We arrived!

We did arrive mid December just fine in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, we have had major Internet access difficulty this year. Our cell phones, although they are new "smart" phones and have GSM capability, apparently there are two types of GSM and we have the "different" one than the Bahamas. As a result, we cannot access and read our email and Facebook accounts like we did last year.

We left Florida out of the Bakers Haulover Inlet this year to really calm water. We thought we should "pinch" ourselves because the water was so calm. Unfortunately, it did get a little rough about half way across to Bimini. Once we reached Bimini and the Bahamas Banks, they shallower water calmed the ocean down and it was better the rest of the day.

Beautiful morning shot of Miami behind us.

We crossed with our friends on Pirate and No Agenda. We anchored out for the night near the Northwest Channel Light, and continued on the next morning and arrived in Nassau around 2 that afternoon. Our friends on Carliegh, Rita-Kay and Clay, met us at the dock. It was great to see them.

We spent a couple of days in Nassau, Rita-Kay and I went downtown and checked out the stores and having a "girl" day together. Bob went off looking for our rum provisions. We also shopped at the new grocery store by the docks that is as good as a Fresh Fields in the US. That was quite a surprise! We treated ourselves to a dinner of sushi at the restaurant across from the marina with Rita-Kay and Clay.

After a couple of days, we headed out to cross down to Norman's Cay and top of the Exuma chain of islands. We had a really rough crossing to Norman's, but once we reached the lee of the Exuma Islands, after and 3 hours, it calmed down. Bob had sped up to make that part go faster and that meant we could reach Staniel in one day. Since we wanted to be sure and make Staniel by Christmas, we pushed on.

In Staniel, we caught up with Pirate and No Agenda, and our friends on Windemere, and Exodus. Christmas Eve, there was a get-together on the Pirate Beach.

Our Christmas Eve on the beach

The resident Rooster that lives on Pirate Beach and is a real pest!

Christmas Day we had dinner on No Agenda with many of our cruising friends. Bob had purchased a Turkey in Nassau and Ray on No Agenda had a convection "no oil fryer" to cook it in. It turned out great.

Wendy and her snowmen earrings, dressed for the day.

Our Christmas Turkey cooking!

Bob preparing to carve our turkey with Wendy.

All the dingy's lined up behind No Agenda for Christmas Dinner

After Christmas, the next event in Staniel Cay is the annual Pirate Pirate. Bob and I pulled out the costumes we made last year and had a great time!

Bob and I ready for the Pirate action

Wayne and Sharona on My Sharona

Friends Sarah and Butch that live on Staniel Cay.

Gail and Eric on Vikings Dream

Bob with Sue on Independence, Sharon and Wayne on My Sharona, and Debbie and Bruce on Different Drummer

We are sad to say that this year during a fun race of crusing sailboats and local Bahamian sloops there was a wreck at one of the marks. Glory Days, a beautiful sailing cat built by Laurie the owner was hit on a starboard tack by a Bahamian sloop Tida Wave. Although all the people on the pry of Tida Wave were knocked in the water, all were uninjured. Glory Days had a large gash in the port hull, but was able to limp in to pig beach.

Glory Days after it arrived safely with all aboard at pig beach.

Closeup of the damage on Glory Days

Arrival of Amazing Grace, a salvage boat from a nearby island.

Amazing Grace was able to patch the hole and has now towed it back to Florida. Laurie and Fran are "recovering" and we wish them well and hope to see them back in the Bahamas next year.

Sophie, the new puppy of Susan and Ray on No Agenda. We are all enjoyed spending time playing with Sophie.

We needed to get laundry done, so we decided to cruise to Great Guana Cay, an island south of Staniel Cay and visit our friend Lorraine at Lorraine's Cafe and Ida at the Laundromat. We arrived to Lorraine's to find that it had a new paint job! Uriah, Lorraine's husband had done a great job painting the outside of the building. Lorraine asked if I knew of any cruiser that was an artist. She was looking to find someone to do a mural on one interior wall. I offered to do the mural. We settled on what would be included and a week later I arrived back with some paints I borrowed from my artist friend Sarah on Staniel and my paints to get started.

Lorraine's Cafe with the brand new paint job and new roof.

Lorraine and her newest granddaughter!

Bob spending some time teasing Lorraine's youngest son Joshua.

The blank wall I started with for the mural.

Lorraine and I in front of the finished mural. I guess I can now claim that I am an "International Artist."!

