01/18/2009 Marsh Harbor to Nassau

01/14/2009 We are set in Marsh Harbour for at least today. We will relax and catch up on some work around the boat. I need to spend some time catching up on my writings for the blog. I haven’t put anything on since the week before Christmas and I have been real far behind. I was hoping to catch some wi-fi in town after I finish my writings. My dad needed to catch up on some rest after a rough night of power alarms going off on the boat due to low battery voltage.

We haven’t had much sun the last few days due to a couple of cold fronts rolling through. I took my mother onto shore so she could walk around and check out the shops. I told her I would meet her in a few hours to meet for lunch and walk around with her. Back on the boat I worked on the journal and a yellow catamaran came by and said hello. It was Richard and Jetti. I had met them back in Georgia and we tagged back and forth until we reached St. Augustine. There they had pulled their boat and worked on a new paint job. It looked good in the new colors. I had been looking for them as we are traveling.

After wrapping up most of my work, I cleaned up and met my mother. As I was walking along the water front to find her, I was a little disappointed. Almost everywhere I have traveled so far, the towns have worked to make their waterfronts very appealing. Marsh Harbour came across as an industrial town, without any real industry. I am sure tourism is a part of their economy, but there was very little effort into any beautification. There are a couple of nice restaurants and the Moorings Charter marina. There are also a couple of marinas, but overall, no real coordination. What Marsh Harbour did offer though was a protected harbor with very good holding for the anchor. There were also three large grocery stores, hardware stores, laundry and all types of businesses that are available and needed for everyday living of the local population and the cruiser. I decided I was in need of some American food and there was a KFC. We tried it out. We split a basket of BBQ wings and a couple of Pepsi's. I don’t miss fast food that much.

We then walked and found the largest of the grocery stores. It is a cross between a Sam’s or Costco and a regular grocery store. We picked up a couple canvas bags worth of fresh vegetables and snacks. The food has been holding up quite well on the boat.

01/15/2009 This morning I awoke to no power on the boat. I am having an issue with the batteries again. I determined that I would stay in Marsh Harbour until I could determine what the problem is. I pulled all of the batteries out and tested them for power and water density. Two of the batteries registered 12.5 volts and one registered 11.5 volts. The water density gave me readings all over the map and I decided that I did not trust that tool (and I never had). I decided to put all of them back, make sure I had good terminal connections and run the generator long enough to fully charge up the three batteries. I know that we have had marginal sun to provide good energy to the solar panels.

I have been listening to the Abacos Net. It is a volunteer broadcast on the VHF radio channel 68 at 8:15 every morning. They provide many good services including weather, water conditions, emergency email, sports, news, financial reports, local activities and a commercial service for local businesses. The most important to me is the weather report and water conditions. When it comes to weather and water conditions, I am still trying to learn or determine what is too much to travel in and what is ok. I do know perfect conditions. It is when the wind is picking up and the wave heights are growing. The conditions sounded marginal to make the five mile trip across the Abaco Sea to Hope Town, but I decided to push on. We all had enough of Marsh Harbour and looked forward to Hope Town.

There is a light house there that we wanted to explore and we were told that it is a beautiful little town. It turned out to be a great sail across. I had to put in two small tacks and we cruised right in. The harbor there is very crowded for its size. Mooring balls are offered for rent and we picked one up for the evening. They charge $20 a night. It is worth the peace of mind compared to trying to anchor in such tight quarters. After we hooked onto a mooring and paid the attendant that came to the boat by dinghy, we went ashore to check out the light house.

It is a pretty light house that is famous. It is still run using 19th century technology including a kerosene torch and a hand crank, weighted rotator for the light. My mother and I climbed to the top of the light house. This is the first time I have been up in a light house. It is also the first time in a long time that I was able to get into a tall structure that I had to climb by stairs. I had wanted to climb the Washington Memorial in Washington, DC and the Statue of Liberty and could not due to crowds. After that climb we took the dinghy across the harbor to the town side. We did not make it too far as we stopped in the local bar for a drink and taste their pies.

