Fiddler's Green, Green Turtle Cay 3/3-3/9/18

We are liking our location more each day.  The docks are brand new and have both power and water.  The water here is $.30 a gallon so we are trying not to need any before we depart.  Electric is metered and it has been breezy enough and cool enough at night that we have not run the AC and have been very comfortable.  I changed the oil and filter on the generator today and that should keep us running until we get back into the US.

This is our location for now.  We like it

After breakfast and Abby's bike ride morning ritual, Debbie and I took the dingy and headed over to the Leeward YC to see what we had been missing. It's a very nice facility on 7 acres with a pool, bar restaurant and cottages.  The docks are in good shape but not brand new and it felt crowded with the boats packed in tight.  We like our dock much better.  They did have a pool and bar though so we tried out a few Bahama Mamas and got a pretty good buzz out of two of those babies.

Nothing like a little booze before lunch

We sat at the end of the bar on the left

Small but very nice pool and resort

After our before lunch cocktails it was time to get back in the dingy and head over to New Plymouth to do some grocery shopping and grab lunch. We landed at the public dock and tied up with the rest of the dingys.  After we walked around "downtown"  It seems times and storms have hit the islands pretty bad.  There are quite a few boarded up or abandoned buildings and fewer businesses open than used to be.  It's pretty but I don't see a strong future here.

Love the bougainvillea against the white buildings.  This is the main drag which serves as main street, sidewalk and a place for dogs to sleep.  Pretty quite here.

We visited the Loyalist Memorial Gardens.  Quite the history.  New Plymouth seems to be populated by many more white Bahamians than I would have expected. The original settlers came from New England.

We looked in at a few restaurants and found the two grocery stores.  We didn't have high hopes for either and decided we would look in after lunch.  We ended up at Shorty's where we had Conch fritters and rum punch.  Both were pretty good and the service was fast and easy. Next back to the grocery stores.  I ended up buying two bananas and two heads of broccoli.  There wasn't really anything else we needed but more fruits and veggies would have been nice.  I guess it will be frozen veggies till we get to Marsh Harbor in a week.

Steaks on the grill tonight and there are a ton of stars out now along with a soon to rise almost full moon.  We are enjoying ourselves very much.

Alan's to Green Turtle Cay 3/2-3/3/18

When we woke up this morning the wind had shifted and the waves were starting to build to the Northwest where we were exposed to the ocean.  The wind had swung almost 180 degrees overnight and this would not be a comfortable anchorage for long.  The dingy was down so I took Abby over to the beach to do her thing and then we loaded up and raised anchor to head to Green Turtle Cay before it got any rougher.  We made water all the way and did some laundry along the way because we wanted to arrive with full water at Green Turtle.  I'm not a fan of making water in a harbor as pump-outs are almost unheard of here and you know what that means for the water in a harbor. We made enough water that I even washed down part of the boat before we pulled into Green Turtle.
 We called the Leeward Yacht Club to make a reservation because the wind was supposed to blow out of the north for 3-4 days and it looked like a fun place to spend some time.  Leeward YC is located in Black Sound of Green Turtle Cay and when Marvin called us back he told us he didn't have any room at the Leeward YC but he could put us at Fiddlers Green docks. We were disappointed because Leeward YC has a pool and restaurant and bar.  We didn't know what to expect at Fiddlers Green.
When we pulled into Black Sound we called Marvin on the radio and he informed us that we needed to go to White Sound the next bay over and he would meet us there. He did and it is a great place with brand new docks and all to ourselves.  No bar or restaurant but it is close to the Bluffs and Green Turtle Club so if we need a bar or restaurant they are walking distance away.  Marvin said he was busy but would return in about an hour with the paperwork for the dockage.  True to Bahamian sense of time we haven't seen him yet!

