Norfolk to Maine

Norfolk to Annapolis and then the final push to Maine

(with a photo that got left out of the Fort Lauderdale crew, Jonathan, Mark's son)

4/10/10, Saturday – Left Norfolk around 11:30 and headed up the Chesapeake Bay. Sunny and clear, a Beautiful day on the water. Spent the night at Horn Creek.

4/11/10 , Sunday – Solomon’s – Great day on the water. Anchored off the Maritime Museum for the night.

4/12/10, Monday - Annapolis – Another beautiful day traveling up the Chesapeake. Took a slip at the Annapolis Landing Marina for a month. Great bath and laundry facilities and a pretty low key place. (Note from Joanne – I drove down, met Mark there and we went back to ME for a few weeks. Mark wanted to wait for some warmer weather before making the last leg north. He flew back down a couple of days before leaving Annapolis. While he was in Annaplois the radar got repaired and he installed a new electronic compass for the autopilot.)

5/12/10, Wednesday – Left Annapolis with my sister Joanne and her partner Brandy. We had a very calm day with no wind or waves. Traveled to Chesapeake City and anchored in the harbor there. Small and shallow, but I got too close to the west shore and plowed a new channel in. Dropped the hook and had to reset. I pulled up a set of Mardi Gras beads with the anchor to add to the collection from the last visit in the fall. In the morning I pulled up another set of beads with the anchor. It must have been a hell of a party in Chesapeake City.

5/13/10 – Thursday - In the morning, we were on the road at 7:00 a.m. to Cape May. Down the canal and then into the Delaware River. Again a fine, clear and windless day and a good current for most of the trip. We did 9 plus knots most of the way. Anchored in Cape May Harbor SW of the coast guard station. Joanne (my sister) spent a good deal of time at the helm and refreshing her navigation skills. Very fine day.

5/14/10 – Friday – Left Cape May at 7:00 in the morning and had the tide with us all the way to Atlantic City. We traveled the 39 miles in less than 5 hours. I dropped Joanne and Brandy off at the State Marina and took off alone around noon. A front was predicted in the afternoon so I took the inside route on the NJ ICW up to Beach Haven where I refueled at a handsome price of $2.57 a gallon for diesel. I had planned to anchor at Mordecia Island but was gently warned by the dock master about how shallow the thoroughfare was where I planned to anchor. After plowing a new channel down the thoroughfare, I threw in the towel and went back to the Beach Haven Yacht Club marina and took a slip for the night. Severe thunderstorms were forecast so I was just as happy to be on a slip. Very tired, I went to bed early and woke up twice because of the storm but immediately fell back to sleep. Ahhh, a secure berth.

5/15/10 – Saturday – Had a leisurely morning and backed out of the berth at 9:00. This section of the inside route is tedious. The wind was blowing at 10 + knots out of the NW and constantly trying to push me out of the channel. Hand steering in this section was like trying to hold your breath for 4 hours. I phoned Joanne and wasn’t paying attention to my course. After the call I noticed that the makers were the small local sets and didn’t feel right. Too late, I missed my turn and drove into the mud up to my ears. This time I wasn’t going to power out. I had to make the humiliating call to Tow Boats US. All the way to the Exumas and back and twice I had to make the call in NJ. Damn. Wound my way into Barnegat Bay and put the anchor down around 12:30. Took a nap, got up around 2:00 and made a pot of chili. Spent the rest of the day checking the weather forecast and the charts. Hope to go outside to Sandy Hook tomorrow.

5/16/10 – Sunday – On the road at 7:10, the fisherman have been streaming past me for an hour headed for the inlet. Along the jetty the fisherman were lined up and the beach buggies are on the beach outside are as far as I can see. Hundreds of boats anchored and trolling along the way to Sandy Hook. Easy ride, less than 10 knots of wind and 1-2 foot seas on the nose. This really is a good boat at sea. Anchor down in Sandy Hook around two. The macerator had been tripping the breaker all day. Probably something clogged. Damn, just what I wanted to do, rebuild the macerator. Well, here goes. The whole thing starts in the head. The pump is located in the head under the vanity, below two removable shelves accessed at some expense to skin. I disconnected the hose to the holding tank to have the remainder of the slush in the pump spill over me and into the bilge. Nice. After taking the pump apart and finding the nut missing on the chopper blade, I reassembled the thing a couple times before getting all the right parts in all the right places. Success! Washed everything down and pumped the bilge.

5/17/10 – Monday – woke up to an overcast sky but quiet otherwise. Heading for the Big Apple. An easy ride up to the Statue of Liberty and then to Hell’s Gate. I hit the tide right and saw 13.6 knots on the GPS as I surfed the East River – upstream! I felt some vibration in the drive train and went into Brewer’s Marina at Stratford, CT and spent the night.

