We had an excellent time with Dan and Sarah and were sad to see them off today, although they did go out with a bang - we had an amazing sail this morning from Hope Town to Treasure. 6 - 7 knots (ok maybe 5.5 but we hit 7 a few times) in about 15 - 20 knots of wind, close hauled (as close as we get).
I think I already covered New Years Eve, so I'll start with Junkanoo at Green Turtle. We took the ferry over and got there a little early but had time to see the town, pick up some not very good lunch from one of the booths and grab a seat. Note to self - long lines are sometimes worth it and always go to the booth with the food being warmed up in catering trays, not the microwave. There was a sign on one of the buildings that the parade would start at 2:00 but, we heard a local say, "well it's scheduled to start at 2." In true island fashion, it was closer to 3, but was worth the wait. The costumes were amazing and the music (like the whole thing), some how came together.
It was a slow moving parade, but apparently it looped around the town and them started over. We didn't wait that long. We grabbed some drinks and hopped back on the ferry.
January 2nd was a Sunday, so we decided to head to Guana and go to the "famous" Nipper's Sunday Pig Roast which we had heard so much about on the Cruiser's Net. We had no idea the party we were getting ourselves into. It was the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday and the music was pumping and the dance floor was full. We stuck to the pork and, of course had to sample Nipper's house rum punch.
On Monday we decided to head to Hope Town. In very exciting news, we caught our first fish on the way, and then promptly caught our second fish of the same variety. We think it was either a type of tuna or a mackerel, but really have no idea other than it was delicious.
The entire harbor is full of mooring balls, so we hailed Hope Town Marina to arrange a mooring for the night. Skeddadle hailed us back and we ended up having happy hour on their boat, which is beautiful and somehow only 3 feel longer seems much bigger, especially in the cockpit/living room.
On the way into town Sarah proved her worth by spotting a hand painted sign which read, "Yamaha Sales and Service." We dingyed over to the marina with the sign, and they were closed Monday for New Years Day, but would be open the following day. But they allowed us to dock the dingy for a little while so we could climb the 101 stairs to the top of the lighthouse. The view was beautiful and it was fun to look down and see Whisper in the harbor.
The next day we headed over to the marina. We did some laundry, went snorkeling and of course, had the engine fixed! Once the guy arrived the fix didn't take very long. The longest part was probably cleaning the gas tank, and filtering the gas. We couldn't get the gas tank out of the boat until we emptied it, so we used the extra fuel bulb/line to syphon the gas into 3 buckets (with Ben in the dingy holding the buckets). Then once D at the Yamaha place cleaned the fuel tank, and we reinstalled it in the boat, we syphoned the gas back into the fuel tank (which was much easier, since the dingy was not needed).
Once the motor was fixed we did a victory lap around the harbor, including several left turns, and a pirouette right next to Skeddadle who cheered along with us. The beautiful sail the next day was wonderful, and of course it came the day we finally had the motor fixed. We were very thankful we had it though because right as we were docking at Treasure the wind picked up to almost 20 knots, and something we've done several times with one motor somehow became incredibly difficult despite having both.
We are going to miss Whisper, but we are excited to be heading to Costa Rica and are looking forward sleeping in a bed that doesn't move, as well as all the other things that go along with living on shore. I think in two weeks we are going to be very excited to see Whisper again.
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Thursday, January 6, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Motor Fixed!!!
The motor was fixed today. The new problem was a clogged carburetor, but D at the Yamaha place in Hopetown was able to identify and fix the problem. He also cleaned the gas tank, which we think might have caused the clogged carburetor. We syphoned the gas into 3 buckets so that he could clean the tank. We're a little light headed, but we like to think it's from the excitement and not the gas.
We've also had a great last few days with our friends Dan and Sarah, more to come later, but here are some pictures to tide you over.
Yes - we caught and ate our first fish. Also, bonus points for anyone that finds Whisper in the picture above, taken from the Hopetown light house.
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We've also had a great last few days with our friends Dan and Sarah, more to come later, but here are some pictures to tide you over.
Yes - we caught and ate our first fish. Also, bonus points for anyone that finds Whisper in the picture above, taken from the Hopetown light house.
