Making Our Way Home

Tuesday, April 29

We were glad to have a good night’s sleep last night in the marina. While Steve worked around the boat, I walked to the gift shop in the marina, brought a couple of books for Jacob and decided to exchange my paperbacks for new reading material. I started this trip with two paperbacks to read and have been able to exchange them along the way at marinas’ for additional books instead of having to purchase them. It has been interesting to look through the cruiser library, find a book you like and exchange your used book. What a great idea. (We have a book closet at Sailboat Bay that works in the same way.) Some marina’s even have DVD’s that you can swap. We like our selection of DVD’s and haven’t swapped any on this trip except to exchange with our traveling buddies for a night.

When I bought the books for Jacob, I only had a fifty dollar bill to pay for them. The clerk gave me mostly Bahamian currency back because she did not have any American currency in her cash drawer. She apologized for having to give me so many one dollar bills. When I told her we were leaving the country in a few days and I didn’t think I would be able to spend it before we left, she suggested I walk to the office on the hill where they would be able to exchange the money. Without anything else to do and needing some exercise, I make the hike. About half-way up the steep hill, it began to rain. We needed the rain so I was not complaining I just quickened my steps to the office. The bottom fell out as I stepped on the front deck of the dining area. There were several other people already sitting in the bar area who had also gotten caught in the rain. I walked through the Bluff House Dining area to the office to exchange my currency and then back to the bar area to wait out the showers. I met the most interesting lady, about my age, living on a sailboat with her husband, and a breast cancer survivor. She was there selling her handmade jewelry to the gift shop. She showed me her jewelry pieces and I found a really nice pair of earring that I bought from her. Our conversation centered mostly around my questioning her about living on a sailboat full-time, their travels and how she managed provisioning her boat in the islands. We connected as we shared our experiences with cancer and talked about our “bucket list” of places and things we wanted to do including the sailing adventures. Before we realized, the rain had stopped, everyone else in the room had left and she had an appointment with another gift shop in fifteen minutes. We hugged and wished each other safe journeys.

After lunch, I talked Steve into walking to the Green Turtle Club Marina Gift shop. We did not put the dinghy in the water or this would have been a short five minute ride across the harbor. Instead, it was a two hour walk on a rocky, hilly, dusty, narrow road. I had already gotten my exercise earlier in the day walking up the hill, but I wanted to go to the gift shop. It was fun, even though I complained to Steve.

While sitting in the cockpit late in the day, I spotted a water spout in the distance. This is like a tornado of swirling water. Steve has seen one before, but this was my first. I even have a picture! (Are you surprised?)
We borrowed a movie from Moon River for our evening entertainment and even had a bag of microwave popcorn.

Wednesday, April 30

Plans were to leave the marina around noon heading to Manjack Cay traveling behindd Jeff and Lee on Moon River. Moon River draws more than Little Wing so they wanted to wait until high tide to exit the shallow, narrow channel out of White Sound. Steve filled up the water tank, at twenty cents a gallon I might add, checked the oil, and the other pre-trip operations he attends to, while I tried to do the laundry and straighten up the cabin.

We had a steady 10-15 knots of wind on the beam so getting out of the slip was a challenge. We put double lines on the windward side, taking all the lines off the lee side. I was steering; on command Ron tossed the bow line on board while Steve let go of the spring and stern line. I backed out of the slip while Steve pushed off the pylons. Sounds easy, but it isn’t! I pointed Little Wing to the channel monitoring the water depths for Moon River, as we motored through the channel.

We motored sailed the short five miles to Manjack Cay. It was a beautiful day with easterly winds making the trip in less than an hour. Jeff led us in, as they had anchored here previously and wanted to locate several wrecks in the area so Lee could snorkel. We both wanted to snorkel but we didn’t have wet suits like Lee and I knew the water would be too cold for me to enjoy. Steve agreed and we continued to our anchorage while Jeff and Lee anchored close to one of the wrecks. Lee did tell us that it was a great place to snorkel; she saw grouper and other brightly colored fish. The CQR anchor wouldn’t hold at this anchorage after several attempts so Steve switched to the Bruce. This is the first time he has had to switch to this anchor.

