For yesterday we had a further destination in mind and got underway quickly after Auke school was finished at twelve, however after 3 hours on the engine due to low winds we gave up and anchored right in front of a white beach in 2.5 meters of water. Auke helps us greatly in finding the rocks underwater which you try to prevent to run into while heading into uncharted waters. (We have a great boat for this type of work, as even an undesired �"run-in�" with a lonely rock or coral head would unlikely do much damage to the aluminum hull other than some scratches or worse a little dent.) Once anchored we quickly got the dinghy up and running and headed for the beach to do some shell seeking. Naturally (I seem to do this quite regularly) I dropped a small piece of the outboard in the water upon our return so with last daylight had to search the bottom with my snorkeling gear frantically (I did find it back!) Today is the final day of the year. The wind has changed direction during the night so we are going to get the family early out of bed and head South with some great sailing. Our immediate destinations here are the beaches of Green Turtle. From there on a little further south to Marsh Harbor or there about to stock up and then directly to the Exumas, working our way down south (on the South Side of the Exumas) and are plan for an extended stop of several weeks in the region of George Town, which is about 220Nm South East from Marsh Harbor. An extended stop to give Auke a break of the travel and at the same time to work on some school work before we head to Cuba (word on the street is there are several other kids boars there of heading there).

We continue East with everyday a new anchorage. It is like sailing in an aquarium. Depths ranging from six to two meters and waters clear. If you want to know how the anchor is holding, you just look over the side in the water at the anchor. Today no wind, so it was a motor day. On those days many battles are taking place on board between the male population on the chess board.

We arrived this morning at 05:00 on our first anchorage in the Bahamas. A bumpy past 24 hours with strong winds. Due to the fact that you need to steer up for the Gulf Stream we were close hauled till we reached the Bahamas bank. We really should have left one day earlier, but that time we were still in Christmad mood, and not sailing mode. Yesterday was the last day for option, as the winds are now strong North, which is not so good to cross the Gulfstream. The good thing with strong winds is that Mundinho really runs and is relative comfortable in heavy seas. The heavy displacement and fine ends with rounded and V-shape hull ensure a good ride. Most of the time we had the speeds above the 7 knots. The problem with all that was that we would reach our first anchorage too soon, before day light. During the night we progressively reduced canvas but were unable to get the speed enough down to arrive after sunset. After midnight the winds were 30 knots from behind (W t o NW), that with all sails down and furled we were still doing 3 knots + 1 knot current which had us arrive at the anchorage still in all darkness. As we did not wanted (I was slowly crawling my way into the anchorage by means of radar and plotter) to enter this anchorage at Great Sale Cay without daylight in these strong winds, Heloisa being the wisest of the two suggested to just drop anchor outside in 4 meter water and wait till daybreak. That is what we did with 30 meters chain in 4 meters water (my motto is that chain in the chain locker is not really helping you) and got an hour rest before the sun set and we could get in. While arriving we found to our surprise three other boats anchored here. They must have had a rough night as this anchorage is fully exposed to the South and South West (we had 25 knots sustained with 30 knots gusts South winds for 12 hours). One sailboat was trolling outside in open water in all darkness. He called us on the VHF and told us ho w he had decided in the middle of the night to leave the anchorage after resetting his anchor twice and suspected that two boats had run aground inside the anchorage. I am not sure what everyone is thinking nowadays. The weather forecast were crystal clear for several days with strong sustained south winds and then still staying in an open to the South anchorage is asking for troubles the way I see it. But I know the temptation; in the afternoon in calm winds at the anchorage listening to the weather forecast or going over Grib weather files things often do not look so bad and some are tempted to think we will all be ok in a bit of wind, we just wait it out. Well not me if I see 25 knots sustained forecasted from the open end of an anchorage while you have other perfect anchorages less than 10 Nm away.

We will wait here for the day for the winds to come down, we still have 30 knots gusts and 25 knots sustained on the meter while anchored, the grib files tells us things should come down this afternoon. So we relax and enjoy the view. The good thing of a bumby crossing is that the wine taste even better in the afternoon and you feel not soo bad if you open a second bottle...

