An all day rain with a little thunder gave us a day of rest. We worked on a few small projects, watched TV and even had a siesta.
We took the bus into town and visited the library so Rick could download a weather program for the HAM. We stopped at the grocery store and picked up some steaks and wine for dinner. We tried cooking yucca for our veggie. We tasted it at the Cuban restaurant the other night and liked it. When we cooked it was ok but a little dry, we’ll have to work on it.
We received an e-mail from our friends Dubi and Esti. They will be in Miami for the boat show. The weather forecasts indicate we might still be here as well.
We went for brunch with John and Deb from Sea Witch. Although brunch was our suggestion we didn’t expect the price $23 US per person. It included a couple of glasses of champagne each and absolutely every type of seafood and meat you could imagine. So seeing as we had a good time and enjoyed the food, it was worth it.
Rick waxed the hull in the morning using the dinghy. The Suvies arrived back with Joan and John about 2 PM. We had planned a pot luck dinner before they left knowing that they would return on this date. We also invited Neil and Lisa from Gypsy but they were in the midst of major painting down below so had to pass.
I defrosted the fridge and did absolutely nothing for the rest of the day.
Although the winds were still very strong we decided to go to the beach
again. I’m glad it was windy because without it the heat would have been
extreme. On the beach we sat in the shade of the palm trees and kept our
drinks covered from all of the blowing sand. We were able to go for a
great swim this time (even Rick), without worry of the man-o war or jellyfish.
I think the change of wind direction got rid of them. This was Rick’s
first time with water above his knees. He actually dove in and swam.
We promised not to call him a wimp anymore. After our swim we headed for
one of the outdoor showers that is intended for people to rinse off the salt and
sand. It’s a good thing we had the beach almost to ourselves because all
six of us shampooed and had a full shower together (with bathing suits on).
It was quite a site and caused a lot of laughter.
With clean bodies we headed off down the iguana path to show John and Joan
the mini Jurasic Park. It was unbelievable, not an iguana or lizard to be
found anywhere. We continued walking and went to the liquor store for some
coconut rum which Tish and Al had tried the other day. We also stopped at
the library. I wanted to send some pictures back to our web master but the
connection was so slow, I gave up. We picked up a few groceries and took
the bus back to the marina. We had dinner and a good time aboard Suvarov
that evening.
We walked across the bridge to Sea Aquarium but when everyone saw the $23 admission fee, we all opted to take a $1.25 bus ride into downtown Miami instead. Miami had a real mix of old and new architecture. So many electronic stores, you wonder how they could all stay in business. We found a nice outdoor restaurant area for lunch. Later, we looked in some of the electronic stores and I found a wide-angle lens for my digital camera. Rick went to Radio Shack and bought a small inverter for the laptop. Since we changed laptops in October, the tips from the Targus inverter that we were using don’t fit the new laptop. Rick has contacted Targus many times and they still haven’t made the new tip yet so he wanted to use something other than the main inverter. We finished the Miami trip with a visit to Starbucks.
We were turning the wind generator off at night because the Suvies were rafted to us and we didn’t want to disturb them. This was creating a bit of a problem because the great winds have been at night so we have had to run the engine during the day for a while.
Rick took a quick trip back to downtown Miami to exchange the new inverter for one a little larger. The first one was a little too small. When he returned to the boat we headed off to the beach again. This time we got sandblasted because of the 20 knot winds. Since the winds were from the southeast we had the jellyfish and man-o-war problem again. We only stayed about an hour or so and headed back to the boat. Dinner was aboard Suvarov again. This was an enjoyable but sad evening because the Suvies are leaving tomorrow to begin their journey back home. We’ve been together almost five months and shared a lot of new and exciting experiences. We will certainly miss them and are hoping that they will fly down to visit us in Grenada.
Suvarov left this morning. Before going they gave us something to keep and something to return. The something we have to return to Al and Tisha, is their 2001 America’s Cup Jubilee pin, which I know they cherish. Even Joan and John gave us a Bay of Quinte Yacht Club cap. We gave Al and Tisha our bear that holds Paws in it’s lap (Paws was our previous boat). Soon after they left Deb and John asked if we would like to play tourist with them and drive to Miami and Fort Lauderdale. We had absolutely nothing else to do so thought it was a great idea. We drove along Miami Beach and gawked at all of the amazing restaurants and people. If anything in Toronto almost compares to the Miami Beach area, it would be the Yorkville area but even Yorkville would not be able to create the atmosphere generated in this area.
