Dingy Debacle on the way to Staniel Cay

Today headed to Staniel Cay, it was a short day of about 6 hours.  15 minutes after our departure we got swamped by a mega yacht; we checked "Little Girl" to make sure she hadn't been swamped too and she was GONE!   Panic mode immediately set in, we thought that possibly she had sunk.    Without a dingy our trip would be a mess with no way to get off the boat or go exploring.   I radioed all vessels anchored on the west side of Highborne Cay to be on the lookout; which I guess in hindsight wasn't the smartest thing to do.   We had no reply from any cruisers, but heard a little chatter from what appeared to be locals about a missing dingy.  We turned around and headed back to our anchorage and there she was just bobbing away.  I can assure you, we will never leave again without making absolutely certain she is tied off properly!  We were ecstatic to have her back and the debacle only cost us about 30 minutes of time round trip (a small price to pay).

We arrived at Staniel Cay Yacht Club to find that the marina had no power, which was not good news for us since the only reason we went to the marina was to spend a little time on shore power to help charge our inverter.  Running the generator works to recharge it, but it doesn't get fully charged.   Power or no power what a wonderful place!  

Staniel Cay is home to Thunderball Cave, the dive scene location for the James Bond movie Thunderball.  We hope to dive / snorkel this spot tomorrow.   It's so small and shallow it really can't be considered a dive.

Highborne Cay

We arrived in Highborne Cay today and what a beautiful island.  We made a special trip here to see the island because we just finished a book called “Life on a Rock” by Kate Albury.  Kate and her husband Peter left their life in Nassau in 1990 to move to Highborne Cay after accepting a position as the island managers for the next seven years..  The book entails the trials and tribulations of living on and managing a relatively desolate island.    We found this island to posess all of the beauty described in the book and more. 

We secured our anchorage and got ready for a fun filled day exploring the island by dingy – but our crane had other plans for us.   We raised the boom and BAM it stopped dead in it’s tracks.  No crane, means no dingy in the water and David and Jackie are boat locked.   We dug through the volumes of books and owners manuals to find the Steelhead Marine Owners Manual. We tried every troubleshooting technique offered and nothing worked.   We were able to get a repair tech on the phone and he said it was a bad solenoid.   By this time I had made a few phone calls in the event we had to have a part flown in.  I was directed to a very helpful man named Bill with Watermakers Air.  They have two flights daily from Ft. Lauderdale to Staniel Cay Yacht Club and would only cost $35.00 (plus 45% of the cost of the part for the duty fee) to get the part.   While we waited several hours to hear back from Steelhead Marine to determine if it was in fact the solenoid, David took the remote controller apart.  It basically looks like an Xbox controller, however the Xbox controller is probably built with much better quality than this Mickey Mouse contraption we have.   Once open, he discovered a tiny piece of metal not much bigger than a pencil lead.  Since it had a defined shape he assumed it went somewhere.  He found a tiny hole and went to move the piece of metal and realized it was magnetized.  He placed it in its home with his pocket knife and BAM the controller worked again.  Halleluiah, we could get off the boat.   Finally the following day, Steelhead called back convinced it was the solenoid and we had to inform them that it was not and that the Captain had saved the day and fixed it.

Our Anchorage at Highborne Cay

Dingy freed and in the water, we took off to the marine to fill up Little Girl and find David some cigars.  While there, we discovered the local nurse sharks in a feeding frenzy at the fish cleaning station.  They were beautiful and all the children staying at the marina were having a great time! 

Sharks at the fish cleaning station

Later, we ventured  north to Allen’s Cay.  This is a deserted island home to thousands of rare iguanas.  These iguanas are the rarest and most endangered iguanas on earth.  They can grow upto 24/lbs and live to 80 years of age. 

As we approached the island we could see probably 30-40 iguana running on the beach.  When we beached the dingy another 30-40 came out of the woods and ran right up to us.  It was amazing, they just followed us around, never getting too close but close enough for me.  There was one big guy who wanted to take our shoes,  he just stood over them like he was guarding them.

Allen's Cay Iguanas

Walking Allen's Cay

This guy wanted our shoes!

We snorkeled for a little while and the area appeared to be a nursery for baby conch, baby coral and such.  We returned to the boat for some good music / icy cold cocktails and fabulous sunset on the cockpit.  This was a good day!

      

Travel Day 2

Today was another great day with exception of the winds picking up.   They were so strong that my ears began to ache and I decided if I was going to stay on the fly bridge I should put cotton balls in my ears to alleviate the discomfort.   We found a great anchorage spot in Rock Sound Harbour;  however the winds continued strong into the night.   There was an annoying sail boater who appointed himself the king of local knowledge.  This would have been fine if anyone had been looking for it; however, this guy would go out of his way to interrupt and step on every radio conversation in the harbor.   There were a pair of boats traveling together and when one would call the other, he would jump in and offer his comments to their conversation.   It became humorous after a while because when he would call a vessel, the vessel wouldn’t answer back.   Early night again to depart to Highborne Cay in the AM.

