A Posse from Nassau
It was a one nautical mile ride today, officially our shortest travel day yet on our Great Loop! Our time at Atlantis was done but the weather wasn't good enough for leaving Nassau so we just switched marinas. When we arrived at Nassau Harbor Club, we found Jim and Gee from True North were there. You may recall that they recently helped us with our swell bridal at Shroud Cay. They were making plans with Crew Lounge, Island Time, and Red Rover to depart for Chub Cay the next day. We were happy to join their posse for the journey. The plan was to head to Chub Cay, and then if the weather held, we would continue the next day to Bimini, and then on to Fort Lauderdale. It was hard to believe that our time in the Bahamas was coming to an end. We did a little provisioning in town to have food for the days ahead, and enjoyed a little pool time.
We realized we had to finish off our fresh fruits and vegetables before returning to the United States, so we had cantaloupe for docktails and the only drink that goes with that is Rum. We also took our mini-harvest from our makeshift lettuce garden and added it to a salad. Jim and Gee came over after dinner so we invited them aboard to share some Rum with us. We hadn't thanked them yet for their help in Shroud Cay. We enjoyed catching up with them as we hadn’t seen them since the inland rivers at Demopolis.
The next morning we were questioning the weather but Jim showed us how he was reading his weather apps, which showed two separate swells, compared to one swell in a blended direction with ours. We were both using the same weather model but his app showed more detail so we felt better about going. We weren't quite ready when the others left the marina so we left about fifteen minutes later. When we hailed Harbor Control for permission to exit the harbor the controller was thinking about making us wait for a cruise ship to come in! We checked the location and speed of the ship with AIS to determine if we thought it was safe. Then we told him we could do 14 knots but we would do a reasonable speed in the harbor so he agreed to let us go. It turned out that the ship was so far out that it wasn't even close to being a problem! We were so glad that we persisted.
We went fast for about 40 minutes to catch up to our posse. The conditions were not too bad but our stern was swinging a bit with the following sea. When we caught up to the others, we slowed down to 8 knots and found the ride to be quite comfortable. It was about 5 hours to Chub Cay. The plan was to stay in the anchorage but as we approached the island, we were realizing that the waves might make the anchorage uncomfortable. Cam went online and booked us into Chub Cay Marina. Soon afterward, we heard radio chatter from the other boats that they were thinking about booking the marina too so we confessed that we already had. One by one, all but Red Rover did the same. We loved our previous stay at the marina in Chub Cay so we were happy to be back. We all met for drinks and a swim at the pool and we could see Red Rover bobbing in the anchorage. We were glad that we chose the marina!
We went to the restaurant for dinner as Cam wanted one last lobster before lobster season came to an end. I had the Grouper and it was excellent! Over dinner we decided to stay at Chub Cay one more day as Tuesday looked to be a better crossing day and we decided that we weren't in a rush to leave the Bahamas yet. We ran into Jim and Gee after dinner and let them know our change in plans but they still planned to carry on to Bimini the next day with the others.
On Monday morning when we rose, the four other boats had left and we spent the morning doing chores and working. Then we got our swimsuits on and walked to the rocks by the shoreline. We ducked under a fence and walked the beach. As we were leaving the marina beach, we saw a sign that said Private Beach Chub Cay Marina. Since we were guests of the marina, we carried on and had a lovely walk. We had hoped to swim but the water was too rough. When we returned, we found two bits of a broken sign that said No Beach Access. No Trespassing. Oops, I guess we shouldn’t have walked the beach! The signage around here really takes a beating from the wind and crashing waves.
In the afternoon, we went to the pool/beach area and sat in some chairs under a palm tree and read our books. We enjoyed a swim in the ocean and then went to the pool chairs. It was a lazy day in paradise and we really enjoyed it. We spent the evening prepping for a run to Bimini the next day. That meant engine check, route plotting, and securing the boat as well as preparing food to eat while underway. We also enjoyed a nice video call with Rachel.
Heading to the Wild West
We woke early and checked the weather. We were still good to go. Cam proposed going 15 nautical miles further and heading to West End instead of Bimini. That should add about 1-2 hours travel to our day. The advantage would be that from West End, we could cross to Stuart and skip a very busy section of the AICW which might take 2-3 travel days to cover otherwise. The forecast for waves showed that there would be a slight deterioration over the course of the day, going from a 1:3 wave to period ratio to a 1:2 ratio, but it still looked good.
