On to Gun Cay and Cat Cay

3/18/15
Gun Cay, Bahamas
Position: 25 34.99N, 079 17.805W
Posted by Bill

Yesterday we hit up Radio Beach again, looking for more sea glass and sea beans. Sea beans are things that look like small stones but are beans that float over from across the Atlantic. They come in several distinct shapes, purse beans that look like a purse, hamburger beans that look like a hamburger, heart beans, and kidney shaped beans. The heart beans are rare and Tricia found one on her second day on the beach! We then jumped in the dinghies and all cruised up the inside of North Bimini (the eastern side and also the channel) to check out the north end where the casino was built. There is also a really nice marina and condos that can be rented. We talked to some people that said you could rent a 2 bedroom condo for $250 a night…pretty good deal. Along the way we saw a sea star in the water.

It had a very hard exterior.

Then we went out for dinner for our last night at North Bimini.

Today we left about mid morning and motored a couple of hours south to Gun Cay and Cat Cay. We anchored off of Gun Cay and went ashore to a beach called Honeymoon Beach. It was beautiful.

Along the southern point we had sting rays come right up to us and swim around our feet, touching our legs and feet.

Very cool. We also saw a shark swim by. We staged here to cross the Great Bahama Banks, the shallows that stretch across a good portion of the islands. Here was the sunset:

More on the crossing and North Bimini

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3/16/15
Bimini, Bahamas – Blue Water Marina
Position: 25 43.492N, 079 17.865W
Posted by Bill

I finally got some time to devote to the blog. We crossed over the Atlantic Ocean on the 15th. We started at around 7:30 AM and went from just outside No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne. The Gulf Stream current runs north between 1 and 3 knots, weaker on the edges and stronger in the middle. The direct route from where we started to North Bimini in the Bahamas is about an 87 degree heading and less than 55 nautical miles. To compensate for the Gulf Stream, you need to take a heading of 120 degrees. This is calculated based on your planned speed which we assumed would be 6 knots average. The stream was so strong, we only did around 5 knots, so we ended up a bit north of where we wanted to be, but not too bad. Also, it took us all day (arriving around 5:30 PM) to go 55 miles…long day! The ocean was really calm, thank goodness!

North Bimini was an interesting place. From our marina we could walk about 100 yards over to Radio Beach, which was gorgeous.

We walked the beach and collected sea glass, glass pieces that resulted from trash and get smoothed over by the sea. We got some pretty cool pieces. Not sure what we will do with them, but we have read where people make Christmas ornaments or jewelry. Tricia was thinking about making stepping stones or a counter top with it when we become dirt dwellers again…pretty good idea!

The restaurants, shops, bars and grocery stores are in buildings that look like or are small homes. There is not much to choose from in the grocery stores. Most of the businesses and restaurants are within a 5 to 10 minute walk. We ate at a restaurant called The Anchorage when we got here yesterday, and it was pretty good. We had the cracked conch which is conch fried like calamari would be back home. It was pretty good. Today we had lunch at CJs Deli which is right on Radio Beach. You can see that the view is amazing. The food was ok. The flies are really bad though! I got my food and went out to sit at the picnic table and a swarm of flies descended on me like a plague! I had to stand down by the ocean to keep away from them. Here are some pics of the streets:

There is a lot of trash in the streets and you get the impression that the people of Bimini have given up to some extent. Many of the people we talked to that have been coming there for years have told us that it didn’t used to be that way, and that it has gone far down hill.

In the afternoon, all of us jumped in our dinghies and went over to Radio Beach. There we snorkeled around the rocks and swam. We saw quite a few fish around the rocks. The dogs, Grady and Bart, had a blast as well. The water clarity is just like a swimming pool…amazing. We ran into a guy on the street by the marina that was selling stone crab claws and lobster tails. For $40 we got a bag of 6 lobster tails and close to 3 dozen crab claws! Each couple bought a bag. An incredible deal! We cooked some of that up for dinner and ate at a picnic table at the marina, drank and had a good time.

It was a really fun day!

