6/14/15
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

Happy birthday to our grandson Jameson! We miss you and love you buddy!!

6/13/15
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

Today was a great day. It started with the Lone Palm sailing regatta. We crewed our friends Ben and Marguerite boat, a Beneteau First sailboat. Every boat was positioned at the start based on the performance rating of the boat, and we were second to last to start. We had a crew of 6 including the 4 of us and also fellow dock neighbors, John and Sylvia. This was the first time we all had sailed together and the first time on this boat, and everyone was well over 50. We started in Southport, sailed up the Cape Fear river about 2 miles, down the river into the Atlantic Ocean and back to Southport. Winds were generally out of the south at 10-18 knots, and we had to honor all of the navigation buoys, which made for a lot of tacking in the Cape Fear river. Ben’s boat is fast, and it points almost dead into the wind, which really helped us. After 2 hours of sailing, we blew past the finish line at the Southport waterfront, a large crowd at the American Fish Company deck bar cheering us on. We thought we had finished 3rd, but found out later that we were 2nd! It was great fun!!! We worked our asses off, it was hot as hell, and we needed multiple libations to quench our thirsts!

We also had a fantastic dock party on D dock in the evening. Our dock neighbors, John and Maryann, do an annual lobster party to support their church’s lobster sale. They provide lobsters for everyone and we all bring appetizers and side dishes. It was an absolute blast!! The people on D dock are really nice and lots of fun to hang with. Thanks to John and Maryann for providing the lobsters, and everything else they brought!

All in all…a really fun day!!

6/13/15
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

Happy birthday to our brother-in-law Steve! We are drinking one for you brother and hope you have a good one. (Sorry to other family members that I did not post about in the last 6 months. I am getting better now that we are not moving every day…lol.)

6/8/15
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

I saw a post yesterday that did a great job of explaining how to perform 11 A/C safety tests for your boat. It was really well written and geared toward the non-professional electrician. If you have and boat and plug it into shore power, this is a must read.

The link is:
AC Safety Tests

4/20/15
Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Posted by Bill

We left Green Turtle on the 18th, planning to work our way west, enjoy some of the remote cays along the way, and work our way back to the States. We stopped at Manjack Cay, hoping for some good snorkeling, but the winds and waves were out of the SW and made the anchorage very uncomfortable, so we motored across the Sea of Abaco to the eastern shore of Great Abaco, protected from the winds. We anchored for the night and all 3 boats had dinner together. It was really good and lots of fun. The next day the winds were supposed to lie down and shift, so we motored about 9 miles up to Powell Cay, another great snorkeling and fishing spot. Once again, winds higher than forecast and out of the SW, so we motor across the Sea of Abaco to Coopers Town, in the protection of the eastern shore, and anchor for the night. The big plan is to get to West End on the far western side of the Bahamas to cross over to the States, with Thursday looking like a great weather window. It will take a couple of days, and we have scoped out where we can anchor based on the wind forecast, but we can do it…not! The weather window slams shut, and the winds are nothing like the forecast is stating. After much analysis and deliberation, we throw up the white weather flag and motor a couple of hours back to Green Turtle. The weather is going to be snotty at least until Sunday, and we can ride it out comfortably there. Winds are predominately from the E or SE this time of year, and it has been, or will be blowing S, SW or W for most of the week…go figure.

One good thing is that we have shore power and decent internet access here, and I am getting the blog up to date. I might even be able to get the Map of Where We Have Been updated! The other good thing is that they have a pool and cheap rum drinks! Hopefully we will find a weather window to come back in the next week or so.

4/18/15
Posted by Tricia and Bill

Happy birthday Dad! We tried to call you but our Bahamas phone was not able to keep the call alive…sorry. Hope you have a good one!

4/17/15
Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Position: 26 45.697N, 076 19.441W
Posted by Bill

Green Turtle Cay is another one of the places that everyone recommends as a “must stop” in the Abacos, and we were looking forward to checking it out. There are 2 primary harbors, White Sound and Black Sound. We chose to take a slip for a few days in Black Sound at the Leeward Yacht Club and Marina. Both harbors have very shallow entrances and we needed to come in and leave with at least 2/3rds tide. We had to leave Treasure Cay in the morning so we could have at least a foot of tide to help us, but high tide at Green Turtle wasn’t until after 6:00 that evening, so we stopped at the cay next to Green Turtle called No Name Cay to kill some time. We learned that there are wild pigs on the beach and anyone that knows Tricia knows that she loves pigs. She was bummed out that we weren’t going to make it to the Exuma chain of islands and visit pig beach, where the pigs will swim out to your dinghy as you approach, but this was going to be a good second choice to feed and play with the pigs. After the pigs, we figured we could go swimming and snorkeling, as we heard there was good snorkeling there too. We got to the beach, and sure enough there were about a dozen pigs roaming the beach. Kurt and Sharon from Byrd Ketcher came in their dinghy too, and we both brought food. As we approached the beach, we saw that the large pigs were mean to the little ones. One of the larger ones was wading in the water and crapping huge log-like turds as he walked…it was disgusting. We tried to feed the little ones but the big pooping pig stole the food and bit the little ones if they tried to get the food. After we ran out of food, the big pooping pig came after us, so we pushed the dinghy off of the shore and made our escape….but not so fast…the damn dinghy engine wouldn’t start! So here I am, trying to pull start this engine as we drift back to shore, and the pooping pig starts to come after us again. The engine is now flooded, so we grab the oars and start rowing away. The boat was several hundred yards off shore, so we slowly rowed back, until Kurt and Sharon, who had left the beach before us, came back to see where we were and towed us back to the boat. I felt bad for Tricia because the pig adventure was not quite what we thought it was going to be…lol!

