On to St. Petersburg, Florida!

No Crab Traps!

The SW coast of Florida has a little bit of everything for the adventurous cruiser. When we sailed out of Boot Key Harbor to start our venture up the southwest coast of Florida we expected our first adventure would be dodging crab pods. But to our surprise NO CRAB TRAPS!  If you have ever been across the Florida Bay you know it can be a web of traps to weave through. But we sailed along enjoying a beautiful day pod free.  We stopped the first night in the Little Shark River nestled in the Everglades National Park and when we pulled in and dropped the hook the only company we had were the crocs and the no-see-ums. It’s a dark remote anchorage up a small dark remote river in the Everglades with no cell service so it’s a perfect place to “get away from it all”. There are not many of these truly remote anchorages left so we enjoy stopping here to remember what it use to be like when we cruised the islands off the coast of Southern California back in the early days. It is also a true test of our nerves.

Hurricane Hunter

We got inside the Hurricane Hunter

Our next stop over was beautiful Naples where we spent a few nights on the mooring balls in the City Marina.  In May and June in Florida you need to be anchored up before 3 p.m. because it usually storms in the evenings if not sooner.  So we watched the weather closely all the way up from the Little Shark River and made it in just in time.  We just hooked up to our mooring ball when the storm clouds let loose and blew through.  We were crossing our finger every time the lighting flashed in the sky because we’ve heard this time of year several boats we knew got struck by lightning.   We really enjoyed our time in Naples.  You could walk everywhere from the harbor.  We walked all the way down to the pier and enjoy the best pizza we have had in a long time at Napoli on the Bay Pizza.  After a couple of days exploring Naples we sailed up the coast to Fort Meyers Beach.

Sunset Fort Meyers Beach

Matanzas Harbor Municipal Mooring Field is where we picked up a mooring ball at pretty good prices of $15 a day right between San Carlos and Ester Islands.  It is a little crowded with boats and people but we did enjoyed the many happy hours at the local bars.  After a few days we sailed on to an anchorage we found last year, Pelican Bay in the Caya Costa State Park.  Caya Costa is only accessible by private boat or ferry so it’s quite and we really enjoy the beautiful remote beaches but we need to keep moving up to St. Petersburg. The dog days of Florida summer have stated early and the storms are more frequent so the sooner we get to our summer home in St Petersburg the better.

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Cool old swing bridge

Our last stop before St. Petersburg was in Sarasota. We were hoping to stay there awhile and wait for our friends Terese and Rick to come back to Marina Jacks from Marathon but we heard from them and they were delayed with some engine trouble.  Last year we drove through Sarasota in our car and visited but it was really great to experience it on our boat this time and to stay at the fabulous Marina Jack.  Rick you were right the Marina is first class and the Wi-Fi was the best. They sure got that right.  They have tons of restaurants and nightlife within walking distance of the marina so we had a hard time choosing what to do in the evening. HAHA. We really enjoyed ourselves there and we even caught an afternoon movie.

 Finally we took the GICW the rest of the way up to St. Petersburg via Tampa Bay.  It was a beautiful day and when we sailed under the beautiful Sunshine Skyway Bridge spanning over Tampa Bay it was so much more impressive than when we drove over it earlier this year.

Skyway Bridge

Sailing into any harbor is a special experience but when the harbor is your final destination after 8 months of sailing down the east coast of Florida, through the many spectacular islands of the Bahamas, the wild Florida Keys and up the SW coast it has a very special feeling that only the adventurist can experience. 

St. Petersburg Pier

Dali Museum in St. Petersburg

Dali is amazing up close and far 

away same painting what do you see?

Concert in the park at St. Petersburg

Night Riots and Awolnation

Now we start all that R & R (replace and repair) before we drive back to Kansas City to visit family and friends.  Until our next blog hope you all have a fantastic and safe summer.  Until next season!

GO ROYALS!

