Crashing along upwind to Little Farmers Cay. This was after Bill reefed the sails.

We have been asked if we have to get up early to have the beach to ourselves. Well, no. The sailboat is Irish Eyes, and if you look closely on the mile long pink beach you can see the tiny black speck that is our dinghy.

This is a cocoplum bush. It is about ankle high and the two ripe light green fruit are golf ball size. Sam at Little Farmers Cay told us about it.

Costume, police whistle, and rake and scrape... A Junkanoo band musician in the Black Point Easter Festival.

Feathers, sequins, bells, beads… There were trombones, tubas, and trumpets.

Whistle and cow bells… The costumes were fantastic.

A drum fashioned from a skin stretched over an oil drum… These things were loud.

Happy Easter! Bill and I are anchored in the harbor off Black Point Settlement in the Exumas. We finally got to the beautiful clear water surrounding the Exuma Islands.

While we were in Bimini, we met a young couple who described themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend. They had crossed the Gulf Stream from No Name Harbor in a 23 foot Compac sailboat that they had trailered from Texas. For those of you who know our Tanzer 22, Canary, their boat is about the same size. Only their Compac has fewer conveniences than Canary; no portapotti nor ice box. They were very grateful to be in Bimini as their crossing was a little more adventuresome than they had anticipated. Bill and I had them aboard Irish Eyes for an afternoon of conversation and a few cold beers. I am really glad I never let Bill talk me into coming to the Bahamas in Canary! We purchased five lobster tails from a local fisherman walking down the dock and had the first two for supper. Yummy.

The expected cold front came through Bimini Sunday night and Monday. Tuesday the 23rd was beautifully clear with winds from the west. We paid our bill at Weech’s Dock and left bound for Nassau and the Exumas. The first hour of this leg was not fun. We were motoring into the wind and waves as we ran out through the cut leaving Bimini. This is my least favorite way to travel; into the waves with water washing over the deck, spray everywhere, bouncing up and down, and unmarked shallow sand bars on both sides. I was ready to fly home! We turned first north to sail to North Riding Rock then east across the Great Bahama Bank finally putting the wind behind us which is much, much more pleasant. It was so peaceful on the boat that I was able to knit. Several boats that had been with us in Bimini left when we did. We chose to sail all night, but they basically pulled off to the side and anchored in the middle of nowhere with no land in sight. I don’t know which would be better – sail at night or anchor. Ships headed from Nassau to Florida use this route. It can also be pretty rolly in the ocean swells. I don’t know if I would sleep any more rocking away at anchor than I do between my stints keeping watch while we sail at night. The night passed uneventfully except the passing in the dark of five or six ships and any number of sailboats headed for Florida.

We arrived at New Providence Island around sunrise. The wind was still out of the west and the sun was shining… so on we sailed toward Highborne Cay. The wind died down a little, and after Bill did some of his calculations, we figured we would be in Highborne after dark. Not wanting to anchor in the dark, we turned on the engine. We were anchored before sunset after 36 hours on the move. Whew!

Next morning we decided to move down to Big Major’s Spot near Staniel Cay. We were trying to meet up with our nephew Seth, and Staniel Cay has an airport, cell phone service, and WiFi. The trip from Highborne to Staniel took us about 7 hours. We anchored and agreed the next day was going to be a rest day. It took us two days to get up enough energy to even launch the dinghy.

The beach at Big Major’s Spot is called Pig Beach. There are pigs that live on the island and have been fed by so many boaters that they even swim out to greet the dinghies. I didn’t trust the beasts with their little hooves and teeth around our rubber inflatable dinghy but of course went to see them anyway. They are pretty unattractive but a novelty. We finally made contact with Seth, and sadly he couldn’t make it to the Exumas.

Yet another cold front was to pass over the Exumas which brings wind from the west. This leaves many of the anchorages exposed to wind and wave, Big Major’s Spot one of them. We upped anchor and sailed to Little Farmer’s Cay. The night before we had watched the video Dove. It’s, the story of a young man who sails around the world alone. Of course there are scenes of sailing fast with water coming over the deck and waves crashing into the boat. Well, Bill must have decided we needed to have some heavy weather sailing. The wind was blowing about 20 knots directly in our faces. Skipper Bill unfurled all the sails, except the staysail, so we were sailing at a 30 degree angle with water pouring over the deck! The fuel jugs on the deck were floating and water was spilling into the cockpit. I really don’t like having to hang onto something, anything, to keep upright. I fussed enough to convince Bill to reef the mail and pull in some of the jib. He is never watching another sailing movie! We felt our way through the shallows into the harbor at Little Farmer’s Cay and picked up a mooring. We hadn’t been settled long when the folks from Sea Fox X came over to tell us the other moored boats were going to the Farmer’s Cay Yacht Club for dinner. We radioed the Yacht Club and added ourselves to the reservations list for dinner.

The Farmer’s Cay Yacht Club is a cinder block building painted a vivid coral color. It has tile floors and lots of windows open to the breeze. Perfect. We had a lovely dinner of fish, cracked conch, peas and rice, and slaw. It was another boater’s birthday so we had carrot cake for desert.

The predicted cold front whizzed by with high winds and some swells. On the advice of the mooring ball owner, we put out our anchor in case we pulled the mooring’s anchor out. We were fine, and it wasn’t too rough at all. After the frontal passage we dinghied over to Great Guana Cay, the cay across from Little Farmer’s that helps form the protected harbor. It is on the ocean side of the islands and we were trying to find a path to the beach. Along the harbor shore were several houses; all but one uninhabited. We met Sam who lives in a house that is under construction. It has walls and the windows in place, but it doesn’t have a roof. Sam is quite the dreamer. He is building the house himself. It has a great view - just doesn’t have a roof. He may get around to it one day. Sam showed us the way over to the beach which was beautiful. He found two big cowrie shells for me. We ate a few of the wild cocoplums that Sam pointed out to us. They are okay but not my favorite.

