The Bahamas!

I am typing this on foreign soil, Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas, to be exact. Yes, I finally made it! I left Lake Worth inlet about 6:00 AM Monday morning for the Gulf Stream crossing to the Bahamas bank. Winds were generally light, 5 knots most of the time, with 10 knots occasionally for period of 30 minutes to an hour. Seas were 2-3 feet nearly all the way, only near the bank did they increase to maybe 4 feet for a while. So it was a very pleasant crossing. I was able to accomplish it with Dennis and Georgia Ojard aboard Njord, a trawler, and another power boat Time Out. It give you a sense of security to be with other boats just in case anything goes wrong, which it didn’t for any of us. When we got to the edge of the bank, there was still a couple of hours of daylight left, so we continued to Mangrove Cay (pronounced key in the Bahamas) for the night. It was a very calm night and enjoyable. Stars everywhere when there were no clouds. Tuesday, continued across the banks to the eastern side of the Bahamas and anchored in a cover at Allens-Pensacola Cay. This was actually two cays at one time, but became connected during a hurricane. I served homemade spaghetti to the three boats. Everyone seemed to enjoy the dinner. And the company was great, especially after being alone on the waterway for so long.

Today, Wednesday, we arrived at Green Turtle Cay, which has a customs office, to check in, get a cruising permit, passports stamps, a fishing permit, and become legal visitors. Tonight I docked at the Green Turtle Club & Marina. They give you the price of your slip off and dinner and drinks you consume while staying there. So it was sort of a cheap way to go out to dinner, as I needed to dock to clear customs. The weather was a little more blustery today, winds from the SE at 10-15 knots seas 2-3 feet, with some spray coming onto the windshield (or dodger for you sailors!). The only problem that presents is the salt makes it hard to see out, so I had to run up with a bucket of water to rinse the salt off before entering the marina. Oh, such trials. It was cloudy today, but still in the 80s, so another great day in paradise. Tomorrow I will go out into the Atlantic Ocean to go around shallow water behind on Cay, Whale Cay, come back in on the other side of the cay, and head to Marsh Harbor, which will be my home base for the next month or two. I will sightsee and sail from there to investigate the rest of the Abacos.

Well, my new life as a traveler continues. It is not easy, but certainly exciting, and I am more and more looking forward to what each day brings. If anybody needs to decompress, this is the place to do it. Come on down!

Until my next update,

Cliff
S/V Navigator

St. Augustine to Palm Beach

So what have I done since St. Augustine? While in St. Augustine, I visited the fort, the Castillo de San Marcos. Really impressive. They claim it was never taken in battle, only through exchange by treaty. If you ever get to St. Augustine, it is a must stop. Also went to a small reenactment settlement in the historic district where people in period dress, 1700s, explained what it was like to live there at that time. They did quite a good job. The final stop was the home of a scribe. He would write the important matter of the settlement, principally as they relate to the church at the time. He produced a little plaque attesting to the fact I had been to the settlement in very ornate writing. In addition to the scribe, I also visited a carpenter, a leather working, a blacksmith, and the keeper of a sergeant’s house. They all did a good job of explaining the reenactment. Pretty cool.

Then, back on the train again. Went south to Daytona on Wednesday, 11/18, and anchored just above the Seabreeze bridge, not far from a boat I met in St. Augustine. Traveled a total of 50 statute miles today because of a late start from St. Augustine due to tides. On Thursday, 11/19, I went past towns that I was familiar with due to my former profession in aerospace, Titusville and Cocoa Beach. Found a nice spot just off the ICS to anchor. After a cockpit shower, I had a reheated Cornish game hen for dinner I covered 82 statute miles today, to mile marker 910 on the ICW. A long day, but it doesn’t get much better than this. I had started the trip on October 18, so this marked the 1 month’s anniversary of my voyage. On Friday, I headed out for Vero Beach, 43 statute miles further down the waterway. Got diesel fuel so I wouldn’t run out tomorrow. Picked up a mooring for $10 for the night, great deal and piece of mind. In Vero Beach they tie 2 or 3 boats to a mooring, so I was with on other boat, and met Tom and Chris on Shearwater from the Potomac River. Got in early enough to go into town for fresh produce and liquor. They have a free bus you can ride all over town if you want. It stops at the mooring field/marina, so is very convenient. After traveling another 35 statute miles down the water to mm 987, I stopped in Stuart to pick up some parts for Navigator that the builder sent to the dealer in Stuart to hold for me. Got in early enough, so on Saturday, I went into town after picking up another $10 mooring. Looked for someone to cut my hair, but everything was closed Saturday afternoon. So, walked around for a while then stopped and ate dinner before going back to the boat.