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Saturday, January 1, 2011
Prodigal Motor Returns, Breaks
After my family left, two of our friends, Dan and Sarah, came to visit. We saw them the night we got here, but they were spending a few nights in the Treasure Cay hotel, which was perfect since we needed to run to Marsh Harbor to pick up our motor and battery.
We got to the Marsh Harbor Boat Yard (which is pretty close to the town of Marsh Harbor, but isn't actually in the Harbor) Thursday night. We walked to the broker, paid for the shipment and made sure all of the customs paper work was in order. Abaco Outboards ended up having an issue with a stolen boat so were unable to do the work Thursday. We kept the boat in the water and were able to stay for the night at the very minimally equipped boat yard. (We were given a bathroom key, but told, it's just a toilet and sink, and it's not, uh, female friendly. We used our facilities on the boat).
We hauled the boat about 8:30 the next morning, and Abaco outboard was (of course) running late. The yard closed at noon, so the boat needed to be back in the water by that point. I went back into town to go to the canvas shop to pick up the new directors chair seat (the old one ripped a few days ago). When I got back the motor was installed! It took a little while longer to figure out all the connections, but it seemed to be working and we just made the noon deadline to be put back in the water. The Abaco Outboards guys waiting to make sure the engine was working, but as we were heading out of the channel the engine died. We turned around and headed back, and waited an hour and a half for the Abaco Outboards guys to come back until we decided we needed to leave to make it back to Treasure before dark.
In the last few days we worried that maybe the battery wasn't going bad. It had finally completely charged, and the "hours" calculations didn't look quite right, but we did have green lights instead of red on the link 10 battery indicator. The new battery has been a total relief - it really did need to happen. Last night, several hours after the sun went down, with the Christmas lights plugged into a 12 V outlet, the Link 10 was reading 255 hours remaining at current consumption! That's about as good as it gets. We are now charging all of our electronics as needed, what a luxury.
We had an excellent New Years Eve. We went to Tipsy's bar by the marina with the rest of Treasure Cay. It was packed with tourists and locals, young and old. Ben and I stayed up way past our bedtime, and are exhausted, but it was fun and I'm sure we will sleep well tonight.
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We got to the Marsh Harbor Boat Yard (which is pretty close to the town of Marsh Harbor, but isn't actually in the Harbor) Thursday night. We walked to the broker, paid for the shipment and made sure all of the customs paper work was in order. Abaco Outboards ended up having an issue with a stolen boat so were unable to do the work Thursday. We kept the boat in the water and were able to stay for the night at the very minimally equipped boat yard. (We were given a bathroom key, but told, it's just a toilet and sink, and it's not, uh, female friendly. We used our facilities on the boat).
We hauled the boat about 8:30 the next morning, and Abaco outboard was (of course) running late. The yard closed at noon, so the boat needed to be back in the water by that point. I went back into town to go to the canvas shop to pick up the new directors chair seat (the old one ripped a few days ago). When I got back the motor was installed! It took a little while longer to figure out all the connections, but it seemed to be working and we just made the noon deadline to be put back in the water. The Abaco Outboards guys waiting to make sure the engine was working, but as we were heading out of the channel the engine died. We turned around and headed back, and waited an hour and a half for the Abaco Outboards guys to come back until we decided we needed to leave to make it back to Treasure before dark.
In the last few days we worried that maybe the battery wasn't going bad. It had finally completely charged, and the "hours" calculations didn't look quite right, but we did have green lights instead of red on the link 10 battery indicator. The new battery has been a total relief - it really did need to happen. Last night, several hours after the sun went down, with the Christmas lights plugged into a 12 V outlet, the Link 10 was reading 255 hours remaining at current consumption! That's about as good as it gets. We are now charging all of our electronics as needed, what a luxury.
We had an excellent New Years Eve. We went to Tipsy's bar by the marina with the rest of Treasure Cay. It was packed with tourists and locals, young and old. Ben and I stayed up way past our bedtime, and are exhausted, but it was fun and I'm sure we will sleep well tonight.
