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Nassau and the Trip Back to Florida After
leaving Atlantis on Saturday, June 3, we stayed at a small marina across the
harbour called TPA. It was the cheapest marina we've seen since
leaving Florida months ago. The folks running the place were
extremely nice and had two boys, Dashon and Jonathan, who played with Nolan
hour after hour.
Even though hurricane season
officially started June 1, we weren't expecting so many storms to be heading
our way. Actually, we didn't experience an official "tropical
storm" but we sure did get several days of unstable weather -
lightning, thunder, rain. Not much wind, though, so it was a little
stuffy inside Belisana. At anchor, there's almost always a
breeze on the water, but at a marina it's often extremely still. Then
at night the bugs come out, we shut the hatches, and turn on the fans.
When you're anchored offshore, the bugs are rarely an issue because they
just don't venture that far from land. There were a handful of boats
anchored in Nassau Harbour, but we - along with many other cruisers - chose
to stay at a marina. It's rough out there because of all the cruise
ships and other big boats coming and going all hours of the night. And
we've heard that there's the risk of fouling your anchor (translation:
getting it hooked on something such as a wreck or some other object) because
of all the junk on the bottom.
We did meet some interesting people
while at breakfast one morning in Nassau. One lady showed us her
stitches from being bitten by a barracuda at Warderick Wells! She
didn't follow the recommendation of removing flashy jewelry while swimming -
evidently the barracuda went after her, thinking it was going after a small
fish. The other people we met had bought a sailboat and gotten as far
as the Bahamas - even though they had never sailed (just studied
sailing). They were headed to Thailand, didn't know anything about
their boat, and had a lady with them who could not swim. We wished
them well and kept them in our prayers... :)
So we stayed at TPA a couple of nights
before deciding that we needed to get out of the Bahamas with the
"decent" weather window before some even nastier weather from a
tropical depression moved our way from Mexico (as was forecast for the end
of the week). While at TPA, we met Lynn and Ralph on another
sailboat, who were also headed home. They had plans to stay through
the week, but due to the forecast decided to head on home to Florida.
As we were headed that way also, we all decided to travel together as far as
crossing the Gulf Stream, a three-day trip from Nassau including stopping at
night to anchor first at Chub Cay in the southern Berry Islands, then again
at Cat Cay near South Bimini before making the crossing on Thursday.
The weather window was "iffy" at best but we all decided it was
better than waiting any longer and sitting through a really bad storm headed
for Nassau towards the end of the week. But the weather window we took
did call for severe thunderstorms late in the afternoon on both the first
and second day of our planned trip home. We planned it so we would all
be safe at anchor by the time they hit.
We left the marina as planned, before
sunrise. Lynn and Ralph were delayed because they needed fuel.
We went ahead and they said they would catch up with us. It was a
lovely day for sailing and we made some good time. Once we got out in
open water, the wind had shifted and was coming from the southeast. We
decided that the weather window and wind were situated just right for us to
make a run for Florida - without stopping. It would be an overnight
nonstop trip. We tried to radio Ralph and Lynn to tell them of our
plans but were unable to reach them. So instead of continuing on a
westerly route for the Berry Islands, we turned and headed north-northwest
straight up the Northwest Providence Channel. We could stay in deep
water and keep sailing through the night, turn left at the top of the Berry
Islands and sail between the Berrys and Grand Bahama Island, and straight to
Florida.
It really was a gorgeous day, lots of
nice sailing - well, motor sailing. Since we had a weather window to
work with, we kept the engine running to give us an extra boost. We
did notice the dark clouds forming to the Southwest of us - the route that
Lynn and Ralph took. But ahead of us were clear skies. After
sunset and dinner, Maria and Nolan headed off to bed below. The plan
was for Brian to take the first night shift, then Maria would take the
second one around midnight or 1:00am. About 9:00pm, the wind clocked
to the East more and picked up a little - it got rough, but not too
bad. When Maria woke up around 11:00pm, it must've been blowing
20+ knots, with 6-8 ft waves. We were just north of the Berrys,
headed West for the Gulf Stream. We quickly assessed our options and
decided that going across the Gulf Stream was not the thing to do. So
we made a 90-degree turn and headed North to Grand Bahama Island and back to
West End, where we originally cleared customs when entering the
Bahamas. Once we turned, the wind was then on our beam and with the
huge waves hitting us from the side now, we were being pushed over each
time. And the waves were breaking over the starboard side. It
was quite scary in the dark on the open water with no where to hide and no
land in sight. Brian admitted later that this was the most concerned
that he'd been on the trip.
