Isle of Palms

Saturday June 31st, 2014
32 48.248 N
79 45.487 W

     We arrived at about 2 PM in a thunder storm. Ryan and Mason were there to welcome us. A few hours later when the wind was down we turned the boat around, stern in. Kylie arrived about 6 PM and the 5 of us had dinner on board. Mason is a keeper. 

                                                                                                       

Toogoodoo Creek (and only 1 GTBAGU )

Friday May 30, 2014
32 39.6635 N
80 16.6473 W

Easy day today, only 37 NM. This is our last stop before the IOP and we are now only 35 NM from our slip for three months or so. There is a major xxx spot a few miles from our destination so we need to leave no later than 8 AM to catch some tide when we get there. We hope that Ryan and Mason will be able to meet us at the slip - sadly Ky will be at work.

We ran the AC last night so we enjoyed a comfortable sleep. This morning I enjoyed the last two quarters of Collingwood thrashing St. Kilda. We then walked into town for a "farewell breakfast" at the local bakery. Back at the boats, Don discovered a frayed belt that needed to be replaced. We left them at the slip as the tide was an issue on this stretch of the ICW and there were some low spots to get thru. We did plan to meet at the Toogoodoo anchorage but it turns out that Cavara was held up by skinny water and a nasty thunder storm, and has anchored an hour or so behind us.

Although the ICW is this area is a bit of a mad woman's breakfast, it was a calm day and we enjoyed taking in the typical SC lowcountry environment of rivers, forest and swamps. I took a lot of photos hoping to "capture" the feeling. Late in the afternoon a band of thunderstorms rolled thru with lots of lightening and so we retired below. It was pouring down as we approached our anchorage so we reduced speed to give them time to roll thru.

Toogoodoo Creek is a big tidal stream, surrounded by miles of marsh grass and the occasional hammock. As I type this, we are surrounded by quite, the rain is falling gently and Deidre is cooking dinner. Just does not get better than this.

Dense forest on the ICW

"hammock" island in the marsh

Looks like rain to me

bahama sized tug boat in SC

Sunset - so calm, so quiet, so totally isolated

Beaufort, SC

Thursday May 29
32 25 178 N
80 39 437 W

We are tied up in a marina in Beaufort after a longgggg but successful day. Up at "o'dark four" we were underway at 5 AM. The Brunswick channel is big and well lit, but navigation in the dark is always a bit exciting for us. The coastal waters of Georgia are so shallow that the Brunswick shipping channel is about 10 miles long and even then the coastal water is barely 30' deep. It took us two hours before we were able to turn north, and by then the sun was up.

Could not have asked for a better day - sunny and calm with maybe 5 kts of wind. We took it in turn to take a sleep, and I slept for almost three hours. We reached our initial target, the Port Royal channel, at about 4 PM. This was about 10 miles long, plus our target marina on "Lady's Creek" was another 15 NM inland, so we did not "arrive" until about 7 PM. It was a big day, but we had covered all the Georgia coast line in one day.

Brunswick, GA

Wednesday May 28, 2014
31 05.946 N
81 27.245 W

Beautiful sleeping night followed by an easy morning. Today we were only planning to advance to Brunswick to pick up fuel. Bon Voyage had left at first light without even a toot. We recovered the anchor at about 9:00AM. It was a particularly fine and sunny morning and a real pleasure to wind through the Georgia marsh.

We were at the fuel dock by 2 PM and took on 616 gallons of diesel at $3.60 a gallon - a good price. We had purchased 100 gallons in the Bahamas and 100 gallons in Ft Pierce, so basically our Bahamas cruise consumed 800 gallons, for about 1,600 miles. I get nervous when the tanks get low.

We are planning to go offshore tomorrow to Port Royal in SC. Will be a 14 or 15 hour day but will cut off the rest of Georgia. Then an easy 2 days to Charleston.

