Gerry helped me bring the R&B Haven down the St Lucie River as far as Manatee Pocket near Stuart. This was where we would stage while waiting to cross the Gulf Stream. Pam helped Bev complete provisioning and then we were ready to go.
From left to right: Ray, Gerry, Pam, Bev and myself (Rob)
I am always a bit nervous about crossing the Gulf Stream. The weather was promising to be good; a light wind out of the East or South East. The previous day, it had been blowing lightly from the North East so we could expect a bit of a cross chop but nothing huge. My problem is that my imagination is too good and I imagine all the things that could go wrong!
As things turned out, nothing went wrong. The weather was good. Once we hit the Gulf Stream, we did hit a bit of a chop. Tuck (one of our dogs) was seasick. Yuck!! But by mid afternoon, it was all over.
Sunrise on the Gulf Stream
On the day we crossed, we did almost 100 nautical miles, leaving our anchorage at 5:30 AM and arriving at Mangrove Cay in the evening dusk around 6:30 PM after running all day at 8 knots. Our usual cruising speed is 7 knots, but we prefer to get the crossing out of the way in the daylight to the extent we can. So we trade fuel for time.
The next day, we started out cruising at a liesurely rate towards an island called Allans-Pensacola. The wind was from the South-West. Around noon I became worried that there were no good anchorages between us and Green Turtle that would be sheltered from all directions if a front went through.
We were not in range of any weather forecasts to confirm but thought we had better err on the side of caution. We realized that we could just make Green Turtle around sunset if we dialed the boat up to 8.5 knots, again trading fuel for time. The entrance to Green Turtle is not lit. It is shallow and it is narrow. A night time entrance would be hairy.
It turned out that Bahamian Customs is now open 7 days/week at Green Turtle (New Plymouth) so we were checked in first thing the next morning (Saturday) by a very pleasant and polite young lady. These customs officials are your first contact with the people who live in the Bahamas. Our experiences have been nothing but positive.
A front did go through that evening (with winds hitting 80 km/hr or 50 mph) so we were glad to be snug.
On Sunday, we explored Manjack island, meeting former cruisers, Leslie and Bill, who had swallowed the anchor there. They welcome cruisers to use their dock and to access the trails across the island.
On Monday, we decided to see if we could cross the Dont Rock passage leading from the Green Turtle area to the Sea of Abaco area feeding into Marsh Harbour. The alternative was to go around the Whale Passage but it sounded as if it might be a bit rough.
As we got closer to the entrance to the Dont Rock passage, we could see breakers right across. As we got even closer, I realized that the breakers were about 200 yards from our side of the entrance of the passage, and that if you could get past the breakers, the rest of the passage and its exit were smooth. I decided to run with the waves a bit to see where the breakers petered out and to see if there was a reasonable way around.
Then disaster almost hit. We broached in the waves. Beverley felt she could almost touch the water by reaching out from her window on the flybridge. In reality, we probably heeled over about 35 to 40 degrees (still lots). It felt as if the lee rail was going to go under and although this is a normal mode of operation for sail boats, I don't think that power boats are supposed to operate this way. So, once the boat had spun that far around, I just cranked the wheel over so that we took the next wave bow on.
We then checked out the Whale Passage, but I could see breakers right across it. We were not going there so we turned around and headed back to Manjack Island. Upon anchoring, we noticed a strong smell of diesel.
The spare propeller had come loose, smashing one of the fuel filters and creasing the oil filter.
Creased oil filter. It is lucky that this was not punctured.
Cleaning up this mess was to take a lot of work, but we were incredibly lucky not to have been in real trouble (e.g. engine loss in steep seas, destruction of engine because of loss of oil, explosion if a gas engine).
So we changed filters, bled the system and returned to Green Turtle where we played tourist over the next several days until things really calmed down.
Bbqing on the after deck.
Bev and I in the Green Turtle anchorage. Life is good!
New Plymouth Harbour
Bev and friends Gerry, Dick and Laurie touring New Plymouth by golf cart. Bev's foot was operated on late November so she was still limited in how far she could walk without a lot of discomfort.
Small Westerley sailboat with their anchor rode tangled in our propeller at 2:00 AM. The guys on board were from Montreal and were really glad we did not get really excited. The previous night, we had seen them coming up the channel at midnight, in the middle of a thunderstorm only to anchor right beside us. We did not realize it at the time, but apparently they had dragged from the other end of the anchorage, right down the narrow channel, only to awaken in the mangroves at its entrance. It is a marvel that they made it that far.
Our time at Green Turtle was relaxing but between storm anchor watches and wandering boats, we did not have many uninterrupted nights sleep. We were looking forward to getting to Treasure Cay where we had been promised a free night's stay at the dock.
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