29 October 2016 | Georgia, USA
29 October 2016 | Georgia, USA
08 October 2016 | Brunswick, Georgia, USA
07 October 2016 | Hotel on West Side of Hwy I-95, Brunswick, GA, USA
07 October 2016 | Brunswick, Georgia, USA
06 October 2016 | Brunswick, Georgia, USA
05 October 2016 | Brunswick, Georgia, USA
04 October 2016 | Photo off Outer Banks near Cape Lookout, North Carolina.
27 September 2016 | Piankatank River, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, USA
22 September 2016 | Current Position - Sassafras River, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA
16 September 2016 | Orient, Long Island, New York, USA
11 September 2016 | Ebenecook Harbor near Boothbay Harbor, Maine, USA
07 September 2016 | Penobscot Bay, Maine, USA
05 September 2016 | Penobscot Bay, Maine, USA
04 September 2016 | North Haven, Vinalhaven, Maine, USA
28 August 2016 | Castine, Maine, USA
27 August 2016 | Belfast, Maine, USA
12 August 2016 | Mount Washington, New Hampshire, USA
06 August 2016 | Canada/USA Border Crossing
04 August 2016 | La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada
No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems Mon
09 November 2012 | Great Abaco, Bahamas
Vicki - Sunny
We do like the laid back attitude of the Bahamians so we couldn't resist taking the above picture at Treasure Cay where no one seems to mind if you wear no shoes or shirt in their restaurant. In fact, this restaurant only opened yesterday after a huge clean up from being inundated with sand and seaweed. Today we moved to Marsh Island on Great Abaco Island where the eye of Hurricane Sandy passed. Only 70 miles as the crow flies from Port Lucaya, they experienced 4 days of high winds as we did but their highest reading was 125 mph. As Sandy arrived on high tide, surge was a problem as saltwater washed over the roads and damaged a number of sailboats in the harbour. The vegetation is salt blasted and brown and everywhere is covered in sand and dust and quite unattractive at present. Many local shop owners have told us that Sandy was the worst hurricane experienced for many years as it lasted so long and came in on a high tide but at least the Bahamians are used to these events and are well prepared. All of the islands have been affected by Hurricane Sandy to some extent and some worse than others.
The forecast for the next 5 days is for 15-20 knots with seas rising to 10 feet so there will be no snorkeling for a while. Oh, and the sea temp has now dropped to 21 deg (70 deg F) probably due to the hurricane stirring up cold water. It's a bit on the frigid side for my liking even with a wet-suit and night time temperatures have already dropped to 17 deg C (62 deg F) so this also cools these shallow waters. It's so tempting to move a few hundred miles south to the Exhumas or even further to find warmth again.
As Marsh Harbor is depth deprived (shallow), Maynard wanted to know the exact draft of Vanish and after careful measuring, we know that with ½ tank full of fuel, we have 1.8 m of clearance. With low water depths of 1.9-2 m in the harbour, we have just enough to swing comfortably as we have never touched bottom and don't intend to. You can see why we needed to check this very precisely. This would not have been a good place to weather the hurricane as hurricanes have been known to either blow all the water out of harbors or bring in a surge and with these shallow depths, it was definitely not an option to come here. Most vessels actually went into canals or to other islands although some of them were still damaged. Again, we are very thankful we weathered it so well at Port Lucaya, Freeport, Grand Bahama.