2009 BAHAMA CRUISE
With
Bob Horan
Aboard “Linda Jean”, A 24 Ft.
Morgan
By Irwin Gandy
May 1 1300
Left home in Flowery Branch. 1630
arrived @ Bob’s place in Warner Robins.
Met Bob’s wife, Jean, a very nice lady, who seems completely unperturbed
by Bob’s wandering ways.
May 2 We
traveled the back roads from Warner Robins to Brunswick, where we picked up
I-95 & 9A around Jacksonville. We
stopped at the FL Welcome Center after crossing the state line @ 18:00, but the
office closed @ 17:00. The restroom was
nice, clean & air conditioned & even had a nice scent, which is unusual
for rest area restrooms. After that, it was only a short drive to Cracker
Barrel where we had a delicious dinner and the manager gave us permission to
stay overnight in their RV parking area.
May 3 0700
Breakfast on the boat in parking area, uneventful drive down to the launch site
@ Phil Foster Park in West Palm Beach.
Saw John & Sherry with their O'Day 27 in parking lot, and I realized
that I had seen them last year at BEER Cruise.
We reached the boat ramp @ 1630.
The place was packed, but we managed to find parking for both
boats. Just after we parked, we looked
at the ramp and saw there was a tow truck parked in front. After closer inspection, we could see a
pickup truck almost completely submerged with the trailer still attached, with
waves lapping over the cab. After 1 ˝
hrs, they brought out a longer tow truck and a scuba diver and finally pulled
it out. Bob cooked potatoes and I
opened a can of salmon for dinner.
May 4 05:30 Up every 2 hours all during the night as
usual, launched both boats 0730 and tied them to the dock near the ramp. Bob discovered that his outboard would not
start. The gas line connector was the
wrong one. John found a broken bolt on
his trailer & needed a zinc for his prop shaft, so they both made a trip to
West Marine. The boats were initially
docking in a 10 minute staging area, so after Bob returned with the right hose
fitting, and could get the motor running, we moved both boats to another dock
with a longer time limit. The plan now
is to sail out of here around 1900 hrs, Bahama bound for an all-night
sail. I managed to get a salt water
bath with a fresh water rinse this morning.
Cold but refreshing.
Port of Palm
Beach high tide 1750
We left the dock by about 20:00 which was 1 hour
later than planned. After going under
the bridge on the ICW, we motored out the inlet into 5-6 ft seas, and that is
when all hell broke loose. The motor
died when we were almost clear of the channel. Bob tried to raise the main quickly but something was jammed and
the sail would not go up past the spreaders.
We were dead in the water and the pitching up and down in seas that
appeared to be 5 to 6 feet. It was dark
by that time and Bob was up at the mast trying to figure out what the trouble
with the mainsail was and hanging on and being battered around. I was on my knees in the bottom of the
cockpit trying to steer away from the rocks, but in all the confusion, we had
lost forward speed, so the tiller was not effective. After a couple of attempts
to raise the main, Bob realized he had lost the halyard shackle and then tried
to just tie the halyard to the main.
The main still would not get past the spreaders and with the wind was
screaming and blowing us into the rocks on the side of the channel we were in
trouble.. At the very last minute,
Bob managed to get the jib up enough that when I pulled the tiller we headed
down wind and back up the inlet. Bob
tried starting the Sailmaster 6
outboard and it started running again.
From there on the ICW, we turned and motorsailed back to the anchorage
near the dock we had left a short time before, though it seemed like hours,
passing many unlighted markers. A
powerboat passed us, then turned on a rear facing spotlight that destroyed our
night vision until he took a different route.
The anchorage was dark, and the Sailmaster kept stopping. It would not idle at all. We found a likely looking place to anchor,
so we dropped the hook while drifting without power, expecting the wind to move
the boat away from the direction the wind was coming from, but that did not
happen. The current was the prevailing
factor, and pushed us in another direction and much too close to the stern of a
catamaran, whose occupant came out with a boat hook and kept us off his boat.
Bob finally got the motor started again after
numerous pulls on the starter rope, so that we were able to pull away to
another spot to anchor where we spent the night. After we set the anchor and Bob replaced both spark plugs and the
key for the kill switch on the motor.
