Tuesday night I had dinner with Larry and Roberta - the rest of the boaters in the marina had left that morning and we had bid goodbye to David and Peg, Matt, they had followed John out and were headed for Cat Cay, and onward from there. Larry cooked steak on the grill, and Roberta had fixed fried potatoes and coleslaw, and so over a great dinner we discussed our route back to the States. Larry had planned on heading north to West Palm Beach, and had the same idea on the trip as I did. After a really nice evening I headed back to Arden, time to stow the gear and get ready to leave.
I woke to an overcast day, with daylight savings it was dark when I got up, fixed a quick pot of tea and then raised anchor. The sky did not look promising, but we were going, as this was the best window available until Saturday. The sun was rising as I l,inked up with Larry and Roberta just outside the marina, but thanks to the overcast all sunrise really amounted to was a lightening of the sky. The channel entrance and the ocean beyond were calm as we motored out, first time it had been like that in days, so it seemed out crossing would be easy enough, and probably done by motoring.
Clearing the channel we turned North West, and our two boats motored on and headed for the States. We passed a few power boats, some headed for Bimini, some headed for the US, and some heading out for a day of fishing. Soon we were in the Gulf Stream, and our speed picked up as we got a good push North. We had raised sail by now, picking up what little bit of breeze that had been forecast, and thanks to the northern current we were making about 7 knots. I am going to pause here for a second and back up a bit. Larry and Roberta sail a catamaran, and I did not expect to be able to sail with them for long, as catamarans are usually faster than a similar sized monohull, but Arden surprised me and we were able to keep up, at one point even gaining ground on them, I took a course that was a a fe3w degrees different than theirs, but was better sailing for Arden. The forecast was for light winds from the west and a 50% chance of rain as we approached the Florida coast. All things considered, this looked like it was going to be an easy crossing. As the morning wore on we made tremendous progress, and in about 2 hours Bimini disappeared from view, and we were out on the open ocean.
I read a bit as we sailed along, the Gulf Stream was a bit lumpy from the west wind but pretty calm compared to the sail to Bimini, and I was able to utilize the tiller lock and get a break from steering, checking the heading now and again to make sure I was tracking well. Things remained pretty calm and even, we had made great progress, and by 11:00 we had made just over 30 miles. I will mention here that the distance from Bimini to West Palm Beach is just over 76 miles, and we had figured that it was going to take a bit over 10 hours to get there. Around noon the winds began to pick up, and the we were in that 50% that got rained on. The seas began to pick up as well, soon the lumps formed into waves, and the waves grew in size. By one o'clock we were in good two to three foot seas, and the winds had increased to about 10 mph. We were on a beam reach, which is great for Arden, and I was able to ease off the throttle and sail more than motor. On we went, and the winds picked up even more and it wasn't too long before I had to ease off and then put a reef in, as Arden was holding a consistent 30 degrees of heel, and when a wave would pass her, there were times that we went past 45 degrees. I pulled up and reefed in, and in the process of that I lost sight of Larry in the rain and mist. Roberta kept in contact with me on the radio though, and soon I was off again, I had put the in the reef in good time, and just in time as well, because that light wind that was forecast was soon topping 25 mph. Arden was moving, between the Gulf Stream current, surfing the waves and sailing, I was averaging over nine knots, and at times was well over 10 knots. Thank God for a favorable current. I spoke to Roberta, they were by now a few miles ahead, the winds favoring their catamaran and they had picked up speed just as I had, more speed in fact, thanks to their hull design.
With the rising winds I was working hard at the tiller keeping Arden on course, and the rain mixed with spray as we plowed through the waves. I was holding 9 knots easily, and I realized that Arden is a very wet boat. She does not ride easily in these conditions, riding the waves or following them, she plows through them, keeping the decks awash constantly. We were fast approaching the coast, and soon I saw a freighter ahead on the horizon, the only one I had seen all day. By 3:30 I had land in sight, the skyscraper hotels and condos of Palm Beach were in sight and I knew that this day would be over soon. Roberta called on the radio, they were just about to enter the channel, and were as it turns out only 5 miles ahead. I was right on course, and ended up sailing directly into the channel, it is amazing how the GPS has simplified navigation. I lowered sail as I entered the Palm Beach channel, and soon I was in calm waters and headed for the anchorage.
I looked for Larry and Roberta, and did no see them in the anchorage I had stayed in on my way down, so I radioed over and learned they were in an anchorage just south of me. So without consulting a chart, I headed that way, and after turning into what I thought was the ICW, I ran aground. Hard. I went below and got my chart out for the ICW, and it turns out that the 3 green markers I followed were not marking the same channel, but were marking different points of different channels. I tried to motor off and reverse course, but that was not working, so I waited a bit for the tide to come in a tad more, and then I raised sail, sheeted in hard, and with Arden heeling over I broke free and sailed around to were they were anchored. I was there in no time, and as I lowered sail and dropped the hook we compared notes about the crossing. We`had sailed a total of 81.8 miles in just over 10 hours, and we all considered that very good progress for a day. I think given the window we had to cross we did quite well, I don't think I could have spent another day in Bimini, knowing I needed to start north and getting a bit antsy about it all. We were all exhausted, so we did not get together that evening, and after a quick dinner and cleanup, I was bedded down and asleep fairly fast.
There was a beautiful sunrise Thursday morning, and I was up and making breakfast as the day broke. We had agreed to set off fairly early, and as soon as breakfast was over we got underway. The weather reports did not sound good for a sail outside on the ocean, the west winds had turned north north west, and there was a northern swell running as well. That was making for 5 to 6 foot seas, not something I, or Larry and Roberta, was up for this morning. So we turned up the ICW and headed for Ft Pierce, and the first of many bridges. I think we went through 6 draw bridges yesterday, but luckily we did not have to wait long at any of them. As we were passing through Jupiter Inlet I noticed that the tone of Arden's exhaust had changed, and the engine was running a bit warmer than normal. I eased off on the throttle, but I knew something was wrong. I radioed up to Larry and Roberta, and told them that I was going to have to stop and check her out. I was really apprehensive about what might be causing the problem, so I anchored and began to check out the cooling system. As it turns out there was nothing wrong with either the raw or fresh water side of the coolant system, but rather, a piece of scale had clogged a water port in my muffler. Arden's exhaust system is, for a large part, regular steel, and over time she will build up scale inside the muffler. One of those pieces of scale had clogged the water outlet, and as I fired her up to check water flow through the heat exchangers, it must have let go, I heard a poof and a pop, and when I looked out there was a huge ring of carbon on the water, and my exhaust was back to normal. I checked the temp of the engine, it was back to normal, so I was soon underway again.
