Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Pulled anchor at 9:50 am. From Green Turtle Cay through the possibly treacherous Whale Cay Passage. All weather conditions were good and made for a smooth trip. Thank you weather gods!! Had to wait an hour for rising tide, yet again, before entering Treasure Cay Marina. The moorings and anchorage were full, and with 30 knots of wind forcasted with the approaching front on Thursday, we were forced to get a slip. Docked and secure at 5 pm. Unlimited water usage is welcomed with a very long shower followed by an ice cold Kalik beer. (trip 28.3 nm)

Thursday, April 20,2006

Left West End at 11:15am. Needed to wait for rising tide to clear the shallow passage of Indian Cay and Woods Cay Channel. Uneventful passage due to intense tide calculations by Tom the day before. We are enjoying the uneventful times a lot. Motor-sailed into Great Sale Cay at 8:50 pm doing our 1st night anchoring. Many boats in the anchorage but things went as normal. When Tom shone the flashlight into the water to follow the anchor rode out, a seahorse rose to the light. Life’s pleasures can still amaze you even after dark. (trip -47.5 nm) Wind picked up in the wee hours of the morning, leading Tom to finish sleeping in the cockpit with the cooking timer set every 15 minutes to keep check on the anchor.


Friday, April 21, 2006

Up at dawn to listen to weather report and prepare to head out from Great Sale to ????
Smooth motor-sailing until some squall activity kicked up about ¾ into the trip, quite abit of wind but no rain or thunderstorms. Weather dictated that we needed to pull into Powell Cay as we were running out of daylight and only hoped we could get enough protection from the wind there. We did 2 hour watch shifts (along with the timer to wake you if you dozed off ). Great Stars and anchor held. (trip - 49 nm)


Saturday, April 22, 2006

Left Powell Cay at 10:15 am sailing to Manjack Cay. Powell Cay looked like a fabulous place for exploration and snorkeling. We do plan on returning to Powell under different wind conditions. Anchor set at Manjack/Crab Cay about 1 pm. Felt good to be back to daytime anchoring. Anxious to explore and a pleasant surprise of free internet access. (trip - 11.3 nm)


Sunday, April 23, 2006

AWESOME DAY!! Dinghied ashore and met Leslie and Bill who own 30 acres of Manjack Cay. Visiting friends of theirs, Colleen and Bill, shared stories. Colleen painted palm frawns of signs to the north side beach and funny faces. Anyone was welcome to paint. Leslie gave us a tour of the grounds as she has done some amazing gardening (fruits, veges, flowers, trees, etc). They just finished the tiki bar on the beach, complete with swings for seats. Leslie and Bill are modern day homesteaders, who have carved out a wonderful piece of heaven. We walked through their gardens to the north side of the island to an uninhabited pristine beach on the Atlantic Ocean protected by an outer reef. Upon returning, jumped in the dinghy for a tour up the canals behind their property, seeing many starfish, turtles, conchs and rays. A truly awesome day!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

We celebrated a Bahamian toast to our island tour on our last night in West End, Grand Bahama Island on the beach at sunset at Old Bahama Resort and Marina. Life is good and getting even better. We wish everyone just as much happiness always.

Monday, April 17,2006

Into a slip for a few days to catch up on things, get some rest and explore while we wait out the winds again! We are staying at Old Bahama Bay Resort and Marina in West End, Grand Bahama Island. Did some resort exploring and discovered several starfish and a live conch on the beach.

Sunday, April 2,2006

We dropped our truck off and pushed away from the dock at 3:25 pm. Anchored at Boot Key Harbor Channel entrance for the night with friends from the dock aboard “Free Spirit”. A new tradition of conch horn blowing at sunset begins as a beautiful sunset over the Seven Mile Bridge finalizes our stay in the Florida Keys.

Monday, April 3, 2006

Bright and early (7am) as the sun rises we set sail to Key Largo. Light winds suggest a motor sailing day. Dolphins come and bow ride as if to say good bye. “Free Spirit” experiences some engine problems but decided to keep going on. Anchored at Rodriguez Key for the night with “Free Spirit” at 4:30 pm.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

Early departure again at 7 am. Winds allow us full sails to help with the motoring. Beautiful waters greet us with the Miami skyline. Heading to No Name Harbor through Biscayne Bay Channel, we pass the Cape Florida Lighthouse and go through Stiltsville. Anchored about 4:30 pm. No Name Harbor is a great anchorage in the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. With use of the park facilities, restaurant on site and a short walk to stores, we find this a wonderful location to wait for the proper weather conditions to cross the Gulf Stream.




Friday, April 14, 2006

Our 10 day stay in No Name Harbor has been a great hideout from the BIG winds but also very, very interesting. This little harbor experiences a vast amount of boat traffic - small, large and very large sizes. Thursday, our friends, Ed and Susan Grover visited us on their way to the BVI’s for a sailing charter. What great friends!! We enjoyed lunch at the Boater’s Grill at No Name Harbor and then they took us to the grocery store to reprovision. Little did they know that we would come out with 2 carts full of groceries. BUT hey isn’t that what good friends do. Thanks Ed and Sue!!

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Left No Name Harbor at 8 am headed to Fort Lauderdale. Tom spotted a big sailfish as it flew out of the water. What a sight! Motor sailed the distance and found the channel into Ft. Lauderdale is suicidal. What a crazy busy port with plenty of cruise ships and barges, etc. Docked at Pier 66 at 4 pm. A cold brewsky never tasted sooo good!!

Sunday, April 16,2006

Happy Easter to all. Escape and Avalon (a Catalina 30 sailboat with John and Harriett aboard) left Pier 66 at 2:45 am with ¾ of the moon. Out of the channel at 3:30 am we found ourselves amidst 2 freighters and a BIG tugboat pulling an exceptionally massive barge about 200 meters behind it. The tugboat captain (Coastal Dave) was more than accommodating and very helpful. We passed 8 cruise ships waiting off shore at various distances awaiting to enter the port. After the “floating cities” encounters, the Gulf Stream was very calm and uneventful and the sunrise was welcomed.

Catching a ride in the middle of the Gulf Stream.

Approaching West End on Grand Bahama island about 4 pm (75 miles later ), we found they had Old Bahama Bay Resort and Marina had no slips available for the night. We proceeded to the anchorage around the corner and ran aground in what the charts said to be about 8 - 9 feet of water. NOT !!! We were christened by the shallow waters of the Bahamas. Tom was able to lift the boat enough with an incoming tide to free Escape with no apparent damage. Babette pleaded with the dock master to let us stay at the fuel dock for the night. She had great success and also obtained dockage for as long as we would like to stay.