Back In The USA , Its Springtime Cruising

Arrival At Sunset, Chesapeake Bay

778 nautical miles later, we arrive in Norfolk, Virginia, after a very quick (3.5 days) transit from Great Sail Cay in the Bahamas. For the sailors reading this, that is an average of 9.26 knots. Of course we had 3 to 4 knots of lift from the Gulf Stream current for some of the passage, but we were pleased with our sailing speeds never the less. Cleaning the hull underwater, before we departed, also helped quite a lot.  The passage was completed with about 80% of the distance under sail, so not too much motoring.

Approaching The Sea Buoy Off The Chesapeake Bay Entrance

The warm weather had followed us north, so we sailed into harbor in shorts and not much else. After anchoring overnight we moved into a commercial marina berth the next morning, to allow for the necessary inspection by Customs & Border Protection

The clearance process here was simple and friendly, unlike the fairly shabby treatment we had received in Charleston the previous year. Next day we visited the Customs offices to obtain our 12 month Cruising Permit, and with that last piece of paper in place we could relax - we'd officially arrived.

In our approach, our first time here, we passed the enormous US Navy ship yard complex that stretches out along both sides of the river - a spectacular statement about US military expenditure - there were more ships here in just one river than in the entire Royal Australian Navy.

Heading North, The Bahamas To Chesapeake Bay, USA

Smooth Sailing In The Bahamas

Crystal Blues will depart from Great Sail Cay, in the Abacos, Bahamas, early tomorrow morning. Right now we're sailing WNW across the top of Little Abaco Island, in brisk (25 knot) south easterly winds. Its a sleigh ride, smooth and quick with just a tiny staysail set and we're over 6.0 knots of boat speed.

The passage to the Chesapeake should take just over 4 days, subject to winds and the ever present Gulf Stream current. We'll clear in to the USA in Norfolk, and then head up to Reedville in Virginia for a break.

Departing George Town, Bound For Cuba

Exumas Racing Sloop

After almost a week in George Town Harbor we are ready to move on, with fuel and provisions loaded and our hearts looking forward to the next destination - the south coast of Cuba.

We arrived here in the middle of the George Town Cruising Regatta and learned to live with the constant VHF radio chatter generated by more than 250 cruising sailboats in the one harbor. The harbor could probably cater for many more - it's long, generally shallow and provides great holding and protection for anchored yachts.

The annual regatta here has a little something for everyone, from big boat racing to Bocce tournaments, beach volleyball, poker and even cruiser golf played on the local salt flats.  And yes, the local rum was a major attraction.

The local sailors also get involved, competing in traditional 16 foot sloops that feature heavy sliding boards to carry the windward crew and impossibly large main sails and booms.

To the north of us, the Atlantic Ocean is whipping up a major storm that is expected to send large swells down here later this week, so we're heading south before we're boxed in again. A series of cold fronts moving down off the US coast have complicated the local weather forecasting, and no one is relying on anything more than two or three days out. Subject to weather, we expect to arrive in Santiago De Cuba on Friday morning, March 16, truly ready for the local music, food and yet more rum.

George Town Arrival

Yesterday afternoon we arrived in George Town, Exuma Islands, after a seven hour passage from Black Point Harbour.  Atlantic ocean storms to the north of us, while delivering snow and heavy weather in the UK and USA, are sending large long period swells down to this part of the world.  Moving on or off the shallow Bahamas banks requires a little care and planning, selecting a reef pass that is preferably wide and deep. The Admiral snapped this swell as we moved through the Conch Cay Cut into Exuma Harbour yesterday.

Beautiful Bahamas Cruising

The locals call these Nurse Sharks, but to us they look a little like the Australian Wobbegongs, or maybe Lemon Sharks.... either way, they are an unusual welcoming committee. Coming ashore in the Exumas Islands these guys are a common sight, along with giant rays, turtles and numerous reef fishes. The further south we travel, the more interesting this area becomes...

Warderick Wells Mooring Field

Of course it's also beautiful, when the weather is cooperating. We're still working with weather systems that are occasionally dominated by the lows and cold fronts that come down off the US east coast, but at least the average temperatures are now above 25degC. in the daytime. Warderick Wells, inside the Exumas Land & Sea Park, is a popular cruising hangout, and the walks ashore reveal a distinct (if limited) range of wildlife. Lizards and birds dominate, though if you stay on the beach after dark you'll be sure to see the native rodent, the Bahamian Hutia, once considered extinct but now resurgent in the park.This is the first place we've been where native palms dominate - sure enough, we found the park service had worked very hard to eliminate the invasive Australian Casuarina, or the She Oak as we call it back home in Australia. The locals here really don't like these Aussie invaders.

