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September 25, 2000

West End, Grand Bahama Island, Engine Hours = 3037, 4:57a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

We are here, Grand Bahama Island.  Needless to say this is one of my dreams (one of many as Connie would say).  Both Connie and I were thinking about crossing the Gulf Stream during the night so we only got a few hours sleep.  About 4:30am I woke up and ousted Connie.  We were underway at 4:57am.(Connie kept reminding me of the time we left the whole trip).

Starting out in the dark is can be unsettling.  Lake Worth has a nice inlet .  It is about 600 yards wide and 40 feet deep.  So you can't get in much trouble.  After clearing the inlet I set a course of 120 degrees in anticipation the Gulf Stream would carry us north to West End, Grand Bahama.  After my second plot (sailor jargon for knowing where you are and where you should be) I had overcompensated a bit much so I adjusted.  The autopilot steered all the way across.  The old saying "if you have one compass you know which way you are going, if you have two your never sure" is true.  We have three compasses on the bridge and all three showed different headings.  We relied on the GPS's compass and we were dead on West End.

Leaving before the sun rises and with no moon,  your eyes plays trick on you.  Both Connie and I saw a fleet of boats crossing in our path without lights.  They seemed endless.  I slowed down and turned on the radar and no boats were on the screen.  What was happening?  I slowed down some more and sited through the binoculars and saw a flag waving.  It actually looked like a battle ship and small PT boats in front of it.  But like I said no image on the radar.  After a few minutes we sped up to our fast pace of 8 kts ( about 10mph for you landlubbers) and the boats kept the same distance in front of us.  Finely the sun came up and we found we had been duped by a cloud formation complete with a  flag.  We had a good laugh although it was a nervous one.

Seas were about 2 feet starting off and in the middle of the Gulf Stream they seem to reach about 4 feet.  The ride wasn't uncomfortable but you had to hold on when you moved around the boat.

We put out the fishing lines and we had one hit.  We don't know what it was but it cut the wire off at the hooks.  A "Large Squalus" we suspect!  (I'm a JAWS fan). 

During one of  my horizon checks (after we defeated the whole 7^th fleet the autopilot was steering and we were reading) I saw the water tower at West End, I checked the time and it was 10:00 a.m.    In a power boat this would mean about 10 minutes until the entrance to Old Bahama Marina.  But for us it means two more hours, we finely arrived at 12:00pm.

We made our way into the well marked marina and tied up to the western wall not more than 100 feet from the customs office.  Only one other boat was at the wall, what a shock.  I thought this would be a beehive of cruisers checking in.  It actually looked like a ghost town.

Clearing customs was a snap.  We went to the customs office we were instructed to go to the marina office and obtain the necessary forms.  So while we were filling out the forms we told them we wanted a slip for the night.  We couldn't get a slip until we cleared customs.  So back to the customs office.  Except for that, everyone was helpful, customs and immigration only took 10 minutes after the forms were filled out.  We really didn't mind since both offices were air-conditioned and we were both hot.  Our cruising permit is until May 20, 2001 (Connie watch out).  A note for fellow cruisers, do not check in during "Days of Our Lives",  they really get into it.  The island has been introduced to satellite TV.

Everyone was friendly and helpful.  I think checking in on a weekday is the best.

After checking in we went for a dingy ride to explore the reefs.  We walked around Indian Cay and afterward found "Sea Fan Gardens", on the Ocean Side, and went snorkeling.  Nice reef, just as the name implies all different types of Sea Fans and lots of coral and fish in about 10 feet of water. 

We did have one little problem.  How to get back into the dingy?  We tried every way and we were laughing so hard we almost drowned in the process.  Finely, I held on to the outside of the dingy and Connie used me as a ladder.  Then she held the engine and I climbed up that way.

After arriving back to the boat Connie wanted to take a bike ride.  The marina has bikes we used (no charge) so we rode into the settlement.  Not very impressive.  But the people were friendly and waved.  I think it was the guys waving to Connie and I was just along for the ride.

The marina is very nice.  It is only $1.00 per foot for our boat and $5.00 for water.  This is cheaper than Lake Worth.  Like I said before, everyone has been extremely nice.

