Warderick Wells, Exuma Land & Sea Park

Thursday 4/9 & Friday 4/10/09 We left Highborne and headed to Warderick Wells, home of the Exuma Land & Sea Park. Sea conditions were great. Barely a ripple. We arrived at the park Thursday afternoon after making a reservation by internet but not knowing if it was confirmed due to the spotty connection at Highborn. About 10 miles out I called the on the radio and found out that indeed we had a spot in their mooring field. No anchoring allowed! We worked our way in and found our mooring. Pam picked up the line on the first try and got us secured. Not an easy task. We dropped the dinghy in the water and went over to the office to check in. The park is manned mostly by volunteers who either live on their boat or in a house provided by the park. Beautiful doesn't describe how pretty this place is. Snorkeling over coral reefs for me and Pam looking though her viewing bucket on loan from John & Mary from Root Beer Float back at Ft. Myers. We are moored over a sunken boat with a pet nurse shark that always seems to be hanging around it. Friday we hiked up to BooBoo Hill and around the island. Part of the trail led though water due to the high tide. This was nothing for Pam. Right through she went! She did get a bit of a scare when a small lizard ran across the trail in front of her but then just kicked at him when he tried selling her insurance! (State Farm customers. Sorry!) The view from BooBoo Hill was great. We could see both sides of the island and right down into the mooring field. One of the things the hill is noted for are the signs that everyone who passes through leaves with their boat name on. We're still looking for driftwood to make ours as I write this. Tomorrow we plan on heading a little further South to anchor for Easter. We may be awhile before our next posting so to all have a happy Easter!

Highborne Cay

Tuesday 4/7 & Wednesday 4/8/09 Internet reception was spotty at Highborne thus the goofy posting sequence.

Mostly we hung out and gawked at the mega yachts coming and going. For the most part the crews were friendly. Their passengers seemed to have their noses in the air. Too bad for them! One of the yachts was named Octopussy! We tried finding James Bond but with no luck. We spent time at the beach. Watched them feed the nurse sharks at the fish cleaning station. Witnessed just how fortunate we are when the mail boat came into port. Not only does it deliver mail, but supplies too, and acts as an inter island passenger ferry. Once a week! That's It! There are no stores on Highborne except the one at the marina. Incidentally the marina employs most of the islands occupants. Only 40 miles from Nassau but very remote.

One of the highlights was having dinner catered one night by Cool Runners catering service. I had cracked conch and Pam had grouper fingers. (I thought fish had fins?) Very good and not badly priced! One other thing. Pam made a new friend while we were there. Wilson the dock dog. We were told not to feed him but guess who can't follow the rules!

Beyond

Still Monday We left Nassau and headed towards Highborne Cay. Rock & Roll! The wind was still kickin from the SW sending spray over and into the flybridge. Normally where salt is concerned, Pam can't get enough of it. Not this time! Our course took us over an area caled the Yellow Banks which is an area of coral heads just waiting to dine on fiberglass. Navigating through these isnt a problem as long as the sun is out. They stick out like a baked ham at a jewish reception! The seas increased to 3' to 4' as we got closer to Highborne. Right before we got there a sportfisherman passed us. Cool! I can follow him in. Now normally going into a marina doesn't bother me but this one had some intricate directions. Aim for the yellow stake on the rock pile when almost there line up with the range markers beyond the stake taking care to hug the rock pile with the stake to avoid the rocks to the North. Once past the stake look to the left and find the range markers for the marina and head to them. All this while the seas are pushing Tourist every way but the way we want to go! A burst of speed and in we go. It didn't take long to realize we are one of the smallest boats here. Many are 70' to 100' with 28' tenders plus jet skis, etc. See where we are by going to Google maps and entering Highborne Cay, Bahamas.

Nassau & Beyond

Monday 4/6/09 During the night the wind shifted to a direction right off the open water making our anchorage a bit bumpy. No problem! We're leaving anyway. Up comes the anchor and in go the GPS coordinates and off to Nassau we go. Wind out of the SW with 2' to 3' waves hitting us on the starboard bow. By 11 am we were calling Nassau Harbor Control for clearance into the harbor. Let me tell you, trying to understand this guy is just as difficult as trying to understand the southern drawling lockmasters on the Tombigbee!. Once deciphered we entered the harbor right past the cruise ships. No problem here. I was close enough to throw a rock and hit them. We proceeded to the Nassau Yacht Harbor hoping to find fuel and a slip. Strikes 1 & 2. On to the Texaco sign. We got fuel @ $2.60 but no slip. We had a team meeting and decided to press on to Highborne Cay.

Bahamas

Saturday April 4, 2009 Today we spent doing a few boat chores in the morning and then strolled around the Bayside Marketplace. Had dinner at a Cuban restaurant and then listened to some guy playing a flamenco guitar (is there such a thing?) in an outside pavillion overlooking the marina. It didn't take long to realize that we were the minority in this crowd. Everyone around us was speaking Spanish. And here we thought we were in Miami. Turns out we were in Miahavana. Nice people none the less. Back to the boat to check weather for crossing the Gulf Stream on Sunday and then bed.

Sunday April 5, 2009 Up early to check weather one last time. All looks good so we cast off the lines and headed out. The plan was to go out through Government Cut past the cruise ships. That got dashed the minute we turned into the cut. A police boaat came flying towards us with the lights flashing. Friendly folks, no guns drawn. They informed us that when the ships are in port NO pleasure craft are allowed to pass through the cut. We had to go back and pass out to the ocean on the other side of Dodge Island past the container ships. Go figure! When we got into the ocean we found seas to be1' to 2' of chop on top of a 2' to 3' swell. Not bad! We also found the deepest blue color of water that we've seen on this trip.