Crossing to Bimini

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3/15/15
Bimini, Bahamas – Blue Water Marina
Position: 25 43.492N, 079 17.865W
Posted by Bill

We have been so active that I just haven’t had time to do the blog…sorry folks. We made the 52 NM crossing, leaving Miami at 7:30 AM, and arriving at Bimini around 5:30 PM. I will be a few days, but I will compose more detailed posts and post more pictures, I promise. We crossed with 3 other boats: Matt and Shirley on Sofia Jeanne, Kurt and Sharon on Byrd Ketcher, and Mark and Jan on Island Bound (yes another Island Bound…quite confusing over radio conversations…lol). The weather was great and the seas were calm and it was a good crossing. The water here is unbelievable. As clear as a swimming pool. Here are a few pics:

The color of the ocean in the middle of the Gulf Stream (over 2000 feet deep):

Tricia, Shirley and Grady on Radio Beach:

The live aquarium at our dock:

I’ll post more as soon as I can. We are leaving today to anchor off of Cat Cay and will cross the Bimini Banks to the Berry Islands the next day. We will be in some remote areas without internet access so there won’t be much activity on the blog over the next few days unless I can find some. Stay tuned…we are having a good time and the pictures are coming out pretty good.

Also, the best way to communicate with us is FaceBook messenger (when we have access).

Adios Harbour Cay and Marathon

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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.

Adding solar power

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3/10/15
Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

We debated back and forth about adding solar to our boat. We have a Honda 2000i companion generator that we use to charge our battery bank when we aren’t tied to a dock and shore power, but with our current battery bank, we need to charge at least once a day and can’t leave the boat for longer than one day. There is much debate as to the economics for solar, but after dealing with battery issues for 5 months, anything that keeps the batteries happy is worth consideration. We opted with flex panels rated at 135 watts. We purchased 3 panels, which generate 8-10 amps per hour each at optimum condition, and normally will give us a total of around 120 amp hours per day. This is close to what we use each day, so at best, we will only have to charge the batteries a few times per week when we are not attached to shore power. We got the one panel in stock and backordered the other 2.

We worked with a company called SALT – Solar, Air and Land Technologies, here in Marathon. They have a great reputation in the cruising community, and one of the owners keeps his boat here in Harbour Cay Club where we are staying. Double bonus. We looked at fixed panel solutions and flex panel solutions, both using Sun Power cells. Sun Power has a 23% efficiency rating and will work at better angles to the sun than most other panels which have an average 18% efficiency rating. They cost more but the price per kilowatt hour per square inch of panel is better than anything else out there. The fixed frame panels were going to require major modification of our bimini frame with substantial cost involved just to mount them. Flex panels can be mounted directly to the canvas bimini cover and can be bent to a moderate curve radius. We chose to sew industrial grade Velcro to the bimini with a wrap around flap to velcro to the top of the panel. The panel is attached with velcro to the top and bottom of the panel. In addition, we installed grommets to the corners of the panel and anchored them to the bimini, if for some reason the velcro doesn’t hold (overkill in retrospect). Here are pictures of the process…..

First Tricia sewed strips of canvas for the base velcro and velcro flaps:

At each corner, she sewed a tab where shock cord can be run through to anchor the panel to the canvas:

This is how it looks installed on the bimini frame:

Here is the back of the panel:

And the final installation:

There is a Morningstar Tristar 30 MPPT controller that controls the charge power to the batteries. This is the remote meter that shows how much amperage is being generated:

The total cost of the system is around $2,600. I’ll report later on how much power we are seeing on average. If you want more information or detail, just leave a comment or email me.

More manatee visits, and a new weather window

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3/10/15
Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

We have been here around 7 weeks and we have gotten very comfortable. The Keys are very laid back and we can ride our bikes or walk to anything we really need, avoiding any interaction with “the Real World”. Let me tell you…it is very hard to motivate ourselves to get moving. We have tried several times to leave to get to the Bahamas, but the weather has closed the window to make the move each time. The latest weather forecast shows this up coming weekend as a possible weather window to move back up to Miami, and several days later a window is open to cross to the Bahamas. We have figured that as long as we can make the Bahamas by the first of April, it is worth the effort to cross over. The plan includes a jump from just south of Miami (Biscayne Bay) to Bimini in the Bahamas, a little over 40 nautical miles, and easily doable in daylight. We need to get to landfall in Bimini by afternoon to navigate the reefs and channel entrance. We need a 2 day window to get to Key Biscayne, so we will jump there at first opportunity and wait for a window to cross to Bimini. The later in the season, the better the weather for making passage. This year has been a strange year by all accounts, with high winds and north winds for extended periods of time. To cross to Bimini we want winds under 15 knots, and no northern component of wind direction. Winds with any northern component will oppose the Gulf Stream and the 2-3 knot current that moves north, and will create a very nasty sea state that we don’t want to deal with. So we wait…..

