Our Journey Ends

West End to Fort Pierce

The saying "time flies when you are having fun" couldn't be more true as we end this amazing journey that we embarked on almost 10 months ago!
Our final leg was from West End, Old Bahama Bay Marina, across the gulf stream, to Fort Pierce. It's always a challenge to get the right weather window to cross the stream. All indications, including our free Weather Routing information, our own assessment, and other boaters in the marina pointed to crossing Friday. With the distance being 85 nm, about a 14 hour sail, we decided to leave at 4 am to ensure that we arrived during daylight, which is very important when making landfall at a new inlet and marina.
We had a couple of great relaxing days in West End, however, we never did donate our extra canned food to the church. It turned out to be too complicated to arrange customs approval.

Old Bahama Bay Marina and Resort

Friday morning arrived early, with the alarm going off at 3:15 am. Dressed, tea made, and lines removed, we were off the dock at 3:59 am! It was pretty dark, but the marina had good navigation lights to guide us out of the basin, and once out it was basically point the boat towards Fort Pierce and go! Which is what we did. The sail started off great, however the wind (but not the waves) slowly died, so it ended up being a  pretty sloppy ride over. We arrived at Harbortown Marina at about 5 pm, and were quite happy to be tied up to the dock. We had  a beer and dinner at the marina restaurant to celebrate successful completion of our last leg!

Back in Florida!

Saturday was organization day. After Hugh picked up the rental van (yup ... a minivan!) we started loading it up with some of the food and clothes we had packed up, then checked into the condo that we rented for the week while we put the boat away. Next we found a storage unit for all the contents of the boat. We also visited Customs and Border Patrol for a "face-to-face" interview, as directed when we reported our arrival.
Sunday we started clearing out the boat and "summerizing" her for staying in hot, humid Florida for eight months. I will not bore you with all the details, but I will tell you that we have worked our butts off  for the last week, transferring the boat's contents to the van and then to the storage room, cleaning, purging, and doing maintenance on the engine, generator, outboard motor and dinghy. Removing all the sails and canvas was also a big job which needed to be done with little wind so we could fold everything up.

Naked Trekker without her sails and canvas

The boat was scheduled to haul out on Thursday at noon, and with minutes to spare, we were ready!
She came out without a hitch, with the able marina crew deftly manovering her into the slings and then slowly moving her over to the spot where she will sit until our return.

Trekker moving to her summer spot

It feels very surreal to be off the boat and have her packed away. The last ten months have been an amazing time, and we are both very proud of how much we have accomplished. According to Hugh's brother Adrian, who was our "go-to adviser and all around wealth of boating knowledge", we are now officially "seasoned cruisers"!

Here are a few of my observations from the trip:

I am braver than I thought I would be. This trip challenged me, and at times I wasn't sure if I would be able to continue.  Ultimately I was determined to finish what I had started. I'm so glad I did!

Boaters are amazing people. Friendly, helpful and always willing to share stories and information. We have learned a lot from other boaters. In particular we were very fortunate to meet Bob and Sheila on Her Diamond and Bill and Michael on Aquila and develop lasting friendships!

Trekker is an amazing boat. She sailed like a dream and never let us down. I guess that is one of the advantages of having a newer boat. She also has an amazing Captain!

We are so glad that we took our time and did not go with a "schedule". We saw so many interesting places along the U.S. coastline, and in the Bahamas. It is a big world with so much to discover!

Life is really nice when you slow down and enjoy it. The Bahamas had such a laid back feeling that is was hard not to "go with the flow".  

For almost ten months we barely saw, read or heard about current events. You'd be surprised how that reduces your stress level!!   

We live in a truly amazing world. With internet, data and cell phones I rarely felt far from home. Thank you to our family and friends for keeping in touch throughout our trip.

We would like to thank all our blog followers for coming along with us on our journey. Your words of encouragement and advice were always gratefully accepted. We hope you enjoyed the ride!!

We're looking forward to enjoying all that Ontario has to offer in the summer and fall, without a boat. We will be back to enjoy next winter on Trekker ... one day at a time.

It's been a blast!