We are still in the Intracoastal waterway and looking for a weather window to sail to the Bahamas. We have decided to spend Christmas here in the US, as the winds do not look so favorable for a crossing towards the Bahamas in the coming few days and Heloisa does not want to be at sea on Christmas day, which I guess is fair enough. So right now the big question is where to spend Christmas? We have received some great feedback from readers of our blog, (thanks for those comments) which is helping us greatly to find a place. As we never really studied up on the US East coast (original plans were to sail offshore to Virgin Islands, so no need to study up on US East coast remember) this "hands on" info from people we have never met is really good. We will use the extra days to work a little further South which makes the sailing towards the Bahamas easier. As the trade winds this time of the year blow East to South East, any Southing we make now makes life easier down the road. Yesterday we have stocked up on our final goods for the Bahamas and on our Christmas meal. I only want to load up on fuel again before we depart the US, as I suspect it to be cheaper here. We do not really need to fuel up, but I want to replace what we have used on the ICW the last 2 days motoring.

We are really looking forward to the Bahamas and we have been studying up on the charts the last couple of days. (Plenty of time for that while motoring on the ICW). We likely will head for an anchorage somewhere on the East side of the little Bahamas bank and then work our way East and South towards Marsh Harbor. We possible will spend some days there and then continue on to the South, the Exumas and work our way South with day trips. It is obvious from the charts that shallow water is everywhere, but with our centerboard and aluminum hull that should all work out for us. Also it is now obvious to me that many anchorages do not have 360 degrees protection in the Bahamas and that the currents can be high, (there are several nice small bays however you can crawl into as it appears on the charts). With the regular North fronts coming down causing he winds to shift the full 360 degrees that will mean keeping a good eye on the wind and regular changing to "the other side" for protection. That should be no problem for us. I can see how in the busier anchorages the swing is limited, but we plan to go to the desolate areas primarily so hope not to have too much of that problem. We possible need to rig up a second anchor here and there in tight anchorages where wind and current will fight each other.

I am not much of a "two anchor set up" person as I am a big believer in a strong primary anchor with lots of chain. However if the size of the anchorage does not permit us to swing we will set a second anchor (Danforth 45lbs with 10 meter chain and 75 meters rode) but then only straight aft of the vessel. The sometimes referred to as the "Bahamian mooring" with two anchors leading from the bow under an angle I have no experience with, but I am also no interested in trying. The risk for getting the two mooring rodes, be it chain our line entangled is very real which would then leave you in a very big problem if you have to go up anchor up quickly. Also two anchors set under something like a 90 degree angle which sometime is adviced to do to limit swinging I believe is waiting for trouble as in strong winds the boat possible will change the force from one to the other anchor all the time, preventing each anchor to properly set. Again I have no experience with these set ups, that is just my thoughts on the matter. We will stick with the one heavy anchor forward (we carry an 88lbs Manson Ray (Bruce type) with 100 meters (300ft) of chain forward) and lots of chain and if we have to we set a second anchor direct aft.