We left Little Farmer’s headed back north to the Black Point Settlement for Easter weekend. Black Point is about 10 miles from Little Farmer’s. To break up this ‘long’ trip we anchored off Bay Rush Bay for two nights and for one night off White Point. We went ashore to the beach every day to walk and look for stuff. Bill walked over sharp rock and through waist high vegetation across the island to explore an ocean side cove. He has hiking boots and jeans; I have flip flops and bathing suits. I declined to go along walking the beautiful pink beach on the sound side instead. I did not see another soul all that day.

We arrived in Black Point on Saturday, April 3rd. We had heard via the VHF radio that Black Point was having an Easter celebration with all sorts of contests and a Junkanoo parade on Saturday night. Lorraine’s Café in town advertised on the radio that they were having a BBQ dinner before the Junkanoo. We called and added ourselves to the list. Lorraine’s also has free WiFi. Bill packed the computer into our new waterproof bag, and off we went to town.

The WiFi was incredibly slow, so we gave up on that and joined the couple from Sea Fox X and some folks we hadn’t met for our BBQ supper. I had mutton, which we suspect was goat, and Bill had chicken. It was really good. Our dinner party broke up, and we all went out into the street to wait for the parade. There were food and drink stalls along the street. We tried to purchase drink tickets, but we were told the bar was out of mixers. Bill asked if they had ice and rum. The answers were yes and yes. He purchased tickets for four drinks. We had triple measures of coconut rum over ice; very tropical and very intoxicating.

Black Point has a population of about 300. I believe all 300 were out on the main street along with about 100 boaters and a film crew from ZNS, the Bahamian TV station. The Junkanoo band arrived about 9pm. The band was a small version of what I have seen of carnival bands in Buenos Aries. Loud horns, feathered costumed pounding drummers, rake and scrape players, whistles and cowbells. The parade went about half a block down the street and back, but it took them nearly an hour. All the onlookers were walking, jumping or just keeping the beat while following along. It was great! The young kids were out with their friends; you can’t get away with much in a town of 300. Some of the kids were chanting Obama, Obama in time with the beat. Why, I don’t have a clue. For us the whole thing lasted about an hour and a half. Bill and I set off from the town dock in our dinghy in the pitch black dark, but for reasons we do not fully understand, had a little trouble finding Irish Eyes among the hundred or so anchored boats. Other boaters were still coming home and having problems finding their boats at 3am. We just lay in our vee berth, listened to their shouting, and laughed.

On Sunday evening we once again dined at Lorraine’s Café and then attended the awards ceremony for the fishing, basketball, pool, and dominos contests. They drew ten winning tickets from the raffle. Thankfully we didn’t win anything. After the awards a young gospel singer from Nassau performed. Sunday evening was much calmer than Saturday. The drinks stand wasn’t open.

We somehow have a WiFi signal on board today, so we are spending the day doing our on-line business and updating all of you.

Have a wonderful spring!

Monday March 22, 2010 

The weekend party on Monument Island. The locals didn’t invite Bill.

 The Miami skyline as we were leaving. In a few days the scenery will be different.

 

A conch horn blowing statue. A monument to all conch horn blowers everywhere. 

 Weech’s Bimini Dock. Home for a few days.

We finally made it to the Bahamas! We are tied to the dock at Weech’s Marina in Bimini. The water is beautiful, and it is finally warm, around 80°.

Our trip down the ICW in Florida was a long-motoring-waiting-for-34-bridges-to-open kind of trip. Every day the temperature was warmer, so like snakes we shed our clothes layer after layer.

We anchored one night in the Matanzas River south of St Augustine. In the morning we left, and I was steering. I was following the markers, about 50 ft from a green buoy, and should have been in the middle of the channel, but ooops, we bumped the bottom and stuck. The depth sounder showed 5 feet, but the boat was in the channel and there should have been 12! It took several tries to get off the bottom and several more ooopses, but we finally found deep water near the starboard side bank where both our paper and electronic charts showed shallow water. A week or so later we found several websites with tales of boats being stuck in the same place. We feel so proud… we did not have to call a towboat like the others.

In Vero Beach I noticed that our oil pressure gauge read no pressure (like almost 0) although the alarm had not yet sounded. I told Bill, and he shut the engine off and checked the oil. Although low, there was still oil in the engine. Whew. Bill looked back at his log and realized the engine had been using much more oil than usual since the last oil change. We hadn’t noticed any strange engine noises or clouds of exhaust, but we decided when we got to Miami we would go to the local Yanmar dealer, Anchor Marine, and have a mechanic look at the engine.

Bill called Anchor Marine while we were motoring through Miami. He talked to the Service Manager who asked if the engine started easily (yes), was it making funny noises (no), or emitting embarrassing clouds of smoke (no). His advice was to buy some oil and go to the Bahamas. No matter what might be wrong, the fix would be the same: overhaul or replace the engine. Since that would take a couple of weeks and $$$$, we decided to follow the guy’s advice. Also, Anchor Marine is a working boatyard in a pretty poor neighborhood on the Miami River and not the sort of place where you go on long quiet solitary walks. I could envision several weeks confined to my bunk staying out of the mechanic’s way while he worked making a greasy mess of my home. We bought 10 gallons of oil.

We did a little celebration jig and continued toward the Venetian Causeway anchoring where we did last year. The wind changed direction during the night making the spot rough, so we moved to the other side of the causeway to discover lots of anchored boats. We picked a spot and dropped our hook. The Venetian Causeway connects Miami and Miami Beach. From where we anchored it was just a short dinghy ride into the city of Miami Beach.

