Green Turtle and Checking in at New Plymouth

Brad finding us when we first arrived and escorting us into the harbour.  

You would think we had some of his beer on board or something.

 

Welcome from Zingaro (Mary-Lynn and Scott)

 Saturday's Dinner on Zingaro

Scott and Rob

Bev, Karen and Mary-Lynn

Sunday was WINDY! We were rudely awakened by our friend Brad. Our boat was dragging.  He has helped so many times that we are now thinking of calling him Sir Brad.

When we pulled up our Claw anchor, a giant chunk of mud came up with it. I guess the bottom is just too soft for a claw here, even though it is 2 sizes over the recommended one. So we moved to the middle of the harbour where I thought the mud might be deeper and anchored with both our 66 lb Claw and our 44 lb CQR.

We did not move.

That afternoon, we walked to the beach on the exposed side of the island. It was so beautiful. I had forgotten how stunning the shades of turquoise could be. Walking barefoot in the surf is absolutely rejuvenating. The sound of the waves as they sweep onto land truly soothes the soul.

Green Turtle Beach

In real life it is much more beautiful

The beach.

Bev and Tuk walking the Beach

At that moment, life could not have been better.

Dinner was supposed to be on Mskoki. It was pretty windy, however, and they were afraid that their BBQ would not be able to cook the chicken they had planned. So, we hosted happy hour on the R&B Haven. During the evening, the sundeck became renamed the “deckadent” and the R&B Haven became renamed the “Mother Ship”.

All was well with the world.

On Monday, we got up and then went by dingy from White Sound to Black Sound (both parts of Green Turtle) so that we could check-in with Customs.

The Customs lady was extremely busy but she processed us quickly. In some countries, customs officials seem to reguard their jobs as one of hassling people at the border. This lady seemed to reguard her job as that of processing us a quickly and effectively as possible so that we could each get on with our business.

I prefer her approach.

After checking in, we proceeded to the liquor store so that we could have our conch burgers for lunch. The bill was just over 40 dollars. Of course, this included 2 bottles of rum and one of brandy. It is also nice knowing that our dollar is close to par.

The town of New Plymouth is very quaint. The streets are narrow. Many of the houses are painted pastel colours. The public dock has a welcoming sign and 2 flags: 1 Bahamian and 1 Canadian. Truly, we felt welcome here.

Statues of the original loyalist founders of New Plymouth as well as important leaders since.

Conch Burger at last at the liquor store

New Plymouth's main street.

I am not sure if 2 buggies could pass, but 2 golf carts can.

Palm tree supporting a vine which has almost encapsulated the trunk of the palm

New Plymouth Goal

Where Beverley was threatening to send me if I did not behave.

Bev has a friend Emily and wanted her to see this.

Harbour Waterfront and second busiest street.

Like the sign says, we will remember these shores.

The winds were still strong and we had a wet dingy ride back.

In the anchorage, I noted that of 12 boats that were anchored or moored and obviously had people aboard, 5 had Canadian flags. We are well represented.

Dinner was on Mskoki. The wind had died a bit and their BBQ worked well. It was another memorable meal with good friends.

Allans-Pensacola to Green Turtle

On Saturday, January 16, we left Allans-Pensacola heading for Green Turtle, expecting to check in with Customs. Important in our minds, was to head to the liquor store where we would have a conch burger.

On the way in, we talked by radio to our old friends on Mskoki. Apparently, Customs was closed for the weekend. We were not sure what to do. While we had lots to do on the boat and could constructively spent the weekend afloat, we did not know if this was even considered to be OK. Bahamian cruising guides are emphatic that you are expected to check in immediately and certainly within 24 hours of arrival.

My solution was to go ashore and phone Customs at the Treasure Cay Airport. I explained our predicament and asked them what we were supposed to do. The person who answered the phone did not know, but suggested that I call back in 10 minutes.
The answer that I got back was so practical and beneficial to all that I could not believe that it came from a government official. The reply was to the effect that (my words and not his):
“No problem Mon,
You go ashore and do whatever you must,
You spend lots of money,
On Monday when Customs is open, you check-in then,
You on Island time now, Mon”

I loved it.

This left us free to have dinner on our friends boats, to walk the dogs and to walk the beaches. Best of all, it was now warm enough to wear shorts!

Mangrove Cay to Allans-Pensacola

This day started slowly. We knew we could not make it all the way to Green Turtle in time to be able to check in through Customs, so we chose an intermediate step: Allans-Pensacola. It was only 50 miles from Mangrove Cay.

