Heading home

Author: Doug
Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay

Our forecast for today:
TODAY...Our strong to near gale force winds early this morning will settle in to fresh to strong winds ENE-E@20-25K/Atlantic seas 8-11ft

We spent a nice day at Man Jack Cay which is just west of Green Turtle. We anchored in the southern anchorage and took the dinghy north to a pretty sea of abaco side beach, then hiked across the island to an ocean side beach. There are only two houses on Man Jack, but the island's owners are very friendly to cruisers, they even provide free internet in the main anchorage. The only thing they ask is that you pick up trash when you are on the island. The islands motto is "no trash on man jack." As a result it is probably the most pristine of all the abaco islands.

Jen, the boys and I did our part, we hauled ocean side beach trash to a trash pile for about 45 minutes. We built up a pretty big pile really quick. What is it with the lost shoes? We picked up 14 trashed shoes (none of them matching). It makes me kind of sick to think about how much trash gets dumped in the ocean. We can't go on like this forever.

We had a really rolly windy night in the anchorage so we decided to come back here to Green turtle for one last night of "civilization" before heading NW and back toward home. Our plan is to head for Allen's Pensacola tomorrow.

How the Bahamas were formed

Author: Bryce

Man Jack Cay SE Anchorage

Only a small part of the Bahamas are actually above water. The rest are submerged banks that are twenty feet or less deep. The water surrounding the banks is thousands of feet deep.

This happened because hundreds of millions of years ago the banks were built up by the formation of coral reefs and other rocks. That coral then became Limestone. Limestone is a soft, spongy porous rock.

About 200 million years ago the ice caps formed and the water level dropped a considerable amount leaving the Bahama Banks exposed to the waves. The highest of the rock and coral formations poked above the surface and became the actual islands. Soil and sand washed up onto the coral islands with the wind and waves. This formed the beaches and allowed plants to grow on the rocky islands.

Now days the limestone is being eroded away by the waves beating against the soft rock. This leaves gaping holes in the limestone forming overhanging cliffs, rocks and caves. That will eventually collapse. You can see evidence of this erosion in the pictures I posted here. We took these near Marsh Harbor.

As the rock is broken down new land is being formed by the growth of the coral reefs. This is why we have to protect the reefs. If we don't, someday the Bahamas and other island chains like them will be gone.

Come sit with me under the poisonwood tree

Author: Doug

Black Sound Marina, Green Turtle Cay

"The secret to living in Hope Town is to live approximately" Written on the wall in Vernon's Grocery, Elbow Cay.

OK, it was truly perfect weather today. Sunny, about 80 degrees, moderate NE to E trade winds. As I'm typing this at the galley table I can look out the port and see a sky full of stars. The air feels and smells of the tropics.

Monday's forecast caled for a "vigorous ridge of low pressure" to come through on Tuesday with wind gusts to 40 knots and a lot of rain. So we went back to Hope Town harbor (poor us) and picked up a mooring to take advantage of its 360 degree protection. Also, there is a lot to do there that is not neccesarily weather dependent.

The forecasters were wrong. Again. It was a beautiful day.

One of the things I have come to love about this part of the world is that they let you discover things, good and bad, for yourself. A few days ago when we were in Hope Town we wandered about the streets like knuckleheads, thinking there must be a beach around somewhere. There are no "BEACH THAT WAY" signs like we would have in the US. We even considered renting a golf cart to go to one. But we never found the surf and sand.

Allow me to digress. In the light of no good deed going unpunished, if you have followed our blog you know of our firefight in the scrub on Allen's Pensacola. There is a tree that grows in tropical places called a poisonwood tree. They grow profusley on Allen's Pensacola. I'm quite allergic to Poison Ivy. As I know now, I'm also allergic to poisonwood. Somehow I got exposed to this foul, mean spirited, sorry excuse for vegetation, most likely while I was hauling buckets of water up to pour on these very same plants to save them from burning. If I'd known then what I know now I would have laughed while I watched the whole darn island go up in flames.

It started in one tiny spot, but soon My legs and one arm itched. They itched a lot. And they broke out into a rash. Then they oozed, and swelled too. I needed a clinic.

So I went to the clinic in Hope Town. I don't want to pass Dixie Chicks style judgement on my own country, but man, it is easy to get minor health matters taken care of here. Thirty six dollars and thirty five minutes later I was on my way to feeling much better. Also, the clinic was on the road on the way to the beach. So we went. It was a wonderful ocean side beach with breathtaking water colors and pink sand.

