Compass Cay

This afternoon we arrived in Compass Cay. It is one of many Cays that make up the Exuma Land and Sea Park, which is the Bahamian National Park.
After tying up to the dock, we began to enjoy the sea life in these beautiful protected waters. Sergeant majors were plentiful below our hull, and as we were checking in, the nurse sharks were being fed. Shortly after that, a boat of tourists arrived and many jumped in to swim with the sharks! There are about 10 of them that hang around the dock, all are named and basically treated as pets.
Soon after we arrived, Dan and Judy arrived on their motor yacht "Quest". They invited us to join them for a snorkeling trip to one of their favourite spots in the area. We agreed to meet at 1:30, at which time we all hopped in their tender and sped away to "the aquarium". After securing to the mooring there, we all jumped in and were treated to the most beautiful sights I have ever seen underwater. The reef was beautiful, and the variety of fish was incredible. We saw parrot fish, blue tang, angelfish, squirrelfish, lobster, grouper, flounder, jacks and more I don't know the names of. There was a large stingray settled in a sandy patch on the bottom keeping an eye on us, and a 5' nurse shark swam by and checked us out. All this was with a backdrop of a rainbow of coral, sea fans, and a sea cucumber.
On our way back, we stopped at a small beach and walked up the river, which flows from the ocean side.
It was a most enjoyable afternoon, and we would like to moor closer to this area to see more of it.
Upon our return to the marina, we had hoped to catch a potluck dinner with other cruisers. However the caliber of boats here is far different from ours, and I don't think the chefs (or guests) on the other boats were the potluck sort of people!! So, we ended up having a great shared dinner with Dan and Judy on their boat. It is quite spectacular itself, a 60' Hatteras with far more amenities than we are used to. We were definitely spoiled!
To top off our evening, we enjoyed a few fireworks set off from the beach, and then called into a New Year's Eve party at home.

The party on the dock carries on, but it is way past cruisers' bedtime so we are turning in for the night.

Happy New Year everyone!!

Next Mail Call

Our next port of call where we can accept mail will be George Town. We will be there from mid-January to mid-February.
The address to use is:

(Jessica/Madeline) LeBreton
c/o Cee Jem
Exuma Markets
George Town, Exuma
Bahamas

"hold for arrival"

Finally, An Update!

We are safe and sound at Black Point in the Exumas.
We have had a busy couple of weeks, hard to believe it is New Year's Eve tomorrow!

We spent only one night in Nassau. Having arrived around 4:30, we needed to get to the grocery and hardware stores, and also popped in to the Radio Shack at the mall across from the marina. We returned to the boat and had a quick dinner. Just as we were finishing, the Christmas Parade of Boats passed by with all manner of floating structures all decorated with lights. They got to the end of the harbour, set off a few fireworks and then turned around and 'paraded' back to the start. It was a quick show, and we didn't have the best view, but it was as close to a Santa Claus Parade as we were going to get this year.

We left Nassau early on December 18. We headed across the bank to the top of the Exumas. We were originally headed for Allen's Cay (here, pronounced "key") which is home to a collection of prehistoric iguanas. However, partway through our sail we decided that for better protection from the north wind we would be best to go a bit further and we tucked into Highborne Cay. Courtney from s/v Dharma and I went into the marina there to check out the little marina shop. We had been forewarned that prices in the out islands were considerably higher than elsewhere, but even with that in mind, we were still unprepared for the prices. I was looking for a few little things - small apples: $2 each; tortilla shells: $8.50 for 6; jell-o pudding mix: $4.50. I decided my purchases could wait. Courtney had heard that they had a freezer with meat in it. Her husband is a big fan of steak, so she considered getting a few to treat before Christmas, but decided against when she discovered that a small ribeye was $29.50. Happily, we have found that once you get away from a marina, and into a village or settlement, the prices aren't quite so steep!

On December 19, we left Highborne just before 10 and set anchor again at Norman Cay at noon. What a great way to travel, when you are only a 2 or 3 hour trip between stops! It is certainly a welcome change from our long travel days.
At Norman we were treated to a great beach, some small coral heads to snorkel and explore, and a cute little beach bar. We went for dinner one night, and it is the kind of place you would only expect to see in the movies. There was a great wood deck, lots of wicker furniture and beautiful tiki lights. We enjoyed a great fish dinner, and then headed to the beach for a bonfire before turning in for the night.
We continued to enjoy the slower pace of life, swimming, hanging out at the beach and snorkeling for a few days. We also managed to trim a few limbs of a southern pine tree to put in a container as a makeshift Christmas "tree" for the boat.

On the 21st, we headed out of the anchorage at 9:30, headed for the Exumas Land and Sea Park headquarters at Warderick Wells. By shortly after 10 the wind and seas had built considerably, and we decided that now that we are "here", we really don't have to go anywhere on a day like this. So, back we went, and the 4 of us spent an afternoon re-grouping, reading, and even learning a new card game. Remind us once we're home to teach you how to play "cucumber".

As expected, by the next morning the weather had settled down a bit, and so we set out again, this time for Sampson Cay. We were getting to be in need of fuel, and the marinas are becoming sparser. We filled all our tanks to the brim, and then anchored just beside a stunning rock wall. Just before midnight, we were awakened by bright white lights shining in our cabin window, the faint glow of flashing red lights and yelling. We jumped out of bed, and Greg said to me, "I think we're going to be boarded". He went up to the deck and I could faintly hear the conversation between him and BASRA (Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association), basically their Coast
Guard. Apparently they felt that we were anchored too close to the marina channel, making passage difficult. The end result was that all parties agreed it would be unlikely that anyone would be entering the marina through the night, so we could stay there, and would move in the morning.