Passing under the Brunswick bridge

Car carrier passing our anchorage

Big dredge outside the sub base in Cumberland Sound

Cumberland Island

Tuesday May 27th, 2014
30 46.113 N
81 28.294 W

Caught the 7:30 AM opening of the "Bridge of Lions" and we were out in the Atlantic soon after 8 AM. We headed due north towards St. Mary's Entrance and the anchorage at Cumberland. Overall we covered 65 NM. Conditions were decent and it was a good ride.

During the day we had been in touch with Jon & Bonnie also heading North but on the ICW. They picked up fuel in Fernandina Beach and joined us at the anchorage. It was great to see them again and we celebrated with drinks and dinner on Tide Hiker. Really fun night.

Coast Guard

Dredging at St Mary's Entrance

Drinks and dinner on Tide Hiker (Cavara and Bon Voyage in the distance)

St. Augustine

May 26th, 2014
29 53.197 N
81 18.314 W

Short day. Took it easy this morning Deidre got a ride to the supermarket and restocked the larder with fresh fruit, veges, bread, milk etc. We still have plenty of "Bahama" supplies in the freezer that we need to work through so we can shut it down.

We were underway by about Noon. It was only about 20 miles to St. Augustine where Barb had reserved a couple of mooring balls. We were still towing the dinghy and I ferried Barb and Don ashore in St Augustine - last time they were here it was too cold to see the town. On the way back visited an Australian boat - actually sailed to the USA from Australia.

Went into town later in the evening and enjoyed dinner with Barb and Don.

Marineland Marina

May 25th, 2014
29 40.165 N
81 12.930 N

Mosquito Lagoon Anchorage

Saturday May 24, 2014
28 50.161 W
80 47.694 W

Underway at 9 AM. Don and I had mapped out the next few days to St. Augustine, where we hope to go off shore again and cut over to Cumberland Island in Georgia. Today we planned to continue north about 42 NM to an anchorage in Mosquito Lagoon. Another calm and sunny day.

This weekend is "Memorial Day" weekend and so we expected the waterway to be busy. It was fun to see people enjoying the waterway in their own ways.

Camping on a little islan

I have never really been attracted to fishing - even in 6" of water

I said "Hi" and they said "Hola"

Banana River Anchorage

Friday May 23, 2014
28 09.246 N
80 36.521 W

Easy morning. Cavara was having generator problems and had arranged for a mechanic, and planned to stay two nights. We were planning to leave mid morning and go 11 miles north to Vero Beach and wait for them on a mooring ball. The mechanic came first thing in the AM and "gave" them some trouble shooting advice but not much more, so we both decided to leave.

We were a bit low on fuel but I wanted to delay filling up till we got to Ocean Petroleum in Brunswick Georgia because they had the "best price on the East Coast". So we bought a 100 gallons to tide us over. It was after 11 AM before we got underway, heading north on the ICW.

It was very pleasant, but a "bit tame" after the Bahamas. (Bit like driving on an Interstate highway compared to a dirt road.) But on the other hand we could readily use the phones and access the internet. And the difference in private and public wealth became terribly obvious. Cavara took on 600 gallons and so ended up an hour behind us. We had previously picked out an anchorage in the Banana River.

We had the anchor down by about 6 PM and as expected Cavara arrived an hour later. We invited Barb and Don over for dinner and dropped the dinghy in the water to provide "door to door" service. It had been a warm and calm day, and the evening was quite calm. In the morning we woke to the sounds of rowing pairs and eights practicing on the calm river.

I suspect this house is worth more than all the houses in the Bahamas added up. 

Rowing practice on the Banana River 

Harbortown Marina, Ft Pierce (Draft)

May 22, 2014
Lat
Long

We were up at 3;30 AM and underway at 4 AM sharp. Tide Hiker led the way out in the dark as we had our "mouse tracks" from our arrival to follow. The sky was clear and there was a slice of the moon, but the shore lights were very distracting. The water was dead calm. Cavara followed in our wake. All went well and we were out of the entrance in less than 30 minutes.