5/18/10 – Tuesday – Rod, the yard manager, was very accommodating and as soon as the tide was right, hauled the boat and recommended that the prop needed a tune up. This is no doubt a result of my cutting new channels in the mud across the southeastern US and NJ. The cutlass bearing will also need to be replaced in the fall. Rod was able to pull the prop and get it to a shop that afternoon. Spent the rest of the day relaxing. Heavy rain and wind came thru in the night but I hardly noticed sitting in a slip.

5/19/10 – Wednesday - Waited until noon for the tide and then pulled the boat and reinstalled the prop. One blade was out of spec and was a big part of the problem. Pulled out another “BOAT”* unit for the bill and was on the road at 2:00, heading for the Thimbles, a group of islands located off the coast of Connecticut. Lovely spot, with scenery that reminded me of Maine. Took a yacht club mooring and had a peaceful night.

*Bring Out Another Thousand

5/20/10 – Thursday - The morning was beautiful, clear sky, still water, and rocky coastline covered with evergreens. The day was an easy ride to Point Judith and into the pond beyond the harbor. Dropped anchor and watched the sunset.

5/21/10 – Friday – The day started out still and by noon the wind had picked up to under 10 knots and the chop in Buzzard’s bay was about two feet. The boat shrugged it off and with a good tide I cruised up the Cape Cod Canal at 11 knots. I took a slip at the Sandwich Marina which is ¼ mile inside the north end of the canal. Joanne delivered my brother Jay and his son Sam to the marina where they signed on for the final run to Maine.

5/22/10 – Saturday – The day started around 5:30 as the fishermen started launching their boats at the nearby ramp to begin a day of fishing on Cape Cod Bay. Joanne was off the boat bright and early and we headed into Massachusetts Bay. We stopped in the crowd of boats while Sam jigged for mackerel. He landed 7 good ones and we decided that would be plenty for dinner and headed for Gloucester. Another fine day on the water ended when we picked up a town mooring in Gloucester. We dropped the dinghy and headed for the marine store for a couple more mackerel jigs. We took a harbor cruise in the dinghy and returned to the boat to grill up the mackerel for supper. We managed to eat 6 of the 7 we prepared and Sam was quite pleased with his catch.

5/23/10 – Sunday – Left Gloucester at 6:00 and headed up the Annisquam River which cuts through the North Shore of MA to Ipswich Bay. The ride was beautiful. The homes were well kept and there was an amazing number of stone walls made of large granite blocks fitted together lining the shore.

A short distance into Ipswich bay and we ran into the first fog of the season. Even with Sam on lookout for clear skies it stayed with us until far into Portland Harbor. We grabbed the mooring at Centerboard Yacht Club around 3:30.

Mission accomplished, and a great one it was.

GA to Mile Marker "O" in Norfolk, VA

Ship's Log - March 27, 2010 near Savannah, GA
to April 8, 2010, Norfolk, VA

Mark has been working his way north. Even though there are just a few photos, he does quite a fun read. From the last posting….. He last left us coming into Georgia……

3/27/10, Saturday – This morning I saw a fish jump clear of out of the water about 100 yards away. It was huge. I am guessing it was at least 4 and maybe 5 feet long. I didn’t think anything could live in this brown muddy water. Today was more marsh land and a maze of creeks and rivers. The wind blew all day and it made the sounds very choppy. The worst was Sapelo Sound. The waves were 4 feet with a few six footers thrown in a short chop, right on the nose. Avalon took it all on with no whining. The next fun came at Hell’s Gate. A short cut on the Little Ogeechee River where I managed to find the bottom. Fortunately a small boat came by and told me to move over 5 feet and I would be in the channel. I pushed the throttle down and powered thru the mud and back into the channel. I was not looking forward to the call to SeaTow. Spent the night in Herb Creek (ICW mile marker 584), this was an anchorage we used on the trip down.

3/28/10, Sunday – The morning was still and clear and the ride to Savannah was wonderful until the slow slog 8 miles up the Savannah River to the city. It was well worth the ride. It must have been an incredible sight to arrive on the waterfront in the days when cotton was king. I took a trolley tour of the historic district and was very impressed with the squares and the restorations of the buildings. Savannah boasts many firsts, but I didn’t realize the main industry was shipping. Over a billion cargo containers go thru the port each year. The second largest industry is tourism. Sightseeing trolleys are everywhere. Left the city in early afternoon ahead of the rain and anchored in Skull Creek (554).

3/29/10, Monday – What a day. It seemed like every cut between rivers had shoaled in – no problems at all on the run south. Many left me with 18” or less under the keel. A few times I could feel the mud dragging on the keel and I would have to power up and hope for the best because there wasn’t any place else to go. When I turned into the anchorage at Tom Point Creek (496) the chart showed 12’ of water. I was some surprised to hit bottom hard twice. Avalon bounced up and over, we made it thru, I sure do like a full keel and protected prop. The creek is in the middle of a marsh and I was tucked down between the banks. One other sailboat was there and I motored upstream past him and dropped the anchor. I let out scope a little less than usual maybe so I wouldn’t end up on the shore if the boat swung in the night. I woke up at 2:00 am and since I was awake decided to have a look around. The boat had swung with the tide and it was ripping out of the creek. The unfortunate part was I was 2 tenths of a mile downstream having glided past the sailboat and finally the anchor had grabbed again. I fired up the engine, re-anchored mid stream and went back to bed. I gave myself a good mental thrashing……. scope…scope…scope.