Today is Sunday, 11/22, and have made Lake Worth/Palm Beach. Met up with one of my yacht club friends that had always been 2-3 days ahead of me. We will cross to the Bahamas tomorrow. Tonight we are anchored in an anchorage not far from the Lake Worth inlet, so we can get an early start (6:00 AM). They have invited me to dinner, so how could I possibly say no! Tomorrow to the Bahamas!!

This will be my last e-mail for a while, most likely at least a week. I need to find a way to transmit them once I get settled, but I promise to keep them coming at some interval, probably 1-2 weeks apart. Thanks for all your support as I have made my way down the waterway. I look forward to keeping you informed of my Bahamas adventures, and hope to keep hearing from you as well.

Oh, I almost forgot to let you know, the temperatures this week have been in the upper 70s and lower 80s. Maybe I don’t want to leave Florida. But then again, they have been the same in the Bahamas, so onward and upward.

Into the Sunshine State

Well, I have picked up my travel pace a little. I am averaging about 60 statue miles a day. For those non-seagoing types, statute miles are those you drive in a car, while nautical miles are those on the water. A nautical mile is slightly longer than a statute mile and is base on minutes of latitude (1 minute of latitude equals 1 nautical mile). Why the difference, I have no idea. Why they use statue miles for the waterway is only a guess. The waterway is maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers, and what does the Army know about boats! Makes life very confusing.

My last update found me just south of Savannah. From there, on Saturday, I went about halfway between Savannah and the Florida boarder, after about a 48 statute mile run. Then, on Saturday, Nov 15, I crossed the boarder into Florida, and spent the evening in Bell’s River, across from Fernandina Beach, a 64 mile. Fernandina is interesting it that it has a paper mill on the island, and the aroma is something else. It must be interesting on how that impacts the tourist business on the Beach. Oh, and that day was when I managed to run aground 3 times. Once do to inattention, well maybe more like trying to do too many things at the same time. Twice because the charts were useless. In all cases I was going slow, so I could back off easily. The two times, were very frustrating, because the path I found on the third try was actually right through a charted island! The rapid currents in the area must change the geography very quickly (although some of the depth surveys date back to the 1800s if you read the charts carefully!). In this case, though, perseverance paid off, and I made it through. Temperatures Saturday were in the upper 70s, and I made Florida! What a glorious day. Sunday, I made St. Augustine, FL another 61 Statute miles. Docked at about 3:00 PM and took a walk about town, finding a winery of all things. So, naturally, I just had to do a wine tasting. There is a big difference between east coast wines and west coast wines, they just don’t have as much flavor. That doesn’t mean they are bad, just different. Tomorrow, I will tour the city, see the fort and other attractions. A lay day to recuperate from the stress of the work of traveling the waterway.

So, I am currently at Mile Marker (mm) 778 in St. Augustine of the Intracoastal Waterway. It starts at mm 0 in Norfolk, VA at the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay, and goes south from there. I need to get to mm 1018 in Palm Beach for the crossing to the Bahamas. Only 360 miles to go. At my current rate of 60 miles a day, that would be 6 days, but more realistically, I suspect it will take more like 10-12 days. I have been told by sailing friends John and Connie Fifer that I should spend some time in Vero Beach. And who knows about the weather. But I will get there when I get there. And then…

Florida, it’s hard to believe. Thanks to all for writing now and again. It certainly lifts my spirits.

Charlestown to Georgia

Hello again, I still am afloat, but traveling much slower, partly due to a hurricane-tropical storm-tropical depression or whatever the weather bureau calls it. So, what has happened since my last update? I arrived in Charleston, SC Saturday, November 7th to a very crowded harbor, the anchorage was crowded, the marinas were crowded, so, I went to a marina that was a little off the beaten path that I had visited several years ago, and spent 2 nights. It gave me a chance to see Charleston again, this time as a tourist. I did the carriage ride thing and learned about the history of Charleston, went to a couple of historic houses for tours, and visited the aquarium, along with walking all around town. The houses are quite old, most from early 1800s, and interesting. Most have piazzas, or balconies, to them that the people used as an extension of the house, particularly when it was very hot. One could, supposedly, find a breeze on the piazza, so a lot of time was spent there.


