Green Turtle Cay Wed April 12th

We left Manjack Cay Wed. and went to the Bluff House Marina, Green Turtle Cay. We  got tied up before the 5 days of forcasted winds started blowing. At this point we are starting to look for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream back to Florida.  We ended up staying 6 nights here.

Thursday night is Pizza night and we splurged on a Lobster Pizza an a Jerk Chicken Pizza.  Great lunch leftovers! When the winds would subside we would take the dink out and  cruise around the Island and go to New Providence for provisions. One of the quirky things here is they have a well stocked liqueur store with a lunch counter.  They serve great burgers! Tom and Julie came in on Friday and we rented a Golf card with them and did some land based exploring including stopping at Pineapples for a Gumbay Smash.  On Easter Sunday we took the dingy over to the Green Turtle Club for an outstanding dinner.

On Tuesday morning we left Green Turtle Cay around 8:30 and cruised up to Allen's-Pensacola Cay and anchored out for the night.  On Wednesday we cruised to Great Sail Cay and a huge anchorage. which by evening time head 30 boats at anchor.  One of the very bizarre thing you can see here are called fish mud's,  The anchorage water was a milky blue. This is caused be schools of fish churning up the bottom. The entire anchorage was churned up at one point.  We even saw large patches of these fish mud's in the middle of the Bahama Bank.

On Thursday we headed to Old Bahama Bay Marina at West End.  This is were we departed for Florida on Friday morning.  All week the weather forecasts said that  Friday would have light winds and waves 2-3 feet.  Friday morning it was blowing a solid 15 knots and waves now predicted at 3-4 feet.  We checked the wind direction which was going to be blowing from the South East and the Gulf Stream runs South to North.  Our 82 Mile run to Florida would be at an angle from West End to Stuart.

As it turned out we had winds pretty much on the stern most of the way.  We  did a little surfing down the waves when we would get a 6 footer.  All in all, a fairly comfortable ride with no breaking waves. Seven hours latter we crossed the St Lucie Inlet and Stuart Florida! Back to the good old USA!!!

After waiting out a Thunderstorm Sunday morning we left Stuart for the run across Lake Okeechobee.

It rained for half of the 92 mile 9 hour run to  River Forest where we stopped for the night. The next morning we cruised for another 7 hours and arrived back at SnookBight Marina in Ft Myers Beach.

As if on Que we had dolphins escort us for a while as we were approaching  Ft Myers. SnookBight is now our home Marina in Florida.  Putz'n Around will spend the summer here in the water.  If there is a named storm the Marina will lift the boat out and put her in a hurricane rated building.

 
That's it for this post. We will head home on the 11th of April.  I will post one more time with trip stats, in about a week.  In the mean time we are going to relax with good friends and get some beach time.  The last time I checked it was 39 and snow was in the forecast in Minnesota!

Manjack Cay

On Sunday we slipped our mooring lines and started our trek North.  We took the cut out of North Man O War into the Atlantic.  The cut was rough but doable.  We were taking some blue water on the deck but once out of the swells in the cut the water smoothed out to a 2-3 foot swell.  I had bought pre-rigged Ballyhoo and we started fishing in a 1000 ft of water.  I had dreams of Wahoo and Tuna, no such luck not a single bite```, oh well at least I was fishing.  We reached the Whale passage which can be the most treacherous in all of the Bahamas, and found the conditions excellent for the passage back into the Sea of Abaco.  Based on the winds kicking up I doubt any boats will get through for a week.  Timing is everything and we had timed our passage to sneak through before the winds came up Monday.

We anchored for three nights at N Manjack Cay, this was well protected from the NE winds.  After a couple of attempts our anchor finally bit.  After setting up the anchor bridle, Tom from Sum Escape came over with the dingy and a glass bottom bucket and checked  out our anchor, it was well set. At 5:30 Kim and Bryan from the sailing Cat Freedom, and ourselves went over to Sum Escape for cocktails.  We had a great reunion with Freedom we had last seen them in Stainiel Cay in Feb for Bryan's 50 the Birthday.  This is now one of our favorite anchorages, there are miles of beaches for Brigitte to collect more Sea Biscuits and Sea Urchins. The owner of this Cay has cut miles of hiking trails to the various beaches and encourages those anchored here to enjoy them. These folks have lived on the Island for 20 years and are completely self sufficient.  Our time with the Stingray's was very special, they seem to enjoy swimming over your feet and brushing up against your legs.  On Tuesday we cruised the 6 miles back to Green Turtle Cay and the Bluff House Marina.
Cheers for now.

4/8/17 last post from Hope Town

It is bitter sweet writing this final post from Hope Town ( this year).  This community on Elbow Cay has a way of getting into your heart.  From the great new friends we have made to the numerous acquaintances.  Life is quite simple yet plenty or things to keep you busy. We meet one of the local Water color artists named Brigitte from Germany, more connections, Shopping at Vernon'S Grocery, or having a beer at Captain Jacks. W/F is garbage pick up, you take your garbage to the commercial dock and deposit your trash between 8:30 and 9:30.

 Every day is the Cruisers Net on VHF channel at 8:15.  Weather, ocean pass reports, announcements, and arrival and departures are the main topics. Brigitte has developed a skill at hunting Sea Biscuits! as well.  Last night we had Cocktails on our boat with Sum Escape and Classic Cyn.  We the took a shuttle to the south of the Cay and had an unbelievable Prime Rib Dinner. The views here are incredible!  One Side is the Sea of Abaco and the other is the Atlantic.

Today is or last day here as we are heading to Man Jack Cay for a few days of Anchoring and then to Green Turtle Cay for a week or whenever a weather window to cross back to Florida.  For now Brigitte is enjoying the pool and I am blogging, drinking beer in the bar and watching the Masters! Cheers for now.

Man O War Cay

Each Cay has its own character, like Hope Towns;  Harbor, Roster's crowing in the morning. and Church bells at noon and 6 PM.

Man O War is known for there wooden ship building,  which began around 1820-1830. Yesterday we took the ferry to this quaint Island for a dedication ceremony of their history and culture around this industry.  Settled by the loyalists,  the Aubrey Family began making wooden sailing vessels to support transportation and fishing.  Man O War had no electricity until 1958! They also make sailing dingy's.  They cut the specialty woods on the big Island of Abaco and import other woods such as Alaskan Yellow Cedar.  We we fortunate to met one of the elder Aubrey's who showed us a sailing dingy he is building.  This Gentlemen  is in his seventy's and he and his older brothers are the last of the master Wooden boat builders left. Other's have turned to building beautiful fiber glass center consoles be the younger generations.

This is strong Christian community,  the only Alcohol available is at one of the two restaurants. Many of the individuals shared their family history.  The Minister of tourism for the Bahamas was the key note speaker.  They had a fundraiser barbecue for lunch and many individuals sold local crafts and food products.  This day was one of the highlights of our trip this year.

 A curly tailed lizard stealing a grape from Brigitte