Adventures in Paradise

While we watch the winter weather reports for northern climes, we are enjoying the pleasant Bahamas weather while swimming, snorkeling, reading, eating, sleeping (and a little home schooling), and then getting up the next day to do it all over again. This will probably get old in a few weeks but, for now, it feels great.

We are currently in a pleasant marina in Lucaya, which is on the south side of Grand Bahama Island, and have been taking advantage of our time here in a relatively developed area to restock and recharge. One great advantage of being here has been the opportunity to spend more time with our friends from Wyoming. Their daughter, Harmony, and Amelia have been spending most days together and have also had rotating sleepovers – a nice break for the parents. We’ve had a chance to explore some beautiful beaches here, as well as to kick around town. Our marina is particularly nice, with great lap and kid’s pools, beautiful grounds and a picnic area. There is also a shuttle boat to the Lucaya town center, which has numerous restaurants and bars, a host of small shops and a bandstand which features local music on the weekends. Earlier this week Amelia and Harmony stayed up far too late eating ice cream and dancing to a local beat. Harmony has been a great influence on Amelia, encouraging her to be more serious about her schoolwork and contributing her second-grader’s perspective on everything from kite flying to art.

Last week when we went out to dinner with a couple of families, and the most experienced cruiser there posed an interesting question: “What have you learned on your trip so far?” It was interesting to reflect on this, and I think that by far the most rewarding thing has been getting to know our daughter so well. It has also been an opportunity for Dave and me to connect and cooperate nearly full time. Back in Winchester, with two demanding careers and a full schedule of school and activities for Amelia, it seems that we spent much more time handing off Amelia and moving between planned events than we spent together as a family. Now, for better or worse, we need to engage on issues as small as how we keep our small living space habitable and as large as how we safely manage our passages. While the challenge of living together in such intimate and immediate circumstances isn’t trivial, the benefits are enormous.

I’ve also been experimenting with local cuisine. Earlier this week, we went to a fish market, which had little to offer except conch (pronounced “Konk”), a staple in the local diet. I ordered some, and also received some preparation tips. The women weighing the fish slyly mentioned that conch is especially good “for the man”, referring to its reputation for enhancing virility, and laughed when I then asked for another pound. So far, I’ve experimented with making conch salad (a spicy ceviche) and conch chowder, all with excellent results.

Our plans for later this week are to sail about 60 miles to the southeast to a protected anchorage in the Berry Islands, provided the winds turn to the southwest as predicted. The prevailing winds blow quite strongly from the east or southeast and generate substantial waves in the open areas. As a result, to sail with any degree of comfort to the southeast, we have to wait for weather fronts to pass through causing the winds to turn to the west or north. This only occurs for a day or two out of every ten days and we plan to take advantage of the next weather window to travel southeast to the Berry Islands. Several other boats in this marina are waiting for the same weather conditions and the talk dockside each morning revolves around the latest weather predictions (as well as the usual complaints about boat equipment breakdowns and repairs). There is a popular saying in the boating community that cruising on a sailboat is just “repairing your boat in interesting places.” We have been fortunate in that regard and are pleased to report that, since our six-week delay in Annapolis, we have had very little breakdown and repair experience. We hope that this good fortune continues.

Bahamas Sunrise

Well, finally!

After a long night at sea, the sun appeared slowly over the eastern horizon (I love the 6:00-to-8:00 am watch) and the Bahamas came into view. Once we turned east from Florida’s east coast to cross the Gulf Stream (which runs north at more than three miles per hour between Florida and the Bahamas), we had a great sail on a beam reach with a following sea all the way to West End on Grand Bahama Island. The wisdom of our decision to sail overnight in order to arrive in the Bahamas and enter an unfamiliar port during daylight was reinforced at 3:00 AM the next morning when a sailboat ran up on the rocks and was destroyed while attempting to enter the narrow West End channel to our marina in the dark. Fortunately the crew was able to get ashore but the boat was a total loss.