All tied up and time for a beer

View from the cockpit of White Sound

Great Sale Cay to Alan's Cay 3/1-3/2/18

We woke up to another beautiful day, not too much wind and mostly clear skies.  We left Great Sale with about 4 other boats heading out around the same time. The water was clear and we made our way around Great Sale and headed towards Alan's-Pensacola Cays to anchor for the night.  We arrived around 2:00 PM and set our anchor for the afternoon. There are quite a few beaches nearby and we lowered the dingy and took Abby along with some beverages over to the beach for a few hours.  We had both spotted a beach that had a large tree providing shade and nice looking sand close to the boat. Abby likes beaches and played in the water and ran around in the sand until she was all tired out.  We brought a toy for her to chase but she was much more interested in the sponges and seaweed than her toy.  Debbie and Abby walked down the beach to a place where someone had made a funny set up with a sign that read "free Beer Tomorrow and an old Pizza sign that had washed up from a storm.  There was a small boat abandoned there too.

Dingy on the beach with Drift Away at anchor

And another day comes to an end

We found another line under the boat today.  It was wrapped around the starboard stabilizer and jammed between the top of the fin and the hull.  I don't know how it got there but I had to pull and work it to get it back out.  What is it with this boat and picking up lines and stuff? While I was in the water I changed out the two hull zincs on the transom.  They were pretty worn out and I had changed them at Christmas in Anna Maria Island.

Not much left of these zincs

My latest catch and release project

Here comes the full moon

We had two other boats join us in the anchorage overnight.  A very peaceful place

Lucayan Waterway to Great Sale Cay 2/28-3/1/18

The Super Duper police boat.  1.3 million bucks paid for by the US gov't to chase drug runners.

So we were sleeping soundly feeling secure tied up next to the police station when Abby starts barking around 2:00 AM.  I tell her to shut up a few times but she persists and then I hear a voice.  Turns out its a police officer and he wants to know what we are doing tied up here (next to his million dollar boat).  I tell him that the officers yesterday told us to tie up here and helped us to tie up.  So now what was the name of the officer?  I don't know, one of the two guys that were out in the boat yesterday afternoon. Where are you from?  Charleston, SC.  What's your name?  How many on board?  OK have a nice night.  Gee Thanks!

The police station.  You can't get much closer than this.

So it turns out this boat is worth 1.3 million dollars and will do 125 MPH!!  Anyways the guy in the morning wouldn't let me borrow it either.  He did tell us that Dan Morino (of football fame) wanted to build a hotel and resort here but stopped after he built is own private compound.  I guess he saw the writing on the wall before it was too late.

One of the many sad sights along the Lucayan Waterway.  This luxury hotel was never completed and sits there abandoned

The money that was spent here must have been phenomenal but it is all just deteriorating under the sun and ocean.  We cruised along the waterway and were somewhat apprehensive about our exit from the north end of the canal out into the sound.  The water depth was reportedly 3.5 feet at MLW and we draw 4.5 feet.  We were about a half hour after high tide so we hoped we would be good. Turns out we were fine and had 2 feet to spare exiting the channel.  I would use this waterway again but next time I'm making sure the police officer tells the guy who comes on duty next that we are OK to be there.

The ocean was very calm today and we made our way east to Great Sale Cay for the night.  We arrived around 2:00 PM and I went swimming and checked all of the props and zincs under the boat.  The water was warm and clear which makes working under the boat so much better. The props are looking OK just a few small dings on one of the tips of each prop.  Not bad for over 5000 miles traveled so far.
We took Abby over to play on the beach and she had a great time running around in circles chasing us and us chasing her.  Lying down in the tide pools and just being crazy dog.  It did her good and was fun for us too. After it was time for cocktails and dinner under the stars.

Another beautiful sunset.  They never get old.

Pedicure anyone.  No waiting and always happy to oblige

And just about a full moon tonight

It's Better in the Bahamas!

Channel 5 to Angelfish Creek 2/18-2/20/18

We left Channel 5  as we passed under Hwy 1 and headed back out to Hawk Channel to go east to Key Largo. Today was a little rougher than yesterday and both Debbie and Abby had their Dramamine with breakfast.  The seas were about 60 degrees to starboard off of the bow and even with stabilizers it produced a pretty good rolling motion.  Debbie often lays down when its rough and Abby will stand when she doesn't feel well.  It wasn't too long before Abby chucked her breakfast and we even saw the pretty much undissolved Dramamine tablet in the pile. Debbie made it through OK even after Abby grossed her out!

