Chapter 8, "As the Blog Thickens"!

We spent 5 days in Marsh Harbor while we waited for the weather to improve.  It was still pretty warm every day but beginning on Thursday the wind howled.  The wind blew at 30+knots and the seas were up at about 16+feet.  We rocked in the slip but we were safe and sound.  We found a slip at Mangoes Resort.   Ray the Dock Master worked to help get us tied up.  The dock was full of others that were waiting out the weather like us. 

Captains notes:

So, the cold front that passed and pinned us down in Marsh Harbor the last five days with 30 Knot plus winds has gone down north of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico and is trying to organize into a tropical storm and potentially develop into a Hurricane.  This has only happened once in the month of March since record keeping began in 1851 and that case was in 1908. We are still over two months from the start of hurricane season!!! If it truly develops, it will be the first named storm of 2017 and the name will be Arlene. This will happen as soon as the wind reaches a sustained speed of 39 MPH. It is already causing 15 foot seas and flash flooding in the mountainous island nations. We should know in the next 48 hours what is happening and how it will affect us. It is doubtful that we will be affected at all but certainly something to keep our eyes on. Our local forecast as of right now is the best 10 day forecast we have seen since the trip began. We still plan on leaving Marsh Harbor tomorrow and continue south. The forecast a week or so from today looks promising to pop out into the Atlantic and make the run down to Eleuthera Barring any problems with Arlene.

We decided to make the most of it and get provisioning done.  We were pleasantly surprised at how readily available in Marsh Harbor, everything was.  Things were not that terribly expensive either.  We found a fresh seafood store right in the harbor called Skaggs distributors.  The locals call it “The Fish House”.  We bought Lobster tails, Stone Crab claws, Mahi-Mahi and Grouper.  Everything was very reasonable.  Maybe we can increase our fish intake one way or another?

We found beer at $41.00 per case?  We bought Kalik, and High Rocks, both Bahamian brews.  Rum is still incredibly cheap.  We paid $8 a bottle for some pretty good stuff.

We took care of all of our work while in the slip.  We re-fueled, filled our water tanks, got rid of our garbage and did some laundry.  Steve did all of his Captain work to check the Engine, fluids, rigging etc.

We met some of the others on the dock.  There was a Pot Luck scheduled on Friday night that we attended.  We met people from all over the world here with different stories and adventures.

Hope Town on Elbow Cay is a place we wanted to visit, however the depths on the chart show us that it is much too shallow there for our boat.  We would have to anchor way out of the Harbor and the Seas are not good for that. 

   There is a Ferry system that the locals use as well as visitors to get around to other Islands called Albury Ferries.  We took a Ferry and went to Hopetown.  It was a very beautiful little settlement.  They have the last functioning Kerosene Lighthouse in the world.  It was built in 1864 by the Chance Brothers of Birmingham, England.  The Brick tower is 89 feet high.  We climbed the stairs to the top and what a view. 

We walked to the Atlantic side of Elbow Cay and the Dunes to see the ocean.  Today the Ocean is still quite angry with seas about 15 foot high!  We also saw the memorial for those that died due to Cholera many years ago, perhaps from not enough Rum or something?

As Captain Steve mentioned, we will leave here in the morning.  We have pretty good internet so I am blogging and posting as many pictures and maps as I can.  I don’t know how good the service will be as we move further South.

Chapter 7

We spent 2 days in Green Turtle Cay at the Green Turtle Club in a slip in White Sound Harbor.  The wind was blowing so hard that this was our best protection.  So far, we have found most accommodations less expensive than we initially thought.  At West End, we paid $.50 per foot per night.  They did not have any amenities to offer, electricity or water because of hurricane Matthew last year.  In Green Turtle Cay, we paid $1.85 per foot per night.  We didn’t need electricity because we make our own with Wind Generators and solar panels.  We did fill up on water and this was $.25 per gallon.  Diesel Fuel was about $4.50 per gallon.  We have been filling our Geri Cans and then filtering it before we put it in the boat.  Just in case there is water or other contaminates in it.  On anchor, we usually bathe in the salt water off the back of the boat with a special soap that cuts the salt water.   We try to preserve as much fresh water as possible.  This special soap actually works well to cut the Salt water!  It was nice to take long, hot showers in the Marina though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While at Green Turtle Cay we walked a lot.  There were a lot of people living at the Marina for long periods of time.  Many power boaters or large fishing yachts.  We ran into several of the sailors that we met at West End, after clearing Customs initially.  The entire Island is 3 miles long and I think we walked 90% of it each day.  We found the most amazing Rum on this Island.  It is made in the Bahamas and is Ricardo brand.  There was a brand of Rum called “Ole Nassau” that was awesome as well.   We particularly liked the Coconut flavor, very good sipping Rum!  The Rum is about $12 per 1 liter bottle.  We also have found Rum Punch or flavored seltzer water to be good mixers with Rum.  Pina Coladas go down pretty well also!  Whatever it takes to get the Rum down!

