2008 Cruising

3/16 to 3/31/2008

This is our log for 2008; the 2007 East Coast and other voyages are now in Prior Voyages.

We plan to post and update at least weekly. We move the older portions of the log to secondary pages accessible at the bottom of the page. Join our voyage!

Updated on 04/03/2008

3/16/08 - Both boats moved across the roadstead to the north side in preparation for a northerly expect to pass through tomorrow. Our move puts us in a more sheltered position for the expected 20-25 knot winds. I hate threading into a new anchorage, trying to find a bottom with good holding without infringing on the imaginary boundaries the established boats have staked out. We spent most of the day on the boat, taking time to visit Wanderer, a Jeanneau SO43 like ours. We also went into the Chat 'n' Chill for a drink so Ruth could have a quick chat with Tina, a server there that Ruth has struck up a friendship with. Laureen invited us for dinner as David will be heading home Tuesday and they are planning on eating out Monday night. It was a great meal with good company. I suspect we were over-served by the bartender based on how we felt in the morning and the fact Miles kept asking how did we feel. 3/17/08 - Awoke to strong winds out of the NE, the cold front is arriving. We are sitting in the lee of Stocking Island so we are in fairly flat seas. The wind has us pretty well pined down in Gaviota Bay. For a break we went to the island for lunch with the Ariel crew. After lunch Ruth bought four 70 minute timeslots on their WiFi. Back on board we found the connection to be a little funky. We had good signal strength and quality - most of the time. We burned one session getting e-mail down... most of it junk mail. David radioed from Ariel to say goodbye as the waves were making dinghy travel unpleasant. We'll miss him, he was good company. 3/18/08 - The water taxi picked David up as a dinghy ride across the roadstead would have left him soaked. The water taxi will deliver him to a land taxi for the ride to the airport. Banner morning, we got all of the e-mail downloaded. I don't know what's worse, the potential for viruses or the certainty of junk e-mail. With the iffy connections breaking off down here you get the pleasure of downloading some of the junk 2-3 times before they get wiped off the server. Georgetown has been a pleasant surprise... we will return. If it wasn't for the island vegetation its a lot like a Mississippi crossroads town, except more colorful. The wind will likely keep us here until the weekend. It all hinges on how long the front sticks around. We heard Another Adventure paged on the VHF this morning, answered to learn it was a neighboring boat warning us that a third boat was dragging down on us. A little excitement but no problems... no runs, no hits, no errors and they were under control and moving back to re-anchor. We took AA across the roadstead to pick up water... the 20-25 knot gusts made it too rough for the dinghy. After anchoring near Regatta Point we launched the dinghy and I made 3 trips with 10 gallons of water each trip. That was enough bouncing around for me so we returned to our anchorage of Gaviota Bay. At least we have some water aboard. We met a couple from Fondulac. They'd bought Dehamer's Pipe Dream (now for sale in WI) and went on to buy a catamaran, Nauti Nauti, for sailing the islands. Nice folks, hope we met them again along the way. Miles and Laureen came over for chili last night, appropriate for a cold front. After all temperatures are in the mid-70's and chili sits well on nights like this. 3/19/08 - Awoke to another windy morning. Tomorrow is suppose to settle down. Several boats left today, heading north - Nauti Nauti was among them. It's got to be rough on the sound after several days of high winds. Ruth and I crossed the island to again walk the ocean beach. The waves were thundering like an infinite stream of jets taking off... the ground literally trembled and the air was full of mist. It definitely was not a good day to be leaving the roadstead. Back on AA we had a sea turtle, a green about 2 1/2' in diameter, adopt the water next to us for a feeding area. We got to see him about a dozen times. Miles & Laureen stopped for a sundowner and Ruth made popcorn on the stove... mmmmm. As the sun set we got out the conch. Laureen really nailed it tonight. I may have to move to second chair. Renee's little victory dance was cute. 3/20/08 - We celebrated the first day of Spring by moving over to the Georgetown side of the roadstead early so we could pick up water, provision and do the wash. We started a stampede - at least 2 dozen boats followed us. It's like everyone had cabin fever after being pined by the wind at Stocking Island. While Ruth headed to the laundry I made 5 trips, 10 gallons of water per trip, and filled our aft tank. I also picked up dinghy fuel. Went to transfer our 20 gallons of diesel from the deck to our tank and learned that we'd never refilled 2 tanks after fueling Fourth Watch. We'll have to keep an eye on fuel consumption. We didn't need a lot of provisions, only about $80.00 spent. Actually fuel was almost as much as the food... $4.25 for gasoline. Better get good at rowing the dinghy. Mile and Laureen came over with her couch. We started the process of turning it into a horn. Renee has gotten very good at the couch. Like "White Folks on Boats" we are thinking of forming a group of couch players called "The Couchcasians". 3/21/08 - Up at dawn, winds only 5-6 knots, time to boogie. I crossed to Stocking Island to try for a WiFi connect - alas, no joy. It will likely be a week before we get another chance. We met a ship coming through the breakers at the harbor entrance as we were going out. I radioed and reached agreement that it would be a one whistle meeting - port to port. Passed Don't Look Back, John and Billy Jo, enroute to Georgetown. Really sorry we missed each other again. Buddy is full of himself today, talking nonstop. He likes it when we are moving. His talk reminded Ruth of a beautiful African Grey she met at the St. Francis Resort on Stocking. It greets women with "Hi there pretty lady... nice t*ts, what'd they cost you?" No, a man didn't teach the bird that, a gal did. Ruthie is trying out her new reel today - first time. So far it hasn't caught any fish. At Galliot Miles and I went hunting, alas - the wily lobsters were smarter than we were. None seen. We did see a large cow-nosed ray gliding past us. Neat! We had dinner on Ariel, we brought a pork tenderloin to grill along with their steaks. Renee made potatoes and a hybrid broccoli/cauliflower - excellent. Afterwards we sat in the cockpit and watched a fabulous fireworks show. They sure know how to entertain on Ariel... the show eclipsed anything I'd seen in the Valley. Not sure how we'll top that when it's our turn again. 