Once we got off shore into 50' of water we started working our way around the southern coast of the island. We passed Freeport where there is an oil refinery with a big off shore unloading facility that we needed to avoid  and a big cement plant (closed) and a container transshipment facility.There was 4 or 5 very large ships at anchor.

Sunrise 

After 3 short legs for a total of about 10 miles we were able to adopt our final course for Ft Pierce of 306 degrees true. We would be on this course for about 100 miles. From the start we picked up about 1/2 knot current and as we reached into the Gulf Stream our speed slowly picked up until re reached a peak of 9 knots about 40 miles from Ft Pierce, after which it started to bleed off. Overall, we average just over 8 kts for the whole 112 NM. At one point the auto pilot "offset" for the current was about 14 degrees.

Meanwhile the weather was absolutely perfect. In the morning the seas were glassy with maybe a long 1 foot swell. Later in the day we may have seen a 2' swell, but no chop. We took turns taking a nap and it was just wonderful snoozing below feeling the boat move and hearing the water swishing along the hull. The only noteworthy event was spotting a very large black "bull" shark.

Ten miles or so from the coast our USA cell phones started to work so we spent an hour or so calling kids and friends.

We had estimated our travel time to be 14 hours and ETA at the channel buoy to be 6:00 PM, and we arrived 5 minutes late! Barb had arranged a reservation at a marina and we were secure by 7:00 PM. We were flying out quarantine flag so first job was to call Customs and get cleared in. Everyone was in bed by 9 PM

Cavara behind up

Port Lacaya - Flamingo Resort & Marina

Saturday May 17, 2014
26 30.987 N
78 38.035 W

This morning the "Monday window" (to cross to the USA) slammed shut. The next "window" looks like the end of next week! Apparently this windy and stormy weather is quite unusual for this time of year. Our friends Barb and Don are approaching from the Abacos and were planning to meet us at West End on Sunday. Fortunately we were able to make contact with them and change the meeting spot to Lacaya. Our job was to find a less expensive marina

The "Port Lacaya Marina" was right down town but was costing us $100 a day, and it was not worth that kind of money. We had spec'ed out the alternatives before we arrived and made contact with Flamingo ($30 a day!) but had decided that we wanted to be "downtown" and not out in the sticks. Well, we had now "done" downtown and we were ready for some cheap space.

But we had a problem - we could not get out of our slip. We had a 50' sport fishing boat next to us and the marina had parked a beautiful 120' long luxury yacht opposite. That left us barely 65'-75' (?) to pull out of the slip and turn 90 degrees to port and into the fairway. The wind was blowing strongly onto our port side. I could not start the turn until we had cleared the SFB which would leave me about 10' at each end to turn into a 20/30 kt wind. I now know enough about Tide Hiker to realize that she would not want to turn into the wind.

So I visited the marina office and explained the issue. There response was "you should be OK!". I asked them "If I lose control in the wind, which boat would you prefer I collide with - the $M 5.0 yacht or the
$M 1.0 SFB?" They had no answer, so I returned to Tide Hiker and ruminated. Bahamians seem nice but they are not into customer service (I may have mentioned this before.) I had explained the issue to the guys next door on the SFB. They seemed to take pity on my issue and decided to take a ride for an hour or so. With them gone we fired up the engines and let go the lines. Deidre dropped the bow line last - this way the wind had pushed the stern over 30 or 40 degrees in the right direction before we moved forward - no probs!

The ride over to Flamingo was only a mile or so. We had spec'd out the location using the satellite view on the iPad, so knew what to expect. There was only one issue - the boat next to us was loaded with young girls in skimpy bikinis. But I managed OK without crashing into the dock.

Once secure we explored our new digs and we were delighted. We have complete access to the hotel facilities - a big pool with a water slide and swim up bar, hot tub, and a good looking restaurant on the beach.