Steve had to take a swim this afternoon after his “favorite” cap blew off and into the water. Thank goodness he didn’t have his wallet in his pocket because he didn’t hesitate even a second before he jumped in before the cap sunk! After taking a swim in his shorts and t-shirt, he decided to wash some clothes in the sink and hang out on the boat to dry. I would have done the same, but we didn’t have enough clothes pins to secure them to the lifelines on the boat.

I couldn’t believe I could get an Internet connection at this anchorage. It seems the two houses on Manjack Cay cater to cruisers providing Internet access as well as a nice beach, beach chairs, picnic area, and we even saw a bonfire on the beach with folks sitting around. I Skyped Catherine to see Jacob and we called the other girls with our itinerary for the days ahead.

Thursday, May 1

What a great night’s sleep on the hook! We were up at 6:15 a.m. waiting for the weather report from Jeff who listens to Chris Parker on his side ban radio. Looks like a great day for sailing; 15-20 knots of wind from the east. We weighed anchor at 7:00 a.m. with plans to make the 40 plus miles to Great Sale Cay today. With 15-20 knots of wind hitting the beam, we were able to sail an average of 6 knots and at times we were going 7 knots. Steve commented, “This is a day sailors live for. When the wind is where you can use it, you are in a protected body of water with a little two foot chop. If we were in the ocean we would have a six foot chop.”

Moon River was also sailing along beside Little Wing, until we began to pull away. Steve finally throttled back so we could stay in close proximity to Moon River. Lee and I pulled our cameras out for a photo session of each other. I can’t wait to see their pictures of Little Wing. Mine of Moon River are great! It is rare that you have another boat sailing alongside that can shoot pictures when you are in full sail.

We arrived at Great Sale Cay around 4:00 p.m. finding plenty of room to anchor, as this is a long cay with protective water for the 10-15 knot east winds predicted for the night. At least twelve to fifteen boats, both motorboats and sailboats, were already anchored for the evening. Jeff and Steve talked over the weather situation for the Gulf Stream crossing tomorrow with Jeff leaning towards leaving and Steve waiting another day. Jeff and Lee were heading up the Atlantic coast to possible Fort Pierce and we were heading to Palm Beach. A finally decision would be made in the morning, but we were pretty sure we were going to wait. I did not want to face 4-6 foot waves all day with 15-20 knot winds.

We were contented sailors, happy that we had experienced such a beautiful day sailing in the Sea of Abaco.

Friday, May 2

I am not accustomed to getting up at 6:30 a.m. so we sat the alarm clock. I was glad that Steve had beaten me up and had coffee waiting. Steve listened to the weather on the VHF radio while Jeff received a report from Chris Parker. No change. We stayed with our plan to wait for a Sunday crossing with 5-10 knot winds and two foot seas. Jeff and Lee decided to make the crossing today in hopes to reach Fort Pierce. We said our good-byes, weighed anchor and departed around 8:00 a.m.

The wind was coming in from the stern, resulting in using the mainsail with a preventer to keep it from jibing. The seas were coming in from the rear quarter making a rolly day of motor sailing. We were headed to West End knowing that we might not get through Indian Cay Pass, which would force us to backtrack to Memory Rock approximately 30 miles north, adding another day to the trip.

This leg of the journey took us pass Mangrove Cay where we had stayed when we made the trip almost a month ago. Upon our approach to Indian Cay Pass, we noticed we were closing in on another sailboat. Steve radioed the captain hoping that we could follow their boat through the pass. Luckily, they had friends who had already gone through the pass earlier and suggested he wait for the tide to rise before entering; that explained why he had slowed down. We in turn throttled back waiting for the tide knowing that if he made it through we could. Eventually, we made it though the channel without any difficulty. Now we could breathe! Once off the Bahama Bank we made the short distance down to the turn in to the Old Bahama Bay channel. We radioed to get our slip assignment. It is always interesting to hear the directions from the harbormaster because it normally makes no sense to someone who has never been there before. You have to feel your way through tight quarters until it becoms apparent as to where you need to motor to get to your slip. We found our slip, tied up and took care of the necessary paper work with Jamal our dock hand.