We watched the Redskins/Sea Hawks game on No Agenda. I painted Bob up with "war paint" for the game!

Unfortunately, the war paint did not help the Redskins.

One of the prettiest sunsets we have had so far in the Bahamas. Good Night!

We will be in the Staniel Cay and Black Point area till after the Super Bowl and then will begin to head down to George Town.

Delayed Departure - Next Stop Bahamas

Thanks to Hurricane Sandy, we were a week late on our departure this year. At least she only brought us winds and the boat survived just fine at her home port tied with 13 lines in her hurricane tie-up. We were very fortunate that the storm did not come up the bay which would have brought significant tidal surges.

We had been living on the boat for a few days as our way to make sure we had all the things we needed for the trip as usual and ended up moving back up to the house for the storm. Bob made a number of trips to the dock to check on the boat during the night of the worst part of the storm. Luckily, the water level never was higher than the dock, so he was able to reach the boat ok.

We were underway the 5th of November this year. We stopped at Norfolk as usual this year staying at the Naval Base Marina. We were within sight of the aircraft carrier Enterprise that had just arrived back from her final tour of duty the day before. After 37 years of service, she will now be deactivated. We saluted her as we passed her the next day.

The Enterprise after her last tour of duty. We salute you!

Beautiful tall ship docked in Norfolk.

We chose to go through the Great Lock and use the Virginia Cut route rather than the Dismal Swamp route this year. Although going through the swamp is beautiful, it is narrow and in normal years (when there are no big storms in the area) the swamp usually has a number of trees and deadheads in the water to watch out for. It is also another day longer to go that way.

We stopped for the night at the Coinjock Marina right on the ICW. Their restaurant is famous for their prime rib, which of course the Captain ordered. We ate that for a couple of days afterward! Due to some high winds, we ended up staying at Coinjock an extra day unti the winds died down some making a more comfortable crossing of Albermarle Sound.

Our next stop was Dowry Creek Marina. This was our first time at this marina. It had top ratings in Active Captain. We had never hit this right before to stop, or the weather was nice, so we anchored out nearby instead of using the marina. It is very nice place. Every evening there is a happy hour for the cruisers in the club house. They also have a great pool - which of course was closed this time of year. We would stop there again.

Our next stop was Morehead City, NC. This year we went to Morehead City Yacht Basin and found we much preferred it over Beaufort City Docks across the ICW. It is off the ICW and away from the ocean inlet and does not have strong currents making it much easier to dock. We left the boat there, rented a car, and drove to visit Bob's daughter Krista and family in Camp Lejeune, then on to Raleigh to visit Bob's son Greg and his family and Bob's brother Dave and sister-in-law Nanci. We arrived back on the boat to find all was well.

Bob's son Greg and grandchildren Josh, Lilie and Brooke enjoying their bikes on a beautiful afternoon.

We were back underway on Tuesday passing Camp Lejeune and Wilmington Beach. Another new marina we stopped at was Jacksonville Beach Marina in Florida. In Jacksonville, we splurged and went to Marker 32, a five star restaurant next to the marina and it was worth every star. Best meal we have had just about anywhere!

When we were passing by Fernandina Beach, FL we heard Windemere on the radio going in for fuel. We spent a lot of time anchored by John and Wendy in Staniel Cay last year. They were the first boat we had passed that we knew on the ICW.

Windemere at the fuel dock in Fernandina Beach.

We did our usual stop in Palm Coast Marina, Palm Coast, FL to have our list of engine maintenance completed by Al's Mobile Marine Service, our favorite mechanic. While we were there, our friends Dennis and Bettye on Miss Bettye who live in St. Augustine came to see us. Bettye and I went shopping a couple of days - always fun to have a
"girls day out" and I don't get that many of those! We had several evenings of Texas Hold'em poker to satisfy our addictions! Dennis and Bettye also graciously had us for Thanksgiving dinner with their friends.

Well maintained fishing boat along the ICW.

After Palm Coast, we headed south and anchored a night in Titusville, then on to Vero Beach where we moored at the City Marina there. The second day we were there, our friends Ed and Dee on Sea Fox X arrived and tied up on our mooring next to us. It was so good to see them again. Last year we saw them in Vero Beach but Ed was not feeling well, so they stayed in the Florida Keys until he got better. Unfortunately, he got worse and it was found that he had several brain tumors and he was flown back to Canada where the largest one was removed. We were so thankful to hear that the tumors were benign and he is back to his normal self. They have decided to just stay in in Florida with their boat again this winter, but may fly over and visit us during the Family Island Regatta this year.

