St. Augustine to Fernandina Beach

Finally, a good Internet connection for downloading photos and enough time to write have converged at the same point in time and space!  I truly enjoy writing the blog, but it takes a lot of time not only to write but to download the photos because usually the connection gets dropped a few times.  I’ve learned to write in Word, then copy and paste.  Also I’ve learned if I have a strong connection, which is rare, I download a lot of photos which I can cherry pick later.  It feels good to get caught up again.



On June 24, we left Harbor Town Marina at Fort Pierce for an overnight trip to St. Augustine, about 170 nautical miles to the north northwest.  Even though we are heading north up the coast of Florida, we are traveling west, as well.  A local told us that Fernandina Beach was the westernmost coastal town on the East Coast and it looks that way on the charts.  For several hours, we paralleled a squall line that hovered over the Gulf Stream many miles to the east of us.  The storm cells must have been sucking the wind out of our area as we had virtually none, so the motor was on the entire 28-hour trip.  The good news is that other than a few spits and spurts, we had no squalls and, better yet, no lightning near us.  Also the seas were calm in spite of the nearby storms so the sail did not flop too much and probably caught what little wind there was to give us a slight push.  Sometimes a boring motor-sail trip is good.  We were thankful to have covered so many miles. 

 

Captain Dave, ready for sunshine or squalls

We'd heard that the inlet to St. Augustine is a little tricky.  In fact, the outer eight or so red and green channel markers are not shown on the charts because they often need to be moved due to the shifting shoals.  But we'd called Towboat US as well as the Municipal Marina beforehand to get local information - favor the red side and stay far away from green #5 - on how to approach the harbor, and we had a smooth entry. 

Entering the St. Augustine Harbor with the fort and city as seen from the water

  



Beautiful St. Augustine just before we entered the mooring field

We picked up a mooring ball at the Municipal Marina at 11:30 and, even though we were  tired, by 12:00 were on the free launch (water taxi), which runs every two hours during the day between the mooring field and the Municipal dock. A Cuban cafe was recommended to us for lunch. We had the chicken wrap and green salad special, including a glass of wine, which doesn't sound that special except that the cilantro sauce for the wrap and the basil salad dressing were dynamite!
Running on little sleep, the wine just about knocked us out; still we walked around this beautiful city that we’d visited two and a half years ago just before we bought Wayward Wind.  We caught the 4:00 launch back to the boat and went to bed early that night.

 

We awoke the next morning eager to move on, so we dropped the mooring ball, bound for Fernandina Beach about 40 miles north northwest.  We knew there would be thunderstorms over the land and again over the Gulf Stream and we were hoping they’d leave a wide clear path for us in between, which they did.  The storms caused flukey winds that clocked around from south to west to north to east.  Fortunately we were able to get some sailing in but mostly motor-sailed because the winds were just too light.  But I’ll tell you, for about three hours we paralleled the storms five miles west of us as they moved north from Jacksonville to Fernandina Beach.  I lost count of how many bolts of lightning we saw against the black sky.  I told Dave that I was hoping that the storms would burn themselves out by the time we would turn west into the St. Mary’s inlet so that it would be nice and sunny when we arrived.  And they pretty much did just that.

Just south of the St. Mary’s channel, we encountered a fleet of fishing trawlers that had their long fishing arms out dragging nets behind.  It was a bit intimidating because they constantly changed direction, but we held our steady course and managed to avoid having to go several miles out of our way to go around the entire fleet. 

 

Cannons of Fort Clinch pointed at us to welcome us to the St. Mary's inlet

Ironically the best sailing of the day was right in the St. Mary’s inlet – 20 knots on a beam reach with one reef in for about three miles.  We were flying!  It was moving to be heading back into the St. Mary’s sound on the Florida/Georgia border where a little over two years ago we cut our teeth with Wayward Wind – a returning home, of sorts.  At 7:00pm, we picked up a mooring ball at the Fernandina Harbor Marina, then dinghied in to register and take a nostalgic walk through town.  Nice to be back.

 

Lovely architecture of Fernandina Beach Post Office

This home is almost a mirror image of our D St. home in Petaluma,
minus the wrap-around porch.

When we were here before, we’d made the acquaintance of a nice couple, Kent and Vicki McKee, who own a Beneteau sailboat that is docked at Tiger Point Marina.  We gave them a call and spoke with Kent on the phone.  We had a nice chat.  Kent is a pilot who, for many years, was the chief pilot for the State of Georgia.  He said that recently he has been flying to Haiti, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.  We mentioned that we sponsor two children in the DR and visited them while we were there.  He asked through which organization.  We told him, Childrens International, and he laughed.  The two brothers for whom he now flies are on the board of directors for Childrens International. In fact, one of them is Dan Phelan.  We met our kids at the Dan Phelan Activity Center in Santo Domingo.  What a coincidence!  Kent asked me to write an email about our experience and impressions of the organization that he would forward to Dan and Larry Phelan.