Needless to say, we were up and going early on the morning of the 23rd. We headed for Staniel Cay, which is where we had planned with a few other boats to meet for Christmas time. Again, the beauty of the Exumas, is that beautiful places aren't far apart. So, by 10 we were anchored just off the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. We in fact were anchored very close to the Thunderball Grotto, of James Bond fame. According to the pictures in the yacht club, there were also scenes from "Splash" filmed there. The best time to dive in this cave is a low, slack tide. Meaning that the tide is low, allowing maximum headroom in the cave, and the current is slack, so you're not fighting the current as you swim around. Luckily, this most opportune time was around noon, which put the sun directly overhead the opening in top, illuminating the reef. WOW! The variety of fish was amazing, and every time I passed a blue tang, I couldn't help but wonder if any of them had the same personality as Dory from Finding Nemo.

On the 24th, we swam in the morning, and then headed to the Children's Christmas Party, hosted by the Yacht Club with the help of many generous (American) locals. The kids all gathered at noon, and enjoyed making crafts and playing some outdoor games. At 1, they served pizza, cupcakes and ice cream for lunch. As 2 o'clock neared, you could feel the anticipation building ... there was a very special visitor on his way! Sure enough, shouts of "he's coming", "he's on his way!" were heard and we all filed out to the dock to watch Santa approach on the bow of a boat. He came, joined the party, and had a stocking and gift for every child. The girls returned to the boat, ecstatic with their new snorkel and mask, as well as a variety of chocolates, candies, skipping rope and craft items. It was an amazing afternoon, and all involved are to be commended for their ability to include both local and visiting children in a great day at a very special time of year.

And then then big day came ...
We wondered and worried what Christmas on a boat would bring. Would Santa find us? (Yes) Would we miss home? (Certainly.) Would we enjoy our day? (Absolutely!)
Indeed, there were presents under the tree in the morning, new cameras for the girls to capture memories of this trip, new games, and handmade gifts for everyone, from everyone on board. Thus, hopefully beginning a new tradition for us, that not everything must be purchased.
Despite invitations from kids on other boats to play or watch a movie, we were true to our tradition of spending Christmas just the four of us.
We went swimming again in the afternoon, took a hike into town and saw some locals enjoying new bikes, balls and other gifts.
We spent the evening at a cruisers dinner, again, put on by the yacht club. At 7, they seated everyone at beautifully decorated tables and served soup, salad and then beef tenderloin and lobster tails. For dessert there was a choice of sweet potato cake or bananas foster pie. It was delicious. By 9:30 the crew of Cee Jem were dinghying back across the harbour, heading home.
What a great day!

On the 26th, we moved in the morning, back north a few miles to Big Major Spot. Again, a beautiful beach, well protected from the prevailing east winds. The reported highlight of Big Major is the swimming pigs. There are indeed a few pigs on the north beach that swim out to meet your boat in hopes that you have brought them something to eat. We approached with our dinghy, but then quickly backed off to watch from a distance, as we have heard that their hooves will cut through the inflatable pontoons, resulting in a lengthy repair job.
We were in the company of many large mega-yachts. One even had an inflatable water slide that was suspended from the third deck! It looked pretty fun.
We really enjoyed snorkeling here. We saw huge sea stars (about the size of a dinner plate), gigantic rays that probably had the same armspan as me, and also saw a few nurse sharks swimming by.

Yesterday we motored south to the settlement of Black Point on Great Guana Cay. This cute little town is inhabited by the friendliest, most hospitable people we have met in the Bahamas. There is a great laundry (you with washing machines and dryers, oh! and WATER in your house, might not appreciate that as much as we do), a cute little cafe with great fried conch and an Internet cafe (hence, this update). Unfortunately all the local children have headed to Nassau to spend the holidays with family, so we are missing that part of the experience here.

There is supposed to be a winter storm blowing through early next week, so we are developing our plan for that. The trouble with the Exumas is that all the islands run north/south, so you have to choose your spot carefully when a front is going to pass through and the wind will clock right around the compass. Looks like we will be heading north again and try to tuck in a little spot at Compass or Cambridge Cay.

We will try to be better about updating our blog and keeping everyone up to date...I guess we have all been on Christmas holidays!!

Happy New Year to you all!

Day Two of the Exumas

The weather has certainly closed in on the Bahamas. Winds over twenty knots make sailing exhilarating to say the least. Fortunately, the western side of the Exumas is protected and we can move fairly easily south on the archipelago.
We spent a bouncy night off Highbourne Cay and moved out this morning for Norman Cay for an anchorage with better protection.
The reefs are beautiful and the entire region makes one think that we are sailing in one enormous aquarium. Mind you a rather windy one.
Unfortunately our WIFI is sketchy here to say the least. We are working off a roaming plan with AT&T that we have for weather information and email. It means blog pictures will have to wait until we find some open WIFI sites.
Until then, everything is better in the Exumas.

We are Safe and Sound in Nassau

Just a quick update to let you know that we pulled into Nassau last night. We spent Friday crossing the Bahamas Bank, then yesterday across the tongue of the ocean, arriving in Nassau late afternoon.
How amazing to sail into Nassau on your own boat?!?

We are departing shortly, headed for the Exumas.
Our wifi access has become much more scarce. As we begin to spend more time in quiet anchorages, we will be able to post short text updates, and you can always check our progress by looking at our position updates under 'Where in the world are we?'.

