UPDATE: Back to the U.S. to Reckon with Hurricane Season

Our cruising insurance requires us to be north of Cumberland Island Georgia before June 1st so as much as we would like to stay it’s time to hit the road.  We thoroughly enjoyed our 5 weeks in Abaco and are planning much more time here in the future.

The weather gods created a good window to run the 180 nautical mile trip back to Vero Beach. We left Green Turtle bright and early Friday morning and enjoyed a beautiful day on the water arriving at Great Sale Cay around 3:30 pm.

I must admit we had a first time experience on this leg of the trip. I remember seeing a tee shirt that described our experience a few years back. We were about 5 miles off Great Sale Cay when I noticed a cruising power boat begin to pass us. They were a quarter mile or so off of our starboard beam. As they moved away I picked up the binoculars to read the name of the vessel. About that time their rod on the stern began to bend over. They caught a fish. Well that’s not that unusual, however seeing the woman quickly climb down from the fly bridge totally nude was. Yep, not a stitch of clothes. She grabbed the rod and it must have been a big one. The guy stopped the boat and climbed down to help out. Yep, you guessed it, not a stitch of clothes either. I thought to myself I might want to learn how to fish like that. Seems like it could be a lot of fun. Anyway, you’ve got it. The tee shirt I saw a few years ago said “Fish Naked”. While at the time I laughed and thought yeah right. These guys must have thought it was a great idea, so now we have it. People really do fish naked.

The crossing from Great Sale to Ft. Pierce Inlet had it’s moments. Most of the trip was comfortable however about 11:00 pm Saturday night the wind shifted and picked up from 10 kts south to 33 kts out of the northwest. Couldn’t have happened at a worse time. We were in the middle of the Gulf Stream and things got a little rough. Wind Dust did her job well and we pushed on despite the conditions. Around 3:00 am the wind began to die down and we were able to pick up speed to Ft. Pierce Inlet arriving there at 7:45 am. It was a beautiful sunrise on Mother’s Day Sunday and we transited the inlet to the point where we turned north on the ICW for Vero Beach. The 1^st obstacle was my favor bridge, Ft. Pierce North. This is the bridge that almost closed on us our way to the Bahamas so I’m ready when I hail the bridge tender. Well guess what. The bridge tender tells me they have had an accident and the opening will be delayed until repairmen can fix the problem. All I can hope for is no one was seriously injured and the investigation will wake up the person responsible for Florida Bridge tenders. This guy needs to retire.

After a 30 minute delay the bridge opened and we head for Vero Beach City Marina. We were on the mooring by 11:00 am and promptly crashed. The next morning we put the dinghy down and headed for bathhouse. After defuncking at the showers we headed to Publix for cheap beer. I say cheap because of the cost of beer in the Bahamas. One case of the cheapest beers was $38.00.  The Bahamas does not have sales tax or income tax. The only revenue the government collects is import duty on imported items. Next year I will repaint the waterline on Wind Dust and load her down with lots of Ship’s Store “Beer”.

UPDATE: Atlantis Rocks the House

What an awesome and proud moment to be an American. “Wind Dust” on anchor 9.4 nautical miles from Space Shuttle “Atlantis” in the Indian River prior to launch. The anchorage provided an unobstructed view of the launch and provided us with a memory that will last a lifetime. Many other vessels were anchored in the Indian River off the ICW to experience the event. We feel very, very lucky that the last flight of Space Shuttle “Atlantis” went off on time and without a hitch. The pride we felt seeing “Atlantis” take our finest space veterans into the heavens is beyond description.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

UPDATE: Unplanned Meeting of Old Friends

Hope Town, Abaco Bahamas

You can’t plan for things like this. Sometimes you just sit back and enjoy life as it comes your way. Ginny and I were sitting in Hope Town on a mooring and I decided to try the Oii Wireless internet service. It worked reasonably well and Ginny decided to email an old friend of hers who in the past came to Hope Town every year in April. Off the email goes and before we can shake a stick and (drink a couple cold ones) she gets a reply. Sure enough, Debbie and Lanse Houston are continuing their yearly trek to one of earth’s special places and they will be in Hope Town before we leave.

A little history. Ginny and Debbie have known each other since they were having babies. They worked together for many years at the same companies and Debbie is responsible for getting Ginny interested in sailing vacations (good for me). Ginny introduced Debbie to Lanse by telling her about a position at Lanse’s Company years ago (good for Debbie and Lanse). So now you have it. This relationship goes way back.

Well Debbie and Lanse invited us to have dinner with them and their friends (Jeff and EJ) Thursday night before we left Hope Town. They rent this home which is located on the harbor in Hope Town and is absolutely awesome. What a magical evening. This was my first time meeting Debbie, Lanse, Jeff and EJ. Their hospitality was beyond believable and they made me feel like I had known them as long as they had known Ginny. We told old stories and laughed until almost midnight. What fun! It will be one of those evenings we will never forget.