Month: April 2014

We are planning to make some ocean runs this year on our run from the Bahamas to Rock Hall, MD. Our current plan, launching Thursday, 0700 April 24, 2014 will take us from Green Turtle Cay to Fort Pierce Florida where we will anchor by Friday 1900. There we will stage up for a run from Fort Pierce Florida to Charleston South Carolina, a 400 nm leg. We plan to spend a few days there taking in the great town of Charleston and then we will make a 200 mile jump to Beaufort North Carolina where our great friends Greg and Kate will NOT BE :-(.  From there we will run north into the ICW and up to Norfolk to our free dock at Portsmouth and then into the Chesapeake Bay.

So, Our Bahamas 2014 trip is drawing to a close with one last party at Green Turtle Club with our boat buddies as we enjoy the music of THE GULLY ROOSTERS. They start playing at 9 pm, “cruisers midnight” but we will dinghy in and enjoy the music. In the AM, we will derig the dinghies, taking off the motors, and fuel tanks and anchors and lashing them into the davits for the gulf stream crossing. Lucky for us, the winds and seas are calm, and the passage will be a casual motor run.

The weather fronts are not giving us the best sailing winds, so, we are taking this calm to run to the coast and stage up there for the next front to sail north in the Gulf Stream. Who knows, if our weather router, Chris Parkes says tomorrow night that it looks for for a go to Charleston, then we may just hang a right and keep going norht. WHO knows????

For, now, it is off to the Gully Roosters…..PARTY

Island Spirit at anchor off Green Turtle Club

NOTE😐
You can follow our LIVE map via SPOT and SPOTWALLA, here. This is the best and most live data we can publish from sea…
http://islandspirit35.blogspot.com/p/spot-maps.html

Stephen and Jason, the best Bartenders in Abaco…..

Here we are spending a week based out of Marsh Harbor anchored right off our favorite place, THE JIB ROOM. We have completed our boat services preparing for our exit north and run back to the US coast. We have been studying the weather every day at 0630-0730 with Chris Parker on SSB 4045 mHz. Then we look at NOAA weather, trying to keep up with the frontal progressions, watching for an exit window for our crossing. Meanwhile, life around here is really fun and easy. With Wednesday night RIB NIGHT, Saturday night STEAK NIGHT and toss in Thursday night with Cruisers POT LUCK, the Jib Room has it figured out. Great people, great atmosphere, great family, great food, great drinks, great friends, The Jib Room is one of the reasons why we are here! Thank you Tom, Linda, Stephen, Bradley, Jason, Desmond, Marvin, Latasha and the rest of the staff. What a fantastic team!

The Albury Brothers Boat Building, Man O War Cay

From Marsh Harbor, we motored over to Man O War Cay, anchoring off the island and taking the dinghy into town for a review of the shops and great businesses. It was fun to show our boat buddies, Dixie and Julie, the Albury Brothers Boat Building business, Albury Sail Loft, and Edwin’s Boat Yard. Of course a stop at the ice cream parlor was a must and a walk to the ocean beach observing the beautifully kept homes and gardens of Man O War.  The residents of Man O War are very industrious and hard working. What a great island.

The Nipper’s Easter Egg Hunt in the surf for ages 12 and up

Finally, no trip to Abaco would be complete without a trip to NIPPERS, especially on Easter Sunday. This year we traveled by Albury Ferry due to northhwesterly winds. The famous Nipper’s Easter Egg Hunt on the beach and in the surf on Great Guana Cay is fantastic. Johnny has been doing the Sunday Pig Roast Buffet for 20 years and it is very well attended. Toss in the delicious NIPPER JUICE, and a beautiful beach, a gorgeous pool, great music, dancing and swimming and you will see the fun of Nipper’s. Thank you, Johnny, for hosting a really great Easter Day!

