Category: 2018 – 19 Sailing Season

It’s good to be back in Florida – the land of big supermarkets with lots of selection! We arrived in Cape Canaveral at 8 am on Sunday, April 14 after a difficult crossing. We had wind on the stern the whole way and the waves plus smell were intense. We did a lot of rolling and surfing down waves (in the dark) and I was very thankful to cross into the Port Canaveral inlet just to stop all the motion.

We used a new app called CBP ROAM which allows you to check into the USA without joining to a Custom and Border Patrol office. The app worked really well – we filled out an arrivals form, sent it in and then did a quick video chat. That was it – we’re now “verified travellers” which means we don’t have to do the video chat part again.

After clearing in, we made our way to Titusville Municipal Marina and rented a car to complete our clearing in process – getting our cruising licence. We’re all set now for another year. We did a bit of grocery shopping while we had the car and boy, you forget about all the selection there is when you’re in the Bahamas for any length of time. We had a blast!

We spent 2 days traveling up the intracoastal waterway and now we’re in St. Augustine. This is such a lovely town and the Municipal Marina is right in the heart of the old city. This is our 2nd time being at this marina on a mooring and we’ve enjoyed it both times. We’re very close to the Fort, which is good and bad. They do tours and re-enactments at the Fort. Part of this includes the firing of a cannon – it’s like we’re under attack everyday!! Mark was working on the engine yesterday when the cannon went off – we both got startled by that one!

Tomorrow we will continue our journey north, heading to the St. John’s River which will lead us to Jacksonville and then Reynolds Park Yacht Centre – Crimson Kathryn’s home for hurricane season. We’ll be at the marina by Tuesday afternoon and will spend about 2 weeks getting the boat ready for storage. We have a tentative haul out date on May 10. Here’s hoping all goes well in the next few weeks.

We left Marathon, Florida on Saturday, January 19 and here we are, almost 4 months later, getting ready to cross back over to Florida. We’ve had some amazing adventures in some new areas of the Bahamas.

We started our Bahamian journey in familiar territory – clearing in at Bimini, heading across the banks to New Providence and then continuing through the Exumas. We had a chance to go inside the Thunderbolt grotto at Staniel Cay which was pretty amazing and we made it to George Town in great time.

Our adventure was definitely made more exciting and satisfying when Caroline, Donalda and Bill joined us! We bought this large sailboat with the idea that we could share our travels with family and friends, so having all 3 onboard at the same time was great fun!!

We visited the far Bahamas – Conception Cay and Long Island. Both were amazing and our road trip on Long Island was definitely a highlight. We did some amazing snorkelling at Conception Cay. Of course, we enjoyed amazing food, drink and company! It was a very fast 3 weeks!

Mark and I also explored 2 other new regions of the Bahamas – Eleuthera and the Abacos. Another car rental on Eleuthera proved to be an excellent idea. We saw a large part of the island and really enjoyed a little “land” time.

So here we are, getting ready to leave our last new area – the Abacos. It’s been very interesting exploring this northern part of the Bahamas. There are some amazing places to visit and we did get a chance to stop at some of them. As far as anchorages go, there are not a lot of really good ones and we’ve found it challenging to find places that don’t require you to go into a marina. It’s definitely an area worth exploring but I think the Exumas are more our style.

Here’s our plan: we’re currently anchored at Crab Cay and will be heading to Great Sale Cay tomorrow ( Friday, April 12). We have a good weather window to cross to Florida so on Saturday, April 13, we’ll be heading to Cape Canaveral. The next blog will come from the USA!!

The northern island chain is called the Abacos and it has been described as the “Florida” of the Bahamas (because it is very American in many ways, plus it’s easy to get here from Florida and lots of boaters never leave this part of the Bahamas). Put it this way…I had Starbucks coffee in Marsh Harbour (very exciting!!).