September 26, 2000

Double Breasted Cay, Engine Hours = 3044, Fuel 54 gallons @ $2.16 per gallon

Took on 54 gallons of at West End. On the trip over I was running 2100 rpm so we used about 8 gallons per hour or a gallon per mile.  It should do better if I cut the rpm back to 1900 - 2000.

I set up a route in the GPS to go from West End to Double Breasted Cays.  The GPS and the autopilot worked fine.  We made it in just under 6 hours.  Now we start a Abaco part of the cruise.

On the way over Connie caught a Barracuda about 3 feet and I caught a Mackerel about 2 feet.  We filleted the Mackerel and had it for dinner.  After listing to Connie about how artificial lures can't catch fish I did put a small mullet I had on the line after we trolled for 4 hours with just a lure.  Then we caught the fish.

After checking the cruising guides where we should anchor I picked the east side of Sand Cay as the guide showed.  Well, we hit bottom and sucked up sand in the engine.  The port engine overheated and I had to shut it down.  It was quite a nerve racking experience hitting bottom.  The current was very strong and carried us more on to the sand bar.  After anchoring I looked below the boat and the rudder is bent.  I'm hoping it will be ok.  If not, we will have it looked at a Man-O-War.

Connie did want me to mention the rainbow after we anchored.  It was spectacular.

Maybe we will move the boat tomorrow maybe not?

September 27, 2000

Double Breasted Cay

Who said cruising was suppose to be relaxing.  They are crazy.  I was up a dozen time during the night checking the anchor.  It was the most current I experienced since  New Hampshire.  You couldn't go swimming without hanging on to the swim latter.  It was like getting into a Jacuzzi, what a night.

I was up before the sun trying to figure out how to get us out of the anchorage without doing any more damage to the boat.   I took the dingy out and found deep water all the way out.  Also, high tide was at 9:15 so that gave us a few more feet of water.  I woke Connie up, although she didn't have a good night sleep either, and we started the trip out.  I am happy to say we made it out fine and anchored at the entrance to the sand cay anchorage,  but this time my starboard engine was overheating.  After investigation, I forgot to open the seacock after I cleaned the sand out of the raw water filter yesterday.  This destroyed the raw water pump impeller.  Luckily, I have spares and it only took about 30 minutes to change.  It seems to be working fine.

Today's activities included snorkeling around the many rock formations and trying to find a Conch to eat.  The snorkeling is great, and what a beautiful sand bar to explore.  Connie found some sand dollars and lots of sea biscuits.  During another snorkeling Connie was stung by some fire coral.  We only found empty conch shells, hundreds of them, but no live conch.

Later on we went fishing and caught something every time the line would hit the water.  Connie caught a Atlantic needlefish and gets the prize for the scariest fish.  This is nothing like the small needlefish around our docks in Sarasota.  It was two feet long and had a upper and lower beak with rows of needle sharp teeth and was snapping at everything that came close.  It looked so scary we just cut the line and let it keep the hook.  We also caught trigger fish and a few grunts.

Snorkeling around the boat I found I could touch bottom.  This concerned me, we only had about two feet under the props and rudders (I had already bent one).   At the same time we observed another boat anchoring on the east side of the Cay.  So we pulled up anchor and went the two miles around and tried to anchor, tried is the operative word.  On the way in we hit ground again, no damage,  Connie was telling me it was getting shallow and I kept on going.  Luckily I was going slow so I backed off.  We tried to anchor pass the other boat but couldn't get the Bruce anchor to hold.  We tried a dozen times but it won't hold in grass.  On one try I hit ground again. In the middle of the channel.  Enough is enough so backtracked the two mile track back to the original anchorage and found eight feet of water two hundred yards further south from the original anchorage.  We placed both anchors out with no trouble.  Maybe someday I'll learn.

Tried my hand at fishing tonight.  The only good bites were about a dozen mosquito bites.  We are deciding to go on to Sale Cay tomorrow or spend another day here.  I'm for spending another day here if we have a good night tonight.

Beans and Franks tonight, no eatable fish caught.

September 28, 2000

Great Sale Cay, Engine Hours = 3049, 10:00 - 12:30

Another rough night on the hook.  I slept, if you could call it that, in the main salon.  During the night Connie joined me on the floor.  The forward bunk in a blow is just down right noisy.