Miami Beach has two nearby Publix grocery stores. One is an old, ethnic one and the other a newer, larger one with lots of variety. In the old one lots of stuff was kosher. They also had several brands of guava paste. I am not at all sure what you do with guava paste, but it did look interesting. I shopped in the newer store. It was more like home. Bill bought oil at Advance Auto.

Near where we anchored, was a small manmade island with a 110 ft high white monument to Henry Flagler, the original Florida land developer, thus the island’s name - Monument Island. Since we were there on Saturday, we got to see the big weekend party on Monument Island. There were Miami Vice type boats, jet skis, loud music, booze, and girls with skimpy bikinis. Bill watched through binoculars wishing someone would invite him over. That evening the City of Miami had a wonderful fireworks display. From where we were anchored we could see the whole Miami skyline silhouetted against the lit up sky; a perfect view. But, we don’t know what was being celebrated.

On Sunday we decided to walk down Lincoln Road, which is a pedestrian mall, to the beach. It was warm and the beach was full. Lincoln Road has lots of shops, mostly shoes and sunglasses, with a restaurant every few feet. We stopped at an outdoor pizza place for a pizza and a beer or two. The people-watching was the most fun. People of every shape, size, color, and manner of dress were out strolling. Having a leashed dog with you seemed to be a near universal requirement for admission. We had fun watching.

With all the anchored boats at Miami Beach, some of the ladies who had wintered there started a cruisers’ radio net. They announced every morning what social events were planned for the day. We went to a pot luck supper in the local park and a cocktail party on Monument Island. Our Monument Island party was during the week, and our group had the place all to ourselves. It was fun to make new friends and hear what other boaters are doing. Several of the ones in Miami Beach had been there all winter. The weather had been cold and windy. Some, like us were waiting for good weather to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. Others had given up on crossing and are just going to stay in Miami before heading back north. Some boats have insurance that requires the boat to be north of Savannah or some other point by June 1 to avoid hurricanes. We are lucky that we don’t have to worry about that.

Friday, March 19, we moved (along with about 17 other boats) from Miami Beach to Key Biscayne. The weather forecast for Saturday was good for the run to the Bahamas. After we got to Key Biscayne, Bill made one last dinghy trip to shore mailing a form to the IRS requesting an extension to file our 2009 income tax after we get back.

We had a beautiful sunset; Bill and several others blew their conch shell horns, and we went to bed early. We decided to get up at 3am to leave. Bill set the alarm on his radio for 3, only he also mistakenly set the timer to go off every 180 minutes. It did not make for a restful night. We were anchor up and underway by 3:45 in complete blackness. I didn’t like moving the boat in shallow water close to shore in the dark, and I really didn’t like motoring among the other anchored boats. I could see all kinds of things that weren’t there in the dark. The landing lights of an airplane at 10,000 feet ten miles away became the imagined anchor light of a boat 50 feet away, and I turned to avoid it. Ships miles away looked like they were nearby. We motored all the way to Bimini with the wind straight on our nose and with 4 ft swells rolling the boat. Every few yards we saw a Portuguese Man of War. The first one I saw I thought was some sort of balloon. Good thing we didn’t want to swim! Once across the Gulf Stream the swell and rolling went away. We arrived in Bimini at about 2pm, docked at Weech’s Bimini Dock, and cleared customs and immigration. I slept well that night. Even the live band at the bar did not keep me awake.

We are spending a couple of days here enjoying the stationary first hot showers since Myrtle Beach and waiting for a cold front to pass us by before we continue on to Nassau and the Exumas.

Hope Spring arrives soon for you all.

March 5, 2010

The new Ben Sawyer Bridge

High tide

Low tide

White pelicans


Florida at last!!! We crossed the St. Mary’s River and passed into the Sunshine State at noon Thursday.

For a while I had begun to doubt that we would make it. So much has happened – all unexpected. Bill’s brother, Worth, who was hospitalized when we left Kingsport died leaving behind a wife and young son. We rented a car to return to Salisbury for the funeral leaving the boat tied up in the marina at Little River. We spent a week in Salisbury visiting with family including Julia, Ann, their husbands, and our three grandchildren. As always it was a good time. I enjoyed being called Mommy’s Mommy.

When Bill ordered the winch parts, he had them shipped UPS to the marina not realizing that the marina had no sign, no staffed office, and no address on the door. On the appointed morning we took turns sitting in a chair on the marina sidewalk waiting on UPS. Bill flagged down the brown truck as he drove by, showed an ID, and got our parts. Unfortunately, the gearbox did not have the right flange to bolt to our windlass, but after several phone calls, e-mails, and an exchange of photographs on the internet another part was sent. This time we had it sent to Elaine’s house, and when it came it fit.

On our way back to Little River from Salisbury, we learned of the death of Bill’s uncle Frank. He was a retired Major General and, a D-Day Battalion Commander, and the last surviving WWII Regimental Commander. His funeral service will be June 4 in Arlington.

While we were in Little River, JP and Elaine treated us like royalty… we ate like kings at their house, and for a Valentine’s Day treat we went to a very nice restaurant in Myrtle Beach. They took us on hunts for the bits and pieces needed to repair the boat and on trips to restock the food and supplies we had used or forgotten.

It was February 23 when Bill attached the last wire to the windlass, we took a shower, Bill filled the water tanks, and we left Little River. Going south through Myrtle Beach was a boring crawl through a dug canal filled with rock before entering the beautiful Wacamaw River. We anchored north of Georgetown behind Butler Island watching a huge dredge with 300 feet of pipes, tugs, barges, and boats all attached pass quietly by on the other side of the island.

