Finally!

Well, we're back in the US of A! We've been absent exactly 5 months from our exit in Virginia to our entrance this morning at Fernandina Beach at the head of Amelia Island on the Florida/Georgia border, and how wonderfully rich those five months have been. During the planning period between when we purchased Katahdin and set sail, we had developed a loose itinerary for our travel during Larry's sabbatical, and, except for losing 2 weeks playing tourist in the lower Chesapeake due to rudder problems, we were able to do much of what we had thought about. Given that this has been our first extended offshore trip to foreign lands, we can either point to luck that we made it to Martinique and back, or to Larry's planning, both before and during, that made the traveling go smoothly. In my opinion, it was definitely the latter.

Later we'll write more about summing up this adventure, but for now, we'll mention a bit more about the Abacos in general and what we've done since we left Man-O-War Cay on the 5th.

We have found that the Abacos consist mostly of cays strung out in a half moon shape and which protect Great Abaco and Little Abaco islands. Inside this string of small islands is Abaco Sound which isn't very wide - perhaps 5 miles at its widest, and not very deep, averaging 12 feet or so. Cruise ships can't venture in due to these depth limitations, so we cruisers can enjoy exploring this special area without having to elbow aside cruise ship tourists who travel in large packs and dart in and out of shops, looking for bargains. Though, judging by the numbers of sailing craft around, the locals have their hands full just dealing with us.

After transiting the Whale Cut and anchoring in White Harbor on Green Turtle Cay, we rented a golf car (the few bicycles available were already rented out) for a tour of the 3-mile long island. At the other end of the island is the Settlement of New Plymouth, which is the only town on the island, population of about 400. It was founded by Loyalists who fled the American Colonies during the American Revolution. In the sculpture garden in the town there is a statue commemorating that time, as well as head busts of folks important to past and current Bahamian life.

The town of New Plymouth itself was tranquil, consisting mostly of gaily-painted houses with white picket fences, a few retail shops and restaurants, and 4 churches. It was cute, but also seemed subdued and deserted. In fact, outside of those working in the stores/restaurants, we basically only saw other tourists. In contrast to Hopetown, it came out a poor second.

Back at White Harbor we kicked up our heels on Saturday evening, enjoying a wonderful time with new friends Charlie and Terri on Voyager and their Canadian friends Doug and Sharon on About Time. After a great dinner on Voyager, and playing Sequence which is akin to a Bingo game using 2 decks of cards, we dinghied over to the Jolly Roger Restaurant at the Bluff House Marina to hear - and dance to - the Gully Roosters, a local group. Great music and great company equal a great time.

Shortly after day break the next morning we lifted anchor for the 10 or so hour trip to our staging point, Great Sale Cay out on the Little Bahama Bank, from where we left for our two overnight trip back to the States.

One comment about this Bank. Great Sale Cay is fifty or so miles west of Green Turtle Cay, and about 15 miles out from the Little Bahama island, so it's out there in the middle of nowhere. However, there is still about 50 miles to travel before we're off the Bank. This is simply amazing, that there is this flat area, with a depth ranging from 10 to 30 or so feet, and taking up hundreds if not thousands of square miles with nothing around at all. We've seen photos of boats anchored in calm weather at the western end of this Bank while waiting for daylight for the transit to Florida. This could have been us as the transit across was absolutely smooth, but we had had enough already coming out from Green Turtle.

Shortly after exiting the Bank we decided to try our hand - again - at fishing. With all our previous efforts all we had to show for it were two unlikeable barracuda. But the third time was the charm. We snagged a 2 foot Spanish mackerel, similar to a tuna in body shape, bone structure, size, and taste, and I was able, for the first time ever, to gut and clean a fish. Using the heaviest knife we have, a long serrated bread knife, I sawed through the thick backbone, creating inch thick steaks. [We need to invest in a meat cleaver as this took way too much effort.] We froze half of the fish for later meals and have enjoyed two dinners with the remainder. What a neat experience to be able to provide food for our table.

That was definitely the highlight of the crossing. Most of our trip to Fernandina Beach involved motoring, either alone or with some sail aloft as there wasn't much wind. About 50 miles from Amelia Island we started smelling smoke which, we later learned, was from brush fires north of Tampa Bay which is on the other side of Florida. At that point we were heading into westerlies which was why we were able to encounter the smoke for ourselves. We surely weren't anticipating that type of experience on the crossing.

And, here on land at the Fernandina Beach Marina, we are having another olfactory experience. This marina is situated between two active paper mills. Depending on the wind direction we are reminded, unfortunately, of traveling through Jay, Maine on our way to canoe or hike up north. But not enough to diminish our pleasure being back on American soil, seeing trees that soar more than 20 feet with green grass underneath, shopping for milk not in Tetrapaks and bread with real due dates. We can easily ignore the smell when we realize that it's good to be back.