Navigational hazard

Sunday May 18, 2014

Barb & Don were set to arrive today and Deidre had invited them to dinner so we needed a visit to the market. It was about a 3 mile ride but the trail was 100% flat. Deidre's ankle was really hurting by the time we were back. Its a shame as she enjoys the exercise.

I needed this!

"Cavara" arrived at about 2PM after a stressful ride from Great Sale. They had not eaten lunch so Deidre provided sandwiches. It was fun to catch up and exchange stories. R & R at the pool tomorrow.

Monday May 19, 2014

The weather forecast is looking promising for later this week. Hosed down the boats and the four of us headed off to the beach, pool and swim-up bar. Fun day.

Deidre made it down the slide - and liked it!

In the swim up bar with barb & Don

"Happy Hour" in swim-up bar in "the grotto"

Tuesday May 20, 2014

Easy day. Barb and Don took the ferry over to "down town" to shop. We followed later on and met them for lunch. Met some Aussies on the ferry back - they complained a lot about Australia.

Wednesday May 21, 2014

The decision has been made. We leave in the morning at 4 AM and go straight to Ft Pierce in Florida. It will be a long day - 114 NM. Weather looks good.

Easy day. Deidre decided to take the "glass bottom boat" trip as she feel she missed out on some of the sights. She was the only person on the 11:30 AM trip. This afternoon we wandered over to the pool bar and sat in the sun.  Early to bed.

At dinner 

Port Lacaya Marina

Wednesday May 14, 2014
25 44.855 N
77 51.603 W

We have looked at a lot of weather forecasts this week. Apparently the weather is not settling down into its Summer pattern yet. Last night we had decided to stay another day but when we got up this morning the new forecast was a bit better and so we decided to get rolling. We feel that we have to take the windows as they appear, or we will not get back to the USA for weeks. The tide at Pt Lacaya was also an issue because we needed to arrive at 1/2 tide to get over the bar.

We were under way at 8:30 AM for the 65 NM trip over the North West Providence Channel. Not that it makes much difference, but the channel is over 3,500' deep and carries a branch of the Gulf stream, and we were not too sure how that would affect conditions (wind vs current can be an issue). Within an hour or so we were outside the lee of the islands and started to experience pretty big swells, but 75% on our stern, as expected. There was not much chop.

As usual we were "on our own". The route we are taking back is bit unconventional so that is to be expected. But is is just a bit spooky to be in 3,000' deep water with not another object in sight. Makes me really watch those engine gauges! But about lunch time we happily spotted another boat heading towards us. As it got closer we discerned it was a trawler very like our own. It was having a harder time in the conditions as it was going against the weather. As it drew near I called them on the radio, just to say "Hi". Amazingly, we soon discovered that it was a boat from the same dock as ours at the IOP, and that we knew the crew quite well.

About 1/2 way across we started picking up speed - we must have found the Gulf Stream. We did not want to arrive at the bar before 1/2 tide, so the extra speed would be wasted, so I throttled back the engines to slow down. We normally cruise at about 1,700 RPM but after that adjustment we were doing 7 knots at only 1,250 RPM! We slowed down again when a big squall arrived and we were a few miles from the entrance. The channel is reported as "narrow" and we did not want to arrive in that wind.

Lucaya seems a big tourist place with several large hotels and casinos. We decided to stay at a "fancy" marina right where the action is so we could enjoy the town. When we arrived the dock guy put us in bow first, but the finger was too short to reach our gate, so I ended up backing the boat out, turning it 180 and backing in, all in a narrow fairway with a bit of wind.

Approaching the Lacaya entrance - actually looks like civilization

We went ashore for dinner. Looks like there will be plenty to explore in the morning.

Thursday May 15, 2014

Went exploring on the local buses. Seems they were not allowed "in town" so we had to walk a mile or so to find the first bus stop. The bus was a tiny 9 seater and they were all taken. The driver had to open and close the access door because it was so beat up. We ended up in "the business district" and walked around a bit but there was not much to see.

Went out or Chinese - was the worst, we left half the meal on our plates.

