Held hostage in Vero Beach for a few more days because of bad weather, we were compensated by getting to watch a night launch of the space-shuttle. Listening to the news and counting down with them, we stood on the stern and saw the northern sky light up, as the shuttle took off from its launch pad. As it rose, we saw just a few seconds of its tail, through a break in the clouds.
Sunday we were able to do some (more!) last-minute provisioning when Charlie (Bob's brother in law) came to join us for lunch. After picking up 5 cases of beer, 12 bottles of wine, and 80 pounds of kitty litter, we settled down by the pool at Waldos. Even Luther enjoyed it.
Mike and Suzanne (from
Carolina) joined us onboard for a farewell dinner. They are
heading to the Keys for the winter; Suzanne is joining the real world and
getting a job at a resort. Mike will fish. They were great company and a
big help to Bob's Christmas shopping. They also introduced us to
dominoes.
Bright and early Monday morning, Dec 11, we left for Stuart. It's always nice to get underway. It was an uneventful trip; we like those! We dropped the hook in the North Fork of the St Lucie River at 1:35, put the dinghy in the water and dinghyed over to Dick & Carol Tuschicks house to say hello to them and Jim and Joanna Arnold. The weather cooperated most of the day, with just a bit of light rain. The sun popped through and we saw the most beautiful rainbow. Bob said the pot of gold must be at Dick and Carol's house. Later Dick confirmed things were going well (no wonder with all that gold).
That
night we dinghyed over to Stuart and walked downtown
for drinks at Duffy's, our favorite bar in Stuart. There we get hot,
freshly made potato chips and 2-for-1 drinks.
On Tuesday, more errands - we are anxious to get to the Bahamas for the more relaxed, make-do-with-what-you-have attitude. We're not quite there yet. Maggie and Joanna went shopping for silk flowers, which she claims are a must (if we put anything more on SeaTryst it is going to sink, Bob says)!
Sunny, 75 degrees, wind less than 10 kts, we picked up the anchor from solid mud. It took Bob quite a while to clean the anchor, which was ok because we had to wait 40 minutes for the bridge to open. After being awakened by passing trains all night, they got us one more time. Traveling at an easy speed down the ICW, we went through 7 bridges and dropped anchor in Lake Worth around 4 in the afternoon.
Mike and Sandi (motor yacht captain and mate we met in Nassau in January) picked us up - and, can you believe it, after more errands, we went for drinks at their favorite tiki bar.
How great to swap sea stories of our activities over the past year. Aunt Sandi gave Rosie a special gift of a catnip sock - we could barely get it onboard before she attacked the bag.
During the night, we were surprised to be awakened by rain that was not in the forecast. When we got up, the wind was howling and the rain was pouring. We had hoped to move to Miami, but we weren't going anywhere. Hunkered down for the day, we heard the news that night (Bob fixed the TV during the day!), that we had 7 inches of rain in 5 hours. Some of which leaked into SeaTryst .
Friday called for a similar day, so we planned dinner with Mike and Sandi. It turned out to be beautiful; many boats left the anchorage to be positioned to leave for the Bahamas. Bob cleaned SeaTryst 's hull (notice the new registration number on the dinghy), while Rosie basked on deck in front of Tiger Woods' motor yacht (in the background) and Maggie and Sandi enjoyed a pedicure before dinner.
Bob and Mike watched the weather and both agreed that Saturday would be
perfect for a crossing, and another window wouldn't be open for at least a
week.
After a wonderful dinner, we returned to SeaTryst , hauled the dinghy and motor (we now have it down to about 20 minutes), and considered our options ... to Miami or Bahamas.
Awake long before the 5:30a.m. alarm, we got underway in the dark. The night before Bob had checked the running lights and everything was OK. Five minutes underway in a light rain and both the stern and port light went out. Fortunately the sky lightened quickly, and we poked out Lake Worth inlet. It didn't seem bad, so we decided to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. Maggie ran below to switch email settings for the satellite phone and make quick calls to sisters while she still had cell service. And we were off.
We saw a boat ahead of us; Bob radioed Bad Boy and we kept in touch with Sherrie and Doug throughout the day. We beat through 3-5' seas and sometimes 17kt NE winds and rain, creating discomfort for both Maggie and Rosie. Bob spotted land at 2:30. and we arrived West End, Grand Bahama Island at 4:00. Tucked in the Old Bahama Bay Marina, we were checked in by 4:40 - totally exhausted after the 65 nautical miles. Early to bed.
We enjoyed the beautiful Old Bahamas Bay resort very briefly before casting off. Bob washed down the boat, being sure to make the most use of the $10 mandatory water fee, and then went for a swim in the gorgeous pool.
Bob expertly guided SeaTryst
from the slip - so smooth and easy. But, Maggie dropped a fender into the water and tried unsuccessfully
to retrieve it. If only we had it on video; it would have looked like
a silent movie comedy as she struggled with the boat hook, ducking underneath the dinghy
... back and forth, back and forth. Fortunately there were three men in
a skiff in the channel, who kindly went back to the marina
and retrieved
it for us.
Just
outside the channel, we put up the sails - how long it
had been since we'd done that! Is that what those tall
poles are for? It felt great to sail.
We enjoyed a few hours of brisk sailing
on the beam before the wind shifted to
be directly on the nose, so we brought the sails in and motored the last 9
miles. We entered Bell Channel in Lucaya about 3:00p.
Preferring anchoring
over a marina, we followed the chart to a couple of coves that looked
nice. We put the anchor
down, even though we were
a bit skeptical as to why there were no other boats anchored. In less than
a minute, we knew she wouldn't hold, so we brought it up - Bob
had never seen such a clump of sea grass on
the anchor.
It took him about 20 minutes to get it off; it must have weighed
100 pounds and been 4 ft in diameter.
We saw plenty of sailboats at Grand Bahama Yacht Club, so took a slip there. While we were tying up, we were invited to happy hour on the dock - Bad Boy is here, as are many boats who were in GeorgeTown at the same time as us last season: Eldridge C, Smiles, Barefootin' .
The forecast is for high NE winds and seas for the next several days, so we have the slip for a week. We're in the Bahamas, mon. No rushin' now!