On Thursday, we dinghied over to Tiger Point Marina, where we stayed aboard Wayward Wind for the first time on a freezing cold night in early February, 2011 and stayed for the following four months preparing the boat and ourselves for our journey.  We visited with Bill Cavanaugh, the owner of the marina, and his wife, Ann.  Bill had been so supportive of us when we were green with WW.  We could never have gone off without the help of Bill and his mechanics, Walt and Dave.  We told Bill that we’d been as far north as Annapolis and as far south as Granada.  He was genuinely pleased.  He told us that he’s seen a lot of people come to the marina and spend months or even years preparing their boat and, for one reason or another, never leave the dock or end up having to sell their boat before venturing off.  He said, “But you two actually did it!  You made my day.”  We had a nice time catching up.  We missed seeing the office manager, Jackie, who was out due to back surgery.  I used to bring various samples of dark chocolate to give her a little boost in the afternoons.  This time I left a nice dark chocolate bar with a note for her.  She also was a gem to us.  After we visited with Bill and Ann, we walked around Old Fernandina, the original part of the city with its very old homes where Dave and I would take our evening walks.  We have fond memories of Tiger Point Marina and our time in Fernandina Beach. 

Old Fernandina home seen in the Pippi Longstocking movie

The past two days, we’ve rested and wandered around Fernandina.  Yesterday we rented bikes and rode to the grocery store.  Bought some Georgia peaches, pears, apricots – Yum!  The thunder storm came and we were able to ride to shelter between downpours.  Riding on the backstreets, racing before the storm, brought back not only memories, but sensations from my childhood.  So exciting. We should do this more often. 

Dave making a new friend

Lovely screened in porch and Grandmother Oak of this Grand Dame

Today we visited the Saturday morning Farmers Market that we enjoyed two years ago.  Bought some shelled peas, purple kale and corn.  Oh, and some delicious homemade cakes.  Can't wait to sample.  This evening we went for a walk and ended up having dinner at a church that is organized by the local Latin American community.  They are trying to raise funds for a down payment to buy part of the Baptist Church.  Enjoyed talking with some of the members.  And tamales and flan,  YUM!

 

There!  Now I'm caught up!

 

Next we'll head north, probably up the waterway if these thunderstorms persist, to Jekyll Island.  After that, we'd like to do an overnight on the outside (Atlantic) to Charleston, but that, as usual, will also depend on the weather.  It's supposed to become drier on Thursday, so we'll see how we progress till then.  Probably do a little meandering, just like the lazy rivers of Georgia. 



This little guy greeted us at the dinghy dock to nibble on the vegetation. 
We named him Barnacle Bill and are resisting the urge to grab the scraper and scrape those barnacles off of his back.

 

Cat Cay, Bahamas to Fort Pierce, Florida

On the morning of June 21, our weather guru gave us the thumbs up for good weather to cross the Gulf Stream to Florida.  At 0715, we pulled up our anchor and followed Manatee through Cat Cay Cut into the Florida Straits – a bit bouncy, but benign.  So long, Bahamas!

Bouncing through Cat Cay Cut

We watched Manatee hoist her sails and followed suit, but our main sail did not go up smoothly.  First, the stack pack zipper line fouled itself on a batten, then for some reason the second reef line was too taut preventing the sail from fully raising.  It was tricky because even though we pulled in the sheet, the boom was snapping several feet back and forth as Dave steered upwind through the bouncy seas.  I asked him to go to starboard just enough to keep the boom to that side but not so much as to pull the sail so taut that I could not fiddle with the reef line.  After about 15 minutes, I finally figured out that there was a kink in the reef line at the shuttle inside the boom preventing the line from fully releasing.  It was a little scary sticking my hand up in the aft end of the boom knowing that it could snap to port, but Dave did an excellent job of keeping the boat and boom steady in the rolly sea while I freed the reef line.  Sail hoisted and off we went.  We radioed Manatee, who’d been anxiously watching and knew we had a sail problem, to tell them that all was well.  We then exchanged our farewells over the VHF and waved to them as they sailed westward to Miami and we, northwest to Fort Pierce. 

Manatee, à tout à l'heure.  Fair winds!