We left Spanish Wells after a few days of rather high winds. Our crossing (about 50knots) was very interesting – little wind and big ocean swell. The captain had a rough time and had to take many motion sickness pills. We also had to motor the entire way – not much fun. But when we arrived, we found a nice anchorage beside Lynyard Cay that was very calm and pleasant. We visited a little place called Little Harbour – not much there but it was pretty and it gave us a chance to walk around.

Much like the Exumas, the distances between the Abacos islands is very small so changing anchorages only takes a few hours. We decided to jump from Lynyard all the way to Marsh Harbour! We had an excellent day of sailing to get up the chain! The wind was a good strength and we had to do a lot of trimming of the sails because it was not a straight course. Lots of swallow water that needs to be bypassed on this route.

Marsh Harbour is an interesting town that really does feel very American – it has sidewalks, parking lots and a grocery store called Maxwells that is like a small Walmart. When we arrived at the Marsh Harbour anchorage, it was packed (a cold front with north winds was heading our way so everyone was trying to anchor in a protected area) and we had to anchor very close to other boats. It was “George Town” anchoring rules!!

Definitely the highlight of Marsh Harbour has been finding this excellent coffee shop called Calypso Coffee House. They serve Starbucks coffee and have great wifi!! We’ve also enjoyed Maxwells and they have a CIBC so no extra transaction fees for using another bank’s ATM. We’ve walked around a bit and have enjoyed seeing this town.

It’s hard to believe we only have about 2 more weeks left in the Bahamas. We’ll probably be leaving Marsh Harbour in the morning (Sat., April 6), making our way north. Our last island stop will be Great Sale Cay. After that it’s a roughly 30 hour crossing to Cape Canaveral and then another 3 or 4 days up to coast to Reynold’s Park Yacht Centre. Yippy!

No visit to Eleuthera would be complete without a stop at Spanish Wells and Harbour Island, which are both located at the north end of Eleuthera. We had a great sail from Alabaster Bay to Spanish Wells and had no trouble getting through Current Cut. Passage through this narrow cut requires timing with the tides – we hit it perfectly and had a helping current that added 2.5 knots to our speed!

We decided to stay at a marina and checked in on Tuesday, March 26. The marina is very nice with an on-site restaurant and a pool! It wasn’t very full when we arrived but some very windy weather has filled the place! The marina is pretty central to the town and we have walked the whole place. It’s a really clean, pretty town (really makes George Town look bad) but man it’s tough to walk – too many golf carts and cars zipping by on narrow streets with no sidewalks!!

Harbour Island is on the opposite side of Eleuthera from Spanish Wells and to get there, we had to take (in this order) a water taxi, a taxi, and another water taxi! Lots of fun. Dunmore Town is on Harbour Island and we spent about 4 hours walking around the place. It was very interesting with lots of touristy places. We had lunch at Sip Sip – a very popular beach restaurant that only serves lunch.

We’ve had a good time here at Spanish Wells and have enjoyed the marina but it’s time to keep heading north. We’ve had a few days of big north winds and some stormy weather but it looks like we’ll have a good weather window to jump to the Abacos this weekend. So next stop – Lynyard Cay!

After our visitors left us on March 11, we decided it was time to start heading north. We left George Town very quickly – the weather was calm on Tuesday, March 12 and winds from the wrong direction were heading our way, so at 1pm we motored to Cat Island. We arrived at almost 11pm so we anchored away from the main anchorage (just to be safe) and moved closer in the morning.

We anchored at New Bight and it was very interesting. The little town had the best grocery store we’ve seen so far in the south Bahamas and the Island boasts the highest point in the Bahamas of 206 ft above sea level. It also has an interesting heritage site – Father Jerome’s Hermitage. Father Jerome was an Anglican missionary (who converted to Roman Catholic) who came to the Bahamas to rebuild churches after a hurricane in 1908. He built this hermitage as his home where he lived to the age of 80.

