Around the Whale

 Ever since we arrived at the Bluff House on Green Turtle we have had an eye on the weather since we want to spend the holidays in Hope Town on Elbow Cay. Hope Town has a bit more happening than other places in the Outer Islands thus making for a better experience. Especially on New Years Eve.

 We did manage to get the dink in the water yesterday and head over to New Plymouth. The Sea of Abaco had laid down in the afternoon so this was an uneventful ride in the dink. From my point of view New Plymouth is looking better in and around the harbour. Perhaps everyone has been busy with paint as well as patching up here and there. It just seemed a bit brighter this year. Sadly groceries were a bit on the cher side compared to the other outer islands.

 Over the five days leading up to our departure from Green Turtle we spent (probably) a total of an hour a day checking and rechecking various sites to see how the weather models were progressing as time went on. Throughout our 5 night stay the preoccupation was "how will the Whale look tomorrow". We based our criteria for departure on light winds for a couple of days along with lower swells either locally generated by the wind or, distantly generated in the Atlantic. With the winds we had upon arrival it was a no brainer we were going to be on Green Turtle a bit. We needed to be patient and let things lay down. 

 We could have gone around yesterday in the morning and in fact several of the boats left White Sound either for Dont Rock or the Whale Channel out to the Atlantic. I gave a call out to some folks that were traveling around the Whale and they reported it was "do-able, not a bad ride" but the forecast indicated improving conditions on the Atlantic over night so we sat it out. The additional wait paid off and we were rewarded with mild swells once out side Whale Cay all the way to Loggerhead Channel. The only time things were remotely dicey was when we crossed over the bar at the North East end of Whale Cay.  Here we were greeted by 4 foot rollers at about a 3 second interval but thankfully the bar is narrow and we were through this in short order. Once out in the Atlantic we found ourselves in 2-3 with about a foot of chop on top. It was a following sea as well which made for a decent ride.

 Once around the Whale and into Loggerhead Channel the water settled down and I was able to engage the autopilot through Bakers Bay to Orchid Bay. This part of the ride was very comfortable because now the apprehension of being out in the Atlantic was over, and all we had in front of us were the submerged steel pole that were used to mark Loggerhead Channel for the cruise ships that never came. Originally Loggerhead was dug out for cruise ships. The idea was to provide a stop for them that encouraged the local economy. It's a shame it didn't work out, but in another sense perhaps that's a good thing. A review of what has happened in Freeport and Lucaya might give pause to this sort of development in the future.  

 Anyway, we're safe in the shallows of the bank again and that is comforting. The only down side is that we have yet again disturbed Ray. On the upside, our buddy the green heron is still seeking out transom lights in his quest for bait fish snacks. I went to get a photo of him but the new camera has a distance sensing light that is kind of bright in the dark and it scared him away.

 I've loaded up the GPS data and we'll put more photos in the bucket when we arrive in Hope Town.

Across the Little Bahama Bank - Sunrise to Sunset

 We left the dock on Saturday 12/4 just prior to the crack of dawn as the sky was lighting up. Heading out onto large water there is always a sense of apprehension but they were assuaged quickly. The Northwest Providence Channel was calm so once we cleared the shallow water I pushed the throttles to the stops and Freedom responded. We hopped up and we started making great time towards the Grand Lucaya Waterway. This was important since our total planned trip was about 94 nm and we had to maintain at least 10 knots to get to Spanish Cay before sunset. Having the calm water at the outset was certainly beneficial.