We were glad we had called ahead to reserve a slip at the marina as the marina caters to the high end fishing fleets and most of the slips were taken by these rather large yachts. Old Bahama Marina sits on a sliver of land with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Bahama Bank on the other. New management has renovated the marina, restaurant, and beautiful hotel/resort on the property. We had been told how wonderful the facilities were by Caloosa Spirit and Lady Hawk. They were forced by bad weather to stay several days before they could go through Indian Cay Pass.

I couldn’t wait to explore the property tomorrow, maybe sit on the beach reading my book and then go to dinner at the restaurant.

Saturday, May 3

We noticed when we were drinking our coffee in the cockpit that quite a few sailboats had departed this morning. Steve checked the weather again to see if it had changed but they still were predicting a small craft warning, seas in the Gulf Stream from 4-6 feet with 10-15 knot winds. We knew we had made the right decision for us to wait one more day before we made the crossing.

After breakfast, I did the laundry, visited the resort gift shop and walked around the property taking pictures. Steve went through his usual pre-trip boat check and maintenance. After lunch we walked to the beach, listened to live music from the Tiki Bar at the beach and enjoyed the sunny but breezy atmosphere. I noticed the staff was setting up white chairs on the beach and a sign indicated the pool would be closed for a private party later in the afternoon. We decided it was a wedding. What a beautiful destination spot!

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the casual dockside restaurant, Steve ordered the shrimp and grits and I selected the grilled grouper. One of the side dishes we have been introduced to while in the Bahamas is “peas and rice.” It looks like brown rice with brown beans not peas. I asked the waitress how they are prepared and she said the peas are called Pigeon Peas. My plan when we get home is to find the recipe and prepare them again. We also had the option of dinning at the more formal dinning facilities located next door, but Steve forgot to bring his dinner jacket and I felt I didn’t have the appropriate attire once we look through the large windows! Maybe next trip!

Two full sailors walked back to Little Wing and retired early, knowing we had a long day ahead tomorrow.

Sunday, May 4

Steve was awake and listening to the weather at 5:30 a.m. I didn’t get up until 5:45 a.m., drinking a little coffee and eating a snake bar. We generally don’t eat a large breakfast before an ocean crossing hoping we will not get seasick. We pulled away from the slip at 6:30 a.m. with several other boats ahead of us but heading in a different direction. Shortly after leaving the marina, Steve got the mainsail out even though we didn’t have a lot of wind coming from the southeast. The seas were rolly and we knew we would have to motor sail today.

Steve communicated with another sailboat we noticed was following in our general directions. The boats name was Maracoudja. (We kept trying to pronoun it before Steve would radio them.) Steve realized he had spoken with this guy the day before when he was purchasing fuel. Steve asked him “if he was coming or going” and he said “yes” in a German accent. The communication vie the radio was somewhat sketchy but we surmised he couldn’t understand a lot of English. They followed along our starboard side all day. It was good to know there was another boat close by. We passed freighters headed for the Bahamas and other motor boats passed us going both directions. All in all it was a very boring trip in comparison to the other travels we have had on Little Wing in the last two months. We were happy to have an uneventful journey.

One of the problems the mariner encounters when crossing the Gulf Stream is how to allow for the set of the current. Fast boats have little trouble correcting the effect of the Gulf Stream, but boats with operating speeds of between 5 and 10 knots must make major corrections. Based on the rhumb line crossing, the winds and the speed of the boat determine your cross corrections. From West End on the Grand Bahama Island to Lake Worth at West Palm Beach you make a slight North West route, correcting for the push of the Gulf Stream north. I might note, the Gulf Stream current about 20 miles off shore in Southern Florida is 3-5 knots tapering along the edges. We could definitely tell the difference when we were in the Gulf Stream.

We charged our cell phones mid-afternoon waiting to hear a signal that we were back in the USA and had a signal. Steve had switched the Bahamian courtesy flag back to the Quarantine (Q Flag) yellow flag, while he waited to phone customs that we were in USA waters. I might add this was a very efficient way to take care of the formality via the cell phone. When our phone was operable, Steve called a 1-800 number, gave the gentleman (foreign I might add) the ID numbers on our custom cards and we were official received back home. Thankfully, we did not have to rent a car, drive to a customs office in Palm Beach, and fill out additional paperwork in order to take care of this re-entry procedure. Once this task was complete, Steve removed the Q flag and we proudly displayed our American flag from the stern of the boat.