The tide here has been a pest. It's only about 4' but it is hard to keep the boat in a consistent place against the dock. Low tide the lines are all slack and the boat moves around too much, especially with all the wind. Plus its hard for Deidre to get on and off. When we returned to the boat this afternoon it was just too low for her to get on. So I passed her a chair and her book and an iced tea and she spent a couple of hours on the dock.

Friday May 16, 2014

It rained all day. I finished a draft of the "DeFever Cruisers eMail Newsletter" and sent it off for approval. We had dinner on the boat - way better than any meal we ever buy at a restaurant.

Great Harbour Cay Marina

Saturday May 10, 2014
25 44.853 N
77 51.606 W

This is probably the coolest marina we have visited. Access was thru a man made cut into a pretty deep estuary, and the marina pool has the feel it was cut out of the limestone. We have really just arrived so I do not know what the other attractions are. But we have decided to stay 2 nights.

We stayed in Nassau an extra day because the weather seemed just too bad to move. But the same weather was forecast for another 5 days so we decide to "damn the torpedoes" and leave. This was decided after a lot of "dock talk". You can always find someone on the dock to talk about the weather. And Chris Parker (the local weather guru) was starting to mention "Named Tropical Storm". The wind has been blowing East at 15/25 kts ever since we arrived. But that is better than a gale force tropical storm.

We figured the wind and waves would be "stern-ish" and that helps. We also figured that the Nassau marina was costing us about $100 a day. The clock was also ticking on getting back to Charleston by June 1. The "man or mouse" idea was also on my mind. Time to leave.

I am now convinced that travelling "with the weather" is a whole new game. It was a sunny day and the "current was with us" so we averaged about 7 1/4 kts all day. Tide Hiker handled the following seas and we had a decent ride, much better than expected. It was a long day - 65 NM - but there is plenty of daylight and so the only issue was a bit of boredom.

We were on the "cruise ship" highway so saw a bunch (5?) of cruise ships. Other than that we were on our own.

Fishing Boats (on our way out)

Sorry - I like big boats. This one had just arrived

This one was on its way into the harbour

This one was a few miles out - and distant

MSC Freighter

Anchored off an island - tourists being shuttled to and from

Man made cut to the marina 

Same - over the stern

There was a wedding at the marina

The marina from our deck - better photo tomorrow

Sunday May 11, 2014
Mothers day

Took the bikes down and did some exploring. It was pretty hot and we did a bunch of resting. As usual, town was pretty sad. There is a nice beach with a small hotel and some condos, but not mush else. We investigated the "pool and bar" but there is no way I would swim in that pool. It's sad how money is spent to build facilities but there is just no care and maintenance. The marina is run by a guy called "Hans" and it seems in decent shape. While we were away the marina dropped off a hand made bouquet of flowers for Deidre. Nice touch. But not much to do so we took a two hour nap.

From the Marina staff - Mother's day

In my opinion the marina would rate as a "hurricane hole" and that may be useful as there is potential for a tropical storm with heavy rain and gale force winds reaching us, so we may be staying longer than expected. We saw three sailing boats anchored in front of the town, and they have all rolled in here with the same weather thoughts.

The WiFi is spectacular here, so we were able to Skype all three kids, video and all.





Monday May 12, 2014

The low pressure may not reach us but there will be lots of wind the next couple of days, so we are staying put. There is not much to do so we both got busy with boat tasks and I went for another bike ride, followed by an afternoon nap. Spent a fair amount of time looking at weather trying to find a three day window to get back to the USA.

The marina pool bar - looks great, but don't look too closely

... and the water in the marina is cleaner

Tuesday May 13, 2014

Pretty much a lost day. We did ride our bikes over to the beach but it was really to windy to enjoy.