 It also helped us avoid all of the dive shop mooring balls and crab pot floats we encountered along the way. Having wasted no time out on the N.P. Channel we turned into the Waterway and pulled back on the throttles since the canal and its side canals have many houses with docks and boats exposed to our wake. But we did manage to keep a decent pace in the canal and after a couple of hours we could make out Dover Sound. However there was a work barge visible and we did not know if it was blocking the channel leading out of the water way. This channel is about 2 boat widths wide with little room for error. Fortunately the barge with crane were pushed up onto the shallows and well outside the channel.
 Since we had been waiting for high tide and weather (wind) to line up with our arrival we were pleased to see that we timed it well and we had plenty of water under us as we lined up in the channel leading from the water way. Just consider that plenty of water in this case means 4.5 feet under our depth sounder transducer, which only leaves a couple of feet under the keel, props and rudders.
 Once out on the sound we motored along at about 9 knots and to our surprise we picked up a little shove from tide that moved us along at about 10.5 knots or so it seems. This was great news for us and in spite of the wind out of the North and the developing chop we made great progress rounding Mangrove Cay on schedule.
 That was when I looked at the gauges again and saw the starboard alternator had stopped working. At this point we were about 1/2 way along and we both knew that turning back was not a good option since the tide was going out and that would take away all of the clearance we needed to get back into the water way. So on we went with Deb at the helm while I reviewed the schematics for Freedom's DC power. Luck was on our side since all of the important equipment was being supplied by the port side alternator. The starboard alternator and battery merely supplied the power for the starboard gauges, starter motor and generator starter. With the built in solenoid to jump the engines from each other we felt safe continuing since in addition we have to 8D AGMs to draw on if we need to start the generator.

 Once we turned to the ESE to track to the South of Great Sale Cay the wind started to clock around to the WNW and then from the West while the water laid down becoming calm. While progress is slow at 10 knots and you're all alone out there, with a change in weather coming during the evening, sometimes you get a pleasant surprise and ours was a playful dolphin that jumped along with us for a minute. By the time we had the camera ready it was gone.

 It wasn't long before Little Abaco came into view followed by The Center of the World Rock, which was our decision point. Once here we planned to review our progress and decide if we had time to travel to Green Turtle Cay. We don't travel at night and the time was tight. But our nav software told us we would arrive at sunset so we pushed down the throttles for a while and ran at 16 knots to provide a buffer in the schedule. As we turned into White Sound the sun was setting on a long day but a day of excellent progress in spite of the alternator calamity.

 Given the battery charged overnight and started the engine the next day we figure we are good to move on to Hope Town where we will reside for a few months. While Freedom is getting on in years I'm still glad we chose her since her engines are all mechanically injected and throttled. All we need to be able to do is start them. And hopefully that's what they will continue to do.

 But right now we're very glad to be at the Bluff House Marina on Green Turtle Cay. Running the extra distance paid some very large dividends because the wind kicked up considerably over night and it has made the Sea of Abaco quite choppy. This would have made a stay at Spanish Cay a bit more uncomfortable because the wind was out of the West and brisk. Here on Green Turtle we are much better protected and we don't have to worry about slogging it out in 1-2 feet of chop which is something a beautifully restored Bertram Moppie(?) appears right at home in.

 The GPS tracks have been updated but given the bandwidth here additional photos will have to wait but we'll get them into the bucket soon. I'll post a link to them then.

Small fry in a big fish pond

Here at the Grand Bahama Yacht club we've learned some humility. But only up to a point. The Affinity Yacht sporty off our bow facing starboard is quite a boat and it dwarfs Freedom.

They pulled in a day after us and proceeded to have all sorts of issues that included power and etc.. After flicking breakers on all the power towers (ours included) several times, my patience ran out and I let the owner hear it. At least I am not alone. The crew quit the day they arrived with some rather unflattering words.

After all of this, with several folks aboard working on the boat, the dockmaster knocks on the side of our boat hoping we have some duct tape to lend him. Yes, now he wants my duct tape also.

 Ok we let him have some.

 After this we took a ride in the dink to blow it out for the season. As it turns out we got about a mile away from the facility and the next round of Dan vs. Tohatsu was rung in. Sadly, there was no scantily clad woman nearby holding up the round number. Deb and I smelled some gas. I pulled the bonnet off the outboard and sure enough there was some gas leaking from the accelerator pump. Fortunately it only leaked at high rpm so we could safely putt back to the marina at a slow speed.

