In Bahamas and Catching Up on the Blog

Hope you haven’t given up on this travel blog. These entries should get us all caught up and forgiven by those of you who thought we’d quit sharing our trip. We’ll go back to where we left off—St. Augustine, FL.
Day 31 (Jan. 2)-- We left early from St. Augustine, FL and headed south down the ICW to Daytona Beach, FL. The weather turned chilly (in the 50’s & 60’s) so we bundled up, weighed anchor and headed out. Our buddy Bruce left just ahead of us heading north to Jacksonville, FL. It was great to spend some time with him and he lent us a laptop, GPS sensor, and a chart plotter program. Thanks Bruce!
We motored all day down the Florida ICW and spent the night anchored near Daytona Beach, FL.

This is our last look at the St. Augustine waterfront—what a great place!
And here are some scenes along the ICW: Some pretty condos and an impressive rookery of pelicans.

Day 32 (Jan 3)-- Although the ICW in Florida was a dream compared to the ICW in Georgia, the Caribbean Soul (and her Capt. & Crew) were ready to do some ocean sailing again. Also, the weather reports were predicting another cold front coming through in three days! If we could get to the West Palm Beach area before the cold front, we could possibly get to the Bahamas a week sooner than if we continued to move slowly down the ICW and would have to lay over in Florida waiting for the front to pass. So on day 32, we headed out Ponce de Leon Inlet into a nice, sunny ocean. The wind was right on our bow so we motored. We did put the main sail up to add a bit of stability. Pictures are of Ponce de Leon Inlet with Daytona Beach in the background and the ubiquitous brown pelicans watching us leave.

Day 33 (Jan. 4) We put a couple of reefs in the main sail and motored on through the night. Waves were 3 to 4 feet and my scopolamine patch behind my ear worked great. We took turns standing watch for 2 or 3 hours each throughout the night. Got to the West Palm Beach area midmorning and settled into Lake Worth, FL. We topped up everything—diesel fuel, gas for dinghy, and fresh water—in preparation for our passage across the Gulf Stream. After anchoring in Lake Worth, FL, we stayed a board and started studying the marine weather reports in earnest. The truth is that no predictions are 100%, so deciding when is the best weather window to cross from Lake Worth to the Bahamas is a bit of a guess. John guessed that we should head out at 10:30 PM on January 5th in order to beat the front coming through the following evening. And, a good guess it was—seas 2 feet or less and SE winds of 8-10 knots. In ten hours of beautiful night sailing (motoring) we arrived at Old Bahama Bay, West End, Grand Bahama Island and cleared through customs. This was quick and easy as we seemed to be the last “Snow Bird” coming over from the states! We sailed for the next three days without seeing another boat close up—only a few in the distance.

Day 35 (Jan 6)—John hoisted our quarantine flag as we entered Old Bahama Bay, West End at 8:30 AM. After we cleared customs and changed the flag from yellow quarantine to pretty Bahama ensign, we sailed to the closest cay (pronounced “KEY”) to anchor for our first night in the Bahamas. This was a tiny cay called Mangrove Cay which might be hard for you to find on your maps/charts because it is so small and uninhabited, but it was just what we needed to get caught up on our sleep.

Day 36 (Jan. 7th—Happy Birthday Finley!) Our second day in the Bahamas was wonderful. Our task was to sail to Sale Cay which would protect us from the big bad front what had been threatening us for days. It was a great sail—main sail and jib full of wind—Caribbean Soul maintaining a boat speed of 6-7 knots! The clouds whirling ahead of the front dropped some rain on us for short periods of time, but we got to Sale Cay well ahead of the front. We tucked into an anchorage that provided good protection from the heavy W-NW winds we expected. Early that evening, the storm passed over us, but Caribbean Soul bobbed happily in her protected spot. Happy Day and a good night’s sleep.

