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Merry Christmas to all our friends & family from Man-O-War.
What was suppose to be a weekly post has morphed into a month. With Sam (broken wrist and cast) & Diane arriving the beginning of December and the rest of the McDonnells following 2 weeks later, it has been nonstop fishing, snorkeling and island hopping since.
Although handicapped, nothing has stopped Sam. He has been recording his catches on his cast that read something like this - yellow tail & mutton snapper, trigger fish, porgies, Nassau grouper, a remora that he was "triple dog dared" to put on his back - not, white marlin on a light casting rig, mahi, Spanish mackerel and wahoo. And then there was the shark that got away! Harry caught many as well. We have been eating a lot of fish!
I was able to join in on the Christmas Bird Count on Great Abaco, hopefully the first of many trips across the Sea of Abaco. The weather has been almost constant fronts with heavy winds so we have been staying close to MOW with day trips to nearby islands. More later when things settle down!
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With Jim arriving on the 17th to join Windermere and a weather window opening up on the 18th, we left VB to rendezvous with everyone, anchoring off the public docks of West Palm several miles south of the inlet. Although a very convenient spot with easy access by foot or free trolley to a nearby Publix, West Palm was jumping with activities and bands that played well into the early morning hours. All good but we moved the following night up to the inlet for an early start.
Early start as defined by Peter — “getting up at 4, motoring over to the municipal marina fuel dock to get Nina ashore and out the inlet before 5.” The first few hours were dark with choppy sloppy confused seas. More than expected but daylight eased the pain and it got better about half way across. We reached the bank by 10:30 and Great Sale Cay by early afternoon. Not a bad day’s run.
Spanish Cay, a private resort island, was the choice for clearing customs. The resort provides “office space” in their bar and subsidizes having an officer come to the island accommodating guests. I knew it would be more laid back but didn’t expect sipping a drink while filling out the many forms! What we didn’t know was that the resort charged a $50 entry fee to access customs unless their slips are used. All still cheaper than going through West End. The only caveat was that Customs & Immigration are two separate departments. Only a customs officer was at Spanish (& Green Turtle) Cay to issue the cruising/fishing permit but limited to a 90 day stay. We will have to ask for an extension down the line.
Giving Jim a chance to see different islands, we skipped from cay to cay. Spanish to Manjack Cay for a quick row to the beach, swim and watched a family feeding rays and a couple lemon sharks. I gave it a try but didn’t like 3 rays swimming between and around my legs rubbing up against me like cats. Then on we went to Green Turtle Cay for 4 nights renting a golf cart and exploring the island end to end. The Bahamians celebrate Thanksgiving the same as we do so there were many restaurants to choose from. We had a great turkey dinner at Harvey’s Grille in Black Sound with a Bahamian flavor of conch in the stuffing.
One more special stop for Jim at No Name Cay where he found his calling with the swimming pigs. On Sunday the 25th we made our way around “the Whale”, a nasty stretch of water around Whale Cay that is exposed to ocean swell and narrow passages through reefs to Man-O-War Cay where we will call home for the next several months.
Vero Beach is another one of those stops where you can get anything done and stay in a holding pattern until the winds are favorable to cross over to the Bahamas. The VB City Marina has all the amenities including incoming mail and affordable moorings making it possible. The deal is that you must be willing to raft with others. Peter moved the Windemere down from Suntex Marina just a couple miles north and picked out the first mooring (#1) as you enter the lagoon that was perfect for good air, boat watching and very close to the dog park and a restaurant.
Getting to a vet for the Bahamas pet paperwork was the last remaining thing we had to get done. Our first morning, Nina & I headed to the park to ask around about vets and met Margie & Molly. An appointment was made and Molly was good enough to drive us there - one example of the wonderful, helpful people we meet along the way.
VB has a network of 15 bus routes for their county public transit service that is free. We also discovered that a 1 mile dinghy run down and across the ICW to AW Young Park got us a quarter mile from several shopping centers with a Publix, West Marine and many other stores. The time has come to look out a week at the weather and all we see are northerly winds. A hole may open up around the 19th. If so, we’ll make a move down to West Palm. The challenge aside from weather is Nina’s health certificate from the vet is suppose to be dated within 48 hours of entering the country, an impossible requirement coming in by boat. Today will continue to be a weather watch so could be a quick move any time now.
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River’s Edge Marina in St. Augustine is well protected, within walking/biking distance to the city as well as anything else you might need - restaurants, pet & grocery stores, pharmacy, wine, hair salon and much more. And if our legs gave out on the way home, we could have called on our live aboard neighbor Andrew who is a pedicab driver. Or of course, Lynne, who gave us extra mobility for city tours, shopping sprees and dinner at their beautiful new home.
