November 6 - December 10

As we keep telling everyone, winter cruising is a pretty ‘good gig’ and so we are happy to be at it again.

We drove to Green Cove Springs, arriving November 10, and Gormã was moved into the work yard the next day. It always takes much longer than we remember to get her ready to launch, and this year was no exception. There is the waxing, polishing and painting for me, and the washing, washing and washing for Corinne. Florida summers are really hard on boats, and so the first week is sometimes a little discouraging.

In addition, we had a few boat repairs - nothing major - but always a learning curve. Our two week preparation was rather unexpectedly extended to three weeks due to a breakdown with the travel lift, that magical piece of machinery that carries the boat from land to water. While at first a little disappointing, we ended up having to scramble in order to have everything ready for the launch. Where does the time go?

Once in the water, we were a day to get all the last minute things done, and then on our way. One of our last purchases was fresh caught Mayport shrimp. We celebrated our first night cruising with a tasty dinner at Blount Island in the St. John's River.

The next day we travelled to St. Augustine, a favorite spot. As a sidebar, the previous week we had driven down to St. Augustine, a thirty minute jaunt from Green Cove Springs. By boat it has been two full days. Occasionally we have to remind ourselves that it is the journey, and not the destination.


We stayed over at St. Augustine for Saturday. Two years ago, we watched part of the Santa Claus parade and wondered if we had missed Santa Claus, or if he simply didn’t make it as far south as St. Augustine. We are happy to report that he actually does ‘do’ the parade in St. Augustine, and we have the pictures to prove it. This is also the weekend of the British reenactment of the night watch. It is most interesting to see everybody dressed in period dress walking through the streets of the very old Spanish part of town, ensuring that things are safe for the night.

Another four days of travelling down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway), and we are now on a mooring ball in Vero Beach. This is another great spot to visit – easy shopping, nice access to the ocean beaches, and a place to begin thinking about possible crossings to the Bahamas. We are up early each morning listening to Chris Parker, the weather guru, hoping to find that perfect window for the next leg.

March 31-

We are on our way to San Mateo, Florida, where we will store the boat at Gibson’s Dry Dock. It is a little sad, but will be fun to be home again too.

This has been a wonderful trip and a great adventure, and we are definitely looking forward to doing it again. We have learned so much about the places we have been, some things about ourselves, and a little bit about what is really ‘important’ to us.

One should never take for granted the comfort of a long warm shower or the bounty of the produce section of a good grocery store. We will always marvel at the stars at night, beautiful blue water and sandy beaches, and family and good friends.

That’s it for now, mon!

March 26-29

Chris Parker is the weather guru for cruisers, and most everyone wakes up to catch his SSB radio broadcast at 6:30 in the morning, every day except Sunday. There have been a number of cold fronts passing through, but he sees a ‘window’ to make the passage to Florida in the next few days. If we do not capitalize on it, it will be at least a week before there is another opportunity.

With this in mind, we are off to Highbourne Cay on Wednesday and then to West Bay on New Providence Island on Thursday. The forecast still looks good, so early Friday morning it is off to Lake Worth in Florida.

The waves in the Tongue of the Ocean have been quite large over the past week, but have been subsiding in the last couple of days. Thus it was with just a little trepidation that we stuck our noses out there at first light in the morning.

We have been sailing together with Cipango for the last couple of weeks, and this picture shows them just a little off our port side. We were simultaneously in the trough of waves and all we could see were their sails.

The wind was fresh and true all day and we had one of the best sails we have ever had. From the Tongue of the Ocean we passed through the Northwest Channel onto the Banks, which were never more than 12 to 20 feet deep.

At about midnight we passed by an outcropping known as Hens and Chickens and set our sights on Florida. It is always a little unnerving to be sailing at night. The funny thing is, you can’t see all that much. The stars, however, were spectacular, and when you looked down at the wake it appeared to be full of little fireflies called bioluminescence.

It was a beautiful night and an uneventful crossing. As the sun came up in the morning the wind changed slightly and we were able to sail the last four hours to Lake Worth. We travelled for 28.5 hours and in that time covered 174.7 nautical miles.