Left Charleston on Monday heading toward Georgia. Day was sunny and warm, temperatures in the 70s. Pretty easy day, with no problems, didn’t even run aground in the shallow spots. I anchored in Wimbee Creek a little over 50 miles south of Charleston. That evening I had to decide what to do about Ida, the then hurricane, soon to be tropical storm. I decided to ride out the worst of the weather (wind in particular) in Beaufort, SC. But that was only about a 4 hour run from Wimbee Creek, and the storm wasn’t projected to hit until Wednesday afternoon. So, I stayed in Wimbee Creek Monday night and all day Tuesday, leaving for Beaufort on Wednesday morning early to beat the wind. Tuesday, the layover day in Wimbee Creek tried to work my new Single Sideband Radio (the long distance radio, up to 2500 miles) I was able to finally figure out how to bring up station to listen, and listened to something called Cruisheimers net, which allows people in the Caribbean to communicate. I could listen, but not sure anyone was hearing me. Oh well, I will try again, when I have some time. At least this free day was warm, 70s again, but overcast, with some drizzle. Read a book for a while, then made Jambalaya for dinner, came out pretty good.

Wednesday I headed for Beaufort, SC in overcast weather with several good showers. GPS is wonderful, keeps you on track even when you can’t see that far in front of the boat during downpours. Got into Beaufort a little after 10:00 AM and docked, way up in a little cubbyhole that the boat just fit into. Couldn’t wait to have to get the boat of there. Found a problem in the engine room. Seems water was coming in from somewhere. I found the source, something called a vent loop that prevents water from siphoning back into the engine after it is turned. A plastic piece was cracked, allowing water to leak in. I spent Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday running for parts and working on fixes. Finally, I remembered there was another of the vent loops on board. That was not being used, so I “borrowed” the plastic piece from the unused vent and put it on the engine vent loop. It worked. But had to buy parts to close off the unused vent loop until I can get replacement parts from the boat manufacturer, Island Packet. Used my folding bike to run the errands, that is until I managed to get a flat tire. Need to get that fixed before I go to the Bahamas. Because of working the boat, I didn’t get much sightseeing done in Beaufort, but went out to dinner after completing the fixes to sort of congratulate myself.

If you recall, I said the marina kind of shoehorned me into a slip for Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Well here it is Friday, and I have to leave. Well it took about 2 dozen people to help me get out. It is really great how people will come together to aide other cruisers who have a problem. It took a while to manhandle Navigator from one slip to another that was easier to get out of (about an hour), but one boat volunteered to move out of the way while I moved Navigator, and a gentleman stayed on my boat as I worked my way down a long, long fairway to fend off if need be. I transferred him to the boat that had moved, when I finally was out of trouble. It was just great that everyone was willing to help. Then I was on my way. Got into Georgia today (Friday), just south of Savannah. I will not stop in Savannah, as I have done enough sightseeing for a while, and need to get south. So I am anchored in Herb River, Thunderbolt, GA for the evening. Will be up early tomorrow to get an early start. I should be in Florida by Monday, I think. At least the weather is improving. Should be in the mid to upper 70s for the next 5 days. Hard to take, but someone has to do it!

Hope things are going well with each of you. I really enjoy getting your e-mails. It can get lonely on the Intracoastal Waterway all by oneself, so keep them coming. I will try to do a better job of responding when they come in.

Sailing the Intracoastal through the Dismal Swamp

So, how many are wondering what happened to me. Several things actually. The foremost reason I haven’t provided updates more regularly is that that is going to be a bridge closure on the Intracoastal Water (ICW) just north of Charleston, SC on November 11, and the bridge will not reopen until after Nov 23. So, I needed to get through the bridge before the 11th of November. To make sure that happened, I had to leave Norfolk, VA before November 1st. The problem with that is that the boat would not be insured until November 2nd south of Norfolk because of the hurricane season. Insurers have fared badly in recent hurricane on the east coast, so they include a stipulation that they will not insure below Norfolk (or there abouts) during hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through November 1. I didn’t want it to get out that I had taken the boat south earlier than November 2nd. Make sense? I hope so. The other reason for being delinquent in getting information on the trip out to everyone is that cruising can be very exhausting when done alone. With no one to help, It gets sort of stressful doing all the planning, sailing, motoring, steering, maintenance, cooking, cleaning, washing, etc. every day. My day usually starts at 5:30 when I get up, have breakfast, check the engine, do dishes, review the days travel plan, hoist anchor, and head out. Then I have to steer (or help my autopilot in the narrow passages, which there are many),keep lookout, dodge crab pots and logs, keep the boat tidy, navigate, update the days travel plan if necessary, and finally anchor. Then, it’s shower, dinner, dishes, plan the next day’s journey, get ready for bed, and fall asleep, so I can start all over again tomorrow. Oops, I forgot the updates! But I seem to have found a routine that is working now.

