Time Flies! I cannot believe that we are back in the States & heading north. So much has happened so lets see…. When I last wrote Julie & Chia had come and gone and we had a blast with them. We had spent a great deal of time in Rock Sound this season so it was time to move.
We made a stop at Hatchet Bay/Alice town on the way north for more stone crabs and it was worth it. Rob always jokes that I get a better deal than he does & I am beginning to think he’s right! To make a long story short, it took 2 trips to town, in the dark, but when I said I wanted $20 worth I ended up with 2 “Thank You” bags full! For those of you who are unaware, a “Thank You” bag is one of the bags you get when shopping. Grocery stores, take out food, get the idea? Well, stone crabs in the US are going for around $20 a pound for medium claws and I got 2 bags of jumbos for that! I really love stone crab but cannot justify the price stateside.
Since there was yet another cold front on the way we decided to move on to Royal Island and its protected anchorage. We ended up staying there 4 days before it was settled enough to cross back to the Abaco’s. The crossing was about 9.5 hours, 57 miles and as the transmission was still giving us fits we sailed most of the way only using the motor through cuts. We had fishing lines out as soon as we cleared the cut at Little Egg but not even a strike! We dropped the hook off Lynyard Cay for the night and decided to go out at North Bar Cut to the ocean again on the way to Marsh Harbour as the sailing would be better (gotta watch that tranny!) and of course that meant fishing too. We finally got one to the boat! We do not weigh or measure fish – we go by meals for 2 and this was a 2 dinner fish. 
Hope Town Light from the sea Our 2 dinner fish
We were just dropping the hook in Marsh Harbour when a man stopped by in a dink. Imagine our surprise, it was Doug Rose from Norfolk! Doug & Judy Rose from Bay Point Marina have been spending the season in the Abaco’s. It is always good to see familiar faces! We spent some time with them and it was sad to part but as it was their first trip they wanted to go & see places that would have required too much of our transmission. Also in the anchorage at Marsh were Ken & Francie Bushee (and Skipper). I met Skipper – their dog – at the 5F’s in Little Farmer & we were able to spend some time with them too. They have a maple farm in VT. Syrup, sugar & lots of other goodies & I managed to learn a great deal from Ken about the whole process. Wow! It sounds very interesting & if we ever get up to VT we will be sure to look them up. When we have a “Cruiser Cocktail Party” it usually means you bring an appetizer to share and your own beverage of choice. Ken made popcorn seasoned with a spicy spice (can’t remember exactly what he used) and some of their own maple sugar, sweet & hot, it was fabulous. Francie said “Why would I buy sugar when we make it?” How true & how delicious! THANKS KEN & FRANCIE! I love the maple sugar they gave us & cannot wait to look at the website for more goodies! www.vermontmaplesweets.com
Our wedding anniversary is March 21 and there was a concert by the Barefoot Man that day so we decided to go! A few days prior to that we were sitting at the upstairs bar at the Conch Inn when I looked down at this man and told Rob “That’s the Barefoot Man.” Rob called out in his best British accent “Do you have a song for us?” and George (his real name) came up with his friend, ordered a beer and chatted with us for a while. When we jokingly asked why he was wearing shoes he replied that he was incognito! He is actually very nice & personable! We sailed (babying the tranny) Great Guana Cay for the concert at Nippers. We had a great crowd of cruisers and took over a couple of tables.
Just follow the signs! A beautiful day!
We felt like a couple of kids. The sun was shining, good friends all around! What more could we ask for?
The Band The Barefoot Man
Barrie Notice the pool in the background!
When 2 beers turns to 10, I’ll never leave Nipper’s again!
What a day. Fantastic! If you have never heard the band do “the Pussycat Song” it is hilarious! See if you can find it.
We sailed to Tahiti Beach the next day and had a peaceful afternoon. The next day we decided to take the dinghy across to Cracker P’s. Its one of those kind of out of the way places but we try to go and lo & behold…. Patrick ( the owner) remembered us. Another great afternoon.
Since we had fresh pumpkin & fresh grated coconut on board I decided to make a fresh Pumpkin-Coconut Pie. I do mean fresh! First you peel, cook then mash the pumpkin. For the coconut you first husk it, then drain it (saving the juice), score it to crack it, crack it, pry out the white coconut meat then you need to grate it too! Of course the crust needs to be Mum Sanger’s recipe! It’s a terrible thing to say but all these years I thought I just was not partial to pie but it turns out that it was my mom’s crust I didn’t care for!
A lot of work for a pie but well worth it.
From Tahiti Beach we knew that we needed to start thinking about our crossing. We had been searching for someone to look at the transmission since Eleuthera without success. Rob was keeping it topped off with transmission fluid but the problem was only getting worse. If we could only figure a way to have it go from the pan it leaked to back to the transmission it would be ok! Back to Marsh Harbour we went for a final provisioning and to say our farewells to friends.
On March 31st we pulled anchor and motored to the Marsh Harbour Marina (Jib Room) to top up with fuel & water. As we tried to pull away the transmission slipped a couple of times then quit. Yep, quit! Luckily the wind was blowing us off of the fuel dock so we raised the sails and off we went! Please bear in mind that while we could start the engine, we could not engage the engine. At least we were able to recharge the batteries & keep the fridge cold. We sailed first to Baker’s Bay, then around Whale Cay to Allen’s Pensacola, on to Great Sale and then to Cape Canaveral for a total of dive days from Marsh.
The weather window was fine and there were many times that we did not have enough wind! However at one point in the gulfstream I was holding at 9+ knots and even hit 10 & 10.1 at times! Feast or famine with the wind.
It was growing dark as we approached the Cape so we called Tow Boat to stand by. It was quite choppy outside the harbor so Rob sailed her inside. We had been unable to raise the marina on the VHF or phone but the Tow Boat operator new the place well as he keeps his boat there. He was unable to reach anyone so off to the fuel dock we went.
It took 2 weeks to get the boat repaired which is not long by maritime standards! Rice Marine, Mr. Bill Rice was wonderful! He diagnosed the problem while we watched him dismantle the transmission! We were a bit apprehensive regarding Atlas Marine Service as they had a terrible review on Yelp. Of course the bad review was long on negatives and short on description of the problems and in hindsight we are glad we gave them a shot! Although communication could have been a bit better, the work was done well & done efficiently and at a decent rate. I think I’ll write my own Yelp review when we get settled.
While we were in Port Canaveral we stayed very busy! We got to spend time with Gary, Delores, Kathy & Bob and I even got a day of “girl time” with Kathy! Thank you girlfriend! Our friends Preston & Sherry from Norfolk sold their Pearson 424 this winter and went to the dark side! Their new Endeavor Power Cat is beautiful and we all got to see it and have a great dinner as well. On another day Gary arranged a lunch in Stuart with Stew & Diana, formerly of Tidewater, now Florida residents, Walt & Maggie along with Mike & Karen and of course Delores. Imagine our surprise when 2 of the people walked in and Rob & I Knew them! Walt & Maggie, formerly of DayO, their O’Day (sold the boat) were in the anchorage with us on June 1st 2012 when we were caught in the Hampton tornado! It was wonderful to see them. To see footage of the tornado go to UTube & search for Hamptontornado.MOV It still shakes me up to watch it. The sailboat that takes the knockdown is us and we were onboard at the time. Another great day! I mean the lunch-get together not the tornado!
Now we have left the marina and are making fairly good time north. It has been very cold in the mornings & we have been wearing long sleeve T-‘s. We are without a doubt too far north too early in the season.
On our way towards St. Augustine today with hopes of being in Jacksonville for the weekend to see out good friend Rob.
Later!