Our next stop was Deweese Island north of Charleston. It was a nice anchorage, and we stayed there all the next day waiting on the wind to die down following a cold front. The Ben Sawyer swing bridge connects Sullivan’s Island to the mainland. It was in poor condition, and for over a week the ICW was closed to boat traffic for replacement while we were in Little River. Rather than a modern high rise bridge, the new bridge is almost exactly like the old even down to using round headed bolts to simulate the old bridge’s rivets. It is almost cartoon-like. Having an exact replica of the old bridge must mean something to somebody. Boats on the ICW still have to wait for the bridge to open and vehicles on the road still have to wait for the bridge to close. Oh well… progress.

In the Charleston Harbor we were shadowed by a Charleston Metropolitan Sheriffs boat. Later in the day in the Wadmalaw River, they finally turned on their blue lights and stopped us. They wanted to board, search, and inspect us. Bill offered the February 3 boarding report from our US Coast Guard boarding in Morehead City. The deputies spent 15 minutes copying the information from the USCG form to their form before letting us go. These guys were very nice and their departing comment was that with so little traffic on the waterway “pickings were slim.” I am still in amazement that we must allow all official people to get on Irish Eyes without any real reason. I won’t argue on the spot, but it does seem a bit unfair. We don’t think we look like outlaws!!

There is a spot in the South Edisto River near Finwick Island that I don’t like, but where we seem to anchor every time we go by. Bill did it again this year. It is just off the waterway - sort of like pulling over on the side of the highway and parking for the night. I don’t like the thought of nighttime boat traffic so nearby, but this year with temperatures in the 30s we were the only fools out on the water.

We stopped at Hilton Head Island and anchored between Seabrook Lodge and the Skull Creek Marina. The full moon was impressive. The radio said the moon was at its closest to the earth which not only made it big, it also made the high tide extra high and the low tide extra low. At high tide most of the marsh grass was underwater making it hard to figure out where the edges of the channel were located. Adding to the confusion there were big mats of reeds lifted out of the marsh and floating around looking just like islands where there were no islands at all. At low tide there was just no water. The next day in Georgia we were worried about low tide at the shallow Hell Gate, so we turned off into the Vernon River to anchor for the night. Bill was steering and confirmed that our boat draws 5 feet. I say the bottom of the river came up and grabbed the boat. It took us a few minutes to get off, but we managed.

The next day we got through Hell Gate at high tide with no problem, but worrying again about shallow water we anchored in the Back River north of the shallow and aptly named Little Mud River to wait ‘till the next day’s high tide. During the night we watched Blazing Saddles on our 12v TV/DVD player while it rained and blew outside as another front came through on its way north to dump snow on New York. Around noon the rain had stopped, and we continued south. We had two short days stopping first in Brunswick anchored behind Lanier Island and again at Jekyll Island waiting for rain, a thunderstorm, and high winds to go away.

We arrived in Florida this year 17 days later than last year and stopped at Kingsley Plantation north of Jacksonville. Tonight we are south of St Augustine in the Matanzas River. It may be Florida, but it is still cold with freeze warnings inland and morning lows in the lower 30s here on the coast.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

This year it has been cold. In New Bern we had an ice storm that covered the boat and dock in ice while the rest of North Carolina was buried in snow.

Away at last. Four hours down river from New Bern we anchored in Adams Creek arriving just before sundown... perfect.

It’s Bill’s birthday party; no guests. He is enjoying his Moon Pie topped with whipped cream. There is no need for refrigeration. It is 48°F in the boat.

It is not the sort of weather that the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce prides itself on. We got three inches of snow.

Hello from snowy, yes that is snowy, Little River, SC. Bill and I have been here tied to a dock since Monday, February 8. We have had a slow start to this year’s Bahamian adventure.

We left Kingsport as scheduled on Wednesday, January 27. Irish Eyes needed new life lines. They are the wires that go around the deck. Bill had ordered them from a boat yard in Oriental, NC before we left home. Although originally promised for the Wednesday before we were to leave, they weren’t actually ready ’til Friday afternoon. The weather forecast for Friday night through Saturday night was for wind, rain, freezing rain, and sleet. And well, that’s exactly what we got. Bill & I were warm inside Irish Eyes with our little electric heater that works just fine (so long as we are tied to a dock with 125v electricity). It was so cold Monday morning that ice formed on the salt water between the boats in the marina. With ice in the marina and all of North Carolina covered in snow, it did not seem like a good time to leave the marina with its electricity, so we drove back to Salisbury for a two day visit with Bill’s brothers. I did our major grocery shopping on Wednesday morning, Bill bought spare parts (or whatever all those expensive little bits are), and after filling the fuel tank and emptying the holding tank we were ready to leave right after noon. We did our usual first day trip to Adams Creek, dropped the anchor in time to see the sunset, and begin enjoying winter time in an unheated boat.

On Thursday February 4 the morning weather forecast was once again not good for the weekend – two days of gale warnings and inches of rain. We made the decision to head to Mile Hammock Bay, anchor, and spend the next 2 days and 3 nights there. It was a cold cloudy day. The sun really makes a difference in how many layers of clothing I wear. On the coldest days I wear silk long underwear, wool long underwear, sweat pants, a long sleeved tee shirt, fleece sweater, heavy coat, knitted hat, coat hood, fingerless gloves, gloves, 2 pairs of socks, and fleece lined shoes. If the sun is warm I might, just might, unzip my coat or take off my hood. I will really be glad to get to a warm climate. As we passed through Morehead City, we were greeted by the Coast Guard’s flashing blue lights. They boarded and inspected the boat, found nothing amiss, and went on their way.

As planned we stayed 3 nights and 2 days in Mile Hammock Bay. It rained buckets, the wind howled, and the boat danced about on its anchor. Without heat we dressed up like we were outside when we were inside and slept under 5 blankets. One of our new toys on Irish Eyes is a HDTV with DVD player. Since Friday, February 5 was Bill’s 59^th birthday we celebrated with a DVD, Dr. Stranglove. He got his favorite treat - a Moon Pie topped with whipped cream. Bill says it was a good birthday.