Day 37 (Jan 8th) Our third day in the Bahamas was ABSOLUTELY OUR BEST SAILING DAY EVER! Not only did we figure out how to fly our spinnaker, but also we sailed wing-and-wing with the main and spinnaker. It’s hard to say it in words and we’re not sure the pictures give you the total feeling, but it was wonderful to have all these powerful sails out front and the beautiful blue of Bahama skies and seas all round us. Ahhhhhh! This is really what we signed up for!
These pictures were taken before we got all the kinks out of the spinnaker—but you can see how huge the spinnaker is.

This is the CENTER OF THE WORLD ROCK. At least that is what the chart says.

These shots hopefully give you a feel of the joy of spinnaker sailing in the Bahamas! Try a little “Buffet” music in the background and a tropical beverage. Ahhhhh!

Truth is that we didn’t do the tropical beverage part until we got to Green Turtle Cay the next day. On this day we anchored at Powell Cay for the night.

Day 38 (Jan 9th) We delayed leaving for Green Turtle Cay because the entrance to Black Sound where we planned to anchor is shallow and needs to be transited at high tide. While we waited, we cooked a great breakfast of Mary’s eggs and biscuits. The cockpit was sunny and the water was crystal clear. Then, we decided to bake up the Chili Chocolate Brownie mix Nancy and Tom sent from Tucson. Oh—yes—good stuff! Thanks Nancy and Tom!
We had a slow sail (3 to 4 knots) to Green Turtle Cay and motored carefully into Black Sound without running aground. We tried to anchor but the grassy bottom made it impossible for our anchor to grab hold. So, we picked up a local mooring, pumped up the dinghy and headed out to Pineapple’s Bar and Grill—our first time ashore in a week. Just so we remember that not everything is perfect in paradise, the dinghy outboard quit on us and John had to row the last hundred yards to the dock. Sorry we don’t have pictures of Pineapple’s yet—but certainly will have some later. It is a tiny little shack all painted bright yellow. A fresh-water pool is right between the bar & grill and Settlement Creek. We hit them at happy hour and sat at a bright yellow picnic table watching the sun go down near New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay. We met two couples who fly here each January to bone fish—one couple from Richmond, VA and the other from Raleigh, NC—small world.

Day 39 (Jan. 10)—We got up early to listen to the Abaco Cruisers’ Net. The Net is broadcast on VHF channel 68. Cruisers call in with weather, sea conditions, social functions, arrivals, departures, ball scores, local dinner specials, requests for local information & spare parts, and whatever! It is broadcast from Marsh Harbor about 15 miles from here, so we couldn’t hear all of it. We heard enough to know we are truly back in the Bahamas—mon!
Pictures are of John working on the outboard (and, he fixed it!), me working on this blog posting, and shots of Black Sound.

Happy New Year from St. Augustine

The Caribbean Soul is still in St. Augustine. We are just about ready to move further south, as the weather is cooling here and we continue to search for those illusive tropical days. Leading up to New Year's Eve, we've been busy with chores. John changed the engine oil and all the filters. Sorry I didn't snap a picture of him squeezed into one of the lazerettes covered with yucky oil, but I was busy sorting through our winter clothes. What we discovered is that we packed too many sweaters and we don't have much storage space. Although it has been cold on and off, you really can't wear more than one or two sweaters at a time.

After John got cleaned up from the oil change, we packed up 8 or 9 sweaters and hiked in to the St. Francis House which is a shelter for the homeless in St. Augustine to make a donation. Then we ventured out to the Walmart. For those of you who really dislike Walmarts, you might like to skip this part. We discovered a city bus that would transport us directly to the front door of Walmart for $1 each. Inside we resupplied such vital items as citronella candles, deodorant, engine oil, oranges and fresh meat. The same little city bus brought us back near the Municipal Marina where our dinghy was docked. Oh yes--we've also purchased new charts and guides for the Bahamas, which we found at the well stocked 1st Mate Ships Store here at the Marina.

