Back Home in St Augustine

We left George Town on Friday morning June 4th, right after a vicious early morning storm.  We got up to a spectacular, RED dawn, which was followed by a storm with heavy winds, gusts and buckets of rain.  We had steady winds in the 40 knot range for 40 minutes, and gusts to 50.  At least one Hatteras motor yacht was driven into the shallows, and the 150 foot m/v Man of Steel had to up anchor and maneuver under power.  Son of a Sailor pitched and bucked, but stayed secure.  Whew!

After this unwanted deck-scrubbing, we upped anchor around noon and headed up to Cave Cay.  A beautiful cruising day, but again, we motorsailed in light winds.

m/v Carleigh heading to Barraterre on Great Exuma

Friends Rita Kay and Clay on board “Carleigh” caught up to us around Barreterre, where they were going to spend the weekend.

Merry Kitty relaxing at Cave Cay

Sunset at Cave Cay

We went in at Cave Cay Cut and motored against nearly 4 knots of current to get inside, and anchored an hour before sunset off the northwest side of Cave Cay.  A very good anchorage and a beautiful night.

Next morning we decided that we would make a beeline for Florida, so we left early and made our way to Norman’s Cay, where we spent and uneventful evening.

Next morning we headed to Nassau; another uneventful motorsail.  We tied up at the Nassau Harbor Club and spent two nights enjoying our first air conditioning in five months.  Bettye did some shopping and I schlepped 45 gallons of diesel from the pumps to Son of a Sailor.  It was hot!  We really enjoyed our first ice cream treats in months, stopping at Dairy Queen for a fix.

Tuesday morning we headed west, with plans to go as far as possible before anchoring.  On the way, we called Miss Alice in Ft Lauderdale, and they were able to wangle us a reservation at the Las Olas City Marina for Saturday and Sunday.  We passed up the Berry Islands (Frazier Hog Cay) and continued on to the banks west of the Northwest Channel, and anchored near the markers for Russell Shoals.

Water Spout west of Russell Shoals

And we got hit again with a pretty good storm in the wee hours: twenty knot winds and good rain.

Rain smoothing off the seas

Left very early Wednesday and made a straight course to Gun Cay.  At Gun we turned northwest and tried to anchor off South Bimini, in an area called Nixon’s Harbor.  No luck.  Wherever we placed the anchor, it was shallow sand over hardpan.

So we called Bimini Sands Marina on South Bimini, and they recommended we stay at their Beach Club, whose entrance channel was 300 yards from where we were trying to anchor.  They were full at the main Marina, but empty save for one Canadian trawler at the Beach Club.  And what a good deal! We were met and assisted by the night watchman, since there were no dock guys at the Beach Club.  Anchored and surrounded by the Beach Club with it’s very nice restaurant, beach bar, inside Bar and restaurant, pool, beach and showers.

Mackay Bar at Bimini Sands Beach Club

Part of the Marina and Beach at Bimini Sands Beach Club

Bettye at the Beach Club

Son of a Sailor at the dock

All for 90 cents per foot per night, plus $10 for electricity.  We didn’t need water.  Although the docks were set up for power boats to back in, we adjusted and got secure for the night.

We enjoyed the bar ($1.50 Kalik beers; unheard of in the Bahamas) and a very good meal at the bar, met and talked to the folks on the trawler, and several of the locals who dominated the scene.  It was karaoke night, but we declined, being tired from two days on the water.  Next day we took a cab ride to the main Marina, which was hosting a power boat event.  Our cab was not air conditioned, the road was dusty, and we had to take a detour so that the lady driver could borrow a crescent wrench to re-charge her AC.  Another good meal at the Marina, and we toured the Marina and all the fancy boats, the majority helmed by people who didn’t know the difference between port and starboard.