3/30/10, Tuesday – Headed for Charleston, SC with reservations in place for the Charleston Maritime Center. I had been warned the current could be tricky on an ebb tide and I arrived on the last third of the ebb and had no difficulty. Of course I couldn’t leave the GPS situation alone. I called Furuno and got a little more info. I modified a couple of connections and now I can download routes and waypoints from the computer to the GPS and then to the autopilot. This may work okay for the moment. Washed the boat down from the previous night’s blessing of a huge dump of pollen. Checked out some ribs and wings for supper, a southern chain called Sticky Fingers and was not disappointed. I walked around the historic district and it was again a huge tourist area but with shopping and restaurants on a scale much larger than Portland. A good day.

3/31/10, Wednesday – Found a small shop that hand rolls cigars. That was a good stop. Took a horse drawn carriage ride of the residential and business areas of the historic district. The lowest priced home on that area of Charleston is 1.7 million according to our tour guide and that isn’t a great place. Lunch at Café Cru. I ordered a fried calamari mixed in an Asian slaw that was outstanding. I love this town. Did some route planning for the next day, and then boiled some shrimp for dinner. As I started to do the dishes the fresh water pump quit. After a certain amount of deliberation, I pulled out the two five gallon collapsible water bags and filled them at the dock. I will try to fix this on the fly. I think I will have a whiskey and call it a day.

4/1/10, Thursday – Spent the morning on the bus going to West Marine to get a new pump and a socket for the starboard nav light. Amazingly, they had the same pump on the shelf. Bus ride back, lunch, and started repairs. Turned on the pump and the d--- thing started. Moved on to the light. I installed the socket, still intermittent function. I took it apart twice more and the same result. Idiot. Then discovered the problem appears to be in the wire itself. McGivered that back together and it should work. More shrimp for supper. I used the last of the macaroni with red sauce, Jon and I made to whip up some shrimp with garlic, onions, etc.. It may be another great recipe with some tinkering. The meal was just right along with the Buena Vista Social Club playing from the Ipod that Joanne loaded on and some red wine. Since the maid had her day off, I started the dishes. D--- water pump refused to perform. Maid would have been very cranky. I grabbed the closest dirty fork and headed to the engine room where I gave the offending pump a good thrashing on the switch and it, in blind obedience, started to work again. I guess the trip to West Maine was not a total waste of time. Looks like it was a typical April fool’s day. Hope tomorrow is a little more productive.

4/2/10, Friday – Spent the morning prepping for an overnight run to Wrightsville Beach, NC. The weather was predicted to be south winds at 10 knots and seas 1-2 feet. Perfect offshore weather. Couldn’t sit around any longer and shoved off at noon. The weather was milder than predicted and it was a great night for a passage. The stars were out and the traffic from other boats was light. I tracked two other vessels on radar and on the same course with me for many hours. I reached the Cape Fear River around 4:00 in the morning and the offshore buoy showed up on the radar like a landing strip. With the radar and the channel lights I crawled up the river against the strong current, which I was to fight for more hours. Back on the ICW I ran into a fog bank that would make a make a Mainer proud. I couldn’t see nothin’. Another boat in the same soup saw that I had radar and asked if he could follow me. I answered on the radio “no problem” and hung up the mic. The screen on the radar went blank. Don’t know why, still don’t but I took the lead anyway. Just another case of the blind leading the blind. Finally, the fog lifted and the boats behind me slid on past the pokey Avalon. I noticed that the voltmeter was reading low but I didn’t know what was causing it. Rolled into Wrightsville Beach (283) around noon and had a beer and a bit to eat and took a nap. So much for Saturday.

4/4/10, Sunday – Felt pretty good in the morning, hit the road for at least a 50 mile day. I became a little concerned because it didn’t seem like the engine was charging the batteries. I started the generator and turned on the battery chargers and put a charge back in the batteries. That charge held me until I reached Swansboro, NC (229). Wasn’t sure if that had anything to do with the radar or not. Fueled the boat and then pulled out the bible. Nigel Calder’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual is worth its weight in gold. “Don’t leave home without it.” I tightened up the alternator belts again for the second time in the first 100 hours of use and it looks like that might be the solution. Radar must have just been coincidence. Guess I will have a whiskey and take the day off.

4/5/10, Monday – On the road, puttin’ on the miles. Campbell Creek (155) turned out to be a lovely anchorage.
4/6/10, Tuesday - Another day puttin’ on the miles. Alligator River Marina (85) is strategically located on the river because there is nothing else around. It is also a Shell station. No cell phone service.

