Month: January 2023

There’s a term given to a few harbours in the Bahamas that you just never want to leave – Velcro harbour! Well Hope Town harbour is one of those places!! We decided to extend our stay here because there’s so much to see and it’s such a lovely spot!! We’re also enjoying our visit with Julia and Brad.

A few days ago we had the opportunity to explore an area south of us called Snake Cay. Crimson Kathryn and Alizarin (Julia and Brad’s boat) sailed down to this cay to explore the mangroves. Sea turtles, sharks and rays have all been known to gather in the mangroves so we were excited to see some of this marine life. It took a little over an hour to get to the island and anchor. Aboard our dinghy, we entered the once lush mangroves to find a significantly depleted area. Hurricane Dorian’s impact is everywhere!! Although the mangrove had a long way to go to return to its former glory, you could tell it was recovering. We saw lots of turtles and a few rays zooming along. The seas turtles are mostly green turtles and these guys can move!! It’s hard to get close to them. We enjoyed our visit to this area and headed back mid-afternoon to avoid low tide.

Yesterday (Jan 27) Mark and I walked to the north end of Elbow Cay. There was a lot of cottages in this area and some pretty spectacular homes (mostly on the ocean side). The majority of these places have been rebuilt since Dorian and some have added substantial concrete walks to help with the erosion of the sand. It’s hard to believe people would rebuild in the same spot after a major hurricane but they certainly have and there’s still more houses being built! Our path back to town was along the ocean beach. We were the only ones walking the beach (it’s was a cool, blustery day) and it was very relaxing!

This morning (Saturday) we headed to town for a farmers market. Unfortunately the market didn’t happen so instead we went to the Elbow Reef Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1864 and is one of only a few operational kerosene lighthouses remaining in the world. You can climb the 101 steps of the spiral staircase to the lantern area and from there you have an awesome view of the harbour and island. The lighthouse has just recently been repainted and it is the pride and joy of the Hope Town community.

So we’re here for a few more days. We’ll explore more of the area and wait for another weather window to head south.

We made the decision to come to Hope Town because we wanted to visit Julia and Brad. Who knew that this little spot would be such a gem! Not only do we get to hang out with our friends but we get to experience probably the nicest town in the Bahamas.

We arrived on Sunday (Jan. 22) around noon and Mark got the dinghy down. We discovered that our dinghy motor wasn’t working. We also still had our macerator pump malfunction to deal with so the beginning of our stay in the harbour was shaping up to be filled with boat jobs. Mark spent a bit of time working on the motor but by happy hour, it still wasn’t working. No worries – we had oars and Julia and Brad were right beside us so we rowed over to their boat for happy hour (which turned into a lovely dinner).

The next day Mark went back to work on the dinghy motor and found that the pickup hose inside the fuel tank had disconnected so the motor wasn’t getting any fuel – no wonder it wouldn’t run! In no time Mark had a new hose in place and we went for a little harbour tour to test things out – worked perfectly. Next on the job list – take apart the macerator pump to see what’s wrong. Turned out that the pump was pooped (so to speak 😁😁) – too far gone to repair so we needed a replacement. Brad had offered his spare pump to us but we decided to go to Marsh Harbour to see if we could buy a new one.

In the afternoon on Monday we went for a walk in Hope Town. What a beautiful place! It has small, narrow roads that wind along the narrow island. Lots of the houses in town are rentals and they are nicely maintained. Hope Town was hit badly by Hurricane Dorian in 2019 but they have recovered well. There is still ongoing construction plus shoring up of the hillside on the ocean side of the island. But for the most part, the island is quite prosperous.

On Tuesday Mark and I took the 9:30am ferry over to Marsh Harbour. We walked from the ferry dock into town and were shocked by the state of Marsh Harbour. We were fortunate to visit this town in the spring of 2019 before Dorian crashed through the area. Marsh Harbour has not recovered as well as Hope Town or other areas in the Abacos. Lots of building have not be repaired and many stand vacant and neglected. The owner of the marine shop we went to explained that NGOs were helping with the rebuild process but then Covid hit and they all left. Many people just left the island (no insurance and unable to afford the costs of rebuilding). It’s quite sad to see what this once striving town has become.

Our visit to Marsh Harbour was successful though – we bought a new macerator pump and did some grocery shopping for produce. The prices are high here so we only bought a bit of stuff. We returned to the boat on the 12:30pm ferry, had lunch and then Mark began the fun job of installing the new macerator pump. I won’t go into details but I will say that it probably wasn’t great being downwind of us!! The new pump didn’t go in easily and it was a rough afternoon!! But it did eventually come together and with the wonderfully windy day we were having, the boat aired out well!! A good thing too because we had Julia and Brad over for dinner that night!!

