The crossing to Bahamas

We made it!  We are now at the West End on Grand Bahama Island all checked in and we have a 90 cruising pass, more than enough.  We had a nice crossing a bit bumpy but not bad AT ALL.  Yeah!!!

We were delayed a bit leaving Stuart as we needed to wait for the bridge to open, a 45 min delay for a train to pass.

someone is building a good size house

holy cow! its and addition!

We crossed directly from Port St Lucie Inlet rather than travelling an extra 35 miles south and crossing .  We were a bit worried about the inlet as the charts and Active Captain had alot of local knowledge about the inlet and when we decided on Wed to cross from there we were told we were nuts!  The words that kept ringing in my ears was " at least 5 boats a day run aground here" and its never a good sign when a Tow Boat US is always sitting here just waiting.  These 2 things are actually fact, but then the big sport fishing boats go through here all the time, and they draw more then we do.  The deciding factors to me in the end was, while doing laundry I ran into Bob on Istaboas who has a much larger boat with a much deeper draft 6' we are 4' he said he travels this inlet without a problem. The crossroads just before the inlet were more shallow and confusing.  Well dam we have to go through the crossroads no mater what!  He gave us some instruction on the markers to favor etc.  Thank You Bob it was a breeze and saved us 35 miles and at least an extra days travel. 

                                       Heading out, all this water makes you feel really small

                                                            The depth finder flat lined

                        Wow all these numbers are depths our depth finder only goes to 499 feet 
                                                   

We are at the Old Bahama Bay marina along with our friends on Algonquin, Something Special, Brown Eyed Girl and Passport, we had cocktails aboard SweetPea with everyone then Jim and I went over to Teasers for an Island drink and some delicious conch.  Tomorrow we all head out to  Great Sale Cay to anchor for the night then onto Green Turtle Cay Marina.  So there will be no posting tomorrow night.

Here are a few more pictures of the day...................

                                                     The color of the water is beautiful

                                                         Entryway to the marina

                                                                       Cocktails

                                                           Out for a stroll

                                                            This is the beach at Teasers

                                                The close to our first day in the Bahamas

We are Bahama Bound!

Abaco is the sailing capital of the world. Abaco is the third most populous island Bahamas Yachtman's dream!

Tomorrow morning weather permitting, we will head east over to the Bahamas.  The boat is stocked and sitting lower in the water, we will be spending 6-8 weeks there mostly in the Abacos we may venture deeper into the Exumas, time will tell.  Once we head on out, we will have no cell service or I should say the phone will be shut off unless we need it.  Internet will be spotty at best, unless at a marina that has it.  I will post when I can.

What to bring?  Well we have 10 cases of beer, a couple cases of wine, lots of juice, soda and tonic water to go with gin, vodka, tequila, rum etc.  Jim has stocked up on scotch 4 yes 4 gallons of scotch, cigars and cigs enough munchy food to go with all the drinks.  Yes we have real food too and 6 cases of water hmmm......... more beer than water?  All the bills paid, taxes done, boat documentation for 2012, re entry sticker, water tanks filled, poop pumped, fueled up and as ready as possible to go!
We will be crossing with at least 6 other looper boats that we know off, though leaving from different places and travelling at different speeds all meeting at the West End to check in with customs and immigrations and spending the night at the Old Bahama Bay Marina.  We have been in contact with most of the other loopers via e-mail and look forward to some face time and of course cocktail hours.


WOW 52 days in Stuart we were getting stir crazy and are happy to finally be moving on. Though I highly recommend Sunset Bay its great, and if you stay long term (1 month or more) as we did, it worked out to be $23.54 per day (inc 50amp service) can't beat that. Jim has done the boat maintenance that was needed and added a couple new things to make life easier, so time was not wasted and the boat has been rearranged to accommodate all the extra stuff we are now carrying.  The laundry is done, but we are hoping to live in swimsuits and flip flops for the next couple of months. 
 Its 80 degrees here today and by Sat/Sunday they say it will get to 88-90 degrees, over on the Abacos its 73 today and Sat/Sunday it is suppose to be 77 PERFECT!!!  Sorry guys I know as I started to update this blog it was snowing at home. (Massachusetts) Here is a bit of information on Abaco Bahamas......................