Travel Day 1

We departed Little Harbour Monday 04/18 and traveled to Egg Island Eleuthura – it was a beautiful but windy day.  We arrived around 4 pm to Royal Harbour to find the best anchorage’s already taken.  We had one attempt that didn’t want to hold so we relocated to what appeared (on the chart and plotter) to be deeper water.  It was actually much shallower than indicated and we had a near miss at getting stuck in the sand.   However, the captain quickly used his assets and thrusted out of harm’s way.   We secured a good spot, had an early dinner and were off to bed.

Marsh Harbour to Little Harbour

Today we traveled from Marsh Harbour to Little Harbour (one of our favorite spots in the Abacos).  Upon arrival we discovered there was another Fat Bottom Girl in the harbour; a 48' Endeavor Cat.  We had the pleasure of meeting the owners Sue and Greg from Raleigh, NC.  A wonderful couple who made our trip more enjoyable and memorable.   Due to our draft, we anchored just outside the harbour since the charts say we cannot get in.  However, Greg had a handy dandy handheld depth sounder and convinced David there was plenty of water in the channel to make it in.  After some coaxing, he jumped in Greg's dingy to go check. Greg was right, there was plenty of water to get in.  Due to the fact that the next night was a full moon which indicates high-high and low-low tides we made it in.  It was our intent to pull out the following morning to head to Eleuthera, however we were having such a good time we decided to stay another day.

We woke to a beautiful sunrise and decided to take "Little Girl" out to do some exploring.  The water was crystal clear and the weather was fantastic.   Our kids bought me the perfect Christmas gift this year, an Olympus shockproof/waterproof camera that can be submerged to 16'.    I laid on my stomach on the bow of the dingy with my hands hanging over and underwater while we drove up to some beautiful red starfish and got a few really good pictures. 

Picture taken while hanging off the bow of the dingy

We saw stingrays, sea turtles, conch and several fish.    What appeared to be a large storm on the horizon sent us back to "Fat Bottom Girl" however the rain never showed.  

We decided to go to Pete's Pub for an afternoon cocktail and couldn't resist stopping in Pete's Gallery.    David wanted a new Pete's Pub shirt and I wanted to browse the artwork.   I purchased my first piece of bronze artwork last year on our trip to the Abacos.  This was before we owned "Fat Bottom Girl", however I knew when I purchased a boat I didn't want to decorate it with just anything, it had to be special and represent our travels.   This time a beautiful piece caught my eye; a native Bahamian Parrot sitting on a piece of driftwood.   It was a little more than I wanted to pay so the lady in the gallery said "Pete's at the Pub and I think he's in a negotiating mood today, go ask him what he'll take for it".  I strolled to the pup and eyed Pete sitting amongst a group of locals.  I didn't want to be rude an interrupt so I patiently waited until he realized I wanted to speak with him.  I explained my situation and he said to make and offer.  Now I certainly didn't want to insult an artist by offering him something less than what he priced the piece for, and he could see I was a little uncomfortable asking for a discount anyway.  He made it easy and let me have the piece for a steal; under two conditions. (1) I had to buy the lady Jan working in the gallery a glass of white wine and (2) I had to come back to the pub so he could buy me a drink.    I was thrilled!   I found the perfect little piece of art and met a new friend to boot.   When I went back to the gallery puffed up like a rooster, I saw that they also were selling a book called "An artist and his island"  This book was written by Randolph Johnston, Pete's dad.  The last time we were in Little Harbour we were given a tour of the bronze foundry and given the condensed version of the story as to how the family came to Little Harbour and why.  This book was especially appealing to me because I'm always interested in the history and culture of the places we travel. .   When I returned to the Pub to claim my beverage, I showed Pete the book and he was gracious enough to autograph it for me.  Not with his signature, but he drew a caricature of himself, holding up a mug that said "Pete's Pub" and a quote that said "Have you seen any Parrot's lately"   I purchased his only parrot.......

My new Parrot

Book signed by Pete

After I gave my thanks, we headed back to "Fat Bottom Girl" and met a great couple Susan and Wellington on the dock at the fish cleaning station.  Wellington is a Bahamian and has spent many years catching and cleaning conch.  Wellington seemed to know just about everything about conch.  He taught us just where to hit the shell to be able to get a blade in the crack to cut the conch loose.  We learned how to clean and skin the conch and what is edible and what becomes fish food.    Susan reached into the pile of "fish food" and pulled out a clear tube that looked kind of like a glass noodle.  She said it was the "pistol" which is the conch's spinal cord.  She popped it in her mouth and insisted it was good, slightly sweet and salty at the same time and very tender.  Well I could not be rude and refuse the pistol that was offered and anyone who knows me knows I will try just about anything, so in went the pistol, and it was exactly as she described.  Wellington sent us home with a freshly caught and cleaned conch.   I have found that most all Bahamian's are VERY kind and gracious people.

