Breeze On

Brunswick is a relatively busy port but we have never seen it as busy as it was when we arrived in the dark on Tuesday night. We encountered three dredging ships along with various other ships as we made our way up the channel. Finally, at 1 am, we dropped the anchor in a shallow area at a wide spot in the river and went to bed. The next morning we raised the anchor and traveled the rest of the way to Brunswick Landing Marina. Unfortunately, the S wind made our arrival quite challenging. The S wind comes all the way up the river.   Last year—when we had similar conditions—I put a long scratch in the side of the boat when I was either pulling into or leaving the fuel dock. This time I was really dreading docking at the fuel dock and our slip. All went well at the fuel dock—no scratches. I thought all was going well as I was pulling into our slip, but the wind pushed me too far over and I had to abort. I was trying to maneuver back into position to enter the slip but ended up in...

We left Grand Bahama Yacht Club yesterday morning about 30 minutes before sunrise.  One boat left ahead of us and several other boats were behind us, although we were the only boat traveling N. We motored and motor sailed for the first 27 hours of the trip then—when the wind filled in—turned the engine off to sail in the Gulf Stream, usually moving at 10 knots.  After hearing Chris Parker’s forecast for the Charleston area covering today and tomorrow, we decided to go to Brunswick, GA instead of Charleston. Neither one of us was in the mood winds up to 30 knots and seven foot seas.  The highlight of our trip was watching a pod of dolphins interact with us for quite a while today. The seas were too rough to go on deck to take photos so we weren’t able to catch most of their jumps. We were both delighted to see a group of three jump just ahead of our bow.  We expect to enter the channel at Brunswick around 11 pm this evening, then stop at an anchorage a few hours later...

When we last visited Charleston by boat in the fall of 2017 we swore that were would never bring the boat back to Charleston. The strong current (although we did time our arrival and departure to coincide with slack tide) and inconvenience of the only marina available to us made it just not worth it. Well…here we are six and a half years later planning a return trip to Charleston. We have a weather window of two and a half days and—if we travel in the Gulf Steam—Charleston is the appropriate distance from here to fit that window. We plan to leave Lucaya early tomorrow morning and arrive at the Charleston City Marina at slack tide—5 pm—on Wednesday. Of course, if we don’t travel the speed we expect, or don’t want to travel in the Gulf Stream due to poor conditions, we have a Plan B as well as a Plan C. Below is our route.  We have spent the past two days relaxing and preparing for the next leg of our trip home. George plotted our route to maximize the boost from the Gulf Stream and ...

Hoo boy! What a day we have had already. After raising the anchor at 3 pm yesterday afternoon and pointing the boat toward Lucaya, we arrived just after 7 am this morning. We first stopped at the fuel dock at Grand Bahama Yacht Club then motored the short distance up the creek to Scarboro Dock where we had a reservation. Some people we met last fall had highly recommended Scarboro Dock. We expected to be placed on the 180’ long dock—but since there were already three other boats on that dock—we were motioned into a 20’ long, 25’ wide slip. Because the dinghy was on the back we had to go bow in first. There was absolutely no way we could make the boat secure in that short slip. We can make a short slip work at home because we have TideSlides in a very narrow slip, enabling us to tie the boat up tight. Also, we take the dinghy off and back into the slip at home. In this slip we were twisting and turning, nearly hitting the boat next to us. And the strong wind we are expecting hasn’t even...

This morning we dropped our mooring lines and left the Spanish Wells harbor to sail seven miles west to Royal Island. We opted to drop our anchor at the west end of the Royal Island rather than the  inner harbor  we visited last fall.  Since we don’t plan to leave this area until tomorrow afternoon, our motivation to leave Spanish Wells was mostly a desire for different scenery. We did appreciate the ease of going ashore while we were on the mooring ball. Yesterday we walked across the island to the beach on the N side. Since it was low tide the sandbar extended for quite a long distance. If you zoom way in you can see kite boarders in the distance.  We enjoyed looking at the colorfully painted buildings in town.  Today’s walk took us past the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven where we saw a sailboat crammed in next to a large motor yacht. The only time I would appreciate being next to a boat that big was if we needed it as a windbreak.  When we leave here tomorrow...

The small mooring field in Spanish Wells is such a well protected area that there is sometimes not enough wind to keep all of the boats pointed in the same direction. We were stern-to-stern with our neighbor several times yesterday. When George went up into the cockpit in the morning yesterday he saw that our dinghy was up against our neighbors Startink. Later in the day our boats came close to touching before they moved apart again.  We were actually wishing for more wind, which is something that rarely happens when we aren’t sailing. The tall trees that are very close to us tend to keep the wind down.  It was much windier in other less protected areas. A front came through last night and we now have sufficient wind to keep all of the boats pointed in the same direction. 

The last two days have been quite busy on Breeze On. Yesterday morning we raised the anchor at Man Island and motored three miles S to an anchorage adjacent to Dunmore Town on Harbour Island. We dinghied ashore and to wash two loads of laundry at Super Carl’s Laundromat. The place isn’t fancy but it is certainly efficient. In the afternoon we went ashore again to eat lunch at Briland Wave. Our first choice had been Angela’s Starfish Restaurant but that place appeared to be closed. The food at Briland Wave was quite good, but two wraps—with small salads and chips—cost almost $70, and that was without the beverages. Yikes. After lunch we went next door to the Pigly Wigly and scored a lot of produce! I was quite excited about that.  Once we returned to Breeze On we raised the anchor again and motored 2 1/2 miles further S to the Cistern Bay anchorage. Shortly after we dropped the anchor a ship with a cargo of large trees came by. I wonder where it was headed.  Although we like th...

