Ahoy there!

 

Greetings from Florida ! Yes we made it back in time to meet Matt, Jude, Ryan & Sarah although there was a stage we weren't sure! After the strong northerlies we had over a week of lovely weather.

We managed to leave Marsh Harbour and spent some time on Elbow Cay, both in Hope Town and White Sound, doing nothing more than exploring and swimming. Most of The Abacos are located on an inland sea, sheltered by the cays (pronounced ‘keys'), the waves rarely build to much but to head back to Florida we had to sneak out into the Atlantic through Whale Cay passage before slipping back into the Sea of Abaco and Green Turtle Cay (we draw to much to go to the easy route!).

Whale Cay is no big deal if the weather is O.K but very nasty if the weather has been bad, the main reason is that the depth of water goes from 1200 feet to 20 feet very sharply, channelling through a narrow gap in the reef. Because of the winds we had had we couldn't get through until the Friday before Matt & Jude arrived on Tuesday. We were still 200 miles away and the weather closed in again! Still warm & sunny but with strong winds in the wrong direction. Added to this was that the only weather window to cross the Gulf stream opened up for Monday night closing again late Tuesday! We planned to leave Green Turtle Cay Sunday but it was so windy we couldn't even get out of marina slip without doing a lot of damage!

 

Eventually we had a plan! Because of tides we couldn't leave Green Turtle until midday Monday, so we cleared customs in the morning and left for a 30 hour stint. The weather was beautiful, the sea like a mirror and as the sun set the sky was full of stars including quite a few shooting ones. We got to the edge of the Gulf Stream at about 9 a.m. heading for Fort Pierce . The weather was quite kind giving us 20 knots of wind and seas of about 6 feet. But it was tedious! The only exciting thing was spotting the Portuguese Men of War. These jelly fish are an iridescent purple and move across the waves with a lilac sail. As we eventually came into the Fort Pierce inlet at 5 p.m. we were escorted by dolphins. Anchored at 5.30, supper by 7 and in bed by 7.30 p.m ! And slept for a straight 12 hours!

 

Wednesday morning we checked in with customs and bought our cruising permit, swapped our yellow Q flag for a U.S. flag and we were legally in. By mid afternoon we were at Vero Beach Marina.

 

Matt, Jude & the kids drove down on Friday afternoon for a BBQ and their first night aboard. Unfortunately Florida was entering a cold spell and it was a chilly evening. We had planned a sail for Saturday but the wind forecast was not good so we went to the beach instead – Ryan & Sarah built a magnificent sandcastle – Matt & Andrew designing a fairly complicated water defence system! We went back to Orlando with them for our dose of civilisation! And didn't we time it well as Florida went into the coldest spell they've had for decades with night temperatures down to 29F, and instead of freezing in the boat we had a very comfortable heated villa! It was really nice to spend time with them all, Sharon shopped and had the Indian meal she had been craving! Andrew was re-discovered by Ryan & Sarah as a mobile, talking climbing frame!

 

By Tuesday the weather was warming up again so we headed back to the boat and managed a trip out, anchoring overnight by a deserted island. We were fortunate to have the dolphins swim with us for a while on the way out and as we returned back to the marina on Wednesday. Everyone sailed the boat and we discovered that Jude is a very competitive sailor desperately trying to overtake another sailboat – encouraged by Andrew! They all took to the boat systems beautifully and would be more than welcome back as crew! It was really sad to see them leave on Wednesday evening.

 

We are now shopping for some bits for the boat and hoping our insurance company doesn't come back with a horrendous quote for our planned Caribbean leg. As soon as all of our ordered goodies come in, and we have a weather window we will be back to The Bahamas – hopefully the end of next week. Carole & the girls are joining us for Easter and then we should be heading south.

 

That's all for now, as always keep the e-mails & news coming!

 

Warm regards

Sharon & Andrew