After several hours in the
"washing machine", we finally reached the lee of Grand Bahama
Island (meaning that the island was between us and the wind) so it was much
calmer. While crossing the shipping lanes in front of Freeport, Brian
noted how busy it was that night - alot of shipping activity. He even
saw another sailboat almost get hit by a ship and made a point to stay as
clear as he could of all other boats. At night, it really is hard to
tell which boat is going where and how fast they are moving. We arrived at West End early in the morning, were assigned a
slip, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. We wondered how Lynn and
Ralph fared: to the South of us all day long were huge, dark
thunderstorm clouds... Since West
End isn't cheap, we didn't waste time getting out and enjoying our day -
swimming pool, beach, etc. With the huge low pressure system (aka
- less stable weather) still arriving in the Bahamas in a couple of days, we
only stayed one night. We met a family heading out the next morning
and making an all-night run to Jacksonville. Maria really wanted to go
with them so that we could get out of the tropics and make good timing with
the southerly wind and the Gulf Stream. But Brian really wanted to go
to Florida, mainly to see his grandparents and also because he wasn't up to
another night trip after the one we had just endured.
We left West End about 3:30am.
It was a little rough out in open water as we were leaving Grand Bahama
Island, but much calmer than the day before. In the dark, we could
make out a sailboat, Mistress, heading towards us and West End.
The captain kept radioing West End and so Maria finally radioed back that
the marina was closed and wouldn't open until 7:00am. He was alone,
very tired, had crossed the Gulf Stream yesterday in the weather we escaped,
and his engine wasn't working. We used our sat phone and called the
marina office for him, notifying them that he was in need of
assistance. They relayed a message that they would send someone out
first thing in the morning. We thought about towing him into the
marina because the narrow entrance and hairpin turn would be hard for him to
navigate without an engine, but we decided that we really needed to keep
going - we were already an hour out in open water by that point. The
marina knew his whereabouts and he was not in imminent danger. So we
told him where to anchor his boat for a couple of hours until the marina
opened and could come tow him in.
We had all sorts of emotions that
day: It was extremely hot so we were anxious to get to Florida.
By the same token, we were leaving the islands that had given us such
wonderful memories and an exciting and unforgettable adventure of a lifetime.
About midway across the Gulf Stream,
we were absolutely scorched. We kept pouring water over ourselves to
stay cool. With another couple of months left on the boat once we
reached the States, we decided to treat ourselves to some sort of air
conditioner for our boat when we reached Florida. At one point, Maria
had a panic attack of feeling like, "Oh my god. This is it.
We're going to be here on this swelly rolly steamy ocean forever and
it's never going to go away!" Captain Brian was his usual cheery
self while Nolan just kind of hung out as usual, playing with his toys,
napping in the cockpit, singing, etc. Just another day in his life.
We saw absolutely no boats that
day. Everyone else must've heard the forecast for a windless and HOT
day. So much for the southerly winds that had been in the
forecast. But we did hear the Coast Guard on the radio repeatedly
announcing a mayday call from a diving boat on the route from West Palm
Beach to West End. We kept a sharp lookout but saw nothing.
Florida
We finally spotted land in the early
afternoon. Our hearts sank a little and we were a little somber - it
was the only time on our trip that we were disappointed instead of overjoyed
when land was in sight. The only thing that cheered us up was the
thought of getting an air conditioner.
Maria phoned ahead to the marina we
had stayed at before for so long waiting to depart, Riviera Beach
Marina. The man who answered the phone said that they didn't have a
slip to accommodate us. Knowing that the slip we stayed in before was
just fine and vacant most of the year because the owners were elsewhere, she
asked about that slip. He said it was vacant but he didn't think the
water was deep enough there. Maria assured him it was, so we reserved it for two nights.
We also needed to clear customs and
immigration upon returning to the States. One of the reasons we chose
to return to Riviera Beach was that there is a customs and immigration
office next to the marina. But by the time we got tied up, the customs
office was closing in one hour. Since we had also called for a rental
car to be delivered to the marina for us, we had alot going on at
once. The rental car guy was waiting, so while Brian did a very quick
and shoddy job (by his own admission) of tying up at the dock on his own,
Maria ran out to meet the rental car guy and give him a very quick ride back
to the Enterprise Office before getting Nolan and Brian and heading over to
customs.
The immigration officer could not have
been more rude. What a welcome home! We had called ahead, as we
had been told to do. First, we called before reaching the marina and
they said to call back when we were docked. Maria called as soon
as we tied up at the dock. We were STILL on hold almost an hour later
when we walked into the office. The man behind the counter yelled at
us for not calling in and getting a processing number. He told us at
first that he couldn't do it. Maria held up the cell phone and said
she was still on hold - even then. He disappeared while muttering
under his breath and we all sat down (and enjoyed the air
conditioning!). He did return with our clearance papers and we were
free. So much for "not being able to do it."
