Leaving for the Bahamas
March 31, 2015
We are finally doing it! We are finally heading for the
Bahamas early tomorrow morning. This occurs at a time when many cruisers are
coming back, having used up their 90 day allotment, or are giving up and
heading north again after a winter with few good weather opportunities to cross
(and even more bad weather to face once there.) Some of the cruisers said they spent their
days inside, hiding from the wind. For a lot of the time for us in Vero Beach,
it was cold, and it was windy. And sometimes it was so damp that we had to leave
most of our drawers on the boat partially open or they would stick shut.
We wanted to go, but the boat conspired to hold us back. First
it was the chart plotter/auto-pilot failure, (traced to worn wiring and a blown
fuse), then the generator shutting off problem (we discovered that the raw water intake was plugged
with weeds), followed by the propane (hose-fitting) leak (hose and fitting replaced), and finally the
fridge cooling water (low) flow problem, (which was solved by cleaning out the barnacles
(!) that had grown inside the pipes).
We wanted to go, but we kept finding more and more fun
things to do in Vero Beach – detailed (or to be detailed) in other posts. And we were really having
fun with our friends at the Vero Beach Marina.
We wanted to go, but we had "no-fun" tasks to complete, too, like
our income tax preparation. Imagine doing that with NONE of the hard copy
documents. We had to hunt them all down online, and sometimes had to call for electronic
copies to be emailed to us.
Our friends who live at or near the marina (Pete Brocker,
the diver, and Mike Giannotti, the electrician, and Don and Chris) the said the
locals go in the spring and summer, when the weather is better. But they all said we should go. We should see
it, it’s so beautiful there.
Our friends Molly and Steve Hernon, on s/v YOLO, drove
us to Ft Pierce in early March so we could all have our Local Boater
interviews.
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| At lunch with Molly & Steve after our "interviews" for Local Boater |
As other cruisers started coming back, they were also encouraging,
and provided a lot of info. Our friends Marcia and Dan Crouch, on s/v Cutting
Class, (and from our home yacht club, Shennecossett) provided a lot of details
and encouragement.
 |
| Marcia and Dan, in the center, with other friends, near the Banyon tree |
John and Lois Wyndham, on s/v Astar, who rafted with us, spent
an evening going over sources of weather info, charts, routes, marinas and Cays
with me.
 |
| Astar, leaving Vero Beach |
Jim and Rita Engle on s/v Grey Fox even gave us a Bahamas phone with some
minutes left on it.
 |
| Jim and Rita Engle, on s/v Grey Fox (with Craig the photo-bomber) |
And we found another couple, Tom and June O’Brien on Lady
Ella, who are also crossing tomorrow, along with 3 other boats, and we've been staying in touch and comparing notes.
So, at long last, on Saturday, 3/28/15, we finally left the
marina and headed south. Our friend Rich on Kallisto gave us a proper send off
from the fuel dock, returning a tiny drill bit to Chuck, and giving us a
package of “Smartees” candies for when we needed more smarts. For the first time, we
passed by Ft Pierce and continued on down the ditch.
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| Continuing south of the Fort Pierce bridge |
We spent the first night
at the crowded Manatee Pocket anchorage, and the next day we passed more of the
“1 Percenter’s” fancy ICW houses and made our way to North Lake Worth.
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| Summer Wind at North Lake Worth Anchorage I especially like the house at the left. |
Yesterday
we did (more) final stocking up on fresh fruits and vegetables and a few other
things (the usual $100 worth), and today we moved the boat again. We stopped to
top off the diesel fuel and water, at the first place that actually charged us
for water ($10 flat fee – too bad we didn’t need more! We've been practicing conserving.).
As a very lucky
coincidence, our pal Mike Giannotti, the electrician, was working on the mega yacht next to the
fuel dock, so we got another great sendoff. Too bad my camera battery was gone or I’d have a nice happy dance video, too!
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| Our friend, Mike Giannotti, working on "My Boat" in Palm Beach |
We are now at South Lake Worth, anchored south of the Lake
Worth Inlet. This afternoon we swam in the clear blue water. We could see the bottom,
with our chain and our new Rocna anchor that only moved 1 foot before it set solidly.
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| South Lake Worth Anchorage, facing north to Peanut Island. The Lake Worth Inlet is to the east (right) of the island . |
Tomorrow we plan to get up and leave as close to 2 AM as we
can, with the expectation of landing in the Bahamas with plenty of daylight
left to find our way around.
We will have very limited connectivity while we are away,
but will take lots of pictures and post them when we can.
Ciao for now!
Sandy and Chuck on S/V Summer Wind
P.S.
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