Fernandina to Elizabeth City 24-30 April

 

 Sunday morning and we are ready to head out offshore with a 2 day weather window which will allow us to skip the shallow and meandering ICW rivers and canals of Georgia and southern South Carolina. The forecast is for light winds from the east which should allow some motor-sailing on relatively smooth seas.

 It started out fairly smooth but soon the swells grew in the St Mary's inlet as the incoming swells met the outgoing tide. We took a little bit of water over the bow but nothing compared to departing Georgetown back in January. 

   As soon as we cleared the inlet breakwaters the conditions settled down. Unfortunately the wind was too light to do much sailing and we had to motor all day. But at least we were avoiding the Georgia ICW and not getting beat up by the waves.

   Our last sunset while out in the ocean for this trip. Still a flat ocean and motoring along. Good thing we got our heat exchanger leak fixed as we motored for over 24 hours on this leg.

   The next day the wind finally came up in the afternoon and allowed us to motor sail as forecasted. We were able to make it all the way to the Georgetown inlet north of Charlestown, savings us over 3 days of traveling up the ICW. 

   Here's an interesting sight - breakers out in the ocean on a fairly calm day. As we approached the Winyah Bay inlet I noticed on the chart there were offshore shoals and the chart says "breaks in even settled wave conditions." We were able to confirm exactly what the chart said. The ocean bottom goes around  40-50ft to about 10ft at these shoals.

   Each time I make an ocean passage I am reminded how much safer it is today with good charts and GPS.

   Back in the ICW in the Waccamaw River making our way up towards North Carolina. Always interesting sites in the ICW.

   At Little River we saw two of these large canoes paddling up the river. The first had 20 paddlers and this one, the second, has 18. All seemed having a good time on the water. 

   We anchored for the night at the Little River crossroads near Calabash. Once safely anchored we received weather warnings of approaching dangerous thunderstorms with hail. We watched the billowing thunderheads approaching.

   Fortunately, the severe squall line steadily diminished as the frontal line reached the ocean boundary and we only had steady rain with some lightening but no hail. 

  Our next stop was Holden Beach where we could visit with my brother who is still able to work from home at his house on the beach. One of the  benefits of the COVID pandemic.

  We saw that someone at Holden Beach is copying the Key West tiki bar idea. This bar is for rent for those visiting Holden Beach.

   Next stop up the ICW is Masonboro Inlet at Wrightsville. There is always some twist on the water that makes things interesting. As we came around the corner towards the anchorage we encountered this dredge. It would have been no problem except he appeared to be exhibiting the safe passage diamonds on the wrong side of the dredge. Sue finally got him on the radio and he confirmed the diamonds were on the wrong side. Still it was a bit confusing as there were two large buoys that normally float the effluent waste pipes positioned on the safe side. Apparently they were just buoys to warn you to stay a safe distance away, not floating a pipeline.

 Next stops are Hammock Bay at Camp Lejeune, then we made it to the Goose Creek entrance near Hobucken. Then comes the Alligator River anchorage and finally on to Elizabeth City. 

  We had good weather for this whole portion of the journey. No complaints. Even got to see a bald eagle sitting on a stand, but no nest.

New Heat Exchanger at Tiger Point Marina 17-24 Apr

 

   This is the leak I could see that was dripping at the front cap of the heat exchanger. If we were lucky we would only need to replace the seals at the front and back caps. Noting the corrosion on the bottom bolt, the challenge is to get the bolts out without breaking them off after being in place for 20 years in the salt water environment. I had been soaking them with penetrating oil for several days before we pulled into the marina.

   The mechanic took a look and was optimistic that all we would need was new seals - 5$ for parts and $100 labor. But it was not to be.....

   The first twist of the wrench on the rear cap snapped the bolt off, just what I was afraid of. The second bolt was so corroded the mechanic couldn't get a wrench on it and had to drill it off. When he removed the cap, we noted the heat exchanger itself was corroded so badly on the left side you can see that there was no way to obtain a proper seal with the cap. This is where the bad leak had been, apparently for a some time and was hidden beneath the hoses.   So a new heat exchanger is required - for $1400, plus $600 labor.

 The good news is that they were actually available in stock, not like the transmission travails that we encountered back in February. We were able to order all the parts required plus some new hoses and were ready to get back on the road by the end of the week.