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Thursday, December 30, 2010
This is Pretty Much What It's Like
The last day my family was in town we planned on spending another day on the boat. The wind wasn't great, but it was a beautiful day to be on the water.
Ben had to run down to Marsh Harbor to pick up the dingy motor (which needed to be serviced again - apparently there was water in the carburetor). So we got a little bit of a late start. We also stopped by Abaco Ceramics, and of course mom got the life story of the proprietor and Katie picked up a beautiful ceramic conch.
We tried to sail for a little while and it was nice to not worry about how fast we were going (3 - 3.5 knots) since there was no place we needed to be. We feasted on all the things left in the fridge that needed to be eaten - the rest of the canned ham, sliced turkey, cheese, and lettuce. We had some sausage on the boat, and of course fresh bahamian bread.
After lunch the wind died and we decided instead to head to Great Guana Cay. It ended up being an excellent choice. We moored on one of Dive Guana's mooring balls. We knew we'd only have about an hour to an hour and a half before we needed to head back, and mooring instead of anchoring saved time. Dive Guana, in normal island fashion waved the $15 fee when we told them we'd only be there for an hour. Between that, and the beautiful Atlantic beach, there is no question we will be back.
We ended the day with a sunset cruise back to Treasure Cay.
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Ben had to run down to Marsh Harbor to pick up the dingy motor (which needed to be serviced again - apparently there was water in the carburetor). So we got a little bit of a late start. We also stopped by Abaco Ceramics, and of course mom got the life story of the proprietor and Katie picked up a beautiful ceramic conch.
We tried to sail for a little while and it was nice to not worry about how fast we were going (3 - 3.5 knots) since there was no place we needed to be. We feasted on all the things left in the fridge that needed to be eaten - the rest of the canned ham, sliced turkey, cheese, and lettuce. We had some sausage on the boat, and of course fresh bahamian bread.
After lunch the wind died and we decided instead to head to Great Guana Cay. It ended up being an excellent choice. We moored on one of Dive Guana's mooring balls. We knew we'd only have about an hour to an hour and a half before we needed to head back, and mooring instead of anchoring saved time. Dive Guana, in normal island fashion waved the $15 fee when we told them we'd only be there for an hour. Between that, and the beautiful Atlantic beach, there is no question we will be back.
We ended the day with a sunset cruise back to Treasure Cay.
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Life of a Landlubber
I have been enjoying the time spent with my family. Highlights have included unlimited showers and free laundry, and, for Ben, a real kitchen. But mostly, the time spent relaxing, exploring, eating and playing Yatzee and Uno have been excellent break from life at sea.
My family never really took vacations growing up - my dad was an Air Force reservist, so most of his vacation days from his regular job were spent doing his one weekend a month, two weeks per year reserve duty. It's not quite true - there were the occasional trips to my grandparents or to visit the cousins, and one time when we were living in Virginia we took a few days to go to the beach in Delaware. In terms of Christmas vacations, I think this is actually our third. When we were living in Illinois (making me between 3 and 6) my dad's reserve duty was in Colorado over Christmas. We spent a few days on base and then went skiing. Then when we were living in CA (I think I was in 8th grade) my dad's reserve duty was at the Pentagon, so we tagged along to DC. Anyway you look at it this vacation was long overdue. We did spend a lot of time together as a family, and we always ate dinner together, so this vacation has been a great reminder of old times and good laughs as well as new memories. I think it's a little overwhelming for Ben, as an only child.
On Boxing day, the front came through and boy did it come through. The highest we read on the instruments was 35 knots of wind, but we didn't have them on the entire day, and there were times it sounded much higher than that. It would not have been a good day to go sailing and we were very glad to have moved to a marina.
Monday we decided to head to Green Turtle on the ferry from Treasure Cay. We had a little bit of a delay, we had a flat tire pulling out of the driveway from the rental house. Luckily the car did have a donut and jack in the trunk (sitting in a puddle of water) and with the help of a nice Bahamian man were able to replace the tire and make it back to OC at the Cornish Car Rental.