3/22/08 - Dawn confirmed what the slapping sounds on the hull during the night had announced, the wind had come up to 8-10 knots as forecast, but from the south rather than the east. With the waves that produced we wouldn't be snorkeling in Galliot Cut today. We elected to go to Staniel Cay. A strong front was forecast for Monday and Staniel offers more protection. We hoisted the main and unfurled the genoa. In half an hour our course changed so we had the wind directly behind us at 10 knots. We furled the genoa and launched the gennaker. What a beautiful 3 hour ride we had to Staniel! AA ran dead downwind while Ariel ice boated, tacking back and forth across our stern to keep her boat speed up. It was the one set of conditions under which AA could run faster than Ariel. It was one of the nicest gennaker rides we've had. At Staniel we took on 59 gallons of diesel, $292.00, and 36 gallons of water, $14.40. We were fully restocked as we anchored off Club Thunderball, a sports bar, near where Ariel had again taken a mooring. 3/23/08 - Easter Sunday, sunny, light breeze and quiet. We watched a few boats thread past our anchorage on their way to the sound. Among them was Flutter Bye, a name we'd heard on the VHF for weeks.  The name reminded us of Flutterby, the sail boat I'd built in the late '70's and sailed extensively on Lake Winnebago. Exumas Park's announcement of an Easter Egg this morning reminded us that it was Easter. We'll head up to Club Thunderball for lunch, a treat for Ruthie. We confirmed Miles' opinion that Club Thunderball has the best cheeseburgers in the Exumas. They were big, great tasting and perfectly done! After lunch Miles and I went hunting again only to be outsmarted by a particularly intelligent species of southern lobster. We came back for Renee and Ruth for a dive in the Thunderball Grotto. At sundown I blew our conch, across the harbor I heard several responses - one of which was particularly deep and true. Our radio crackled to life, Miles asking if we'd heard Renee's reply. Turns out they put duct tape over the slot in the conch so she could play it. Kewl! 3/24/08 - Quiet sunny morning. Easter Monday is a legal holiday in the Exumas and most businesses are closed. Miles came over with the latest SSB weather by Chris Parker. High winds, 20-25 knots swinging west to north. Squalls with winds to 40 from any direction. Should last through the night. We sat out one of these beasts our last time here. SkyMate notes the same though the timing is different. Either way we'll be testing our anchor the next 24 hours. Wind, 20 knots, and rain all afternoon. Our freezer hiccupped so we did a couple of tenderloins on the grill - one for dinner and one for sandwiches tomorrow. Ruth found a sensor tucked behind the holding plate... hope that was the problem. Got a SkyMate message from Maeve and Bradd, after a 24 hour run they are safely in Cuba with eldest son Patrick. Patrick sacked his ship, bad Captain and ran off with the Stewardess. They've joined Bradd & Maeve in Cuba. Go figure, Cuba welcomes Canadians while the US treats them like potential terrorists. Maybe in my lifetime we'll get it figured out. Not holding my breath, don't want to shorten my lifetime. After dinner we backed down hard on our anchor, pointing north, where the next strong winds will be coming from. As usual they will likely build about midnight. It was interesting earlier this afternoon watching folks relocating in the wind and rain. They must not have been following the weather or they'd have found a secure spot earlier. That's assuming our spot is secure... film at eleven. 3/25/08 - The rain passed through yesterday afternoon. By dusk the wind had dropped below 10 knots, the calm before the storm. Around 4am the strong northerly winds were upon us. Warderick Wells reported gust nearing 30 knots. Our anchor alarm sounded at 4:40am, we weren't dragging, we'd just stretched our chain tight. All morning the wind blew from the north in the low 20's. We were secure in our hole surrounded by rocky islands. The sea would be smooth or roiled depending on whether the strong tide was running with or against the wind. Boats that had been asked yesterday to leave the docks at Staniel Cay Yacht Club were allowed back and straggled in all morning. We are watching the freezer closely... so far it seems to be happy. Ruth had found a dislodged temperature sensor and reattached it. We also lowered the temperature. Ruth and I went in to Staniel Cay Yacht Club for happy hour and WiFi. The connection was slow. Out of 104 e-mails to my address 10 made it pass my spam blockers. Ruth's account drew 42 e-mails. I need to look at here spam blockers. It took 90 minutes to download everything. While at the Club we ran into the crew from Pegasus... first met them going north through the Dismal last spring. Good to catch up with them again! We're watching for Jerry & Diane on Night Star, friends of my frat brother Bill Rohde. He e-mailed that they are in our immediate area. 3/26/08 - Another warm, windy, sunny morning after a very windy night. I was able to contact Night Star last night... they are still at Warderick Welles waiting for the weather to settle down. It appears that the freezer and refrigerator are fine... so it may be the battery bank failing. Everything cooled while the engine was running, but it seems the low power cut-off is kicking out the two compressors. We've got almost 5 years on the house bank so it's likely time. We'll try to nurse the system back to the US where we can replace them at a reasonable cost. We arrived at the Exumas Park, Warderick Wells, about 1pm, hence the WiFi. Ruth joined me when I went to the office so she could exchange books with their library. She brought a little sugar along, sprinkled it on her hand... soon she had a dozen colorful Bananakeets on her hand eating. 