We Made It...Now for an Update

Makin’ Water…that’s what I am doing right now.  Lynn is topside stripping the teak rails.  These are both mundane tasks that can occupy most of a cruiser’s day. Like doing the laundry or picking up groceries. But, hey, I am definitely not complaining. A day of chores in the Bahamas is just fine with me! 

It is a gorgeous, calm, sunny day. In fact that is what we have had for more than two weeks now…very uncommon for winter in the Abacos. Usually there is a cold front at least once a week and often more frequently. Again…no complaints here. I so feel for all our friends toughing it out through a record-breaking winter further north, both on boats and in dirt homes. I gotta hand it to the live-aboards though, Lynn and I agree that we would most certainly have bailed and moved ashore by now.

If anyone actually follows this blog anymore, I apologize to you for being so delinquent in my updates.  I seem to have lost some of my blog-writing initiative, plus we have more intermittent Internet access as we are just using it when we go to happy hours where they have wifi hot spots.

So…where did I leave off?  I’ll just gloss over the boring stuff. We left Beaufort SC and had an easy off shore hop around Georgia. Got to Vero Beach FL and waited less than a week to cross over to the Bahamas…all timing was perfect actually.  Just enough to do what we needed to do and no long waits.

Now, on to the fun stuff…Paul and Lee, our friends from Baltimore Marine Center, joined for two brilliant weeks. They arrived in Vero and helped us cross the Gulf Stream, which was fantastic as it makes a huge difference to have extra crew on board for overnight cruises. They were awesome crew too. Paul is a pilot so was a great help with weather decisions and navigating. And Lee, who came along despite feeling some trepidation about being out of site of land, turned out to have no worries and was ready and willing to help however she was needed. She and I handled the “waking-over-circadian-low” (WOCL) shift…a flying term Paul taught me that refers to the hours between 3 and 6 AM during which it is most difficult to stay awake.

We had quite a good crossing; just a little bumpy. As usual we motored the whole way since we were headed into wind, but, we weren’t going to pass up a good window as they come so infrequently during the winter. 

Approximately 26 hours after leaving Fort Pierce we arrived at Green Turtle Cay. After checking in with immigration we celebrated hoisting the Bahamas courtesy flag with a bottle of champagne.   We then headed into the Bluff House Marina for what we planned to be a one night stay to relax and then move on. 

Now, a bit of not-so-fun stuff…the next morning we heard a clunk when we tried to turn over the engine. “That didn’t sound good” I said to Lee. Well, it wasn’t. Engine wouldn’t start. The first mechanics thought it was a starter problem, but after a week waiting while they sent it to Florida to be rebuilt; we finally got our starter back and were told there was nothing wrong with it in the first place. At that point we determined that we should move on to a new mechanic. Every islander we told about our problem said, “have you called George?”…so, we called George.

Enter George Cross, The Engine Whisperer. He climbed into the engine room and literally touched, smelled, tasted and listened to the engine.  Within 20 minutes he had determined that we had water in the cylinders. Over the next week he solved the problem and we were underway. It turned out to be a perfect storm of small problems that led to water coming in through the exhaust (I won’t bore you with the details). This was much better than the other possible entry route through the head gasket.   George would arrive, determine the next action to take, and leave Lynn to do the work. He joked that we was sending Lynn back to college. The only problem with George was that he was definitely on island time and we never quite knew when he would appear again. But, he is an awesome mechanic and we are very grateful to him for helping us get going again.

The main frustration with our boat problem was that we were stuck in Green Turtle Cay. Albeit, this is not a bad place to be stuck; but we were disappointed to not be able to show Paul and Lee more of the Abacos. They of course were very happy and we did have a great time kicking around the island. We chartered a 26-foot center cockpit boat and cruised to Hopetown and Guana Cay, which was an awesome day.

Paul and Lee finally decided to leave on a Thursday morning when we still thought we were dealing with a head gasket problem and probably stuck for another few weeks. They left at 8 AM and by 11:30 AM George had fired up the engine.  Within a few hours the boat was better, the weather was better and my mood was definitely better.  A few days later we were headed for Hopetown. Lynn was going to kill me because I must have said “I wish Lee and Paul were here” about every 30 minutes, every time we would see something I wanted to show them.