We left our mooring ball yesterday morning and motored the seven miles through the Devil’s Backbone to Harbour Island. The three-foot seas from the N made for a bumpy ride but all was going well until we got to the most narrow part of the passage. George told me there were two boats approaching from behind. Since I was focused on my driving I didn’t look behind and I just stayed on course, thinking I had the right of way. The large motor yachts behind us slowed down and we carried on. Just after we passed through the narrow part someone hailed us on the radio. George answered and thought he heard the person on the first boat, Timber, say that if we had been in Fort Lauderdale we would have been fined for cutting in front of a boat being driven in a channel by a pilot.* Yes, there was a pilot on board Timber (the pilot’s boat was being towed), but I had already been in the channel since we left Spanish Wells three and a half miles back. I didn’t cut in front of anyone. Since they were t...

The winds were forecast to continue shifting—from the SE to the S to the SW to the W to the NW. While we had a very comfortable night at The Bluff Settlement anchorage, we knew it would become uncomfortable as the wind shifted. We had intended to go back to Meek’s Patch—this time on the W side—but then George had the brilliant idea that we should pick up a mooring ball in the protected Spanish Wells harbor. I immediately liked the idea. We would be comfortable from every wind direction and, best of all, we could easily get off of the boat.  Once we had picked up our mooring ball we went to shore to pay for two nights and buy 5 gallons of fuel at Pinder’s Supermarket. Later we went to shore again for lunch at the Shipyard.  View from our table at The Shipyard.  Early this morning we could hear what sounded like a boat using either its engines or bow thrusters to turn. We looked out and saw it was the Grand Master II turning around adjacent to the mooring field. From our pe...

We raised the anchor yesterday morning and set sail for Meek’s Patch. Since we had to transit Current Cut we timed our departure in order to arrive at the cut not too long before or after slack low tide. We had plans to have a leisurely downwind sail but the winds were lighter than expected. We raised the gennaker and sailed gybing angles until we were about 17 miles from the cut.  Then we motor-sailed with just the main until we arrived at the cut. Slack tide was apparently later than we calculated—we had 4 1/2 knots of current with us—but no problems going through. We anchored on the W side of Meek’s Patch—1 3/4 miles outside of Spanish Wells—and watched a beautiful green flash as the sun set.  This morning the waves from the S made for a rather bumpy anchorage so we opted to try out Settlement Bluff, a new-to-us anchorage just over two miles away. It is next to the mainland of Eleuthera with shallow water to the S, which we were hoping would reduce the waves in the anchorag...

Yesterday was our first day off of the boat in three days and we so appreciated being able to stretch our legs again. The day started day with our taking the dinghy to shore so that we could walk to the grocery store. Two men were making repairs to Wild Orchids’ dock when we arrived. They told us that the storm waves had been so big a few boards had been knocked loose.  We believe it—the waves were big on the W side of the harbor and I am sure they only got bigger as they crossed to the E side. By the time we returned from the store the men were done with the repairs.  George walking back from the store with our food loaded in the backpack.  Later in the day we returned to Wild Orchids’ for a late lunch. We always enjoy the food there.  This morning we raised the anchor and joined a large parade of boats leaving Rock Sound. Most of the boats seemed to be heading S but we turned N, heading to Pau Pau Bay. We had a sporty upwind sail and dropped the anchor just before ...

…more rain and more wind. We have been on the boat for two days waiting for the rain and wind to finally subside. Not only have we been confined to the boat but—because it is rather chilly (by our standards!)—we have been inside the cabin with the companionway closed. We have kept ourselves busy by cleaning the cabin, doing a few other small chores, watching a movie, and reading.  Once the wind dropped below 20 knots late this afternoon we moved over to the other side of the harbor near town. We are looking forward to getting off of the boat tomorrow.  The anchorage last evening when the wind was blowing 30 knots. The view from the cockpit.  I left my kefir fermenting overnight in the cockpit where it was cooler than the cabin.  It is nice to see the sun again. Looking W across the harbor after we moved to the E side.  Looking E at sunset. 

A squall rolled in shortly after I published yesterday’s blog post. We were quite happy that we arrived early and were settled by then. The boat next to us spent an hour in driving rain trying to get their anchor set. I am not sure why they had a problem—since anchoring in Rock Sound is not usually a problem. Just after the sun set last evening a line of strong storms hit. The wind shifted suddenly from SE to W—blowing at close to 40 knots. With the wind on the beam, Breeze On was heeling over.  I took a quick photo before turning the engine on to help get the boat turned into the wind. By the time the engine came on the boat had turned itself. We had rain, wind, and lightning around us for a few hours before the storms finally passed.  This morning was quite calm before the next strong winds hit this afternoon. We took advantage of the calm conditions to dinghy a mile across the harbor (twice) to get fuel and had the added bonus of being able to get off of the boat. We expect...

Yesterday in New Bight we did a load of laundry at the fantastic Gilly’s Laundry Depot. It had been just a week since we did laundry at Emerald Bay but I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to do laundry at the nicest laundromat in the Bahamas. We were the only customers there and were walking back to the dinghy after just one hour. In the afternoon we went to shore again for tropical conch salad at Duke’s Conch Stand. Duke told us there would be a Junkanoo—street parade with elaborate costumes, music and dance—that evening. Part of me really wanted to attend this Bahamian cultural festival, but we were planning to get up at 2 am to leave for Rock Sound, Eleuthera so we did not go. We would have loved to have stayed longer at Cat Island but consider ourselves lucky to have made it here at all, considering the challenging wind directions this year.  It turned out that we woke up at 12:30 am so we were on our way by 1 am. Our goal was to beat the worst of the storms that are accom...