Jan 27 Provodinciales, Caicos

We left Mayaguana and the wind was about 20 knots right on the rhumb line for Sandbore Channel and the seas at first were about 8 feet, so we crashed to weather making about 2 knots VMG( velocity made good) (ie on our rhumb line), Later in the afternoon the sea state calmed to 3 foot rollers with about a foot of chop and we were able to speed up to 6 knots. The distance was only 48 miles but it took us from 7:00 AM to 7 :30 PM to cover that distance. The route from Sandbore Channel to Sapadilla Bay is only about 9 miles but it was pitch black and there are coral heads to be avoided. Fortunately I had laid down a track from Sandbore to the Bay and I followed it but I was still tense as

the darkness was pretty complete and I hoped that the track I laid down last year allowed enough error to keep me off the rocks. In addition to everything else we lost our front nav light cover and it was showing a white light out front so I was concerned in case we should run into any fools other than ourselves out on the banks at night.

We dropped anchor down in the bay in 8 feet of water and finally at 9:30 PM were able to get to the mess down below that was thrown about by the high seas early in the morning.

We went to South Side marina the next day and were able to check in with customs and Simon took us into Provo to the grocery store to get some necessary provisions.

Later that evening Southside provided a grill for the cruisers to grill their own meats and the cruisers brought a dish to pass, and Southside provided ice cream and the toppings for desert. A great time was had by all.

We plan to hang out here in Sapadilla until Sunday and then take a slip for a few days at our favorite marina south of Florida, Southside, before moving on the Puerto Rico

Feb 2

We hooked up with Daniel and Chantal of Que Syrah for our trip to PR.

As we left the anchorage the wind was blowing at around 20 knots on the nose and it took us about 16 hours to make Great Sand Cay to anchor for the night.

Feb 3

At 09:30 we left the anchorage and headed out for PR. The wind was consistently around 25 knots and we ended up tacking a few times to make the rhumb line for Cape Cabron on the NE tip of the DR. As dawn broke in the morning we saw the steep mountains and we came up to Cape Cabron at about 1300. Just as we were passing the point we lost all of our navigation instruments, yep, wind speed, direction, depth sounder, chart plotter, all went dead.

Fortunately Daniel took the lead and lead us safely past the rocks and shoals of this area. About two hours later, one by one, the instruments started to come back on line and by 16:00 all were working. Don't ask me what happened , I have no idea but I was grateful to have the GPS and chart plotter back.

As we were coming out of hourglass shoals headed for Montague we sighted a pod of humpback whales cavorting about a mile away. The whales would leap out of the water and splash and roll. As I took my eyes off of the whales a pod of dolphins passed under us.

Henry Morgan indulging in his

favorite activity

Passing Ila Desecheo into Mayaguez there was a line of rain showers we passed through and we finally anchored at 17:00 local time.

Feb 5

We called customs to check in the next morning and were able to get cleared in over the phone so we then headed for Boqueron .

Kathleen indulging in her favorite activity

On Sunday they set up a rear projection TV in the main street of Boqueron and we watched the Superbowl right there in the streets. In Puerto Rico it is legal to sell beer on Sunday so I was right were I wanted to be with the Superbowl on TV and a cold one in hand.

Daniel got his outboard fixed today as the rubber inside the prop was worn and would not allow the prop to turn. He ended up having to buy a whole
new prop and his dingy is running as good as new.

We have moved on to Ponce and Daniel has rented a car and invited us to accompany them to San Juan.

The day was quite nice and Kathleen and I had a fun time sightseeing in the old town.We are still in Ponceas I am waiting for a part for the generator and weneed to get our mail. After we get our mail we will move on to Vieques and then to the Us Virgin Islands

The captain at the helm








Southside Office
















Lobsters on the grill











our host Simon








Daniel and Chontal






















View of Port of San Juan from the parking garage














The old fort












A sign in the casino ( a caution for sore losers?)