 Given our experiences with this outboard last year, this season we left with a complete rebuild kit in our bag of spares and I went to work on the carburetor yet again. This time I think it's really fixed but time will tell. For the first time in many years I have not seen gas weeping out of the accelerator pump bellows after a good run.

 As far as moving on goes, we are hoping the predictions for Saturday hold up so we can make a run for Spanish Cay. It's a long run of about 100 nm that we need to get done in a hurry because there is foul weather coming and we don't want to anchor out in it. Thus what we would do over two days normally will be done in a single day this time. There were some days we could have made the trip if the tide aligned with our departure of the North end of the Grand Lucayan Canal but with the tide running high late in the day we could not make the trip. The North end of the canal dumps out into a stretch of pilings that mark the most shallow water we have ever taken Freedom through. Tomorrow morning we should have high tide there, and that gives us a couple of feet of water under the running gear to spare so we'll plan to be there then.

A Big Move Today!

 Not.

 We moved from the Port Lucaya Marina over to the Grand Bahama Yacht Club. While the Port Lucaya Marina is right in the center of activity for the area, we get a better rate here so in the interest of saving some dollars we moved over. It was extremely convenient to stay there a couple of days to take care of fueling and checking in, but after that, moving over to Grand Bahama is a good deal. If you look at the GPS track I loaded you will see exactly where we are and it's a great spot. Bow in with a bit of a view off the aft deck where we can have dinner in privacy.

 By the way they have a fabulous swimming pool here, the WIFI seems a bit more stable, and we don't have all the arrogance of a Megayacht running its generator all the time to save dollars over the locally billed electricity rate.

 But we will miss the restaurants the locals hang out in at Port Lucaya while over there. Agave, was terrific place for a beverage and food. It was a Latin inspired fusion sort of place and the food was terrific. While we only had a couple of appetizers they were excellent. The calamari was tender and well spiced as was the shrimp bruscetta. Their margaritas were very good also and I recommend their Golden Cadillac. Since it was happy hour they were half price and well worth the expense.
 The real loss at hands of the economy at the Port of Lucaya was Jade. They did excellent sushi and rolls. Alas, they are also gone now another sign of the times.

 Anyway here we will remain until what looks like Sunday when the tide and winds align to allow us a good traversal of Dover Sound. The North end of the Grand Lucayan Waterway is not to be taken lightly. Anyone with expensive running gear (most boats) will want to ensure that if they pull 4 feet of water, they had better time their arrival for a rising tide or at least high tide. Given all of the work we invested in this past stay at Indiantown we are hesitant to risk it even having passed through that area at mid-tide.

 It isn't all that bad though. I've added some photos to the bucket outlining what happens here once in a while. It seems they had some photo work to do down here. Someone rented a boat and said if you want photos of this girl you will have to pay. Believe me, who ever sponsored this shoot paid. And big time. And they got ripped off. Up close she wasn't all that much to look at.

 Stay tuned, we'll be on the move again soon enough.

http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh40/danno53/Boating%202010-2011/

Gulf Stream crossing, you're doing it wrong.

 As part of the preparation for the Gulf Stream crossing we regularly checked the weather looking for a break that included low sea height projections from a few sources. While they might all use the same data or models, some have a person look it over and add the human spin to it. The forecast for Saturday November 27 was very good. All sources agreed that the waves would not be significant, the period of time in between the waves would gradually grow to about 10 seconds, and that there was only a 20 percent chance of showers. With that news we spent quite a bit of time the night before making sure we had everything locked down, stowed and accounted for. The ditch bag was loaded a bit more than usual, the PLB was secured as well as the dink, and bolt cutters were made available in case we had to drop the dink in a hurry.

 We planned our departure from the dock at the municipal marina by the 3rd avenue bridge for about 6:00 AM. This would put as at the inlet after the arrival of the cruise ships in Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale, Fl). This information is available on the web at http://www.porteverglades.net/cruising/arriving-and-departing/ on one of their radio buttons. They were all supposed to be docked by 6:00 AM. However our arrival at the inlet was greeted by the Carnival Miracle. Out in front was the Homeland Security inspired escort. Note the boats out in front of us are just off the shore of the inlet considering when it will be safe to sneak past the transom and get to the serious business of fishing. Everyone is obliged by law to keep about 100 yards off of these ships. We waited with them and after about 10 minutes of idling we all left the inlet.