3/27/08 - Beautiful sunrise, winds 20 from the east as I ate my raisin bran in the cockpit. At 9 I reported to the ranger's office. I spent the day surveying and repairing a skiff that needed extensive rebuilding. I left them with instructions for finishing the job. They also asked that I look at a salvaged Park Patrol Boat that Retriever was bringing in. It had been sunk 3 days ago while trying to cite a charter captain for poaching. He elected to run and sunk the patrol boat in the process. I didn't find any major structural damage to the hull though the forward 3' of the deck was lifted off the hull, a crack in the sole and extensive damage to the metal frame for the bimini. Our number one concern was to get the large outboard engine running. In spite of the efforts of a knowledgeable group that hadn't been accomplished when I left. It appears the entire electrical system was going to need to be replaced before the cylinders would fire. Poaching is a problem in the park - one would think a charter captain would realize the long run implications of his actions... greed rules. During the day Ruth found we had a big fish living under the boat. She'd throw in crackers and it would come out and gobble them up. I identified it as a Remora by the large suction pad on the top of its head. At dusk Ruth threw more crackers while singing "Remora, Remora, I'll see you tomorra...". 3/28/08 - Miles was on the radio at 7:30am, time to depart for Eleuthera, a 50 nm run. We had a smooth crossing in 10 knot wind motor sailing. At Powell Point we left the sound and crossed onto the Little Bahamas Bank. Out of thousands of feet of water and on to teens for depth. We motored to the Pineapple Cays, South Palmetto Point Settlement where we anchored for the night. We needed a few provisions so we launched our dinghy, picking up the Ariel crew enroute to the town dock where Miles quickly tied us off and climbed the ladder. Whoops, no deck on the dock - a storm had stripped the boards off. After beaching the dinghy we met Scott and his family, visitors from Cleveland. Scott knew where a couple of grocery stores were and offered us a ride. Shopping was interesting... we visited 4 stores picking up a couple of things at each one. These were small places, about the size of a 2 car garage. It's interesting what each store thinks it's important to stock for their customers. Even in a poor area convenience food and snacks take a disproportionate amount of shelf space. The roads had large potholes and a significant number of buildings were abandoned. Scott explained that this part of the island never recovered from Hurricane Wilma and the infrastructure was still decimated. Brand name resorts (like Club Med) remained closed, bombed out and deserted. We stopped by Ariel for sundown. Renee noted a waterspout moving toward us on the other side of the island. We watched as it grew larger and larger, lasting longer than any waterspout Ruth and I had seen (we've seen dozens). About the time I thought we'd be doing the twist it fell apart. During the next hour we saw the clouds try to generate additional events but they all disintegrated before getting organized. Back at AA Ruth threw crackers for the Remora. Alas, no reaction. Remora, Remora, we'll see you, no mora... I know, I know - I'm sick. 3/29/08 - Just after sunrise we headed NW for Royal Island, another 50 mile jaunt. The trip was a motorboat ride on flat seas. We did see more lobster trap floats than we've seen to date in the Bahamas along with the boats working them. The narrow cut at Current Cay was interesting in that the approach was through some 8' water. With Ariel drawing 6' Miles' pucker factor became intense. Mid-afternoon we were anchored in the natural harbor of Royal Island in 10' of water. To the west of our spot there lies the ruins of a large estate. That will likely disappear soon as this large island has been purchased and is in the throws of being developed into a resort community. We spent most of the afternoon exploring the rugged coast in our dinghies, looking for areas where lobster might dwell. No joy. 3/30/08 - Sunny and windy today. We plan to ride out the next weather event here or in Spanish Wells. SkyMate is predicting that things will settle down again on Tuesday after peaking Monday. I swear the USA's most consistent export to the Bahamas is cold fronts. We walked the old ruins this afternoon. They appear to date from the 40's or 50's. The area is being surveyed, reputedly for a restaurant and hotel. Lots also appear to be laid out and several holes of a golf course are roughed out. The entire island is slated to be a big development (rumored at $1.2 Billion or so). We most likely are enjoying a view that will disappear over the next year or two. Who knows what will become of this beautiful safe haven, a jumping off point for boats headed north to the Abacos? Will this year's development be the hurricane ruins our grandchildren will wander over? 3/31/08 - Last day of lobster season! Strong winds last night and through the day made it impossible to go hunting. Guess I'll have to do more research before the next season to improve the odds - for me, not the lobster. There are nine sailboats and one powerboat in the anchorage - all waiting for the winds to die down so they can go on to the Abacos. Crazy weather, more lows than normal and we've crossed over the latitude that most of the fronts have been tracing. I hate laying in bed at night as the winds build around 2am. Nothing to do but hope the ship doesn't hit the sand (so to speak). We watched a small island freighter deliver a large front end loader and a tank truck to the island. For the size of the development they seem understaffed and under equipped. I suspect they are trying to define the footprint of the project to attract building site buyers, using that cash to fund the project infrastructure. Sounds like the recipe that has left a number of other unfinished projects in the islands - Norman Cay comes to mind. Ruth fired up the oven and made chocolate chip cookies... mmmm, better than Midwest Express! We eat better on the boat than we did at home. This afternoon we worked on a conch for Ruth, finishing it. It has great tone, better than mine. We also tried a very small one... it's pretty feeble but it does work. I guess size does matter in conch.

