Abacos to Jacksonville

Leaving Bakers Bay as the sun came up was a bit of a treat.  It was early, but the sunrise was amazing.




We had a beautiful day heading all the way from Bakers Bay to Great Sale Cay, northwest of the Abacos. We were not alone on the Sea of Abaco.  Several boats were headed to Great Sale, all en route to the US as well.  Most boats were planning to anchor in the south Bight of Great Sale, but we thought this was too open to the south west winds currently blowing.  The winds were light, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but instead we decided to anchor off the North East tip of the Cay.  It's not marked on any charts as an anchorage, but the water depths looked good, and the protection was right for the wind, so we thought we would give it a try.  And it would save us some time and fuel, rather than traveling a few extra miles around and into the bight.  We had been chatting on the Vhf with a couple other trawlers. They noticed our boweye snubber, and wanted to know how it was installed and rigged, and so they asked where we were planning to anchor, and then joined us in our quiet anchorage spot.  The holding was superb at the anchorage, and we were decently protected from wind swell, and we slept well for the night.






Bright and early, we were up and heading out as the sun was rising.  We were headed to Jacksonville, FL. If we ran straight there and could average 8 knots, then we'd make it there in 30 hours...  IF we can average 8 knots.  We typically travel around 6.5-7 knots, now that we are towing the tender.  We are slow.  But we'd be traveling north, and in the gulf stream for about 1/3 of the time.  The gulf stream would give us at least a 2-3 knot boost-- we hoped.  We spent most of the day traveling off the Little Bahama Bank, and sure enough a few hours after heading northwest, once we reached the big blue ocean, we picked up speed... sometimes see speeds close to 11 knots-- we were cruising now!



Even though we are underway, as long as no one feels sick, we treat it like a normal day.  School, chores, games, and play.  It's just like any other day, except we are on the move.






After seeing all the boats headed to Great Sale we thought we'd have more company on our cross to the US, but unfortunately most boats head directly west for the Florida coast, for the shortest open crossing point, and then head either north or south on the intercoastal waterway.  It's shorter and faster to just make a direct line to your next port, but it does require a longer time in open waters.  And for us an overnighter-- which I don't really love. So as we headed northwest, we found ourselves mostly alone out on the water.  Occasionally we'd cross paths with a Bahamian commercial fishing boat, or a tanker or a few container ships.



It wasn't the best crossing, but it wasn't the worst either.  Sometimes the waves and water were uncomfortable and harder to move around inside the boat, and other times it was calmer and just fine. But each of the kids handled it like a pro.  Even Brittany, our nanny was handling the seas better.  No more throwing up from anyone!   The older kids each took shifts helping with watch, day and night. It's a team effort.


We had a few fun things that helped pass the time.  We had a very persistent bird that was determined to land on the railing on our bow.  Over and over the bird would swoop down from above and reach for the railing, but as the boat shifted in the waves, it would miss and then fly up above the boat.  Then it would attempt again and again.  Alexander especially enjoyed watching the bird.







We also saw dolphins a few times on this crossing.  One time in particular, the dolphins came fast.. darting at our boat, flying thru the air, over the waves.  There were several of them.  They swam along the bow of the boat, surfing the wake.






By the second day, mid morning we could see the coast of Florida as we headed closer and closer. We were planning to enter the intercoastal area of Florida at St. Augustine and spend the weekend on a mooring ball at the city Marina.  St. Augustine is a very pretty city, and the oldest inhabited city in the US.  The National Park service maintains a beautiful fort built in the 1500s.  It's a fun place to explore for a weekend.  Once we were close enough to shore to pick up cell phone service, I called to make a reservation for a mooring ball.  The staff also gave us a report on the channel.  They informed us that the markers had been recently set, in the last 2 weeks, to follow them in and we'd be fine.  This particular channel leading from the ocean to the intercoastal area is known for lots of shifting and shoaling. Markers get moved by the elements, and then your boat ends up where you don't want it to be.   It was comforting to hear the markers were recently checked out and moved to the right spots.  We had no issues entering in the channel, and saw deep waters all the way through.

