Well, friends and family, it's been a few weeks since our last blog. Much has happened. When we last wrote, we had just gotten to St. Augustine, Florida, on the way south to Miami. Sally's pain and leg weakness began to change in ways that were worrisome, not just in the hoped-for healing of the left leg. We decided together that she would fly home for medical consultation to try to find out what was going on. And, in order to try to preserve hopes that the cruise wasn't over, just in case Sally could return some time soon, we decided that our son, Derek, would fly down to Jacksonville and help Lynn keep the boat moving south. Derek and Emily, our youngest daughter, were planning to join the cruise in the Bahamas for the month of December at any rate. Emily stayed home to help Sally with her medical issues and to help take care of her while she is partially disabled.
So Sally flew home Sunday before Thanksgiving and was able to see her neurologist Tuesday morning. He was concerned enough to do further tests on Sally's lumbar nerves and both legs, so had her admitted to Long Island Jewish Hospital Thanksgiving Day. Pain medication was changed and the tests indicated that Sally had a very rare autoimmune response in the arteries of her lower spinal region that was impacting the nerves to both legs. This diagnosis means she will heal, but it will take a year or more. So, for the time, the cruise will be put on hold.
Derek flew south Friday after Thanksgiving. Lynn was able to use the marina car to pick him up at the Jacksonville airport. The next day, they headed out. The hope was to go out the St. Augustine inlet and sail south along the Florida coast, but heavy rains and strong southerly winds made this not an option, so we motor-sailed down the ICW. The first day got us to Daytona Beach, where we anchored out of the channel with a group of other south-bound sailboats. The next day, weather continuing to be rainy with winds from the south, we again motor-sailed to Cape Canaveral, where we went 6 miles to the east in order to take advantage of a favorable weather forecast for the next day and go out the Cape Canaveral inlet to sail "outside" in the ocean. Waking up at 6:oo the next morning we were greeted by heavy rains and continuing strong southerly winds, so we retraced our 6 miles back west to the ICW and continued to motor, this time just getting to Vero Beach Marina as night was falling. This marina consists mostly of moorings in a quiet, well-sheltered creek off to the left of the ICW. It was crowded, so we rafted up to another boat.
Early the next morning we set out again, in a lovely, sunny pre-dawn and continued motoring south. We were ahead of a group of sailboats and, largely thanks to using our large mainsail to advantage, pulled ahead and stayed there all day. Until we got to a series of bascule bridges, five of them, which insisted on waiting for all nearby boats to gather before opening. We figure the five bridges cost us about an hour getting into Lake Worth, where the only available anchorage for miles was to be found. We did, again, just get the hook down in Lake Worth before night fell. In spite of being at the north end of the lake, which is about 3 miles long, with the southerly blowing, the water was fairly quiet and we were able to sleep. The weather forecasts showed the weather pattern of the last four days finally breaking, the sky clearing and the wind veering around to the north, so we were finally able to motor out the Lake Worth Inlet and sail 50 nautical miles south. We were hoping for real boat speed to get to Miami, where Derek's friend, Seth was flying in that evening (Wednesday). But we were a little too slow, so pulled into Fort Lauderdale at the end of the day, found a marina where we tied up to the dock. Seth was able to get a shuttle from the airport and arrived at the boat later that night. Derek and Lynn walked over to a local restaurant and had a nice seafood dinner while waiting.
Next morning we were fortunate with the weather and went out the Fort Lauderdale inlet to sail the 25 miles to Miami. By the way, going "outside" from Lake Worth to Miami saved us waiting for 31 bascule bridges to open, about a third of them restricted, which means they only open on the hour or half hour. We figured it would have taken us about three more days to make the last two sailing days of this part of the trip if we had gone inside the ICW.
We got to Miami early in the afternoon, sailed into and through the harbor and south to Key Biscayne, where the cruising guides describe two good harbors for cruising sailboats to anchor while waiting to cross the Gulf Stream. We spent a day running around Miami, getting some vital supplies, including groceries. We got back to the boat quite tired out and found that the northerly winds which had been blowing too strongly to cross were forecast to slacken off that night and to blow from the northwest, then the west at only 6 knots. We debated this and decided to give it a try, just to get out east far enough to see what the Gulf Stream was doing. The forecast said it would only have 2 to 4 foot waves in 6 knots of wind. Up at 3 am, we motored carefully out the inlet south of Key Biscayne in the dark. It took about an hour to get to the western edge of the Gulf Stream, where we found waves a bit larger than forecast, but manageable, so we went on. We got the sails up and were having a good time sailing in waves to about 6 feet, winds in the low teens. These numbers increased a bit until we were speeding along in winds of 18 knots and waves 8 feet high, but the boat was handling it well, so the three adventurers felt good about it. The favorable winds continued until about 10:00 am and then slacked off quite a lot, so we motor-sailed the last hour and a half, sighted Bimini and motored into the harbor around 11:30. We did misjudge the sandbar at the entrance and touched down on the sandbar a few times in between small waves, but we quickly got back into deeper water and got into the harbor.
