Great Harbour Cay

We are docked in Great Harbour Cay, preparing for the Super Bowl. Because that's what every good American does, and most of the rest of the world it seems too.
Here's a recap of how we totally unexpectedly ended up here.
We have learned that watching and respecting weather forecasts is paramount in this business (can we call cruising on a sailboat a business?). So,with that in mind we stayed a day in Bimini to have good weather. But more importantly to find that conch and Kalik beer dinner. And we found it at a perfect hole int the wall type joint called End Of The World bar. Sand on the floor, local tunes playing, and some good Bahamian atmosphere. Dinner for four of lobster, conch, baked potato and carrots for 40 bucks. Mission accomplished.
We swam and snorkeled that afternoon, finding lots of shells and enjoying the clear blue water.
The next day, it was time to depart to cross the Grand Bahamas Bank. Roughly 70 miles across and only 15-25 feet deep, it promised good sailing and a night anchored out on the bank with nothing in sight. Which is what we got. Its a very strange feeling to drop your anchor in the middle of nowhere, nothing but stars and perhaps a single distant ship far off and nobody knows you're there.
We arose at 4 am the next morning to a slow rolling current which we guessed must have been the massive amount of water that enters and leaves the bank with the tides. This is also the reason for the super clear water, kind of like natures toilet flushing the banks twice a day to clean it. If only I had to go twice a day.
As we approached the northwest channel, the idea was to go another 5 or 10 miles and anchor for some expected strong easterly winds. We noticed another sailboat heading opposite our direction and then turn north. A quick scramble of the charts and we deduced that they were headed for the Berry islands and Great Harbour Cay. Our proposed anchorage outside of Chubbe Cay offered nothing since there was no town and the marina was expensive and private. Do the math folks, and Great Harbour Cay offered some protection from the coming winds, a town and perhaps one of the best beaches the Bahamas has to offer. Yep, you guessed it. We did a 180 turn in the narrow channel and headed around the Berry bank for this new destination. A lot of cursing, sail changes and chart plotting occurred in 4.3 minutes as we figured out a new plan on the spur of the moment.
Turned out to be a good thing. We had a nice sail with a beam reach to the cay. As we approached the anchorage next to the town we noticed the winds remained whereas we'd like to have them desist and thus assist in in a good nights sleep, seeing as we were up at 4 that morning. Oh look, there's one of the best protected marinas in the Bahamas by the town, and what a nice flashy picture in the cruising guide to boot. Well, who said advertising doesn't work. Again, a quick radio call and abrupt course change and bada boo-bada bing we ended up in the marina, who happened to have a special on their dockage rates and a Super Bowl party for all you can eat for $20. Ok, we're in.
Above is a map of our travels in the Bahamas so far, with a beach pic to follow.

Arrived

Video of the Captain

We've made it to the Bahamas. All bets are off, the rules have changed. We may not come back. It is absolutely excellent here. A beautiful sail across from Florida, with perfect weather. Finally, after months of northers blowing in a messing with our travels.
Checking in at customs and immigration was painless. The laid back atmosphere of the island reaches to the officialdom as well, and it works well. A customs office with six check in windows but only one being used due to a permanently rotating lunch schedule. The extra windows did supply ample counter space to eat said lunch.
Let's talk about about sharks. Anybody who says that word has to do 25 push-ups. No questions. Today however we saw two 8-10 foot sharks in the marina and s word was said a lot. No fines were levied as we were in awe of their, well....sharkness.
We're off to find a conch fritter and Kalik ( local brew) dinner. Not sure when we'll leave. As we said, all bets are off.

Bahamas bound words

We are sitting (anchored actually) on the southern edge of Key Biscayne with the intent of rising early tomorrow morn to head across the Gulf Stream to Bimini, the first and closest of the Bahamas islands. There are several boats anchored nearby and we are all jockeying for position in the anchorage like runners lining up for a race.  It's a good sign in that the other boats read the weather forecast and came to the same conclusion to cross tomorrow. You don't mess with the Gulf Stream with any north winds, at least not if you want to be comfortable. No north winds tomorrow is the weather mans call. 
Are we nervous? Yes. Will we sleep well tonight?  No. Will we eating conch fritters and swinging back cold ones tomorrow night celebrating our hopefully successful crossing?  Tune in later for the answer. Wish us luck. 