Last night (New Year's Eve) a friend from Beaufort, NC --Bruce--came over for dinner and later joined us in downtown St. Augustine. What fun it was to spend some time with Bruce and get his thoughts about sailing these waters. The New Year's revelers were out in force last night. At midnight, fireworks went off all over the place and lots of boats in the harbor sounded their horns. We got back to Caribbean Soul just at the stroke of midnight, so we got to see and hear it all! Yay--2009!

Thanks to our fabulous land support (Mom/Jean Ferguson), we have gotten the Christmas cards many of you have sent with all your news and pictures. Maybe you can see your cards/pictures here below. Thank you all --it's my favorite part of Christmas!

Here are some St. Augustine birds who came to visit. They seem to be ruddy turnstones in their winter plumage. The bird book says they prefer rocky tidal shores, so the Caribbean Soul must look like a big ol' rock of some sort.

Happy New Year!

Getting to St. Augustine, Florida

Day 23 was Christmas Day. We decided to leave Savannah, GA and continue on down the ICW until we could find an outlet to the ocean. The ICW traveling was becoming more and more difficult. On Christmas Day we were aground for a couple hours at Hell's Gate. The name of this narrow passage convinced us that we weren't the only cruisers to get stuck in the shoals at low tide. Again we just waited for the tide to rise and we motored carefully through the shallow waters--akk--that's no fun! Christmas night we anchored in Kilkenny Creek, GA. It was a nice enough place to spend the night, but in the morning as we were trying to fuel up at the Kilkenny Marina and prepare to sail out in the ocean the no-see'ms descended upon us in force. My gosh--we've never seen such!

Our plan was to get out of the ICW ditch and into the open ocean. Caribbean Soul was ready and eager to go (and so were we!). Before we could get to the ocean, a bit of fog began to roll in. It wasn't easy, but we managed to pick our way along the ICW markers to St. Catherine's Sound. The fog was not getting any better, but we had great hopes that it would clear up out on the ocean. The forecast predicted a clearing in the afternoon.

So out we sailed using our GPS waypoints to guide us from buoy to buoy in the fog which did not abate. We left Kilkenny Creek around 9 AM and were out in the ocean around 10:30 AM. We were motoring at 7 knots which meant that we'd get to St. Augustine, FL at about 2AM. Yikes! That would never do--we wouldn't be able to see to get in the inlet. So we cut the motor off and put up the sail slowing us down to 3 knots. This worked great and also allowed us to listen out for other boats in the dense fog. The sailing worked until about midnight when the wind died. So we were back to motoring, watching the GPS and straining to see any signs of other boats out there in the fog.

For all we knew, the dense fog would linger into the next day and would keep us from entering St. Augustine. But---yay hooray--as a hint of sunrise appeared in the east, the fog eased off. Then this beautiful pinkish, orange ball of light appeared on the horizon clear and fog-free! Oh-my-gosh, what a wonderful sight. Here are the pictures of this sunrise near St. Augustine. You can see the gentle, windless seas and we could see all the buoys we needed to get into the St. Augustine harbor at around 10 AM--safe and sound! We're not sure what miracles are like, but this seemed like one to us--no fog and lots of warm clear skies. It was like arriving in paradise!

We didn't do much celebrating of our 8th wedding anniversary on Dec. 26th as we sailed through the fog, but the sun rose on a new day and we celebrated everything--our anniversary. our safe arrival & life in general!

St. Augustine is such a festive place with all the nightlife and lights. It has long been one of our favorite towns. Here are some of our favorite spots so far. We, by-the-way, are still here and exploring and enjoying.


These two pictures are us in front of the central park on Kings Street in St. Aug. Lovely, yes?




These two pictures are the his & her pix of St. Augustine's A1-A brewery from which you can see the anchorage where Caribbean Soul rests after its foggy ocean adventure.

