Timed the Jekyll Creek so that we got there an hour before high tide and successfully navigated this shallow stretch of water without any groundings – yeehhhhaaa!
We missed Brunswick GA on our way south last fall and since we had heard good things about the place we decided to head 4 miles up river and tie up at Brunswick Landing Marina. We met up with Clyde and Sherri Leatherwood from Morado. Clyde is the guy who did all the electrical installations on Q during summer 2009.
Had a lovely meal at Cargo Port with a superb Syrah from Paso Robles, a 2005 “Niner”
It feels good to be in a place where the wine list has varietals selections instead of just “white” or “red”.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Friday 30 April, Pine Island – South of Jekyll Sound Fl, USA, felt like a lot of Miles.
Up early and headed for Fernandina Beach. We had planned to grab a mooring ball in Fernandina but they had a shrimp festival going on so both mooring field and Marina was full to the brim.
Oh well, we refueled the boat and kept heading north.
Maria the Navigator consulted Skipper Bob, a publication that lists and grades anchorages along the ICW, and came up with a few suggestions for a spot to anchor for the night.
She pointed out that there seemed to be a good spot at mile 710, the foolish skipper Jorgen wanted to keep heading north and ignored the advice of the navigator.
Skipper Bob recommend a spot at 704 at a creek named – Bollicky creek and skipper Jorgen thought it looked excellent about 300’ wide in the widest area with 12’ of water at MLLW.
Said and done, we drove the fat ship Q into the skinniest little creek she had ever been in and proceeded up to the widest area were all charts said we’d see 12’ of water at low tide.
You guessed it – we ran aground at 5 feet of water where it should have been 12 feet.
Oh well, we are getting experienced at running aground, opened a couple of beers and waiter for high tide. Somehow a dolphin managed to swim by us on the skinny side- very strange indeed.
One hour later we were off and headed north to and anchorage just south of Jekyll Sound,
Had the hook down at 19:00 and Whiskey poured at 19:01.
Stressful couple of days…. Definitely no barnacles on Q’s bottom at this stage
Oh well, we refueled the boat and kept heading north.
Maria the Navigator consulted Skipper Bob, a publication that lists and grades anchorages along the ICW, and came up with a few suggestions for a spot to anchor for the night.
She pointed out that there seemed to be a good spot at mile 710, the foolish skipper Jorgen wanted to keep heading north and ignored the advice of the navigator.
Skipper Bob recommend a spot at 704 at a creek named – Bollicky creek and skipper Jorgen thought it looked excellent about 300’ wide in the widest area with 12’ of water at MLLW.
Said and done, we drove the fat ship Q into the skinniest little creek she had ever been in and proceeded up to the widest area were all charts said we’d see 12’ of water at low tide.
You guessed it – we ran aground at 5 feet of water where it should have been 12 feet.
Oh well, we are getting experienced at running aground, opened a couple of beers and waiter for high tide. Somehow a dolphin managed to swim by us on the skinny side- very strange indeed.
One hour later we were off and headed north to and anchorage just south of Jekyll Sound,
Had the hook down at 19:00 and Whiskey poured at 19:01.
Stressful couple of days…. Definitely no barnacles on Q’s bottom at this stage
Thursday 29 April, Daytona Beach- Pine Island, Fl, USA, 55 Miles.
Left Daytona Beach around 07:00 in order to make the Matanzas Creek inlet as early as possible.
The Coast Guard had been broadcasting about some severe shoaling at the Matanzas creek inlet and we wanted to get there as early as possible.
Jorgen read the reports on cruisersnet.com and it called for staying 50-75 feet of the western shore at the troubled shoaling spot. So we did. And promptly ran aground. Hard. On a falling tide.
Had to call TowBoat US (we carry unlimited towing insurance), the lad came after forty minutes and yanked us off after much trouble and his 200 hp outboard at full blast.
The bad thing is that after the grounding our steering feels a bit stiff and we are a bit worried about damage to rudder and/or steering system.
Passed thru St Augustine and decided to give it a miss since we do not like the anchorages there and pressed on another 15 miles to Pine Island, a really nice anchorage with great holding
The Coast Guard had been broadcasting about some severe shoaling at the Matanzas creek inlet and we wanted to get there as early as possible.