We have been to St. Augustine’s before but never to the Lightner Museum, the former Alcazar Hotel built in 1888 by Henry Flagler. It was built in the Spanish Renaissance Style and on the bottom level has a swimming pool (the world’s largest at that time) with 3 storied balconies above and Tiffany stain glass windows. The pool is now used by a cafe at the deep end and special events including weddings and symphonies. It was elegant and I coming from yoga was not dressed the part nor did I have a camera so will look for a few online.
After wonderful wining and dining with Lynne & Steve, yoga and getting everything on our list done, it was time to move on. We didn’t stay the full week because it was incredibly hot up the river. From St. A’s, we made jumps to New Smyrna Beach and Eau Gallie. Next will be Vero Beach to reconnect with Windemere.
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735 miles after passing through Norfolk, Va on 10/19 we have arrived in FL. Four years ago we were in Morehead City, NC at this time. The journey has been a fast track blur so it’s time to slow it down. We are far ahead of many others making the same trip and as a result have met few. Tomorrow will bring us to St. Augustine where we will stay put for a week taking care of small repairs, oil change, haircuts, Rx refills, flu shots, provisioning and stuff before leaving the country later in the month. Friends, Lynne & Steve have relocated here and graciously have caught several packages and mail. It will be great to catch up and see their new home.
Attached are some “catch as catch can” photos along the way. Highlights were meeting up w/Rod & Susie in N. Myrtle Beach and the Bradfords & Currys in Beaufort, SC. Beautiful anchorages include Walburg Creek at St. Catherine Island, SC, Frederica Creek, SC (shore access difficult w/a missing/damaged dinghy dock), Cumberland Island, GA (this time at the south end - not as tight and protected as Plum Orchard) and Kingsley Plantation on the St. George River, FL.
Storm damage continued to be visible through SC and the northern part of GA. Dozens of boats were blown ashore, docks racked and affects of the incredibly high tidelines along the bottom of the trees, hedges and on homes especially in the Waccamaw River area.
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Mile 0 of the ICW starts in Norfolk, VA ending in Miami, FL at Mile 1095. These are statute miles and for dummies including myself, 1 nautical mile = 1.1508 statute miles. The last time we made this trip, we headed across to the Bahamas at Mile 1018 in Palm Beach. Because we don’t have a schedule or plan and weather matters, we could cross anywhere between Ft. Pierce (Mile 965) and Miami.
Currently, we are at Mile 204 passing through NC to Beaufort seeing the affects of Hurricane Florence. The marina in Belhaven, Forest River Marina, had only been open for 2 days prior to our arrival. Belhaven is completely exposed from the Outer Banks across Pamilco Sound and the Pungo River. A wooden breakwater protects the entrance to the harbor but the water flooded right over. Their dock was wiped out needing at least 24 pilings, all new decking, electrical, plumbing and new fuel pumps and lines. Houses and stores were flooded with many vacant and closed.
In Oriental, we had dinner with former Hullonians, Geri & Steve who gave more graphic details of 9’ tides above the 1-2’ norm lasting 3+ days flooding many businesses and homes including those raised above the ground, compounded by power outages lasting 10 days. My favorite coffee shop, The Bean right across from the town docks on 8’ foot pilings was sadly closed for repairs due to flooding. There were piles of insulation, sheetrock, flooring, furniture and stuff that had been striped out from many homes waiting for pickup from the FEMA crew. One elderly female resident who refused to evacuate, rolled towels and wrung them out to stop water at her door. The day we walked by, she was sitting in her yard cracking pecans that she had harvested as if nothing happened. On the bright side, we all feasted on fresh shrimp and Geri's home baked cookies aboard the Windemere while watching the sun set.
Beaufort at Mile 204 has 4+ boats ashore along Bird Shoal and Carrot Island that give an ominous feeling. The marina where we stayed was sparsely occupied with about a dozen large yachts on the outer docks being moved by crew. What was missing was the smaller owner captained cruising boats. There were a handful but not what we remembered from years past and the restaurants along the waterfront were pretty empty. It’s still early and we are guessing that people are holding back given the destruction of Florence followed by Michael in this area.
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Time to make some distance and duck into the ICW before strong southernly winds blow up the Chesapeake. Jackson Creek in Deltaville proved to be a well protected anchorage along the way where we again crossed paths with Craig, Amy & their black lab Willow on Robin. Folks at Fishing Bay Yacht Club were extremely friendly and allow usage of their dinghy docks and heated bathhouse complete with showers to cruisers. An early start, bridge openings, 1 lock, 3 states (MD, VA, NC) and 80 miles later, we were tied up and sitting having dinner at Coinjock Marina Restaurant.
