June 25, 2006

Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina

Yeah, I know, I haven’t updated the logs since we left the Bahamas. Don’t anyone claim you weren’t sure if we made it back; I know Karen has kept up and I understand most people think her reports are more entertaining anyway.

Karen and I have both decided, at least for a while, to continue to do updates of our sailing and other experiences just in case anyone cares or finds our lives of any interest. I am also going to add a section to the site that will focus on the boat and equipment, and what worked and what did not on the trip. Maybe it will be expanded beyond that, but that is the section of other websites that I found most helpful as we prepared to purchase roam and then as we began outfitting her. There’s nothing like the experience of others to help avoid making the same mistakes. For example, I don’t believe I ever read of any cruiser being unhappy with their Spectra watermaker, and I recall several instances of sailors commenting on their ease of operation and maintenance. These favorable real world experiences convinced me to go with a Spectra, and I came away with the same favorable impressions. If you’re interested, keep an eye out for this new section.

In the meantime, here’s my summary of the last month or so. In my last update, we were in Nassua, docked at the swanky Atlantis Marina. We left Atlantis on the morning of May 19^th, went to a fuel dock in Nassau Harbor, then headed out toward White Cay in the Berry Islands, about 40 miles to the north northeast. White Cay was another beautiful, uninhabited Bahamas anchorage, although there were 5 or 6 other boats there when we arrived.

The next morning (the 20^th) we began our 450 mile passage Directly to Charleston. Our route initially took us northwest, to round the west end of Grand Bahama Island, where we then turned straight north into the Gulf Stream on a direct line to Charleston. I was figuring three days for the predicted light wind passage (about 150 miles per day) meaning we would arrive late morning on the 23^rd. For the first day and a half, this meant slowing us down, as we were being pushed along “too fast” by the Stream, and I did not want to arrive at a new marina for the first time in the middle of the night with no idea where roam’s slip was. All that changed after calling Charleston Harbor Marina on the sat phone (of course, the call was dropped 3 times) and being assured that they were expecting us and that there was someone there 24 hours a day to help with lines, etc.

So, we went ahead and let the boat go as fast as she wanted to. At one point, during a light wind period, we were motoring on one engine. The speed through the water showed 6 knots, while the speed over ground was at 11.5, a 5 ½ knot boost from the current! For the last day, the wind came up somewhat and was from the east, so were able to easily maintain an SOG of 9 knots for long periods of time. We arrived at our waypoint of the Charleston sea buoy a little after midnight. It took about an hour to motor up the channel in the harbor to the marina, and then another hour or so to get situated in a slip. (Karen’s page gives the details of the initial docking fiasco, where basically we were directed to a 40 foot space for our 46 foot boat.)

The guy who helped us tie up told us that Customs “always comes down to thoroughly search boats”, and we should be prepared to stay the night. However, I called Customs, and the agent on duty, who moved to Charleston from Mundelein a couple of years ago, was very efficient and pleasant, and she had us fully cleared in within a half hour, all over the phone. No search, no waiting, no nothing. Welcome back to the good old U.S. of A.

Since then, we’ve spent our boating time trying to figure out tides and currents, and where the best sailing spots are. I used to think it was a real challenge pulling a 36 foot boat into a slip at Waukegan Harbor with a 20 knot wind out of the north. Charleston Harbor Marina sits on the edge of Charleston Harbor, and is subjected to currents of up to 5 knots when the tide is flowing at its maximum. Add to that a 15 knot wind coming from who knows where, and docking can get exciting. I guess it’s just going to take some practice.

