Stuart to Melbourne, FL

Well, we have now officially begun our trip home with the first leg leaving Sunset Bay Marina and arriving at Melbourne Harbor Marina.  It has been very warm the last few days and today it was very sticky.  As we approached Melbourne we could see some clouds in the distance and then some lightning, so we hurried in to get tied up.  We are on the fuel dock as it is not a large place and we will be leaving at  “Chuck” time tomorrow. 

Rain Sqall

Just after we tied up and I checked in, the sky opened up with a violent rainstorm but it feels cooler now.

The trip was as normal, staying in a narrow channel between the mainland and the  barrier islands.  Never more than 12 feet in depth in the channel and often 3 – 4 feet outside.

One sight to mention was the catamaran sailboat Moonraker. The admiral was driving and the captain was stretched out in a hammock that he had strung in the cockpit!  That is the way to travel!

On this leg you pass through an area with some magnificent homes just north of Vero Beach.  Each one has tried to outdo the other in terms of size, landscaping and statues by the pools.  Nice to see how the 1% lives.

This house takes up the whole point

Green Turtle Cay to Great Sale Cay to Stuart, FL

I know, it has been a long time since we last posted and everyone is wondering where we are. 

Monday, bright and early to make the tide, we left Green Turtle Club and motored at a leisurely pace to a very large anchorage at Great Sale Cay.  This was about 50 miles from Green Turtle and about a third of the way to Stuart.  Winds were pleasant and the seas calm.

Beautiful sailboat we passed

After an uneventful night on the hook (I was the only boat that used a ball as pointed out by Chuck) with about 20 other boats, we again set off at 6:50.  As you might expect Chuck had said 7:00 but in his interpretation, that means anchor up and underway.

Sunset from Great Sale

We set a course for just north of Memory Rock and proceeded at 24 Kn. in calm water and bright sunshine.  

There was some concern as we crossed the reef, which is the beginning of the Bahamas plateau, but no depths lower than 11 feet were encountered.  It still amazes me to cruise over the bottom and see all the detail.  From there, a straight shot to the St. Lucie entrance, again at 24 Kn.  It was just as the Admiral ordered, calm seas and pleasant temperatures.  We did get some small waves as we got about 10 miles offshore and the depth becomes shallower than the 2500 feet depth we showed during our crossing.  The only indication of the Gulf Stream was a warming of the water.  We did encounter a rain squall that we could clearly see on the radar, but no other concern.

Bye Bye Bahamas

Upon arrival at Sunset Bay marina in Stuart, we fuelled up then called customs and immigration.  After giving them all the details I was just hanging up when they advised that I now have 24 hours to physically report to one of their offices, so we rented a car the next day and drove to Fort Pierce for this check-in.  Altogether, not a problem.

Tuesday evening we had a farewell dinner with C’est La Vie at the Sailors Return restaurant at the Marina.  Boy, do they serve large portions, I not only could not finish my pork chop, but could not finish it the next day for lunch.

 

Sunset at Sailors Return

Wednesday C’est La Vie departed at 6:50 and headed for River Forest.  Chuck got there at 1:30 (he complained of having to wait ½ hour for a train) and got his stuff transferred to the RV.  The boat was hauled the next morning and he is now in Naples.

Jennifer is leaving from West Palm Beach this evening and we have elected to stay here until Tuesday when we start our trip north.

Nothing much to report , just doing errands and shopping.  We will not be posting again until we start next week.

We do commiserate with the people up north who are getting another snow storm  I know that this was saved just to give Fred and Liz a welcome home gift.

Ta Ta for Now!

Bill, Sandy and Jennifer

Treasure Cay to Green Turtle Cay

Wind at the marina

We enjoyed a very long walk on the beach today with a little bit of sandblasting below the knees due to the continued strong winds.  Today we turned right instead of left and were able to walk a good distance although there were many sand retainer walls to climb over.  Each of the large houses seems to have built these to maintain their perfect waterfront beach.  We walked as far as we could go - to the point - and had a good view of the Sea of Abaco that had lots of big waves but no boats.

Everyone decided to stay put and wait for the wind to die down.  We did find a pretty conch shell to collect but discovered it was still alive so returned it to the water.

Captain and Crew

Conch

It's alive!

A great ride!

The kite surfer was out again today and having a ball - many instances where he caught air on his ride!  We were surprised at his stamina.  He was there when we started our walk and only finished when we finished, around 1 ½ hours later.

After a quiet dinner aboard with 3 of us, we departed around 8:15 the following morning.  We had to time our arrival at Green Turtle Cay at half tide or more to allow entry into the harbour.  

C'est La Vie

Our route took us through Whale Channel.  The winds were blowing 20 gusting to 25 and the waves 5 to 6 feet.  We were able to tuck in behind C’est La Vie and let him break the waves although I still managed to soak Crew with a wave as she took pictures from the sundeck.  As we were going with the waves there was a lot of rocking and rolling for 10 to 15 min, it then quieted down as we got to the leeward side of the cay.

We arrived at Green Turtle Club before our slips were available so C’est La Vie tied up to the fuel dock while we anchored in the harbour.  We switched places when he was done so that we are both fuelled up and ready for the crossing in a few days.  By early afternoon, we were both secure in our slips and had some time to relax before a delicious dinner at the marina restaurant.