We first met Rod and Evelyne in George Town, over a year ago, visited them briefly in Salinas, Puerto Rico two months later, then kept in touch during the year by email as we both traveled south with Manatee a few islands ahead of Wayward Wind.  Evelyne always said that we would one day sail together.  Last June, they put their boat on the hard in Grenada and flew home for the summer just before we arrived.  They returned to Grenada at the beginning of November to prepare and launch their boat as we left Grenada, so again, we just missed seeing each other.  We kept in touch and they caught up with us in Boqueron, Puerto Rico.  Finally we were able to sail together for the past month covering a lot of territory – Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas.  They were a great buddy boat and gave us both moral and physical support.  We had a lot of fun together and we wish them a good, lightening-free journey around the south tip of Florida to their home in Tierra Verde near St. Petersburg, Florida. 

Yikes! We were on our own and hadn't exactly gotten off to a smooth start with the fowled reef line and my nerves a bit raw. Dave went below to rest and I was at the helm. I had a glitch with the handheld GPS and the chartplotter whose data did not agree when it came to speed. It worried me because one said we were traveling at 6.5 and the other at 4.5, which is a huge difference especially when it comes to arrival time. We did not want to be entering the Fort Pierce inlet before sunrise. No, no, no! I finally realized that I'd removed one unnecessary waypoint from the chartplotter but had neglected to remove the same waypoint from the handheld GPS. The GPS was averaging the speed to this waypoint which, at that time, was way off to port, thus the difference is speed readouts. Adding to this was the fact that it did not feel that we were traveling at 6.5 knots because the sail was luffing a bit and clunking with the easterly roll. How could this be?!? Ah, ha! We were already in the Gulf Stream which was adding about 4 knots to our speed even though through the water our speed was only about 2 knots! Wow! Certainly a new experience for me. When we'd traveled south last year, we left from Charleston and motored at an angle against the Gulf Stream to the Abacos, so it was not as noticeable, at least to me, who was green at the time.

Once we got this straightened out, we relaxed though still we did not want to arrive too early.  Even so, it was not easy to resist seeing what ol’ Wayward Wind could do.  At one point, for about five minutes, we were easily cruising in the low nines with the winds only blowing at twelve.  Pretty amazing that only twelve knots of wind could move such a large boat so quickly through the water with the help of the Gulf Stream, of course.

 

Proof that Wayward Wind was doing 9+ knots!

Through the night – the shortest night of the year – we had a lovely sail in the nearly full moon with two reefs in at 7.4 knots.  After leaving the Gulf Stream, we slowed down and arrived at Fort Pierce at 1100.  We were exhausted (but happy!) so took a slip at Harbor Town Marina because we did not want to hassle with putting the dinghy down to get to the airport to clear customs.  We called customs, got our arrival number, then took a $12 taxi ride to the airport and spent only five minutes to clear in.  Easy!  We then took a taxi to the local Publix supermarket where we replenished our vegie and fruit supplies.  The organic fresh strawberries were fantastic!  Also Dave and I shared a rare roast beef submarine sandwich on whole wheat with nearly everything on it and ice cold lemonade.  YUM!  We walked back to the boat in the heavy, hot humidity then went for a swim in the pool to cool down.  For supper, I had a bowl of Grape Nuts for the first time in a year and a half.  I was so happy that we'd made it back to the States by June 22 so that I could call son TJ to wish him a happy birthday - 35 years old!  It was great to talk with TJ and Mom.  I then went to sleep at 4:00 and did not arise until 7:00 the next morning.   We woke up the next morning refreshed and relieved that we'd made it to back to the U.S.   BTW, our phone number is 707 321-6137, so give us a call, when you can.

A bit later while down in the salon, I looked out the window and saw the side of a big motor boat passing quite closely to us.  I went above to see if I needed to fend off, but as the current here is very strong and it turned out to be a big boat, there wasn’t much I could do.  I was so impressed with how the captain slid that boat right into the slip without a problem.  Later on, as we walked by, I complimented the captain, “Nice parking job!”  We chatted a bit with Captain Jim and First Mate Peter, who were both obviously highly skilled.  A few minutes into the conversation, Captain Jim admitted that he didn’t really mean to come so close to WW, but the current is “wicked,” as 21-year-old Peter says, and it was pushing him quickly.  Anyway, I’m not such a big fan of motor boats, but Absolutli Rutli is a beauty.  It is only 30 years old but looks like a classic.  And Jim and Peter keep her in excellent shape.  Turns out she is owned by Thomas J. Herzfeld, known as the leading expert in closed-end funds (whatever those are).  Jim and Peter say that he is a down-to-earth guy.  They find it a pleasure to work for him and take great pride in the boat which Mr. Herzfeld recognizes and appreciates.  The next morning, I watched as Captain Jim and FM Peter skillfully maneuvered Absolutli Rutli out of her slip against the strong current, turned her around stern first and motored away bound for Titusville to meet up with the owner and his family.  It was fun to get a glimpse of the motor boat world.

