Aboard Lady

Twelve days in Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine, Florida    

Camachee Island Marina 29.55.051N 081 18.446W

Saturday May 19th, to Wednesday May 27th, 2009

Charlie was astounded when we went to pay our marina bill this afternoon to find out that we had been here in the country's oldest city for twelve days!  Yes we arrived on a Saturday...was that the 19th?  and today is the 25th?  oh dear, where did the time go?

Well, we seemed to have one technical issue after another.  Charlie had discovered water in the Racor filter for the port tank when we were in Fort Pierce.  During our trip from Fort Pierce, the engine would not go more than 2300 rpm, no matter how far we moved the throttle.  We contacted First Mate and put our name on the list for a mechanic for Monday, possibly Tuesday.

This seemed like a good time for me to make a quick trip back to Tulsa, cuddle Anna Louise and bring back the cat that escaped April 30th as we left for the airport. 

I also went out to watch IV and his friends race their model boats, and was invited to be Race Committee, but was dismayed when one race ended in a dead heat and I could not determine which boat was first!

Charlie met us (me and Sooty) at Jacksonville airport on Tuesday; we landed in pouring rain.  He reported that it had rained all day Monday, even blowing up to 40 knots at times, and the rain was not forecast to end soon.  He had rented a car.

The mechanics had investigated all possibilities with the engine on Monday, with Charlie even taking a dip to check that nothing was wrapped around the prop, and had finally removed the regulator and injectors and sent them off to a lab for testing and calibration. 

 Our friends Debbie and Craig Roser from Charmed took a road trip to Saint Augustine and we had breakfast together.  Craig is crewing for John Dinsmore on Jay Sea Dee as they cross the Atlantic.  The "extra-tropical" storm we were experiencing had delayed their departure.

Meredith and Dick Schwarz from Distant Druminvited us over to their beautiful condo in Ponte Verdur for a meal.  We met their friends Ann and Mike McDougal from Night Flight, and the six of us had a grand time talking about ports of call.

With so much rain all week, we finally were able to find a movie theater and watched the new Star Trek movie, which was enjoyable.

With the continuing rain, trips to the grocery store (first American store for provisioning Lady in about five months) and to West Marine separated us from lots of money.

When the engine parts returned, Bo and Spanky worked on getting the Yanmar working properly.  Success at last!  Except for the fact that the gear shift would not go into the neutral position.  They ordered the part, and after we moved our bed, they were able to remove the water from the port tank.

We relaxed for the weekend, getting the new jib sheet cars installed. on Sunday, the rain stopped for a while, and Ann and I went out to the local outlet mall, and each of us were able to purchase a new tool for the galley (I got a shrimp peeler and deveiner) and a new pair of pants.

Over 20 inches of rain fell during this days-long rain event.

I spent an hour in the lazarette on day, laying on my back, removing wire ties from the gear-shift cables.

By this time the microwave was no longer working.  This was getting spooky.  Although the only time we use the microwave is when we are in a marina...so it could have gone wrong some time ago.

Tuesday we were up bright and early, waiting for the mechanics.  Charlie looked overboard after he heard the bilge-pump go off (not unusual when we run air-conditioning), and noticed a sheen of diesel on the water.  We pulled up floorboards, and on no, we can see diesel in our bilge!  We tear the boat apart looking for a leak, and just can't find it. 

Bo of First Mate, arrived quickly, and soon established that it was coming from the generator.  We had not run the generator in at least a couple of weeks.  While I did laundry, he managed to put a new hose on, and by mid-morning all the diesel was cleaned from the bilge and the new gear shift was installed and working properly.

We took a few hours off, while the sun was out, and went in to downtown Saint Augustine.  We had lunch out, and browsed some of the cute stores. 

There are some manatee swimming around the marina, but all the rain has made the water so muddy, they are difficult to see.  Camachee Cove is also home base for some of the Homeland Security Department's vessels.

Today, Wednesday, we are finally off, just as soon as there's enough water under the keel for us to float out of the slip.  Next stop Cumberland Island.

Back to the USA

Crossing the Straits of Florida to Fort Pierce and on to Saint Augustine

Wednesday May 13th to Saturday May 16th

Another beautiful day in the Abacos with sunshine sparkling on the crystal water was in progress as Charlie and the electric windlass hauled up the anchor.  There was a light breeze as we motor sailed in a direction just north of west  (course 287M) to our first way point on the edge of the Bahama bank.

A lovely day at sea, with not much happening but the constant navigation, some reading and other activities for Lady's crew.

We could see thunderstorms off in the distance, and as the day wore on, one came closer, and it looked like there might be a waterspout in it, so we furled the sails, put on life jackets and motored on.

The storm missed us, and we reached the Little Bahama Bank way-point just before dinner.  The compass course of west was modified by the strong Gulf Stream taking us to our destination of Fort Pierce. 

As we got closer to the mainland, we could hear the Miami Coast Guard's alert that they had a report of thirty people in the water.  We saw the lights of a boat and helicopter searching in the area, and we kept a sharp lookout as requested by the "Pan, pan" alert. 

We took turns sleeping and being on watch during the night, and by daybreak on Thursday we could see Florida. 

We anchored near Faber Cove in Fort Pierce, hoisted the "Q" flag, and after a hearty breakfast, called Customs and Border Patrol.  Last January, while we were in Hollywood, we had made an appointment with CBP to pre-register our passports using the "Local Boater Option".  Fort Pierce is the furthest north location in South Florida that this re-entry method can be used and it was sweet.  One phone call to the 800 number they had given us and immigration took about a minute.

We spent most of the day catching up on lost sleep, phoning home and returning other phone calls.

