Ft. Lauderdale to Green Turtle Cay

Thursday 2/27 we were up at 3:00am and in open water at 4:00am for a 84 mile crossing to West End Grand Bahama.  

Bye Ft. Lauderdale and U.S.A.!

The winds died down Tuesday and we where hoping the waves would have as well, but the waves in the Gulf Stream were still out of north and a still a little rough.  I tried to work down in the office and that was a mistake.  I didn't last 1/2 hour before I decided I better move my laptop to the salon but by then, it was too late....  Thank goodness I felt better around 10 and the rest of the ride was great!

The color of the water is unbelievable!  This picture doesn't do it justice. 

We came into Old Bahama Bay Marina in West End.  It was a nice marina and convenient place to check into the Bahamas and rest before the next leg of the trip.  

After I got off work on Friday 2/28 we headed out for a 54 mile ride to Great Sale Cay.  We Anchored for the night.  It was the darkest and quietist anchorage we have ever stayed in.  There was no wind, so there wasn't any wave noise either! 

We departed Great Sale Cay at 7:30 the next morning and arrived at Manjack Cay Anchorage at 3:30.  We had another great night at anchor.  The forecast was for the winds to pick up for a few days, but that wasn't supposed to happen until Sunday.  The plan was to stay one more night then head to Green Turtle Key to ride out the wind.  

What a sunrise!

While we were out scouting out the area in the dingy the winds started to pick up....it was only 12:30!  We headed back for the boat and checked the forecast and found they just made a update and the winds were going to get pretty stiff earlier than planned.  We decided we better pull anchor and head into a marina.

We got a dock at Bluff House Beach Marina and Resort.  A very nice place with a pool, bar and restaurant.  Not a bad place to hang out for a few days and wait for the wind to subside.  

Views from the boat.

Looking back down at the marina. 

While there we road our bikes all over the island...even up and down some pretty steep hills.  After that 10 mile ride, we put the bikes back up on the upper deck!  Lol!

Monday 3/3 there were a lot of boats trying to look for a place to ride out the wind.  A boat got stuck trying to find somewhere to anchor in the harbor and had to wait for the tide to come back in before he could be pulled off the bank.

Tuesday morning we woke to a sailboat who had the misfortune to landed on that same bank....again they had to wait for the tide to come back up before they could pull him off. 

Wednesday we rented a golf cart.  An 8 hour rental for $50! What a deal!  The wind had calmed for the day and we took advantage of it!  That was our fun day....stopped at the shops, picked up some home made coconut bread and milk.  We also had lunch at McIntosh's, a really cute restaurant in town.  We shared Grouper Fingers, fries and homemade coleslaw.  The meal was great!  The coleslaw had pineapple in it!  

Ride into town. 

Town - New Plymouth

Jail

The Atlantic side of the island. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at Coco Beach playing with the stingrays.  

Wednesday night and Thursday the winds were crazy.  We did walk over to the Thirsty Turtle to check it out Thursday.  It was "the calm" side of the island that day!

On our way back to the marina we found a giant hermit crab walking across the street!  Bill would not let me keep him!

The winds finally settled down Friday morning and we decided to make a run for Hope Town. 

 

Stuart to Ft. Lauderdale

Saturday 2/15 we left Stuart headed further south in order to be ready to make the crossing to the Bahamas during the next weather window.  

We anchored in North Palm that afternoon and stayed 3 nights waiting for a good weather window.  Unfortunately, the wind was not cooperating so we decided move on further south to Lake Worth Tuesday morning via the Intercostal Waterway.

Beach party!

Only one side of this bridge was working and the other was being repaired.  Bridgetender advised us to come on through!  

Coming into Lake Worth.  Lots of ships and Super Mega Yachts.  

Peanut Island was a real treat.  The entire island is a city park.  Those without a boat take a ferry over.  They even have small boat and dingy docking! 

Winds are still an issue, so we moved from Lake Worth to Boca Raton Anchorage for one night, then up Thursday morning 2/20 headed to Ft. Lauderdale City Marina on the New River where we tied up on the Riverwalk.