Marsh Harbour to West End

After seeing Trevor and Kate off Friday morning we went back to bed for a couple of hours. The plan was to do laundry and then head over to Orchid Bay Marina around mid day, near high tide.  It appears many cruisers are much earlier risers than us because when we got to the laundry machines we were fourth in line! Changing plans, we decided to leave for Orchid Bay Marina.  Our timing leaving the marina wasn't the best, backing out in front of the small ferry that runs over to Hope Town. Ooops. Anyway the ferry courteously backed down and let me by, however I went the shallow side of him and saw 1.7m on the depth sounder.  We draw 1.72m so I guess we cleaned the bottom of the keel!  Once clear of the many boats anchored in Marsh Harbour we raised sails and had a speedy sail back to Orchid Bay on Great Guana Cay.  On the way we contemplated carrying on through the renowned Whale Cay passage. We put out an "all stations" call on the VHF radio requesting a report on the conditions in in the Whale and received a report from a smaller trawler that the waves were very confused and that he wished that he had not transited.  We decided to stick with our plan to stay at Orchid Bay for the night and run the Whale Saturday when wind and waves were forecast to be less. At Great Guana we walked to Captain Kidd's beach restaurant for lunch only to find it closed.  Oh well, back to Orchid Bay where we both had chef salads at Sunseekers restaurant.  Fresh greens are something we don’t get as much of in the Bahamas, so the salads with house made mango poppyseed dressing were outstanding! Karen made banana chocolate chip muffins and I checked the impeller that pumps cooling water through the engine (looked like new after 500 running hours) in the afternoon. Dinner on board and a game of rummy cube closed out the day.
Saturday morning we filled the diesel tank and headed for the Whale around 0900.  We heard a couple of favorable reports on the way, which turned out to be very accurate.  We had about 1 m swells spaced well apart with small wavelets on top.  The wind was kind enough to fill in part way through so we were able to turn off the engine and took off up the Sea of Abaco averaging 7 to 8 knots!  The joy of sailing with translucent turquoise water rushing by the boat is probably the hardest thing to describe to those that have not experienced it. Those that have know what I’m talking about!  After an absolutely perfect day we arrived at Spanish Cay an hour earlier than expected! Up at the bar the Masters golf tournament was on, so in the interest of beginning our assimilation back into our “normal” world we had a couple of beers and watched!
Sunday the forecast was for westerly winds, which is the direction we are going now, so we decided to sit it out, me watching the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix and Karen chilling in the morning. In the afternoon we took a walk to the beach, watched the final round of the Masters and had an outstanding meal of blackened grouper at the restaurant. For most of the day we were the only ones in the marina!
Monday had forecast southerlies and Tuesday Southwesterlies (the direction we have to go for the last leg of our trip to West End Grand Bahama Island) so we decided to get as far as we could Monday, which turned out to be Mangrove Cay, a 60 nautical mile day.  We were very lucky with the winds, only motoring for 20 minutes when the wind disappeared under a black cloud.  We also came across a patch of very light coloured water which normally means shallow water on the cruising guide's suggested route, so decided to change course and tack around it.  Better safe than high and dry on the Little Bahama Bank! Arriving at Mangrove Cay at 1700 hours we joined 6 other boats also staged for their next legs. We were really hoping for a nice sunset but as the sun dropped we realized that there were clouds on the horizon … oh well, a dramatic sunset anyway.

Sun setting at Mangrove Cay

While the forecast had been for the winds to drop and shift to the west, they continued in the high teens out of the southwest through dinner and the 1st episode of the second season of House of Cards  (poor Zoe!).  We have been using an anchor alarm called SailGrib AA which lets you estimate where the anchor was dropped AFTER the anchor is set (because we never remember to set the alarm as we are dropping the anchor).  It shows the track of the boat swinging in orange.  You can see from the pic below that sometime overnight the wind did shift, as evidenced by the two blobs of orange.  

Trekker's track overnight at Mangrove Cay

We rolled out of bed to find only two other boats left in the anchorage. Based on the radio chatter we heard Monday, we think most of them left around midnight to travel straight to Fort Pierce, Florida. Looking like the wind was actually more northerly than westerly we raised anchor and left, hoping for a leisurely sail while we had breakfast. But is was not to be. Once out from behind Mangrove Cay the very light breeze was on the nose.  Motoring with the main up to give us a little push, we headed for the Indian Cut which, those of you that have been following the blog may remember, is where we saw 1.7m depth (our draft) on the way east.  Coming east I thought we were about 0.2 m above low water, so this time we planned on 0.3m above low water, meaning an arrival time of 13:19!

Trekker's shadow on the bottom of the Little Bahama Bank

Having motor sailed most of way and sailed for a short time we arrived at the cut at 13:19 (really!).  We passed through uneventfully seeing a minimum depth of 1.9 m this time.  

Trekker while under sail briefly to West End

We were tied up at Old Bahama Bay Resort and Marina by 14:45. 
Once connected to Wi-Fi all the emails came tumbling in including a free weather routing that I picked up at the US sailboat show in Annapolis.  Weather Routing Inc. thinks that Friday is the day to cross, which confirmed what we were thinking. So we're nearly done with the Bahamas.  We'll clean tomorrow and donate our excess canned goods to the St. Mary’s Church soup kitchen (once customs has given us approval).  Then it's across the gulf stream again to Fort Pierce and getting the boat ready to leave her for 8 months in the hot Florida weather. 
That'll be work … one day at a time!

We've had visitors!