But, they came back!! About a week after we got to Hopetown (feeling like we had finally arrived home) they hopped back on a plane and joined us for another few days. And it was as perfect as I had hoped. Paul is a blast. He is very much like a little boy who sees everything through joyful eyes and keeps us amused all day. And Lee is an absolute pleasure to be around. She is a calming influence who I think keeps us all grounded. Together they are wonderful cruising companions and we really miss having them here.

On our own now we have met up with some old and new friends, including John and Kathi on Makani. They prefer the more remote islands, but stopped off in Hopetown for a few days to visit with us.  It was nice to be back with our buddies again and eat good food and play a few rounds of euchre. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Lynn’s four kids, Traci, Kari, Jeff and Jami in one weeks. That is sure to be a crazy week that will definitely warrant a full blog!

In the meantime, we are in the Bahamas groove.  Our days are spent beach walking, reading (Beth) and crosswords (Lynn) on the boat, snorkeling, hunting conch and lobster, playing cards, cooking, eating, happy hours with friends and sometimes doing the aforementioned chores. Yes…I do know how lucky I am to be living this way for a few months.

Two hours and 80 gallons of water made… 

 

On Our Way with Paul and Lee! Hopefully!!

After Christmas we were able to do an off shore hop around Georgia and then had an uneventful trip to our current  location, Vero Beach, where we have been waiting for good weather to cross to the Bahamas. The most exciting part was one afternoon when two dolphin joined us for about 20 minutes I was able to capture a bunch of awesome pictures as they leapt alongside the boat. I even felt like they were waving at us a few times!

Vero beach is a really cruiser-friendly city so not a bad place at all to be hanging out.  Especially since we were joined by Paul and Lee, our friends from the Baltimore Marine Center, who will be coming along for the ride. We have had fun exploring the area, especially the beach walks and the awesome pizza we enjoyed tonight at Noni's. We are very hopeful that the window we have been waiting for will happen tomorrow.  If the weather cooperates we will leave here around 9 AM and will be at our first stop in the Bahamas about 24 hours later.  So keep your fingers crossed!!  We are :)

Beautiful Beaufort

Still a little too cold for my liking!

Finally our part arrived.  About 3 hours later the engine was fixed and we were ready to resume our trek south…but, as sailing luck would have it, bad weather came in and we had to wait out two days of high wind before venturing into the Albemarle Sound.  

Once we were started again we made excellent progress.  We anchored in most of our usual favorite spots and a few new ones. The engine works great now, except that we need to keep taking oil out of the fresh water reservoir.   

Anchoring on the Pungo River

We docked at a marina in Oriental NC to wait out the huge storm that hit the eastern seaboard on the day before Thanksgiving.  Oriental is a bit of a throwback town that is reminiscent of Mayberry. The people are very friendly and offered us the use of their bikes or rides in their cars as we made our way around town. We decided to stay there and chillax for Thanksgiving Day. Although very cold, it was a beautiful, clear, crisp day. In the morning we wandered about and took some pictures, and then we watched The Sound of Music and enjoyed our own little turkey dinner.  I took the time to reflect on the trip so far and decided I had a lot of reasons to be thankful…not the least of which is the chance to be on another Coyote Adventure…But, most of all I am thankful for our family and friends.

Our Thanksgiving table

The rest of our travels down the ICW were relatively uneventful, with the exception of a few groundings.  But, as one of our sailing friends pointed out…a sailor who says they have never run aground has never left the dock.

Oriental - a quaint little town

Evening on the ICW

The first one occurred just north of Charleston SC as we approached the Ben Sawyer swing bridge. There is a notoriously shallow area and we were travelling at low tide (sometimes that is just out of your control).  Anyway, there was a sailboat already hard aground and actually leaning at about 30 degrees. We approached very cautiously hoping we could feel our way through.  Didn’t work! We gently touched bottom and were stuck there for about three hours till the tide came in.  We very effectively blocked the rest of the channel and three more boats opted to wait out the tide rather than navigate around us.

No way through this channel!

When we finally floated off we missed the last opening of the bridge by six minutes! Aargh!  After hovering for two hours we went through the bridge and had to find our way through Charleston harbor in the dark…a little nerve wracking.  But we made it safely to the anchorage and dropped anchor, which thankfully held immediately; we hit the sack soon after.

