First Mate Log Excerpts

This blog post is 90% directly from the log. We had crazy weather with hiding from wind to wonderful days fishing and visiting friends. Our first few weeks of the season were a bit of a roller coaster, and the log depicts that better than any flowery verbiage I can throw at you.

2/17/24 Wind SW 7-9knts H73 L69 mostly overcast

Slept like a rock at Mangrove Cay. The boys got a couple small lobster- Mike ate one and Wyatt the other. Otherwise, pork chops, mashed potatoes, salad for supper. This morning hauled anchor at 0900- headed for Great Sale (19 miles). Last year the kids (including Preston) caught several fish and lobster here. We will be able to take dogs to shore- so I’m all for that. Temp is lovely- there have not been any bugs- thank you Jesus! We sailed 3kts for a few hours- Ventolines flew their spinaker as their jib is torn. Now motoring the rest of the way so they can fish. It’s been grand so far. Looking forward to setting foot on some sand and in some sea water. ETA now 3pm.

2/18/24 Wind NNE 15-30kts H71 L68 Overcast Great Sale #2 -> Tom Johnson Sound Great Sale #3

Woke up to wind/squall from NE- NOT predicted. Discussed with Ventolines and made plan to go around the Cay. Initial anchorage was miserable- so glad to get moving. Had a downwind motor sail to begin with then back into the wind as we got closer. There’s a catamaran that seems to be going the same direction. Will watch church when we get anchored. Not sure what the plan will be tomorrow.

2/20/24 Wind NNW 10-15kts H69 L65 Some clouds Great Sale-> Allens Pensacola

Sat out a gale yesterday- 38kts 1-2′ seas. Today we sail!! We have full main and jib making 6kts consistently, we saw up to 7.3 kts with a gust. We are playing with sail trim and have decided the new main has made quite a difference. We haven’t stopped at Allens Pensacola before- so will be nice to have a new spot.

We ended up at Manjack with a ROLLY anchorage for the 2 nights. We were able to run dogs, thankfully. (We still haven’t anchored at Allens Pensacola.)

2/22/24 Wind E 10kts H73 L66 Sunny (Praise be to God!) Manjack-> GTC (Green Turtle Cay)

Nice beam reach to GTC with the genoa. Two trips to fuel dock topping off diesel and gas. (We can’t get Voyager to the fuel dock here, or most places in The Bahamas, so we make trips filling our jerry cans to fill the tanks.) Saw small shark and large ray at the dock. Ran dogs at Manjack this morning. Hoping for a date night. (The adults did go out for supper. We met a fun young woman from the US, Adrienne.)

2/23/24 S winds high teens-24 kts cloudy H74 L67 Rain likely GTC-> Marsh Harbour

*Salty* Passage. 10-12′ seas and sporty through Whale Cut. More weather coming tonight and tomorrow. No one is seasick, thankfully. We are definitely ready and hoping for better weather. We will see if we can visit Bob and Janice (Cronin, from Sturgis who own property on Abaco) while we are at Marsh.

2/25/24 10kts NE H70 Witch Point-> Black Point

Sailing with the head sail at 4kts. Walked about 2 miles on shore on dirt road- was delightful. Janice and Bob Cronin drove us to Abaco Grocery and Maxwells yesterday. Such a blessing to us! Will stay at Black Point tonight and Linyard tomorrow and hopefully ‘Lutra Tuesday. Listening and watching church while underway. Luke 3:7-20 Boys have caught 2 conch, 1 grouper, lionfish and a snapper. Ventolines crew came for supper last night and we played Telestrations.

2/26/24 Light breeze H74 L59 Sunny Black Point-> Linyard Cay

Walked the beach and abandoned House- would love to buy that place. The walls and foundation are alright- plaster has cracked and interior wood is rotting. There’s still a roof. The walls are made of rock. I imagine the foundation is as well. I may investigate….. Listening to Maya Angelou- Letter To My Daughter. Boys plan to spear more fish.

This is how our first 9 days went. Although the weather improves somewhat over the next few weeks, we have other “incidents” that pop up. Stay tuned for that drama!