After breakfast we decided to go to Great Sale Cay.  We dodged thunder storms all the way.  Whenever I would see thunder clouds and rain I would speed up or slow down to let it pass.  In one case I backed tracked about a mile. The fifteen mile trip took two and half hours.

One thing I do notice about the guide books some anchorages look large and they are small and vise versa.  Great Sail Cay looked like a nice small anchorage with good protection from the east to south which is the normal for the Bahamas.  But the Anchorage is huge and the wind decided to switch around to the north.  We decided to sleep in the main salon again tonight.  If I can convince Connie to make another trip with me, I need to make a fold out bed for the Main Salon.

We snuggled up to the easterly shore in hopes the wind would change and give us a good night but I don't think it will happen.  Today I found the Bahama's AM radio station, now we can get Bahama's weather instead of NOAA for the east coast of Florida.  Another tropical depression is forming to the south of us.  We will keep an eye on the weather for the next few days here.  Then   head for Allan's-Pensacola Cay, it has a nice hurricane hole if needed.

A bird flew into the boat and took up residence near the microwave.  Connie went over and petted it (I know she misses Oreo) and talked to it for a while.  When it jumped on the umbrella and we let it out the door.  That was strange.

I was able to try out my tarp water catcher. The tarp caught about 3 gallons of water during one downpour, fresh water shower tonight!

I was looking over the side of the boat I noticed 4 or 5 Remoras (shark suckers) just hanging around the boat.  Connie was all excited,  she was looking at something on the bottom about 6 feet long instead of the remoras.  We figured it had to be "Jaws".  I had a rod with bait ready and cast it to Jaws.  To both of our amazement it took the bait and Connie had a fight on her hands.  It jumped out of the water three times and after about ten minutes she landed the largest Barracuda I have ever seen.  It was about four feet and had teeth about a inch long.  After pictures we cut the line and set it free, they are exciting to catch.

Another maintenance problem today.  Yesterday the boat we passed when we tried to anchor told us we had left oil on the water.  Today Connie mention a smell coming from the forward cabin and it smelled like diesel. So down to the engine room I go.  When I filled the tanks at West End diesel overflowed in the bilge.  I used our shop vac (it has been a life saver) to vacuum up the fuel and placed it in a bucked with oil absorbent rags.  Then I cleaned it best I could and pored in some dish detergent and de-greaser.  What a project, now I have to store the oily stuff until we get to a marina.

Steaks, potato, and onions for dinner tonight.  Connie baked brownies and Cookies for desert. This cruising isn't half bad.

September 29, 2000

Great Sale Cay

Decent night sleep.  Connie and I slept in the main salon, her on the settee and me on the floor.  Morning brought another rainy day.  In between the rain showers we took a dingy ride to the remains of the missile tracking station. A few cement foundations was all that was left.  We took a walk along the west beach.  Connie noticed a 4 foot nurse shark in the shallows.  We also  snorkel around some of the coral didn't see much.  It was getting cloudy so we returned to the boat it started to rain just before as we arrived.  We were able to get the hatches shut before the heavy rain started.

Later that afternoon, between the showers, we went snorkeling about 100 yards from the boat on the eastern shore of the anchorage.  We saw a few more fish then all of a sudden Connie was adjusting her mask and went down again, then next thing I hear is SHARK!  She had come face to face with a six foot nurse shark.  It checked out Connie and retreated back to its resting place.  Hopefully, one of the pictures will turn out.

The rain is relentless.  We are going crazy being stuck in the boat.  Connie has finished three books and I'm on my second.  The weather reports in the Bahamas leaves a lot to be desired.  I can pick up the AM radio station 810 and get the weather reports.  I was able to pick up Portsmouth, Virginia on the Single Side Band (SSB). It broadcast the weather for the eastern seaboard about dight times per day.  It is raining again and the wind is blowing about 25mph.  Looks to be another rough night.

I am paranoid about dragging anchor.  I do about four anchor checks per night.  I figured if I turn on the radar I would be able to look at the relationship to everything around.  I'm going to try that tonight since it's raining again.

Today's maintenance projects.  I fixed the helm seat.  On the crossing one of the bolts let loose so I replaced it.  It only took about 20 minutes.  The head motor seized up and popped the circuit breaker.  I dismantled the head and on the aft deck during the rain storms I replaced the impeller.  I didn't have the correct one so I substituted another impeller we had on board.  It seems to be working.