When we hit Fort Lauderdale we were able to revisit the boating stores that we had visited while moored here and of course we found additional things to buy that we didn’t realize we needed.
After the shopping spree we headed for Ocean Dr. to have a cocktail and watch
the beach scene. As we crossed Los Oasis bridge I looked over to see if
the Suvies and arrived yet. They hadn’t but Ripcurl had. We pulled
into the marina to park and there they were, Gary, Shauna and LB. We had a
great reunion with lots of hugs, introduced John and Deb, then called Suvarov on
the handheld VHF to see where they were. They were less than an hour away.
We headed for cocktails and stopped at a bar called Margaritaville. Big
mistake, they didn’t allow dogs so Gary and Shauna took LB back to the boat.
The four of us had a drink and shared 2 appetizers. The bill came to
almost $70 US. Everyone arrived, Ripcurl and the Suvies but we told them
not to sit down, we would move to another bar, which we did.
We said our good-byes again and headed home after dark.
John stopped by in the morning to say there appeared to be a weather window coming the next day and they were going to go. We listened to the weather and there was a small window during the next day with a very strong cold front arriving that same evening. We told them we would pass and wait for a larger window. They looked at it again and decided to wait with us.
Meanwhile, we headed off to the dry cleaners and library. While in the library there was a major downpour, some areas got up to 4” of rain. In a plaza across the street from the library we found a small French bakery which we hadn’t noticed before. We had to buy a couple of baguettes to take back to the boat.
When we arrived back at the marina a scheduled party was in progress (Grand re-opening of Crandon Marina). We had been invited so headed over to the restaurant. Wow! An amazing buffet, not dis-similar to the one we had paid $23 a head the weekend before. The buffet was free and drinks were half price. We joined John and Deb and decided that this was dinner, meaning I didn’t have to cook that night.
Rick waxed the boat, and I worked below. It was a very hot and humid day. In the afternoon, I baked a cinnamon loaf. We were having a pot luck dinner with Sea Witch that night. Rick and I dinghied over to the charter fishing boats that sell fresh fish and bought some black tipped shark. The guy recommended that we soak it in milk for a half an hour and then marinate it in Teriyaki sauce for a while before grilling. It was great; we’ll certainly try shark again. So I took the cake and shark and made some Spanish rice for the potluck. It was a very enjoyable evening.
We received a phone call from Peter and Carolyn Watkins who live in Lewisport, Newfoundland and who are the previous owners of Wind-Borne III. They are travelling by RV and called to say they were going to drive from Naples on the west coast of Florida to Key Biscayne for a visit the next day. We also received a call from our friends from Toronto, Dubi and Esti who were vacationing in Miami and would be stopping in for a visit the next day.
Peter and Carolyn arrived in the early afternoon. Rick went to shore to
pick them up in the dinghy and had just arrived back at the boat when the phone
rang. It was Dubi. He and Esti were waiting at shore for us to come
and get them. We had a very enjoyable afternoon with everyone.
Later, we all went to shore. Carolyn and Peter returned to their RV and
Dubi and Esti took us for a small drive at my request. I wanted them to
see the wonderfully huge deserted beach we have been using. Later Dubi and
Esti came back to the boat for dinner. When they left, we called Peter and
Carolyn and invited them back for a pancake breakfast in the morning.
Peter and Carolyn joined us for breakfast before heading off on their trip to
the Keys. Dubi and Esti picked us up later in the morning and took us to
the Miami Boat Show. We did fairly well at controlling the spending and
only purchased few new clothes. Later we all went for dinner together at a
Cuban Restaurant near South Miami Beach.
We were supposed to have dinner with Dubi and Esti this night however, I was awake early (5:30 am), and the first thing I have been doing each morning is listening to the weather. The winds were forecast to be from the southeast during the day and night, switching to northeast by Saturday. So as soon as Rick was awake, I broke the news to him that we were leaving. He had to run into town and get some cash. We told Sea Witch and they ran into town to get a few groceries. We decided to leave at 3pm. This is not the time of day that most people leave but due to security, the Miami Government Cut is closed. We had to exit through the Biscayne Channel which has a lot of unlit markers and shoals so I didn’t want to tackle it in the dark.