Notice the bird ( the one with feathers) is missing a foot-
perhaps a pirate bird?














Carriages in the park













A sidewalk view down a street in old San Juan































Pigeons galore

Dec 3-16
Miami:
We are here in Miami and the trip has been relatively smooth. We left Lake Worth at 0600 and headed toward Miami. The weather was clear and we had about 10-15 knots of wind and relatively calm seas. After dodging many fishing boats we arrived at Government Cut at 1630. There was a parade ( 3) of Carnival cruise ships heading for sea and the channel was clear for us to transit. ( Homeland Security won't allow small vessels to transit the cut if there are more than two in port. Just as it got dark we made it into the Venetian causeway anchorage and were safe for the night. The anchorage is handy as there is a Publix supermarket just two blocks from the public dock.
We are still having problems with the outboard being hard to start. I'll have to finish that before we cross to Bimini.
It has been unseasonably cold here in Miami ( one night the temperature in northern Maine was warmer than here). Hopefully we will catch up to the sun as we trek toward Georgetown.
Dec 17
No Name Harbor- Biscayne Bay
We will be leaving tomorrow early ( 0430) as the weather looks promising. We took on fuel at Crandon Park Marina. I finally got the outboard running OK. The solution was to drain the float bowl a few times and it is starting and running well.
Dec. 18 Bimini
The Gulf Stream crossing was smooth and we arrived in Bimini at 1430. I dingied in to the harbor and cleared customs and we anchored over night and pan to cross the banks tomorrow.
Dec 19
The banks were calm during our crossing but as we anchored for the night a front was moving through and we spent a bumpy night at anchor near the Northwest Channel Light.
Dec. 20
The transit through the Tongue of the Ocean was an exhilarating experience - we were on a broad reach the whole time. At times we were moving at 10 knots as we surfed down some waves! We made West Bay at 14:30 and snugged in. There is a front supposed to pass tomorrow so we will sit tight here and wait for it to pass before moving on the Highborne Cay.
Dec. 22
We are anchored outside Highborne Cay as the Allan's Cay anchorage was filled.
Dec 25
We have arrived in Georgetown and will stay here a while provisioning and relaxing.
Dec 28
We are anchored in Kid Cove Just outside Georgetown. The weather last night was kind of bumpy with 25 knot winds and a 2 foot swell rolling through. We survived the night but decided to move to Volleyball Beach where we are somewhat protected from the swells.
Jan. 3
There was a cruisers pot luck on Hamburger Beach in honor of Elvis's ( the owner of the bar) birthday. There were several cruisers with guitars and other instruments and a good time was had by all. It was a little difficult to find Legacy in the dark but we made it safely home.
Jan 5.
We got our propane tank refilled today. The ten pound tank was refilled for $11.00, about what it would cost in the states. I don't know if that means the cost in the US is high or the Bahamas is cheap.

Jan.7
We moved to Thompson's Bay on Long Island today. The weather was nice and it was about a 6 hour sail. We are snugged down and will await a weather window to move on to Mayaguana and then the Turks and Caicos. The Long Island breeze resort is a nice break, Kathleen and I both had showers and were greatly refreshed.
Jan 14
A front is moving thorough and the temperatures have dropped to the high 60's during the day. Here we are below the Tropic of Cancer and we are still being chased by the cold.
















No Name Harbor












South Bimini


















Northwest Passage



















New Providence
















Highbourne Cay













Staniel Cay

























Georgetown














Thompson's Bay





















Long Island Breeze Deck















New Government dock next to Long Island
Breeze









Mike. The owner of Long Island Breeze














sunset

Nov. 29
We are here in Vero Beach on Mooring number 2. We will probably be here at least two more days as Kathleen wants to get Henry Morgan ( our male kitten) spayed bfore we get to the islands. The public transportation system is great as you can ride to anywhere in the city.

Thanksgiving was very nice, all the cruisers got together for a potluck thanksgiving and it was very nice to see all the people come together to share food and stories. Legacy is moored just outside the public dock so it was relatively easy to get back to the boat after eating.