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far, our provisioning has been pretty good.  We have eaten all our breakfasts on the boat.  We usually have some sort of skillet with whatever fresh veggies we have and bacon or sausage.  We might have a snack also.  We still have plenty of frozen meats and we can add some of the Fish caught locally.  We haven’t given up on catching our own though!

While in Green Turtle Cay we took the Dinghy over to the Settlement in New Plymouth in the Black Sound Harbor.  This was a very cute settlement with Liquor store, 2 grocery stores, a couple of hardware stores, and church.  Most of the buildings were painted in bright cheerful colors and very well-tended.  There were stray chickens, Rosters and Cats all over as in most Islands we have visited.  The groceries were priced at about what we predicted.  Staple items like potatoes, Rice, some other veggies were maybe 5-10%higher than in the states.  Some items were a lot higher but readily available.  We did buy 2 Lobster tails at $11.00 as we had not been able to get one on our own yet.  These were pretty large and very delicious.

On March 16^th, the wind had calmed down and we left for No Name Cay.  We needed to have fair winds to make the passage through the whale cut which takes you out into the Atlantic for a short sail before tucking back into the Sea of Abaco.  Beginning March 18^th this looked like the best possible time.  Now, there was a lot of chatter from other boaters regarding the condition of the Whale Cut.  It felt like a very difficult journey to take on.

While at No Name Cay, we visited Piggy Ville.  This is a protected beach with swimming pigs that you can go to shore a feed your left overs to.  They were very sweet and that was fun.  We also found some amazing shores to beach comb.  We are looking for that perfect shell.  We did some snorkeling and more fishing.  The temperatures here are in the 70’s so it is a little cool to be hanging out in the ocean.  We also played smash ball on the beach.  This has proven to be a very fun game.

 

                                                                 Feeding the Pigs!

 

 

 

 

                                               Beach Combing off No Name Cay

 

 

On March 18^th, we decided to make our next move.  The Abacos are very shallow in places.  A Garmin chart plotter is what Steve uses to navigate through the Islands.  It gives a continuous picture with moving maps.  We have other Maps and charts as well.   It is pretty accurate where depths are concerned but you have to use some visual navigation as well due to shifting sand shoals. This was probably the scariest part for me.  Being in Deep water feels so safe.  When you can see the bottom with such clear water, it makes me very nervous.  We made the Whale Cut with no problems.  It was fun to be out in the deep water again.

We moved on to Great Guana Cay.  This is an Island about 5 miles long and the next one after re-entering the Sea of Abacos.  It is a very narrow Island.  We anchored out in Fishers harbor.  We took the Dinghy into the marine harbor and explored the Island.  There is a Bar/Restaurant on the Ocean side that is called Nipper’s.  We were told that one of our favorite Musicians, The Barefoot Man had been there the previous night.  We had not known this and would have loved to see him. However, navigating the Harbor at night in a Dinghy seemed a little too adventurous for us.  We had fresh grilled Grouper and enjoyed a couple of the local brews, Kalik.   This was a very busy fun place to visit.  The reefs on the ocean side at this point were beautiful.  There is another Bar/Resort on the Harbor we were anchored in that is called Grabbers.  Interesting names?

 

                                                         Great Guana Cay Harbor

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we decided to purchase some of the local beer.  The rumors were true, we paid $78 for a case of a local brew called Sands.  It is pretty good and we are enjoying every drop!

Living on a boat is enjoyable.  We needed to have a day on the boat to clean, straighten etc., pretty much like at home.  In addition to sweeping and cleaning we took some time to polish the stainless hardware on deck and Steve is painting the head in the rear, main birth.  We are continually watching and waiting on Weather.  This is a comfortable, peaceful place to relax, wait, watch and enjoy!

We then traveled to Man o war last night.  We are going into Marsh Harbor tomorrow to spend a few days.  We had another beautiful sunset on the water and a wonderful night on the anchor.

 

                                                           Sunset off Man o war Cay

 

 

 

We are now in Marsh Harbor which is the 3rd most populated city in the Bahamas.  We came here this morning because of pending weather for the next few days.  We will adventure around the Island. We finally have internet access so I can send out another chapter.

