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| One of the many ships we saw along the way |
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| Just a sample of the beauty in the Bahamas |
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| Just a little fishin' boat! |
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| This was a group of American Boy Scouts How cool is it that they can come to the Bahamas! |
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| Here fishy, fishy |
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| Mike couldn't get enough of all the fishing boats |
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| Just how many rods do you really need? |
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| There's got to be a good caption for this but I can't think of it |
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| Beautiful night on anchorage |
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| Rainbow saying "good morning"! |
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| Well, he almost got in the water |
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| This little piggy...... |
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| He really didn't pay Mike any mind |
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| Now here comes mama....! |
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| Pigs Bite - duh! |
Anyway, we only went about 20 miles back to Treasure
Cay. We made it about 1:15 and dropped
the hook. We hit the pool and checked
out the neighborhood grocery store close by.
There is a Billfish Series Tournament going on here. There are huge fishing boats here. Mike is definitely enjoying everything going
on – although the word is that they haven’t been catching that much. It was a very pleasant night on anchor. The wind that blew the entire time while we
were in Hopetown has finally calmed down.
Saturday, May 30
After making a fuel stop we were on our way about 9:00 a.m. We are on our way to Green Turtle. In order to get there we have to cross the “Whale
Cay Passage” again. It looks like it
should be a good time to make it through.
It’s only a couple of miles long but it opens to the Atlantic and can
quickly blow up some big waves. When this happens it is called a “rage”. Not a good thing! Luckily we made it through again with no
problem. There were about 6-8 foot
rollers with a 9 sec duration. The word
on the VHF was that it was “do-able”.
Well, it was but I’m glad we didn’t have to do it very long!
We made it to a mooring ball at Green Turtle about
10:30. Definitely a short day! We needed to stop here because this would be
the last chance to get Wi-Fi. We need
that to check the weather, etc. So today
would be a play day, since the next two would be long travel days. We took the whaler over to No Name Cay where
the pigs are. We tried to make it over
there when we came through earlier but we didn’t get to. This time we made it! Yep, there are pigs on that island! Supposedly they will swim out to your boat
for food. However, someone had dumped a
bunch of old produce on the island and they weren’t about to leave it for our
treats. So we went ashore and visited
them! Hmmmm….. It was fun but not really all that
exciting. I’ve fed a lot more aggressive
pigs when I was younger on my Grandpa’s farm.
Now that was an experience!
Oh, one thing did happen….
Our camera went for a swim. I’m
sure glad it was Mike that was holding it and not me! AND it’s not waterproof. At this time, it is still in a bag of
rice. We were able to salvage the card
so I didn’t lose any pictures. But the
camera is shot, I’m pretty sure. Oh well…. We can’t do anything about it now so off to
Sundowners for Happy Hour. J
Sunday, May 31 We
left Green Turtle about 8:00 a.m. We
have 64 miles to go today to Great Sale Cay where we’ll drop the hook. At our speed that’s pretty much all day. It turned out to be a very pleasant day today
– no wind! Not good for sailboats but we
love it! We made it to our anchorage at
about 3:30 p.m. We saw several turtles
and finally some dolphins. There was
some boat traffic including the National Defence Force – Bahamas answer to
Border Patrol/Coast Guard.
Monday, June 1 We
left our VERY quiet anchorage about 7:30 a.m.
Our boat didn’t even move all night.
Wish all the anchorages could be like that! We have about 56 miles to West End. The water is so very calm and clear! There were times when you could see the
bottom at 12 feet like it was only 2 feet!
We could clearly see conch, small fish and hundreds of starfish! It was like being a part of an aquarium. At one time a shark came up to the boat and
swam alongside for a while. I guess he was
just checking us out. That was kinda
creepy! We also had four dolphins come
up to us. The water is so clear that you
could see them swimming underwater. All
of a sudden they all swam up to each other and jumped about 10 feet in the
air. It was so very cool! It was like watching a show at SeaWorld. It’s like they know how and want to entertain
us! We hit the Indian Cay Channel about
low tide. That wasn’t good planning but
we still had enough water. There were
times that it looked so shallow because it was so clear that it would just
freak us out. We had to keep our eyes on
the depth sounder so we’d know we were okay.
What a trip! Finally we made it
through the channel to West End where we dropped a hook about 2:00 p.m. We took the dinghy in to Old Bahama Bay
Marina to check the Wi-Fi (weather). All
looks okay. We anchored out in the
Atlantic and it was a bit roll-y. We
kept telling each other it would do.
Finally after about 5 hours of that - just before sunset - Mike took the dinghy out to scout out a better
anchorage. He found a perfect one! There was a new housing area being developed
and they had built a canal that went into it – Ginn Mir Southside Inlet. We had plenty of water and no wind! We moved over there and relaxed. We would get some sleep tonight after all!
Tuesday, June 2 After
a great night on anchorage we were up early and ready to go. We have about 67 miles to go across the
Atlantic Ocean to West Palm (Lake Worth Inlet).
The weather is being nice to us so the water is calm. We had a nice boring crossing – just the way
we like it. We made it to the inlet by
3:30 p.m. Mike even caught us dinner
along the way (tuna!) Sorry no pics…. We decided that we would keep moving a bit
longer since it wasn’t that late. We
finally dropped anchor at an area named Hell Gate just past the Jupiter
Inlet. We finally got to use our Local
Boater Option (LBO) that we registered for last year. All we had to do was call the Border Patrol
and report in. After a few questions we
were good to go. No reporting in
person. That was nice!
Oh by the way – while we were crossing we heard on the VHF
that a guy was in a 27 ft boat crossing from Bimini to Freeport. He had run out of gas and had no radio. He had been drifting north for over 5
hours! Luckily another boater had
stopped and was asking for assistance.
One of the huge freighters came to his rescue by supplying him with some
gasoline. They lowered a tank full of
gas down to the trawler. The trawler
said he didn’t have any food or water either – so they gave him some. Then another boater who was going in the guy’s
direction said he would shadow him on to West End to be sure he made it. Can you imagine! Luckily for that guy someone spotted him.
Also, when we crossed back over I realized that my phone had shot craps. First the camera now my phone. Oh well, we'll be back in the grand ol' USA where you can always buy what you need!
Also, when we crossed back over I realized that my phone had shot craps. First the camera now my phone. Oh well, we'll be back in the grand ol' USA where you can always buy what you need!
Wednesday, June 3 We
had another good anchorage and left about 8:00 a.m. We had about 40 miles to go to Ft Pierce
where we planned to stop in at Harbor Town Marina. We plan to stay there for about a month or
so. We made it there about 2:30 and unloaded
the scooters at the fuel dock. We finally
made it in our slip about 3:30. After 6
days traveling and 5 nights on anchor we were ready for a marina stop. Our plan is to keep NautiNell here for about
a month. We will go back to Joplin for a
couple of weeks. When we get back we
will ready her for our trip north to Norfolk where we’ll “cross our wake” and finally
close the Great Loop! But first we have to rent a car to go pick up
our car that is still in Marathon. We’ll
do that in a few days. No hurry! Right now we’re going to chill. We had a great steak dinner on the boat and
toasted our great “vacation in the Bahamas”!
To all my family and friends back in Joplin - we'll see you in a couple of weeks!
Till next time!
Admiral “C”
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