On Anchor: Great Guana Cay, Abaco, Bahamas

We cruised through the night last night, straight across the Little Bahama Bank and around to Green Turtle Cay, where we dropped anchor around 0230 this morning. The full moon gave us an amazing amount of light, and it was comfortable to be in familiar waters, having spent so much time here on several different occasions. Once the anchor was set and the boat secure, we slept until Customs and Immigration opened, when we popped Eclipse in the water so that Ron could head to New Plymouth to clear us in. 

And our little stowaway from yesterday? She flew the coop, of course! She clearly had eaten (and left us a little “thank you note” on the flybridge as well) so I can only assume she made it safely to land, as close as we are to the islands here! When she came aboard, she definitely was far from home, being miles from land at that point. 

Once Ron returned, we immediately hauled anchor and set out again, as we knew the winds were forecast to increase later in the weekend and we wanted to get around Whale Cay in good weather. As it was, we had quite benign conditions in Whale Cay Cut, and made our way quietly to a lovely anchorage in Baker’s Bay off the northwest coast of Great Guana Cay. Anchor down before noon, without another boat around!

Whale Cay Cut with just a few small swells

Once there, we did a light wash and wipe-down of Equinox to make sure she was free from any salt spray, enjoyed a bit of lunch and then did some boat projects: Ron set up our new bicycle trainer for use with one of our folding bikes, so we have a way to get consistent cardio exercise when we’re aboard. He’s pretty excited about it, as am I...that was one component we were lacking when the winds were so fierce last winter and we couldn’t get off the boat as much as we liked. The trainer is up on the flybridge, so we'll have extensive water views while working out! While Ron was busy doing that, I did some much-needed scrubbing of the aft deck table and chairs, getting rid of the boat-yard grit and grime, and re-installed our mesh sun-shades around the perimeter of the cockpit. It really creates a lovely sun porch, providing a bit more privacy and keeping the temperatures cooler.

Our view of Spoil Cay with the sun setting behind it to the west

We swam, read and relaxed the remainder of the day before dinner on the aft deck at sunset, which was gorgeous in its own right. We enjoyed a light salad and fire-roasted veggie pizza (CPK, of course!) with a glass or two of wine, sitting and just enjoying being here. Then, Ron discovered the views to our east were just as spectacular; the full moon rising in the darkening lavender sky along with clouds over the cay reflecting the sunset’s pale pinks from the west...it was so beautiful as to be surreal! Once darkness came, we managed to watch a DVD before a very early bed-time. It was a long day, after a long passage, and we are simply happy to be here!! 

Beautiful passage to the Abacos!

What a glorious day! We were up before the dawn today -- I couldn’t sleep past 5:30, to be honest, thinking of the small details I still had to attend to before we set out. But...once things were taken care of and the last item stowed, we cast off the lines at 0705. Ron had been aboard a good 45 minutes ahead of me as I was closing up the condo, so he had done a thorough systems pre-flight by the time I go there. It seemed like a breezy morning, but it was nothing more than the warming catabatic winds coming off the water...we cruised out through the St. Lucie Inlet on the tail end of a rising tide with nary an issue. 

Captain Ron at the rail enroute to the Bahamas.
What a lovely day for the crossing!

AND...the boat is running SO smoothly. All the engines are purring (the mains are actually running a few degrees cooler than they did this summer, but that could be a function of the cooler water temps in general), and it just feels like we are slicing through the water with ease! Tuning the props was key; absolutely no vibration on the port shaft whatsoever! Lovely! Ron is ecstatic with the results of all the work we had done...efforts well worth it! We’re now settling back into the routine of logging engine temps, rpms, fuel burn and oil psi along with our position, speed over ground and course heading each hour. It’s a comfortable routine and feels oh so nice!! Plus, it helps that the sun is shining brightly, the seas are gentle -- at most, 2’ swells with a 6 second interval -- and winds are light, in the 6-12 kt range. Glorious!!

As I write this, a huge full moon has risen in the east ahead of us as we make our way to Green Turtle Cay. We had a leisurely dinner aboard (chicken, simply grilled with a bit of spice rub, asparagus and some dirty rice, along with a touch of wine -- decadence!!) eating in the pilothouse as the sun was setting and the moon rising. Right now, the moonlight shining on the water seems to be like a pale mellow “yellow brick road” leading us to Oz, as we are riding right along its moonbeams. Serene and beautiful!