Jorgen read the reports on cruisersnet.com and it called for staying 50-75 feet of the western shore at the troubled shoaling spot. So we did. And promptly ran aground. Hard. On a falling tide.
Had to call TowBoat US (we carry unlimited towing insurance), the lad came after forty minutes and yanked us off after much trouble and his 200 hp outboard at full blast.
The bad thing is that after the grounding our steering feels a bit stiff and we are a bit worried about damage to rudder and/or steering system.
Passed thru St Augustine and decided to give it a miss since we do not like the anchorages there and pressed on another 15 miles to Pine Island, a really nice anchorage with great holding
Wednesday 28 April, Daytona Beach, Fl, USA, 0 Miles.
Hung out in Daytona and walked the historical district, checked out a few of the local stores and had lovely breakfast at the Ivy Lane restaurant. We picked up provisions in the local Publix supermarket – we felt like kids in a candy store with all the freshly baked goods and fresh produce and yummy steaks – packed the trolley to the brim.
Tuesday 27 April, Cocoa Beach – Daytona Beach, Fl, USA, 60 Miles.
Denny and Rhonda, friends from Hampton Roads, were in Daytona Beach with their boat Adagio. We decided to stay in Daytona for a night and hook up with D&R for some libations. Dinner at the North End Restaurant a blast from the past when they raced the cars on the beach.
Monday 26 April, Vero Beach – Cocoa Beach, Fl, USA, 60 Miles.
Started to head up the ICW to a favorite anchorage just south of Cocoa Beach.
It was a very windy day with not many boats traveling. Our Chart Plotter decided to crap out again. It reboots itself every 5 minutes. Same thing happened during fall when we got down to this area of Florida. The Raymarine E120 chartplotter must have the same feeling about Florida as we do…or else NASA has some weird eddies in the atmosphere. We heard trains during the night , another strange sound
It was a very windy day with not many boats traveling. Our Chart Plotter decided to crap out again. It reboots itself every 5 minutes. Same thing happened during fall when we got down to this area of Florida. The Raymarine E120 chartplotter must have the same feeling about Florida as we do…or else NASA has some weird eddies in the atmosphere. We heard trains during the night , another strange sound
Saturday 24 April – Sunday 25 April, Vero Beach, Fl, USA, 0 Miles.
We took a rest day on Sunday and got the ship ready for coastal cruising, dinghy (Beast) off foredeck, motor on, up into the davits etc etc.
Dinghy operations across the creek and feasted on lunch at a local restaurant. It feels somewhat strange to be back in the States again, so civilized, so many people, shiny cars, tosser Florida power boaters and huge portions at restaurants (accompanied with large people who eat the hugeportions) – it was very strange hearing road traffic again.
Dinghy operations across the creek and feasted on lunch at a local restaurant. It feels somewhat strange to be back in the States again, so civilized, so many people, shiny cars, tosser Florida power boaters and huge portions at restaurants (accompanied with large people who eat the hugeportions) – it was very strange hearing road traffic again.
Friday 34 April – Saturday 24 April , Great Sale Cay – Ft Pierce FL USA, 115 Miles.
We had planned to leave Great Sale Cay about 22:00 in order to sail the Bahama Banks during the night and arrive at the Gulf Stream at first light at 06:00 Saturday morning.
Both Jorgen and Jim on Innisfree got bored and antsy so after a quick VHF conference we upped anchor at 20:00 and fecked off outta Great Sale.
We had an uneventful motorsail across the banks and hit the stream at about 04:00. Innisfree’s chart plotter wouldn’t fire up so we were their eyes for the big stuff like AIS and radar, navigation etc. Luckily Gwenn had her trusty handheld Garmin GPS
I checked the weather again and now it called for ESE winds at 10 kts – not enough wind to sail at reasonable speed on a run to a broad reach – crickey it was going to be a motor sail again!
At sunrise we met Boomerang who had left Double Breasted Cay the day before and sailed under spinnaker all night doing speeds between 4-8 knots, that’s what a performance Catamaran with lots of carbon fiber thingos can do – it lets you sail!