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Backtracking a bit, Cambridge was an interesting city that has been making a comeback for over 15 years. A local chef and entrepreneur has opened up about a half dozen restaurants to help create jobs and revitalize the city. Shops, museums, galleries and antique stores fill many of the brick buildings while the beautiful waterfront supports the crabbing industry, boat restorations and marinas. A street festival for beer and hot sauce tasting and oysters was going on when we arrived. Although missed, part of the festival included a muskrat skinning contest. We stayed at the bulkhead that was well protected and in the center of everything.
Next stop was Spring Cove Marina at Solomons Island where we visited with Roger & Anne who have been held up with repairs needed on their boat before they can continue south to join us in the Bahamas. George came down from DC today for lunch so it has been a good stop to catch up with friends along with some of the necessities - laundry, food shopping and showers.
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Back to the eastern shore and a peaceful night at the head of San Domingo Creek backdoor to St. Michael’s where we toured the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, shops and then said our goodbyes to Jim & Natalie. In search of soup or chowder for dinner, a merchant recommended a market that sold homemade soup sealed in a plastic bag - hmmm. When Peter asked what we bought, we said dinner - soup in a bag and wine in a box! Sounds awful but it was a wonderful meal.
Continuing the slow poke, we went up the Choptank to Oxford Harbor and then continued to Cambridge tying up to the bulkhead for a couple nights to wait out another blow.
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Coming back to the western shore, we found city moorings right next to the city docks, the boat show and the US Naval Academy. This is where the Brewster stayed for 4 nights (Windemere moved over to a slip on Back Creek) to wait for Diane and ride out Michael, now a tropic storm but still packing strong winds. The moorings are 500 lb. helix moorings which are screwed into the bottom and spec'd for 55’ boats. The winds were to come from the NW giving us protection from the city with no fetch. We didn't get much more than 35 knots and the only noticeable effect was the increase of wind driven tide by about a foot.
This was a good block of time to explore the city streets, stores, restaurants, a disappointing boat show and the US Naval Academy.
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We never saw much of the eastern shore on our last trip down the Chesapeake due to strong southernly winds so we are spending more time exploring some of the rivers on this side.
Chestertown 24 miles up the Chester River has served as Kent County’s seat of government since 1706 and has one of the largest collections of 18th & 19th century buildings in MD second to Annapolis. The city is also home to Washington College founded in 1782. The college owns several of the old buildings and property along the shore including the Hodson Boathouse which is a beautiful state of the art boathouse for rowing and sailing programs. We “lucked out” and arrived on the last day of the Annual Harry Potter Fest with activities throughout the streets. There were so many people that we returned the following day to get a better look at the architecture and stores.
Windemere was up in the Sassafras River by this time so we went back down towards the mouth of the Chester River to Queenstown to position for a rendezvous the next day in Rock Hall. After buying a dozen blue crabs from a local fisherman and a fair amount of picking, we had dinner, lunch and more dinner for several days.
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Travel up the Delaware w/SW winds and waves against the tide was lumpy at the mouth but evened out further up as the tides changed in our favor. Gray skies, murky water and very little traffic. The only big ships seen were anchored up by the C & D Canal. 14 miles down the canal, we arrived in Chesapeake City early enough to take advantage of the free town dock. In the past, we anchored out but there is 150’ of dockage that was open with only one other boat so why not have the luxury of stepping out to walk the dog. CC is quaint and beautiful but with a noticeable number of store frontages empty and others with limited hours and closed.
Getting ready to leave the next morning, we happened to notice a very large limb pinned to the stern of the boat by the tide, a harbinger of more to come. With all the rains, the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River had to release a ton of water causing debris to be washed down including tires, limbs and large tree trunks. Others have seen refrigerators and parts of boats and things. All the rivers are contributing to these floating mine fields. 4 years ago, Chesapeake Bay was turned up with lots of chop from heavy south winds but so far on this trip, the bay has been flat making it easier to navigate through this stuff and a real pleasure to cruise.
Next stop the Sassafras River to a quiet anchorage behind Knights Island right next to Mt. Harmon Plantation. They have dinghy dock access and miles of trails that can be hiked around the property. The river is heavily treed with beautiful homes tucked in. Eagles everywhere. Fall hasn’t quite come here yet but must be beautiful when it does.
Moving down to Rock Hall Harbor, we found a spot along the bulkhead next to Kent County Park. Again a free town dock, there is one utility post for power that we don’t need and left for someone else. There also looks to be restrooms including showers next to a small community pool but need further investigation. This is not a good spot with any kind of south wind but we plan to stay one more night because there are strong northerly winds blowing through today. Tomorrow will probably find us poking up the Chester River before heading for the western shore and Annapolis.
