Season
Slows And We Return to the USA: April 7, 2019
Okay,
here we are ready to dive into a boat project that was on pause until parts
arrived with Kim and Dave (huge thank you).
Kim and Dave have departed and the weather is calm enough at Sand Dollar Beach to
provide a solid work platform so we are back in business. Watch out bathroom fans – here we come! We left off with the old fans being removed
after cutting a larger access point in the interior fiberglass wall of the
lazarette on the Portuguese bridge. Fans
were brought with us from the states but a flange was needed to complete the
task. Now that all pieces were together
the installation began (3/22). There
were odd bits of starboard screwed into the interior fiberglass piece for
mounting, fan was mounted and silicone caulking was applied to better insure
lack of airflow anywhere but AT the fan.
Lots of progress was made but completion will wait for another day.
In
the meantime, between the construction we spotted a turtle behind the boat and walked ashore at Sand
Dollar Beach. A dinner of sausage, green
pepper and onion pizza was followed by the continued appearance of the Worm
Super Moon. It truly is enormous and
seems to be called a worm moon because it is the first moon of March which
signifies the thawing of the winter cold earth and the reappearance of
earthworms…soon followed by the robins and the continued increase in warmth of
the Spring season. The frozen and warming seasons feel a
bit mythical out here but nature continues to cycle at all latitudes.
Okay,
back to the bathroom fan project (3/23).
Sheesh – Chris describes this as the hardest “simple project” to
date. There was more screwing, drilling,
wire crimps and hose clamps through the 10” round opening…one hand only, please. Simply lining up the fan so that it is not
offset is ridiculously difficult because the small opening allows you 1)
eyeballs to see it or 2) one hand to hold the fan…but…definitely not both #1
AND #2 and certainly not a second hand. The
guest bathroom fan was installed and the final test was needed – suck a sheet
of toilet paper to the vent…success!
Onto the master bath. Drat – the
toilet paper suck test failed…gggrrr.
After some investigation it seems that the smallest bit of caulking was
stopping a fan blade from spinning. Remedied
and it was back to the toilet paper sucking test…success! We celebrated with a walk across to the beach
on the sound side and a fan install party on the top deck. Dr Martin’s Mix of pork sausage, rice and
veggies was flavorful and filled a wrinkle (recipe below).
As
forecast the winds piped up in the dark of the night and continued howling and
whistling throughout the next day (3/24).
Stormy conditions kept dinghies tied to boats with washing machine
sloshes at anchor. Cabin fever set in so
later we headed to St Francis for a burger and to watch Duke in the NCAA
tournament. The satellite cut out a
couple of times due to torrential rain but we watched most of the game…and
celebrated the Duke win.
The
weather forecast shows that it is time for us to move north. But before departing we got together aboard
Barefeet with Melanie and Paul for a breakfast of bacon and Chris’ pancakes (recipe
below). Such fun to hang out with these
guys and chat so easily (3/25). See ya
next time! In the afternoon it was a
final run to town to dispose of garbage and get supplies for the larder and the
dinghy (fuel). It was a restless night
as our emotions pinged all over the place; season turn-around point, cruiser
goodbyes in the rear-view mirror, Boston hellos on the horizon, weather windows
needed to get back to Florida (and Key West by mid-April). One day at a time, one day at a time. First up was an 8 hour run to Black
Point. While out on the sound we spotted
a graceful white-tailed tropic bird in the calm conditions. Adrenaline got going a bit more as we entered
Dotham Cut with a 3.5 knot current against us.
Dang – cuts are always nerve-wracking.
A
dolphin duo welcomed us to the anchorage which was great. We anchored in twelve feet of water that
looked more like a swimming pool than a harbor in the Atlantic Ocean. Heck, we could see the anchor chain AND the
anchor on the sandy bottom. Time to make
our first visit to the iconic cruiser bar – Scorpio’s. It’s Tuesday which means it is cruiser Happy Hour
with 2-for-1 rum punch, free popcorn and tasty appetizer specials. Who knows why it took us so long to get here
but this is a place that lives up to the lore and we will definitely be back.