OC assured us that the tire was not actually flat, the rim was just bent. He was able to bang it back into place, added a little bit of air to our tires, and use a screw driver to create a drainage hole in the trunk. We headed for the 11:30 ferry, although I think it was not actually the 11:30 ferry, and left at about 11:15.
We're pretty sure that's Justin Bieber on the ferry with us - hiding from the paparazzi. The life of a star.
We had a great time in Green Turtle even though a lot of places were closed for Boxing Day. And it was cold. We had a good lunch at Laura's Kitchen and bought conch for dinner at the grocery store. We decided to skip the museum, $5 was a little rich for us, even if there was a lot of history. We caught the 3 pm ferry back to Treasure and Ben made a wonderful conch dinner - soup and fritters.
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My family never really took vacations growing up - my dad was an Air Force reservist, so most of his vacation days from his regular job were spent doing his one weekend a month, two weeks per year reserve duty. It's not quite true - there were the occasional trips to my grandparents or to visit the cousins, and one time when we were living in Virginia we took a few days to go to the beach in Delaware. In terms of Christmas vacations, I think this is actually our third. When we were living in Illinois (making me between 3 and 6) my dad's reserve duty was in Colorado over Christmas. We spent a few days on base and then went skiing. Then when we were living in CA (I think I was in 8th grade) my dad's reserve duty was at the Pentagon, so we tagged along to DC. Anyway you look at it this vacation was long overdue. We did spend a lot of time together as a family, and we always ate dinner together, so this vacation has been a great reminder of old times and good laughs as well as new memories. I think it's a little overwhelming for Ben, as an only child.
On Boxing day, the front came through and boy did it come through. The highest we read on the instruments was 35 knots of wind, but we didn't have them on the entire day, and there were times it sounded much higher than that. It would not have been a good day to go sailing and we were very glad to have moved to a marina.
Monday we decided to head to Green Turtle on the ferry from Treasure Cay. We had a little bit of a delay, we had a flat tire pulling out of the driveway from the rental house. Luckily the car did have a donut and jack in the trunk (sitting in a puddle of water) and with the help of a nice Bahamian man were able to replace the tire and make it back to OC at the Cornish Car Rental.
OC assured us that the tire was not actually flat, the rim was just bent. He was able to bang it back into place, added a little bit of air to our tires, and use a screw driver to create a drainage hole in the trunk. We headed for the 11:30 ferry, although I think it was not actually the 11:30 ferry, and left at about 11:15.
We're pretty sure that's Justin Bieber on the ferry with us - hiding from the paparazzi. The life of a star.
We had a great time in Green Turtle even though a lot of places were closed for Boxing Day. And it was cold. We had a good lunch at Laura's Kitchen and bought conch for dinner at the grocery store. We decided to skip the museum, $5 was a little rich for us, even if there was a lot of history. We caught the 3 pm ferry back to Treasure and Ben made a wonderful conch dinner - soup and fritters.
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Saturday, December 25, 2010
A White (Sand) Christmas!
I was so excited for Christmas and my family's arrival, I could barely sleep. My family was flying into Treasure Cay the next day (December 23) and were renting a house for a week. The house had a mooring ball in about 2 1/2 feet of water so the morning of the 23rd during high tide we moved over to the house on the other side of Treasure Cay. Ben put on his wetsuit and did some recon of the bottom. No rocks and about 3 1/2 feet of water under the keels during high tide.
We had Fritz at Cornish Rental Cars pick us up, and acquired my parents rental car to do some provisioning before their 4:35 pm arrival. In the Bahamas, we drive on the left side of the road so we had an interesting trip to Marsh where we also picked up the Explorer Charts for Ken and Sarah and had lunch.
We stopped back at the house, and since the car only held 5 I dropped Ben and the groceries off before heading to the airport. Unfortunately, the tide was more extreme than we imagined, and Whisper was touching the bottom.
My family's flight was on island time, but that was ok because I was running a little late too. We managed to get all five of us and suitcases into the car and back to the house with out any issues. (Treasure Cay airport quote: "oh, we better move, apparently this is also baggage claim.")