4/7/10, Wednesday – More miles. Decided to take the Virgina Cut route instead of the Dismal Swamp. Much of the time you have to steer by hand. The route for the last three days twists and turns or you have to stay in a dredged channel and the wind is pushing you off course. The color of the water is brown from tannin or from mud, stains the boat and is just plain ugly. Pulled off the river at Blackwater Creek (30) and anchored about one half mile up the creek in mud. The wing blew most of the night but it wasn’t too bad.

4/8/10, Thursday – the final push on the ICW. Tonight, I will stay at the Waterside Marina and the historic district in Norfolk (mile marker 0 on the ICW). The area is revitalized and I would like to see more of this area. Very glad to be off the “ditch” and into more open water of Chesapeake Bay.

Georgetown, Bahamas and back to Florida

Ship’s Log – February 14, Georgetown, Bahamas

mid-March, 2010, East Coast, US

February 14, Valentine’s - was Tom and Suzi’s departure day. We got them safely off – a great week it had been, storms and all. We now had a week in front of us to get restocked, laundry, water and check back in with local friends and get ourselves moved north to meet my sister, Kathryn. We thought we had to make a hasty departure from Georgetown, but the weather (as usual) changed that decision and we were just as glad to have some time to visit with our friends on Ultra and Seas the Day. Just before dinner on our boat with guests coming aboard, the generator quit. Always something. The guys helped Mark work on it a bit then and more the next day and they narrowed it down to a solenoid or some such part. Parts were ordered and sent to Kathryn who would bring them along. But after some wonderful catching up time with Bill, JoAnne, Jan and Mark we started our northern trek on Friday the 19th.
Going out the cut from Elizabeth Harbor into the Northeast Providence Channel we passed a delivery vessel that had gone hard aground. We had heard the chatter on the radio but it was sobering to actually see it. For the ride outside in the Channel, Mark had set up some ballyhoo that he bought for fishing and we got them in the water. Nothing – nothing – nothing – nothing – nothing and 4 ½ hours later just as we were about to turn into Adderly Cut at Lee Stocking Island for our overnight, we had a big strike. Finally! Mark landed a Skipjack Tuna. After getting it landed we poked our way around the island through some skinny water at low tide of course and into a lovely anchorage. Nice calm night and fresh fish for supper!
Saturday the 20th we decided to go outside again as it is a lovely calm day. It was the day of the barracuda. The first one was caught shortly after leaving Adderly Cut. It became bait. The 2nd one was interesting. After quite a struggle Mark finally got it close to the boat and suddenly it seemed that we had lost whatever it was, only to pull in what was left – a head – of a huge barracuda. Shark food? Continuing on our way Mark remarked that he could see the bottom and asked what the depth was. It was 60 feet! Amazingly clear water. Then back into Dotham Cut and we pulled into Black Point where we had been about a month prior, headed to town for internet and beverage. Sunday morning we did some snorkeling at a near by cay where we saw the Iguanas on the beach and found some nice small coral heads. It was a lovely calm day and we had the place to ourselves for quite awhile. Then onto the banks to get to Staniel Cay and we dropped the hook by the closed Thunderball restaurant.
I dingied over to the Isles Store Monday morning to walk to the airport and meet Kathryn. Her 8 seater plane stopped at Black Point first then came back to Staniel. After meeting her we stopped at the Isles Store for a few things and then back out to the boat under very gray skies, but little wind. Not the most auspicious start for her week. But the repair parts that she brought along did the trick and Mark had the generator up and running in no time at all. We had a great dinner, had bit too much to drink and got ready for the (NEXT!?!) storm which of course made for a crappy night; rocked and rolled – got no sleep. Probably the rolliest night so far. Once it calmed down in the morning we pulled it together to snorkel the Thunderball grotto, a “swim-in” cave. It turned out to be very nice and absolutely worth it but I think the fish were expecting a handout! Then we moved via the banks – dead calm, still gray skies - to Tamarind / Mice for snorkeling and to prepare for the (STILL!?!?) next blow. This is a decently protected area and also has decent area to snorkel where you can get out of the hard current. We showed Kathryn the art of conch fishing (reach down, pick up) and got a good batch of conch. I felt kinda off still so handed over my dinner chores to Mark and Kathryn. I had a wicked headache and we figured out later that it was from holding our head up snorkeling (not the drinking!)
Wednesday morning the weather held off. Little wind but also little sun. We finally got going and took the dingy over to Thomas Is. to walk the trail to the other side and poke around. After lunch on the boat Kathryn wanted to hit the water again, so I geared up and went in with her. We first poked around the “Mice” keeping an eye on the manta ray asleep on the bottom near the boat. Then we moved over to the Tamarind side and poked along that side for quite awhile. The manta then checked us out from a distance and it was spooky watching him watch us as he glided by. He was big! Conch preparation time on the boat between Mark trying various methods of retrieving the meat and Kathryn and me trying to keep the shells for souvenirs made for a big mess. Mark did prepare cracked conch for us for supper. I have decided that I don’t really need any more conch. It was fun, I’m glad I did it, but they still taste like little erasers no matter how hard you pound them. The wind picked up after supper and we prepared for another night of rock and roll. Fortunately it was not too bad as we were pretty well protected but the wind did howl with a good lightening show and it poured. Kathryn has been very valiant in taking advantage of fun time on the boat and she has the upper and back decks all set up for sunning (what little there had been) and reading – which is what we are doing today (between cooking, eating and cribbage) as the wind continues to howl – seems to be the most wind we have had too. The sun however came out – finally! But - I’ve about had it. I am mentally planning our trip back to FL. I wouldn’t mind hanging out there for awhile, but I am sick of the constantly and intensely bad weather. It seems that I am not alone. Other cruisers are starting to bail. I do feel badly as Mark would be very happy just hanging out here.
Friday dawned lovely - thank goodness - and we moved up to Fowl Cay for what turned out to be one of the most gorgeous days we’d had in ages. If there were more like this – which is my understanding as to “normal” weather down here – it would be an entirely different story! There at Fowl, we found a great snorkel place and then took the dingy over to the Rocky Dundas to check out the caves there again. Finally getting cold having now spent quite some time in the water, we headed back to the boat and hung out for a while enjoying the lovely day. Not being a great anchorage though we moved on up to Cambridge Cay and ended up anchoring as the moorings were all full. (Can you guess why?) First we wanted to head to the island and for a walk over the island to the beach and back. It seemed cleaner of trash than the last time. While Mark was grilling the dinner steak we saw in the light of the aft deck on the water, the new resident bull sharks. They were impressive. No night swimming here!
Saturday we dubbed around in the morning and prepped to move back to the Mice for yet ANOTHER blow – which is why the moorings at Cambridge were all full. Back at the “Mice” we did more snorkeling and hiking on Thomas Cay.
Sunday’s blow was primarily wind, no rain to speak of and a full moon peeking through the clouds. The morning came with a lovely sky – more like a brisk fall day in ME – windy, nearly clear and chilly. Then it was time to move back to Staniel so we could be set up for Kathryn’s morning flight. We ended up below Thunderball Club again on a mooring we had seen there. Unfortunately that evening, hurrying around the side decks in bare feet I badly mushed - I think broke – the little toe on my left foot running it into the base of the side door unit.
The departure morning was cloudy again but calm and we all piled into the dingy to take Kathryn ashore. That turned into an adventure as her Flamingo Airlines plane never showed up. There were four of them with the 11:30 connection in Nassau on Jet Blue. Fortunately someone spoke up who knew of a local pilot that could take them. He was called, appeared quickly, was hired and off they went. We grabbed a few items form the local food stores and headed back to the boat where upon I collapsed. I was quite tired and my foot was really hurting. I headed for a nap and Mark drove us up to Compass Cay where we then parked for the next four days sitting out - you guessed it – yet another blow. While there, Mark explored while I slept, and then we went to the dock “sundowner”, meeting yet some more wonderful cruisers. I seemed better the next two days and we did walk the island a bit chekcing out their resident pet sharks.