The first half of the trip is pretty boring: there is nothing in sight. The day was calm, however, and warming. We were not in shorts yet, but did not need sweaters.

I chose to try out our new Honda generator in earnest. It is a 2 KW super-quiet model. If our main generator goes, it will keep us cruising, but it will run long hours. The problem is that when you first turn it on in the morning, the water heater becomes energized and we usually have the coffee maker running. This leaves precious little current for charging batteries. Fortunately, the battery charger senses this and backs off until something else is turned off. Ten minutes later, the coffee maker will go out of percolate mode and into warming mode. It still draws a fair bit of current, however, and the battery charger will only pump 20 or 30 amps into the batteries. When the coffee pot is turned off and the hot water heater is satisfied (45 minutes after start-up), the AC voltage will rise a little and the battery charger will pump out 100 amps. I guess that in a perfect world, we might let the battery charger run for a while at 100 amps and then, when the charger is starting to back off because the batteries are picking up, turn on the coffee maker and hot water heater. The problem is that we want our showers and our coffee when we first wake up.

Allans-Pensacola is well protected from 3 sides and so we spent a quiet night.

Crossing the Gulf Stream

I was up at 6:00 and ready to go at 6:30. There was enough light to see boats and to follow their navigation lights.

The anchor and chain were a mess of gooey black mud. I was hoping this would be the last time we would have to deal with intercoastal industrial strength yuck for a long time.

The sport-fishers were and incredible nuisance. They just blast past and at close range. I can understand their impatience and the need for close quarters when we were all in the channel. The final straw was when a 30 footer blasted past on a full plane about 80 feet away when we were 2 miles out to sea. There was absolutely no need. Things were pretty rolly anyway. The forecast was 7 to 10 knots from the East. What we had was 10 knots from the North – right on the beam which makes a power boat roll pretty badly. This clown in the 30 foot sportfish made our moveable furniture move, books fly out of bookshelves, a wine bottle break and worse, made for a very upset Admiral.

I really did not know if this would be a day where we could cross or not. I have always heard that you have to get at least 5 miles out before you know. At 5 miles out, it was like a light switch had been thrown. The wind swung around to the East and went almost calm. The waves from the North dropped dramatically and started to build slowly from the East. For a power boat, this would be ideal.

Originally, it was my plan to head diagonally from Stuart to West End and to clear into the Bahamas there. Several people advised that this might not be a good idea since it would mean fighting the Gulf Stream for a long way. They suggested that we head for Memory Rock and then to Great Sale. This is a good idea except for one thing: it is over 100 nm from Manatee Pocket to Great Sale. We would not get there until 10:00 PM or later. We preferred not to travel in the dark and so chose to head for Mangrove Island a patch of mangroves truly in the middle of nowhere, out of sight of land in all directions. We arrived there in the fading light at about 6:30 PM and anchored for the night.

Truly, it was a lovely thing to pass onto the Little Bahamas Bank, North of Memory Rock, around 2PM. The seas almost instantly became calmer. The water took on a lovely shade of green. It was time to raise the yellow quarantine flag. This was an important milestone.

So was anchoring. That made it time for wine and brandy!

Staging at Stewart, Florda

On Jan 12, Gerry and I set out to take the R&B Haven from North Fort Myers to Stuart, Florida.

On the way out of the harbour, I tried the bow thruster just to make sure it worked. This was one piece of equipment that I had forgotten to verify while making our preparations. It was a no-go. When do you need a bow thruster. When you are crossing an ocean or anchoring. No, you need it for locks and for docking in marinas such as when you need to buy fuel. Of course, when it would not work was precisely when we needed it.

The tide was pretty low when we left. In fact, we only had about 6 inches under our keel in some parts of the channel out of the marina and the tide was scheduled to fall 6 inches more over the next hour or so. Good thing we did not touch and did not get stuck.

At 9:00, we pulled into Fort Myers Municipal Marina where we bought 110 gallons of diesel at $2.70 per gallon. There were cheaper places we could have gone to, but they were not right on our track.

It was still cold. The manatees went for the warmest water. We must have seen 20 of them when approaching the first lock.
Fortunately, the wind was fairly calm so we were able to dock without incident or challenge.

We did see one aligator sunning on a rock near one of the locks. It was to be our only one – and I thought Lake Okeechobee would be full of them. Perhaps it was too cold and they were hiding under water.