Today we headed out of the harbour at high tide (the entrance into Hope Town is quite shallow) to test our new pump! It worked perfectly!!! Our holding tanks are nice and empty and the boat is floating a little higher now 😁. Hurray!!

We have another day in the harbour and will spend it going up the lighthouse and doing laundry. Friday we’ll start our journey south to the Exumas, slowly making our way to Staniel Cay for the February 27th arrival of Evelyn and Caroline!!

After a restful night at the Old Bahama Bay marina, we were up early to catch the high tide for our crossing through Indian Rock Passage to Great Sale Cay. High tide was at 6am so we were on the move a little after 7am (with the sunrise).

It was a super calm morning with very little wind so once we were through the shallow pass, we decided to put up our spinnaker. It’s always a process the first time this big sail is deployed. Lots of additional lines need to be run because this sail uses the whisker pole to help it catch the wind. But all the effort was well worth it as we were able to sail (slowly) for 2 hours – no engine!! Unfortunately the sailing bliss didn’t last long as the wind died off and we needed to motor again.

Lots of boats were on the move that day – most heading in our direction but some heading west (maybe heading back to the USA). As it got closer to dusk, boats were finding their anchorage for the night. Most stopped at Great Sale Cay but we decided to continue slightly further north to Little Sale Cay. We were all alone at our spot and it was a very peaceful night!

The next morning we were off early (again), heading east. We had discovered the day before that our macerator pump was not working (this pump empties our septic holding tanks – no pump out services in the Bahamas) so we needed to get to either Green Turtle Cay or Marsh Harbour to solve this problem. It was another calm day so we motored all the way. We stopped for the night at Crab Cay and decided we would push on to Hope Town the next day. The wind prediction for the next few days was showing southwest/west wind and the Hope Town harbour is totally protected from all wind directions!! We had also been in contact with our friends Julia and Brad (who have been at Hope Town since Dec. 23) and knew there were some available mooring balls.

Sunday morning we left our anchorage at Crab Cay and headed to Hope Town. There’s a cut called “the whale” that is notorious for being dangerous. It’s a relatively short outside crossing (on the ocean) but if the wind comes from the north at all, this area can produce “rage” water conditions (not a good thing!!). We were super fortunate because the wind on Sunday was from the southeast and didn’t cause an unfavourable crossing situation. The conditions were fine and it was an easy passage.

We arrived at Hope Town just after lunch and Brad was there to guide us into the harbour (in his dinghy- with their dog Finn) and onto the mooring ball. It’s great to see them and we will definitely enjoy our next few days in the harbour.

It’s been a very busy and fast few days after leaving Vero Beach. We were on a mission – get to the Bahamas – and the weather actually cooperated with us!!

Our first stop was Fort Pierce and it was a quick 2 hour motor down the ICW. We encountered very little boat traffic that day and arrived at our anchorage by mid-afternoon. It was nice to relax and get to bed early because we knew we had an early morning the next day.

Wednesday 3:30am – we pulled up anchor and headed out the Fort Pierce Inlet. I was at the helm and guided us out onto the ocean. The night was clear and the channel was very wide and well lit. We had no problem getting out and turning south to Lake Worth. It was a very easy motor south – definitely one of the smoothest ocean passages we’ve done in awhile. The passage was great but passing through the Lake Worth inlet was crazy!!! We entered the inlet before noon and all was going smoothly until this stupid sport fishing boat came barreling into the inlet beside us!!! This was a narrow, short inlet and these guys didn’t care at all that their wake would toss us all over the place. It was nuts!! The worst waves we saw all day! Fortunately Mark was able to steer us into the wake of that boat and had enough time (and room) to turn back for the second boat coming at high speed. This boat must have seen our chaotic swerving because they slowed down and gave us an easy pass!! We no sooner got passed these two power boats when the border patrol boat pulled up beside us to ask about our cruising permit – really!! Did they not see us getting rocked silly by these power boats!! We answered their questions and kept going.

We were up early this morning (Thursday at 5am) – the weather was looking great for a windy crossing to West End, Grand Bahamas. We were underway at 6:20am and I took us out again. We got close to the narrow part of the inlet and of course were swamped by those darn sports fishing boats! At least 6 boats passed us in the entrance (or exit) of the inlet. It was a good thing we were ready for them and Mark zigzagged our way out of the inlet as each boat passed us.

Our crossing went really well. The first third was a bit rough – wind almost on the nose and some big waves in the same direction. We did a bit of pounding into the waves for awhile but eventually the wind and waves smoothed out and we made good time (although we had to keep the motor going even with all 3 sails up). We really wanted to make it to West End in time to clear through customs and immigration so we could continue our journey to the Abacos tomorrow (Friday). We were successful!! We got into the marina at 4 pm, cleared through and also managed to get our wifi box working all before dinner!!

