Nearing the end of the season...

We did go snorkeling on the reef to the east side of Hope Town, and oh my goodness.  We just floated on the surface and watched a myriad of fish go about their business below us.  We saw purple round ones that appeared to always have one eye on us, half blue and half yellow ones, striped ones, iridescent ones of yellow or blue, two very big Tarpon were just hanging there, not moving, even one that was like a chameleon and changed from reef coloured back to silver when it realized we weren’t

Hope Town, Bahamas

going to eat it.  It was just incredible, but I’m sorry that I have no idea what the names of these fish are, except the tarpon.  There just were so many, it reminded us of swimming on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia a few years ago.  Just an exceptional day.  I wished I had an underwater camera to take pictures of what we saw.  We were able to just walk in from the beach and swim a short distance to the first of the layers of reefs that run parallel with the shore and go out for quite a ways.  A perfect day in paradise.

Treasure Cay beach

We stayed in Hope Town for a couple days before moving on to Treasure Cay, about a 15 nautical mile trip and quite different from around Hope Town.  They have a basin on the way into the marina with mooring balls, that we hooked up to.  A short dinghy ride gets you to the marina itself and the few stores and condos and cottages on the peninsula.  The beach on the east side is boasted as being one of the top 10 beaches in the world, but we beg to differ.  It is indeed beautiful, however, we were quite spoilt with Sugar Beach back on the Great Harbour Cay and feel it’s nicer.  We walked nearly the entire length of the Treasure Cay beach and got a good view of the Whale Cay that we have to get through next. 

The little town site is that, little, there’s just a little grocery store, a bakery that has really great cinnamon buns, and may just even be better than the Procter bakeries buns….(if they ever open again…) They are a bit different than Procters’, just a different flavouring mix somehow, I couldn’t quite pick out what was different.  We devoured it quite quickly just the same.   There is a meagre hardware store, a couple souvenir shops, golf/bike/boat/car rental places a tiki bar and restaurant at the marina and that’s about it.

We met another Canadian couple there from Port Moody and had a great visit with them, they are heading back to the mainland over the next week as well.  Chris Parker, the weather guru that nearly everyone listens to over here, has indicated that next week will be an ideal time for those travelling back to the States from the Bahamas.  We will be in that parade of boats with luck.

Whale Cay in the distance

So, our next challenge is the Whale Cay passage,(google Whale Cay passage) an island off Treasure Cay that has a very narrow cut on one end and nasty reefs on the other side of the cut.  It is tricky because in certain weather conditions the waves from the ocean will break right across the cut opening and if the tide is going out at the same time or a big wind against the waves, it’s called a rage.  Quite nasty, to say the least and happens more in the winter months.  The day we chose to go through the cut it is quite benign as far as the weather goes.  There is a light wind, the tide is slack and the rollers are only about 4 feet, so a good day to get through.  People have lost their lives going through here, or trying to go across the shallow area on the inside of the Whale Cay.

South of the Whale Cay is Great Guana Cay, and on its north end is an area called Bakers Bay.  There is a very private marina built, for the rich and famous.  Also, cruise ship companies had a channel dredged there several years ago, so they could come into this bay to discharge passengers onto Bakers Bays beach.  That didn’t last too long as there were too many days with the ‘rage’ happening during the winter.

Pigs of No Name Cay

We carried on to Green Turtle Cay where we caught up with folks we had met in Great Harbour marina and Marsh Harbour.  There is to be a nasty low pressure system coming through over the next couple days so lots of folks are coming into marinas and harbours to wait it out. 

We had hardly tied up to the dock when our friends were asking if we wanted to go with them in their dinghies over to No Name Cay to see some swimming pigs.  Why not??  There is a snorkeling place there too, so after we get bite of lunch we head out with them.

The pigs are spoilt, they have a fresh water self feeding tank, plus people are always bringing food for them.  Our group brought some old celery and they turned up their noses.  They were looking for something somewhat better, like apples.  We meanwhile traversed around the island to the area recommended snorkeling site.  Well the wind was blowing pretty good, and the waves building and coming right onto the coral rock beach.  We may have been able to get in… but not a hope of getting back out without getting beat up somewhat, on the rocky shore, so we passed.  When we got back to the dinghy’s we saw some of the pigs actually swimming. These aren’t the famous pigs of the Exumas, but are ones kept there just for the tourists.  One ends up on the BBQ of a local restaurant every now and then.

Docktails

We have ‘docktails’ with the rest of the folks from the boats that have since come in to the marina after we get back.  There is a bit of a blow to come through, so many more boats have come into the harbour too. Docktails are cocktails and appies on the dock. A couple of the sailors have guitars and bring them out too so we have good stories, great music and just an all round magical evening.  I waited all this trip for a night like this, its warm, the people are great, the music lovely, the stars bright and we’re in the Bahamas mon!!

Green Turtle Cay

We spent a couple days here waiting for a weather window to head back to the States.  Every morning the group of us would huddle around a computer over by the Pineaples tiki bar where the internet is best and listen to Chris Parker (weather guru). This is at 6:30 in the morning so it’s still dark, so we have either headlamps or flashlights so we can take notes.  The SSB radios are working this early in the morning for some reason, however as the sun comes up the transmission comes in better.