Slainte’

2024 Sailing Season Opener

January 20, 2024

From our log:

“Crew: Captain Mike, First Mate Erin, Second Mate Matthew, King and Sidney

16th wedding anniversary and splash day! We launched at 0700 and made our way down the ICW to St Augustine. It was an uneventful motor- other than being so cold. (I don’t remember that it was cold, truth be told- just that we were on our way.) We used the vent that Mike rigged from the engine room and that made it tolerable. in the enclosure.

Sea Rat and Seadacious splashed Thursday. Sea Rat is hunkered down at Fernandina as they don’t have an enclosure. SeaDacious is here in St Augustine for a few days. We are waiting for a new Starlink Cable and a few other items- most important being coffee. Looks like moving on Thurs the 25th- again on the inside.”

This was the start of our trip to the Bahamas. We made it to Vero Beach on the 27th where we waited for a replacement Starlink. It ended up being sent to SD and we had a heck of a time getting it sent to us. Our dear son-in-law Jon sent it to our oldest son’s friend Brady in Palm Coast, and he ended up delivering it to us. What a mess. But- we have realized we are safer and better able to do all the things with it, so we delayed our crossing.

On the 12th we moved to Ft Pierce then Jensen Beach the 13th. In Jensen Beach we had a delightful German meal and that’s where Brady delivered the Starlink.

The 15th we were FINALLY on our way across the Gulf Stream. We headed south then across from West Palm Beach inlet. It was roughly 22 hours of miserable conditions. There was nothing unsafe, but we rank it in our top 5 uncomfortable passages. Little did we know it wouldn’t get better for quite a while. Most of our passages and anchorages would remain rolly and nauseating for the next few weeks. Notable thoughts from the log; “M and Mike stood watch from 1900-0400……. I was grateful to be in bed as we were all seasick…… M did is first tack on his own and learned a lesson about over steering…… Dogs did well.”

We had finally made it, after a few setbacks. Next up: how we spent our first weeks back *home* in The Bahamas!

Stay tuned!

Slainte’

Making The Turn North

As with all good things there comes a time to say goodbye. Well, not yet.

Crooked Island would be the furthest south and east we have traveled to date aboard Voyager. Every season we say we will go into the Carribean, and so far, the Bahamas have kept a hold of us. We aren’t complaining. We definitely want to spend more time on Crooked and Acklins, and the Raggeds but maybe next season, 2024, will be the one we push further.

When we left Crooked Island, with tears in our eyes, and the Lighthouse on Bird Rock to our stern we made our way west, back to Long Island. We anchored at Gordon’s Beach and had refreshments at the new (to us) establishment there. While I had been back in South Dakota a few weeks before, the rest of the crew had driven to Gordon’s and knew what is offered. We had also visited back in March of 2020, the day the Island was locked down for covid, but there was no place of business at that time. The beach here is outstanding! Long and white and just as beautiful as you can imagine a beach to be. Jennifer and I walked the beach and the guys hung out at a table on the beach, enjoying the serenity.

From Long Island, we made our way north through the Exuma chain, visiting some of our favorite places. If you’ve been there, or heard anything about the Exumas, you know that Staniel Cay Yacht Club is a must stop. Also, Black Point for Lorraine’s Mom’s (her name is Peermora) bread. We stopped for the first time in the Land and Sea Park and made a trip up BooBoo Hill to leave our sign.

We enjoyed a day, actually Mother’s Day, at Normans Cay. We anchored around the cut last time, and snorkeled Pablo Escabars wrecked and sunken plane the last time we were here. We believe we had the most expensive meal we have ever paid for there for our Mother’s Day dinner. But the moms were happy!

Staniel Cay Yacht Club. I’m sure there’s pictures of Jimmy Buffet if you look close.

The next place of interest was the eastern most end of Chubb Cay. There’s a network of lagoons where the turtles, sting rays and other sea life are abundant. We took a dingy excursion and got a few on film. It was a lot of fun! Unfortunately, our gopro is an older model and the pictures and videos are of poor quality.

Making our way west, we anchored on Mackie Shoals, which is 40 miles from Bimini in open water and is 16 feet deep. It feels a little odd and can be quite uncomfortable in the wrong conditions. We then made our way to Bimini. We have stayed at Bimini Blue Water Marina a few times. There’s a pool and places to eat nearby. However, Jennifer and my favorite part is the sea glass from Radio Beach. It’s the most abundant of anywhere we have been! We could spend hours collecting glass. Well, we did spend hours collecting…. This was our last stop before heading back to the states. Matthew and I negotiated for an extra day, as we weren’t ready to go, none of us were, really. But we only had a day left on our visas and cruising permits. We weren’t going to risk it.

