Crossing to Lucaya

Crossing to Lucaya – December 17 to 20, 2010

All of the weather forecasters were predicting light winds from the southeast with waves on the Gulf Stream less than three feet. Nothing new had broken down in the last few days. It was ‘all systems go’.

We left the anchorage at North Lake Worth mid afternoon with Chanticleer and a parade of other boats anxious to get away from the sub-zero temperatures of Florida. The timing would give us a couple of hours of daylight to test our ‘ocean’ legs and would have us arriving at Lucaya, 79.3 miles away, sometime around 8 AM the next morning.

  Waterfront dining at Peanut Island.

Our original plan had been to follow last year’s route via Memory Rock and Great Sale Cay then on to Green Turtle Cay where we would check in with Customs and Immigration. As we were cming south on the ICW we had started hearing reports that the rules for Canadians entering the Bahamas had changed. In some ports of entry the Customs and Immigration officers were only allowing stays up to 30 days while others were still approving 180 days like we had been granted last year. Then we heard that the rules had actually been change in 2008 but were just now starting to be enforced, albeit inconsistently.  A first hand report on the daily Cruzheimer’s net  on single side band radio related the events from Green Turtle Cay where the local merchants had approached the new customs officer with their concerns that the new policy would keep the cruisers away and they would lose their source of income. 

When I first checked the Bahamian Government website the maximum length of stay for Canadians was shown as 30 days. At the beginning of December it had been changed to 90 days. As more boats made the crossing and reported back with their experiences there still seemed to be a lot of confusion and inconsistency. Visitor permits for all nationalities varied from 30 to 180 days with Lucaya being the most likely location to allow 180. Our friends who crossed to Lucaya the week before us reported back that they were all given 180 day permits. That reinforced our decision to check in at Lucaya.

Exiting Lake Worth Inlet was a bit bumpy but nothing like the elephants we encountered the previous year. The seas settled down quickly and we were on our way. There was not enough wind for sailing but we were okay with that. Less wind meant smaller waves and less chance of a repeat performance of our last eastbound crossing.

Preparing the fishing line

Between AIS, radar and the VHF radio we were able to monitor the other traffic out on the water and avoid the chance of a collision. Besides the other sailboats that left Lake Worth with us  there were cruise ships, container ships and work boats moving in all directions.

 The Bahamas Celebration caught up to us in the dark and passed less than a kilometer from our stern after following us from Palm Beach.

As we approached busy Freeport Harbour, just before reaching Lucaya, we had to thread our way through a number of vessels that were anchored outside of the harbour entrance waiting for their turn to go in.

  Sunrise near Freeport Harbour

We had made a reservation at the Sunrise Resort and Marina where Customs and Immigration officials would be on site for us to check in.  We arrived at the marina at 8:30 AM where the staff distributed a thick stack of forms to be each boat. Once they were filled in (some in duplicate, others in triplicate – no carbon paper) they would call Customs (to handle the boats) and Immigration (to handle the people) to come down. The Immigration officer was the first to arrive at 12:00 noon. Fifteen minutes and a $15 transportation fee later we were checked in with permission to stay in the country for 180 days. The Customs officer arrived an hour later. It took another half hour to complete the paperwork, a $20 transportation fee, $300 to cover the cruising permit and fishing license and an hour wait for a cursory 5 minute inspection of the boat. Six hours after our arrival we took down the yellow Q flag and out up the Bahamian courtesy flag.

 The Customs and Immigration office.

Four other boats pulled into the marina with us and one had come in the day before. That made a total of 6 cruising boats in the marina. It didn’t take long before an impromptu early Christmas dinner was in progress. One boat had a turkey that had accidentally been thawed and it just built from there.

 Tom and Normand – carving.

Another Prout arrived in the marina – this one destined Sierra Leone, Africa.

 We took advantage of the marina’s shuttle and do a bit of exploring in Port Lucaya. 

 There was an obvious lack of tourists in the market. And this is their busy season.

