Diving Ginnie Spring

We're not on Devante's Dream but this was a cool dive trip so here it is.

Ginnie Springs FL

Thursday afternoon August 8th. It was hotter than hot, 106 degrees in the shade. It was summers peak but school was starting next Monday. We gotta get outa here. But where? How about tubing Helen GA? No the water will be low because it’s a drought. Hmm, where can we go. How about diving? But where? Enter the Internet. Enter keywords “Florida, diving, springs”, springs should be cool right?

After jumping around between a few pages I found what I was looking for, a personal recommendations page. This one was for Ginnie Springs in High Springs FL. Basically the diver said that this spring “had to be done”. And plus it was safe for our skill level, Open Water divers. Okay, we’ll go there.

It was 5:00 PM. I yelled down the hallway. “Elizabeth! Get your dive gear!”
“What? Where are we going?”
“Florida, we’re diving in a spring”
“Okay I am getting my stuff.”
Jane had just gotten back from spending the night at a friends.
“Wait a minute. What’s going on here?
“We’re outta here. It’s too hot. You wanna come?”
“No, I am going to paint.”
“Okay, we’ll be back in a few days”

We mostly had our dive gear ready to go in our dive bags. Elizabeth couldn’t find her hoodie but that didn’t matter as we could get on there. We loaded the van with our stuff and a cooler and were underway by 6:00 PM.

“Where exactly are we going?”
“Ginnie Springs, it’s a fresh water spring we can dive.”
“Is it cold?”
“72 degrees year round. It’ll be nice in this heat.”

We drove the back roads to get to 75 like we always do; of course I got a speeding ticket this time. More like a toll ticket though from the Milner PD. Elizabeth called one of the motels from the list that I printed before we left. They called back and said that they would leave the key under the mat of room number 2. Cool. We have a place to stay.

We go in around 11:00 PM so not too late. The motel is like something out of the 1960’s. The High Springs Country Inn is pleasant to look at from the outside, maybe not so much from the inside. But hey, it’s a dive motel so we got accustomed to it. When I checked in the next morning the sign on the office wall said, “Divers Anchor Here”. It was all divers staying there as far as I could tell. It was $42 per night, so really cheap.

We got up the next morning and went to the Parkview Restaurant for breakfast. Again, really cheap at $3 for eggs, grits, bacon and toast. The milk and orange juice cost more!
After breakfast we headed to downtown High Springs. It’s a small, clean downtown with most of the shops occupied by antique stores and hardware or feed stores. One thing I notice about most of these small downtown’s is that they don’t have the old coffee shop/lunch place anymore. I suppose that there is no money in that type of place. It’s too bad though.

We drove on through and entered Ginnie Springs into the GPS. Six miles down this road we are already on. Okay, let’s go. We drive past small retirement type cracker homes near the town that turn into full blown horse farms as we get away from town. We turn onto the main road to Ginnie and it turns into a dirt road. The GPS is lost be we’re there now anyway.

We pull up to the large wooden barn style check-in building. Inside it’s two stories and all wood, with a lot of dive gear and snack type foods. We check-in and buy Elizabeth a hoodie and rent two tanks. I rent a jacket to go over my 3/2mm wetsuit. Hey, the waters cold. I am used to diving in 85 degree water!

We watched a video about diving in the springs. Evidently we can dive in Ginnie Springs with lights (as Open Water divers) but not the other springs which are for cave divers only. We can dive the other springs, Devil’s Ear and Eye, but only as far as the natural light will take us. We pick up our gear and ask where we’re going.
“Head down that road to the bath house. The spring is right there. If you keep going to the next back house that is where the Devil’s springs are”

Okay, we’re off. It’s still early for the park, which is what this is. It has campsites and a large amount of frontage on the Sante Fe river, as well as 7 springs on the property. So it’s not to busy when we get to the spring head. There is a large deck area with a bench all the way around it as well as picnic tables on grassy/sandy areas around that. There are stairs from the deck going down into the spring.

We can see from the deck that it’s beautiful crystal clear water. We pick up the pace of getting ready. Elizabeth and I playfully argue over who is to carry the tanks to the deck. I carried them partway and when she made fun of me I made her carry them the rest of the way. Later I carried the tanks and Elizabeth carried everything else, for the most part.

I put my toe in the water. Yes, it’s very cool. But it is pretty warm out. Probably already almost 90 degrees at 10:30 in the morning so it feels nice. We’re under the tree’s though so it’s not as hot has it could be.

We geared up on the deck, checking lights (which we can use here), gauges, buckles, etc.. Some kids that are in the area are amazed and ask lots of questions, which we answer. I wonder how many of the kids that we met that day will someday become divers because they saw Elizabeth and I at Ginnie Springs.

The spring is surrounded by woods and feeds that Santa Fe river which it maybe 75 yards to our right. We can see that there is a large shallow area surrounding the spring that we can stand on to get out fins on and get ready. The deeper spring area is about the size of a large swimming pool. We descended into the outer pool. It’s about 9’ deep. Two other divers went in just before us and the have already descended down into the cavern. There are two openings into the cavern. One is wide enough for two divers to go through at the same time. The other is just big enough for one diver.

While Elizabeth and I are looking at the openings some kids are free diving down into the bigger entrance. We back up to give them room to get out. I am sure they didn’t want to get stuck in there or delayed in getting out! Once they were done we ventured inside.

The outer room of the cavern is about the same size as the surface swimming pool sized area, but it’s under an overhang of rock. It’s bright enough to see in there clearly without lights. The roof is slopes down towards the edges like a dome and forms a very narrow crack. There are several large boulders that appear haphazardly placed in the room. In reality they have fallen in place from above and the sides.

We explored the outer room for a while and then headed toward a shelf in the back of the room that was covered in light. Swimming up to the shelf and gripping the edge we could peer over the edge into what appeared to be total blackness. Out stomachs tightened as we looked into the unknown.

Elizbeth and I looked at each other. Elizabeth was already shaking her head. I made a swimming motion with my fingers. Nope, more shaking of the head. We stayed on the lip of the shelf for a few more minutes and we could see the divers turning their lights on and off. They were sitting on a large boulder quite a ways down into the cavern. Okay, let’s go back out and talk about it.

We surfaced in the pool and made our way over to the shallow area. We weren’t sure if this cavern was the one that we were allowed to enter. After a while of talking about it we realized that this was the spring we were allowed to have lights at so we could enter that cavern. We headed back down.

After entering the other cabin we stopped at the ledge again and I tried to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness. We went over the edge. It was dark. We huddled on some rocks just below the overhang. Elizabeth got a few feet from me and I couldn’t see her. I didn’t like it. I went to get her and we held hands and headed back towards the light.

As we went back up we drifted to the right in the current and spotted a rope the led down in the cavern. Ah! That will make it easier. A way in and a way out. We followed the rope down to the middle of the cavern. As we did used our lights and could see then entirety of the cavern, which is called “The Ballroom”. I now why. Our eyes also adjusted to the darkness. It takes about 15 minutes to get your night vision.

We made our way to the bottom of the cavern where the spring head is. There is a steel grate covering the entrance to keep divers from going down into the cave. Not that that would be that easy. There is a freight train of water coming out of the hole. Elizabeth and I held onto the rocks and metal grate and flapped in the liquid breeze at 50’ below the surface. When I let go I rolled over in the sandy bottom that was deposited by the current.