We arrived at Lake Worth, West Palm Beach around 4:00 p.m., took a nap, called the girls and watched the Sunday afternoon motor boaters zoom by Little Wing. I was beginning to think we were back in the 4-6 foot waves in the ocean. Steve assured me the waves would subside by sunset when the boaters had to go home.

Lake Worth is a large body of water between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. The Intercoastal Waterway channel is located on the west bank, explaining why there is a lot of traffic on this body of water. On the Palm Beach side facing the Ocean, sits million dollar homes and yacht clubs for a far as you can see. We couldn’t help but comment about the wealth in our country based on this shoreline community.
After dinner, Steve sat in the cockpit while I read in the cabin. Around 9:00 p.m. Steve heard loud booming sounds in the distance. After scanning the sky he saw fireworks going off and called me to watch. Do you think this was our “Welcome Home Celebration” display? It was really cool!

Monday, May 5

We weighed anchor around 7:25 a.m. heading back out the channel into the Atlantic Ocean for our trip along the coast to either Fort Lauderdale or Miami depending on the time of day we arrive at Fort Lauderdale and the weather conditions. I need to make a comment about the 100 plus foot mega luxurious sailboat anchored in the channel at Lake Worth and also the 100 plus foot mega sailboat tied up at the yacht club across from our anchorage. The masts were more than a 100 feet high and I think this is probably the largest sailboat we have seen in person. Both boats were flying British flags. Wish we knew who owned them. I have pictures to share but I know that don’t do the boats justice in portraying their size and beauty.

We eased out the channel and set our course for Fort Lauderdale motor sailing several miles off shore in 5-10 knot winds from the south southwest. The seas were calm enough that I was able to continue reading my book and enjoy a relaxing day. We passed quite a lot of fishing boats both large and small and we even passed a boat kite fishing. Steve said he had read about this type of fishing but had never seen anyone actually doing it. Ask him to tell you about it. I guess this prompted Steve to put his fishing line out to see if he could land that “big tuna” he has been talking about for so long. He did land a very large King Mackerel that broke the line just as he was reeled close to the boat.

We decide to forge ahead to No Name Harbor in Miami instead of stopping at Fort Lauderdale knowing that it would be late when we arrived. We felt confident that we could make it through the channel as we had made the trip twice before. We decide to anchor close to the restaurant but found we were swinging too close to the catamaran next to use. We tried again and again until finally on the third attempt, Steve said “I will redo it in the morning.” They were having a gathering and probably didn’t notice our close proximity to their boat anyway.

Tuesday, May 6

When we awoke this morning the catamaran was almost under our bow. We knew that we were too close to “Sunshine” last night when we anchored, but were too tired to re-anchor. Steve did get up in the middle of the night to let out more line when the boat began to swing, which probably prevented them from bumping into us on their swing. They stopped by while we were drinking coffee to apologize if their party had been too rowdy. We assured them we were too tired for anything to bother us and that we needed to apologize for anchoring too close to them.

We walked into Key Biscayne for provisions at the local Winn Dixie and found a great French restaurant for lunch. They specialize in homemade bread which I knew Steve would enjoy. Since we will only be on Little Wing maybe another 4-5 days, we only needed a few grocery items which were manageable on our walk back to the boat.
While Steve was checking out at the self-checkout machine, I thumbed through the tabloids to read up on the latest “star” gossip.

Man, we had a hot walk back to the boat. I hope it cools off or we will have a miserable night sleeping.

Wednesday, May 7

Our departure from No Name Harbor around 9:00 a.m. was much later than normal because we only had approximately 23 miles to travel to Pumpkin Cay, our anchorage for the night. Our first order of business for the day was motoring to Dinner Key Marina for fuel and ice. We had a pleasant ride across Biscayne Bay, hoping that the wind would pick up later in the day so we could sail.

