Log – May 2019

It was blustery all night with winds staying around 20 knots. The SSB was very noisy – no joy on Chris Parker. We ran the engine instead of the generator for our freezer/refrigerator run – since it would give the batteries a quick charge and take a lot less time. The engine starter struggled to start – feels like a weak battery however Fred wasn’t sure. He would need to check the connections. We stayed aboard all day – with Fred doing some internet work and polishing the stainless and Iris working below. There were sporadic rain showers in the area. No boats left or came. We took our ‘joy’ baths in the choppy waters. In the evening, we finally ran the watermaker. The TDS (total dissolved solids) reading was 490 down to 440s at stop – barely acceptable to us, but we put it in the tank. WHOs (world health organization) considers up to 1000 potable, but US generally has 500 as acceptable.

It rained at around 2am and the winds were still in the high teens. We were getting a little stir crazy but less so than we would have been in Great Sale. We didn’t cool our fridge enough yesterday and so our ‘open’ milk spoiled, although the freezer was fine, and all the cheeses and vegetables/fruits in the fridge were ok as well. Need to run it longer today and we did! The winds shifted to SSE and we saw 30 knots briefly on this cloudy day with rain off and on and winds of 25 knots during dinner. We had about 4-5″ of water in the dinghy and Fred found the leak in the hatch over the bed. The batteries seem to be charging correctly. We spent the day on chores. We ran the watermaker for almost an hour starting with a reading of 500 and ending at 445. Not good.

The winds died down and finally we had a pleasant morning. The engine was rough to start. It sounded like a car with a failing battery. We had considered stopping at Powell Cay, but the SE wind direction would make for a bumpy night – so instead we opted for Manjack. We anchored next to a similar looking boat – cutter rigged, same size and shape although not a Valiant (or knock-off). The owners of Kristali (Steve and Carol) dinghied over soon after we anchored. They were out of Palm City and had been long time cruisers (over 35 years). They had insights into what it was like in Venezuela during the early 2000s – we had a pleasant conversation. They were heading home. OK – now time to dinghy over to one of the closest beaches. Oh no – a sign for feeding pigs. Kristali told us that someone placed pigs there so that they could charge for tourists to feed them. But although we saw tracks – no piggies to be seen. We swam on the anchor and it’s set well; Fred got a new zinc placed on the shaft and cleared the generator intake of weed. And then he started to debug the engine to narrow down our issues – engine or batteries? We had our typical ‘joy’ baths and then dinner in the cockpit. Speaking of dinner, we had a ‘date’ with John and Carla for a Cinco de Mayo dinner aboard their boat, Reverie – so hoping to see them soon. The watermaker readings were 510 down to 465 after 40 minutes – consistently bad. Wildlife sightings: None. Communications: Continues to be marginal with this phone.

Many of the boats cleared out this morning, heading north. The winds had veered more to the SW, making the anchorage a bit uncomfortable. Fred checked that the engine turned over by hand easily when cold. We expect to see Reverie arrive later today. Fred worked on hull marks while Iris did ‘garbage’ management. We took the dinghy to the cut between Manjack and Crab Cay however the tide was outgoing and it was too shallow. So we turned around and headed over to Coconut Tree Cove and beached the dinghy. Time to explore – one trail took us by a dock and towards someone’s house. The other had signage and took us to the ocean side of the island which we usually get to via the northern part of the cay. Interesting trail with lots of different mini terrains – from hardwood to mangrovey, to sandy..We knew we’d be having a rough dinghy ride back against the wind so Iris asked Fred to go more slowly into the waves. A sailboat was entering the harbor and Iris said ‘it has to be Reverie!’. Sure enough, we slowed down even more and waited while Reverie finished anchoring and then stopped by to greet them. We confirmed tomorrow’s Cinco de Mayo dinner, but also invited them over for drinks this evening.

Time to snorkel on the wrecks. We dropped our dinghy anchor and snorkeled the first wreck which had a lot of schools of fish. Iris stayed in the dinghy for the 2nd wreck, which Fred did quickly and said there wasn’t much to see. On our return to the boat, Fred scraped the prop, we took our joy baths and prepared for company. It was great hearing Reverie’s experiences and we were thrilled that they’d had a wonderful trip. Wildlife sightings Lots of fish including several 2′ parrot fish at wrecks; turtles in the cut. Communications: Continues to be marginal with this phone, although better with fewer boats around us.