 

In Abaco, you will find excellent marinas, Bahamas guides and boats for hire as well as a championship golf course, one of seven in The Bahamas -- the others being in Nassau, Freeport, Abaco and Eleuthera. Abaco is referred to as the sailing capital of the world. Abaco Bahamas has naturally protected waters and dozens of offshore cays covering over 130 square miles of Bahamian aquamarine water. Abaco Bahamas is the third most populous island in The Bahamas and bears a resemblance to New England from which it attracts so many of its visitors and winter residents -- many who often purchase a second home. Marsh Harbour Abaco is the commercial centre located on Great Abaco. Home to the famous red and white striped lighthouse, Abaco with its numerous offshore cays and reef protected waters, once served as a safe harbor for British loyalists during the American Revolution. The first settlement on Abaco was Carleton Point, located at the northern end of Treasure Cay a luxury resort development. Carleton was settled in 1783 by 600 Loyalists refugees from New York, fleeing the newly independent United States. Abaco now serves a more useful purpose as the one of the most favorite destinations among yachtsman the world over. Filled with excellent marinas and boats for hire, not to mention a championship golf course, Abaco truly is a sailor's paradise. Its two major islands, Great Abaco and Little Abaco, have a myriad of small cays flanking the mainland. The sea channel between the islands allows for good cruising. Abaco, located in the northern Bahamas, typically boats pine forests and is frequented by hunters of wild boar and ducks. Its waters abound with fish, including the marlin and sailfish. It also has bonefishing flats. Other settlements include its northern cays, such as Walker’s Cay and the Grand Cays; Crown Haven and Fox Town in Little Abaco, and Cooper’s Town on Great Abaco; Green Turtle Cay, Hope Town, Moore’s Island, the tourist resort of Castaways Cay, Great Guana Cay, Cherokee Sound, Little Harbour, Hole-in-the-Wall, Sandy Point, Crossing Rock, Spring City and Man-O-War Cay.

Our plans are written in the sand

Here we sit STILL in Stuart, this is the longest we have ever stayed in one place and though I love it here I am so ready to move on.  We got to Stuart on Jan7th the plan was for 1 month then head on down to the Keys for 2-3 weeks and then over to the Abaco's for 4-6 weeks.

After the month was up I decided to go home for a week to get all the paperwork over to the acct. for taxes along with some other tasks that just could not wait.  So on the day we were to leave Stuart for points south I was on an airplane heading NORTH though not Alaska, it was pretty dam cold in Massachusetts.  As luck would have it it snowed and was also some of the coldest weather of the winter 27 degrees was the high for a couple of days with wind chills of less than 15.  Dam cold!  It was 76 degrees when I left Florida.  So I certainly got my dose of reality which I could of lived very happily without but it was a necessity of life. While home I got to spend Valentines Day with the 2 most important people in my life.  The morning of Valentines Day with my daughter Ashley in Massachusetts and the evening with the hubby in Florida.

Once back at the boat Jim threw out his back and was laid up for a few days then we had some boat issues and had to order parts so that delayed our departure for yet another week.  And since I have to be in a spot to receive mail (taxes) we decided to stay put as the marina is charging us a daily rate of what the monthly rate would be.  So here we sit and here we will now stay for 1 MORE WEEK.  I have gotten e-mails and calls from some of our looper friends asking us where we were and where are we heading and when, we have changed our plans so many times that I shall now say..............

"Ours plans are written in the sand" and it is really windy here!

And look what the wind blew in.......................................................

It was so nice to see our looper friends and fellow New Englanders (sort of)
Gene and Ginny are from NY but keep their boat across the lake in VT.  We had dinner with them at the Sailors Return and got caught up on boating adventures and got some great info on the islands (Abaco's) as they have been over there a few times.  But sadly for us they will not be making the trip this year,  as they have other commitments to attend to.  We hope to see them again in the spring as we he also head north, they were certainly very disappointed that they would not be able to make the island trip this year.