So we are snug in a beautiful resort marina and waiting out the passage of a cold front (with thunderstorms and 30-knot northerly winds) while enjoying the swimming pool and warm turquoise Bahamian waters. This marina has been recently upgraded as part of the early stages of an ambitious plan to develop a large mixed-use water-oriented community on the West End with grand canals, hotels, homes with boat docks, condominiums, retail, etc. From what we hear, the Bahamas have experienced the beginnings of numerous large-scale developments but are suffering from low occupancies and slow sales due to the US economic downturn and credit issues as well as high fuel costs for the large 50-to-90-foot sport fishing boats that bring free-spending tourists from Florida. A typical refueling for them is 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel while we have burned only 10 gallons since refueling in West Palm Beach. Dave says that we have a responsibility to the local economy to make up the difference by drinking Margaritas (He’s just joking I hope!).

One of the high points of stopping for a few days here has been the opportunity to re-connect with another cruising family from Wyoming on a similar adventure with their two children. We had enjoyed the opportunity to socialize with them at a couple of earlier stops. Their 7-year-old daughter and Amelia have become instant best friends, sharing pool time, snorkeling practice, a sleepover and stories and generally bossing each other around. Dave and I are also really enjoying some fun adult time with a couple with whom we have a lot in common.

The Bahamas has an interesting history. It is an island chain that stretches over 600 miles and includes 1,700 islands and 2,000 cays, many of which are remote and accessible only by private boat. Columbus initially set foot here in 1492, and in less than 25 years the 40,000-strong population of native Lucayans was gone. The islands were then ignored by explorers of many nations in favor of more treasure-rich locations because of its treacherous shoals and reefs, lack of gold, and unfavorable conditions for agriculture. In those days, the islands were so little regarded that, in 1629, King Charles I of England granted the islands to his Attorney General as a throw-away in a package that included the Carolinas. The archipelago became a haven for settlers fleeing religious persecution, pirates and wreckers. In 1718 it became a British Colony and the new governor cleaned things up (in the process establishing the national motto Expulsis Piratis – Restituta Commercia – expel the pirates and restore commerce.) During the next two hundred years, the islands had a boom and bust economy with booms fueled by European wars (privateering), the American Civil War (blockade running), and later prohibition. 1n 1973, the Bahamas became independent from England and the economy today is stable, fueled primarily by tourism and offshore banking.

So, we have been looking at the Bahamas charts and are overwhelmed by the variety of fascinating places that we could visit in this beautiful island chain. It seems that we could easily spend a year rather than the few weeks that we now have to explore. We plan to make some choices while waiting out the current weather front, and look to forward to enjoying the islands before we start the trek north.

Sticky South Florida

Now that we are in sunny southern Florida, time seems to stand still. After moving so fast to get here, we have finally slowed down. One motivation is the fantastic weather and beautiful beaches, the other is exhaustion: When we planned our trip, I don’t think either of us had anticipated the mental and physical toll of spending each night route planning, each day sailing or motoring through unforgiving waters for 10+ hours and then arriving in an unfamiliar port each night. Now, it is time to slow down and smell the bougainvillea.

Earlier this week, we stayed for several days at a mooring in Vero Beach, “Velcro Beach” to in-the-know boaters. Dave had a chance to perform some long-delayed boat maintenance and Amelia and I spent time kicking around the beach, local library and playground. Then, we took a short hop (including some ICW sailing!) to our present destination of Stuart, Florida. We are now on a mooring on the St. Lucie River and exploring Stuart’s many attractions including a jazz festival that starts this weekend.

Places like Vero and Stuart seem to be havens for some of the more hard-bitten cruising types. When we arrived on Wednesday we had a chance to experience the weekly “sunset celebration” at the marina here – a dockside cocktail hour/pot luck where many sea stories were traded. It made us feel pretty green, as many of the couples (and they were all couples, mostly retired), had made an ICW-Bahamas trip a yearly migration. In fact, one sailor was trading stories about his fourth world sailing circumnavigation. I don’t think either plan is in the future for us, but we certainly sponged up their advice.