VonYachtSki Moored At Warderick Wells

Our friends Harry & Liz aboard the Canadian yacht VonYachtSki enjoyed the park with us, and we eventually sailed further south to Staniel Cay in company. Next we're heading for the big smoke - Georgetown on Great Exuma Island. We should be there before the end of the week. For our favourite images of Warderick Wells and the Bahamian wildlife click the link below.

 

The Friday Night Fish Fry, Eleuthera

Admiral Ley Doing The Limbo Rock

Here on peaceful Eleuthera Island the folks come out to play for the Friday Night Fish Fry in Governors Harbor. By 8:00pm there were a couple of hundred people eating, drinking and generally making merry. They close off the street near the beach, and the party builds until its time for the Limbo Dance competition, where tourists and locals (all lubricated with Rum Babas) compete. Admiral Ley volunteered as the official Australian representative, and she'd only had two drinks .....

Hatchet Bay Entrance Cut

Eleuthera is a beautiful and friendly place, the locals exceptionally courteous. Starting at The Glass Window Bridge in the north, we've worked our way southward, staying on the sheltered western shore. At Hatchet Bay we passed through the (very) narrow cut into the man-made harbor, to anchor in the pond there. Next stop was Alabaster Bay, anchoring off the golden beach in 3 meter water that is crystal clear. Here we relaxed for a few days with our friends Bill & Jean on Pelican Express, plus other new friends Harry & Liz on VonYachtSki. 

On a beautiful calm evening we gathered driftwood and a few rocks, then built a cooking fire, proving that Australians just love to play with fire. Beach chairs, beers and our BBQ grill plate completed the preparations, and at sunset the boat crews gathered for an evening grill on the beach.

Needless to say, with the warm weather and sheltered anchorages here we're in no hurry to move on. Our path will eventually take us across to the Exumas Islands and further south, before we make a break for Cuba. The boat is running well and the beer is cold - so right now we're chilling.

Arriving For The Beach BBQ

Skinny, Deep, Then Skinny Again - Passage To Eleuthera

Rosinante Enjoying The Conditions

Six days ago we worked our way through the skinny water of the southern Abaco Islands in Bahama, heading to sea and southward, destination Eleuthera. While only 50 nautical miles distant, this was an Atlantic Ocean passage and required the right weather window - so we grabbed the first available opportunity and headed out across the bar in the early morning, with a gaggle of yachts all homing on the same destination. After a somewhat tense exit (we crossed the bar at low tide) it was a joy to have several hundred meters of water under the keel.

Pelican Express, A Sundeer 60, Doing What She Does Best

The winds and currents gave us a boisterous crossing, with 18 to 20 knots of wind for most of the day, sloppy seas and plenty of movement on board. A true romp of a sail with the apparent wind exactly on the beam. We were the last to cross the bar at Little Harbor heading out, but our waterline length let us haul in those that crossed ahead of us, and we were second into Eleuthera behind our friends on Pelican Express.

Through the Egg Island cut we marched, anchoring at Meek's Patch near Spanish Wells, in just 3 meters of water again, for a spectacular sunset. That really was a fine Bahamas cruising day.

Low Flying In Skinny Water

Crystal Blues At Tilloo Cay Anchorage - Unusually Deep At 3.5 Meters

Welcome to the beauty of the Bahamas, where we are (finally) enjoying some warm weather and quiet days.  For blue water sailors, relaxing here requires some serious attitude adjustment - everywhere is just so damn shallow!

Skimming across the flats in 3 to 4 meters of water is exciting, feeling just like low flying. However it is stressful to someone who for years has had the shallow depth alarm set at 5 meters - heck the alarm would be sounding continuously here! Many harbors we simply cannot approach, our 2.1 meter depth being way over the available water depth.

At Grand Cay, where we cleared customs and immigration, we eased our way through the entrance channel with 10cm under the keel, to find an anchorage that was just over 3 meters deep. So we often anchor outside the harbors and the dinghy gets a real workout - we traveled 5 miles each way in the dink to visit beautiful Hope Town on Elbow Cay, which is surrounded by 1.0 to 1.5 meter sand banks.

Hope Town Harbor, Elbow Cay, Bahamas

Hope Town Light House

In Hope Town we toured the magnificent lighthouse, the last in the world still operating with an oil burning lamp and a clockwork rotational mechanism. With strong community support it is maintained in working condition, and is open to tourists six days a week.

One great positive - turtles are making a come back here, now protected by government legislation. We see them every day, and two days back saw nine in one small lagoon.