While we there we met Pete, Tony and Stan (or George). Pete owns a 58’ catamaran. We got talking with them and we were invited out to their boat for freshly caught Wahoo for dinner. My mom and dad passed on the invite, but I went out. The boat was very large in comparison to mine. It was 58’ in length and 31’ in beam. The mast was 83’ tall. To say the least, it was very roomy. Tony and Stan had met Pete through a web site that matches up people looking to sail with skippers/owners looking for someone to share the trip with. If you are interested in such an opportunity, go to Offshore Passage Opportunities (www.opo.com). I had a good time hanging out with fellow cruisers that night.

01/16/2009 Friday morning we all went ashore. My parents headed off for some sight-seeing around the Cay and I went off to the local Java Shop for some internet access. I have not had any serious net access since I left home. I wanted to catch up on some email and update the blog. I spent the good part of the morning sipping a four dollar glass of iced lemon tea in exchange for free net access. The Java Shop had a lot of interesting local art on the walls and good high speed.

Afterwards we headed back to the boat and set off for an afternoon sail to Little Harbour. This is a jump off point to leave the Abacos and head to the Grand Bahama Banks. The weather wasn’t looking to promising for crossing over the Northeast Providence Channel, but I wanted to be ready just in case. A concern of mine is the old adage of cruising, “most sailors that get in trouble are trying to meet a schedule”. Well I have a schedule. I am expecting to drop my parents off in Nassau on Thursday January 22nd and picking up two friends there on January 23rd. We had strong north winds that sent us straight down the Abaco Sea to Little Harbour. Two things that were recommended in Little Harbour were to use the moorings and eat at Pete’s.

When we arrived in the harbor after a brisk sail, I was not sure about the moorings and decided to try and anchor. There were no regular mooring balls, just floating tires. As we were setting to drop the anchor, I noticed on one of the tires that is was a mooring for rent and to see Pete for a payment of $15.00 per night. At that point, we grabbed a mooring and were set for the night. I went ashore to pay Pete and find out about the restaurant. Pete it turns out is the main proprietor in Little Harbour. His family is well known for their art work, especially in bronzed sea life castings. He also has the only restaurant and owns the moorings. I went to the bar to pay for the moorings as indicated and checked into dinner for the evening.

The bar is an open air tiki hut with a sand floor and cold beers kept in an Igloo ice chest filled with ice. You have to make reservations of you plan on having dinner and home-made desserts. I was told that it was not too late to make reservations and I could pay for my mooring when I came in for dinner. I was also told that the menu would be available at 6:00pm. This was going to be interesting, no fixed menu, fresh food and different ideas every evening. I went back to the boat and indicated that we should plan on be there around 6:00 as I expect dinner will be like on a first class flight of an air plane, first to get in the order will likely have a better chance of receiving what you ask for. When we arrived, there was a crowd building. It turned out that the locals were there to celebrate January birthdays. It was a fun time being there and talking to people that live there full time and others that come down for winter. The food was excellent. It was probably the best food and had the best ambiance. My dad had a lobster cooked with a white sauce, my mother had a lime and tequila chicken and I had yellow tail rock fish with mango sauce. We did start out with the best ever tasting conch fritters. It is unfortunate for my mother that she is allergic to all fish and shell fish. After dinner and some music from a couple of local guys we headed back to the boat in the dark.

As we were crossing the harbor we were “flagged down” by another boat. We had wanted to talk with them at the bar as they had a boat registered from Cascade, CO. Image that, two boats moored in Little Harbour and both registered from Colorado. It turns out that they are using and friend’s boat and the reason they weren’t at the bar was their dinghy broke loose and went for a wander. I dropped of my parents and went and help round up the dinghy. Luckily the wind was blowing from the north and the entrance was in the north so the boat could only go to shore. We found in short order and all were happy.