We decided to do Pizza night at Tipsy's bar at the Treasure Cay marina. It was a tight fit and an interesting drive, but we made it! The pizza was mediocre and the rum drinks were strong, but after 12 hours of traveling no one was too picky.
Christmas eve morning we traded in the rental car for a slightly bigger one - it could fit 3 across the front seat, so with 6 people it was a little more practical. It was also a much more comfortable ride, especially on the bumpy roads, and was a little easier to drive since the steering wheel was back on the left. The gauges matched the speed limit sign (in miles as opposed to km), but the speedometer didn't work and the odometer had stopped at 210,016 miles. Still it was a big upgrade.
Ben and I wanted to move Whisper because of the tides issue. It wasn't too big a deal, but a front is supposed to come through and we don't want her to be on the bottom in too much wind or wake. We decided to take advantage of the winter special at Treasure Cay Marina since between the storm the next few days and the time we will be in Costa Rica the deal already becomes cheaper than the daily docking fees. We took advantage of moving the boat to also take my family out for a sail! It was a perfect day for it and we just went straight out Treasure Cay towards Marsh Harbor on a beam reach for about an hour before turning around and heading back on a beam reach.
Christmas day was beautiful, but not much wind so it was a perfect day for the beach. We laid in the sun, frolicked in the (cold) water, and I built a sand sculpture snowman. Ben and I lost a volleyball game to Katie and Tony before we headed back to the car rental place to pick up 15 lobster tails for Christmas dinner.
We had Fritz at Cornish Rental Cars pick us up, and acquired my parents rental car to do some provisioning before their 4:35 pm arrival. In the Bahamas, we drive on the left side of the road so we had an interesting trip to Marsh where we also picked up the Explorer Charts for Ken and Sarah and had lunch.
We stopped back at the house, and since the car only held 5 I dropped Ben and the groceries off before heading to the airport. Unfortunately, the tide was more extreme than we imagined, and Whisper was touching the bottom.
My family's flight was on island time, but that was ok because I was running a little late too. We managed to get all five of us and suitcases into the car and back to the house with out any issues. (Treasure Cay airport quote: "oh, we better move, apparently this is also baggage claim.")
We decided to do Pizza night at Tipsy's bar at the Treasure Cay marina. It was a tight fit and an interesting drive, but we made it! The pizza was mediocre and the rum drinks were strong, but after 12 hours of traveling no one was too picky.
Christmas eve morning we traded in the rental car for a slightly bigger one - it could fit 3 across the front seat, so with 6 people it was a little more practical. It was also a much more comfortable ride, especially on the bumpy roads, and was a little easier to drive since the steering wheel was back on the left. The gauges matched the speed limit sign (in miles as opposed to km), but the speedometer didn't work and the odometer had stopped at 210,016 miles. Still it was a big upgrade.
Ben and I wanted to move Whisper because of the tides issue. It wasn't too big a deal, but a front is supposed to come through and we don't want her to be on the bottom in too much wind or wake. We decided to take advantage of the winter special at Treasure Cay Marina since between the storm the next few days and the time we will be in Costa Rica the deal already becomes cheaper than the daily docking fees. We took advantage of moving the boat to also take my family out for a sail! It was a perfect day for it and we just went straight out Treasure Cay towards Marsh Harbor on a beam reach for about an hour before turning around and heading back on a beam reach.
Christmas day was beautiful, but not much wind so it was a perfect day for the beach. We laid in the sun, frolicked in the (cold) water, and I built a sand sculpture snowman. Ben and I lost a volleyball game to Katie and Tony before we headed back to the car rental place to pick up 15 lobster tails for Christmas dinner.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Whale Cay Passage Convoy
After unclogging the head, we decided to stay in Green Turtle for the day.
Sometime between breakfast and happy hour, while Ben and I were reading in the cockpit/living room a dingy came up to say hi. We met Ken and Sarah of Skeddadle who are from Oxford, MD. Ken and Sarah are friends with Gus and Sue, formerly of the Maine Cat Au Contraire. We met Gus and Sue several years ago at Onnancock and they were the first ones to tell us, "Go now, don't wait for the right boat." They encouraged us to just take Whisper, and were voices of experience and proof it could be done since they had lived aboard Au Contraire. I think we told them that Whisper wasn't our boat, but it definitely planted the seed in our minds.