We missed the police band parade but happened upon the Little Miss Grand Bahama cavalcade.

 Best of all was a surprise reunion with Mason, the very first cruiser that we met at Oswego, NY when we left Lake Ontario.

 Having drinks with Chanticleer and Mutual Fun at the Rum Runners Bar.

The Sunrise Resort and Marina is a reincarnation of the former Running Mon marina. Cruisers headed for Lucaya who prefer to keep a little distance between themselves and the tourist traps should give the place a visit. The price of dockage is a real bargain at $1.00 per foot and we received an additional discount of 35% for being Boat US members! Power is metered and water is $7.00 per day if you use it. The facilities are spotlessly clean and the floating docks are in very good condition.  The staff is friendly and helpful. Check them out at www.sunriseresortandmarina.com.

  It does not happen often that polar Pacer is not the smallest cat in the marina.

Bev – does this look familiar?

Two Weeks in Florida

Two Weeks in Florida, no Three, make that Four and a Half Weeks in Florida – November 13 to December 16, 2010

Once we crossed into Florida it should have been a matter of days before we would be back in the Bahamas. The weather, a change in our cruising plans and the gods of all things mechanical conspired against us and it was starting to look like we might be celebrating Christmas in the US.

Back in Deltaville we had replaced the starboard rudder bearing with a new one that we had picked up during our trip home to Ontario. It was a little snug but we expected it to loosen up with use. The exact opposite happened. By the time we reached Florida it was getting more and more difficult for the hydraulic steering to work. Another haul out was in order to drop the rudder and refit the bearing. St. Augustine Marine looked like a reasonable place to do a quick haul and with some help from Randy off Mutual Fun, Polar pacer was back in the water in an hour. Thanks Randy! The haul also gave us an opportunity to check the intake for the raw water system as the engine was still overheating. 

Next on the list was to have the 80 amp alternator converted back to original so we could have it as a spare. The alternator shop told us that it couldn’t be done so we put in an order for a new one. That meant waiting for a couple of days for it to be delivered. When it arrived it was damaged and a replacement had to be sent.

Did I mention that the outboard motor for the dinghy was acting up? Not a good thing when you are out on a mooring ball and need to get to shore. After taking everything apart and cleaning it plus installing an external water filter with no improvement Tom came to the conclusion that the gas that we picked up in Washington DC was contaminated. 

Will St. Augustine be the next Ve(lc)ro Beach? With the new and reasonably priced mooring fields complete with shuttle and free mobile pump out services a cruiser can get a little too comfortable. For $1.00 per ride the Sunshine bus system will get you around once you figure out the routes and schedules. There are not many official bus stops but you can flag down at bus and get on at any intersection along the route where it is safe to do so. There is reasonably good access to all the Big Box stores for stocking up with provisions and a good range of entertainment within a few blocks of the marina. We definitely spent more time there than we had intended.

  This boat came in and anchored next to the mooring field. One of a kind.

Another lighthouse to climb.

How to solve the decorating challenge.

We were determined to make up some lost time by going offshore from St. Augustine to Fort Pierce and backtracking up the ICW to Vero Beach. The ride out of St. Augustine was choppy with four foot waves coming straight at us. The wind was light from the northeast and once we got out past the far sea buoy the waves flattened out for a while. Unfortunately by that time the effects of the previous night’s pub crawl with Sanuk (Tequila shots, Guinness, double Crown Royals) were starting to disagree with the Captain. Then the wind shifted and was on our nose creating sloppy, choppy waves which just made matters worse. Time to abandon the offshore overnighter and head inland. We entered Ponce Inlet just as the sun was setting. Thanks to Salty Paws who hailed us with anchoring advice when they heard us coming in. We did not have to fumble our way around in the dark looking for a place to drop the hook.

 Sunset at Ponce.

 Yes, pelicans do sleep in trees.

