Working on the Boat

It's been a week since we pulled into Palm Beach, and we've been busy working on the boat. Steve started sanding all the teak while Michele taped all the edges. After the first coat of teak, we both sanded again, and then again, and then another coat of teak. Once more around with both, and we'll be ready to pull off all the blue tape.

The parts have all been ordered to fix the triducer which keeps track of our depth and hull speed. We are also ready to have the transmission leak fixed. The boat gets hauled out on Monday at noon (Michele's birthday - oh what fun). I hear there's a cute tiki bar right next to the boat yard though. Also, Maya and Fynn (the Murray kids) are looking forward to having cake and ice cream with us. So other than boat work and doing errands - shopping, laundry, taxes, etc. - there's really not much else to report.

The weather has been very windy and sometimes cold, sometimes a little more mild. Since being back in the States though, it really feels like our trip is coming to a close - even though we're still 1500 miles from home (at 5 knts/hour that's only 300 hours left of travelling). We could be home in 12 1/2 days if we went straight through :) !

Oh yes, we did go to the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea on Sunday morning. On Friday evening, we attended a happy hour at the Palm Beach Sailing Club (where we joined for a week for use of their dinghy dock and showers). When we inquired about where the church was, we were hooked up with the Commodore's husband who happens to be a deacon there. Clay picked us up on Sunday morning and brought us to mass while also giving us some history of the church. Donald Trump was married there and still attends service there a couple of times a year. Everyone was dressed up in suits as going to church on a Sunday morning on "The Island" is very hoiytie toitie. So even though we were dressed in our boat Sunday best, we were still a little conspicuous. His wife, Commodore Jackie, brought us back to the club after we attended a forum and breakfast after mass.

So not sure what we'll do for the next 4 days while waiting to be hauled out. Guess we could see if there's somewhere to go diving around here and other places we could explore. We'll have to check with the Murrays as this is their home base.

I will send out more pictures to view soon. If you haven't done so already, there is a link in the Warderick Wells blog to many pictures that I've posted, but didn't send out an email about. Hope all is well at home.

West Palm Beach, FL

After 5 weeks in the Bahamas, we just spent 5 days returning to Florida. We left Black Point on Saturday and had a great sail, on a run at about 5 knots all day to Norman's Cay.

(on a run - sails wing to wing)

Our destination was actually Highbourne Cay, but just outside of Norman's Cay we landed on an unmarked shoal. And boy was this grounding a good one. We could stand up in sand on the port side of the boat while the starboard side, was 6 feet. This was the first time we went aground while sailing. We had to quickly drop all the sails and start the engine. After several attempts to back out of it, we had to drop the dinghy. Steve rode the anchor out 50 feet or so to starboard and then we waited. The theory was that as the tide got higher the wind would point us towards our anchor and the stern would fall back, then we'd be able to just motor our way out. So after about an hour and 1/2, we were able to finally move on. Since the sun had just set, we had enough light to get anchored. While we were aground, Michele breaded and fried some chicken, so we had chicken parmigian for dinner before going to bed. The wind was pretty strong and our anchorage was rolly, but we managed to get a good night sleep.

The next day, we headed across the Yellow Banks towards Nassau. We sailed for most of the day, again on a run (wind behind us). We decided to skip the Nassau harbor madness and anchored at Rose Island just outside of Nassau. This anchorage was also a little rolly, so we wasted no time in getting up and out to head to Chub Cay. We were able to sail most of the morning, but the wind was very light and variable, so we had to start the engine. We got to Chub before sunset and grabbed a mooring outside the Berry Island Club. We chatted with another boat there, Endaxi, who were doing the same passage as us so we planned to leave with them the next morning.

