Key Biscayne to Long Cay, Exumas, Bahamas 2016-2017

Key Biscayne to Long Cay, Exumas, Bahamas 2016-2017

Saturday, December 3, 2016. Heavy rain overnight.  Sunny and windy this morning.  Wind N@15-20.  Lisa and I walked to the beach and look for sea beans, but find none.  Lots of trash on the beach from all the storms.  In the afternoon, Lisa does laundry and I work on that starboard side jerry can board and fixing the outboard motor lift.  Now that I have it all apart, we will have to fix it and get it back together before we depart for Bimini.  Right now it looks like maybe Tuesday will be a good day weather-wise to try that.

Stars and Stripes Americas Cup Contender

Several local boats show up during the day.  This is a favorite party spot, but there is one 50 foot motor yacht with his stereo going so loud you could probably hear it in Fort Lauderdale.  Finally, another local tied up next to him says something about it, so the loud boat leaves.  Nice!

Sunday, December 4, 2016.  A few more boats have come in to anchor.  We finally complete and install the starboard jerry can board and get it installed.  We met quite a few boaters who are here to cross. Mario and Carmen on La Madam Oceane are having outboard issues.  It will run for a while and then it dies.  He has tried cleaning everything, even replacing the fuel pump, but so far nothing helps.  I took a look, but it looks to me like there is an issue in the carburetor as he is getting fuel to it, but the engine runs out of gas.  Eventually, we discover that it is the float inside the carburetor that is sticking.  Voila!

Again today, there are lots of local boaters.  50 foot motor yachts are tied together at the wall with loud music.  There are at least 40 people on the boats and they have chairs and tables set up ashore.  Dancing and partying until sunset.  By 5:30 they are all gone.

There is a pot luck in one of the pavilions on shore for those folks crossing to the Bahamas. Included are:

La Madame Oceane (Mario and Carmen)

So Far, So Good (Dave and Jane)

Cantabile (Greg)

Off Duty (Dave, his wife, crew Al)

Ratatouille (Pat, Kadaka, Peter)

R-Luv (Richard and Judi)

Chasseur (Richard and June)

Rhiannon (Us)

Monday, December 5, 2016.  Greg (Cantabile) has rented a car, so I go with him to run a bunch of errands.  First stop is a marine where Greg has to pick up fuel filters for his engine.  Mike (owner) is supposed to be an A-1 mechanic on just about anything.  Next is a metal fab shop, where Greg picks up some stainless to support his davits.  Mike has called here ahead of time so Greg gets a really good price!  Third stop is Walgreen,s, where all of us pile out to stock up on necessities for the trip. The next stop is Crook and Crook (marine Supply).  Greg and I are both looking for some stainless parts and pieces (me – for the outboard lift).  I also talked to their fishing shop about a rig to troll with on this trip.  By the time the guy was finished, the tab was going to be over $1,000.  I decide to try another route – not sure which one, but certainly one less expensive considering how much this equipment will actually get used. We then stopped at Home Depot, but like many Home Depot stops, we did not find what we needed.  Next was the grocery, where everyone loaded up on stuff for the Bahamas.  Good to do when you have access to a car.  The last stop was at Atlantic Postal Services to pick up a package from Amazon.  Back to the boat by 4:00pm.  Lisa met me on the dock with our dingy as we had a full load with just our stuff. 

Dinner on board So Far, So Good with Dave and Jane and Greg (Contabile).  Nice evening.  Tomorrow does not look like the ideal crossing day – winds still NE 10-15 and the seas have not had a chance to lay down after 5 days of strong northerlies.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016. Partly Cloudy, humid, wind still out of the NE at 10-16, but supposed to go into the SE by noon.  Some boats leave, most do not.

3:00pm, we have a chart meeting at the pavilion to discuss the crossing and the Bahamas in general.  Only a couple of boats of the 10 present have been before, so there are a lot of questions.  Heavy rain overnight.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016.  Pearl Harbor Day. Anchor up at 6:00am. Rain has stopped, but just.  You can still see lightning flashes in the distance.  There were 10 boats in No Name last night waiting to cross and 5 more sitting just outside the harbor.  At least two boats left at 5:00am (La Madame Oceane and Endeavor). 

6:30am Looks like a parade leaving Key Biscayne.  Not sure how many boats are underway, but we can make out about a dozen.  Beautiful sunrise, clear, wind N @ 5. 

7:00am We are experiencing a 1 knot push from the south.  We are right on the edge of the Gulf Stream.  Bimini is 84 degrees on the rhumb line (shortest course), we are steering at 155 degrees.  We are actually moving at 96 degrees.

8:00am Wind N @ 7, foresail out, making 6.5 knots motor-sailing, seas 1-2 feet.

10:00am Partly cloudy, wind N @ 10.  Making 6.8 knots.  Seas 2-3 feet.

11:00am Sun peeking out

12 Noon out of the Gulf Stream – motor sailing making 7.5 knots – 8 miles to go.  We are back on the rhumb line of 84 degrees.  Bimini in sight.

2:00pm On the dock at Bluewater Marina.  Eight other boats come in behind us.  There is only one boat here when we arrive – Piece a’ Cake, a 65 foot Hatteras that is here 6 months at a time.  No dock hands available, so Lisa and I direct boats to slips and help tie them off.  David (dockmaster on duty) shows up as the last two boats arrive. 

3:00pm, I walk down to Customs and get all the paperwork done.  Then on to Immigration for more paperwork.  We decide to wait until tomorrow to visit the BTC for a sim card for the phone.

One of the fisherman come around selling lobster and we buy a dozen and have lobster for dinner and freeze the remainder.

By 6:00pm, there are 13 boats here.

66SM  52.8NM  25.43.50'N  079.17.85'W

Thursday, December 8, 2016.  Cloudy, wind NE @ 15.  We walked to the BTC store and got a sim card for Jeff’s old iPhone, which will now be our Bahamas phone. We walked farther north and had lunch at Bob’s Conch Shack and had conch salad, which Lisa really enjoys.  We stopped at Charlie’s for bread, but he is out for today.  Maybe tomorrow. We walked the beach and found some nice shells, including a couple of helmet conchs, as well as a piece of one that shows the inside of the shell.  We also found lots of other shells.  On the way back to the south end of the beach, we found our first hamburger bean (sea bean) of the trip.

At 3:00 pm, we all met under the pavilion to go over charts for the next leg of the trip, the Berry Islands and the Exumas.

Dinner on board.

Friday, December 9, 2016.  Very windy today.  Wind still NE.  Partly cloudy, but looks like rain.  Today we visited the Louise MacDonald High School.  We have been discussing with the Principal, Wesley Rolle, how we might assist with their needs for supplies and equipment.  On our first visit to Bimini two years ago, we met two of the students on the beach.  They invited us to see their school and the nature walk of medicinal plants they were developing. Last year we attended their career day event while we were here.  There is a whole list of items needed which we will address separately. We brought with us supplies for the Cosmetology Class.  Last year, Lisa arranged for a group from the marina to visit the class, have facials and their nails done.  This classroom now has new hair dryers and seating for customers. Our visit today with Mr. Rolle and others will hopefully in some additional funds and supplies and equipment for the school.