We arrived at the outskirts of Fort Pierce in Florida this evening. Around 19:00 we dropped anchor in the ICW (the channel that runs along the entire East coast (and Gulf Coast). The winds have been steady from the SE at 20 knots for the last 2 days and still are, so I know we would not have made any progress had we desired to take the Atlantic which with good winds would have brought us down in 24 hours to this spot, versus the 2 days it took us now. So in that regards the boring two days motoring over the ICW was worth it. Heloisa was able to give two good school days to Auke, so that was productive. We continue to have this apparent �"pressure�" to stick to some school schedule while deep inside we know it all works out. Talking to other home school parents and cruisers with kids we hear the same. It apparently all gets better after a few months once you realize you are able to stay on the home school �"schedule�" more or less. Tomorrow we will get into Fort Pierce and find a marina. We would have liked to sail over to the Bahamas right away after clearing out from the US but the winds are not favorable and have not been so the last 2 days. Breezy 20 knots winds from the SE. We need some S, SW or West winds. I will take low North winds as well. Strong North winds will not do as they apparently stir up the North bound gulfstream and can cause an extremely uncomfortable sea (wind and current against each other). The forecast is not good for the coming three days with regards to the wind direction while heading for the Northern Bahamas. It is only a 120 Nm jump to the first anchorage on the Bahamas bank we can see, that is 24 hours sailing. However we know 24 hours close hauled sailing is no fun in a stiff breeze in the Atlantic swell and I know that type of sailing is "Not Approved" by Heloisa and I kind of agree with her. We will see what the winds will do in the next couple of days. For now we take comfort in anchoring in the ICW where you really never have to worry about changing winds, dragging anchors etc. What a luxury! The water is flat, you hear the winds but not have the effects. Good deal to me. The other good thing; this is Florida, that means T-shirt time and no more freezing temperatures in the night time. Both Heloisa and Auke did get out of their night time hibernation mode.

Ponce de Leon inlet it was...

I am slow in many things, but quick to learn from difficult situations. In the past weeks we have spent up on the US East coast I learned about the ever changing forecast and the 5 to 7 days cycles of cold fronts coming in from the North which cause a clockwise rotation of the wind. We left Charleston half way in one of those cold fronts, with SW winds. As I mentioned in my earlier blog they were supposed to be West winds, but were SW once we were underway resulting in a 24 hour slog close hauled into 20 knots winds (the North bound gulf stream preventing us from steering a free course). Mundinho is built for that stuff. But that is actually the problem, she is, we are not so much�... So after that 24 hours slog into the wind we were relieved to see the winds shifting to the West and come down. They actual came down so much that we had to start our trusty engine to get some forward motion going. It did not make too much sense with the weather files, as they all forecast ed 15 to 20 knots out of the NW. I was only sound asleep for 2 hours when the movement of the boat woke me up. The wind had arrived again, this time from the right NW direction. Quickly all sails were set and we raced under the night sky towards the south with close to 7 knots. As always it was too nice to be true and shortly after the winds were up in the 20 knots and the seas building quickly so we had to reduce some of the canvas. Jib furled out, job furled partly in, mizzen one reef in, two reefs in, mizzen down, main one reef in and so on. Keeps you busy. You want to keep the boat moving at the best boat speeds but at the same time you want to create a comfortable ride for the family. Anyway it keeps you busy. Worse was the temperature. A cold front as is obvious in its name brings the cold! The boat is built to handle that, the crew however �"again�" not so much. Sitting out there in the night hour after hour in just above zero degrees in 20 knots winds was n ot Heloisa idea of cruising she mentioned casually�... Cape Canaveral was our target, however the forecast picked up the second day called for East winds and South East wind for Sunday night that was one day earlier than forecasted at departure. Fearing we would not reach Cape Canaveral prior the SE winds coming in, we decided to find something before Cape Canaveral. There is not much choice but the BA paper chart showed a little speck approximately 30 Nm before Cape Canaveral. Ponce de Leon it was. Not a harbor or port but an inlet. Reading the pilot and studying the charts I felt "comfortable" we could enter it safely with winds 22 knots from the North and as such we did around four o�'clock this afternoon. I have to say I was happy to have all of the few buoys visual prior entering the inlet, thanks to Heloisa�'s excellent eyes. Once inside, the inlet connects to the Intercoastal waterway which runs along the entire East coast. That is where we dropped our anchor and had a nice hot shower on board and a good wine. We probably will use the Intercoastal waterway to move south another 100 NM from where we want to jump to the Bahamas. We do not like the idea of cruising on the intercoastal waterway so much as that will mean two days listening to our engine. However with Christmas in sight we want to make some effort to find a nice place to spend the Christmas evening. The coming 3 days the winds offshore will be SE to S and SW which will not allow us to sail offshore further South so the Intercoastal waterway provide a good option perhaps.