Over the past two weeks we've used the periods of nice weather (very few) to catch up on maintenance - cleaning the hull being the big job. Whilst the images may look sunny, it really isn't warm here in winter, most days between 20 and 25 degrees C. And the sea is cold - wet suits are essential.

Cold fronts regularly move off the US east coast, wind directions clock 360 degrees in as little as 36 hours. Frequent moves are called for to stay sheltered as the winds change direction.

Hope Town was our last "town" visit in the Abaco Islands - tomorrow we're heading south 50 nautical miles to the northern end of Eleuthera Island. A growing group of boats is swinging at anchor here at Lydyard Cay, ready to make the ocean jump to Eleuthera tomorrow.

Hull Cleaning At Tilloo Cay

20 Knots For 20 Hours, With 20 Tons

Crystal Blues displaces just under 20 metric tons, and I always wondered how our new Rocna 33kg anchor behaved - in soft mud I know it buries deep, but in hard sand with grass just how deep does it bury? The shallow waters here in the Bahamas let me see the answer a few days ago - after 20 hours with 20 knots of wind blowing here at Tilloo Cay.

The answer it seems is not very deep, but we've never dragged, even in sustained winds over 30 knots, gusting to 40 knots. The bottom here is really tough, and once you get the point buried it seems to hold well. In this image the load on the flukes is asymmetric, evidence (I think) of the anchor rotating in the sand as the wind veered through 45 degrees, though I'd welcome comments from others on this.

A Garden At Sea Again

So Much Growth, We Brought Out The Big Guns For Harvesting

Admiral Ley has a well trained green thumb. As I described here last year, at every opportunity she grows a range of herbs and salad greens that add flavour and zest to our diet onboard.

A couple of months back she re-started our garden, again using the Greensmart self-watering pot that has been so productive for us. Once again, it's taken off, growing like crazy. We're often able to give away fresh herbs to cruising friends.

Right now she's growing Basil, Cilantro (Corriander), Italian Parsley, mixed Lettuce, Arugula and Rosemary. All this in a tub that measures just 570x400mm.

Great Guana Key, Bahamas

Community Fish Cleaning Action At Great Guana Cay

Sunshine, clear waters, fresh fish, friendly people - it doesn't get much better. Unless of course you also like messing around in boats, in which case all your dreams can come true here at Great Guana Cay in the Bahamas. I guess it must be a little frantic at peak tourist season, but right now its extra laid back and friendly. We arrived here yesterday after a quick 3 hour passage from Green Turtle Cay, and have settled into the anchorage to sit out the front that is expected later today.  We're in 3 meters of water with 27 meters of chain out, so we're not planning on going anywhere soon.

This morning we took the (fast) ferry 16nm to Marsh Harbor, where the Admiral found a hair dresser and we both searched the hardware and marine stores for parts we needed. That search turned up nothing of value, so we headed back to Great Guana in the early afternoon. This afternoon, before the weather deteriorated, we spent a few minutes testing our new aerial camera system, with great results. Click the play button below to view.

At Last, Bahamas Sunshine ...

New Plymouth Town, Green Turtle Cay

Crystal Blues finally escaped the freezing conditions and weather bombs of the US East Coast, clearing from Palm Beach and heading east across the Gulf Stream to the shallow banks that make up most of the Bahamas Island group. In 8 hours we were across the stream and moved on to the banks, and 8 hours later we were at Great Sale Cay, anchored in 3 meters of water for a peaceful evening.

The Admiral In The Loyalist Sculpture Garden

We cleared customs and immigration at Grand Cay, and sheltered there for a few days, before heading East and South around the top of the Abacos island chain.

Three days ago we anchored at Green Turtle Cay and settled for a while, enjoying the (finally) calm weather and the friendly village atmosphere in New Plymouth town.

This is a community that dates back to the 1780's, when British loyalists departed the United States after the war of independence and resettled here. The English language is different here, and the folks are proud of their heritage.

The waters are clear, and there is a decent tourism industry based around visiting boats and resorts. The famous Green Turtle Club provides marina, restaurant and bar services, competing with the nearby Bluff House to woo visiting boats and crews.

Perfectly positioned on the sea of Abaco, between the outer reef and Great Abaco Island, this is one of a string of barrier islands that really make you think about staying forever.

Of course this is winter, the low season, and the marinas are generally fairly empty, though there are plenty of cruising boats around, principally from the USA with a few from Canada. Winter weather brings a series of northerly and north easterly blows to this region, each of which seems to last four or five days. This morning, with another 35 knot blow on the way, we departed Green Turtle and moved further south to Great Guana Cay, where we will shelter for the next five days.

Yes, You Can Lock The Dinghy To The Canon On The Public Wharf