Boy, have the last few days been filled with adventure, danger, suspense, and of course, lobster. We left Bimini Tues day Am, headed for Frazier's Hog Cay and the Berry Island Club. This route takes us across the Bahama Banks, a shallow Open "sea" with nary a light, Cay, or boat in sight. Most sailors will tell you that they prefer lots of water under their keels; here the average depth was about a foot more than we needed. The sun was shining and the sea was calm as we started out. As the day progressed, the wind kicked up from the east, the direction we were headed. This meant we had to motor into the waves which, because of the shallow depths, were becoming quite large. I've heard one doesn't want to be on the banks when the weather kicks up. Oops, too late. As we had many a mile to cover before the Berrys, we had to anchor on the banks Tuesday night. The wind howled and the boat did a see-saw all night long. We slept in fits and starts, as we tried to will our bodies to stay in our bunks. We hoped that Wednesday would bring an improvement, but it was not to be. We knew we were in store for another night at anchor as we were only able to make about 2.5- 3.5 MPH against the waves and wind. Wednesday night all hell broke loose. The wind was clocked at 30knots, and it rained like the world was coming to an end. The poor boat was rocked to death, and of course Al and I were along for that ride. Al says to say he's not ashamed to admit he was ASCARED! Me too, and we had to check as soon as the three hour nightmare ended to see if we had dragged. Many coral bommies are on the banks and one doesn't stray too far off the beaten path. We hadn't dragged at all, amazing, considering what we had gone through! Now, if that doesn't get your fun factor meter scooting , consider the icing on the cake for Tuesday and Wednesday AM. The engine refused to start. Al thinks there's a problem w/ the fuel prime, and it may have been a result of all the hobby-horsing we did each night. We have never had this problem before, but it's kinda eerie to be rocking at anchor for a few hours in the AM, in the middle of nowhere Ville, while your better half is dismantling the engine, and (being a diesel mechanic) is saying to you "I'm open to suggestions" and "I wish I knew what the problem is." Yikes.
The next morning we flew under jib into Hog Cay, and snorkeling brought us our lobster for thanksgiving dinner, we caught 4 and gave three away, as they were easily four lb tails. This place is great. The Berry Island Club has super food, docks and mooring balls, and sells diesel. (Or will, as soon as the fuel freighter can get here.... Welcome to the islands!) I've been being put on hold for washers, showers, water, fuel, mooring balls and free wifi. They have been so nice about telling me to wait, it will be soon, that I can't be mad. Besides, the snorkeling is awesome. There are hundreds of lionfish here, and as soon as I get my nerve up, I'm going to catch some for dinner. The locals say they taste awesome. Just avoid the spines!
| bahamas Cruise 09/10 |
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| bahamas Cruise 09/10 |
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| bahamas Cruise 09/10 |
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| bahamas Cruise 09/10 |
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Isn't it always the same old thing? Your blog site goes down for maintenance on the most exciting day of the journey. Saturday AM we left Lake Worth inlet and headed out into the open ocean for the first time on our trip. Finally! We covered 83 miles, the weather was sunny and warm, breezes let us fly the jib most of the day. We stayed around 7-10 miles off the shore as we made our way towards Miami inlet. This is the port of Miami channel that the big boys use. Cargo ships, freighters, cruise ships. ( but only on the weekends when they take passengers to the Bahamas.... Oh wait, it's Saturday, never mind.) It was full dark as we picked up the channel markers and headed in. All of a sudden, it seemed as if every boat within a 100 mile radius wanted to come through that channel with us. Large mega yachts with their large mega wakes, the kind that sway us in a hard starboard lean, then a hard port lean, repeat three more times, and there goes everything in the galley. Pick up stuff off floor. Repeat. As if this wasn't exciting enough, here comes "The Navigator Of The Seas" cruise ship out the channel, which suddenly seems a lot narrower. Oh, now everything is lit up, and I can see how big those wakes are; thanks "Navigator Of The Seas"! We are anchored behind Fisher Island today, where we will rest and try for the Nth time to fix the blasted green nav light. (Oh yeah, that just added to the fun we had coming in last night) Then we will motor over to Coconut Grove (4-5 mile) for fuel and water, and anchor near Stiltsville and sleep this afternoon. We will make the jump for Bimini tonight around 11PM. Arrival there will be around noon Monday. Cell phones will be off until we return to the states, so please don't clog them w/ messages, they won't be received. Leave comments on the blog or email at capmjw@gmail.com. I will let you know as much as I can whenever I get a wifi signal.
| bahamas Cruise 09/10 |
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11/19/2009
We are stuffed and hung out to dry in Ft Pierce this afternoon. Today was laundry day, so we are festooned with clothes, I'm sure the locals are wondering if there was some event they missed reading about. Or they are busy calling officials demanding our boat be removed from their view. Terry from Discovery Diving ( Beaufort NC) gave us a tip that is worth sharing for all those who are still behind us, Fuel at Ft. Pierce City marina, and eat at the tiki bar on site. The cheeseburger and sweet potato fries are to die for. (They offer $5. transient showers ... we took the whole package) Tonight we will remain anchored across the river from the marina, eating our to-go key lime pie and languishing in our cleanliness. The whole boat smells of Gain fabric softener. Today I saw a cow-nosed stingray leap from the water. I didn't know they "jumped" like fish do. It was pretty cool. I also saw a large sea turtle poke his head up right next to the boat as I was steering towards a bridge. Almost wrecked it scared me so much. Looked like a human head at first, until I figured out what I was looking at. Tomorrow we will try for Lake Worth.
| bahamas Cruise 09/10 |
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