pounding on to the beach – quite a sight. The wind blew for two day and no one was moving.
The Abacos were first inhabited by Loyalist fleeing the Americas after the War of Independence and most of the communities reflect the British influence. They are clean and tidy and quite prosperous. Tourism is now the main industry and they do cater to the cruisers.
We have now moved on to Hope Town on Elbow Cay and will spend New Year’s Eve and Day here – they are planning a large street party and then large fireworks at midnight. There are many boats here and many are from Canada – it is quite a sight to see so many Canadian flags off the stern of the boats. We did stay awake to see the New Year in and it was quite a good fireworks display. On New Year‘s Eve afternoon they held a parade for the children to celebrate Junkaroo – it is a mystical figure and everyone get dressed up. The adults celebrated into the wee hours of the night but it was very civilized.
There are not many things that can harm you on the islands in the form of animals and vegetation, if you get past the sea life – the sharks, barracuda and lion fish (a non-domestic fish that has invaded the island waters and you can kill on sight) with the exception of the Poison Tree – it is a mottled brown bark with black and off-white spots – it can give you a very bad case of poison ivy or worse, so you have to watch yourself when you take the trails to the beach, and also look out for the cactus – nice long spikes.
The beaches are just wonderful, with white sand/coral and go on for miles with the sea rolling in on endless waves – looks just like paradise and you do not get to see it if you go to the resorts.
We headed back to the north to go to Great Guana Cay – it was back to motoring as there was little or no wind – this are short jumps and we were able to drop the anchor for an afternoon of swimming and running around in the dingy. We headed up to the main harbour and were surprised to find we had the whole harbour to ourselves with the exception of Horizons. We went ashore and walked over to the Atlantic side and sat at Nipper’s for a drink and looked out over the third largest barrier reef – it was a very tranquil evening and the long shadows of days end was the perfect end to a fabulous day.
After a lazy start to the day we dropped the mooring ball and headed over to Marsh Harbour – the “city” in the Abacos. Everything happens here – it is the major hub for all of the airlines into this part of the Bahamas, the largest industrial area, with all of the major banks located here and open five days a week with ATMs. There is a tremendous supermarket , Maxwell’s, with almost everything in the way of produce, dry goods and supplies that you can find in Canada at very reasonable prices – it has been called the Publix of the Abacos. There are several bakeries and coffee shops, so you are not ‘cut off from the world’.
It is very easy to lay back and enjoy the sun, light breezes and the green waters. We are going to spend the next two weeks or so going back and forth between the Cays to just anchor out, explore, dive on the reefs and snorkelling and may be some fishing before heading south into the Exumas at the end of the month.

After checking numerous weather sites and obtaining the latest forecast from Chris Parker, the Weather Guru, we decided that we would make the crossing on Sunday in day light. On leaving the Lake Worth Inlet we wondered if this had gone wrong – we were in 3 to 5 ft. waves, 4 ft. swells and winds from 12 to 16 kts.
We raised the sail to help steady the boat and set off on the 52 mile crossing, and the winds did start to come from the east so that our speed was reduced to 5.5 kts. As the day progressed the wind and seas did start to drop and at 3:30 in the afternoon we were on the Banks at Memory Rock. There is nowhere to anchor, with protection, at Memory Rock, so we continued on towards Mangrove Cay, the first piece of “land”. We dropped anchor shortly after 7:30 in the dark, had a small supper and then off to bed – it had been a long day and we had covered over 80 nm.
We had noticed the water start to turn from the deep blue of the Gulf Stream to the aquamarine of the Banks. It was not until the next morning did we really see it. We now were in water that on an average is only 10 to 12 ft. deep and you can see the bottom. It will take some getting use to the shallow water and clarity.
The next day we headed to Great Sale Cay, one of the largest cays in the Abacos. After a short day, only three and a half hours we dropped the anchor at Great Sale for a relaxing afternoon. It was Christmas Eve and Carol and Gary invited us over for munchies and apparatives. Heather, Catherine’s daughter, had given us a bottle of Proseco to celebrate our crossing to the Bahamas. We shared a toast with them and their son Chris – a perfect way to end the day and start to celebrate Christmas.