Anyway, just when Jorgen had stopped biotchin about no wind – it piped up – go figure.
Wind increased from ESE at 10 and clocked to SE at 15 kts. Once we hit the stream we were screaming along under full sails at 9+ knots. Sail of the Century # 2 or so we thought.
A couple of hours later while Jorgen was napping in the cockpit, our Autopilot decides that it is time for a Crazy Ivan Maneuver and does a 360 degree turn with a wild jibe thrown in (thank Buddha we had set a preventer while on a broad reach). Maria let out a scream and a few expletives, a still half napping skipper got the ship back on course sailing due west at 270 degrees. Only the autopilot showed us sailing a course of 90 degrees – due east. The little bugger must have gotten confused. The resourceful Maria did what one should always do when in doubt – shut the autopilot down and restarted it again. Worked like a charm!
The wind was blowing fine; we were loving it and kept up with Innisfree a 38’ catamaran.
I guess one shouldn’t wish for too much wind, because all of a sudden the winds increased to 20 kts gusting 25 and clocked to SSE – on the beam! Time to reef main and jib and we still did 8+ knots under reefed sails.
Got into Ft Pierce around 13:00 Saturday, the entrance was some tricky driving with 6-7’ waves on the beam an Q rolling gunwale to gunwale and corkscrewing her way into the inlet – vomitus maximus
Decided to head straight up to Vero Beach which is another 15 miles up the ICW. We hooked a mooring ball and had Innisfree over for crossing party with Bubbly wine.
Both Jorgen and Jim on Innisfree got bored and antsy so after a quick VHF conference we upped anchor at 20:00 and fecked off outta Great Sale.
We had an uneventful motorsail across the banks and hit the stream at about 04:00. Innisfree’s chart plotter wouldn’t fire up so we were their eyes for the big stuff like AIS and radar, navigation etc. Luckily Gwenn had her trusty handheld Garmin GPS
I checked the weather again and now it called for ESE winds at 10 kts – not enough wind to sail at reasonable speed on a run to a broad reach – crickey it was going to be a motor sail again!
At sunrise we met Boomerang who had left Double Breasted Cay the day before and sailed under spinnaker all night doing speeds between 4-8 knots, that’s what a performance Catamaran with lots of carbon fiber thingos can do – it lets you sail!
Anyway, just when Jorgen had stopped biotchin about no wind – it piped up – go figure.
Wind increased from ESE at 10 and clocked to SE at 15 kts. Once we hit the stream we were screaming along under full sails at 9+ knots. Sail of the Century # 2 or so we thought.
A couple of hours later while Jorgen was napping in the cockpit, our Autopilot decides that it is time for a Crazy Ivan Maneuver and does a 360 degree turn with a wild jibe thrown in (thank Buddha we had set a preventer while on a broad reach). Maria let out a scream and a few expletives, a still half napping skipper got the ship back on course sailing due west at 270 degrees. Only the autopilot showed us sailing a course of 90 degrees – due east. The little bugger must have gotten confused. The resourceful Maria did what one should always do when in doubt – shut the autopilot down and restarted it again. Worked like a charm!
The wind was blowing fine; we were loving it and kept up with Innisfree a 38’ catamaran.
I guess one shouldn’t wish for too much wind, because all of a sudden the winds increased to 20 kts gusting 25 and clocked to SSE – on the beam! Time to reef main and jib and we still did 8+ knots under reefed sails.
Got into Ft Pierce around 13:00 Saturday, the entrance was some tricky driving with 6-7’ waves on the beam an Q rolling gunwale to gunwale and corkscrewing her way into the inlet – vomitus maximus
Decided to head straight up to Vero Beach which is another 15 miles up the ICW. We hooked a mooring ball and had Innisfree over for crossing party with Bubbly wine.
Thursday 22 April, Spanish Cay – Great Sale Cay, Abacos 45 Miles.
Headed down to Great Sale Cay to stage up for our crossing back to the Estados Unidos.