   Just like our stay at Fernandina in February, we can't complain about having to spend another week in Florida at Fernandina. The weather was perfect (a little chilly at night, but we have heat in the marina when required) and there are plenty of things to do in Fernandina. Given that it was still in the 30s with rain and snow in Virginia, we were happy to spend more time in Florida.

   We walked the 2.5miles into town each day for a coffee or beer while in Fernandina and started collecting garbage along the roadway.  By the end of the week it was down to one bag of cans and cups per day. 

   During our entire time in Florida we were never able to find any grapefruit beers. But we were able to pick up a couple Kalik grapefruit Radlers in the Bahamas. We had one to celebrate our new heat exchange and fixed engine.

   We also looked up the recipe for grapefruit Radlers on the internet and now we can make our own versions.

Cumberland Island 14-16 Apr

 

   We decided to have our leaking heat exchanger repaired before we left Fernandina so we had the weekend to explore the Cumberland Island national park. This is an interesting place and a fairly well protected anchorage and worth a several day visit. We walked through the water oak forests each day and over to the beach on the ocean side.

   Not many shells on the beach but its a great place for long walks along the oceanfront.

   There are numerous wild horses that live in the park and wander around the beach and forest trails.

   There were more horses over on the ICW side of the island. Rivah was very interested in them until one of the mares loudly whinnied and firmly kicked another horse bothering her. Rivah flattened out and then stayed behind Sue while the horses were about. 

   Interesting sights - while we were walking the beach the Goodyear Blimp came up the coast and flew right over our heads at about 1000ft. 

   We had great weather for our stay at Cumberland. The winds were unusually calm and the temperatures were perfect with mostly blue skies. It was a great weekend, then time to move to Tiger Point to get our engine fixed.

Florida ICW, Fort Pierce to Fernandina 8-14 Apr

 

   Rivah's glad to be back in the ICW where the waters are flat and there are more smells than just seawater. She got a little seasick on the rough ocean passages this trip. No throwing up but lethargic and clearly not feeling her normal energetic self.

   There was another SpaceX satellite launch on the 8th but we were down by Fort Pierce so we could only see the rocket contrail going up to the north. Too bad we couldn't have gotten up to Titusville to see the launch.

 
   When we finally got to our anchoring spot at Titusville it was Fri evening and just in time for the local sailing club race night. Some 25 sailboats were out racing around the triangular course just off to our side. 

   Next stop up the ICW was New Smryna Beach where we anchor right off the town dock area beside all the live-aboard local resident boats. Our boat is the farthest one on the left.

   We always stop at New Smyrna Beach to visit with our good friends Carol and Tara. We had them out to the boat for snacks and drinks, then off for dinner.

   We had a great dinner with our friends at the local waterfront restaurant. Tides Inn is anchored just off the restaurant sitting there over Sue's shoulder.

   It was soon time to keep pushing north and up through the opening bridges on the ICW.

   We would normally visit with my nephew in St Augustine but they were out of town so we pushed through and on up to Fernandina and the Florida-Georgia border.

   We were heading for Cumberland Island but ran into a delay at the ST Mary's River. When the ballistic missile submarines enter and exit through the inlet the USCG blocks off the channel. We had to wait a bit for the submarine to clear the channel ahead of us.

   Escorting the strategic deterrence submarines is a big deal. Whereas the attack subs in Norfolk have 1 or 2 USCG small boats escorting their passages, the Trident submarine had 2 USCG vessels ahead and 2 more behind it and there were two large contractor manned vessels with lots of guns (and probably short range missiles) guarding either side of the sub. With 24 nuclear tipped missiles onboard its good to see the extensive protection.

   After the short delay, it was less than an hour transit up to the anchorage area off Cumberland Island.

Staniel Cay - 2 Apr

     Big Majors is adjacent to Staniel Cay, which is the main tourist spot in the central Exumas. Staniel Cay has an airport with service to Nassau and to Fort Lauderdale. The Staniel Cay Yacht Club has several rental bungalows that sit right at the waters edge. Unfortunately, the word is out on how superb this vacation destination is and airfares are quite expensive.

    The best deal is to rent a bungalow at the Yacht Club and include one of the Boston Whaler runabouts in the rental package. 

   We arrive by dinghy from our anchorage over at Big Majors. You can see a couple of the Yacht Club bungalows behind the dock here. 

   This is the main street of downtown Staniel Cay. There actually are a few cars on the island but normal transpo is by golf cart or walking. There are a couple small grocery stores and one hardware store.

   Today there was a small market ongoing at the main street intersection.