Our next Island stop was Little San Salvador which is a private island owned by Holland Cruise Lines. One cruise ship was anchored at the island when we arrived but left around 4pm. This was a good stopping point between Cat Island and Eleuthera but it was a rolly anchorage – not a lot of fun when you’re trying to sleep.

The next morning (March 17) we jumped to Rock Sound Harbour, Eleuthera and we’ve been here almost a week. The winds have not been cooperating so we’ve just stayed in the very well protected anchorage.

We’ve had a bit of excitement here. First of all, it’s a relatively small anchorage due to the water depth and in the middle of it is the main shipping route for the supply boats. We anchored just north of the government dock (outside of the shipping route) but a few other boats who arrived after us, anchored in the route. That was a bad idea! The supply ship arrived at 3am (yes 3am) – how do I know the time you might ask – well it’s because the captain of the supply boat blew his extremely loud horns at 3am and started yelling at the 3 boats in his way. It was absolutely terrifying!! The whole anchorage and town was awakened by the noice and those poor boats got out of the way as quickly as their confused, shocked brains would let them! It was quite the talk the next day!

We also rented a car and toured most of the island. We visited some of the little towns and had a really nice lunch in Alice Town (Hatchet Bay). We went on a very nice nature walk at the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve and found an old USA navy base that is basically looks like a concrete parking lot now. All in all it was a fun day and it was nice to see the island.

We are hoping to continue north this weekend – heading to Spanish Wells. Our journey back to Florida will take us to the Abacos which we haven’t visited yet. The rough plan is to be back in Florida – near Jacksonville, by the end of April. Here’s hoping the weather cooperates with our plan!

It’s been a few weeks since my last post – sorry about that! We’ve been busy with our guests. Caroline joined us on Feb. 22 and we decided to leave George Town and head up to Black and White Cay (at the north end of Great Exuma Island). This is a very nice area with pigs, a blue hole and a great restaurant. We did lots of swimming and snorkelling and saw some nice coral around the blue hole.

We left this area on Tuesday Feb. 26 intending to stop at the Marina at Emerald Bay for a night before heading back to George Town to pick up Bill and Donalda. Well, we got to the marina and decided to stay until Friday – it was nice to have a real shower and to swim in a fresh water pool! It also had free laundry!

Donalda and Bill flew in on Thursday, February. 28 and met us at the marina. Since then, we’ve traveled to George Town to get more food and then we headed to Conception Cay. The wind was stronger this time so we ended up snorkelling a different coral area which was really good. We saw lots of fish and 2 turtles!

We’re now at Long Island, in Thompson Bay. We rented a car yesterday and drove about 2/3rd of the Island. It was a great day, exploring this very interesting island. We visited a little museum and a very deep (200m) blue hole. We had lunch in Clarence Town at the Flying Fish Marina (very fancy place!). The restaurant had some hot sauce on the table that was locally made. So we decided to go to the little village where the hot sauce was made to buy some. Well that was not as easy as it sounds! We drove north and found a nice little place called “Da Spot” and had ice cream and a great chat with the owner. The place was a restaurant/bar/beach/ etc, etc. Mark asked the owner, Steven Jolly, about the hot sauce maker and sure enough, he knew where they were located. We head out again on our mission for the hot sauce and boy was it a journey. We went through one gate (to keep the goats in), drove along a rutted, sand path (road is too nice a word for this thing), opened a second gate and then honked the horn as we came close to the house (that was the directions on the sign leading to the house). This very nice lady opened up for us and we got our hot sauce!

We’re heading back to George Town tomorrow (Friday, March 8). Caroline flies home on March 9 and Donalda and Bill leave on March 11. The time has gone by so quickly – we’re been busy and having loads of fun!

This little National Parks Cay claims to be one of the first stops for Christopher Columbus. We decided to take a trip out to Conception Cay because Mark had read about it’s natural beauty and the amazing coral reefs that surround it. Well, it sure had lots of offer and we couldn’t have picked calmer weather for our visit.

