Apologize, a wordy blog, but not many photos.
Sunday we had a leisurely morning, and then we checked the
weather. We both had the same idea –
hey, it looks like we could make the crossing to the Bahamas today. Wasn’t the plan, we were thinking of heading down to West
Palm Beach and then crossing, but we have learned to go when the weather
dictates.
So we upped anchor and headed south, planning to exit at
Stuart. Kris looked at the charts and
since we had never used the Stuart inlet, checked online sources, and it did
not have favorable reviews – lots of shoaling. We decided to motor south to West Palm,
and exit there.
We pulled in for fuel at Stuart to top the tanks off at a place we have found usually has cheaper priced diesel, and we asked the dock hand about the Stuart inlet. He said should be no issue, but call TowBoatUS. We should have thought of it. After fueling we called TowBoatUS on the VHF, and got a “no issue” from TowBoatUs, and then on our way out we passed a sheriff boat, you yelled over to us – “No worries on the inlet, it is good, you should be just fine”. Guess even the Sheriff follows other boaters on the VHF. We thanked the Sheriff, and decided to head out at Stuart.
Which
meant we had to apply for our Bahamas cruising permit online before we left
cell service areas. Kris got on the
computer and started working. She got
the permit OK, and by then Dean had done a great job navigating the inlet –
which was no issue after all. We then
proceeded to head south, hugging the coast, as we still needed to change both
our cell phone plans to a cheaper plan, as in the Bahamas we would be using Starlink
for data and Wi-Fi calling. Only need
a phone plan that lets us Wi-Fi call and is cheap. Kris spent the next two hours changing
over both phones, and with that done, we made a left-hand turn and headed
east.
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| Large cruise ship all lit up at night, passing close behind us, note the calmish water |
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| Saw a lot of ships during the overnight crossing, but no close calls. |
Had a very calm crossing, no real wind, so motor on the entire way. Gulf Stream only had about 1 foot seas, and after that the seas were almost flat. Finally, a little wind about 6 hours out of our destination to Great Harbor Cay in the Berry Islands.
We arrived around 2:00 in the afternoon, so anchored and took the dink into check in. They told us they needed us to bring the big boat in, so we went back, upped anchor and took in the big boat to the marina dock. Talked briefly to the Customs lady, and she said she had to go to the office to get some papers and would be right back. 2 hours later, she returned, and we were able to check in. Bummed, we were given only 90 days of immigration, as others checking here got 120 days.
At 4:45 p.m. we left the marina dock, and headed back out to anchor. The noseeums were terrible at the dock, so happy to be away from them at anchor.
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| To get from the anchorage to the harbor and marina, you must go through a narrow cut. After back on anchor, this larger fuel ship went in the cut - looks like it would be tight for him, but there was plenty of room |
Tuesday was a lazy day. Cleaned up the boat a bit, did some re-arranging of groceries, took naps, read books, and relaxed.
Wednesday more of the same. Kris worked on financials, did some cooking. Dean relaxed, read and played on the computer. We moved the boat to a new spot close by but better for access to town, and some snorkeling we had planned. Also better for high NE winds coming. After moving the boat, the engines were warm, so Kris changed the oil on both the engines.
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| Nice to be back in the sunshine, warm weather and blue water |
Thursday was Thanksgiving.
Kris made apple pie in the morning.
Cut her finger only once, so not bad. Dean had made chip dip, so around 10:30 Dean enjoyed a bit of a
snack. While the pies were in the oven,
Kris noticed a small smell coming from the port side holding tank. Decided to clean the lines, so pumped some
water in and then went to empty the tanks using our macerator to pump
overboard, and the port macerator would not work. Dean spent an unenjoyable Thanksgiving, replacing the old macerator with our spare.
Let's just say the boat was not smelling of warm apple pie, but some
other odor far less pleasant.
He was done by the afternoon, so we were able to enjoy a late
lunch of junk food, soda, chips and dip – without the stinky smell around.
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| Enjoying a much deserved treat after working the stinky job |
For anyone keeping count, in the last month we have replaced the freshwater pump, the seawater pump, and both starboard and port macerators. All of them were of different ages, so no reason for them to all fail within a month of each other. Gotta love boat life.
Friday the high winds out of the NE started, so it was a
boat day for Friday and Saturday while the winds blew. Lots of reading and playing on the computer. Ate up all the pie, all the chip dip and
were fat and lazy for a couple of days. Neighbors on the boat Shally kayaked by, and we spoke with them for a bit.
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| Last of the pie went for Saturday morning breakfast |
