Nassau , New Providence Island in the Bahamas



Greetings and best wishes from Solar Eclipse for a Happy New Year, we hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Synopsis: We are in the Bahamas , arrived last Monday with Ann Acland and Kathy Thomson on board; they joined us in Key Biscayne on Christmas Day and overwhelmed us with gifts from home. They left from Nassau this morning to go back to the land of cold, sleet and snow. If you're interested in more detail, you can read on.

It's been a very full and eventful couple of months since our last posting. Our planned mid-November trek south bound with Mariah and Gypsy Song, was delayed when on departure day, we couldn't start the engine - we had no power. An analysis of the electrical system showed that the regulator for the Solar Panels had malfunctioned allowing uncontrolled amounts of amperage to flow to the batteries. All seven were fried so seven new AGMs were ordered, four days delivery and one of installation. Ready again to take off, the Perko selector failed, by the time a new one was installed we'd lost another day. We certainly racked up a couple more boat units before leaving Georgia .

Finally we slipped the lines and left the dock on December 2. I stood on the bow looking back as Doug maneuvered away from the slip, I'd forgotten what a big boat this was (to me) once you are moving. We enjoyed an absolutely beautiful and sunny ocean-side sail (although it included long johns!) to northern Florida ; there were lots of dolphins, sea birds and shrimp boats along the way and we were feeling rather euphoric to be free at last. The channel into the St. Mary's river took about two hours, there is a fair current, we anchored for the night at Fernandina Beach in time to watch a spectacular sunset.

The next leg we decided to take the inland route rather than retrace the two hour St Mary's entrance; the water was shallow and there were some tense moments as the depth sounder alarm beeped much of the first hour or so. Soon we had a new sound to contend with, the engine would suddenly drop down a couple hundred RPMs, struggle then come back to speed. These episodes continued to get worse, dropping as much as a thousand RPMs; three days, three marinas and two mechanics later, we discovered the fuel line was plugged at the tank, so we had the tank cleaned and the fuel polished. Add another boat unit.

Back to an ocean-side course, we left St Augustine and had another glorious day of sailing to Ponce de Leon inlet, we settled just before sundown in the most beautiful anchorage in all of Florida we're sure. Next morning we had to wait a few hours for the tide to rise; our next destination was Titusville , and the ICW has some very shallow spots and serious shoaling in that stretch. In Titusville we met up with Mariah and Gypsy Song, La Dolce Vita also from Brunswick was there as well. It was great to get together, share some pizza and hear their stories as they heard ours.

At the Titusville anchorage, a few days waiting for our life raft to arrive, Doug realized our new AGMs were still losing charge or rather not getting charge from the solar panels or the two wind generators. We'll, five marina days, much scanning and emailing of electrical schematics, two electronics experts, overnight deliveries and one friend driving all the way from Palm Beach to deliver needed parts, each of our external power sources now had its own new regulator. Add another boat unit. Oh and on the last day before leaving we also had to make an emergency visit to the Yamaha dealer, the 15HP was continuing to act up and stall as it had in the spring. We didn't want to rely on only our little 2.5HP for the next six months.

It was more than time to press on; we decided to do the rest of the mileage to Key Biscayne ( Miami ) in one leap. We left Titusville early morning in a light, almost surreal fog, as the sun rose, visibility decreased, but after an hour or so scanning into the fog for channel markers it was back and we entered the Canaveral Barge Canal , through the Krista McAuliffe Bascule Bridge , the Barge Canal lock and finally the Barge Canal Bascule Bridge . It was quite an experience to time and coordinate all the opening and closing passes. We saw flocks of Flamingoes, numerous Osprey, some beautiful birds we couldn't identify, and of course lots of pelicans. We sailed overnight with a nice wind, mostly clear sky, lots of stars, arrived in Key Biscayne and were anchored by 2:30 in the sun soaked afternoon. There were no long johns involved in this passage.

Our plans to have Ann and Kathy join us in the Bahamas had long since been changed because of all our delays, now they were going to met us in Miami and cross the Gulf Stream with us. Looked like we would have a weather window on Christmas day, and from Halifax Kathy's brother-in-law Sandy MacMillan sent his confirmation of same. This was working out perfectly. Unfortunately, the girls were caught in the pre-Christmas storms / airport shutdowns / flight delaying problems and were unable to get to Miami until midday Christmas Day, so the weather window was gone. We had to wait until Monday the 29th, (we'd aborted an unpromising attempt on the 28th) and were passing Bimini in calm seas and sunshine early Monday afternoon. We anchored just after midnight on the Great Bahama Bank, with the sliver of a new moon, more stars then I'd ever seen, it was T-shirt warm and seemed like heaven. Next morning we were still in twelve feet of water and no land in sight, we were at the edge of the "tongue of the ocean" where the Bahamian shelf suddenly drops to ocean depths of more than 6,000 feet. Rather eerie. That afternoon we cleared customs at Chub Cay and spent the next few days in the Berry Islands . Although we didn't get as much time together over here as hoped, we did have a great time swimming, exploring, snorkeling, and although we didn't get to a Bahamian Junkanoo on New Year's Eve, we did spend it on the beach, swimming and watching the sunset. We thought it was pretty special and that our glasses were half full.

Now that the girls have gone, and we miss them already, we expect to spend a couple of days getting Bahamian acclimatized in Nassau or environs, then head to the Exumas for the next few months. Today is the first day we really haven't had a calendar, feels very good!





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