We sat on the rocks that are near the bottom like the divers that we had seen before had done. By turning off our lights we could clearly see the entrance of the cavern like a giant mirror of the surface. With our eyes adjusted to the darkness we could see that the cavern was actually lit up quite well. Along the top of the cavern the reflection from the surface light was clearly visible. We could see where previous divers had left undying statements of love for their significant other.

We’d been in for a total of 45 minutes so we started our ascent using the rope as a guide but by now we didn’t need it as we could easily see where we were headed. We stopped at the entrance of the outer room again for some free divers and the headed out.

“Cool”, when we got to the surface.
“I was nervous at first but once I got used to it I was better.”
“Let’s take a break and get some lunch.”

We need air as well. Elizabeth stayed with our gear while I loaded the tanks in the van and headed up to the lodge. I dropped the tanks for a fill and went over to the Ginnie Springs deli. Elizabeth got a grilled ham and cheese and I got a Philly cheese steak. The tanks were ready when I stopped by and headed back to the spring.

We ate on the deck overlooking Ginnie Spring. It was probably 95 degrees out but it felt fine sitting there eating our lunch. We were under the tree’s and it felt cool near the water. Once in a while I stepped into the pool to cool off.

We had about an 1:15 surface interval so we were good to dive again. We suited up and headed in again, answering questions as we went along. MUCH more comfortable this time going into the cavern. We went down to the grate and then begin exploring the cavern. There was a side room on the left side the Elizabeth went all the way into. We had seen the other divers go in there.

For this dive I was the video man. I go some good shots of Elizabeth checking out the cavern. This time we played with rope that runs down inside the cavern. Elizabeth tried to stand on it in the current. She was moderately successful.

At the top of the cavern there is an opening about the size of a suited diver to get into. It’s about four feet deep going up into the ceiling of the cavern. It’s all scalloped out with nooks and crannies. We looked at it with our flashlights. Elizabeth was trying to show me something in the hat but I couldn’t see it? I kept making the “what?” signal with my hands and she would shine the light onto something. I still couldn’t see it.

We sat on the rocks again with our lights off. I took videos of Elizabeth with the cavern opening in the background. It was cool seeing the shimmering blue surface water with people madly kicking their legs just above and behind Elizabeth.

In the outer room another diver was feeding the fish. They didn’t seem too hungry but he got one of them to eat out of his hand. I stopped to watch and a fish came right up to my mask, about 3 inches away, and just sat there. I just sat there as well. Elizabeth went up to fast and missed the safety stop but I stayed in the outer room for a few minutes looking at the fish as 20’.

When we got out there were a lot more people there. A little girl was amazed by Elizabeth’s dive gear. I playfully splashed people that were slow getting in the water.

“No fair”, they said, “You have a wetsuit on!

“Okay, now what? Wanna check out the Devil’s springs?
“Okay, but I don’t want to dive now,” Elizabeth answered.
“Okay, we’ll just tube the river with our wetsuits on.”

We loaded our gear in the van and headed down the sandy/dusty road to the Devil’s spring system. We heard later that this is the MAJOR party area for the campground, with parties all night long. Later that night we could hear them kicking up a ruckus. When I asked about the busy time of year the camp guys said that there are up to 20,000 people in the campground Memorial Day weekend. Now I know when not to go!

The Devil’s Den springs are probably aptly named. Divers have died there. There are big yellow signs warning of this. We are not diving anyway so we aren’t concerned. Although if we did want to we could dive as far as we had natural light. Not this time. We’ll get cave certified later.

We enter the water at Devil’s Ear, which is a narrow slit in the lagoon that does not look like much. Cave divers are entering and exiting. We just have our wetsuits, fins and mask and snorkel. We free dive the entrance for a minute and then head towards the river.

Right in the river is the entrance to Devil’s Eye (or is this the Ear and the other the Eye). It’s a bigger entrance than the Ear. The current is huge coming out of the western end into the river. Elizabeth and I free dive and hold onto the end and flap in the breeze again.

That’s tiring so we float for a while on the river. It’s about 10-12 feet deep and there are tall strands of grass and what look like Christmas trees covering most of the bottom. Some areas the bottom is sandy. We drift primarily over the sandy areas.

We heard that there is another spring on the other side of the river and kick our way across. The grass is so thick that we can stay on our stomachs and have to roll over and kick on our backs. I don’t think Elizabeth liked that part.

We then had to kick harder to get up to the spring head due to the strong current. There were two horizontal slits at the end of the lagoon where the spring feed the river. At the base of one of them was a large pile of tiny shells. I reached down and scooped up a handful of them. They were all similar, spiral shells about the size of your finger nail, pushed up from who knows where by the rushing spring. I threw them in the water and scared a girl that was snorkeling near us.

Now we are tired from all of the kicking so we just flow on the current out into the river. We don’t have to work at all. There’s lots to see and the visibility is pretty good. We see big mouth bass feeding and Elizabeth spotted a “Paint” turtle with brightly colored edges and yellow lines on it’s face. Once in while I steered into the grass that waved like a ribbon in a flowing breeze and parted the strands to swim through. Very cool.
We didn’t go very far. Just down to where we were before at Ginnie Springs. Some people do that trip as a dive but I think it was fine just to snorkel it.

Now Elizabeth is tired and wants to go back to the motel room. But it’s too early for that and besides the motel room will be hot and boring. I moved the van into the shade and leave it running so that she can rest and be cool. I hung out in the spring and talked to people for a while. Then I did one more dive during which I checked out the little room on the side of the cavern that Elizabeth had gone in.

The entrance is on the far left had side of the cavern and rises back toward the entrance. When you are all the way in you can see that there it actually connects with the outer room. If you took off your tanks (not necessarily a smart thing to do) you could make it through.

Making my way out of the side room the late afternoon light was dancing across the taupe colored walls of the cavern. From my location deep (but high) in the cavern I could see sunlight shining down on the floor of the outer room like several theatrical spots being waved over a spot on a stage. Very cool.

After getting all the gear loaded into the van we headed back to the motel room and cleaned up. Our destination for dinner was directly across the street; Floyd’s Diner. We didn’t have much time to rest, maybe a half hour or so, before we made it over there at around 6:00 so that we would have enough time to pick up our dive tanks for the planned night dive.

It’s a good thing we got there early. Evidently Floyd’s is THE hotspot in High Springs. There was a line out the door when Elizabeth and I walked in. But at the diner style bar there were two seats.

“Wanna sit at the bar”
“Sure”

Again, it’s a good thing that we did. We saw folks waiting to sit as long as it took us to order and eat! Floyd’s has an awesome menu for a dinner. Elizabeth got the Eggplant Three Cheese Ravioli (minus the eggplant) and I got the beef tips over pad thai noodles with veggies. Everything was nice and hot and we had a great view of the kitchen and bustle behind the counter. I noticed for desert that they had Mud River Pie. That sounded great so Elizabeth and I split that and finished the whole thing, whipped cream and all, even though we were already stuffed. If we didn’t have to dive (and Jane was with me) the finishing touch would have been to hang out on the patio and listen to the live music with an after dinner beverage.

We picked up our tanks for the night dive. They weren’t the same numbers on the tanks but I didn’t think anything of it. When we hooked up or regs the tanks were both short on air. They hadn’t closed yet so I went and got the correct tanks. We took our time getting everything setup waiting for the sun to go completely down.