01/17/2009 Decision time. I need to get to Nassau and we want to make a stop at Spanish Wells on the way. We have strong winds (15-20 knots from the northeast and the seas are expected to build to 6-9 feet. We also have to deal with making it off the banks through the Little Harbour cut. I believe I mentioned the Abaco Net that I listen to in the morning primarily for weather reports. I waited this morning to get the information of the weather to make my decision. The recommendation was that any trip onto the “pond” (Atlantic Ocean) would be rough. The problem was that weather did not show any better weather over the next few days. I would sit in Little Harbour if needed, and we would by-pass Spanish Wells, but even that had a risk of having to beat to weather to get to Nassau. We decided to go for it.

We made it through the cut with no problem. The cut itself had some low rollers coming and on both sides there were waves breaking on the reefs. The waves that were breaking even had the tops being blown off by the wind. We motored our way out and then I set the jib out full with no main. The problem was that we were only getting about 5 knots from the boat and at that rate it would take us 10 hours to make the fifty miles. I then rolled in the jib, took the boat to wind and raised the main with two reefs in, bore off and set the jib back out. Now we were traveling a consistent 7 knots. The seas started out at between 3-5 feet and were rollers, nothing breaking, few white caps and they weren’t steep. As the day went on the winds built and with the wind so did the seas. We started seeing 8-10 feet seas and winds hitting 20 knots gusting to 25. Then we started seeing 12 feet seas. The boat would surf on the waves and it was a rush. At one point we hit 16 knots of boat speed surfing on the waves. The fastest I have sailed on this boat up to this point was 14 knots on the Chesapeake in surfing conditions also. The good news is that he auto-pilot held very well. There was a few times I would control of the wheel to stall her when she started to surf, but most of the time our trusting auto-pilot kept it under control.

The next issue I was concerned about was entering the Grand Bahama Banks. As with the Little Banks and leaving against incoming waves, I was worried that I would enter the Grand Banks with incoming surf and shallow waters that create a dangerous situation. As I looked at the charts and where I expected to enter, it appeared that the inlet was sheltered, or in the lee, of a couple of cays and reefs. With that in mind, I figured that the surf would be minimal and all will be good. When we reached the inlet, all was as I expected and we entered with only the worry of a low tide and shallow banks that were indicated on the charts I use. All was for naught as we never saw the 5 feet depths, it never was less than 10 feet. After that we motored our way to Royal Island and ducked in the harbor for the night. There was a large are, with no sailboats and a few trawlers and good holding for the night out of the weather. Another successful crossing.

1/18/2009 Today we motored up to Spanish Wells. Spanish Wells is where my great-grandmother was from. I had tried to go here when Tim and I sailed to the Bahamas, but we did not make it that far. It is a fishing community that has prospered quite well in the islands over its history.

We arrived Sunday late morning and you would have thought it was a ghost town. We tied up on a local fishing and fuel dock. No one was around to give us an ok or kick us off. We then walked through the village looking for any clues of our family. We found a grave that had many Sweetings in it from the mid 1800s through today. As I said before there was nothing open and most everyone appeared to be in church. It was lunch time and we were on a hunt for a local restaurant. We found nothing open yet. As we walked along there appeared to be a couple of woman that had a bake sale going. Right before them was a road that took us to a beautiful beach. We headed down there to the beach and saw some great colors of blue in a calm sound behind the reef.

Afterwards I walked back up and looked to see what the women were selling. It was actually a roadside drive-up and they had fresh food for sale along with desserts. We ended up buying sweet and sour meatloaf with coleslaw, a coke and lemon meringue pie for each of us. It turns out they do this on Sundays as there are no open restaurants. Think of them as a glorified lemonade stand. As we sat there and ate on the curb, it was amazing the number of people that drove up for lunch. We started to talk with one of the women about my mother’s family history here and the woman indicated before marriage she is a Sweeting. She did not know of my great-grandmother, but there is a good chance that she is a distant relative of ours. After that, we tried to find a place to anchor, but all of the ground was hard. I could not get the anchor to grab. We were going to try and stay until the next day and try to visit the local museum. Due to the anchoring issue we went back to Royal Island for another night.