 

Peter holds in  the bow while Jim moves the stern out using a lot of throttle!

 

 

 

 



Captain Jim in action.  Love the hat!

Enthusiastic First Mate Peter shouts, "This current is wicked!"

What a classic beauty.  So long, Absolutli Rutli.

Across from us was a beautiful Amel sporting a Norwegian flag.  Curiously it was named, Clitorius.  We later met Clitorius' owners, Ingrid and Svain (sp?), at the marina restaurant.  Ingrid is bubbly and Svain is a pony-tailed, cigar-smoking, straw hatted, bead-wearing friendly guy with an endearing chuckle.  They are in their fifties and were able to take a year off to travel with their two children, 16 and 20, along with another friend, Tore.  That's five people on 51 feet of boat! They said the only difficult part was passing along the North Sea with a forecast of 35 knots that turned out to be 60 knots.  That’s a lot of wind!!  Ingrid said she thought she was going to die, and she wasn’t sad for herself because she had lived her life but she was sad for her children because they were so young, and she was MAD at her husband.  Plus she and the kids were dreadfully seasick.  But she said she trusted Svain at the helm and learned that the boat could handle it, so now she, herself, feels that she could handle almost anything and says, “Bring it on!”  They sailed to Bermuda, then through the Caribbean and now are on their way back to Norway.  We also met Kevin, an nice American guy who is on a Gozzard 36 (just like Manatee). 

We thought that perhaps “clitorius” meant something “different” in Norwegian.  Nope.  It’s the same thing.  Svain said that when they traveled to the English-speaking islands, a customs agent handling the paperwork would suddenly smile, enthusiastically say, “I like the name of your boat!”  And stamp, stamp, stamp, “You’re approved!”  This happened more than once.  So now we know – if you want to clear customs quickly, name your boat after certain female anatomical parts.  Hmm…wonder if the same holds for male anatomical parts…Testaclese...Nah.


Linda, Svain (the Norwegian young Sean Connery) Ingrid, Kevin, Dave



Nassau to Cat Cay

On June 15, we left Shroud Cay and had an easy trip over the Yellow Banks to Nassau, a shallow area of water that extends for miles with a particularly shallow stretch of only eight feet for several of those miles.  It is weird to be zipping along when you can see the bottom and coral heads so clearly mere feet beneath your keel.  This is a much better route than the one we took going south to Allen’s Cay as there are not as many coral heads to dodge. 

Hello Nassau

We took a slip in Nassau at the Nassau Harbour Club, which made it much easier to remove the main sail.  Earlier in the week, I’d emailed Phillips Sailmakers in Nassau to set up the main sail repair which looked like a go.  On Sunday morning, it only took an hour for Rod, Dave and I to remove and pack the sail.  On Monday morning, they picked it up, completed the repair as well as resewing all of the seams and brought it back Tuesday afternoon.  Thank all deities that the breeze was precisely on the nose at the dock which allowed us to get the sail back up without a hitch.  Actually there was one hitch – the stitcher had sewn seams through two of the batten pockets.  At 4:55pm, I made a call to the sail loft and they told me to just clip the offending stitches and that the seam would not unravel.  So clip away I did, and we finished raising the sail and putting up the bimini at 7:00pm.  Evelyne helped with this, too.  As mentioned, the sail is 611 square feet so is a bear to handle.  We were exhausted, but raring to get going the next morning, and very thankful to have our main sail repaired so quickly and ready fly fully in the wind again to take us to our next destination.   

 

Future cruisers in training in Nassau

So long, Nassau

On the morning of June 19, Rod, Evelyne, Dave and Linda hugged each other at the dock because it would be the last time that we could touch.  Then Manatee and Wayward Wind slipped out of our slips, motoring past humongous cruise ships at dock in Nassau Harbour.  Next stop, our last in the Bahamas, Cat Cay, some 40 miles from the Florida coastline.  We switched from motor-sailing to sailing downwind throughout the day in choppy seas.  Finally the wind picked up to 15 knots and we sailed beautifully through the night.  For about six hours during the night, we provided a ride to a hitch-hiker, a Night Heron, who perched upon our dinghy swaying to the ups and downs of the rolling boat.  Manatee mostly motor-sailed but was able to sail part of the night, too.  We both anchored at Cat Cay at 8:30 the next morn.  We’re getting pretty good at doing overnights.  We don’t have a set schedule, but we take two to three hour shifts through the night.  This way we each get two solid hours of sleep a couple of times during the night.  It seems to work out well.