We entered the water at around 9:00 PM. We were very comfortable with the dive for a few reasons. One is that we dove it several times that day (that is actually a requirement for night diving Ginnie) and we had both done several night dives.

It was very cool entering with our lights. There were more fish and different fish that looked like catfish with whiskers, not sure if they were or not. We hung out in the outer room for a while and then made our way down to the spring inlet at the bottom of the cavern. Nice and dark just like you’d expect.

We peered into the inlet again and saw different fish. Then we sat on the boulders and turned our lights off. Way dark. Once my eyes acclimated I could just barely make out the cavern entrance from the lights that are on over the spring. Elizabeth tried to show me the glow sticks in the ceiling hat but I still couldn’t see them!

I did see something that I had not seen on the previous dives though, a memorial plaque placed by a family in honor of their father at the very top of the hat in the corner. It was also easier to see the graffiti that has been scratched into the walls at night. I took a picture of a complete I Love You style heart with the lovers names etched inside.

The best part of the dive ended up being in the very shallowest area surrounding the spring. There were lots of crawfish that we played with by trying to pick them up. They would get nervous and shoot off in reverse by flapping there tails rapidly. Some boys with masks were following us around and it scared them when one of the crawfish came scooting by them very rapidly. We also saw a snapping turtle in a log and lots of different fish, including some eels.

When we got out of the water I pronounced it the best night dive that I had ever done. It would be worth doing again.

Treasure Cay - End of girls trip

The weather that had been threatening for the last three days finally arrived Thursday. The only problem is is that we now need to get to Treasure Cay. Oh well. We waited for a window in the rain and the headed out at around 1800. We didn't get far before the window closed and the rain came in, along with some gusty winds up to 35 kts. It let up enough for us to get into Treasure Cay outer harbour and grab a mooring ball for the night.

The next morning we docked at the Treasure Cay marina but the rain stayed with us on Friday so it was not much of a beach day for the girls. However, we did have a nice lunch at the beachside tiki bar and at least got to walk on the beach

Saturday, June 30, 2007

After picking up the rental car the night before I drove Jane, Elizabeth and Christy to the airport. They just made the flight as you have to be there 30 minutes prior. We were there 32 minutes prior….

However lucky they were then they were not lucky later. They missed their connecting flight in Nassau and actually had to stay overnight and take the flight the next evening. Oh well, two years in a row with bad flights. At least it was the flight home. Overall though their time on the boat was excellent. We had several “This could be as could as it gets,” moments. A movie line we fortunately get to say fairly often it seems…

Man-O-War Cay

We need fuel and water really bad. And we need to do laundry. So we motored across the tiny channel to Man-O-War Cay Marina and fueled and watered up. They found a slip for us to stay in. Even though the weather is beautiful we’re trying to take a down day. We’ve been busy and in the sun a lot.

Before we can go into our slip though we need to empty our holding tanks. We can’t do that in the harbour so we have to go outside. I ran aground in the channel. It is almost low tide. I can’t get off of the bar. Luckily two men in a Boston Whaler went by and with not a little work got us off of the bar.

I got out of the channel, made the dump and got back in. It was dead low tide by this time and we bumped the bottom right in the middle of the channel at 5.2 feet. I guess the chart is right, 5 feet at MLW (Mean Low Water).

Once we got tied up in our slip I rented a golf cart, there a no cars on Man-O-War Cay, and Jane and I drove around town, ate lunch at the only restaurant (which was very good and reasonable) and then drove down the Queen’s Highway sand golf cart road.

Absolutely stunning summer places like out of a fairy tale. One beautiful entry path surrounded by flowers and tree’s after another. Jane took pictures. She has enough material for 100 paintings…

Later Jane did laundry. I explored the town more, which is not very big but they have an excellent little grocery store and a hardware store worthy of a small city, not a little settlement on an out-island.

Later, after dinner on-board, we tried to get in a game of Mau but only made it through two hands and then we crashed for the night.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Eventually we are supposed to get bad weather but it never seems to arrive. I have been checking the weather forecast everyday and they kept calling for 100% chance of rain. It never came so I guess it was not really a 100% chance of rain. We pondered leaving MOW Cay but it is just too nice here. We decided to stay.

One of the fellows that was on the boat the helped us off of the MOW channel bar is on his sailboat in back of us. I lent him a SCUBA tank and BCD and he fixed his missing zinc on his prop shaft. He told me about a great place to hunt for sand dollars.

The girls and I hopped in the dinghy and motored out there. It was the mother load of sand dollars, or a sand dollar grave yard. We picked up a dozen or more. Elizabeth found all of the hard to find stuff as usual. We motored back.

The weather appears to be holding off. We can still get in a snorkel on the nearby Fowl Cay marine sanctuary. I can rent a boat to get there. Do you want to girls? After a moment, Yes.

I went to see Fanny in the Marina Office to see if she could get me a boat. She called one place but they didn’t answer. She called another. He did not have a boat but he said that he would take us out on his, very inexpensively, as a matter of fact less expensively than even renting on our own and we get a guide out of it.

We were on for 1200. Elizabeth, Christy and I wolfed down some lunch. Jane decided to stay home for this trip. Dave picked us up at the dock and we headed out of the harbour. It was a little choppy but not too bad. He went through a very narrow opening in the inner reef and then headed for two mooring balls.

Once I got us tied up to the ball we got our gear one. This was one incredible snorkeling spot. This area is called the Tunnels. I know why. The coral has formed these meandering tunnels that you can dive down and swim through. Many allow you to swim a good length of ways and then come out the other side. Others appears to have light at the end of the tunnel but you have to be careful that you don’t get stuck in a place where you can’t get out and really want to breath. That could be disconcerting!

We snorkeled for a while, took a break on the boat, and then went back at it. We stayed in the water for over an hour. I think we have a hundred pictures and one really cool video of swimming through a tunnel. We motored back and jumped into the marina pool to rinse off.

Then I sat down to right from June 21 to today!

Hope Town to Man-O-War Cay

The morning sun shone over the Hope Town lighthouse as we had our breakfast. The light is still a working hand wound, kerosene lit lighthouse. There are only three like it in the world that still operate this way. All three are in the Bahamas.

We decided to head in. At the entrance to the channel we ran aground. This time I could not get myself off. I was in the channel but aground. I am sure you can appreciate how frustrating that is. One fellow tried to pull us off with his boat but his engine was too small. Another boat had two bigger engines and once we got the lines setup he pulled us off easily.

I didn’t try the other side of the channel although it did look deeper. We decided to go back out and anchor and dinghy in. Our first stop was the Hope Town lighthouse. Elizabeth had been there before when she was seven so she was looking forward to going again. It is spectacular and the weather and sun that day was perfect for picture taking. Thank God for large memory chips.
After we dinghyed to the hot lunch spot. The girls went exploring while Jane and I had lunch. Then Jane went exploring.

When she came back she had Regatta Time in Abaco tee-shirts. As she showed them to me an old sailor came over from across the bar that I had been meaning to go talk to anyway. He had a beautiful gold sailboat on a chain.

After he asked Jane were she got the shirts and how much she paid I sat down with him as he ate his lunch. He told me that he has been coming to Abaco for over 50 years. His 41 sailboat was on a mooring ball just off of the deck. Evidently he had helped organize the original Regatta Time races.