If the weather clears we may go to Hawksbill Cay tomorrow.  Connie is giving me the eye so quit so she can go to bed.

Chicken in mushroom sauce for dinner tonight.

September 30, 2000

Allan's-Pensacola Cay, Engine Hours = 3055

Had another rough night at Great Sale Cay.  The wind was gusting to 30mph and rained all night made the boat uncomfortable for sleeping.  We slept in the main salon again and Connie did get some sleep where I was up for most of it.  Yesterday I decided it was a good idea to leave the radar on and check our position.  Wrong!  I was up most of the night checking.  Two boats arrived after midnight.  On the radar screen one looked to be a 100 foot yacht, and its heading has us in the way.  They dropped anchor a quarter mile away.  In the daylight we noticed this hundred foot yacht was actually a barge and tug.  Shortly after our barge arrived a sailboat anchored.  Didn't they read the book not to travel at night on the bank?

I can't tell you how much it rained.  This boat started to leak in places, because of the mass of water.  The forward hatch, which I fixed before we left, had a leak along with the anchor locker.  In the main salon we noticed a leak that puddled in one of the 12v light fixtures.

After breakfast we decided to try to make it to Hawksbill Cay.  It looked to be a good anchorage on the chart and we needed some peace and quiet for a good night sleep.  Also, Fox town is about a mile away and we could take the dingy into town and explore civilization.

We reached Hawksbill Cay about noon and decided the anchorage was not going to offer the protection from the west wind.  We did get to see the "tire on the post" one of the navigation markers in the Bahamas.  We dropped the lunch hook and after lunch we decided to go another six miles to Allan's-Pensacola Cay.

We arrived about three in the afternoon and set two anchors. The seas were four feet with wind in the 25-30 mph range.  Storm clouds were all along the trip.  I was able to steer around most of the storms.  I did steer most of the trip from Hawksbill below so I could use the radar.  I did stump my toe and boy does it hurt.  I taped it and took aspirin for the pain.  It seems to be doing ok now.

Allan's - Pensacola has a well protected anchorage with tall trees to the east blocking the wind.  The wind reduced speed to a gentle breeze tonight.  Like I said, we put out two anchors, the cruise guide said it was sand/grass over marl (whatever marl is).  The Bruce is our main anchor and a Fortress is the secondary, this should hold in any condition.

We fished tonight and caught a few grunts and twice something big grabbed the line and bit through a twenty pound leader.

We have out a "Shark Line" tonight.  See what happens. (Nothing)

Maintenance Project of the Day.  While steering below I broke the lower helm seat (I must loose some weight).  I am going to put that off until tomorrow but I did check the engines and found the diesel leak on the return line.  I tighten that so hopefully that will be fixed.

Beans and Franks again, a tribute to my fishing ability.

October 1, 2000

Green Turtle Cay, Engine Hours = 3059

Getting ready for bed last night the wind was a nice 10 mph out of the East.  Between the time we decided to go to bed and actually get into bed the wind raised to about 30 mph and shifted to the West.  The anchorage gives no protection from a west wind.  So another rough night at anchor.

This morning we took a short hike to find the signing tree.  All boats visiting Allan's leaves a small memento of their boat on the tree.  What a site, trees are filled with markers, and signs with boat names, and some interesting art work.  We had left everything on the boat so the only thing we left were some memories.

We departed about ten this morning to head for Spanish Cay Marina.  During the trip we changed plans and headed for Green Turtle Cay.  We had a hard time getting the anchor to hold in the grass.  We ended up staying at the Green Turtle Cay Club.  It was only $.85 a foot and if you eat at the Club they will give the slip free.  What a deal, and a good night sleep is worth almost anything.

The boat in the slip next to us is "Maximus" a 38' Great Harbor.  It has a 44,000 btu A/C system, a pilot house and looks like it could go in any weather condition.  Rudy (Captain) and Jack (1^st Mate) are going up and down the Abaco chain and just taking life as it comes.  This was the boat that was anchored at Double Breasted Cay.