Cat Cay does not offer a lot of protection from winds with a southerly component which is what we had.  The reef behind which we’d anchored calms the seas somewhat, but the winds still blow through.  Right after anchoring, we realized that we were just on the edge of the flight approach zone to the local airport whose landing strip stretched nearly to the edge of the nearby point of land.  We moved the boat farther to the east to a sandy patch and made sure to dig in the anchor.  Soon after, a medium-sized tanker cruised in to the harbor crossing the flight approach zone just as a small plane happened to come in for a landing.  From our vantage point, it looked as if the plane’s wheels barely missed the stacks on the freighter.  We were very glad that we’d moved away from the zone and channel with our 64.5 foot mast.  A while later, we saw Manatee reanchoring.  At first we thought maybe they wanted to be closer to us, but no, their anchor had drug.  Dragging anchors are a drag!  Once we were all resettled we tried to have a good night’s sleep to get ready to make our way to the East Coast the next morn.

Acklins Island and the Exumas

Aquamarine waters of Atwood Harbour, Acklins Island, Bahamas.
 But what lurks below?

06.16.13

Our trip from the Turks and Caicos began rather rolly but the seas calmed a bit through the night.  We were able to sail almost half way.  The wind has had a southerly component quite often which is different from the usual easterly trade winds.  This means that we’ve had a lot of downwind sailing rather than having the wind blow across our beam (side), which would be make for better sailing.  Thus we have had to run the motor more than we expected, but still we’re getting a lot of sailing in.   Even with our disabled main sail with the third reef tied in (less sail surface area), if the winds are over 16 or 17 knots and the seas are not too sloppy, we sail well at five or six knots.  One plus is that it puts us at an even par with our buddy boat, Manatee, which is smaller so is generally slower than Wayward Wind. 

CONQUEST arrives


As far as overnights go, we had a good trip and anchored in Atwood Harbour on Acklins Island.  We were the only two boats in this lovely, isolated harbour where not another soul was to be seen on water or land.  After settling in, Dave rested below, so I donned fins and snorkel to dive on the anchor to make sure it was set.  Only one shank was dug in, so when Dave arose later on, he jumped in to check.  Fortunately he found that the anchor had snugly settled into the sand.  When he popped up, he said, “A shark swam past me.”  Turns out a few lemon sharks and nurse sharks reside here.  The fact that they love to lurk around the hulls of boats anchored in the harbor may have to do with boats such as this sport fishing boat (gotta love the name…“CONQUEST”) feed them.  The fishing dudes on CONQUEST had a virtual shark feeding frenzy off of the stern of their boat as they tossed big fish heads attached to thick lines into the water attempting to gaff the excited sharks who were fighting over the fish heads.  I did not go swimming after that.  Actually lemon sharks and nurse sharks normally do not bother people.  Someone said to think of nurse sharks as big catfish.  Uh...No can do.

Dave scraping the hull and prop between shark visits

The next morning the weather was a bit too windy, and as Atwood Harbour is a beautiful place, we decided to wait a day before heading on.  CONQUEST left early, and guess where the sharks went – they spent the day circling beneath Manatee waiting for a food handout.  Rod and Evelyne decided not to go swimming that day.  The sharks then swam over to Wayward Wind for their evening supper, but we did not appease them.  Dave did, however, stick his hand in the water to snap some cool photos of the hungry critters.  I could not watch fearing that they would rush at the shiny camera and snap his hand off.  Luckily they did not and Dave still has two hands.

Is that a...



...shark!?! 

The crew of Manatee not swimming in Atwood Harbour

The following day, we set out on an overnight trip to George Town.  Except for the beginning and end of the trip and an hour in the middle to run the fridge and charge the batteries, we sailed the entire way!  It was glorious!  We anchored near George Town where Rod and Dave took a taxi out to the airport to officially check in to the Bahamas.  The next day we rested, and the next, we moved our boats over to Chat and Chill Beach.  This is the George Town that during the winter months is known as the “Cruisers’ Mecca.”  I wrote about this place when we were here 15 months before where there were over 250 boats in the anchorages and cruisers organized activities such as volleyball, Scrabble (speaking of which, I played Scrabble with a senior citizen, Nancy, who briefly dated Teddy Kennedy in high school and, man, she beat the socks off me), yoga, concerts and a regatta.  It’s all very busy and organized.  Now that it is late spring, the cruiser masses were gone and only about a dozen boats were anchored.  It was so much more peaceful and beautiful.  Evelyne and I took a long walk on the Exuma Sound side of the beach and, except for one snorkeler, we were the only ones.  We found a perfect little cove that was protected by a reef and soaked in the clear turquoise water for at least an hour.  Evelyne grabbed my camera and snapped photos of some woman hamming it up.  Ah, well, she must be happy.