Eating a conch pistol or "style" - yummy!

We were running late for hordevours at 6:00PM aboard the other Fat Bottom Girl so we had to say our goodbyes to Wellington and Susan.  Greg on FBG - 2 said that Sue was a gourmet cook and she proved him right.   We had a great night with good food and made new friends that I hope we have the pleasure to see again someday.

  

Springtime in the Abacos

This trip began a little differently than most; while I was on a "girls cruise" with friends and family, David and our friend Ryan brought "Fat Bottom Girl" to the Abacos and had a "guys trip". The cool thing was they did all the provisioning for our journey which is planned to last for about a month.   When I arrived, I did a quick pantry/freezer/fridge/bar survey and discovered that we are comfortably equipped to feed and intoxicate a small Haitian village for the next month.  We can't thank Ryan enough for all his help in getting prepared.   They had a few boat chores to do before they were ready to leave.  They re-wired "Little Girl's" lights and installed the spare prop in the lazzarette.   This may not sound like much, but our spare prop is 36" in diameter and weighs about 400/lbs.   The former Owner had the foresight to install a threaded rod along the starboard wall in the lazzarette to mount the spare (what good is a spare if it's not on the boat)?   The only problem here is that the hatch measures about 2.5' x 4' which doesn't leave much room to climb down the ladder, put the prop and a person in the hole without loosing a limb.  With one minor scuff to the cockpit teak and a small gash in David's leg and the prop is now in it's new home.



Their trip took them from West End to Great Sale Cay to Rat Cay to Marsh Harbor.  It was the usual with those two; good company, tall tales and cold beverages.   This trip was geared for fishing and fishing they did, however the best catch was a nice Mahi Mahi and a litany of pesky barracuda.   I guess one big blue marlin a year will have to do....



Trawler Fest or Trawler Flop

In my last blog I mentioned my excitement in attending our first Trawlerfest.  I knew something was going arye when our departure plans changed due to work commitments.  Our initial plan was to arrive in Ft. Pierce on Saturday 01/22/11 and depart to Ft. Lauderdale the next day.  We didn't get on the road until 01/25/11, about one hour into the 10 hour drive to Ft. Pierce, David said "I think I'm coming down with something"  over the next 9 hours he progressively got worse.  Headache, fever, cough, etc. etc. etc.  We arrived at 9:00PM and decided to go ahead and provision in the hopes he would wake well rested and feeling better.  No such luck; during the night he started burning up!  We didn't have a thermometer on board (good to know while on dry land) so I hit the store first thing the next morning to retrieve one.   By the time I took his temp he actually felt cool to the touch, however his fever was 101.9.  Based on how he felt last night, there is no doubt he must have been about 104 to 105 earlier in the night.

I called my daughter to check in, she said to go to an urgent care and get a nose swab for the flu.  David begrudingly agreed to go (only because he felt like he was dying) sure enough, a little swab of the nose and we had a positive diagnosis.  It was definitely the flu!  He asked the doc what the likelyhood of my catching the virus was, he said I would probably get it too.  He graciously wrote a prescription for the both of us for Tamiflu.     Oh my goodness, it's a miracle drug.  Within 12 hours he felt 100% better and within 24 hours felt almost normal. 

We had feared that our little trip to Lauderdale and Trawlerfest was doomed, but thanks to the doc-in-the- box and Tamiflu, it looked like we were still going to be able to attend; albeit a late arrival which would negate our plan to attend the PMU Classes but we would still be able to make it.   

Since we were so far behind schedule we were contemplating our departure options and decided to try something new. I suggested to do a night run, we'd never done one before and I though, "we have to do it sometime" this was probably not the smartest idea after an immediate recovery from the flu, but what the heck, let's give it a shot. 

Fat Bottom Girl departed Ft. Pierce Inlet at 5:30PM, in our in-experience we thought it would be best to get about 8 miles offshore before heading south.  This may have been overkill, but we felt it was better to be safe than sorry.  As always David begins with the first watch, in this case it worked out best because I can fall asleep at anytime, anywhere.  However, once I'm alseep it's very hard to get me awake, especially if it's dark outside.  I took a little nap and suprizingly woke up fully awake at 10:00PM for the beginning of my watch.  Due to my perpensity to fall asleep sitting up, I power chugged two Starbucks Double Shot Espresso's.  HELLO ATLANTIC, I'M WIDE AWAKE.  What a beautiful night, perfect weather, perfect skys, perfect seas.  Even though you couldn't see the bow from the helm chair, stepping out of the pilothouse doors onto the sidewalks was absoloutely wonderful.  The stars were amazing, the salt air invigorating and I couldnt help but thank my lord and maker for such a blessing.   David was sleeping peacefully, I was driving our boat (by myself) in complete darkness in the middle of the night in the open ocean and having the time of my life.  