Cosmotology Class at Louise MacDonald High School

Afterwards, we walked the beach.  Several of the cruisers are at the pavilion after dinner with musical instruments, nice.  One of the boats that just came in is trying to develop enough of a u-tube following to pay for her cruising.  Interesting to listen to what she plans to do.

Saturday, December 10, 2016.  Lots of wind and rain.  In between the rain showers, we walked to the beach. It is amazing how much it changes in just a day.  Yesterday, there were “cliffs” in the beach where the sea had eroded the sand away.  Today, the sand is all back forming a nice sloped beach down to the water.  We did not find many shells nor did we find any sea beans today.  Even though we are on the leeward side of the island, the surf is substantial, as the waves are wrapping around the island.

Bimini Beach

Lisa made lobster chowder for the pot luck dinner tonight, but the wind has picked up and it is pouring, so the event is postponed.  Instead, we have Don and Peg (Endeavor) over to help dispose of the chowder and played a few rounds of Mexican Train.  Very nice evening.

Sunday, December 11, 2016.  Still stormy today.  Today spent working on the blog.  We made a trip to the beach and found more shells.  The shelling here is some of the best in the Bahamas.  We had some of the lobster for dinner. We bought fuel and water. We used the jerry cans and put 22 gallons of fuel in Rhiannon's tank.
Lisa walked down to the liquor store and found the guy who does propane and got our one empty tank filled.  Yea!

Monday, December 12, 2016.  The weather has improved, the wind is down to NE10-15.  Several boats leave this morning, but we elect to wait another day. We took dirty clothes to the laundry.  They do “wash and fold” here primarily because they get better usage of the machines if they do the laundry.  They charge a $4 service charge over an above the cost of the coin machines – a bit more if they supply the soap.  Well worth it for us.  Lisa and I and Chasseur (Richard and June) went to the beach.  June found a nice helmet conch shell.  We went to CJ’s on the beach for lunch – conch fritters – good!

Showers, a visit to the liquor store (which was crowded because the cruise ship is in).  Lisa and Richard and June and Greg (Cantabile) went to visit the Dolphin House.  Lisa met Ashley Saunders (builder, curator, etc.) on our first visit here.  It is amazing how much more building he has done in the past three years!  More info: https://www.facebook.com/Dolphin-House-Bimini-132740360135441/

I picked up our clothes at the laundry, then went to the bank to see if my ATM card is working (which it is – after 3 calls to the bank!).  Lisa and I had drinks by the pool with Promise (Dale and Christine), then went to the Big Game Club (next door) for dinner.  I had a steak (the first in a long time) and Lisa had Cracked Conch.  Excellent!

Bull Sharks visit the marina looking for scraps

Tuesday, December 13, 2016. We are off the dock at 6:45am.  Clear, wind SE@5-10.  Tide almost high, so there are no issues getting out of the slip.  7:10am, we are out the channel and headed north to North Rock.  Cantabile, So Far, So Good, Promise and Chasseur are headed toward North Rock also.

8:10am We turn east at North Rock.  Chasseur continues on north headed toward Great Harbor in the Berry Islands. Seas 1-2’.  Wind S @ 5-10.  Clear 75 degrees.  Main up.  We are motorsailing at 6+ knots against the tide.

9:00am Clear, seas calm, wind SE@5.  On course 108T to Mackie Shoal.  27 nautical miles to go, then 24 more to the anchorage west of Chubb Cay.  The water is turquoise and 20 feet deep as we cross the Grand Banks – the water is beautiful and clear all the way to the bottom. 

10:00am Porpoises sleeping on the surface.  Quite a few of them, more than we have seen in the Bahamas.  The only time we have seen this many was when we crossed over from Eleuthera to Warderick Wells on our first Bahamas trip two years ago.

11:00am Wind South @5.  Seas calm, beautiful.

12:40pm Seas calm, Making 7+knots with the current (motoring).  No wind, partly cloudy.  So Far, So Good caught what they think is a Yellow Jack.

2:00pm Passing Mackie Shoal Light.  Promise about an hour behind us.  Cantible and So Far, So Good still close by.  Still motoring at 7+ knots.

5:30pm Anchor down west of Chubb Cay.  Beautiful. 

Dinner on board.  Also here are So Far, So Good, Promise, Cantible, and 4 other boats.

We put 11 gallons of fuel in from the jerry cans.  70.4 NM today.  25°31.01’N  078°10.36’W

Sunset on The Banks

Wednesday, December 14, 2016.  7:00am, anchor up.  72 degrees, mostly clear, wind east @ 5-10.  The full moon is setting in the west as the sun is rising in the east.  No way to capture this in a photograph. 

8:10am  Northwest Channel Marker/Light.

9:10am Puffy clouds, wind South @ 5.

11:00am  Saw purposes “sleeping” on the surface, lots of them.  They follow us for a while as we disturbe their slumbers.  We haven’t seen this many purposes in the Bahamas since we crossed from Eleuthera to Warderick Wells (Exumas) in 2013.

11:50am  Passed Dessert First.  Took some nice pictures of them and the boat.  We are now experiencing big rollers coming from the northeast, but the seas are flat otherwise.

12:10am  Passed Promise – also headed to West Bay.

3:00pm  Anchor down in West Bay, New Providence.  No issues coming in to the bay.  Saw no less than 8 feet at the shallowest point.

We dive on the anchor to check that it set, but this is all sand so no problem.  Lots of shells on the bottom, sea biscuits, conch.  Lisa went out in the kayak to visit other boats.  Water temp 80 degrees.  Also here are L’Attitude, So Far, So Good, Promise, Cantible, Dessert First, Wild Cat and Nautica (who we met in Vero), Endeavor (who we met in Bimini) and about 10 other boats.

50 NM today.  25°01.32’N  077°32.96’W

Thursday, December 15, 2016.  Swimming.  Lisa went snorkeling with Dessert First on the south shore around the corner towards Coral Bay.  There are many dive sites.  They saw statues that have been placed at one site, caves and lots of fish.  When she got back we diagnosed the issue with the forward head not pumping out and found the macerator pump had stopped pumping.  It made noise like it was pumping, but actually did not pump.  We have two spares on board (for just such an occasion) and changed out the pump.  Messy job – where is Mike Rowe when you need him.

Dessert First was kind enough to share some Mahi they had caught, which made a real nice dinner.

The Northeast wind has picked up considerable and waves are starting to wrap around the point to the north of the bay, so we raised the anchor and tuck in close to the north shore of the bay.  Much calmer here.  25°01.64’N  077°32.92’W

Friday, December 16, 2016.  9:00am, sunny, wind East @ 15-20 and building.  It was somewhat rolly overnight, but not uncomfortable.  West Bay is not as comfortable an anchorage as we thought it would be in a Northeast wind.  Of the 15 boats that were here yesterday, 5 have already left and more are leaving.  Paillard and Waxy (who we met in Bimini) come by in their dingy to visit.  They are headed to shore and then getting a cab to Nassau to get an oil pump for Paillard.

Anchor up at 9:45am.  Once we are out of the bay headed east, the wind is 20+ in our face.