At sunset, Charlie continued the custom of blowing the conch horn.  One other boat in the anchorage responded.

Friday morning we motored in to the Fort Pierce Municipal Marina, took on 30 gallons of diesel, and by 1000 we were clear of the channel and headed off shore.  The wind came up as the morning wore on and by late morning we were 10 miles from land under full sail doing 7.4 knots.  The speed over the ground increased as we picked up more current from the Gulf Stream. 

The big event of the day was when we heard a VHF call from Warship 99 hailing the sailing vessel at a certain Lat/Long, looked at our position and exclaimed "That's us!"  We hadn't even seen the ship that was 7 miles off our starboard bow, and he just wanted us to maintain course an speed while he crossed our bow.

By 1600 we were abeam of the Cape Canaveral way point, about 24 miles off shore, doing 9.3 knots over the ground.

Another night of alternate watches.  The wind got light, and we started the engine for a speed boost.  The engine would not do more than about 2100 rpm - usually we cruise at about 2400 rpm - cause for concern, but we were able to maintain a speed of about 6 knots as we entered Saint Augustine and tied up at the Camachee Cove Marina slip M23 at 1045 on Saturday.

Abaco Vacation

Abaco, Bahamas                                               Various anchorages

May 1st to May 13th, 2009

We were so pleased to get back aboard Lady.  Troy, Mali, and Phyllis of Harbour View Marinain Marsh Harbour had taken good care of her for the month we were gone, and it was so much easier re-commissioning her to get ready to go, than all the chores we had of packing up a month ago.

After couple of days for re-provisioning, we were ready to welcome Joyce and Jep Randolph (Shesyar, Oologah Lake, Oklahoma), Tulsa friends who had decided to cruise with us for a few days. 

They quickly got their gear aboard after the flight from Miami and in no time we were off out of Marsh Harbour, bound for Hopetown. 

I fear that we gave them a whistle-stop tour of some of our favorite places, but in the five days we also managed to get to Green Turtle Cay, where we walked the streets of New Plymouth, and the beach of Gilliam Bay. We visited Great Guana Cay and Lynyard Cay.  We walked the charming settlements, did some snorkeling, beach-combing, swimming and had great fun together.

A great meal at the The Conch Inn their last night in Marsh Harbour celebrated Jep's birthday.

Then, on Friday we went out to the airport with them, as we too needed a taxi to get the propane tank filled.  We all had a wonderful time.

Another night at Harbour View gave us time to do laundry, despite THREE power failures in Marsh Harbour that day, and buy a few more groceries.  We did not have to get beer.  Joyce and Jep brought us a case of Kalik; what a lovely gift.  Thanks! We loaded the water and fuel tanks and washed the decks.

Saturday May 9th we departed Marsh Harbour, and dropped anchor again at Green Turtle.  Not feeling any need to go ashore, Charlie changed the engine oil...while I read uninterrupted.  Not a single exclamation of disgust..the new electric oil extraction system that filled one of Charlie's bags coming back from Tulsa worked REALLY WELL! 

The following day was Mothers Day, so after phone calls home...we did not know when we would see another BaTelCo tower...we had a lovely cruise north east up the Abaco Sea, stopping at Powells Cay for lunch and snorkel.  The two other yachts anchored there when we arrived left shortly after, so we had the island to ourselves.

After lunch we moved on to Allans-Pensacola Cay - it used to be two islands but a hurricane twenty years ago joined them together.  More swimming, followed a sunset by a cacophony of conch horns from the ten or so boats anchored there.

IV and Mike's mother had a perfect day!

Monday May 11th was another light-air day.  We motored for about six hours, passing another Catalina 470 - sail number 52 - at some distance.  We tried to call them by VHF, but they did not respond. 

Listening to CNN reminded us that there was to be the space shuttle Atlantis' launch to the Hubble Telescope from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2:00 pm that afternoon. This is a little better picture than the one I tried to get after dark from Hopetown some weeks ago.

We anchored off the Double Breasted Cays - another anchorage to ourselves.  We took the dinghy to a beach, and had a lovely snorkel around the rocks, although there was a school of a dozen juvenile barracudas the kept following us.  Then a dinghy tour of the lagoons around and inside the cays, where we saw turtles and a ray. 

Tuesday May 11th was our last full day in the Abacos.  We left Double Breasted Cays after a sloppy uncomfortable night...we were anchored off a lee shore and the flat calm of the day did not last through the night.  By 1130 we had the anchor down at Great Sale Cay.  Plenty of time for dinghy explorations and snorkeling.  Although we did not see as many fish as we had seen at Double Breasted, our dinghy trip revealed a cormorant hang-out - sorry if we disturbed any nesting birds.  Along with about nine other boats, there was another C-470 in the anchorage - Irish Whisper.  Nobody was on deck, so we did not disturb them, but we seem to remember that this is a brand new C-470 Australian yacht that we met in Hopetown a few weeks ago.

Wednesday morning dawned kind of stormy.  If anybody knows Pirates Pleasure,let me know - I have lots of rainbow pictures with that boat.  Again, no response when I tried to call them on VHF.  We spent some time calculating courses, distances, making lists for what was needed for USA entry - 50 nautical miles to the edge of Little Bahama Bank, another 60 to Fort Pierce, Florida, look up LBO ("Local Boater Option") numbers for each of us, and Lady's official decal number...

We pulled the anchor at 1020 and headed west.  Storms appeared occasionally, and before we left the Bahamas we spied a possible waterspout...furl the main and put on life jackets.

By 1945 we reached the Little Bahama Bank way point and continued on across the Florida Strait to Fort Pierce