The Green Turtle Club is very upscale.  If you decide to eat in the dinning room you must make reservations by 5:30 and place your order at that time.  At 6:30 is complimentary hors-d-oeuvres and dinner is at 7:30.  We both had Conch marinated in coconut milk and rum, delicious.  During dinner the chief actually visits your table to make sure the meal was up to your expectations.

On the way to dinner we noticed a 4' shark beside our boat.  This place has more sharks that Mote Marine.

They are only three boats at the marina.  It is actually scary no boat are around, should we be cruising during this time of year (so far the answer in no).  Jack and Rudy had  been to Marsh Harbour and it was the same way.  We did find out some insurance companies require boats to be in the U.S. during hurricane season.

One of the advantages of staying in a marina is cable tv.  We did watch the Weather Channel and with the exception of Mexico we are out of the tropical storm area for now.

Connie called home for the first time in a week.  I went to get her and she was in tears.  Tiffany had a bad case of hives and didn't have anyone around.  Connie is feeling guilty leaving her.  I gave her the option of flying home.

We are planning on exploring New Plymouth tomorrow by bikes.

Maintenance Project = none, I'm tired and decided not to attempt anything.  I did fix at least one of the fuel leaks on the starboard engine yesterday.

Seems my computer has a virus.  I have to find out how to fix it.

October 2, 2000, Green Turtle Club

Great night sleep! This morning we listen to the Cruisers Net on VHF 68 for the first time.  They relayed Tiffany's email to us telling about her hives.  Green Turtle is on the northern fringe of the Net.  This is why we hadn't been able to pick it up before today.  The Cruisers net is great, every morning at 8:15 they give the weather and announcements, which may include overdue vessels to which restaurant  is having a barbeque.

Tried to send e-mail to this morning and the phone service was down on the entire island.  Will try again later.

Rented bikes today from Brendal's Dive Center.  The bikes looks likes they been wash in salt water for the last 10 years.  Connie's only had half of a rear brake and no front.  Mine did have front and rear brake but the rear tire made Connie sea sick watching it wobble (she was in the rear).

Town of New Plymouth is about three miles from the Green Turtle Club over a fairly rough and narrow road.  It seem most people have golf carts, we only meet two or three gas powered vehicles on the road, the rest were carts.

New Plymouth is a small laid back town.  We visited  the Albert Lowe Museum.  It was a small house with a bunch of pictures on the wall and some history of the island.  The real treat was the lady who ran the place.  She told us about Hurricane Floyd, the great hurricane of 1923 and her sister who lived in Hope Town who called the telephone company in Marsh Harbor today and reported the island of Green Turtle was without phone service.  The history of the museum was secondary.  It was fun.

We also visited Sid's Grocery Store and picked up a couple of potatoes for dinner tonight.  Meet Sid and talked for a while, apparently September and October is the slowest months for the islands.  This with the scare of hurricanes after last year having two hurricanes in a row had turned the islands into a ghost towns.  Not to play favorites we visited Curry's Food Store for a Diet Pepsi.  The Grocery Stores reminds me of the Country Stores in New Hampshire.  The cost was lower than expected.  Some costs are double U.S. prices, but Diet Pepsi is only $1.00 per can, that's 7-11 price.

The Wrecking Tree Restaurant was recommended by Pam (West Marine lecturer) and the books.  Well, the restaurant was looked more of a take out place than a restaurant, and a large Bahamian woman was sitting on the porch talking to anyone and everyone.  We ordered the Conch fritters and they were GREAT!  Not only was the fritters great, the eating porch looked over Black Sound.

We have noticed everyone is exceptionally friendly.  At he Wrecking Tree the table next to us just started talking to us.  Really a nice experience.

The weather is still not cooperating.  We decided to stay another night at GTC and see what tomorrow will bring.

Maintenance Project - I found a impeller for the head at Robert's marine, my last repair isn't working well.  I will take the dingy over tomorrow and pick it up.

Tonight we are having steak on the back of the boat.  The least expensive item on the tonight's GTC menu $28.00.

October 3, 2000

Green Turtle Cay

More rain this morning.  We had the bikes until 11:00 am we decided to explore the northern tip of the island (in the rain). The normally calm waters inside the reef had four foot seas at Ocean Beach, Coco Bay had a good chop also. With no brakes on the bikes and rain this made for an adventure. 

