St. Augustine, Castillo de San Marco 4/6/2012

We pulled into the new mooring field here in St. Augustine yesterday so that we'd be able to attend Mass today for Good Friday at the Cathedral, the oldest church in North America. We wanted to stay north of the Bridge of Lions because the view of the city there is wonderful. That mooring field is 1/3 full....why?....because the city made a mistake when putting in the mooring balls and put an entire row too close to shore in three feet of water. The next row can't be used by large cruising boats because there is an 8' tide here. So we are in the south field with lots of boats, all with long dinghy rides into the marina. The good news is that there is a free pump out boat and also a boat that will pick you up at your mooring and take you in to the dock. Sweet! Today we visited the fort of Castillo de San Marcos and bought our life-time senior Federal Parks Pass. This fort was the northern most outpost of Spain's New World empire. It was started in 1672 and replaced the nine successive wooden fortifications that had protected St. Augustine since 1565.

Eau Gallie, Melbourne 4/3/2012

We are headed north and had a great motor sail from Vero Beach to the west side of Eau Gallie to anchor with Gorma and Overdaught in about 9' of water. We all met for happy hour at a beach bar called Squid Lips.....wings and beer were on special. Stuart and Heather are from Hamilton, Ontario so they know about the Anchor Bar Buffalo Wing thing just over the border in New York. It's amazing just how many people you meet while cruising! In the photo are Walt, Greg, Stuart, Heather, and Corinne.

Great Sale Cay to Vero Beach 3/30-3/31/2012

We see a weather window to the States and head to Great Sale Cay to spend the night before crossing the Bahama Banks and heading into the ocean. As we pulled into the anchorage at 6:30 there were already 25 anchored boats.....so the migration north has begun! Walt snorkeled again to scrape more barnacles from the prop and hull. The warm salt water here is so bad for the boat, but we just have to give it a lot of TLC. We crossed into the ocean about 10:00 with 3 other sailboats very near to us and by the time we reached Vero Beach we were friends. I rented a car, we met the "voices in the night" from Gorma, Greg and Corinne, and Luna, Russ and Jane, and headed to customs in St. Lucie. We stopped for burgers and fries at 5 Guys and then all got some sleep since the crossing took 20 hours. There were lots of cruise ships and tankers plus fishing boats near the Bahamas...we had to tack to avoid one ship that passed between the three sailboats around midnight. Walt could track everything on his new AIS-vessel name, speed, and course. AIS is a great safety feature! Nice to be back with internet and phone service 24/7!

New Plymouth 3/28/2012

We rode our bikes 4 miles from the Bluff House to New Plymouth and stopped along the ocean to admire the breaking waves on the reefs. New Plymouth is a small, quaint village filled with pastel colored homes where the kids all wear school uniforms and walk home for lunch. We went to the Wrecking Tree Restaurant for fish and chips, biked back and had happy hour aboard Side by Side with two other couples....one of which owned a 57' trawler that was three stories high, with a full fridge, dishwasher and three bedrooms, three baths and a living room set..Wow! He uses 9 gallons of diesel/hr. We still are on the same gas tank that we filled a month ago in Florida and we'll make it back to Vero Beach without buying any more fuel. We are sailors!

Bluff House Marina, Green Turtle Cay 3/27/2012

We have pulled into a dock at the Bluff House Marina here in Green Turtle for three days. The beach, ocean side, is great for snorkeling and the Bluff House has a nice beach on the Sea of Abaco. We have a tennis court on the property plus a pool which is always refreshing. There is one main road on this cay that goes to New Plymouth, all other roads are really stone and coral lanes with lots of potholes.....the bikes are taking a beating! We plan to head to Manjack Cay on Thursday since the winds will be less than 5 knots....unheard of here for this month. We'll anchor and do some snorkeling.

Storm Clouds 3/25/2012

You can see the storm clouds starting to enter the Treasure Cay Marina and we are anchored in the adjacent basin with about 25 other sailboats. We watched the lightening off in the distance for about an hour after sunset and it was beautiful. At 11:00 at night the storm was right over us and raged until midnight with winds clocking 180 degrees and blowing 39 knots. It was ugly.... and scary.... A moorings sailboat pulled anchor and slid between two other sailboats and then he couldn't get his anchor up because it was so windy and raining so hard. There were spotlights helping him out from the two nearby boats. Every GPS was on as each sailor monitored his vessel. No one else dragged, but it's not an experience I will ever forget.

Treasure Cay 3/23-24/2012

We pulled into Treasure Cay at high tide and had no trouble anchoring in the basin adjacent to the marina. This is an upscale resort community with the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The water is clear turquoise and the beach looks like sugar...it is truly magnificent. There are many condos, villas, and townhouses here. Tonight we went to Mass at St. Andrew's Church which is a small stone church with great music and the same priest that we had in Hopetown. He travels to three churches on three different cays! The music was wonderful...we thought we were at a retreat house.

Man-O-War 3/19-3/21-2012

We checked out Man-O-War Cay this morning and pulled into the VERY narrow channel to check out the south anchorage which was really a mooring field and a very tight one at that. We saw a trawler from Rochester, NY but there were so many boats that we went out and anchored in the lee side of the cay with 8 other sailboats. Then we took our dinghy in to visit with Lou and Jean aboard Both Sides Now, from Rochester. They gave us all kinds of info on Man-O-War which has a bakery, boat building company and a great beach. The town is actually a real community with lots of streets and modest homes where people actually live, and not just when they are on vacation!

Great Guana Cay 3/16-3/18/2012

We had some great sailing in 14 knots of wind from Hopetown to Fisher's Bay at Great Guana Cay. We joined about 40 other sailboats all anchored in about 9' of water in front of Grabber's Beach and Tiki Restaurant. Everyone had come in for the Barefoot Man Concert Friday and Saturday at Nippers.....which is quite the little bar and grill, where just about anything goes. Nippers is painted all different pastel colors and over looks the ocean, whereas Grabber's is quite classy and has its own beach on the Sea of Abaco. There were bands playing non-stop all three days. Both bars had pools and the beach in front of Nippers was beautiful. We walked to the Oyster Bay Marina, not far from town. With a small cafe, some shops and a little grocery story this area seems to have FUN written all over it.

Low Tide 3/15/2012

We biked to Tahiti Beach today to experience low tide on the sand flats and it was a delight. We saw sea stars, sea urchins, huge sand dollars, and more sunrise shells. Walt is presently tuning up our bikes and storing them away on board for tomorrow's departure to Great Guana Cay. The weather is supposed to be nice for the next few days...East winds 10-15 knots which is next to nothing here for this time of year.