Sailing, sailing . . . . .

Our last post was from Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, where we waited for a couple of days until the weather was right to go across the 53 miles across the Atlantic to a waypoint, Memory Rock, before sailing another 20 miles to our anchorage at Great Sale Cay.   (Cay is the term for an island here.)

Below is a cruise ship that we saw leaving and entering the harbor, maybe the same one, while were at Lake Worth.

It was early morning when we left, just at sunrise.

As we crossed the ocean, the water got as deep as 2,500 feet and became a deep navy blue.

When we came upon the Bahama Banks, the water was turquoise, but varied by what was underneath.  The darker water below is probably strips of grassy areas.

It took 8 1/2 hours to sail  and motor to our anchorage, faster than we expected.  Barry had headed us south of our course at the beginning of the trip so that when we headed north again, we would be carried by the gulf stream that is typically about 14 miles offshore at Palm Beach.   And that worked great.

When we entered the Bahamas, Barry put up the yellow quarantine flag.  We were not allowed to set foot on land until checking in at Bahamas customs and had up to three days by law to do that.

The sails on Imagine are huge and they took as as fast as 8.8 knots at one time.

At Lake Worth, we had talked by radio with Ron, who with his wife Gayle, had left Ladys Island a little ahead of us and who were also waiting for a good weather window to cross to the Bahamas.   We headed out the same time and stayed near each other at anchorages.  The wind was high and coming from the wrong direction to make a pleasant arrival at Green Turtle Cay where we planned to clear customs.  So the one night out, we anchored in a bay on Crab Cay, just a few miles from Green Turtle.  The next day was calm.  Ron and Gayle took a dock at Green Turtle Cay and we anchored out there.  Both boats checked in through customs there.

From Green Turtle Cay, we sailed over to  Manjack Cay and anchored.    The next day, we dinghyed in to the beach om the inland side there and took a path through the mangroves over to the other side where there is the beach on the Atlantic.

That afternoon and the next day it was windy and rainy.    Tom and I stayed inside reading, while Barry worked on books he is writing.

We saw on weather that a storm system was coming and would be here a few day so Thursday afternoon we put out the foresail and came back the few miles to a  protected mooring at Green Turtle Cay.  This is Friday and it's raining gently so we are all settled in.  I'm reading while Tom is working at the computer and Barry is working at his book. 

This harbor is surrounded by colorful Bahamian houses and a couple of marinas.    I have been trying to draw a couple of hours each as prescribed by Tan, a new friend.  Below is a picture of one of my subjects.

It may be a few days before this front breaks up or passes through.   When it does, we plan to go south, stopping at  couple of islands before coming to Marsh Harbor, where Tom and I will catch a plane back over to the states.   By then, we will have a great sampling of what the northern Bahamas have to offer, beachs, a couple of small towns and some great areas for sailing.

Set to go across

So the day came when we actually did leave Ladys Island Marina - on Sunday about 12 noon.  A few people came to see us off, partly because it was a big deal that Barry was leaving.  Anyone who'd been there a while had watched him diligently preparing his boat for this day and it finally came.

That's Becky, Ernie and Mark waiting patiently for us to go.

As we left, marina manager, Steve, and Captain Mike came back from a jaunt out to help another boat.

We finally got to go through Lady's Island bridge that we had walked across several times.

We arrived at the second bridge out about an hour later, just when the tide had gone out enough to let us under and to whoosh us through toward Port Royal inlet.   By sunset that night, we were out in the Atlantic and motoring south.

That first night, it was in the thirties.  I put three layers on top and bottom and wrapped a little quilt around my feet.  We each kept watch for several hours at a time.  Tom and I would take turns going down to our cabin to sleep.  Barry stayed topside.  When it wasn't his watch, he'd sleep in a quilted bedroll he'd made.

We followed that pattern for the three nights we were out.   Each night was less cool untll the last night was not cold at all.   We stayed out for 70 hours, using the foresail some to augment our speed and steady the ride.  

We are learning more facts about the boat.  It's a Catalina Morgan 504, built in 2002.  It is number 21 of those built and possibly the last one.  Its beam  is 15 feet so it is spacious.

Below is Barry's stateroom.

This is the galley

This is the salon.

This is our cabin and head (bath).

Tom and Barry look chipper at the beginning of our trip.

Fun to sit under the foresail, when it's out.

I'm supposed be out here, practicing drawing.  But there are distractions.

                

Finally, on Wednesday morning, we arrived at West Palm Beach, a good place to take off from when going to the Bahamas.        We spent Wednesday resting and Thursday shopping and walking around Peanut Island, a park located just inside the inlet to the ocean.                                                                                         

Now we're watching for a good time to go across to the Bahamas.  It looks like that might be Saturday when the winds will be from the south southeast and relatively slow at 8-10 mph.

Although it's only 50+ miles across, the wind and current will slow us.   We won't be setting anchor until about a day and half of sailing.

Once we leave, we won't have internet again for several days.   We will be checking into the Bahamas within the first three days of being there and should be able to buy internet/phone services then.   

Wish us good luck . . .

Once more, with feeling

We're still here and this is where - the Ladys Island Marina.   I took this when there was a very high tide so the boats would be up along the wall instead of sunk so we couldn't see them.