In the mean time we work on the boat, and enjoy the paradise that Marathon and the Keys have to offer. After provisioning (buying everything we need to sustain life aboard for several months in the Bahamas), the boat was loaded with all kinds of crap and very disorganized. Thanks to Tricia, she figured out where to put everything in an organized fashion, and the boat is looking like a home again.

We also had another manatee visit today. This one was a small one and had a large chunk of its tail missing. It is so sad to see these animals damaged. They are very tame and love to come and get a drink of fresh water (even though it is illegal to give it to them. This one was pretty persistent about getting a drink and hung around for around 20 minutes. This is the 2nd visit in a week from a manatee.

While waiting, we have been working on stowing all provisions, getting the teak ready to paint, putting in the solar system (part of which we paid for and part of which we did ourselves), and generally getting ready to make passage again. This afternoon, we took a little break and went to The Sunset Grill for some happy hour food and rum. It was a great break and a beautiful view as always….

I have also been spending a few hours each morning to work on our taxes…not a fun task at all, however, I have never had this view as I have done the taxes, so I won’t complain!

Happy birthday Bradley, and another window slammed shut

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3/5/15
Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

Happy birthday to our eldest grandson, Bradley! We wish we could be there to celebrate with you. Glad we got to FaceTime at least. We can’t wait to see you all in May.

The solar installation guy, Dave, came today and we got the system wired up. We got the first of 3 panels delivered and hooked it up late in the day, and viola…turned dwindling sunlight into electricity. When we aimed the panel at the sun directly, we were getting 7 to 8 amps, and 1 to 2 amps when it was laying flat…and this was at 5:45 PM…very impressive. I’ll dedicate a post to the installation with pics so other boaters can see in more detail. The other 2 panels are on back order so it will be a few weeks before they arrive. Tricia is going to sew the bimini with velcro flaps to hold the panels down.

Once again, the window we had to make the trip to Key Biscayne and then cross to the Bahamas has been slammed shut. If we had been ready to go, we might have been able to get to Key Biscayne, but the winds pick up to 20 to 30 knots early next week, and why would we subject ourselves to that ass kicking when we can stay here in Marathon! Not to piss anyone off up north, but the weather here has been incredible the last week and a half. Wind out of the east, highs in the low 80s, lows in the mid 70s, and clear skies. The last couple of days have been really hot, and I have been getting into the water to clean the underside of the boat to cool off. It is really hard to motivate ourselves to leave. We have a couple of trips to the grocery and Home Depot to finish provisioning and we give the car back to Shelly tomorrow, so we will get ready to go and leave when the weather allows a safe and comfortable passage.

Here is a sunset pic. We haven’t posted many since we got to Marathon because our at our marina, the sun sets behind land and the pictures have not been as good as we are used to. In a week, the sun will begin setting over the water again and we can step up the pictures (if we are still here).

Another trip back to “The Real World”

