Headed South Again

[edwardc]

Wonder if your mooring is close to this camera!?

http://www.ci.marathon.fl.us/government/departments/marina-and-ports/marina-webcam/

- looks to be down currently though otherwise let us know when you are doing a web show!

We are on mooring ball N1, almost directly out from the marina (see image), so we probably would be visible if the webcam was working. Alas, a lot of infrastructure is still down from Irma damage, and they're waiting for FEMA approval. If they start any repairs before then, they forfeit their aide grant.

[edwardc]

Bimini!

Well, the morning of Feb 28, we said goodby to Marathon and headed out.

Our original plan had been to work our way up to Rodridguez Key (near Key Largo), anchor overnight, and then cross the gulf stream over to Bimini.

But since our friend Bil has joined us, we have the option of overnight passeages with double overlapping watches, se we decided to head directly to Bimini from Marathon. Chris Parker gave us a good weather window for this, so off we went.

Took about 24 hrs, and was an easy motorsail (thanks Chris!), and we got into Bimini early this morning. Thhe A4 performed flawlessly, consuming about a gallon an hour. We have a 30 gal tank, but at the halfway point I added 5 gal from a jerry jug just to be sure of not running out just as we were entering the channel!

The Bull sharks are still here, circiling under the boats in 11 ft of crystal clear water at the dock.

Total NM for the trip so far has reached 1500!

[edwardc]

Wow! I didn't realize it had been almost 3 weeks since my last post!

After spending 3 days in Bimini, we set out for Great Harbor Cay in the Berries. In order to get in ahead of some upcoming weather, we did it as a single 16 hour overnight run.

Spent 6 days in Great Harbor. I've always liked this Cay. We met a number of other cruisers at the marina, rented a jeep (Suzuki Sidekick) for the day, drove from the "Ghost Town" at the northern tip to the beautiful shelling beach at the south, had lots of lobster and fresh fish, and generally had a great time.

We left Great Harbor, looped around the cruise ship district in the north, and crossed Providence channel to Sandy point, on the SW end of Great Abaco Island. We had picked a good weather window and it was an easy crossing of this sometimes rough area.

We spent a few hours at anchor, but needed to leave at 1AM in order to time our arrival at the Sea of Abaco at Little Harbour Inlet so as to have slack high tide and the sun behind us. I had originally planned to the anchor behind Lynyard Cay, but more weather was coming the next day, so we pressed on North all the way to Marsh Harbour, where we anchored.

Marsh Harbour is an OK place, but it's more like the Florida Keys than the Bahamas. Four (!) hardware stores, a real full-sized grocery, numerous resturants and marinas. But this makes it a good place to reprovision, so we did.

Our friend Bill also left us here, catching a flight out and back home to the frozen north (Baltimore).

A really severe front was predicted to be coming through on tue-wed, so we wanted to move before then so as to not be stuck in Marsh Harbour for that long. So, on Sunday we moved to a mooring in the NW mooring field in Man O War cay. This place is bombproof, with all around shelter, but the moorings are spaced VERY close. Less than one boat length between boats!

It's now tue afternoon, and it's raining like mad with winds 25-28 kts, but zero chop in here. Great for the wind generator!

[roadnsky]

The Bull sharks are still here, circiling under the boats in 11 ft of crystal clear water at the dock.

A story related to those bull sharks...

A couple years back we did the same crossing.
Marathon to Bimini

Once we were tied up at Brown's Marina, I jumped off the stern into that inviting crystal clean water for a refreshing dip.
One of the Brown's Dock guys came running down the dock waving his arms and screaming for me to "get out of the water NOW!"
I thought maybe it was some sort of Marina regulation not to swim or something.
After climbing out, the dock hand apologized for yelling but explained there were a couple of very large bulls that frequented the dock area and they were very aggressive.
Right then, just to prove his point, a large 6-7 foot bull just like Ed's picture, cruised slowly by.

It seems the Big Game Club Resort just a few yards down like to chum the water to attract them and they charge money for the tourists to come see them.
Maybe by now they just feed a tourist to them for the attraction.

[edwardc]

Yeah, there's a group of three bull sharks and one nurse shark that make the rounds between the fish cleaning stations at Brown's, Blue Water, and Bimini Big Game!

We spent a great 6 days at Man O War Cay. The place is clean, neat, and well maintained. A perfect mix of quaint small village and modern. We really liked it!

One day we hiked out to "The Low Place", where the island is only about a hundred feet wide, and the Oceanside waves crash over the "road" at high tide.

This morning, we departed and motorsailed the 5 miles to Hopetown Harbour. Though we were warned that the Harbour was packed, we went inside and got very lucky, finding a mooring that had just been vacated this morning! Our friends on S/V Erin Kjarr anchored outside the Harbour.

We plan on staying here for a few days, as always, dependent on the weather.

[roadnsky]

This morning, we departed and motorsailed the 5 miles to Hopetown Harbour.

We plan on staying here for a few days, as always, dependent on the weather.

Take the lighthouse tour.
Interesting and worth it.

[ndutton]

Edward, I am so enjoying traveling with you vicariously with the strains of Jimmy Buffet's One Particular Harbor playing in my brain. Thank you for sharing.