Yesterday our outboard stopped working. It looks like it is the carburetor ( looks like this is the year of the carburetor) float valve as it will run a few minutes and then bog down and stop. I believer it is a stuck float valve, but I have no way on the boat to try a carb repair ( small parts and the water do not mix) so we are having a mechanic come pick it up and see what he can do. It is imperative that we have the outboard working as rowing against the wind and tide can be very tiresome. Hopefully if all goes well we can be on our way this Tuesday or Wednesday.

Hooray!!! our outboard is now working-- apparently the carburator was full of water. So we will be moving on down the ICW.

Tomorrow we will go to Hobe sound and the next day to Lake Worth, and weather permitting the next day we will be in Miami.















pot luck parking lot




















Desert lineup















Legacy on her mooring




=

Nov. 11

The morning was still and relatively calm as we headed to Factory Creek swing bridge. I had misread the notes and thought he would open his last time at 7:00am. It turned out the bridge was closed from 7:00am to 9am, and would only open at 10:00 and 11:00. We had gotten an early start and were able to get an opening at 6:40 am. I am glad we started out a little early.

I looked at the chart plotter without my eyeglasses and thought I could shortcut the ICW by going around an island on the inside of the turn. It turned out that the water for the most part was deep enough but there were shallows for about 1 yards that were only 4 foot deep. Fortunately I caught the mistake before we were hard aground and learned a lesson that it is always better to follow the waterway.

We passed Parris Island at about 8:30 on our way to Port Royal sound and the weather was sunny and winds were light.

As we left the protection of the land out the channel the wind started to pipe up and blow fairly strongly out of the North at around 20 knots. Since this put the wind on our stern quarter the seas were rolling us a little.

We passed Savannah inlet at 12:00 and the ship traffic was light and we had no problems making our way through. It was a relief to get through this area with so little ducking and dodging of container ships.

We approached the St. Mary's inlet at 11:30 pm having covered out 119 miles from Beaufort while it would have been about 300 miles down the ICW from Georgia. The trip wasn't too arduous and we saved about 5 days. So here we are in Fernandina were we will sit for a day or two before continuing our trek south to the Bahamas.












Parris Island









Container ship outside Savannah















Fernandina Mooring Field

Nov. 9

Nov. 9

Today's run to Beaufort, SC (pronounced bohfurt ) was a quick hop. We left South Edisto at 7:00am and were at anchor in Factory Creek in Beaufort by noon. We will stay here today and tomorrow and leave Thursday for Fernandina Beach weather permitting.

Nov. 10

Today we launched the dingy and rowed over to the public launch ramp. From there Kathleen and I walked ½ mile to Publix to pick up a few provisions and haul them back to the boat. The weather today was mild and Factory Creek is well protected from the wind.

I was able to get on the Internet and was able to get the offshore forecast for tomorrow. It looks like wind out of the North at 15 to 20 and seas 3 to five feet. The weather forecast looks good and we will be leaving tomorrow morning

Factory Island Swing Bridge

Nov. 8

It seems a lot of people here had the same idea this morning as about 15 boats all headed for the Wappoo Creek swing bridge on the migration south. The bridge's first opening is at 9:00 PM and nobody wanted to be forced to wait another hour for the next opening. We slowly worked our way to the front of the pack and turned to face the upstream to the current and come to almost a complete stop in front of the bridge.
After we were through I throttled back to 2200 rpm and moved along at between 5 and 8 m/h on our way to South Edisto anchorage. It was only 30 miles from Charleston and I was in no hurry to get there.
The days run was uneventful as we were chasing high tide most of the way. The main ICW trouble spots were no problem as due to the tide we had plenty of water. The weather seems to be co-operating and the sun felt good after 4 days of cold weather.
As we came out of the last cut we swung North around the bend and anchored in a beautiful spot. We got the anchor down and set by 2:30