Bimini is a slim island running approximately north and south with a similarly slim harbor and several docks. We tied up at one just inside the harbor, Weech’s Bimini Dock, and checked into the Bahamas with the Customs Office nearby. This allowed us to take down our yellow quarantine flag and raise the courtesy Bahamas flag. Seth and Derek took a walk to the beach and Lynn took the dingy out for an exploration of the harbor. While exploring the harbor entrance and getting a better look at the sandbar that nearly trapped us, Lynn saw manta rays just under the surface. One wingtip broke the surface near a red buoy where the water was clear with a greenish tint and a sandy bottom about 15 feet deep. Several dark manta rays were swimming right there, under the dingy. Very cool to see them.
The next day, we set out about 9:00, not particularly early, aiming to sail halfway across the Great Bahamas Bank and anchor out in the open. We did this, but the wind again was stronger than expected, about 16 to 20 knots, so it wasn’t a quiet night, but a noisy, rolling and pitching one in which no one got much sleep. When we got up at first light to get going the next morning, we had broken our anchor snubber, a line that hooks onto the anchor chain and ties to a bow cleat to take the pressure of the anchor off the bow roller and anchor windlass of the boat. Without this snubber, several additional feet of chain and rope had pulled out around the windlass and our main anchor rope was chaffed (rubbed and damaged some). We sailed on, again in 18 to 20 knots of wind and arrived at Chubb Cay, the southernmost of the Berry Islands and a major stopping point for boats headed to and from Nassau or north to Freeport. We entered a very nice marina there and tied to a dock, sheltered from the wind and waves and glad of it. The marina hosts fishing tournaments several times a year, but at this time, it only had half a dozen other boats in it. That night the three of us had dinner in the only restaurant there and were the only three people in the restaurant. That was a bit odd, but the food was excellent.
The next day we went on, sailing in the still-strong NE winds, running downwind to the southeast, 35 miles to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. The harbor there is an open channel running west to east and is known for being busy and rolly, not so well protected, so we again tied up at a dock, this time one known as a cruiser’s haven, called in fact, Nassau Yacht Haven. We ate at a place called the Poop Deck, described as a famous sailor watering hole. After the isolated feel of Chubb Cay and the several days without talking to other sailors Lynn was ready for some company and salty talk, but the Poop Deck turned out to be a nice, quiet bar and restaurant with no one spouting sailing stories.
The next day was Wednesday, Seth’s day to fly home, but we had the morning to play with, so got a local fellow to tell us where some good snorkeling was and we piled into the dingy and headed east to Rose Island, about 4 miles east of Nassau Harbor. We did find some good reefs and had a very nice snorkel and got back in time to get Seth off to the airport. Then Lynn and Derek worked on getting on line for weather information and started making another anchor snubber, as well as finding some local expertise to repair the main anchor line. Next day, Thursday we finished these and other repair projects and went to the Atlantis Hotel to visit the aquarium, which was quite impressive and took the rest of the afternoon. On the walk back, we found some local street food vendors and bought some delicious snapper, conch and shrimp with plaintains and rice and peas.
Now, ready to move on we have had a cold front move into the area, which is forecast to give us stormy weather from now (Friday) through Tuesday. So we can’t go out with winds forecast to go over 30 knots and waves over 20 feet. No way. After exploring the options and finding storing the boat in the Bahamas not a good option, we plan to sail back to Florida and find a good, safe marina a bit north of Miami to leave Southern Belle. With the boat safe and sound we plan to fly back home to spend Christmas with Sally and Emily and to deal with Sally’s ongoing recovery. The cruise will have to wait until Sally is recovered and healthy. All of you who have followed or been a part of the travels of Sally, Lynn, Derek and Seth aboard Southern Belle, thank you for your friendship, your caring and concern. We hope to see you all again, as soon as we can. Fair winds and calm seas, Lynn and Sally Means