The Berry's

When we departed Nassau to sail north to the Berry’s we knew we were going to have some wind to sail (yea) but we just didn’t know the dreaded squalls were coming as well. But Captain King always keeps us safe and upright so when we arrived at the Little Harbor Cay cut 8 hrs later the seas were building, the wind was steadily picking up we puckered up and pointed our nose into the cut surfing our way in. Nothing like riding a 45’, 30,000lb surfboard in 8’ foot following seas. The secret is to give it full throttle and try to match your boat speed to the wave speed. The tick is you have about a 1/10 chance in getting it wrong. Fortunately we got it just right and we got through the cut with no issues. By the time we got safely in the rain was pouring down and the wind was gusting to 38 knots. Thankfully it was blowing from the east so we were well protected.

Sunrise on the Bahama Banks

 A majority of the islands in the Bahamas give you good protection in an easterly wind. Michael said we’ll anchor as close to shore as possible without hitting bottom to get as much protection from the wind as possible. So Cherie puts on her foul weather outfit, climbs on deck in a driving rain, prepares the anchor, picks our spot and drops the anchor. She IS amazing and I think she likes it when it gets exciting. It was about 7 feet deep (yikes) when we finally dropped anchor behind Bonds Cay. The Beaches there are beautiful and with only three boats in the anchorage with us it was very quite. The day started out as a picture perfect sail across the NE Providence Channel and ended up 8 hrs later as a hair-raising event entering the Berry’s. But that is our lives when Mother Nature controls the conditions we live in now.

Anchorage off Marketfish

Blue Hole of Hoffman's Cay

After three days of exploring, fishing and snorkeling on Bond Cay we sailed on further north up the chain and anchored between Market Fish Cay and Soldier Cay.  This became our home base for a while and we took the dingy all through Hoffman’s Cay (Where we had a great hike to the blue hole.), White Cay and Devils Cay.  While snorkeling in some of the most beautiful waters we have seen yet we found a lot of conch in shallow water and enjoyed Cherie’s famous conch salads.   We liked that you could dingy all over from here in the Berry’s since it was shallow and well protected from the east winds.  Plus we only had one other boat in our anchorage. Everyday they would go off in their dingy and Bone fish then in the afternoon they’d kite board up and down the beach. They put on quite a show.  

Next we thought we’d checkout Great Stirrup Cay and Little Stirrup Cay.  These are two small Cays on the northern tip of the Berry’s. We heard from other boaters that they had been taken over by cruise ships and upon getting closer to the islands we found that the cruisers were correct.  Two huge cruise ships where anchored of shore of the island and the beaches are lined with chairs, umbrellas and mountains of people with an endless supply of toys for them to enjoy during their short stopover.  There were shuttle boats constantly going back and forth to the mother ship. So needless to say we sailed right on by leaving behind the thousands of cruise ship patrons to enjoy themselves.

People galore

Entrance in to Great Harbor

Fortunately one of our wish list destinations was just around the corner. Great Harbor Marina and it did not disappoint us.  We really loved this place.  The marina was only $1.50 a foot and the local people were fantastic.  We had a grill and chill at the dock the first night we got in. We rented a golf cart to explore this island with so much history. Once frequented by the Hollywood crowd like Sinatra, Garbo and Bing Crosby it has fallen on hard times. Although Jack Nicholas was there in his 130’ yacht SeaBear for some weekend bone fishing.  Along the way we picked up a lifetime resident to give him a lift into town. This was no short distance to town and he told us he has walked it every morning for as long as he can remember. He was at least in his 70’s. and he wasn’t going to church either. He had us drop him off at the local watering hole. We met so many great people plus on our last night there was a pot-luck and dance party that went long into the night.  You all know how much we love that. We will return to Great Harbor next season for an extended stay.

Sunset Great Harbor

Friends in Great Harbor

Caves in Great Harbor

Caves off Great Harbor

It was time to begin the long push west back to Florida. It involves an overnight passage across the Little Bahama Banks so we weighed anchor at 3am headed for Bimini.   When we arrived at Bimini who should we meet up with but “Lost Puppy” (Ian and Jen) and “Nauti Nell” (Mike and Twyla).  We enjoyed our short visit with everyone but onto Florida.