We’re now relaxing at the dock at Old Bahama Bay marina enjoying a bottle of bubbly. We’ll head northeast in the morning to Great Sale Cay (not sure if there will be cell reception there – we need cell for our wifi). We’ll be continuing east to Green Turtle Cay on Saturday.

Our time at Vero Beach has come to an end! We’ve had a great week on the dock and have enjoyed visiting the area. We explored parts of the city that we didn’t see last time we were here so that’s really good.

We had a chance to visit with Matthew, Margie and Oliver on Friday night and Saturday. It was so good to have them onboard. We did a lovely dinner Friday night and on Saturday we looked around the beach area of Vero Beach. Margie did a bit of shopping and we had a nice lunch out. We returned to the boat in the afternoon and had a nice little dinghy ride around the harbour. Before we knew it, the time came for them to drive back to Orlando. It was a short visit but I’m so happy we got to see them before their return to Australia.

It’s been very cold here for the past 3 days (okay not Ontario cold but crazy cold for us folks on a boat!). We do have an air-conditioner / heater onboard but it’s not working. Sleeping has been fine because we have really good comforters but the morning temperatures have been about 10 degrees in the main cabin. We’ve been using our propane stove top to heat the main cabin each morning. It’s a good thing we have lots of propane onboard! Tonight (Monday) should be the last of the cold nights – here’s hoping the weather guys are right!!

On our last full day in Vero Beach, we rented a car and did our last bit of provisioning. We drove up to Melbourne to shop at the new Costco and also went to a few other stores. Our freezer is so full now that I’m kind of afraid to open it! We also went back down to the beach stores we were at with Matthew and Margie. Mark bought me a lovely glass vase for my birthday that is now wrapped up in bubbly wrap until we get home.

Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) we will be leaving Vero Beach and heading just a few miles south to Fort Pierce. Our plan is to jump out on the ocean early Wednesday morning (around 1am) when the wind will be light and not on our bow to get down to Lake Worth. We are seeing a weather wind on Thursday that will allow us to sail (hopefully) to West End, Grand Bahamas. We’ll clear in to the Bahamas there and then travel north east to the Abacos. Unfortunately we will not have wifi until we reach Marsh Harbour and can get our Aliv wifi device up and running. We will have our inreach device working so will send short messages for the next little while. Hopefully we’ll be wifi accessible by next week!

Definitely one of our favourite places on the east coast of Florida is Vero Beach. Last season we spent about 6 weeks at Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach and enjoyed exploring the area. So it made a lot of sense to stop here for a week – it is also a perfect location to visit with our family members who are in Florida now.

Our trip down from Titusville was exactly what you wanted – totally uneventful!! We left around 9 am Monday morning (Jan. 9) and stopped for the night at Melbourne. We had a very easy 24nm trip the next day to get into the Vero Beach City Marina. We arrived at the marina around 1pm on Jan. 10 and tied up on the south dock after checking in at the fuel dock.

This is a new marina for us but we’ve met lots of cruisers who visit this marina every year. The nice thing about the marina is that they have a very large mooring field and they will double (and sometimes triple) up on a single mooring ball. The north mooring field has 57 mooring balls but most of the time, there are double that number of boats because there are 2 boats/mooring ball. It’s kind of crazy to look at the mooring field- so many boats!!! This marina also has access to the free bus system in Vero Beach. It’s super easy to get from the marina to shopping areas.

Today we visited with Mark’s brother John and his wife Sadhana. They are staying just south of Orlando and drove out to us. We had a wonderful lunch and then explored the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge (there’s a name!). A short walk brought us to a lookout of the intracoastal waterway area – the Indian River. It was so nice to see protected wildlife areas in an area of major urbanization. We had a great walk and more importantly, a wonderful visit with John and Sadhana.

On Friday (tomorrow) Matthew, Margie and Oliver will be heading to Vero Beach and we’ll spend Saturday with them!! It’s hard to believe that their 4 week vacation is coming to an end and they’ll to flying back to Australia on Monday!!

Our next job is to start looking for crossing windows to the Bahamas!!! We’ll soon be in the land of clear blue water and sandy beaches!

While I have wifi, I thought I’d send some photos from our walk around Titusville. The town at one time was very prosperous, especially during NASA’s hay days! Now it’s somewhat depressed and the downtown was mostly empty on a Sunday afternoon.

Finally the day arrived – after weeks of jobs, we casted off our lines and sailed away (okay we motored away). We left the dock at 10:45am on Jan. 3. It was a beautiful day – sunny and hot but not much wind (hence the motoring). Mark spent some time calibrating our new wind/speed/depth instrument and we both got used to our new autopilot. Our new autopilot is awesome – no more loud noises or weaving back and forth. We arrived at our destination by 2:50pm. We stopped for the night at Metropolitan Park Marina in Jacksonville. We have lots of time to get to Vero Beach so we’re going slow.

