Exploring Green Turtle Cay - 2/25 (7 Posts)

February 25

Everyone agreed that today was a day to do nothing but relax ... sleep in, read books, dinghy in for drinks at the bar at sunset.  Honestly, that's all we accomplished!

February 26

Today was our day to explore what Green Turtle Cay had to offer.  Mikel brought his fishing gear with hopes of doing some bone fishing.  Bone fish are incredibly illusive fish, hard to spot and even harder to catch.  But Mikel was up for the challenge, so Dan and I brought our books and watched from shore.  One side of the island has a nice shallow bay (perfect for bone fish), and then we could hike over to the other side where we could see the Atlantic.  Even though we brought our snorkling gear with us, the water was too cool to go exploring the reefs we could see from shore.  Later mon ....

Mikel going fishing.

Nancy looking for sand dollars.

The Atlantic.

February 27

The Green Turtle Cay Marina offers an 'off season' special where they let you "eat your fees" ... so we could eat two meals in the restaurant for the price we paid for a slip.  Since we hadn't been into a marina for about a month, we decided to take advantage of this great deal.  Ahhhh, a long, long, long hot shower!  Ahhh, some else is cooking tonite!  Ahhhh, TV in the bar so we could watch the Oscars!

We filled our tanks with diesel ($4.89/gal) and our jugs with gasoline ($5.17/gal) and our water tank (25cents/gal).  Of course, Dan also had misc. engine work to get done, so it ended up being a busy day at the docks.  

February 28

We have had a hard time finding internet service (at the library, using the internet is 50cents/minute, so just sending out a half dozen emails with one line saying that we safely arrived cost us $10.00!), so we ended up subscribing to a Bahamian internet service for one month ($99).

Today, Dan and Mikel went off in search of the more bone fishing spots while I stayed on board to bake bread, get caught up on our mail, and work on the blog.  The boys put in a long day searching for fishing spots, and they came back at 5:30 with only the usual share of fish stories .... as in Mikel was chased to shore by two sharks about 12 ft from shore! 

March 1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DAN DEVEREAUX ... LOVE YOU. MISS YOU.

We debated about leaving Green Turtle Cay today and doing some sailing on the Sea of Abaco.  We have to cross through an inlet in the reef (called the Whale) and it can be treacherous if the weather conditions are not just right.  Today would have been a good day to go except that another sailboat, leaving at low tide, ran aground at the entrance to the channel.  It looked like a tight fit, so we decided to stay put.  Usually people are fairly benign when talking on the VHS radio (after all, everyone can hear you) ... but not this wife!  Boy, did she let it rip that her husband/captain did not listen to her advice when exiting the channel and the grounding was all his fault.  She repeated this many times just in case someone missed her point!  Note to self: don't use the VHS radio when pissed off at one's boat captain!

March 2

The wild winds are blowing now. 20-25 knots. and the seas outside our protected anchorage are 6-9 feet (with some reports of 12ft! yikes!).  So, we aren't going anywhere for the next 3 days until this blows itself out.  So far, we've had good luck with our anchor holding ... we were surprised this morning to find half the boats in the anchorage pulling up their hook and going into the marina.  Not a comforting thought, but at least there are now far fewer boats to worry about dragging into us (and viceaversa!). 

On the plus side, the sky is blue and the sun is shining ... and we're in the Bahamas!

March 3

As predicted, the winds and seas stayed high as the cold front passed through from Florida.  The temps dropped to 70 degrees!  (with a low of 66 degrees ... gotta love the tropics!).  We dinghied over to the other side of Green Turtle Cay and hiked over to the Sea of Abaco (honestly, it takes all of 20 minutes to cross the island!).

Mikel did some more fishing ... with ditto the luck he's had before.  We've come to believe that if you want to even see a bonefish (let alone catch one), you need to shell out the big bucks to get a fishing guide for the day. But Mikel is a trooper, and he takes his trusty pole with him everywhere, and he moves through the shallows while we read on the beach.