By Friday the 5th (now March!) the weather had calmed down and we headed up to Hawksbill Cay, just a few miles north. The hike on that island turned out to be more rigorous that I was going to be able to do with my hurting toe, so we stuck to the beach which was lovely. We were the only boat there! With that done by early afternoon we decided to move again up to Shroud Cay which was again just a few miles away. There we settled down for a nice supper and lovely sunset. Then the dreaded wind against the tide started up and we had our all time worst night. WE could not seem to get the lines set up to aim the boat correctly into the surge. Even Mark moved to the salon to try to sleep.

Saturday morning I threw in the towel and mentioned that Nassau was a mere 40 miles away. Mark dropped the mooring lines and headed out. Two days in Nassau and then there was a great weather window and we decided to do the run straight to the states. It would mean a 24 hour run, and we could bail at the Berry Islands and Bimini if the weather did not hold. It was a long 24 hours, but the crossing was perfectly smooth. We cleared Customs and pulled into Fort Lauderdale at dawn on Tuesday the 9th, heading to Sylvia Lake to drop the hook and sleep. I flew out on Wednesday and am now back in Maine with my (definitely broken) toe healing when I have not pushed it too hard playing outside in the garden with some of the gorgeous weather they have been having up here. It has alternated with extremely windy, rainy weather too – it is good I am here to stem the flood in the basement which did not use to leak. In the meantime Mark spent a few days getting parts from the huge West Marine in Fort Lauderdale and doing some repairs. His son, Jonathan flew down and they spent a week starting north. Unfortunately, Jonathan had to leave and Mark is now doing a solo trek, making his way north. He has done some on the inside and has gone outside on clam days and is currently somewhere in southern Georgia enjoying the Lowland countryside. He sent his log along.