Ken and Sarah, like us and probably most of the other boats anchored in Green Turtle, were headed south. From Green Turtle there are two ways to go south: Whale Cay passage - which goes into the Atlantic and can be rough, or Dont Rock, which is shallow. Sarah and Ken, as well as another catamaran were planning on trying the Dont Rock passage and invited us to join them the next day, as well as that evening at happy hour.
We had a few hours before happy hour so decided to tool around in the dingy. We found a piece of sand laid out our towel, read our books, and drank a beer.
We all met at the Green Turtle marina bar at happy hour time - around sunset, which is about as accurate timing as you are going to get in the Bahamas. I arrived prepared to discuss the passage, but got through two tipsy turtle rum punches before it came up. John and Caroline from Discovery Magic anchored and ended up joining us for the tail end of happy hour. It was a pretty diverse group. Ben and I are in our 20's and 30's and sailing until March. Tom and Amy are just a little older than us (relatively close to our age, comparatively) and have been down to the Bahamas for 8 of the last 9 years. Ken and Sarah cruised with three of their sons almost 30 years ago, and are doing this trip by themselves. Caroline and John started in South Hampton (England) and are circumnavigating, although they need to head back to Miami for the Miami boat show since the Discover 50 won two boat show awards at the Annapolis Boat show (and by "their" boat I mean that - Discovery is their company). It didn't seem like we had that much in common, but we found so much to talk about. It was great to hear all the stories, especially from those more experienced than us (which is pretty much everyone). Although I was horribly embarrassed when Ben first told the group about our near miss with the Coast Guard ship, I am feeling better about it now - they really should have seen us, and at least I was able to react in time.
It's also fascinating to realize with as many cruisers as we've met, it really is a small world. Ken and Sarah and Tom and Amy first met in Vero where they were rafted together. Before that Tom and Amy were rafted to Ed and Lynn on the Maine Cat, Skydusky, who we have been in touch with through the Maine Cat owners website. We also felt "in the loop" when we were able to invite John and Caroline over when they came into the bar.
The convoy headed out of White Sound after the 6:30 am Chris Parker weather broadcast. The most experienced, Dream Catcher was first, and being the slowest boat with only one motor, we brought up the rear. We weren't quite able to keep up, but it was reassuring to have two boats ahead of us and right there on VHF channel 06. As Dream Catcher approached the second marker for Dont Rock, Tom Radio'd back and said the rollers were several feet high (and therefore the troughs would be too shallow). They headed back. We talked to Skeddadle and decided to at least take a look at the Whale Cay passage. There were at least three other monohulls in the area and we tried to hail them on the VHF but didn't get any response. The waves were significant (someone on the radio said 5 - 8 feet, but they seemed bigger to us). There were breakers, but we never got very close to any of them. Even though no one on the radio answered us, about ten other boats followed us through. It was pretty neat to be near the front of a large convoy, and to be in personal radio contact with the lead boat. I'm pretty sure all the other boats were taking advantage of Skeddadle's reports of their progress, and Ben answered one of the boats at one point even though no one answered us when we first radioed. You always hope you don't lead anyone else into danger, but it is each boat's own responsibility to gauge the situation based on the capabilities of their boat, and the skills of the sailors on board.
After we made it through Loggerhead Channel, it was a pretty easy straight shot to Treasure Cay (although we did have to pay attention to the waves behind us, to make sure we were "surfing" ok).
We ran into Ken and Sarah at the Treasure Cay grocery store and had high fives all around. It really felt like an accomplishment and we were excited to have made it to the Sea of Abaco - the so called "bathtub". We look forward to the next several weeks of sailing to sail places as opposed to sailing/motoring to make it to the next place, as well as the arrival of my family the following day, and our friends a week later.