That's our fisherman out there!

4:00 pm marks the start of happy hour at the beach bar, so off we went to join the crowd of boaters who moved into the marina due to the weather.  The bar was hopping so we had a couple of Bahama-Mamas and then decided to stay for dinner.  Of course, by the time we rolled out of the bar, it was raining ... and combined with the chop in the marina, we were all wet by the time we finished the short ride back to the boat.

Friends, Hank and Carol (s/v Kismet) joined us for dinner.

March 4

Geezzzzz.... how many days in a row can the wind keep blowing over 30 knots?  Every day, we listen to the Abacos CruisersNet on our VHF radio at 8:15am, and the main topic is always the weather.  Today, the report was short and sweet:  wherever you are today, plan on staying put, and hope your anchor doesn't drag.  In particular, we are watching the conditions in the passage we need to make to get to Marsh Harbor, where Mikel catches his flight back to MN on Tuesday (3/8).  The passage is called The Whale because it cuts thru Whale Cay and another small island ... it's a relatively narrow cut that is lined with reefs on both sides.  The passage takes us from the Sea of Abaco to the Atlantic Ocean and therein lies the trouble.  When the Altantic is rough and windy, you get breaking waves over the reefs, and the waves can form a continues line of breakers across the cut. You definiitely don't want to be out in those conditions ... which is why the locals refer to breakers in the Whale as "the rage".  It doesn't take much convincing for us to know we want to avoid anything that goes by "the rage"! 

Not much to do on days like this but read books and take the dinghy out and visit other boaters in the anchorage. 

March 5

After the morning weather report, we're hopeful that conditions in the Whale Passage will be good for us to cross tomorrow.  So we decided to make the most of our last day in Green Turtle Cay.  We dinghied over to New Plymouth, the biggest town on the island, which we were able to circumnavigate in about 20 minutes!  Did a little shopping, did a little eating, and walked into every open store in town ... all 7 of them! We found a ice cream store, and as we studied the list of flavors trying to decide what to get, the owner told us that the last shipment she got did not match any of the flavors listed on the blackboard.  Gotta love the islands!  Instead of Mocha Almond Fudge they had Mint Chocolate Chip.  And I had my heart set of Mocha Almond Fudge ...

After making the rounds to our friends in the anchorage, we learned that there was a band tonight at the beach bar, so we dug out some clean clothes and our dancing shoes and went ashore for some reggae music and BahamaMamas!  The whole crowd was there, so it was a fun night ... hopefully, our last in Green Turtle Cay.

Feb 24 - Arrival at Green Turtle Cay

February 24

High tide was around 10:00 am, so all 3 boats raised anchor and followed Deb and Dan (s/v About Time) through the narrow channel into Green Turtle Cay.  It was a tricky entrance so we were glad we had someone to follow in ... even at high tide, our depth sounder alarm was beeping as we passed over water 6.5 feet deep.  Finally, we've arrived at our destination!

What a pleasant surprise to see Mikel waving to us from the dock as we dropped anchor!  Unfortunately, our first order of business was to clear customs at New Plymouth, so all we could do was buzz by him in the dinghy and tell him we'd be back to pick him up later!

Customs office.

Terry, the customs officer, may checking in a very pleasant affair. No worries, mon!

Gotta love a town where all the buildings are pastel colors and people get around by golf cart!

Bankers hours:  10-2pm, two days a week!

Hard to read, but beer is indeed $49.00 a case.

Welcome aboard Mikel!

After picking up Mikel from the dock, we compared notes regarding our respective travels to the Bahamas.  It took us 2 long days to arrive, and it took him just about the same amount of time ... talk about a trip from hell!  The poor guy had delayed flights the entire way and ended up being stranded in Nassau for the night.  The airlines cancelled his connection into Marsh Harbor, so he had to rebook the flight the next morning and then take a long (aka expensive) taxi ride to the ferry, which took him the final leg into Green Turtle Cay where he arrived in time to have breakfast before we pulled in.  Good thing we had ice and bourbon on board to help raise his spirits!