Almost immediately after leaving Bimini we saw this huge waterspout.

Seeing an American city in the distance was a little shocking after the peaceful and tranquil scenery in The Bahamas. But it was time to be stateside. Our Bahamian flag was a little battle worn but made for a cute cape for our Bahamian Potcake.

New Places: Long Cay and Crooked Island

This season we made it a priority to travel to a few places we have never been. We talk about sailing past The Bahamas and into the Carribbean, but have yet to do so. Why? Because we just love The Bahamas so darn much. We are always finding new places and love them all!

Anyone that has been following us for any time at all, knows that when Covid hit, we were somewhat stranded in an anchorage on Long Island, The Bahamas. We were there a month and explored some but weren’t able to see everything we would have liked to. This year, I unexpectedly needed to fly home. We were at Conception Island when the decision was made. Long Island seemed like the most reasonable place to fly out of, and also had the only available tickets that were within a few days. Flights are far from plentiful when one is in the Family Islands of The Bahamas. So- we made the decision to anchor in Calabash Bay, in front of Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort. I then flew out of Deadmans Cay airport.

The first thing Luc asked when I got home was, “Can we go for a walk in the woods?”

Luc likes to pay his respects after we walk. This is my paternal Grandpa, Bo.

While I was away, Voyager and Ventolines took in a few sights. This is the Columbus Monument. He stopped her before reaching Plymouth in 1492.

The reason I went home for a few days was to help out my daughter’s family. She was very ill with pneumonia, the kids were both recovering from being sick, and my son-in-law Jon was missing a lot of work trying to take care of everyone. And besides, even adult children need their mom sometimes. I didn’t do a whole lot. Laundry, cleaning, running to appointments with them, that sort of thing. I did feel better for having laid my eyes and hands on them, though. I think Meg was relieved, too. It was an unplanned expense, but I am so grateful we were able to make it happen.

Once back on Long Island, Voyager having now been moved to Clarence Town by Mike and Matthew, we departed for Crooked and Acklins. We didn’t know then that we weren’t going to make Acklins. Weather and schedules just weren’t in our favor.

Our first land fall was Long Cay after a very rough passage. No one wanted to risk a lousy anchorage at Crooked, so we made our way around Long Cay to the east side. It was a good spot to land.

From Bahamas Geo Tourism: “Long Cay was originally called “Fortune Island” by Christopher Columbus, because he found a conch pearl when he first arrived there. In the annals of Bahamas history, it has the dubious honor of being home to the first jail within the islands; much of it is still standing. In its heyday, the cay was a major trading post and served as the Administrative headquarters for the three-island atoll. It once had 4,000 residents, but today has a very small population that is sometimes less than 50 persons.”

We loved exploring Long Cay. We may have seen 5 people and 3 dogs in Albert Town. There were a few other houses we saw that were obviously occupied at least occasionally. And the church still has services, though not at all often.

St David and St Augustine Anglican Church dating back to the late 18th century.

From Long Cay we made our way back slightly north to Crooked Island. I have referenced the book Plunge: Midlife With Snorkel before. In October 2013 during Storm Atlas in South Dakota, I was without power and water during a blizzard that lasted several days. I read this book and planned my escape. Mike read the book shortly thereafter and was also inspired. In it, the couple buy land on Crooked Island. I had for 10 years been wanting to see where it took place. I wanted to go to the Gibson’s restaurant, the Pitts Town airport, Bird Rock Lighthouse. Finally, here we were.

The library at Landrail Point Settlement.

It was quite lovely to walk the beaches and see where the authors were so taken by a place, they made the plunge to move here. We can’t argue, the people are special. They go out of their way to speak to visitors. In the Gibson’s Restaurant #2 the owner and her children even sang for us. It’s The Bahamas 50th birthday this year, so the first song was in honor of that. We walked down the runway of the air strip. We walked the beach in front of where they built their house. We walked past the library, went to the market, bought a few straw products that were made locally. We only had a few days, but I’m so happy we went. We will definitely be spending more time there in the future.

We have so enjoyed travelling to a few new places this year. It has made this season one to remember and possibly a favorite. Here’s just a few other pictures for your viewing pleasure.