 

Treasure Cay to Green Turtle Cay

Piggyville

Sunday we took a long dingy ride around the neighbouring harbour and to nearby No Name Cay, which is home to Piggyville – Abaco’s very own swimming pigs!  The island is uninhabited and the guide books say they’re not sure where the pigs came from, however our waitress at the restaurant said they brought the pigs there so that they could visit on the weekends and have a pig roast.  Now that they are a tourist attraction – so no more roasts!  

Crew feeding the pigs

Everyone brings food for the pigs and they have become quite particular about what they’ll eat.  We discovered they were big fans of the apple and banana but turned their snouts up at the green beans.  Size definitely rules in the pig herd - the little ones squealed and ran away if a bigger pig was after the same piece of food.  Fortunately there are lots of visitors bringing food so everyone eventually gets a share.

Beans - no thank you; Banana - yum!

Starfish

Our ride took us past New Plymouth and into Black Sound.  The entrance is very well marked.  Even without knowledge of the navigation system, it would be difficult to go the wrong way! 

Navigation Marks

The houses along the shore are painted in pastels and blend beautifully with the turquoise water.

New Plymouth

Black Sound

Dolphin escort

Pearson at Green Turtle Cay

Back in Green Turtle Cay, we also passed a home with an interesting boat tied out front and discovered it was a Pearson - another sailboat manufacturer that has gone into making power boats.

Pete's Pub to Treasure Cay

After we left Little Harbor we moved around ½ mile to the north to anchor off of Lynard Cay.  Entrance to Little Harbor can be navigated only at high tide so we had a fixed time to leave.

Lynard Cay to Treasure Cay

Anchorage was very simple, 15’ deep with sandy bottom off of a sand beach.  After a brief visit to the beach where we found a nice Conch shell, dinner was onboard.  A 9:00 departure the next day saw us arrive in Treasure Cay at 12:30. 

Entrance to Treasure Cay

After lunch, Jeffie and I did a walk along the beach.  It is amazing to see the beautiful clear aquamarine water.  The sand is very fine, white and not hot but it is soft and not easy to walk on.

Coral on Beach

Beach at Treasure Cay

Can you believe the colour of the water?

Dinner was at the Treasure Sand resort.  It is at the end of the beach so about 3 miles away, therefore a taxi ride was necessary. Our taxi was an old GM van working on it's third transmission, driven by Uncca Lou!! A very picturesque setting, looking out over the beach in a covered, but outside venue.

Dinner at Treasure Sands Resort

View from Restaurant

Today the wind is howling.  25 kn gusting to 30.  Lots of boats came into the harbour today to escape the breeze.  We have delayed our departure one more day as the wind is supposed to continue to blow tomorrow and the trip through Whale Cay would be bumpy to say the least.

We took the opportunity to measure the depth  below Chuck’s props as he was not confident that the offset was correct.  I cheated and put on my light weight wet suit and took a tip from the divers and poured hot water into the suit, that worked much better. Used Chuck’s pony tank hung around my neck, only problem was getting down as I was buoyant and had no weight belt!!

Out for Pizza tonight.  Talk later

Sea Spray to Marsh Harbour to Little Harbour

Admiral on the beach at Sea Spray / Elbow Cay

I know that it has been a few days since we posted, but we have been busy.  On Friday we moved from Sea Spray to Marsh Harbour, docking at Harbour View Marina.  

A visitor at lunch - typical curly tail lizard

Sea Spray to Marsh Harbour

Marsh Harbour is one of the main towns of the area.  It has good air connections to any of the Bahamian Islands.  We were here as Jennifer was flying in on Saturday from Toronto via Nassau.  The marina is a real beehive of activity as it is near Baker’s Bay Marina and Golf Club.  Many people fly in and take the private ferry to this exclusive resort to play golf and relax.  The private ferries include a 97’ Hinkley type yacht, a 40’ Hinkley jet boat and a 35’ intrepid with three 350 HP outboards.

Beautiful water

Extra crew onboard so Admiral can rest underway

Little Harbour

Marsh Harbour to Little Harbour

After Jennifer arrived we spent Sunday doing a bit of provisioning from a well stocked grocery store with anything you could want.  Monday morning we moved to Little Harbour which is the home of Pete’s pub.  Given our draft, we must go in on high tide as the entrance has 3 ½’ at MLW.  Here we took a mooring as there are no docks or marina.  

C'est La Vie and Seas the Day

Exploring Little Harbour

Cave at Little Harbour

We went in for dinner then back for lunch the next day after a walk on the beach.  The Johnson family moved here in the 1930’s from Massachusets and wanted to find a location for the patriarch to sculpt and be quiet.  They sailed their schooner to Little Harbour and spent the first winter in a cave that you can see in the Limestone cliffs.  Today, his son operates a gallery and continues to sculpt and cast bronze statues.  They are really beautiful but the $30,000 for a coffee table held by two bronze dolphins is a little out of my price range.

Sculpture of Manta Ray

Dolphin sculpture outside gallery

Sea turtle in Little Harbour

Today we spent some time diving on the boat to ensure we did no damage passing over the reef after checking in at West End on our initial entrance.  Water is 79 F but it still feels cold.  Guess I am just a woose!  No damage was found and Jennifer and I cleaned some of the barnacles off of the swim platform metal parts that they seem to love.  The bottom of the boat looks in good shape so the divers did an excellent job.  You could not have asked for better weather today, around 80 F and not a lot of wind.

Surf at Little Harbour

Captain and a sculpture

We are now off to Treasure Cay for our second time to give Jennifer an opportunity to see a magnificent beach.