Mike wrote the following email as we left The Bahamas. Our month long visit was full of fun and adventure. My brother Stan and wife Carol from Seattle visited for a week and we met many other boat friends while there. Our last visit was with Merwin and Crystal who arrived in their sail boat at a marina in Green Turtle Cay. This email captured our parting thoughts. We're sorry no Blog posting while there but the internet was very poor or none at all.
EMAIL by Mike:
May 17, 2012 Thursday
I
hated leaving Green Turtle Cay on Monday morning and sulked all day
long. But, moving on turned out to be a good decision.
We
anchored Monday night in Foxtown, Little Abaco Island, and
visited with Teresa & husband Neal. The anchorage had scores
of large rocks scattered throughout and tricky. Dinghying ashore was
mucho confusing, with large rocks and shallows scattered
everywhere. Of course the darned winds had come up again,
too, and we almost didn't even go ashore. Fortunately,
persistence won out. The few hours with Teresa & Neal were
great fun and we traded an 18-pack of beer for several pounds of
huge, locally-caught crab claws. Very cool !!!
Tuesday,
while moving on to the NW Sales Cay anchorage (for better protection
from those SE winds), a very large water spout passed less
than 3/4 mile behind us. It approached from the port side, with
the path very difficult to predict until it got closer (should have
used the radar). A sailboat motoring alongside us turned around,
realizing only too late they'd turned toward the spout..... we
expected to go back and pick up their pieces! Fortunately it barely
missed them, with no damage. Waterspouts are incisive, just like
tornadoes.
 |
| Huge waterspout 3/4 mile behind us |
Tuesday
night, at Sales Cay, we labored over the WeatherWorx reports from a
nearby boat and decided the only good day to return was Wednesday,
because strong storms were brewing for early Thursday for the Eastern
Florida Coast and expected to persist for a week.
So,
we hauled anchor at 3:00 AM Wednesday morning, accompanied by Steve &
Linda, aboard Coral Bay. Radar and our deck spotlight helped
moving among a dozen or so nearby anchored boats. Most
had arrived after us and were closer than I liked in the dark. The
trip across was easy, with much rain in sight but little falling on
us. The seas were moderately rolly and pretty choppy in a
few places but not bad. The last 20 miles became so glassy calm
as to be spooky! With the dark skies, we wondered what was coming
next. The 118 miles from Sales Cay took 16 hours because I had a
lapse and left the Bahama Bank too far North. Next time we'll cross
around Memory Rock and let the GulfStream carry us North to Fort
Pierce. The same trip going over only took 12.5 hours. Duh!
We nearly
ran over three pygmy sperm whales, known for sitting motionless
on the surface in small groups in very deep waters. They dived just
as I made a hard starboard turn. What a surprise for all of us. Later
we saw a beaked whale... very strange yellow.
Louie
has totally gotten over his sensitivity to rough seas and slept or
yawned the entire trip. I guess those weeks of rocking at anchor in
the relentless Abaco winds did the trick for him.
Anyway,
we're here in Fort Pierce anchored, are heading north tomorrow
for Cocoa Beach and work our way north over the week. Nashville is in
our sights for June 1.