The next day, Christmas Day, was another short trip to Fox Town on Little Abacos Island. In the afternoon two local fishermen stopped by and sold us fresh conch and twenty lobster tails for $40 – we split it with Horizons. We visited Horizons and the ‘girls’ prepared the conch and fried them and Gary barbequed some of the lobster tails – you could not beat it anywhere - a wonderful Christmas Diner!! Carol loaned us the DVD “Captain Ron” to watch – for cruisers it is hilarious life of cruising and all the things that can go wrong!
We had still not cleared Customs and as it was the Holidays, the offices we not open – we were flying the yellow quarantine flag – a hold-over for the old sailing days and a part of history! We up-anchored at ten as we had to come into Green Turtle on a rising tide. Another cold front had moved in overnight and the winds were from the south, so with a raised main sail and on the engine we were travelling at over 7 kts. Shortly after noon we pulled out the foresail, stopped the engine and sailed for the first time since we had left the Chesapeake and we were doing just under 7 kts.
It 2:30 we turned into the marked entrance for White Sound at Green Turtle – there are many boats here, so we found an open area and dropped the anchor. It is protected, but the wind was still blowing at over 12 kts. The wind blew all night and one of the boats dragged its anchor – there was some commotion with lights being shone on the offending boat (there was no one on board), and yelling. The wind was good for the wind generator – once you leave a dock you have to create your own electrical power to keep the batteries fully charged and it is done with solar panels and wind generators. By morning the batteries were at full power.
To get around on most of the Cays, people use golf carts – the roads are very narrow and pretty bad in spots and you cannot drive at any great speed anyway. It also allows you to get off the ‘roads’ and down trails to the beaches – so we rented a cart for the day to visit New Plymouth.
It has been an exciting six days, from the apprehension of preparing for the crossing to the arrival on the Banks – we had mad it, to then travelling into unknown waters, and the colours and the true difference of the Bahamas. We checked into Customs (we can now fly the Bahamian courtesy flag) and toured New Plymouth. It was founded by Empire Loyalist fleeing the Americas after the War for Independence in 1786. It is a small community, lively and appears to be prosperous.
There are many boats in both White and Black Sounds and everyone appears to be getting ready to make a move before the New Years – there are several rapidly moving cold fronts to pass through over the next week, so we have several cut/inlets to travel through and it is best not to do it in north winds. We will spend a few days at Green Turtle Marina and explore the Cay. The beaches have been torn up a little by Hurricane Sandy, but most of the damage is being fixed.
We have encountered a problem with the watermaker – you have to be able to produce your own water or purchase it from marinas or other places. We will have to take it apart to check out to see if the membrane has dried out. If we wish to go to some of the more remote islands we will have to be able to make our own water. It is also nice to be able to rinse off after swimming in salt water.
The days are warm, sunny and full of colours and different sounds. Things move a little slower but it is a pace that you get use to very quickly – you cannot change it and it is best to go with the flow. This is what we came for and we can now start to enjoy the Journey.

We have now reached the point where we have to get ready and position ourselves to cross to the Bahamas.
We were still in St. Augustine, on Sunday morning and awoke again to very heavy fog – it came in waves, lifting and then rolling back in. Finally at approximately 9:30 we decided that as the weather was supposed to improve – the sun was supposed to come out and burn off the fog. We dropped the mooring ball and ventured out into the ICW – the makers were hard to see and as well as the first bridge.
It was amazing that within half an hour we could see at least two to three miles and as the day progressed the fog burned off.
Again we were back into the seas of grass, but now it was a mixture of conifers (Australian Pines) and palm trees – very unusual! It was an uneventful day, a mixture of the very high end homes, mansion that seem to be too large for a single family, the ‘old’ Florida homes, small and single stories, and then into the sea marshes. We had been travelling through miles of sea marsh and just before we arrived at Daytona Beach, it was like a curtain being drawn back, and we were in large development of homes and condos. We dropped the anchor just past the city centre late in the afternoon.
Next morning was a little misty, but it was going to be a long day. We passed the Ponce de Leon Inlet with its unusual light house, with a strong current and keeping an eye on the shoaling. We entered the Mosquito Lagoon, and just after entering on the far horizon, approximately twenty miles away, the vehicle-assembly building at Cape Canaveral could be seen through the mist. The Lagoon is wide but very shallow if you stray outside the dredged chanel you will run aground – after a while it became the same, and we were motoring on autopilot. We passed through the Haulover Canal and into the Indian River – this is Central Florida and would be our ‘journey’ for the next two days. The weather became miserable as we neared Titusville – wind and showers. We had agreed that we would pass Titusville and get as far south as possible before sunset. We made it to the NASA Causeway and made the five o’clock bridge opening – the first after the ‘NASA rush hour’, and immediately turned to starboard (right) to anchor for the night. It was important to make this opening as the sun was setting and the first bridge in the mooring is 6:30 and the next is 8:00 – the bridge openings control your destiny and how far you can travel.