Sea Fox X arriving in Vero Beach

Ed and Dee again in Vero Beach

We also caught up with Cathie and Tom on Interlude, other Texas Hold'em players, and one day Dennis and Bettye drove 3 hours to Vero Beach for lunch with us all and we had a great game of hold'em with them, Ed and Dee, and Tom and Cathie! I actually won that game, but tried not to gloat too much.

Ed, Bob, Dennis, and Tom following an afternoon of poker.

Dee, Bettye, and Ed intent on winning the game

Penny and her winnings. Sorry, this was taken with our new camera and we obviously need to go back and read the directions for the settings! Even Picassa could not fix it.

This porpoise led us all the way through the anchorage when we arrived in Vero Beach. He must work with this welcome wagon.

After a week in Vero Beach, we headed on south to Lake Worth where we picked up some mail that was sent to us and did some shopping. Ed and Dee arrived the next day and we did some shopping and dining together. Ed and Dee left the next day to get some customs paperwork taken care of and we moved on south.

We found an anchorage that looked interesting, an enclosed small lake down a canel off the the ICW called Maule Lake. We spent a day there and then moved to The Waterways Marina for a couple of days and met up with our friends Ray and Susan on No Agenda and Jim and Janie on Pirate. Ray stores his boat in this marina and has two cars there. Ray let us use a vehicle, so we were able to do some last minute errands while we watched the weather for a window to cross to the Bahamas. It finally looks like that day will be tomorrow, the 17th.

Pretty Penny at anchor as the only "transient" boat in Maule Lake.

A huge beautiful home on Maule Lake

Intracoastal Waterway to Home!

When we reached the US, My Sharona a boat we were traveling with suggested that we all stay at a little known marina (we say that loosely as it is just docks with power and water - no other services like laundry or showers, etc.) that is in a lagoon surrounded by 4-5 story condos. The location made it a pretty protected marina.


Miss Bettye and My Sharona at the marina

The night we arrived we ordered Pizza and had a quiet dinner on the boat followed by a very tired game of Texas Hold'em! It was great to cross with My Sharona. We have crossed over to the Bahamas with them a few years, but I think this was the first for a return trip.

Wayne and Sharon had access to a vehicle stored at the marina and took us to a Publix and a West Marine store. The first trip back to a real super grocery store in the US makes you really appreciate all you have available in the US. Even the best grocery we have been to in the Bahamas does not come close to the groceries in the US. We are like kids in a candy store!

We had dinner at a local restaurant with Dennis and Bettye the second night. We would be leaving My Sharona there as they would be getting their boat ready to be stored on the hard for the summer nearby and Dennis and Bettye would be heading up to St. Augustine on a slower pace than us, although we would meet up with them again when we reached Palm Coast, FL.


Passing by Vero Beach we saw this yellow plane passing back and forth over the ICW, so I went to take a photo. Then I saw that it said Mosquitto Control and I realized that they were spraying! I quickly ducked back into the boat.


Beautiful home of the ICW in Vero Beach


Another beautiful home near Vero


Haulover Canal Bridge


Houseboat on the ICW


Pelican roosting island


A little "floating" hot dog stand in Intracoastal Waterway. Too bad we had just had lunch!

We always stop in Palm Coast, FL to have engine maintenance done on the boat by our favorite mechanic Al's Mobile Marine Service. Al and his wife Ann are what enables us to cruise the Bahamas. When Bob is stumped on a problem, he calls Al who helps determine what part is broken and then Ann sources it for us and gets it shipped out to us. Bless them!


Al down in the engine room.


Sunset at Palm Coast Marina


Sunrise the morning we left the Palm Coast Marina to resume out trip North.


Pony on the beach on Cumberland Island, Georgia


We went through an area where seagulls followed behind our boat. The Captain said he thought they though we were a fishing boat and were looking for a handout.

At this point, I tried to post this blog and it was denied. It also lost the rest of my post. We did make it home safely, although we managed to get right in the middle of a tall ship parade "OPSAIL 2012" going through Norfolk and upset the local police no end. Very long story to be only be told over significant libations. Needless to say, we will be worried about passing through Chesapeake, VA on all future trips.