After our morning generator run we headed back to the cut between Manjack and Crab Cay with today’s more favorable tide. John and Carla were there a few minutes earlier and we each took pictures of the other in our dinghies. They headed back towards a mangrove inlet to explore, while we beached our dinghy and hiked around to the ocean side. As we’ve seen on various beaches in the past, as we approached probably nests, the sand-pipers faked injury to distract us from the eggs. On our approach we didn’t see any nest, but on our return down the beach two birds gave up on the distraction and stood guard around a shallow depression with 3 eggs smack in the middle of the sand above the tide line. We dinghied across the small bay to the Crab Cay beach – where we saw tracks but no piggies. Time to head back. Iris’ flag repair used sticky tape, which then made the flag stick to the Man Overboard Pole. When Fred tried to unstick the flag, the MOB snapped. Great! We stowed the pole on deck for future repair. We had a wonderful dinner aboard beautiful Reverie and then bade them fair winds back to Brunswick. Our watermaker run was in the 500s, so instead of putting water in the tanks, we started collecting it in various containers, as we would for the remainder of the trip for dishwashing, sun-showers, and general uses. Wildlife sightings Lots of fish including several 2′ parrot fish at wrecks; turtles in the cut. Wildlife sightings Birds, sea turtles, rays, nurse shark, starfish

We’d considered backtracking to Powell Cay this morning, however the wind was from the SSW and expected to stay there, so we opted to go through the Whale. Our engine start was bad again – it’s looking like the batteries. Before going through the cut we motored around Crossing Bay on the west side of Great Abaco near Treasure Sands restaurant to see if that was an option for us. It looked like a good alternative for future times when stuck north of the Whale with south or westerlies. The ocean crossing was so benign that we towed our dinghy, and we headed directly to Red Bay (Water Cay). There were 3 boats in the area but all far apart. A swim on the anchor confirmed a good set. Fred took the opportunity to fix the MOB and Iris worked on the MOB flag. Iris tried to use her BTC Bahamas app to add $ to our account for phone calls. The app rejected one credit card and then the next. Oh no! Calls to VISA fixed the situation and all was well. The winds are expected to continue to be 15+ from the SW so we’d like to stay here tomorrow as well. After dusk, Fred got alarmed at the flashing lights and lit buildings closeby. We’ll be run down by approaching vessels! Iris did a quick internet check and apparently the Red Bay Marina complex was built by the Albury Ferry people to bring workers to/fro Bakers Bay resort. But somehow things had gone awry and at least in the last few months, it had closed. So no worries! Wildlife sightings: None. Communications: Better atho’ still marginal but we were right next to a cell tower.

We were waiting for light winds in order to drop the mainsail and try and make some adjustments. Wind was light when we got up – so we headed on deck before breakfast to drop it, adjust it and raise it while getting rained upon. Oh well – it looked much better. Fred put the MOB pole back in place. After breakfast we did some internet work and chores and then decided to explore the area. We’d anchored here once previously but didn’t look around. This time we explored various little coves. The first one was near a subdivision and there was a security guard parked at the beach so we opted to keep moving. The next one was too shallow but we saw lots of rays and turtles. The third was just right! We beached the dinghy and found a trail. Iris chickened out after awhile when the trail disappeared and returned to the beach while Fred plowed on through the brush and found a campsite, and a path to a wrecked wooden bridge we’d spied from our dinghy. Joy baths and sunshower rinses with our unpotable water ended a nice day. After dark, the crews from the two boats anchored in view, rowed ashore and had a big bonfire. They may have been waving to invite us earlier but we didn’t have our radio on so wouldn’t have noticed. Wildlife sightings: Cormorants, rays, turtles Communications: Same as yesterday

We definitely have a battery issue – the engine almost didn’t start this morning.
Fred determined that the gel cells we’d purchased in Puerto Rico were at end of life.
He split the banks and kept bank 1 in reserve for just starting the engine and we’d use bank 2 for other needs. We departed at 7:45 and motored very slowly to Marsh Harbour in order to have a full freezer/refrigerator run. There were very few boats in the harbour. Our first order of business in town, after getting rid of 10 days of garbage, was to purchase our nano-sim. We then stopped at Maxwell’s superstore for some fruit and bread, and at a liquor store for some wine and tequila before returning to the boat. What a difference the phone made – wow – we have workable internet again! Our plan was to head into town for a late lunch/early dinner but we discovered that everything was closed from 3-6. We went in at 5 and headed to Iggy Biggy – oops – closed at 5. Ok – had drinks at the Blue Hole (which used to be Curly Tales), and then moved to the recently reopened Mangoes for dinner at 6. We enjoyed our dinners and were also able to purchase ice at the restaurant. Back at the boat – the voltage on bank 2 wasn’t good. Wildlife sightings: Cars! Turtle while anchoring – water looked really clear in Marsh Harbour! Communications: Strong 4g, 5 bars cell – new sim/different phone