11:20am, we turn north at the flashing light and head into Coral Bay, now the Defense Force Base.  This was at one time a marina and they started to build a high rise condo and they whole project went bust.  The government took over the area and now use it as their Defense Force Base.  Other building have been completed, but the skeleton of the high rise remains marking the entrance to the harbor.  Althouigh not on the chart, the channel into Coral Bay is clearly marked with lighted red and green buoy’s.  We are headed to Nick and Caroline Wardle’s dock on one of the canals.  These too built by a developer, but many of the lots still vacant.  Wardle’s Dock is an SCCA cruising station and this is where we will leave the boat while we fly home for the holidays.

12 Noon We are rafted to another sailboat at Wardle’s.  There are 5 other boats here and we are rafted 3 deep from the dock.  6 Percent is here.  She is a 65 foot Bluewater.  We met her owners at Big Major 2 years ago on our first trip to the Bahamas.  6 Percent was here for Hurricane Mathew and the winds came in from the south here during that storm.  A sailboat in front of her broke loose and did some damage to 6 Percent. Air Born is also here (Dennis and Patti).  We had not met them previously, but they know Steve and Deb on Outbound, who we have traveled with on and off the past two years. 

Nick and Carolyn's dog is Yeager (female).  She is what is know as a "potcake" in the Bahamas.  They are local mongrel dogs that (in the past) where fed the residue left in the pot from cooking dinner - a "potcake" for the dog.

Nick, Carolyn and Yeager

9.8 NM today.  24°58.94’N  077°27.70’W

 For more images of Key Biscayne to Coral Bay click here

Saturday, December 17, 2016.  We checked the airline to confirm our flights on Tuesday.  It rained quite a bit overnight and it still squally today.  At 5:00pm, we had cocktails with Nick.

Sunday, December 18, 2016.  We rode into Nassau with Caroline, who was picking up clients to go birding.  She does guided tours for people interested in the local birds, as well as kayaking tours.  We walked around Nassau sight seeing, had breakfast at Jimmy’s Take Away, where the locals eat (lots of breakfast and lunch choices), then to John Watlings Distellery rum and other spirits).  It is on the highest point of land in Nassau and has quite the view.  A scene from the 2007 version of James Bond’s Casino Royal was filmed here and the exterior of the original distillery was used as the Nambutu Embasay.  Then on to the Straw Market and the Marketplace for some Christmas shopping. Lunch at  the Via Café (by the cruise ships) where we shared a table with  Hilde and Christian, who are from Oslo, Norway and were off one of the cruise ships.  They are headed to New Orleans next so we said we would email them Benny’s “Things To See and Do in New Orleans” (his hometown).  Afterwards, we met Caroline for the ride back to her house and our boat. Very nice day.  Lovely city once you get away from the crush of the people off the cruise ships.

Art Museum in Nassau

For more images of Nassau click here

Monday, December 19, 2016.  Today was spent getting the boat cleaned and ready for the holidays.  We packed and got ourselves ready for the flight tomorrow.  We made our cheese ball, and cocktails on the porch with Caroline and Nick.  Jeff, his wife and their daughter (a violinist prodigy) on Boundless joined us as well.  Lisa shared her vegetable lasagna with everyone.  Nice evening.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016 – Sunday, December 25, 2016.  We caught the 2:40pm United flight to Chicago, then connected to another United flight to Salt Lake City.  We will visit with our youngest son, Jeff and his girlfriend Carly as well as our oldest son Jacob and his wife Betsy until Christmas.  The visit was very nice.  We had dinner out one evening and got to visit with our dogs (Costis and Precious), now Jeff and Carly’s dogs.  The weather was gray and snowy most of the time, but company was great.

Snowy Salt Lake City

Snowy NH

Tuesday, December 20, 2016 – Sunday, December 25, 2016.  We caught the 2:40pm United flight to Chicago, then connected to another United flight to Salt Lake City.  We will visit with our youngest son, Jeff and his girlfriend Carly as well as our oldest son Jacob and his wife Betsy until Christmas.  The visit was very nice.  We had dinner out one evening and got to visit with our dogs (Costis and Precious), now Jeff and Carly’s dogs.  The weather was gray and snowy most of the time, but company was great.

Jeff's Birthday in Salt Lake City

Sunday, December 25, 2016 – Tuesday, January 10, 2016. The trip to New Hampshire was a disaster from the word go.  At 9:00am on December 25, United sent us a text saying our 3pm flight out of Salt Lake City would be delayed 3 hours.  How do they know that 6 hours before departure time?  We called United and they were kind enough to rebook us on a Delta flight leaving at 2:00pm.  We would have to connect in Atlanta, but would arrive in Manchester, NH at about the same time as the original Untied Flight – Great!  Everything went well until it was time for the flight to actually depart the gate.  It was snowing and it was Christmas Day, and apparently not a lot of Delta folks decided to come to work.  They could not find any ground crew to close the cargo doors!  We sat on the plane at the gate for two hours while the pilot tried to get someone to come close the doors.  By the time we took off, it was clear that we would miss the connection in Atlanta.  So, we wound up at a hotel at the Atlanta airport overnight (compliments of Delta) and on a 6:00am flight to Detroit with connection to a flight to Manchester.  This is one of the busiest days for the airlines and these were the only seats available to Manchester from Atlanta. We arrived at noon on the 26^th.  Ugh!

When we got home, we found out that the company we had contracted with to rent one of our rentals had indeed found a tenant – good news.  The bad news is that they sent us a whole list of items that needed to be fixed, repaired, etc. before the tenants moved in.  The worse news was that they were supposed to do all this work, and instead closed for the New Years holiday!  So, Lisa and I, our son James and his fiancée Laura spent three days cleaning, repairing and painting an apartment.  It all got done, and the tenant moved in, but no what we planned for the holidays!

We were able to have cocktails and appetizers with Kathy and Ken Durward and Karen Durward at Elacoya one evening.  Nice.  We also had dinner at Judy Nelson’s, which was also very nice.  We had “Christmas” with Laura and James on New Years and spent a couple of days in Massachusetts with Lisa’s Parents.  We got to shovel snow twice while home – enough of that.  We also got to watch a lot of football.

Our flight back to Nassau was at 6:00am on January 10, which means we were up at 3:00am, on the road by 4:00am to get to Manchester in time for the flight and the process of checking in, getting verified as people, and getting thoroughly searched.  Strangely enough, the “pre-check” line was longer and slower than the regular line.  We arrived in Nassau at 1:25pm, were met by Nick Wardle and were back on the boat by 3:00pm.  We collapsed.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017 – Friday, January 13, 2017.  We spent these days getting the boat ready to head south from here.  The wind has been howling, so everyone is pretty much staying put.  Rain squalls too. We spent one day at the beach, and another cleaning the boat.  We went to Compass Point with Dennis, Craig and Nancy on Wednesday.  Beautiful spot on the northwest corner of the island.  The “hotel” has multi-colored cabins and a great beach and restaurant. It took the rest of the day to store everything! Dennis’ wife Patti flew in on Friday, so we got to meet her. We borrowed Dennis (Air Borne) rental car and we went shopping for provisions with Craig and Nancy (Sognare). We bought 4 jerry cans of fuel (18gallons) from the local gas station and put the fuel in the tank.

This has been a nice stay and a safe place to leave the boat while we were away.  You may have heard "Ranger” broadcasting the New Providence weather at 7:15 in the mornings.  That’s Nick Wardle.  If in the area, you can call him on VHF 72.

