Ship's Blog: June 2014

14 July 2015 It’s hard to believe it has been 13 months since my last post and a lot has transpired in that time. First off for those that have followed this blog… we did not disappear into the Bermuda triangle.

21 June 2014 – 1640 Arrived St Augustine Sea buoy after 49 hours and 20 minutes, 1715 Moored Salt Run

It seems it is always raining when we return to St Augustine after a long trip

19 June 2014- 1520 Departed Lorine Cay cut

As we were on our way to the cut we caught this beautiful snapper

Just after leaving the cut we caught this 22lb tuna

Oh boy! Sushi coming up

18 June 2014- 0850 Departed Powell cay, 1545 anchored Big Fish cay, 1930 moved onto the bank.

17 June 2014- 0945 Departed Manjack cay, 1450 Anchored Powell cay

16 June 2014-1220 Departed Green Turtle cay, 1330 Anchored Manjack cay

We are now in White Sound, Green Turtle Cay and had an incredible Lobster ravioli last night. Shortly we will return to New Plymouth where we plan on toasting my dad and Mary with a Goombay Smash at Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar, a favorite hangout in the good ole days. Not sure when we will get wifi service again but we plan on continuing north tomorrow and visiting a few more cays as we head for home.

6-15-14 It’s our 1^st anniversary and we are in Green Turtle Cay where we anchored at 1258 after a wonderful 3 hour sail over from Treasure key. I took Nancy out to a great birthday dinner at the Spinnaker Restaurant last night and tonight I’m taking her out again for an anniversary dinner at the Green Turtle Club in white sound. Here are a few pictures of New Plymouth on a Sunday Afternoon

Avelinda anchored off Green Turtle Cay

The Other Shore Club

Guess where in White Sound

6-14-14 “Happy Birthday Nancy” We left Tight Spot around noon on Wednesday the eleventh of June after a great visit with Chris. Owing to the fact that the anchorage was rough we went over to Meeks Patch and anchored in the lee off the beach in calm water and had brunch. Afterward we stowed the dinghy aboard and prepped Avelinda for sea. With everything properly stowed we hoisted sail and weighed anchor at 1525 and set a course for Egg Island cut and then to Little Harbor on Great Abaco. With only about 57nm to sail we did not want to leave in the morning and chance getting there late in the day or worse at night. It is always advisable to enter the unmarked channels and entrances in the Bahamas in good light. With a very light southerly breeze Avelinda was able to make good a little over 3 knots which was perfect for arriving well after sunrise the next day.

Tight Spot

Hogfish Maximus

1740 saw us clear of Egg Island cut and we squared away on a course of 003 degrees, almost due north with a following sea and south east wind. With Al holding a steady course and Nancy curled up with her book, I turned in for a pre watch nap. Nancy let me sleep through dinner and it was 2100 before I stumbled out of bed and made my way topside to find a very tired wife bathed in the light of a full moon. She gave me a hurried pass down and scurried below with a reminder that my supper was in the pot.

By now the winds were up slightly and our speed with it. If we averaged more than around 3kts we would get in to early but if the wind died completely we would be faced with starting the engine so I let Avelinda have her reins so to speak and our speed touched 5kts occasionally as we sailed through his g0rgous night. By 0300 it was clear that we had to slow down so I started reefing sails by reducing the mizzen to four panels and the main to three. Still our speed hovered around 4.5kts so I continued to reduce sail finally settling on two panels in the mizzen alone with the main fully down and sheeted in. Amazingly we were still able to make 4kts in the puffs but for the most part we were sailing below 3kts. I might also mention that the ride was very uncomfortable due to a sea state which had become increasingly confused after midnight. I attributed this to the south east swells slamming into the near vertical shore of Great Abaco south of Cherokee settlement and rebounding back to us a few miles away.

0655 the morning of the 12th found us sailing through the entrance to Little Harbor. We proceeded directly to an anchorage behind Tom Curry point and dropped the hook at o710. Shortly thereafter we turned in for some much needed rest. We were up and about again at 1030 and went into Pete’s Pub for lunch and refreshments. While there it rained cats and dogs for about an hour so Avelinda got a good fresh water wash down. We were back aboard and hoisting the anchor at 1312 to find a calmer anchorage, there being a surge behind Tom Curry point. A quiet and secluded anchorage was found behind Tillow Cay and we were again anchored by 1550.

We were underway again at 0815 on the 13^th to Man-O-War Cay so Nancy could add a visit there to her bucket list. We found good holding at the north end of Dickey Cay which protects the harbor of Man-O-War from winds and seas form the western quadrant. After a short visit ashore we were underway again this time to a favorite anchorage of mine behind Archer Cay where we arrived and dropped Anchor at 1605. While Nancy read I slipped off in the dinghy to a favorite fishing hole and returned shortly with a nice large lobster. Later, Nancy prepared an incredible white sauce into which she stirred finely diced lobster tail and served it over pasta.