Oh no! First thing in the morning with only -18.3 on bank 2, the voltage was down to 11.7. We have a problem. We did an early generator run while Fred researched battery alternatives. He decided that we needed to go and buy a starter battery as a backup. So we put our hand-truck into the dinghy and headed to True Value HW (where we’d purchased batteries back in 2013.) We had the store check the charges on the two batteries they had in stock and we purchased the stronger of the two. We’d not gotten more than 1/2 a block away when we noticed that the battery was LEAKING! We turned around and exchanged it for the other, less charged one. They had no others in stock. In retrospect we should have just returned it and checked another store….Back at the boat we ran the generator for a little while to put a charge on the new battery and see if it held. Now what? Should we get fuel? All the fuel docks look full with boats. Just as we were raising anchor we saw an opening at the Conch Inn fuel dock and headed directly to it. We filled up with 48 gals of diesel and headed to Tilloo Pond – a ‘new to us’ anchorage good for the expected east wind. We got there around 2:30. Fred swam on the anchor. Joy Baths. We’re now in a rationing stage given our various boat issues: we’re rationing energy so pretty much using as little electricity as possible when the generator or engine is off. This also means that we’ll always keep the engine on while sailing because we need batteries to bring the sail in/out, furl/unfurl the genoa, raising/lowering the anchor, the autopilot, and of course starting the engine. The watermaker pump failed – no watermaking tonight! Wildlife sightings: Waves crashing on the other side of Tilloo, birds Communications: LTE and 4 bars cell

We had a calm night. We decided to spend another night here and do some exploring. During our generator run Fred worked on the watermaker. The charcoal filter had deteriorated and filled the 5 micron filter with black stuff. He cleaned the filter and got the watermaker going again. Iris made reservations at Green Turtle Club marina for 4 nights starting 5/13. While we’d liked Bluff House in 2017, finger piers were preferable. And some blustery weather was in the forecast. Chores done – let’s explore. We put the engine on the dinghy and entered Tilloo Pond – finding docks and dock ruins and homes hidden off the Pond. Small tour boats and rental boats were also coming in/out of the pond to explore. We beached our dinghy near a dock ruin and immediately found a trail headed to the ocean side of the Cay. Much of the ocean side is a preserve for herons. The terrain was shrub-meadow-like with no trees. The ocean side was very rough coral, with dramatic breaking waves – and very little of the Cay had buildings. From the ridge we had a wonderful view of the pond and Windwalker. Beautiful! As we returned to our dinghy, we disturbed a heron who clearly was trying to distract us from something. Back at the boat we had a peaceful afternoon and by evening several other boats anchored nearby. Wildlife sightings: Turtles in Tilloo Pond, heron with protective behavior, 2 dolphins around our boat. Communications: LTE and 4 bars cell.

Our plan for today was to head to Tahiti Beach. Not! Fred noticed some water in the back bilge but couldn’t trace it. Battery Bank 2 couldn’t start the engine, bank 1 was able with difficulty. And we now had a couple of inches of water in the back bilge. Fred determined that we had a leak in the spring seal. (this had happened once before several years earlier when an o-ring had shifted). Thinking that we would need parts we decided to forego Tahiti Beach and head for Man O War (which has a boatyard) – to avoid returning to Marsh Harbour. But if we needed to work on the boat, the holding in Marsh was better. We debated as we motored in the direction of both and at the last minute diverted to Marsh and anchored were we’d been 2 days earlier. Fred started making calls to every place we could in Marsh Harbour or Man O War for the spring seal. No one was open on Saturday. He reached someone on Green Turtle Cay (where we were headed on Monday in any case) who said he’d look for the part and get back to us on Monday. Great! Fred moved the o-ring and we hoped for the best. No point in staying here. Let’s move to Fisher’s Bay, have a nice lunch at Grabbers or Nippers. So off we went. Conditions were awful with waves in the anchorage with SE-SSE winds. We dragged until we set. Many other boats tried to set and gave up and left! No lunch ashore for us – we stayed aboard, had a quick swim off the boat, and complained to ourselves about the anchorage. It really wasn’t that bad – we just weren’t in the mood for it! Wildlife sightings: None. Communications: Strong 4G/5 bars cell.

