In spite of the forecast calling for spicy to salty weather, we shoved off from Cape May around 10 am. We motored for the first few hours waiting for the wind to settle in and to catch up with svScoot and svCalypso2. The forecast called for significant sustained gusting. Overall we saw very mild conditions resulting in a broad reach till we separated company with our buddy boat friends. We turned for Montauk expecting building wind. This never materialized and we spent a good part of the remaining journey rolling with just the headsail deployed. The wind totally abandoned us off the west coast of Block Island. All in we burned about 15-20 gallons of fuel. Only did the wind return with a vengeance as we were docking to offload the boat. I think we raised the waterline by an inch or so. We had a good welcome home by friends after tucking away Redshift on the mooring. Now, a month of refitting begins.

Left Hospital Point at 8:30 am. Encountered two container ships working their way into Portsmouth. We stayed outside of the channel on the starboard side and were not called out. We steamed into a commotion of the Truman Aircraft Carrier turning from deployment. Tugs firing off water cannons and plenty of security was on hand. We were contacted via VHF to remain 500 yards away at all times. It certainly was a challenge for us to remain that type of distance. After the hubbub, we crossed the bay exiting using the Chesapeake Channel. It was pretty much a straight shot to Cape May with great sailing till the middle of the night when the wind and boats dropped below 3 knots. We fired up the motor and making our way to the Cape May inlet at 12:30ish. We dropped anchor in the crowded anchorage near green#7. We were done with motoring and will stay till be find suitable sailing conditions.

Hoping for a good Weather window for Narragansett Bay

And like that, the Bahamas Cruise is over. Off We go refitting and planning for our Nova Scotia/ Maine Cruise!

Long run from Tuckahoe Point to Atlantic Yacht Basin. We made the right decision of skipping Bellhaven as very strong winds from the south funnel there. We picked up the anchor with no snags at 9pm and had a nice headsail run down the Alligator River through the drawbridge. It is one of the pillow that request registration numbers and record boat names. We took care to follow the nav aids as one boat near us ran aground. The ride across the Albamarle was sporty with short chop and gusting to 20 knots. We decided to stop at Coinjock at an up and coming “marina”. Greg at The Landing was very nice and helpful. He currently has space for 2-40’ boats with 50 amp power. He is developing a small full service marina on the east side 100 yards north of the bridge. It will be away from the hubbub. There is lots of development going on so the money is flowing in. We slept in and made the beak for Atlantic Yacht Basin. Ran into many old and some new friends. We plan to leave the boat for a few weeks while we do some adulting.

See the trip update.

Mile Hammock was cosy till an early morning squall hit hard. Lightning splashed across the sky while gusts built. I noted 39 knot gusts but I am sure we saw 45 at least. Once the storm abated, there was no wind. So close to everyone in the harbor fired up their motors and hightailed it for Beaufort. Dropped anchor in Adams creek across from Oriental, NC.

I did swear I would never do the ICW again and here I am doing the ICW! Pretty boring other than running hard aground between Wrightsville and Figure 8 bridges. Thank the Gods I have 57 ponies under the hood!

It’s been a good run with some ups and downs. Eluethera and the Exumas were all that and more. The Abacos were busy but allowed me some downtime. I was able to pick up a nice 2-stroke outboard at National Marine in Marsh Harbor. One downside was losing my refrigeration about 2 weeks into my stay. A new controller module just installed has my back up and chilling. We are staged for the offshore run to Charleston and I for one am looking forward to be back in the states.

Some say you can buy a new 2-stroke outboard in Marsh Harbor. So far, I am oh-42. Many of the shops were destroyed and never reopened. No selection at the car parts store and National Marine closes @ 2pm. So, I’ll give it a shot tomorrow. The motor from Lynyard Cay was twisty and turns and has a different vibe when compared to the Exumas or Eluethera I hear the Jib Room is the place for dinner and drinks!

