Green Turtle Cay

We arrived in Green Turtle Cay, White Sound at low tide. It was a long day of 56 miles from Great Sale. Cruiser's net said the channel had been dredged to 7 feet from 5 feet at low tide , so with our 5 1/2 feet we thought we would be Ok. We made it in but had a few bumps near the entrance and then near a narrow portion. Luckily it was sand, so no harm done. The other choice was Black Sound, but that is rocky and you really need high tide as it is only 4 1/2 feet at low tide. We could have anchored outside, but the weather was going to get nasty.

We joined Marsh Harbor Yacht Club before we set out on this venture. They have a very active community and many marinas give discounts. The Bluff House Resort and Marina was one of those. So in we pulled to Oliver's delight. Many boats were anchored out, but with a northerly coming, I was glad to be at a dock. As the winds and rain came, other boats joined us.

Tuesday the 21st was cold and rainy, so we stayed inside mostly, cleaned, read and were lazy. Wednesday was still windy, but Oliver and I went to the beach for our morning walk anyway.

We did leave the beast onboard and went to dinner one night. I loved that it was called jolly Roger as we were one of the families that started Jolly Roger Swim Club. Alas it is no more. 

The dinghy ride to New Plymouth

Thursday things calmed down so we took the dinghy into New Plymouth, the one town on Green Turtle Cay. The food deliveries came today, so I was tracking down salad foods. I scored BIG! We also bought some of the famous "coconut bread" and a few other things. We ran into our friends from S/V Old Sam. Everyone in town was very friendly. They love to chat.

walking off dinghy dock

Narrow streets, only golf carts are used.

McQuire's restaurant

park with busts of all important people in Green Turtle's history, very cool

Sid's grocery, great homemade bread

Methodist church

even the picnic tables are quaint

leaving to our dinghy

Just a note: The water here is so clear you can see starfish, urchins and anemones on the bottom. Just looking over the side of the boat there is a free aquarium with many different fish.Oliver just stands on the side of the boat and stares over at the fish.  

Friday I walked to Green Turtle Resort, about a mile. It is lovely, but a bit pricey. I bought one Bahamian beer called Kalik to share with Dale when I got back to the boat. We like our beer better.

Later that day, our friends Jon and Mimi called about a dinghy adventure with the dogs to an isolated beach on the northern side of the island. We said, " sure", so Saturday we met then between the sounds (they were in Black Sound) and we followed them to this beautiful clean, isolated beach. Their dogs , Muffin and Arthur were ecstatic to have a new playmate. Poor Ollie was treated like sheep as the two sheepdogs inherently did what their breed does. They are 2 and 3 years old, so they had boundless energy. Oliver finally gave them a couple of growls, but would try to run and keep up with them anyway. It was a fun day.

Oliver going for a dip.

A packed dinghy. Jon, Mimi with Muffin and Arthur

Love the colors

"This is how you swim"

Oliver being herded.

When we got back, Oliver slept and slept and slept. We saw the weather was good to move south. From here we had to go outside into the Atlantic called Whales Cut for a while and then turn back in at Loggershead channel.

More coming!

West End, Grand Bahama

This beginning will be a repeat for those I sent an Email. I still love the comment that waves in the Gulfstream are measured by Ronald McDonald's feet!

We crossed over from The Lake Worth Inlet at Palm Beach. We left at 4:38 in the morning, a touch later than we wanted and hit the inlet at 5:30. New friends, Jon and Mimi in motor vessel Sandy Paws was to follow a couple hours later. It was disconcerting going out the channel in to pitch black. As the waves hit we thought maybe the weather was wrong. It was not real bad so we forged on and we had the weather reports saying it would improve. Oliver did not agree.

Once we got to the Gulfstream, things changed. Waves increased from the 2-4 variety to the " big" variety, they came from the north yet and the winds were from the east, therefore the seas were confused.  We motored on into the winds and once it was daylight we at least could see what was going on out there. The Gulfstream is a current that travels north at about 3 knots. To cross over, you point your boat southeast to offset this push. With the current and winds we were going 3.8-9 when the boat was trying for 6.5. It was going to be a long day. The other issue we had was an overheated engine. We noticed the gauge go up , so we shut off the engine, put the sails up, I sailed us south and Dale worked on the engine. This happened 4 times. Jon and Mimi were in radio contact some, so we were not totally without anyone. By 4:30 in the afternoon the weather finally matched the forecast for moderate winds and seas.

The sun is coming up

oh darn, more clouds, please no rain

We made it into Old Bahama Bay marina at about 6:30. Jon and Mimi were there to helps us tie up to government dock. Customs had since closed, so we flew our quarantine flag and got Oliver illegally on land. The next day, Dale checked us in to Customs and we pulled into a slip. Rest and putting the boat back together from the waves rearranging a number of things was in order. The resort is pretty and we did not mind being stuck here waiting for another weather window. We went out to dinner one night, had nice walks around the property and beach and met more sailors headed our way. Every one had tales about the awful crossing and the weather not cooperating this year. It wasn't what we would have wanted for our first time, but we survived. Next time will be better (keep believing).

Old Bahama Bay lights, coming in at night (not recommended)

Oliver's forms import forms for customs. Sorry it is sideways and will not rotate.