1/19/2009 Today we awoke to SE winds. This is the last thing I expected. The forecast was calling for winds to clock around to the south. With a south wind I would have had a tight reach across the Northeast Providence Channel to Nassau. I decided to run the inside behind some barrier islands and beat our way to Nassau. It was a good sail and as I was filling the tank on the generator, I hooked into my first fish. I did a catch and release on it. I will keep them in the future. I am looking forward to fresh fish on the grill. Later in the day we were motoring in light air behind a barrier island and my dad exclaimed “what happen to all of the water?” We were sailing into an unmarked reef area and the sea floor was working its way towards my boat. We slowly worked our way through the reef with me on the foredeck guiding us through the shallow water. At one point the water was a shallow as 4 feet. We did make it through and set the sails again.

It was slow going as we had the wind directly on our nose and we had to tack all of the way. I started checking out the charts and how much further we had to go. We may have been sailing between 6 and 7 knots, we were only making about 3 nautical miles towards Nassau due to all of the tacking we had to do. I decided to fire up the engines and try to motor for Nassau. The winds had built to about 20 knots and still directly on our nose. I could not make more than 3 knots with the engines in the waves and wind. I fought with the decision that I had to make, “where was I going to anchor the boat for the night?” I knew I could not make Nassau with boating until late in the night and the charts showed lots of shallow water and reefs around the east entrance to Nassau. All of the books said only pass during the day when you can see the water.

At 7:30 I decided to drop the anchor right where we were. It was designated as an anchorage. I believe it is an anchorage for large cargo boats waiting to come into the harbor. It was all open water and there was no protection from the winds and waves. The water is also 24 feet deep. That would make for a short rode in the winds and seas we had. I dropped 120’ of chain and anchor. Luckily the anchor grabbed immediately and held tight. I was not happy about staying here as the winds had built to 25 knots and the seas were as high as 4 feet. I was also worried about my parents in these wild seas for the night. They both decide to sleep in the salon around the table I headed off to my bunk. I set the alarm on my chart plotter to go off if the boat moved more that 200’ and I set my watch to wake me every hour to verify that the anchor was holding us in place. It was not a good night for sleeping, but the anchor held us right where we dropped. The next day we were not rested, but we were ready to go to Nassau.

01/20/2009 Happy Birthday Mom!!! (and Dorothy, my mother-in-law). It is also Inauguration Day for the 44th president of the US. I have decided that after the rough night of non-sleep, the concerns that are voiced about anchoring in Nassau Harbor and the continuous heavy winds, I have decided to put the boat in a marina until I leave with friends flying in Friday. We are staying in the Nassau Harbor Club. It is being remodeled and the staff is very helpful.

As we were on our way to lunch, we were asked if we wanted to join a crowd in one of the suites in the marina to watch the Inauguration. It was exciting to watch and see all of the people that attended. On my trip I watch the election as it was happening when I was in Charleston, SC and now watching the Inauguration. I do have high hopes for our president.

After lunch, my mom and I took off walking towards town. There are three large cruise ships in port and the tourists are all over. We did make a side trip through the open air market by one of the bridges. There many little food shacks cooking fresh fish dishes, fresh fish and vegetables for sale. When we made it to the docks where the cruise ships were docked, it reminded me of another port I was in last year, Juneau. All of the same perfume and jewelry stores. Later that night we celebrated my mother’s birthday at an Outback Steakhouse we found here in town.

1/21/2009 The big news today is how we are doing our best to stay warm. A cold front is rolling through and you would think it was getting ready to snow the way everyone is bundled up. The temperature has dropped to the low 60s/high50s. Not very pleasant for any of us. After dinner that night, parents started their packing as they are flying out tomorrow. I am very glad they joined me for this part of the trip. It was a fun time for all us. We would have liked to spend some time snorkeling and the water to have been a little bit warmer. We know for future trips now. I also learned that I need to slow down and that is the plan.

1/22/2009 Mom and Dad flew out today. The temperatures warmed up and life on the tropics is good again. I am sorry for them that we did not have this warmer weather for their last couple of days, but it has been a great trip. I am now waiting for Titus and Cliff to fly in Friday. I am working on a few projects, catching up on the blog and cleaning the boat. No rest for the weary :-)).