April 25-27, 2009 - Hopetown to Marsh Harbour

We've spent a delightful four days relaxing in Hopetown. After tying up our dinghy at the public dock we would walk up Queens Highway...




... past the breadfruit tree brought from Tahiti by Captain Bligh on HMS Bounty after the mutiny...

... and we would stop in an internet cafe or bar (depending on the time of day!) to check email and work on the blog...

As much as we loved Hopetown we wanted to be in Marsh Harbour for the weekend as we knew there was a nice Catholic church close to the harbor. The days continued to be quite windy (20-25 knot easterlies) but the short 8 mile trip was downwind so we left Hopetown at 10:30am and we were tied up at the Marsh Harbour Marina at noon.

We decided to walk the two miles into town and were excited to see Johnny Cake Lane since Marianne's real Rhode Island johnnycakes are our grandchildren's favorite breakfast!

On Sunday morning we took a taxi to church... You use the marine radio on channel 06 to call a taxi and they respond immediately. The church was about 10 minutes from the marina, a pretty building completely open-air, with a plaque to Our Lady of Charity Queen of Cuba...

... three crosses set on the rocky hillside...

... and Jesus on a crucifix made of driftwood...

... and the usual rousing choir! We loved the service! After taking the taxi back to the marina we settled in for another couple of relaxing days. This is as far south as we'll go so over the next week we'll gradually work our way back up the Sea of Abaco, through the Whale, across the Little Bahama Bank and position ourselves for the crossing back to Florida. The timing will be right because we will have almost finished our supply of books: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Outliers, Gilead, Team of Rivals, Mary's Voyage, The First Daughter, and Shadow Command

April 20-24, 2009 Sea of Abacos

We’re now in Marsh Harbour, the hub of the Abacos, as we look back on week #4 of this trip.

On Monday April 20th we were “respecting the Whale”— waiting in Green Turtle Cay for the seas to settle down so we could go south through the Whale Cay passage – the most dangerous passage in the north Bahamas. We listened to the marine radio for the 8:15 am Cruisers Net and heard a 50 foot motor yacht in the Whale saying it “wasn’t too bad” so we decided to “stick our nose out” and see for ourselves. As we left our calm mooring in Black Sound we found it more windy than we expected but the seas weren’t too rough. We motored the 20 minutes towards the Whale and passed two other boats that had completed the passage northbound—they also told us it wasn’t too rough. We continued towards the narrow passage where the seas should be the worst… and found them quite manageable. We kept going and within 30 minutes were safely into the Sea of Abaco heading for Great Guana Cay.

This island is one of the most popular destinations in the Abacos for two reasons—the long, deserted beach facing the Atlantic Ocean and Nippers, the famous bar on the bluff overlooking the ocean. We got a slip at Orchid marina—the only one on the island but it wasn’t as protected as it looked on the charts and we were rocking quite a bit so we ended up spending more time at Nippers—not a bad thing as we took a walk past the painted tractor to the bluff overlooking the ocean, talked to family on the Skype phone, had a dinner of cracked conch and conch fritters and took a long walk on the beautiful beach. We settled down after sunset and were rocked to sleep.

On Tuesday April 21st, with the boat still rocking in the slip, we decided to cruise the ten miles to Hopetown—the favorite harbor of most cruisers. Just as we saw the famous striped Hopetown lighthouse in the distance we used our radar to watch some of the squalls leading the cold front sweeping east from Florida—a couple of large squalls passed north and south of us but a small squall hit just as we entered Hopetown harbor and washed all the salt off the boat! We picked up a mooring in the west end of one of the most beautiful harbors in the Abacos.

The next four days we really felt we were living our dream—relaxing on the boat with a simple breakfast of coffee and homemade raisin bread we bought at a local bakery, working out on the treadmill, dinghy to the public docks and walking to the beach for a swim, exploring the charming streets and stopping in a coffee shop or bar for a drink then back to the boat to relax and read and, at sunset as the conch horns were blown, watched the incredible light show as the stars came out brighter than we'd ever seen them.

Here are some pictures of the lovely spots we saw in Hopetown:

April 13-19, 2009 - West End to Green Turtle Cay

As we update our blog, relaxing in Hopetown harbor on Elbow Cay on April 22nd, you can tell we’re getting on “Bahamas time”—it has been 10 days since we’ve written!

When we last wrote we had just finished our second week of this trip with an Easter brunch on board and a relaxing day at the pool and walking the beach. We began our third week at West End waiting for the forecasted storms to pass for the cruise across Little Bahama Bank to the Abacos. A relaxing cruise depends on good weather so we start each morning checking the weather to decide whether to move on or to just spend the day enjoying our current location.