I motored on again, and as with yesterday, Larry and Roberta were now 5 miles or so ahead. I poured on the throttle, and by the time we reached our agreed upon anchorage, I was within a mile of them. We anchored last night in Coconut Cove, Larry had not anchored there before and Roberta called me about it. I had anchored there on the way down, just about 3 weeks ago, and I told them what a great and protected anchorage it was. By far, it is the best place I have anchored during this entire trip, a small cove, well off the beaten path, and extremely protected. The holding here seems to be very good, and I would rate it as a 9 as far as anchorages go. The only draw back is that there is no where really to land and get Spook ashore, but I did what I had done during my earlier stay here, once the dinghy was inflated I motored over to a dock on a property where the house that was there had been demolished, and the property was vacant. After getting Spook ashore and a good walk completed, I was invited to dinner aboard Symmetry again. This time I brought Spook, and she was well received, Larry and Roberta are dog people, but are sailing with their cat, as their dog is staying with one of their children.
This morning we are taking it easy after 2 long days, we are going to head up to Vero Beach, where they are going to re provision, and I am going to refuel. They plan to stay there 2 nights, and I am torn on whether I should stay and go to the farmers market on Saturday, or if after refueling and a good days rest I should head north more tomorrow.
I am definitely north bound now, I am sailing on waters I have sailed through before, and in ways I am saddened by the fact that the adventure, although not over, is now taking place over territory I have been through before. I feel a bit apprehensive about my return north, I am not sure where or what I am returning to, but it is definitely not to what I thought it would be when I left.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
On Island Time
Sunday night was a pretty interesting and heart stopping for me, I went out to Arden to get some things to throw in for the barbeque we were having at the marina, and when I got out to the boat, I wasn’t on board for 5 minutes before something just seemed out of place and I looked out of the companionway, only to see the shoreline going by at an alarming rate. I first thought I was just swinging on the anchor, but, I wasn’t, I was drifting on the anchor and fast. Up into the cockpit I went, started the engine and got her in gear, and then proceded to haul in the anchor rode. The chain on the rode had tangled in the flukes of the anchor, and had pulled it free. Even though it scared the heck out of me, it could not have happened with better timing, as just a few minutes prior I was ashore and in the marina. Arden would have grounded for sure, and I would have been in some very dire straights, but good fortune smiled on me once again. I got her back in position, and put out both anchors, and called in to say I would be skipping dinner ashore. I spent the rest of the evening aboard, monitoring the GPS very closely, but she did not budge and seemed to be holding quite well. I am actually really fortunate that things worked out as they did, because later in the night the winds picked up and blew us all over, and had I drug anchor while sleeping, the result could have been very bad indeed.
Daylight savings time has come, and as usual my internal clock is all messed up. It seems to me it was not long ago that we changed the clocks in the fall, and I remember complaining to a friend of mine just how messed up the time changes get me, it takes me a good while to adapt to the new time, and she and I were both down about how the days were getting shorter and winter was fast approaching. Now it is some months later, and spring is finally on the way, so it is not nearly as traumatic a time change, but it does kind of underscore for me just how long I have been out and about on this trip of mine.
I have spent the past few days doing odd boat work jobs, the day before yesterday I helped Matt straighten out an electrical problem on his Beneteau 285, and today I worked with David on his refrigeration and fuel system. It is really a good feeling being able to help them out with their problems, Matt has had electrical issues for some time on his boat, and it really boiled down to the fact that some time ago some one put a redundant wire in there that bypassed all of his battery switches, and his batteries were constantly dying. I found the problem, eliminated it, and then went through his electrical system and made sure everything was ok. He was truly relieved to have this problem resolved, it has plagued his boat for some time, and it would strand him at the most inopportune times. Afterwards, he took me to breakfast at Capt Ron’s, a near by breakfast stop that is a a favorite of the locals and tourists alike, and I saw pictures on the wall of a distant relative of mine, Ernest Hemingway. More about that later.
Yesterday I helped David get the fan for the refrigeration on Journey repaired, it started as a fairly straight forward job, we were going to simply replace the fan with a spare he had, but true to my inquisitive nature, I had to disassemble the fan to see why it wasn’t working. Come to find out, there was a wire that had come off a circuit board on the inside of the fan, and as the spare was not quite as large as the original, we repaired the broken one, and reinstalled it. I also helped David change his fuel filters, and went over how to properly bleed his fuel system after a filter change, or, if for some reason the boat ran low on fuel or had a fuel problem. I think this gave Dave a much better understanding of how the engine worked, and will potentially help him out down the road.
Afterwards I went for a swim, and snorkeled a bit in the marina, there are all kinds of tropical fish right around the pilings and under the boats, and it was much like dropping into the saltwater reef fish tank that I had many years ago. There were Damsel fish, and Tangs, a few Wrasse, and there are Amberjacks all over. Matt went spear fishing not long after and he spent a good few hours in the water, and pretty much came up empty handed, he hit a few, but the type of spear he was using requires the user to be very close to the prey, and it just didn’t turn out to be his day. He did manage to spear what he thought was a skate, but it turned out to be a small stingray, so when he got up to the dock I got it off the spear and let it go. The last few nights we have seen Bull Sharks swim in to check out if there are any scraps from the fish cleaning tables, it seems these same 3 sharks do this every evening, they have become accustomed to having a free meal in the evenings, and we have had the pleasure of watching them cruise for dinner.
Last night we had another boater get together at the marina, it was the last night that all of the group that we have formed will be together, today many of the boats here will set sail for islands further east, and those of us that are heading back west will be leaving tomorrow. I will say goodbye to David and Peg shortly, they have been very kind to me, and I will miss their company. I am sure we will bump into one another again, no matter where on the east coast I end up, they will be passing my way on their way back to Annapolis. Matt is leaving as well, and I will miss his company too, he is a very interesting guy, and a good sailing partner, and I will certainly moss his fresh out look on things. There is a couple here from Oriental, NC, Larry and Roberta, and I think it is only our 2 boats that will stay until Wednesday, when we will begin our journey back to more northern reaches. It is the current plan for us to sail out together, but as they are on a catamaran, I am sure they will out pace me very shortly, but, we will have radio contact, and I think our initial goal of Palm Beach is the same.