The sun came out on Sunday, so off we went. Other than waiting for bridges to open, it was another day on the water. The anchor was down in Carolina Beach before dark. Next day, Monday, was clear and warmer still with very little wind. The current was with us, so our trip down the Cape Fear River was quick. At Southport we checked the sea forecast and decided to go out into the Atlantic for the 25 mile hop to the Little River Inlet. The waterway has a safety zone at Sunset Beach because they are replacing the old floating pontoon bridge with a high rise bridge. By going out into the ocean rather than following the ICW, we missed that hassle along with the two shallow inlets, Lockwood’s Folly and Shallotte. We motored all the way from Cape Fear to the Little River because the wind was very light. We had an uneventful trip except for a bit of excitement when Bill discovered a pool of black oil under the engine right after we left the Cape Fear River. It turns out that all that was wrong was that the master mechanic did not get the oil dipstick tightly into its hole and some oil was blowing out. I did see a bird I had never seen before, a Northern Gannet, a huge bird with a gray bill. We tied up to the dock at Coquina Harbor Yacht Club in time for a quick shower before having dinner out with my sister Elaine and her husband JP.

Our anchor windlass, the electric winch that raises and lowers the anchor, had been sounding like a grumpy old man. Tuesday morning Bill decided to take the thing apart. It came out of the boat as a collection of corroded metal bits. The drive motor and the gear reducer were both shot. After several phone calls to the distributer in Massachusetts and waiting a day while they were closed due to snow, new parts are now on the way abet with a significant dent in the Visa card! The package is due to be delivered tomorrow, Monday, so we hope to be on the way on Tuesday.

We are in the best place possible to have to wait a week. We have been royally entertained by Elaine and JP, and we have seen my Aunt Mary Ellen and Uncle Ken. Oh yes, we saw snow at Myrtle Beach! It’s following us. The docks and boats were covered with 3” of snow when we woke up Saturday. I want it to be at least a year before I see any more of that white stuff.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you!

Adair

Tuesday, June 9, 2009


The cruise ship Disney Magic passed us headed back to Port Canaveral during the day. Two others passed us during the night. They are much bigger and faster than we are. It is scary enough during the day and much more so at night.


This submarine was leaving Port Canaveral as we were coming in. She was surrounded by flying helicopeters and armed boats.


The USS Farragut was leaving the navy dock in Port Canaveral as we motored by. We were escorted at this point by a boat with a man standing beside his machine gun.


Eli can not yet walk on his own, so he crawled along the beach collecting sand samples on his face.


Isabella and Kaelyn enjoyed their time together on the beach at Cocoa Beach.


This pitiful little fort with a garrison of five or six protected St. Augustine for attack by the British for a hundred years. Pitiful.

Sunset on the Waccamaw River in South Carolina. It is one of my favorite places along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Hey. We are safely back in the US and tied up in our slip in New Bern 129 days after we were last here.

We sailed overnight from West End, Grand Bahama to Port Canaveral on May 17 leaving Sunday morning. The overnight trip was fairly uneventful. The wind was coming from behind us and the seas were about 2 to 3 feet. We passed several cruise ships during the night, or I guess really, they passed us. The ships were ablaze with so many lights, we could not make out their red and green port and starboard navigation lights. It made it hard to figure out which way they are going. Bill got to use his radar to track these big ships. It gave him something to do in the dark.

We arrived in Florida around 11am, entered Port Canaveral as a Trident submarine and an Aegis guided missile destroyer were leaving, docked at Cape Marina, then walked a little over a mile in the rain to the US Customs and Immigration office. The man who checked us into the country issued us a Local Boaters Option registration card. With this card we won’t have to appear in person next time we come back into the US on Irish Eyes so long as we come back into Florida. Although the card is federal it isn’t valid anywhere but Florida. At least we won’t have a repeat of this year’s long wet walk or last year’s $100 taxi ride.

As we were walking back to the marina it started pouring rain so we stopped for lunch in hopes that the rain would stop. It did not. This was the beginning of the Florida monsoon. It rained most of the week we were in Port Canaveral. The children and grandchildren were coming to meet us May 23, so for the next few days we just rested, read, knitted, and did a few little chores on the boat while over twenty inches of rain fell. One day we caught the local bus and went shopping. Bill found a used boat parts place a block away from the marina. He, of course, found some irresistible things to buy and add to the clutter on the boat.

On Saturday the family arrived… in the rain. We all sat in the salon while four year old Kaelyn toured Irish Eyes. She liked our boat. She found it just about right for a child’s playhouse; little stove, little refrigerator, little bed, and a working toilet; perfect. The weather cleared up enough in the afternoon to take a short trip to the Cocoa Beach beach. Kaelyn and Eli, from Middle Tennessee, had never seen the ocean. Both of them enjoyed playing in the waves and getting completely covered in sand. Isabella, the Florida native, was already an old beach pro, but she liked the beach better this time because she could now walk on her own with adults chasing after her.

Sunday was not a beautiful day, but for a change it wasn’t raining. We untied Irish Eyes and with all nine of us on board motored out through the ship channel into the Atlantic. Julia and Michael were not big fans of the waves. Julia looked very ill in the swells, and Michael worried about sharks, sea monsters, and giant fish. Kaelyn sat on the bow just loving the ride as we plunged into the waves driving the water spray above her head. We cut the trip short, returned to the marina, and all went back to the beach. We had a ringside seat to watch several cruise ships leave the harbor. ‘Freedom of the Sea’ was the largest with 4000 passengers and 1300 crew! We also saw two Disney ships, ‘Disney Magic’ and ‘Disney Wonder’, come and go. The recession hasn’t hurt their trade.