Stopped at Cox's Landing on the way in for a free pump out!

We ended up being just two boats away from the spot we had last year when the crane collapsed and crashed down onto the bridge.  

Lots of foot traffic right next to the boat.  We were in the middle of all the Riverwalk action!

Not all the action was on the sidewalk.....there were mega yachts being pulled and pushed up and down the river by tugs.  

The park bench just outside the boat was very popular....we even had an overnight guest!  Yep, he was still there the next morning. 

Sunday, Willy's birthday we decided to make it a fun day and we packed the dingy and rode to the dingy dock just at the Las Olas Blvd. bridge, walked across the bridge to the beach!  

We got to watch the cruise ships leaving Ft. Lauderdale!

Ft. Lauderdale was a great stop!  Lot's to look at, tons of restaurants, a Publix 2 1/2 blocks away, West Maine and Boat Owners Warehouse a short bike ride away and not to mention pretty easy access to Ft. Lauderdale beach!   

The winds looked to finally be winding down and we left the Ft. Lauderdale City Riverwalk dock Tuesday 2/24 to move out to Lake Sylvia in preparation to cross over to West End at Grand Bahama where we have a reservation on Thursday at Old Bahama Bay Marina.   

Jacksonville to Stuart

We left Port 32 with a buddy boat, Karma.  We traveled 16 miles and spent a chilly night anchored just outside of St. Augustine.  The next morning we made our way to a mooring ball in St. Augustine for 2 nights.  

Paul and Trish drove over for one last visit before we move further south.  We also enjoyed dinner with Karma at Harry's Seafood.  After dinner at Harry's we made our way to Meehin's Irish Pub where I tried my first Red Ale, Smithwick's.  It was really good! Great company and food!

We departed St. Augustine Saturday the 18th and made our way to Palm Coast Marina for an overnight at the dock.  This was the first 70 degree day we've seen for awhile.  Sunday morning we woke to a Severe Thunderstorm as a cold front made it's way south.  The cold is following us! 

We departed Palm Coast Marina for 45 mile ride to an anchorage in New Smyrna Beach.  It was a 41 degree windy night at anchor and Bill had to take anchor watch from 3:30 to 5:30.  We slept in until 8 and shortly after pulled up the anchor making our way to Titusville where we have a dock reservation for the night at Titusville Marina where we watched the Buckeyes win the National Championship!  GO BUCKS!!    

Tuesday 1/21 we departed Titusville Marina for a 41 mile ride to Melborne Harbor Marina.  We were lucky to have secured a dock in this small but well protected marina with a great restaurant called  Ichabod's to hide from the 30 mph winds.  

After 2 nights and the winds not subsiding we decided to go ahead and make our way to Vero Beach Thursday morning.  It was still a cold, rainy and windy day.  Vero Beach City Marina put us on the Fuel Dock.  We did take advantage of the free public transit system and rode the bus to Walmart for a few things. 

Friday we departed Vero Beach and arrived in Ft. Pierce for 2 nights.  We were assigned a dock on pier E, right next to a DeFever; Mystic.  We met the owners in Sandusky a couple of years ago when they were prepping for their southern voyage and they have been living aboard Mystic for 3 years now going back and forth from Florida and the Bahamas.  It was great to run into them again. 

Saturday brough lots of sun which we haven't seen much of and it warmed up to 70.  The marina was buzzing with a really nice farmers market.  We enjoyed some treats and the live music while we soaked up some sun!  Later in the afternoon Saturday Karma came in for a dock.  We met up with them for dinner at Cobbs Landing.  

 Great farmers market with live music!

We weren't the only one's soaking up the much needed sun!

Sunday morning we left Ft. Pierce headed to Safe Harbor Harborage in Stuart where Ashley, Hanna and Toulouse joined us for 2 weeks.  We had a great time going to the beach, enjoying great food and a lot of relaxing.  

 

Oh!  We also got a new recliner, sold our old dingy and purchased a new one!

Toulouse approved!!

New Dingy!!