We ran aground!

There's a saying among Chesapeake Bay sailors that you've either run aground in the Bay or you're a liar. As we've made our way up and down the east coast of the U.S. via the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (the "ICW") a few times we heard it again, but with a twist--"You've either run aground in the ICW or you're a liar!" Well, we aren't liars!

We earned our stripes and this post's title years ago on the Chesapeake Bay, having furrowed a 6'3" trough at our marina's entrance a few times and touching bottom near the notoriously shifty, partly-marked entrance to Rock Hall, MD...and probably several other times that I've chosen to forget. Our first ICW "touch" was on a spring break trip with our kids probably eight years ago as we made contact with the bottom in an area of known shoaling during a 20kt blow just north of Coinjock. That experience led us to the Coinjock Marina for a night to recover (of course, with their famous prime rib!).

So why is this topic coming back up? We ran aground twice over the past four days! As we departed Vero Beach tracking just adjacent to our inbound track we ran aground! We were thankfully going slow as a manatee had surfaced up ahead and we able to back off, scoot back to the other side of our inbound track, and make for the ICW. Then after a night in Titusville and another in Daytona we headed for our mooring reservation in St. Augustine. It was a busy Saturday on the ICW, but we had a good current pushing us along and Katreina took the helm for a bit. While she was cruising along just right of the channel centerline (still in the channel!) our depth reading went from 18' to 6.5' in a matter of seconds and we felt a "bump" or two! We draw between 6'3" and 6'6" depending on our fuel/water/stores load. Frank immediately jumped to the helm, but the excitement was pretty much over as soon as it began and we were back to having 10 feet beneath our keel. We gave her a little grief, but honestly just laughed about it. She even got some "welcome to the cruisers club" notes from our boating friends. It happens, folks!

Katreina expertly handling the boat traffic on the ICW.

Her "I don't want to talk about it" face after touching bottom.

So are we crappy sailors? I don't think so! Shoaling happens and in places like the Bay and ICW where the water is mud-brown you can't exactly read the depths like you can in the Bahamas, though we have touched bottom there, too, when trying to nose into anchorages. This type of stuff generally happens where the bottom is muddy or sandy, so it's a soft grounding. We use charts, local Notice to Mariners, and the local boating community to learn about places that are known for shoaling and lower speed to minimize the impact should we touch. And we have a tow boat plan in case none of that works!

Could we avoid all of this drama by just staying safely at the dock? Sure, but then we couldn't have great sea stories to share with our friends!

3...2...1...Crew 2 has launched!

We found ourselves back in Titusville on our way north with PERFECT timing for a rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center! We had been tracking the launch schedule for a while and weather pushed a launch right into a relaxed transit day from Vero Beach for us! But first, we enjoyed our favorite Titusville activities...skateboarding and drinking fantastic beer! The kids spent a few hours at the skate park before we hit Playalinda Brewery for their craft root beer and ever-changing beer selection. We got positively soaked on the way back to our mooring, but it was worth it!

The marina skate park and Playalinda Brewery make for a happy crew!

This morning was an early one! I was up at 0515 to get the coffee going, but the astronauts and launch teams had already been up for hours. At 0549 the eastern sky lit up with the glow of the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket as it carried four crew members to the International Space Station. It was beautiful! We saw a launch back in January, but somehow this was different. You could hear people cheering all around us, you could clearly see the 1st and 2nd stages after separation, you could see the rocket returning to Earth, and you knew that instead of satellites, you had just watch four fellow humans get launched into space. What a time to be alive!

First light from the launch.

Folks cheered as the rocket broke above the clouds.

Kind of love the contrail!

Separation of the 1st and 2nd stage is clear.

The rocket returning to "Of Course I Still Love You" as the sun starts to rise.

As the sun rose we enjoyed seeing photos of the launch from friends from the Bahamas to Charleston...so cool to see the different perspectives. This may not be he fastest, least stressful way to make a transit of the coast, but I could watch that again and again. 

Are we medical tourists?