His daughter had just finished visiting. He said that he spends about 50% of his time on the boat alone. He was 87 and it was fascinating talking with him. Earlier I had though while looking at him that that could be me when I am old. Man, it’ll be a while before I am that old though!

We had a great day in Hope Town and dinghyed back out to the boat. We had our portable depth sounder on the dinghy and checked the left side of the channel. Six feet of water. More than enough to get in. There were also lots of sailboats in the inner harbour so I know it’s possible. Maybe next time.

We got back out to the boat around 1600 and the weather was perfect for sailing west. So we got off of the hook and put up the sails and went west. Great sailing for a couple of hours. Then we had to decide where we were going to get fuel, water and supplies. We could go to Marsh Harbour but that is not that much fun. I decided to head for Man-O-War Cay.

Jane has always wanted to go there and so have I. It has a nice protected harbour and I made it into the narrow entrance without running aground. I still don’t have a tide chart yet. We entered the harbour which is picture perfect and grabbed a mooring ball.

Steaks for dinner on the grill!

Little Harbour to Hope Town

We stayed in Little Harbour on the mooring ball for the night and in the morning I setup and expedition to find one of the caves that I had read about of the Internet. It said to go down this road and look for a ribbon and the walk up a path and then to climb into a hole in the ground. We couldn’t find it. Oh, well. We went to look at the big cave in the harbour, which was okay, but I was disappointed that I could not find the other cave.

We left Little Harbour around 1200 and made our way to Sandy Cay which was one of the tips from the couple at Pete’s Pub. As we got there we could see that just about all of the day use mooring balls were taken. However, we found one that we could get on. A thunderstorm was moving in so we just hung out for a while and had lunch. As it passed through everyone left. When it was gone in 20 minutes we were the only one’s there and the sea was flat glass calm. Perfect conditions for us to dive in.

We rigged our gear and splashed. Very beautiful site with lots of colorful fish and coral. It was only a 25’ dive but it was worth it to dive. We went into the current at the base and came back on the top. Back on the boat Christy had a bit of a headache so we got here some aspirin and she rested. After a while she felt better. We rinsed and packed away our gear and headed out for Hope Town.
Once we made it to Hope Town it was almost sunset and Jane and the girls felt better about anchoring outside the harbour as it has the same type of shallow entrance as Little Harbour did. So that’s what we did.

That night we played our evening game of Mau. It’s a lot of fun on the boat, although it can be quite frustrating. Check it out at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mau_Mau_(game)

Little Harbour Abacos

Jane got the 2400 to 0200 shift. She said that a thunderstorm was behind us the whole way and that she watched the lightning flash across the sky. Elizabeth and Christy had the 0200 to 0400 shift. They got a clear sky with stars and the moon. Every once in a while I checked on both of the shifts.

I got the 0400 to 0600 shift as that was the landfall shift. We approached Little Harbour channel right on time at 0630, just at the sun was fully coming up. I ran aground on the inner harbour entrance after Jane and I had a little misunderstanding over which bouy I was asking her the color of. The outer marker appeared to be a lobster pot and she was looking beyond that at another marker.

After a few minutes of finagling I managed to get the boat off of the beach and back into the channel. It was very shallow and most likely low tide. I did not have a tide chart. We picked up a mooring ball and crashed out for a few hours.

Later in the morning I awoke to find a very small harbour ringed by a beach and a large iron shore area with a big cave. I decided to get the windsurfer out and dinghyed it over to the beach where I set it up and sailed for a while. I think I am getting the hang of this.

I saw that the girls swam to shore so I sailed back in and left them with the windsurfer and headed over to Pete’s Pub. The only place in Little Harbour. It was around noon on a Saturday and the place was hopping. I grabbed and chair and watched the crowd. Everyone was ordering lunch so I did too. I felt guilty that Jane was not with me but I knew she would make her way in eventually. She did. We talked with the couple next to us for a few hours and they gave us some tips on places to visit.

Harbour Island - Departure

Harbour Island Marina was nice enough to let us stay on the dock for the day. We normally would have had to get off and go on the hook by 1000. We planned to get off the dock by 1600.

The wind has clocked completely around to the west making today an excellent beach day. We still have the golf cart so once we got work that we could stay on the dock we had some lunch and then packed up a day bag to go to the famous pink sand beach.

I can see why it’s famous. Of course the day was perfect for beaching but this is one of the nicest beaches I have ever been on. Not a spec of trash or tar and the water was so crystal clear you could through the waves, just like you would read about in a book or possibly see in a movie. We took some pics and then went swimming.

Just up the beach from us a couple was taking some pictures. She got in unusual poses and he took pictures. I swam that way, much to Jane’s chagrin.

There was just enough of a swell to create nice soft rolling waves that broke far enough away from the beach to make for perfect body surfing. I did that until it felt like my face was frying from the sun and then we all grabbed a drink from the cooler. Jane took a nice long walk on the beach but I cannot as my left foot has been aching since we were in Nassau. I am not sure what it is but it really hurts to walk.

We finally met back at the golf cart after Jane and I walked through the Coral Sands Hotel that sits right on the beach. There is another hotel next door that looks even fancier called the Pink Sands.

Back on the boat it was the usual frantic work to get everything put away and locked down. We had decided to do a night passage to get to our next location, Little Harbour in the Abacos, as this would be cooler and would also save a day of day light.

After we got a little fuel, the marina was out of fuel but we eked 8 gallons so that we had enough of a reserve for the crossing to Little Harbour. Little Harbour is an island that stretches from north to south and the beach faces east. There is an inlet on the southern end that we planned to use to leave for the passage. We had originally come to Harbour Island from the North via Devil’s Backbone passage with Old Pot.

Now we had to leave via this southern inlet because the tide was high and part of the channel is too shallow for us at low tide. The only problem was that we did not want to begin our passage to Little Harbour until 2000 (8 pm) as we needed to arrive in daylight so that we could see the channel entrance. The passage was planned to take about 10 hours.

Our solution was easy based on the way the wind was blowing. Anchor off of the pink sand beach. We headed out of the inlet and went north to the area where we were swimming. We were in about 30 feet of water and the bottom was all coral. As we were going along I spotted a huge tall sponge coral and decided to anchor there and check it out.

We needed to use the grapple anchor which is an anchor with metal hooks like fish hooks that are spread out in a circular fashion so that any one of the hooks can grab onto something. We also used a chain so that it would not rub and chafe on the coral. After we dropped the anchor and the boat was secure I free dove down with my mask and fins and adjusted the anchor rode so that the rope was not rubbing on any coral.

We stayed anchored there for several hours and cooked burgers on the grill and watched the sunset. There was a little bit of swell (slow smooth waves) coming in from the southwest so that the boat was rocking a bit, but not too bad. There was a nice breeze.

Eventually our time to leave rolled around and I again free dove down to the anchor and swam back up with it. Elizabeth pulled up the rode while Jane drove the boat. Getting back on board I was pretty stoked…

Empty bottle of rum

As we motor sailed north along the beach we made a message in a bottle. On a piece of paper we used a Sharpie to record our Latitude and Longitude, names, boat name, address and email address. We all signed it. We put that, one of our business cards and a Bahamian dollar bill into the bottle. We planned to drop it into the sea at midnight but at 0130 I realized we hadn’t done it yet so that’s when it went in.