Update: We are safe and sound in the Exumas, anchored behind Highborne Cay. The weather window for sailing passages is closed behind us and the wind is blowing!

Departure Day

As I write this, Greg is busy preparing the boat for our departure. After looking at the forecast, it appears as though we have a great weather window to get across the Bahamas Bank. We expect that window will close by Sunday night.
So, we have a new plan:
Depart Bimini today, head toward the North West Channel and anchor overnight on the banks somewhere west of Chub Cay.
Tomorrow we will get up early (my friend Courtney calls it "o'dark thirty") and head for Nassau, hoping to arrive around 7pm. We will overnight in Nassau, then leave early Sunday morning for Allan's Cay in the north end of the Exuma Island chain.
Once we arrive in the Exuma's the weather will matter less for further passages, so we will be able to slow down a bit!
Keep watching our position to see our progress.

The engine has now started .... I guess we're on our way!

One Message in a Bottle Found

Looks like the bottles might have been riding too high in the water and they have been blown on shore with the very strong east wind.

Here is the email we received.

"your message was found at 8:43AM in Patrick Air Force area beach which is part of Cocoa Beach, Florida. Read the message Madeline wrote
and yes, people do find these every so often. Some are found years after they are written and in Madeline's case only days.
Best wishes for the New Year and by the way, I have a lovely doublewide mobile home for sale and if you know of any one who wants
to live in Florida part time and wants a beautiful home have them email me or phone 321-473-3949. AVALON"

My Toes are addicted to sand, I belong on the beach

We are finally in the Bahamas still in Bimini. I am having fun playing with friends, going to the pool and my favourite, the beaches. We are not reedy for Christmas yet. We are waiting for a wether window, in the mean time we are having fun .Yesterday we went to a shark lab it was very cool. Yesterday we cought 5 fish they were Jacks. We are going up with George and the fish Docter when they go up to clean the fish to see the sharks, fish and birds to see them eat the scraps.
By for now, Jessica.

Every days a beach day

Hey blog readers ,
Right now we are in Bimini.
Yesterday we went to the shark lab, at the shark lab our tour Gide's name was Linzie , she was the one that took us too the baby shark cage,at the shark cage we got to touch lemon sharks , they feel like sand paper and they can change colour. For example if they lived near the mangroves they would be a darker colour of yellow.
On the 11th of December we went to a beach and daddy found a field of live conch, their feet are slimy .
From : Madeline

Waiting for Another Weather Window

We are still in Bimini, waiting for some calmer winds.
The next leg of our journey is an eighty-mile trip. It involves leaving Bimini through the channel, rounding North Rock, traveling east across the Great Bahama Bank to the Northwest Channel, then southeast to the Berry Islands. We need to cover the beginning and end in daylight, as much of the navigation here involves visual calculation of depths rather than relying on charts alone. The charts are not always terribly accurate. With tides, currents and tropical storms, the sand can move around quite considerably, so we are often navigating by looking at the colour of the water to tell us how deep it is.

Since 80 miles is outside our range for one day, we have a couple of options:
1. We could leave here at first light, navigate the channel and get on the bank and then stop to anchor overnight near the Northwest channel, get up in the morning, navigate the channel with light and continue to the Berry's.
2. We could leave here mid-afternoon so we could navigate the channel here before dark, sail across the bank overnight, then navigate the Northwest Channel at first light, and arrive in the Berry's the next morning.

The question becomes, which is the lesser of two evils? Anchoring overnight with no protection from wind or the local boats that ply the waters without lights or keeping a watch; OR sailing overnight on the banks without the ability to see the depth, and trying to stay awake?

Much of our answer will be determined by what time frame we have with calm(er) winds, and what the other boats who are left here decide to do. Several boats that we crossed from Miami with have moved on, but we hear their passages were not terribly comfortable. Having the girls on board makes us happy to wait for friendlier seas.

Meanwhile, we have been enjoying the slower Bahamian pace of life. We have joined a bonfire on the beach, walked around North Bimini, sampled local fare (including great daily-baked Bimini bread, conch fritters and mango ice cream), chatted with knowledgeable fisherman and watched them feed the tarpon and sharks with their scraps. That's a 7' bull shark in the last picture.

This afternoon we took the water taxi to South Bimini and visited the shark lab there. We were given a tour by Lindsay, the assistant manager, who shared some great information about Lemon Sharks, and their habitats. Once we had toured the lab, we waded out to a small holding pen they have in the sand and saw a "little lemon" and even got to touch it. Very cool!

Pictures of our crossing day.

Here are some picture of yesterday when we crossed the Gulf Stream. What a fun day.

Bahamas here we are!

Hi friends,
Right now we are in Bluewater Marina in Bimini. Yesterday when we were crossing my favourite part was when I threw my message in a bottle overboard. 2 days ago we were at No Name Harbour. Our friend Cole on his boat Dharma came to pick us up on his yellow kayak. Once we paddled to his boat (we had our bathing suits on) we hopped on his paddle board, paddled out a little ways in the harbour, and then we jumped in the water to cool off. Then when we got back to their boat from paddle boarding we attached the paddle board to the boat and swung from the davits (the thing that hangs off the side of the boat and lifts the dinghy up). We had a lot of fun. Yesterday when we were at the beach we went snorkeling by the rocks. We saw lots of conch shells, two barracuda, a few stingrays (we could get about 20 cm away from them). I also found a very pretty shell that I think is a Zebra nerite . Another pretty shell that I found was a Florida Fighting Conch. I liked snorkeling because the water was so clear and there were so many things to see. From your friend Madeline

We are in the Bahamas :)

We are in the Bahamas, we got here yesterday. We went to the beach yesterday and found conch shells that were cracked, then we dove for perfect ones. We swam by some fish, sea urchins and skates (skates are like stingrays only they do not have barbs which sting you and they give birth to their babies not in mermaids purses). Ben our friend Cole's older brother went out snorkeling and saw a shark. we are in blue water marina now and yesterday we could easily see the bottom because it was clear, today we can see the bottom but it is not so clear.
I will keep sharing stories with you.
Jessica

We made it!

