Bahamas to Florida and Home
Old Bahama Bay Marina at West End, Grand Bahama, is in the midst of a major redevelopment. Upscale houses are being built along the waterfront, with big white rocks and rip-rap forming the boundaries of the marina. The project still has an “under-construction” look to it. We arrived in time to check in and fuel before a nice rain washed the salt off the boat. This was our first marina stop in almost a month. We were plugged in to shore power, and totally beat from the adverse wind conditions of the day. We went through our passage making list and took care of a few last minute tasks. We nuked some hot dogs for dinner (a luxury because we don’t use the microwave unless we are on 110 power) and crashed.
We had hoped to go (1) All the way from Grand Bahama to Beaufort, North Carolina, or (2) as far as we could get while the weather held out. The weather was forecast to change, so our US destination was looking like either St. Augustine or Fernandina Beach, Florida. George would make a decision around midnight to determine our route.
We pulled out early in the morning of May 10. Winds were very light for the first 8 hours. We put the main sail up early, and motorsailed across the glassy smooth Gulf Stream. We kept two lines out most of the day, but caught no fish. There was very little boat traffic through the day – only two ships and very few other boats. Lynn prepared a pasta salad in the galley – a rare activity on passages. In the early afternoon winds picked up some, and the genoa went out. We picked up speed from the Gulf Stream, and by the time the first night watch went into full swing, we were making 9 knots over the ground.
Winds and seas picked up through the night and we had a following sea and a fair amount of ship traffic. We stood our normal 3-hour watches, but Lynn woke George up several times with shipping traffic and a pop-up storm here and there. We had used valuable fuel to motorsail when we had no wind, and with the weather factor, we changed course for St. Augustine.
By morning, seas were gray, rolling, and wind eventually got into the 20’s. Weather report was for Southwest 15, with seas 2-3. Eyeing the sea state, George quipped “meters?” The VHF warned of storms with 40 knot winds, rain, hail, lightning, and waterspouts, and droned on that prudent mariners wouldn’t leave port. What about the mariners like us, who left port relying on the forecast of southwest of 15 and seas 2-3, who were already out there with nowhere to go but onward?
Just an hour out of St. Augustine, another catamaran near us, Jus’ Dreamin’ was fed up. They opted to change course and head for the St. John’s River and Mayport, a more favorable point of sail but adding several hours to their uncomfortable trip. George stuck with his plan and shortly we had arrived at St. Augustine in improved conditions, fueled and tied up at the Conch House Marina, took showers, and were enjoying sundowners in the bar. Back on US soil again, after a 234 nautical mile crossing.
The next day, we motored inside the ICW to Fernandina Beach, and tied up at the marina. Jus’ Dreamin’ came over for drinks and brought us some kingfish (king mackerel) steaks. Later we pan sautéed them with butter and blackening in a skillet, and ate them with corn and sliced fresh tomatoes. Delicious. Good thing fellow cruisers take pity on those who didn’t catch anything!
May 13: We set off in the afternoon from Fernandina Beach, out the St. Mary’s Inlet into the Atlantic again, hoping to sail offshore through the night and arrive in Charleston the following afternoon with a favorable tide. We had a nice afternoon, and at sunset when Lynn went on watch we could see the beautiful bridge at Brunswick, South Carolina.
Just before dark, while George was still awake, a continuous array of dolphin appeared in the dark water beside the boat. The pod was not visible from a distance, but in the following swell and our wake, one dolphin would appear, then two, then another. We could see them well as they rolled and went under the boat, dark shapes with speckled undersides, one after another, for at least a half hour.
Lynn was unsettled about her second watch (12am-3am) because it had not been good on the Bahamas to St. Augustine crossing. However, it went fine. Nearing time to wake up George, there were a couple of ships on radar, and the entire watch had seen sheet lightning and an occasional lightning flash to the west, but about 20 miles off, along the shore.
All of a sudden a pop-up thunderstorm showed up on radar! It appeared from out of nowhere, looking like an explosion of fireworks on the screen. Fortunately we only had the main up (and our main is undersized for our boat). There was no time to take it down. George struggled into his harness and into the cockpit, grabbed the helm and steered directly into the storm to ride through it. Toby and Lynn stayed below. Toby was a scared puppy. He tried to get as close to Lynn as he could. They sat on the salon steps, where Lynn could see the radar and the computer screen (in retrospect not a good place to be – right at the bottom of the mast where lightning could come down).
George stayed in the cockpit, steering the boat, and keeping things under control. It took over an hour to steer through the storm until it let up enough to turn and run with the wind on our original course. Our manometer (wind speed indicator) stopped working at 35 knots, but another boat (Lily May) clocked 45 knots. Lily May’s foresail was ripped in the storm, even though it was furled. We didn’t suffer any damage – After daybreak, George recalibrated the manometer and we were soon in working order again.