Oh, and yes, we have a little hitchhiker with us as well! This afternoon a little yellow-breasted warbler literally flew into the pilothouse, and came to rest on the chart table to the portside of the helm. She looked absolutely exhausted...didn’t ruffle a feather as I took a light dishtowel from the galley and gently moved her outside to the portside stairs leading up to the flybridge. We are in the middle of the Little Bahams Bank, miles from any bush, and I don’t know how far warblers generally fly....but she was definitely wiped out! She was sitting there looking dazed, with her beak open, head tilted up, so I dripped a bit of fresh water into her, which she swallowed, a bit startled. I let her rest of a bit, then, seeing how she was fighting to keep her footing on the towel in the wind, I tried to move her to a more sheltered spot. But...she wasn’t having any of it, and fluttered away. I felt bad, since I didn’t think she was all that rested, but...not much I could do!

Our little stowaway -- a yellow-breasted warbler

Then, some hours later, during dinner the little bird returned, alighting along the starboard PH doorframe! She looked at us, looking a bit more bright-eyed than before, then fluttered away again, circling back around the boat. She did this twice before I took the small water dish and dishtowel up to the flybridge, thinking she could perhaps alight on that for better purchase out of the wind....only to discover she had already made herself comfortable on the flybridge cushions, snugly tucked into the corner of the settee and the flybridge helm station! I placed the water dish and some bread crumbs as near as I could without disturbing her too much, and departed. Hopefully, she will get a good night’s sleep, have a bit of water or food, and when dawn comes, we will be within flying distance to land for the little lass!! Good karma, in my book! 

Departure day!!

Well, it's departure eve, actually, but we will be heading out in the early morning and I won't be able to access any internet until Friday (10/22) at the earliest, when we hopefully will be clearing in with Bahamian Customs and Immigrations at Green Turtle Cay, which should be our first port of call. The weather here continues to be lovely and calm and is forecast to continue, with seas just 2-3 feet, so we are taking the blessings of the seas as they come! Let's hope the forecasts are accurate and we have a smooth crossing to the Bahamas!

We have covered a LOT of ground the past few days -- weeks, actually -- getting Equinox set to cruise after her hurricane season lay-up. All systems have been either inspected, repaired, maintained, tweaked, stocked, oiled, painted, petted, polished, or shined, and I have to say, it's reassuring to have checked and double-checked everything! We are feeling secure, happy to be aboard in our ship-shape little ship, for Equinox is in top form!! From stem to stern, we've got things in great working order and she is looking so pretty and pristine, that we are almost reluctant to take her out in the spray. Well...not really. We're looking forward to getting out there and just be cruising: being on the water, under the warm sun and feeling the breeze, smelling the sea air. No regrets or resentments for all our hard work, and we are so grateful for all the fabulous efforts of those who helped us along the way. It's all very appreciated!!

And so...tomorrow we cruise! We're aiming to reach the Turks and Caicos, so will be ambling our way south through the more protected areas of the Bahamas. We've got a bit of time, and while conditions here are favorable, we will also be keeping a wary eye on the unsettled weather to the south affecting the Caymans and Jamaica. Let's hope that is the last of this year's hurricane season rain events, shall we? In the meantime: bon voyage!!

Lists, lists and more lists...

And I don't mean listing to port. Or starboard, for that matter! But at the moment, lists rule our lives, as we are busily checking off the items on our various and sundry endless to-do lists in our effort to prepare for departure. We have been focused, efficient, productive and, at times, frantic, in our quest to accomplish whatever we can each day!! To say it's been high-speed is an understatement, but then again, I am married to Ron, who is high-speed personified. :) There just seems like there's a lot more to do this go-round since we haven't lived aboard the past two months, and we have a lot to restock, re-provision and re-supply!  

Sunday and Monday included runs to Publix for pantry dry goods, toiletries and sundries, with time-consuming inventorying and re-arranging of items aboard Equinox to accommodate the new stuff. Eclipse was dropped into the water and run over to the dealer for maintenance and servicing -- routine stuff and, actually, not really needed since she had so few hours on her engines since we did maintenance last, but...better safe than sorry. Tingum had to be relocated to the dealer as well (her bilge pump isn't working for some reason) in between numerous phone calls, and runs to various places for odd spare parts, holding tank supplies, fishing tackle, office supplies, pharmaceuticals, and dry cleaning. Not to mention runs to the post office and bank, since we are closing on our new slip here at Outrigger Harbour, just to add more items to the list!! AUGH!