Is it any wonder that afternoon burgers and beers at the Tiki Hut were a real treat?

March 13-25

We sailed down to Cambridge Cay on Thursday and picked up a mooring ball in a terrific anchorage. The mooring is nestled between cays and so is protected from winds and waves from all directions. This is one of the few true ‘hidey holes’ in the entire Exumas chain.

Cambridge is also a jumping off spot to a number of interesting spots. In the afternoon we went by dinghy down to the Acquarium, a great snorkeling spot with a wide variety of fish. As we are in the Land and Sea Park we are seeing many more and a greater variety of fish. The tidal currents can be quite strong, though, and you have to pick your snorkeling times accordingly.

On the way back to the boat we stopped at another location where a small plane had crashed. It was rather spooky to dive down and see the wings and fuselage still intact. I could not, however, muster the nerve to swim down and peek into the open cabin door!


The next day we went by dinghy over to Compass Cay. This is a very pretty cay with a nice marina and a number of guest cabins. Guests and visitors can feed the nurse sharks which congregate around the dinghy dock, and on a nice day even go for a swim with them. None of us capitalized on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, though.

We did, however, walk over to the beach on the ocean side of the cay. It is a gorgeous beach overlooking that fabulous aquamarine blue water.

On Sunday we sailed down to Emerald Rock at Warderick Wells and then on Thursday moved over to the North anchorage. We have been thinking we should be moving further north, but windy weather has made it an easy decision to remain until after Easter.

Actually, if the truth be told, we have been away from any opportuntiy to resupply for a while and are pretty much out of fresh produce. That may be the more compelling reason that we are looking forward to the pot luck Easter meal. And what a great afternoon it was.

March 7-12

The realization is beginning to settle in that our adventure must come to an end at some point, and we have mixed emotions about that. It has been a fabulous experience, every step of the way, but it will be nice to get home as well. On Thursday, we began to retrace our steps, sailing from George Town to Jack’s Bay Cove on Great Guana Cay.

The first thirty-five miles of this leg were on Exuma Sound, which is essentially the ocean. The wind had been blowing briskly the previous few days, and so it was somewhat rolly and wavy trip. We passed through Galliot Cut just south of Big Farmers Cay and sailed the last twenty miles on the Exuma Bank. The Bank is one of the finest cruising grounds in the world (I may have made that up) and we had a wonderful romp to Jack’s Bay Cove.

The next day we sailed to Big Majors Spot, an anchorage we enjoy and that provides pretty good protection from approaching fronts. It is always slightly unnerving to be sitting in the cockpit on a gorgeous evening watching a distant band of clouds approach, knowing that there are winds and squalls of 20 to 40 plus miles per hour associated with it.

On Tuesday we sailed back to Jack’s Bay Cove with Jean-Michel and Ann to explore some coral heads we had seen earlier. Corinne was anxious to try snorkeling, and I have a spear which I have not yet taken off the boat. We had a great afternoon, and saw a large variety of fish, as well as a very large sea turtle, just resting quietly on the bottom. I am beginning to think that the fishing may have to wait until next year, though, because besides not knowing how to use the spear, I can never tell for sure which kind of fish might be good for dinner.

However, we did not leave empty-handed. Jean-Michel found two large conch which we brought back to shore and ‘cleaned’. We were rather skeptical about what came out of the shell, but a couple of nights later Jean-Michel and Ann prepared a fabulous dinner of conch fritters.

We returned to Black Point that evening. It is time for one last dinner at Lorraine’s Café and another morning of laundry and Internet. Black Point is a delightful community and perhaps our favorite stop.

February 24 – March 6

George Town is essentially a six-mile long harbour situated between islands along a northwest to southeast axis. There are anchorages on both sides of the channel, and boats will sometimes move from one side to the other to seek protection as cold fronts pass through.

We anchored off of Monument Beach, also known as Hamburger Beach, where Dora has been cooking hamburgers for thirty years. She has a picture on the wall of Johnny Depp when he was there filming Pirates of the Caribbean.