Back in Harbour Island at Valentine’s Dive shop the owner’s daughter had found a message in a bottle that had been floating for six years! There was a picture with her and the note that was in the bottle.

Harbour Island - Diving

Wednesday June 20, 2007

Awoke at sunrise (0600) and immediately started getting ready to go over to the Harbour Island Marina. We were picking up a golf cart there at 0830 so that we could drive us and all of our gear to Valentine’s Dive Center.

Amazingly everything came together. We got the boat docked. Power connected. The Golf Cart and all of our gear loaded onto the golf cart delivery guys cart and made it to Valentine’s by 0855. We checked in and then waited 30 minutes while they put fuel on the boat. Oh, well. We didn’t need to rush so much…

When we finally got out the conditions were pretty good with the sea just a couple of feet at the most as the wind was out of the south. Dave, the dive master from South Africa, and Luther the local boat skipper were our guides.

Eric, Jane and Elizabeth did a two tank dive with the first dive the deepest at 115’ on The Arch, a really cool formation that is, get this, an arch. The shallower reef in that area was very nice as well. The dive lasted about 38 minutes. We all finished with just around 1000 psi, which is pretty good for a dive that deep.

Christy had to wait on the boat as this dive was too deep for her to dive on her Open Water Referral check-out. On the second dive, which was just 40’, she was able to dive and did great. The second dive was just outside the inlet entrance and called Sea Gardens.

After the dives we were all exhausted from diving and also spending the entire day the day before on the beach at Man Island. Dave, however, was very convincing that Christy should dive her second dive that day so that she would be able to dive with us tomorrow on the deep dive. She sucked it up and did her second check out dive, which was mostly skills, taking your mask off, turning, emergency ascent, etc…Jane, Elizabeth and I headed back to the boat and slept for the rest of the afternoon (it seemed like 10 minutes) and then picked up Christy at 1600.

Did we eat? I can’t remember. No, we watched Casino Royal by putting the saloon table down into a bed. I guess we ate popcorn for dinner. I don’t remember going to bed but I must have!

Thursday June 21, 2007

Today we dove with Valentines again. The first deep dive was on The Plateau. An area near the Glass Wall on Eluethera that has a very tall iron shore, stone like wall with no beach. The Glass Wall is a small inlet in the wall that connects the ocean to the inner bay. There is not other inlet for many miles but this one is dry sometimes and not navigable.

The Plateau has very deeply grooved coral formations that we swam down to about 70’ The one groove that was directly under the boat was very cool as it had a swim through at the bottom. Elizabeth took a picture looking through the swim trough. This was a very nice dive with lots of tiny colorful fish.

For our second dive Luther drove the dive boat right up to the edge of the iron shore. We were only about 200 yards from the tall stone cliffs. We motored slowly past the Glass Window and could see inside caves and see blow-holes, places where the ocean waves are forced back out at high pressure.

Eventually we stopped at our dive site, geared up and jumped it. It was only about 35’ deep and we headed directly for the iron shore. Conditions were perfect. No surge or big waves that could bang you into the stone and rocks. On the bottom very large rounded stones held tiny coral populations and fish. We could swim almost completely under them.

As we got closer to the cave the light dimmed but visibility was still very good. I turned my dive light on. Dave pointed out a small turtle right in the middle of the cavern, which was around 60 wide. We were completely under the cavern canopy. To the right of the turtle was a tumble of stones pilled up on each other with on massive stone leaning against the iron shore.

I wondered what it would be like if one of those stones moved and trapped me under water. At the very end of the cavern I peered around and down the massive stone. There was a small cave. Turning upside down in the water I slide down inside the entrance to the cave and shined my light in. I could have easily fit inside the cave with my gear on.

However, I am not a cave diver and I didn’t have a buddy close by. I went back to get Elizabeth and show her the cave. We both got upside down and went into the cave entrance. Jane said that all she could see of us was the very tips of our fins.

We could see light at the other end of the cave but it was obvious that there was only one entrance and exit. I still did not go in but it was not because I was afraid. The dive group we consisted of had a brand new diver so I did not want to cause any trouble.

Later we all got to go through a small stone swim through but it was not as enchanting as the cave….

After we got back on the dive boat we all exclaimed that that was one of the best dives we had ever done…

Harbour Island - Man Island

We're on the hook! That's maritime speak for we are anchored. We're just off the harbour front in Harbour Island. The island is very pretty from the bay as it is quite high (by Bahamian standards) and covered with foliage and trees. Later when we took a walk some of the banyan tree's are very old and have huge bases and provide a lot of shade.

I made reservations to dive with the dive outfit for Wednesday and Thursday so we had an open day on Tuesday. Eric, Jane, Elizabeth and Christy moved Devante's Dream from the anchorage at Harbour Island to a nice beach just north of here on Man Island. During our trip over from Spanish Wells we saw a sailboat anchored just of the beach so we knew that we could get in. We anchored in just about the same spot.

The beach is very remote and the only way to get to it is by boat. A few other small boats came in while we were there and even the dive boat came over and dropped off a large family so it wasn't quite as private as we would like but it was still nice.

We dinghy'd into the beach with our snorkel gear so that we could check out the shallows around the beach. There was quite a bit of marine life which Elizabeth is expert at finding. After a while we went back out to the boat and cooked hot dogs on the grill for lunch and marvelled at the scenery.

While we were hanging out on the boat Elizabeth spotted dolphins in the bay. They came right by the boat and other people were swimming with them so she practically had to. Christy and Jane joined her and even got some underwater pictures. Elizabeth said they were "huge" in the water.

After lunch we talked about setting up the windsurfer and what that would entail. Putting everything in the dinghy and getting is on the beach so that we could set it up, etc....
Elizabeth seemed pumped to do it so we rested for a while and then got to work. It took us about an hour to shlep the stuff to the beach and setup the sail. It took longer to setup the sail as it was only the second time that I had done it.

As with Mike and BIll we tied a rope to the windsurfer so that it couldn't get too far. Elizabeth and Christy tried many times to make the board go, which they succeded at, and to make it turn, which was a little harder. We were the scenery for some other people that were on the beach as well.

So we were in the blazing sun for about 6 hours and since we were working directly on the surface of the water it was like a huge mirror shining the sun directly into our faces. Eventually I could not stand the sun any longer and we headed in (or out in our case).

Back on the boat we turned the generator on and tried to cool down our baked bodies. We finally left Man Island at 6:15 PM and anchored back in Harbour Island bay. We beath the heck out of this day!

The wind was dying so we ran the generator at night so we could have air conditioning. It's a trade off as the generator is very loud and vibrates but the lower humidity makes it nice to sleep. Christy did not like the generator vibration. Elizabeth slept right under it though and she was fine. I didn't like it because I was worried about how much fuel it was using but it turned out to use hardly any at all.

Eric

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Catching up - Nassau to Harbour Island

Thursday June 14
Okay I feel better today but my laptop does not. Jane was working on something out on deck and I said, "What is that smell? It smells like something burning." I stuck my nose into the air conditioning duct and it was not coming from there. My laptop power connection had been acting funny so I sniffed around there. Sure enough it smelled like burning. Touched it. Ouch! That's hot.

Backed up my pictures and shut down. That's why no blog until Monday June 18th. Oh, and we have been busy moving the boat.

