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
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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| 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.
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| Being towed |
 |
| Guess they can't read... |
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| 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
We are still in Titusville, trying to believe we are actually in Florida. Since the beginning of the year it has been extraordinarily cold, or cold, wet and windy. January 2nd it started in fact, I don't think we've been in shorts more than a couple days. That wind was clocked at 42 knots at one point; we were rocking in the wind even though we weren't in the water yet. One morning there was ice crystals in the water hoses on the docks after we did launch. So, here I am complaining about having Canadian weather in Florida.We have had cold cold winds, straight from the North Pole, I think. Our little electric heater has been working overtime keeping us warm at night, along with an extra sleeping bag over top. These systems are supposed to die off and regular weather patterns are supposedly in the offing, but I'm not holding my breath. I know, I know I can hear you all now, snickering - 'you chose to go south!! Quit complaining!!'
We've been getting some things done, in fact the boat is now in the water. I've been up the mast finally, to replace the lazy jack lines (neat lines that act as a cradle when you drop the main sail so we don't have to go out of the cockpit in bad weather) The old lines had broken in the first big wind storm after we got back from Ontario. Al has been working on the different systems that need servicing, upgrading or replacing. We've had to wait for parts to get here for other things to be repaired. Nothing is easy to find as marine stores are not nearby, at least an hour away. I think we have a majority share holding in ACE Hardware now. The heat and humidity has been hard on our grand old lady.
Another beach we frequent is Cocoa Beach, a bit south of Cape Canaveral. There is a long pier there that has a tiki bar on its end. A lovely place when its not cold out like its been. The hurricane damaged it a bit, but its been shored up and is open for business. The pier is where I got this picture of the Pelican quietly posing for folks taking its picture. 
This morning we got up crazy early to go and see the Super, Blue, Eclipse of the Moon. We found a perfect spot just over yonder that gave us a nice dark view. The full eclipse happened after the moon set here so we didn't get to see that much.
Another beach we frequent is Cocoa Beach, a bit south of Cape Canaveral. There is a long pier there that has a tiki bar on its end. A lovely place when its not cold out like its been. The hurricane damaged it a bit, but its been shored up and is open for business. The pier is where I got this picture of the Pelican quietly posing for folks taking its picture. 
This morning we got up crazy early to go and see the Super, Blue, Eclipse of the Moon. We found a perfect spot just over yonder that gave us a nice dark view. The full eclipse happened after the moon set here so we didn't get to see that much.