   After walking around town and a good hike out to the island dump to drop our garbage off, it was time for a rest and tropical local IPA.  Tourist prices - $10 per glass, but at least it was 16ozs. 

Return to USA 5-7 APR

 

   Back to Nassau, arriving through the eastern channel this time. We pulled back into Nassau Harbour Yacht Club to do our Customs out-processing. The Bahama Immigration/Customs website actually works fairly well when you have good coverage and understand how the website works. We had all the required information uploaded and our checkout only took a few minutes (after the two hour wait for the customs folks to come to the marina).  It seems their main concern is that boaters who bring guns into the country show they are exiting with the same weapons and ammunition that they arrived with. For us, they never came to the boat and just stamped my paperwork.

   First light on the 6th and we are heading out, passing by Atlantis on Paradise Island. The wind was calm in the harbor allowing us an easy departure from our slip.

                                                          Passing by the Nassau lighthouse on our way out the Western channel.

  Nassau in our wake in the distance. We had a good sailing day to the Northwest Channel where the wind died and we had to motor for the next 12hrs up the bank to the Gulf Stream where the wind picked up again.

   Sunset as we pass through the Northwest Channel and head up the Bahama Bank towards the Gulf Stream. Its another 18-24hrs before we make our landfall in Florida. 

   Sunrise on the 7th, we are off the bank and approaching the Gulf Stream. Was a quiet night with basically no marine traffic and light winds. We motored all night long and are now setting the sails to sail across the Gulf Stream with the wind rising but safely from the south.

   We've been checking the engine bilge every few hours to see how bad the leaking is since we had to run the engine for the last 12hours after sailing for 12hours out of Nassau. There is only a wee bit of water. The leak seems to have sealed itself. That's good news as we can now sail to the Florida coast then will need the engine to get into harbor. We'll be able to get within range of Towboat US if we should need to secure the engine and get a tow into a repair yard.

     Sue is off her 4-6am watch. Time for a short nap before coming back on watch in 4hrs or so. Rivah's keeping her warm.

   

   Sue is back on watch and took this picture to show that the complex passing situations always seem to arise when she is at the helm. 

   The maritime rules of the road are straight forward when two ships are passing. But when you introduce a third ship it can get interesting. We are in the center of the screen with a merchant ship coming from the right and a sailboat coming from the left. We have the right of way over both of these vessels and they are both supposed to pass behind us. However, if both alter course to pass behind us, they are then heading right at each other.

   The merchant ship asked us to alter course and pass behind him (a good safe option anyways) and the  sailboat acknowledged that he would pass behind us as required. It all went smoothly and safely but required some communications over the radio. The advantage of AIS (automatic identification system) is all the ship's names are available to support calling them.  This was our first trip with our AIS transmitter and we were contacted by multiple vessels along the way to coordinate passing.

  Here we are sailing along the western wall of the Gulf Stream. Our boat icon symbol shows you where the bow of the boat is pointing (towards shore) while the blue arrow shows the direction the boat is actually moving. In the data window our SOG (speed over ground) is 12.1kts. Given that the max hull speed of our boat is less than 7.4kts, this means the Gulf Stream is flowing at about 4.7kts through here. These speeds moved our ETA to Fort Pierce up from about 7pm to nearly 3pm this afternoon.

   An earlier arrival time would be great as we need to get into port and anchored before this frontal squall line arrives later this evening. We should have plenty of time as the squall line is not expected till after dark and we want to be anchored well before dark. But this type weather dictates that we will pull into Fort Pierce and not continue up the coast offshore to Port Canaveral.

   

   Safely pulling into Fort Pierce channel, around 1700. You can see the thunderhead cumulus clouds building to the west. Rain coming tonight.

   All was going super as we crossed the Gulf Stream with some impressive speeds. All up to two hours out of port when the wind suddenly shifted from the south to the north (with the approaching cold front) and went to 15-20kts on the nose. Our ground speed went from 7-8kts to 2-3kts almost immediately. We remained 2hrs out of port for nearly 2hrs as we struggled to close the coastline and get out of the steep waves on the bow that were stopping our progress. We finally made it in a couple hours late and well before the thunderstorms arrived later that night.

   Anchored off Fort Pierce channel on the northern side. Checked the engine bilge and only a few drops of water leakage. Perhaps we can make it back to Virginia??

  Thus ends our 17 day cruise to the Bahamas. Now for a couple weeks of ICW transiting back to home.