Sunrise in Beaufort

The next day was the last stretch for the first part of the journey. We were heading for Beaufort SC where we planned to stay for a visit with Lynn’s brother and his wife (David and Gini). We decided to take a detour from the ICW to avoid another shallow area called the Ashepoo Coosaw Cutoff. Once again we were going to hit it at low tide and didn’t want a repeat of the previous day. So, instead of turning left in the Ashepoo River, we turned right and headed for the St. Helena Sound.  The charts showed deep water the whole way and it was just a few extra miles.  The plan went perfectly till we reached the mouth of the river where, without any warning, we hit bottom in water that was charted at 22 feet!

Docked in Callawassie

Lynn is always called to the helm to get us out of sticky situations…which he deftly did in this case once again. He backed us off and then carefully negotiated the rest of the area that was at least 10 feet more shallow than it was supposed to be.  Once out into the sound we were able to relax in about 40 feet of water.  We were very happy to pull into the Beaufort marina for the night and enjoyed a nice meal with some fellow cruisers we had met on the radio that day!

Another spectacular sunset

After a short, four-hour ride the following day, we arrived at Callawassie Island where we have been staying for the past week.  David arranged for us to dock Coyote at their pier and we have been enjoying comfortable, restful nights on shore in their lovely home.  We have filled the days with some chores and some fun. Our friend Chuck arrived yesterday on his boat, Driven, and is now docked next to us.  It is not often that the community has a big sailboat docked here, let alone two, so I am sure we are getting a lot of attention.

Beaufort Carolers

After we go home for Christmas we will start as soon as possible to go south to Florida and then to the Bahamas.  We are at the point in the journey where we need to hope for good off-shore cruising weather…so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t have to wait too long…I’ll keep you posted.  Till then, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year!!             

Coyote Adventure IV: A New Journey Begins

The Captain and First Mate 

It has been quite a while since I last wrote a blog. About a year and a half to be exact! During that time I was back at work and visited my family in Canada regularly. Lynn was busy with many activities, including completely overhauling and flipping a 44 ft Endeavor, building a deck, working at West Marine, and lots of boat projects on Coyote. I can’t believe how quickly time flew and how much we had to accomplish in the last few weeks to get ready for departure.

We hauled the boat and cleaned off the most barnacles I have ever seen before waxing the hull and painting the bottom, we worked on the engine, did the usual provisioning, and decided a little too late in the season to paint the entire deck. Although it delayed our departure a bit, it was well worth it. Thanks Pete! Our boat is beautiful. And thanks Biscuit for the many hours of entertainment. We also left a little late so we could travel to Canada in October for my Mom’s 90th birthday. That was an awesome party celebrating an incredible women!

Workin' on the Boat

Just a few Barnacles!

In the Boatyard

We finally departed on November 14th on a beautiful morning with a bunch of people around to see us off, including Lee and Paul, Brenda, Pete, Kathy and Jim, and Lynn’s three daughters, Traci, Kari and Jami. It was the usual choked-up farewell. 

As we headed down the Bay it felt wonderful to finally be out on the water. We tend to get so preoccupied with other activities that we never really enjoy the boat when not on one of our Bahamas treks. We chilled, ate and just gazed off to the horizon…that is until after midnight, when a little bit of hell started. Unexpectedly the wind picked up to about 30 knots and the water got really rough in the bottom half of the Bay, south of Solomon’s Island. With the wind out of the South we were crashing into the waves, like a bucking bronco, for a good 4 hours. Of course it was during the most grueling time of an overnighter from about 2-6 AM. I started to feel like I was counting down every minute…I guess I was. Thankfully it was an almost full moon so we had lots of light, which definitely makes a big difference. Then with the sunrise the water calmed down as we reached Norfolk. 

The Beach at Nags Head

We found out that the Great Bridge lock was going to open that day at 11:30 AM so we decided to keep pushing on. Due to a valve problem they were only opening when the conditions were

An Unexpected Vinyard

just right, so we thought we should grab the opportunity and were lucky to be the last boat they let into the lock. After 32 hours (with little to no sleep) we made our first stop at Coinjock NC, which turned out to last much longer than planned or wanted! We did some laundry, had a long, hot shower, ate in the restaurant and then finally hit the sack. I was so tired at that point that I think I was starting to hallucinate…I know I have no recollection of actually going to bed.

Coinjock Marina

Finally on our Way...Before the Waves

We awoke the next morning feeling very excited to get on our way again…but, sadly Lynn discovered oil in our fresh water coolant when he did his usual engine check before starting up. This is a bad thing.

