24 April 2019 -- Great Sale Cay to America (USA)...
We're in transit right now... (as I write this), AND we're away from all cell towers and normal communications gear.... ( the nice thing is that we have HF (high frequency) radios, and we also have SEEKER next to us... (buddy boat)... Good Feelings...
We did minor projects all morning while anchored at Great Sale Cay... WAITING for noon(ish) to leave...
You may ask... Why didn't you leave in the early morning when more than half of the boats in the anchorage left???? WELL....the answer is... TIMING.... IF things go according to PLAN... and we "proceed across the bank, and Then enter the Gulf Stream after dark....... We will arrive just off the coast of the USA, AT Fort Pierce just in TIME to enter the inlet, there at FLOOD TIDE.... Instead of having to FIGHT your WAY into an EBB tide... That is the reason to WAIT.
Many boats sail/ motor sail today... to the edge of the bank in the daylight...then anchor for a while....
We have had success at just continuing the trip, once started.... To sleep for a few hours... makes me "groggy" and ineffective....
ANYWAY... We're motoring (mains'l is flying, but only 3 knots of breeze... right now...) Could pick up once we're in the ocean (off the bank....
YESTERDAY, coming from Manjack Cay to Great Sale cay... was 9 hours of pure sailing... Wonderful !!!
Motor ON for the anchor pull, and for the anchor SET... other than that .. .pure sailing... (well , we did motor/ sail the last 4 miles into the bight of Great Sale cay... WIND dead astern, and falling).
BUT... it wasn't all Peaches and cream....in the mid-day... I used the forward head.... Never really checking it afterward... (who does? ).... WELL.... About 2 hours later... I HEARD the bilge pump come on two times in a row.... HUMMM TIME for a "Walk-about"...
. I went down again, below decks... (boat heeled over about 15 degrees... sailing... wonderfully.... I entered the forward head and stepped into about 3 inches of water inside the head door.... CRAP.. NOT GOOD!!!!
Turns out that the ANTI-siphon device on that HEAD, failed to function after the last use... and sea water had been siphoning into it... and overflowing..... NOT a good feeling having the boat fill with seawater.. SO I quickly closed all of the local seacocks that service that system... and stopped the leak...
That was one of this morning's projects (at Great Sale Cay)-- Check out that head... and valve... (anti-siphon)... WORKS this AM... but still "keeping an eye on it"... !!!!
We also made dinner for tonight supper.... Dinner time we should be almost OFF the Bahamas Bank... and heading for the east side of the Gulf Stream.... Minimum time below deck can sometimes be a blessing.... Right NOW... it's close to a JILLY_Q crossing ... FLAT water....
OK... I guess I'd better get back up there.... And take my watch...

OK.... TIME has passed.. .and we're back in the USA.... Entered at Fort Pierce Inlet.. about 0945 and STILL had to fight a little of the EBB Tide.... I guess 1030 hours would have been better, but crossing the Gulf Stream at "Engine IDLE" just seemed "SO SLOW".... But we saved a lot of fuel !!! that's for sure...
(I know not as much as if you'd been SAILING !!! heheheh)
SO.............. WE called Vero Beach City Marina... and gave them our "particulars" (length, draft, etc.)... and waited for a mooring assignment.... Then the PHONE Rang.. It was Kathy Barth (s/v FIVE and DIME); saying that they had a friend coming in on a 47 foot for one side of them, but we were welcome to the other side... (TRIPLE RAFT)... GREAT !!! wonderful !!! SO we're on mooring #24 in the north field...for a short time.... (before starting NORTH toward Hop-O-NOSE marina, at Catskill, NY).
We called up the APP "ROAM" to check in with Customs, and Border Patrol.... WOW... I thought it was going to be a true "BITCH"... because..... Somehow... they (the government had been sending me my "codes"... to my "Bahamas" telephone number...WELL...now that SIMM card was NOT in my PHONE... SO ... now what... I can't log IN... EVEN to Change my password, or codes.... DAMN !!!! Even the "back door" secret things weren't working.....
START a New ACCT' ???? and loose all the data that I'd already put in..... NO WAY.... FINALLY a found my 10 digit "Account KEY".... Wow.... And it (the APP) let me IN.... from there a BREEZE ... checking IN...
Wow.... So.. we're legal again....
WE launched the dinghy (no easy feat, as it was covered in the freshly LOWERed stays'l).... And dinghy'd over to the office to check in with VERO Beach.... WE've Signed up for 5 days.... (RE-PROVISIONING, RESTING, AND waiting for Pete and Bunny to make their way up from the Keys.... (they having made it to Rodriguez Key last night...)
The crews of SEEKER, and Autumn Borne.. were "Running on EMPTY"... but we went to the "4 PM happy hour anyway"... but didn't stay for the whole event.... Back to AB.. to nap; have supper; and CRASH.
Today, is FRIDAY.... First full day at VERO.... Shopping is on the agenda.. .at sometime... plus maybe a water run... to fill tanks... we'll think of things... I'm sure...
While I was covering the sails yesterday... I said to Bill and Margaret on "Margaritaville"... that this is a one time shot (covering)... because once they come off next week... "these sails won't be covered again until we reach the top of the Hudson River"....
OK.... Time to get coffee, and start today's project LIST.... Shopping, water... etc. ........