Here are some photos of the week…

The Albury Brothers rolling resin onto fiberglass mat for an Albury 24

Varnish work on Island Spirit, coat #6 of Epifanes

The Jib Room: Marvin the master of the Grill, and Latasha the hostess

The Jib Room: Bradley and Latasha

Boat Buddies IP420 TRUE NORTH: Debi and Denny

Boat Buddy: GLASS SLIPPER, Mary and Radeen

Boat Buddies IP38 MOONDANCE, Bob and Nina

The Jib Room all smiles: Bradley and her good friends

IP 38 ALPENGLOW, Tim and Susan, with Hayden and Radeen at the Jib Room

The Jib Room: Steak Night, we cut these in half for Steak n Eggs in the AM 🙂

THE LIMBO KING #1, Desmond at The Jib Room

OFF TO NIPPER’s for EASTER SUNDAY

Hayden is holding 6 crumpled fishing boat stickers he peeled off The NIPPER’s sign! This idea of fishing boats slapping their stickers all over public spaces is really frustrating. We see it as vandalism. We peel off every one we can. Hayden would love to find one of these fishing boats and put 1,000 stickers on its hull.

The NIPPER’s Beach Bar on Easter Sunday

Easter Egg Hunt at Nipper’s on the beach. Some eggs were hidden in the seaweed.

Nipper’s Easter Egg Hunt on the Beach for ages 11 and under

Boat Buddy Colleen on GLASS SLIPPER holds her Nipper Easter Egg Prizes

The beach on Great Guana Cay is so beautiful

Radeen strikes a pose on Great Guana Cay off Nipper’s

Happy Easter 2014 from Great Guana Cay, Abaco, The Bahamas

Our Boat Buddies, Debi & Denny and Julie & Dixey, walking the beach

Boat Buddies: IP420 TRUE NORTH, Denny and Debi

Radeen and Hayden, appreciating the sun after a windy, rainy Saturday.

Hayden with THE MAN, JOHNNY, owner of Nipper’s Beach Bar. Thank you, Johnny!

Of course, the day is not complete without a walk to GRABBERS

So, our time is drawing to a close here in Abaco. We are looking at moving north of the Whale Cay Cut on Tuesday, heading up to Green Turtle Cay. There we will make a final study of the fronts and weather patterns and set our exit for the coast. We are looking at making a run from Great Sale Cay to anywhere in north Florida or South Carolina. We are thinking of trying a 2-3-4 day ocean passage with a few other boats, but it will all depend on if we can find a good weather window.

Wind and waves shape the sands on Tahiti Beach….

Cruising the Abacos is so wonderful and so easy. Most anchorages and popular destinations are 8-10 miles apart. The Sea of Abaco is protected and almost always calm as it is only about 3-4 miles wide and maybe 20 miles long. With the much of the orientation of the sea north and south and the trade winds blowing from the east, we can beam reach nearly everywhere. Many times, we are lazy and simply roll out a jib and sail the 8 miles under jib only. There are so many places to anchor and find protection, it is easy to see why so many cruisers make Abaco their only destination.

Radeen taking a break on Tahiti Beach

Hayden walking the sand bar

We brought our own shade this year, it is HOT here

Island Spirit anchored off Baker’s Rock, Tahiti Beach

The rocky shoreline of the Bahamas

Tahiti Beach, a perfect place to kite board

Boat Buddy Dixey, found the largest HERMIT CRAB ever inside a conch shell

Exploring Lubbers’ Landing, a great beach resort with cabins accessible only by boat

Colorful Bahamian Money, front, with dark shapes embossed in foil

Colorful Bahamian Money, back

Radeen, ready for steak night and limbo at The Jib Room

The anchorage at Marsh Harbor is fantastic, lots of room with great holding

Yacht services, Fuel Filters and Oil Filter change, ready for sea

Good friend Linda, owner of The Jib Room, poses with Hayden

Boat Buddy, IP38 SLOW FLIGHT, Steve and good friend Mary of GLASS SLIPPER

Boat Buddies IP32 MORNING GRACE, Julie and Dixey

THE GIRLS at The Jib Room. MARY, RADEEN and JULIE

STEAK NIGHT at the JIB ROOM…..as perfect as can be

Desmond the KING of the LIMBO performs at the Jib Room

Local landscaping, Hibiscus in bloom

Stupid us! It was windy and we ran the inflatable dinghy into a sharp propeller that was tilted out of the water! This is the 4 inch cut with glue applied and drying. It went through the rub rail, too.

