Palm Beach, Florida to Fernandina Beach, Florida

Thursday March 19th, 2009

Florida has been very good to us this past week. We had some wonderful weather and really enjoyed being here. We cruised the ocean side from Palm Beach up to Fort Pierce. We then rented a car and traveled across Florida to St. Petersburg where we visited with my mom, Al’s mom, her friend Ronnie, my Uncle Ron and his friend Anne. We were of course very well–fed during our stay. It was short but good to see everyone.

We were fortunate to be in Florida during the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery this month. We ended up anchored about 30 miles south of the launch site but as you can see from the pictures, we had a spectacular show that evening.


From there we made out way to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. This is the northern tip of Florida. Although it is not the prettiest place from the water with its two huge paper mills, it is a fabulous little town with great shops cafes and pubs. This is our last stop before tackling Georgia which we missed on the way down.

Nassau to Palm Beach, Florida

Wednesday March 11th, 2009

The picture is Al trying to get into Senior Frogs Bar in Nassau. Our last stop in the Bahamas.

The weather gods were with us as we left the islands. Of course that depends on how you look at things. Last fall, crossing to the Exumas from Florida, with waiting for the right weather windows, it took us almost a month. So, for our return trip, we were ready a month early and decided we would take the weather windows as they came up. The first was from Highborne Cay to Nassau which was a bit choppy. Ok, a lot choppy but nothing extreme. Two days later, from Nassau we were in Florida within 44.5 hours. The good news is that we made the crossing quickly and with ideal conditions. The bad news is we have now said our final good byes to the Bahamas. Our crossing was ideal. As Al pointed out, and rightly so, you could have taken the dinghy across yesterday. Our welcome to Florida was a huge fin sticking out of the water just outside the Lake Worth Inlet. The water was smooth and you could clearly see this big fin sticking out of the water (see picture which doesn’t do it justice). We knew it wasn’t a dolphin as they usually are up and down where and this was steady in the water. As it moved along you could tell it was quite big as the water rippled when the tail moved from side to side. We thought maybe it was a whale, it was so big. We slowly approached it with the boat to have a good look and he just flopped around and then went under the bow of the boat. It was not a whale but a hammerhead shark which is very distinctive when you look at it from above. He was longer than our boat’s beam which is 13.5 feet. That makes for a shark at least 14 feet long. No swimming in this inlet.

George Town to Nassau

Sunday March 8th, 2009

It’s hard to believe we left George Town almost a month ago. We took our time running the Exuma Islands northbound. Our stops included Children’s Cay, Lee Stocking Island, Darby, Musha Cay, White Point, Black Point, Pipe Creek, Warderwick Wells (Emerald Rock), Norman’s Cay and Highborne Cay. All of which are uniquely beautiful.

We had perfect weather when we stayed at Children’s Cay and Lee Stocking Island (23.45.80’N 76.06.50’W). It felt like the real Bahamas (paradise) again as there were very few boats and the hustle and bustle of George Town was far behind us. It is an interesting area for marine life. We took advantage of the calm water and went exploring with the dinghy. There was a school of what we think were barracuda . There were tons of them everywhere. One, that was almost 3 feet long, jumped out of the water about 10 feet. Then we came upon an area of star fish. The ocean bottom was just littered with dozens of big star fish. No sooner had we left that area and there was a “flock” of sting rays flopping around the water. Yes we are back in the country and away from the city.

We then made our way to Darby Island and Musha Cay (23.54.50N 76.15.50W). Musha is rumoured to be owed by David Copperfield. You and 19 of your friends can stay there for a mere $325,000 a week. You must rent the island in its entirety with a minimum of 3 night say. It’s very pretty but $325,000 per week, give me a break. The picture is of Goat Cay a bit south of Musha. It may be hard to see but there is a little shark fin sticking out of the water. We didn’t notice the shark when we took the picture but when we were looking at them later we saw it. Al and Dave from Zing went diving not far from here. I doubt they would have done so knowing what was lurking in the water.

We had been cooking Bahamian style this particular week. Cracked Conch, Lobster Fritters and Bahamian Mac’n Cheese. Any of you who have experienced my baking should be sitting now as I actually seriously contemplated baking bread. Our friend Jan had given me a starter in George Town and the recipe. But, when Al read the instructions he just had to raise his eyebrows and I knew he thought it would be too much for me. I was reminded that I can’t even bake cookies from pre-made batter. However the Mac’n Cheese was good.


Our next leg was up to White Point (24.02.00N 76.22.30W) and then abruptly to Black Point (24.05.50N 76.24.70W) as we experienced our first really bad swells. We had a comfortable night’s sleep until about 3:00 am and then the wind must have changed and we had these big rolly swells come through. By 6:00 am we were pulling anchor. As Al says (coined from Chris Parker) “if you are going to be uncomfortable, you may as well be underway”. This was just the first of a few uncomfortable nights given the swells and the wind direction. Nothing dangerous mom, just big rolls through the night which made it uncomfortable. Just north of Black Point we stopped to see the Iguanas (endangered species) on Bitter Guana Cay (24.08.50N 76.25.00W). Only one came out, but he was a big guy.

The Pipe Creek/Staniel Cay (24.13.75N 76.29.84W) area was our next stop. We stayed for about 5 days. It is really pretty there with lots of sand bars to explore at low tide. We found some huge and amazing shells however there were creatures living inside so back to the ocean they went. We met some wonderful people, Tom and Nancy on Putterby who welcomed us to the area. They have a friend that owns and island and Nancy gardens there so she gave us fresh Basil which we savoured for a few days and some tiny Bahamian green peppers that Al loved but made my eyes water just getting within 5 feet of them.

Our last stop before leaving the Exuma Islands was Highborne Cay (24.42.00N 76.49.50W). Here we were welcomed by flying rays in the harbour. Actually just one ray but he jumped out of the water twice as we were looking for a spot to anchor. No exaggeration he was probably close to 5 feet wide and jumped 4 feet out the water with a huge splash when he landed. Al went “bug” hunting with Bob on Flextime and brought home two more lobster. We are up to about 30 lobsters since arriving. Al has paid for his fishing gear many times over.

We left Highborne for Nassau and arrived back in a city. It was sad to leave the Exuma Islands but we have met up with some friends Ellen and Randy on Kwanesam which have made Nassau lots of fun. We are now waiting for the right weather to get to the Barry Islands and slowly make our way to the US again.