Maja at anchor.

Feb 23 - Great Sale Cay to Green Turtle Cay

February 23:

Sunrise definitely came too soon today. We’ve got a 10-hr/50 mile passage to GTC, so the anchor was up at 6:30 a.m, and we were on our way again. Hank and Carol (s/v Kismet) are staying here to relax for awhile (they don’t have an autopilot, so they had a long 17-hr day, hand-steering). It would have been nice to sleep-in and take a leisurely couple of days to reach GTC, but we are anxious to get closer to where we’ll meet up with Mikel.

Mikel leaves Minneapolis today, and he'll arrive in Marsh Harbor tonite.  Since he's going to beat us there, he'll need to take a ferry from Marsh Harbor to meet us at Green Turtle Cay.  We no longer have cell phone service, so we sure hope his travels go as planned!

Today is overcast, so the water has definitely lost a lot of its color. It’s still clear, just not that striking aquamarine. I can see why they tell you to approach a coast with the sun over your shoulder so you can see the reefs below. In this flat light, it’s hard to make out the details of what is passing our hull (is that grass? Or a reef?). Quite a change from yesterday when you could see starfish on the bottom, 25ft deep! However, it’s kinda nice having a break from the full sun we had yesterday, even though we’ve put up the cockpit enclosure to stay warm.

We’re in the Bahamas! No complaints!

That's an island in the distance. The Bahamas are so flat!

We arrived at Green Turtle Cay around 4pm.  However, the channel entrance is around 6ft, so we anchored outside the channel so we could make our final approach at high tide tomorrow. 

Our buddy boats at anchor.

Dan diving to check the anchor.

Even though the water is so clear we can see the anchor from the bow!

The CROSSING

February 22 … Crossing to the Bahamas

After waiting at anchor in the Lake Worth channel for 2 weeks, the 6:00 a.m. alarm could not come soon enough! The night before a passage, you don’t really sleep … instead, you try to get to bed early and basically lay there in a slumber state, willing time to pass.  About 3a.m, the strong winds from Monday finally started to subside, and that was a sign that everything should be a ‘go’ once the alarm went off.

Dan was up at 5:30 a.m., doing engine checks; I got up at 6:00 a.m.  The anchor was up by 6:30, and we are underway!

Leaving West Palm Beach just after sunrise.

Leaving the coast behind us.

s/v About Time as crossed 5 times, so they took the lead.

We are travelling with 3 other boats:  Hank and Carol (s/v Kismet) who we met in Lake Worth; Dan and Deb (s/v About Time) who we knew from Brunswick; and Chuck and Bonnie (s/v Stargazer) also from Brunswick.. 

Due to the light winds, we motor-sailed with all 4 sails up, making about 7 knots. I think we are all in agreement that it was a good turn of events that we waited to leave for Great Sale Cay today, instead of Saturday. We’ve got the S/SW wind we had been hoping for, even though its lighter than ideal (6-9knots). And, it is also much nicer to be leaving in daylight (vs. 9 p.m.). As we plow through a benevolent gulf stream, I’m glad I get to actually see it!

Capt Dan ... thoroughly enjoying steering via autopilot!

The sea is an incredible color – a deep, beautiful sapphire blue. Waves were predicted to be 2-4 ft, and that’s probably what we’ve got, although it’s hard to judge from the cockpit. With the southerly wind pushing us along, we were well into the gulf stream before we even knew it!

Photos don't do justice to the deep blue of the ocean.

Our depth sounder stopped reading at 410 feet.  There was actually 2033 feet of water under our keel!

At 2:30 p.m., we crossed from the deep blue sea onto the shallow, aquamarine Little Bahama Banks.

