Breeze On

After approximately 30 hours of sailing and motoring we arrived back in the US. The marina where we are staying in Fort Pierce, Safe Harbor Harbortown, is quite shallow and we were advised to arrive at high tide, which was 4:45 pm this afternoon. Although we didn’t need to leave until early afternoon yesterday we were ready in the morning so we decided to go. There is a cruise line’s private island very close to Great Harbour Cay and we saw numerous cruise ships all day and night as we traveled in the Bahamas. It is hard to believe there are enough people cruising to even partially fill all of those ships. We had some relatively nice sailing and at one point during my watch last night it and then it became so brisk I thought we should put a reef in the mainsail. Shortly after George started his watch at midnight the wind moved behind us and became light. George wasn’t able to keep to sail from collapsing and the boom from banging—in spite of trying everything he could think of—so I got...

We are all cleared out of the country and ready to begin sailing to Ft. Pierce, FL tomorrow morning. This year, for the first time since we started coming here in 2016, the Bahamas is requiring that boaters clear out before they leave the country. We have been confused by the process and I was worried that we would have problems with Immigration since we have never received official word that our permission to stay has been extended beyond the 60 days we received when we arrived in November. I needn’t have worried. George was able to clear out over the telephone in less than 10 minutes and wouldn’t have had to turn in our immigration cards if he hadn’t asked about that. We chose Great Harbour Cay as the port where we would clear out because people have said it is so easy to clear in here. We weren’t able to get a slip at the marina so we anchored a short distance away. The anchorage is blissfully calm, something we appreciate after three days of rolly anchorages. George had already com...

One of the more stressful parts of cruising is making sailing plans in the midst of weather uncertainty. We have a slip reservation in Ft. Pierce, FL for the month of March and knew we wanted to cross over from the Bahamas around that time. We couldn’t determine just which day, though, because the forecast was so uncertain. The forecast has firmed up enough that we now have a weather window to cross over from Great Harbour Cay in three days. While we were mulling over different possibilities we just kept sailing north toward Great Harbour. Yesterday we had a brisk sail from Highbourne Cay to New Providence Island (the island on which Nassau is located.) We had thought we would stay another night at Highbourne but the cell service was so weak—in spite of being anchored so close to the cell tower—that we would frequently lose service altogether. The service was necessary for us to check weather forecasts so we sailed to West Bay, New Providence Island. We anchored here once before during...

Yesterday morning we motored from Black Point to an anchorage known as the Decca Station, a short distance north of Staniel Cay. On the way we made a brief stop at Staniel Cay for fuel. After purchasing three jerry cans of fuel we returned to Breeze On and began to raise the dinghy. The shackle holding the cleat for the line we use to raise and lower the dinghy gave way and it took a few minutes for George to replace the shackle so we could raise the dinghy and continue on our way. Although we weren’t quite into the Exuma Land and Sea Park—where they have no cell towers—we were apparently far enough away from any cell towers to lack adequate service. The only way we were able to get any service at all was to put the MyIsland WiFi device in a bag, attach it to a halyard, and raise it up the mast. We decided to leave the Decca Station anchorage this morning and continue north to Highbourne Cay where there is a cellphone tower. We are starting to plan for our crossing to FL and we wan...

After two long days of sailing from Long Island we arrived in Black Point this afternoon. As often happens, we did some sailing, some motor sailing, and some motoring. Today we flew the gennaker, which at times had us screaming along at 7-8 knots. After we arrived at Black Point, George dropped me at Rockside Laundry while he went back to Breeze On to run the water maker. It was my first time off of Breeze On in four days.  A brief, light squall just after sunrise yesterday morning.  George took this photo of the gennaker from the v-berth hatch. It shows the shadow of the mainsail. 

We made a quick trip to shore yesterday morning to dump our trash and go the store for fresh vegetables. We were back on Breeze On by 8:30 am. A cold front had arrived and we wanted to get ahead of the strong winds that were forecast. We have been on the boat ever since and will most likely stay on board until we arrive in Black Point on Friday. Before the wind became too strong we polished some of the stainless steel in the cockpit and on the deck. Today the wind is in the upper 20’s and it is too strong to be on the deck so we cleaned the cabin.  The winds are forecast to drop slightly on Thursday so we plan to leave here and sail the more protected “back side” or “sou’ side” of Great Exuma Island to Black Point.  White caps in the harbor and boats swinging every which way in the wind. At least we are all spread out. These are just a few of the 30 boats in the harbor. 