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NW winds, following seas and good sized waves carried us to Atlantic City in no time. Arriving by 2 p.m., we had picked up the rpms cruising/surfing at 11-13+ kts. Nina, fuel concerns and no particular schedule argued for staying the night. We anchored in a quiet cove on the north side of the river across from bright lights of the strip, with access to a sand spit where many black skimmers rested. That was until Nina sprinted like a caged animal scattering them to the wind while making friends with local kids in need of a dog fix. She misses her grandkids.
Fuel prices were significantly higher here than in Cape May 30+ miles down the line so we crunched the numbers and decided to open both tanks and make a run the next day. This was hard for Harry who likes to keep the tanks half full but in hindsight it was a good exercise. We hadn’t fueled up since Old Saybrook, CT making the total mileage to Cape May 230+ miles. We carry 180 gal. in 2 tanks that is not all usable to avoid sucking off the bottom and bleeding tanks, but we had been cruising in difficult seas and winds and weren’t quite sure what our “burn rate” was. Sunday provided more favorable seas with NE winds and was an easy run down to Cape May giving us a better idea of burn rate average in variable conditions going forward.
Utsch’s Marina and Cape May is not a one night stand. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow cruisers heading south as well as great dining, beaches, gingerbread houses, shopping, provisioning, showers, laundry, and the best birding on the east coast this time of year. Harry got me a rental bike the following day and not able to find an organized birding event online, I headed off at 6:30 a.m. to the South Cape May Meadows where I had birded before. I thought I would be by myself missing my friend Ellen until I biked into the parking lot and saw several cars and recognized Pete Dunne, the self acclaimed ambassador of NJ Audubon Assoc. and one of the most amazing birders I have met. Timing is everything. Today was my lucky day and his Monday morning bird walk! 26 of us headed off including 6 leaders for an extraordinary morning. Sorry, photos are all about the birds!
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Interesting weather heading out of the CT River. It was a bit gloomy when we left with some rain and winds 18 kn out of the SW. The tides were with us for the first half and the ride was reasonably comfortable down to Manhasset Harbor, Pt. Washington, NY. Along the perimeter of the mooring field are yellow moorings that can be picked up 1st come 1st serve for 2 nights at no charge. This makes it a great place to stage going through NYC.
We must be on the same schedule as 4 years ago because once again the General Assembly was in session at the UN causing river restrictions navigating through the city. The day we left, 9/27, the river was completely closed until 10:30 and then only the east river could be used. This didn’t cause a problem for us but some of the sailboats with tall masts had difficulties because there were also restrictions on the bridges. ‘Course Harry was miffed with the NYPD boat referring to us as “the little white boat” when they hailed us to the east side. The river wasn’t as busy as we remembered but there was interesting traffic with planes taking off and a government helicopter that we got shooed away from.
Friends have continual told us about the hospitality at the Great Kills Yacht Club on Statin Island so we decided to stop. Great Kills Harbor is completely surrounded, in part by the Great Kills Park which is a unit of the Gateway National Recreational Area. Because of the weather, we won’t get a chance to really explore the park but it’s been a good place to ride out storms for a couple days. The yacht club is a workingmen’s club and really impressive w/slips, yard space to store boats and a travel lift to get them in and out. The clubhouse is spacious and the bathrooms exceptional. The members are a group of friendly electricians, carpenters, plumbers, police and fire who do everything themselves. We didn’t have the need but rides were offered.
The weather, winds and waves look good to continue to Atlantic City tomorrow. If the going is really good and Harry allows an increase in rpms, Cape May isn’t out of the question but that would be a very long run for Nina.
NE 20+ kn winds and 5-6’ waves all on our stern made for a sleigh ride from Cuttyhunk to Old Saybrook, CT. Top hull speed was 16 kn coming down a wave. Watch Hill RI was an option that we checked along the way but the harbor was crowded, passed on the $60/night yacht club moorings and with the outside anchorage unprotected, we decided to continue to North Cove where we’ve been before and knew would be a good choice to spend a couple nights. A beautiful town with a well protected cove, it is also a port of refuge with free moorings marked with yellow tags. Tuesday’s prediction of high winds and rain will keep us here another day. The vibration seems to have disappeared with the new zinc.
Months of waiting and endless lists of things to do have come to an end. We have left the harbor on our way south down the ICW to Florida and the Bahamas. We planned to end our first day in Sakonnet, RI but were picking up vibration and wanted to check the prop so we are spending the night in beautiful Cuttyhunk Harbor instead. The boat was careened a week ago and the zinc changed so after finding the prop clear, Harry took the new zinc off and we motored around. There was still slight vibration but not as bad and finding nothing else amiss, he changed it again. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