Right on time at 3pm we were off. The ocean was perfect for crossing but we knew immediately when we had reached the Gulf Stream because Rick turned green and hung over the rail for approximately the next 25 miles. We have heard from other sailors that they have been beaten up by the waves of the Gulf Stream. I wouldn’t even class what we had as waves. We had swells, less than 6 feet. Rick’s stomach doesn’t mind waves it just cannot handle swells.
We arrived at Bimini in the Bahamas by about 4 am. We anchored in Nixon harbor, which is just south of the entrance to Bimini to wait for daylight and catch a few ZZZ’s.
We had slept for about 1-½ hours and were awakened by really strong wind and waves. It was quite uncomfortable but sunrise was at 7am so we didn’t have to wait too long for daylight. Our friend Jim on Blue Angel says that shit always happens at 2am. and it was well past that time so I thought we would be ok. At about 10 am we raised the anchor and headed for the harbour entrance. Sea Witch went first and they almost lost their boat. The channel is so narrow and the waves were so strong that they ended up going hard aground and were on their side on the beach. What saved them was a larger wave that lifted them right up and at the same time John threw the engine in reverse and they made it off. We decided not to try that entrance. After a little radio discussion we returned to Nixon harbor to spend the rest of the day and night. The winds were to switch to NE so we thought it might be a little better there than it had been previously.
Well we did get a good nights sleep but it was so wavy that to walk through
the boat you had to hold on at all times or you would lose your balance.
It was easier to lay down and sleep.
We spoke with Sea Witch about 8am and told them that we had decided to move down to Cat Cay for the night since the winds were forecast to get stronger. Sea Witch wasn’t sure that there would be enough depth at the docks so I called to check. No problem…. We hoisted anchor about 9:30am and headed out. It was less than 10 miles from where we were anchored to Cat Cay and that was enough. We had a strong following sea with waves well over the 6-foot mark. We arrived at Cat Cay by noon and felt we had finally reached paradise. This is a private island and we are not allowed to go near any of the houses. The yacht club that we are staying at has a sign that lists the “members in residence”. It was quite impressive with a Lady Mary and So & So the III, but there was no one I knew listed. It’s very nice but a little expensive so I doubt we’ll stay long.
We stayed another day in Cat Cay, mainly because of the weather but it is
such a beautiful place we wanted to stay anyway. I defrosted the fridge in
the morning and it sure didn’t take long for the ice to melt. In the
afternoon we went for a walk along the beach. There were large conch
shells everywhere. We picked up about a dozen. I only wanted to keep
one or two but wanted to take my time and sort through them. Later in the
afternoon we returned to the same beach with John and Deb to snorkel. It
wasn’t great for snorkeling because the water was so shallow but we used the
masks and walked around looking at things under the water. There were some
large red starfish. We saw a speckled stingray and a variety of small
fish. I dove down in one
deeper area to pick up a perfect sea biscuit.
Well we had really planned to leave this day but last night the wind howled, the halyards banged, the boat groaned, the lines creaked and the stupid bread maker beeped. I didn’t get a lot of sleep and the winds are forecast to be over 30 knots again tonight. We are paying $2.25 a foot at this yacht club, which is wonderful, exclusive and enjoyable, but definitely not within the budget. The best bargain of all was the Hydro. It was 25 cents a kilowatt. We charged the batteries, defrosted the fridge, made water, watched videos etc. and the total bill was $2.25 for three days. John avoided this bill by running his generator twice a day and using up a lot of diesel which costs more. The winds are suppose to diminish to 15 knots tomorrow so we decided to stay one more night. Meanwhile during the day I did a load of laundry and caught up with the email. We didn’t go to the beach as the winds and currents were too strong for swimming. We had cocktails aboard Sea Witch and then went to Bu’s Bar which is a chi-chi bar at the end of the docks.
We were up and off the docks just after 8:30am. The winds were still
strong (on the nose), the tide was
against us and we were pounding into the waves but we were determined to
cross the banks. I tried fishing with one of the Cuban Yo-Yo’s that we
brought. I think the line was in the water all of 10 minutes and I had a
fish. It was too small so I threw it back. Later I looked in the
fish book and found I should have kept it to use for bait. It was a Scad.