With the motor repairs finished Bob worked on untangling the main and
jib halyards that had gotten wrapped around the steaming light. We finished up with all the problem areas
slightly after midnight.
May 5
0600 Up and running after breakfast on Linda Jean. Retrieving 2 anchors, we departed Phil
Foster Park for the second time heading for the Bahamas. Winds were SE and gusting 20 mph. By afternoon though the wind had dropped
down and we were being pushed Northward steadily by the Gulf Stream. Near 5PM the wind shifted to East and that
is when we really started to make little progress Eastward and way too much
progress Northward. About 0200 John and
I decided that he should try to make as much Eastward progress as he could
using his diesel motor and we would continue to sail trying to get out of the
current. We sailed all night taking
catnaps in the cockpit and when the sun came up the wind shifted some to the
South again and we were able to come onto a starboard tack again and make some
real progress against the current.
About 2:30AM we were about 15 miles North of the Little Bahama
Bank. We were 60 miles Northwest of
West End and looking like we were heading to Bermuda. We tacked again and
sailed on a port tack with an East wind and helped by the motor we started
making some real progress toward the Bahamas.
At 4PM we finally got out of the Gulf Stream current and 2 hours later
we had come into 40ft deep water. It
was time to anchor and get some rest.
We were on the Northern edge of Little Bahama Bank with no shelter from
the wind and as we found out when we dropped the anchor, we had 2-3 kts of
current. This current decided the
heading of the boat at anchor but unfortunately the seas were running at 90
degrees from that. We were in for a
very rough night. We called
"Serenity" and found out that John & Sherry were anchored only about
3-4 miles away. About 7PM Bob looked
out and saw what looked like Lake Michigan sand dunes with bushes and
trees. It was the fog and clouds
playing tricks on us, but it looked real.
There were trees, a whole forest.
I thought I was seeing a stone fence in front of the trees. I thought I was going crazy again, but when
Bob said that he could see the trees ( clouds behind the fog) too, I was
relieved. During the night the boat
was rocking big time and things were slipping and sliding in the cabin and the
V-berth. We both did not sleep a lot
and by morning (Thursday, May 7th) the seas were still 4-5 ft.
We were unable to contact John & Sherry on the
radio in the morning, so after pulling our anchors, we sailed over to where
they were anchored, 4 miles away. They
were having coffee after spending 2 hours trying to untangle their anchors from
a couple of crab traps. We called that
spot our crab trap anchorage for the rest of the trip. John said they had not had any coffee for 3
days. Come to think of it, we too had
not had coffee for 3 days either. Just
saw a bird fly by. Only the 2nd
since we left Florida. It’s 1100 now
and we are happily sailing along on a turquoise sea under blue sky with fluffy
clouds. Its warm, but not hot yet.
The wind died about 12:00 and the seas got flat and
smooth so we anchored in 16ft of turquoise water. We put up the awning and rested in the shade. Bob went swimming, and shortly afterward we
saw Serenity's sail about 3 miles away.
We hailed them and found that they were pressing on for Walker's Cay
with under motor and expected to be there by dark. Bob & I decided to rest, have supper, and go to bed early so
if the wind came up, we could raise the sails and continue sailing. Bob cooked up some fresh sweet potatoes and
after opening a can of ham and making up some stove top dressing, we had a tasty
dinner.
May 8 0015
a.m. The wind is up, rocking the
boat. Bob is up ready to sail, his
watch was on upside down. He thought it
was 0500. We have been sailing since
then. We would each try to get a nap
for 30-60 minutes during the night. We
were sailing with reefed main and his HD110 jib making good speed although it
was a little too far South than we needed to go to avoid the Lily Bank
Shoals. When Bob woke up at 0600, he
checked our position and came on deck with a new heading. We were still 20+ miles away from Walkers
Cay because we had gone too far South during the night. With a fresh wind on our beam, we set a
course straight for Walkers Cay. It was
an 8 hour sail and Bob was using all the techniques to get more speed from his
Morgan 24. . The midnight sail this
morning was fun, plenty of wind. We
were flying over the water with salt spray splashing back into the cockpit. Bob and I were in our glory.