On Friday Jane flew home in the afternoon to go pick up the girls and fly back on Saturday morning. She also picked up the new laptop that Eric Jr. had purchased for me at Best Buy on Friday morning and went to the food store yet again to get MORE FOOD. She also brought back the various frozen food items she had already prepared.

Saturday morning she was back with Elizabeth and Christy, her friend from school. The weather has not been that good while we were in Nassau this week and Saturday was not exception. I wanted to take the girls to the Junkanoo carvinal but it just rained all day and then poured on Saturday night. So we just went to the food store and loaded up on the last minute essentials. The girls were tired anyway so they slept the afternoon.

Sunday June 17
We slept to the beating of rain drops and squally winds Saturday night and awoke to a mostly overcast sky. I left open the option of not leaving that day if the weather was not good but by 1000 it looked pretty decent to get going. After some frantic buttoning down and fueling up we were underway by 1215.

No wind and no waves. We motored from Nassau to Royal Island in about 4.5 hours. When we anchored in between two islands looking out the cut to the north there was very little wind. When we sat down to our grill cooked burgers about an hour or so later is was flat glass calm. Nice night for sleeping but a little wind would have been nice since we were not running the air.

Monday June 18
Woke up at the customary sunrise time of 0600 and banged around until Elizabeth got out of bed about 2 hours later. Then we hauled anchor and headed for Spanish Wells. When we got there the south harbor entrance was blocked by a barge pilling sand on a spoil cay. So we had to go around to the east harbor entrance. We docked at the fuel dock and asked about getting a pilot to guide us through the treacherous Devil's Backbone reef on the way to Harbour Island, or destination.

We were told to hail Sinbar on the VHF radio and they promptly answered and said that a guide would be right over. When he got to our boat we asked if he was in a hurry as we were thiking about walking in town and getting something to eat. He said, "How long?" I told him and hour and half and he was off.

We all got our shoes on (even though I have an achy left foot) and set off through Spanish Wells. There's only one road. We walked down it. There were lots of brightly colored camps along the east facing beach. Some for rent and some for sale. It didn't look busy. There was also a very old cemetary that was meticously maintained with flowers and well kept grass. It appeared that some of the gravesites had been reused, each generation refreshing the graves as needed.

We took a minor detour up a side street that went up hill. Maybe 20 feet uphill. There were some fancy modern Florida style houses mixed in with the older style homes. I got the impression that the locals would not be to fond of them based on how well the older homes were maintained. Everything was tidy and well kept and well painted. In sharp contrast to Nassau, which was a concrete jungle.

We asked a passing mopeder if there was a restaurant (we had been walking a long way) and he said yes, get back on the main road and there are two just up the way. Then when we were back on the main road and had walked for more long way we asked again and told that they were just ahead. Finally The Generation Gap and Teen Planet restaurants dominated the street (not really) and we turned into The Generation Gap as this was recommended by the last direction giver.

It was very clean and the food was excellent and lots of it. We got Conch Chowder, Fish Sticks, Macaroni & Cheese (served everywhere in the Bahamas) and other stuff. We gorged on that and then headed out for the long walke back to the boat.

Our pilot showed up right on time at 12:00 PM to take the controls of Devante's Dream and guide us through the Spanish Wells cut and Devil's Backbone reef cut. Old Pot. That was his name he said. How'd you get that I yelled. He told me in his raspy voice that as a boy he used to collect cans and jars and they started calling him Old Pot. It stuck and now 68 years later he still had the name. I am guessing at 78 years because she said that almost 358 years ago on June 29 he was shipwrecked along with several dozen other Brits fleeing Queen "Bloody" Mary on the Devil's Backbone reef and lived in a cave.

He showed us the cave. He said he lived there two years until moving to Spanish Wells, where he lived now. It was a very cute way to tell use about his ancestors the Pinders, who were on the ship that actually did wreck on this coast of Eluethera.
Old Pot also showed us his great Uncle Ridley who is now immortalized in stone on the Spanish Wells iron shore in the form of a rock portrait. Not to much unlike to former New Hampshire Old Man of the Mountain.

The reef itself was treacherous and many wrecks are on the outer reef. However my chart plotter turned out to be very accurate and we could have made the trip without the pilot. But this was much easier on my nerves and much more fun to listen to.

Old Pot brought us right to the anchorage area next to the Harbour Island marinas. I paid him his fee and a tip and he gave me his card. He said to call if we go back north through the reef and he would bring fresh bread and johnny cakes. I told him I would.

We anchored out in just 12 feet of water with the wind blowing out of the east and keeping us off of the lee shore of the island. Very pleasant. After getting the dinghy setup Elizabeth and Christy played on the windsurf board for quite a while. Paddling and doing log roll style balance contests. Fun to watch. I got to pay bills and catch up on some work...
Eric

Sick

Tough night sleeping for Eric last night. The sore throat that Bill gave me last week finally kicked it into high gear. I could hardly swallow or breath. So at 0800 I went to the Walk-In clinic next to the hospital in downtown Nassau. Not very clean but they were very prompt and courteous. After going through triage the doctor visited me and took one look at my throat and said, "Oh yea". It was nice that they were able to give me my prescription right there so that I did not have to go to another store.

Later I took Jane to the Kelly's home store and she bought replacment mattress pads for the aft staterooms. The store is like a Sears and is nice to have here in the Bahamas.

I came home and crashed. Hopefully in a couple of days I will be better...

Eric

Graycliff wine cellar and humidor

Jane and Eric took a lay day (for the most part) and visited the Graycliff Inn with it’s amazing wine cellar which we felt privileged to receive a tour of. They have wine bottles from as old as 1727 which the steward showed us. Part of the wine cellar was used as a jail in the pirate days and he joked that if we were to be locked up here he would make sure we did not have a cork screw. We were very careful not to bump any of the 250,000 bottles of wine!

This was followed by a fabulous four course lunch meal with different wines for each course. First was Bahamian conch chowder and packet? wrapped fish with a Chilean chardonnay. In between the main courses a cool tart berry sherbet was served on a tiny spoon. Then the meat course, a lamb chop with vegetables, was accompanied by a Rothschild bordeaux. For desert we had cheesecake and another Rothschild special desert wine that I cannot remember the name of at that time… Just awesome.

Our dining room was the veranda of an old mansion that is almost 300 years old. The part of the living area is not air conditioned but our dining area was. We looked out over the lush gardens with Jasmine and Acacia trees. After lunch Jane and I walked in the garden which was steaming as if vents were keeping the foliage moist. It had just rained and now the sun was out.

We walked through the garden and headed over to the famous Graycliff Humidor. There they have 15 cigar makers hand rolling cigars. We walked right into the factory. Jane made me have a cigar. There were two men smoking cigars and working on laptops in the smoking room. They recommended the Chateau Grand Cru. I choose the Presidente size. It was a great smoke and I enjoyed their conversation. They were amazed by Jane and called her a keeper!

Later on Jane took a nap while Eric hauled the dinghy up to the main dock (hot and sweaty) and checked it for leaks (Bill, Eric and Mike narrowly survived a deflated dinghy ride in Fresh Creek) with soap and water. The soap and water makes air bubbles that you can see and hear. I only found one leak. It was the main valve and evidently we just didn’t have it tight enough. So now we have a working dinghy.

We finished the day with a nice sunset walk, looking at Atlantis and the very big mega yachts on the dock near us.