We have doctor appointments coming up in northern Florida so we took advantage of some good weather to make a run outside to Fort Pierce Inlet. We had a great visit from some dolphins and when the wind finally filled in from the west we had some fantastic sailing! Arriving there on a Sunday afternoon was...exciting, but we made it all the way to Vero Beach and took a mooring at the City Marina. It's our first time here!

Beautiful day offshore!

I've made no secret of the fact that I am ready to be vaccinated and we had appointments set for our first shot next week, but...a quick check of the CVS website revealed that we could get rolling with our first shot right here in Vero the day after we arrived! The location was about 6 miles from the marina, but Vero Beach has a pretty awesome free bus service that, given enough time, could get us there for free. And since the forecast was for stormy weather, a bus would be great!

So that's what we did. We started our three-bus trek to CVS only to discover that the final bus of the journey wasn't running (thanks for updating your website, GoLine RT!) and no Uber/Lyft was in the area. Great day for a workout, right? With a 35-minute power walk we made it to our appointment only five minutes late. Check-in, shots, waiting for a reaction, and a little shopping took less than a half hour...easy process. We decided that if we were going to have to hoof it back we might as well grab some lunch (margaritas, Negro Modelo, and Mexican food!) first. It may have taken us two hours each way in crappy weather to take care of this, but I'm so glad we did. Does this make us medical tourists? Visiting Vero Beach to get a shot (and some protection from weather)? Maybe!

Two buses and a walk each way...in the rain!

Tomorrow we will get groceries delivered to the marina, do laundry, do school, and check the weather for options to continue north. There is a crewed SpaceX launch Thursday morning that we admittedly would love to be around Titusville for. Hope it works out! Oh, and Vero Beach is alright! Even though we didn’t get to explore too much and the weather has been super soggy, the marina facilities and staff are very nice and we could certainly imagine returning.

~Jo, 1st Mate

We are back...hello, Florida!

I'm never super excited to leave the Bahamas, but I had a little incentive this time...I'm out of good olive oil and I am super excited to get a COVID vaccine! So yes, I am moderately happy to be back in the U.S.A.

Our crossing was a decent mix of sailing, motoring, and motor-sailing. We did one overnight from Spanish Wells, Eleuthera to West Palm Beach, Florida. The worst seas were probably on my reveille watch (0400-0800) as the wind went right on the nose and I struggled to try to keep sailing. We opted to motor into the westerlies for a bit, then point more northerly as we got into the Gulf Stream for our push to the Lake Worth Inlet. We managed to drop the hook just before sunset and checked in smoothly via the Customs and Border Patrol ROAM app. 

Officially checked back in...time to take down the Bahamas flag and put down some Bahamas drinks!

The big news of this transit is that the kids fully entered the watch rotation! We decided to forego school this week and focus on navigation. While Katreina mostly ran the show, Trent was up there to help out, fetch stuff, and keep her entertained. She did great and even negotiated some tight CPA's with merchant vessels. We were always nearby in case they needed anything and usually one of us was awake anyway, but it was nice to be able to tune out a little and recharge. We kept the kids on daylight watches and worked to our strengths (Frank is not a morning person!)--it worked so well that I can't wait to try it again! So our watch rotation looked like:

0000-0400 Frank
0400-0800 Jo
0800-1200 Katreina & Trent
1200-1600 Frank
1600-2000 Katreina & Trent (until sunset, ~1935)

2000-2400 Jo

Watchstanding MVP!

This year I tried to keep our track up-to-date on NoForeignLand.com. I didn't adjust the track to stay out over water, but here is a nice snapshot of our three-month stay in the Bahamas.

Today is a "down" day. It's not a great day to make a run offshore and we avoid transiting the ICW on weekends if at all possible due to the insane amount of boat traffic. We are happy to watch the excitement from the comfort of our cockpit while anchored!