We had about an hour of travel time to see if we could secure a marina spot before we could officially change our plans. Everything started perfectly. We didn't get a reservation, but we saw that everyone was leaving West End for Florida because it was a really good crossing day so we figured there would be room for us. We went at 8 knots until we got past all the shallow areas. When we turned northward to go to West End, leaving the Bahama Bank, we kicked it up to 14 knots and it was pretty good for a while but the conditions were slowly deteriorating as we entered waters that were more exposed to the Atlantic. We also noticed that there was water coming in the usual spot - ugh! Cam saw it coming in much further forward than we expected and flowing aft. We (or Cam) finally figured out that the dryer vent was the culprit. For the last four hours things were getting
uncomfortable, the conditions had deteriorated more than we expected, and the autopilot was doing a lot of work to compensate for the wave action. Our destination time was creeping further and further away with all the course adjustments and our average speed had diminished due to the wave action. After the autopilot practically did a u-turn with four nautical miles to go, Cam took over the helm. It was very hard work but he finally steered us into the sheltered water near the entrance to the harbor. He said that it was his toughest day! His first mate wasn't too happy about it either! We got fuel and started picking up, cleaning up, and sucking up water from the dryer vent leak. We took a break and went to the pool.
Cam met some men on a fishing charter who caught 68 red snappers that day. They had quite a visit. Later the men delivered a bag of snapper filets to us! What a treat. In the marina, a woman was giving a manatee water from a hose while scrubbing its back with a brush. The manatee seemed to love it. Lots of people gathered to watch and take photos. We understood this to be illegal in Florida, but we don't think there were any rules like that in the Bahamas and this pair looked like they had their thirst quenched here before. Later in the week, Cam decided to give our dinghy engine a fresh water rinse. He hooked up the hose and got the water running through the engine and then headed down the dock for something. When he returned he saw that we had attracted the attention of the same thirsty manatee. A second one turned up as well and they both stayed for a long time. It became very clear that they were mates. They were very affectionate with each other, gracefully turning and caressing each other as they moved, and I swear they even kissed! Our engine got a good long rinsing as many boaters came by to see the manatees.
We went to the marina restaurant for dinner and ran into Ray and Jane from Pura Vida. Ray and Jane also started their Great Loop from the same marina as us in Penetanguishene. They had finished their main course, but invited us to join them at their table. They decided to order dessert and stayed to visit while we had our dinner. It was busy and loud in the restaurant so the conversation was quite lively. After we headed back to our boat, we were eager to turn in and save the rest of our cleanup for the next day.
We had a lazier day on Wednesday as we were still recovering from our travel day to West End. The boat was still coated in salt crystals so our first task was to scrub down the boat. We would have to do some more later but it was much better. While we were cleaning, a local came by selling some lobster tails so we bought some, of course! In the afternoon, we went to the beach to relax and read by the water. We could see
a storm in the distance over the water. As it inched past us to the northeast, we could see a rainbow that was not bowed but straight. We walked the beach, then swam. There was lots of sea grass and some rock so it wasn't that pleasant swimming at the beach. We switched to the pool for a swim and more reading before going back to cook our surf and turf.
There was a 90% chance of rain overnight so we prepped for that but it never came. A fresh water rinse would have been good. After a quiet morning, we started to get reports from our family that something was wrong with Cam's Bahamas phone number. Our son, Andrew, reported that a Spanish voice was answering whenever he called Cam’s number. Cam's dad had the same experience. Cam called our provider and they told him to come into a store to resolve the issue. The closest store was 25 kilometers away so that was out of the question. We thought we'd get Eliza, our daugher-in-law, to talk to the Spanish woman in her language to find out what was going on, but when she called the phone was working again. Very strange! We were glad that it cleared up on it's own. Having a working phone number is critical to manage a trip to the Bahamas while still working.
Cam had contacted a fibreglass person and we hoped they would come to see us in order to move the dryer vent and seal the opening that was clearly too low. We didn't know if there would be enough time, depending on when a weather window would open up to cross to Florida. Cam removed the cover for the dryer vent and put silicone around the outer edge. However, there was water in the dryer this time, so we knew it was getting right in through the vent. We eventually siliconed the flap closed and planned to do without a dryer until we could get the vent moved. That would end up being a winter job after our Loop was finished.
We took our bikes into the town of West End. We had almost forgotten that we had brought a lot of school supplies with us to donate to a school in the Bahamas. We found a primary school and dropped off the supplies with the security guard. The security guard was most grateful and told us that her children attended the school and that the school was definitely in need of those supplies. We were so glad that we remembered since this was our last stop in the Bahamas. Then we found the Express Mart grocery store which was pretty good as grocery stores go in the Bahamas. They also directed us to a place to buy locally made bread. Next we tried to stop at a liquor store, actually Wine and Spirits, but they were closed for lunch and reopening at 3:00 PM. Strange hours around here! We went back the next day and ran into the same issue. We tried to go to the marina gift shop and had the same issue there two days in a row. It’s called Island Time. We finally got in to the gift shop on Saturday morning to buy bottled water at $4 a bottle! And why were we buying drinking water? We used the dockside marina water to fill our tanks and it was supposed to be potable, but as their water diluted the water that we already had in our tanks, our water started to taste bad. Cam tested the water and found the total dissolved solids to be over 2000 ppm. Acceptable drinking water should be in the 3-500 ppm range and when we make our own water on the boat it is usually 50 ppm. We dumped our tanks and started making our own water and Cam negotiated a refund for the $15/day dockside water fee and alerted them that they needed to change their filter. We can make only 30 litres an hour so we made water a few hours each day until we left.