10:10 “Land
Ho” We spotted some buildings on the
horizon that we hope is our destination,
Walker Cay. Tides at Memory
Rock: High Tides 0815, Low tide
1426. Arrived Walker Cay near low
tide, made anchorage and installed Bob’s awning, which is a life saver in this
heat. We had tuna salad for lunch and
then it was siesta time. We finally
made radio contact with John & Sherry.
They have already checked in with customs and are now out exploring the
Island. John told us on the radio that
this place has no drinking water, no ice, no fuel and no trash pickup. There is no cell phone service. We have been cut off from the outside
world 2 miles outside Walker Cay, we
dropped the hook, had lunch. Outside
temperature feels like 90 degrees. It
is 16:30 and 4 hours till high tide
with a shallow channel entrance to Customs office. Bob elects to take the dingy in with an antique 4 hp outboard and
two oars. He fills the tank with gas,
but it will not even fire at all, so Bob rows away. Bob rowed the dingy to the Customs Office to fill out numerous
forms. The Customs Officer said we were
required to bring the boat into the marina so that he could see it before
completing registration. So, we did
that and tied up to the deserted docks at Walker Cay. The reason it was deserted is par of it was destroyed maybe 5
years ago by a hurricane. It was an
upscale resort prior to that and the marina was closed. Now it is in litigation with heirs who
cannot agree on what to do with it. So,
now there are only 5 permanent residents on the island.
May 9
Departed Walker Cay for Grand Cay.
We sailed out of Walkers Cay on the North route with lights winds. We started motoring after we found that the
current was pushing us back. Arrived @
fuel dock Grand Cay around noon, filled up with gas, water and ice. Then found an anchorage on the opposite
shore. I borrowed Bob’s dingy and rowed
back across the channel to find a place to mail a couple of cards. That was the first time I had tried to row
Bob’s dingy, so it took longer than it should have. I took our trash with me, beached the dingy beside a trash barrel
and asked a couple of people about mailing a letter. The first man said no place to mail anything. The second man said the post Office was
closed that day, so I walked about until I found Rosie’s Bar, which is featured
in the Cruising Guide. The door was
locked at 1:30 p.m., but around the corner I found one of the employees who
unlocked the door for me. I had a cold
Kalik Bahamain beer…my first in over a week.
I did not want to bring any with me because of the import tax. It was the best I ever had. A man in the bar told me he could mail my
mail for me on Monday. I gave him a
dollar for postage and thanked him. John
and Sherry rowed over to visit for a couple of hours. We moved to another anchorage for the night. By morning we were
getting eat alive by the no-seeums. It
was time to get up and get away these pests.
May 10,
07:00 Had breakfast, then pulled
up 2 anchors before sailing to Double Breasted Cay. We sailed around the North side and slipped in between the two
ridges of Double Breasted Cay. Sailing
with just a reefed main, we ghosted along the narrow channel taking in the
undisturbed wilderness around us. Near
the end of the islands, we missed judged the depth and ran aground. Our tide clock indicated high tide, and the
motor would not pull us off. Bob tried
to heal over the boat, set a kedging anchor in the soft bottom, but none of
these worked. Using the dinghy, Bob was
able to hook the anchor on some rock and with a little coaxing from the winch,
we were able to pull ourselves off. It
only took about 1.5 hours to get off.
Free again we sailed around the island to a beach area on the South side
of the islands. We had a visitor in a
dinghy paddle up to chat shortly after we had put up the awning. He was sailing a 39ft. Piver Trimaran and
had sailed it down from Rhode Island.
He had been in Bahamas for the last 5 months. John and Sherry arrived a short time later and surprised us by
swimming up as we rested under the awning.
They swam to the beach and Bob took the dinghy ashore. There was a lot of current next the beach
and we had to be careful when swimming.
John, sherry and Bob, waded out into the shallow water and cooled off
while marveling at the beauty of the water and island. After Bob came back with the dinghy, a
Bahamian Beach Party showed up in the afternoon with 5 boat loads of people
complete with music, 100 yards from our anchorage. We listened to the music and watched their boats come and go. We had cocktail time on
"Serenity", John and Sherry’s boat.
