Abacos to Maine

All the\he kids at Green Turtle Cay

We can't believe that this blog does not have any mention of the great presentations that Jenny has been doing at schools along the way; its titled "How to make big problems small" and its an introduction to behavior science in a fun way with her guitar and the dogs.  Albert goes along and has a part, too.

One of several shows at Hope Town school

We went to all of the island schools in the Abacos-- Green Turtle, Great Guana, Man-o-war, Hope Town, and Grand Cay.  We also did a couple of shows on the mainland of Great Abaco Island-- Every Child Counts, a special needs school in Marsh Harbor, and the upper school at Coopers Town.  Jenny's website, jennyruthyasi.com, has some photos, but not much about the school trips, which were a blast.

Jenny with Tigerlily and Bee at Grand Cay school

Grand Cay, Bahamas

We dodged some weather as we took a few days to get to Grand Cay, and then stayed for about a week waiting for a (theoretically) good weather window to cross back to the USA.  We spent almost all of the time there at Rosie's Marina; what the guide books say is basically true.  The availability of food and most anything was terrible.  We happened to be there for their Homecoming weekend of parties.  Very loud music and plenty of alcohol.

Sailing in the Gulf Stream

 
We left on Sunday, April 16, 2017, with the plan to get seriously north by going all the way to Beaufort, NC, about 550 miles, taking 3.5 or 4 days.  We pushed it, and got up to that area in 3 days, and ran into a cold front, with rolly conditions, so we diverted to Southport, NC.  The total distance was about 536 miles in 73.5 hours, average speed of 7.3 knots, although we were only going 5 to 6 knots, but the Gulf Stream pushed us up to a speed of 9 knots at times.  The last 12 hours were miserable, and the dogs were not happy, either.

An ICW view from the anchor

We arrived before noon on Wednesday, April 19, at the Southport Marina and paid for a slip.  This allowed the US Customs people to visit us that afternoon (instead of us figuring out how to get to Wilmington about an hour away by car.)  The next day we motored a short distance to the little basin at the town, tying up to the dock at Provisions restaurant.  We had a really nice time in Southport, buying some good American food and beer, and even doing some general shopping.  Here is a link to a Facebook post.

Oriental, NC

After a couple of nights, we motor-sailed up the Cape Fear River and took the ICW to Wrightsville Beach/ Masonboro Inlet, where we spent a short night.  Up early the next morning, we went out the inlet and motor-sailed downwind to the Beaufort Inlet, staying at Moorehead City, NC.  We saw friends from the Bahamas here, but wanted to keep moving.  We stayed a couple of nights in Oriental, NC, which is a great little town.


I think it took four more days to get up the ICW into Portsmouth VA on April 29.  That's the short story, but it was all fun and good.

This boat was in Portsmouth harbor last fall,
and does not look any better now.

Theresa and Brian's farm in Dugspur

Cows at the farm

We learned about Zimmerman Marine in Southport, and we planned to go to their facility in Mathews, VA to have some transmission work done.  We arrived on April 31, staying a few days on the dock as we learned that more work was needed than we had anticipated. 

While we pondered our options, we continued with our plan to leave the boat for a week or so while we rented a car to visit our new friends from Manjack Cay, Theresa and Brian, at their 100 acre farm in Dugspur, VA, south of Floyd, which is south of Roanoke, if that helps.

 On the way there, we stopped in Charlottesville, and somehow arranged to meet all of our three good friends and partners there at the Sedona Taphouse. We then spent most of a week with Theresa and Brian in Dugspur, helping in their garden and being entertained and fed well.  On the way back, we saw Albert's brother Andrew and family, daughter Echo in Baltimore, and stayed with other friends.  Back in Mathews, we visited with Albert's friends Martin and Keith, who own Compass Marina, where we had spent the night before we got to Zimmermans almost two weeks earlier.

By this time, we knew that Magus would not be ready to sail north for a few weeks or more, because of the several repairs that were needed.  We decided to pack up and drive to Maine, planning to come back in August or September and sail Magus the rest of the way home.  Oh yeah, and Albert had to have a tooth extracted; he felt much better after that.  Did we say it was hot?   We finally did enough to prepare the boat for the summer, and then got back in the rental car for the drive to Maine.  We stayed with Echo again, then spent a nice night with Jenny's brother Ted and wife Fany in Freehold, NJ.  After a miserable day of driving through the city and Connecticut, we arrived at our house in Freeport on Thursday, May 25.  The trees had still not completely leafed out.