Mark’s entries
3/20, Saturday – Looks like I will being doing the log now, as Joanne left for Maine from Ft Lauderdale and Jon came on board. We have been traveling together for a week. He has had a bad cold but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. We arrived in Eau Gallie, FL (mile marker 914) yesterday afternoon and went to West Marine and then a restaurant on the waterfront called Squid Lips for the happy hour. Raw oysters and a beer was a perfect end of the day. Not quite the end of the day actually. We started a project of wiring a new windlass switch at the helm so I can pilot the boat and raise the anchor in a current. That was my primary concern about being alone. We were finished at 8:30 and it worked the first time, only took 5 hours to install. We had beef stew I made at noon for supper, watched a movie and called it a day. Jon took a cab at noon and is heading for Portland and The UK on Monday. This is the start of the singlehanding part of the trip. I am anxious to see how it goes alone.
3/21, Sunday – The day started sunny and little wind. On the road at 8:00 and had little traffic all morning. It started raining around 3:00 and continued until after I anchored at 4:45 at Rockhouse creek (mm842). Developed a leak at the VHF antennae which will need to be looked after. Long day but good to get some of Florida behind me.
3/22, Monday – Back on the road at 8:20 and plan to run to Palm Coast Marina for a shorter day. Arrived at around 2:00 and took a shower. I ran into the captain form s/v Prim with whom we have crossed paths a number of times. From him I learned that the Bridge Of Lions in St. Augustine was closing that night for 5 days to remove a temporary structure. Back on the boat at 3:00 for a fast (?) run of 26 miles to Comachee Cove before the bridge closing at 8:00. Of course that was not to be the end of the story. Turning out of the marina the dingy was on a short tether and took on water. So I ended up drifting in the current sitting in the dingy bailing and no one on board Avalon. The challenges of singlehanding have begun. Made it to the marina (mm775.7) by 6:00 and took the rest of the day off. Spent Tuesday there fueling, buying groceries, taking on water and doing laundry.
3/24, Wednesday – Made a run on the outside today. No wind, no waves, no fish, the sky was mostly overcast with temps in the mid 60’s. Anchored at Jekyll Island, GA. It was a long day but made good progress. I will try to get the autopilot connected to the GPS in Brunswick GA. The autopilot was pretty fussy today and I spent hours correcting it. It is really great to be outside. The traveling is so much easier, just set the course and go. I even got to make a sandwich underway.
3/25, Thursday – Did a little work on the books today and found the name of a marine electronics tech. I want to get the GPS attached to the autopilot. Made an appointment for tomorrow at the Golden Isles Marine. Moved the boat a short hop to the marina in the afternoon.
3/26, Friday – The dock master is a very nice lady named Melissa. She stands about 5 feet tall and has a big shock of curly blonde hair and puts in a 12 hour day dragging fuel hoses down the dock over her shoulder and handling lines for boats. She even delivers guests a newspaper and muffins in the morning. Nice place. Lester Forbes showed up at 9:00, coffee in hand. Lester went into the Navy in 1960, retired in the 80’s and to this day is still doing marine electronics. We worked thru my wiring and I have a much better understanding of how it all works. Now my GPS sends data to my computer, VHF, and radar. I can input waypoints to the GPS and send them to the autopilot and the radar. I still can’t get the computer to send a route to the autopilot. It seems there is an interrupt somewhere that is causing a conflict. I used to be able to do this with the Northstar GPS, but no more. I also need a new gyro compass for the autopilot. Again, everything on a boat is broken; you just don’t know it yet. Hit the road at 1:15 and anchored in New Teakettle Creek (mm643) at 5:00.
3/27, Saturday – This morning I saw a fish jump clear of out of the water about 100 yards away. It was huge. I am guessing it was at least 4 and maybe 5 feet long. I didn’t think anything could live in this brown muddy water. Getting underway gave me a chance to try out the new windlass switch. The wind was blowing like stink and with the current I was back and forth between the helm and the anchor but I am pleased the system works well enough. The day was spent mostly winding thru the lowlands. Huge expanses of grass and a maze of rivers and streams, sometimes with the current and sometimes against. I needed to cross several sounds and all were windy and rough. The worst was Sapelo Sound. The wind was blowing 20-25 knots and my course was into the wind and waves. The seas were a short chop averaging 4 feet with a few six footers thrown in for fun. Avalon handled it without whining and in about an hour it was over. Anchored in Herb River (mm584) about 5:00, same spot as on the way down. The wind is still blowing like stink.

Note from JSW. Since then he has been to Savannah and plans to land in Charleston tomorrow (3/30).