I managed to get a salt water bath while holding on to the swim
ladder. Water was too deep to stand up
in and the current too swift to swim.
May 11
Monday Difficult to keep up with
what day it is out here. My watch
stopped running and I’m unable to find the spare watch with the day and date on
it. Anchors aweigh at 0700. Destination – Sale Cay, an uninhabited
island. We had a ESE wind and were able to sail making about 4kts most of the
time. Arrived Sale Car 1430. Anchored and had lunch. 10 ft of beautiful warm water. 1530 Serenity arrived with jib halyard half
way up the forestay on the furler.
Sherry went up the mast in a harness with John and Bob on the
winch. She successfully tied the
messenger line to the halyard with one hand while holding on to the mast with
the other. Mission accomplished. Received invite to go to Serenity for
cocktails. While we were still there,
three members of Bob’s Oconee Sail Club came to join the party. Bob and I came back to Linda Jean after sunset. Then the Oconee Group invited our group to
join them on their 33 ft sailboat for some fresh cooked fish. Bob and I declined, but John & Sherry
went over.
May 12
Tuesday – Sale Cay Up at 0730
for Bob’s scrambled eggs and pancake and coffee breakfast. Outstanding! The plan is to remain here at Sale Cay till tomorrow a.m. and do
some snorkeling. This will be the first
time we have taken a day off from sailing since leaving Florida. We got in the dinghy and went ashore to find
not much in the way of sandy beach but mostly a kind of sandstone rock, or
coral, worn ragged by the water.
Snorkeling was good. Saw several different colors of coral. Water was about 80degrees and was nice to swim in, but did not
see any fish. Sherry located a spot on
shore with GPS near a place where a submerged shipwreck had been reported, but
we were not able to find it. Rested in
the afternoon after returning to the boat, then reported to Serenity for
Cocktail Hour. We decided that night to
press on to Mangrove Cay the next day rather than spending another day at
anchor.
May 13
Wednesday Mangrove Cay - Up at 0630, breakfast of cereal, sailing by
0730 toward our next destination, Mangrove Cay. Ran into a storm, complete with heavy wind, rain and lightning. Arrived Mangrove Cay anchorage at 1430. Rain showers all around us. This was not a great anchorage but we were
able to hide behind the island to block some of the waves but not the
wind. By morning the wind had shifted
and we were seeing more waves.
May 14
Thursday: Destination West
End Anchors away. Sailed out of Mangrove anchorage with jib
only. Set compass course 245 degrees
for West End. Wind East 15 knots with 3
to 4 ft seas. Sunny with a few
scattered clouds. We put up a reefed
main when we were near the Indian Cay Channel, and with a 15kt wind we quickly
exited the channel only to be back into the Gulf Stream current. Using the motor and sails we headed for the
channel next to West End to anchor.
1415 – Dropped 2 hooks into beautiful turquoise water 8 ft deep at half
tide. We reached our original
destination in the Bahamas nearly 2 weeks after we left Florida. Not the way we planned it, but it has been
fun island hopping.
"Serenity" arrived at 15:45 and went
directly to the fuel dock for diesel fuel and ice. They picked up a bag of ice for Bob and me, so after they
anchored about 50 ft from us, John brought the bag of ice over to our
boat. But, when he started rowing back
to his boat, the current over-powered him.
He stared drifting backwards instead of forward. Bob let out all the line on his dingy and
John managed to grab on to Bob’s dingy before he was carried on out to
sea. So then, we were able to pull
Bob’s dingy back up to Linda Jean with John right behind it. With John secured to Linda Jean, Bob rowed
over to serenity to pick up a line that Sherry had made up. Then Bob took the line with a fender on the
end of it back to John who was then able to pull himself and his dingy back to
Serenity. Another near disaster averted.
May 14 The
Saga of West End Old Bahama Bay Marina
It was 17:00 and Cocktail Time with the Davis's. They paid an extra fee to enable land line
phone calls. They offered to let me use
their computer to call Marion, the first communication since leaving
Florida. We were able to make phone
calls home and send e-mails to let everyone back home that we were still
sailing and safe. We learned that
Sherry's sister had called the US Coast Guard to try to find us because she had
not heard from Sherry for more than a week.
