Greetings and welcome back,

We are now planning to leave tomorrow, Wednesday April 30,2008.  We have moved up our departure by one day to take advantage of favorable winds for the passage to the Florida Keys.  We spent the last couple of weeks servicing various boat systems and having about 4 boat bucks worth of engine and electronic work done.  Yesterday, Sandy and I dove on the boat and scrubbed the bottom – it makes about ½ knot of speed difference which doesn’t sound like much until you realize that 6.5 knots is a good speed!!

We now have the ability to download weather data from the XM satellite system as an overlay on our GPS.  Getting weather information once outside the US is not easy.  We are spoiled by the VHF radio weather available all over the US from NOAA.  Last year we were in the Abacos and had relatively frequent Internet access so were able to keep up with the weather that way.  In addition, there was a “cruiser’s net” every morning on VHF that gave weather information, as well as other info.  Where we are going this year is far less populated and Internet connections are going to be far less frequent and we won’t have access to a “cruiser’s net”.  We should be ahead of hurricane season, but I would hate to be surprised by one because we had no access to weather data.

Boating trips to the Bahamas tend to be relatively informal.  We may sail in the company of other sailors for some or all of the trip.  Two other boats from our sailing club are heading across at roughly the same time.  Ralph and Lynn Manley and their granddaughter will be on board Manana and Michael Cain and Linda Raymond will be on board Zydeco.  We all have slightly different things we want to do and where we want to visit so we are likely to join up and separate as those needs dictate.  We may also have on-board company for part of the trip.  Our buddy Skip plans to fly over and join us again this year for a couple of weeks.  Another couple is working their schedules to try and fit in a week.

We have the boat pretty well packed and ready to go. Once we depart, we will be out of e-mail range for at least three days.
Wednesday we will leave here, pass under the Sanibel Bridge and run down the coast to Marco Island.  Marco Island is about as far south as civilization goes on this coast of Florida and it is one of our favorite destinations.  They have some great marina’s for those last minute parts and some great waterfront restaurants.  Marco Island lost their court case and we now have no reason to be concerned about overnight anchoring in their protected harbour.

Thursday we will depart for Little Shark River that is a nice anchorage in the Everglades not far from Everglades City.  If the mosquitoes don’t come out, this is a good place to spend the night.

Thursday, we will either head for Key Largo or Marathon.  The decision depends on the wind forecast and how soon we can make the crossing of the gulf stream.  Key Largo would be best if we don’t have to wait for a weather window. Marathon has more and better services and things to do if we have to wait for a weather window.

For 2008, we are planning to visit the Bahamas south of Nassau. 
Last year we were generally North of Nassau.

The primary focus is the Exumas.  This map shows the plan for the first week or two of the trip – and we may even follow it.
We want to make our crossing to SouthBimini.  We plan to stay a couple of days there and do some diving.  The diving is supposed to be spectacular.  We expect to meet up with Manana in Nassau and with Zydeco in the Keys or in South Bimini.

That’s the plan–next report we will let you know if it worked!
Gerald and Sandy Canning
S/V Rum Daze
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Second Trip Report
Departed: Cape Coral, Florida
Miles Traveled 43.3 nmiles
Arrived: Marco Island, Florida
At Anchor 16:30pm
 
I have decided to send all further reports in the old Word format.  Too many of you could not open the PDF version and a lot of you have not upgraded to the new version of MS Word.
Much to my surprise, I found an “open” wi-fi connection in Marco Island.  I had never before been able to connect when I was in this anchorage.  Perhaps it is the extended range of the new wireless N standard that makes it possible.

We left a day early to take advantage of the forecast north winds.  The forecast was partially correct.  We had about two hours of great winds – then the winds dropped enough that we had to either motor or motorsail the remainder of the way.
We are currently at anchor in Factory Bay off Marco Island, Florida.  Tomorrow we will leave for either Little Shark River or East Cape Sable – both of which are in the Everglades.  East Cape Sable is not a well protected anchorage – but the weather forecast for tomorrow has winds coming from the east which would be a great direction to anchor off that cape.  The anchorage at Little Shark river is much better protected – but subject to bugs.  There is no spraying allowed in the Everglades National Park.