Eric

Getting ready in Nassau

Ugh! Major work day here in Nassau. At least the weather is nice and cool (for this time of year) and we have a car to help out with the errands. Here's what Jane and I have done so far....

• Remove all of the cushions and bedding and floor boards from the starboard aft stateroom and clean up the spilled diesel fuel and wipe up all of the bilge, wash down all of the woodwork, let the cushions breath outside and the put everything back in.
• While the floor boards were out of the stateroom Eric check the eletrical connections to the ever troubling generator pump. They were fine. After letting the pump run for a few seconds with the outlet hose disconnected and then reconnecting it the generator started fine, which it always does after performing this procedure. Oh well...
• Disconnect and replace the head (toilet) fittings (they had them at the supply store!) so that the (sh**) does not flow back into the bowl. Fun!
• Run to various supply stores and try to find parts that are hard (if not impossible) to find in the Bahamas. Got most of the list except the dinghy pump adaptor which is lost but we can fill with the vacuum.
• Install rope hooks in the aft lazarette to hold the dock lines, electric cords and hoses.
• Install cup hooks in the kitchen cabinet to hold the coffee cups
• Put everything away that we took out (a lot)

Passage to Nassau - End of trip segment

Thursday afternoon was a nice needed down time after being so busy. We pigged out on another of Bill's fantasic lunch's, explored Fresh Creek and then took naps. Later in the afternoon we started to prep the boat for the passage to Nassau. When I told Bill and Mike it would only be 5 hours they said, "Piece of cake, we're used to 20 hour passages..."

It actually took 8 hours since the wind was right on the nose the whole way. We motor sailed some of the way since we had to go north anyway. But eventually we had to turn northeast and into the wind. It's just as well that we made quite a bit of northing since a thunderstorm formed over New Providence and chased us all the way to the harbour.

The storm actually beat us there and just as we entered decided to pour rain on us for the next hour while we entered and then docked. Fitting we thought since that is how we came into Fresh Creek.

End of the trip! Time to clean the boat and go eat a big dinner at Atlantis. It was our only dinner at a restaurant and what a dousy! New York strip, Veal Chop, Tenderloin and Tail. Awesome finish.....

Bill and Mike flew out on Saturday morning. It worked out great because I was picking up Jane at the same time.

Diving with Small Hope Bay Lodge

Mike said that there was room on their boat for Thursday so we got Johnnie to give us a ride over there in his taxi. He agreed to pick us up 12:30 after diving.

Moose, the dive master, met has at the dock and checked out Bill and Mike's c-cards. He asked Bill about his experience and since he did his check out dives in 50 degree water and we dove The Marion the day before he was cleared to do the deep dive with us, which was planned for 90' on the outer wall. We got our gear on the boat and talked with the new assistant dive master, Brittany, she was very nice and nice eye candy.

The dive was very nice. As soon as we got on the wall in 90' of water Bill had to stop me and point out the Hawksbill turtle just hanging out. He did run away as we snapped pictures of him. We went out along the wall until Bill had under 2000 PSI and then turned back. The we hung out at around 65' near the anchor line. As I was poking around I found a nice swim through that completed the dive.

The second dive was your garden variety shallow dive. Bill and Mike got to experience a never ending sea of coral and how hard it is to find the boat when it's like that....

Eric

Diving The Marion

That night I called Mike at Small Hope Bay Lodge and got the bad news. There boat was full for tomorrow morning (where have I heard this before), so we can’t dive with them. “We’re diving off of the boat,” I told Mike and Bill. “Okay,” they replied, “Whatever it takes.” We’ll be fine.

The next morning we started to prep at 0700, get food in the stomach thanks to Bill’s awesome cooking. Get the dinghy ready, thanks to Mike doing whatever else needs to be done. And…get all our dive gear together. No small feat.

Diving off of the boat also entails picking a location. I floated the idea of diving a wreck to Bill, but he was thinking more of coral and nice fish. Okay, no problem we can do that. There is plenty of that out there.

We motor out of the harbour and Mike drops in the water to check out what’s down below. “Some old coral heads,” he says. Okay, we’ll try further down. Then I am thinking, “we are awfully close to the Marion wreck. Why don’t we just dive that? It’s only in like 50-60’ of water.”

I plugged the coordinates in the GPS and we are pretty much right on top of it. Mike jumps in again with the mask and finds it right away. Okay, here we are. Let drop the grapple anchor on it, which we did. Then we spent he next hour gearing up. New gear for Mike and Bill and a new experience diving off of the boat, it takes some getting acclimated to. However, much better than a dive boat….

Bill did great for his first deep (67 feet) dive. However, our dive was cut short when Mike BC was runaway inflating. I had to make a beeline for the anchor line to keep from popping up to the surface too fast.

We cooked burgers on brats on the grill and took a long surface interval. There we no waves and the sky was overcast so it was very comfortable on the boat. After gorging ourselves we setup Bill with our fourth tank and Mike and I dove on the remaining air in our tanks. Mike used one of my extra BC's. We had enough air for a second 20 minute dive on The Marion.

Afterwards to we could not raise the anchor, although Bill was determined we'll have to dive down to unhook it....

Eric

Passage to Fresh Creek Andros

After windsurfing in Bimini for the afternoon (and getting sunburned) we cooked burgers on the grill and the ate them in the cabin to escape from the heat of the day in the air conditioning. After the burgers we had a pow wow about what to do next.

Bill was coughing a lot and his head was congested. He was a major trooper up to this point, making the passage from Key West and even windsurfing while sick, determined to have fun :). But SCUBA diving as obviously going to be too much, at least in Bimini. So after talking about it and our options we decided to head to Fresh Creek Andros, where Devante's Dream had been last year. We thought about Chub Cay as well and actually called over there on the new cell phone but they don’t have a dive outfit setup there yet. So Fresh Creek it is.

We moved over to the fuel dock and put on our 10 gallons of diesel (not much for going 165 NM) and I checked out of Bimini Blue Water Resort and Marina and set sail at 6:15PM. However, we had to douse sail as soon as we got out of the harbour as the wind was going with us so it was faster to motor. Bill and Mike are getting great practice setting and dousing the sails. We headed for North Rock off of Bimini and then turned to the east.

Just after we turned the wind picked up out of the south at 20 knots. It was probably there all the time just being blocked by the island. We set sail again and then enjoyed at beautiful sunset under a full head off sail going 8 knots… Very nice.

We stuck to our two hours shifts after 10:00PM. Bill had the first real night shift at 2200 and watched the moon rise. Then he had the 0400 to 0600 shift and made the North West Passage (just a few hundred yards wide in the dark which he called "threading a needle") and then watched the sun rise….

That day we gruelled through the passage the Andros against the wind. Eventually putting the sails away and just motoring. Bummer.

We made it to Andros by about 1400 just as a thunderstorm hit the area. Driving rain and low visibility. I was glad that I had been here before so I knew what to expect. Just as we were about to enter the harbour the low clouds cleared and we had good visibility. Two power boats that had passed us on the way over where waiting outside the harbour. When we went in they followed us. Evidently they were not familiar with the harbour entrance but were happy to follow a deep keeled sailboat in! When we docked the sun came out and baked us to a crisp….