We made it back to the mother ship and quickly hoisted the dinghy up for repairs, before it sank!

The final repair and finished patch. Great to know how to glue on a patch and to have all the necessary supplies!

We are now living on the hook in Marsh Harbour, walking the town and visiting with boat buddies. We are beginning to look at weather windows over the next two weeks to make an ocean run for the USA coast. Time is running out here in the Bahamas for our 2014 trip. Soon we will return to the land of connectivity, marketing, shopping, and conveniences….

Photos show the first few days of our Hope Town, Bahamas Vacation. (Wait, we are always on vacation, but this really does feel like a vacation.) We love it here! When you look at these photos, you will see why….

Radeen and Hayden in the shade under umbrellas on the beach

The harbor view from the Lighthouse

Lighthouse keeper, ELVIS, lights the wick and adjusts the gas flow

Every two hours Elvis turns the hand crank to raise the weights that make the lenses rotate

Sunset as seen from a window on the Hope Town Lighthouse

Hayden and Radeen overlooking the beach at Hope Town

The beautiful beach on Elbow Cay at Hope Town

Crowds do not exist on these beautiful Bahamian beaches

Elbow Cay and the beach behind the church

St. James Methodist Church where we enjoyed Rev. Vernon’s sermon

Typical home on Elbow Cay

IP 380 Packet Inn owners, Tadd and Lynn stopped by for a fun visit

The newly completed Hope Town Inn and Marina

Radeen love to swim in a pool, she is a Pisces

Julie and Radeen Sunday morning in Hope Town

I love taking architecture photos in Hope Town, the homes are so beautiful

Rum Punch at the Hope Town Inn and Marina pool which is open to the public

The Lighthouse at night. It is wonderful to see the keeper light this by hand

So, it was getting old, the mustache and the goatee, plus they are all gray! I don’t have gray hair, but my mustache and goatee are. They are gone now. Here are photos to show the options.(Radeen likes the last one!)

Mustache and Goatee, option 1

Mustache only, option 2

No mustache and no goatee, option 3

Living on a boat in Hope Town Harbor on a secure mooring ball can really spoil a boater. There are many cruisers who make this their winter home and I can see why. The town is a dream, the facilities are beautiful, the lighthouse is a world treasure and the mooring balls are secure. Hope Town, Bahamas, add this charming village to your must visit locations…..

We sailed a dream sail with beam winds 20-25 50 nm from Royal Island near Spanish Wells up to Little Harbor on Abaco. Here is a GoPro video, 2 minutes that I shot to show the scene. Sail on….

The day began with this beautiful sunrise off Royal Island This is IP38 MOONDANCE

GoPro picture of sailing in Beam Winds 20-25

Sailing at Hull Speed and pushing tons of water

I love these photos, here is another one

Look MOM, no staysail boom, it is not needed. Same as a Saga 43 rig

IP38 MOONDANCE in the ocean swells 4-6 feet

IP38 MOONDANCE in the ocean swells 4-6 feet

IP38 MOONDANCE in the ocean swells 4-6 feet

IP38 MOONDANCE in the ocean swells 4-6 feet

IP38 MOONDANCE in the ocean swells 4-6 feet

This is our trip so far this year. We departed Tampa Bay Jan. 1, 2014

When sailing in 4-6 foot ocean swells, the video and the photos never show the real conditions. These photos show the swells in which a 38 foot Island Packet Yacht disappears behind a swell. This gives a better reference to the sailing conditions. We are now in HOPE TOWN, ABACO where we will stay for a week! Welcome to ABACO

a proud fishing fleet….