Hope Town to Great Guana Cay
We left Hope Town with our "reserved" sign on the mooring ball (and our fingers crossed that it would be open when we got back) and headed back to Marsh Harbour to get ready for Trevor and Kate. We arrived back at Mangoes Marina, where we stayed in January, and started to get organized. First on the list was laundry, and luckily both washers were available so I quickly loaded them up and got two loads done. Mangoes has just reopened their restaurant next to the marina, so we decided to have lunch there. Forgetting it was Good Friday (what? it's Easter??) we were told they were serving lunch but no alcohol until after 3pm. Probably good for our livers!! After a short walk, we had a quiet night on the boat, despite the loud music coming from one of the harbourside bars. The next morning we walked over to the amazing grocery store, Maxwells, and did a big shop to provision for our guests. Since the store had been closed Good Friday and would be closed Easter Sunday, it was super busy.  I was, however, able to get everything  I needed (and more I'm sure!). After the grocery store we went to "Da Bes Yet Bakery" (that is really what it is called) and picked up a loaf of their delicious bread (and a couple of cinnamon buns, but don't tell anyone!). Hots cross buns were sold out ... darn!
We walked back to the boat and put everything away. Now we just had to wait for them to arrive. Their plane landed at 4:30 and they arrived shortly after 5pm.  It was so great to see Trevor and Kate. The last time we had seen them was in October, so its been many months. They had a good trip over, having had a lay over in Nassau for a few hours. They had been able to find a restaurant near the airport for lunch and sun ... a bit too much sun ... as they both arrived with a slight burn from enjoying those first rays of sunshine, without sunscreen (it was in their luggage I was told).
They quickly unpacked and we had a drink to celebrate their arrival, then walked down to a local restaurant called "Colors by the Sea" for some Bahamian food.
The next morning we left the marina and had a lovely sail back to Hope Town. 

Kate & Trevor on the wheel

As we entered the harbor, with bated breath, we found our mooring ball empty and quickly picked it up and got ourselves settled. We really love this little loyalist town and were hoping to show Kate and Trevor as much as possible. Unfortunately if was Sunday, and Easter Sunday at that, and almost everything was closed, but we were able to have lunch at the Hope Town Lodge, where they have a lovely deck overlooking the beach, and after lunch we walked down the beach, and back into town.  Dinner on board and a lively game of cards finished off the day.

Trekker in Hope Town

Monday morning we called around to see if we could rent a golf cart for the day, but none were available. No matter, we dinghied over to the the lighthouse and climbed the 101 stairs for the great view of the harbour and surrounding waters and islands. Then back to town to the coffee shop, which was closed. We discovered that a few stores were closed for Easter Monday as well.  No matter, off we went to Cap'n Jacks for Monday night bingo. This is a hugely popular event, and if you are not there by 4:30 to get a table then there's a good chance you won't. I think we got the last table, and waited until 6pm, when the bingo began. Each card costs $2 and each game pays out a percentage of the take, plus 10% goes to local charities. The first prize was $360, which we did not win, nor the second game, nor the third ... you get the picture! But it was fun. After bingo we went to our favorite restaurant "Wine Down Sip Sip" for a lovely dinner.

Bingo at Cap'n Jacks

Since we didn't have to leave too early Tuesday morning, we went into town to the coffee shop for breakfast, and visited a few stores that were not open Monday.  Our next stop was Great Guana Cay, a couple of hours north of Hope Town. We had a lovely sail there and stayed at Orchid Bay Marina for a couple of nights.  Great Guana has a lovely beach, 5 miles long, and the famous "Nippers Beach Bar".  Once settled in the marina we walked over to Nippers and down to the beach. This is the first time we have seen the ocean calm, as when we stayed here before the winds and waves were very high. What a difference!
We decided we would come back the next day for swimming, snorkeling and lunch at Nippers.

Great Guana beach

The next morning we packed beach bags and set off for the beach. The weather has been lovely, and this was another great day. We found a spot on the beach and all went into the ocean. Unfortunately the snorkeling wasn't great, but the water was warm and calm. After we all dried off (sort-of) we went to Nippers for lunch. We could see some dark clouds coming and decided to sit under cover. Good plan! The heavens opened up and it poured for a little while. It really didn't matter because we were already damp from swimming and the roof leaked anyway!  By the time we finished lunch the rain had stopped and we walked back to the boat for showers and dinner (and cards of course!)

Lunch at Nipper's

The week really flew by and Thursday we had to head back to Marsh Harbour for Trevor and Kate to catch their Friday early morning flight back to Nassau. They had decided to spend a night in Nassau and see the sights, since their flights connected there.  Another great sail back and a once we had tied up in Mangoes Marina we went for a walk around town so they could see a bit of Marsh Harbour. Then out for a nice dinner to celebrate Trevor's upcoming birthday.
We sadly said goodbye to them early this morning (6am!) and agreed it was a great, fast week! We hope we gave them a good taste of the Abacos!

Trevor and Kate

Now we are on our journey back to Florida, and if the weather cooperates we will be there by mid to late next week. We have rented a condo and a car for a week while we empty out the boat and get her ready for summer storage. It will be a busy time.
And then we will drive home. 
Its almost over ... one day at a time.