We'd also arranged for some canvas repair/replacements for all three boats: a small hatch cover needed replacement on Equinox after we lost one in the winds, a new cover for Eclipse was needed as the other was was becoming more tattered, torn and duct-taped than useful; we also got a bait well cover for Tingum, and oh, what the heck, we ordered a new cover for her as well...so LOTS done there. (G&G Canvas to the rescue!!) This amid toting propane tanks for re-fills and topping off, taking the scuba tanks and regulators for inspection and servicing, doing a big meat/wine/cheese provisioning at Sam's Club yesterday, getting new glasses for Ron, coordinating boat detailing, finally getting the wind indicator fixed by Martek, tracking down orders of supplies not yet delivered, dealing with the bike shop regarding a receipt for the replacement of the bike box that was damaged by American Airlines on our trip to CA....the list goes on!!! I spent a fair bit of time aboard in the galley with the vacuum-sealer, re-packaging the newly-purchased foodstuffs into manageable quantities for the freezer, while Ron dealt with the unexpected: fixing the nail puncture/slow leak in the tire of the truck, having to do back-track to pick up some supplies that didn't come in on time as promised. 

And...now, for the weather report: It's been utterly, simply, fantastically GLORIOUS weather here for the past two weeks. Low humidity, lovely temperatures, wall-to-wall blue skies, light winds, seas of 2' or less...just fabulous cruising conditions, naturally. All the while we are still in hurricane season and simply preparing to depart...and unfortunately, we're not out there yet, unable to enjoy this perfect crossing weather. (You gotta love Mother Nature!) Nevertheless, we are hoping to head out in two days, on Thursday, and are keeping a close eye on the new tropical depression brewing south of Cuba that will no doubt rain on our parade. The law of averages dictates that, since we've have such good weather while preparing and provisioning, right?? Oh well! We will be ready come Thursday, and simply go with the flow! Not a problem to wait for the weather -- it'll be easy once we've done everything else!! SO, what's next on the list?

Equinox is back in the water!

Equinox in her slip at Outrigger Harbour

Yes, we are back afloat!! Equinox splashed last Tuesday at American Custom Yachts, where she received her beautiful paint job (hull and cap rails, among assorted other items), had her through-hulls, bow thruster and running gear cleaned, and the dive compressor dissected, diagnosed and repaired. Ron has been double-checking every boat system since then, from having the John Deere folks aboard for a thorough check-up of the main engines, to getting repairs done on various and sundry small items (the display panel on the Frigibar freezer needed replacement, for one) and generally doing routine maintenance items so that all systems are go! All this while I was in Wisconsin visiting with my dad, who is doing very well and now home from the rehab hospital! Ron covered a lot of ground, indeed. 

So...now we're down to the usual crush of work that seems to arrive during the last couple of weeks before any long-distance cruise: basically trying to get all the numerous to-do lists to coalesce and get them completed efficiently. Today, I was back aboard in the galley, deep-cleaning the empty refrigerator and wiping down the pantry shelves before sorting, stowing and inventorying  foodstuffs and cleaning items. (Whenever the boat is out of the water, no matter how little time is spent in the shipyard, things always seem to get grubbier than usual!) While I was up to my ears in Clorox Clean-up wipes, dry pantry items and canned goods, Ron changed out all the water-maker filters, the Seagull System boat-water filtration module, air compressor filter and the holding tank vent charcoal filter. He also changed the 12 kW oil and transmission oil -- both of which were done well before their scheduled maintenance interval, actually -- just to be sure every system has clean oil, fresh filters, and is in pristine condition for cruising. We are ready to go!! 

We have a full day ahead tomorrow too, as there are a few items on Eclipse that need attention, not to mention getting Tingum squared away for storage while we are gone. There are a multitude of other things that we need to attend to as well, but...one thing at a time! Rest assured we will also be watching the Ravens-Patriots game tomorrow, never fear! 

Inventory and provisioning...

...are not exactly exciting things to write about, but that's how I spent the majority of my day yesterday! Ron was out and about with other errands (mail forwarding service, bank, etc) in the morning, while I pulled out my trusty clipboard and inventoried the pantry foodstuffs before bagging them for toting to the boat next week. This time, it's harder to estimate how much we need to bring since we think we will be gone longer...but then again, through experience now, we have a somewhat better handle on what foods we eat frequently and what foodstuffs are a luxury and not really practical to have aboard.