Who IS that woman?

The four of us enjoyed a lovely fresh grilled tuna lunch at the St. Francis Marina.  More happiness.  Afterwards we dinghied into the hurricane holes where many boats are moored for the hurricane season.  This time I snapped a photo of Evelyne and Rod.

 

Evelyne showing some thigh while Rod looks on approvingly

Rod and Evelyne swim behind Manatee in front of Chat and Chill Beach with few other boats around

Paradise

Manatee motoring past the lone sailboat anchored at the normally crowded Monument Beach anchorage

On June 12, we left George Town and motor-sailed in the Exuma Sound with a smooth entry through Dotham Cut into the Exuma Banks.  We anchored for the night at Black Point but stayed on board.  We were delighted to find our friends, Marie Ann and Frederic on Madukera anchored there.  We were able to catch up when they stopped by for a visit.  The next morning, actually as I was writing the blog, we were interrupted by a loud knock on the hull.  The wind had really picked up and shifted direction and our anchor was dragging us precariously close to the French boat that was previously quite a ways off.  The man in his dinghy shouted that he was worried that our anchor would drag over his anchor chain, in which case, we could have two boats dragging and a real mess.  We jumped into action, while the nice French man used his dinghy as a fender (I believe he groaned) while we started up the motor, pulled up the anchor, and moved the boat.  Fortunately our anchor did not foul their chain and no harm was done.  We reanchored and, once our pulses slowed, we had breakfast.  No need for coffee! 

Heading through Dotham Cut with a slight current, toward Black Point

We left the next morning for Warderick Wells where we took a mooring.  We love this place as it is part of the Bahamian Marine Park and is spectacularly beautiful.  The J-shaped mooring field provided excellent protection from choppy seas during the squalls throughout the night.  We were very glad to be there.  Unfortunately we needed to take advantage of the next day’s weather so off we went to Shroud Cay, also part of the Marine Park, also gorgeous.  We had a swim off of the bow, but the sea was pretty bouncy from the turbulent weather not far away.  The cloud formations made for a dramatic sunset to bid us adieu on our last night in the Exumas.

On the mooring ball at Warderick Wells. 
Two French family boats whom we'd met in Samana are moored in front of Manatee

Neighbors moored before Park Headquarters at Warderick Wells



Good night, Shroud Cay, Exumas

 

Turks and Caicos



Turks and Caicos view

On the morning of May 25, we left Ocean World Marina in Puerto Plata for an overnight sail to South Side Marina in the Turks and Caicos.  We left with Rod and Evelyne on Manatee and were joined a bit later by Marie Ann and Frederic on Madukera.  I realize that I have not introduced Marie Ann and Frederic.  They are French and are residents of the French Department of Guadalupe where they have made their home for nearly 30 years and raised their four children.  Rod and Evelyne met them earlier in their trip and the four spent time traveling together in the Caribbean.  This was especially nice for Evelyne who is also French and for Rod who is American but fluent in French.  Marie Ann is a retired English teacher, so we immediately had a connection.  It would seem that French students and American students are similar in many ways.  Frederic is a math/computer whiz who, many years ago, developed a computerized system for doing inventory for a major chain store in France.  He was asked if he would like to do the same thing in the Caribbean, so off they went, first to Martinique for a year, and then to Guadalupe where they have lived ever since.  Marie Ann is fluent in English and Frederic is a beginner but is fearless when it comes to speaking so he is making huge strides.  (Darn, I just can't get away from making those teacher-ly comments.)  It is a pleasure to know them.

With our disabled main sail, we were able to tie in a third reef, which means that we may only hoist the sail about half way.  We were able to sail a bit but mostly had to motor-sail to keep up with Manatee.  We wanted to arrive at South Side Marina by 1100 to get into the channel on the high tide with our five-foot drafts.  Madukera is a beautiful Beneteau Oceanis 41 with a nice, large main sail, so they were able to sail without motor the entire way.  They needed to anchor outside the channel to wait for the second high tide to accommodate their six-foot draft which wasn't until 10:00 that night.  They had ridden through the channel in the afternoon so were familiar with it, but still it is never fun to come into a channel in the dark.  So many lights on shore can be confusing.  But they came right in without a problem and we were all there to catch their lines at the dock. 