Stopping in at Spanish Wells the last few days of March is a special reward as the Lobster season closes on the 31st and the entire fishing fleet returns to port. The boats are spectacular and the excitement of the town is electric. Everyone is so proud of their fishing fleet and the teams who jointly own and operate these lobster harvesting rigs. The fleet stays out on the Bahama Banks for 3-4 months to work their “Lobster Hotels,” diving for lobster 10 hours a day. The large ship anchors nearby while the 4-6 chase boats run with two men each. The chase boat has a driver and a scuba diver on a hookah rig. Between stops, the diver never gets back into the boat but rather kneels on a small platform next to the outboard while the driver rapidly moves to their GPS points for the next lobster hotel dive.

Lobster dive boat, fins and hooks to harvest lobsters

The diver drops down quickly to the lobster hotel which is a 4′ x 8′ corrugated steel sheet on legs. He rests one side of the hotel on his shoulder and, using a steel hook, pulls out the largest lobsters, leaving the egg bearing females. The diver returns to the surface with 10 or more lobsters, holding them by their antennae. and tosses them into the stern of the boat. The diver then kneels on the platform and the driver jets off to the next hotel. This is very hard work, from sun up to sun down. The lobsters are cleaned and the tails are immediately flash frozen and stored in the bilge freezer. Three to four months later, the ship returns with thousands of pounds of frozen lobster tails. Welcome to Spanish Wells, a proud, hard working, close knit community like no other in the Bahamas. This was our first visit here and we will make sure we always stop here, especially the end of March to see the fleet return.

Here is a photo essay of the Spanish Wells Fishing Fleet and charming local architecture

Lobster dive boats, notice the kneeling platforms on the port side The scuba diver kneels on this as the driver moves to the next lobster hotel

Pinder’s local ferry service

When in Spanish Wells, you eat LOBSTER Our boat buddy Dixey is our GRILL MASTER

Fine Champagne needed for a lobster dinner

The Sea Ray, one of the returning Lobster boats

Lobster fishing boat, Spanish Queen II, with two of her dive boats

Water storage and the fishing fleet

Offloading frozen lobster tails in long bags

The local fish retailer

If I were renting a Spanish Wells cottage, this is #1 on the island

If I were renting a Spanish Wells cottage, this is #1 on the island

If I were renting a Spanish Wells cottage, this is STILL #1 on the island!

Boat Buddy JULIE made us a beautiful gift, a large rope trivet Thank you so much JULIE

A golf cart is the way you run to the Methodist Church on Sunday mornings

This is the original IP-380 CATSPAW, now named HARMONIUM Carey is the original owner and now sails IP Cruiser CATWPAW

Nina on IP38 MOONDANCE on anchor at sunset

The morning sunrise with IP38 Alpenglow, IP38 Moondance, IP32 Morning Grace

A few moments later into the sunrise

Conch horn at sunset. Thank you CAREY, for my conch horn!

Nina developing her conch horn skills

Radeen and Hayden at Spanish Wells Yacht Haven, the only transient marina

Sunset from our slip at Spanish Wells Yacht Haven

Radeen and I would both have to say, that Spanish Wells is a mandatory location and could spend a full week or more here. We have only started to discover the many aspects of this great town and the friendly people. One example of friendliness was the young mother at the grocery store who sent Radeen and Julie to her yard to pick fresh basil. Add in a ferry trip across the Devil’s Backbone to Harbor Island and we have much to explore and learn. We will be sure to return to Spanish Wells!

This was one of our best sailing days in the Bahamas this year. We sailed from Rock Sound Eleuthera to Current Cut, then ran the cut and turned the corner to drop the anchor off Current Settlement Beach. This was a 52 mile day, we started at 0730 and ran the cut at 1530 and dropped anchor around 1600. Sailing the Bahamas in calm seas and 20-25 knots is a joy.

Here is a 2 minute video