After 3 lovely days at the Hopetown Marina, thoroughly enjoying their new pool and tiki bar, we followed a whole host of boats in exiting the Abacos. The power of Chris Parker, the Caribbean weather guru, is truly amazing b/c when he predicts a good 2-3 day window for crossing back from the Bahamas, boaters everywhere seemed to drop what they were doing and angle their bows west.
On Wednesday, April 25, we were thru the Whale cut and out of the beautiful Sea of Abaco. We had a great sail to Powell Cay, where we anchored for the nigh. We are about 35 miles from Great Sale Cay (where we usually anchor for the night before launching the crossing in just after sunrise).
Thursday, April 26
Another pleasant sail under light wind and clear skies. Around 4:30pm,, we picked up some radio traffic from two other boats that we know, who were also planning to anchor at Great Sale. But contrary to plan, these folks decided to press on towards FL, having less confidence that it was going to be a 3-day weather window after all. Not that we are necessarily swayed by the crowd (but, yes, we can easily be!), we also decided on the spur of the moment to press on as well, taking advantage of the settled weather we knew was in store for Thursday night, as well as the company we'd have on the ocean.
Thursday Overnight:
Maybe we should have waited at anchor Thursday night after all, as it was not a very pleasant overnight crossing! We had lighter winds than predicted, but the worse part was the nasty ocean swells that could not manage to ride with our boat in a consistent manner.. Just like our crossing from Royal Island to Little Harbor, we were caught in a washing machine of what boaters affectionately call “confused seas”. Swells were rocking us from all sides, which threw the sails into a tailspin, not able to catch a consistent wind, so they slapped (loudly) back and forth in the rigging. All this fun and making 4.5 knots!
We started this passage with high hopes of doing a 2-night trip and going into Fernandina Beach in northern Florida … but by daybreak, Captn Dan could tell by the look of total disgust on my face that was no longer a good idea! This was not a good crossing to end our great season in the Bahamas; the best we could do was get across as quickly as possible -- which would be Lake Worth or Ft Pierce. But getting into St Augustine would shorten our return trip to Brunswick.
Friday, April 27
Remembering that flexibility is key to being a successful cruiser, we decided to make our reentry to the states at Ft Pierce, FL (about 150 miles further south than we hoped to be ..). Fortunately, the last 3 hours of the trip were delightful, and we were anchored at Ft Pierce at 5pm, handling our US customs and immigration all via cell phone thanks to the “Local Boaters Option” card that Florida issues to boaters who frequently enter the US via their ports.
Whew! It feels great to be at anchor. Rum drinks all around! Make a dozen phone calls now that we have unlimited dialing to anyone, anywhere! Heat up leftover spaghetti and go to bed.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
We had every intention of being lazy in Ft Pierce for a few days and then making another long overnight run up the coast to Brunswick, GA where we will dock the boat. However, once again, the weather didn’t cooperate. We got the morning forecast on the web thanks to Chris Parker’s new technology, and the nasty stuff brewing to the south was evident in living color on the radar. It was starting in the Bahamas today and moving into southern FL tomorrow (Sunday) and lingering throughout central FL until Thursday. AWWWWW shit. That’s just where we are and just where we need to be travelling. And Thursday???? That’s way longer than we had the patience to be lazy in Ft Pierce. After all, Michelle will have moved down to Columbus, GA by then, and we had one week (May 6-11) where we could have Craig and Michelle all to ourselves before all the wedding festivities started.
Just as we were heavy into whining about the weather, our friends Gregg and Luba (s/v Rhapsody) called on the SSB (single side band radio) to say they had decided not to hang out in Lake Worth for a couple of days (where they cleared in); in fact, they had left the Lake Worth anchorage at 4am, chasing thunderstorms in south FL and were currently about 20 miles from Ft Pierce, with a goal of pushing straight through to Brunswick GA (arriving before the storms were predicted after midnight on Sunday.
What the hell! Again, not that we are unduly influenced by other people’s plans (but, what the hell, so we are!), but in a burst of coordinated energy, we had the anchor up and were underway by 7:00 am. Even if we don’t make it all the way into Brunswick, we can at least make it to St Augustine or Fernandina, which will give us a few days jump on the weather.
Thunder clouds gathering on the southern coast as we headed north.
The only thing we forgot to do as we got underway was check the tidal schedule for the Ft Pierce inlet. We lived and moved by the tides in the Bahamas, but we skipped this important step today. And, yikes, what an adventure we had leaving the Ft Pierce channel and entering the ocean. We were exiting on a falling tide, so we couldn’t believe our good fortune to be moving at 6knots when our engine speed was 3.4 knots. Dan was at the helm and I was at the nav desk when our trusty home, s/v Maja, encountered her first “rage” … a term frequently used in the Bahamas to describe conditions when a falling tide meets incoming surf through a cut in the islands. The same conditions can happen when a falling tide hits the incoming swells from the ocean at the mouth of a narrow channel, and such is the lesson we learned today.
One minute I’m peacefully listening to Chris Parker on the weather radio, and the next minute, water is literally pouring through every open hatch as the boat is violently tossed up, then down, then side to side. I naturally did what any sane person would do … I turned and yelled “What the f*uck” at the Captain! Of course, Dan had his hands full keeping the boat on course as 6 ft standing waves buried our bow every 4 seconds. The water made it all the back into our cockpit! If we were not riding out on a falling tide, our engine could never have powered us through such a wall of powerful waves (of course, had we waited 1.5 hrs for slack tide, our morning would have started with much less adrenaline.
