The final leg home

Saturday 28 March-Monday 30 March

Well when last we left you we were in Ship Channel Cay set to jump to the island of Eleuthera, specifically the Cay called Spanish Wells. After a 40 mile jump across the banks then out through Fleeming channel into the ocean for a short section then back on the banks again we were in Spanish Wells. Along the way Neal caught a Bar Jack, which felt like it was a cow. It was a good size fish but allegedly not very good eating so a picture was taken, then back it went. It did give me some serious upper body workout trying to land the fish.

Now Spanish Wells is a very different settlement compared to the one we have previously visited. For one, it is largely white and unlike the Exumas/ Georgetown it decidedly lacks a third world feel. All the houses are well painted and in excellent repair, with no junked vehicles (car, boats, jet skis, etc) lying around. This part of the Bahamas was settled by religious refugees back in the 1700s. The major industry here is fishing and lobstering. They catch lobsters (actually crayfish Viz. clawless lobsters) in very interesting way, that is they do not use traps like in the north east. What they do is place 4 cinderblocks in a square on the bottom in about 20 feet of water which they cover with a large metal panel, then come back after a few days since it seems that the lobster gather to hide under the panel during the day. They simple dive down lift up the panel and pick the critters up.

Off to Royal Island for the night to stage for the ocean crossing to the Abacos, about 50 miles away to the North. A brief overnight stop then we motored across because of the lack of wind. Here we have been inundated with wind since we arrived in the Bahamas and today there was none, go figga. We made landfall at Little Harbor stopping overnight for a rum punch blaster at Pete’s Pub. It was on from here to Hopetown a community again much like Spanish Wells, all spiffy and neat. The Abacos is the real tourist section of the Bahamas. Nice little cottages to rent with a smattering of restaurants and pubs. Hopetown is the site of the famous candy striped lighthouse still using kerosene lamps with a giant Fresnel lens.

From here we went on to Marsh Harbor, which I believe is the third largest city in the Bahamas next to Nassau and Freeport. Now we see the more seamy side as one would in all big cities, but here we can stock up at the “super market”. We run into some Boy Scouts who are participating in SeaBase just like Alex did back a few years ago. They are clearly having a ball. We don’t stay long in Marsh Harbor, poor holding and extremely crowded, “nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there”.

We’re at Man o’ War Cay staying in a marina since we got a great deal on the rate. They are trying to attract people for their first annual “Sojourner Day Celebration”. Man o” War like Hopetown was largely settled by Loyalists displaced during the war of independence. It is the capital of Bahamian boat building where they used to make some of the finest wooden boats around. They still build boats, but now out of modern materials, FRP. I still was able to spend a great deal of time talking to one of the old wooden boat builders who is still building them out of wood. He was in the process of building a small wooden planked hull sailing boat and was willing to answer all my questions. A fascinating man.

We have moved on to Green Turtle Cay to wait for a window to cross the gulf stream back to the US. The weather is a little nasty with high winds. We are somewhat protected, but the bottom has lots of grass, which is lousy for anchoring. I think I have found a bare spot to drop the anchor in so I’m somewhat secure in its holding. This was not true for our buddy boat. While we were at lunch with them on land someone came into the bar and asked if I owned a catamaran, to which I answered no, but the people we are with have one. To this he answered, “well it’s dragging across the anchorage”. In response to this both Bob and I jumped up and headed for the door. By the time we got to the dingy and got out into the harbor, we saw Bob’s boat surrounded by several dingys and people all over the deck. It seems that our fellow cruisers saw the plight of Bob’s boat as it wandered across the anchorage and they went to the rescue, even bringing an extra anchor along with them. This is the spirit of the cruising community; help your fellow cruiser for some day it will be you that is helped. As far as Abraxas was concerned, our sandy spot was good holding and we were held fast, but shortly after this another unattended boat went on a walkabout. This time it was Bob and I who jumped into the dingy and went to the rescue. What goes around comes around they say.

Well we have our window. We leave Green turtle cay in the morning and make the a long jump to Great Sales Cay, which is in the middle of the banks. We’ll stop over here for the night then leave sometime mid-day for the 50 nm across the rest of the bank, during the afternoon, then break out into the gulf stream for a night crossing to arrive at the Florida coast about daybreak.