What a sight! From a distance, you could watch the band of lighter, aqua water slowly increase in size against the dark, sapphire blue ocean, as the water depth quickly rose from 2033 feet to 25 feet!

There was quite a chop when we entered the bank, and we had a rough ride until the swells settled down.  Then, we could focus our attention on the water!  WOW!  That's about all we said for 10 minutes.  WOW.  The water is crystal clear and the most incredible color of aquamarine.  WOW.

At sunset, the winds dropped altogether, so we took down the sails and motored the rest of the trip.  It was dark by 7:30pm, so we just plodded along until arriving at Great Sale Cay around 11:00pm.

It was indeed a strange experience to motor into an anchorage in the black of night. You cannot see anything but the display on the chartplotter to indicate we’d arrived at Great Sale Cay. The small, spit of land that makes this a cay was just about invisible. So we motored in until we were in 10feet of water and dropped the anchor into a nice sandy bottom. Anchor set. Lights off. Hit the bed! 17 hour-crossing.  104 miles.

Tuesday - Feb 22 - Anchors up!

6:30 am.  It's a go.  We are on our way to the Abacos. 

We'll keep in touch as we get WiFi service.  Here's hoping we have enough beer, coffee and toilet paper on board!

Feb 20 - Still waiting to cross ... maybe Tuesday?

Sunday, February 20

Even though we've been enjoying several days of wonderful Florida weather, the fact that we're "waiting for weather" is never far from our hearts and minds. We check the forecasts several times a day and have at least two phone calls a day with our 'buddy boaters' to compare forecast notes. 

The weather cycle repeats itself every 3-4 days, so it's tempting to look backward, at the crossings we "could have made" but didn't b/c we were unsure of conditions at the time.  We are in a high pressure system now and a crossing looked good from Friday thru Monday.  So we figured that Saturday, 2/19, was a good compromise ... and a full moon.  The winds were predicted to be light and the seas calm even though it was a north wind (that will push against the gulfstream), moving to a NE wind (which will come directly over our bow).  We thought Friday looked good too, but one more day would only help the offshore swells lay down.  However, on Saturday, the north wind did not stay under 10 knots; instead gusting to 20 knots throughout the afternoon.  Our buddy-boat, s/v Kismet, went offshore 2 miles to run their engines (after being in the marina for a month), and they came it saying that the seas were much rougher than the 2-4ft swell predicted.  Things continued to deteriorite when we discovered that the winds in the Bahamas were going to be 25-30knots when we arrived at our anchorage on Sunday (winds that weren't predicted to arrive until late Monday).. 

So, even though we were soooo sure that Saturday night was our window to cross, we changed our minds after the 5pm weather report came in ... and we spent the rest of the evening thinking that "Friday was the day we should have crossed!". 

s/v Kismet. Anchored next to us in the channel. Passport40

What now?  Back to the forecasts and pick another day.  And Tuesday, Feb 22, is looking good. 

Unfortunately, our friend Mikel arrives in the Bahamas on Wednesday ... so no chance now that we'll be there when he arrives.  If we do make the crossing on Tuesday, we'll be two days behind him. Eck!  Like I said before, fortunately Mikel is a flexible kinda guy ... and fortunately, there are inter-island ferries, so he can take a 30min ferry to reach us at Green Turtle Cay on Thursday., where we will clear customs.  I think we are on back-up plan #10 with Mikel, because if a Tuesday crossing doesn't happen, then our next option is to sail down to Ft Lauderdale and pick him up there, and he'll join the "waiting-to-cross" dance with us!

Fingers are crossed for Tuesday

P.S.
And to add insult to injury, last nite as we dinghied back to Maja after spending the evening with Hank and Carol on s/v Kismet, the water was oily calm ... not a ripple ... not a breathe of wind.  Hard to fathom that somewhere out in the dark the wind was blowing 20 knots!

Ahhhh....Days ashore! Feb14-16

Happy Valentines Day

We awoke to a clear blue sky, sunshine, and no wind!  Yes!  Today, we'll get to go ashore after 4 days of being boat-bound.  Yahoo ... free ... I'm free at last!