According to the weather reports, the conditions were favorable for crossing the Gulf Stream on Friday and Saturday. Leaving Thursday night and crossing the stream Friday would afford calm conditions but virtually no wind hence we would have to motor all the way to Florida. Not looking forward to that long motor sail and also not wanting to get the ship ready for blue water (hauling dinghy onto foredeck is a major pain in rear side) while nursing overhangs from the Spanish Cay party – we opted to wait until Friday Night before heading off. The forecast for Friday called for more wind with the only negative that it would really pick up on Saturday night. Oh well, we’d be well tucked into to a mooring in Florida by then (famous last words). Most of the boats left Great Sale Cay on Thursday night, Querencia and Innisfree and a few other boats stayed on.
According to the weather reports, the conditions were favorable for crossing the Gulf Stream on Friday and Saturday. Leaving Thursday night and crossing the stream Friday would afford calm conditions but virtually no wind hence we would have to motor all the way to Florida. Not looking forward to that long motor sail and also not wanting to get the ship ready for blue water (hauling dinghy onto foredeck is a major pain in rear side) while nursing overhangs from the Spanish Cay party – we opted to wait until Friday Night before heading off. The forecast for Friday called for more wind with the only negative that it would really pick up on Saturday night. Oh well, we’d be well tucked into to a mooring in Florida by then (famous last words). Most of the boats left Great Sale Cay on Thursday night, Querencia and Innisfree and a few other boats stayed on.
Wednesday 21 April, Manjack Cay – Spanish Cay, Abacos 20 Miles.
Headed into Spanish Cay Marina as we needed to top up our water tank one last time before heading back to the States.
Big party at the marina - The chicks gave Jim and Jorgen a spanking in shuffle board.
We were the only boats there so it was like our own private resort. The owner’s son was managing things while they were trying to find a couple who would manage the island – I think cabin fever was starting to affect the fellow!
Big party at the marina - The chicks gave Jim and Jorgen a spanking in shuffle board.
We were the only boats there so it was like our own private resort. The owner’s son was managing things while they were trying to find a couple who would manage the island – I think cabin fever was starting to affect the fellow!
Tuesday 20 April, Green Turtle Cay – Manjack Cay, Abacos 4 Miles.
Upped the anchor and headed up to Manjack Cay. Cool dinghy ops through the mangroves at high tide. Zillions of turtles and starfish and a baby shark to boot.
(Well, the shark might have been a baby but it managed to startle Miss Maria who fell backwards into the dinghy...)
Jim dove in and picked up a bright yellow starfish – very cool critters. We beachcombed on the little beaches western side of the island. Gwenn and Maria hiked the trails in the morning to the eastern beaches
(Well, the shark might have been a baby but it managed to startle Miss Maria who fell backwards into the dinghy...)
Jim dove in and picked up a bright yellow starfish – very cool critters. We beachcombed on the little beaches western side of the island. Gwenn and Maria hiked the trails in the morning to the eastern beaches
Sunday 18 April, Marsh Harbor – Green Turtle Cay, Abacos 20 Miles.
Conditions were favorable for crossing the infamous whale passage which is notorious for its “rage” – there can be 10 foot standing waves in the cut if conditions are bad.
Today it was, to quote Don from s/v Boomerang, like “piss on a plate”.
We planned to head into White Sound at Green Turtle Cay as our 5’9” draft would never let us into to the more southern hip and happening Black Sound.
Unfortunately we had to leave Marsh Harbor at high tide to get out of our slip. That meant that we arrive at the entrance to White sound about 1.5 hours before low tide. Not ideal but the charts showed 5’6” so we figured we’d give it a go…
Promptly ran aground at the entrance of the channel. There was no way we could back ourselves off.
The local ferry with dual big diesels engines tried to tow us of – negatory. Big old Q wouldn’t budge. All we could do was to call a ‘securitee’ on the radio, warning other boaters that we were blocking the channel, open a beer and wait for the tide to come in.
Three hours later, about 7 pm we started to float off and put the engine in reverse. Headed straight for an anchorage about a mile away, dropped the hook and relaxed.
Went into historical New Plymouth, nice town, less frilly than Hopetown but very authentic stuff.
Today it was, to quote Don from s/v Boomerang, like “piss on a plate”.