So off we headed to Sears and - yes! -
they did have the portable room air conditioner. We couldn't wait to
get back to Belisana and hook it up. We set it up on the
settee (translation: bench sofa) in the main cabin and made up the
dinette as our main sleeping quarters for awhile. Oh, we were living
in comfort now! Thank God for Sears.
We spent Friday having lunch with
Brian's grandparents and his aunt, grocery shopping, and prepping for an
overnighter the next night. Tropical Storm Alberto was brewing in the
Gulf of Mexico and heading this way, so we were anxious to head North pretty
fast.
On to Georgia
As we had done numerous times in
attempting to cross to the Bahamas months before, we left about 3:30am and
headed out to the Gulf Stream, this time taking a northerly
route. We hit the Gulf Stream in no time at all and took off!
Not fighting the current this time, we thoroughly enjoyed the boost the Gulf
Stream gave us. The plan was to make it all the way to St Simon's
Island, GA, by sailing all night Saturday and arriving Sunday. With the
Gulf Stream pushing us, we were averaging about 10 knots, which is quite
speedy in a sailboat when 7 knots is considered "fast". Saturday was a gorgeous day for a sail...
In our log we noted that we enjoyed pita pockets for lunch and MILKSHAKES
for dessert! Now that's a treat that's hard to come by on a
sailboat. Our overnight sail that night was uneventful and the weather
seemed to be holding. When the sun rose Sunday morning, we knew that
would probably be our last sunrise at sea for this trip.
Nolan
entertaining himself (and keeping cool)
The weather on Sunday was not as
blissful. We heard that Tropical Storm Alberto had turned more
northerly and was headed across northern Florida - and our way.
Since the Gulf Stream angles away from the coast as you head North, we
started just a few miles offshore in south Florida but ended up about 25
miles offshore. So we decided to turn inland and book it towards
land. We were probably a little south of Jacksonville when we turned
in from the Gulf Stream, angling up towards St Simon's Island. We had
quite a ways to go before reaching land. At one point, we looked down
and saw that we were in the middle of a pod of spotted dolphins! It
was amazing... There were about 20-30 of them swimming with us as if
they were escorting us. They would dive under the bow and jump in the air
alongside the boat and in front of us, as if doing tricks. Nolan was
totally in awe - we all were! Maria leaned way over and was almost
able to touch one swimming alongside the boat.
We realized somewhere along the way
that we had left our camera in the rental car, with our pictures from Nassau
and West End as well as from our crossing back over and some shots of
Brian's grandparents. We contacted the car rental office via satellite
phone (we really wanted our pictures!). They found it and agreed to
ship to Maria's parents in Georgia. (Update: nearly three years
later, it never arrived. So no pictures from that portion of the trip
- just the one above taken with our camcorder. We picked up another
camera in Georgia).
The wind was mostly behind us at about
15 knots and we kept up a speed of about 8 knots after leaving the Gulf
Stream, with the sails up and engine on. It sure seemed to be
getting windier by the minute. The Coast Guard kept making an
announcement that wasn't quite clear as we were so far out, but we could
make out, "...sailboats take sails down... high winds...".
The wind had picked up tremendously, so with Brian at the helm Maria tried
to make contact with the Coast Guard via radio to ask what the full
announcement was. Since the announcement was coming from Charleston
and we kept getting the Coast Guard in Jacksonville, they didn't know what
announcement we were talking about. Apparently they make announcements
but don't listen to their own radio. After many radio calls, we were
able to determine - as the winds continued to increase - that we were headed
for a severe thunderstorm and were advised to take all sails
down. By this time we were about 2 hours from St
Simons. We hated to take the sails down because we wanted to get to
land really fast - and the sails were helping alot. It was pretty
rough - about 4- to 6-foot steep, choppy waves, not just swells, and they
were building - so with the engine alone we would lose alot of speed.
We decided to compromise and took down the jib, leaving up the
mainsail. We lost only a little speed and the main helped to steady
us. Honestly, this was one of the scariest moments of our trip for
Maria (with more to come!). It did help that we were closer to land,
however. We decided to keep the main up until we entered the
shipping lane/channel for St Simon's. Because of the shallow waters
off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, boats have to follow the
shipping channels in, often for miles offshore. So there was only so
much of an angled line we could make - at one point, we had to align
ourselves with the buoys and then head due West, straight towards
shore. We ended up taking the main down a bit early as the winds were
getting gusty - about 25 knots sustained with gusts of up to 40+
knots. When a gust hit at the same time as a breaking wave, it was no
fun. Taking down the mainsail in rough windy weather at sea is not
easy or enjoyable. Maria took the helm and brought Belisana
around directly into the wind while Brian took down the main. It's
quite hard to keep a boat pointed into the wind in rough windy seas, but you
have to or it's impossible to get the mainsail down because of the pressure
of the wind on the sail. Once it was down, we turned around and
motored full speed ahead. It was very rough and squirrelly, as the
wind was on our quarterstern. By then it had been determined that
Tropical Storm Alberto was headed straight towards north Florida or south
Georgia. The eye wasn't expected for another 36 hours but we were
catching some of the first bands of winds and thunderstorms. Once we
made the turn into the channel, the wind was more on our beam so our ride in
was very unpleasant, to say the least. We had called ahead and
reserved a slip at the same marina as before, Golden Isle Marina, so they
were expecting us.