Once we reached the city mooring field and tied up to a mooring ball, the next item on the agenda was to notify customs of our arrival.  David logged in to their reporting website and filled out our float plan, to notify by phone.  8 of the 10 of us were set up to report via phone.  The other 2, Brittany, and baby Julia, would need to report in person, which we planned to do the next morning.  It was now approaching bed time and we were all dead tired after 30 hours of travel.  I had checked the customs website our found that customs would be open tomorrow from 7am-7pm.  They had limited days of the week in St. Augustine, and the rule is you must report within 24 hours of arrival so in choosing to come to St. Augustine, rather than Jacksonville, we made sure the office would be during our 24 hour window.  We had all our ducks lined up... or so we thought.

When David called to notify customs, they told him that since all of our children had their passports renewed this last year, they no longer qualified to report via phone, they all had to report in person.  For us that now means taking 2 taxi's to customs instead of 1.  David called the local customs office and found out that they in fact would not be open tomorrow, so if we wanted to clear in during the 24 hour window, we would have to either arrive at the office in the next 20 mins, or drive to Jacksonville, an hour away.  We were not taking 2 taxi's to Jacksonville... and what happened to being open tomorrow?  I called the local customs office back to ask why they weren't open, when the US Customs website says they are.  And the officer bluntly informed me that he ..."was allowed to take a day off!"  I agree with his sentiment, however, the office should be open. Those are the hours listed on the Customs Website,  a replacement officer should be sent to cover for him.  But I guess not.  There was no way we would make it there in time, even though David was hollering at the kids to get their shoes and life jackets on.  He'd called the Marina office to ask them to line us 2 taxi's for us.  Just as I was telling him, it would be a waste, because there was no way we'd make it in time tonight before the office closed.  We were tired, and worn out from 30 hours of travel.  It was nearing bedtime, and I was exhausted.  To rush down to the office, pay for taxi's, to find we were 5 mins late, and couldn't clear in, would not go over well.   My plan was to just go the day after tomorrow.  That would be more than 24 hours later... but I figure if He can take a day off, then so can we.  David had concerns about the repercussions of not reporting on time, so I called the customs agent back to ask what the repercussions would be.  He did not know.  And after some discussion, finally he agreed to wait until 8pm for us to come in tonight.  That gave us an hour; enough time to get over there.

The marina staff had a small slip ready for our tender, and 2 taxi's waiting for us.  They were fantastic!  We hustled to the street and into the taxis they had called, and arrived at 7:30pm at the customs office at a small local airport.  The officer was taking care of a small plane arrival, and then was ready to help us.  And "help" is not really the right word.  He was gruff, with no sense of humor. We asked if he could re-approve the kids for the call-in arrival system, and he informed us, he was not spending any extra time with us.  He did not get paid overtime.  He would clear us in and that would take long enough.  We would need to make an appointment and come back another time.  He really was not pleasant at all.  Each of the kids lined up to be examined one by one with their passport photos, for clearance.  He then asked us the usual questions you are asked when you fly into the country, many did not apply since we arrived by private boat.  "did you pack your own bags, or did anyone ask you to bring something for them...?"  and I couldn't help but smile at how these questions did not apply---  we are on a boat that we live on, there are no packed bags, no luggage.  But apparently he did not like my smile-- and he stopped his question asking, to give me a quick lecture on how these are important questions, and a serious matter, and I should take it seriously.  Boy, I had to apologize and call him sir.  I felt like I had stepped back in time and would be denied entrance into my country. So I put on my serious face, and answered his serious questions.  He knows we are on a boat, why would he think those questions apply?  We have not been asked those questions when clearing in at other ports.  So this was weird.  After checking all the passports, he informed us we had to stay in the waiting area, while he and David went in the office. They sat in his office for about 20 mins, while the customs agent reviewed something on his computer, and David sat across from him.  Not too sure, what was going on, but this was by far the longest time we have ever spent clearing in to the USA.  Including the time Customs officers came out to our boat and boarded for clearance procedures.  I don't think I will plan to enter the US again at Port St. Augustine, and hopefully our paths will not cross with that customs agent again.  I don't think he liked his job much.