We planned to head into White Sound at Green Turtle Cay as our 5’9” draft would never let us into to the more southern hip and happening Black Sound.
Unfortunately we had to leave Marsh Harbor at high tide to get out of our slip. That meant that we arrive at the entrance to White sound about 1.5 hours before low tide. Not ideal but the charts showed 5’6” so we figured we’d give it a go…
Promptly ran aground at the entrance of the channel. There was no way we could back ourselves off.
The local ferry with dual big diesels engines tried to tow us of – negatory. Big old Q wouldn’t budge. All we could do was to call a ‘securitee’ on the radio, warning other boaters that we were blocking the channel, open a beer and wait for the tide to come in.
Three hours later, about 7 pm we started to float off and put the engine in reverse. Headed straight for an anchorage about a mile away, dropped the hook and relaxed.
Went into historical New Plymouth, nice town, less frilly than Hopetown but very authentic stuff.
Saturday 17 April Hopetown – Marsh Harbor, Abacos 10 Miles.
Headed back to Marsh Harbor to refuel, re-water and re-provision before our crossing back to the States.
We hooked up with Innisfree, Jim returned from a quick visit to Canada so we all went to Wally’s restaurant to celebrate reunion. The food at Wally’s is the best in Marsh harbor. Our plan was to leave the next day for Green Turtle Cay but we had to wait for high tide as Q sat aground in the slip at low tide.
We hooked up with Innisfree, Jim returned from a quick visit to Canada so we all went to Wally’s restaurant to celebrate reunion. The food at Wally’s is the best in Marsh harbor. Our plan was to leave the next day for Green Turtle Cay but we had to wait for high tide as Q sat aground in the slip at low tide.
Tuesday 06 April - Saturday 17 April Hopetown, Abacos 0 Miles.
Hung out in Hopetown to recharge the batteries (ours, not the 4D AGM’s)
Jorgen’s project: Hack sawed the dinghy motor lock of – lesson learned – do not leave your dinghy motor lock on for 4.5 months in the harsh salty marine environment of the Bahamas. No amount of WD40 will undo the damage done. We need to get the lock off so we could put the Beast on the foredeck for our return journey
After 1 hours of hectic sawing in the blazing sun, three (all I had) hack saw blades later the lock came of and the neighboring boat came over in their dinghy and gave me a well deserved cold beer.
Our pals on catamaran Boomerang host a wedding ceremony abroad. The exchange of vows took place underway in the Sea of Abaco and as the bride and groom returned to harbor we all blew our horns, conchs or anything that made significant noise, as the newly weds were paraded around the harbor – congrats guys
We decided to blow out some cobwebs and rented Bicycles for the day. We cycled all the way to Tahiti Beach some many miles away over hilly terrain – now folks these bicycles only have one gear- we were so ready for a beer by the time we reached the southern tip of the island. So we bar hopped our way back and enjoyed Long Island Ice Teas at On Da Beach.
More projects: Changed oil in dinghy motor and Honda generator.
Jorgen’s project: Hack sawed the dinghy motor lock of – lesson learned – do not leave your dinghy motor lock on for 4.5 months in the harsh salty marine environment of the Bahamas. No amount of WD40 will undo the damage done. We need to get the lock off so we could put the Beast on the foredeck for our return journey
After 1 hours of hectic sawing in the blazing sun, three (all I had) hack saw blades later the lock came of and the neighboring boat came over in their dinghy and gave me a well deserved cold beer.
Our pals on catamaran Boomerang host a wedding ceremony abroad. The exchange of vows took place underway in the Sea of Abaco and as the bride and groom returned to harbor we all blew our horns, conchs or anything that made significant noise, as the newly weds were paraded around the harbor – congrats guys
We decided to blow out some cobwebs and rented Bicycles for the day. We cycled all the way to Tahiti Beach some many miles away over hilly terrain – now folks these bicycles only have one gear- we were so ready for a beer by the time we reached the southern tip of the island. So we bar hopped our way back and enjoyed Long Island Ice Teas at On Da Beach.
More projects: Changed oil in dinghy motor and Honda generator.