The weather was so good that we decided to bypass Bimini and continue on to Chub Cay arriving there at 2:45 pm. We pulled into the marina and tied off to one of the docks. An employee came over to us and brought us the paper work to fill out to gain entry into the Bahamas. Once filled out I was transported to the airport by bus (15 passenger van) to the customs office. $300.00 later I was given a ride back to the boat. We put up our Bahamian flag and went to the fuel dock. Ouch! $4.10 a gallon. Needless to say we didn't top off the tanks. From Chub Cay we went another 4 miles to Bird Cay and anchored for the night. 155 miles for the day. Not bad.

Not There Yet!

Wednesday 4/1/09 The forecast still predicted bumpy seas so we dropped the dink in the water and cruised around Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, Fl. What a collection of boats!. Boot Key is most noted for it's large mooring field filled mostly with sail boats in all states of repair or disrepair. Supposedly the place has been cleaned up over the years from when it was filled with abandoned boats that had been left to rot & sink. Also even more unpleasant was the fact that most of the boats in the harbor pumped raw sewage directly into the water. No More! They now have a boat dedicated to wandering thru the harbor to pump out the holding tanks on the boats! I now know what I want to do if I need to get a job!

We left Marathon around noon and headed out to start working our way towards Miami. We first tried the Hawk Channel route which is on the Atlantic side of the Keys. The wind was whipping out of the South which made for a wet and uncomfortable ride. Water was spraying up over the entire boat! At one point Pam thought she could reach out and touch the water we were heeled over so much. No one got sick and nothing broke but even still we decided to cut back to the Florida Bay side at Channel Five near Lower Matecumbe Key. What a difference! We continued on and anchored near Islamorada for the night.

Thursday 4/2/09 Last night we planned on taking the dinghy into the Lor-e-lei restaurant for breakfast this morning before leaving. We had a change in plans when we got up and realized that we had drug our anchor for about a half mile away from shore. At first I thought that all the other boats that were around us when we anchored had left since I couldn't see any of them. WRONG! Once my eyes cleared and I looked back towards shore I could see that they were still in place. Turns out that I had not understood Pam when we were letting out the anchor chain and thought that we had passed the mark on the chain that we use for a gauge for that depth when in reality we had not even reached it! Check and double check! Needless to say we were too embarrassed to motor back in to the anchorage so we skipped breakfast plans and headed out to the channel. The only casualties were a bruised ego and one crab pot which got caught in the anchor chain while dragging across the bottom.

We followed the marked channel of the ICW to Card Sound where we anchored for the night. This time we let out more than enough chain and when the wind picked up all we did was swing from side to side but remained right where we started! Forecast seas for crossing to Bimini are still too high for comfort. On to Miami!

Friday 4/3/09 Very windy today with a 2' chop on the waters of Biscayne Bay. We checked rates at the marinas around Miami and chose Miamarina (http://www.miami-marinas.com/) which is right downtown Miami. when making our reservation I asked if they had fuel. No such luck. But Pam found that Crandon Park Marina did have, and since it was in our path we pulled in and fueled for $2.01 a gallon. Considerably cheaper than the $3.00 at some of the other more well known marinas. Turns our Crandon Marina is owned by the Dade County and we have found that the govt. owned marinas are usually cheaper.

Our marina is right downtown Miami just at the foot of the bridge that goes to Dodge Island where all the cruise ships dock. If you ever went on a cruise out of Miami ours is the Marina on your right as you cross the bridge. It is also the home of the sail boat section of the annual Miami Boat Show. The area reminds me a little of Navy Pier in Chicago with plenty of activity at the shops and restaurants. You can check it out at http://www.baysidemarketplace.com/ . The only draw back is the music and activity until late at night but then that's also part of the charm! the view out our back door is of several 80' to 90' yachts tied up on the other side of our dock. These aren't the mega yachts you see in Ft. Lauderdale but they are still impressive! Looking out our side windows we see the American Airlines Arena where the Miami Heat play (basketball). Also located in the harbor are several excursion and fishing boats one of which is a Skipperliner which is made in LaCrosse.

Moving Again!

After waiting for Mike Nelson (Scot from Dependable Divers) of Sea Hunt fame to show up & check for barnacles on our running gear and intakes and two bad weather days (it actually rained!) we are underway! After many goodbye's to our new friends at Legacy we were able to untie the dock lines and get moving. We followed Broulee down the Caloosahatchie and learned what true "trawler speed" is. Bare minimum idle speed for Tourist or 7.4 mph. Very relaxing! Once into the gulf we popped it up to 10 mph and headed offshore toward Naples. We decided to go back inside at Gordon's Pass and wind down the shallow inside route towards Marco Island to our anchorage for the night by Little Marco Island. This was the first test of our new anchor. It passed with flying colors!

Tuesday 3/31/09 Partly sunny and warm with 2' seas. Back offshore and headed for Marathon 109 miles away in the Keys. Other than dodging the thousands of crab pots it was a relaxing trip. We decided to exercise the twin Cummins a little and cruised down to the Keys at 19 mph arriving at Poncho's Fuel Dock at 3:05 pm. This was our warm up shock for fuel prices in the Bahamas with fuel here being $2.73 a gallon. We last paid $1.91 in Ft. Myers!

Our plan from here is to work our way North today and hopefully cross to Bimini tomorrow. Forecast seas for today are 3' to 5' offshore. A little to bumpy for us rookies!