Our good friends Linda and Mike on Zydeco are on their way and are expected to catch up with us tonight.  Tomorrow we will travel with them.  I still have to figure out where to go on Friday.  I am leaning toward Marathon, primarily because it is a somewhat longer crossing to Bimini.  That may sound counter intuitive, however, I want to leave the Keys during the daylight hours and arrive at Bimini in the early AM.  If I arrive too early, I can’t see to safely navigate the channel.

Tonight we will map out some options to discuss with Zydeco.
Gerald and Sandy Canning
S/V Rum Daze
 
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Third Trip Report – Part 1 -- Thursday May 1,2008
Departed: Marco Island, Fl
Miles Traveled: 70.2 nm
Arrived: Little Shark River
At Anchor: 18:15
 
We left Factory Bay off Marco Island, Florida at 7am expecting a long day.  Once we got out of the harbor, we were treated to 15kt winds that were perfect for a close haul.  In addition, we had about ½ knot of current going our way.  For about 5 hours, we had great sailing and often hit speeds in excess of 8 knots.  For a while, the winds got up to the 20’s and we had to reef – but it was still a great sail.

Unfortunately once we turned a little more to the east after rounding Romano Shoals, the wind became too close to sail into and we were forced to motor.

Linda and Mike on Zydeco caught up with us in Marco Island last night.  However, since they have a shallow draft boat with a shorter mast than we do, they had a different option for today’s trip.  They went down the Marco River and exited on the east side of Romano Shoals – thus saving miles and time.  In any case, we all ended up at the anchorage at Little Shark River at the same time.

We had discussed going all the way to Middle Cape Sable.  However that anchorage is more exposed to wind and waves and the overnight forecast is for 20kt winds – so we chose to opt for the more protected anchorage.

Tonight we will have dinner on Zydeco. 

Tomorrow we will travel together around the edge of the Everglades National Park until we split up tomorrow afternoon.  Zydeco will stay on the inside of the Keys and will make their crossing from an anchorage north of Key Largo.  They will probably cross to Cat Cay and clear Bahaman customs and immigration before going to the Berry Islands.  We will catch up with them again near the Berry Islands or further down the path to the Exumas.

We will go on the Atlantic side of the Keys to an anchorage known as Rodriguez Cay that is just off Key Largo.  We plan to go into the Pilot House Marina in Key Largo Saturday morning for fuel and water.  If the weather forecast holds, we plan to depart Key Largo Saturday evening for an overnight passage to South Bimini – arriving there sometime Sunday morning.

Third Trip Report –Part 2 - Friday May 2,2008
Departed: Little Shark River
Miles Traveled: 86.1 nm
Arrived: Pilot House Marina
At Dock: 21:00
 
Did you ever have one of those days?  Notice the 86 miles traveled?  Ours started well.  We left the anchorage in Little Shark River at 7am after a very peaceful night.  We anticipated a long haul to the Pilot House Marina of about 70nm.  Our friends on Zydeco set sail for Marathon because they were having problems with their refrigerator and that seemed to be the best place to find someone to work on it.  (They were successful.  They had a slow leak but found someone to fix it and recharge the system in Marathon so they are good to go.)

Mike and Linda were able to sail directly to Marathon. Our path to Key Largo required traveling directly into the wind so motoring was the order of the day.  We actually had a nice trip along the edges of the Everglades National Park – dodging the occasional crab pot but otherwise doing fine.  We even had a pleasant passage by Sprigger bank – a shallow spot on the trip that, in the past has had our depth gauge screaming the shallow water alarm and displaying 0” under the keel for long periods of time.  Sprigger bank is shallow and I have gotten comfortable with a foot of water under the keel while motoring along at cruising speed – but 0 depth is a little hard on the blood pressure.  (We have since figured out that the low reading is due to the sonar reflecting off the grass on the bottom in that area and that the actual depth is about a foot deeper.)