Tuesday 06 April – Tilloo Cay- Hopetown, Abacos 20 Miles.
We successfully wriggled into Hopetown and picked up a mooring ball in among the many boats moored there. Hopetown harbor is one huge mooring field in a beautiful setting. We moored up ahead of a minor cold front and when it came it blew hard enough that we were glad to be in the protected harbor. Hopetown’s famous landmark is the red and white striped lighthouse at the entrance. The lighthouse is still manually operated and is open to the public. We climbed to the top and got a great view of the islands below us.
Sunday 04 April –Man O’ war Cay – Tilloo Cay, Abacos 20 Miles.
Our pals on Innisfree were cooking up a storm for Easter Sunday Dinner aboard. We had starved ourselves especially for the occasion and headed over for drinks and dinner at 5pm – Gwenn what a feast, very yummy tucker
Well there weren’t any Easter eggs anywhere so no chocolate eggs were had – note to self I must remember this next year and make up for lack of chocolate eggs
Before leaving Tiloo we headed over for a beer at Cracker P’s, another famous watering hole in the Abacos – fun spot but arrived at opening hour so the place wasn’t really rockin' yet. We had leave so we could enter Hopetown at high tide
Well there weren’t any Easter eggs anywhere so no chocolate eggs were had – note to self I must remember this next year and make up for lack of chocolate eggs
Before leaving Tiloo we headed over for a beer at Cracker P’s, another famous watering hole in the Abacos – fun spot but arrived at opening hour so the place wasn’t really rockin' yet. We had leave so we could enter Hopetown at high tide
Thursday 01 April – Marsh Harbor – Man O’ war Cay, Abacos 10 Miles.
After having re-provisioned and taken care of chores such as extending our Bahamian visas we were ready to get out of Marina Land and go anchor off a pristine beach somewhere. So we headed to Man-O-war Cay.
The holding wasn’t great so we reset the anchor a little closer to shore. We were all settled in when our neighbor dinghied over and informed us that he had anchored in the same spot and had snagged a submerged power line, well go figure we had snagged the same one! So here we are head by 220 volts wrapped in plastic yikes!
We bobbled about in our dinghy with our look-see bucket and surveyed the situation – there was the anchor with power cable and coral head combined – not fun stuff – Jorgen came up with the brilliant idea of using our dinghy danforth anchor to trip our main anchor – we just wanted to get off this cable ASAP!! The trick worked great and we reanchored Querencia in trouble free waters.
s/v Dana joined us the following day and we went walkabout on the island – very quaint places with great golf cart roads. Dinner celebrations aboard Querencia before Dana headed north on their return journey to the USA – safe travels Jim and Bonnie!
The holding wasn’t great so we reset the anchor a little closer to shore. We were all settled in when our neighbor dinghied over and informed us that he had anchored in the same spot and had snagged a submerged power line, well go figure we had snagged the same one! So here we are head by 220 volts wrapped in plastic yikes!
We bobbled about in our dinghy with our look-see bucket and surveyed the situation – there was the anchor with power cable and coral head combined – not fun stuff – Jorgen came up with the brilliant idea of using our dinghy danforth anchor to trip our main anchor – we just wanted to get off this cable ASAP!! The trick worked great and we reanchored Querencia in trouble free waters.
s/v Dana joined us the following day and we went walkabout on the island – very quaint places with great golf cart roads. Dinner celebrations aboard Querencia before Dana headed north on their return journey to the USA – safe travels Jim and Bonnie!
More From Marsh Harbor
Hitched a ride from our friends Jim and Gwenn on sailing catamaran Innisfree and headed over to Great Guana Cay to the famous Nippers. We heard the Pig Roast was a big to-do!
Nippers looked like a spring break gone wrong, we were surrounded by wasted amateurs- but a least we can chalk it off the list. Innisfree stayed at the Orchid Bay Marina so the crew from Q and Dana took the ferry back to Marsh Harbor.
Nippers looked like a spring break gone wrong, we were surrounded by wasted amateurs- but a least we can chalk it off the list. Innisfree stayed at the Orchid Bay Marina so the crew from Q and Dana took the ferry back to Marsh Harbor.
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