On Memorial Day the Selfs and Zangris left to go back to Winter Haven, and Bill and I left to go west through the Cape Canaveral Barge Canal to the Intracoastal Waterway. We made it through the Port Canaveral bascule bridges without having to wait. We navigated into the lock, tied up, and shut the engine down. I was sitting on deck watching the fish swim around the no fishing signs ready with my boat hook to fend us off the wall. Bill said, “That was a real non-event.” I was very puzzled by his comment because we hadn’t moved up or down (or so I thought). I looked around and the exit gate was opening. If we went up or down at all I never saw or felt it. The next bridge was stuck in the closed position, so we had to circle around for a half hour or so while the bridge tender struggled. Whatever was wrong was eventually righted, and we finally got through. We motored north on the ICW past Titusville to Mosquito Lagoon and anchored there for the night.

Tuesday was a fairly long day of motoring. The weather had been clear, but around 5pm a humdinger of a thunderstorm came up. We were headed into the Matanzas River to anchor near Ft. Matanzas. It was raining fairly hard, but after just one bump (?) on the bottom we made it into the anchorage. The storm thankfully didn’t last too long. Wednesday morning we put the dinghy in the water and went to the National Park Service Dock to take their pontoon boat to the fort for the free tour. It was an interesting place. The Spanish managed to keep the English away from St. Augustine’s southern entrance for a long time by simply keeping a lookout and several old guns at Ft. Matanzas – a complete bluff when you take a close look at it.

After our history tour, we moved on to St. Augustine and anchored in the harbor. The weather forecast for the next few days was fairly benign, so we decided to go out into the Atlantic to Beaufort, SC. By sailing outside, we could avoid all the shallow spots in Georgia. Bill went to Sailor’s Exchange (a used boat stuff store), West Marine, and Winn-Dixie. I did our laundry at the municipal marina then walked around the downtown for a bit.

Thursday we were up early to make the 8:30am opening of the Bridge of Lions. Construction work on the bridge was still ongoing. The old bridge was beautiful and the locals tell us the new one will use parts of the old. But, for the last couple of years it has been an ugly mess with lots of rusty old barges, tugs, pile drivers, and cranes all around in the water and a temporary steel lift bridge in the middle. Once we were out of the St. Augustine inlet, the wind was perfect for sailing, and we headed north staying about 20 miles offshore. All was well until about 8pm. A huge thunderstorm blew up and stayed with us for 4 or 5 hours. All I will say is the lightning was spectacular, all around us, and constant. Our 45 ft aluminum mast was the highest thing in miles. In spite of my earnest pleadings I was not levitated off the boat.

After midnight the weather improved, and we sailed on till morning. We passed Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach, Brunswick and then Savannah. The sun was finally up and shining when we crossed the Savannah ship channel. We watched the Coast Guard board a foreign ship for inspection. At least it wasn’t us this time! As usual Bill and I did not do formal watches. We both stayed in the cockpit until one of us couldn’t stay awake any longer, and then that person slept for an hour or two. I listened to my pocket-sized radio when I was awake, and Bill watched the ships coming and going on radar which for him was sort of like TV without the ads. We made it into Beaufort, South Carolina in the afternoon, anchored the boat, and took a well deserved nap.

During the next two days we motored north on the ICW in South Carolina. We anchored in Church Creek south of Charleston one night and then in Whiteside Creek north of Charleston the next. We saw alligators, wood storks, and ibises between Charleston and Georgetown. I wouldn’t have been able to identify the birds without my super deluxe gyroscopic binoculars. They really are a “good thing”. Once we passed Georgetown the wind returned, and we again hoisted a sail. I really liked the Waccamaw River section of the waterway. The scenery changed as we went along, the water was fresh, and the creek anchorages are numerous and isolated. We went into Thoroughfare Creek, dropped our anchor for the night off a sandy beach, and stayed until the afternoon of the next day. We twice watched dragon flies catch and eat horse flies; simple entertainment while enjoying a gin and tonic.

Since the water was fresh, I took a bath in the river. The current was extremely strong, and Bill put out a 100 ft floating line behind the boat so I would have something to hold onto. That was a good idea. I hopped in, was immediately swept away, but managed to grab the line because I couldn’t swim against the current. Seriously, I couldn’t make any progress at all against the current. It was hand over hand up the rope and back to the boat; not a good feeling.

In the late afternoon we sailed and motored the 10 miles to Bucksport. The Old River which branches off the Waccamaw at the Bucksport Marina was lovely, and we went as far into it as we felt was safe. That night we had a perfectly idyllic anchorage all to ourselves among the cypress trees and water lilies.

We motored to Coquina Yacht Club in Little River to spend the next two nights visiting with my sister, Elaine, and her husband, JP. Friday was my aunt Mary Ellen’s 80^th birthday. Elaine made a cake and had Mary Ellen and Ken as well as Elaine’s neighbor, Agnes, whose birthday was also on Friday, and her husband Tom over for desert. We had a good time.

I need to make a confession about a minor incident that occurred on the way to Little River. As we were circling waiting for the Little River Swing Bridge to open, I ran Irish Eyes aground. I mean seriously aground; four feet of water on one side of the boat and ten feet on the other. We could not go forwards or backwards. We were pinned against an underwater rock ledge by the current. Bill and I inflated the dinghy and were ready to launch it so we could put out an anchor upstream of the boat and pull ourselves off. A very jovial group in a small motor boat asked if they could help. Bill passed them a line, and with one quick tug they pulled us up-current and away from the rock. Now, we just have to see how much damage the rock did to the keel and rudder.

Saturday we motored all day through the notoriously shallow spots in both Shallotte Inlet and Lockwood’s Folly Inlet, up the Cape Fear River, and through Snows Cut to Carolina Beach. That night we anchored in Carolina Beach where it was very pleasant and cool. We had intended to do another off shore run from Wrightsville Beach to Morehead City, but the wind was from the northeast and we would have to have motored rather than sailed outside, so we just motored on the waterway.