We are across the Gulf Stream and safely into Bimini, Bahamas. A relatively flat crossing that reminded us more of sailing the Great Lakes then ocean water. The trickiest part of the whole trip was getting into the harbour in Bimini. Not well marked and you need to watch both your chart plotter as well as your water colour. We watched another Canadian boat merrily sail aground after clearly not consulting any charts what so ever.
We cleared into customs and immigration easily and were on the beach to enjoy the amazing colour of the water, great sand, and snorkeling.
A front has just blown in losing the weather window that we sailed through. Kinda windy here now. Glad I'm not out on the banks.
Pictures to come when it's morning and the rest of the crew is up.

Off We Go ....

The forecast looks good, the gulf stream is predicted to be only 2 knots, down from the usual 3 1/2, there is no wind right now. Looks like a great day to go to The Bahamas!

A Weather Window! Tomorrow!

Looks like the day to cross the gulf stream will be tomorrow. Winds are to die down and the waves are to be a bit less scary. We will finally get our chance to reach The Bahamas. We have found two other boats to cross with and as a tiny armada we will scamper to safety as quickly as sails and engines will take us.
This is the most scary, exhilarating, and looked forward to part of the whole trip.
Let's hope the forecasters are correct and Mother Nature is in one of her better moods!
Departure time: 4:00 am Wednesday December 7
ETA: Noon, same day.

Stay tuned!

Provisioning Trip

This morning Julie from Hi-5 and I went on our final provisioning trip.
I only went for a "few things", and came back with enough to fill the dinghy. We are trying to stock up on things like canned goods, boxed milk, pancake mix, oh...and beer. We have been told that we will find a decent variety of foods on the various islands that we will visit, but the selection isn't always great, and the prices are generally up to 50% higher than in the US.
The rest of the afternoon was spent finding space to stash it all. I was remarkably successful, so will head into town again tomorrow for a few more things.....

Hello Miami!

Our first ocean sail was a great success and we made it the 23 miles from Lauderdale to Miami without any trouble. (Actually had to motor half the trip it was so quiet!).

Bye-Bye Ft. Lauderdale!

Heading "out" into the ocean this morning! We have just sailed out of Bar Cut at Ft. Lauderdale headed for Government Cut at Miami. This is our chance to cut our teeth with ocean sailing in the company of two other boats. So far we have calm seas, light wind and blue skies!!!

Great Times with New Friends!!

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday around noon. We had hoped to pick up a mooring ball at the city marina, but there were none available. So we went to plan 'B' which was to motor up New River to a marina where the Tucker family had recommended and were staying. We had been warned about the strong current up the winding river, and knew the recommendation was to approach the docks at slack water, but thought we'd give it a try. Approaching the first major bend we found ourselves on the wrong side of the channel, looking for deeper water with a large power boat proceeding downriver. This surprise, along with the current of about 3 knots caused us to turn around and head for an anchorage to wait for better conditions. The little spot we were headed for was Lake Sylvia which posed it's own challenges. The approach instructions say to 'hug the east breakwall, about 50 feet off the pilings'. The current was still pretty strong and so Greg had to point the bow of Cee Jem somewhat toward the cement wall in order to account for the drift caused by the current. It was all very surreal and was an excellent lesson in drift!
Once arriving in the anchorage, the next task was to find an appropriate spot to set the anchor. There were already a few boats established, so we needed to give enough room for them, and us to swing without conflict. We found as good a spot as we could, but would have liked to have put out a bit more chain for holding power in the wind that picked up overnight. In the end, Greg was up for a lot of the night watching the anchor alarm, and catching up on his e-mail.
Friday morning we pulled out of the anchorage at 8:30. We wanted to get up the New River at high tide, slack water and there were 3 bridges that had to open for us, but they don't open until 9am on weekdays, following rush hour. By 9:30 we were settled at Cooley's Landing marina, and with the help of Chris and Ben from the sailboat Dharma, had tied our lines and secured our boat. Jessica and Madeline were very excited to have arrived, as there are now 3 boats with kids at this marina. Greg and I were equally excited to meet other cruising families. In a previous post I have spoken about Kerry, Julie, Connor and Dylan from the catamaran sailboat Hi-5. They are from Milton and headed to the Bahamas. We have now met Chris, Courtney, Ben and Cole on the sailboat Dharma. They are from North Carolina and also headed to the Bahamas, and perhaps beyond....? We are all planning to be here until early in the week when we hope to all go "outside", meaning out into the ocean to make our passage from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami.
On Saturday night a sundown party was planned and by dusk about 25 people from at least 8 boats had gathered under the picnic pavilion at the marina to share munchies, drinks and conversation. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and feel that our long haul south has all been worth it to finally get into the groove of "cruising".

Our Next Boat?

Passing by the Port of Palm Beach, we think we found our next boat. Though there was an impressive selection, we chose the one with the helicopter on the deck.
Dinghies are so last year!