The plan was to head to Mackie Shoal and anchor out on the Bahama Banks for the night, or possibly just keep going to to Hens and Chickens or North Rock at the tip of Bimini. From there we would decide to anchor or keep going across the Gulf Stream. When we got to Mackie Shoal around 5:00 p.m. after a beautiful, sunny sail all day, and decided to keep going on to the North Rock anchorage We would see what the weather was like there before deciding to cross the Gulf Stream. At 8:00 P.M. Michele went below for a nap,


(sunset on the Bahama Banks - the quiet before the storm)


so she could do the next watch at midnight - if we decided to continue on. When Michele got up at 11:00 P.M. we were just outside of the North Rock and we decided to keep going since it was dark. The wind had kicked up quite a bit, we we thought it would be better to moving through the weather instead of getting beaten at an unprotected anchorage. We didn't been in radio contact with Endaxi since 7 p.m., and didn't see anyone anchored at North Rock, so we guessed that they kept going too. Once we got out into the Atlantic, and the sails were set, Steve went below to get some rest, while Michele stood watch. The wind picked up even more and the waves started increasing as well. At 3:00 P.M., Michele woke Steve up as she was getting naseuous. It was a good thing too, because at that point we got hit with a huge squall. Michele went below and started her hellish night of being seasick, thus rendering her comepletely useless as a crew member. The captain was on his own to battle the violent seas and weather. The night was completely black as no stars or moon lighted the way. We had our running lights and foredeck light on, so that Steve could see the sails. All night long, he fought a the northeasterly wind pushing the seas south, and the Gulf Stream trying to push the seas north. He reports waves as high as 16 feet. Michele was up and down all night throwing up and getting cold sweats, praying for the nightmare to end. The captain did a great job getting us from the Bahamas to Florida. When we were just south oof the Lake Worth Inlet, Steve decided it was too rough to try to make it in, so he hove too, and the boat settled right down - even though the seas were still violent. Hove too, means that you steer the boat into the wind until the headsail back winds. Once that happens, you turn the wheel the opposite way so that the rudder acts as a brake. The boat sits pointed into the wind and drifts just slightly, about a half knot an hour. Michele immediately felt better, and Steve was able to come below and sleep for a couple of hours. However, since the boat was drifting towards a lee shore, our hove too had to come to an end and we were on the move again - and so was Michele's stomach. At this point it was 11:00 A.M. We had to beat into it for a few more hours, but Steve was able to get us safely to the Lake Worth inlet and anchored at West Palm Beach! Finally, after 10 hours, the nightmare was over.

When we arrived at the anchorage, Michele was delighted to see that Tranquility was still here - Leighia and Cameron and the kids. Tranquility is rafted up between two Island Packets - as Cameron works on their boats. Since West Palm Beach is their home port, they are very familiar with the area and will be our tour guides while we're here. We hope to get the transmission and the depth sounder fixed before continuing on any further. Privisions are also at an all time low! We haven't had wine for over two weeks now. The refridgerator is also quite bare. We also need to clean up the boat after our rough crossing. Anything that wasn't nailed down, ended up on the floor. Everything that was in the cockpit got soaked too! This was our roughest passage ever, but John Ray handled the weather perfectly. With an excellent, durable vessel and a well seasoned captain, we are safe and sound!

Staniel Cay (Big Major) to Guana Cay (Black Pt. Settlement)

We had a great time at Staniel Cay. We met up with a couple from a boat that we met in Boot Key Harbor, FL., Hello Texas. Richard and Nicki are from Houston, Texas, but they kept their boat at Galveston. The boat sustained some damages during hurricane Ike back in September. However, they were lucky enough to make the necessary repairs and get under way in December. Michele met Nicki during the long wait for laundry at the Marathon City Marina in Boot Key back in February. They left Boot Key Harbor three weeks before we did. They went to West Palm Beach where they spent a month. That's why we were able to catch up with them here in the Bahamas. We had a great time hanging out with them, Celeste and Gary from Sol Surfin and Randy and Nikki from Kristenly.


While anchored at Big Major, we visited Pig Beach. Apparently, natives maroon pigs and the cruisers go ashore and feed them scraps. They didn't look under nourished, but of course, Michele felt bad for them wondering how they get their water and regular meals when there are no cruisers around. She was wondering if they really are marooned or if someone takes care of them. We went ashore with some cabbage and carrot scraps. When we got there, the big momma pig was the only one we saw. We were skeptical of getting out of the dinghy so we just threw the scraps onto the beach. When everything was almost gone, a bunch of smaller, cuter pigs came running over to the dinghy crying for some food. So, Michele felt bad and went back to the boat to get more scraps of apples and saltines. Of course, she didn't feel like that was enough, but we had to leave it at that - as our own provisions are dwindling down and the prices over here are outrageous. There are three grocery stores on Staniel Cay, but we weren't expecting to pay $6.00 for a loaf of bread! But, we had to suck it up and buy milk, bread, eggs, cheese and some veggies. When the credit card machine wasn't working and the guy kept swiping our card, we knew it was going to be a problem. As it turned out we got charged three times for the charge. This ought to be interesting!