So, lesson learned. Even in the U.S., always consult the tide chart before turning on the engine!
Once we were clear of the heavy swells that pile up along the coast, we were underway in great sailing conditions (all 4 sails up, but motor on so we could maintain 6+ knots of speed). The 2-4ft ocean swells danced along in a smooth and predictable rhythm, moving from east to west, that we could easily surge through in the 10-15knots of ESE winds we had. And we were so glad we diverted to Ft Pierce instead of fighting the conditions we faced on the water yesterday. This is the way to end a trip to the Bahamas! :)
By noon, we were within VHF radio contact with s/v Rhapsody, so it was nice having Gregg and Luba to chat with as we travelled. By 3:00, we were humming along in the Gulf Stream … and I do mean HUMMING … we were regularly seeing 10knots on the GPS, with a high speed of 12 knots!
What’s not to love about this! We saw a few squalls form on the horizon that we were easily able to dodge by changing our tact, and the overcast sky cleared by 5:00pm. We’re having rum drinks at sunset!
After sunset, we had left over spaghetti for dinner (hey, you can never have enough leftover spaghetti sauce in the refrig!), and debated our options for making landfall. #1) St Augustine by noon where we could meet up with s/v Painkiller; #2) Fernandina Beach by 6pm where we could meet up with s/v Passages; #3) Brunswick GA by midnight where we could announce our trip as officially done. s/v Rhapsody is heading all the way to Brunswick, so we decided to turn off the motor to conserve fuel while running up the Gulf Stream and set our chart plotter for the Brunswick marina.
We were running 9-10 knots until about 3pm when we had to exit the Gulf Stream and head west towards the coast. There was a half-moon, clear sky, stars, 10-15 knots of wind, a gentle roll to the sea … in short, a truly delightful night to be sailing.
Yes, again, this is the way I envisioned ended our winter cruise!
Sunday, April 29
Dan and I split the overnight passage into two, 4-hr shifts. Some people prefer using 2hr shifts overnight, but we find that doesn’t give the resting person much rest. Plus, Dan is at the helm most of the day, so he needs an extended rest in order to keep up his pace. When conditions are nice and settled, like this, I can generally go 5-6 hrs. But last night, Dan got up on time in order to help with the change of course, which required a change in sail plan. So after that, I took advantage of the change in shift at when to bed at 3pm.
By morning, we were down to 5knots of wind, hardly justifying keeping just the main sail up, but hell, we are a sailboat after all. The sea was as still as an oil slick, and we plugged along at 5.5 knots, under motor. Kudos to Mr. Westerbeck, our trusty engine who has not failed us once since we put s/v Maja back in the water in November!! Nary a slow start or sputter from bad diesel. And when we keep the RPMs at 1600-1800, he literally sips fuel at .5gal/hr. We put all the spare diesel in the tank, and we should arrive in Brunswick with 12 gals to spare. Along with our half-tank of water and remaining liter of rum, we are rolling into BLM with 6 rolls of toilet paper, 2lbs of coffee, two cases of beer (!! kinda shocking) .... In fact, we the only crucial provision we ran out of is peanut butter …..
We slogged along into GA waters at about 5.5 knots, not minding the flat seas at all. We entered the St Simons Channel at about 5pm, which still put us 4 hrs from the marina. This is a crazy channel to enter at night because it's ablaze with blinking and nonblinking red and green sea buoys. But, we've done it before and have a track on the GPS. The best part was having Gregg and Luba at Dock 11 waiting to catch our lines and light up the pier with their flashlights! Dan parked s/v Maja like the pro he's become and we were ready for bed by 10:00 pm ... and let me tell you, you never sleep so soundly as when you're tied to a floating dock!
Monday, April 30
Well, our goal had been to be back at BLM by the end of April, so we are right on target! We'll hang out here for the week, enjoying the unlimited amounts of fresh water we can use to wash off 4 months of salt and sand. We share a pier with s/v Rhapsody, and s/v Passages is parked at St Marys marina, just 35 miles away (and they have a car!).
Dock 11
The boat work starts right away. Gregg and Luba polishing stainless.
Outlook for May:
We are renting a car on Saturday (May 5) and driving to Columbus GA to visit with Michelle and Craig. Michelle moved down from OH on Monday, so the couple is now together for the duration! We'll come back to Brunswick on the 10th and hopefully be ready to add a new watermaker on Maja. We will take the boat from Brunswick to Savannah on Monday or Tuesday (5/21-22) but have decided to park her at the Thunderbolt marina in Savannah instead of the city pier. We've heard stories of vandalism to boats on the pier, so we're concerned about leaving Maja unattended at the pier for the 2-3 days that we're occupied with the wedding. So even though it was a very cool idea to have s/v Maja be part of the trolley tour and visible from the balcony at Vics, overall, it was more risk than we wanted to take.
We will be partying with family and friends at the Liberty Street historic mansion for 3 days! 5/25, everyone arrives. 5/26, Open House dinner. 5/27, Wedding. 5/28, Recover. 5/29 leave Thunderbolt and head back to Brunswick.
2 comments:
We've also had the Fort Pierce inlet "experience". Completely buried our bow rail, tons o' water on deck, glad it was quick. Welcome home....
Ah! Ft Pierce on a falling tide. our sympathies. Been there, done that. Would rather do donuts for 6 hours than do that again! See ya at BLM.
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