By early afternoon on Jan. 5th, we were tied to a mooring ball at St. Augustine. We had a great ocean passage south from the St. Johns River and enjoyed a good paced motor sail. It was nice to hang out in the south mooring field and look at the display of lights left over from Christmas. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s only early January! The weather tricks you into thinking it’s summertime!

We left St. Augustine on Jan 6th with the intention of travelling about 45nm to Daytona Beach. Our timing was perfect – we had the current with us and saw speeds in the low 7 knots all day (that’s very good for us – our normal motor cruising speed is 6 knots). We were doing so well that we decided to keep going further south to New Smyrna Beach. At one point we were cruising along at 8.3knots (with the help of current and wind). It sure was a great day for moving south.

We’ve had lots of wildlife company on our journey. There’s been pelicans, seagull, and many cormorants. We’ve also been treated to lots of dolphins splashing around us. Many of the dolphins are moms with babies. It was very interesting to watch how closely the babies stick to the moms’ sides as they surface and dive.

Our slip reservation for Vero Beach City Marina starts on Jan. 10 so having lots of time, we decided to stay on a mooring ball at the Titusville Marina for 2 nights. It only took us 4 hours to travel the 28nm to Titusville from New Smyrna – again we had the current helping us along. We spent the morning in the company of 3 other sailboats. 2 of those boats stopped at Titusville also but they headed into the marina. We’ll spend the rest of today (Jan. 7) doing some wifi-ing and tomorrow we have a bit of grocery shopping to do. On Monday we’ll travel another short day down to Melbourne and then on Tuesday we’ll head into the marina. Excellent pace for the start of the season!

We’re back on the water again for the second time this sailing season. Just thought I do a quick post before we make our way down to Vero Beach. We had a great day – our launch went smoothly and we’re all ready to leave the dock.

Our day began with heavy fog which lasted well into the afternoon. We had a few jobs to do before our launch. We filled our water tanks and moved our forestay back so the travel lift could pick us up. We did a few other minor jobs but were ready when the travel lift came to get us around 10am. Launching took about an hour so we were all tied up at the dock before lunch.

While we were back home, a fellow sailor here at Reynolds named Susan Fries, was busy making a new dodger for our enclosure. You might remember that I lost our dodger at the end of last season while I was cleaning the cockpit and washing the enclosure. I was inside the boat when I heard a splash but didn’t go to investigate – of course the splash was our dodger!! Well the new dodger is amazing – far superior to the old one because now we have an area that opens so we don’t have to remove the entire piece!! (See photo below). We’re super happy with the job Susan did and will hire her again to make another piece for us next season.

So the day is winding down and the sun has finally come out. We’ll relax tonight and then get off the dock in the morning. Next post will cover our journey south to Vero Beach Municipal Marina.

We had an amazing December break in Kingston. Christmas was celebrated at our house with Evelyn, Caroline, my brother and his family and my sister and her family! It was a blast!! We also saw Mark’s Dad plus all our siblings! It was a very fast 3 weeks and we certainly managed to get a lot done in that time!

It’s definitely good to be back at the boat. We arrived on Dec. 29 after a 2 day drive. For the last part of that drive through South Carolina and the top of Georgia, we were stuck in super slow traffic. It added about 3 hours to our trip and made us arrive in the dark! I hate ladders in the daylight so you can imagine how much fun it was to scale the ladder in the dark.

The boat was in great shape but still had cleanup work to be done. We also had to provision for the roughly 16 weeks we’ll be gone. Shopping for that much food can be fun. Our first provision day was Friday and we started with Aldi (it’s a discount grocery store that has amazing prices), then moved onto Costco. After our first day, we’d spent about $800 US! Our freezer was stuffed full of all kinds of yummy meats, cheeses, fish, etc. On day 2 (Saturday), we went to the ABC liquor store, Walmart, and Aldi again! I can honestly say our boat is full and we won’t go hungry!!

This season we have several visitors coming aboard!! Margie and Matthew will be with us somewhere around Jan. 10 and Mark’s brother John and his wife Sadhana will do a day visit around January 14. Evelyn and Caroline have a 2 week vacation with us from February 27 – March 13! Can’t wait for all these visit.

Tomorrow (Monday) the boat will be back in the water and we’re hoping to head out for Vero Beach on Tuesday or Wednesday. We’ll take our time moving south – our slip reservation at Vero Beach Municipal Marina doesn’t start until Jan. 10. Unfortunately while we’re moving south, we won’t have wifi so the next blog post will be delayed until we reached the marina at Vero Beach.