No, that’s not Johnny, it’s Kenny and his pirate wench, Amy. Amy has developed a tradition of observing Pirate Friday, usually on Friday, but with Amy you never can be sure! This was also Kenny’s birthday and a fun night. Amy tells us that when Kenny is not privateering he is an exotic dance instructor.

Next along the channel is Volleyball Beach, the hub of the cruiser’s social scene. It is hopping from morning to nightfall, and even later on dance nights. Every afternoon people gather to play volleyball, swap stories with old and new friends and perhaps have a cool drink.

One morning Corinne and I took the dinghy down to Sand Dollar Beach, near the bottom of the Elizabeth Harbour channel. We had hoped to find elusive sand dollars washed up on the beach, but had no luck. This view, though, looking out from the beach, shows some of the 290 boats in the harbour.

The VHF radio net on channel 72 at 8:00 am each morning announces among other things, the activities for the day. Corinne and I attended excellent sessions on forecasting the weather, purchasing marine insurance, sailing through the Far East, sail trim, … We missed the bridge lessons, the yoga classes, trivial pursuit and, yes, the exotic dance. We did get to a couple of the cocktail gatherings on the beach and jam sessions by a number of very talented folks.

From where we were anchored it was a two mile dinghy ride to George Town. It was often a rough and wet ride. In town we were able to get water from the dinghy dock at the grocery store, Exuma Markets, do our grocery tshopping and pick up fuel. We found that the best bread comes from Mom’s Bakery, the purple van in the picture. Mom is in George Town three days a week and includes a large hug with each purchase.

Internet access, and our link to home, is not accessible from the boat, and somewhat erratic from other locations. We discovered J&K Computers which provides excellent access. They charge five dollars a day, which is much cheaper than the two Kaliks we would purchase at the bars with free access. It is also very popular.

The Cruiser's Regatta is upcoming, but we are going to head north when the weather is good and stop in at some of the places we passed by on our way down.

February 19-23

Along with Joe and Margie on Aquavit, we headed for George Town early Tuesday morning. We passed through Dotham Cut to Exuma Sound and motored the fifty miles to George Town. A cut is the narrow passage from the ‘banks’ side of the island chain through to the ‘Sound’ or ocean side. There is always a current through the cut based on the ebb or flow of the tide. When the wind is blowing the opposite direction from the current, it creates a large set of standing waves. We thought we had timed our transit well, and so were quite surprised by the short rough passage through the cut. Joe and Margie, veteran cruisers, assured us that this had been one of the roughest they had encountered.

George Town is the final destination of many cruisers and will be for us as well. We have travelled 3 254.3 miles and marvel consistently at what a wonderful experience it has been.

There are approximately 225 cruising boats anchored here. The cruisers have developed a vibrant community, facetiously called ‘day camp for seniors’, which is busy from morning to night. At 8:00 am there is a ‘net’ on the VHF radio that announces all of the activities for the day. Today there is yoga in the morning, volleyball in the afternoon, with opportunities to play bridge, bocci and dominoes. Last week we could have written the ham radio test, and this week Chris Parker, the Caribbean weather guru, will be doing a seminar in town.

On the other side of the island, a very short walk from ‘Hamburger Beach’, are miles of sand beach looking out on the sound.

We were anxious to get to George Town so that Corinne could get her cast removed. She has had it for six weeks and is anxious to be done with it. We went in to visit Dr. Fox who confirmed that the cast could be removed and said, ‘I’m sorry I don’t have the cast-cutter here, but you can easily cut it off with a hack saw blade.’

Corinne obviously had a look in her eye which said there was no way in #$% that I was going to be sawing her arm, because Dr. Fox slipped in a minute later and said he had just sent someone out to buy a blade.

We had an interesting conversation as he patiently sawed through the stubborn cast. In the end, there was the doctor, the chiropractor, myself and a nurse all pulling on the cast to get it to come loose. Finally the cast split apart and Corinne’s arm emerged. It is still pretty tender and a little swollen, but is feeling better each day.

When we returned to the boat we called our friends on Mary T to share the news. Corinne was very excited, but I think I was even more so as she was determined to start doing the dishes. Amy retorted, ‘Great, we’ll bring ours over too.’