Land Ho!!

We are anchored north of Great Sale Cay in the turquoise waters of the Bahamas! We had a beautiful crossing in the company of PEACE IV, JAVA, and INTERMISSION.

Hard to tell but this is Branko - Manjack beach

With the fair winds forecast for tomorrow, we will continue on to Green Turtle Cay to clear in and live here in the Bahamas over the winter. Woohoo!
Branko

We are crossing!

We have left Lake Worth and heading for the Bahamas. The conditions are beautiful: south wind 10-15 knots; warm and pleasant seas.

Crossing the Gulf Stream

Last Stop in Florida

Peace down the ICW

We are lying to anchor in Lake Worth, FL; at long last staging to cross the Gulf Stream to arrive in the Bahamas.  Ever since we left Daytona we have been waiting for a break in the weather to take us over to the Bahamas - only 50 miles away.  Ideally, one wants to cross ahead of a cold front passing south, also known as a "Norther".  When this happens, the wind will veer from the east around to the south, which is when you begin your dash, and will continue to veer to the north.  By then, you have happily crossed the gulf with a tail wind and don't mind the northern wind to move you through the Bahama Banks.

Lake Worth

It looks like we will get the chance tomorrow.  If the forecast holds up, we will leave late in the afternoon to cross the Gulf Stream overnight.  We anticipate reaching the Bahama Banks in the early morning and continuing across them to an anchorage in Great Sale Cay.  The waters in the Bahamas are crystal clear and shallow, or so we are told, and the run from the edge of the banks to the anchorage is about 50 miles.  We do not want to miss any of it in the darkness; even though this is one of the few stretches where one can safely sail at night.

From Great Sale Cay we will head for Green Turtle Cay to meet our friends Terri and Drew who will be arriving  just after Christmas.

Stay tuned: we will post again en route to report on the crossing.

Branko

Florida

Daytona Beach was all about spending time with Diane and Richard,

• picking up items that Branko had ordered and shipped to D & R
• purchases to fix something on the boat
• food and beer/wine provisioning for Bahamas and well we were out of fresh stuff....chips and cookies 

Richard & Branko

Daytona Beach

Richard, Diane & Branko

Provisioning....

Richard and Diane were wonderful,  they took us everywhere and never complained.   Travelling around Daytona was fun because well D & R made it so - cheerful and always ready to suggest the best places to eat.   Honestly,  they knew the cheapest places with the best food.  The first night we dined at a 4.99$ all you can eat Pizza Joint - it was surprisingly good with a selection of not only pizza but pasta and a vegetable bar.  Branko of course had to have pop which made the price go up to 5.99$ but the rest of us settled for water.   Are you thinking,  crap does she not have anything else to tell us about?  Well yes,   another night we went to an "all you can eat"  buffet for 9.99$ that had EVERYTHING,  I mean everything - and good too - starting to feel like a snowbird from Canada,   because yes we did eat early as well.   

Richard and Diane treated us like royalty,  we spent many hours sitting in their KOA campground talking and meeting Diane's family - we had a marvelous time.  Thank you!

So back to the boat a bit;  while anchored in Daytona the tides changed a little, due to the moons neap cycle,  and the wind blew  up and so ...... Branko , Sophie and I found ourselves sitting yet again on our keel but upright.    We waited patiently until the tide came up and floated us again - what  happened is that we 'gunkholed' into this anchorage on a full moon and then spent a number of days here,   the moon waned,  the water level decreased,  a wind blew up and add a sandy shoal and voila you have the perfect recipe for sitting on your keel :-)   No worries,   we pulled the anchor up and were on our way.

Travelling the ICW 

Travelling down the ICW was pleasant.   Not many boats, channel easy to follow and good depth - fantastic wildlife, dolphins, hawks, manatee, pelicans and vultures, WOW - but I do not want to jinx us,  so I will stop there.

We motor-sailed to Titusville,  dropped anchor, slept and next morning continued on - we ended up a few days later in Vero Beach (also known as Velcro Beach) tied/moored to a  boat called PEPA that we had met in Savannah -  funny how you just keep running into the same people.   A day or two was spent here while Branko updated his scuba equipment and we, of course,  picked up a few more provisions :-).    Vero Beach is a lovely place for the boating community.  The city owns the mooring balls and marina and provides free bus access for shopping,  laundry, TV lounge and  a dingy dock -  so as you can imagine it is quite crowded,  but pleasant.   There are boaters who end up spending their entire winter here....hence the name Velcro.

Velcro Beach

We arrived in Fort Pierce last week and anchored in an area that was noted in our guide book.   It was a little strange.   There are two rivers flowing into this anchorage, with the ICW channel very close, and also the Fort Pierce inlet; so there are some very strong currents 'hanging' about.   We ended up staring down two other sailboats as every boat in the anchorage started to face different directions and seemed to move closer and closer to each other....yikes.   We left after 2 nights and moved a mile down the ICW to the south end of the inlet and anchored right outside the Fort Pierce City Marina -   perfect for the northwest winds we were getting plus for 5.00$ we had "all you can use" laundry and showers - plus a TIKI bar that has a happy hour -  Life is good.

What great wildlife.....

Already anchored,  was Annie and Neville on a Wharram catamaran   http://wharram.com/index.php named Peace. They had built her together in the UK and sailed back to the U.S. a number of years  back.  Since then they have been cruising between Rhode Island and the Bahamas every year.    Annie met Neville when she (in her mid 40's) sailed SOLO  across the Atlantic to the UK in a 28ft Shannon - when she landed this gentleman took her lines and well the rest is history.   Neville was a motorcycle enthusiast and raced all over the UK in his earlier  years.    They both sailed back to the U.S on the 28ft boat,  also named Peace,  sold it and went back  to the UK to build their Wharram together.   What a story eh?

We also met Bill. Bill does not have a boat,  but he has a truck.   We met him in the Tiki bar - and we started to chat and Bill decided he was going to drive us around  town and,  yes get more provisions and more stuff that Branko needed for the engine...and basically just help us out,  for no reason.  Thank you Bill!

Bill

We will be leaving Fort Pierce tomorrow on the building tide en route to Stuart - to await the weather window to travel across to the Bahamas -  we are looking forward to this as right now I am wearing my wool turtleneck sweater and winter coat.... what ever happened to the shorts?????

Brrrrrrr

Maggie