As`for Ernest Hemingway, somewhere down the family tree, there is a branch that goes over to the Hemingway family. I know that my great aunt Mary was related someway, somehow, and I know that my mother could clear that up for me and set me straight on just how related we are. But the connection is there, and I am now in one of his more favored haunts, he spent quite a good deal of time here in Bimini fishing, and appearantly drinking as well. The marina we are based out of is across from the remains of the Complete Angler, a famous restaurant that he was known to frequent, and his picture is in the restaurant where Matt and I had breakfast just the other day.
So here we go, some of us are continuing our journeys and adventures, and some of us are starting that trek back home. I am certainly glad to have met the folks I have, and to have made such fast friends, but it will be bittersweet as well, leaving these friends behind as I return to the real world here shortly.
Daylight savings time has come, and as usual my internal clock is all messed up. It seems to me it was not long ago that we changed the clocks in the fall, and I remember complaining to a friend of mine just how messed up the time changes get me, it takes me a good while to adapt to the new time, and she and I were both down about how the days were getting shorter and winter was fast approaching. Now it is some months later, and spring is finally on the way, so it is not nearly as traumatic a time change, but it does kind of underscore for me just how long I have been out and about on this trip of mine.
I have spent the past few days doing odd boat work jobs, the day before yesterday I helped Matt straighten out an electrical problem on his Beneteau 285, and today I worked with David on his refrigeration and fuel system. It is really a good feeling being able to help them out with their problems, Matt has had electrical issues for some time on his boat, and it really boiled down to the fact that some time ago some one put a redundant wire in there that bypassed all of his battery switches, and his batteries were constantly dying. I found the problem, eliminated it, and then went through his electrical system and made sure everything was ok. He was truly relieved to have this problem resolved, it has plagued his boat for some time, and it would strand him at the most inopportune times. Afterwards, he took me to breakfast at Capt Ron’s, a near by breakfast stop that is a a favorite of the locals and tourists alike, and I saw pictures on the wall of a distant relative of mine, Ernest Hemingway. More about that later.
Yesterday I helped David get the fan for the refrigeration on Journey repaired, it started as a fairly straight forward job, we were going to simply replace the fan with a spare he had, but true to my inquisitive nature, I had to disassemble the fan to see why it wasn’t working. Come to find out, there was a wire that had come off a circuit board on the inside of the fan, and as the spare was not quite as large as the original, we repaired the broken one, and reinstalled it. I also helped David change his fuel filters, and went over how to properly bleed his fuel system after a filter change, or, if for some reason the boat ran low on fuel or had a fuel problem. I think this gave Dave a much better understanding of how the engine worked, and will potentially help him out down the road.
Afterwards I went for a swim, and snorkeled a bit in the marina, there are all kinds of tropical fish right around the pilings and under the boats, and it was much like dropping into the saltwater reef fish tank that I had many years ago. There were Damsel fish, and Tangs, a few Wrasse, and there are Amberjacks all over. Matt went spear fishing not long after and he spent a good few hours in the water, and pretty much came up empty handed, he hit a few, but the type of spear he was using requires the user to be very close to the prey, and it just didn’t turn out to be his day. He did manage to spear what he thought was a skate, but it turned out to be a small stingray, so when he got up to the dock I got it off the spear and let it go. The last few nights we have seen Bull Sharks swim in to check out if there are any scraps from the fish cleaning tables, it seems these same 3 sharks do this every evening, they have become accustomed to having a free meal in the evenings, and we have had the pleasure of watching them cruise for dinner.
Last night we had another boater get together at the marina, it was the last night that all of the group that we have formed will be together, today many of the boats here will set sail for islands further east, and those of us that are heading back west will be leaving tomorrow. I will say goodbye to David and Peg shortly, they have been very kind to me, and I will miss their company. I am sure we will bump into one another again, no matter where on the east coast I end up, they will be passing my way on their way back to Annapolis. Matt is leaving as well, and I will miss his company too, he is a very interesting guy, and a good sailing partner, and I will certainly moss his fresh out look on things. There is a couple here from Oriental, NC, Larry and Roberta, and I think it is only our 2 boats that will stay until Wednesday, when we will begin our journey back to more northern reaches. It is the current plan for us to sail out together, but as they are on a catamaran, I am sure they will out pace me very shortly, but, we will have radio contact, and I think our initial goal of Palm Beach is the same.
As`for Ernest Hemingway, somewhere down the family tree, there is a branch that goes over to the Hemingway family. I know that my great aunt Mary was related someway, somehow, and I know that my mother could clear that up for me and set me straight on just how related we are. But the connection is there, and I am now in one of his more favored haunts, he spent quite a good deal of time here in Bimini fishing, and appearantly drinking as well. The marina we are based out of is across from the remains of the Complete Angler, a famous restaurant that he was known to frequent, and his picture is in the restaurant where Matt and I had breakfast just the other day.
So here we go, some of us are continuing our journeys and adventures, and some of us are starting that trek back home. I am certainly glad to have met the folks I have, and to have made such fast friends, but it will be bittersweet as well, leaving these friends behind as I return to the real world here shortly.
Monday, March 15, 2010
birds eye view
Sunday, March 14, 2010
All Conched Out
I really do hate having to do a post like I did yesterday, trying to remember all the interesting details of 3 or 4 days worth of sailing and sightseeing, but I suppose that is the way it has to be when you don’t have an operable computer and have to borrow one and write the post as fast as you possibly can.
I’d like to make a few comments on the sail we had over here, some of the more interesting facets of that, and some things that I learned before I move on to the events of yesterday and today. Prior to leaving Ft Lauderdale, David and I had both pored over the forecasts for sailing across, and we were both convinced that a) this was the one good window for crossing for the next week or so – all the forecasts said this, and b) that according to these forecasts, which we trusted so much, the wind that was going to be on our nose when we started was going to shift and come in from the south which would speed us across. I learned two things from this. #1 – plan and sail to the wind you have now, and not to the wind you are supposed to have later. It is much easier to adapt and change your sailing plan once you are underway and the wind becomes more favorable, if it does change at all. #2 – do not under estimate the strength of the Gulf Stream, which I think we all did. As I wrote yesterday, the forecasts and models we looked at had the Gulf Stream running at about 2 ½ knots, when in fact the current we ran into was measured by another boat at 4 ½ to 5 knots. We did indeed make it to our destination, and did well at it, but we probably would have been here much sooner and sailed a much shorter distance if we had followed these two observations.
