This trip north inside has been one ritual of playing the tides. Where to, tomorrow? Depends on the tide at such and such trouble spot. Charleston to Butler Island (north of Georgetown, SC) takes you through the shallow stretch near McClennanville. Still shallow but we hit the tides right and it wasn’t too bad.

The Waccamaw River is always pleasant and deep enough to eliminate most stress. This day takes us into Barefoot Landing. Thunderstorms follow us for the last hour and we manage to only get damp.

The following day is going to be stressful so we throw the dice, check the tides and we’re out by 0800. This puts us at dead low going through a stretch called the “rockpile”. Pretty scary seeing all those jagged limestone rocks sticking out of the bottom. Very narrow here and you don’t want to meet an oncoming barge. We didn’t, whew! The first inlet is Shalotte. Supposedly it has been dredged recently and the depths were better than we have ever seen but we do see some spots that had it been low tide we would have hit. Next up was Lockwood’s Folly and it to was dredged recently. The flood current was ripping and pushed us out of the channel momentarily. It was 5 1/2′ deep at high tide! The range is about 4′! After these two spots the rest was easy. We had hoped to stop at Southport at the Provision Co. Restaurant. We got there as a small boat was leaving and so we got a spot for the night for free. The seafood is great there and we had two meals. Guess the dock wasn’t quite so free. I had stopped there last year and I didn’t remember it being shallow but at low tide we were on the bottom, or I should say, IN THE BOTTOM. The sounder was reading 3.9 feet. About a foot and a half was in the soft mud.

We were able to back out through the goo the next morning and we were off for a short trip to Wrightsville Beach. Snow’s Cut and Carolina Beach Inlet were both pretty tricky and shallow but we made it through. The weekend traffic has been horrendous and so we’re happy to be on the hook for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow takes us through another set of shallow spots as well as coordinated bridge openings. I’ve got it all worked. We’ll see …

After six days in Daytona enduring almost 25″ of rain we finally got back in the groove and headed out. The boat interior is getting pretty damp as there are now so many fixed port leaks that we have lost count. In the driving rain they leak, the hatches leak and the humidity clings to everything. We awoke one day to one of our inflatable life jackets inflated under the dodger. After thoroughly drying it and rearming it would go off again a day or two later just from humidity. Aside from all this we always enjoy our visits here visiting friends and our usually shopping and eating spots. This stop was no exception.

The trip to St. Augustine was pretty routine. No real shallow spots to stress over and short enough for a leisurely motor down the waterway. We even got to motor sail almost the whole way.

St. Augustine to Fernandina Beach is another story. Leaving St. Augustine with the tide would mean that we would be near Fernandina at low and low at a new moon is LOW, .8′ below mean low water. There had been reports of shallow water approaching Fernandina Beach and I wasn’t looking forward to it. Getting across the St. John’s River was fun at an ebb current of almost four knots and as we approached Fernandina the water started getting thin. Trouble spot #1 was very apparent as the sand bar was sticking out of the water by about a foot. #2 was quite as visible and we thought we doing the right thing but rain up on a bar and were stuck in 4′ 6″ of water. After backing off of that one we rounded he corner and promptly ran aground again. All in spots where charts showed much deeper water. We anchored with no trouble and rest for our offshore trip to Charleston.

If my adventure aground was any indication of the future I sure wasn’t going to go through Georgia and southern South Carolina in the ICW. We headed offshore just before slack water hoping to hit Charleston at slack 26 hours later. We were a little early so we got some boost from the flood tide going in. The ride over was pretty routine. Little wind but enough for a motorsail. The swells were on the beam at 2 to 4 feet with some odd ones much bigger. This caused a very uncomfortable ride and by the time we got to Charleston we were nauseous.

As always when Mary takes the helm she meets ships and this trip was no exception. We expect to seem them anchored waiting to go into Savannah and usually cross a few in the night but last night was strange. Mary woke me at about 0100 to see if I could figure what was out there. At night with no light other than the stars scale is hard to determine. She figured she was seeing two ships far off but one had a red nav light showing. Radar showed a huge amount of return or clutter. Hmmm … I slowed and tried to figure what it was. Well it was one large dark ship with very few lights on and it was almost motionless. As we crept closer but starting to turn away it began to pick up speed, making no sound and slowing veered off and left us behind. We figure it thought we didn’t see him and stopped to avoid a collision. If that was his intent, THANK YOU! Ships are the scariest things out there at night.

We’re in Charleston now and had planned to go to Beaufort, North Carolina offshore in a couple of days. That isn’t looking as promising now so we may do the rest of our trip in the ICW.

More to come.

It’s been a long time! Actually the last time we had American pizza it was in Daytona, December 2008. Try as hard as we could, we never managed to get pizza in Marathon before heading out to the Bahamas.

Pizza in the Bahamas is not quite the same. I tried in Bimini. End of the World Bar came close but not quite. St. Francis Resort in Georgetown was ok but not even close. Even closer was Island Breeze Resort in Long island, but they all lacked the crust we love. You can’t make a crust with Bisquick!