On Sunday, December 28, I revisited St. Augustine's historical Episcopal Church--Trinity Church. John and I attended services here a few years ago when we flew down to St. Augustine. The service was the Christmas traditional service of Lessons and Carols! What fun to be in this lovely place singing lots of Christmas carols! John decided to read the Sunday newspapers this time and was waiting out front at the end of the service. He snapped this picture of me--note that I have on my fanciest church clothes. Well-they were clean and no one seemed to mind.

Here's what Christmas looked like in Trinity Episcopal, St. Augustine. Lovely! Made me miss St. Paul's in Beaufort.

This is a British Pub complete with bangers & mash and mushy peas! St. Augustine has such a wonderful mix of cultures. This Pub is located in the Spanish quarter--go figure.
And then we heard that UNC Tar Heels men's basketball team was playing Rutgers Sunday night. We searched around and found a great sports bar right across the street from where we are anchored. Here it is--J.P. Henley's. Go Heels! They beat Rutgers by about 20 points.

Today (Monday, Dec. 29th) we hiked down to the Post Office and got all the mail that Mom forwarded from home. Oh Boy! It was like Christmas all over again as we opened lots of cards and read lots of Christmas newsletters. And our Tucson relatives--Nancy and Tom--sent Christmas gifts. Thanks to you all! Merry Christmas again and again.

Looks like we'll stay here for New Year's Eve and then head down the Florida coast before transiting to the Bahamas. Let us know if there are things you are wondering about and would like to see in our blog. We'll do our best to keep you updated.

Christmas 2008 and Family

Merry Christmas everybody! John and I checked in with family Christmas Eve from Caribbean Soul docked in Savannah and Christmas Day as we cruised down the Savannah River.

These folks are the extended crew of the Caribbean Soul and they are wearing their official hats/visors. Those gathering in Beaufort, NC are Karen Lloyd, Drew Steen, Jean Ferguson, and Finley Lloyd. (Penny's daughter, son-in-law, mother, and son.)

And, gathering in Tennessee are Wilma Schwades, Brandon, Lynn Thompson, and Kelly Thompson. (John's mother, his sister's almost son, his sister, and his nephew.)

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Love and joy to you all!

Getting to Savannah for Christmas Eve

Days 19 - 22 (December 21 - 24)
Traveling south out of Charleston became difficult as a cold front with major wind gusts rolled in from the north and the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) was full of muddy shoals that made some narrow cuts impossible to navigate at low tide. We left Charleston Harbor in the morning of Dec 21 knowing that temperatures were dropping and winds were piping up. Waving to our friends aboard the s/y Antic still anchored in Charleston Harbor, we headed down the ICW. That night we tried to out-smart the severe north winds by anchoring off the Ashpoo River in Mosquito Creek. Well--we were right about the protection from the wind, but we discovered that Mosquito Creek has a huge tide that can drop and rise 6 or 7 feet! We went to bed at dark but woke up around 9PM as the tide dropped and Caribbean Soul settled down in the soft mud. There was nothing to do but wait for the tide to finish going out and cycle back to a higher tide that would float us off the mud. I slept as Caribbean Soul listed more and more to starboard as the tide continued to go out. Capt. John was awake and watchful. Finally at midnight or so, we were floating again, so we got up, pulled on multiple layers of clothes, and crawled out into the freezing cold weather to reset the anchor. My job is to stand at the wheel and move the boat as John directs from the bow. Capt. John's job is to pull up the anchor and reset it in deeper water. We were safe but mighty tired. Whew!! We know this is all part of the adventure, but we were tired and cold!

So on December 22nd we tied up on the dock at Port Royal Landing Marina just south of Beaufort, South Carolina. With dock power, we gave our little propane heater a rest and ran two electric heaters wide open. Yay! It was toasty warm in our little boat. We spent two days at Port Royal spending the first day resting and warming up and the second day downloading ocean charts (John) and doing the laundry (Penny). There was a nice little dockside bar and grill which wasn't exactly Backstreet Pub, but we did get to play some dominoes and chat with folks. Our waitress was from Beaufort, NC and had graduated from East Carteret High School--amazing. Her mom is Ginger Simpson who taught at Beaufort Middle and Beaufort Elementary--small world! The bar tender also laid claim to Beaufort, NC saying that she was born in Morehead and lived in Beaufort as a child.
Here's what a layover day looks like. Nice thick down quilt, a good book and our new stereo system!