Click on the photos for an 8" x 10" view. Use Back to return to the site. Ruth explores the beach Monument on Stocking Island Puff the Magic Dragon Mermaid dining on friends Spies of differing origins Choices As we cruise the Exumas we usually have two choices of routes... over the Bahamas Bank or into the Exumas Sound. We usually choose the bank as the 12-20 foot water doesn't generate as large a wave as the sound. This means that the entrances to the various harbors are not prone to developing large seas. Sometimes the bank is too shallow and we have to go on the sound. The run from Galliot to Georgetown (and back) is a good example of the challenges of the Sound. The breakers at the exit from Georgetown were awesome even though the Sound was only exhibiting 4-6' swells once we got on it. When we got to Galliot the tide was running in, hence there were no standing waves in the channel. It's all in the timing. We've learned to take wind and tide into account during our treks. Weather also plays a big role in our choices. We elect to hole-up for the frontal passages. It is just smarter to be snuggled up in a protected spot than it is to venture out into the unknown. This area is still new to us so we can't predict the reaction of the seas in different wind conditions - not like our knowledge set on Winnebago and Michigan. Then there's the hard choices, stay somewhere beautiful that we really like or move to a new location that may be even better. Buddy always votes for the move - he loves it when the boat is on the move. 007 ate here - Club Thunderball Ariel awaits another cold front North Harbor, Exuma Park NorthStar, Jerry & Diane Remora, Remora... Bottom, looking 15' down Dock at South Palmetto Point Eleuthera homes Waterspout over Eleuthera Sport fishing boats - Royal Island Chillin' on AA at Royal Island Ruins at Royal Island Once a magnificent estate Royal Island Conch-certo

Visit earlier portions of our 2008 east coast travels...

Boca Raton to Miami, FL - Jan 1 to 15, 2008	Miami to Key West, FL - Jan 16 to 31, 2008
Key West to Marathon, FL - Feb 1 to 15, 2008	Marathon, FL to Nassau, Bahamas - Feb 16 - 29
Norman Cay to Georgetown, Bahamas - March 1 - 15