Channel entrance to South Side Marina.  Notice the dark area that is shallow coral. 

Bob Pratt, the marina owner, is a really helpful guy and built this marina about five years ago.  It is small and friendly.  While here, we met a couple, Wayne and Diane, on Long Legged Lady, a trawler.  Bob has built a little outdoor restaurant up on the hill by his house that has a beautiful view of the harbor and sea.  He is searching for the right person to take on the restaurant -- Any takers?  As it was just we four couples, we had two barbeques and a few happy hours there.  The first barbeque was with the big-eye (we think) tuna  that Dave caught on the way.  It was a good three feet long and fat!  He had a tough time getting it in the boat, but he did.  It was a beautiful fish and tasted yummy!  Everyone contributed an appetizer, side dish or dessert, and it was a veritable feast!



Dave with his catch.  Notice that Dave is tethered
to the blue jackline that runs along the deck as it was pretty bouncy



Another view of the fish.  Anyone care to verify that this is a big-eye tuna?

Wayward Wind at the dock with Madukera on the right and Manatee on the left.

The other night we all decided to go out to eat at the Tiki Hut restaurant because Wednesday was barbequed rib night.  We teased Frederic because, like a good Frenchman, he insisted on eating his ribs with a fork and knife.  Eventually he succumbed to peer pressure and picked up his ribs in all their gooey glory and ate them with his fingers.  He did not appear to be embracing the new strategy, though he did manage to finish his ribs.  The next day, he said, "My hands are still sticky."

Between Diane in red shirt and her husband, Wayne, in blue shirt, sit Frederic and Marie Ann. 
Proof the Frederic ate ribs with his fingers.

We have had to wait several extra days here due to overly blustery weather and squalls out there.  We are nice and cozy inside the marina and have been doing, what else, boat maintenance.   Unfortunately last night we awoke to a rustling noise and discovered either a large mouse or small rat is on board.  (Can we please catch a break?)  Set a rat trap that I'd brought along then went to the store to buy more traps.  I hope we catch it tonight. 

Tomorrow morning we head out for Atwood Harbour on Acklins Island in the Bahamas.  It is another overnight trip.  We should arrive early the next day.  We'll rest that day and night, and then on Thursday morning, we plan on continuing to George Town on another overnight trip.  Plans, of course, are subject to change.

Thank you for reading the blog and I hope that everyone is well.




Hey, this reminds me of somone...

Caps for sale...



Puerto Plata, DR



The Beautiful Dominican Republic

We left Puerto Bahia Marina in Samaná on May 19 to do an overnight trip to the north coast of the DR.  Our friends on Manatee had planned to go to Ocean World Marina near Puerto Plata and we would continue to Luperón where we would  anchor and spend a few days.  The plan was to stay in touch and leave at the same time to travel together on the next overnight trip to the Turks and Caicos.  It was drizzly when we left, but that was good because the normally brisk trade winds were deadened and there was little chop as we headed east for two hours out of Samaná Bay.  Curving around the point to the northwest though was a different story.  Lots of confused seas and very bouncy.  My tummy was not happy, though I'm sure the extra Ti Punch the evening before did not help.  Anyway, once we were heading west, the seas were behind us and the wind was pushing us along nicely.  In fact, in order to slow up and stay right with Manatee (shorter and therefore slower) we came about and did criss-cross tacks behind them.  Rather comical, indeed, but it worked. 

Just before midnight, Dave was sleeping below and I was at the helm.  We were sailing along downwind, wing-on-wing (one sail on the port and one sail on the starboard side) and doing well, but I had to watch the wind direction carefully so as not to accidentally jibe (the boom swings rapidly and powerfully to the other side).  I'd intended to put up a preventor (lines that keep the boom from jibing) as soon as Dave came up for his watch.  Unfortunately I got distracted and jibed accidentally.  Bad move!  At first it seemed that no harm was done and we were sailing along quite nicely.  But at closer examination, we noticed that the main sail had ripped right above the second reef.  Oh, no!  We doused the sail and turned on the motor.  What a letdown.  If we'd really damaged the sail, a new sail would cost thousands and a lot of time.  



Rod and Dave removing our 611 square foot main sail...and dat's alotta sail!