Well tonight I had my pizza fix at Stavro’s Pizza House on South Beach Street in Daytona Beach. While not up to Wells Brothers in Racine or Lombardi’s in New York, it was good and it hit the spot.

Ahhhhhhh….

I HAD to make a comment about the lack of rain we’ve seen. I can’t recall the last time we had been in a thunderstorm. Well it took less than 12 hours before the black clouds rolled in.

In no time it was raining and we were reintroduced to the random leaks every cruiser suffers.

Vero Beach only held us for four nights this time. We escaped on Saturday morning and made the long haul up to Titusville. Seventy four miles in a day in a sailboat is not to shabby. We averaged 6 1/2 knots with a hefty tailwind running the headsail and motor at 50%.

The manatees were out in force the next day as we slowly made our way through Haulover Canal. This is one of our favorite spots along the ICW. There are lots of birds (pelicans, herons, roseate spoonbills and an occasional scarlet ibis) as well as the ever present manatees. Very cool place.

The lighthouse at Ponce Inlet south of Daytona.

As we closed in on Daytona we joined in the rush hour of Sunday afternoon boating in Florida. It seemed everyone was out and they all owned power boats! I’m not sure but I think it’s a requirement in Florida that only testosterone laden males with tattoos can drive boats over 300 HP and they must have at least one skinny bikini clad woman hanging off them. Two are required if over 500 HP. I have also learned that any power boat capable of making a wake over 36″ must do so in the proximity of a sailboat!

The winds turn ugly tomorrow and will pin us here till midweek. More later, I need to go socialize with all my new power boat neighbors.

What a wonderful surprise! A shuttle launch was planned for 1401 that afternoon and our anticipated arrival at the Ft. Pierce inlet was to be 1400! We slowed and circled and were not disappointed. What a sight to see the rocket streaking skyward. It brought tears to our eyes.

The inlet on the other hand almost hair raising. It was full ebb with a strong east wind blowing which created quite a rage. Our speed slowed to under 2 knots as we bucked through the heavy waves but we made it through and into Harbourtown Marina. We don’t normally stay at too many marinas but we needed to check back into the US. Check in went very quickly and we were soon seated for our first US meal, STEAK!!! Expectations exceeded reality.

The next morning we moved on to Vero Beach and picked up a mooring. Here we’ll sit while four months of mail is forwarded to us from our mail service. We’ll pick up some supplies and move on as soon as the mail comes.

I have tried to catch up on adding our photos to the gallery. Currently I am through the first stop in Georgetown. Join Facebook and add us as friends and you can keep up a little faster since posting there is faster and easier than on this blog.

A nice motor sail across to the Berry Islands brought us to Frozen and Alders Cays. The Berry Islands are rather small and remote and many are privately owned. Can you image owning an island in the Bahamas? I know I could if it wasn’t for the problem of no money! These two cays recently were purchased with all amenities for $8.3 million. Cheap considering the price of building the houses and infrastructure to support them.

When we anchored it was very calm and peaceful but at high tide the surge (a kind of swell that is counter to the wind direction) became very uncomfortable. Of course this occured in the middle of the night.

The next day we moved over to Slaughter Harbor at the northern tip of the Berry’s. This is a cruise ship stop and we motored our way through the jet skis to our anchorage.

Dawn came soon enough and we were on our way again this time crossing New Providence Channel for Lucaya. Plenty of ship traffic here but its best feature is the great fishing. Birds first gave us a clue to the feeding tuna. The fish swirled and broke the surface in great numbers. We would make a pass as well as a sailboat can while in route to a destination and soon I hooked up my first yellowfin tuna. It was not large but it fought like crazy. Tuna sound when hooked unlike mahi which jump and stay near the surface. It took quite some effort to winch him up but soon enough he was in gaff range. Tuna bleed a lot!!! What a mess. The swim platform was totally covered in blood. As we drew closer to Lucaya we caught an additional mahi to add to our larder.

We took a slip at Lucaya at a very nice marina. Lucaya is very nice but unlike the Bahamas that we have learned to love. It is very developed and touristy. We had a shore dinner with some new friends, George and Karen on Sunseeker. We would sail with them on the way back to the States.

A short sail took us to West End to position for the trip across the Gulf Stream. The anchorage was very shallow, we ran aground on rock several times, and the current was swift. Regardless, we slept well until 0200 when it was time to go. The trip across was uneventful and 13 hours later we were in Ft. Pierce and checking back into the good ol’ USA!

The sun sets across the stream, good bye Bahamas, we’ll miss you!

