Bahamas 2013

We'd been bringing stuff to Windwalker for what seemed like days. Refrigerated food is always the last to come aboard. So after scurrying around town completing last minute chores, we left our home around 3:30pm with the last of our cold stuff and quickly stowed everything aboard. Ran the fridge and freezer (always separately), using a laser thermometer to check the plate temperatures since the gauges were reading high.

We're transitioning to the boat - no going back! All packed and ready to go. But let's go out to eat first. So we headed to Outback, had a nice dinner, visited with some dock neighbors and went to bed early. Tomorrow we leave the dock - that's the plan and we're sticking to it!

Up at around 7am after a sleepless night. We had a quick breakfast, decided which lines to leave at the slip and which to take, unplugged the power and left our slip in time to make the 9:30am PGA Blvd Bridge opening. What's this we hear? A sailboat called Tamure is calling the Donald Ross Bridge. Sure sounds like Kitty of the Valiant 40 Tamure. Scott and Kitty, 2 time circumnavigators had shared some adventures with us in the past and often come to the West Palm Beach area. We confirmed by radio that it was 'our' Tamure just after going through the Parker Bridge (and they the PGA Blvd Bridge). We said we'd touch base by phone later.

We were headed to the northern part of Lake Worth, the Old Port Cove anchorage, to do some last checks on both the dinghy outboard and for Fred to do a more thorough bottom-of-the-hull scrubbing. The dinghy outboard worked smoothly after an overhaul by Fred a couple of weeks earlier. We had lunch and decided to go for a short ocean trial to check out the wind/wave conditions and see if they matched the forecast. Raising anchor, the chain jammed on the windlass. Iris went below to the v-berth to free the 'chain castle' that had formed in the chain locker, and completed stowing the anchor. (For the remainder of our trip, Fred would bring in the chain to about 30' remaining in the water, while Iris flaked the chain below, and then she would come up to the bow and finish. For future trips, we need to re-flake all of the chain differently, or better yet - remove the nylon rode from our other anchor and stow it elsewhere - freeing up the entire chain locker).

Conditions out the inlet looked viable. We came back in and anchored at our usual spot south of the inlet. We re-checked the weather and decided that it's a 'go' for tomorrow morning. Iris made reservations at Old Bahama Bay marina for the following evening. We called Tamure to see if they were available for dinner, but they were further down in WPB and were not heading to the Bahamas - we'll see them again when next they're in our area! Iris called her mother, sent out a float plan note. A last check of email; an e-book we'd been waiting for was ready for check out! Yeah! Book 5 in the Game of Thrones series! Iris downloaded to both of our tablets. It was the final sign that it was time to go! ;-)

We had a nice dinner in the cockpit. It was cool, we had a full-moon, we'd prepped for 'passage' with jacklines installed, safety equipment readied(harness/life jackets) and ditch-bag loaded. We plan for a day-time crossing so will get up at 4:30am.

The alarm was set for 4:30 but Iris got up at 4. The anchorage had been very calm, but the boom groaned all night keeping her awake. We raised anchor - oops - another chain castle to clear. We finished messing with the anchor at 5:15am and were out the inlet at 5:30 - on our way!

We had ENE winds and seas of 2-4' with an occasional 5 - just as forecasted. We motor-sailed and it was probably one of our best gulf-stream crossings wave-wise. Enroute we saw the Bahamas Celebration plus about 5 freighters, 2 tug&tows, all identifiable via the AIS on our VHF radio. It was great to be able to see the CPA (closest point of approach), TCPA (time to closest point of approach), bearing, heading etc. It made it easy to identify whether or not the traffic was a factor and how to avoid it, if necessary.

When we saw some birds mid-way through the stream it was time to do some fishing. Iris got a hit pretty soon afterwards and reeled a 4-5lb. fish that looked tuna-like but wasn't familiar to us. It had a large eye, but didn't look like a jack. We should have taken a picture of it, but instead just released it right away. We wanted dolphin but it was not to be. The seas got choppier soon after and Iris gave up on her fishing effort.