The wind we did have came from the east for most of our sail, and that seemed to really chop up the Gulf Stream. You have a situation where the current and the swell it creates is headed north, and the east wind adds in a cross chop, this makes for a very bouncy sail. Not really rough, but I can see where it would get very bad in the right conditions, but a steep chop that is very close together. I would imagine that with a southerly wind the stream would have moderate rolling waves and swell, but I can see where a north wind would build the waves and the chop to very large proportions.
The amount of drift we encountered was incredible. We were making one knot north for every knot east, and so despite our heading of 90 degrees, due east, our true course was almost an exact 45 degrees. In the future I will definitely over compensate for drift, and sail much further below Miami before I turn east. On the way back this current will help me though, I intend on letting the stream take me just as far north as it will, I hope to hit the Florida coast somewhere around Ft Lauderdale, or perhaps even Palm Beach.
So back to current events.
Bimini is the western most island group of the Bahamas, and is 47 miles off of the coast of Florida. It sits right on the edge of the Gulf Stream, and has 2 main islands, North and South Bimini. North Bimini is where most of the folks live, it is about 7 miles long and 200-300 yards wide. Alicetown is at the very southern tip of North Bimini, and is the heart of the island. It is where the government buildings, the cargo dock, the school and the power plant are located. It is also where the few hotels and the islands primary marinas are located. There are other towns on the island, but they all butt up against one another, so when you are walking each town kind of blends into the next. We have walked about 2 miles north, so we have really only explored the lower 1/3 of the island, but that was enough walking for one day in this heat. It is quite warm here, most days have been in the high 70’s to mid 80’s, but today seems a bit cooler. The wind here seems to be constant and consistant, no matter what the time of day, or the temperature, there is always wind.
The airport and water plant is on South Bimini, and that is also where there seems to be a very large housing development that, from here, looks newly constructed. We have not ventured over to south Bimini yet, but that seems to be the plan for the day. There is a ferry that runs back and forth from north to south Bimini, and it is an old US Navy LCM, or landing craft. The main resupply ship that comes to the island is an old US Army landing craft, I am not sure of the actual type of vessel it is, but I have seen similar boats at Ft Story in Va beach. The resupply boats come every day, they bring in everything to the island, from food and water, to fuel and building supplies. Water here on North Bimini is expensive, 60 cents per gallon, not the place you want to resupply, and I am glad I am completely topped off.
Since we have been here we have met a ton of really nice folks, there is Larry and his wife Roberta from Oriental, NC, John and Sylvia from Denmark, Josh and Samantha from Hilton Head, SC, their friend Eric from Rhode Island. Josh, Samantha and Eric are traveling together on 2 smaller boats, and it looks like Matt may join them and form another small flotilla. We meet new folks everyday, and it seems that every evening we have some sort of get together here at the marina.
The Omni Present Conch
Island food is based on seafood, there is great fishing here and the water is full of marine life. It seems that the local staple though is conch. There are millions of conch here, all you have to do is walk out onto any one of the reefs or banks here and you can find them. Where we as Americans find the conch shell to be such a rare treasure, here they are piled up by the thousands. There are piles of conch shells everywhere, and so many of them are so beautiful. So far in our quest to sample local life we have had conch salad, conch fritters, and fried conch sandwiches. Anthony Bordain would be jealous of all the local food we have sampled so far. It seems that you can fix conch in as many varieties as Bubba Gump had variations for shrimp. Last night we gave a try at making our own conch salad, Matt and a few of the other boaters in the anchorage went out on the reef and looked for conch, you don’t really catch them, you just shuffle along and pick them up, it not like they can make a speedy escape from a determined conch hunter. You have to knock a hole in the shell to release the vacuum that holds them in their shell, and then you just pull them from the shell. If you have a conch shell with a hole right at the crown in the first set of whorls, like all the ones I will be bringing home, you know the inhabitant was removed for someones dinner.
Conch salad is diced up conch, the smaller ones are much more tender than the large ones, and then you add chopped vegetables, the standard mix seems to be onion, tomato, green and or red pepper, and maybe a bit of garlic. You drench this mixture in lime juice, sprinkle it heavily with garlic salt, and voila, you have conch salad. Pretty tasty, and pretty easy to make.
I went on walk about with Spook yesterday, and we went down on the beach and collected a ton of shells. After lunch, where we had conch fritters at a sea side restaurant (to call it a shack would demean it, but, it was a very small restaurant in a very small building) and while David, Matt, Larry, and Roberta talked at the table, Peg and I went looking for shells and sea glass. Many treasures to be found, the beaches here are littered with shells.
Today I helped John with his alternator belt, he has a situation where his old belt was worn, and the replacement belt he was given was a bit too long, but he made a minor alteration to the set up, and it seemed to work well with the new belt. Matt has had an on going problem with his charging system, so I went through the entire DC electrical system, and got his issues worked out. He is now charging properly, and not constantly discharging and running his batteries dead.
We are planning to go over to south Bimini today and see what is there, and maybe check out a place here that belongs to a friend of Peg and David. It is a huge private compound that is reported to be very well landscaped with a great view of the ocean, and its own private lagoon.
Tonight we are going out and probably eat some local fish, and more conch as well. From the weather forecast it looks like I will not get a good wind out of here until Saturday evening, so it seems like I am going to be "stuck" here for another week. I am starting to feel the pressure to get going, but, if you have to be stuck somewhere, I suppose there are many places that are worse than this little slice of island paradise.
The wind we did have came from the east for most of our sail, and that seemed to really chop up the Gulf Stream. You have a situation where the current and the swell it creates is headed north, and the east wind adds in a cross chop, this makes for a very bouncy sail. Not really rough, but I can see where it would get very bad in the right conditions, but a steep chop that is very close together. I would imagine that with a southerly wind the stream would have moderate rolling waves and swell, but I can see where a north wind would build the waves and the chop to very large proportions.The amount of drift we encountered was incredible. We were making one knot north for every knot east, and so despite our heading of 90 degrees, due east, our true course was almost an exact 45 degrees. In the future I will definitely over compensate for drift, and sail much further below Miami before I turn east. On the way back this current will help me though, I intend on letting the stream take me just as far north as it will, I hope to hit the Florida coast somewhere around Ft Lauderdale, or perhaps even Palm Beach.