We called a local mechanic who diagnosed a bad oil cooler. Not a big deal, unless you own a Perkins and the part has to come all the way from England. Long story short, it took almost a week to get the part and the engine back in working order, which is actually faster than we expected. A shout out here to Ken Moore, the Yacht Doc, who definitely came to our rescue. If you ever find yourself stuck on a boat in Coinjock, he is the one to call!

Of course, as sailing luck would have it, bad weather came in as soon as the engine was fixed and we have opted to wait another 2 days for it to pass. If this all sounds a bit déjà vu-ish…that’s because it is. We were held up on our last trip for 30 days in Norfolk with generator and transmission problems. We were so happy to get past Norfolk this time…but, only made it 50 miles south!!

Love this Pic of my Man :)

The Wright Brothers Memorial on a Blustery Day -
Probably like the First Flight!

Oh well, we decided to make the best of it and toured the area…we were not far from the Outer Banks so made some visits to Manteo, Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. We stopped at a local winery, the Wright Brothers monument (which we particularly enjoyed), and of course had our first glimpse of the ocean.

Anyway, I have been trying to take this delay in stride. Lynn will tell you I have not been without a few frustrated moments…but it has definitely not been so bad. Unfortunately, this means that we will not reach our Thanksgiving destination of Beaufort SC where we planned to spend the holiday with Lynn’s brother’s family…which is the biggest down side of the whole thing. That and the fact that we watched a week of perfect traveling weather pass us by and now the wind has increased and the temperature decreased. From the glass-half-full perspective: (1) our engine didn't give out when we were in the rough Bay in the middle of the night, (2) Lynn found the problem early enough that there was no really serious damage, and (3) we are still happy, healthy and heading south. 

I just need to keep reminding myself that all this effort is to get to this…

Sheila and Paul Visit the Abacos

Once I knew my sister, Sheila, and her husband, Paul, were coming to visit I could think of little else until they arrived. I was once again seeing the sites through fresh eyes as I imagined how much they would love it here. I was not wrong…they did love it here.

Sheila and Paul arrived in Marsh Harbour on a beautiful afternoon where we met them and had lunch at Mangos before boarding Coyote and heading out into the Sea of Abaco. We anchored for the night off Man-o-War Cay and went for a lovely evening stroll along the beach. The next day we toured the town and then moved to Hope Town as it was getting rather bumpy in the anchorage due to a west wind that had picked up throughout the day. On the way Sheila and Paul had fun riding on the bow of the boat.

Hope Town did not disappoint either. They fit right into the relaxed lifestyle and thoroughly enjoyed

wandering throughout the quaint town, having lattés in the coffee house, ice cream at the Sugar Shack and swimming or strolling along the beautiful beaches.

On one of our perfect days, Sheila and I went to yoga in the morning and then met the boys for coffee before heading to the beach for a swim. On another perfect day we rented a golf cart to tour Elbow Cay, stopping at Tahiti Beach for a picnic lunch. Later that night we went to Firefly for dinner, Sheila and Paul’s birthday treat to me. Yet another perfect day included a trip to Lynyard Cay on Harold’s run-about with a stop at Sandy Cay for snorkeling and then Pete’s Pub for lunch. Needless to say they were all perfect days, even including the big thunder storm in Hope Town!

Their trip was a last minute decision so we couldn’t really believe they were actually here. Sheila and I kept pinching each other because it didn’t seem real. It was all so wonderful that we decided we could not describe it to anyone without seeming to be completely obnoxious. So, I will just say that I am so happy they came to visit. It was a most brilliant birthday present and I will always remember our perfect week.

We were sad to see them go, but it marked the point at which we felt it was time to start for home. We spent a few more days in Hope Town

that included my actual birthday for which we had dinner with friends and then cake (baked by Lynn) on the boat. Since this was a milestone birthday year I have been milking it for several months…I guess I need to accept that it is finally over.

We have now crossed through the Whale and are in Green Turtle Cay where we have waited out a front. Tomorrow we are heading further north to either Manjack or Powell Cay and soon we will cross the Gulf Stream headed for home. I always find this time somewhat stressful as we look for the best opportunity to make the crossing. In the meanwhile we are planning to explore some new northern cays, which is always exciting. And then we will be close to home and our family and friends, which is always wonderful.