We
awoke to the return of roosters in the morning which is always calming for us
(3/27). Unfortunately, we cannot dawdle
because conditions are supposed to get messy from the west which means Black
Point is not the place to be. Instead, we
headed to Cambridge Cay to anchor in our usual spot. Yes, they are still charging $.50/foot to
anchor but you already know how we feel about that so we will not go into it
again. Due to the west winds and the few
options of places to hide in this area we were not alone…including three 100+
foot mega yachts. Dinner was blackened
and grilled fish with Holt from s/v Agandau.
Maybe he can give us some fishing pointers?! Delicious – thanks. We laughed and told lies into the night which
was made even more stunning as the stars illuminated the ink black sky.
Before
pulling up the anchor we headed ashore for a trail walk to the island’s
stunning vistas (3/28). Our
vista photo back to the anchorage puts the mega yachts into perspective
(second photo above from the left). They are massive.
Incidentally, Barefeet's blue hull is to the left of the dark
hulled mega yacht. Back aboard and
it was close to high tide – perfect for departing Cambridge on the
inside route. The lowest depth we saw was 8.5 feet. Winds were behind us which was comfortable
but the crazy blue water with a bit of white-water on top resembled a 1950s
unmolded jell-o salad complete with dollops of white mayo or whipped
cream. Entering the Big Majors anchorage
at Staniel Cay always feels like coming home and we will be here for a few days.
Morning
conditions were a bit chilly and windy with a bit of rain as the front wrapped
up (3/29). In the afternoon we did the
nickel tour of Staniel. There is some
freshly poured concrete on the roads and a few gussied up buildings with fresh
paint but for the most part all is as we remember from two years ago; Staniel
Cay Yacht Club, Pink Store grocery, Blue Store grocery and Isles General
Store. We had completed the island
exploration so it was time to head further afield (3/30). We dinghied out past Fowl Cay to Compass Cay
Marina then back through Pipe Creek and Sampson Cay. We walked on sand bars, looked for coral and
rocks with the look-see-bucket (for lobster hunting tomorrow - the last day
lobster season) and remain amazed at the range of blues that do not quit. They say that Ireland has 40 shades of
green. Well, the Bahamas must have at
least 40 shades of blue. Breathtaking!
The
pigs on the beach at Staniel are still a huge tourist draw (by boat AND by sea
plane) but there are now “caretakers” who bring in food which does not
encourage the pigs to swim...so...a bit of the magic has faded for us. Chris and Holt went hunting and returned with
a conch – well done! Into the freezer he
goes in the hopes of an easy removal. Showered
and clean we headed to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for a burger and the TV for
the Duke NCAA game. But first, we swung
by m/v Putzin’ Around for a quick cocktail.
We have not seen Brigitte and Scott for two years (and m/v Job Site,
too). It was wonderful to catch up…and I
came away with a great recipe for black bean hummus. All moved to the bar and who walked through
the door but…Chris Christie…yep, the Chris Christie from New Jersey. He was gracious and let folks take many
photos with him attired in just a casual t-shirt and shorts. A dry dinghy ride back to Barefeet in calm
conditions is always appreciated. The
continued calm conditions will have our anchor up at 8am tomorrow; but first
one more cocktail as we gaze at this awesome anchorage, stars and all.
It
was a breakfast of dropped eggs on jalapeno hash as we gently motored 35 miles north
to Norman’s Cay (4/1). The conditions
were so mellow that our Bahamas courtesy flag was slumped and listless showing only
rare whiffs of life (we love boring). There
is a resort being built ashore which has a few posts for channel markers (3
posts and one orange ball); however, depth stayed close to 13 feet as we neared
low tide. We anchored at Norman’s Cay
(island is approx. 4 miles long) with a barracuda eyeing us as we dropped the
anchor and a large, dark ray who flew fully out of the water doing a back flip
to show his white belly after the anchor was set. Wow! Heck - even the drifting seaweed is lovely.