The other fun things we did at Staniel Cay were snorkeling at Thunderball Caves. We have lots of pictures to show you, so be sure to check them out. It was a strong current - even though it was supposed to be slack tide, but we managed okay. We went with the three other couples that were mentioned previously. After snorkeling the caves, we dinghyed out to the cut between Big Major and Little Major Cay. Here the currents were crazy! So we decided it would be a good place to drift dive. We all got out of the dinghies and drifted down with the current back to our boats - well back to the other couple's boats since we were anchored at Big Major and not directly at Staniel Cay. The othere boats moved over to Staniel Cay marina because it was a pretty long dinghy ride from Big Major. Since our depth sounder is acting hoopy, we decided to stay where we knew there was plenty of water. It seemed a little calmer without the strong current over by Staniel as well. Most of the cruisers anchor at Big Major (near the pigs). We also dinghyed around Big Major and checked out some of the caves along the shore. The weather has been beautiful and it has been a great time.

On Wednesday, we all left Staniel/Big Major. Kristenly, Sol Surfin, and John Ray headed to Guana Cay to the Blackpoint Settlement while Hello Texas continued on to Little Farmer's Cay before heading down to Georgetown.

Steve and I sailed off our anchor (yup, no engine required!) and had a great sail all the way to Blackpoint. Steve also wanted to sail right into the anchorage at Black Point, but Michele was too nervous with all the other boats around. So we motored into the anchorage. We immediately packed up the laundry as there is a coin operated laundromat on the island - and it is amazing. They actually had hot water (unlike Marathon) to wash the whites. Lorraine's Cafe also has free Internet (donation is asked). So, we settled in for the afternoon onshore. While we haning out at Lorraine's, Butch from Lucidity walked in. We haven't seen them since Nassau so we were very excited to see them again (as they were one of the reasons that got us to finally come to the Bahamas). We've been in radio contact with them for the past three weeks, but on different cruising schedules. We were surprised they showed up as we didn't expect them for another couple of days. Gretchen and Reese came over to join us, as Reese was playing with some other cruiser's children outside. We decided to join them for dinner at Lorraine's Cafe. The food was very good and reasonably priced, but we waited for an hour and a half for it :). We are on "Island Time" now.

Yesterday, we said our goodbyes to Sol Surfin as they headed off to Little Farmer's Cay. They have to be in Georgetown by next week to pick up friends that are coming in to visit with them.

We had an Island Packet Rendezvous on Lucidity. Except for Lena Bea (which is an IP 445), the other three IPs are 38's (Lucidity, John Ray and Kristenly). We had drinks and appetizers while waiting for the sunset. Michele had her first succesful experience blowing the horn of a conch shell (which is a tradition with cruisers at sunset).

Today, Michele went to the local school to volunteer tutor. A retired cruising couple, organizes cruiser volunteers to work with the children. It was a great opportunity and Michele jumped at the chance. She worked on math and language arts (reading and phonics) with a fourth grader, Michael (MJ) from 9 to 12. Steve came ashore later and did some Internet stuff while waiting for Michele. We had a great lunch at Lorraine's and plan to attend happy hour at Scorpios. Tomorrow morning begins our trek back up north. We plan to leave early morning go until we get tired landing at the most northern Exuma Island that we have enough daylight for. We will update our location at the next Internet location which may not be for a couple of days. Hope everyone is doing well.

Warderick Wells, Cambridge Cay and Staniel Cay

Pictures for this leg of the trip: http://tinyurl.com/warderick

Wow, what a great stop! Warderick Wells is home to the headquarters of the Exuma Cays, Land and Sea Park. The park covers 176 square miles, from Wax Cay south 22 miles to Conch Cut extending out 4 nautical miles on either side of the cays. It is a no take zone – nothing living or dead can be removed from the park. What you bring into the park, must be taken back out with you. Apart from the natural beauty of the islands, we have had a great time meeting and hanging out with other cruisers. We have been snorkeling and hiking and having beach parties and gatherings with other boaters. We have also enjoyed a secure place to wait out a cold front with 30-40 knots winds. This is probably one of the best stops on our trip so far. Steve has relaxed quite a bit since we stopped here, after being stressed out quite a bit since we’ve come to the Bahamas.