Steve put the mainsail up as soon as we passed the last Dinner Key channel markers. Within thirty minutes to an hour, the wind began to increase enough that we could get the jib out, sail along around 5.5 knots, enough to turn the motor off. A side note. Biscayne Bay has really clean water ironically, since it is so close to a huge city as Miami. We could see the bottom some 15 foot below.

Two hours of sailing and we arrived at Pumpkin Cay, off the shore of Key Largo, where we anchored for the evening with plans to exit Angelfish Creek to the Atlantic Ocean early morning for our run down the coast to Marathon. We circled the island looking for the best place for an anchorage, deciding on the lee shore of Key Largo. I spent the afternoon reading and talking on my cell phone while Steve checked the weather, the tide schedule and plotted our course for tomorrow. We felt a little harassed by local boaters flying by us leaving a huge wake and a couple on a Sea Doo circled the boat within 5 feet, staring at us as if to say, “Why are you anchored here!” Oh well!

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and a relaxing evening on the hook.

Thursday, May 8

We wanted to get an early start this morning as soon as we had light to see the channel markers entering Angelfish Creek. Low tide was 7:45 a.m. creating the possibility of running aground both at the entrance to the channel and the exit at the Atlantic Ocean. After making it through the channel with two feet of water to spare, we were hoping that we would be able to also get through the narrow channel heading out to the ocean. The channel is very narrow about one mile in distance. We passed a smaller sailboat along the way and asked him about the depth of the channel. He replied, “ok” and did this rolling with his hand to represent the waves. We were relieved thinking we would not have any problem until he radioed that he had run aground, had to put up the mainsail and waiting some thirty minutes before he was free. Oh great! Do we turn around now or give it a try? Steve had already looked at the second options of traveling down the Intercoastal which would take longer, be riskier and we might not make Marathon in a day.

When we arrived at the mouth of Angelfish Creek, Steve slowed down carefully maneuvering the boat through the narrow channel markers. We are now heading out into the Atlantic, waves coming at us bow first, praying, not breathing and staring at the depth gauge. We didn’t say a word; I looked straight ahead until we finally made it through the last buoy. Steve said, “we have 100 yards further b before we get out of the shallow water. “ Dang! But we made it never seeing the depth drop less than 6 foot.

We were able to motor sail all day at a close reach on a port tack. At some point during the day Steve realized the rear starboard shroud was detached from the boat. (This is what holds the mast on one side.) He jumped up to check out the reason and found a flattened cotter pin lying on the deck with the pin gone that holds the turnbuckle to the boat. Because we were on a port tack, there wasn’t any pressure on the starboard side, allowing him to secure the shroud with a line until we could get to a port and find the part. We arrived at Marathon Marina around 5:30 p.m. happy to have a slip for the night, an air conditioner and a boat slip.

Friday, May 9

Steve wanted to get an early start walking to the local West Marine to find the bolt we needed to repair the stay. After our coffee and cereal, we stopped at the Marathon Boat Yard which is connected to the marina we were docked to inquire if they had the bolt we needed. They didn’t so we had to head out for West Marine approximately a mile and a half down the highway. It was a hot, muggy, sunny walk but we really felt like we needed the exercise to burn the calories from last night’s dinner and to get our “land legs” back since we had been on the boat for two days straight. They didn’t have the part but suggested calling a sailboat rigging business some four or five miles down the road. Yes, they had the part; no, we didn’t walk there! (West Marine didn’t stock a heavy enough pin. Everything on an Island Packet sailboat is overbuilt to be able to handle more strain, forcing a trip to a rigging business instead of finding these parts in a regular marine supply store. ) I had already decided I would pay for a taxi if we had to go there for the part and was asking for the phone number when Steve said the guy he was talking with was making a trip to the marina where we were docked in the next thirty minutes.

YEA! We started walking back, stopping at a Kwik Mart for a few grocery items.
We were hot and sticky when we arrived back at the boat and were grateful to have the AC working and the cabin cool. I worked on the blog, surfed the Internet and relaxed while Steve continued with his maintenance around the boat. Check out time for the marina is 11:00 a.m. and still we didn’t have the part we needed for the boat, resulting in spending another night in the marina. Steve had planned to go to Boot Key Mooring area for tonight but we didn’t have an option since we had to have the part before we made the twenty plus hour passage to Ft. Myers.