May 17, 2006 Lat 25 04.9 N Lon 077 19.3 W (Atlantis Marina, Nassua, Bahamas) Local Time: 1300 Yeah, that’s right, we’re in a marina, for only the second time since Trinidad. And not just any marina, but the ultra swanky (and ultra expensive) Atlantis Marina, part of the Atlantis Resort. To tie up here, they charge $4 per foot per day! That compares to, for example, Chicago’s harbors, which last year were charging around a dollar per foot. But, the fee includes use of all of the resorts facilities (pools, water slides, etc.), which would matter if it hadn’t been raining all day yesterday and today. I don’t know what the rooms cost here, but the $20 cheeseburgers aren’t as good as the $3 burgers at Luke’s and Scooter’s near Lake Bluff. However, the developer in me is really impressed with the overall project. I’m guessing the overall investment is in the hundreds of millions, if not a billion dollars. And, it must be working because they are expanding. Overall, the Bahamas have been incredible, although we’ve only seen a small part. After Mayaguana, our first stop was Rum Cay, a small island with a population of about 100, but a marina that is popular with the sport fishing boats. There is an intricate entry to the marina that winds its way through the coral. Although there were some markers, some were missing, so we really had to rely on our charts and our limited water reading skills to make our way to the fuel dock. We made it without hitting anything, including the fuel dock. While there, a sport fisher crewed by 3 twenty-somethings pulled up behind us and, while fueling, the captain began cleaning the day’s catch. I like to think it was my considerable charm and their respect for my mature status that caused them to offer us several mahi-mahi steaks; Karen thinks it had something to do with our bikini-clad daughters. How shallow does she think men are? Regardless, it was pretty nice to be anchored that night off of a spectacular sand beach, grilling up super-fresh fish. Maybe some day I’ll actually catch some myself. After Rum Cay, we did a day sail (30 miles or so) to Long Island (to another spectacular, almost empty anchorage), followed by another sail the next day to Georgetown on Great Exuma island, where we picked Brien up at the airport the next day. For the next few days, we worked our way up the Exuma chain, sailing between 20 and 30 miles a day to reach one beautiful island after another. I’m out of superlatives, so I’ll just say that all of the Exumas are what I’ve always pictured Bahamas cruising to be all about: low-lying islands with beautiful white sand beaches, crystal clear water and amazing undersea wildlife. The islands we visited included Little Farmers Cay, Staniel Cay, Warderick Wells and the Allan Cays. Warderick Wells is the base for the Exumas Land and Sea Park and is probably the prettiest of them all. The sailing and navigating in the area can be challenging if you’re not careful. The Exuma Cays separate deepwater Exuma sound from the shallow Great Bahama Bank. Some of the passes between islands are navigable and some are not, but regardless all have significant tidal currents running between them, so you need to time your arrival at the cuts to coincide with slack water and a high, bright sun so you can see the coral. Of course, the two don’t always match up, but we managed, doing some sailing in the Sound and some shallow water passages, depending on wind and sea conditions. I could easily see coming back to this area and spending a Winter exploring. Tuesday (yesterday), we crossed the Banks to Nassau. Brien’s friend Molly is flying in today to join us for the rest of our trip, including the passage back to Charleston. Quite brave for someone who hasn’t sailed much…….. The trip over started out calmly enough, but as we approached Nassau we could see lots of storm clouds hanging over the island. About 5 miles out, the wind shifted 180 degrees to the north and strengthened to the low 20’s, the seas came up, and it got cold! (sort of). Upon arriving in Nassau Harbor, it was clear we were back in civilization: hundreds of boats tied up at marinas, three large cruise ships, high rise hotels, houses, cars, etc. We also had to cross under two bridges with vertical clearances of 69 feet. Our mast is 64 feet off the water. It was kind of scary. Our plan is to enjoy the resort for a couple of days (if the rain stops), then hit a couple more islands in the Bahamas before setting off for Charleston. The passage should be 400 to 500 miles, depending on our departure point, which should take 3 days or so, meaning we’ll be back in Charleston sometime next week, weather permitting. May 6, 2006 Lat 22 19.9 N Lon 073 02.2 W (Anchored off of Mayaguana, Bahamas) Local Time: 1300 OK, so last time we were on our way to the DR, planning to stop in Samana, wait for a weather window, and then go around the DR to its north coast and Luperon, which would have been our jumping off point for the Bahamas. Well, plans changed, mostly because of weather. We weren't expecting much in Samana (sah-mah-NAH), as the guide book we were using did not paint a glowing picture, with many warnings about dinghy thefts, etc. The story we found out is that there is no greater (or lesser) risk of theft in Samana than many other harbors in the Caribbean, and the author of the guide lives in Luperon, is married to a native of Luperon and has “investments” in Luperon. Guess what town he recommends as the best place to stay in the DR? Everyone in Samana was incredibly friendly, helpful and mindful that attracting cruisers is a good thing for the local economy. Because of a trough that had parked itself over the DR and Puerto Rico, we were forced to stay in Samana from Sunday until Thursday. Since the cruising fleet consisted of us and only three other boats, I guess we sort of stood out. By the second day there, it seemed almost as if we were locals when we went ashore, based on the friendly greetings and familiar faces. The local restaurants were great (and inexpensive), the local artwork was the same and the fresh produce was plentiful and cheap. On Monday, we attended to some boat stuff, on Tuesday we took a tour of the eastern portion of the island (beautiful, kind of like Dominica), including Limon Falls (with, of course, a swim in the pool at the bottom), and on Wednesday we went to the Mercado for provisioning. (We had decided that when the weather broke, we would sail straight to the Bahamas, seeing no reason to stop in Luperon and with a deadline of May 10th to be in Georgetown to pick up Brien.) The Mercado is the central marketplace of Samana, with all types of produce, fish, chicken (live and dead), beef, and lots of local arts and crafts. The currency took a little getting used to. For example, the pineapples were about 25 pesos each, and we bought 6, so I pulled out a 100 “dollar” bill and a 50. Of course, with the peso at 32 to the dollar, it was less than $5 US. For dinner at a really good French restaurant for all five of us the bill said 1800, which was a shock, but again, that's only about $56 US. I paid with two 1000 “dollar” bills and felt like a big shot. We left Samana on Thursday morning for a 320 mile passage to Mayaguana, Bahamas with a forecast for light winds and only 3 to 5 foot seas. That's exactly what we got, only less. The passage took about 50 hours, with about 3 hours of sailing and the rest motor sailing. Being in the Bahamas, it's important to time your landfalls so you have good overhead light to see the shallows and coral heads. So, even if we had had better wind for faster sailing, we would have had to slow down so as not to arrive here too early. Mayaguana is only a rest stop, as we're pulling up anchor this afternoon to head for Rum Cay, about 120 miles to the north and west. With a continued forecast of light winds (from behind), we'll probably be motor sailing and will keep our speed around 6 knots, so as to arrive at Rum Cay tomorrow (Sunday) late morning. That will put us about 50 miles from Georgetown, where we need to be by Wednesday. For now, at least, our 200+ mile days on passage are a distant memory. By the way, on this passage we passed the 4000 mile mark for this trip, and we haven't hit anything yet!! I think we're actually turning into sailors. The watch system we have makes the passages really easy: with five of us and 2 hour watches, we each get 8 hours off between watches. Much better than the passage from Brazil, where we teamed up into pairs and stood three hour watches, with only six hours off in between. During the night and after a watch, by the time you got to bed, the most uninterrupted sleep you could get would be about 5 hours, which is not enough. Of course, we didn't really have a choice as none of us were ready for solo watches. Next stop, Rum Cay!