We arrived in Moore Haven around 4:30. We would have liked to press on but there are few places to stay until the other side of Lake Okeechobee and that was about 50 miles away.

On Wednesday, Jan 13, we cast off at 7:00 since we had 80 miles to do including 3 locks and 2 bridges, all of which can slow you down.

Right off, we ran into trouble. The front window would not stay rolled up since it was so cold and it was misted. The railway bridge which was about 200 yards from the Moore Haven municipal dock was silver and almost invisible in the early morning pre-dawn light. We almost hit the bridge before I saw it. We had to wait for 20 minutes, then a single train engine rolled over the bridge. It was another 10 before the bridge master showed up to open the bridge. So much for our early start.

One good thing was that while docked at Moore Haven, I traced the bow thruster problem to a corroded toggle switch that was never used anyway. I bypassed it and we then had an operational bow thruster.

The wind was low. Lake Okeechobee was benign but boring. At the St Lucie Locks, I radioed ahead and they held the lock for us.

We made it to Manatee Pocket around 5PM where we were met by our friends Chris and Deke. They have a property in Stuart and they also have a sailboat which serves as their home for a few months in the winter in the Bahama. I think they would liked to have taken the same weather window as us, but were not quite ready.

Chris and Deke live in a strange comunity where dogs are not allowed and this includes the marina. I showed up at the dock with the dogs hoping to let them have one last pee on grass. It was a “no go”. However, there was a park nearby so I set off for it in the dingy at a full plane – right up to the dock where a conservation officer just happened to be watching me come in. Apparently, this was a manatee zone. Imagine that with a name like Manatee Pocket! Anyway, I pleaded ignorance. I think the ranger thought stupidity would be a more appropriate plea, but he let me off with a warning instead of a $95.00 fine anyway. I was greatful.

After dinner with Chris and Deke and Gerry and Pam and after doing a little last minute shopping, we said thanks and good-bye to all.

Gerry's help in bring the boat across the State was invaluable. Its too bad they will not be able to join us in the Bahamas.

Getting Ready to Go:

Our departure to the “sunny South” was delayed for a couple of days by problems in Bev’s family requiring a mother’s love and support. As a result, we left home on January 5, arriving in North Fort Myers by car on January 8.

We split the tasks. Bev did the shopping (her forte) and I did the mechanical work (mine).

Evenings were social events. The waterfront restaurants bordering the marina continued to offer incredible deals e.g. prime rib for $10.00 (a huge slab of really excellent meat), large drafts for $1.25, 2 for 1 on Monday nights. It was difficult not to get lazy and fat. Happy hours were a nightly affair even if we were going to a restaurant afterwards.

But the weather was cold. It was a good thing that we were plugged into electricity since it was down to freezing several nights. I found myself wearing my winter parka and being glad for it. This was nuts!!! The fish were dying in the harbour. I saw someone catch a jack with his bare hands they were so slow!

Our new generator worked well. Our new LED lights produced lots of illumination while consuming almost no power. It was easy to remove the garbage bag that I had wrapped around our propellor to protect it from barnicles and other marine growth. The local diver told me not to go snorkelling. Just put the boat in gear dummy! Apparently, lots of people wrap their props in garbage bags to protect them. The nice thing is that if you have to move the boat in a hurry (e.g. because of a fire), you just put the boat in gear and instantly, the garbage bag shreds.

The one fly in the ointment was that our swim platform was not complete. The fiberglass work was beautifully done but not all the teak strips were in place. Also, the swim ladder had to be bolted on. None of this was huge, but I should not have had to chase. The young man who did the work was hoping that people would see the good job he was doing on our boat and would then hire him to work on theirs. We eventually had to leave before he finished. Too bad. Noone was impressed. As a result, few, if any, of the cruisers in the marina are likely to buy his services.

I checked the weather forecasts on the 9th (Saturday) and it seemed that a weather window to cross to the Bahamas was likely to open on the 14th (Thursday). In order to make it, we had to leave Fort Myers on the 12th at the very latest. We had heard of people waiting for 1 ½ months for a weather window already, so we though that we had better skeedadle.

So, we called our friends Gerry and Pam. The plan was that Gerry and I would take the boat across Lake Okeechobee and to the East Coast. Pam and Bev would have a day or two of “girls night” out on the town. Unfortunately, Bev was coming down with a really nasty cold by then so this was not fun for her.