Cocoa Village was a brief stop again this season. We were too early for the annual festival of lights but just in time for the bikers “Critter Run”, a fundraiser for the local humane society sponsored by the Dog and Bone British pub. We had gone ashore to dispose of our garbage and stretch our legs a bit. A few blocks in from the dinghy dock we heard the familiar beat of Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” coming from around the corner. Being children of the 60’s we had to check it out. The scene we came upon looked rather like a late Halloween party for the over 60 crowd with all costumes required to include a Harley Davidson symbol and a ‘do-rag’. A donation of any size qualified for all you could eat hotdogs and fixin’s.

An added bonus to our stop in Cocoa was the satellite launch scheduled for precisely 5:58 PM on November 21 from the nearby air force base.  We were able to see the blast from the initial take-off before it was hidden from view behind a high, thick cloud cover. It was still pretty spectacular. It would have been amazing to be that close with a clear sky!

 It was almost Thanksgiving when we reached Vero Beach and we were starting to talk more seriously about heading to Cuba for part of the winter.  That would require a little more planning and preparation than if we were going to the Bahamas only. First of all we needed some paper charts of the area. And we would feel more comfortable having some additional safety equipment on board. Probably a few more provisions wouldn’t hurt either, not knowing what would be available when we got there. Blue Water Books in Ft. Lauderdale couriered the chart kits to us. We found a drougue for sale posted on the bulletin board in the cruisers’ lounge and another cruiser had a one year old, 6 person life raft for sale at a fraction of the price of a new one. The EPIRB was ordered from Defender and some additional flares and a 44 pound Bruce anchor put on hold at West Marine in North Palm Beach. After almost two weeks in the mooring field waiting for packages to show up, we were ready to move on.

On a more positive note, Thanksgiving dinner was a huge pot luck with enough turkey and fixings to satisfy over 100 cruisers; Sanuk taught us to play a mean game of Mexican train dominoes, Ortolan hosted numerous happytizer gatherings we discovered bucket drinks at Waldo’s, had a wonderful surprise visit from Mo (one of last year’s travelling companions) and Mutual Fun and Reves D’Oceans (who Iron Jenny will remember from Deltaville’s 2009 deepfreeze) caught up to us. 

 

 Enjoying a great meal with great friends

Pot luck.

  It was a serious game.

  You had how many buckets?

Last stop – Lake Worth where we would do the last bit of provisioning, reconfigure the anchor hardware on the bow and fix whatever was causing the engine to overheat. We really did not want to head for the Bahamas with that issue still unresolved.  It was looking more and more like there was a connection between the hot water system and the overheating. Finally after some long distance coaching from Charles at E&C Marine in Toronto and a few more parts from West Marine it really does seem to be fixed this time. The new heavier Bruce style anchor was installed and the old Delta got a new bow roller just beside it. The original bow roller was moved to the back deck in case we should have a need for a stern anchor.

  Just 22 days until Christmas

While waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream we entertained ourselves with more shopping, replacing the broken water pump in the outboard, watching the annual parade of lights on the water and singing Christmas carols in the dinghy as we went around the anchorage in freezing temperatures. We split our time between the anchorage and the marina at Old Port Cove where we could plug a heater in on the nights when the thermometer dipped below freezing. 

 Rudolph - Florida style

There really is a boat in there.

 Tiger Woods was just next door – well his boat was..

Finally, on December 8^th it looked like we would have a good window to cross. The collection of boats in the anchorage had been growing daily and the captains were getting restless. We left with the crowd just after lunch time. Within half an hour it was obvious that we had another mechanical problem. The engine was running just fine but we were not making any headway. After confirming  that we were not dragging  anything we turned around and limped back to the anchorage and rafted to Sanuk for moral support while we sorted out the cause of the latest disaster. 

It wasn’t the transmission nor the drive leg. It was a spun propeller, probably as a result of being pulled off the sand bar at the Shalotte inlet back in October. The Sea Chest had a used propeller that fit and soon we were ready to go again. By this time the weather window had closed and it would be at least a week before the next crossing opportunity. 