When we finally approached the marina
over an hour after turning into the channel out at sea, we were given exact
docking instructions. The outer docks basically form a u-shape, open
to the direction we were approaching from (the Sound) (picture us entering
an upside-down U). We were told to dock on the inside of the outer
dock, with a starboard (right) side tie-up. Maria went to work getting
the docklines ready, cleating them off and coiling them so they'd be ready
to toss to the dockhands. As we approached, it was very windy and the
wind was pushing us away from the dock. With Brian at the helm, Maria
tossed the bow line to a dockhand then ran to the stern to toss
another. Since we were being blown away from that dock, Brian could
not get us as close as he needed to, not surprising in a 30,000-lb sailboat
with a 62-hp engine and rough waters and wind pushing us away from the
dock. One of the docklines wouldn't reach. And they were
shouting at us that the other one was being pulled from their hands.
Now to fully get the picture, this is all happening very quickly and alot of
panicky people, especially those of us on the boat, are all yelling at
Brian. AND... those on the boats on the other docks are starting to
look worried. We were now losing control of our boat and headed
straight towards the dock that would be the equivalent of the bottom of the
"U". Brian, thinking very quickly, whipped Belisana
around 180-degrees as if heading back out to sea. The dockmaster was
yelling into her radio, "Port side tie up! Same spot!"
Easier said than done! We had no lines on that side. As Brian
tries again to dock in the same spot but on the port (left) side this time,
Maria is working furiously to get a line to that side of the boat and
cleated off to toss to the dockhands. By this time, the wind was
howling and there was a 3-4 foot chop at the docks. We had hardly any
steering control of our boat and could not do it. Worse off, the wind
was still blowing us away from that outer dock, sideways towards the inner
dock of the "U". The dockmaster, Melissa, realized what was
happening and took off on our her bike to try to get there was quickly as
possible. There was a small spot - maybe 45 feet? - between a
catamaran and a large luxury yacht. A man appeared on the deck of the
luxury yacht with a long pole and stood on his deck, ready to
"poke" us - ? - away if necessary. Later we would try to
figure out just what good he thought that aluminum pole would do. With
Brian's quick thinking, he was able to use the wind to our advantage and
place our 44-foot sailboat into the 45-foot spot, coming in directly
sideways. Maria got busy tossing docklines and took the helm when
Brian jumped off to help cleat the boat. Whew... tied up at last,
after 36 hours of sailing, the last of it in some of the nastiest weather we
had seen yet. After escaping worsening conditions at sea, we
narrowly escaped potential disaster at the dock (hindsight: don't dock
in rough weather; drop an anchor and tough it out). After
catching our breath and relaxing a little, we then heard that the eye of
Alberto was headed this way - to St Simons. All of this rush to get
out of the Bahamas and southern Florida and we end up right smack in the
middle of a tropical storm. Brian took the marina car and headed off
to West Marine to buy extra docklines and fenders to make sure we would be
prepared. After securing Belisana, removing the bimini,
cushions, and all other objects on the deck, we then checked off the boat
and into a hotel with an indoor swimming pool and holed up for two
days. Brian checked on Belisana several times to make sure all
was okay at the dock. Thankfully, Alberto ended up not being quite as
bad as predicted. Two fenders were destroyed by the rough weather but
that was it. It seems like the worst part was the hour before and
after we docked...!
After Alberto passed on, Brian stayed
behind to work on Belisana awhile and watch the World Cup (hooray,
three soccer games a day!) while Maria and Nolan left for her hometown to
see Maria's parents. Brian stayed on Belisana through the
weekend and then joined everyone else. We won't write about it here,
but we spent a fabulous month in Georgia with Maria's family, including four
days in South Carolina with Steve, Robin, Andrew, and Abigail who had
visited us in the Bahamas. There was alot of swimming, bike riding,
BBQ, mac-n-cheese, sweet tea, and just plain ol' fun with all the
family. Of course, Brian had the World Cup schedule memorized and
arranged to be in front of a TV whenever necessary.
Pictures from Georgia and South
Carolina, Summer of 2006-- Cousins, Cousins, and More Cousins:
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