Half way through the Abacos, Chapter 6

We prepared for sailing to the Bahamas on Thursday March 9, 2017 from Lake Worth.  We topped off all of our fuel and water at the Riviera Beach Marina in Lake Worth.  We took a quick cruise out of the Inlet so we could have the route marked on our chart plotter in the event it was still dark when we left.  We anchored just inside the Palm Beach inlet.  We got the sails uncovered and the boat ready for sailing.  We woke up at 5:00 AM on Friday the 10^th and were leaving the Inlet at 5:45 AM.  It was still pretty dark but all was lit up and it went well.  The winds were light and variable but managed to fill our sails to assist the diesel engine in propelling us to our destination at West End, Grand Bahamas.  We arrived at West End at approximately 1500 hours which was about 1 hour sooner than expected.  We had heard varied experiences with Customs and Immigration.  It was very simple.  We did take a firearm and of course reported it.  They never asked us about alcohol or other ship stores.  We did not offer any information that they did not ask about.  For the most part they just wanted their $300 dollars.  We did decide to spend our first night in the slip at West End because we had arrived in the afternoon and secure anchorages we had read about were several hours away.  Because of the hurricane last year in the Bahamas, the slip only charged $1.00 per foot per night.  They did not have electricity or other amenities yet because of the hurricane. This was very reasonable.  We met 3 boats of people that had left Palm Beach that morning as well.   During the night Steve heard a strange noise and went out to find that the tide had dropped so low that the boat was almost suspended from it’s mooring lines, fortunately no damage was done and he was able to retie all ropes. 

The wind had picked up during the night.  The winds were much stronger than forecasted.  Many of those in the slips had decided to stay rather than leave.  We decided to push off and continue with our journey at 9:30 AM.  We were very happy that we did this.  We had about 12 knots of wind and were able to sail and fish off the stern.  We were in anywhere from 1500 to 5000 feet of water.  We were able to sail at about 6 knots. We had a very large fish that broke our line before we got it in.   We didn’t get to see what it was but it would have been too big for us to keep!  At home when we catch a fish we hope it is a big one, here we hope it is a small one that we can justify killing as there is just the two of us and limited freezer space. We did catch a large barracuda but did not keep it.  We sailed for about 4 hours before entering the Little Bahama bank through the Memory Rock passage, to get to our next anchorage.  Our boat drafts deep enough that this is the first safe passage north of West End.  Because of water depth and wind we had to motor into the Little Bahama Bank.  The depth was for the most part between 10 and 14 feet.  We decided to anchor off of the south side of Mangrove Cay.  It was incredible.  We had a clear sky and a beautiful Full Moon.  We watched the sun disappear into the ocean and then the full moon rise and keep the sky lit up during the night.  It was probably the most beautiful sky we have ever seen. 

We left Mangrove Cay at about 8:30 AM.  At this point we were in the Sea of Abaco.  The beautiful turquoise waters are like none I have ever seen.  Again we had fair winds but we needed to make some miles.  We put up full sail and sailed for about 4 hours.  We then had to begin motoring to get to a safe anchorage.  We fished the entire day but did not produce any fish for dinner.  I think my optimism for 5-7 times per week will have to be adjusted.  We found a beautiful anchorage on the North West side of Great Sale Cay.  Again there were Dolphins that greeted us and again I missed my Photo opportunity.  It will happen I promise!  As we came into the bay there was a small rain storm that is probably part of the cold front coming in. The bay was a beautiful one.  We assembled the Dinghy for the first time of the trip.  We took the dinghy to shore and walked the beach.  The beach had some sand and some iron shore.  There were hoofed prints on the beach.  Some of the Islands in the Abaco’s have pigs ashore.  We did not see any animals just hoofprints.  It was another beautiful, peaceful night on the anchor.  Steve and I are getting pretty good at setting the anchor.

On March 13^th we left Great Sale Cay at about 8:30.  Steve listens to weather reports every morning  before we depart and monitors the tide charts daily.   We get free reports every morning at 6:30 am on our SSB radio (the marine equivalent of HAM). We had winds out of the South East at about 10-15 knots.  Again we did a mixture of sails and motoring.  Steve was looking for an anchorage that would protect us from the SE during the night and the NW in the early morning.  He found Crab Cay and according to the charts you typically anchor on the SE side.  Because of the winds we anchored on the NW side in about 10-15 feet of water.  There were 3 boats anchored in the anchoring  spot marked on the charts in a harbor on the SE side.  True to the forecast the 3 boats got blown into the harbor by morning.  They were not damaged but I am certain they had a scary night on anchor. The wind went from south at 15 to 30 plus from the west during the night as a cold front passed. Our anchor held firm.