~Jo, 1st Mate

Spanish Wells...a quaint end to the season

We have reached the end of our permit and the last point we can get to in the Bahamas without taking another PCR COVID test and it's really been a great little stop! Frank had been here before for a few hours as part of a boat delivery, but it was the first visit for the rest of us. We had a nice sail over from Royal Island, navigated the skinny western channel into Spanish Wells, and picked up one of Bandit's mooring balls. At first, they look really close together and you can see shallow water all around the tiny field, but it was actually quite roomy given that we were surrounded by other 40-ish foot monohulls (and we all had connections to the PACNORWEST!). 

Love the moorings in SW!

While I took stock of what we needed in town, the guys ran in with our trash and cash to pay Bandit. Their very first contact ashore set the tone for the whole visit! As they scaled the concrete wall with our trash, a woman invited them drop it in her bin. I mean, we had LOTS of trash at that point...hadn't dropped it off in weeks so we had two big bags and two small bags of bottles and cans (always hoping for recycling), but she didn't seem to mind. Come to find out she and her husband were former cruisers who had settled in Spanish Wells. They shared their trash bins, porch, book collection, and access to the local museum with cruisers passing through. So sweet!

We spent the first afternoon on an epic field trip to the northern tip of Eleuthera. I didn't want to leave without a visit to the Sapphire Blue Hole and Preacher's Cave. It was fairly calm so we opted to take the dinghy and tried to head around the north side of the island to the cave first--no go! It was pretty rough so we enjoyed the sites and blue water and headed back to the protected ferry dock beach on Eleuthera. And like many of our Bahamas land adventures, the 35-minute walk to get to the blue hole was a bit of a death march, exposed to the midday sun on hot pavement and dirt roads. But the reward was AMAZING! This blue hole is truly sapphire blue! The local rotary club has built a nice railing around it and picnic tables nearby so you can really enjoy it. A few local guys were there when we arrived and gave us some encouragement to jump before they left and we had this entire place to ourselves. It was just stunning. The drop in was a little higher than at Hoffman's Blue Hole, maybe 30' here, and it took a few minutes for us to get jumping. The cool water was a welcome relief after the walk there and we soaked in the peaceful beauty for a bit before heading back. Oh, and the only way out of the hole is to scale the wall! Thankfully there is a rope to help, but it's definitely not a trip for non adventurous, out-of-shape folks.

This water is so blue!

Sapphire Blue Hole...so much fun!

3/4 of the crew didn't want to continue on to Preacher's Cave so we headed back to Spanish Wells and got ready for an evening ashore! That nice lady the guys met invited us over for happy hour and we enjoyed talking with Jean and her husband, Tom, and Tom's brother, Bob, at their home, "Done Reach." We shared cruising tales, reminisced about New England (their old home), and they gave the kids hamburger beans to polish and make into necklaces. It was such a nice time. From there we headed to Budda's for a less-refined happy hour--drinks and tons of food!

"I got dizzy at Budda's!"

The next day we rented a golf cart and just roamed all over. We hit the beach, stocked up on food for the transit, hit a beach bar for really good cocktails, and had a little fun on some deserted roads. And then we got to close the day with another night at Budda’s and ice cream with our kid boat friends (and met another awesome kid boat!). This was absolutely the most amazing way to end our time in the Bahamas.

One last beach day in the Bahamas

Golf cart fun!

Love all of these boat kids! Really hope to share more anchorages with them in the future. And why do the adults never remember to take photos when we are together???

So after two nights in Spanish Wells, we are off! Our departure was a little exciting as a freighter was coming in and we needed to sneak past or get stuck for a while—we opted for the “hug the edge of the channel and deal with being mere feet from a 200+ foot vessel” option! All good! And since I was having so much fun yesterday, time to finally work on prepping our transit food—Jollof rice, hummus, potato salad, and cut-up meats and cheeses. Farewell, Bahamas!

Underway!

The Royal (Island) Treatment

With the expiration of our cruising permit fast approaching it was time for...another blow! But first we had a great pass through Eleuthera's Current Cut and anchored north of the town of Current for a night. We took a nice walk through this very tidy settlement. Not much to do here in the way of shopping or dining, but the views are great and there is a nice park!