Our days in West End were all the more enjoyable because of the friends we made in the marina. We had dinners with Craig and Julie from Lady J and even took their dinghy to an adjacent cay for some snorkeling. Keith and Jeannie on Mucho Gusto hosted a “happy hour” on their catamaran bringing together a dozen cruisers—some departing after a month or season in the Abacos with many great stories and must-see spots. As the sky darkened we all raced “home” to wait out the approaching squall.

On Wednesday April 15th the weather cleared and we topped up our fuel tanks and left with Lady J for the 54 miles trip to Great Sale Cay—a small uninhabited island with a protected harbor about halfway to the Abacos. After an easy six hour cruise we arrived at 2pm—the first two boats in the anchorage. We dropped anchor in crystal clear ten foot water and watched it dig into the white sand. I jumped overboard with my mask and snorkel to double check the anchor and we lowered our dinghies to explore the lovely beach
On Thursday April 16th we had to say our sad goodbyes to our new friends on Lady J. Craig and Julie were going to cruise the local cays for a few days then return to the USA while we still had another 80 miles to get to the Sea of Abaco. After working out on our treadmill we set our course for Powell Cay an easy 48 miles and were excited to hear our friends Wink and Wilma aboard their lovely Great Harbour 47 MV John Henry returning to the USA after six months in the Abacos. They had been at a slip opposite us in Sarasota in early 2008 and are good friends with Andy on SeaDee, our “buddy boat” for some of the 2007 trip. It is really a small world! We arrived at Powell Cay at 3pm in time to play some bridge before dinner.

Respecting the Whale!
On Friday April 17th we traveled on 12 miles to Green Turtle Cay and picked up a mooring in Black Sound. This cay, 3 miles long and ½ mile wide with a few hundred residents marks the beginning of the Abacos and is just north of Whale Cay passage through which boats must pass to reach the Sea of Abaco. This passage is well known for the “rage” as ocean waves meet the shallow water and break across the passage. It can be quite dangerous in the wrong weather—a few years ago a 165 foot freighter was capsized in 30 foot seas! We spent several days in Green Turtle Cay “respecting the Whale” and waiting for good weather. Every morning at 8:15am the cruisers get together on the radio and discuss the weather and the Whale passage.

Black Sound is a very protected harbor next to the village of New Plymouth—the Abacos were settled by British Loyalists who fled the USA after the American Revolution. This Bahamian village has pastel colored houses

lining the streets wide enough for two golf carts to pass, a bank open for two hours twice a week, a couple of general stores, several churches, and an attack chicken. We took our dinghy over to the public dock at New Plymouth and wandered through the streets. One day we continued to White Sound, the other protected harbor on the island and had a wonderful lunch of cracked conch at the Green Turtle Club.

On Sunday we dressed in our church clothes and dinghied to the church in New Plymouth where we were treated to another moving Bahamian service with island music, confirmation of 12 kids from three local islands, and a rousing sermon—the service lasted 2.5 hours! What a great end to our third week on the boat!

April 11-12, 2009 - Crossing the Gulf Stream

After crossing Florida through Lake Okeechobee and waiting almost a week, we finally had the "weather window" to cross from Palm Beach's Lake Worth Inlet to West End Grand Bahama Island.

We woke at 5am to check weather and were anxious to get started! We had coffee and ginger snaps and started the engine at 6:15am-- it was still quite dark but the winds were calm. We left the slip at 6:30 just as we could see the channel markers and started out Lake Worth Inlet-- only to see a huge ship coming towards us down the channel! We moved way over to the side of the channel and kept going.

About 2 miles out we found the seas a bit choppier than predicted but choose to continue. It was exciting to see the depth sounder go from 30' to 100' to 500' to 1,000' and finally to be in water so deep the depth sounder couldn't detect the bottom. There wasn't much boat traffic-- a few fast fishing boats passed us early but we saw only one other big ship. The waves continued to get more confused and at the half point after three hours we were bouncing quite a bit. But we both felt OK and, while a bit uncomfortable, we were perfectly safe.

We looked back to see another Mainship 400 -- Lady J slowing gaining on us. We called them on the radio and found they were also crossing for the first time and headed for West End.

After 4 hours we were really bouncing... we hung on, said our rosary together, and happily watched the "miles to go" winding down... only 15 miles to go... only 10 miles to go... at 8 miles out we saw tower and a few buildings ahead-- Land Ho! At 1pm about one mile from land the water suddenly changed to a beautiful aqua color and we moved into the calm behind the breakwater of the Old Bahama Bay Marina Resort.

