Enjoying New Adventures

In Hugh's excitement to post that we had made it to West End, he forgot to mention the lovely day we had in Lake Worth. After sitting on the boat for a very blustery day (it amazes me how noisy wind can be!) we finally got off the boat and dinghied over to the town dock for a walk and a coffee. On the way over we stopped by Malarkey, the boat that we came down from Ft. Pierce with, to see how they fared in the blow and to say hello. They mentioned that they were going to go to the Flagler Museum in the afternoon, with another couple, Elaine and Steve off of S/V October, and would we like to join them? Of course we would! So we all met at the dock and called for Ubers to take us over to the museum on the ritzy Palm Beach side.  We are fairly familiar with Mr. Flagler, as we visited his hotel in St. Augustine on our trip down the ICW, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The museum in Palm Beach is actually the house, Whitehall, that he built as a wedding gift to his third wife. It has 75 rooms and they only stayed there about two months a year. It was built in 18 months being completed in 1902, which at the time was amazingly fast. We took a tour with the resident Docent and enjoyed hearing all the stories of the couple and the mansion.

Flagler Museum - White Hall

The Museum also houses Flagler's private rail car in which he travelled to the house.  Interestingly, he also built the East Florida Railway from Jacksonville to Key West. Quite a feat!

Flagler Rail Car #91

After the tour we decided to walk over to the Breakers Hotel, which is a very fancy hotel right on the ocean, and have a drink. These cruisers were our kind of people!  I’m still surprised no one stopped us as we were dressed in “boat clothes” and I felt pretty conspicuous! We waltzed in like we owned the place and got a table, a beer and shared some amazing fries (drenched in melted gorgonzola cheese!).  A very fun day with very fun people. One of the things I love about cruising!

Breakers Hotel Palm Beach

So, the next day we crossed to West End (see Hugh’s post). In spite of Daniela and Dennis'  help taking lines we had one of our worst dockings, which Hugh failed to mention! (but no damage). Daniela and Dennis own Viaggio, a Beneteau Oceanis 55 from Annapolis that was docked nearby. We seemed to hit it off right away, and found out it was their first time over to the Bahamas, and they had lots of questions. Since we are such experts (!) we invited them over for swizzles and to talk about cruising. There was also a catamaran docked in the marina (that was it … three sailboats) and we invited them over as well, as it turned out they were also newbies. Tim, Ingrid and crew Mike (hired? We never found out) on S/V Wanderlust from Atlanta. We had a lively discussion about where to go and things to do and see, as Mike slowly got drunker and drunker.

After they left, Daniela and Dennis stayed and we all wondered how quiet Tim and Ingrid put up with Mike. Well, turns out they don’t, as he was released the next day.

So we hung out at Old Bahama Bay for a couple of days, waiting for the weather to calm down, with Daniela and Dennis. On the Tuesday we both decided to travel down to Port Lucaya, which is on the south side of Grand Bahama Island, just east of Freeport. We have never been this way, as we usually go over the top of the Island and head for the Abacos. Due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian, we decided not to go there this year. I’m not sure there is much left of our beloved Hopetown, Man-O-War, and Marsh Harbour. It’s very sad. Even though West End and Port Lucaya were hit by the hurricane, they didn’t get hit as hard, but we can definitely see some damage, and the water is not potable as the treatment plant was damaged and is still not repaired. You could tell when you showered that the water was slightly salty (yuck).  Talking to some of the locals was very interesting as well. They had lots of stories about destruction and survival.

The sail to Lucaya was bumpier and windier than expected, and we were amazed to see two huge oil rigs , not marked on the chart, just before Freeport!

Unmarked oil rig being serviced off Freeport

We docked at Grand Bahamas Yacht Club, had a shower (still salty water) and then over to the pool bar for lunch and a beer! Daniela and Dennis joined us, and we decided to go exploring the next day, with the ultimate goal to find a BTC store to buy a Bahamas sim card, and groceries. After a false start, and a local bus ride (always adventurous) we found both. The grocery store was one of the nicest and cleanest I have seen in the Bahamas. Always exciting! We rode the bus home, right to the marina driveway, and then we had to get ready for our party night!

(L-R) Karen, Hugh, Daniela, Dennis

The marina has a wonderful dockmaster, Fabian, who invites all the cruisers in the marina every Wednesday night to a Fish Fry on a nearby beach. All 12 of us gathered in the parking lot at 6pm, and Fabian and his wife Rosie drove us over.  A good time was had by all, with a great dinner, beer and even dancing!

Fabian (left) hosts us at the fish fry

Friday looked like a good day to cross over to the Berry Islands, and I think nearly all of the boats at the marina left, except for Daniela and Dennis who have to fly home next week, so had decided to keep the boat there while they were gone. We left the dock at 6:20am and had a good motor/sail all the way down to Soldier Cay, passing three cruise ships anchored at Coco Cay, a cay which includes a "village" owned by a cruise line at which ships stop for a day. We anchored, and had a lovely quiet night. The next morning the winds were nil and the water was calm, so we motored to Nassau. On entering the harbour, we saw five more cruise ships waiting at the docks!

Cruise ships lined up in Nassau

So we are now in Nassau, waiting for our daughter Alyssa to join us tomorrow for a week of sailing. We are looking forward to her visit.

After she leaves, we will see where the wind take us ... one day at a time!