Too much of a good thing is the old adage? I enjoyed my stay in Eluethera but left plenty to discover on our next trip south. I was thinking the Abacos trip was going to be a quick drive by but Mother Nature is thinking differently. Let’s find out what the big deal is with the Abacos, shall we? Near perfect beam reach run from Spanish Wells to Little Harbor Cut. The old girl was rolling from beam to beam with the heavy swells rolling in from the east. I was planning to go through the North Bar Channel but all the cool kids were making tracks for Little Harbor. Anchored off Lynyard Cay in 17’ of water with wind rising from the south. Time for the anchor alarm to earn its keep.

Repositioned after a truly restful evening off Current Settlement. I went from 10-12 Knots true to about 20 knots in a mile or so. All in the right directions I might add. The south anchorage at Spanish Wells was fairly open but rocking and rolling. I dropped in 9’ and put out 90’ of chain and followed up with 20’ of 3/4 nylon as a snubber. The wind has moderated a bit and luckily 1 foot swells do not bother good, old Redshift.

It’s time to head home. It is pretty clear 50 mile jaunts will take me forever to get home. I hope to jump from Marsh Harbor into the stream in the next week or so. I took advantage of the winds from the east to make a pretty straight shot to Current Cut from Rock Sound. It was a bit lumpy and rolly at times but overall a beautiful 50 mile deep broad reach. Current Cut was thankfully uneventful even though I arrived somewhat late. The Current Settlement anchorage to the west of the cut is one of my favorites with an east wind. The skies were perfect for viewing after the thunderstorms throughout the day seems to settle the skies. I slept like a baby with two anchor alarms on watch. Spanish wells is in my sights today.

Decided to break from the Exumas for Rock Sound. Weather suggested it might be a beam reach but ended on the nose all day. The close hauled sailing was great with a reef in the main to flatten her out then another as the wind piped up through 18 knots. I did motor through Davis Channel all the way to RS as the wind was one the nose and I was done for the day.

I Splurged and stopped at the Marina at Emerald Bay. Nice folks but there was a significant surge bouncing around the marina. I thought I figured out how to back my drunkin elephant of a boat. Well that did not happen. I was lucky I did not crease any expensive yachts. Seas were near flat so I raised the main and unfurled the Yankee. I had 7-10 knots anywhere from SW to NW. I trimmed the sail for 50 degrees apparently and set the autopilot windhold. It was a fun ride up to Rudder Cut Cay. My course oscillated with the wind. I thought I timed slack tide but found about 2 knots against me. Dropped anchor is 9 feet of water ML and put out 90 feet of chain as we may have gusts to 15 knots. Overall, nailed it today and nobody got hurt.

I set an artificial goal to cross the TofC this winter and went out of my way to cross. It’s time to start heading north! I’ll mosey my way north to the Abacos then jump for the USA.

I tend to go from one extreme to the other. Leaf Cay was an idyllic quiet island with pink iguanas. Now I am in the hubbub of Georgetown. It is time to reprovision and take care of some business. Do I continue south to the Tropic of Cancer?

Easy motor with no wind to leaf Cay. The current was still strong (2 knots) 1 hour before slack exiting Rudder Cut. Rudder Cut Cay was a nice stopover after the Staniel Cay Madness.

Met up with my friend Tom.

Sure seems to be getting more crowded as I head further south. I am guess that will change once we get past Georgetown.

Back to civilization to get a beer. Warderick wells was awesome but the weather made it tough to enjoy. Hopefully Staniel Cay will dole out better weather.

Family emergency cut our plans short and now without my co-captain! I guess I will get some more experience single handing this beast. You may want to read that as stay clear when anchoring near svRedshift!

Staging for the crossing to Cat Island to meet good friends. Cute little marina that can handle just about any boat. $1.9/foot and $10 for water. Nice people. Don’t let the approach scare you. It is worth it.

The weather has been so fickle of late we have largely motored. Fair light winds accompanied us on our journey to Rock Sound. Recovering from food poisoning, we did not go ashore. We hope to explore and reprovision today

Made our way through the infamous old current cut at 1.5 hours after Nassau high tide. It was a quick motor dead into the wind. Hatchet Bay hopes to be a honeyhole as we are expecting gust to 20+ knots.