There is a current which has us changing direction four times in a
twenty-four hour period but it is gentle and barely noticed.
This
tropical tranquility has a lawless, drug smuggling past. Exhibit A is the submerged C-46 aircraft in
the anchorage (large, twin-engine WWII transport plane). Drug smuggling of the 1970s and 80s came to
Norman’s Cay as a smuggling hub for cocaine transport from Colombia to USA for
Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel via the cartel’s co-founder and transport
leader, Carlos Lehder. The smuggling hub
is fact but how the plane became submerged is less clear. Various stories exist; the plane was too
heavy with kilos of cocaine and missed the runway, there was a landing
miscalculation by a pilot who took a six-pack along for flights which resulted
in missing the runway or there was a plane delivering appliances to the island that
had a malfunction and missed the runway.
Regardless, it is a fun object to snorkel because it is in shallow water
with tropical fish who love to have visitors.
Carlos Lehder was arrested in 1982 and Norman’s Cay was
confiscated. Today it is back to its
tropical tranquility.
Fellow
cruisers Chris and Candace on s/v Dragonfly know of a great snorkel drift dive
nearby so off we went with Holt for a three boat adventure. We dinghied approximately 1.5 miles south to
Wax Cay Shoals at Norman’s Cut (4/2).
Wow – we would say that this is the most vibrant and largest volume of
coral we have seen to date this season (thanks Chris and Candace).
Look
what we made...conch fritters!! It was fun and tasty...but definitely a
bit of a process. You may remember the conch Chris gathered near Staniel
Cay that was tossed into the freezer in order to kill him (don't tell PETA). Well, we have moved onto fritter making. We removed the conch from the freezer to let
him thaw just enough to yank him out in one piece; I cleaned him (usable meat
is only about the size of your hand once the eyes, foot, intestine, etc. are
removed); tenderized him (with the mallet because the natural texture is like
that of a flip flop); whipped up the batter (recipe below); formed the batter
into balls; rolled them in Ritz cracker crumbs; fried
them...voila!! Back home we plan to use corn kernels but we will
keep these fritters in our menu rotation.
After
breakfast we made a short 12 mile hop north to Highborne Cay (4/3). The conditions were beautiful and calm – a perfect
day for moving. We anchored off of the
west side of the three mile long island on the Exuma Banks side with depth of
about 16 feet. We were not alone with
loads of cruisers and mega yachts well spread out in the large anchorage…looks
like many folks are eyeing the good traveling conditions with us. From here we are looking at an overnight
crossing back to Florida in two days but we will keep an eye on the weather to
be sure conditions remain as desired. But
for now – have we mentioned how amazing the water is?! And a great way to visit friends on other
boats.
The
night remained rolly but it is good prep for our impending passage to
Florida. We
find it hard to conquer our
inertia when we are so close to a departure. It starts to feel
like we are simply watching the grass grow or watching a pot come to
boil. Thankfully, snorkeling was the perfect foil
to get us moving. Candace and Chris
showed us another great spot at a perfect time of the tide. It was the Octopus’ Garden at the north end
of Highborne Cay (4/4). Depths were
shallow at about 10ft to the sandy bottom but coral rose to about three feet
from the surface. This meant that the
bright sun illuminated the coral in vibrant colors rather than the mostly muted
blue at deeper depths. Wow! We all showered and warmed up then reconvened
aboard Barefeet for a grilled fish dinner before we all scatter for the season. Thank goodness others are better fishermen
than we are – thanks guys.
Tick
tock…we are off to the USA! Mixing and
matching weather, distances, places to duck out if conditions change…you know
the drill. Our final decision was to
motor 199 miles from Highborne Cay to Miami in one shot (28 hours). We raised the anchor at 8am on Friday morning
(4/5); were through Nassau by 1pm; across the Tongue of the Ocean and through
the pinch point at the Northwest Shoal
onto the Banks at twilight (7.30pm making 9.5 knots with help from the push of
the current); navigated across the Mackie Shoals; passed Bimini at 4.30am;
crossed the Gulf Stream; entered through Government Cut and anchored at the
Marina Stadium in Miami just after noon on Saturday (4/6). The passage was pretty uneventful and conditions
were slightly better than expected – we even made baked potatoes covered with
chili, cheese and jalapenos for dinner – very comforting. Nassau is positively bursting with
construction. Atlantis and its peach colored palace architecture used to rule the
skyline…now Atlantis is simply a blip amongst a forest of development and an armada of cruise ships. As the day ended,
we were treated to a beautiful final Bahamian sunset.