"Ship Happens" (only other boat at the marina now) left this morning to continue south. Whale Cut is suppose to be dangerous in this weather condition.  Books along with the Cruisers Net stress not to cross in a "rage" sea.   About 11:00 am we noticed "Ship Happens" was returning to the GTC.  After viewing the Cut he made the right decision and return.

We have explored most of the island by bike and dinghy.  We did dinghy over to New Plymouth and had lunch at the Wrecking Tree again.  I had the Conch Fritters again, but Connie had the Conch Salad both were great.  We picked up a t-shirt to Tiffany (her token gift) and had a Klondike Bar from the grocery store.

For dinner we used the VHF to call McIntosh Restaurant in town to pick us up for dinner.  A small van picked us up and delivered us to the restaurant.  Come to find out it was the husband of the owner and the cook.  The specials (and the only items) were chicken, pork chops, fish or conch.  We chose the chicken, it was so-so, not great.  Then the bill came it was $30.00 for two chicken dinners with rice and coleslaw.  I do think it was over priced, where is Sonny's when you need them.

Connie is just fascinated with the Nurse sharks hanging around the boat.  Tonight we had two of them.  Connie was going to serve them our bacon, we ended up feeding them some of our frozen bait.  I think tomorrow morning she is going to fix them bacon and eggs.

Maintenance Projects = After talking to George at Robert's Marine I took the head apart again, cleaned and made new gaskets to made the pump air tight.  This seem to do the trick.  George was extremely helpful.  I did buy the impeller he had for a spare.

Second project was putting 5200 sealant around the Anchor Windless to stop the leak from the rain.  It leaked again last night.  I tighten the bolts to slow the leak but it did need sealing.

October 4, 2000

Manjack Cay, Engine hours = 3060

We awoke this morning to rain.  If we wait for better weather this vacation will all be spent at Green Turtle.  We decided to leave for Manjack Cay, it is two miles to the north of Green Turtle and has a delightful anchorage (if the wind doesn't shift around to the southwest through north).

Manjack and Crab Cay are joined by a sandbar at low tide.  Manjack has winding mangroves creeks we explored during the lulls in the rain.  Crab Cay  has two wreck barges near shore, one is said to have Moray Eels housed.  We will snorkel tomorrow weather permitting.

During our dinghy exploration we surprised a large spotted eagle ray.  Its wing span was about four feet across. The ocean side has a reef just off the beach, tomorrow if the weather settles we are going lobstering.

Before we left Brendel, of Brendel's Dive Shop, stopped by the boat and asked us out for drinks with his wife and a few other people.  Since we were taking off we had to decline.  He did talk for about thirty minutes and gave us a few pointers about Manjack.

We did tried fishing tonight.  This is the first anchorage we didn't catch a fish.  We did dingy over to the wrecks and caught a few grunts for bait tomorrow.

Two anchors are set for tonight and they should hold well.  I did take a nap this afternoon in anticipation of doing anchor checks tonight.

October 5, 2000

Green Turtle Cay (Again), Engine Hours = 3062

The wind shifted again to the west.  We made the best out of it and slept in the main salon again. Morning brought choppy seas and 25 mph winds.  Making the best of the situation we took a dinghy ride into the east cove.  Since this is protected the waters are calm and we landed and walked along the beach.  Manjack offers great exploration, from mangrove creeks, shallow bays, reefs, and dozen of beaches.  In the cove we spotted dozens of bonefish tailing.

The weather was deteriorating so we decided to navigate the Whale Cut and anchor for the night Great Guana Cay.  This will give us  protection from the west and a good night sleep.  We pulled up anchor and headed directly into thunder storms, we backtracked a little and pulled into Green Turtle again.

What a difference between the outside and a protected cove.  Outside we were taking water up to the flying bridge where inside their barely a ripple.  At least we have cable tv tonight.

Connie convinced me to stop so maintenance work (didn't take a lot of convincing) and walk to Coco Bay and go snorkeling.  We saw a small ray and some fish.  A jelly fish stung Connie so back to the meat tenderizer.

One thing nice about a marina (besides cable tv) is you are able to take a shower and use all the water you want.  I even shaved to Connie's satisfaction.  It had been a few days.

Maintenance Project = resealed the forward hatch.

Canned Ham for dinner (Yuck!)  I take the blame for getting this awful stuff.