March 14, 2017, according to Chris Parker the weather forecaster that Steve tunes into on the SSB, the next 2 days will be a windy, potentially uncomfortable time with 35 knot gust winds from many directions.  We really want to get to the Whale cut ASAP.  We decided to motor down the Sea of Abaco and get out of the wind.  However, once we got moving with the strong tail wind, we were able to sail at over 7 knots with only a scrap of sail out.  We had a wonderful sail for about 4 hours before pulling into White Sound on Green turtle Cay.  We decided to get a slip at the Green turtle Club marina.  We could take advantage of the amenities like showers, pools and top off water and fuel and it is relatively inexpensive.   Turtle Cay is about a 3 mile long Island.  All of the people we have met here are very nice.  We took about a 5 mile walk on the beaches.  All of the buildings are painted in very bright colors. There are stray cats, chickens and roosters all over the Island.  We took the dinghy for a couple mile trip over to Black sound to shop and see more of the Island.  The beaches are beautiful.   We will spend a another day here, snorkeling, hiking and beach combing  before heading on.

                                                            The Beaches of Green Turtle Cay

Finally! Chapter 5 ( Neptune, Poseidon and Mariah finally are in sync)

When we went to bed on Tuesday night we decided we had a plan to leave in the morning!!  Yay, we were so excited!  Then, we awoke at 6:00 AM on Wednesday to rain and socked in clouds.  Mother Nature has a funny way of messing with us!  We gave it some time though and the rain stopped.  We were able to leave Harbor Town Marina at 8:50 AM and motored down the ICW (Intracoastal waterway),  The Ocean outside of the ICW is still to rough for a sail until Friday however on Friday the weather looks like a perfect day to cross the Gulf Stream!   So we motor for 2 days and then plan to sail across.
On Tuesday we anchored on the ICW at Hobe Sound.  This is a beautiful anchorage. There is a natural wildlife Refuge and white sandy beaches. Everything we have seen on the ICW is beautiful. There were a few areas that have been changed from previous Hurricanes and not dredged out so we had to be careful and watch our instruments closely.  We never ran aground, thankfully.     On our way out of harbor Town this morning we were escorted by a pod of Dolphin.  We saw another pod near St. Lucie.  I never tire of seeing these beautiful creatures.  I wasn't fast enough getting there pictures, I will try harder.  We left at first light and motored to Lake Worth.  We went through a total of 12 bridges from Fort Pierce to Lake Worth.  Some of them were fixed so we sailed right under them.  The others you had to radio the tower and ask them to lift the bridge or wait for the scheduled lift time.  Along the way we saw many beautiful homes and boats. We refueled in Lake Worth and we will prepare for the boat and ourselves for a day of sailing . We are now anchored off Peanut Island in Lake Worth for the night.  We will have to leave Lake Worth early so we can make it to West End, Bahamas before they close, to clear customs.

             
                                                 Beautiful Homes

More to come once we get to the Islands.  Can't wait to get there!

Tour of "Sol Mates" Part 2, (You Tube videos)

So we are  new to blogging.  The videos we initially posted did not load.  I had to reach out to my sister, Stella Cypher (Whiz Kid IT technician) who helped us set up the blog initially and is a whiz at IT help.  She helped me to get the videos attached.   Because they are videos rather than photos I needed to post them on  "You Tube". You can click on each link individually to see the videos.  There probably was a way to attach them together but I am not that smart?

Copy and paste the following address's into your browser to view.  Sorry it is so complicated?

This is the outside of SolMates and Harbor Town

                                        This is on the forward Deck of Sol Mates

                                           Aft Deck, Cock Pit, and Dinghy

                                            Inside Sol Mates

                                                Main Cabin

                                               More inside

                                                   Provisions and more





Enjoy!