We were about 15 miles out when the bilge alarm went off. Rick went down to check and sure enough, the connection on one of our thru hulls for the water maker had snapped off and we were taking on water. If we didn’t have a bilge alarm, we probably would not have known we even had a problem until it was too late. As it was, we probably took on less than 1 gallon of water before it was discovered. We closed the thru hull leaving repairs to be taken care of at a later time. Our alarm sits just about on the very bottom of the bilge, so our warning was almost immediate.
Sea witch called on the radio to say they had caught a good size fish for dinner. My line went back into the water but again I caught baitfish. This time it was a Running Blue Jack fish.
I had taken a turkey breast out of the freezer for dinner (forget the fish), and when I went to put it into the oven discovered that our propane tank was empty. Now the seas were really getting rough and beating us up a bit but Rick was still able to switch the tanks for me so I could continue with making dinner. It wasn’t long after that and we decided enough was enough and just dropped the hook. It’s really neat to anchor on the Banks. The closest land is almost 40 miles away and not visible, yet we’re sitting in less than 15 feet of water. We only put out one anchor and didn’t worry about dragging, as we couldn’t really hit anything. The rocking and rolling even at anchor was so bad that Rick didn’t want to look at food, so dinner was forgotten.
I can’t believe we got a good night’s sleep last night but we did. It was not possible to walk around in the boat because we were being tossed around so badly by the waves that we both just laid in the salon and read. Some time after 8pm the waves must have settled down because we both fell asleep until midnight when the rocking and rolling began again with a fury. I think it lasted until sometime after 2am when we fell asleep again until 5:30am. We awoke to calm seas and quickly ate breakfast and got underway. It was near perfect sailing. We were moving at 6.5 to 7 knots with a reefed main and both headsails. The water was the beautiful turquoise colour and you could see the sandy bottom just whizzing by. We were making such good time that John called to say he wanted to go straight to Nassau. We didn’t commit. Sure enough, it couldn’t last. We rounded the marker for the Northwest Passage where the water goes from 12 feet to way over 1000 fathoms. The wind was right on our nose and the waves were over 10 feet. We had waves splashing over the dodger into the cockpit. It was only 20 more miles to Chub Cay but it took us hours. When we arrived, the anchorage we were hoping to use was totally empty. It was too exposed to the southeast wind and waves. So I’m embarrassed to say, we again went into a marina (Chub Cay Club Resort & Marina). This one was a little cheaper but still not in the budget. It did make things a little easier for Rick to work on the repairs to the water maker connection.
The Captains all gathered together first thing in the morning to discuss
weather. The consensus is that the strong southeast winds are here for at
least another day so, no one is moving until the front has passed. It was
a really great morning for everyone to work on small projects. Rick having
completed the thru hull repairs the night before, now proceeded to check
strainers, put some pressure in the accumulator pump and changed the engine oil.
A Bahamian fisherman came by with some fresh fish and lobster for sale. I
bought 3 lobsters for $20 U.S. They were about 1 to 1 ½ pounds each so I
figured it wasn’t a bad deal, wrong!!! Later another fisherman came by and
Sea Witch bought a 1 ½ -pound lobster for 2 beers. I must work on my
negotiating skills. In the afternoon Rick and I headed for the beach and
pool. It’s the first
freshwater swim that we have had on this trip. On our way back to the
boat I recognized the fact that it must be rush hour because 2 golf carts drove
by one after the other. We spent the evening on Sea Witch with another
couple Tony and Mike who had just arrived on an Island Packet. We all
watched Paul and Sheryl Shard’s video “Cruising the Bahamas” and commented on
the difference in weather on the video to what we’ve been experiencing.
Well, good work Captains. We no longer have access to the weather on VHF radio, FM radio or TV. So the guys have been getting and interpreting the weather fax through the HAM radio. They also used Navtex and tuned in some of the HAM nets. They sure got it right. The winds were so strong in the Chub Cay harbour, which is very protected, the boat had a 5 degree heel at dock. It poured rain, which was needed as everything was coated with a thin layer of salt. We haven’t had many rainy days so was quite relaxing to stay below and watch a video and bake some cookies for a change.
I am so glad we are still sitting at dock. The winds yesterday were
nothing. Then we had gale force winds overnight and they continued all
day. Everyone was up during the night checking their lines and we are in a
very protected marina.