 Savannah's favorite spot, perched on the bow, watching the water, waiting for dolphins.

The Abacos, Bahamas

The day was nice and calm.  We left early in the morning for the all day passage up to the Abaco Islands.  We left Harbour Island through the south channel.  David and I had driven around thru the area the evening before, checking depths on the route to make sure there would be no surprises in the channel in the morning.  And we had good depths on the route all the way out to the deeper waters on the east side.

The seas were calm and it was a calm ride all day.  We arrived at the North Bar channel in the South Abaco Islands just before dinner.  After entering into the sea of Abaco, we continued further west to anchor along Great Abaco Island near the Snake Cays.  We picked this area for great SW thru NW wind protection.  However, when we dropped our anchor, it wouldn't set.  As we pulled in reverse, we drug backwards.  We picked up the anchor again, and looked at anchoring to the north of the boats there, but saw alot of rocks and coral below the surface and decided to go back to the eastern area where we had first dropped the anchor and look for a more sandy patch.  We dropped again, but did not rev our engines up as high as usual, and thankfully the anchor held.  We decided to watch it and make sure our anchor alarm was working, but felt confident the anchor was set good enough for the light winds tonight.  I get nervous enough setting the anchor, but this time all the other boats anchored nearby were out enjoying the sunset and watching us.  That adds even more pressure to making sure we get it right!



In the morning we headed off in the tender at high tide for an enjoyable slow tender ride through the mangrove cays along Great Abaco Island.  Again the adults enjoy these tender rides far more than the kids.

That afternoon we headed a few miles north east to Tahiti beach.  We anchored just west of the pretty beach that grows as the tide falls.  It really is a very pretty area. The beach is a long stretch of sand that appears as the tide goes out, and slims down when the tide comes in.  We anchored close enough to kayak or swim in to the beach.





With high tide in the afternoon, the kids finished their school work to kayak off to the beach to play. Matthew and I had a great swim into the beach.  Two other kids came over to play on the sand with us.  Myra and her twin brother Aeden are 8 years old.  They live on a sailboat and just moved here to the Abacos from Florida.  The kids all got along great and had a fun time playing together for a few hours.



The next day after finishing school work, we radio'd the sailboat Dulcinea, to invite Myra and Aeden to meet at the beach for hours of playing.  This was how it went for the next several days.  Rain or shine, the kids had so much fun playing together, at the beach or on each other's boats.  A few times we went into shore to scooter, or go to a pool.  The kids became fast friends.



Lucky us, we enjoyed chatting with Myra and Aeden's parents, Greer and Aaron.  We had a few dinners together, and outing with the kids.  Like the kids, we also enjoyed making new friends.  They even shared some delicious Mahi Mahi with us that their boss had caught fishing one morning.  That was a great dinner!






We were watching the weather, and thinking about moving further north in the Abaco chain, but the we were well protected from the south winds where we were, anchored at Tahiti Beach, and the kids were having such a great time with their friends, that we stayed put longer than we had planned.  That would just mean we'd be skipping a few stops on the way north.  The kids all voted to stay where we were.  But about 7 days later, the winds shifted to the north, and were blowing pretty good, so it was time to switch anchorages.  We thought we might be parting ways but they also decided to move over to the Boat Harbour anchorage, and the kids were happy to continue their time together.  Greer and the twins even joined us for a primary Church lesson on the boat Sunday morning.  Benjamin even gave his extra copy of the Book of Mormon to their family.