Our plan was to anchor in Mile Hammock Bay, an anchorage within the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune. Along the way, another sailboat told us that the anchorage was closed. Bill called the Coast Guard on the cell phone and they said they didn’t know anything about Mile Hammock Bay being closed. We looked in all our guide books and charts and couldn’t find a phone number for the Marines to ask them. On we went. It was about 7pm when we turned into Mile Hammock Bay. There were several landing craft moored to the wall and some tanker trucks on shore but nothing major. We have anchored here when the Marines had a full sized tent city on the shore. Just as Bill was ready to drop the anchor, a pair of grey inflatable boats each complete with three machine guns and four camouflage clad young men came out to greet us. The guy in charge told us the anchorage was closed to civilians until June 30 or maybe longer. Ok, no problem, we just continued on to Factory Channel, a two hour motor trip away, and anchored there in the dark. The Hatteras Yacht factory was closed, so there was no one there to bother us. It was a late supper but a nice calm night disturbed only by the no-see-ums.

Our last night at anchor was spent in Adams Creek. It was a beautiful evening with a nice breeze during the night. Today we motored to Northwest Creek Marina and into our slip. We were just ahead of another thunderstorm, and the temperature was creeping up close to 90°. Waiting in the trunk of my car was our air conditioner. It wasn’t long before we had it installed and running.

So after 2500 miles of travel we are once again in New Bern. We don’t feel like we have been gone over 4 months, but the trees are green rather than bare and the mercury is at the top rather than the bottom of the thermometer. We have had a wonderful adventure, I’ve got my shells, and we still are a happy couple. Like the tee shirts say, “Life Is Good”.

Saturday, May 16, 2009


This is St. Joseph's Anglican Church in Thompson Bay. Our boat is anchored in the distance. We came over in the dinghy and attended Sunday services.


We chased this turtle in our dinghy in the shallow creek inside Conception Island. The creek was just full of turtles enjoying the sun warmed shallow water.


This is elkhorn coral on the reef north of Conception Island. The coral heads rise up 25 feet from the white sand bottom almost to the low tide water surface. There are fish everywhere.


This is the Hermitage on Cat Island built by Fr. Jerome in the 1930s. The buildings are just big enough for one person; sort of like a playhouse. It is very impressive both for its architecture and location.

We hooked four dolphin fish, but all eventually got away. If only we could have gotten even one in the boat...

You ought to see the teeth in this baracuda's mouth. Bill got him first.

Hello. Bill and I are headed back to the US. We are currently anchored at West End, Grand Bahama Island near the Old Bahama Bay Resort. The resort did not have an empty slip for us, but that is okay. It is probably quieter (and certainly cheaper) here.

After waiting a week after the George Town regatta for favorable weather, we were finally able to leave and sail south on May 2. Before we weighed anchor we went to the Peace and Plenty Beach Club a for their Happy Hour and Supper, made our last trip into town for food, fuel and water, had the crews from Dot’s Way and Euphoria over for a farewell beer, and walked Sand Dollar Beach one last time. The wind was right, so we sailed south to Long Island which is south of the tropic of cancer and thus well and truly in the tropics. At Long Island we anchored in Thompson Bay off the settlement of Salt Pond. On shore just off our bow, was the pretty St. Joseph’s Anglican Church. The next morning, Sunday, we decided we would go to church. Bill took the dinghy to shore early and walked to the church to check the time of Sunday services. The sign said “Services Weekly”. I decided to knit in the cockpit to keep an eye on the church parking lot. When the acolytes arrived, we left for church making it in time for the 11am service.

The church service was a laid back Anglican service but with lots of incense and bells. Everyone knew the hymns but us, including the singing of the Lord’s Prayer to a Caribbean tune. Bill and I stood up and introduced ourselves to the twenty or so others in attendance. The priest has four churches where he holds services each Sunday. One of the churches is on another island. The times of the services rotate beginning at 7am. The people on Long Island are a mixture of African and Spanish heritages. The Hispanic women were beautiful. Everybody in church was more dressed up than I was. I wore my one dress, a knit polo dress. Bill fit in with his khakis and short sleeve dress shirt. It was interesting to try and wear decent shoes and long pants when we had to land the dinghy on the beach and wade ashore.

That afternoon we walked through the settlement where all the businesses were closed then continued down a lane across the island to the ocean side beach. One of the men who had been in church was there with three boys. The kids were having a blast swimming in the surf. Bill and I enjoyed talking to the man about his experiences working in Alberta in the winter and watching the boys play. The poor guy had to get the boys out of the water when it was time to go home. I’m glad I didn’t have to be the meanie.

Monday was a beautiful day with great wind. We sailed north along the island’s shore with all three of Irish Eye’s sails flying and anchored in Calabash Bay near Cape Santa Maria. There is a monument to Christopher Columbus on top of a nearby hill. Legend has it that Columbus’s Santa Maria was lost on the reef off the coast here. (There are lots of legends about the great explorer’s exploits on Long Island and the nearby cays.)

The wind was not as favorable Tuesday morning, so we motor sailed north to Conception Island. Conception was uninhabited and a Bahamas Trust land park. There were lots of tropic birds with their outrageously long tail feathers on the island. We walked the beaches. One on the south was a very nice shelling beach. The north side beach was pretty much a junk beach - lots of shoes, plastic bottles, rope, and floating junk of all sorts. There was a small sandstone cliff where a rope was tied so you could drag yourself to the top where there was a really nice view across the offshore coral reefs.