We crossed into the Atlantic under Channel 5 south of Islamorada and headed north.

Unfortunately, we were running low on fuel and were pounding into 20 knot winds and waves.  There are not a lot of marinas that can handle a 5’ draft boat.  We chose to sail.  Since we needed to travel directly into the wind, we had to tack back and forth in Hawk channel for about 6 hours.  It wasn’t bad sailing – but it did test the integrity of the boat systems.

In the process of sailing up the channel, we had to reef the mainsail.  I had previously installed blocks on the single line reefing system and this was my first chance to try them out.  The reefing worked great.  Unfortunately, one of the reefing lines got untied and one had the block work itself out of the sail – negating the effect of the reefing.  It can all be easily fixed – but not while pounding into 4-6’ seas in 20 knots of wind.  By the way, we were able to bury the rail twice on this leg of the trip.  I had never seen the rail underwater before.  Since our rail is about 4’ out of the water, we really had to heal to bury it.  The wind generator hit the topping lift on one tack and took a piece out of one of the blades – now it is even noisier because it is somewhat out of balance and vibrates.

All afternoon we tried to contact the only marina we knew we could get our boat into.  We finally left a message saying we wanted to come in and could tie up at the fuel dock and asked them to call back.  We never got a call.  This marina is currently in bankruptcy so we weren’t sure they hadn’t gone out of business.  Without a response and running out of daylight, we chose to anchor off Rodriguez Key (just off Key Largo on the Atlantic side.)  The anchorage is not very well protected from wind and waves from the east, but we could have handled it – if we could have gotten the anchor to set.  The last time we were here in 2007 the anchor set the first time.  We tried three times and couldn’t get it to hold.  It would roll up a ball of grass, sand and mud, then slide along the bottom.

It was now full dark, so we decided to take a chance on finding space at the fuel dock in the marina.  This is not an easy canal to find in the dark, but we did get to try out our spotlight.  We found room enough for our boat.  The boat in front of us told us that we were expected and that they had moved their boat forward to accommodate us.  We had some trouble with a faulty electrical outlet but now are fed, showered and securely at dock.  We will probably spend an extra day here and repair some boat problems, get some fuel and look for a good weather window to make the crossing.

Saturday May 3,2008
At: Pilot House Marina
 
We woke up early since we were blocking the fuel dock.  We found out that the marina, in spite of rumors to the contrary, had diesel available so we took on 29 gallons in the tank and 10 gallons on deck – for $159.

I fixed the reefing system, then we moved into a regular slip.  We are going to spend the day here and start the crossing tomorrow in the afternoon.  We needed the day to “reset” and the wind and waves are forecast to be better starting on Sunday.

We took a $50 cab ride to purchase a $70 dollar USB card reader for my Garmin GPS.  I had a reader at home, but forgot to bring it.  I need the reader to download waypoints and routes from this laptop into my 3010C Chart Plotter.  Interestingly enough, Garmin has switched from their proprietary data cartridges for their latest generation of navigation devices.  The new units use standard Camera SD cards.

Next item of business was to wash down the boat.  Not only is salt corrosive, but it is very slippery and can be hard to see through.

That is salt on the porthole.  It covered the whole boat like that.

Like last year, our slip is virtually in the Pilot House restaurant – we will be able to talk to the outdoor diners from the boat.  Notice that in Florida, they don’t waste much money on long finger piers.

The boat is clean, we are clean and we are planning on walking down to the Key Largo Conch House for dinner.  Tomorrow we will get up late, then set up for an overnight passage to South Bimini.  I am hoping to get in during the morning on Monday and clearing customs and immigration.  We will probably spend three days there, depending on the quality of the diving.