Around Current

From Current it was time to hunker down for a weekend of challenging winds. Why challenging? Strong from the south, clocking to westerly, then strong from the north, then switching back to the south...there are very few anchorages in the Bahamas that are great for that type of forecast given the prevailing easterlies, but as luck would have it we were near a good option--Royal Island! Royal Island is actually where we departed from last year to return to the U.S. so we knew it had good holding and lots of room (a good thing considering 13 boats ended up in there for the excitement!). We edged into the far west end of the harbor and set well in some shallow water--only about 6" under the keel at low tide! But the bottom was soft--sandy and grassy--so we stuck with it. We were also joined by two of our bestest cruising buddy boats who were on their way to the Abacos--so great to see them again and to get to celebrate our friend Ava’s birthday with her!

Just enough room under the keel at low tide, but plenty of room for a party on Kolohe!

Of course, all the excitement started after dark. Rain...20+ knot sustained winds with gusts in the 30's...a 180 degree wind shift...and a swing circle that kept "hopping" toward even shallower water when we had winds over 25 knots. No doubt about it--we were dragging and needed to pull the anchor and reset it...in the dark...in rain...in 20+ knots of wind. The maneuver was expertly executed by Skipper Frank with Katreina as the voice relay when comms between the helm and bow dropped.

Clockwise from upper left: radar of the front; the skipping swing circle as we dragged; the crew; winds when we were dragging; the anchorage as the front passed.

So what happened? A 180 degree wind shift normally isn’t a problem for our anchor, but the bottom is a sticky, sand/mud/thin grass combo and the anchor just got clogged for lack of a better word and didn’t reset. We were doing what we do in these conditions—monitoring our position and anchor alarms and could see what was happening. We pulled it, I had to clean it by hand when our washdown pump couldn’t overcome the goop, and we reset with a smidge more chain for extra security. She set firmly!

This life isn’t without challenges. As we got dried off we heard a Pan Pan call on the VHF from a boat that was anchored nearby, exposed to the north. When the front came through their anchor snubber failed and their windlass ripped off their deck. They had to abandon their ground tackle (including the secondary they had deployed during the emergency) and were safe, but headed out to sea. Talk about freaking terrifying.

We actually had to reset the anchor again around 0500 when the wind shifted 180 degrees again--no problems resetting. We moved after breakfast to a deeper spot with good protection from the day's northerlies and where we could make water in clearer water and with fewer neighbors around to disturb with our generator.

All was pretty calm and we had a great post-storm afternoon with haircuts for the ladies, eight kids jumping off a catamaran to swim with a nurse shark, and one last movie night with the kid boat crews. We are fresh and ready for our final stop in the Bahamas!

A Window into Northern Eleuthera

NEW PLACES! Sorry, I love to explore so I was a little excited to get to check out places in Eleuthera that we didn't make it to last year. Based on a glowing recommendation from S/V Yemaya we dropped the hook at Mutton Fish Point. Ah-mazing! It was a quick trip from Hatchet Bay so we set the hook and got to work on laundry, watermaking, and school, and the boys even got fresh haircuts before we started playing in the crystal clear water here. First up--the swing! The only way to get to this swing is from the water. No clue who put it here, but I'm glad they did! It was awesome to get to swing over this beautiful water.

We dropped our artist back at the boat so she could paint and the rest of us went snorkeling along the point. We saw a huge ray, a cowfish, and plenty of colorful coral before we even left the cove. Then around the point we saw a huge Loggerhead Sea Turtle! We had never been in the water next to such a big turtle before...very cool experience. A big lion fish and angel fish rounded out the "cool fish" for this snorkel trip and we were very impressed with all there was to see along the wall.

This morning we decided to leave our delightful anchorage and shift a mile and a half north to Twin Sisters Beach, an anchorage that would allow us to check out the Glass Window Bridge and the Queen's Bath sites. Anchoring here was a little challenging as much of the bottom is hard, but we finally found some sand and got a set we were happy with. We took the dinghy over to Glass Window and climbed onto the rock underneath the bridge to check it out. It's a start contrast between the sometimes fierce, rich blue waters of the Atlantic on one side and the tranquil, turquoise waters of Eleuthera Bights on the other. 