Debbie in passing the time mode.  The seas the day this picture were taken were calmer than the actual day we traveled the Hawk Channel but the results are the same.

Angelfish Creek is just northeast of the Ocean Reef Club and cuts through to the ICW.  It is supposedly one of the better passes and is used often by all sizes of boats.  We entered dead center between the outer channel markers and as we were abreast of the entrance markers we hit something and then proceeded much slower for the rest of the entrance.  This is about the 3rd time we have hit something with the props and they are still in pretty good shape.  I had almost had them changed out for the spares that we carry when I had the divers down cleaning the bottom in Marathon.  Good thing I didn't.  We worked our way into a beautiful anchorage off of Angelfish Creek and spent two nights there as there was no rush to go anywhere with the wind forecasted to be 25 knots plus for the rest of the week.  This would not be a good time to cross over to Bimini.  We might of made it but it definitely would not have been fun!

When we were anchored in Angelfish Creek I dove on the props and found the line in the picture below wrapped around the Port propeller.  Maybe what we hit in the channel was a crab pot that had been blown into the channel and I was the lucky one to find it. Anyways the boat runs much better without it and I now have two slightly damaged propellers.  They will do until we get back to Charleston or we really need to change them.  Hopefully that will not be the case.

I seem to be getting very good at picking up lines around the propellers

Bimini to Lucaya 2/27-2/28/18

Beautiful sunrise this morning off of the end of the dock

What a beautiful place to wake up in.  We had breakfast and I spoke with Cecil the dockmaster and a few other captains about our exit from Bimini. They pointed out the right way and I watched about 4 other boats successfully exit from Bimini.  When  it came time for us to leave the green mark that was lying on it's side yesterday was back on station and the whole thing made much more sense.  The colors of the water today were spectacular and as I said before even in 30-40 feet of water you can clearly see the bottom along with fish, dolphins and rays.  Abby still goes crazy anytime she hears the dolphins and whines and barks.  We think she is afraid of them and looks quite worried.  We hold her paw and tell her it will be OK but she still frets.

Abby is awaiting her morning walk

The crossing from Bimini to Lucaya is again pretty straight forward with no course changes once you are out in the ocean.  There was one little jog around Northeast Rock but after that back to 2000-2500 foot depths.  The wind was very gentle this morning with less than 1 foot of waves, ideal for travel and the crew was not going to be sick.  Around lunch we started to see rain clouds aproaching from the west and got some light sprinkles but ended up pretty much going between two rain clouds and just getting a slight shower.  The wind picked up a bit and the waves grew to around 2-3 feet but nothing too bad.

Our plan is to enter the Lucayan Waterway which traverses Grand Bahama Island north to south and exit on the north side tomorrow morning then proceed east to Great Sale Cay.  We entered through the breakwater and saw lots of places along the concrete walls which line the entire waterway for 8 miles along with many branches that we guess were built to attract homeowners to have a lot with a place to keep their boat.  The development thing seems not to have ever taken off as it was intended and it is sad to see so much effort and I'm sure money put in for a project that never blossomed.

We found a nice little nook to tie up to.  There are no cleats or bollards so we tied to trees and were quite happy with our location.  The Royal Bahamas Police Force came by in a super looking fast boat and asked us if we were staying the night.  We said yes and they waved goodbye. Now it was time for some Bahama Mama's and a little relaxation.  We were enjoying Bahama Mama number 2 when the police came back just as it was getting dark and suggested we dock over nearer to their police station which was just down at the end of the canal.  Nothing like a little drinking and driving....  Anyways we moved over and they helped us tie up for the night and told us they felt better that we were there as there were "fishermen that were along the canals at all hours getting up to trouble"  So I asked if I could borrow their go fast boat and the answer was "the boss wouldn't like that mon" Oh well.