It was bow to stern traffic out Conch Cay Cut on Friday morning. In total about twenty boats left for various destinations. The seas were running at least 5′ in fairly short period swells and the were almost dead on the beam. Not conducive for a comfortable ride. We had full sail up and were making a respectable 6 to 7 knots but it was pretty rough. We decided not to fish right away but after seeing a huge school of flying fish busting in all directions we set one line out and soon we were hooked up with a 48″ mahi. Catching a big fish at 7 knots with no way to slow down is exciting. Our autopilot has been acting up so one of us had to stay at the helm. I furled the headsail and Mary started the engine and put the boat in full reverse to slow us to 3 knots. This allowed us to start retrieving line and bringing the fish to the boat. It was a chore but soon enough I had it gaffed and in the boat. The reel was about toast, making some ghastly grinding noises. Oh well another project for this summer.

We decided that was enough fish so we packed away the rod until Mary sighted birds over fish in front of us. Out came a different rod and soon we were hooked up with a second 48″ mahi. We got that one in easier and soon we were making our approach to Galiot Cut and the route to Black Point over the banks. I cleaned fish all the way to Black Point.

There are no secrets in the cruising world. By now everyone knew who had fish. We made our approach to the anchorage and saw Te Oigo, our friends Connie and Bruce from Marathon. They invited themselves for dinner on Camelot and soon we were cooking for seven. Luckily there’s lots of meat on a big mahi and we only ate about 60% of the one fish.

Connie and Bruce headed out the next morning and we went into town for some coconut bread and internet. Lorraine’s mom had just pulled it out of the oven so I got to surf the internet with two loaves of hot great smelling bread sitting next to me. It makes the best french toast.

That afternoon we left Black Point for Bitter Guana Cay several miles away. We dropped the anchor in a secluded spot just off the beach. How can you complain about a view like this out your front door!

There were lots of iguanas on shore and it soon became apparent that it might be mating season. They were very aggressive. They were really fun to watch.

We moved on to Exuma Park at Warderick Wells Cay. A very interesting place with it’s shallow water and excellent snorkeling. Mary and I took the dinghy out to Malabars Cay and dove the rocks. We saw two huge Nassau groupers and many other reef fish. Exuma Park is a protected area so there are lots of fish to see.

Next up was Shroud Cay, still within Exuma Park and a short sail away. We are wondering if the red bottom paint on our hull attracts barracuda. We have had large (4 to 5 footers) hanging out under our boat almost all the time. Shroud was no exception. Large barracuda showed up as we anchored plus we had our first “real” shark swim by, a six foot lemon. We snorkeled anyway but it was not great but the trip up the mangrove canals was very beautiful and interesting.

The channel exited into a very beautiful bay that opened to Exuma Sound. The current through the inlet was very brisk and we dove in and rode the current several times. As we were about to enter the second time we saw a big black shadow glide through ahead of us. Hmmm … shark? We went in anyway. Very cool and refreshing. We sure are going to miss this place.

The prevailing trades have allowed us to sail almost every day we travel. I am still using fuel that I bought in Bimini! It will be hard getting used to the sound of the engine again.

The wind finally died altogether on the way to West Bay in New Providence Island (Nassau). We had to motor. Maybe it was a reality check and preparing me for our return to the States. We anchored once again in West Bay and early the next morning we left for the Berry Islands minus one thing, our buddy boat, Camelot. Harv was heading for Miami and south Florida while we were heading for points north. We miss you, Harv.

It was hard to leave Long Island, beautiful place with genuinely friendly people, but it was time to head back to the States. We figured we would stop at Georgetown and refill our water tanks and pick up a few groceries and continue on … but sometimes things don’t work out. We had to stay for Family Island Regatta, the Super Bowl of the Bahamas.

We anchored off Chat & Chill once again and waited for the boats to start arriving. They are shipped from all over the islands to Georgetown for this event and it was quite a sight when the first boat arrived.

All along Regatta Point shops were set up to cater to the crowd that would show up for the regatta. It was no surprise when we found that the shops covered the essentials of a Bahamian good time, plenty of booze and typical Bahamian food. In case we hadn’t explained what typical Bahamian food is, it consists of chicken, ribs and fish, peas and rice, mac and cheese (NOT American style), corn and slaw.

The big Class “A” boats are about 28 feet long and have a 24″ full keel. The mast may be 50′ and the boom may reach 40′. You can imagine the size of the main sail. They also carry a small head sail. To counter the force of the large sail they use “pries” to load bodies on to counter the force. Very cool racing to watch. It is VERY difficult to keep salt spray off the lens so please pardon the soft focus.

The “C” class boats are just as fun. We saw these in Long Island but saw lots more here. The Long Island boats did real well, by the way. The ride is pretty wet.

The crowd really gets into it and it’s just like any other sporting event. They cheer for their favorites and can get quite competitive themselves.

We had a festive time and enjoyed the Royal Bahamian Police Band and all the treats. The locals take all this very seriously and really get dressed up for the event. These pictures cost me the price of a drink!

After Regatta we had to stay another week to wait out high winds but finally got out on May 1st. Caught two mahi on the way and shared with fellow cruisers in Black Point. Looks like good weather for a week or so. We are heading north for sure this time.