Beautiful Palm Beach

We dinghied into the marina to vist with new friends, Hank and Carol (s/v Kismet).  They let us tie up our dinghy to their boat so we can avoid the $10/day charge to use the dinghy dock.  We plan to cross to the Bahamas with them, so after we had exhausted weather talk, we decided to make one more trip to the Winn Dixie (since we had freed up more space in our storage lockers during our period of seclusion on Maja!). 

First, we stopped at the Tiki Bar for lunch before heading out.  Pina Coladas (with an extra shot of Myers Rum) and a blackened mahimahi wrap with black bean salsa and guacamole.  Yummmmmm ... even though I couldn't believe that the drinks cost more than the sandwich!

We overdid it at the grocery store ... not only did we have extra room to fill on the boat, we also had to replenish the "bahama food" we had dipped into, and we had to plan a fresh-foods menu for the next week.   We loaded our 6 food bags and Dan's backpack, and then walked to the nearest bus stop.  After a 10min wait and $1.50 a person, we were back at the marina.  And the best part is that as we crossed the street, looking like overloaded beasts of burden, Hank was there to greet us with a dock cart from the marina.  What a guy!

It took a good hour to stow all the groceries we got.  It seems that lockers have to be rearranged each time we need to add new stuff.  Dan had give up another tool locker to make room for all the boxed rice milk and juices that we bought today  Since we've heard that drink mixes are expensive in the Bahamas, we hope we've stocked up on all the juice we'll want to mix with our rum drinks at sunset!

Tuesday, Feb 15

Another lovely day, reminding us that WPalm Beach is not a bad place at all to wait for a weather window.

Our day trip today was over to Peanut Island, a small island that sits just inside the Lake Worth inlet.  Palm Beach County developed the island into a delighful park .. you can even camp there.  And it's a major hangout for manatees.

 

That's the inlet to the Atlantic ahead.

Clear, clean water.

Beautiful shoreline.

Waterside services. Hot food delivery.

Wednesday. Feb 16.

What a day!  Today was completely taken up with the task of driving Maja into the marina to pump out our holding tank and take on water.  Amazing that such a relatively benign task could take most of the day!

Getting the boat ready to move is alway a long series of chores.  Haul up the dinghy, lower the TV antenna, get lines and bumpers ready, raise anchor.  Once we got to the main dock in the marina, the real fun started.  The deck fitting to access the waste tank was stuck, hard.  We had to empty the anchor locker, where I held a pipe wrench to the below-deck fitting, while Dan was on the deck, soaking the fitting with WD-40 and wrestling with the wrench handle.  After about 45 minutes, it finally budged, and we could see all the salt junk that was holding the fitting fast. 

Then, of course, the pump-out facility at the dock wouldn't work.  Just didn't want to suck. The dock hands were ready to give up, but not Captn Dan.  After all, our holding tank was just about full.  So, 30 minutes later, Dan had figured out how to get the pump to pump, and we were in sucking heaven!  Hooking up our hose to a fresh water supply is never an easy thing (especially when we are tied to pilings and the actual dock is 4 feet above us!), but again, motivated by a nearly dry water tank is a great motivator!

On the way in, we had trouble with our VHS radio and had to use our hand-held radio to contact the marina.  So Dan decided to check it out while we were tied to the dock, and sure enough, the radio wasn't working.  After a series of expletives (as in **** what else can go wrong?), 30 minutes later, Dan was able to deduce where there was a faulty connection and get things working again.  Yah Captain Dan!.

By now, our friends, Hank and Carol, had wandered by so we had time to discuss the daily weather forecast.  And, the good news is that we are hearing positive things about a crossing this weekend ... maybe leaving after midnight on Friday.  The final cold front should move through this evening, and then we'll have 3-4 days of settled weather, which gives us a couple of days for the seas to calm down before we venture out. 