For example, even though we lived aboard most of the time when we were on the Chesapeake, we had a grocery store nearby and yet didn't really think about what type of foods we ate more frequently during the course of 6 months, or what items we only used once in a blue moon in a new recipe. Prepping to go farther afield, we tried to stock up accordingly, yet we found we still ran out of favorite items sooner than expected during our travels this past winter and spring. It's something to be considered while cruising in the islands, since some things are harder to find than others! Specialty items like capers or good olive oil, marinated artichoke hearts or balsamic vinegar...hard to find if not impossible, while other items are plentiful. We also found we preferred to use local fresh vegetables where ever we were, and so with a few exceptions, we use our freezer space for meats. We now know a bit better which things we definitely need to stock up on, and what items we can do without. Or...at least, I hope so!! Itemizing and inventory continues!!

 Ron with Paul and Muriel aboard Tingum in Manatee Pocket

We also have our friends Paul and Muriel in for an impromptu weekend visit, so we are taking a bit of a hiatus from boat chores while they are here. The weather was exceptional -- sunny, calm, and glorious, so it was out on the water! We went out in Tingum, cruising to Manatee Pocket for lunch at Shrimpers, then up the St. Lucie River, then back east and out through the St. Lucie inlet onto the Atlantic for a bit of fun in the sunshine. It was a great time, albeit a short one, since I'm heading to Wisconsin tomorrow to be with my Dad and family for a few days. He's still rehabbing after his back surgery, and a lovely chance to be together prior to our setting out aboard Equinox. So...a busy, busy, busy few days...but we'll just keep at it, and try to keep all the balls in the air. Or, oars in the water, so to speak!

Back in business!

Apologies for the lack of posting lately...too many errands, too little time these days! The pace has been frenetic in many ways, and not just boat-related! But...most importantly, Equinox is getting ready to splash! We are looking at this coming Monday for the big day -- I have to say, it feels like we've been out of the water forever, not just a couple of months!! Equinox is currently getting her bottom painted, and her running gear is freshly prepped for the water: cleaned, scoured, primed and properly Propspeeded! 

ACY guy doing his thing to make Equinox look fabulous!

Looking sharp and ready to make good speed!

Ron and I have made list after list of things to get done, and are down to the final details that still need to be accomplished, from small items to large. Since we're not taking Tingum in tow on this trip, we had to move a lot of the fishing and scuba gear off her and stow it back aboard Equinox. While we love the versatility of having Tingum along for diving and fishing, we feel that the longer open crossings we'll be facing would be accomplished more safely without a boat in tow. (I preferred near-perfect sea conditions in which to tow anyway, which meant longer waits in port for great weather windows!) While we will miss having her creature comforts, speed and range for diving and fishing, we will simply make do with our inflatable, Eclipse. Far safer and much less stress during voyages, especially when it will be just the two of us aboard. 

That being said, we actually got out in Tingum today. Ron dropped the boat into the water off the trailer, and I ran it down the St. Lucie River and up the Indian River to the condo, where I then picked him up. While the weather was a bit blustery and cloudy, we couldn't resist just cruising the ICW a bit, eventually going over to Shrimpers in Manatee Pocket for lunch before a leisurely ride back to Outrigger Harbour. It felt great to be out on the water again! 

As to other things that we've been busy with, we've gotten extra paper charts of the Turks and Caicos, double-checked the spares inventory and ordered needed items (making sure we have enough fuel and oil filters for routine changes, for example), double-checked the different routes through the Bahamas en-route to T and C, double-checked the entry requirements for Customs & Immigration (love Noonsite for that!) and are tweaking our food provision lists. Provisioning is always a work in progress until departure, although this time provisioning will be a bit tougher -- we cleared out the majority of foodstuffs aboard knowing we were going to be out of the water for two months. (Not to mention that the boat would be getting rather hot inside without A/C!) So...we have a lot of things to get aboard! Right now, we're trying to add a bit more variety to our meat list, since we got a bit tired of eating so much chicken and pork-chops last winter...! We're going to hit Sam's Club for most of the meat, so I foresee a lot of time at the vacuum sealer, repackaging the large family packs into smaller 2-3 serving packs for freezing and storage. We will have to buy things in a multiple trips, so that we don't end up with too much food and too little freezer space! Again, lists are imperative! (Especially since Ron is sometimes rather good at impulse shopping!) Guess I should add a bit of chocolate to the list to appease his sweet tooth...?