Walking in Baltimore

In the summer, there are usually a couple of hot days in Maine, and we also get a few days that are cooler than it ever got in the Bahamas, so the summer is very nice in Maine. That led us to thinking that Magus does not need to come back to Maine yet, but we should just go back to her in November and sail from there to the Bahamas again.

However, that decision is letting us enjoy the garden, and even the winters here in Maine at Bliss Woods Farm and Whole Dog Camp, where Jenny is making a career of dog training and having fun with people and dogs.  And Albert is having fun in the garden and enjoying life in Freeport.

Our social life in the Abacos

On April 3, 2017, we anchored in Allens-Pensacola Cay, right next to Mike on his trawler Sheena II and Jeff on his 32 foot sailboat.  We went over to Mike's boat to share some fish that those two guys had caught, and we brought a squash and turnip dish.   And Jenny's guitar, and those three jammed up the night.  Jeff is a professional musician from Charleston, SC, and Mike is from Ottawa and very good, too.  Jeff left for his trip back to Florida the next morning.  

They are both friends of Bill and Betty Sue on a sport fishing boat Teamwork from Folly Beach, SC, also in the anchorage.  We first met Bill and Betty Sue the first time we came in here in early December, and Mike was here then, too.  They told us about Bill and Lesley on Manjack Cay, and invited us to the Christmas party there.  Of course we went, and met all kinds of interesting people at the party and during our several visits there.  The afternoon Christmas party was outrageous, and so were the jams on the beach and other events.

Ed and Elizabeth from Maine on their self-built boat

Bill and Lesley are fans of Scott and Helen Nearing (RIP) from Maine, so they built plenty of rock walls, and there is a lovely path for about a mile to the Atlantic Ocean side.  Organic gardens, all solar power, cisterns to catch water.  There are about 6 houses on the island.  Darned nice.  Jenny helped them with a feeding/ training issue with their goats.  Lots of interesting people, including guys who had built their own boats-- mostly steel.

We met Randall from Bath, Maine, sailing his Choey Lee ketch towards the Caribbean, with a varying complement of friends and crew; his girlfriend came down while he was in the Manjack area for a week or two.  A couple of days ago, he was in Luperon, DR, heading towards Samana Bay and Puerto Rico. Albert went spear fishing with him and didn't do so well, but we still got some fish to eat-- thank you, Randall.  He also gave us some fish later in Hope Town.

We met Theresa and Brian on their nice Krogen trawler.  They take it back to North Carolina in the early Spring and go to their 100 acre farm in western Virginia.  We plan to visit them in May.
We got to know Jeff in Green Turtle Cay.  He plays on some Wednesdays and Fridays with Kevin and the Gully Rosters band.  Kevin is the dockmaster at the Othet Shore Club/ Pineapples Resort, where we stayed a few times.  When our inflatable dinghy had serious bottom detachment issues and was essentially un-repairable in Marsh Harbor a few weeks ago, we heard that Kevin had a dinghy for sale.  We called him and got back to Green Turtle the next day to see it; we got a super good deal on an old but very sound hard bottom inflatable "RIB".  Any dinghy of this sort is very hard to find down here, so we are very fortunate.

We met plenty of others in Green Turtle, including Marion and Jonathan, Bill and Maureen, and Mark and Joelle.  We played Pickleball with the last two couples both at Green Turtle and Hope Town.  We went to several Friday night socials at Dave's, aka Plymouth Rock-- liquor store and restaurant; they have t-shirts with "I had breakfast at the liquor store."  We enjoyed conch fritters at seveal of the restaurants.  We attended the Women's March that was mostly the regular winter residents; some boaters, some locals.  We went between Manjack Cay and Green turtle quite a few times, and really liked this area.

Jenny did her first school event about behavior science with the dogs and her guitar on Green Turtle.  We then got involved with the school's gardening club, and helped with an environmental science program.  We did a similar program at the schools on Great Guana, Man-o-war, Hope Town, and the Every Child Counts school at Marsh Harbor.  These were primary schools except ECC.  We just went to the High School at Cooper's Town with just the dogs; it was too hot to lug the guitar.  See Jenny's website and Facebook posts.

We spent some time at Great Guana Cay at the Orchid Bay Resort because they had a super good deal at the dock before March 15.  Many of us would gather on the dock for drinks at sunset, including Jim and Louise from Cumberland, Maine.