Government dock the next morning

Customs office

The next part of the voyage called for 2 days of good weather to cross the Little Bahama Bank. Many boats took off Friday and got caught in a windy front the next day. We left Sunday, the 19th to anchor at Great Sale Cay. There was suppose to be a dog landing in the harbor. It was a calm anchorage and the anchor held well. The dinghy ride to shore put us on rough coral and a ledge about 3 feet high. Luckily we have a ramp for our old guy, Oliver, so he could take care of business. It wasn't the cleanest area (remnants of parties) but it worked. The sunset was beautiful that night.

The next morning after taking Oliver to shore, readying the boat and dinghy and grabbing a granola bar we were off by 7:30.  We wanted to make it to Green Turtle Cay, a protected harbor before the next windy cold front came in. It would be a trip of 56 miles. We were told by the Cruiser's net that White Sound should be dredged to 7 feet mean low water to get in. We need 5 1/2. Well, it was low tide and we bumped a couple of times, but made it through to the Bluff House marina . There is also a Black Sound here, but that is less water and rocky. We did not want to go bump there.

These are pictures from Old Bahama Bay, West End, Grand Bahama.

our morning walk

S/V Old Sam who we traveled to Great Sale.

We are staying here in Green Turtle Cay to check things out before we move south. Actually, by the time I post for the blog with this wifi, we will be leaving and going farther south. The internet here is not the best!

Pictures of Green Turtle Cay coming next.

Happy New Year!

We are currently at the Loggerhead Marina in Palm Beach Gardens waiting for the weather to cooperate for a crossing to the Bahamas. We need at least a full 2 days of settled seas, preferably 3 if something should happen. We look for winds with a southerly component so the Gulf Stream is not "thorny" as they say. We almost had a window last week, but it closed pretty quickly. Today the seas are 9-11 feet with a blustery north wind. Oliver is our important crew, so we will wait for the waves to be  below 4 feet. We prefer that also. If it doesn't occur, we will head farther south in Florida.

Oliver hanging out on the dock. 

Oliver is happy with the dogs here. They are larger and do not have the Napoleon complex of. "attack".

We were so proud of our Spartans winning the Rose Bowl. We wore our shirts , turned on the green lights and enjoyed the moment.  It was so cool!  I am sure my friends and nephew, Jason who attended, had the best time. I know I did in '89.

For those who do not follow Facebook, we had a horrible journey down here. Day one was smooth, day 2 was anything but! We woke up to howling southeast winds.Where were anchored gave us no protection and a large body of water pushing against us. Dale had checked the anchor twice and we were Ok. I poured my first cup of coffee and went upstairs to look, screamed "we're dragging" and the games began. We started the engine, Dale on the bow getting the anchor up, came up with someone's old anchor (not easy) tried to reset, but we're blowing back so fast, we took the anchor up and kept motoring. Then we tried the other side of the causeway but there was not enough depth. Poor Oliver is wondering when his morning dinghy ride would occur. We thought of going down to Stuart, but saw an anchorage called Peck Lake. It was more protected, had a beach. Got there, boats were anchored close to shore, but the dredging equipment should have been a clue. We followed charts and went from 9 feet to 3 feet in a second. Oops, grounded, couldn't get off. So we wouldn't get sand in the engine, we shut Nautical Dreamer down and called Tow Boat US (we have insurance for this). I said to Dale it would be thirty minutes, so we decided he would dinghy Oliver ashore while I waited with the boat. Dale finally got Oliver to shore at 10:00. Poor puppy. I then noticed Oliver back in the dinghy and Dale trying to start the engine. Then he was working on something which I found out later was the gas cable which had a leak. They couldn't get back. The Towboat shows up and I asked the gentleman to go save my husband and dog first so he towed then back to the boat.  Ok, progress. He then pulled us off the shoal and we were on our way. Finally, we are making our way down the ICW on a Saturday which is a busy day as people are off work enjoying the weekend. There are lots of  powerful motor vessels that create quite a wake. When they fly by the waves created rock a sailboat back and forth, sometimes rather violently where things fall. Well, of course that happened multiple times, we are just about to Jupiter where you make a starboard turn to the next drawbridge. There is a hazard can placed for a shoal as you make the turn. We were 10-12 feet off the can, should be Ok but powerboats from the other direction are not leaving us much room to navigate and yes, we grounded again. The powerboats kept flying by as Dale tried to get us off this one. As he was getting us off, a large boat started cutting right in front of us so I went to the bow and waved him off, saw his wife say something to him and he immediately turned and stayed on his side of the channel. We got off and then had to sit waiting for the next bridge for 20 minutes while boats sped by. Dale kept us off anymore shoals as wakes pushed us constantly. Anyway, we finally made it to the marina. Mind you, the winds are still howling and docking a sailboat is not easy under those conditions. It took the dock hand and myself,  who jumped off the boat to help to get us tied enough, then the dock hand hopped on the boat to help Dale get the pilings in back. Florida has many finger piers that only are 10-12 feet long. You then try to lasso the back pilings or use a hook if you can. It is a pain! Anyway, we are here and safe.

Oliver keeping watch as we travel.

All tired, need a nap.

Sunset the first night at anchor.

Who would have thought we would wake up to "hell"

Low tide on the ICW.

Nothing much around. I walked over a mile one day to check out the CVS and little strip mall. The grocery would be a bike ride as it is more than 2 miles. It is not the distance, but the stuffed backpack and bags that make it a work out coming home. Glen, the harbor master arranged for a ride, so I  lucked out.

Walking back over the bridge. Marina is the distance. 

Goodyear blimp headed south to the Orange Bowl. 

Happy New Year. Michigan family and friends, sat safe.