Boca Raton by Boat

After 19 bridges and another 10.5 hours on the engine we have arrived in Boca Raton. We are anchored in the harbour just north of the inlet, surrounded by tall, pink and tan hotels and condos. There are worse places to send a night.

Tomorrow we are into Fort Lauderdale and will stop at a marina for more provisioning.

More Friends

Hello Friends and Family
when we were in Vero Beach we ran into some friends that we met while we were waiting for the tide to go down. The girls name was Rivers and her brother is Stephen, I really liked them. I am almost done my diary of a wimpy kid book. Today I wrote a book about canoe camping called "Adventures". At Vero Beach (Velcro Beach because you stay there so long) I got to row the dinghy,I might of stayed out too long because the no-see-ums got me.
Talk to you soon,
Jessica

It's the 22nd November, Still in Shorts and T-Shirts!

Hey blog readers,
Today we are going from Vero Beach to Hobe Sound. Now that we are here we can see that the water is much clearer. On Saturday we went dinghy exploring to the beach part of Vero Beach with the people on the boat Hi-5. At the beach I found a mermaid's purse (skate egg). See below for a picture. On our mooring ball at Vero Beach we rafted with a boat named Orion which was owned by two friendly people Joan and George with their cat Little One. They also have an orange kayak and we got to use it. If you want to see a picture of me in their kayak and Little One in front look below the mermaid purse. We finally caught up to Morning Glory (the catamaran that we met at the Pablo Creek Bridge) and we got together on their boat one night and we've run into them a few times on the bus going to and from the grocery store and getting all our provisions.
Bye for now, Madeline

1000 Miles from Norfolk

One Thousand miles from the start of the Intracoastal Water Way.
This raises a number of questions in a captains mind.

How did we get here? The time has sure flown. Barring the groundings, burnings of alternators, refrigeration issues, power issues, and the occasional howling wind we have managed to make the 1000 mile mark without too much difficulty.

What's next? That answer is obvious. We will sail out of Government Cut at Miami in the next few weeks and sail across the Gulf Stream to Bimini, Bahamas. We will wait for a weather window and we will make sure the sea will be safe to cross. the crossing is only 47 miles, about 2/3 the longest distances that we normally cover in a day. We will carry enough fuel aboard to run approximately 5 times the required engine time for this crossing...and yet...the captain is anxious, nervous, alright, down right scared of this crossing. You see I've come to realize I'm a pond sailor. The Great Lakes, while fantastic bodies of water do not contain waves that found their genesis 4000 miles away in a tropical storm off the African Coast. While Lake Ontario can be a punishing beast I am not sure she has prepared me for the Ocean. This is certainly another level that the bar is being pushed to.

And finally...how will we get home?
At some point in the future, I have to figure out how to do this all in reverse.
But that's for another day.

"Velcro" Beach

We have settled for a few days in what has become known as "Velcro" Beach. Aptly named, as many cruisers passing through seem to get here and then never find reason to leave. We certainly see how that would be tempting. The mooring field is very secure - about 1/3 mile wide, 2 miles long, protected on all sides by trees and mangrove, and with minimal current. There is a city bus that runs hourly from the marina office into town for plentiful shopping. You can dinghy to the beach in about 20 minutes. AND, best of all, here it is the middle of November and it is already 80 degrees; actually 83 with the humidex. That's right, November and we're talking humidex!
Yesterday morning we took the bus into town and did a bit of shopping. Once we got back to the boat we met up with the Teskey's. Kerry, Julie, Connor and Dylan are a family (from Milton!!) on a catamaran that are doing a similar trip. We wanted to hook up with them for a couple of hours so the kids could play together on the beach, and so we could pick their brains about points further south. They have already done this trip once, so were a wealth of information. The kids had a great time playing in the water and sand at the beach while the parents watched and chatted. We went back to our respective boats for dinner, and then Kerry and Connor popped by so the Captains could peruse some charts of Bahamas and look at possible routes and popular anchorages. We are grateful to Kerry for sharing his knowledge and advice! Based on their conversation and the planned routes of other boats with kids that we've come across, we now are planning to get to Miami, and then cross from there to Bimini, Bahamas.
Today is laundry, and a few boat chores that needed a stop to get done: rig tuning, stowing of charts and guide books for waters further north, and figuring out where we are going to put all the stuff that we would like to take when we do our big provisioning shopping.
Likely tomorrow we will continue moving south again, our plan being to take 3 days to cover the 110 miles to Ft. Lauderdale.

A Day in Vero Beach

Today was a relaxing day that we all deserved.
Yesterday we began just before 7 and after covering more than 70 miles, we arrived at the Vero Beach City Marina mooring field at 5pm. Our day was spent motor-sailing down the Indian River - a generally shallow body of water just inland from the sandy coast, with a 10 foot dredged channel running through it - with the company of many dolphins, all manner of sea birds, and even a pair of manatees crossing our path. By the time we arrived and rafted on a mooring ball with a 45' Down Easter "Orion", darkness was descending, and shortly after the wind picked up as predicted. We had considered stopping and anchoring earlier to make the day shorter, and were now glad that we had pressed on. There are not any protected anchorages along this stretch of the ICW, so our blustery night would have been spent out in the open.
This morning we all began our day with showers. After a few days of showers onboard, it is so nice to have plentiful hot water and not worry how much the water pump is drawing from the batteries. On our way back from shore we stopped by to say hi to the family on "Hi-5", a catamaran that we met in St. Augustine whose home port is also in the Toronto area. We chatted for a few minutes, making tentative plans to go dinghy exploring tomorrow afternoon.
Then back to the boat for a bit of schoolwork, cleaning, radio fixing and reading. We spent the afternoon with Greg's Uncle Art and Aunt Mary who are in the area with their Airstream. They too are escaping an Ontario winter, and it was fun to chat and compare notes with them about traveling in small spaces, discovering new places, and the joy of traveling as a journey not solely a destination. We had a great walk along the beach, then shared a simple dinner with them on the boat.