Bimini

Today Eric, Bill and Mike finished up checking into the Bahamas at Immigration. The we pondered out fate as Bill still has a pretty good chest cold, meaning that he really should not be diving. So... we are not diving. Because we are not going to be diving for at least a few days we decided to head out and make our way further east, either Chub Cay or Fresh Creek (Andros).

I got my Bahamian cell phone upgraded to the new GSM service and called over to Chub Cay. They don't have a dive outfit there so we strached that idea. We're heading to Fresh Creek where we can dive with Small Hope Bay Lodge. I had Mike's cell phone in my old Bahamas phone so I called him to make sure that they have room for us on the dive boat. "Should not be a problem," he said. So, we're heading to Fresh Creek.

We decided that in the morning and figured that the best time to leave would be between 4 and 6 PM. That left us with five hours to kill. After much coaxing and discussion Bill and Mike agreed to setup the Windsurfer at the beach that is at the entrance to the harbor. We setup the windsurfer in the shade near the pool. It was no big deal after all. Then I rented a golf cart and we strapped the windsurfer on the top, grabbed out cooler of beers and headed to the beach.

It took a while but we figured out how to put the sail and mast and boom together at the beach. The sail is a hideous pink color. Hey, I got a good deal on it. Bill went first, trying to keep his balance on basically a surf board with a 16' mast and sail on it. He went pretty good after a few wipe outs. However, he did not want to get back on after people on a boat fishing pointed out the shark that was going right by us. We waited for the shark to leave and then went back at it.

Then I gave it a try and managed to sail for a bit. We had a long rope tied to the back of the windsurfer so that we could pull it back to the beach. Until you know how to do it well its hard to turn around...

Mike was last to try and since he got to watch Bill and I he ended up getting the hang of it the fastest. He tried to sail away but we pulled him back to shore. Then we all tried again and did better the second and even the third time. Finally we loaded the board back on the golf cart, grabbed our beers and stayed in the water talking about our exploits.

Now we are packed up and getting ready to head to Fresh Creek. It will take about 20 hours. There is no wind to speak of so we'll be motoring. It's also pretty warm....

Eric

Bimini!

Bimini landfall. We departed Key West on June 2nd at 5:45 PM and arrived Bimini today June 3rd at 3:30 PM. Very nice sail with a following sea and southwest and then west winds. Everyone took a watch. Practically a full moon for great visibility. We are no docked at Bimini Blue Water Resort and checking out our dive schedule...

Eric

Tropical Storm Barry

So now our wind has a name, Barry. Tropical Storm Barry is about 175nm west of us and moving north at a pretty good clip. Today we have 25 kts gusting to 30. He should be out of hear by tomorrow morning, which is when we plan on heading out.

Forcast looks pretty good, wind out of the south-southwest at 15-20. Perfect for making the hyperspace jump to Bimini. Careful calculations are required for this as we don't want to sail through an asteroid field and ruin our day.

Eric

Still in Key West

Wind still out of the east at 15-25 kts, heavy rain today and forcasted for tonight so we're not leaving yet. Bill and Mike are onboard. They got up to leave for the airport at 0200 so they are taking naps. The weather does look better for Saturday night, at least for sailing, winds south at 20, maybe some rain. And then better for Sunday and a nice high pressure for Monday.


It's just as well that we can't leave. The generator starter crapped out and Andy with ETC Marine is getting us a new one and installing it tomorrow, which is a Saturday, so needless to say Andy is an excellent contractor... Previously he had fixed our drive shaft coupling and engine mounts.


George did an excellent job on the projects that I had for him, even though we did not get to all of them. Here's a picture of the doors that he installed. You cannot believe how much easier to use than the old plastic slat was. I got these from Cruising Concepts which made them off of measurements that we provided. They fit perfectly.


George also installed a search light (it looks like a head light) which came out very cool. We had to make a custom platform for the light as the existing bow platform, which was made of teak, was too small. To make it easier to maintain we made it out of Starboard, a white polymer material that is very easy to work with. I also spent about four hours looking for just the right wiring fitting. I found it and you cannot even see the connectors for the wire, whic run into the anchor locker when the light is being used. The light has a remote control for turning it on and even panning and tilting. Way cool for those night time passages.

After we had got that done I was taking a look at our stove area and realized that the Starboard would make an excellent cutting area to go over the stove. George custom mounted that by routing the edges and installing the teak supports. Thanks, George.

Key West - More provisioning

Exhausting day getting stuff at the marine store and and being a gopher for subs working on the boat. Devante's Dream got new swing doors installed for the companionway which replaced the large single slat door that was a total pain. It had to be pulled out and replaced each time you went down into the cabin. Now they need to be varnished (cetol). They should get four coats but we'll probably only get 2 on before we shove off. Jane said that she will put a few coats on when she in onboard.

I checked the drive shaft bolts yesterday and two of the four where laying in the engine pan again. The engine sub (Andy) came over and looked at it and said that the engine needs to be re-aligned. They'll do that tomorrow.

Bill (my brother inlaw) and his friend Mike fly in tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing them both. And I need the help! Bill just finished up his open water diving certification in Mass. and Mike is already a diver so we should be able to get some good dives in.

The weather has been very strange since I've been here. Blowing around 15-20 out of the east every day. It's supposed to swing around to the south on Saturday. We'll held out as soon as the wind swings around....

Eric

Provisioning in Key West

Arrived Key West at 1400 after stopping overnight in Daytona Beach. Unloaded the van and packed everything out on the boat. The windsurfer that I had ordered was delivered here so I picked that up at the dock masters office and unpacked it. It looks really cool. Since it's really windy here I'll get to practice with it this week at the beach.

Jane pre-packing all of the dry provisions in fold down filing boxes was a HUGE help. Just two trips from the van with the 11 boxes. They also perfectly fit in all the available storage that we have. I just need to provision the fresh stuff for the first leg later this week. It took three years but I think we are finally getting the hang of this thing...

The boats in great shape for being out on charter just about every week this year. This week I'll be working on getting the rest of the gear packed out and some upgrades installed, including a cellular repeater system (so we can use the cell phone up to 20 miles from a cell tower), remote control bow flood light, bimini work, some audio stuff and a new sink faucet.

Later,

Eric

Heading to Key West

The van is packed, 10 food boxes, 4 dive bags and a bunch of gear, and I am heading to Key West via Savannah Ga due to the fires in Waycross. It will add about an hour of driving but it beats driving through smoke for 5 hours. I'll

The weather in Key West for the next week is very windy out of the east, 15-30 kts, and so not that good (really bad) for heading to Bimini. We were supposed to leave Key West on Friday June 1st but that may have to be delayed until the east wind clocks around to the south east. We'll see.

Eric

Summer Cruise 2007

This summer's cruise calls for Eric, Bill and Mike to depart Key West on June 1st and head to Bimini, then on to either Andros (for Crab Fest) or Nassau. Bill and Mike fly out of Nassau on June 9th.

June 9th Jane gets on board in Nassau for a week with the hubby (no plans!). Then she flies home on the 15th and returns on June 16th with Elizabeth and her friend Christy who will be aboard for two weeks of cruising Spanish Wells, Harbour Island and The Abacos.

June 30th Stan Sunderland and friends get on board in Treasure Cay to run the Regatta Time In Abaco races. Stans departs July 9th
July 5th Jack, Jared and Luke get onboard to join the races and then make the passage back to Key West, hopefully by the 19th.