It is a lovely marina with adjacent hotel rooms and several nice restaurants. We tied up in our slip and cleared customs right next to the marina office. There was a gentle warm breeze blowing through the palm trees and the sound of a island band playing near the large pool.

After a relaxing swim we met up with Julie & Craig from Lady J for the Cracked Conch dinner special at one of the resort restaurants. Just before bedtime, as we watched the bright stars overhead, a steel drum band in full costume marched through the marina!

We woke early to catch a short ride on the hotel shuttle to St. Michael's R.C. Church in West End village for 8:30 Mass. What an amazing Easter celebration! It's a small Bahamian church with a joyful, friendly, God-filled congregation-- at the exchange of the Peace people moved around the church eventually shaking hands with every other person in the church! The music was wonderful with hymns we hadn't heard before-- "I got raised!" and "He's alive and everything is going to be alright" -- Marianne wishes she could go to this church every week!

Back on the boat after Mass, we had an Easter brunch of banana pancakes and island fruit-- we ate at the small table on our upper deck and could barely remember the bouncy crossing. We had a relaxing afternoon-- walking the beach, swimming in the pool, visiting our new friends on Lady J. and enjoying another dinner together.

April 5-10, 2009 - Waiting for a weather window

After an interesting 225 mile trip from Sarasota on the west coast of Florida across Lake Okeechobee to Stuart on the east coast, we picked up a mooring at the Sunset Bay Anchorage in Stuart and settled in to await a "weather window".

The next leg of our trip will take us from the east coast of Florida across the Gulf Stream to Grand Bahama Island-- Pathfinder's first trip to another country! While the actual distance from Lake Worth Inlet to West End is only 54 miles, in the wrong weather the seas can kick up to waves over 12 feet! The rules are fairly simple-- one wants 2 days of 10-15 mph winds (or less) from the south before the crossing. The worst case is strong winds from the north because they "bump" against the Gulf Stream moving from the south and the waves get big.

We studied several different websites for wind forecasts-- SailFlow, Weather Underground, and NOAA. We also subscribed to a private weather service from Chris Parker-- everyone morning he gives forecasts over Single Sideband Radio from the Virgin Islands. His sponsoring vessels can call him on the radio and ask for wind and wave conditions on their day's passage. It is fun just to listen to the boaters-- today I heard requests for information for passages from as far north as the Chesapeake and as far south as Grand Cayman.


We had arrived in Stuart on Saturday April 4 too late for the weather window on Sunday April 5. All the websites agreed that the next weather window would be Saturday April 11. No problem-- we purposefully planned this trip without schedules so we would never feel pressure to move when the weather was poor.



So we settled in for a great week around Stuart and Palm Beach. We had four days in Stuart-- two of them in calm seas and two with high winds and bouncy waves. During the calm days we spent most of the time onboard reading and relaxing. During the windy days we took long walks and saw two good movies (Duplicity and I Love You Man). We found some great restaurants within a short walk-- The Ashley (in the 1920s the building was the local bank robbed by the Ashley gang) serves a delicious 3 course early bird dinner for $15.95, the Osceola Cafe has great sandwiches and salads, and Dos Amigos is known as the best Mexican restaurant on the coast. Then back to the boat for the beautiful sunsets! The marina loaned us bikes to ride to Palm Sunday Mass and to ride to the grocery store for a few supplies.

On Thursday we cruised 30 miles south on the Intracoastal Waterway to position ourselves at the Lake Worth Inlet for the crossing to the Bahamas. We topped up the fuel (we used 184 gallons in the 255 mile trip from Sarasota), pumped out, and gave the boat a good scrubbing.

If the weather holds we'll leave early Saturday morning for the Bahamas and should clear customs and be tied safely at the Old Bahama marina at the west end of Grand Bahama island by mid-afternoon. We'll keep you posted!

April 1-7, 2009 From Sarasota to Stuart, FL

April 1, 2009 Sarasota to Captiva

After a series of last minute shopping and car repairs we finally closed up the condo and moved aboard Pathfinder again on the evening of March 31st. We celebrated with a Tapas dinner at Ceviche just a short walk from the boat.

We had spent the previous three weeks stocking the boat so we could be self-sufficient in the Bahamas and spend most of the time anchored out. Many runs to Sams Club to get drinking water, coffee, breakfast bars, wine, vodka, tonic water, and many cans of soup, tuna, chicken, chili, and ham. We filled the second stateroom with our supplies and during the last two days stocked the refrigerator and freezer with hamburg, cold cuts, vegetables, etc. We can survive on our own for a couple of months!