Angelfish Creek to Bimini 2/26-2/27/18

Well today is the day.  We woke up and had breakfast early including trying to get Abby to take another Dramamine.  She used to be a sucker for peanut butter with the pill encased in the middle of a glob of peanut butter, but not anymore.  Won't even lick it off of your fingers.  I guess in her mind that stuff makes her sick!  So we tried wrapping it in cheese which is another of her favorite things.  Even with the pill mushed into the cheese she spit it out.  I don't know what Debbie did but Abby took the pill finally.  It was just past high tide and we wanted as much tide as possible to go out through the channel and back into the ocean, so we left around 7:00 AM.  We had no problems in the cut this morning and saw good water even where we had hit last week.  Makes me think more there must have been something that drifted into the channel and we found it.

Once underway and clear of the channel it is a straight shot to Bimini, around 60 miles and the waves and wind were pretty much on the bow.  The standard advice is to never cross the Gulf Stream with any northern component to the wind.  Winds today were 10-15 knots out of the east southeast and the waves started at about 3-4 feet but dropped as we got closer to Bimini to 2-3 feet.  We picked up a push from the Gulf Stream and that increased our average cruising speed by about 2 knots.  Free ride (well almost).

We have been using the water maker some lately and it has worked well.  The one thing that seems to be a problem is that if you don't use it for a couple of days the little sea critters die in the sea water and cause a stink and taste to the water.  I guess the trick is to use it every other day or so.  The solution is to change the prefilters and wash out the filter canisters to get rid of that smell/taste.  Once done the water tastes great, and one of the startup procedures after the machine is up and running is to reject the product water for 3-5 minutes and then sample the water before sending it to the tank.  Yup that means tasting it.  It tasted fine and we topped off the tanks as we crossed the Gulf Stream.  At certain points the water here is over 2500 feet deep and very clear.

Debbie went into sleeping mode and Abby was only sick once.....  Yes the pill came back up too.  I'm thinking maybe we need to crush it or find a liquid to give her.  Maybe a wrist band around her paw??

No land in sight and very deep water.  But as the saying goes if the water is over your head you can drown in it just the same as if its a thousand feet deep.  Hopefully not our day for that.

You can see the seas have dropped somewhat and we are getting close to Bimini.  The crew is very excited about our arrival.

The view from the cockpit looking north up Bimini harbor

And look how clear the water is.  Even in 30 feet of water you can clearly see the bottom and Manta Rays .  Just looking in the water you can tell if there are fish or not.  No guessing required.

We are at Brown's Marina in Bimini

We docked at Brown's Marina for the night.  We arrived around 1:00 PM and had lunch after we tied up.  The entrance channel into Bimini Harbor was very poorly marked and confusing to say the least.  There was a green buoy laying on its side near the beach, (remember red right return) so that one was not to be counted and the others didn't make a lot of sense either.  We made it in, but probably not on the best of routes as we saw less than 1 foot under the props but did not touch bottom.  Once inside the water is much deeper and we easily tied up at Brown's. One of the things they forgot to tell us was that they didn't have any electricity so I guess we will need to run the generator before we go to bed tonight.  No discount either off of the docking but we were all tied up and didn't feel like moving somewhere else.

 Now it was time to go to Immigration and Customs. We had our yellow quarantine flag up and we were actually visited by a customs agent who was walking by, but he wouldn't clear us.  I offloaded my bicycle and headed off to the Immigration building down the street, reminding myself to keep left.  This is the Bahamas and they drive on the left side of the road.  Immigration was painless except for the $300.00 combination cruising permit and fishing licence.  We had about 6 forms all pre-filled in and I had everything they needed with me.  Next down and across the street is Customs which was even easier and faster with no fees. Next up a welcome to the Bahamas, Bahama Mama and relax for the rest of the afternoon.  We had a lobsterman come by to sell us lobster tails 12 for $50.00.  They looked good but I had heard from friends that they had bought 10 tails for $20.00, so I thought I would wait for another day.