3/20, Saturday – Looks like I will being doing the log now, as Joanne left for Maine from Ft Lauderdale and Jon came on board. We have been traveling together for a week. He has had a bad cold but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. We arrived in Eau Gallie (914) yesterday afternoon and went to West Marine and then a restaurant on the waterfront called Squid Lips for the happy hour. Raw oysters and a beer were a perfect end of the day. Not quite the end of the day actually. We started a project of wiring a new windlass switch at the helm so I can pilot the boat and raise the anchor in a current. That was my primary concern about being alone. We were finished at 8:30 and it worked the first time, only took 5 hours to install. We had beef stew I made at noon for supper, watched a movie and called it a day. Jon took a cab at noon and is heading for Portland and The UK on Monday. This is the start of the singlehanding part of the trip. I am anxious to see how it goes alone.
3/21, Sunday – The day started sunny and little wind. On the road at 8:00 and had little traffic all morning. It started raining around 3:00 and continued until after I anchored att 4:45 at Rockhouse creek (842). Developed a leak at the VHF antennae which will need to be looked after. Long day but good to get some of Florida behind me.
3/22, Monday – Back on the road at 8:20 and plan to run to Palm Coast Marina for a shorter day. Arrived at around 2:00 and took a shower. I ran into the captain form s/v Prim at which point I learned that the Bridge Of Lions in St. Augustine was closing for 5 days to remove a temporary structure. Back on the boat at 3:00 for a fast (?) run of 26 miles to Comachee Cove before the closing at 8:00. Of couuse that was not to be the end of the story. Turning out of the marina the dingy was on a short tether and took on water. So I ended up drifting in the current sitting, in the dingy bailing and no one on board Avalon. The challenges of singlehanding have begun. Made it to the marina (775.7) by 6:00 and took the rest of the day off.
3/23, Tuesday – Spent the day fueling, buying groceries, taking on water and doing laundry.
3/24, Wednesday – Made a run on the outside today. No wind, no waves, no fish, the sky was mostly overcast with temps in the mid 60’s. Anchored at Jekyll Island. It was a long day but made good progress. I will try to get the autopilot connected to the GPS in Brunswick Ga.. The autopilot was pretty fussy today and I spent hours correcting it. It is really great to be outside. The traveling is so much easier, just set the course and go. I even got to make a sandwich underway.
3/25, Thursday – Did a little work on the books today and found the name of a marine electronics tech. I want to get the GPS attached to the autopilot. Made an appointment for tomorrow at the Golden Isles Marine. Moved the boat a short hop to the marina in the afternoon.
3/26, Friday – The dock master is a very nice lady named Melissa. She stands about 5 feet tall and has a big shock of curly blonde hair and puts in a 12 hour day dragging fuel hosess down the dok over her shoulder and handling lines for boats. She even delivers guests a newspaper and muffins in the morning. Nice place. Lester Forbes showed up at 9:00, coffee in hand. Lester went into the Navy in 1960, retired in the 80’s and to this day is still doing marine electronics. We worked thru my wiring and I have a much better understanding of how it all works. Now my GPS sends data to my computer,VHF, and radar. I can input waypoints to the GPS and send them to the autopilot and the radar. I still can’t get the computer to seend a route to the autopilot. It seems there is an interrupt somewhere that is causing a conflict. I used to be able to do this with the Northstar GPS, but no more. I also need a new gyro compass for the autopilot. Again, everything on a boat is broken, you just don’t know it yet. Hit the road at 1:15. And anchored in New Teakettle Creek (643) at 5:00.
3/27, Saturday – This morning I saw a fish jump clear of out of the water about 100 yards away. It was huge. I am guessing it was at least 4 and maybe 5 feet long. I din’t think anything could live in this brown muddy water. Getting underway gave me a chance to try out the new windlass switch. The wind was blowing like stink and with the current I was back and forth between the helm and the anchor but I am pleased the system works well enough. The day was spent mostly winding thru the lowlands. Huge expanses of grass and a maze of rivers and streams, sometimes with the current and sometimes against. I needed to cross several sounds and all were windy and rough. The worst was Sapelo Sound. The wind was blowing 20-25 knots and my course was into the wind and waves. The seas were a short chop averaging 4 feet with a few six footers thrown in for fun. Avalon handled it without whining and in about an hour it was over. Anchored in Herb River (584) about 5:00 , same spot as on the way down. The wind is still blowing like stink.