While we were in West End, it was Palm Sunday. Traditionally, Heather used to make Palm crosses with her Sunday School students so this year, we were able to pick the palm branches ourselves. Given that they are vegetation, we couldn't return with them to Florida so she gave them away to the locals, who really seemed to appreciate them.
We spent most of our leisure time going to the pool or beach and reading, swimming, and touring around on our dinghy. We met lots of other boaters waiting to cross back to Florida so weather discussions were frequent and detailed. Travelling between Florida and the Bahamas, you will cross the Gulf Stream. This is a very strong current that flows from south to north, and on average it is about 100 km wide. If there is any northerly component to the winds, you can get standing waves as you cross the Gulf Stream because the current opposes the wind. That is something to be avoided so it means that you are not just looking for good wind and wave conditions, but the winds must also be in the right direction. We had made plans with Ray and Jane to buddy boat with us for the crossing. They wanted to go Sunday but we liked Monday better. It was a good call. Reports from the boats that left Sunday were not favourable. The boat that was docked behind us left and came back! Another boat came in and they had lost an engine. In their first attempt to tie up they blew a cleat and it cut a man badly in the leg! The dock was a busy place. Some boaters advised us to check current conditions on some of the buoys in the morning before we left. They had done that Sunday morning and made the wise decision not to go. It is a weather tip that we would use quite a bit for the rest of our journey.
Conditions looked good in the forecast for Monday. After six days in West End, Bahamas, our weather window had finally arrived to make the crossing back to Florida. It is worth it to wait for a comfortable and safe travel day. After all, we are PLEASURE boaters. We had an early start at 5:30 AM, but we weren't alone. The conditions were good to go as planned and our crossing buddy, Pura Vida agreed. We got away at sunrise, roughly 6:45 AM, and we were the fifth boat out. The water conditions were great! It certainly paid to wait. The
weather window was good but it would start to deteriorate in the afternoon. It roughed up a bit at the end as expected. In fact, we wanted to go to Stuart (see the yellow dashed line), but the shorter route to Lake Worth (brown line) was more conservative given the forecast and that was also where our buddy boat was headed. The roughest part of our travel was having to cross the wake of a large cargo ship. We had thought we would be able to cross in front of the ship, but as we got closer we realized we had to slow down to let it pass. Crossing its wake was crazy and lots of things fell off the dashboard as Sea Clef splashed down hard in the water. Heather hurried down below to check on the cabin and found the microwave had bumped up over the lip of its cabinet. She put it back in place and held while we crossed the other side of the wake, which was much smoother.
We did the CBP Roam app for customs and we were DENIED entry to the United States and told to go to the closest Customs and Immigration Office so we anchored in Lake Worth. Before letting the dinghy down, Cam tried the app again, changing a couple of answers and we were approved! It looked like it was a mistake on our part. We were happy to be back in Florida and we removed our Bahamian courtesy flag and put up our American one.
The rest of the day was a long slow run to Stuart. We were wishing that we had bumped our Safe Harbor Harborage Marina reservations by a day. We finally arrived around 4:00 PM after 9:15 hours on the water! Unfortunately, it was pouring rain! The rain ebbed and flowed through our last hour of travel and managed to stop before we were done docking. After we were tied up, the dock staff offered to help connect our power. They noticed that our splitter and one of our power cords was scorched and melted! Before we left West End that morning, Cam had some trouble disconnecting the power but it was dark and he couldn't see what the problem was. We figured the scorching happened when we tripped the breaker in West End a couple of days earlier. Fortunately, Cam was able to Uber over to
Boat Owners Warehouse right away and get replacements while Heather tidied the boat. We had planned to go out for dinner since we were tired and had nothing but non-perishable foods on board, but the Tidehouse Restaurant was closed so we made dinner from pasta, canned chicken and canned corn in a garlic cream sauce. It was pretty good for a non-perishable foods dinner and an exhausted cook!
We stayed on an extra day so Cam worked while Heather defrosted the fridge and then we re-provisioned. That was a big shopping! We wrapped up the day with dinner at the Tidehouse Restaurant.
Click on the photos below to view the images in slideshow mode. Coming up next, we head north to discover new frontiers at the Kennedy Space Center and more.
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