Civilization (Nassau) (Tuesday thru Friday)

Tuesday May 6, 2014

25 04.490 N

77 18.765 W

Beautiful night’s sleep – Tide Hiker hardly moved all night – and the morning was sunny and calm.  Today we were heading for Nassau. As the crow flies Nassau is only about 30 miles away but we plan to do a dogleg course to avoid shallow banks and reefs, so overall we will do about 40 NM.

The calm conditions lasted for a few hours, but as the sun got up into the sky the wind built up to maybe 10/15. It was mainly on our beam so we were pretty comfortable and we made water most of the way (The water maker seems sensitive to bumpy seas).

Approaching Nassau - Atlantis side

To enter the Nassau port area we were required to call the Port Authority to ask permission. Apparently it is a very busy harbor. But we were entering from the “not busy” east end so permission was no problem. We could see 3 cruise ships and a large commercial vessel on the other side of the two bridges over to Paradise Island. We were impressed with the city from the water.

"Deidre: The dock guys says he is waving! Can you see him?"

We have a slip at the Nassau Club Resort and Harbor. It’s “OK”, but certainly no resort. We settled in, met the neighbors, then headed out to explore. The first thing we saw was STARBUCKS! Wonderful, and we happily spent $10 on coffee. There was a strip mall across the road. The shops had finished floors, lights, air-conditioning and we were impressed. Deidre bought a pair of shoes and I bought a book. We were like kids in a candy store.

It got better. We became aware of a decent Chinese restaurant in walking distance. So we went there for dinner and it was fantastic - table cloths! soft seats! real silverware! waiter wearing bow tie! - and the food (moo shu pork) was great. Plus we had some left over for tomorrow's lunch.

Wednesday May 7, 2014
Nassau.


Fun day today roaming around Nassau. Its a bit of a shabby town but with the cruise ships providing plenty of action. The down town area was quite decent and crowded with people from the ships. Public transport is provided by small buses called "jitneys" and we caught one back to the marina. Tomorrow we plan to attack the Atlantis side. Its been a fine but very windy day day, and the wind will be around for a while, and that means we may be also.

Interesting tree on Bay St, Nassau

Conch fishing boat, Potters Cay, Nassau

Mail boat docks, Potters Cay, Bahamas

Cruise ship party boat

Old Church of England grave yard

Five! cruise ships in town (You can see the top of two in this photo)

The "Straw Market" (We were advised to spay anything we bought with insect spray before we brought it onto the boat)

Statue of Christopher Columbus in front of Governors House

Pink House - like Governors house - seems to be the official color

It has been hard to find a good hairdresser

I think this is cool - the little house is even on wheels

In the "jitney" on the way home

Thursday May 8, 2014

This morning we caught the local "jitney" the wrong way to see where it took us. They all seem to have a circular route so we figured we would not get too badly lost. Lots of people got on and off so it was a good people watching experience. We basically ended up downtown and walked over to the cruise ship area where we had seen ferries servicing Paradise Island.

On the ferry "our guide" pointed out the homes of the rich and famous as we made the 10 minute trip. The Island was basically Disneyland. The marina was impressive, the casino ho-hum and the rest of it required an expensive pass, which we declined. So after lunch we were outa there, a bit disapointed.

The marina

Paradise Island - Disney Style

I bought a hat

Friday May 9, 2014

Friday was a "weather day". It was still blowing strongly from the East, to the extent that I had added lines. Our neighbors decided to leave - "Its only going to get worse!" was their logic. We went to the supermarket and did a good shop. We bought 10 gallons of gas for the dinghy and brought it back in the supermarket shopping trolley. I spend an hour or two in the ER checking and recording and cleaning up a bit. We decided to leave in the AM so long as the forecast dd not get worse.

On our wanderings around the city in the "jitney" to our amazement we spotted a "Outback Steakhouse". Deidre and I went to one of these places about 15 years ago, and I vowed never to return. (Can you imagine "Alice Springs Quesadillas"???) But the idea of going to an Australian themed restaurant in Nassau was too much to resist so we went for our farewell dinner. It was fine, we successfully resisted the "Kookaburra Wings".