So back to current events.
Bimini is the western most island group of the Bahamas, and is 47 miles off of the coast of Florida. It sits right on the edge of the Gulf Stream, and has 2 main islands, North and South Bimini. North Bimini is where most of the folks live, it is about 7 miles long and 200-300 yards wide. Alicetown is at the very southern tip of North Bimini, and is the heart of the island. It is where the government buildings, the cargo dock, the school and the power plant are located. It is also where the few hotels and the islands primary marinas are located. There are other towns on the island, but they all butt up against one another, so when you are walking each town kind of blends into the next. We have walked about 2 miles north, so we have really only explored the lower 1/3 of the island, but that was enough walking for one day in this heat. It is quite warm here, most days have been in the high 70’s to mid 80’s, but today seems a bit cooler. The wind here seems to be constant and consistant, no matter what the time of day, or the temperature, there is always wind.
The airport and water plant is on South Bimini, and that is also where there seems to be a very large housing development that, from here, looks newly constructed. We have not ventured over to south Bimini yet, but that seems to be the plan for the day. There is a ferry that runs back and forth from north to south Bimini, and it is an old US Navy LCM, or landing craft. The main resupply ship that comes to the island is an old US Army landing craft, I am not sure of the actual type of vessel it is, but I have seen similar boats at Ft Story in Va beach. The resupply boats come every day, they bring in everything to the island, from food and water, to fuel and building supplies. Water here on North Bimini is expensive, 60 cents per gallon, not the place you want to resupply, and I am glad I am completely topped off.
Since we have been here we have met a ton of really nice folks, there is Larry and his wife Roberta from Oriental, NC, John and Sylvia from Denmark, Josh and Samantha from Hilton Head, SC, their friend Eric from Rhode Island. Josh, Samantha and Eric are traveling together on 2 smaller boats, and it looks like Matt may join them and form another small flotilla. We meet new folks everyday, and it seems that every evening we have some sort of get together here at the marina.
The Omni Present Conch
Island food is based on seafood, there is great fishing here and the water is full of marine life. It seems that the local staple though is conch. There are millions of conch here, all you have to do is walk out onto any one of the reefs or banks here and you can find them. Where we as Americans find the conch shell to be such a rare treasure, here they are piled up by the thousands. There are piles of conch shells everywhere, and so many of them are so beautiful. So far in our quest to sample local life we have had conch salad, conch fritters, and fried conch sandwiches. Anthony Bordain would be jealous of all the local food we have sampled so far. It seems that you can fix conch in as many varieties as Bubba Gump had variations for shrimp. Last night we gave a try at making our own conch salad, Matt and a few of the other boaters in the anchorage went out on the reef and looked for conch, you don’t really catch them, you just shuffle along and pick them up, it not like they can make a speedy escape from a determined conch hunter. You have to knock a hole in the shell to release the vacuum that holds them in their shell, and then you just pull them from the shell. If you have a conch shell with a hole right at the crown in the first set of whorls, like all the ones I will be bringing home, you know the inhabitant was removed for someones dinner.
Conch salad is diced up conch, the smaller ones are much more tender than the large ones, and then you add chopped vegetables, the standard mix seems to be onion, tomato, green and or red pepper, and maybe a bit of garlic. You drench this mixture in lime juice, sprinkle it heavily with garlic salt, and voila, you have conch salad. Pretty tasty, and pretty easy to make.
I went on walk about with Spook yesterday, and we went down on the beach and collected a ton of shells. After lunch, where we had conch fritters at a sea side restaurant (to call it a shack would demean it, but, it was a very small restaurant in a very small building) and while David, Matt, Larry, and Roberta talked at the table, Peg and I went looking for shells and sea glass. Many treasures to be found, the beaches here are littered with shells.
Today I helped John with his alternator belt, he has a situation where his old belt was worn, and the replacement belt he was given was a bit too long, but he made a minor alteration to the set up, and it seemed to work well with the new belt. Matt has had an on going problem with his charging system, so I went through the entire DC electrical system, and got his issues worked out. He is now charging properly, and not constantly discharging and running his batteries dead.
We are planning to go over to south Bimini today and see what is there, and maybe check out a place here that belongs to a friend of Peg and David. It is a huge private compound that is reported to be very well landscaped with a great view of the ocean, and its own private lagoon.
Tonight we are going out and probably eat some local fish, and more conch as well. From the weather forecast it looks like I will not get a good wind out of here until Saturday evening, so it seems like I am going to be "stuck" here for another week. I am starting to feel the pressure to get going, but, if you have to be stuck somewhere, I suppose there are many places that are worse than this little slice of island paradise.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
In the Islands at Last
I suppose I have a bit of catching up to do, as yesterdays post was not overly informative.
March 9 and 10, 2010
On Tuesday March 9th Matt and I (aboard Anticipation and Arden respectively) left River Bend Marina and set off down the Little River towards the ICW, where we were to meet David and Peg on board Journey. I had been watching the tide, and it was not quite at full low when we left, but we were approaching 11am, and we needed to get underway. So we bid goodbye to Sven, Gabi, Julia and Carlos - they had followed us out to see us off - and down river we went. We had a great run down river, having to hold up for only one of the four bridges. When we got down to the ICW we turned north and shortly met David and Peg.
Our flotilla formed, we turned south and headed for the Port Everglades channel. We cleared the channel just after 12:30, and made our turn south and raised sail. We were off! All day and into the evening we sailed south, we made for Miami, and then went out a bit to clear Fowey Rocks just south of the Government Cut (Miami) channel. It was good sailing, on a beat or close reach most of the afternoon, and as evening fell we were leaving Miami behind, and I figured we needed to make about another 20 miles south before we turned east and headed to the islands.