First thing in the morning a Canadian boat pulled into the marina. They had anchored off Whale Cay overnight. Their anchor held but it was bent out of shape, as well, their dinghy was ripped from the stern of their boat and is now far out to sea. Later in the morning 2 other boats arrived with ripped sails and they were very pleased to finally be in a safe harbour. It was about lunchtime when a boat called in distress. He had ripped his main sail last night, his engine failed a while ago, he was trying to beat into the wind with a head sail but was having problems steering. The marina was trying to help by giving him directions over the VHF radio so we walked to the entrance to watch him come in. On our way we were able to see a small anchorage that was used by boats with shallow drafts. Three powerboats were literally washed ashore and one sailboat was aground and on its side. The boat in distress was eventually led to an anchorage by a sport fisherman then later when the winds subsided a couple of the open fishing boats went out and towed him in.
Meanwhile safe at dock it was time to trim Rick’s hair again. That night we had a potluck Happy Hour with almost all the boaters and some of the locals.
The winds finally diminished overnight. Most of the other boats left in the morning, including Sea Witch. We decided that the seas had not had time to calm down enough. The waves were still 10 to 15 feet, which would not make for a comfortable run to Nassau. We wanted to wait for better weather.
This time it was my turn for a hair cut. Rick gave me one of his best cuts yet. I did some laundry and we went for a swim. The guys checked the weather at 5pm and another fast moving cold front is on its way. We would have a 12-hour window then very high wind and thunderstorms. It was safer, nicer and cheaper to stay at Chub Cay rather than getting stuck in Nassau so we’re still here.
We probably should have left today however the forecast gave us only a 12-hour window, in fact it was referred to as a “Gamblers Window”. We had Cracked Conch at the restaurant for lunch and then joined Ron and Linda from Rognvald at the pool for the afternoon. The guys sat and gabbed over a few drinks while Linda and I collected many different shells from the beach and ocean. I saw huge starfish, queen conchs, horse conchs, sand dollars and sea urchins. There were also a lot of other shells that weren't identified in my shell book. They were all in sparse sea grass or on the sand so were very easy to see. The front has still not arrived so we're here for a while.
The front finally arrived with high winds and even a bit of rain. The rain didn't last long. When it was over we headed for the beach with Ron and Linda. The plan was to snorkel and hunt for new shells. The water was perfect and as we were wading out, a beautiful stingray swam by. Ron quoted the Bahamians as saying “the sharks follow the rays, so be careful”. I ducked underwater to get a picture of the Ray as it went by and quickly noticed a huge school of good size Jack fish. As I was taking a picture of the fish my eyes traveled beyond them and I saw a fairly large (over five feet), shark just hanging in there by the fish. I slowly and calmly turned and swam to shore and told the others. Later I checked my book and I think it was a Sand Tiger shark. I decided to do a bit beach combing rather than swim. I walked quite a distance while the others remained behind and gabbed. When I returned with all my treasures, Ron told me that a couple of snorkellers had been spear fishing. They speared a large grouper and in a flash the shark swept in and took it. They had not even seen the shark coming it happened so quickly. By the time I returned they were no longer in the water. Linda, who is a hairdresser, offered to tidy up the cut that Rick gave me the other day. I took her up on the offer and she gave me another trim.
When we returned to our boat I decided to see if we could get some fish for dinner. I went to five of the fishing boats and they all had lobster or conch but no fish. The last fishing boat at dock suggested I go and call the boat in the bay as they would probably have fish. I did and one of the fishermen jumped into the dinghy and brought some nice looking Porgys to shore. This time instead of asking how much, I just asked him to give me $5 worth. I think this new approach worked well. He gave me 5 reasonably large Porgys. Now it was up to Rick to clean and fillet them. He hasn't filleted a fish in many years and I don't think that Porgys are a fish that are easy to fillet so it took him a while and they now look a little like fish fingers but the bones are gone.
Ron and Linda invited us over to their boat for cocktails before dinner. We had such an enjoyable time and stayed so long, dinner was canceled.
It was another beautiful day in Paradise but one of the coolest we've experienced since being here. Rick helped Richard (from Osprey), set up his SSB to receive weather faxes. Richard and Francis are on a Morgan 43, docked next to us. Richard has joined Rick and Ron in meeting each morning and evening to discuss weather. In fact we now refer to these guys as having a weather fetish and belonging to the Chub Cay weather coven.
After the SSB work was done, Richard and Francis came over to Wind-Borne for a visit and the discussion changed to engines, the “W” word was not spoken.