We arrived in Warderwick Wells on Friday, February 27th. Catching the mooring was a bit of challenge as the wind and current were working against us and there is virtually no room for error. On one side of the mooring channel there is a huge sand bar, and the other is rock. It was very stressful and we put on quite the show for the other boats – luckily only a couple of boats there at the time and no one seemed to have noticed. When all was set, we both breathed a sigh of relief and kissed and made up. We spent 4 nights in Warderwick. The first morning we got up and went snorkeling in two different places. The first place had quite a bit of current, so we moved on to Emerald Rock which was a smaller coral reef, but we saw quite a bit of fish. In the afternoon, we went for a long hike through the limestone rock trail, through mangrove nurseries, thatch palm groves, and finally along some amazing cliffs. Saturday evening on the beach at 5:30 there is a happy hour where you bring what you want to drink and an appetizer to share. Well, we had such a great time. Celeste and Gary, from Sol Surfin’ brought there guitar and drum and played music by the campfire until the evening hours. We met lots of new cruisers and some that we had met previously, including Randy and Nikki, from Kristenly – an IP 38 just like John Ray. We had met Randy previously in Nassau where his girlfriend Nikki joined him for the next two months. Nikki is on leave for a few months as a high school counselor up in Vermont.

On Sunday, Steve and I went to first snorkeling site where we had too much current the previous day. This time we went at slack tide and the snorkeling was great. We have been snorkeling instead of diving since the water is shallow and there is no need to waste the air in our tanks. It was a little frustrating when I saw a huge lobster inside a rock and I couldn’t dive down and get his picture because I was too buoyant in my wetsuit. I did eventually get an okay picture when he decided to come out of the little cave he was hiding in. Believe it or not, it has been quite chilly in the Bahamas, and we have to wear our wetsuits to snorkel. Right now, as I type this blog, the wind is blowing 18-25 knots. The water temperature is 68°F. Swimming for the fun of it hasn’t even been an option.

On Sunday evening we went to Sol Surfin, along with Randy and Nikki, for dinner and drinks - another fun night. The next day, we left our mooring to head a little more south to Cambridge Cay which is still part of the Exuma Park area. Here we caught another mooring. After arriving on Monday, we took a long dinghy ride to “The Aquarium” site for a snorkel. It was a great little place, but we didn’t stay in the water too long as it was freezing (even with wet suits).

On Tuesday, Steve and I took the dinghy to a little beach and walked a path to the Exuma sound side of the island. From there we walked along a cliff trail which was even more amazing than the cliffs at Warderick Wells. The rock formations were incredible. I hope you can appreciate how spectacular they were from the pictures, but it was simply incredible to see such beauty on this planet.

Sol Surfin and Kristenly joined our anchorage on Tuesday afternoon. We got together again on Sol Surfin for games. We had such a blast playing this game (guys against the girls – girls lost, but only because of bad luck. We definitely outplayed the guys J.) On Wednesday, we decided to stay put at Cambridge Cay since the winds were blowing like stink again! We did venture out for a long dinghy ride across Conch Cut to the Rocky Dundas – a cave snorkeling site. However, after an insane, wet dingy ride, we decided not to even attempt this site as the water was way too rough. We rode the dinghy all the way back to our anchorage and snorkeled at a site directly behind our boats. It was incredible. Two of the highlights were a huge barracuda that went swimming right by me and then a stingray that was under our dinghy when we returned after snorkeling. The current was pretty strong but we got a great workout. We’ve headed out of Cambridge Cay, stopped one night at Sampson Cay. Today we left Sampson Cay and we are anchored off of Staniel Cay at Big Major Cay – Staniel Cay is the place to go ashore and provision and get Internet though. We’ll stay here for a couple of days before starting our trek back up north towards Eleuthra and the Abacos islands.