We sailed on, our rough time for our turn was 10 pm, but after looking at the charts and our position, I decided we needed to make at least another hour south, and David and Matt agreed. So on we went, until 11, and then we made our eastern turn. On Passage Weather it was forecast that the Gulf Stream was running at 2-3 knots, and that was the info we had to work off of for the passage. Turns out that this forecast was wrong, and we were to find this out not only as we sailed, but also after we made it to Bimini and spoke to folks that were there. So my calculations and plan took into account a 2-3 knot current, and a wind that was supposed to shift from east southeast to south southwest. The actual current in the Gulf Stream was more like 4.5 to 5 knots, and this really affected how far we had to sail, and we never did get the wind shift. As we sailed into the night, I saw that our northern drift was equal to our eastern progress, so we were holding a course of 90 degrees (east) and sailing a course of 45 degrees. (north east) by 4 am we were even with Bimini, and we were still making way too much progress north, but there was nothing we could do.
The Gulf Steam was a washing machine, all of us were plowing through waves and cross chop, and bouncing around all over. Matt seemed to be getting the worst of it, but all of us were getting tossed around. Sometime shortly after we made our turn east, the dinghy hit something and I heard a change in the sound of its wake. I got the flashlight and looked it over, and I could see that the port pontoon was deflating, and fast. I went down below and fired up the stove to make coffee, and again I was cursing the kerosene stove. Having to preheat it, popping up to check course and my distance to Journey and Anticipation was a complete pain, and I really needed the caffiene. I put a pot of water on, and half of it got sloshed all over, as Arden's stove is not gimballed, and does not swing to compensate for the waves or heel of the boat. That is going to get fixed very shortly after I get back north. As the night wore on we passed four or five freighters, some were off in the distance, but 2 were really close, and one of these was very poorly lit. Matt said he saw nav lights on her, but I saw none, and it was not until we were passing that I could really see what direction they were heading. That one was very close, almost too close for comfort. Not long after that, in the fatigue of early morning, I lost track of David, but I thought I could see Matt. There were also a cruise ship and a freighter in the distance, so I was getting the lights of the boats confused. I got on the radio and called Dave, and asked him to blink their mast head tricolor light, and I realized I was much closer to them than I had though, and we were sailing parallel to each other about a mile apart. I felt really relived to see them, and know that they were that close.
As the morning wore on, and the day was about to break, I figured we were nearing the edge of the stream, 20 miles north of Bimini, which matched the observed speed of the stream, at 5 knots. Dawn came, and we were still sailing northeast, and then, out of nowhere, we suddenly started making a turn to the east. The Gulf Stream was releasing its grip on us, and soon we were able to turn to the south. The wind shift we had been counting on about 5 hours earlier finally came, and once again we were sailing nose on into the wind. We were 21 miles north of our goal, and I knew we had one more long day of sailing until we got in. Just about this time the dinghy really looked like it was about to capsize totally, and it was definitely slowing me down a lot. I called David, and told him I was going to heave to and pull the dinghy out and get it on deck. I was getting bounced around a good bit, but I was able to pull the dinghy alongside. As I leaned out to get the motor off the dinghy the pull cord to my life vest got caught on something, and WHOOSH the damn thing inflated. I had to take the vest off and go get my back up harness, as I had my tether hooked to the harness in the lifevest, and I was not about to be pulling the dinghy aboard and not be clipped in to the boat. I got the motor loose and onto Arden, and then pulled up all the floor boards and the paddles. As I was getting the dinghy pulled on deck I heard a crunch, and I looked down to see my favorite sunglasses flattened on the deck. What a circus this was turning into. I finally had the dinghy on deck, deflated and lashed down, and was able to get underway again. David was amazed, I picked up just over a knot of speed not having the dinghy dragging me back like a sea anchor.
South bound we went. Matt was on out ahead of us, his lighter boat making better time in the wind state were in. He had also made a few tacks we did not, and that put him on a bit of a different course than David and I were on. We held 4 - 5 knots for a good bit, and just after 2 pm David called me on the radio with a very excited Land Ho!. We were close, and on course, and it is really a motivating thing to have made a crossing like that, and actually find the little piece of land that you were shooting for. Even in today's age of GPS and radar, seeing land for the first time in 30 hours is exilherating. Matt made the anchorage just after David and I saw the island, and he said the channel was a bit tricky to get into, so he was going to come out and guide us in. I was dying to have a cigarette, and with Peg at the helm, Journey pulled along side Arden, and David tossed a pack of cigarettes over to me. The pack hit my main sail, and then slid down into the cockpit, quite a good toss in the conditions we were in, and I was greatful for the underway replenishment.
Around 430 we finally made the Bimini channel, and I was quite mezmerized by the color of the water here, it is a turquioise coilor and just incredibly clear. Amazingly beautiful. We had dropped sail a bit earlier and raised the courtesy and quarantine flags, so we were motoring into the channel and up to the marina and the anchorage. Dave and Peg pulled into the Bimini Blue Water Resort, and I proceeded on up to the anchorage where Matt had settled in. I set both anchors, and as the dinghy was out of comission, Matt took me in and we spent the evening aboard Journey with Peg and Dave.
That was the entirety of Tuesday and Wednesday, and all of us were exhausted. All of us had clean up and storage issues. I think all of us were on the same plan, clean up, bed down, and get going in the morning. We bedded down for the night, there was good wind and it had cooled down a bit, and we had made plans to meet up in the morning to do a bit of exploring and sight seeing, after Matt and I checked in at Customs and Immigration.
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Dawn came on the 11th and I was excited to get ashore and get a bit of exploring done. Matt picked me up, and we went in to get cleared and checked in with the authorities. After that was done we all got together and went on walk about. We were met by a guy on a bike selling lobster tails, and we bargained with him until we got them for 5 bucks a piece. God they were good and fresh, and cooked to absolute perfection. Unfortunately, all that served to do was entice our hunger, and soon we were looking for a place to actually get lunch. As we walked along we seemed to be the only tourists out and about, and we must have just looked like easy marks. Everyone wanted to sell us something, and we finally gavce in and bought conch shells from this older fellow for a buck a piece. There millions of conch shells piled everywhere onm the island, there is an endless suplly of them and they are part of almost every meal here it seems.
We finally settled on a conch shack run by an very informative and interesting guy named Joe. He told us all about the island as he fixed us conch salad, a tangy mix of Conch, onion, pepper, tomatoes and doused with lime juice. It was new and different, and pretty good, I was really suprised by just how good it was, as I am really conservative at what I eat. Joe was closing down soon, as he had to go to a wedding on up the island with his Junkanoo band. Junkanoo is an island music style that is mainly drums and percussion, and they were going to be practicing and then heading to the wedding. As we were walking back from our explorations we heard them practicing, and we went up and watched. Joe was super friendly, and was very entertaining as he and his group played.