After checking the oil and starting the engine at 7am we gathered our dock lines and left our slip at 7:20 am to head out Big Pass on our way to Captiva Island. The Gulf of Mexico was a bit choppy so we decided to head into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at Venice Inlet and turned south in calm waters with dolphins swimming of our bow.

We quickly fell back into our cruising routine-- Chris had made the coffee the night before and set it to start perking at 6:30 am; breakfast is coffee and a breakfast bar and we're off. After we're away from the dock we move to the bridge and say Hail Mary to Our Lady of the Sea. We take turns at the wheel and watch the chart and study the cruising guide describing various navigation hazards, bridges, and locks. We can usually use the auto-pilot to steer but need to keep watch for other boats and crabpots. By mid-morning Marianne goes below to make wraps for lunch and after lunch we say the Rosary. By 2pm we're deciding where to stay for the night and try to be anchored by 3pm so we can cleanup the boat and relax for a while before starting dinner. After dinner we'll watch the sunset from the upper deck, explore in the dinghy, talk, read, watch TV (we have a satellite receiver with 200 channels!), and settle in early for an early start the next day.

By mid-afternoon we were passing Captiva Island and decided to anchor near Tween Waters. As sometimes happens, it took four tries to get our anchor to hold-- tiring after 7 hours of cruising! It was great to settle in for a nice dinner onboard and a good night's sleep!

April 2, 2009 Captiva to Ortona Lock

We pulled up our anchor at 7am and cruised in gentle seas past Sanibel Island and Ft. Myers up the Caloosahatchee River to join the Okeechobee Waterway. This 144 mile long waterway crosses Florida from Ft. Myers to Stuart. In the middle is Lake Okeechobee, the second largest freshwater lake entirely contained within the continental U.S.-- it is half the size of Rhode Island and about 13 feet above sea level. To cross we'll need to pass through three locks to raise us 13 feet up from sea level before crossing the lake then through two more locks to drop us back to sea level. The process is straightforward but nerve-wracking because, when the big gates open we need to carefully steer the boat in between the high walls of the lock and grab some ropes hanging down from the sides. If there is any kind of wind it funnels down into the lock and pushes the boat around so it is tough to get close enough to grab the lines without banging into the sides. Then hold on tightly as the gates behind us close and the water level in the lock begins to rise or drop at a rate of about one foot/minute. Once we've reached the proper level the front gates open and we let go of the ropes and carefully motor out of the lock.

One of the cruising guides recommended stopping at a small marina dock near the Ortona Lock about 47 miles from Ft. Myers-- but when we arrived there about 3pm the entire dock was taken by a large ship. The second choice of the cruising guide was to proceed to the lock and tie up to the "dolphins" -- large pilings on the side of the canal. The only thing not mentioned in the cruising guide was that the dolphins were covered in tar! As we tried to tie up we quickly had sticky tar on the boat railings, lines and deck... what a mess! We moved to the other side of the canal and dropped anchor and spent an hour cleaning the tar off the boat! Another tough end to a long day!

April 3, 2009 Ortona Lock to Clewiston

We pulled our anchors (we had set two to hold us in the canal) at 7am and passed through the Ortona Lock for the 30 mile 4 hour trip to Clewiston. The forecast was for high winds in the afternoon so we decided to stay

at the one marina in Clewiston and cross the lake the next day. The canal is all fresh water by now and passes through cattle ranches. You can see the cow in the canal as the fishing boat passes us. The wind was really blowing as we entered the last lock of the day and it took all our strength to hold us in place and the water level rose.

We arrived in Clewiston and turned down the narrow channel to the end of the long dock. All the boats tie up to the same long dock and, as the first boat in, we got the position farthest down the dock. This was great for a good night's sleep as the Tiki Bar with the live band was farther away from us... but tough in the morning because we needed to wait until most of the boats behind had left, then carefully spin Pathfinder in the narrow channel and head out to the lake.

April 4, 2009 Across Lake Okeechobee to Stuart

We couldn't leave the marina until 8:30 am because the late-night revelers in the boats behind us slept in a bit. Once the marina cleared we moved onto the lake and were happy to see that it was relatively calm. The only excitement was seeing the alligators on the side of the canal as we passed. The 25 mile crossing was easy but strange to be completely out of sight of land while in the middle of Florida! When we got to the west shore we still had 32 miles to go to Stuart but passage through both locks went well and we arrived in Stuart about 3:30pm.

We found a nice mooring field near downtown Stuart with loaner bikes to ride to Mass or downtown for only $12.50/night! After checking the weather for crossing to the Bahamas and finding that we would probably have to wait until Friday or Saturday for the required light south winds we decided to stay in Stuart for a few days and enjoy the restaurants and take in a movie.