 Getting outside we were greeted by an accurate forecast. It was even better than we had hoped. The water was calm and we were making about 9 knots on our course made good for West End. We were surprised that there were not many folks out fishing, perhaps they were home sweating off the holiday. But they were out there and we could hear reports of some good luck on VHF 68. 

 Eventually we hit the Gulf Stream and the water color shifted to an appealing blue. Our speed over the ground picked up as the stream current swept us North towards West End. We were now making 11 knots over the ground. Life is good we thought since this meant we would be arriving earlier than we planned, something like 1:15 PM.

 But we started seeing some ominous clouds. After checking WxWorx radar we noted that some of them had some very active centers. There were cells that had the peak color for reflectivity. Knowing people that were in Lucaya last March when the Tornadoes hit we were concerned and steered North for a while to avoid them. This put us on a course away from West End and everything else including what appeared to be all of the storm cells. We watched this for a while hoping that the cells would dissipate since many had already. But that was not to be as eventually we saw the first of many water spouts. Fortunately it was about 12 miles off the bow (click on the photo it will be easier to see). This got our attention in a hurry since no one wants to get hit by one of these things and the clouds started to line up behind us on a course to West End. That is to say, they were going to line the course we needed to follow to our destination. Because we had tried to go North for a while (see the GPS track) we now had a line of storm cells developing behind us and to the South West as well as a line going to West End. We were boxed out of West End and Florida was looking like where we should go. This is happening in the middle of the Gulf Stream. Better than half way across.

 By this time I had tuned the radar to spot the water spouts and it was doing a good job of letting us know where they were forming. We continued North hoping the cells would dissipate but in a while one started forming right over us. I asked Deb to look up and behind us but there was nothing there. Thinking this was an anomaly I continued on with a wary eye on the radar. Then the blob on the screen started growing, and that was when I said to myself, later for this, and pulled a donut in the Gulf Stream. This is quite visible on the track as well. What I did was swing around and look for a break in the clouds. Once at the break we cut under them and got on the East side of the freight train.

 Sure enough not long after we left that area a spout dropped down making us glad we left that spot but wondering what else was in store for us. And there was more. The show started to intensify and spouts started dropping in a line to the North of us, following the cloud line. We were now only 6 miles off of the line and some of the spouts were quite threatening. We were clearly able to see the water spray up at their bases and how they changed color when they touched down. We supposed they got darker with all of the water they ingested.

 With the cat and mouse game in full play we tried steering a course that put us towards Grand Bahama in between West End and Lucaya. Every now and then things started to improve and we were actually within 10 miles of West End. We kept poking towards West End until the "BOW Echo" came on the radar screen. Those are associated with severe Tornadic activity. This put us on course to Lucaya with all possible speed of about 17.5 knots in a beam sea of about 2-4 and a period of about 4 seconds.

 Farque'

 And by the way, to our "pleasant" surprise another squall line developed to the South of us moving North and this was headed for Lucaya. Fortunately this only indicated rain and gusty winds, with no bright echos within it. Freedom had the salt washed off her before we tied up at the dock.

 We pulled into the Port Lucaya Marina, and to our advantage they fueled us up while we filled out all of the required immigration and customs forms. Happily they granted us the full 6 months as opposed to the 3 months others were seeing at other stations. Filling out the marina guest information and turning that in was all that was left of a long day. Instead of something like 73 nautical miles on the water, or 86 nm to Lucaya directly, we wound up putting in 100 nm screwing around in the Gulf Stream. It's not all bad, because in spite of all of the heavy handed throttling, we still wound up with 1nm/gallon. Even though we like almost 2, 1nm/gal under the circumstances was well received. 