Fronts, Fire Alarms, and Coffee

In an attempt to fly in front of a cold front headed our way we left our mooring early. Before coffee.
Within 5 minutes of our departure the fire alarm was sounding on board. I had left the oil cap off the engine and exhaust was filling the cabin. Shut down. Problem quickly fixed.
Within the next 5 minutes a strange rattle was emanating from the engine room. Sailors get to know the sounds of their engines and this was not right. Shut down. Rag wrapped around prop shaft. Problem quickly fixed.
Here's what I've learned.
Coffee first, then start your day.

Titusville and Kennedy Space Centre

Today was out of this world. Literally.
We travelled to the Kennedy Space Centre. Having heard school mates talk about their trips to Kennedy and Disney during March breaks in the late 70's and early 80's, my expectations were low. I could not have been more surprised.
Today turned into a fantastic trip through the history of space flight from the Mercury and Gemini missions, onto Apollo, and the Shuttle and then a look into the future.
We were fortunate enough to be able to watch the mobile launch pad crawl at 1 mile an hour with a next generation launch assembly to a pad (maybe for a mission to Mars).
The highlight of the day came from a talk given by a real astronaut. Wendy Lawrence, veteran of 4 shuttle missions, presented her experience as crew member and Canadarm specialist on the first mission following the Columbia disaster. She was on the flight that tried and tested the new techniques to check the tiles of the shuttle. It was terrific to be able to listen to a female astronaut speak and describe her experiences. Great contrast to the first years of space flight that were populated solely by male heroes. Jessica and Madeline both discussed being the first Female Canadian on the Moon or Mars.
They are the age of the humans that will do those missions. Look around you. One of the 7 or 9 year olds out there today will be the first human on Mars.
The concept of space travel is incredibly exciting and our tour of this space port was fantastic!

Rewind .... A Recap of St. Augustine

We were having such a good time in St. Augustine that we didn't get the chance to tell you what we did.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and picked up a mooring ball in the harbour just off the ICW. We spent a few minutes getting settled, and then were anxious to get ashore, so we launched the dinghy and set off for the dinghy dock. We had a quick walk around town, along the pedestrian mall and through Flagler College. Now a private arts college, the former Ponce de Leon hotel is a stunning display of Tiffany glass. It was completed in 1887 and was one of the first buildings in the US to have electricity. We were back on the boat by 5:30 for some dinner, noting an abundance of Canadian boats in the harbour.

On Saturday morning we were up early and did some boat chores before heading back into town. Our objectives for the day were to get to West Marine and the lighthouse. We passed by a great bakery, stopped in for some goodies, then carried on with our hike. With only minimal grumbling from the troops, we managed to find 2 of the 3 sets of charts that we will need for The Bahamas. We then decided that we would try to take the bus back to the marina with our purchases. Upon checking the schedule, we noted that we had about 30 minutes to the next bus, so stopped at the grocery store for a few items. We learned early on that you never pass a grocery store without picking something up. Now to the bus .... easier said than done. The buses in St. Augustine are 'flag down' buses, meaning there are no bus stops, you just wave your arms as they approach, and they stop to pick you up. In theory, that sounds great. In practice, not so much. Harder to catch a bus, when you don't really know where to wait. So, we waited for the 'blue' bus outside the grocery store and sure enough, the bus approached, we waved, it stopped, and we got on....the wrong bus. We got on the 'connector' instead of the 'blue' bus. In our defense, we did ask the driver if this bus would go where we we headed. He truthfully told us it would pass nearby. He neglected to tell us that it wouldn't get there for another 90 minutes. To make a long story short, we made it back sooner than we anticipated, and in the end he was very kind to drive a short way off his route to greatly decrease our walk back.
After dropping off our bags at the boat and changing into cooler clothes, we headed back for shore. We walked across the Bridge of Lions, which crosses the Mantanzas River to Anastasia Island. It was then a short walk to the St. Augustine Lighthouse. We all enjoyed the 219-step climb to the top, with a great view of the ocean and the harbour from the top. We could even spot Cee Jem! Lots of information was presented about the lighthouse, including the story of the lighthouse keepers son who designed a parachute which he tested from the top with his sister's cat! (The cat was unharmed, though not too friendly for the next several weeks.) On our way home we passed a little grocer that was mentioned in our cruising guide as having good produce. There we picked up the best oranges that I have ever had.