Saturday, January 14, 2017.  Wind has abated somewhat.  Sognare leaves.  Spent some time working on the blog, but not enough.  Lisa and I walked to the beach.  Found some shells, but nothing like the last time we were here.  The tide was very low.  We put many small starfish back in the water and covered others with seaweed.  Too much sun and they die.  Kenny (6 Percent) came to dinner.  He is here working on his boat, trying to get the generator running.  He will take the boat back to Fort Lauderdale in a couple of weeks to have the damage from Hurricane Mathew repaired. We actually met Kenny and his wife Pam at Big Major 2 years ago.

Sunday, January 15, 2017.  We departed Wardle’s’ Dock at 8:15am.  Kenny (6 Percent) helped us out of the raft we were attached to.  72 degrees, partly cloudy, wind East @ 5 at the dock.  Once outside Coral Bay, the wind is blowing East 10-15.

9:00am Wind SE 13-16 – right on our nose.  Motor sailing at 6.5 knots.

10:00am Wind East at 15 – motor sailing at 7+ knots. Rain in the distance – seas 3 feet plus a 1  foot chop off the forward port quarter. Bumpy.

12 noon. Wind East at 15+.  Chop has turned to white caps.  Haven’t seen another boat out yet today. We began the day headed toward Galleon Point, but are now headed 15 degrees farther south toward Norman’s Stake.  We are trying to keep some wind in the sail to make the ride more comfortable and not head directly into the waves.  Lisa wanted to turn back when we were an hour out and we probably should have.  The ride has become very rough and a “salty” ride.

1:40pm We tack off towards the north.  The wind and the current keep pushing us south and if that continues, we will have an issue with a large shoal.

2:25pm We tack back to the south to 130 degree course.  Wind now East at 18-20, waves 4-5 with a 2 foot chop.  We are making an easy 7 knots.

4:40pm  Sails down, wind ENE at 20-25.

5:30pm Anchor down at SW Norman’s Cay anchorage.  Nice sunset.  About 12 boats here hiding from the wind – although you can hear it howling through the rigging.  Anchorage a bit choppy, but relatively flat.

57NM today including one long tack to the north.  24°36.17’N  076°49.29’W

Monday, January 16, 2017.  Martin Luther King Day. Sunny, 75 degrees, wind East 20-25.  We had a nice breakfast, then at 10:20am (high tide), raised the anchor and staying close to the protection of the shore, moved north 5 miles to Long Cay.  We anchored very close to shore.  Sognore is here.  The water in the anchorage is flat, but the wind continues to howl.  We can see waves breaking on the east side of the island, some spraying 30 feet in the air!  We talked to Phil and Joanne on Majestic Phoenix. We met them in Bimini two years ago.  They are anchored in the Pond at Norman’s Cay.  Well protected, but they will have to wait until the seas calm way down to get out of there as the only entrance is east onto the sound – the wind is howling from the east!  There are boats anchored in the lee of every island.

5NM today.  24°39.96’N  076°48.76’W

Lisa made chicken stew/soup with quinoa for dinner.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017.  Sunny, 75 degrees at 8:00am.  Wind still howling out of the East at 15-20.  It is supposed to calm down by tomorrow.  We talked to Majestic Phoenix again.  They are looking for a vet to take a look at Cricket (their Yorkshire Terrier).  She has an issue with one her eyes.  Craig on Sognare is a vet!  We gave each of them the others contact information.  They will hook up tomorrow, if Majestic Phoenix can get out of the pond.

Lisa and I went to a small beach on the west side of Long Cay.  From there you could walk over and see how angry the Sound is (East side of the island).  We walked the beach and found hundreds of small conch on the beach.  We threw them back in the water for over and hour.  Many of the shells were empty and we kept some of the best ones.  They are, in fact, perfect specimens of a conch shell, in miniature.

On the way back to the boat we snorkeled next to the small islands where we are anchored.  Some of the underwater coral formation had lots of beautiful fish – all colors.  Nice calm snorkeling out of the wind.

Showers, dinner (pork chops), glorious sunset.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017.  Cloudy this morning.  The wind continued all night, but at daybreak, it began to lessen. We decide to stay here another day.  Rain showers off and on all morning, but not enough rain to get all the salt off the boat.  It is covered from the crossing on Sunday.

We worked on cleaning the bottom of the boat.  It hasn’t been done since Vero Beach, and while “stuff” grows very slowly here, the bottom was due.  Lisa got most all of her side done, but I did not – ran out of steam.  Maybe we will work on it tomorrow.

Majestic Phoenix came in and dropped anchor.  It was great to see them again.  They also took Cricket to see Craig (Vet on Sognare).  We haven’t heard the results of that yet.

January 18 sunset

The wind has finally abated and it is a beautiful evening. Another beautiful sunset.  Leftovers for dinner. 

Here is where we are anchored on January 18

For more pictures of Coral Bay to Long Cay click here

https://share.deloreme.com/bennypopek

Brunswick to Key Biscayne Autumn 2016

Brunswick to Key Biscayne Autumn 2016

Tuesday, October 25, 2016. James picked us up at 6:00am to take us to the flight out of Manchester, NH.  We arrived in Jacksonville at 1:00pm rented a car and drove to Brunswick.  We stopped at Brunswick Landing Marina to check on whether the work we had them do was completed.  We were disappointed that after sitting in the yard for a month, they still had polishing left to complete and the prop and line cutter needed to be re-installed after servicing.  Seeker (Kathy and Earl) drove up from St. Mary’s (where their boat spent the summer) for dinner at Basil Thai.  Very nice. 7:30pm, we retired to the Comfort Suites for the night.

 

Wednesday, October 26, 2016.  Beautiful morning.  No clouds, 80 degrees, wind NE @15.  The MaxProp gets re-installed and more work is done on polishing.  We changed propane fittings, replaced the wheel and then found a missing washer, so had to search on out.  The line cutter was re-installed, but the bolts won’t hold.  This yard replaced this last year, and apparently did not install it correctly. It is now the end of the day, so another night in the hotel, hopefully, splashing Rhiannon tomorrow.

Brunswick Courthouse

Thursday, October 27, 2016. Another beautiful day. There is a sunken shrimp boat from Hurricane Hermine at the dock at the park next door to the marina.  There is a salvage company there attempting raise it without breaking it apart. By 3pm, they have her afloat on her own.  Not sure what caused her to sink, but it wasn’t a holed hull.  Heard from Jaz.  They are headed to Saint Augustine from the Chesapeake.  Maybe we will see them this week-end.

Brunswick was one of the places that Liberty Ships were built during World War II.  The yard employed over 16,000 people and turned out one Liberty Ship every week.  There is a memorial to that effort in the park next to the marina.

The guys in the yard finally decide they can repair the line cutter with epoxy and do that, but it has to sit 24 hours, so we won’t get to launch today. Another night at the hotel.