 In retrospect, I'm wishing I had taken some more photos of the spouts. Even some video. But we were too occupied with where we were, where we were going, the water, the gauges, the radar, the plotter, and WxWorx to relax enough. The first one we saw was cool. It was 12 miles away, and we thought it was a loner. Wow, were we wrong. When the large one showed up 5 miles off our port side with all of the spray at the base, we were more interested in making tracks instead of watching it. 

 So here we are, and we are safe thank you, pondering what the next batch of forecast data has in store for us. We still have to make our way around the North side of the Bank to the Abacos. Given all of the issues launching the boat and waiting on weather it looks like we will skip over Guana Cay until March so we can be on Elbow for the holidays.

   

No it's not broken down.

 I've loaded a video of a tow on Facebook: Tow in progress Sorry this is on Facebook but I didn't want to upload it twice. Next time I'll load to Youtube.



 These photos ought to provide enough insight regarding navigation on the New River. Here we see a generic Mega Yacht being towed up the New River. When they pass by us they are quite close at perhaps 10 yards or so. And they are moving right along with a tow on the bow and one on the stern. Note the stern tow is facing away and being pulled backwards. 

 When traveling up the river everyone is obliged to be listening on VHF Channel 9, since the tow operators will announce their position and what they are up to. It's good to know about these movements because it is very narrow on the New River in many sections. And that is why the mega yachts have tows to get them up and down the river.  

 But it doesn't have to be a mega yacht to fill up the New River in a hurry. There's always the African, oops, Jungle Queen going up and down the river with tours. Last year we had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with this boat at the weary hour of 5 AM. We were departing for the Bahamas early in the morning so we could make Lucaya before sunset. Just as I managed to leave the other side and get Freedom swung perpendicular to the current, here comes the Queen (no saving graces were said or heard) around this corner. It stopped maybe 10 yards off our port side and then started to dart back and forth as though he was in a hurry to keep going. But the bridge wasn't open so we danced a bit with the Queen until she decided I needed some room to finish the turn and get out of her way.

 And that we did

Up the New River

 We wanted to economize a bit so we moved up the New River to the Ft. Lauderdale Municiple Marina which occupies quite a bit of the river front from downstream of the 3rd Avenue bridge to upstream beyond the Andrews Avenue bridge. If you look at the webcam you will see our transom faces the third avenue bridge.
 Looking at the GPS track one can see there is a confused path up between the bridges. We reserved in advance and were assigned spot #31. The attendant told us it was between the bridges. When we arrived we went between the bridges which required the 3rd avenue bridge to open. This bridge gets a huge amount of river traffic requiring openings. Anyway once inbetween the bridges with the 3rd avenue bridge closing we spoke with the marina and the spot was on the down stream side.
 Being in current in a tight area with traffic is not exactly a relaxing situation. Especially since an 80 footer had to squeeze by us while I was on the phone with the marina. Learning where we were supposed to be, I asked the bridge to open again and since timing is everything, we had the tide running and a string of emergency vehicles that had to cross the bridge before it could re-open.  

 Swell.

 Once downstream of the bridge again we find that someone is in the spot we were assigned. Talking on the phone with the marina once more we worked out another spot just down stream of the bridge and turned around once more. In the middle of our turning around the bridge opens and sure enough the Jungle Queen is coming at us blowing her whistle to let us know down stream vessels have the right of way. Like I didn't know it. I managed to get Freedom swung around and on the wall just as the Jungle Queen floated by.

 We've had better boating experiences. At least the marital issues that can creep into special times like this didn't invade the situation.

 But we're in and tied up and safe. A whopping 3.6 nm on the GPS today. I'll update this entry with a couple of photos including a shot of the Jungle Queen to add some perspective to the story. Perhaps sometime I'll have a wifi hotspot that allows folks to point the webcam and look at video. Adding to the fun on the day the generator refused to put water over the side so I'll be in the bilge trying to square that away. It's a good thing we always check for water when starting engines, the generator or the airconditioning. Especially in this case since it is a water cooled exhaust. It sounded louder than usual to me and the proof was no water going over the side.