11 April

Well we made our crossing and are now recovering in Stuart Florida. We left Great Sales Cay at around 11 AM of the tenth. The sail across the banks was perfect. Wind on the beam at 15kts and the chop was mild. We got to the end of the banks and entered the Florida straits just before sunset. The waves were a tad bigger than those we encounter on the banks and a bit more confused, but quite manageable. About an hour after darkness fell the moon began to rise in the east and the wind picked up a bit. Still the sail was quite manageable and we were doing a steady 7 kts with the wind on the beam. Since I finally got the auto pilot to work reasonable well, so we did not have to hand steer except for every once in a while when the drive motor got to hot. We did encounter two container ships the first going north then shortly after one going south. Both we had to make significant course changes to avoid them. I was thankful to have radar because at night it is difficult to estimate distance and headings of these big guys. With the radar it was no problem, mon. We eventually got to the St Lucie Inlet about 30 minutes before first light, so we had to bob around outside it to wait for light. St Lucie inlet is not one to go through in the dark without local knowledge. As I said above we went to the Anchorage in Stuart and picked up a mooring. Both Terri and I were exhausted and plopped down in bed and slept till noon. The only thing that got us up was the temperature in the boat. We did not open her up after the crossing so it got beastly hot down below. Tomorrow we check in with homeland security to make sure we’re not smuggling illegal aliens I suppose.

12 April

We were fortunate to get a ride to the Fort Pierce Airport so we could check in. The procedure took all of 30 seconds. What a farce and a PITA, looked at our passports then handed them back. I have no idea why this has to be done. I guess it is to be sure that we didn’t go anywhere we shouldn’t have gone, like Cuba. One more day of rest then we start the long trek back to Maryland. We will be traveling fast and furious to get back home before Peter leaves on his move to the west coast.

The trip back to the Chesapeake was a whirlwind run from dawn to dusk. We are like the horse heading back to the barn. Our greatest excitement was running through Georgia and parts of South Carolina during the daily low tides made lower by being spring tides. The depth alarm was constantly ringing and on a number of occasions we bumped the bottom, but we never got stuck, except…... We were coming into Wrightsville Beach following the channel in. As we were making the turn in the channel to Starboard (right) around the three red markers the alarm started to howl. Since I was at that time about 60 feet to the left of these markers I assumed that I was to far to the left so I turned toward the reds. Mistake…. We then went hard aground on a falling tide. We were not there two minutes when I got a call on the VHF radio from BoatUS towing asking if I was aground. Ahh yes I said to which he replied, “Do you need assistance to get off.” Me: Yes, Him: I’ll be there in 10 minutes. Apparently he has a lookout at this place who reports on boats going aground probably with regular frequency. A few minutes later a SeaTow boat came up and asked if we needed assistance. We told him that BoatUS towing was on the way and he welcomed us to the Wrightsville beach speed bump. A real cottage industry around here I guess. I don’t understand why the Coast Guard does not put some drop marks in here to warn people that the deep water is on the far left side of the channel. I guess they are supporting the local economy.

We also had an exciting moment when we met a tug towing a dredging barge with a floating pipeline behind in a narrow cut called Snows cut. They were moving against the current while we had it with us. We again bumped bottom trying to stay out of their way. It was a little hairy, but we made it through OK.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We did not get stuck at the Alligator river marina this year as we did last year. Our trip across the Albemarle was rough, but entirely manageable in the 37.

We did have some excitement moving through the Dismal Swamp Canal, however. When we entered the South lock the lockmaster told us to watch out for a few canoes farther up the canal. Well that turned out to be the understatement of the year. When we finally got to the “few Canoes” it turned out that there were 350 kayaks scattered for about 5 miles along the canal all going in the same direction that we were. Now the Dismal is a very narrow canal, with barely enough room for two boats to pass (around 30 to 35 feet bank to bank but the sides are notorious for the presence of logs and other debris). In this we had to weave between the kayakers many of which were wear Ipods so they were deaf to our hailings. We and three other boats finally were able to pass the whole bunch. If you’re a kayaker then this was a great event to participate in, but to the bigger boats plying the canal it was a nightmare.

We finally got to Norfolk and our beloved Chesapeake. From Florida to here we had only experienced one day of bad weather. Once in the Chesapeake the poop hit the fan. On out trip up the Chess from Norfolk to home we had mucho rain with lightning. The normal 2½ day trip up the Ches took us four and even that was in some blinding rain. We did hold up or ducked in early when they predicted thundershowers. There is not much that I get nervous about on the water except for T showers. Somehow sitting out on the water as the tallest thing around is not my idea of fun.

We did manage to get back to home before Pete left to move out to the west coast, Portland Oregon to be exact. We had a delightful couple of weeks with him.

Our future plans are to go back to the Bahamas next winter to visit those places we missed on the first go round. However, our plans are open just in case our president opens up relations with Cuba and allows visitation. From where we were in the Bahamas we were only about 150 miles from Cuba so…….