Next up...the Queen's Baths! The natural pools left when the tide recedes are so inviting and we spent a good chunk of the afternoon lounging in the various baths and watching the waves break against the rocks. This was definitely an Eleuthera highlight for us.

And then we moved again! We shifted to Gaulding Cay for better holding and dinner at Daddy Joe's. I'd read about this place on a travel forum and it did not disappoint! We had drinks, a spread of appetizers, and an amazing dinner on a serene screened-in porch. Everyone loved it!

And then we moved again! We decided to tuck back in at Mutton Fish Point for a little more protection. So if you're keeping track, we dropped the hook three times today over a 1.5nm stretch of shoreline, all so we could go sightseeing and eat. It was a great cruising day!

Hatchet Bay, Take 2 (we get off the boat!)

Once the wind chilled out a little we were able to goof off on a nearby sandbar have a relaxing Easter. 

Happy Easter!

We started the next day by shifting our anchorage to southern Alabaster Bay and taking a morning walk over to the abandoned Navy base. After those days on the boat we were ready for a nice, long walk! The beach was just as glorious as we remember from last year!

We LOVE the beach at the old base!

Lehe Paine looking good in Alabaster Bay

That night we headed to Hatchet Bay, our COVID quarantine spot from last year! That was the last place that Frank went ashore last year (we were minimizing our contact by only sending one person in) before the lockdowns started. We spent weeks there, just on our boat, so this visit was a bit of a re-do!

The narrow (but deep!) entrance to Hatchet Bay Pond

We got up early Tuesday morning for a big breakfast and a 1-hour walk along Queen's Highway to the Hatchet Bay Cave. This is the most extensive cave system on Eleuthera, extending about 1100 feet underground with over a mile of twisting passages. The crew was starting to lose their sense of humor when we finally made it to the access road. Then we just had to survive a 5-minute walk through some guard and stray dogs to get to the access steps at the "front" of the cave. Shortly after entering our world went completely dark and we descended a ladder to the next level of the cave. The air was warm and water dripped from the forming stalagmites. And no bats that we could see! And a thin string ran through most of the cave...just in case your light goes out! And there is graffiti pretty much all throughout the cave, some dating back to the 1800's. At the "back" of the cave is a square cut out of the overhead rock with a rope ladder to climb out. While it was a haul to get there on foot, we liked it! We spent the afternoon recovering, doing school, and getting a few groceries in town.

Very cool cave!

The next day, we hit the road again! This time, the walk was only about 40-minutes each way to Sweetings Pond! This inland lagoon is believed to have been closed off from the sea for 6000 years. Seawater seeps in through the limestone, but there is little-to-no recruitment of animals from the outside. The result is a unique, yet fragile, environment that is known for its seahorses! While we did end up seeing one pregnant male seahorse, we saw so much more! Harry Clinging Crabs, a Striped Burrfish, Brittle Stars, Red Fireclams, Fringeback Dondice, needlefish, mussels, barnacles...tons of life! Visibility was 10-15' and we were pretty cold after about an hour in the pond, but it was such a great experience!

Tons of life in Sweetings Pond

We hit the store on our way back to check out their fresh produce delivery (awesome!) and were excited to see S/V Yemaya anchored in the harbor when we got back to the dock! We immediately ditched our plan to get underway and stayed another night. I met Ian when we were both stationed in Washington, D.C. and now we are both retired and cruising. The adults shared a lovely evening and sundowners on Yemaya...such a great way to close out our return to Hatchet Bay!

A fabulous spot to wait for our take-away lunch in town.

Frank, Jo, and Ian together again after over a year! 

COVID UPDATE: If you haven't figured it out by now, given the new COVID orders that apply to travel from Eleuthera to any other island, we have decided that we will slowly enjoy Eleuthera and close out our cruising season here. While we again feel like COVID has robbed us of our visit to the Abacos we are thoroughly enjoying taking our time here in Eleuthera. We will get to the Abacos someday!