They say everything happens for a reason. Sure enough, as we waited the last couple of days at Lake Worth we made contact with our friends on Ajaya who had been gradually catching up to us and the day before we left they pulled into the anchorage and dropped their hook behind us. We had a wonderful but much too short reunion that made up for the forever long pass through Florida.

033 The End.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Relevant Reading – Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Written by John Berendt, the book is based on actual events that took place in Savannah around the early 1980’s. The reader is introduced to a collection of eccentric characters that the author befriended during an extended visit to the city, including an antique dealer on trial for murder. The people of Savannah are described as a society very much in favor of tradition and maintaining the status quo, a characteristic largely responsible for the ambiance that exists there today and the preservation of many historic buildings. A good read and a great place to spend some time. If you take some time to sit in one of the squares and watch closely you might even see some of the characters from the book.

Watching the movie of the same name, starring Kevin Spacey and John Cusak and filmed on location, it was fun to recognize some of the landmarks of Savannah. Several characters in the movie were played by themselves. Lady Chablis, a glamorous female impersonator, was one of them and actually still performs at Club One in the historic district.

 Mercer House – where it all happened.

Lady Chablis, still on stage.

South Carolina to Cumberland Island, GA

Beaufort, South Carolina to Cumberland Island – November 3 to 12, 2010


Beaufort, situated in the Low Country, is known for its historic sites, resorts and Gullah culture (a blend of British, American and West African folklore) with a language of its own.For example: comeya = someone from away, binya = someone who came from here and goya = someone who leaves We woke to thick fog in the anchorage with the shoreline barely visible. When it finally lifted we went ashore to get walk the streets and get some exercise The numerous historic homes in Beaufort have not been turned into museums and are mostly still used as private residences. With original construction dates in the late 1700,s and early 1800’s the maintenance must be a continuous challenge.

Living green takes on a new meaning. This fern has its roots outside of the house near the foundation. It has managed to penetrate the wall to grow inside the window and back out through the siding.

Pink and white camellia blossoms on the same branch.

Not all of the low hanging live oak trees in Beaufort have warning signs like this. One semi driver was caught by surprise when his unit was not quite low enough to pass under an unmarked hazard. The loud scraping and banging caused people to pour out of office and retail outlet doors to see what all the commotion was about.

We missed a celebrity sighting in Beaufort by a few days. There was a newspaper report that designer Diane Von Furstenberg and her media mogul husband had been in town to do a bit of shopping. Diane bought the same $8 wicker covered beverage glasses that I had looked at and decided against as being not appropriate for a boat. Apparently her yacht is better equipped than Polar Pacer is for managing fragile items in the galley.

A beautiful sunrise at Bull Creek compensated for having to crawl out of a nice warm bed for an early departure in a cold cockpit as we headed for Savannah. We had even heard some frost warnings forcasted for the area.

The shallow, shifting waterway through Georgia is probably the least favorite section of the ICW for boaters and many opt to go offshore for the entire stretch. I had my heart set on going back to Savannah and Tom finally gave in. As there has not been enough funding for proper dredging, we had to pay very close attention to the tides and time our traveling accordingly. There were some places, Jekyll Creek for instance, that even our three foot draft would not handle at low tide. It was actually reported to have a depth of 0 feet at low tide! We went through at high tide and did not have any problems.


We stopped at the Isle of Hope Marina which has courtesy cars and access to public transportation going to downtown Savannah. Taking Polar Pacer up the Savannah River to the city docks was not a good alternative. It would have taken about about two hours each way and we had no way of knowing if there would be space for us when we got there.


Wormsloe Plantation, a state historic site, is only a few minutes drive from the marina. It was originally settled in 1733 by English colonists. Construction of the original house, made of tabby, was started in 1737. Today the remnants of those tabby walls are the oldest standing structures in the Savannah area.

The tabby walls were made using removable forms filled with a mixture of lime, sand, oyster shells and water.