The boys and I also discovered a spot on the Sea of Abaco side of the cay where someone dumped a barge, two big boats, two cars and a VW bus (circa 1970) in about 1o feet of water. When we snorkeled the area it was covered in fish of all types. The most we have seen anywhere, including mermaid reef. Simon and Bryce loved that one of the boats had an intact toilet seat inside. Right next to the lionfish, just past the school of rainbow runners.

Wednesday morning we left early for Guana Cay. There is a famous bar and grill there called Nippers which sits high on a dune overlooking yet another perfect ocean side beach. It was our favorite stop in 2007 so we were all looking forward to going back. The boys found some sea glass there and what we think is ambergris. We also bought a really cool conch shell horn from a guy named Milo (don't pay his first price). Bryce can really make it ring, Jen is worried he is going to pop a blood vessel or something.

We left Guana that afternoon and traversed the Don't Rock again on on our way here to Green Turtle where we picked up a slip at Black Sound Marina.

There are 7 guys here in the slip next to us. They arrived just before we did in an old beat up catamaran of indeterminate origin, no more than 32 feet long. They all just graduated from med school at the University of Tennessee, decided to buy a boat in Pensacola and sail it to the Bahamas. Never mind that they didn't really know how to sail, they figured it out as they went along. Seven guys on a small boat is a lot, one of our other dock neighbors said he peeked in the cabin this morning (about 10 am) while they were all still sleeping. He said it looked like a can of Vienna sausages. Their dinghy motor is older than I am.

But they are out here doing it and I respect them for it. At their age, or any age why not take a chance? They may never have the opportunity again.

Today we slept late then dinghyed/walked to Bita Bay. Bita is hard to describe, it is an ocean beach but is actually a shallow cove formed by a large reef and a tiny island that sit just offshore. There is good snorkeling in the protected waters of the shallow cove. Though it was supposed to be windy, 15 to 20 knots, the wind never really came up. Darn near perfect.

The boys put in a few hours of school work again today. They are so fortunate have a supportive principal and teachers.

Tomorrow we head for Mun Jack Cay. Hope the weather holds.

What's for dinner? Mutton, Honey

Author: Doug

On a mooring, Hope Town Harbor

Thursday, we had nice weather so we left Green Turtle and decided to head for Marsh harbor. Marsh is "south of the Whale" which means that it, along with the other islands in what is known as the hub of the Abacos is on one side of the Whale Cay passage. Green turtle is on the other.

Going through the Whale requires about a 4 mile stretch in the open Atlantic, out one potentially bad inlet and in through another. The Whale is known for reaching a sea state that the locals call a "rage," which means the seas break all the way across the inlet. Very nasty and totally impassable. One of the cruise ship companies built a little pleasure island in Baker's Bay, just inside the Whale a number of years back. They even dredged a long, deep channel into the bay, most likely wrecking a lot of the grass and reef that was there. But after using it for a few years they abandoned the whole thing. Often times the Whale was just too rough for them. Too rough for a cruise ship. That's rough.

There is one other way through though, a passage called the "Don't Rock." The Don't Rock is much more protected, though not perfect. Most people in deeper draft boats don't use it though because it is shallow enough that you have to visually pilot your way through. It has a bad reputation as being a prop wrecker.

We had a moderate day, 4 to 6 foot swells in the ocean, the Whale rough but passable. Or a rising tide and good vis for the Don't rock. I figured all those hours of staring at shallow water had to be worth something. We went through the Don't Rock. Kind of an anticlimax in a way. We had 5+ feet all the way through.

Marsh was OK, we stayed at the Jib Room marina. They have a great bar, which reminds Jen and I a lot of The Pub, in Road Harbor, BVI. We stayed there two days, the highlight for me was seeing Simon Rake and Scrape with Brown Tip. We bought a new camera in Marsh as well.

We left Marsh and had a very short trip to Hope Town. A quote from Jen about Hope Town: "I could marry this place!"

In 2007 we had to turn back before we got here, so Hope Town was a real goal for me. It is all I hoped for (bad pun); tiny narrow streets, fairy book houses, clear water, an awesome lighthouse. This cay is much hillier than the others so far. It is very, very cool.

I can't believe how close the moorings are in this harbor, some of the big cats that are on them have maybe 6 feet between them. You could pass the Grey Poupon to your neighbor.