The $10 part finally arrived but it actually cost us $110 because we had to pay for another night in the marina. This is a rather expensive marina compared to others we have stayed in on this trip but hey what do you do! (We would like to applaud the young guy from the rigging shop for his conscientious in attending to our part problem. He even offered to walk to the boat and reattach the pin but Steve said he could take care of it.)

We made the decision to make the jump from Marathon to Ft. Myers without a stop tomorrow. The winds were predicted to be 5-10 knots from the south southwest with 2-4 foot seas. We wouldn’t be able to sail but a smooth ride for twenty-two hours was better to tackle than a 15-20 knot winds with 4-6 foot waves. Steve checked on a mooring for the boat in Ft. Myers and a rental car for our drive home.

Saturday, May 10

We left Marathon at 8:00 a.m. psyched up for the all night motor in the Gulf of Mexico. Florida Bay was eerie; it looked like fog or haze ahead of us preventing us from seeing the channel markers in the distance and the horizon. I felt like I was in an abyss. We traveled through this for an hour or so until the sun finally found its way out and the haze lifted. The water was as smooth as glass, very little wind, with hot, humid temperature. I read a book all day while Steve navigated and kept us on course. He tried fishing, with no luck; we enjoyed watching a dolphin play in our bow and we found ourselves almost bored.

We enjoyed our last sunset in the ocean today, marveling at its beauty and brilliance but knowing that we had a long night ahead. Steve napped a little after dark while I watched out for boats and serpents until 11:00 p.m. when he took the next watch. I instructed him to wake me when he need relieved and I went below to stretch out on the settee. I was in the midst of a dream when he called for me at 3:00 a.m. to give him a break. After I stumbled to the fridge for something cold and some crackers, I climbed up to the cockpit to take over. Cruising along at 4-5 knots on a very slick ocean, with a slight breeze, thousands of stars in the sky, plus a sliver of a moon glistening off the water, is a very mesmerizing experience. It is a perfect time to be all alone with your enter most thoughts, your prayers, your memories and your thankfulness for the here and now. I wish everyone had this opportunity to feel so close to God’s spirit on these calm night watches.

Sunday, May 11

Steve woke up at 4:30 a.m., coming up to the cockpit to relieve me. He had earlier throttled back the boat speed before he went below so we would arrive at the entrance buoys to Ft. Myers at daybreak. After calculating the amount of time it would take to get to the entrance to the channel, Steve determined that we would need to throttle back again and “hover” in the area until daylight around 6:00 a.m. We finally inched our way to the channel markers, skirted the beach along the coastline and made our way under the Matanza Bridge to pick up a mooring ball at Ft. Myers.

We made it; a little sad that our dream trip to the Bahamas was over but happy to be going home tomorrow. We flung open the ports and hatches, stretched out on the settees and slept for several hours. Steve cooked my favorite breakfast, cheese grits, which we ate at 10:30 a.m. Steve needed to go in to the Matanza Inn office to pay for our mooring which meant we had to get the dinghy and motor off the boat. It is a pretty easy task now but today it was a hot task. We sure didn’t miss the humidity and the heat while we were in the Abaco islands.

The girls called to say Happy Mother’s Day, we called our mom’s to wish them a Happy Mother’s Day, then we spent the remainder of the day cleaning, packing, resting and preparing for our departure tomorrow. Steve is grilling a celebratory steak/potato dinner for the evening meal and I will get this blog finished.

We leave in the morning in a rental car, leaving Little Wing in Ft. Myers. We have a wedding to attend this upcoming weekend and Steve had a 40 year class reunion the next weekend. Plans are for Steve to drive back to Ft. Myers the end of the month with several sailors an bring Little Wing back to Gulf Shores.

We would like to take this opportunity at the end of our cruising journey to thank you for your encouragement, your support, your advice, your assistance in helping to make this trip come to fruition, and most importantly your love and friendship. It has been written that “it takes a village to raise a child;” I say, “it takes a village to safely sail Little Wing to the Abacos and back.” You are our village and we are forever indebted.