Gerald and Sandy Canning
S/V Rum Daze
 
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Fourth Trip Report -- Sunday May 4,2008 & Monday May 5,2008
Departed: Key Largo, Fl
Miles Traveled: 79.7 nm
Arrived: South Bimini - Bahamas
At Anchor: 8:15 Monday
 
We are in the period of highest tides cause by the moon and sun being on the same side of the earth.  What that meant for us was that if we didn’t get out of the Pilot House Marina by 10am on the falling tide, we couldn’t get out until the tide came back up at 6PM.  Fortunately, the marina was not busy and we were able to convince the attendants to let us have a very late “check out.”  Had we had to leave at 10 am, we would have had to find some place to anchor to kill time until 6 pm anyway.
Why did we have to wait until 6 pm to start the crossing?  Well, we had about an 80-90 mile crossing and would need 14-16 hours to make it depending on the conditions.  We wanted to start the crossing in daylight because there is a barrier reef system off the Florida Keys we needed to cross and we wanted to be able to see what we were doing.  At the other end, we needed to get to the marina early enough to clear customs and immigration but also timed to catch the tide.  (Sailboats need lots of water, so we use the tides to get it.)  In any case, optimum time to arrive would be about 8:25am – the predicted high tide and just late enough that the marina would be open to clear us in.

In any case, we had time to kill in Key Largo.  We did some last minute shopping, read and napped.  Sandy spotted a mom and baby Manatee right in the marina.

We pulled away from the dock at 5:45pm, exited the canal and started the crossing.  The forecast weather conditions were winds of 5 knots and seas of 2 feet or less.  The weathermen are no more accurate here than they are anywhere else.  We found ourselves pounding into 4-6’ seas.  We raised the jib and slowed down to about 4 knots to make the ride more bearable.  Over the next hour the winds rose to 20knots and the seas grew to 6-8.’  It was not looking like a fun crossing.

Fortunately, after a couple of hours the conditions started to moderate.  Once it got dark, the wind shifted to be on the nose and we had to drop the sail.  (Note: a sailboat is a lot more stable that a power boat – because of the stabilizing effect of the wind on the sail.  Without the sail, the ride gets more uncomfortable, so dropping the sail was not our first choice.)  After dark, conditions improved so that the ride was not all that bad and we were easily handling the 2-4’ seas.  By morning the winds dropped completely and the sea completely flattened out.  We had almost glassy conditions to motor into the marina and dock.

There are a couple of great things about crossing the Gulf Stream after dark.  You see lots of stars and constellations that you cannot see on land.  The sea traffic is interesting and Miami lights up the sky for at least 50 miles.

This was our first stay at this new Marina.  It has floating concrete docks that make docking so very much more pleasant.
Compare the full-length finger pier to the pictures we showed of how we had to get off the boat at the Pilot House (a typical Florida marina design.)

We are actually docked about 10’ from the back of the slip and still had about 10’ of pier in front of us.  We were able to lower the dingy from the back of the boat and go exploring without moving Rum Daze.

I had previously indicated that the purpose of this stop was to do some diving.  To that end, I had called the nearest operator, Scuba Bimini, the week before we left.  I was quoted prices and told how to find them.  Unfortunately, I was not told that they were “temporarily” out of business.

We walked into the business.  What we found was a bar – for which there was no advertising outside, but no dive shop.  Ultimately, we did locate someone who told us the boats were “down” and that if we wanted to dive we would have to contact one of the operators on North Bimini.

We did do that and are waiting for their reply.  It looks like we may be lucky to get one or two dives in over here and those will not be on the marquise sites.  That’s disappointing, but it will not be the last situation we have to work around – such is life in the Caribbean.

Note:  Part of the reason I picked this marina, beyond the close proximity of a dive operation, was the on-site customs and immigration service for check in to the country.  That turned out to be sort of true.  There is an office on site – but it is only manned when there is a large boating event in the marina.  At least the local airstrip has an office and an interesting cab ride later, I got us cleared in and official for the next six weeks.

We will see what happens in the next installment of this report.
 
Gerald and Sandra Canning
S/V Rum Daze