Gene and Ginny on Free 2 Be heading out of Stuart to points North.   Have a safe trip, and we will look forward to catching up with you again in the up coming months.

So here we sit, until Sunday when we MUST leave as the marina will need our slip that is booked for another boat coming in. 

Sunset Bay for 1 more week

The sunsets here at Sunset Bay are magnificent

Our neighbors, it is a beautiful boat, they are heading over to the Bahama's soon we are seeing alot of boats waiting on weather windows to cross over to the Abaco's and beyond. 

These are our friends Pete and Jerri we met them exactly 1 year ago in Melbourne  Fl. they were heading to Stuart for a couple of months.  We also ended up there and became friends.  Its funny, we hadn't seen them in a year but it felt as though it was just weeks.  And as it happens amongst boaters, they loved Stuart so much they now live nearby.  Their boat, The Five O'clock, 1996 Carver 500, is now for sale if anyone is looking for a very comfortable loop boat. 
http://www.boattrader.com/listing/1996-Carver-500-100453158


Below is the 5 O'clock on the hook in Ga.

Jim has changed out the lights on SweetPea, one of those jobs that kept getting put off.  He can finally check it off the list, the replacement is LED strip lights on both port and starboard as well as the galley lighting, deck lights etc.  75 percent of the lighting onboard has been up dated to LED.



WOW what a difference!



The end of another beautiful day in the Sunshine state.



On Saturday and Sundays there is a huge Flea Market in Stuart, it is actually advertised as a nautical Market but there is all kinds of things.  Sid and Evelyn here's a new business for you,  and you won't have to change the name!

We have extended our stay at Sunset Bay for 1 more week, we are waiting on our US customs sticker for 2012 so we can head out and over to the islands in the next 2 or 3 weeks. 



Stuart FL

WOW been here for 10 days already?  Ashley left us yesterday heading back north to the Arctic.  We had rented a car on Friday for 4 days so we could check out the area a bit with her and also we needed to get her to Fort Lauderdale for the flight.  We took a swing over to Fort Pierce on Saturday for the farmers market it is the best one around, actually the best we have been to.  Someone said they read that its the top 10 in the country.  Not sure about that but we enjoy it every time we have visited.  We then did some shopping in a MALL, WOW its been too long.  I will be very happy not to step foot in a Walmart for a month.  Ashley got her eyes checked and needed new glasses and her cell phone has been shutting down so being her birthday that's what she got.  She can see again and won't constantly be losing her contacts on the phone.

On Monday we took off for Fort Lauderdale and spent the night there, check out the area, had dinner then the best ice cream ever at a place called Jaxson's Ice Cream they should know what they are doing seeing they have been in business since 1956.  Sometimes it seems like a small world, we stopped and had lunch at this place located in a strip mall as we were walking along who did we run into but Rich and Carol on SaltNSand sitting at a restaurant outside eating their lunch.  They have their boat in Fort Meyers and ours in Stuart and we run into each other in Fort Lauderdale.  It was nice to see them once again and they looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves, after all, they are city folk.  Myself, give me a small town!  I have also discovered in the last year that I don't like traveling by car much anymore, maybe it has something to do with traveling at 9 mph verses 65mph.  Cars and traffic make me very nervous.  Anyway, Ashley flew out on Tuesday and we headed back to the boat.

Another funny thing happened this week.  One night I was on the AGLCA site and I noticed a post from a new member, very new, hours old actually, so I post somewhere that I had charts for sale if anyone was interested, well let me tell you I got hammered with e-mails, the 1st one were these NEW members, Tom and Christine, I e-mailed them with some of what I thought I had but told them I needed to gather all the charts up and figure a price.  And being there is going to be alot of weight, I would not ship them, so they would have to be picked up somewhere along the way.  The next day Tom and Christine show up on the dock, turns out they live right around the corner here in Stuart.  We spent a couple of hours with them talking about the loop of which they will start in September, they are now the new owners of about 30+ pounds of charts, cruising guides assorted boating book etc. they have their boat in the Alton/Grafton area and will begin from there.