We left George Town and stopped overnight at Calabash Bay, North part of Long Island. The next morning we headed for Conception in very light winds so we motored. We were within an hour from Conception when our fishing reel burst into life! Mark reeled in our first mauhi! It was a good size – 6.5 lbs and 35 inches long. It was a great Valentine’s Day dinner!

Once anchored, we decided to check out the coral reef closest to us. The reef was in rough space (lots of sand damage from the last 2 hurricanes) but there were lots of fish to see. I was swimming back to the boat and looking for stingray. There were a few around the boat but the big surprise came when the nurse shark appeared! It really liked our boat and stayed very close for a few hours! It had a larger friend who also came to visit at one point! Sure makes you get out of the water in a hurry!

We met 2 other boats in the anchorage and spent a few days hanging out with the 2 couples. We checked out many reefs and saw some awesome deep water coral that still seemed healthy. We saw lots of fish, plus turtles, birds, and dolphins!

After a great few days, we decided to head back to George Town to get ready for our visitors. Caroline arrives first on Friday, Feb. 22 and Donalda and Bill arrive next on Feb. 28. Our plan is to head back to Conception and spend a bit of time on Long Island. Here’s hoping we get the right wind for all this exploring!

Last time we were in George Town, we arrived early to meet Caroline. This time we have arrived early to meet Caroline and our friends Donalda and Bill. It’s so great to have people joining us on this adventure! This boat was made for company!

We had a great sail down from Lee Stocking Island. The wind was strong from the north east and we joined many boats heading to George Town. We had all sails up and Captain Mark did a great job of trimming our sails so we made some great speed – high 7 knots and some 8 knots. Whitby sailboats are not known for their speed – they are heavy cruising boats that need a lot of wind to get them moving. Well, let me tell you, Crimson Kathryn was loving the wind that day! We sailed past at least 6 boats and headed into Conch Cut (the opening to George Town) ahead of at least 14 other sailboats! It was so cool to look back and see all those sails behind us. Someone in the Harbour came on the radio and said we were the winners of the “Somewhere to George Town regatta”! We laughed and have not stopped talking about it – Whitbys don’t win regattas!

So here we are in George Town! Lots of boats in the anchorages around Stocking Island. It’s been very windy since we’ve arrived – mainly from the north east and east. We’re hoping to get away from GT for a week before Caroline arrives but that depends on the wind. The George Town Cruisers Regatta starts on Feb. 14 and runs until Feb. 26., so we will see some of that while we’re here.

We’re making our way south to George Town. After leaving Allen’s Cay, we anchored near Highbourne Cay. There we had a great snorkelling afternoon where we saw some nice coral and lots of fish. We also saw a wrecked sailboat – you could clearly make out the keel, mast, batteries and a sink.

The next morning we pulled up our anchor and headed to Shroud Cay. Unfortunately, the autopilot wouldn’t work and then the engine’s alternator stopped working. We decided to sail past Shroud and go to Waderick Wells Cay instead, thinking we’d have cell service or possibly wifi at Waderick. Well we were somewhat disappointed- we could get a very limited cell signal and were only able to send an email to the autopilot repair guy in Seattle. On our second day at Waderick, Mark figured out what was wrong with the alternator. We had the fan belt break in the engine while crossing to New Providence. Lots of rubber got into the alternator and shut it down. We took the pump for our dinghy and blew out all of the rubber crap and that worked – alternator is working perfectly.

We decided to head to Staniel Cay where we knew we could get cell reception and wifi. We had a nice upwind sail and Mark got the sails balanced so hand steering wasn’t bad. We anchored by the Big Major Spot (where the swimming pigs are) and tried to figure out what was wrong with auto. Well it turns out that the switch and the solenoid for the autopilot were both not working. We had another switch but not a replacement solenoid. Mark has done some bypass surgery and now auto is working again! Yippy – we don’t have to buy a new autopilot!!! Yesterday we also started the water maker and it is working well. So we had a few days of happy repair stories!