Friday, October 28, 2016.  It looks like the repair to the line cutter is holding.  We found that one of the large windows in the salon has gotten broken while Rhiannon sat in the yard.  Not sure how.  The yard has no idea.  It’s a mystery.  We talked to a couple of local glass companies and they do not want to deal with a boat window that has a bit of a curve.  We will call Catalina.  The bottom did get painted and a nice job was done. We finally launch at 4:30pm and head for our slip.  The marina was supposed to have someone there to help with lines, but he said (on the radio) that he would be a few minutes.  After half an hour, no one has arrived, so we try it ourselves. Lisa jumped from the boat with the lines and went straight across the dock into the water.  Luckily nothing hurt other than her pride! The finger pier is slanted as the float under it has quit floating and that probably assisted her into the water.  The marinas attitude was it was our fault, which it was, even tho’ the dock hand never showed up.

Saturday, October 29, 2016.  Work continues getting the boat ready to head to the Bahamas.  We have a long list including oil, and filter changes to both the engine and the generator, changing all the fuel filters, air filters, and water pump impellers.  Jaz has shown up and we still have the rental car so we head over to Barbara Jean’s on St. Simon’s Island for dinner.  The food is just great and the prices reasonable.

Sunday, October 30, 2016.  Jaz takes off.  We spent a couple of months traveling with them last winter.  They are headed to St. Augustine, where they will leave the boat and head home to Hawaii.  Chris has been offered a very good job and they will be there for at least 2 years.

Monday, October 31, 2016.  We are not happy with the detailing the yard did to the boat. Last year the boat shined like new, including the cockpit and the cabin house and hull.  Also, last year the stainless was all polished and all the rust stains gone.  Not so this year, and you can see swirls and missed areas on the hull.  Cindy (Manager) and George (who did the work) came to look. They could not see the issues.  Maybe that’s the problem.  Next time we will have work done elsewhere.  We like the marina and its facilities, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone running the place, especially service – at least anyone who knows what they are doing. Disappointing.

Before the rental car was returned to Jacksonville, we filled the boat with fuel (24 gallons) and filled the one empty propane tank (we carry 2 ten pound tanks). I was picked up at the airport by Grant and Libby (Nightingale), who had borrowed Seeker's car. I visited with Seeker in St. Mary’s.  I wanted to see the boat yard they are in.  They then drove me back to Brunswick, and then we all went to Barbara Jean’s for dinner.  Another excellent meal.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 through Friday November 4, 2016.  We finished provisioning and completed several more projects (including repair, cleaning and conditioning the dingy).  The water pump on the generator has a leak.  It turns out that the pump has a drain screw which has corroded and fallen apart, allowing water to leak out.  I took the pump body over to the local machine shop, the one that fixed our rudder shaft in 2012 and got it drilled out and tapped.  Turns out he did not have a tap the correct size, so I went to the automotive fastener dealer in Brunswick and got the correct one.  It was $5 and I traded him the tap for the work.  Nice!

Friday, we checked out of the marina and settled our bill.  Still not happy about some things and the rates they charge here are top dollar and the work just has not been.  This is the second year in a row that we have had issues, since Jim their service manager left (and has not been replaced). We like the marina and they have free beer and wine at the happy hours.  They have free laundry and the boaters lounge and showers are nice.  If we stay here again, we will make other arrangements to get work done.

Saturday, November 5, 2016. Off the dock at 8:30am. Clear and cool 55 degrees.  Wind NE @ 10-15. Nan, Lotti and Mary (from our dock) came to see us off and help with lines.

9:30am Jekyll Island at half tide – no issues.

11:00am Cumberland Island , north end, St. Andrews Sound.  6 foot seas, wind 20-25 NE. snarly!

12:30pm seas and wind calm down as we get behind Cumberland Island.

1:30pm Fernandina Beach (Amelia Island).  2 hours past high tide and we had no issues with the skinny water just south of Fernandina.

The docks at Cumberland Island are closed because of the damage from Hurricanes Hermine and Mathew.  Two marinas in Brunswick (Morningstar and Frederica YC) sustained major damage.  Fernandina City Marina is closed due to damage.  We saw lots of sunken boats, boats washed ashore and docks destroyed all the way south.

Sunken Boats in Fernandina

Many Boats Ashore

4:30pm  The free dock at Jacksonville (Sisters Creek) is full.  The anchorage across from it has a barge in it and a bunch of new pilings in the water.  The new Bridge is complete, but they are disassembling the old bridge so still lots of work going on here. As we cross the St. Johns river, there is still a lot of dredging going on and you have to pay attention to the channel markers as you cross the river as they have moved.

We stop for the night at Palm Cove Marina.  While they advertise that the slips are on a wide fairway and lots of room, not so for our boat.

The boat performed well today.  Dinner on board.  72SM 57NM today. MM747.  30°17.41.N  081°25.88’W

Sunday November 6, 2016.  7:00am rain and clouds this morning. Showers predicted off and on for the day.  Time change overnight (I still do not understand why we do this).  8:30am off the dock.  Cloudy/bright and humid 70 degrees.

12:30pm Bridge of Lyons (St. Augustine). Weather seems to be clearing.  You can see lots of roof damage and docks damaged, as well as how high up the water mark is on a lot of the houses along the shore – looks like a couple of feet.

1:00pm on the T-head at Rivers Edge Marina (on the San Sebastian River).

35SM 28NM today. MM780. 29°53.13’N  081°19.36’W

Cocktails and hors devours at A1A with Pegasus (who we met on the way down), as well as Exuberant, Heartstring, Runaway, and Kismet. We walked over to Old Town and many places are open (like Café del Hidalgo for gelato), but many along the waterfront are not (like Harry’s (one of our favorites) and the American Legion (both right on the waterfront).

Monday, November 7, 2016. Walked over to West Marine and the Farmers Market (by the marina), visited Roger who was working on Down Time.  They sustained some minor damage during Mathew, but mainly, his boat’s lines are holding the T-dock on Dock E together.

Dinner at the Floridian on Old Town with Down Time, Jaz, What If and their guests.  The food is “Nuevo Southern Cuisine with a Flare” and they use local ingredients as much a possible.  It was good, different. Service was just fair.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Election Day.  Thank goodness this election is soon over!  Worked on boat chores, organized maintenance records, log, etc.  Lisa and Margaret (Jaz) shopping.  Down Time (Roger and Connie) come to visit with new puppy (Bosun) a Australian Shepherd/Poodle mix.  Neat puppy. George, the mini poodle they had on the boat last winter has passed on.

Talked to Catalina.  They were most helpful. Ordered new window and adhesive.  They will ship it to Vero, hopefully there while we are. Dinner at Hurricane patty’s with Jaz.  We shove off tomorrow and they will be leaving for Hawaii soon.

Chris and Margaret (Jaz) and Us

Wednesday, November 9, 2016. Rain this morning. 72 degrees.  Waiting for the tide.  10:10am off the dock, dead low tide, still raining.  Our backup iPod is dead.  This is the one we have all our music saved to.  Luckily we have another backup!  Lisa manages to slip and fall down the companionway steps.  Wrong shoes and it is wet.  She is Ok, but sore and has some nice coloration.

10:30am we turn into the ICW from the San Sebastian River.  Several boats are stacked against the 312 Bridge abutments.  A crane on a barge is there trying to remove them.  Most of Old Town had 1 ½ feet of water from Mathew, as did the office, laundry, etc. at Rivers Edge.  Hurricane Patty’s did too, but they are back open.

12:125pm Successfully past Matanzas Inlet.  Plenty of water as long as you pay attention to the channel markers (which may be different from the chart or electronic chart).