In Hope Town, Jenny did a few jam music nights.  We met David Wright who plays guitar and sings, and he is in the process of restoring the William H. Albury schooner that was built many years ago at Man-o-war.  We saw him and other friends (and school kids) at the big school fund-raiser Flea Market event on Man-o-war.  While our friends Bill and Katie were visiting and staying at a cottage on Elbow Cay (Hope Town,) we had the good fortune to meet their landlord, Steve Dodge, Abaco historian and author of the best cruising guide for the area.  So many more interesting people and stories, but not enough time or words.

Now, we are working our way back to the west, getting ready to make a big jump to the good ole USA.  If we get a good weather window, we want to go all the way to Beaufort, NC in about 3.5 days of ocean sailing, taking advantage of the strong Gulf Stream.  It'll still be over a week before we leave, so it will be interesting to see who we run into as we travel.  We plan to go to Grand Cay for a few days to discover that out-of-the-way place, and leave from there.  And that will be the beginning of the rest of the voyage to Maine.

Abacos, Bahamas

Until recently, Albert was feeling snobby about the Abacos.  They are the closest serious Bahamas cruising area from the US, so they would be crowded and touristy.  Most of the sailboat charter companies in the Bahamas run out of Marsh Harbor in the middle of the Sea of Abaco, as the bank is called, so that proves the point.  But after being here only a short few weeks, he and Jenny have been pleasantly surprised.



The entire Bahamas archipelago is big-- 500 nautical miles from the Abacos to Inagua at the southeast side of the island country.  Another 200 miles to the Turks and Caicos, with the same geology and Brittish history.  We had thought we'd go to the central part of the Bahamas-- George Town, Exumas; Long Island; and other islands around there.  Now, we're not motivated to travel that 250 miles-- each way.  Other cruisers we've been meeting up here say that the Exumas are more crowded than the Abacos, and it's harder to find protection when a front comes through.  Winter in the Bahamas is not continuously idyllic-- just often enough.

And the Abacos are classic Bahamas, with a 100 mile long barrier reef to the north and east of the cays on the ocean side of the Sea of Abaco, the snorkelling and abundance of sea-life is astounding and the surrounding water is crystal clear.  A quick mention about all of the plastic pollution washed up on the beaches and other shores; It gets picked up in the resort areas of course, but plenty of locations are not convenient to a disposal location.  Albert was here in the early 80's, and he agrees with everyone we asked about its, its gotten worse over the years.  if we didn't know about the micro-plastic pollution reality in the oceans, it would just be interesting flotsam and beach finds, but...  [We could also go on about the poor solid waste disposal pracices here, but an open burn landfill is the cheapest thing I'm sure, and I'll spare the photos.]

The people are laid-back and friendly.  At the restaurants and marinas, no one seems to care about geting paid until you make them give you an accounting.  It's always good to discuss the fees up front, of course.  Food and eveything is fairly expensive (like all of the Bahamas), but there are good marina deals.  There are also plenty of fancy places that want more than $2.00/ ft/ night, too, but we didn't go to those places in the US, either.  We're paying $11.00/ night for a
mooring in Black Sound on Green Turtle Cay, but we've anchored out a lot too.

The Abacos have some tourist infrastructure, with a range of accommodations and services for visitors, but no high-rises or crazy stuff.  Much of the "infrastructure" serves the locals as much as the tourists-- like the ferries, local stores, and marine services.  And the whole scene is very Bahamas--  the village on Green Turtle Cay is compact with narrow roads perfect for golf carts; neat landscaped yards; the restaurants have outside decks, some with roofs; the good ones have screens or maybe even clear plastic wind blockers.  The regular restaurants are basically inexpensive, considering the cost of food at the stores; no doubt the fancy places have fancy prices.  Other than very basic stuff, supplies are hard to get.  If it's not available in Marsh Harbor (which is not easy to reach from GTC,) you need to figure out a shipping system, and there's customs and fees and all that.  So, as close the Abacos are to the US, it feels like a world away.