We docked at Old Bahama Bay at around 3:30 with help from the attendant (slip c18). Fred went to deal with Customs/Immigration and to check us into the marina while Iris closed the float plan via email (using free wifi) and texted via gsm roaming on her phone. The marina required that we pay for water, so we hosed off the salt-encrusted boat. Then we took showers to hose off the salt-encrusted crew ;-) We had dinner at the marina restaurant (so-so) and then took a walk about the marina grounds, stopping to chat with a couple on a large trawler who had just made a crossing as well. Two of the sailboats near us were clearly west-bound. Our plans were to head east via the Indian Cay channel in the morning.

Iris got up at 2am to adjust one of the fenders when she heard rubbing noises of the boat against the dock. We got up at 6 and left by 7:15 (according to Fred) or 8:15 (according to Iris). The sailboat in the slip next to us, Zube, was also going to go via Indian Cay Channel. He was going to leave about 30 minutes later to make more of the tide assistance needed for this shallow route.

One of our new 'aids' to navigation was an android tablet app called Marine Navigator, coupled with downloaded versions of all of the charts in the must-have Steve Dodge's "The Cruising Guide to Abaco Bahamas 2013". We'd downloaded both a couple of nights before leaving since we were concerned that our 'vintage' 1999 Raymarine chart-plotter was becoming flaky. (The tablet/app/chart combination became an integral part of our routine for the rest of the trip whenever entering/departing harbours or anchorages and when our chartplotter decided to reboot arbitrarily.) Just as we were heading to the Indian Cay channel, we powered on the tablet and its gps and turned on the app - it made going through the channel simple and we never saw less than 7' of water.

The seas on the banks were very uncomfortable with the wind 'on our nose'. Our clean boat was once again salt-laden. We anchored around 1:30pm. Two other (probably west-bound) boat were already in the anchorage. We could see Zube continued on towards Great Sale Cay. After lunch - the afternoon was ours! We read. Iris swam on the anchor, which was set very well. There was a continuous 1 knot of current and we experienced the wind against current situation in which the wind comes across the beam and makes for much more wind in the cockpit, as well as unusual behavior with respect to the anchor. After dinner, we ran the water-maker. The salinity reading was 438ppm when we started to put it in our tanks and around 384ppm after 30 minutes. Higher than Iris likes, but she'd get used to higher yet ;-)

The night was a quiet one, except for our howling mast. The mast slot (for in-mast furling) acts like a flute when the wind angle and speed is 'just-right'. So our boat sang all night - including making chord-like noises. We got underway at 7:15am while the other two boats headed west-ward. It was another very choppy day with unfavorable winds, forcing us to motor once again. Based on the wind direction, we checked out an anchorage on the NW side of Great Sale Cay, but it was apparent that the waves were whipping around the northern point of the island. We opted instead to go to our tried and true anchorage inside, in great holding in sand at 1:10pm. Lunch, a lazy afternoon reading in the cockpit, a quick swim on the anchor and joy baths - all with the anchorage to ourselves. Alas, it wasn't to be for long as a Canadian pilot-house sailboat came in and anchored. More boats arrived later in the evening. Still - it was calm, there was no current and the afternoon was beautiful.

Iris broke a plastic peg for the shower handle. Minor issue. This was followed by a more major issue later in the evening. When it was time for our generator run, Fred determined that our generator starter battery was dead. He used jumper cables to jump-start the generator from the house-bank of batteries. He'd noticed that the battery was down a day or so prior to leaving but thought it was just from lack of use. Unfortunately, not the case. Fred was starting to get concerned that the voltage on the house bank wasn't looking to healthy either. Watermaker salinity 435ppm at 5 minutes/354ppm after 30 minutes.