We dropped anchor to wait out the current. Decided to stay! We rowed in and walked about Current Settlement. Quiet village with little infrastructure. Post office open two days a week. Library closed with no foreseeable date of reopening. Small convenience store that we missed as we walked right by it. Met a group of Canadians that have been returning for the past 40 years. The locals are beautiful people. No, really beautiful. Great smiles and manners!

It was fun while it lasted. We are set to explore the Eleutheras. We picked the calmest day to motor the distance between Little Harbor Cay and Royal Island.

An easy run down to Little Harbor Cay. We enjoyed dinghying to Flo’s for beers and Conch Fritters. Lots of giant starfish and sea turtles!

We enjoyed the check in process of checking in through Great Harbor Cay Marina. We watered and rested, now off to an idyllic anchorage.

After two attempts, we have arrived. Ask about our journey.

With this strong south mind, it was too rough to start our journey east. We will wait till the winds begin to drop

With the last offshore I saw a lot of play and heard a lot of grinding from my steering system. I was pretty anxious to be sure. We made it safely to West Palm Beach and contacted Cracker Boy Boat Yard. They connected me with Ben to check out the complete system. So far, I think we are on track for being back in the water in 7 days or so. Think positive thoughts!

Weighing anchor at the plantation had us cover a very interesting portion of the ICW. We were able to view many cookie cutter expensive homes with manicured waterfronts. It’s definitely a path we rejected and prefer to spend time out on our boat traveling over what we witnessed. We cruised through St Augustine passing an old friend as he anchored on his classic Tayana37. The remainder of our time was spent motor-sailing to West Palm Beach. The dichotomy of lifestyles is clearly evident here also. I cannot wait to point our bow eastward toward the Bahamas. A different contrast will be evident I am sure as we mingle amongst the natives.

After a long run from Charleston we needed a spot with protection from the south and west. Well, we did get half of the equation correct. We aggressively anchored with 120 feet of chain in a small anchorage just off Kingsley plantation just south of Fernadino Harbor. We had a very quiet night till the wind shifted to the west. The boat shifted with the changing wind direction and setting current. That was our queue to get a move on! Anchor came up with a nice hard packed mud with little chain cleaning required! All and all, sleep was just what the doctor ordered.

The weather was better than expected and out the old girl to the test. Set all the laundry and had her doing over 8 knots at times. The wind came around to out stern and it was all downwind sailing. That is the worst point of sail for the Tayana37. We slogged between 4.5 and 6 knots through most of the night. The wind failed us and with a big blow working, we enticed the iron Jenny to bring home the last of the ride. 4 hour on, 4 hour off worked pretty well for us.

Great sail but weather got in the way

Woke up to icy cold conditions at Mile Hammock Bay, NC. Just fired up the iron Jenny and pounded our way to Carolina Beach.

Started out with wind and current conspiring to pin us against 2 pilings. With our 80 foot ship line we were able to pry this old girl off and get her facing into the wind and water. Local mariners were very helpful. In hindsight, we should have pivoted the boat using spring lines We also ran aground a few times due to shoaling, once hard. It took some concerted effort to pry us off. Thank the goddesses for a 57hp engine. It was cold setting the hook, where we dragged in loose mud. Only the third held firm at 2000 rpm. The Antarctic heater is fired up and we expect temps to drop to the high 20’s in southern North Carolina. Getting south is a priority but I am anxious as I move into unfamiliar territory.

Had a great stay in Oriental. Very nice people we found. Decided to lay low in Beaufort as a big low is moving in. We hope everyone stays safe along the eastern seaboard!

I guess we should have left by 7:30am. Between relaxing with coffee and spending 1/2 hour cleaning the mucky chain, we ended up leaving an hour late. The last hour of our trip through the Pungo alligator canal was in the dark. We found a nice anchorage with protection from the south through west. New Years Eve on Redshift!

Great day to get back on the water and making our way south! Very little traffic other than two barges that preferred go 2 rather than 1. Just a beautiful way to start our migration south.

Great Hurricane hole to hole up. They can repair any and all damage generated by the passage south. We will be using their services! Come on by and say hello. We are berthed in Sailboat Alley behind shed two!