One morning we all traipsed into town for a breakfast of Chicken Sous, I think I mentioned this in an earlier post when we were still in Great Harbour Cay.  It’s a breakfast staple here and when served with johnny cake,…. Yum.  It was so good that we went downtown another day to a local fundraiser that was offering Chicken Sous, Conch Stew or Tuna and grits for breakfast.  Another evening we joined a bunch of other sailors down at the local wine shop/restaurant for happy hour before heading back to Pineapples tiki bar for supper.  Another night Jeff called for a potluck dinner with all the sailboats on the dock

Potluck 

.  The wind is howling pretty good by now, so he is off looking for an alternative to eating on the dock and getting blown off.  He finds… a big garbage can that he puts some rocks in then puts a ¼ sheet of plywood that he found, on top.  He then tied this to the deck railing just outside the restrooms we use…Great dinner, lots of choices, no complaints and none left over. We love potlucks.

Kevin, Dockmaster and musician at Pineapples

Finally we got a weather window and off everyone went.  We headed slightly north before turning west to Great Sale Cay which is a big sheltered bay and that’s it, nothing but mangroves here.  We and many other boats stopped here as it’s a half way point between the east side of the Abacos and the West side of the Little Bahama Bank.  Al had a fishing line out and caught some seaweed first, then something else just bit off the line and took the lure.  Another time he had something large on, but it got off.  

Great Sale Cay

On the west edge of the Bahama Bank

 That night was relatively quiet, but when we got to the very western edge of the Little Bahama Bank, it was somewhat different.  The gulf stream was running north, the wind from the northeast and waves from the east.  

We basically didn’t move from over top of our anchor with all the contradicting forces.  Man it was bumpy, and our boat creaked so loudly… the gulf stream kept our nose pointed south so the waves were coming at us at the back corner not exactly how a sailboat is supposed to take waves.  Lumpy bumpy.  We were anchored there with 3 other sailboats and 2 trawlers.  None of us slept well, and most of us were on our way to Fort Pierce in Florida by 5 am.

Sunset on the Little Bahama Bank

In the Bahamas

We arrived to the inlet of Fort Pierce around 4 pm, and right into a raging inlet - the current coming out the tide going in, and the rollers heading straight on in as well and some wind just to add interest.  It was amazing to see waves pyramid shaped as we were coming in, getting rocked around.  Thankfully it was for only a short period of time and Captain Al got us safely into the ICW..  Sally and Jeff from one of the trawlers we traveled with, came out in their dinghy to meet us after we got in through the worst part.  

Made it back to the USA

So we are back in the States, we had to stay an extra night in Fort Pierce as we had to get to the airport to check into the country.  We celebrated a great journey with our trawler friends at a local restaurant before we all - quite early- crashed for the night. 

A green heron catching breakfast

Al and I moved on towards Titusville, where we are going to be leaving the boat for the summer and hurricane season.  We got to Melbourne, Florida harbour and had a bit of excitement... we lost propulsion right in the middle of the harbour.  Al dropped the anchor and we slowed to a stop in a mud bank about 4 feet from the front of two big trawlers that were tied up in their slips.  There was a nasty wind blowing right onto our broad side and after calling Tow Boat US we waited hoping that the mud bank and anchor would hold us from moving any closer to the trawlers.  It did, thankfully and Willy came to our  rescue and towed us onto the dock of the marina we had planned on staying at.  Al discovered that the propeller had disengaged from the transmission (a V drive?? for those who know what that means). After much consternation and phone calls we ended up having Towboat US tow us to Titusville, about 35 miles away.  As it was friday we wouldn't have been able to get hauled until next week locally, and longer still til a mechanic could look at it.  If we hadn't been in a bit of a rush to get home, due to the passing of my mom, we would have waited.  

Anyway, we were towed to Titusville, where we will be having the boat hauled in a couple days anyway.  Can you believe this all happened one day before we got to our final destination...go figure.  I guess it's better than in the middle of the Florida Strait or in the middle of our last transit across the Little Bahama Bank.

Being towed

Guess they can't read...

Good year blimp

So Willy the tow captain came along the next day and put a line to our bow and away we went.  The wind was on our back quarter so travel was easy and we managed to get 6 knots at least, the whole of the 6 hour trip.  It was the easiest trip we have made to date.... sitting in the cockpit and watching the world go by.  Saw dolphins, a lovely show by the US Thunderbirds performing at the town we had just left, the Goodyear blimp....passed a derelict trawler that had dragged its anchor right out into the channel of the ICW, and had a special opening at a restricted bascule bridge.  The cars that piled up waiting for us to pass this bridge probably weren't too happy.

US Thunderbirds

Willy the towboat captain maneuvered us into the landing dock at the marina we will be leaving the boat at without a bruise, considering how windy it had been the whole trip.  Found out after that Willys real job is as a tugboat captain pushing huge freighters around Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

So we have had our cute little boat hauled and prepped for her summer hiatus.  Hopefully no hurricanes to push her around.  She will be getting stylish hurricane anchors added when they get the attachments put into the ground to hold her down.  The boat beside her was knocked over during Matthew last year...they didn't have tie downs..... 

As you read this we will likely be on our way home from this amazing journey.  Our little boat will wait where she is until we return to continue our exploration of this part of the world.  We have met incredible people, some we will remain connected with for the rest of our lives and hopefully we will meet up with in the next season.

So we will wrap this blog up for now, and will continue when we return to Florida next winter.  Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoyed coming along on our journey.

Laurie and Al