Sometime between breakfast and happy hour, while Ben and I were reading in the cockpit/living room a dingy came up to say hi. We met Ken and Sarah of Skeddadle who are from Oxford, MD. Ken and Sarah are friends with Gus and Sue, formerly of the Maine Cat Au Contraire. We met Gus and Sue several years ago at Onnancock and they were the first ones to tell us, "Go now, don't wait for the right boat." They encouraged us to just take Whisper, and were voices of experience and proof it could be done since they had lived aboard Au Contraire. I think we told them that Whisper wasn't our boat, but it definitely planted the seed in our minds.
Ken and Sarah, like us and probably most of the other boats anchored in Green Turtle, were headed south. From Green Turtle there are two ways to go south: Whale Cay passage - which goes into the Atlantic and can be rough, or Dont Rock, which is shallow. Sarah and Ken, as well as another catamaran were planning on trying the Dont Rock passage and invited us to join them the next day, as well as that evening at happy hour.
We had a few hours before happy hour so decided to tool around in the dingy. We found a piece of sand laid out our towel, read our books, and drank a beer.
We all met at the Green Turtle marina bar at happy hour time - around sunset, which is about as accurate timing as you are going to get in the Bahamas. I arrived prepared to discuss the passage, but got through two tipsy turtle rum punches before it came up. John and Caroline from Discovery Magic anchored and ended up joining us for the tail end of happy hour. It was a pretty diverse group. Ben and I are in our 20's and 30's and sailing until March. Tom and Amy are just a little older than us (relatively close to our age, comparatively) and have been down to the Bahamas for 8 of the last 9 years. Ken and Sarah cruised with three of their sons almost 30 years ago, and are doing this trip by themselves. Caroline and John started in South Hampton (England) and are circumnavigating, although they need to head back to Miami for the Miami boat show since the Discover 50 won two boat show awards at the Annapolis Boat show (and by "their" boat I mean that - Discovery is their company). It didn't seem like we had that much in common, but we found so much to talk about. It was great to hear all the stories, especially from those more experienced than us (which is pretty much everyone). Although I was horribly embarrassed when Ben first told the group about our near miss with the Coast Guard ship, I am feeling better about it now - they really should have seen us, and at least I was able to react in time.
It's also fascinating to realize with as many cruisers as we've met, it really is a small world. Ken and Sarah and Tom and Amy first met in Vero where they were rafted together. Before that Tom and Amy were rafted to Ed and Lynn on the Maine Cat, Skydusky, who we have been in touch with through the Maine Cat owners website. We also felt "in the loop" when we were able to invite John and Caroline over when they came into the bar.
The convoy headed out of White Sound after the 6:30 am Chris Parker weather broadcast. The most experienced, Dream Catcher was first, and being the slowest boat with only one motor, we brought up the rear. We weren't quite able to keep up, but it was reassuring to have two boats ahead of us and right there on VHF channel 06. As Dream Catcher approached the second marker for Dont Rock, Tom Radio'd back and said the rollers were several feet high (and therefore the troughs would be too shallow). They headed back. We talked to Skeddadle and decided to at least take a look at the Whale Cay passage. There were at least three other monohulls in the area and we tried to hail them on the VHF but didn't get any response. The waves were significant (someone on the radio said 5 - 8 feet, but they seemed bigger to us). There were breakers, but we never got very close to any of them. Even though no one on the radio answered us, about ten other boats followed us through. It was pretty neat to be near the front of a large convoy, and to be in personal radio contact with the lead boat. I'm pretty sure all the other boats were taking advantage of Skeddadle's reports of their progress, and Ben answered one of the boats at one point even though no one answered us when we first radioed. You always hope you don't lead anyone else into danger, but it is each boat's own responsibility to gauge the situation based on the capabilities of their boat, and the skills of the sailors on board.
After we made it through Loggerhead Channel, it was a pretty easy straight shot to Treasure Cay (although we did have to pay attention to the waves behind us, to make sure we were "surfing" ok).
We ran into Ken and Sarah at the Treasure Cay grocery store and had high fives all around. It really felt like an accomplishment and we were excited to have made it to the Sea of Abaco - the so called "bathtub". We look forward to the next several weeks of sailing to sail places as opposed to sailing/motoring to make it to the next place, as well as the arrival of my family the following day, and our friends a week later.
Location:Treasure Cay, The Bahamas
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