5:30pm Main Street Bridge, Daytona

5:45pm Memorial Bridge is gone, being dismantled.

6:00pm, Lindley Anchorage, east side of the ICW between R44 and G45.  We are over next to the docks.   64SM 51NM today.  MM832.  29°11.61’N  080°59.95’W

Thursday, November 10, 2016. Sunny and cool – 60 degrees.  Wind NE@5-10.  8:00am, anchor up.  We saw Troubadour and spoke to them on the VHF.  They are headed back to the Bahamas also.  We met them last year in Marsh Harbor.  They had just purchased the boat. We also saw them while we were in Brunswick.  We also heard Providence on the radio and spoke with them also.  We have met them on both of the previous trips to Abacos.

9:30am New Smyrna Beach corner – always a problem – Greenstone was aground here last year.  No issues this year.  Past at mid tide and had 7 ½ feet of water at the skinniest point in the center of the channel.

10:00am Coronado Beach (aka George Munson) Bridge.

10:30am Mosquito Lagoon, south of New Smyrna – the local Sherriff is stopping boats to inspect heads.  They asked Providence and Troubadour,  if theirs were sealed (you can’t pump directly overboard), skipped us, then stopped a big catamaran and were writing them a citation as we passed by.

1:30pm Haulover Canal Bridge at Cape Canaveral.

Providence and Sea Turtle stop at Titusville.

2:00 Racing for the bridge at Addison Point (aka NASA Causeway).  The bridge does not open between 3:30pm and 5:30pm during the week.  Troubadour, is with us.  Foresail out, engine at full, making 7 ½ knots over the ground against the tide.  Flying for us!

3:25pm we make it through the Addison Point Bridge. Troubadour anchors close to the park in Cocoa so they can walk their dog and we continue on a bit.

 4:00pm We anchor at Georgiana Anchorage close to the east shore of the iCW (west shore of Merritt Island).  The water is deep here almost all the way to the shore and the wind is coming out of the east, so this is well protected.  We have anchored in this area before.  61SM 49NM today, MM904.  28°17.05’N  080°40.76’W

Friday November 11, 2016.  8:15am Anchor up.  Cool and clear 65 degrees.  Beautiful day, sunny, not much wind, but right on our nose!

2:30pm we are on the fuel dock at Vero Beach.  44 gallons

3:00pm we are on mooring 51 way down the north end of the mooring field.  We say Cygnet (Bob and Cheslea) as we passed by.  We have known them for a long time.  They are still members of Jubilee Yacht Club in Beverly, MA, where we met them.

5:50pm Pegasus comes in.  Dalmatian is here also.

Good news, Catalina called and they are shipping our window here today!

50SM 40NM today.  MM952. 27°39.79’N  080°23.38’W

Lisa made a nice dinner with a port loin and vegies in an oven bag.  The only problem is the oven did not want to stay lit.  Looks to be the thermal switch, but will have to explore the issue tomorrow.

Saturday, November 12, 2016. Beautiful day – 60 degrees in the morning, 80 degrees by 2 in the afternoon.  Wind NE@10, dry, not humid.  We ran the generator for the first time this trip and it overheated, steam coming out of the exhaust! Checked all hoses, impeller and intake, raw water filter.  I took the heat exchanger apart and cleaned a bunch of pieces of zincs out of it.  There is a pencil (sized) zinc that fits into the heat exchanger to protect the engine from electrolysis and over time pieces have come off and collected, clogging the exchanger (where the cool sea water cools the coolant in the engine – essentially a water cooled radiator).  Pete Brocker came by with a pick for me to use and some advice – always appreciated. After re-assembling the whole thing, the engine still refuses to run (high water heat sensor keeps shutting down the engine).  I replaced the high water temp sensor and the generator runs great.  This is a common problem when an engine overheats – the temp sensor gets cooked.  We had that happen with the truck on the way out to Utah this summer.

George and Bev Major came by.  They have a home in Riviera.  We had an early dinner at Mulligans on the beach.  Nice visit.

Sunday, November 13, 2016.   Another beautiful day. We rented a car and drove up to Cocoa to visit Lisa’s Uncle Franny.  He has been having medical issues, but seemed more ambulatory than when we last saw him.  He recently had a procedure on his neck to relieve the pain he was experiencing, but it hasn’t worked to relieve it yet.  A short visit, but we are glad we got to visit with him and Virginia.

We took advantage of having the car to go bulk shopping at Walmart (water, beer, wine, soda, etc.)  We had also talked to the nurses at both Black Point and Staniel Cay about supplies they may need to replenish after Hurricane Mathew.  We bought some of these to carry there for them while a Walmart.

Monday, November 14, 2016. Still another beautiful day!  Lisa went ashore to do laundry. I worked on figuring out the stove.  There is a website with a trouble shooting guide for Princess stoves.  After following that, taking the burner assembly apart and cleaning everything, the stove is back working!  I then cleaned the oven, under the stove top, the top burners, and behind and around the stove.  What a job that turned out to be! Rain in the afternoon. Dinner on board.

Tuesday, November 14, 2016. Rain in the morning, then cloudy and humid.   

The free bus has a new schedule and route.  Lisa and I got on and were almost immediately dropped off at the park.  We were supposed to meet another bus to go towards the beach, but…………..  We walked.  Stopped at the post office and went to lunch at Casey’s Place – a small outdoor (seating) restaurant with great burgers and sandwiches at great prices.  We walked back to the boat stopping at the hardware store.

Wednesday, November 15, 2016.  My laptop has been acting up.  It started last year on the boat – the screen will start flickering. If I turn it off, after a while it seems to work fine again.  I had it checked while we were home this summer when it started acting up again and was told it is the graphics card.  Either there is a bad connection (intermittently) or the graphics card itself is going or ?????.  The could not isolate the problem while in the shop and, of course, it worked fine while there.  It happened again before we left and I inadvertently dropped the machine and it started working again.  Well its acting up again.  Jim on Salty Paws told me that he had the same issue and the techs at Office depot were able to replace his graphics board and no more issues!  I Googled Offed Depot and there is one on the Miracle Mile, which is next to Publix.  I can take the free bus over there.  So, I load up the computer and catch the bus.  The bus now has a new schedule and a new route, so this is going to be challenge.  After finally getting to where Google says the store is – it isn’t there!  They moved out by Walmart which is 5 miles farther away!  I called and talked to the tech there and he said many times they can fix the issue, but this laptop is 8 years old and the parts are no longer available.  This would have neem nice to know before the trek!  Sort of a wasted morning

I spent the afternoon making “Jim Bade’s New Orleans Red Beans and Rice” recipe below.  Actually, we soaked the beans last night, then I actually started the cooking process this afternoon.  It makes a bunch and we plan to take it to the sundowner/happy hour tomorrow.  There are supposed to be lots of folks going and Jim and Bentley (Salty Paws), as well as some others are going to bring their instruments and supply music.

Thursday, November 16, 2016.  I completed the beans, made the rice, chopped the onions for the garnish.  I made a run to Publix (on the bus with the unreliable schedule) to pick up disposable bowls, spoons and good bread for this evening as well as other food stuffs.  At 4:00pm the festivities began.  There indeed were lots of people, food and music.  At the end of the event, all the beans were gone!  Stan and Judy (formerly Rhumb Runner, now Cruisers Living on Dirt - CLODS), that we have known for too many years, now have a place in Vero, came too!  Nice to see them!  They were amazed how many people they knew from their cruising days!