We had a great trip crossing the Gulf Stream and arrived in Miami where our car was waiting for us.  And for a departure gift we landed a nice Black Fin tuna on the way. So we started in on those lists boaters make while out cruising for months.  We also got to check back in and see my cousin Megan, her husband Scott, daughters Jayden and Teagan.  They spent the day on the boat with us.  Hanging with Megan’s girls on the boat always brings back memories of California when our two daughters were little.

We are now in Marathon with many old friends waiting for a weather window to go up the west coast of Florida to Harborage Marine in St. Petersburg that will be home for the hurricane season.  It might take us awhile since the spring squalls have started up but who cares when we leave.  Alex and Darren are putting on solar panels for us.  Rick and Terese on “Capt’n & Hook” hosted a fabulous BBQ on derby day with hats and all.  Karen and RL left today but not before Karen and I had ladies champagne afternoon (That reminded me of  the champagne girls in California.).  Candy and Fred hosted us one morning for coffee on their houseboat parked a Dockside.  Plus we were glad to see Nancy and Jay again especially with the keys to the Van-der-van so we could take a trip to see Michael’s nephew Peter.  Sorry we missed you Pon but your daughter Madeline kept us all busy for hours.  She is a real cutie.

Sunset at Miami

From hook to plate! Yum

Party Cove with the girls

Sunset No Name Harbor

We are now in Marathon with many old friends waiting for a weather window to go up the west coast of Florida to Harborage Marine in St. Petersburg that will be home for the hurricane season.  It might take us awhile since the spring squalls have started up but who cares when we leave.  Alex and Darren are putting on solar panels for us.  Rick and Terese on “Capt’n & Hook” hosted a fabulous BBQ on derby day with hats and all.  Karen and RL left today but not before Karen and I had ladies champagne afternoon (That reminded me of  the champagne girls in California.).  Candy and Fred hosted us one morning for coffee on their houseboat parked a Dockside.  Plus we were glad to see Nancy and Jay again especially with the keys to the Van-der-van so we could take a trip to see Michael’s nephew Peter.  Sorry we missed you Pon but your daughter Maddy kept us all busy for hours.  She is a real cutie.

Who wants champagne?

More golf in Marathon

Derby Day

Smokin Hot

Rick's Smokehouse

Pete and Maddy

  

JUNKANOO!!

Junkanoo in Georgetown

Raken n Scrape in Georgetown

  

After departing ways with our friends on Livin’ Life we sailed over to Cat Island from Conception Island about 40 miles to the north. This Island is home of Father Jerome’s final resting place.  He is a long story but he built all the beautiful churches on the “Far” islands in the Bahamas. We have tried to visit most of them during our travels. With the fresh south winds we made anchorage at Old Bight.  It is very protected from the south winds but does have much of a settlement.  The following day we made a crazy run (blowing 20 knots and choppy seas) to New Bight. Hoofing our way up to Comer Hill or the place they call Mount Alvernia where Father Jerome a.k.a. John Hawes built his hermitage.  It was a very spiritual experience for us hiking up to the top going by each Station of the Cross carved out of stone and ending up at the highest point in the Bahamas where his chapel and his one room home is.  We hope the pictures can do it justice or just go visit it someday.  We were given a car ride to the bottom of the hill by a couple there on their honeymoon.  We are always surprised how people just give each other a ride here and there with no problems.  Real PUBLIC transportation.

  

Mount Alvernia

Hiking up Station of Cross to Mount Alvernia

Cat Island beach to ourselves

After a few days there we finally made our way in to Georgetown. We heard the Cruising Regatta was over and were hoping some of the 300 plus boats had left but because of the high winds they had delayed the race to Long Island so the armada of boats were still in the harbor. But we still found room to anchor and joined in the fun.