Chapter 4, Patience Continues

So, Patience continues.  We received all packages we were waiting for from Colorado.  Then, the weather changed again.  The weather is a little tricky as I mentioned before.  Not unlike anywhere else in North America.   Waiting for the tides, the wind direction and speed all to line up for the best crossing.  Both major crossings we are making require 8-10 hours of good weather and winds.  Mother nature is great but sometimes it is not for us to push.  The weather is much more stable once you get across the Gulf Stream and into the Caribbean however we will need to get fairly deep  into the Bahamas to get real stability. The trick to the gulf stream, is that it moves 3-4 knots constantly northward in 200-500 feet of water. The slightest north wind generates not only large waves, but steep, almost square waves. Generally, folks refer to this as “the elephants running” as from the Florida shore, on a clear day with a north wind, you can stand on the beach and see what literally looks like stampeding elephants on the horizon. We have sailed in 18 foot seas before without too much discomfort. Today, the elephants are running at about 10 feet in a condition that not only is uncomfortable, but will beat the hell out of your boat and you! It’s not only the size of the seas to consider but other conditions as well. The forecast is for the elephants to keep running for 4-5 more days. Maybe after that we can get across.  Another thing to consider is that we are comfortable in a marina with pool, cable TV hooked up to our boat, Wi-Fi, bar, restaurant etc.  Just getting across and then hanging on for dear life on the anchor isn’t a lot of fun either. This current weather is unusual and we hope we can get across and enjoy a week or so to get south where winter cold fronts give way to tropic dominant trade winds. Meanwhile, we are just trying to remain patient and trying to enjoy ourselves.  We spent a day at the beach, we went Deep sea fishing with a friend on the dock and did more provisioning and planning.

We keep provisioning, because as we sit here waiting, we keep eating.   It also has given us time to really think things through.   Most of the people we have met here at Harbor town Marina, have made at least one crossing to the Islands.  Many of them have vast amounts of experience in the Caribbean.  Along with those people, Steve and I have read several references regarding provisioning.  As I mentioned before, we are trying to anticipate what we will want and need while in the Islands.  We have 150 gallons of water on board.  We also have 2 Geri Cans (6 Gallons Each) with water that we will refill at available spots in the Bahamas.  In addition, we have provisioned with about a dozen 2.5 gallon water jugs to have for drinking as well as about 80 pre-filled water bottles.  I don’t think you can have too much water but we will need to be careful with our use.   Apparently, food such as eggs, cheese, some meat and produce are available at the markets in the Islands.   We anticipate that they will be somewhat more expensive than in the states.  We have been told that many homes will advertise fresh breads and produce.  We look forward to meeting these people.   We have been told the canned foods, Beef, Chicken, Beer, tonic water, soda or other mixers as well as paper products are available but very expensive.  Rum and other liquors are supposedly very cheap and available.   So, our provisioning list was pretty much based on our likes as well as the availability of things by what we have been told.   We really eat most anything, neither of us is fussy.   Steve and I have gotten used to eating about twice a day.  We love breakfast but in anticipation of difficultly getting eggs or a traditional meal, we have oatmeal and hope to eat lots of fruit.  We have purchased several packets of the pre-cooked bacon, we use this at home and it is good as well as easy to use.  We have bought packages of Uncle Ben's rice and Bean packets, several flavors, lots of canned foods.  We have visited some of the farmer’s markets in south Florida.  We have Potatoes, onions, avocados, tomatoes, fruits, corn and flour tortillas.   As most of you know, Steve is an amazing fisherman and we love fish of all kinds.  We hope to have fish or Lobster 5-7 days per week.  Lobster season ends April 1st.  We have purchased Soy sauce and other marinades along with basic seasonings.   We also will try some sushi if we catch the appropriate fish.  We have a propane barbecue on board.  We are fortunate to have a wonderful refrigeration unit on board with a large refrigerator and freezer.  We have never had this experience in the boats we have chartered.  It was always very difficult to keep  perishables for very long.  Our freezer is full of frozen steaks and chicken.  We have the ability to make ice and keep it frozen.  In anticipation of freezing fish, we have stored up lots of large zip-lock bags and foil for

cooking.

In the Islands garbage removal is often expensive and somewhat difficult.  We will try to use paper plates as much as possible to prevent the use of too much water if we can.  Steve has invented a simple trash compactor that he has installed and if it works well, he may try to build more or market them. He has talked with a patent attorney and it looks promising.  We think there is a market for this on boats in the tropics.  A bag of garbage can cost 4-6 dollars to dispose of it at marinas.  If we can successfully compress our garbage, we can dispose of more garbage in more compact bags.  They don’t care how much it weighs, just the bulk.

We have over 70 gallons of diesel on board in the tank and 36 gallons in Geri cans strapped to the rail. Also 12 gallons of gas for the 15-horse outboard motor on the dinghy and dive compressor.   

So we hang out here (where life is not so bad) until nature allows a change of scenery.