Friday, November 17, 2016. The aft toilet has decided it no longer wants to pump out.  So today is spent replacing the pump with a new one, then rebuilding the old one, as well as another old spare aboard.  I had the parts and now we have two brand new head pumps in the spares.  We also replaced the vent filters on the two holding tanks.  Fun day!  But no more smelly head odor!

After all this smelly work, we went ashore for nice long, hot showers.  Dinner was at Riverside with Seeker (who came in today) (Kathy and Earl), and Nightengale (Grant and Libby). Nice evening!

Saturday, November 18, 2016. A beautiful day today. Lisa walked to the Farmer’s Market with Seeker (Earl and Kathy) and Flying Pig (Skip and Lydia).  Stan and I went to Panera Bread for a bagel and coffee and then to Sturgis Lumber.  I want to build a wooden box for the socket sets, torque wrench, etc. and want boards (mahogany or teak) to replace the support boards for the jerry cans we carry on deck.  The current ones a rotting (they are oak). Stan is looking for oak to complete a desk he is working on.  After we get the wood, we go to Vero Beach Millworks,  where they cut everything to size.  Stan left his there for them to mill as well. 

When we returned to the boat, Melinda Kay (Doug and Barb) was rafted to us.  We had met them previously and it was nice to see them again.  When the mooring field here gets full, boats are rafted two or three to a mooring.

Sunday, November 20, 2016.  Cleared out the rear lazerrete and the storage locker so we could work on the generator and engine.  Pete is coming tomorrow to help with completing the 600 service on each.  Dinner on board Seeker with Dalmation (Tom and Mary Lou) and Tomera (Scott and Kitty)  Scott and Kitty presented a slide show of their around the world trip (1987-1991) with their two boys.  Very interesting and informative.

Monday, November 21, 2016. 45 degrees this morning!  Clear and cold. Pete comes by and we change the injectors on both the engine and the generator, re-torque the heads and reset the clearances on the valves.  He also re-packed the packing gland on the prop shaft. I packaged up the injectors we removed and sent them off to Winter Island Yacht Yard in Salem, who will have them tested and rebuilt as necessary.  When they are returned, they will go into the spares for next time.

Dinner was at Mr. Manatees.  It is $5 burger night.  They also have a 1 lb. Burger (with fries).  If you can eat the whole thing (including the fries), you get a free T-shirt.  Not sure if you have to pay for the burger if you eat the whole thing.  Skip (Flying Pig) and Grant (Nightingale) managed to get all that food down – and keep it down – both big guys!  There were 20 people at the table – noisy, but a fun evening (Lisa and I just had regular size burgers).  Present were:

Rhiannon (Lisa and I)

Seeker (Earl and Kathy)

Elle and I (Lawrence and Elaine)

Nightingale (Grant and Libby)

Salty Paws (Jim and Bentley)

Flying Pig (Skip and Lydia)

Tomera (Scott and Kitty)

Barefoot (John)

Dalmatian (Tom and Mary Lou)

Briana (Carol)

Collette (Bill and Sue)

$5 Hamburger Night at Mr. Manatees

Tuesday, November 22, 2016.  Errands this morning, getting stuff for Thanksgiving.  We are invited to Stan and Judy’s, where there will be several other (former) cruising couples.  I am making cranberry salad – see recipe below and we bought a pecan pie to take.  The salad has to be frozen and Stan said he would come by to get it. Cygnet left today.  Maybe we will see them in the Exumas.  Love and Luck comes in (Bob and Denise).  He is having trouble getting his outboard to run, so I go over to see if I can help.  Now that I am an expert.  No luck.  Lisa winds up ferrying them back and forth to shore.  Bob decides to wait until they get to Marathon to have someone look at the engine.

Seeker drove home today to North Carolina for Thanksgiving.  Hopefully, we will see them before we leave Vero.  They are talking about going to the Bahamas also!

We had dinner with Pete and his friend Nancy at Taj Mahal Masala in downtown Vero.  Very nice Indian restaurant and the food was good, the company also.  It was nice to meet Nancy after hearing about her all the years.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016.  Lisa walked with Seeker, I made the cranberry salad and then met Stan ashore.  He took it to his house to put in the freezer for tomorrow.  Whisper (Vic and Marilyn, Newfoundlanders) comes in.  We have met them twice in Bimini.  Great to see them.  Vic is having engine issues and we try to kibitz on it.  His engine was on its last legs, so he bought a used Yanmar and it ran great until yesterday. I was able to find  Operations, Service and Parts manuals for the engine online and sent them to him.  I also managed to print the Operations manual for him.  Dinner on board after a complete scrubbing in the shower!

Thursday, November 24, 2016. Thanksgiving. Another beautiful day!  What a run of nice weather!  Stan picked us up at 10:00am.  He told me to bring my tool box project and I could use his workbench while dinner was being prepared.  I managed to get it all assembled! Nice.  There were four other couples present including Judy’s brother Gene, who also now lives in Vero.  The food was great and the company was too.  We are back to the boat by 5:00pm.  A very nice Thanksgiving – Thank you Stan and Judy!

Friday, November 25, 2016.  Cool and a bit windy, partly cloudy – a nice day, but not perfect!  Lisa went to the beach with Elle and I (Lawrence and Elaine) and Dalmatian (Tom and Mary Lou).  I stayed and varnished the tool box, cut the mahogany boards to length, and put a coat of varnish on them.  I did some more research for Vic on his Yanmar, but almost everything is closed today, so it is tough to talk to anyone.

There is a small sundowner today.  Traditionally, the folks who live aboard full time at the marina do not mix socially with the transients.  Not sure why, but there are exceptions to this.  Lisa has no boundaries with whom she will befriend (is that correct English?).  Anyway, we wound up at a table tonight with Pete, George, Don and his wife, and Carol (residents) and Dalmatian (Tom and Mary Lou) and Flying Pig (Skip and Lydia).  Nice evening.

Sunset at Vero Beach City Marina

 Saturday, November 26, 2016.  The window from Catalina arrived yesterday and Pete was coming over to help install it.  It is raining this morning and it supposed to continue on and off all day.  We will wait to do this project another day (and another place).

Our microwave has started a constant buzzing when supplied with 120V AC.  These machines typically do not like inverters as inverters normally put out a “square wave” as opposed to a “sine wave” (as taught me by friend and electrical guru George Barlow).  Anyway after a time, the microwave croaks on the square wave.  I also only paid $69 for this machine at Walmart three yeas ago.  So, we ordered a new one from Amazon, which managed to arrive this morning.  Today was spent dismounting to old one, mounting and testing the new one – voila!

Lisa put another coat of varnish on the jerry can boards, cleaned the cabin.  I made a last minute grocery run.  Tonight, we make steak, potatoes and green beans for dinner.  Vic and Marilyn Whisper) are guests.  Very nice day and evening!

Sunday, November 27, 2016.  Off the mooring at 7:15am. Partly cloudy, 65 degrees.  It is supposed to be very windy, but now it is still calm.