The next morning we headed for Little Harbor and stopped on the way at Tahiti Beach. Truly, Tahiti Beach and Tilaloo Cut must be one of the worlds most beautiful places. Everywhere you look the area is pure magic.

We hung out on the beach for 4 or 5 hours then headed SE. We had strong easterlies though, it was calm and nice in the lee but too rough in two of the passes we would have to traverse on our way to Little Harbor. So I used the 180 I keep in my toolbox and we went back to Tilaloo. On the way I caught a decent Mutton Snapper. We grilled him last night.

We also took the dinghy and went to Cracker P's, a cool bar on a nearby island, Lubber's Quarters. Cracker P's has a great laid back sorta vibe, so we stayed for a while. The boys played volleyball and chased curly tailed lizards. Jen fell in love with a huge dog (musta been 120lbs, more like a donkey really) named Bigfoot and wanted to bring him home with us on the boat. I played Cracker P (the owner) in two rounds of darts and beat him both times.

Not a bad kinda day.

P.S. If you want to post a comment on our blog, just click the green link below each post where it says "0 comments".

Author: Bryce

Anchored Out: Tillaloo Cut, Elbow Cay

After we left Green Turtle we went to Marsh Harbor, it was neat, but I thought we could have gone someplace else. Marsh Harbor is the biggest town in Abaco, it is about the size of Crawfordville.

Our second day at Marsh Harbor we walked to a place called Mermaid reef. I expected just OK snorkeling, but it was unbelieveable. You had to wade out off the beach about 100 yards, but it was worth it. We brought a can of peas to feed the fish. There were so many and they were so tame you could grab them. We saw black grouper, nassau grouper, parrot fish (three differrent kinds), mangrove snapper, yellowtail snapper, ballyhoo, and tons of small tropical fish I can't name. A ballyhoo looks kind of like a needlefish. I saw one snag a pea on its nose and swim off.

The next day we went to Hope Town. It is a really neat little town, it is famous for its huge lighthouse which was bulit in 1879. We climbed to the top, there are exactly 101 steps. There is only a small light but it is magnified by a huge maganifying glass called a fresnel lens. It send its beam out 18 miles. That night in our anchorgae at Hope Town the lighthouse turned on and the beam of light swept over our heads all night long.

Today we went to an amazing beach called Tahiti Beach. It is near a place called Tillaloo Cut. We found a tree a tree fort built in the mangrove trees on the beach. The fort is called "monkey cay". It is really hidden, I think 95% of the people walk right past it without noticing it.

After that we took the dinghy to a place called "Cracker P's" which is a little restaurant on an island called Lubber's Quarters. We had fun playing darts and exploring.

Simon aka "White Tip" Rakes and Scrapes

Author: Simon

Jib Room Marina, Marsh Harbor

Note: The traditional music of the Bahamas is called Rake n' Scrape, it is played using whatever implements Bahamians could find as insturments. The most common one is the saw.

Yesterday my dad said to me "see that guy over there? He can play music on a saw. His Name is Brown Tip." We walked up to him and my dad asked him if it was true he could play the saw. He said, "Not only do I play the saw, I will teach you how to play it!" He smiles all the time. "I will be at Mangos from 6 to 9 tomorrow."

The next day my dad took me to see him play and to get him to teach me to play the saw.

He started singing Gully Roosters songs and I was in the band. He said I played so good that he was going to give me a nick name. He calls me "White Tip."

If was very easy to play the saw and a lot of fun. Brown Tip is the best saw player in the Bahamas.

Author: Simon

I helped put out the fire by using a pan to pour water and wet sand on it. Mr. Fred was a great fire organizer.

Bryce and I played Marco Polo at the hidden cove with Mom.

The Gully Roosters had really good songs. My dad wants a gully roosters T-Shirt.

Today I want to go to Nippers Beach.

Author: Bryce
Green Turtle Cay, White Sound

Crossing the Gulf stream was not a pleasent experience. It was about an 8 hour trip with about 4 foot waves, I think it was better than the last time we did it but still pretty bad. I mostly sat around in the forward cabin and watched stuff bounce around inside the boat. My bed got wet because the door on the anchor locker came open and some of the wet anchor chain came out onto my bunk. But Simon's stayed bone dry.

We finally got to West End on Grand Bahama to a nice marina with a great pool and a snorkling trail just off of their beach. It was one of the best snorkeling trails I have ever been to. I saw tons of coral and huge fish including a moray eel.