Something we were going to have to get straight when we got back to
Florida.
May 15
Trying to find a marina with a slip we can rent. Old Bahama Bay Marina
would not talk with us about getting a slip after they found out we were only
24 ft long. The current here is too
strong to dingy anywhere without a motor.
John and Sherry motored around to the other side of the island to check
out another marina, but it was closed and the water too shallow, so they came
back. We had Cocktail Time, but it was
not easy. Had to run a line between our
boats to get back and forth, due to strong wind and current. Talked about sailing away from here at 4
a.m. for Lake Worth, FL. Should be some
moonlight if not too many clouds. We
expect it to be a 12 hour sail back to the Lake Worth Inlet.
Saturday, May 16th.
- Florida Bound 0400 Anchors away. Leaving West End behind.
0600 dawn. Daylight makes
everything look better. 6 to 8 ft
following seas make for a bumpy ride.
Clean, fresh air out here. No
pollution, no pollen. at 08:30 Bob's GPS, plugged into the ships battery,
started reading a speed of 30.1 kts.
Very strange. Bob read the
battery voltage meter in the cabin and found it to be 11.3v and decided it was
time to switch to 
his reserve battery. The GPS recalibrated and we were again making 5.5-6 kts. Our 1000 location is showing 32nm to
go. We are making good time, and right
on schedule to make Lake Worth Inlet sometime after 4PM. 13:50, Land Ho! Florida coast skyline in sight. 15 miles out. By 16:30
we found the entrance channel to Lake Worth, and by 17:30 we are tied up to a
dock at the Phil Foster Park in West Palm Beach.. John asked a local policeman to recommend a restaurant within
walking distance. It turned out to be
about a mile one way, but we needed the walk anyway and it was a really nice
upscale seafood place. All of us were
tired and hungry and it was a welcome change.
We came back to the boat and found a good anchorage on the West side of
the park near the ICW bridge before it was completely dark. To bed early for a long nights sleep.
Sunday, May 17th.
- Lake Worth 0630
Rudely awakened when a speedboat came by making a big wake and our boat
started rolling violently from side to side.
We had a good breakfast with pancakes and the rest of the eggs because
we knew it would be a long day trying to get the vehicles & get the boats
loaded. Bob rode one of John's
bicycles to pick up his truck & trailer, then drove John out to get
his. It was almost 13:00 when we
finished a light lunch and decided to check to see if the ramps were not too
busy for us to start the loading process.
They were empty, so we got started.
"Lind Jean" was first and went with on the trailer with little
effort. There was just enough of water
at the ramp for the trailers to avoid the ramp dropoff. "Serenity" was next and that also
went fairly smooth. After that it was
just a matter of following a plan to lower the mast and pack everything up. By
16:10 we had everything ready for the road.
John & Sherry had already left 15minutes before. We drove for a couple of hours and at
18:30, stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrel at the Melbourne Exit 191 on
I-95. We parked in the RV Parking
behind the restaurant and had wonderful campfire chicken dinners with extra
biscuits. Will sleep on the boat
tonight and get early start in morning.
May 18
Monday - Rudely awakened in the Cracker Barrel
parking lot (we slept on the boat) by the garbage pickup with the dumpsters banging
and slamming around. Drove for a couple
of hours, then visited another Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Bob brought a bag full of snacks, so we did
not stop for lunch, just kept driving and refueling his big diesel truck. Arrived back at Bob’s house by 16:30, and
started unloading the boat. I packed my
dirty laundry & a few other bags, into the Bravada and hit the road again,
bound for Flowery Branch. The drive
through Atlanta was uneventful. Traffic
kept moving at a good pace, even faster than I really wanted to drive. Arriving back in Flowery Branch at 8 p.m.,.I
was delayed for 10 minutes by a slow moving train. The first thing I did after hugging Marion was to get a wonderful
hot freshwater shower…..the first since leaving home 18 days ago.
For the next week Bob followed the weather for the
Bahama Islands & West End in particular and found that we had come back at
the right time. The day after we left
the wind picked up and for the next 5-6 days the wind was over 20 each day
sometimes over 30. The weather was very
unstable with thunderstorms each day.
This cruise was an adventure none of us will forget very soon.