It has been interesting meeting the many different characters who choose to take a little time out and live on a sailboat, either for an extended vacation or as part of a long-term plan. We were expecting to meet a lot more families. Our late departure, however, seems to have put us behind schedule to meet up with the family cruising culture that everyone told us we would find. We did have a chance to spend a couple of days in Saint Augustine with a terrific family from Wyoming whose daughter is a little older than Amelia. Like us, they were delayed by mechanical issues and rushing south. The girls had a great time together and we plan to connect with them again in West Palm Beach, our next stop.

In addition to human encounters, we’ve had a chance to experience a lot of wildlife. We mentioned the whales we saw earlier, and we continue to see a fantastic array of birds. We encounter dolphins almost daily. In Vero, I had a chance to spend time in close proximity to an entire pod during an early morning kayak ride. And, of course, there are the alligators…

A Little Magic

Candidly, as pragmatic parents, we are not above bribing our daughter to get what we want. The bribe required to motivate her to leave all of her friends and toys in Winchester and hang out 24/7 for over six months with her parents on a small boat needed to be a big one. Ultimately we promised her a trip to Disney World. Having forgotten our promise, a month before we started our trip we put a big map of the east coast up in the kitchen so that she could get excited about our many potential ports of call. Amelia responded by putting one big red sticker on the map, squarely on Orlando.

We thought that her interest might fade with exposure to so many other destinations and activities over the past few months but, the moment we crossed the Florida border, Amelia reminded us: “Now we can go to Disney World!”

So last weekend we made good on our promise, parked the boat in a marina, rented a car, and drove to Orlando. We discovered that The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS - down more than $1.00 per share since we left) is brilliant at extracting maximum dollars from its guests at every turn while still making us feel like we have been sprinkled with fairy dust. We did have a lot of fun – we checked into the Swan Hotel and enjoyed the Magic Kingdom. Amelia got her princess fix (including dinner at Cinderella’s castle), Dave had an opportunity to chill out without boat obligations and I enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in a queen-sized “heavenly” bed and swim early morning laps in the hotel pool.

Having finally made good on our promise, we are back in Saint Augustine preparing to continue South and planning a hop to the Bahamas. We hope that our newest stuffed toy passenger – Minnie Mouse – has her passport ready.

Finally Florida

We were getting a little tired of cold weather after three nights below freezing in Beaufort SC. So, despite Beaufort’s manifold attractions, we decided to take a run for it and get to Florida as soon as possible. It sounds a little easier than it is – we had ice in the cockpit when we left Beaufort in the early morning on Friday to take advantage of favorable tides and winds and then sailed 36 straight hours, bypassing all of Georgia to rejoin the ICW at Jacksonville and end up in St. Augustine, Florida late Saturday afternoon.

Thirty-six straight hours of sailing requires sailing overnight, and that means that Dave and I rotated two-hour watch shifts all night and both days. I can personally attest to the ugliness of the 2:30 am to 4:30 am shift. It was pretty lonely out there – only a couple of passing boats far away, and a few very distant lights on shore.

We rejoined the ICW by entering the St. Johns River inlet at dawn, and had an extremely rare treat – just beside our boat we spotted a northern right whale. These whales are nearly extinct – only 350 are thought to exist in the Atlantic. Soon after we spotted him, the radio was abuzz with the coast guard and others warning all to be on the lookout and very careful.

We are now relaxing in St. Augustine, which is one of the oldest settlements in the U.S., having been settled by the Spanish in 1565. Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon believed that he found the fountain of youth here and the site of his discovery is now an archeological dig and tourist site. There is a well preserved fort – the Castillo de San Marcos – which we toured today. Here’ s a picture of us on the ramparts. The town has a strong Spanish heritage and there are numerous other attractions, which we hope to explore tomorrow before wending our way south.

Now that we’ve crossed the border into Florida, Amelia has become very excited about Disney World. Of course, this has been the major attraction of our trip for her all along. We are doing a little planning now, and hope to park the boat so that we can fit in a short Disney excursion. In the meantime, we’re enjoying the warm Florida sun.