[Marian Claire]

+1
I think this is the spot Ed is talking about. Looking north.

http://www.moyermarineforum.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=81&pictureid=973

Dan
S/V Marian Claire

[edwardc]

Well, we're back in Florida, headed up the ICW towards home.

But need to catch you up first.

After Hopetown, we went to Great Guana Cay and checked out the three competing bars (Nipper's, Grabbers, and Captain Kidd) and made qualitative comparisons of their signature drinks (The Nipper, The Grabber, and The Gripper respectively). I favored the Nipper.

From there, we went to Black Sound in Green Turtle Cay and spent 6 days on a mooring while we explored the island and its town, New Plymouth. After that, a day at No Name Cay to see the feral pigs. Then, a couple of days moving back and forth from the West to the East shore and then back to the West as a front went through. Then three days anchored off Manjack Cay while we explored the mangrove swamps in our dinghy and inflatable tandem kayak.

Then, a really nasty front sent us scurrying back to a slip in Black Sound because it is so well protected.

We spent 8 extra days in Green Turtle Cay, waiting for a weather window to cross back. We left Green Turtle on tue morning and made a 10 hour trip to Great Sale Cay, in the middle of nowhere in the Northern Abacos. There were 30 boats at anchor in the harbor at Great Sale Cay, some newly arrived from the U.S. , and some outbound like us. The trip from Great Sale to Ft Pierce FL, is about 115 nm and would take us about 24 hours. We left at 10:30 am on Wed in order to time our arrival at Ft Pierce inlet to coincide with slack tide there. The inlet is subject to violent "rages" when the wind and tide are opposed.

We motored across the Little Bahama Bank, and then on to the Gulf Stream at night. Joan got to stand her first solo nighttime watches, and she handled it like a pro. The winds were light and favorable, and the seas almost flat. 4 hours on watch and 4 hours off to sleep made it fairly easy on us.

The Gulf Stream current was strong. We were aimed due West and motoring at 5 kts, but our course was being deflected northward by 30 degrees! By the time we exited the Stream, we were actually 6 miles north of the rhumb line to Ft Pierce!

10:30 am Thurs saw us entering a calm inlet. I love it when a plan comes together.

Originally, we had planned to anchor in Ft Pierce, sleep, and resume our travels on Friday, but with two 4 hour sleep shifts under my belt, I felt pretty good. That's more sleep than I usually get in a night!

So instead, we fueled up and continued North on the ICW for another 35 miles, anchoring south of Melbourne just before sunset, near a little town called Malabar. NOW I'm tired! 32 hrs and 150 nm since we left Great Sale.

Tomorrow, we'll go 30 nm to Cocoa, FL and take a slip there for a few days to visit with Joan's cousin.

[edwardc]

Currently anchored just south of Titusville in order to see the SpaceX launch at 3:59 am tomorrow morning. We're within sight of the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) and about 12 mi from the launch pad.

[Marian Claire]

Welcome back. Enjoy the show.
Dan S/V Marian Claire

[Administrator]

Ed:

You've mentioned trouble with fronts passing through on multiple occasions. It's enough to make me consider crossing off a charter in the Caribbean from my bucket list.

Bill

[edwardc]

Welcome back. Enjoy the show.
Dan S/V Marian Claire

Unfortunately, the launch got delayed 2 more days, so we're moving on to try and get ahead of some weather.

Ed:

You've mentioned trouble with fronts passing through on multiple occasions. It's enough to make me consider crossing off a charter in the Caribbean from my bucket list.

Bill

I know exactly what you mean. I often see charter boats heading out "because they have to", while I stay put. I've come to understand that the most dangerous thing on a cruising boat is a calendar!

[edwardc]

After Titusville, we spent 4 days in a slip in St Augustine to reprovision and wait out some rainy weather. I always enjoy a stop in St Augustine.

From there, we stopped at the free dock in Jacksonville for the first time. It made for a short day, but put us there early to better the chance of getting a place. We were boat #3. By sunset, the dock was full. A pretty nice place for free. Floating concrete face dock. Big currents and 5-6' tides.

Timed our transit of Fernandina for mid rising tide and followed bob423's track through there. Left Florida and spent the night at Jekyll Island.

Left pre-dawn and first light to time our transit through the notorious Little Mud River and high tide, but this meant going through north Jekyll Creek at low tide. Saw less than 6'!

Got through Little Mud ok, and made a short day, anchoring at Back River in order to time the next day's tide. Don't you just love the Georgia ICW? The shallow unmaintained waterways make using it a real technical process. That and the 8' tides! In 3 more days, we should be in SC. Stay tuned.

[edwardc]

HX Failure!

Well, it finally happened. A breakdown.

On the way to Beaufort, SC, I noticed the bilge pump cycling every minute and a half! A quick trip below with a flashlight showed water spraying from the top of the HX!

Quickly rolled out the jib, gave the helm to Joan, and tried to cobble a quick fix with rescue tape and hose clamps. No go.

The temp was still a steady 180, the bilge pump was keeping up, and we were only an hour away from our anchorage, so I restarted and pressed on, keeping careful track of the bilge pump's duty cycle.

Got to the anchorage in Factory Creek, set the hook, and started tearing into the HX. Here's a photo of what I found.

The base of one of the raw water connections had corroded through in two places! One was the source of the leak, the other opened up when I wire brushed it!

Trying to decide whether to try and solder it , or use epoxy.