Another native species to the Bahamas is a curly tailed lizard. They get up to about 10 inches long and can really bite your finger if you mess with them. We saw about 3 at the marina, they look like little dinasaurs, to whom they are related.

The next day was Easter Sunday. The easter bunny hid eggs on our boat and we had an egg hunt but Simon found most of them because he woke up before me. After that we headed out to Great Sale.

Monday we went from Great Sale to Allen's Pensacola Cay. We took our dinghy to find a trail to the other side to a signing tree. A signing tree is a tree where all the boaters who have been there attach signs with their boat names on them.

But when we pulled in the dinghy we saw that the trailhead was on fire. There were a lot flames. Our buddy boat Fred and two people we didn't know came over and helped us put out the fire. We used buckets we found on the beach to haul water up to pour on the fire. It seemed like we made hundreds of trips. We must have poured five hundred gallons of water on the fire before it went out. We also used wet sand.

After that we hiked to signing tree. The signs are mostly made from trash wood that has washed up on the beach, but some people use other things string, cans, bouys, and bottles.

The next day we woke up and dinghyed over to a hidden beach. It was our first slice of paradise. The water was like a swimming pool, with thousands of different shades of light blue and green. There were some great swimming holes we named them Bob, Bo, Ob, and Pig Sty. Pig Sty had a quicksand bottom.

Tuesday we motored to Green Turtle Cay. On the way I caught a 30 inch Barracuda on a dolphin delight lure. He was really strong and I had to fight him for a long time.

When we arrived at Green Turtle we went swimming and found a whole bunch of shortcuts through the marina.

That night we listened to the Gully Roosters live concert. They were really good.

Paradise in little pieces

Author: Doug
4/15/09
At anchor, White Sound, Green Turtle Cay

OK, lots to catch up on. First off the things that have gone wrong so far:

1. We broke our brand new camera. It says waterproof right on the front, but when we put it in the water it died. We are going to try to call olympus tomorrow. Until then, no new pics, sorry.

2. The boys beds (in the forward cabin) got wet. Also everything in the forward storage locker including 6 rolls of paper towels and all our galley towels. This is what happens when the hull to deck joint on the boat goes under water. Now, some of you boaters are probably wondering what was the hull to deck joint doing under water? A fair question. The answer? 20+ knot headwinds and big seas for 3 1/2 out of 4 days. We were burying the bow. Not enough water to be dangerous (maybe a couple gallons in 3 days) but still, it was rough. Darn rough.

3. Drug an anchor at Allen's Pensacola at 12:00 am. Why does this only happen in the middle of the night?

4. The Island we were anchored behind caught on fire. I'll let Bryce tell this story in his entry.

Being on a boat is taking the good with the bad, it's not a resort vacation. On the other hand the rewards are amazing.

After plowing through head seas across the banks from West End we spent a quiet night anchored behind Great Sale Cay, which is uninhabited. We had good shelter there from the strong SE winds.

While we were in Lake Worth we met up with a "buddy boat" In this case Fred and Marianna Glantzburg, who keep their beautiful 39' Kady Krogen trawler "Serendipity" in Brunswick, GA. Our boats travel at a similar (slow) speed so we get along really well. We have been traveling together for mutual support and safety.

We left Great Sale together and headed for Allen's Pensacola, another uninhabited cay, about 45 miles SE of Great Sale. By the time we got there we were all beat up and exhausted from the rough seas and the boat had so much salt on it that it looked like the outside of a margarita glass.

We dropped the hook, launched the dinghy and headed for a trail through the island where there is a signing tree. That's when we saw the fire. As I said, I'll let Bryce tell it, but I'm very proud of how hard they worked putting it out. We probably saved a big part of the island, as it is really dry here right now.

The next day the wind was still howling, but had shifted somewhat to the South. After discussions with Serendipity we decided to stay put for a day. It is harder to make good decisions in this part of the Abacos because you are out of radio range of weather reports and have to rely on other boats to pass on info.

One of the cruisers who helped us with the fire gave us a tip about a hidden cove on the other side of the cay, so we loaded up the dinghy and went exploring. We drug the dinghy up on a small, weedy, rocky beach and banged around until we found a goat path through the thick undergrowth to the other side of the island. As we topped a small rise the path came out onto a beautiful white sand crescent cove flanked by tiny islets. The water there was shallow and crystal clear with a perfect little bonefish flat to the east side. Because the cove is on the North side of the island it was sheltered from the howling South wind. It was paradise.