So now Ashley is gone back home and I am sure the Dog, (Barkley) is happy to be home again as well, though Ashley said he loves the kennel we send him to and we appreciate the flexibility and patience that Sarah has shown us with our somewhat unpredictable schedule.  The boat is much more lonely without Ashley but it has gotten much bigger! 

So now Jim gets to tackle a few projects while we are here, the first being the Vacuflush we have been down to 1 head for more than a week and the parts he ordered have arrived, what a lucky man!  Then we have had a problem with the shower so he needs to check into that as well.  So tomorrow is laundry day for me a good time to be off the boat. 

Here are some photos of our time here.................to be continued

Downtown Stuart

The boardwalk that takes you from the marina into town

The mooring field

The dinghy dock 

marina outside lounge area where you can BBQ on an enormous grill or pick up a game of cards or domino's with boaters.  Cocktails meet and greet twice a week.

on the wrap around porch

Pitcher plant I bought in Fort Pierce

Ashley and I in Fort Lauderdale

a bit cool and breezy

Just another Stuart Sunset

SweetPea crosses her wake in Stuart FL

Jan 7th at 3:30 we entered Sunset Bay in Stuart Fl where we started the Great American Loop.  It took us 10 months and 7 days, 5556 miles,  we traveled through 17 states, 110 locks, and brought us through Canada.
WOW what a trip!  SweetPea handled the trip better than we could of dreamed and the captain handled her beautifully.

We all toasted our completion as well as Sharon and Ken's  (Dockers Inn) who crossed their wake a couple of weeks ago.  Also joining us is Steve and Jean Purdy (Suncat) who are veteran loopers, they did the loop in 2006. We had met Jean and Steve about a year ago at River Dunes in Oriental.  

5556 total miles traveled on the loop, 7255 miles total since we left Massachusetts on

10-9-10.

This will be the resting place for SweetPea and crew for about a month or until we figure which way to go next.  Bahama's ? Keys? or both.

Sunset Bay 

Moving on toward Stuart

Well I know this looks innocent enough....Mike cleaning his bike?  BUT actually, on Tuesday morning we woke up to 25 kt winds and maybe stronger though the night, that's when Mike went outside and found his bike was missing!  Yup, you guessed it, it got blown off the dock and into the water it went.  My sources (Ashley) said he fished it out with a boat hook. 

Ashley got this great shot!
Finally on Wed morning the winds settled down so we could take our leave from Venice, we had hoped to leave on Monday but the strong winds prevented that so we got off the dock bright n early ( 10am ).  Our destination for the day was Burnt Store Marina.  We got there around 3 and pumped out and fueled up SweetPea and had dinner in the restaurant there.  What a nice meal we all had, we could of spent a week here just in the restaurant but it was just a 1 night er, the next morning we we were off again to Legacy Harbour which is at the beginning of the Okeechobee waterway and we also knew we would find some loopers there we had not seen in awhile.



A beautiful sunset as seen from happy hour aboard Something Special at Legacy.  We were joined also by ErikaLin and
 Salt N Sand.




We all went out for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack somehow the only picture I got was of Sid, he may be the most photographed looper of the year!



Can't have too much of a good thing so the next morning (Friday) we were off again leaving Legacy. 
Since we were held up for a couple of extra days in Venice we were now behind schedule.  We were expected at Stuart Friday but it looks like Saturday now and we are a bit eager to get there as this is where we started our LOOP last February.



Below is our day in pictures on the Okeechobee.

Looks like a fun island tiki hut and all.

One of many of the beautiful homes we passed during the day.

Looky looky what we saw.

MOO

We started the day in a Manatee zone SLOWspeed and the Environmental Police leading the way.  Once we got the chance Jim was moving at a" high rate of speed"I was surprised that at 18mph our wake was this minimal.  Gee sh that's smaller than a Sea Ray at half the speed.

We got to Moore Haven around 3pm it was cool traveling but once we were docked it was warm.



I couldn't get this picture where I wanted it ...at the beginning, but anyway this was a nice day we spent on Monday in Sarasota.  Thanks Jeff and Linda .  See you in a few weeks Mike and Miss Nell.