  

We played volleyball, drank lots of rum, played rummy cue, listen to rake and scrape and most of all went to the Bahamian music festival to experience the famous Bahamian Junkanoo.  You can get almost anything in Georgetown by just getting on the cruisers net.  We found a dingy ladder and a snubber hook.  The cruisers just ask to buy or trade things they need with someone else and someone responds.  We even met up with a couple that had a house on the Lake of Ozarks (small world).

Red Shanks in Georgetown

Volleyball  Beach Georgetown

Boat repairs on the beach

Music outside Chat n Chill

Turtles in Red Shanks Georgetown

   We also met up with our friends from last year Ron & Dee on Ursa Minor.  We stayed around Georgetown for a while before we left with Ursa Minor to Lee’s Stocking Island.  This place has some fabulous snorkeling and we found lots of conch to make conch salad.   I have to say is a great a meal but we both have to work hard to get it on the table.  Besides finding the conch then diving for it we have to crack it open to get the Conch.  Michael is excellent at cracking open the shell and Cherie is great at cleaning the Conch plus preparing the salad with the secret recipe.  Of coarse our friends all enjoyed eating it with us.

   After snorkeling on the famous sunken piano with the mermaid resting on the bench we sailed back up to Little Farmers.  The last time in Farmers we left with the ship wrecked on the rocks and now found it had been towed to Compass Island.  There wasn’t another boat in sight when we arrived except our friends Ron & Dee’s.  We had the entire island to our selves and it was some great weather to be there.  We moved up to Oven Rock to enjoy hiking to the cave as well as more snorkeling but as always Mother Nature decided the winds must blow from the west again and we need a new anchorage for some protection.

   We thought we’d make our way up to Black Point but that would be no relief from the wind so to Cambridge Cay then Warderick Wells we went.  We stayed many days in the Exuma Land and Sea Park that we love so much and reunited with many old friends we have met during our travels.  Lost Puppy showed up with Ian and Jennifer, Jim & Ellie on Last Tango showed up with their son, daughter-in-law and grandkids as well as Cornell and his daughter Sabrina on Sans Souci.  We had happy hours on each other’s boats, a beach party and snorkeling of coarse before you always have to say goodbye to someone moving on. 

   This year we said we were going to sail to Norman’s Cay that we’ve passed several times and didn’t stop.  Norman’s was once under the control of drug lord Carlos Lehder and you can still see the crashed airplane in the harbor.   It would not disappoint on the snorkeling as well as the fishing.   While sitting in Norman’s Cay we were hailed by Ian and Jennifer on Lost Puppy and they made their way there to play and have more stories over drinks on Pura Vida.

   We want to be in Florida by May so that Ted Largo and his wife Deb can come down and visit us on Pura Vida so we are heading back up the Exuma chain and then on to the Berry Islands before we finally sail back to Florida.  When we were making our way to Rose Island near Nassau we thought we heard a familiar hail of September Song (Stephanie and Bob).  We hailed them with no response but when we texted them on the Bahamas phone we found that they would be in the Nassau when we arrived. What a great surprise since they are one of our favorite Exuma cruising couples. We had a wonderful dinner with them at the Atlantis resort.

   We made it to Easter mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Nassau.  It was a beautiful Bahamian Easter mass celebration and they pass out Easter candy after mass to all the children. It was a special treat but the Easter dinner feast aboard September Song was the best. Very traditional with a glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, and a mix of dessert cakes with lots of wine and rum of course.  The next day we sailed off to the Berry Islands where we will swim, snorkel, dive for Conch, hike the islands and enjoy some of the most beautiful beaches in the Bahamas for a few weeks. We hope you all had a fabulous Easter.   We’ll keep you in our thoughts until our next blog.

End of Lobster season

Cave in at Oven Rock

Swimming in Oven Rock Cave

King keeps catching the fish even in Norman's

Cherie repairing wind instrument in Nassau

Easter dinner with Stephanie & Bob