The boys swam, Jen relaxed and I caught a nice bonefish on my fly rod. I also hooked but lost two triggerfish, which I have never seen on the flats before. They ate the bonefish fly I cast to them and fought really well. They tailed like permit.

That night a big squall came through and we drug our anchor. No harm done though. I can always count on crying babies or dragging anchors to wake Jen up.

The next morning (today) the wind had dropped to only around 10 knots and we had an awesome run here to Green Turtle. Fred, who is a retired engineer, came over and helped me fix the leaking raw water pump on our generator. We just got back from taking the boys in to the Green Turtle Club to see their favorite band, The Gully Roosters, play live.

Paradise doesn't seem to come all at once, but we are loving the little pieces we get.

Tomorrow if the weather holds we head for Guana Cay.

Hello from Grand Bahama

4/11/09
Old Bahama Bay Marina, GBI

Just a quick post to update. We crossed the Gulf Stream today and arrived at Grand Bahama. It was pretty rough, NOAA was aying 2 to 4 and 10 knot winds, but I didn't see too many two footers, mostly 3 to 5 footers. But we are here safe and sound and worn out.

Author: Bryce

4/10/09

On a mooring ball in Lake Worth, near Peanut Island

Lake Okeechobee was really, really rough with just short choppy waves one after another. We saw the boat windows getting soaked with muddy brown lake water, that didn't look too

fresh to me. Cousin Bryant and I played war the whole time, water dripped onto our cards through the closed window it was so rough. But finally we made it across the lake to the lock at Port Mayakka. It is hard to believe it is a lake. Here is a picture taken through the windshield of the boat, it was not raining, all the water is from the waves.

A lock is sort of like a dam, that lets the water level go up and down. The middle of Florida is higher than the edges, so when you are in the locks your boat goes up or down like you are in an elevator. Port Mayakka lock has the biggest water drop, 12 feet.

We spent that night at Peck Lake, which is not really a lake more like an inlet. Then we took the dinghy to a path on shore that leads to a beach on the Atlantic Ocean. We played in the surf and the waves were so huge that one slammed me down on my foot and I sprained my ankle. Even though I hurt my foot I still had a blast.

The next day we went down the Intercoastal Waterway to Lake Worth where we are anchored now. We passed a whole bunch celebrity's grand homes. They had huge, beautiful, elegant yards with their own private beaches. Lots of them had megayachts tied up to their docks. We think we saw Jack Nicholas', Tiger Woods and Greg Norman's houses.

We fished off the dock at one of the marinas near here and Bryant FINALLY caught a fish. He caught a parrot fish and unknown type of fish. Not even my dad knew what it was. We also saw a fish that resembeled a beaver. It had a big round tail.

Then Bryant's mom drove from Fort Myers and picked him up. He was a blast to have on the boat and I wish he could come to the Bahamas with us.

Tomorrow we are planning to cross the gulf stream to the Bahamas.

Crossing Lake Okeechobee???

Moore Haven City Dock.

Author: Doug

Tied up at Moore Haven city dock.

We left Fort Myers yesterday after stowing weeks of food onboard our little boat. We put so much stuff on board I think we raised the waterline an inch or two. We pulled out about 4:00 and took a short run up the Caloosahatchee River to dowtown Fort Myers where we anchored behind a little mid river island called Beautiful Island (it's nice but not beautiful, really). My brother Chuck and his son Bryant came with us and stayed for dinner. Then I took the dinghy and ran Chuck into the city Yacht Basin where my dad picked him up. Bryant is going across the state with us to West Palm Beach, he is a great boater and fisherman (we call him the fish whisperer) so he is a ton of help.

We will follow the Okeechobee Waterway across the state through lake Okeechobee then down the St. Lucie River where it pops out at Stuart. We have to go through 5 locks on the way.

We left this morning at 9, after the boys made a dinghy run to Beautiful Island. They forgot fishing rods so Simon and Bryant came back to the big boat to get them, stranding Bryce on the island alone for a whole 30 minutes. He said he was worried that he would have to eat his own leg. It blew really hard today, gusting to 30 knots, which made it kind of hairy in Ortona Lock. I'm worrying about our crossing of Lake Okeechobee tomorrow, it is a big lake, but shallow and can get really nasty in strong NW winds, which is exactly what we have tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for us.