Sunday morning we set out to get to the bagel shop and do some laundry. On laundry days you try to find 2 errands that will take you about 45 minutes each. In this case the wash goes in, we go for bagels, we put the wash in the dryer and then we take a quick tour of the fort, and come back and pick up the laundry, Well, it almost went like that. We all found the Castello de San Marcos fascinating, so our laundry sat in the dryer for a while before we got back to it. The Castello was built by the Spanish with construction beginning in 1672, making it one of the oldest buildings in the US. The walls are built with blocks of coquina - similar to limestone, but made of seashells. The interesting thing about this material is that because it is quite porous, when struck by a hard object (such as a cannon ball), the walls absorbed them, rather than shattering as granite or brick would. The guide said it would be like shooting bb's into styrofoam. After an attack, the Spanish would go out under the cover of dark and stuff the damaged walls with straw and then plaster over them. By morning they looked brand new. The story goes that the English wrote home saying that the Spanish had discovered a magic stone that healed itself.
While walking back along the shoreline to pick up our laundry, we noticed a group of people watching something in the water. Upon closer inspection, we saw two old manatees rooting in the mud bottom near the anchorage. We thought they would have all migrated south by now, but were told that there are a few 'urban' manatees who stay in the rivers for the winter. As long as they can find 70 degree water they are OK, and there are several warm water springs in the area.
Sunday afternoon the girls had a dinghy driving tutorial. On our tour of the mooring field we chatted with another cruising family who was moving onto their sailboat that day, they were on their 11th, and hopefully last, dinghy trip to get all their stuff aboard. We also chatted with a few other Canadian boats that we had met up with earlier in Charleston.
Once back at the boat, we hauled the dinghy back up to the front deck, had some dinner, reviewed Monday's sail plan, and were off to bed.
St. Augustine certainly ranks up there as one of our favourite cities on this trip!

Daytona Beach

This morning started early. We had planned to get going around first light at 7. We were up shortly after 6. By 6:30 there was no sign of light in the sky, and upon further inspection of the clock, we realized it was only 5:30. Oops!
By 6:45 we were pulling away from St. Augustine as the sun rose.
Today was mostly canals with several bridges, some which we had to radio to open for us because they don't have enough clearance for us to get through with the mast up.
At the second bridge we had a bit of trouble hailing the bridge master, but finally got in contact with him once we were in very close range. We called a few other boats along the way to see how they received our transmissions and have come to the conclusion that there is a faulty ground wire somewhere in the antenna at the top of the mizzen mast. We are able to use the radio, but can only be heard in very close proximity to the station we wish to communicate with. Oh well....nothing else was broken, so it always has to be something.
We arrived in the Daytona area shortly after 1, and by 2 had pulled into the Halifax
Harbor Marina to fill up the diesel tanks. Two things of note here:
1. Yes, the river behind the beach at Daytona is called the Halifax River, and
2. We do have 2 diesel tanks. Up until this point we have only being using our main tank, which holds about 30 gallons. But, figuring that we are headed to some fairly remote islands (relatively speaking), Greg thought it a good idea to get the secondary tank cleaned up and filled "just in case".
While he was fueling the boat, I walked over to West Marine to pick up a diesel polisher. Of course, he sends me on these little quests saying "all you need to ask for is .....". I usually feel I have a good concept of what I'm looking for until the staff in the store start asking questions. Then it all falls apart on me.
So today, again, I returned without what I was actually sent for. But! I did manage to find a handheld VHF radio (see above), as well as a couple of flashlights that you recharge by shaking.
Now we are anchored just off the ICW, in a spot that we theoretically shouldn't be able to get to. The chart shows 3' of water between our current position and the deeper channel, which our 6' keel shouldn't float over. However, our handy little iPad app, along with a tip from the guy at the fuel dock, allowed us to treat 2 channel marks as a back course range (think of lining up 2 telephone posts to tell you where to drive across a field. That's a front course range. Now, follow them by looking out your rear window and you've got a back course range. You've got to keep them lined up, or you will drive into a huge pothole, or in our case, run aground) to get us through a deeper cut. We are in the company of 5 other boats, who also snuck into this great spot.
Tomorrow we are headed to Titusville. We are hoping to get another mooring ball there, and likely stay until Friday. There is supposed to be another front pass through the area on Thursday, so we will check the forecast before heading on to Vero Beach.

Interesting tidbit: from Vero Beach we're only about 65 miles from West Palm, which is where we are thinking about crossing to the Bahamas from! Time to start thinking about all the supplies we will need to provision with before we make the jump...

On vacation...from our vacation.

A day of downtime. No passage planning, no diesel roar at 7:00 am, no anchor mud to clean off the fore deck. We are on vacation from our vacation in St. Augustine.
Bit chilly though, it hit 43 degrees this morning and we hear it was 30 in Savannah. That's a bit close! The cold fronts have been blustery and powerful this year and I am concerned that the Bahamas will be chilly too.
We toured the town today to see some sights and just unwind. The weather was warmer than we expected and the girls had to return to the boat to changed into shorts. Beautiful day.
I even managed to adjust the corroded stuffing box to stop the stream of ocean water that was trying to sink our boat. Three cheers for Blaster penetrating oil. That stuff has saved this boat several times! Great on tight turn-buckles too.
Here's the photo proof off our day.

A Great Morning in St. Augustine

We were headed to a local bagel shop to pick up some breakfast (well, actually it would be our second breakfast - Madeline made apple cinnamon oatmeal when we got up at 6:30 this morning), when we happened to pass this great bakery that had people streaming in and out. Once stepped inside "The Bunnery" we knew why it was so popular.
Ovens full of muffins, cookies, croissants, danishes, scones, and 2 kinds of sticky buns. All which could be topped with as much fresh icing drizzle as you wanted. Apparently they make it by the gallon. The girls were thrilled!
Greg says the coffee is great, and they even have a 'kid setting' for their steamed milk and hot chocolate, so it isn't too hot. We were very impressed.

Now, to burn it all off we're headed for a 2 mile walk to West Marine to pick up our charts for southern Florida and The Bahamas. Later this afternoon we are hoping to get to the lighthouse.

