Fort Pierce to Spanish Cay
15 December 2012
Stew
12-15-2012
Fort Pierce to Spanish Cay
We spent Thanksgiving at the Marina. The restaurant at Harbortown actually put on a very nice event. He rest of our time was spent making preparations that we had not finished prior to leaving Cocoa. Daily trips to Publix for food to hoard, and wine to resupply our vanishing stock, were routine. Our friends Alan and Carla Olden came down to visit on Sunday the 2nd of December to give us a sanity break. We got to ride in a car and go to a shopping mall and see the sights of Fort Pierce proper!
The rebuilt transmission and injector pump both arrived on Monday the 26th of November; they both leaked. The transmission was leaking from the aft seal and was quickly removed, repaired and reinstalled the next day. The injector pump...different story. I was leaking worse than ever. After hours and days and once again taking it back to the shop, the brain trust decided it must be the #3 injector line. We found one in Michigan, overnighted it, and when it arrived it was the wrong one. So we ordered the correct one, overnighted it and it arrived the very next day...amazing! After a few more minor adjustments, Ruby was running smooth. So we packed up after three weeks and three days and headed South.
We spent the First and 2nd nights at Peck Lake (just South of St. Lucie Inlet). It's basically just a wider portion of the waterway, but very secluded and just a sand dune away from the ocean. We stayed an extra night there because thunderstorms were running up and down the coast.
The next day we motor-sailed down to Lake Worth Inlet. While going under the last of seven lift- bridges we could only make about two knots of headway into the current. That's when the siren went off in my brain “your prop is fouled moron”. We anchored about half a mile south of the inlet along with a couple dozen other boats waiting for weather to make the jump across the Gulf Stream. So, we spent Saturday the 8th of December getting ready. First we took the dog to peanut island (beautiful state park) where she got her last good run in for the next five days. Then we headed back to Firefly. Next I dove the boat to verify that the prop was indeed fouled completely with hard growth. Kinda wish that I'd thought of that at Fort Pierce. Anyway, the water was pretty clear which made scraping the prop almost enjoyable. The weather forecast was for SE winds 10-15kts and seas 2-3ft with an 11 second period. Supposed to stay that way a couple of days. So after running out of excuses, we decided to cross the next morning.
The drama begins....
We woke up before dawn on Sunday the 9th of December, fed the critters, ate breakfast and checked the weather. Still sounded good. Then we listened to reports coming in from other boats the had either began the crossing or were trying to decide whether or not to try. Short story shorter, it still sounded pretty goo. Maybe a Little rolly and apparently getting out of the inlet was a little bumpy. A LITTLE BUMPY! So that's how the crossing began, nose diving through 4-6 footers about 4 seconds apart. Apparently outgoing tides can be a little bumpy. Anyway, it was an excellent chance to make sure everything was well secured on deck. So far so good. By the time we reached the end of the jetty, we didn’t dare turn around to face that again, so we kept going. We were sure it would only get better...not so much. The 2-3 foot seas seemed to be riding atop 2-3 feet more of a southerly swell. We found ourselves routinely rolling 15 degrees to either side, with occasional rolls well over 20.the winds were barely off the nose, so I didn't put up any sail. Kinda wish I had looking back, it might have reduced to roll if nothing else. Well this lasted about three or four hours until Diana noticed the the Bimini was starting to sway left and right with the rolls. Since we have two 135 watt solar panels up there, I thought “this can’t be good”. About the time that I returned with a hex wrench to start tighten all of the joints, one let go, the another. Now I'm playing Twister trying to hold to Bimini to together while looking for something to lash it with. Diana steering the bout a little Northerly to ease the rolling. After what seemed like forever, I managed to get a couple of ratchet straps on the thing and get it secured.
Having eluded what could have been a pretty serious situation, we settled in to our normal routine of wondering why the hell we decided to this. We didn't have time to get bored however, because that was about the time that a shackle supporting the nose of our dinghy decided to come apart. The lead line to the tackle holding it was still chocked it the cam cleat, but the dinghy was now just a couple inches off the water and getting routinely slammed into the back of the boat. Is anyone thinking “that's why you stow your dinghy on deck retard!”? Anyway after struggling to get a spare 6:1 tackle on it, I managed to get it about a foot above the water and secure against the transom. I took the wheel awhile and Diana went after her second Valium. The rest of the crossing was less eventful and we managed to arrive on the Little Bahama Bank just as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful sight to see the relative shallow waters glowing turquoise blue in contrast to the dark churning waters of the Gulf Stream. We motored the rest of the night to arrive at great Sale Cay about 0400. We dropped the hook about a mile outside of the anchorage and rested until dawn when we repositioned to a better spot inside.
We spent the day resting, making repairs, and cleaning up. Did I mention that our anchor locker popped open during the crossing, spewing muddy wet anchor chain all over the birth? And that the cat decided to purge himself from every possible orifice under the v-berth? We had to take everything out including the cushions,to dry before we could rest. We headed out the next day for Foxtown Settlement on Little Abaco Island. What a difference a day makes. We had an awesome sail on a broad reach and slid into the Foxtown anchorage in the early afternoon. We still hadn't cleared customs and therefore couldn't go ashore but it was nice to see rock instead of Florida sand.
The next morning we set off for Spanish Cay to clear customs and spend a couple days relaxing. Spanish Cay is a quite little island with a Marina, a few villas and a couple private homes. Three days later we are still hear on weather hold to continue on to Green Turtle Cay. We are really enjoying Spanish Cay. Belle, our 8yr old German Shepard has a new friend named Hurricane. Hurricane is a Potcake dog (an indigenous Bahamian breed that gets it's ancestry from the dogs aboard early sailing ships) and is also the only other dog on the entire island. They played and played and played. Weather looks good for tomorrow...we'll see.