We’re hanging out on Staniel Cay today – having some lunch and doing a bit of grocery shopping. We had a day of rain yesterday but today is sunny and hot (sorry). Our next stop is Black Point Harbour!

Well we’ve made it to the northern islands in the Exumas. This first week has been filled with beautiful clear water, sunny skies and a whole lot of wind! January seems to be an unpredictable month down here. One day it’s amazing- sunny, hot and fantastic. The next day there will be winds in the 20 knots and higher and storm clouds can roll in with these high winds.

We left Brown’s Marina in Bimini on Thursday, Jan. 24 with a south east wind (lots of it) and that made it very difficult to get out of the Bimini channel. We were also heading out at low tide (big mistake) and we ran aground many times as we pounded into the incoming waves. All I can say is I hope no one was watching! It took us almost an hour to get away from the channel and into deeper water where we could raise our sails and head north around the island! It was very stressful but we made it and finally got on course to cross the banks heading to Chub Cay. Well the prediction was for the SE winds to change to south and south west but that didn’t happen! We did some hard on the wind sailing and got to within 5 knots of the NW channel (a fairly narrow channel that leads from the banks to the deep waters heading to New Providence) when we decided to stop. We could see lightning in the distance and it was dark so we just dropped anchor in the middle of nowhere! Kind of a crazy feeling but it worked out perfectly.

In the morning, we had a great sail into the west side of New Providence (the island Nassau is on). The winds were from the west and we had an actual “fair wind and following seas” sail! It was marvellous! We anchored in a nice little bay for Friday night and had a good sleep.

Saturday morning brought more wind – lots more wind and again we decided to leave our little bay and head to the northern islands in the Exumas. We made this decision because a very big front was moving in from the Gulf of Mexico (the same front that caused a tornado in Havana) and it was predicted that the northern islands would see less of this front. So off we go into rough seas, high winds and sailing hard on the nose again! It was a fast sail and we made it into Allen’s Cay in the early after.

So here we are – sitting in Allen’s Cay caught between current and wind. We are bouncing and rolling and swinging all over the place but at least our lovely anchor has held fast! Today (Monday, Jan. 28), the front came through and it wasn’t too bad. The prediction was correct – we did see some rain and winds peaking in the 25 knots range. It was all over by mid afternoon and now the winds are dying down.

We have had some excitement at this anchorage. Last night a small sailboat came in and ran aground very close to us. Mark went out on the dinghy and tried to pull them off but it was low tide and it just didn’t work. And today (Monday) another sailboat (38ft monohaul) came into the anchorage. I saw them come in and when I went back up into the cockpit a few minutes later, I couldn’t see them anymore. I figured they left but then we heard a mayday call on the radio. That sailboat was on the rocks in one corner of the anchorage. We got in the dinghy and headed over to them. It was crazy! I’ve never seen a boat on the rocks like that – they had picked up some kind of fender or something. It got hooked on their anchor and then the rope wrapped around their propeller. It was awful. The man was in the water when we got there trying to free his propeller shaft of the rope. He didn’t even have a life jacket on or anything. He wanted us to pull his anchor out into the bay to help him get off but we just couldn’t move his anchor line. After 2 hours of trying to help, we left them there being bashed on the rocks. About 30 minutes after we left, a powerboat from a close marina got them off the rocks and towed them into the marina.

It was a very eye opening experience! We could see this rope around the propeller shaft and knew that if it wasn’t removed, there was no way for that boat to get off of the rocks. But the owner was more concerned about the side of his boat hitting the rocks. I’m sure he was in shock over the whole incident and not really able to think clearly. Lots of people came over to help out which was really cool to see.

So, we’ve had enough excitement and bouncing from this anchorage! Tomorrow we’ll make our way south, heading slowly to George Town! Hopefully the January crazy weather gives way to more settled February weather!

Hope you are all keeping warm and safe!