Our
arrival into Miami on a Saturday meant that weekend warriors would be out in
droves. Yep – more than we could have
imagined and a bit of sensory overload after four months in the islands. Holy cow - we are definitely in the big
smoke. Government Cut was crazy with 20 (yes, 20) jet skis jumping boat
wakes in the cut...and a boat pulling a child in an inner tube...narrowly
missed by a few sport fishers on plane. We wound our way to the Marina
Stadium anchorage only to find the bulk of it blocked off for crew races. Eventually, we tucked into a spot on the edge
and settled in. First up, we need to
check back into the USA via Customs and Immigration. Officialdom was a slog but we persevered
through multiple log-ins and passwords on the CBP Roam App…gggrrr. Just got our online confirmation that we are
accepted back into the USA (without a visit to the office). The CBP Roam
App was a shi**t-show but do-able…slowly, slowly. High fives all
around. We are giddy!!
The
crew races wrapped up and the party boats arrived. Latin music boomed and more people than you
would think possible crammed the decks.
At one point as a party boat returned to shore the captain could be
heard saying, “There are a lot of you aboard.
Look around and check that your BFF is here because we are
leaving.” Simple and sweet. We got comfortable on the top deck to watch
the floor show with BLT sandwiches (oops – no more mayo so sour cream stepped
in). The sun went down and the Miami
skyline was magically illuminated.
Our
season is wrapping up after nearly four months in the Bahamas (using almost
every day of our 120-day cruising permit).
We had a great season full of snorkeling, discovered places, friends, new recipes and
weather that never got too out of whack.
For the remainder of the season we will bounce along the Florida Keys to
Key West where we will spend about a month fixing and maintaining what needs to
be done before ready-ing Barefeet for her months on the hard in Stuart while we return to Boston.
Although
Miami is not our scene we got officially checked-in and are now free to move along. So off we went to Little Card Sound
(4/7). We
motored four hours south along the ICW. The waterway had a couple
of areas with dredged channels and water did get skinny; however, we
never saw less than 8 feet depth at mid-tide. Once the anchor was
set we scrambled as quickly as possible to lower the dinghy and headed to Alabama Jack’s for a welcome to
the USA celebration meal. This casual
place is a favorite of ours nestled in the mangroves of Key Largo. It’s not much more than an open-air dive bar frequented
by motorcycle riders and boaters with a friendly bartender and interesting
patrons. We love it. And we imagine that
you can guess what the Americana smorgesbord was that we ordered – chili cheese fries, cheeseburger and jalapeno
poppers. Perfect!
The
weather forecast for the next few days is a bit windy so we will take it slow but the current mantra
is definitely...Key West or bust.
Dr.
Martin’s Mix
(I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken)
1
– 1.5lbs pork sausage (hamburger will do)
1
green pepper, chopped
2
green onions, chopped
3
celery stalks, chopped
2
cups chicken bullion
1
cup raw rice
½
teaspoon salt
1
Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Chris’
Pancakes
(via Keek and Kenny)
2
cups buttermilk (or 1 cup regular milk, 1 T lemon juice)
2/3 cup wesson oil
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup flour
...thin with buttermilk as needed
Conch
Fritters
(yields approx. one dozen) Diane Minns, George Town, Exuma
1
cup conch, tenderized and diced
½
onion, diced
Juice
from half of a lemon
Salt
and pepper
3
splashes Worcestershire sauce
Squirt
of ketchup (for color)
1
egg
½
teaspoon baking powder
¾
cup flour
Ritz
crackers, crushed into crumbs