Good thing Hank and Carol were there because I don't know if we could have left the dock w/o their help!  By 5pm, the winds were blowing 15knots from the east, effectively pinning us to the dock pilings.  We could barely move, so they had to use the dock lines to pull us around the edge of the dock, so we could use the wind to push our bow away.

Whew!  Back out to the anchorage which is really filling up.  There were probably 50 boats when we first got here, and now there are close to 75.  We had to hunt around for an open spot to anchor, but got the hook down before the evening rains started, so we call it a good end to the day!

Big boats in Palm Beach. Note the helicopor on the back!

Big homes in Palm Beach.

Stir crazy at anchor

Saturday, Feb 11

Maybe this 'waiting for weather' part is going to be harder than it sounds ... it's only been 4 days, and I'm starting to feel the initial pangs of cabin fever.  For the past 3 days, it has been raining and quite windy, so we've been boat-bound as the seas are too rough to put the dinghy in the water.  Couple not being able to leave the boat with the uncertainity of not knowing when we'll see a good weather window for crossing, and you've got the makings for some type of psychological disorder!

We use passageweather.com to analyze offshore weather conditions ... and we listen to the weather guru, Chris Parker.  Both sources give a small 2-day window to cross on Monday and Tuesday (2/14-15).  The current cold front will move on by then, and the winds and seas will drop.  However, the wind will still be coming from the north ... the dreaded north.  If indeed and winds and seas stay light (6-9 knots; 2-3ft), then we could have an OK crossing with a north wind.  However, the risk is that we have no margin for error if the winds and seas are higher than predicted (which is typically the case) ... a north wind of (15 knots and seas of 4-6 ft) would be uncomfortable due to the large, square waves that would be occuring in the gulfstream (....whenever I hear people use that word - uncomfortable - I translate it to NASTY!).

After Monday/Tuesday, we could easily wait another week for winds to come from the S/SW.  Since conventional wisdom is NOT to cross the GS with a northernly wind, the advice we are getting is to sit tight or move south.  After "sitting tight" for 6 days, we think moving south on Monday/Tuesday is a better than staying put for much longer!

Cruising is a flexible lifestyle, right?  So instead of crossing from Lake Worth, we could also cross from Ft Launderdale ... or maybe Miami.  The further south we go, the bigger boost we'll get from the Gulf Stream when we do cross to the Bahamas  (it flows north along the FL coast so we can run with the GS as we move northeast towards the Bahamas).

Decisions. Decisions. 

Our friend, Mikel, has a ticket to the Bahamas on 2/23, so we're starting to get nervous that he could arrive  before we do!  This must be why sailors are tempted to break the cardinal rules of cruising  (don't drive to a schedule instead of the weather; never cross the GS with a north wind).   So we need a backup plan, and fortunately, Mikel is a flexible kinda guy.

Option 1:  If we are still in Lake Worth when Mikel lands in FLL, he'll ditch the plan and take the $5 train from FLL to Lake Worth.
Option 2:  If we are in the middle of our 2-3 day crossing, he'll need to find a motel in MarshHarbor and wait for us to arrive.
Option 3. If we move south to Ft Lauderdale, he'll ditch the plane and make the crossing with us. Then maybe we'd consider a southern crossing to the Exumas....

Decisions. Decisions.

Right now, I've got indoor jobs to keep my busy.  Dan did indeed live up to his promise to free up one of the lockers under the settee so I'm able to move a lot of canned goods to a more convenient location. (sounds simple, but it will involve reorganizing 3 storage boxes -- which means updating the 'pantry spreadsheet' so that I know where to find onion soup mix and canned mushrooms! And then I'll feel compelled to fill the newly available space with more coffee and toilet paper!) 

No complaints about this anchorage ... great holding in strong winds ... plenty of space around us ... the marina is a mile away.  And the sky is clearning! 

Blustery Saturday ....