We made our way back towards the marina, and stopped at a placve and got some Bimini bread, a local favorite that is a reallt sweet bread made with coconut and it is delicious. I think I ate my loaf pretty much in one evening.
Matt and I hung out a bit, and then we we heard about a boat aground and sinking right at the harbor mouth. We went down and watched the recovery effort, the boat luckily had skated over the rocks and was stuck on a sand bar just off shore. There were a couple of local boats involved in the recovery attempt, and it was everything they could do to get the boat off the sand and into deeper water. It looked like the boat was a Swan of about 53 feet, quite a good and expensive boat, and none of could figure out how they had gotten in so close and run aground. The seas were heavy and it was quite obviouse where the channel was just by the differences in the condition of the water. I am not sure if it was a matter of fatique or inexperience or inattention, but regardless, the boat was heavily damaged, and I think that the keel may have separated from the hull, as she was obviously taking on water as they towed it in.
I had internet when I got back to Arden, and I checked mail and was going to make a blog post in the morning. I went to bed, and then woke up around 1 am, and tried to turn the computer on, and it was dead, I could not get it to turn on at all. I think it finally gave in to the sea air and died. I hope I can get it fixed when I get back to the States, but right now I feel blind without a computer and internet.
Friday, 12 March, 2010
Friday was another day of exploring, and then Matt and I brought my dinghy in and I was able to repair it. We had to hike way up the island to find a hardware store and hopefully an inner tube to make patches out of. The hardware store had inner tubes, but they were $22 a piece, and I wasnt about to pay that. I found a guy changing tires just north of there, and he gave me a used inner tube that had been cut and gave it to me for free. We walked back and David and I got the dinghy fixed. Later that night we had a get together around 6 at the marina patio, all the boater came and did the BYOB thing, and we had a great time talking and sharing sea tales.
It is now Saturday, and we are all kind of kicking back, enjoying the warm weather and the sunshine. The is quite a breeze blowing in from the west, and the ocean is churning on the other side of the island. My computer is still dead, and I am posting this from Dave's. I have to help Matt fix his battery situation on his boat in a bit, but we are all having fun and enjoying the island, and I think I am going to go snorkling a bit later today.
March 9 and 10, 2010
Our flotilla formed, we turned south and headed for the Port Everglades channel. We cleared the channel just after 12:30, and made our turn south and raised sail. We were off! All day and into the evening we sailed south, we made for Miami, and then went out a bit to clear Fowey Rocks just south of the Government Cut (Miami) channel. It was good sailing, on a beat or close reach most of the afternoon, and as evening fell we were leaving Miami behind, and I figured we needed to make about another 20 miles south before we turned east and headed to the islands.
As the morning wore on, and the day was about to break, I figured we were nearing the edge of the stream, 20 miles north of Bimini, which matched the observed speed of the stream, at 5 knots. Dawn came, and we were still sailing northeast, and then, out of nowhere, we suddenly started making a turn to the east. The Gulf Stream was releasing its grip on us, and soon we were able to turn to the south. The wind shift we had been counting on about 5 hours earlier finally came, and once again we were sailing nose on into the wind. We were 21 miles north of our goal, and I knew we had one more long day of sailing until we got in. Just about this time the dinghy really looked like it was about to capsize totally, and it was definitely slowing me down a lot. I called David, and told him I was going to heave to and pull the dinghy out and get it on deck. I was getting bounced around a good bit, but I was able to pull the dinghy alongside. As I leaned out to get the motor off the dinghy the pull cord to my life vest got caught on something, and WHOOSH the damn thing inflated. I had to take the vest off and go get my back up harness, as I had my tether hooked to the harness in the lifevest, and I was not about to be pulling the dinghy aboard and not be clipped in to the boat. I got the motor loose and onto Arden, and then pulled up all the floor boards and the paddles. As I was getting the dinghy pulled on deck I heard a crunch, and I looked down to see my favorite sunglasses flattened on the deck. What a circus this was turning into. I finally had the dinghy on deck, deflated and lashed down, and was able to get underway again. David was amazed, I picked up just over a knot of speed not having the dinghy dragging me back like a sea anchor.
South bound we went. Matt was on out ahead of us, his lighter boat making better time in the wind state were in. He had also made a few tacks we did not, and that put him on a bit of a different course than David and I were on. We held 4 - 5 knots for a good bit, and just after 2 pm David called me on the radio with a very excited Land Ho!. We were close, and on course, and it is really a motivating thing to have made a crossing like that, and actually find the little piece of land that you were shooting for. Even in today's age of GPS and radar, seeing land for the first time in 30 hours is exilherating. Matt made the anchorage just after David and I saw the island, and he said the channel was a bit tricky to get into, so he was going to come out and guide us in. I was dying to have a cigarette, and with Peg at the helm, Journey pulled along side Arden, and David tossed a pack of cigarettes over to me. The pack hit my main sail, and then slid down into the cockpit, quite a good toss in the conditions we were in, and I was greatful for the underway replenishment.
Around 430 we finally made the Bimini channel, and I was quite mezmerized by the color of the water here, it is a turquioise coilor and just incredibly clear. Amazingly beautiful. We had dropped sail a bit earlier and raised the courtesy and quarantine flags, so we were motoring into the channel and up to the marina and the anchorage. Dave and Peg pulled into the Bimini Blue Water Resort, and I proceeded on up to the anchorage where Matt had settled in. I set both anchors, and as the dinghy was out of comission, Matt took me in and we spent the evening aboard Journey with Peg and Dave.That was the entirety of Tuesday and Wednesday, and all of us were exhausted. All of us had clean up and storage issues. I think all of us were on the same plan, clean up, bed down, and get going in the morning. We bedded down for the night, there was good wind and it had cooled down a bit, and we had made plans to meet up in the morning to do a bit of exploring and sight seeing, after Matt and I checked in at Customs and Immigration.
