12-19-2013

Thursday December 19th, 2013


Hi Everyone,

WE MADE IT, with the help of our friends Paul and Susie!!!!  This is our story.

After our last Blog, which we wrote when we were in Bulls Creek, we sailed on Nov 23 to Thunderbolt Marina in Thunderbolt which is a suburb of Savannah, Georgia.  There some friends  Debbie and Doug, who live in Savannah, came to meet us on the boat and took us on a tour of Savannah and then to dinner.  We had a wonderful time with them.  Savannah is a very Southern and charming town so I felt very much at home there.

We stayed at the Marina instead of moving on as gale force winds were predicted.  Many boats stayed on the dock, even those who have done the crossing to the Bahamas 13 times.  We decided, since we couldn't leave, to do some more sight seeing so we took a cab ride to The Riverwalk area.  This is a very cute area with lots of shops.  However it was so cold and windy we only stayed for a short time and I was really glad to get back to our warm cozy boat.

Our next concern was  how to get to Jacksonville, Florida as our plane tickets were from there to fly home for Thanksgiving.  We had hoped to make it to Jacksonville  the day  before we were to fly home which was Wednesday the 27th.  However due to the weather we had to stay  at the Marina in Thunderbolt.  We decided to rent a car and drove to Jacksonville,  spending the night there as our plane left early the next morning and we wanted to make absolutely sure we got on the plane to see our family for Thanksgiving.

We arrived at La Guardia on Wednesday and our daughter Brooke picked us up at the airport.  We did not go home but stayed at Brooke and Ben's house.  It was wonderful to see our grandchildren, Olivia and Amelia.  Brooke's husband, Ben, cooked a great meal for us.  The next day, which was Thanksgiving,  Emily and Dan, and our son Derek came to their house.  Brooke cooked the Thanksgiving feast with all the trimmings and we had many lively discussions which hopefully will be carried on when we are home for Christmas.  On Friday, Emily and Dan took us to the airport and we flew back to Jacksonville and then drove to Savannah to the boat.

The next morning we were very aware that we had to make a lot of miles every day if we were going to make it to Lake Worth, Florida to make the crossing to the Bahamas  in early December, before winter storms became too frequent.  So we left the Marina at 7:00am.  It was so cold there was frost of the main sail cover and our water hose was frozen. This was a first for us!!!  We anchored that night at New Teakettle Creek, off the ICW.  In 2010 we had   stayed  at an anchorage with power lines lower than our mast top near us so we wanted to make sure we did not do that this time. Hopefully you learn from your mistakes!

The next day was a high mileage travel day, going 67 miles. We also went aground in Jeckle Creek.  Several times, but in soft mud, so we managed to get free and keep going.  We were going very slow so it was not as bad as the first time we went aground.  We also managed to get safely through an area were we went aground in 2010, right near a submarine base in southernmost Georgia.  We made it to Cumberland Island Sound and anchored right at sunset.

The next day we motored another 67 miles and took a mooring at St Augustine, Florida.  As soon as we got there Lynn had to jump in the dingy and go ashore to get to West Marine before closing so he  could get a needed cruising guide of the Florida coast.  He made it in time!  The next day we went to Rock hall creek and anchored.  We saw lots of dolphins and this was a very nice anchorage.  Lynn had been concerned it would be uncomfortably subject to currents as it was very near the ocean inlet; however, it was fine and had several other boats anchored there.  The next day we motored to Port Canaveral's Cape Marina for some repairs to the boat and dingy. I was  disappointed as we were suppose to anchor at  a friend of mine from college who lives on the ICW  in Cocoa. However since we had repairs that were needed (low oil pressure reading, leaky hatch and crooked steering) we had to go to the marina.  Linda and her husband came and picked us up and we stayed at their house for 3 days.  She also encouraged me to do our provisioning for the Bahamas there rather than wait till Fort Worth and let us use one of their cars to do so.  Thank goodness we listened and that Lynn agreed to do it at 10:00 at night.  I have never bought so much canned goods!!!  The Bahamas has food but is is much more expensive and sometimes hard to find certain items.  I also should mention that we took Linda and Dennis out to eat and that night both Dennis and Lynn had food poisoning!!!!