Continuing to not be thrilled at Fisher’s we decided to forego Nippers pig roast and to head through the Whale. We could go to Manjack or elsewhere for the night prior to going to Green Turtle Club tomorrow. After breakfast – first job was to make sure the engine could start. Then we put the dinghy on deck – which is our usual form for ocean anything! Turns out we didn’t need to do – the Whale was flat. The anchor came up sideways and Iris had to free it with a boathook. We had a lovely motor-sail with main and staysail approaching Green Turtle. Rather than Manjack, Iris had suggested we try Coco Bay – another ‘new to us’ anchorage. There were only 2 boats in the area when we arrived, each far away. Our first anchor attempt failed in weeds/turtle grass. We then found a sandy spot and got a good set. The scenery was gorgeous and we enjoyed swims and time reading in the cockpit. A Moorings motor cat anchored quite close to us after several tries, as did a Canadian sailboat. The sailboat left late afternoon. Iris noticed that the dinghy from the furthest sailboat (there when we’d anchored), looked a little bit far from its mainship – but nothing seemed amiss. But then awhile later we noticed that the dinghy was about to pass us, heading on its own out to sea! We got on the radio and tried hailing anyone in the anchorage (really just the owner or the Moorings boat) since our dinghy was on deck and the only thing we could have done was to try and swim to it. The Moorings crew was on deck and Fred yelled to them to ask them to retrieve the dinghy. So they headed over to it and captured it and we pointed them to the sailboat ahead of us. By then, the owner had discovered that he was a dinghy short and stood forelornly on his stern. They brought the wayward dink to him and left. It didn’t look like he gave them any gift for their efforts – surely it was worth a bottle of wine? Wildlife sightings: Wayward dink. Communications: Strong 4G/5 bars cell.

Low tide is at 10:30 and we don’t want to head into White Sound until mid-tide, so we were killing time. The SW winds were sending chop into our beautiful anchorage and Fred was getting antsy. So rather than just sitting there, we decided to go for a little sail by Manjack and to confirm where Fiddle Cay ended and Crab Cay started – difficult to determine from our anchorage. We raised anchor at 12:15 and entered the entrance channel around 1:15. We were docked by around 1:30-1:45 and Fred didn’t see any shallower than 8′ the entire way. Iris checked us into the marina while Fred got everything ship shape. We once again had to rent a 50 amp adapter.
It was also interesting that the water for each slip was under lock and key. So after hosing off the boat, we locked the water back up. Fred thought we’d used 100 gals. (on checkout it was only 15!). Beautiful bathrooms, enjoyed their specialty drink in the Dollar Bar, and Fred bought himself an ice cream bar for later. A/C felt good as did having electricity and great wifi. We even watched a netflix show late in the evening. However the expected bad weather rolled in with a severe thunderstorm around 7:30. We saw 40 knots in the slip and were heeled over and briefly lost power! Wildlife sightings: Fish near the fish-cleaning station on the docks. Communications: LTE/ 5 bars cell/good wifi from GTC when using our roguewave antenna.

It was a peaceful night with some rain. After breakfast Fred worked on swapping out the engine solenoid while Iris worked on a website. Then she helped him take the mattress out of our aft berth so he could work on batteries. He found that one of the batteries on bank 2 had totally failed (and even bulged). We made several texts and calls to ‘George’ – the mechanic who was going to get back to us about parts but got no response. Between intermittent rain showers we hiked to Coca Bay beach (where we’d been anchored) and then to North beach – exploring trails and roads all new to us. Back at the resort, we sat at the pool and enjoyed conch fritters and tipsy turtles. After showers and getting changed, we went out for dinner at the patio restaurant. While waiting for our table we spoke to 3 cruisers waiting in line. They’d just arrived after experiencing a wild night at Manjack Crab Cay anchorage – they said boats were dragging everywhere. They had come into the marina to recover! We watched another Netflix program in the evening. Nice day!
Wildlife sightings: Birds as we hiked. Communications: LTE/5 bars cell; good wifi from GTC when using our roguewave antenna

Iris’ birthday. There was a small thunderstorm before we got up. Iris wanted breakfast out and had Lobster Benedict at the patio restaurant. We also made reservations for ‘steak night’. After waiting out some squalls we hiked once again to Coco Bay and found a trail to the north ocean beach and several other trails and then returned on some of the roads we covered yesterday – probably walking about 5 miles. Pina coladas pool side, then showers and a very nice dinner. No tv as Iris had a birthday phone call her friend Mar. VOIP didn’t work so well and she got disconnected several times.
Wildlife sightings: Birds. Communications: LTE/5 bars cell; good wifi from GTC when using our roguewave antenna.