While on my watch I noticed that we were slowing down, our RPM's hadnt changed a bit, but we had slowed to almost 5 knots.   I guess the 8 miles offshore created a strong push from the gulf stream, so we crept back in closer to shore to about 3 miles off and ZOOM, we were off again.  Back up to 8.5 knots, but were able to reduce RPM's from 1800 to 1400.

We arrived outside of Port Everglades at about 6:00AM, so it took us 13 hours inlet to inlet.  We noticed several freighters and cruise ships awaiting entry into the Channel and realized that there was a commercial anchorage just outside the entrace to the channel.  We listened closely to the VHF and shot the gap when we had a safe opening.

I had called the Marina on Tuesday 01/25/11 to confim our reservation (even though we had a formal confirmation).  It was a good thing I did because I was told they were SOLD OUT and they had no record of our reservation which had been made through PassageMaker in October.    I emailed a copy of the reservation to the Marina and made about 5 calls to different people at PassageMaker (they had to be tracked down because they were all at Trawlerfest).  With their assistance and persistance, they were able to secure us a slip.

We arrived at Bahia Mar Marina and were directed by the Dock Master to Dock D, Slip 400.  We were parked amongst mega yachts; ships that had no resemblence to a trawler at all.   I looked around and asked the Dock Master, where is Trawlerfest?  He pointed to the complete opposite end of the property........

I went to see if I could convince the Marina office to move us to a slip somewhere in the general vacinity of Trawlerfest, but alass, they were sold out!   We felt that our beautiful trawler had been exiled in Mega Yacht Land.   Since we were supposed to have participated in the Trawler Crawl this posed a logistics issue and meant that we couldn't participate.   At this point I felt like this was Trawler-Flop instead of Trawler-Fest.

We have now been awake for over 24 hours, but decided to go ahead and check-in and get our bracelet.   Upon our arrival the sign for the Krogen 55 glowed like a neon sign and drew me in like a fly to honey.  David was starving, but I convinced him to give me 5 minutes to go take a peek.  We immediately ran into Bill Harris and John Gear of the Stuart Kadey Krogen Office, and then introduced to Greg, Laura and Shannon also of Kadey Krogen.   The 55 was fantastic, what a georgous boat and quality craftsmanship!  We toured this as well as the other Kadey's before heading for a quick bite of lunch.  

David asked me when we returned to the marina "what are you going to do when you see a boat that you like better than ours"?  I told him I had no fear whatsoever that would happen.  After hours of touring trawlers of all makes and models, I can honestly say that my "Fat Bottom Girl" is still the best looking boat at the show.  Her quality and features far exceed many of the new boats. 

After being awake for about 30 hours, we decided it was time to draw the curtains and take a well needed nap.  We woke 4 hours later starving, after a breif internet search we decided to try Coconuts Restaurant;  a local hotspot and tourist attraction.  This is completely out of character for us, as we prefer the off the beaten path spots where the locals eat, however we're in Ft. Lauderdale....  Coconuts was fantastic!  The service, quality of the food and value was exceptional.

The next morning we rented bikes from the Marina, coincidentally we were the "Virgin Bike Renters".  They opened their bike rental office that day and we were their first customers, how lucky is that?   We rode for several hours and made a trip to West Marine to pick up a few necessary items.  We had been discussing the possiblity of purchasing a FLIR First Mate for night vision / thermal imaging for months but kept putting off the idea due to the cost.  I asked David if I could have the FLIR as my Valentines present (early of course) so we could  have it for this trip.  I told him I would in turn get him a new outboard for Little Girl for his Valentines present; that was all she wrote.  We now own a FLIR, ha ha...

We departed Bahia Mar Marina on Sunday AM before dawn so we could test our FLIR :(    it doesnt appear to work very well.  I could see channel markers better with my naked eye than I could with the FLIR.  That was very dissapointing to say the least since we've heard nothing but rave reviews.  I think we just got a dud.   We had an absoloutely wonderful cruise back to Fort Pierce and with the push of the gulf stream we got up to a whopping 11.5 knots at 1400 RPM's.   We saw several dolphin and the biggest turtle either one of us had ever seen.   The peace and serenity of cruising cannot be explained to those who have never experienced it.  Some people think cruising offshore with nothing to see but open water would be boring, they say, "there's nothing to see".  They have no idea the beauty the simplicity of the ocean can offer.  Today was a good day and one that will be remembered for nothing more than the gift of pleasure and calmness the sea gave to us.