Black Point Settlement to Georgetown

Ship’s Log – January 29, Black Point Settlement – Georgetown, February 14, 2010

Great Guana Island was a different shape from the other islands – long and thin - and locating good snorkeling was a bit more challenging, but we set out on our mission and even though it was a long dingy ride down the west side of the island we did find some nice snorkeling. Being a larger island there was little current which was a nice change. Black Point was a larger community (a couple of hundred?) so there were two restaurants! We caught the happy hour at one and the barbeque dinner at the other – though the wait for dinner was in Bahamian time – about an hour and a half to feed all 20 of us who had gone to the barbeque.
Alas we bid adieu to our traveling companions of the past month, Ultra and Seas the Day, as we had a weather window and needed to move south. The first day we took the “inside” route – the route on the Banks side of the islands and went as far as we could with depth and tide allowing. Found a nice anchorage for the night all by ourselves. The next morning we hit the tide just right to go out the cut into Exumas Sound and rode the rest of the way to Georgetown in the deep water of the Sound in very nice seas. One of the sayings that we picked up along the way was that “everything on the boat is broken; you just don’t know it yet.” One of those items showed itself. The Autopilot quit about two hours outside of Georgetown. It’s been a long stretch of things all working so something was bound to happen. Could have been worse!
We pulled into the Elizabeth Harbor area of Georgetown on January 31 and were a bit overwhelmed so we picked the first available spot to drop a hook and just chilled. It turned out to be quite a good spot close to Stocking Island and some lovely beaches. Monday the 1st Mark went to work on the autopilot and then we took the dingy to town. It is a long ride across the harbor to Georgetown and if there is any chop it becomes a very wet ride too. We did that ride a few times over the next week checking out the town. To get into town you pass under a SMALL bridge (one boat wide) and come into a pond that has a dock. The dock is attached to the Exumas Market which is the best grocery store we have seen since FL. They also provide free water (via a hose) on the dock which is about the best advertising they could buy. The water is all R/O (reverse osmosis from seawater) but that means it is clean. We located the internet store in a small - VERY small building – and later found out you can get free Wifi at the Exumas Markets……..occasionally. You have a better chance of only slightly more consistent connection at the pay place up the street. The town is very unsophisticated but everyone is friendly.

Further work on the autopilot was not fruitful so for the time being it has been abandoned. Friday the 5th we moved to a cove (Kidd cove) right by town so that we could sit out a “blow” coming and also pick up our very first guests. Tom and Suzi Parks came down from Boston to escape the cold and got here for the first “storm” with rain that we have had since Bimini. Sunday we moved back to Monument Beach at Stocking Is. And as it was too windy to play in the water we went to shore and hiked up to the monument and around the island. It is a gorgeous island and amazingly, unlike the others there is no trash. I suspect the cruisers know a good thing and take care to keep it clean, but it may be the way of the currents and where the trash boats dump at sea, too. Monday we made an attempt to find some snorkeling but it does not seem to be very good down here. It was nice to be in the water though. On our return trip from the snorkel attempt I heard a funny sound and Mark discovered a leak in the coolant system. Back to Monument Beach and he and Tom got that repaired. Tom did get some more swimming in after working up a good sweat on repair jobs. Another move back over to Kidd Cove again in preparation for yet another blow in two days. Since we were there we rented car to explore the island. There is not much to see. The existence here is sparse. You can’t farm anything – the ground is limestone rock. The main industry is tourism and that is mostly cruisers. We saw only one functioning resort (a Sandals and it was lovely) but all the others were defunct. We did find a nice spot for lunch and a liquor store that actually was stocked with wine that did not break the bank. Now we can have wine with our dinners again!

As the 2nd storm was approaching we heard our old friends on Ultra and Seas the Day on the radio. They were approaching Georgetown and standing by outside to let the bad weather pass before entering the harbor. After the weather passed through we decided to join them over at Sand Dollar Beach, an area just south on Monument Beach that we had not yet explored. It was fun catching up. On Thursday the 11th they decided to move to a more secure anchorage because of yet another front coming through but we decided to stick it out there at Sand Dollar. In the meantime we went ashore there and did some exploring. The east side beach was gorgeous. We have also just been chilling out with tropical beverages, reading books, cooking and dancing in the aisles, small as they are.
Friday we 12th with the seas and wind starting to build we made another trek ashore and played in the surf and sand on the east side to the island then went over to “Chat and Chill”, the nerve center of the activities on Stocking Island, to check it out. With the “storm” coming things were quite on the island, but we imbibed in some local beverage and then had a very wet ride back to the boat. We made a delicious dinner and the boys finally beat us in cribbage (only because they pegged out first- we have left them in the dust for the previous games) and we hunkered in for the pending “storm”. It was a long night and we probably did get 40 knots of wind with some rain but all in all it wasn’t as bad as predicted. I did sleep in the pilot house – less noise and Mark toughed it out below with the bow slamming down on every wave. The guests did pretty well, tucked into the salon cabin. Saturday morning we moved the boat over to the “Chat and Chill/ Volleyball Beach” area thinking that we could pick up where we left off, but the Norther’ was still being blustery, cloudy and quite cool. After some exploring ashore we repaired to the boat with another island beverage and our books to relax out the remaining evening of our guests stay. We’ve had a great week and they have been amazingly accommodating for less than perfect conditions. We moved back to Kidd Cove on Sunday morning to be able to get them ashore and not so wet and they will carry letters – unpublished as yet blog copies - this to our few friends who don’t have email. For us, we’ll repair to Monument Beach, continue on some repairs, get reorganized and start the trek slowly north. The next guest, my sister Kathryn, arrives in about 8 days and we plan to meet her in the mid area of the island chain and continue exploring the area around Staniel, Compass and Cambridge Cays – and maybe a few others.
Happy Valentine’s Day!