So, what have I been up to? On Sunday, 10/25 I left Deltaville, VA in windy conditions, 20-25 knots from the north. Was an interesting ride to Norfolk, VA. Anchored across the Elizabeth River from a place called Harbor Walk in Norfolk, were I spent a relatively quiet night (for a city). On Monday I started my journey down the Intracoastal Water. I started by going through the Dismal Swamp, which was a great experience. I had to go through a lock that rose me up to the level of the swamp, then motored through the Dismal Swamp Canal. About half way, I stopped at a visitor center with fellow cruisers for the night. The visitor center provided a history of the construction of the canal, which was very interesting.

On Tuesday, I went through another lock that dropped Navigator back down to the level of the water at the other end of the canal. Both locks have about 8 feet of movement. I spent Tuesday night in Elizabeth City, NC. It is a great little city (town?) They have free dockage for up to 2 nights, have a nice visitors center, and have a wine and cheese reception for the cruisers every night there are boats in, which this time of years is almost every year. The next day was raining and blowing pretty hard, so I stayed in Elizabeth City for another day. Went to a free museum which gave the history of the Abermarle region of North Carolina, then went to a dinner theater where you get to eat dinner before the movie, then turn your chair around to fact the movie screen and watched the movie. It ended up being a very enjoyable stop for 2 nights. By Thursday, the 29th, the wind had died down to 10-15 knots, so headed out down the Alligator River, through the Alligator-Pungo Canal to the Pungo River, where I anchored for the night. I traveled about 75 statute miles in 10 hours, and that was the longest day so far. It just does not give me enough time to do all the things that need to get done. So now I try to keep a days travel to somewhere between 40 and 60 miles.

The next day, Friday, headed toward Oriental, NC. Had my first encounter with a barge, actually 2 barges (but not at the same time), one passing in my direction, the other in the opposite direction. They are big and worthy of a lot of respect, but the captains are always nice and friendly, and like to talk on the radio. It helps break up the monotony. Anchored in a little creek called Broad Creek about a mile north of Oriental, NC. I wanted a break, so I stayed there Saturday as well, and did some defense contractor work like I used to do all day. If I get it typed up and sent out it will be a big load off my shoulders. It was supposed to be done by Oct 31. On November 1st, Sunday, I was supposed to meet some boating friends in Morehead City to celebrate a birthday, however because of windy conditions, on of the bridges on the watereway couldn’t open, so they could not reach Morehead. I stayed at a dock in the Morehead City Yacht Basin for the night, and celebrated the friends birthday myself by going out to dinner. On Monday, Nov 2, I set out from Morehead City in 15 knot winds down the ICW. Nothing really eventful today, just a lot of beautiful scenery and water. Spent the night at anchor in a basin used by camp LeJune for training at times. No training that night, so the Marines do not hastle the boaters, and let them stay there. There were nearly 20 boats in the basin. By Tuesday, the weather began warming up, it topped out at 71. I have a clear plastic enclosure around the cockpit, and in the sun it got really toasty. Made the run from the Marine training basin to Wrightsville Beach, NC in about 5 hours, then proceeded to run aground when I was trying to find a place to anchor for the night. Fortunately, the tide was low and coming in, so with patience, is just waited to be floated off, which took about and hour and a half. Go anchored, and had dinner ashore with the friend who had the birthday earlier in the week. They finally caught up with me in their big powerboat! Had a better time celebrating the birthday than doing it by myself. Wednesday turned out to be another beautiful day, with temperatures in the 70s again. Stopped in a town called Little River, NC, just north of the South Carolina border. A friend from work, Lee Bragg retired to there this year, so we got together for dinner. Thanks for a wonderful dinner, Lee. On Thursday, I only had a 30 mile run to a place called Wacha Watchie in South Carolina to meet up with the birthday boy on last time before they head back to Pennsylvania by car (they keep their boat down in South Carolina for the winter and visit once in a while).

That brings us pretty much up to date. Today, Friday, Nov 6th, I traveled to McClellanville, SC and anchored in a small creek. They have 6 foot tide change here, so when the tide is running, it is moving a 2-3 knots. That really speeds you up, or slows you down. It becomes very interesting to try to maximum you speed by using the current. Anchored about 2:30 and did some small repairs, showered, and had homemade spaghetti for dinner. Now I am typing this to keep everyone informed on what I have been doing. I hope you find it interesting. It certainly has been, and continues to be, interesting to me. Tomorrow I will head out to Charleston, SC, passing under the bridge that will be closing later this month, before it closes! What planning. I will spend a couple of days in Charleston to sightsee before heading south again. Need warming weather. Even though the days are warm, the nights still get into the 40s.