Iris viewed today as a continued birthday celebration as the weather was good and we were going to rent a (gas) golf-cart and explore the rest of Green Turtle Cay. We ran the fridge early and then rented the cart at 9. First stop was New Plymouth settlement, where we hoped to find George, or at least a source for the spring seal. The boatyard on Black Sound didn’t have our part, nor did the marine store – who reached George for us. Ok – we’ll have to make do. After walking around New Plymouth – unchanged from 2 years ago, we headed out to ‘new to us’ parts of Green Turtle Cay. We explored and hiked around Gillum Bay and around the the sea of Abaco side of Green Turtle – coming close to No Name Cay. Huge amounts of seaweed everywhere made taking a dip in the ocean undesireable. Next we found Bita Beach which was supposed to have good snorkeling. It was very rocky. We spoke with a couple who got married on Green Turtle 40 years earlier, and had a house there for over 30 years. They were from VA and spent several weeks there a year and rented out the house the remainder of the year. We were surprised to see ‘city water’ was everywhere. It’s from aquifers on Great Abaco and pumped over to Green Turtle. Fred snorkeled while Iris stayed onshore – rock avoidance ;-(. We returned the cart at around 3 after having explored almost every road on Green Turtle Cay – crazy that after so many trips to the Abacos we’d never fully explored GTC! After a wonderful day we took a dip in the pool and had dinner aboard. We got ready for our return trip. Iris wanted to stop at Crab Cay/Angelfish. Fred thought that was just wasting time and that we should head directly to Great Sale. We tested the GTC marina water and it was even saltier than our watermaker, with a reading of 628. No water for us! Wildlife sightings: Fish while snorkeling, and at fish cleaning station. Communications: LTE/5 bars cell; good wifi from GTC when using our roguewave antenna .

The marina office opened at 7:45. Iris was there first returning the adapter and requesting a meter reading. We were off the dock at 8:30 and out the channel at high tide. We had a pleasant motor-sail the entire way. The engine started successfully on bank 1 and the spring seal only dripped a little bit. We saw very little boat traffic but lots of seaweed and cormorants enroute. We anchored at around 5pm with only 5 other boats in the anchorage. While we’d hoped to do Indian Rock channel, once again the tide was wrong. Memory Rock it would be again. So we’d have an early departure. We really liked ending the trip last time at West End – it made for an easier crossing to WPB and a relaxing ‘last day’. Wildlife sightings: Cormorants Communications: None except for Iridium

We raised anchor at 5:45. Once again the anchor swivel jammed – while moving, Fred had to use a hammer and screwdriver to free it. We motor sailed with almost 1 knot of favorable current and went direct to Memory Rock, cutting the corner at the end. We averaged around 6.8 knots. Iris tried calling OBB by satphone but either the numbers she had were wrong or she was dialing incorrectly. About 7 miles out she called the US 800# via Xfinity Connect and confirmed that there was room for us. We arrived at 3pm! Another boat at Great Sale left after us and did take Indian Rock Channel. When we got to the marina we asked them what they drew. 6′! They touched in several places and if they’d gotten stuck, their plan was to just wait out until high tide (which was going to be late evening). OBB was much emptier than it had been at the start of our trip. We were between sailboat season and the start of motorboat season in June. We made good use of our expensive dockage, swimming in the resort pool, enjoying pina coladas poolside and strolling around. After dinner aboard, we went to watch the sunset. Iris returned to the boat and Fred noticed several large sharks in the marina but didn’t take any pictures. Back aboard we prepared for sea (jack lines, ditch bag, safety gear, etc).Wildlife sightings: Sharks in the marina Communications: LTE/5 bars cell; didn’t use marina wifi this time

We were off the dock at 6:45. We had a relatively flat passage with very few targets – although there was a tug and tow almost immediately upon leaving the marina. We had east winds of about 10 knots and had the mainsail up with a preventor to keep it from jibing. We arrived at Lake Worth inlet at 3:30 or so and were at our slip by 5. We saw land at 20 miles offshore! And had cell coverage 10 miles off shore! Clearing in took more effort than we expected. Instead of the SVRS system used in 2017, Customs and Border patrol replaced it with an experimental app called CBPROAM late in 2018. While we’d prepared our personal and boat information before arriving in the US, every time Fred tried opening the app to report in, he got an error message saying he didn’t have location turned on. Iris tried the copy of the app on her phone and we submitted our official return. But then it just churned and churned saying application pending until reviewed by CPB official. It churned for 30 minutes and we were just about to search for a phone number when we got a push notification and an email saying we were officially back in the US. Iris later looked for reviews and discovered that about half of the reviewers had the same ‘location’ issue with their phones. The work-around seemed really awkward. So it’s still a work in progress. But we were back safely! We cleaned up the boat, had a nice filet dinner below and slept in air-conditioned comfort. A lot of work ahead of us – our list is long! But we enjoyed our trip nonetheless.
Wildlife sightings: Flying fish everywhere!