7:30am After passing under the bridge next to the marina, we run aground.  We are just outside the channel and it is only four feet deep.  A guy named Mike in a center console (with his 2 year old daughter Harper and their dog Milo) tried to pull us free.  Luckily, the tide was still coming in (although almost at high – and it is only 2 feet). Between the tide and Mike, we were able to spin off and be on our way.  Pete even came out to lend assistance, but we were already off.  I’m glad we got this out of the way early in the trip!

9:45am Fort Pierce North Bridge (MM965)

10:45am Wind now SE@10.

11:40am MM980 wind now SE@15

1:45pm Hobe Sound Bridge

2:00pm It has now clouded over completely – rain showers as we approach Jupiter Inlet.

2:30pm 707 Bridge (on request)

2:45pm Jupiter Federal Bridge (on request)

3pm Indiantown Road Bridge – the operator was kind enough to hold the opening a couple of minutes for us.

3:30pm Donald Ross Bridge

3:40pm MM1010

4:00pm PGA Blvd Bridge

4:15pm Parker Bridge

4:30pm Anchor down in North Lake Worth.

66.5SM  52.8NM today.  MM1014  4 on request bridges, 4 scheduled bridges

26°50.24’N  080°31.16’W

We left Vero at just about high tide and had a fair or neutral tide all day – nice!

Dinner on board.  Wind continues to build from the SE overnight.

Monday, November 28, 2016. 7:00am.  Cloudy looks like rain.  Wind SE 15-20.  We put 11 gallons of diesel in the tank from the jerry cans.  While yesterday we had a fair tide, today we are pushing against the tide and this stiff southeaster. As we pass the inlet at Lake Worth, the winds are 25-30 and gusty.  Glad we are not outside for this.

9:15am We make the hourly opening of Flagler Memorial Bridge.  The operator tells us that it will continue to only open once an hour at a quarter past until the new bridge under construction is operational.

9:30am Royal Park Bridge

9:50am Southern Blvd Bridge – help 5 minutes for us!  Be aware, Trumps Miralago is just north of this bridge on the ocean side.  It is clearly visible from the ICW.  This will be a problem whenever he is there, but no security is visible today. Wind continues to blow at 25+ SE

10:30am Lake Ave Bridge – on request

10:40am MM1030

11:00am Lantana Bridge

11:30am Ocean Ave. Bridge

11:43am SE 14^th Street Bridge – on request

12:08pm George Bush Bridge – on request

12:15pmAtlantic Ave Bridge

12:22pm MM1040

12:30pm Linton Blvd Bridge

1:00pm Spanish River Blvd Bridge

1:30pm Palmetto Park Bridge

1:40pm Camino Real Bridge

2:00pm Hillsboro Blvd Bridge

2:45pm NE 14^th Street Bridge

3:00pm Atlantic Blvd Bridge – huge iguanas sunning themselves on the bridge fenders – they are orange – do they change colors – green when they are in the trees?

3:30pm Commercial Blvd Bridge – Fort Lauderdale City Limits – more iguanas

3:45pm Oakland Park Bridge

4:00pm Sunrise Bridge – there are no cruising boats anchored in Sunrise Lake, Lettuce Lake or Lake Santa Barbara.  Anchoring is not allowed overnight anymore in Middle River and we did not see any boats there.

4:15pm Las Olas Bridge – the marina here is full and on the other side of the bridge, all the mooring balls are taken.

4:30pm Anchor down in Lake Sylvia.  Very protected.  You can feel and hear the wind, still at SW20-25, but the boat is still.  About 20 boats here.  Some current, so you have to check the anchor when the tide changes, but after two attempts to get the boat where we wanted it, we are comfortable.

50.5SM 40NM today.  19 scheduled bridges and 2 on request today. MM1065
Unlike other trips, the bridge tenders were very co-operative today.  26°06.33’N  080°06.67’W

Tuesday, November 29, 2016.  Today was spent working on this blog.  Lisa worked on a patch for a zipper that has come loose on the dodger, worked on the new boards for the jerry cans and then made a nice spaghetti dinner.  The wind is still howling out of the southeast.  We will watch the weather for an opportunity to move down to Miami and then over to Bimini.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016.  Wind still howling and occasional showers, very humid.  Today we just hung out, reading, working on the blog, cleaning.

Thursday, December 1, 2016. Grey, humid, 75 degrees, wind still out of the SE at 15-20.  We have to go outside (in the ocean) from here and the direction is pretty much southeast, so we will wait another day.  Once the wind dies off, we still have to wait a day for the rough seas to subside.  The wind is supposed to subside today.

Lisa finished the last coat of varnish on the new starboard side jerry can board.  Because it is so humid, it takes forever for it to dry.  We installed the new one on the port side.

We took the dingy to the Raw Bar, which is at the far west end of one of the many canals here.  We had to cross the main thoroughfare on the way.  There is always a lot of boat traffic and we were dodging large yachts and commercial vessels – interesting.  There is really no place close to land a dingy at Lake Sylvia, which is maybe its only downfall as an anchorage.

We had lunch at the Raw Bar – the food was good – burgers.  We then Ubered to Michaels so Lisa could replenish her craft supplies before we head to the Bahamas.  Then on the the Dollar Tree to load up on cosmetology supplies for the school in Bimini.  We have received a request from Wesley Rolle, the Principal of the Louise MacDonald All Age School in Bimini concerning supplies and equipment they need.  We will pass that along to everyone in an email.

The final stop of the day was at the Winn-Dixie grocery (across from the Raw Bar) and then back to the dingy and back to the boat.  The skies look very ominous as we lift the dingy and motor back aboard.  Then it rains buckets full!

We had considered crossing to Bimini directly from here, but the weather window seems to be closing.  Heavy rain overnight.

Friday, December 2, 2016. At 5:30am, we check the weather and the wind has already begun to shift to the north at 10-15.  This will make crossing the gulf stream very rough (wind from one direction, current from the opposite – makes for big waves).  However, if we stay fairly close to shore, it should make an easy run outside down to Miami. It is still raining.  We decide to wait for this set of showers to pass and go back to bed.

By 9:30am, the skis are brightening, the wind is N @ 10-15 as predicted.  We lift the anchor and head for the 17^th Street Bridge, the last one we will have to deal with opening. 

10:00am, we are outside headed south.  The winds are on our stern and are dying off somewhat.  We are also running with the wind, so they are having little effect on us as we are moving about the same speed as the wind.

Noon, we are 3 miles offshore and the skies are brightening.

1:00pm, we enter Government Cut in Miami.  The sun is coming out!  The weather is always great in Miami!

3:00pm, we are at the fuel dock at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne. We put on 18 gallons of diesel and filled with water, then head to No Name Harbor. Crandon Park is MM 1094.We pass So Far, So Good and Cantabile coming out of the marina.  We were moored close to them in Vero Beach.

4:00pm Anchor down in No Name Harbor (part of Bill Baggs State Park). Rain in the distance.  There are very few boats here, which is unusual.  Two of the boats here are So Far, So Good and Cantabile.

Key Biscayne Lighthouse

33SM  27NM  MM1096  25°40.58’N  080°09.75’W

For more pictures of Brunswick to Key Biscayne click this link

To know where we are at any time click on this link