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Dawn came on the 11th and I was excited to get ashore and get a bit of exploring done. Matt picked me up, and we went in to get cleared and checked in with the authorities. After that was done we all got together and went on walk about. We were met by a guy on a bike selling lobster tails, and we bargained with him until we got them for 5 bucks a piece. God they were good and fresh, and cooked to absolute perfection. Unfortunately, all that served to do was entice our hunger, and soon we were looking for a place to actually get lunch. As we walked along we seemed to be the only tourists out and about, and we must have just looked like easy marks. Everyone wanted to sell us something, and we finally gavce in and bought conch shells from this older fellow for a buck a piece. There millions of conch shells piled everywhere onm the island, there is an endless suplly of them and they are part of almost every meal here it seems.
We finally settled on a conch shack run by an very informative and interesting guy named Joe. He told us all about the island as he fixed us conch salad, a tangy mix of Conch, onion, pepper, tomatoes and doused with lime juice. It was new and different, and pretty good, I was really suprised by just how good it was, as I am really conservative at what I eat. Joe was closing down soon, as he had to go to a wedding on up the island with his Junkanoo band. Junkanoo is an island music style that is mainly drums and percussion, and they were going to be practicing and then heading to the wedding. As we were walking back from our explorations we heard them practicing, and we went up and watched. Joe was super friendly, and was very entertaining as he and his group played. We made our way back towards the marina, and stopped at a placve and got some Bimini bread, a local favorite that is a reallt sweet bread made with coconut and it is delicious. I think I ate my loaf pretty much in one evening.
Matt and I hung out a bit, and then we we heard about a boat aground and sinking right at the harbor mouth. We went down and watched the recovery effort, the boat luckily had skated over the rocks and was stuck on a sand bar just off shore. There were a couple of local boats involved in the recovery attempt, and it was everything they could do to get the boat off the sand and into deeper water. It looked like the boat was a Swan of about 53 feet, quite a good and expensive boat, and none of could figure out how they had gotten in so close and run aground. The seas were heavy and it was quite obviouse where the channel was just by the differences in the condition of the water. I am not sure if it was a matter of fatique or inexperience or inattention, but regardless, the boat was heavily damaged, and I think that the keel may have separated from the hull, as she was obviously taking on water as they towed it in.
I had internet when I got back to Arden, and I checked mail and was going to make a blog post in the morning. I went to bed, and then woke up around 1 am, and tried to turn the computer on, and it was dead, I could not get it to turn on at all. I think it finally gave in to the sea air and died. I hope I can get it fixed when I get back to the States, but right now I feel blind without a computer and internet.
Friday, 12 March, 2010
It is now Saturday, and we are all kind of kicking back, enjoying the warm weather and the sunshine. The is quite a breeze blowing in from the west, and the ocean is churning on the other side of the island. My computer is still dead, and I am posting this from Dave's. I have to help Matt fix his battery situation on his boat in a bit, but we are all having fun and enjoying the island, and I think I am going to go snorkling a bit later today.
Friday, March 12, 2010
In the Bahamas - Great Sail, Tons of Problems, Incredible Island
I am going to make a really quick post to let everyone out there know that I have made it to Bimini and I am doing good. It was an incredible 35 hour sail, our little flotilla (Arden, Journey and Anticipation) sailed 135 miles to make a 47 mile crossing. It was quite an adventure, and a very intersting sail. In the course of the trip I had one trial after another - my dinghy got punctured and almost sank, in the course of rescuing it my life vest auto inflated and wasted a CO2 cartridge, I stepped on my sunglasses and crushed them, and the stove burner is really on the verge of dying. Last but not least, my computer succumbed to the damp sea air and died, so I am making this post from David and Peg's machine onboard Journey. I will post a more detailed and informative post tomorrow, but I am here, the weather is great, the water is incredible, and the islanders are extremely friendly and helpful. So I made it - and it is everything I thought it would be.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Jimmy Buffet and the Cosmic Muffin
Catchy title eh? I read a book not too long ago that was written by Jimmy Buffet, yes, the songwriter, sailer, scalawag and drifter not only sings, produces and owns restaurants, but he also writes. And suprisingly, writes fairly well. The book I read, which is one of several actually, is "Where is Joe Merchant" and was pretty entertaining. It was definately light reading, and one of the more interesting characters in the book is a woman that lives on a house boat made from the fuselage of an old DC6. That boat was named the "Cosmic Muffin" and it, or a facimille of it, is tied up not far from where I am. I'm not sure if this boat was inspired by the boat in the book, or if the boat in the book was based on this one, regardless, the "Cosmic Muffin" resides in Ft Lauderdale. I made a trip up this side canal today for the expressed purpose of geting a picture of this odd craft, just so I could share it with all of you here. By the way, read the book, it will give your brain a rest and keep you entertained.
Prep work for tomorrow's trip continued today, I finished up the courtesy flag for the Bahamas, and the quarantine flag as well. An interesting side note to the flag project - the book I have for making courtesy flags has the flag maker using fabric paint to do some of the smaller detail work on the flags, and one of these detail things was the Bahamanian flag that adorns the courtesy flag for the Bahamas. When I bought the fabric for flag making I did not realize this, and it turns out that I either need fabric paint, or some aquamarine colored nylon. I had neither. Sterling said he would look for some aquamarine nylon at the North Sails loft, and I figured I would hedge my bets and look for some fabric as well. There was no fabric store close by, but there was a discount clothes place not too far from where I am. So after walking up there, I was definitely suprised to find a pair of womens shorts made of-what else-aquamarine nylon. I bought them, and good thing I did, because North Sails did not have any nylon that color. The shorts were the perfect shade, and 30 minutes after I got back to the boat, I had my courtesy flag finished.
Tonight I said my goodbyes to Sven and Gabi, and Carlos and Julia. It will be sad to leave them behind, they have been really good to me, and we have all enjoyed each others company. I know Spook will miss Carlos and Julia, and they will miss her as well. Like so many other folks I have met along the way, it will be sad to leave them and finish this adventure.I also stopped in to see my hosts Brooke and Tom, I was not sure of their schedule tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure that I gave them my thanks and told them just how much I really do appreciate their hospitality. They have been great, and provided me with a place to tie up when I thought my stay here in Ft Lauderdale was done. I can't thank them enough for being so good to me.
So tomorrow is it. Some time around 10 Matt and I will motor down river and get to the ICW where we will meet up with David and Peg, and from there our little convoy will head down to Miami and then over to Bimini. I am finally Island bound, and am looking forward to clear water, island weather, and maybe a bit of snorkling and swimming. My next post will be from the islands, if I can get net. Until then...fair winds....
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