Inside Out

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One of the great dilemmas of cruising south is deciding whether to stay “inside” in The Ditch (follow the inland ICW) or go “outside” (sailing in the open ocean). When we meet other sailors at marinas along the way, one of the first things they ask about our next leg is whether we plan to be “inside” or “outside.” “Outside” is the tough-guy choice and, if Dave’s vote prevailed, we’d be on the ocean the entire time.

Sailing in the Southeast is a little more complicated than sailing in the Northeast, where there are rocky shores, scores of protected harbors and no inland alternatives. It seems that the entire southeastern US coastline is one big shoal close to shore, with prevalent and dangerous shallow areas and only a few, poorly-spaced, sometimes-treacherous inlets. In the southeast, a decision to go “outside” requires careful planning, good weather and, in some cases, a willingness to sail overnight or more to reach the next navigable harbor. Our caution here is reinforced by hearing over the radio from coast guard broadcasts about a couple of boats missing at sea en route to Florida.

The downsides of staying “inside” are the near-constant motoring (vs. sailing), the time required to follow the winding path of the ICW, delays while waiting for bridges to open, and the anxiety of navigating and sometimes running aground on the occasional unexpected shallows and shoaled areas. We’ve been lucky/smart about monitoring the tides and bridge opening schedules to minimize problems, but the experience of having run aground multiple times (as everyone seems to do) continues to daunt us. The upsides of being “inside” are calm and more predictable waters and the ability to access many beautiful stopping points.

Yesterday, taking advantage of favorable distance and weather, we decided to shake out the sails for the first time since the Chesapeake and take an ocean passage from Charleston to Beaufort SC. This required us to leave Charleston at 5:00 am, well before sunrise, and navigate Charleston Harbor's busy shipping channel in the dark. Once the sun was up and we could see our surroundings, however, we had a beautiful day of sailing. It was a little bouncy at sea and we seem to have lost our sea legs somewhere in The Ditch so Amelia was pretty seasick (although in good spirits throughout). We made fantastic time, averaging nearly 8 knots, enabling us to just catch the last bridge opening into Beaufort before dark. We celebrated New Year’s Eve here and, because we had been awake and traveling since before 5:00 am, settled in well before midnight.

Beaufort is another beautifully preserved southern town, recognizable from its starring role in many movies including Forrest Gump. There is a lot to do here, a terrific waterfront park, and numerous dining options, as well as historic district we plan to explore today during a brief stop. Then, as we continue south, we will try to make good decisions about “inside” or “outside” as we proceed through Georgia towards the Florida coast.

Christmas Aboard

Christmas Day found us docked in lovely Georgetown, South Carolina. Our miniature Christmas tree was adorned with sand dollars and miniature crab buoys and topped with a starfish. We somehow scraped together enough presents given the limited shopping opportunities to surprise Amelia.

Georgetown is a pretty southern town, with a mix of antebellum mansions and shotgun houses, as well as a couple of pre-revolutionary war homes. It is interesting to experience the contrasts inherent in a historic port – shrimp boats docked next to restaurants, boutiques and a downtown harborside boardwalk with a view of the steel mill a few blocks away. The harbor, too, is home to contrasts with an assortment of liveaboard boats that range from traditional craft to funky home-made. We arrived after a couple of days in Myrtle Beach, where we checked into a marina at a fancy resort so that we could have fun poolside and celebrate Carole’s birthday.

The trip from Myrtle Beach to Georgetown down the ICW was beautiful. This stretch has a reputation of being the most scenic on the waterway, with overhanging live oaks and Spanish moss. It is also very isolated – we went for hours without seeing a single person, car or home, and did not see any other boats at all during our daylong journey. We’ve heard reports of heavy snow in Boston, so it is nice to be experiencing warmer holiday temperatures as we prepare to continue our journey south.

As we celebrate Christmas, we are thankful for our family and friends. Best wishes to all for a wonderful holiday and peace in the New Year.