Guana Cay / Nippers

The beach from Nippers at Guana Cay
A WOW moment

Follow the sand path to the Atlantic side of the island to Nippers Beach Bar

Of course what would an island bar be without it own pool

And music, drinks and dance we also took the dinghy over to Grabbers
another Island beach bar on the Sea of Abaco side but didn't take the camera
along so today we will head over there to check it out further and take some photos.

This tractor is along the path to Nippers (for you Zac)

This is the view from the deck at Orchid Bay Marina

Jim kicking back enjoying the view before we head back over to Nippers.  We discovered that the BareFoot Man will be here next weekend which also is St. Patty's Day weekend so we decided to hang out in the area to attend the event.  He is quite a draw on the islands being the Jimmy Buffet of the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
  http://www.barefootman.com/

This morning Passport, Brown Eyed Girl and Something Special left here for Marsh Harbor so we will be traveling alone for awhile. They will be spending another 3 weeks in the Bahamas but on a different schedule than us. We enjoyed traveling with them on and off since Michigan, 7 months ago and hope to see them again on the east coast in a couple of months as they head north to complete their loops.

Sadly when we left Green Turtle we also left behind our friends and crossing buddies Kathy, Garth and Zeke on Algonquin, we crossed the Gulf of Mexico with them and our first meeting was back in June in Norfolk.  They completed their loop a couple of weeks ago in Fort Lauderdale but need to return to Canada for awhile and we hope to also see them again in the future.  Maybe in Canada eh?

All is well at Green Turtle Cay

We have been here now for 3 days and the with the winds still a blowin, it could be a few more days, but we have lots of company, when we arrived there were a half a dozen boats here now, the place is just about full.  We are on a program they call docking for dollars where you can eat your dockage, you pay which ever is higher your food bill or your dockage, our dockage will be free. And as someone else here said, we hope to be rolling out of here soon. 


When I last posted I wrote about losing power on a windy crossing from the Great Sale Cay to GTC, well its all fixed,  I had visions of the USD flying freely out the porthole and or the possibility of being laid up forever waiting for parts to be shipped from one of the other islands or the states.  Well all it cost was a little bit of the captains pride?  Priceless!   When we were in Stuart alot of small maintenance issues were addressed and when the captain was fixing a pump he separated the cranking battery from the house batteries which means, while we were running the house batteries were not being charged.  Hence all the low voltage lights and loss of power, problem solved.

Finding a private beach is very easy here

Picnic area in town

We had cocktails at Lizards  

We ran into Evelyn,Sid,Ginny and Craig

We went over to the Bluff House and ran into....

Garth, Kathy and Zeke, its a small island

Green Turtle Cay

SweetPea on anchor at Great Sale Cay

It is looking like we will be here for a week since there is quite the blow going on here and it is to continue for at least the next few days. We have rented a golf cart to do some site seeing so we will have a great opportunity to really see the island and experience the local favor.

But I am getting ahead of myself,  We spent the night (Friday) on anchor with 14 other boats at Great Sale Cay and although it was quite breezy it was a very enjoyable night.  Once we all got settled in we met on the beach for cocktails had dinner and turned in as tomorrow was to be an early day.  The wind is to pick up and we need to travel 60 miles to the marina.
The next morning we were up and off just after 6am.  The seas were quite choppy for the first couple of hours but that was just the beginning of an unsettling day for us.  About an hour or so out as we were whipping side to side we lost our autopilot, then the depth finder flat lined, Jim ran down below to find out that our batteries were not charging and we had low voltage lights on and we were losing power.  NOT good, he let the others know of our situation and went down below to see that he could do, he started up the generator and tried to see what the problem was but the seas were to rough for him to do much of anything and I was at the upper helm and he was worried about me handling the boat in not the best of conditions. He shut down anything that was not essential for navigation to save power and returned to the helm we made it to the marina 4 hours later the wind continued to pick up as the day progressed and we were very happy to be tied to the dock.  Being a weekend we will have to wait until Monday to see if we can get the parts needed or if they will have to be ordered.  More about that tomorrow.  The wind is suppose to clock around today and with 50 percent chance of showers  and winds reaching 50 mph.

Ahhh life is good!  (tied to a dock)

Here are some photos of the last couple of days.

 

Algonquin and Passport heading to Great Sale Cay

Something Special, Brown Eyed Girl and Algonquin on anchor at Great Sale Cay

Cocktails on the beach

Relaxing after another long travel day

Sunrise leaving the anchorage

Our wheels while we are here

nice set up

We ran into Ginny and Craig (brown eyed girl) in town so......

We stopped to sample the bakery with them

We took a left and followed a sand path to this beautiful view

Downtown New Plymouth

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.