We listened to the updated weather and there were additional storms forecast, some even more intensive – even threatening to spawn tornadoes the next afternoon, and not giving us a clear path to Charleston. So at daybreak George changed course for Port Royal Sound and Beaufort, SC. We arrived at the Beaufort docks tired, but ready to take on fuel and tie up for a night after a fairly short, but very busy 133 nautical mile overnight trip.
Sunspot Baby usually arrives at the fuel dock like she is sidling up to a bar stool about to order a margarita. However, with a strong current running, she had a near miss with a concrete piling. Not like our captain to mishandle her, and we attributed the issue to the strong current that rips along the Beaufort waterfront. However, when we tried to move to a dock space, we discovered that there was no starboard propulsion. Eventually getting her tied up, and after working through the issues, we discovered that Sunspot Baby had lost her starboard prop! No wonder we had trouble maneuvering to the dock.
So we spent a couple of extra days in Beaufort (pronounced Bew-fort), ordering a new prop, zinc, and related stuff, and waiting for them to arrive. We went out for a nice Mother’s Day dinner, and borrowed the marina car for a grocery run. The parts arrived, were speedily installed, and we were good to go again.
On May 17 we headed for Isle of Palms, just north of Charleston Bay. The South Carolina bridge schedule can be very difficult for cruising boats. We passed through the Wappoo Creek Bridge at 3:30 pm, their last opening before they close for the rush hour, and then had two and a half hours and only 8 miles to travel before the Ben Sawyer opened from its restricted hours at 6:00 pm. Waiting for these bridges in strong currents and with considerable other boat traffic is inconvenient and sometimes downright dangerous. We were glad to finally get through the Ben Sawyer, and to Isle of Palms before they closed for the night, after over 12 hours of motoring. We met Don and Peg Higgins at the on-site restaurant for dinner and catching up – a great finish to a long day.
We had hoped Don and Peg could make the ICW trip with us from Charleston to Georgetown, but their schedule was busy and the weather forecast was looking like a less-than-wonderful trip. So we headed out on our own for Georgetown. Winyah Bay was windy and on our nose, but that portion of the day was only about 6 miles. With the exception of the paper mill smells that permeate Georgetown and Fernandina Beach, both are charming spots.
Cruising through the Carolina marshes, we were inundated with flies! It is green fly season along the east coast, and we motor and swat as we go along the Intracoastal Waterway. Other boats we meet are doing the same. When we arrived in Georgetown, we hosed dozens of dead flies off the boat and hoped the fly phenomenon would be over soon.
From Georgetown, we traveled about 55 miles to North Myrtle Beach, tied up and had dinner at the Officer’s Quarters, a favorite restaurant overlooking Coquina Harbor.
Timing is everything with bridges in the ICW. We headed out early the morning of May 20 to make the last opening at the Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge before low tide (they don’t open near low tide). Then we were faced with an early arrival at the Cape Fear River, which we wanted to transit with a flooding tide. Our route through the Cape Fear ends at Snow’s Cut, which is sometimes running the opposite direction of the Cape Fear. We have gone through both of these spots in the past with less than desirable conditions, but this time we arrived at the Cape Fear with a 1+ knot current running with us. George unfurled the Genoa, and we were making 10 knots of speed over the ground – practically warp speed for Sunspot Baby!
Our route turned and the wind was not as beneficial. Time to bring in the Genoa, and we tried a new tactic, that didn’t work. The Genoa ended up backing into itself, and wrapping itself around the furler with the sheet lines trapped inside. The top of the sail was loose and the wind was whipping. A mess, to say the least. So in the Cape Fear River, a major shipping channel with lots of boat traffic on a windy day, George went forward and wrestled to get things back in order. Lynn steered the boat in a tight circle, and eventually (with much elbow grease on George’s part), the sail unwound, came free and the sheet lines popped loose. What a relief! We tidied everything up and headed up the Midnight Channel to Snow’s Cut.
Snow’s Cut was only slightly against us, and in short order we were at Masonboro, our destination for the night. We talked to our friends, John and Martha Meskauskas on the phone, but they weren’t available to come over for a drink. We made plans for them to come to Fairfield Harbour through the summer for a golf or boating weekend.
Our last-ditch opportunity to hop outside faded as we passed the Masonboro inlet the next morning. Winds and seas weren’t too bad, but they weren’t great either, and there was a threat of thunderstorms in the afternoon. That trip (Masonboro Inlet to Beaufort Inlet) would have been about 70 miles, and it would be nice to do it in ideal conditions the first time.
The weekend traffic from Carolina Beach to Swansboro is crazy. Small boats, big boats, personal watercraft, crabbers, and so on. We spent Sunday night in Swansboro at Dudley’s – a friendly and cheap marina and the next day hoped to make it home.
May 22 – We were off early, and excitement built as we got closer to home. We had nice weather and favorable currents through the day – and didn’t meet even one barge! We got our dock lines ready for our home slip – and pulled into Northwest Creek about 4 in the afternoon.
All three of our Bahamas cruises have been good, but we decided this one was the best. We are looking forward to the next one!
Lynn Stateham