Iris got up at 4am to the singing of the mast, but was able to fall asleep and awoke again at 6. The other boats in the anchorage had already left or were underway, all west-bound. We left Great Sale at 7:30 and after our first way point, were ready to finally do some sailing in more favorable conditions. Iris was unable to unfurl the main; the switch would only turn the sail in one (the wrong) direction. She took the helm while Fred manually rotated the furler to get out the main. We motor-sailed and then sailed until around 10:45. Iris was eager to make contact with her mother and as we approached Foxtown, Little Abaco, we were in sight of two cell-towers. She sent out two text messages and also left a phone message for her mother. This was again gsm roaming on Sprint on her Motorola Xprt. (more details on phone coverage to come)

Waves picked up as we headed east. This was our choppiest day yet - with SE winds 15-20 knots. Our new instruments give us true wind speed/direction as well as apparent wind speed/direction - another welcome addition to our onboard data. We decided to head for Allans-Pensacola. We've had mixed experiences there with holding in the past. We pulled out our Dodge charts/tablet combo and used it to assist in picking a good spot. Our anchor got a good set on first try at around 3pm. We were the only boat there but anticipated that would change. We have cell-phone coverage (and can see Foxtown about 10 mi away). Perhaps we'll stay a couple of days. Another boat came in late in the afternoon - No Hurry out of NC. They dinghied by later and we discussed the weather and plans briefly. It looked like significant rain to the west. We stayed aboard and read in the cockpit, instead of putting the dinghy in the water. Dinner in the cockpit, serenaded by the mast. Iris asked Fred to insert the slot-cover that usually stops the racket, but it didn't work. Only solution - less wind! Fred jump-started the generator once again to get our evening run going.

Watermaker saility 412ppm at 5 minutes/361ppm at 25 minutes.

It was a windy night with winds from the SE. Iris got up at 5, thinking that it was later and went back to bed. Over breakfast, we discussed what to do next. If we stayed, we'd have to run (read 'jump-start') the generator for refrigeration. What if we put the dinghy/outboard down and did a quick shore trip and then head out? Fred was concerned that we were could be experiencing failure in our main battery bank too and so he was reluctant to keep jump-starting the generator That required that we get to somewhere where we could purchase a generator battery. Decision made - let's just leave and come back here on our return trip. We departed the anchorage at 8:45 headed 'south' - with the usual wind mostly on the nose and scattered showers. But the main-sail furler was working and we raised the main as well. We heard Zube and another sailboat hail marinas at Green Turtle Cay. We could no longer get VHF weather from the US and were too far from Marsh Harbour to get weather and Whale Cay passage information from the daily 8:15am channel 68 net. Nor did we hear anyone discussing what the sometimes impassable Whale Cay passage looked like.

While we'd hoped to stop in Green Turtle (White Sound) on our way, our battery situation now made it more important to get to Marsh Harbour. We decided to head for the Whale Cay passage and try it. The worst that could happen is that we turn around if it was impassable. The ocean swells were 4-6' but otherwise, the passage was ok. Just as we got through the Loggerhead Channel, it started to pour. Iris had worked hard on water-proofing the bimini - but it failed in short-order giving us a very wet ride. We ran the refrigeration prior to entering the harbour, so that we wouldn't require the generator in the evening. As we entered the Marsh Harbour anchorage, we saw what looked like a Valiant 42 called Caneel from Ft. Worth, TX. It was a very pretty boat and as we were to find out several days later, was a Valiant 50! We anchored at around 4:45pm. Holding in Marsh Harbour is always excellent and this time was no exception.

We put the dinghy/outboard in the water and had dinner below. It was a very quiet evening with no wind. Iris - the internet junkie, quickly signed up for a week of Bahamas Wimax coverage (Bahamas Wimax) and we surfed the net to check email and weather and news. Our connection was iffy and although we had several hot-spot choices, we had to continously re-connect. But it was a major improvement since we'd last been here in 2003!