Score: 4 for Julie, 5 for Greg

We have been keeping track of how many times each of us is at the helm when Cee Jem touches the bottom.
As of yesterday, we were at 4 each:
Greg touched bottom on our way into Frenchman's Bay in Lake Ontario; I touched on our way out the next morning;
our next contact with the bottom came in the Dismal Swamp (which we expected) with Greg touching once, me twice. I will admit mine was a good one, as it shook the whole rigging of the boat as the keel caught on a submerged log;
Beaufort, NC was a good one ... Greg caught the keel on an uncharted wreck while trying to anchor;
two weeks ago I put us on the bottom in Dewees Creek, again while trying to get into a good spot to anchor;
yesterday Greg tied it up when we were stuck in the entrance channel to Palm Cove Marina for a few minutes before the tide came up and we could carry on.

Today however, we had to adjust the rules to include grounding of any vessel, as Greg ran aground in the dinghy. He ended up having to get out and push us off the sandbar so we could continue on our way. (Greg here...let me just say that I touched bottom with the outboard skeg and the waves and wind were pushing us on a shoal. I decided that I should get out and push us off. the boat was never aground as Julie seems to want to suggest.) Funny...when he lifted the engine, it still didn't float!!!

We spent a couple of hours this afternoon enjoying a great walk around St. Augustine. It is a beautiful historical town, very European with its pedestrian malls, architecture and brick roads.
We walked through Flagler College, which is the former Ponce de Leon hotel. It is full of Tiffany glass and is beautiful! We watched carriages and trolleys pass by full of tourists, and even ran into a few familiar boating faces downtown.
Upon return to our dingy, we were greeted by an egret who had been guarding it from the port pontoon. We then returned to the 'mother ship' and enjoyed a great dinner together while a full moon rose across the Matanzas River.
We are here on a mooring ball for the weekend, and will be full of more stories tomorrow.

Just another day...

Hey Julie.
What should we blog about today? Kinda dull eh?

How about the crazy boomerang shaped shoal that we went the wrong side of at high tide (phew!)

Okay.

What about the 5.2 knots of current pouring under that Pablo Creek Bridge that we stopped for three hours and had lunch on the hook to avoid?

Oh yeah.

What about when we ran aground coming into the channel of the Palm Cove Marina at exactly low tide. They claimed that they had 6' at mean low water. Closer to 5'. Fortunately we were on a rising tide and came off a few minutes later. Half an hour later we cruised through without an issue.

I guess. Really kind of a dull day.

Just another day in paradise Honey.

Lunch "On The Hook"

We are sitting in a little anchorage just north of Pablo Creek Bridge having lunch. The reason being that we are in view of a bridge through which the current is now running 5.2 knots against us. We approached the bridge almost an hour ago just to see what it was like with 4.2 knots .... when the 45' power boat that was in front of us got turned sideways in the turbulence, we opted out.
In a couple of hours, the tide will have turned, and the current will begin to abate. At that point we will carry on.
Meanwhile, we have a front row seat to watch the rest of the 'parade' pass by. So far they have all made it, but it looks pretty exciting for a couple of moments right under the bridge.

To other Wimpy Kid fans

We were in a book store and the book store owner had a copy of Diary of a Wimpy kid Cabin Fever. She even let me hold it,I held it. Here it comes out November 15 2011. Here no one is supposed to have it yet. It was her only copy. She has probably read it already, lucky her. I told Mom and Dad we need to get it when it comes out,that is the only book I have not read.
#1 Diary of a Wimpy kid fan,
Jessica.

Finally Florida

We made it!
Through the elephants in St. Andrews Sound, down a narrow channel that we explored ourselves, without the help of the Corp of Engineers, to Florida.
The breakers were rolling across the inlet just south of Jekyll Island this morning and the admiral decided that we were not going "outside" today. On the chart there appeared to be another route that we could take through the sound by heading inland and then turning east to meet up with the channel that everyone normally follows. It worked! We did see water depths as low as 11 feet and we would have run aground at low tide. But we timed the tide and sailed through without a bump. You can see our route below. Imagine us cheering as our little red arrow sails along at the bottom of the screen.

We arrived without much other excitement in Fernandina Beach FLORIDA around noon (oh yeah, we hit a speed of 9 knots over ground! Blazingly fast in our boat!).
 I know that two months seems like a long time to get to Florida when a car can make the trip in 2 days and a plane in 3 hours. I was thinking about this as we cruised along this morning while Julie cooked muffins, Madeline napped and Jessica danced on the front deck. Just a different mode of travel. I think its worth it. Tough to cook muffins in a car (or dance on the hood on I 95.)

We picked up a mooring ball today for the first time. This have all the benefits of a dock (security) with the comfort and motion of being at anchor. (and no one walking down the dock peeking in at you while they wander by.) I like them. Mind you it took us three tries to attach to it and I dropped the boat hook and we had to go get it and I cut my hand up trying to secure the grimy rope to the boat. But I do like being on an mooring ball. We felt comfortable enough to leave the dock and wander the town.
Here are the pics of the adventures.

An Awesome Day!

What a great day!
30 miles from the Florida border and we have finally found warmer weather! We docked at Jekyll Harbor Marina and walked around the island. The sea turtle rescue center was fascinating, the beach was all ours, and alligators, horseshoe crabs, bald eagles, and deer wandered across our path.
We are passage planning right now for our last scary bit of water before Florida. St. Andrew's Sound is know to blow up badly and be full of "elephants" stomping around in bad weather. The BoatUS driver down the dock said the area was pretty good this evening. Let's hope it calms down more by morning.
Tomorrow we should be in Fernandina Beach on a mooring ball.
Here are some pictures of today's awesomeness.