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3/3/15 Marathon FL Posted by Bill On Sunday, our friend Shelley that lives in Key West came and picked us up, drove us back to Key West, and we spent an afternoon at the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor. It was a really nice beach and a wonderful day to chill out there. Then Shelley gave us her car for the week…wow, an amazing act of kindness! On Monday we were supposed to have a solar powered system installed to keep our batteries charged and to reduce battery consumption during the day. As it turned out, the installer had a different sense of reality than the person who put the quote together, and we had to regroup. We went with a different type of panel (more to come later on that) and agreed to try again on Wednesday. We also noticed that a weather window was opening to make the crossing to the Bahamas over the coming weekend, so we started to get our act together and see if we could make the window. To make the window we needed to get the solar installed, put some diesel fuel in the big boat, buy some gas for the dinghy and generator, buy (provision) enough food and liquor to sustain us for 2-3 months, fill the water tanks, clean the bottom of the boat, return the car to Shelly, and get everything ready for passage. When you have sat in one place for 6 weeks like we have, it is hard to get momentum to achieve such a goal, but we had the car and it provided us a perfect opportunity. Today, we set out early in the morning for Miami, venturing into what we call the “Real World”. This is only the second time since we started cruising that we went into the “Real World”, and the first time was a shocker. The second time was even worse…. We started by taking the batteries back to Walmart. If you recall from previous posts, our new batteries died in 4 months, and I have spent far too many hours trying to get our money back, setting the stage for the actual visit to a Walmart store. I was fully expecting to choke the life out of some poor innocent clerk when they told me that the batteries were fine. I also expected the charging and testing of said batteries to take 4-6 hours of my day. We walked in, took the batteries to the automotive section, told the clerk we wanted our money back and that we had talked to the store manager. She promptly hailed an assistant manager to approve the transaction, and we got a full refund…in less than 30 minutes…no testing, no charging, no choking. Awesome!!!! We then loaded up the cart with crap we needed to provision the boat, went to lunch, went to Costco, went to a liquor store, went to a dive shop, and then drove home. The “Real World” was full of traffic, crazy drivers, crazy people…most speaking no english, packed stores, and total stress. I was so glad to get back to the Keys and park the car…double martini pronto. We decided (for the second time) that we don’t like the “Real World” and don’t want to go back there. However, we did get most of our supplies and provisions, and at a better price than we can in the Keys. Thanks again Shelley…you really helped us out. On Monday, I got into the water and used a hookah rig that we borrowed from our friends Matt and Shirley on Sofia Jeanne. The hookah is a 50 foot long tube attached at one end to a scuba regulator (that you breathe with) and the other end attached to a compressor or scuba tank. It works just like scuba diving but you leave the air source on shore. It allowed me to stay under and clean the bottom of the boat. Now the rush is on to get all of the other work done so we can leave.

Manatee visit and pig races

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2/28/15
Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

Today was a big day. First, it was day 2 of the national pig day celebration…something Tricia was really excited about, given her love for pigs. It included pig races which we bet on. She picked the names for the 3 races we bet on, picking Shakin’ Bacon, Katie Piggy Perry and Lindsay Lowham. We won 2 out of three and it was a hoot.

Before we left for the pig races we saw a manatee swimming next to some of the boats in the marina, and when we got back it was swimming by our boat…

…and by our neighboring boat of friends Bob and Cat. It hung around for close to an hour and was very tame. It loved having it’s belly rubbed:

It was very cool to interact with this manatee. Cat got into the water and the manatee was pretty spooked and swam away. We noticed scars on it’s back and chunks out of the tail, indications that it had some run-ins with boats…a real bummer to see:

A really cool day!

Happy Birthday Caedance

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2/27/15
Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

First, happy 2nd birthday to our granddaughter Caedance!

We love you and miss you, as well as all of our kids and grandkids. I can’t believe she is 2 already. We are bummed about missing out in the celebration.

There hasn’t been much exciting going on here. The weather has been great and we have been doing work in the mornings and then relaxing in the afternoons, as it has been getting hot (sorry northern friends). Our new batteries are installed and it looks like we could be getting to use our friends car for a few days starting next Monday. We plan to take the old batteries back to Walmart and then do a Costco run in Miami. Other than that we have been working on teak refinishing and our taxes (that sucks), thinking we will attempt a run to the Bahamas in the first weather window in March. Right now it doesn’t look good for the next 2 weeks, but we have been getting ready. We got a sim card for my iphone that will work there, giving us voice and data, and we bought our Bahamian courtesy flag. For those who don’t know, when you get to a foreign country in your boat, you fly a yellow flag – called a Q flag or quarantine flag – from the starboard (right side of the boat) spreader until you clear customs and immigration, at which point you fly the courtesy flag and take the Q flag down. You must fly the courtesy flag until you depart. If the weather window doesn’t open pretty soon, we’ll probably just start moving north…very slowly…as we need to be above the Florida line before hurricane season, and we are also renting a house with the kids and grandkids at Kure Beach NC the first week in June.

You folks up north…keep warm. We are not missing the mess that you are dealing with. We are missing all the people though. Looking forward to seeing everyone on our next visit.

Nautical Endeavors

Experiencing life aboard a cruising boat.

On to Gun Cay and Cat Cay

More on the crossing and North Bimini

Crossing to Bimini

Adios Harbour Cay and Marathon

Adding solar power

More manatee visits, and a new weather window

Happy birthday Bradley, and another window slammed shut

Another trip back to “The Real World”

Manatee visit and pig races

Happy Birthday Caedance