We raised the anchor just before sunrise yesterday morning and started sailing north. After a delightful day of sailing we anchored at Water Cay for the night. The anchorage was somewhat rolly—as always—but not too bad. This morning we raised the anchor again just before sunrise and had a wild day of sailing to Thompson Bay, Long Island. We started out with a reefed mainsail. We changed sails multiple times—jib, no jib, reefed mainsail, no reef in the mainsail, and various combinations—before arriving at Thompson Bay and anchoring amidst 25 other boats. We had hoped to go to Tiny’s for dinner but the harbor is too choppy for a dinghy ride. We hope to be able to go to shore tomorrow morning before a strong north wind arrives.  Before we left Hog Cay in the Ragged Islands I went on a long hike with other cruisers.  After we finished the hike a US Coast Guard helicopter circled low over Hog Cay and Ragged Island several times. (The Coast Guard provides coverage for the Bahamas.) ...

We have fallen into a pattern of snorkeling, hiking, and meeting other cruisers at the tiki hut in the evening. Today I was so excited to spot an octopus while snorkeling. I am always on the lookout for them but wasn’t sure I had seen this one until I saw it’s head and eyes. The head isn’t visible in the photo but one of its arms can be seen.  In addition to all of the fun activities George has spent some time cleaning the bottom of the boat while wearing his snorkel gear. It is harder than it sounds, especially if there is a bit of chop in the water.  Conch Scrawled cowfish.  These two photos were taken two days ago. The two photos shown below were taken today. The fish became lighter and lighter as it swam over the sand.  Sharpnose puffer.  Blue tangs and bluestriped grunts.  Sea urchin.  Octopus. You can just see part of the arm in the center of the photo.  Goby.  Coral.  Brain coral with Christmas tree tube worms.  Beautiful bea...

We decided yesterday that it was worth the long trip to come to the Raggeds again. There is always something to do, the beach and hiking trails are accessible by dinghy even in strong winds, and the other cruisers are nice.  Yesterday we went for a walk on the beach after finishing a few boat chores. One of the chores was to investigate the cause of the intermittent knocking noise we heard on our trip here. We thought it might be coming from the steering system. George took up the floor and partially dismantled the port side steering column and everything looked to be in order. While we were under way on Saturday he went into the cabin to see if anything could be knocking on the walls of the cabin to create the noise. He didn’t find anything and it remains a mystery. He did tighten up the steering cables a tiny bit and we are hoping that takes care of the noise. In the late afternoon we went to the happy hour gathering—also called sundowner—and were joined by eight others and a lar...

We left Thompson Bay, Long Island yesterday morning to begin our 100 mile sail to the Ragged Islands. We stayed in the Raggeds for a week in December and thought it might be nice to return. Earlier today we were questioning the wisdom of our decision. We sailed 45 miles yesterday and anchored at Water Cay in the Jumento Cays. It is alway rolly in the Jumentos and it was rolly last night. It wasn’t so bad that is kept us awake and we are grateful for that. We left Water Cay before sunrise this morning and followed an old track—to avoid hitting any coral heads—out of the anchorage. The wind was under 10 knots most of the day so we motor sailed most of the 55 miles to Hog Cay. There were just five boats here when we were here in December. We expected there would be many more here this time but there are just nine boats in our anchorage at Hog Cay and five more in an anchorage just north of here. We also passed about a dozen other boats scattered among other islands on our way here.  W...

It has been windy and choppy here so we have not been making many trips to shore. Yesterday we decided to venture in to dump trash and eat at Sou’ Side. Just as we were getting ready to take off in the dinghy a large wave came from behind and splashed both of us. Then, as we were 3/4 of the way to shore, George noticed we had forgotten to bring the dry bag containing our money. Rather than return to Breeze On and risk getting splashed again we went to shore, dumped our trash, and went for a walk, then returned to Breeze On for dinner. As we were eating dinner we were entertained by a windsurfer from a neighboring boat zipping back and forth. He was going fast! Since we have been spending so much on board we dug out the rest of the insulation material and put some between the oven and the fridge. While baking cookies the other day I noticed the temperature in the fridge had gone up by about 10 degrees and the frost had started to melt. Our oven is so poorly insulated I can burn my hand ...

Yesterday we took a walk over to the east side of the island and walked along the beach. It is a beautiful beach, if you ignore all of the trash that washes up on the sand. Part of me wants to clean the beach up, but the other part of me realizes I wouldn’t accomplish much and it would be difficult to lug even a single bag of trash over the trail leading to the beach. I saw the remains of a raft and wondered if someone put it together for fun or did it have anything to do with refugees who come to the Bahamas from other struggling countries. Today we dinghied over to the cove cruisers often use to tie up their dinghies then walked south about a mile to the Hillside Food Supply store. We would have been closer to the store has we tied up to Basil’s dock but this way we were able to get some exercise. We passed by the St. Joseph Anglican Episcopal Church which has the most gorgeous view of the harbor.  Beach on the Atlantic side of Long Island.  Remains of a raft.  Hillside...