This is the roadway leading to the plantation. It is lined with over 400 live oak trees that were planted in the early 1890’s to commemorate the birth of Wymberly Wormsloe De Renne. Some of the plantation is still owned by decendents of the original owner, Noble Jones.

Giant burrs - Seed pods from a sweetgum tree growing on Wormsloe plantation.

Like many of the coastal cities Savannah has a rich history.One of the stops on the Hop On – Hop Off trolley trolley tour we took was the Savannah History Museum. Two displays in the museum that celebrate Savannah’s role in the entertainment industry are Forrest Gump’s bench and Johnny Mercer’s 1962 Oscar.

 One of the benches used in the filming of Forrest Gump.

The trolley driver played Moon River as we passed by Johnny Mercer’s statue in the City Market.

During the tour we also learned some obscure facts about Spanish moss. For starters, it’s not really Spanish and it’s not really moss. It is also not parasitic as I had originally thought. It is an air plant and can just as easily live on fences and power lines as it can on trees. It got its name from its similarity to the scraggly beards of the Spanish sailors and early settlers used it to fill their mattresses.

A good crop of Spanish moss.

We stopped for a real southern dinner at a restaurant owned by the Food Network’s famous Paula Deen. The buffet style menu included a variety of delicious, artery clogging fried chicken, roast chicken, beef BBQ, buttery garlic mashed potatoes, black eyed peas, baked ham and Georgia peach cobbler for dessert. We also had our first taste of collard greens. They tasted a lot like the swiss chard I used to grow in my garden.

Paula Deen’s “The Lady and Sons”

Next stop: Jekyll Island. Jekyll Island became an exclusive getaway for the powerful industrialists of the late 19th century. At that time it was one of the most renowned hunting preserves in the country. Pulitzer, Goodyear, Vanderbilt, Astor and Rockefeller were among the surnames on the guest registers. Many lavish vacation residences were later built on the island when privacy became a priority as it became a location where decisions affecting the future were being made. One hundred years ago a group of prominent financial leaders met discreetly on Jekyll Island to develop a plan to reform America’s banking system after a serious economic collapse in 1907.


The island was purchased by the State of Georgia in 1947 and with limited development has now become a tourist destination with a historic district and preserved natural areas.

The Jekyll Island Club today. Open to the public. Thank you to the nice man who stopped and gave all four of us a ride. The walk from the marina was longer than we expected.

Formal croquet on the front lawn. We forgot to wear our whites.

Two large shrimp boats crossed back and forth as we passed through Jekyll Sound towards Cumberland Island. We were careful not to get too close. The previous day we had heard conversations between the Coast Guard and the shrimper Morning Star who had a yacht get tangled up in its fishing gear.

Morning Star was looking a little bedraggled when she went by.

Since 1989, shrimp boats have been required to use specially designed nets with Turtle Excluding devices and Bycatch Reduction Devices that allow sea turtles and fish to escape when they get caught up with the shrimp.

Miss Marie surrounded by a cloud of birds.

Shrimp hatch and develop in the marshes and when they are mature they head for the colder water offshore where they are caught. The shrimp harvested in Georgia are mostly brown shrimp, caught from June to August, and white shrimp which are in season in the fall.



Cumberland Island was a favorite stop last year and warranted a repeat visit. This time we made a point of visiting the Dungeness ruins, the remains of the 19th century mansion built by the Carnegie family.

Wild horses wander through the ruins. There are several herds, headed by stallions who battle each other over ownership of the mares. The total population is around 200.

This little one seemed to have gotten separated from his family and was making a lot of noise about it.

Besides the horses there is a lot of other wildlife on the island. As we had attached ourselves to a noisy tour group that sent most things into hiding our sightings were limited.

The armadillos were not concerned about the crowds. They just went about their business foraging for food.

These wild turkeys were not concerned that Thanksgiving was approaching.

Next will be Florida and as long as the weather cooperates we should be back in the Bahamas soon. We have been hearing a lot of rumbling about the Bahamian entry regulations for Canadians and at this point do not know how long we will be able to stay.