On December 24--Christmas Eve--we headed down the ICW toward Savannah. We were aground for a couple of hours in the narrow shoals of Field's Cut. We were on a rising tide so we just waited and ate a good lunch. Capt. John rolled out the jib which helped us tip enough to get unstuck. We were mighty glad to see the Savannah River which is nice and deep. Pictured here is Savannah off in the distance as Caribbean Soul cruises closer.

Savannah waterfront was lovely. We docked here for Christmas Eve and watched the city light up for Christmas.

Then on Christmas Day we decided to spend the day heading south down the ICW again.

Connecting with Friends in Charleston, SC

Days 17 & 18 (December 19 & 20)--anchored in Ashley River, Charleston, SC.










Oh happy day! We found and spent some good times with two couples we know in Charleston. Pictured here are Chris and Vickie Blackwell. Chris is a recruiter for Bulldog Trucking Company for whom John drove a flatbed truck for 2 -1/2 years. The Blackwells helped us shop for some electrical equipment to repair our onboard inverter, then came out to our anchorage in the Ashley River. Vickie and Chris brought the Caribbean Soul a couple of bottles of wine, which the CS was willing to share with all of us. Good time--good friends! Thanks Vickie and Chris.















Then our fellow Tartan 37 sailors--Preston and Chennie Wright--picked us up at the Marina and treated us to an evening of fabulous food, wine and Bahama cruising stories. Unfortunately we don't have pictures of Preston and Chennie, but we'll try to describe well enough that you can "see" this fun time. The Bahama picture of P&C is from their blog--check it out at http://prestonchenniessailingadventures.blogspot.com/ We first met Preston and Chennie in October 2007 at the dock in Norfolk, VA as we both were traveling south with our newly purchased Tartan 37s. Preston and Chennie lived in Oregon, purchased their beautiful Tartan in New York , and were planning on cruising the Bahamas for 6 months or so.

As it turned out, they had some wonderful adventures in the Bahamas and went home to Oregon only to get a job offer in Charleston, SC.
It was great to see these two after keeping up with them on their blog.
So while dining on wild salmon in their town house on John's Island near Charleston, we got to meet their happy little hotdog dog--Newman--and got a world of cruising advise about Bahama charts, ocean crossings, partying in the Exhumas, etc. We have since purchased the Bahama charts they recommended and are getting eager to get down to Florida so we can cross over to the Bahamas. Thanks Chennie and Preston!

And as Christmas approaches, we did a bit of Christmas card decorating on the boat. We also gave some serious thought about were we'd like to spend Christmas Eve and decided Savannah, Georgia would be good.

Waiting Out the Fog in Waccamaw River

Here are the pictures for the previous post. The fog was so thick along the Waccamaw River, we had to stop every now and then to wait for a little more visibility.

This is what happens on the ICW when you get unseasonably warm weather rolling in on top of the chilly water. And we were wishing for that warm weather! Yikes! Blame the fog on us!

This is our FREE dock in Southport, NC. No electricity, showers, etc--but a great deal for free!

And here is a local pelican paying us a visit. They have really sharp beaks and toes, so we snapped this quickly and gently ushered the pelican off our dinghy with the boat hook.

Southport was all decorated up for Christmas.

Boats were decorated too.

Dinner aboard Caribbean Soul in Southport, N.C.

This was our only picture of the day of ocean sailing--we were pretty busy reefing sails and leaping up and down in the ocean to take more. It was chilly, but a lovely day to sail. By going outside from Cape Fear Inlet to Little River, we bypassed the infamous shoals of Lockwood's Folly where boats regularly go aground.