After our visit with Linda and all the repairs were finished we motored to Vero Beach and took a mooring.  The next morning, as we were leaving, we were approaching another boat that was just sitting there, not going under the bridge, but in the channel and in our way.  We asked them if there was a reason they were not going under the bridge. They said they were having engine problems but what they failed to tell us is that they were aground.  As we approached the bridge, trying to go around them, we also went aground.  We had to call boat US to get us off.  We now were concerned about making the dock at Lake Worth before dark, especially with the timing of the 8 bridge openings ahead of us that day.  Lake Worth is where we were to make the crossing to the Bahamas from, meet the other boat Happy Hour ll and pick up our friends Paul and Susie who were flying from Chicago to make the crossing with us.  So as you can see it was very important that we get to Lake Worth.  We pulled in to the dock at 5:35, a few minutes before dark, and were greeted by our friends on Happy Hour II.

The next day was very busy!!!  We were planning to leave the dock  at 4:00 pm while it was daylight to anchor near the inlet to the Ocean.  We planned to make the crossing after dinner at about 9:00pm. Lynn, Paul and Betty and Chuck from Happy Hour got together to plan the route.  I did the wash and went to the grocery store.  We left at 4:00 as planned.  We anchored out at the inlet. It was a beautiful clear starry night.  We had dinner and then everyone rested till we left at 9:00.  We couldn't sail as the wind was on the nose so it was very bumpy. (Having sails full of breeze steadies the boat.)  We were leading with Happy Hour following behind us.  In the middle of the night we started hearing a soft thud occasionally, somewhere in the boat, and tried to figure out which door was swinging, what item was moving, but couldn't until Lynn began to realize that the thud was gradually growing louder and seemed familiar.  Around 6 am, just before making it onto the Bahama banks at Memory Rock, Lynn remembered the sound that the mast made nine years ago when the base moved side to side and he went down below and looked at the mast base and found that it was moving as the boat rolled in the waves.  We had it fixed firmly in place back then and it hadn't moved since, but now there it was again.  A few minutes of exhausted reflection made it clear that this was a priority that couldn't be put aside, so Lynn made the decision to head south for Freeport, a major port with repair facilities.  The crew and Happy Hours II were disappointed, of course, but off we went.  Happy Hours continued on the planned course and ended up in the Abacos, a very nice group of Northern Bahamas islands.

The next 8 days were spent partly at Knowles Yard getting the mast base tightened down, with metal plates bolted in to prevent any movement, visiting the island of Grand Bahama with Paul and Susie and, after they left, getting to know two other cruising couples, Mark and Rita and Geoff and Leslie.  The latter had cruised the Bahamas before and had many valuable tips about places to visit, obtaining weather information and so on.  Lynn worked on learning to use the single sideband radio and the satellite phone, intended to be main sources of weather information.  Mark and Lynn took the boat out for a test sail at 7 am on the 18th, early to catch the high tide to get over the sandbar at the entrance to our inlet.  In light winds, the mast base seemed secure.  We had been hoping for a bit more wind and wave for a more rigorous test.  Later that day we got our first slowdown in the boat work and first dip in the beautiful Bahamian waters.  We saw an Eagle Ray and a lion fish in the inlet also that day.

On the 19th, we flew back to New York to celebrate the Holidays with family and friends and are still in the middle of that.  We made a very nice dinner party at a friend's Friday night, put up the outside Christmas lights on the house, went and picked up our 3 and 1/2 year-old granddaughter, who helped us pick out a tree and then helped put the lights on it last night.  We've laid in some provisions and look forward to the imminent arrival of our three grown children and their significant others, so the house will be full of celebration within hours.

We wish you and yours a very Happy Holidays.  Be safe and warm and in good health.  Our Best Wishes for a Happy New Year,  Lynn and Sally of Southern Belle