Bahamas bound

Miami and Biscayne Bay

Well, we've moved a bit further south and things are changing. The color of the water has evolved from the coffee colored brown of the intra coastal waterway to turquoise and emerald blue-green of south Florida, the days are warmer and the wildlife has altered considerably - to include the human wildlife on the beach.
We spent a week in Vero Beach to get back into the homeschooling groove, enjoy the facilities of the city marina and prepare for the move south some more knowing it will involve some ocean sailing. We had planned to go down to Ft Pierce and then go off shore to Ft Lauderdale. The main reason was the number of bridge openings increased a lot after Palm Beach. Well, departing off shore from Ft Pierce again we were met with south winds and south waves, which made it very uncomfortable. From experience, we decided to turn back and motor the intracoastal which was a wise decision (finally we made a good decision!). That day turned into the day of bridge pain as we had to work our way south through 14 bridge openings. Most were on a time schedule, so we never quite made it to the next one on time and had to wait 15-30 minutes for an opening.... which was painful as the day wore on. We surrendered at Boca Raton and anchored for the night in the middle of high rises and multi-million dollar home, all for free.

The next day turned out well as we only had 7 bridges to pass through to get to Ft Lauderdale. The bridge gods smiled upon us and blessed us with their bounty of opening for us on a schedule we could meet, including the last bridge of the day where the initial response over the radio from the bridge tender was to wait 30 minutes for the next opening, shortly followed by a "ahhh, come on ahead. I'll open up for ya" Thanks Mr. Bridge Tender, you made our day.

We spent a few days in Ft Lauderdale, enjoying the beach and the kids getting SCUBA certified as part of the their Christmas gift. They took the 3 day class in stride and did ocean dives with ease and are now fully certified jr. divers! As a side note, Ft Lauderdale is the the capitol of mega yachts. Seriously, you have never seen so many huge motor yacht to include some with helicopters on them. Money can't buy everything, but it can get you a mega yacht with a helicopter.

Mentioning that experience with the weather that we learned previously, we waited for the right weather window for a short hop to Miami and Biscayne Bay. Again, the weather was fine and we sailed and motored some down to the big city of Miami. Lots of shipping and the port is huge with quite a few cruise ships and loads of commercial ships with all those neat toys from China.
We are now sitting in Biscayne Bay preparing for our crossing to the Bahamas. We'll practice some sailing maneuvers, top off all the fuels and water and food before we head over to the Bahamas. The critical thing now is again a good weather window, which may be a few days or a week away. No problem mon, we need to slow down and get ready for island time. All the best and we'll check in soon.

Central Florida

Happy New Year all. The new year finds Quartet in southern Florida, the temperatures are climbing and hopes are rising on reaching the Bahamas. We had a nice quiet Christmas in St. Augustine complete with the lights of the city. It seems as if old man winter again found us after the 25th and the weather started to get colder. Which means time to move on. Before we left we found out our cousin was in town visiting, and he came by to see us and we stayed an extra day to visit... which totally made our weekend. Thanks so much cousin Ed!

Before New Years we moved on to Marineland, a neat old marine park that had dolphins and all the aquatic life you could imagine. Unfortunately, the dolphins were quarintined due to a virus. We did manage to do a kayak tour with a guide to the wetlands, which was very good and had lots to see that we normally would not have noticed. It also filled in all those questions we had as we moved south when we saw wildlife but didn't know what we were seeing.

We moved on for a few days to make it to Melbourne to see an old friend from college. We managed to snag a tour of Cape Canaveral Space Station, including the old launch pads from the apollo missions (one from the accident that killed three astronauts and one that John Glenn and others departed from on their historic missions). Totally cool. There were current space missions going on, but we missed a launch due to weather while still managing to get a a windshield tour right up to the rocket. Thanks guys for an awesome few days escape to see the sights of the area, and the wonderful hospitality.

We find ourselves in Vero Beach enjoying a good mooring at the city marina, visiting the beach while the rest of the country froze, and making plans to move on to Miami area soon. The water is changing color to a nice green and blue, the temps are in the 70's and low 80's some days and we can feel the island calling us. Soon we'll prep for the crossing to the Bahamas, which brings on a whole new chapter. More to follow!