We decided to go with Manatee to the marina as it would be a lot easier to remove our humongous sail and get it into a car at the dock rather than dealing with it in our dinghy while at anchor.  We arrived at the marina exhausted and downtrodden.  We raised the sail to show Rod and Evelyne and to examine the damage.  Fortunately we discovered that a seam had ripped out and would just need to be restitched.  I contacted a sail repair guy, Ron, in Luperón who thought he could help us out, and I reserved a rental car.  What a relief!  We slept peacefully that night.  The next morning at 7:00am, Rod and Evelyne helped us take down the sail and by 9:00, we were on the road to Luperón.  Unfortunately the rip is right in the middle of the sail and the sail Ron's sewing machine, though heavy duty, was too small to handle the bulk of the sail.  Sigh.  We loaded the sail back into the car and off we drove.



Ron, the sail repairman, showing us his friend's home where his shop is located.  It was spectacular.

Swim, anyone?

Undaunted, we decided to make a day of it by driving north and west to explore.  In La Isabella, we found a rustic little beachfront restaurant and enjoyed a leisurely lobster lunch.  The restaurant was barebones and without running water.  A little toddler and his big sister ran around while their parents prepared the meal.  I can't imagine a more idyllic place to spend an early childhood.  About halfway through our meal, things livened up as a busload of schoolkids (Gr.2-12) arrived for lunch.  I had to use my teacher attitude to get one kid seated right behind me to stop yelling for his friend, but he got it and actually they were very polite.  AND they ate fish and lobster for lunch.  Hmm...I don't remember eating lobster on school field trips.  Our lobster was accompanied with rice, beans, fried plantains, French fries and salad.  We had coffee and flan for dessert.  Life is good. 

Rod, Evelyne, Linda and Dave enjoying lobster lunch

School girls playing in an old fishing boat

After lunch, we drove a mile to El Castillo where the ruins of the first European settlement of the New World was established by Christopher Columbus in 1493.  Up to 5000 people lived there until 1502 when the new capital was established in Santo Domingo.  It is clear to see why this location was chosen for settlement.  It is situated on a point that provides a defensive advantage and sits on a large sandy bottom bay suitable for the ships of the day.  An interesting story is that in the 1950s, the dictator Trujillo ordered a crew to "clean up" the site before a group of archaeologists from Spain visited.  The crew bulldozed the intact ruins into the sea!  Rumor has it the the bulldozer driver was executed.  Nevertheless, the ruins were restored and it is an interesting site.  A Spanish-speaking guide accompanied us, which made for a fun translation challenge.  The visitor center is also quite nice and informative with beautiful murals painted on the exterior walls. 

La Isabela named after Queen Isabela



Ancient art is...

reflected in beautiful murals



Where Columbus entered the bay



Our guide showing us the site

Where the first mass was performed.  A church once stood here.



The footprint of Columbus' residence

Overlookng the bay

Showing us how the roof tiles were made

On the way home, we took a rural, unpaved route up a Rio Bajabonico valley.  It was nice to see another side of the DR, far from tourists.  People looked healthy and happy.  Many small colmados (little stores) dotted the roads.  Gardens flourished.  Backpack-sporting kids in light blue shirts and khaki trousers and skirts played with each other while they walked home from school.  Men sat on porches and the occasional donkey and horse delivered riders to their destination.  Communities seemed vibrant.


Entrance to Ocean World Marina

We stayed at a marina called Ocean World.  "Tacky" does not begin to describe this place.  It bills itself as a "destination" with casinos, restaurants, water adventures such as swimming with dolphins and sea marine life shows and more!  But it just comes off as tacky.  The staff was friendly and helpful, so that was a plus. 



On our way up the mountain

View of Puerto Plata

These school kids enthusiastically acted out a story told by their teacher about a ship at sea rolling in the wind and waves.

The statue is a replica of the one in Rio de Janeiro

On another day, the four of us hired a driver and visited Puerto Plata, the third largest city in the DR. On the way, we rode a tram up a mountain for some spectacular views.  In Puerto Plata, interestingly, a number of Victorian houses line the central square.  It is unusual to see so many wooden structures here in the DR.  We had an excellent lunch of pulpo (octopus) and mofongo (mashed fried plantains), rice and salad.  We then went to the Amber Museum where we learned that the amber in the DR comes from a particular tree that is now extinct.  We also learned about blue amber that has iron in it and gives off a blue blow when placed under a blacklight.

Plaza de Puerto Plata

Blue amber appears blue when under a black light

We also visited the main fort which houses an excellent museum and is situated on a lovely point overlooking the city, harbor and coastline. 



Fortaleza San Felipe

Also known as El Morro

On the way back, we stopped at a large and modern grocery store to provision before heading to the (expensive) Turks and Caicos.  We all enjoyed visiting the pleasant city of Puerto Plata.