The main marina at Bimini Sands, South Bimini

At dawn of Saturday, we were working our way out of the Beach Club and heading for the Straits of Florida, for a 50+ nautical mile crossing to Ft Lauderdale.  Again, light winds, motorsailing, and the Coast Guard didn’t board us.  As we made our way into Port Everglades, we had to carefully steer our way past a 600 foot container ship, which by size alone, had right of way.

Road Hog!

The big boat has the right of way!

Then we met ICE…

The minute we got through the inlet, we were hailed by a 34′ center console with all kinds of blue lights on its mast, crewed by four young guys with sidearms.  We of course agreed to be boarded in the middle of the busy harbor, on Saturday afternoon.

Your tax dollars at work...

They were very pleasant, and one of them went below to inspect for illegal stuff.  We were not allowed to accompany him. They had been experiencing problems with Bulgarians and Sri Lankans on sailboats.  Honest, that’s what we were told.  I guess our accents put them in a curious mode.

We made it to Las Olas Marina around 3:30, where Kathy (Miss Alice) was waiting with the dockmaster to help us tie up.  We plugged in and settled in.  Back home in the USA!

Toby (s/v Cariba) was helping John and Kathy with some electrical stuff, so we went out to dinner at the Quarterdeck with him.  Donna was in Texas. Miss Alice had other plans.

We stayed four days instead of two, shopping, dining, chatting and relaxing.  With a BoatUS discount, we only paid 70 cents a foot per night, plus metered electricity.  Great deal and great location.  Kathy continued her efforts (successful) to get Bettye involved in beading and jewelry making.  But it was time to go.

First mates

Captains!

On Wednesday we paid our bill and were underway at 8:15.  Waved goodbye to Kathy and John.

Goodbye! Goodbye!

We spent a pretty long day making 43 nautical miles to the north end of Lake Worth, where we anchored for the night.  From Ft Lauderdale to North Palm Beach there are literally dozens of bascule bridges, all on a restricted schedule for opening.  Most bridges only open every thirty minutes, so timing is important.  We missed a few, and that added and hour and a half to our day.

Mega Yacht Row at Palm Beach...

Please note the sign to boaters on the first bridge north of Lake Worth:  Telling us to stay left while the right span opens.  Only the right span opened, since their was maintenance going on.

The no sense sign....

Another long day and we’re at Vero Beach Municipal Marina, hooked to a mooring for the night.  And next door is Vern (along with daughter Katie) on trawler Love Lee, from Palm Coast.  We met him last year at lunch with friends on m/v Radio Waves.  A warm night but a couple of fans made it pretty comfortable.

Keeping tabs on traffic

Next day was very nice (and hot!) for our trip to Cocoa.  We got reservations at Cocoa Village Marina, and ended up staying two nights.  Our excuse was the forecast for severe afternoon thunderstorms. We had a nice dinner and drinks with Vern and Katie, and the second day we enjoyed a Brazilian brazier restaurant.  Expensive but very good.  The best part at the marina was the sparkling clean showers!  And a very attentive marina crew.

We’re anxious to get home, so early Saturday we head for Daytona.  It’s a long 68 statute miles, but we had another uneventful day and were anchored under the Seabreeze Bridge by 5:00pm.  It was a quiet and warm night, nothing going on.  During the day as we were passing Ponce Inlet, we (and several other boats) had a run-in with four guys on a ski boat, actually screaming at the sailboats to “get out of the %$&*# channel!  They were blocking the channel with a kid on a ski board, and going back and forth in the channel and dropping the kid right in front of boats underway.  Amazing.  We called the Coast Guard on them, who actually responded.

We made it back home to Oasis Boatyard & Marina on the San Sebastian River around  o’clock.  Couldn’t pilot us into our assigned slip because of current and wind and being chicken.  Didn’t want to spoil six months of cruising without an accident.  So we took the face dock and called Allan and Connie to come pick us up.  They took Dennis home to get the car and see his Mom, then we did one car load and got back home to the A/C and a big bed.

Happy to be home!

See you next year!