What do we do during a blow?

We are hunkered down at the north end of Alabaster Bay for what everyone is calling the "last front of winter!" The forecast called for 2-3 days of 20-30 knots winds...sometimes 25 knots sustained with gusts to 30 knots, sometimes 20 knots sustained with gusts to 25, and sometimes light then gusting to the 20's. And it's cool...in the low 70's! So what do we do when the weather is like this?

First is to figure out our plan for where to be. In this case we chose the north end of Alabaster Bay as there is not much here so we figured not many boats would be here (and therefore less neighbors to worry about bumping). This spot is also right next to the airport so some folks may not love that, but it makes me feel like I'm back on an aircraft carrier! With no protection from the west here, ahead of the front we had to endure a sloppy evening as the winds clocked from southerly through westerly before settling in to the strong north easterlies. We knew to expect it so it was fine. We rigged our snubbers all the way to midship so there was more "stretch" room for gusts and let out 5:1 scope of chain. Once the wind clocked, we backed down on the anchor again to ensure it was set/re-set since we had swung 180 degrees from where we first set it--we were solid! 

Ok, so what do we do so that we don't go crazy cooped up together for days on end? This front presented us with a great distraction...RAIN! I went crazy scrubbing the salt off the hull and giving the deck another quick scrub, but we also set up our new rain collecting system for the first time. We collected at least a few gallons of water and adjusted our setup. It's a nice little supplement to our watermaking--we topped off a tank and filled a bucket to wash some towels.

RAIN! Time to scrub and collect water!

I also clean and cook! I've wiped down the bilges, consolidated stores, wiped down wood, and just generally cleaned a little deeper than usual. The galley has been busy with baking bread and crumbles; cooking up favorites like jollof rice, refried beans, lentil sloppy joe's, and potato salad in the pressure cooker; and crafting beautiful salads with our fresh veggies from the Eleuthera Island Farm. 

Crummy weather makes for a busy, messy galley!

We also knocked out school, stayed caught up on grading, and played games, which included family lessons on how to play poker! So poker, Skip Bo, Farkel, and Uno have been seeing some action the past few days, along with some movies, painting, and even a little spa time hosted by Katreina. 

Game time! Deuces are wild!

With winds staying below 20 knots today we may venture ashore for a nice, long walk. It's a blow, but it doesn't blow!

Change of Plans?

We knew there was a possibility of changing COVID requirements when we made our jump to the Bahamas and the first of those to impact us directly is here. 

We have been in Eleuthera for four days and last night the OPM released this new guidance. What does that mean for us? Maybe nothing.

We currently have 21 days left on our cruising permit in the Bahamas and we need to check out at a Port of Entry on our way out. Prior to this notice we were planning to hunker down for a front this weekend then either:

1. Head to the Abacos (new to us, not as much time as we would like to spend perhaps helping out, shallow for our draft in many places, puts us in a great spot to cross back to northern FL); 

2. Explore some more of Eleuthera, then head to the Berrys (love it, easy check out, shorter hops); or

3. Stay in Eleuthera for the duration of our permit (pretty much how we left last year, but this time we are allowed on island).

In all honesty the new COVID order hasn’t changed much for us. It would mean that we would have to find a place to test here in Eleuthera and in the Abacos or Berrys if we go there and stay for more than 5 days, and incur testing expenses, but otherwise our options are unchanged. So we will move the boat today to get set up for this blow and talk about our options as a family! (All weather-dependent, of course!)

Also, having been in the Bahamas at the start of this pandemic and back again a year later we continue to be impressed with the communication and adaptability of this small, geographically dispersed nation. Their online health visa tools are easy to use and make allowances for gaps in connectivity and weather delays. Their rules cover locals and visitors, and generally have clarification for travelers via plane vs boat. Are there some kinks? Sure. But are they proactively trying to keep their people safe? Absolutely.