Conception Island had an interior mangrove lined creek which was home to sea turtles. The creek was very shallow. Even dinghies couldn’t get into the creek at anything but high tide. A boat we met in Georgetown, Loafer’s Glory, was anchored at Conception too. We took our slow dinghy and they took their fast one around to Conch Creek. Loafer’s Glory got there first – of course. We saw lots of turtles and followed one around until I was afraid the poor thing was going to have a heart attack. Those little guys can really fly when they swim.

There are several coral heads on the ocean side of the island with all kinds of fish. Bill and I made two snorkeling trips in the dinghy. The water where we were anchored was so clear I could see the sand dollars on the bottom six feet under Irish Eyes’ keel. A nurse shark and several trunk fish swam around the boat. We had the people from two other boats over for drinks; Chris a single hander from Virginia and Paul and Deb from Canada. Paul and Deb were our hosts the next evening.

Saturday May 9 found us motor sailing to the settlement of New Bight on Cat Island. Along the way we hooked four dolphin fish or mahi mahi. We struggled with all four fish but didn’t manage to land a single one! One straightened the hook, one broke the hook, one shook the hook off, and one dove under the boat and breaking both the line and a guide on the rod. We did manage to get two of them alongside before they escaped, but with a gaff that is only two feet long we just couldn’t get them on board. I did get some pictures. But, I am not at all sure where we would have put all the fish if we have landed one (sour grapes).

The main attraction at New Bight were ruins. We visited the Armbrister Great House site first. At one time Cat Island had plantations where loyalist settlers from the US tried to raise cotton. I am quite sure the lack of soil was a big surprise. The highest hill in the Bahamas, Comer Hill at 206 feet, is the site of the Hermitage. This is the self-built monastery of Father Jerome Hawkes a student of architecture, an Anglican, and later a Roman Catholic priest. He was pretty much a hermit at the end of his life, and he built it to resemble hermitages he had visited in Britain and Europe. I was afraid we might get altitude sickness up there (ha ha) after being at sea level for so long.

When we left New Bight I managed to catch one of the lines to the dinghy in the propeller. After I went swimming and untangled the mess on the prop, we motored to Pigeon Cay for a nice evening beach stroll. I found a few more shells.

Monday May 11 we sailed to Little San Salvador. We went inside the little harbor and anchored in flat water which was beautifully clear. Little San Salvador was purchased by Holland America Cruise Lines and renamed Half Moon Cay. They built a fake Bahamian village, trails and tram tracks through the bush, and a netted and buoyed swimming area (so you don’t swim with fish I guess) all to provide their passengers with a day at the beach. Yachtsmen were not welcome on shore. We knew that, but our guidebook said that if a ship isn’t there anchoring is fine. We were anchored snugly with about eight other boats by 3pm. All seemed well, and gin and tonic time was approaching. About 5:30 we were all told we had to move to the northwest corner of the harbor as a cruise ship was due in early the next morning. The northwest corner is exposed to the ocean swell and was a pretty miserable place to spend the night. My complaint was the instructions to move came too late to make the 42 mile journey to Eleuthera.

We got up early on Tuesday to sail to Eleuthera, and saw the cruise ship coming towards Little San Salvador. It seemed a shame for those people to come all the way to the Bahamas and only see a newly made “Disney-fied” island instead of the real thing. We’ve had a much better trip.

Our fishing did not improve. We did hook and land a large fish, but it turned out to be a Great Barracuda! It had lots of teeth. Bill and I each had our task. I job was to slow the boat, clear the cockpit of things we don’t want wet, and get my squeeze bottle of vodka to give the old fish a good welcoming drink on his arrival. Bill reeled the fish in and gaffed the poor thing. I gave him a drink and Bill cut his spine. It went like clockwork; all for a barracuda which we just threw back into the sea after taking its picture. Why could we have not done it for one of the dolphin fish? Our sail was downwind to Tarpum Bay. We had a peaceful night off the colorful town and left just after sunrise for the long days sail to Royal Island. It was another downwind trip. To get to Royal Island you have to go through Current Cut, a narrow cut through the land with menacing rocks on both sides. The current was very strong and we blasted through with the current going in the same direction as we were. It was sort of like being flushed in a toilet.

We left Royal Island early - again. Our next sail was across the 14,000 ft deep Northwest Providence Channel to Sandy Point on Great Abaco Island. It was another beautiful downwind trip. Since we were headed north and the weather was in our favor, we were on the move. Our fuel tank was full but we didn’t have anything in our jugs on deck as back up and we had used half of our fresh water in the two weeks since leaving George Town. Sandy Point seemed like a good place to top off the tanks and buy some groceries. Sandy Point looks like most of the settlements we have seen, some houses looked better than others, but all the people were friendly. Everyone spoke, smiled, waved, and tooted their horns as they drove by. Everybody looks well fed and well dressed. I am sure the economy with its reliance on tourism is not that great. Bill and I got a few groceries, water, and fuel before we up anchored and headed off on our overnight passage to West End.

The wind was behind us all the way. We sailed with only the genoa moving it from one side to the other as the wind shifted directions and furling it a little at a time as the wind speed increased during the night. Even with only a quarter of it showing our speed was still between 4 and 5 knots. The waves were kind of scary at times and there was lots of ship traffic, but we made it. I got the opportunity to cook on the stove with it swinging back and forth on its gimbals and with the pot clamped to the burner. We put up the lee cloth on the starboard settee and took turns napping during the night. We were past Freeport when the sun came up and were anchored off West End by 9 in the morning. The autopilot was the most appreciated crewman on the boat.

Our intention is to leave here around mid morning tomorrow (Sunday) and head for Port Canaveral, Florida. That will be another overnight sail. All our children and grandchildren are to meet us next Saturday in Cocoa Beach. Bill and I both are looking forward to seeing all the kids and having them on board Irish Eyes. Oh yes, not everybody is sleeping on the boat!