We got into Black Sound without running aground and hit the pool and adjacent bar at the marina. They had a happy hour special every day that included 2 for 1 rum punches, and you could pick from 5 different flavors. They also had a small restaurant that had excellent food. The marina was really nice and we would definitely stay there again. They were the first place in the Bahamas that didn’t have a surcharge to use a credit card. The people were very nice and the place was clean.

The next day we took our dinghies over to the little town of New Plymouth. It was pretty typical of a town in these parts. We have noticed that the towns in the Abacos do not have trash laying around all over the place like the Biminis did, and the people are generally very friendly. We stopped at the Blue Bee Bar where the Goombay Smash rum drink was created, and ordered some. They were good. Then we stopped at the Down Through Liquor Store and had a Turtle Smash, also very good, and cheaper than the last place. After a walk through town we stopped at The Wrecking Tree restaurant and had fish, conch and fries…really good! Then back for happy hour at the pool, of course.
New Plymouth:



Blue Bee:

The Wrecking Tree:

Today, we took the dinghies over to White Sound and checked out The Bluff House beach bar and then crossed the sound to the Green Turtle Club. The beach bar had a great view, and we sampled the specialty drinks at each place.
It was back to the pool bar for happy hour, and then we had pizza night on Island Bound, everyone bringing toppings and Tricia providing homemade dough. We cooked them on the grill again and had a great time.
Bluff House side of White Sound:


Beach Bar:





Tricia and Bart, the furry crew member from Byrd Ketcher:

The Green Turtle Club on the other side of White Sound:

And a really nice Kady Krogen boat that docked next to us….it is a beaut:

4/15/15
Posted by Bill

Happy birthday to our grandson Maddox! This is a few days late…sorry dude…we have not had very good internet access for awhile and I couldn’t post on your birthday. Wish we could have been there to celebrate with you.

3/14/15
Key Biscayne, FL
Position: 25 41.623N, 080 11.063W
Posted by Bill

The last week has been a mad dash to get fully ready to push off at the first available weather window, we were working till late the night before we left, and we were as ready as we were going to be. Included in the preparation buying and filling jerry cans of diesel, gas and water. Most cruisers tie them to the side rail with a support board installed, but we hadn’t done that yet. I made a trip to Home Depot via clown bike (one of many), and delivered an 8 foot 1×6 to the boat.

With solar and jerry cans, we look like an official cruising boat. Tricia, with some of my help and help from our friend Cat, got 2 coats of Sikkens Natural cetol on the cap rail…looks great!
Lot’s more left to do at some point. It is a lot of work.

We left Harbour Cay Club at 7:30, bound for Angelfish Creek, which is just north of Key Largo.

It has a really shallow entrance on the ocean side but we figured we could time the tide and make it in. From there we planned to transit to Bimini in the Bahamas. We had a great send off from the folks at Harbour Cay. Great bunch of people and we made many new friends. It was really hard to leave. The wind was forecasted to be strong in the morning but die down in the afternoon, so we decided to take the “inside route” (the ICW in Florida Bay) for the first 3 hours, as it offered better protection from the southeast wind. Then we would use the Channel Five Bridge to exit to the ocean side the rest of the way, because the “inside route” was too shallow for us. It was low tide and we dragged the bottom through the sand for a bit at the Rachel Bank, ICW mile marker 1190. Other than that, we had a good passage to the Channel Five Bridge. When we got on the ocean side we got the brunt of the wind and had 3-5 foot waves at a 3-4 second period…not fun! We were getting our asses kicked. I almost opted to turn around and anchor inside Florida Bay and conjure up a plan B, but we pressed on and the seas quieted down 3 hours later when we got to Key Largo. We got nervous about going in to Angelfish Creek as it was half tide and falling, and there is a rock ledge at the ocean side of the inlet that is only 5 feet deep at low tide, so I called Tow Boat US to ask for local knowledge. The guy told me to absolutely not transit at this tide level…great…nothing left to do but push on to Miami, but that would mean entering Biscayne Channel and anchoring at night, which is less than desirable.

I followed on the chart plotter using the track we did coming out of Biscayne Channel to go to Marathon, and we made it into Biscayne Bay without a hitch, and turned north to anchor near No Name Harbor. I thought I made it around the shoal area near the anchorage and turned too soon, landing us on a sand bar. Tried as I could, I could not get off the bar, so we called Tow Boat US (whom we have towing insurance with) and they came and pulled us off. This was the first time we have had to be towed. We anchored among large pleasure craft around 10:30 PM, several that blasted load music and partied until 5 AM. We traveled 96 miles and it was a long, long day!

The good news is, we are now only 5 miles away from the friends we wanted to travel with going over to Bimini, Bahamas. They will go right by us to head out in the morning and we can join the group.

2/1/15
Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

Tricia was conversing with one of her old work buddies who was telling her about the typical political maneuverings that continue to go on, and how it was the usual struggle for the organization to decide which way to go. After a pause, she said “I understand. It’s kind of like the struggle we have each day about which way to go….vodka or rum”.

Is retirement a good thing, or what?