It had been a rolly night as it was windy and the seas were over two feet. We up-anchor just after seven as it was going to be another long day. The weather had improved but very humid and overcast. The Indian River is wide, open and very shallow so it was a day of paying attention and letting Rivendell be driven by AUTO.
We made it to Vero Beach and took a mooring ball at the Municipal Marina – this is a location where many cruisers take time to fix things, take on provisions and ‘chill-out’. It is also known as velcro beach as many cruisers get this far south and then stop. There was lightning all around us, but we only got a rain shower overnight and the anchorage is very protected.
We only spent the night, dropped the ball early in the morning and the on to Lake Worth – again down the Indian River, passing Fort Pierce and Jupiter. We later learned that we had escaped some very severe weather at both Titusville and Vero Beach – there was the sighting of water spots as Titusville and Jupiter received 5” of rain in less than eight hours – we saw none of this as we motored past.
As we passed through Jupiter we encountered a series of bridges, the first three opened on demand, but then we encountered three that only opened at specific times, such that we had to wait twenty minutes for the first to open than the race to make the next two openings – it was somewhat nerve racking as it was starting to approach sunset.
We had made it to Lake Worth. We turn north into the Lake and the into Old Port Cove Marina – we will spend a few days here as we have boat parts being shipped and it is a good place to get provision and other things before we get set to cross the Gulf Stream and into the Bahamas.
It is a great marina and part of a gated community. We have finally resolved the problem with the windless – the contactor has failed and will have to be replaced – hopefully Lewmar can get it here by Tuesday.
Once we have completed all of the final ‘fixings’, taken on fuel and completed the provisioning we will move on south to the Lake Worth Inlet and wait for the weather window to head for the Bahamas.

We have been at St. Augustine for four days and it has been misty and cool. We spent the first night on a mooring ball as there is nowhere to anchor close to the down town.
On Thursday morning we awoke to no power and no light – everything works off the large bank of batteries. After checking and testing all things associated with the batteries we found that the main fuse from the buss bar protecting the distribution panel had blown – it was replaced and we had the power and lights back – all for a $10 fuse!
We then moved to Rivers Edge Marina so that the dingy could be picked up by Arnis of Fair Winds Boat Repairs, in the pouring rain! He said he would try to have it repaired by late Friday afternoon, but maybe Saturday morning. We trooped off to West Marine in search of a replacement for the buss fuse – no luck, so we will have to order the replacement from Defender.
St. Augustine is the oldest city in North America. It was founded by the Spanish in the 1500’s, Then occupied by the French and the British, then the Spanish again and finally the US. The fortress of Castillo de San Marcos was constructed during the first Spanish occupation, mainly to defend against the native Americans but also the other European realms vying for the riches of the Americas. The fortress was never taken by military force but by transfer through treaties. It was constructed of local materials, mainly blocks of sand, shells and coral – it is amazing that it has lasted for aver 500 years. It is now part of the US National Park Services.
We walked down to the old city centre. Most of the “old” buildings and structures were built during the second Spanish occupation in the early 1700’s. The city centre is also home to Flanger University, housed in a beautiful building that was formally part of the Flanger Hotel Chain. Flanger was a 19th century multi-millionaire and did much to develop north eastern Florida. Another one of his hotels is now the home of the St. Augustine City Hall.
The next day was much the same, cool, misty and raining – it was very foggy in the morning. Again we headed down town, walked around, toured the Castillo and saw a live firing of the cannons. Got the word that the dingy would not be ready until Saturday morning, before lunch – that meant another day here.
Saturday we awoke to very heavy fog – almost zero visibility. The dingy was will be back by ten, but we decided we would stay until Sunday as it was still very foggy. Moved back to the City Marina and took a mooring ball in anticipation of an early start as we want to be at Lake Worth by Wednesday. Had supper with Carol and Gary and then took the dingy back to the downtown to have a look at the Christmas lights and took photos of the harbour lights. We awoke on Sunday to again very heavy fog and decided to wait for it to lift, and by 9:30 we slipped the ball and headed south.