We're still finding fun things to do here in Beaufort.  Finally got to Blackstone's, two stories full of Sunday morning breakfasters.

We had ridden our bikes over.  After breakfast, we rode to find the rail-to-trail bike/walking trail between Beaufort and Port Royal.   The trail goes along the marshland and on out to the Beaufort River.   We stopped several times to admire the birds.  We came back to Beaufort over a different bridge, making this a good tour of the area, all by bicycle.

This Sunday, we were working on the boat when our next door neighbors decided to take their boat out to the sound and invited us, our other neighbors and Barry our new captain along for the ride.

Their boat is a 46 foot Jefferson.  It's their home and it is beautiful, complete with parquet floors, leather  recliners, a sitting tub and for us part-timers, the truest luxuries - a full big refrigerator  and kitchen-sized sink.

Captain Mark is a boat broker and Admiral Becky is a retired educator.  They sold their  home in Savannah last summer.  They decided in one day of visiting this marina that they wanted to live here and the next day they reserved the space for a year.

Above on the left is Zoe, one of our other neighbors of the Brad and Zoe duo (with sub duo dog and cat) just headed out from Maryland to the south.  Then Admiral Becky, then Tom, then Barry, who will be our captain on his boat while we travel south and over to the Bahamas.  Zoe's husband Brad is on the right in the picture below.

Mark took a picture of Tom and me when we went up to the bow to check out how it felt to be there.  It felt great!  The big wake swooshed up from the sides and it was warm and we were with lovely people.

Then on Monday, another fun time.  Pete and Tan Gillespie came to visit.   They are spending four months of winter touring the east coast and are now in Savannah for a month.  We met them in Folly Beach while they were visiting Charleston.   Between these two visits they've been to Crystal River, Fort Myers and Marathon Key in Florida among other places.   They are finishing their oddesy by flying out to Tortola and house-sitting for friends of theirs.  While there, they'll be sailing the owner's catamaran.  They spent several years co-owning a sailboat down in the Virgin Islands and enjoy hanging with sailors when they come upon them.

Now, for the "piece d'resistance."  Below is a picture of the boat we'll be sailing on when the weather is right.  It's Barry's boat, a 2002 50-foot Catalina, Imagine, that he's been outfitting for two years to live on and take him anywhere he wants to go.  He's originally from Australia and his brother is a boat-builder there.  He is retired from 30 years as a professor of architecture at the University of Cincinnati.  Some time after his shake-down cruise to the Bahamas and back, he plans to head off down south again and keep going.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Jim, our boat mechanic, worked several hours to install the transmission.   He plans to finish today.   Barry has just told us that Friday will be a good day to leave, so that tomorrow we will be gathering last minute supplies and moving onto his boat.  He plans to leave in late morning so that we will be at the 2nd bridge, a 65 foot tall one, when the tide is low.  His boat's mast is 65 feet, so we will just fit under then.   Then he plans to anchor out near the entrance to Port Royal sound so that we can go out to the ocean on Saturday.

Weather predictions for the winds and waves are not too high for the next several days, during which time we hope to go straight south, hardly coming in to land.   He predicts we may all be seasick, so we are taking dramamine before departure, must to be sure.

The plan still is to go to West Palm Beach, pick up more supplies, then head over to the Abacos in the Bahamas.   Then Tom and I will stay with him awhile, waiting to see when seems to be a good time to fly back to the states.   More a different time . . . . .

None of the above

Okay, now we know what we plan to do next.  And it's to not take our boat anywhere, but to go aboard another man's boat and crew with him to the Bahamas.

How did this happen?

There's a man here who has for two years been converting his 50 foot Catalina into his home as a cruising boat.  He's finally finished and has been waiting for a weather window to leave on a four-month or so trip to the Bahamas and back.   We knew he knew his stuff and visited with him on his boat about "going outside" (in the ocean, rather than the waterway) to see if that's something we might want to do ourselves.    And we learned a lot, spending much of the afternoon on his boat, then all three of us coming back to our boat to look at an electric problem and eventually have dinner.   We said "Goodnight" and that was that.

When Tom and I talked the next day re what to do next, we decided that we would like to get off our boat and leave it here a while, then come back and go north in the spring.   To fill that time we talked of taking a cruise from Charleston to the islands or flying down to Belize and hanging there a couple of weeks.   Then we came to the idea of offering to go along with Barry (the boat owner) - he's been looking for companions/crew and so far not come upon the right ones.   He's smart, charming and kind and a very good sailor.  

Today when Tom talked with him re the possibility of us going with him, he immediately said "You're on."    So the next week we'll plan and shop and organize and maybe next weekend, when the weather is right, we'll all take off south.   We three agree that we'll stick together 'til any of us want to do something else.  Tom and I think there may be a time when we get dropped off in the Bahamas somewhere where we can fly back to Florida.  But we'll wait and see what seems right at the time.

To go with him will be a "real" cruise, not just a purchased adventure.  It will be a combination learning and socializing trip with the goal for all of us to get there and enjoy.

Barry's boat is large, luxiourius and comfortable.  He's spent a lot of time, money and labor making it "state of the art."   We'll get a chance to show you it and  him sometime soon.

The plan is to have our transmission installed this week and otherwise ready our boat for leaving it a while.   We'll keep you posted as to how this all plays out.