As I write this, we've been just hanging out for a month in the vicinity of GTC.  This area is west of Whale Cay and the channel that must be taken into the ocean and back onto the bank to the east.  This passage is not safe in strong north to east winds, which are common this time of year.  We expect that it will be more crowded to the east of Whale Cay; the "Hub" of Abaco is the area around Marsh Harbor, Hope Town on Elbow Cay, and Man-o-war Cay.  But I'm sure all of the Abacos will have the same charm and beauty.  These are all places where people live year-round.  Sure, there are some tourist-oriented services and facilities, but the people here are friendly and happy to share their special place in the world.

PS-  We have read the book "Abaco- the History of an Out Island and its Cays" by Steve Dodge.  The book is also a basic history of all the Bahamas, and it includes stories of the same pirates that we read about in a great book picked up earlier, "St. Augustine Pirates and Privateers" (by Theodore Corbett.)  The early colonial times were hard, with plenty of shipwrecks and slow communication and other dangers.  None of the native Lucayan indians survived, of course, and the early settlers in the Bahamas lived a subsistence lifestyle, with no dependable commercial transportation.  There is still that element to life here, as noted above.
 

Arriving in West End, Bahamas

On the evening of December 6, 6:30 pm, we left from Lake Worth inlet at Palm Beach, destination West End.  It's only 55 miles or so east, but the Gulf Stream flows at about us 2.5 knots due north, so you need to travel 30%. or more off the direct course and that much farther, maybe a total of 72 miles. No biggie, just need to plan it in. The wind had been blowing hard, 25 knots, out of the south for a couple of days. It had lightened up to about 15, but the seas were still pretty big.
Just outside the inlet in the dark, big seas, a boat came up to us fast and close before we figured out it's a Coast Guard inflatable type patrol boat. They called us up on Channel 16, and as things go, our main VHF radio would not transmit at that moment. We eventually responded on the other VHF, and they asked us a bunch of basically friendly questions, like: Where are you from?  Where are you going?  How many on board?  Are they US citizens?  Just 2 U.S. citizens, and 2 US dogs. They finally said, well, remember if you ever need help from the US Coast Guard, just call us on Channel 16.   Thanks. Really.

We were able to sail at a pretty decent speed (5 to 6 knots) for the first part of the night, until midnight. Then the wind died to light out of the west and we motor-sailed. The sails took a beating because of the rolling from the seas, but they stabilized the rolling of the boat somewhat.
Early in the morning, Albert noticed that the boom connection to the mast had come apart, and it was putting excessive forces on the mainsail tack and the first couple of sail track slides.  He woke up Jenny, and went up to the mast hoping it was a loose bolt or something reasonable. But no, the whole fitting was stress cracked, and the 5/8" bolt/ pin had completely sheared off.  So, a line was tied from a remaining piece of the fitting to the mast, securely, so that the mainsail could hold some tension.
We only used this emergency repair for the next few hours until we entered the outer harbor at West End. We prefer to handle sails in a protected condition if it's possible, which it's not, of course.
One thing we noticed before entering the breakwater channel was a sailboat about1/4 mile north, apparently beyond the rocks south of Indian Cay, lying low in the water with her mainsail luffing and not moving. A little strange.

Later in the morning on the dock, Albert talked to a guy named Pat with red, sun-bleached hair in shorts and sandals, who said that's his boat, a 32' production catamaran.   Yesterday morning in the dark, he ran her onto the rocks trying to find them West End channel, and she sank and is now awash.  It was only a matter time before she broke up completely.  He would get the sail down today, and begin to move what he could off the boat.
His wife had just moved aboard with all of her important things, and he had all of his worldly possessions aboard, including carpenters tools, some from his father and grandfather.  Locals were helping them with a place to stay, and some logistics, hopefully. He said he had been living on sailboats for most of his adult life, they had raised their (now adult) children on a different boat. This whole situation would be a good article for Cruising World magazine, but we didnt have the time for that effort.  In a later conversatoin with a Customs official, he said that boats end up the rocks somewhat regularly, its a shame. Good luck, Pat and his wife!

Another thing is that the resort/ marina at West End, Bahama Bay something, was officially closed due to damage from Hurricane Mathew. The marina had reduced services, meaning no electric or water.  We got a low rate to stay there, so we did.  The clearing in was easy, too.  The navigation lights on the breakwaters were not working, of course. They did have fuel, using a generator.







Post script on the failed boom fitting, Albert improvised a jury rig replacement with a plain steel bolt and a shackle, but the original would need to be repaired, or replaced with something better.  A week later in Green Turtle Cay, we found a welder who fixed up the old hardware and we'll see how long that works.