On Monday we had an engine part reinstalled.  It had been repaired over the weekend, and we were hoping that when the mechanic reinstalled it on Monday, the engine would come to life.  And sure enough it started.  It still didn't like to stay running unless it was revved up, but that's better than not starting at all, which is what happened a few days before.  We were lucky to have found a great Mechanic in Marsh Harbour that did a quick, reasonably priced, and good repair job.

With both our engines working, and weather clearing in a couple days, it meant it was time to head on and prepare to cross back to the US.  We had been debating the path, entrance port, and timing for days.  And it looked like now was the time to head to the northern Abacos. There was a small window, and it wasn't even a great window, but it would do.

So we said our final goodbyes to our new friends and left late Monday afternoon to anchor a few miles north and get a head start on our travels thru the northern Abacos the following day.  On our way that afternoon to Bakers Bay, we were treated to a visit by a small pod of Dolphins.  They were fun to watch in the crystal clear waters off the bow of the boat.




We arrived at our anchorage just after dinnertime, as the sun was setting.  It was beautiful.  David had a chance to fly his drone while there was still barely enough light.  We were stunned at the amount of homes along the beautiful beach of Bakers Bay,  last time we anchored here, 4 years before, there was not much more than beautiful water and beautiful beach.  Now the shoreline is dotted with pretty homes or large vacation villas.  The water and beach are still beautiful.  Sadly we didn't have more time this trip to spend more than a night anchored here.

Harbour Island, Eluthera

Harbour Island is a quaint tourist town.  It was once a big boat building area for the Bahamas, but today it attracts tourists.  There are a few small resorts and many homes or cottages for rent.  Or to buy.  There are many million dollars homes spread across the small 5 mile long island. 

Along its eastern shore is a 3 mile beach, known as “The Pink Beach”.  I’d heard of this pink sand beach several years ago when we first made a sailing trip to the Bahamas, and have wanted to see it for myself.  So here we were, anchored in a beautiful bay off Harbour Island.  We’d made it thru the Devil’s Backbone, all to see the Pink Sand Beach.

First things first though—and that meant short naps for the littlest ones.  And while they were napping, David and I made a quick trip into town to arrange to go diving the next morning, Saturday.   And now that we knew where to tie up the tender to get to shore, we headed back to the boat to pick up the whole family to head to the pink sands.

And just as we loaded into the tender, the dark clouds started rolling in.  Ok, they’d been around most of the day—remember the cloud that blocked our sunlight as we passed by the Devil’s Backbone.  But now the one coming closer had rain.  Well, we were going to the beach, so a little rain wouldn’t hurt.  We showed up to shore just as it started to drizzle.  We still had to walk about half a mile through town, across to the east side of the island.  About halfway there, it started to pour… and the kids said—but now we’re all wet!  I had to laugh—we are in swimsuits going to the beach!  I think getting wet was part of the plan, we’re just a little out of order. 

We arrived at the Pink Sand Beach.  It was big, and wide, and beautiful.  The kids ran to the ocean and the breaking waves to play.  While David headed to a little wooden umbrella, most likely belonging to one of the cottages at the top of the beach.  But this way he and baby Julia could sit out the rest of the rain—and maybe dry. 

The kids had a blast playing in the surf.  When the rain stopped to a drizzle, David and I, with the stroller, walked up the long beach.  The sand has a little pinkish hue, from the tiny bits of pink shells in the sand, but really it looks like any regular beautiful beach. In fact I had seen similar beaches with pink shells broken down in the sand, and wondered if they were "Pink Sand".  Now I know, they are. While the Beach at Harbour Island is very beautiful... it is not the only Pink Sand beach in the world.

We had a great walk along the beach... little ones chasing after us, having fun.  We stopped to chat with a little family visiting from NYC.  They had been enjoying their spring break week with their young kids on the island. 

Soon it was time to head back to the boat.  We made the short walk back across the island to our tender.  It had been a nice afternoon. 

The next morning, David and I left early to go diving with one of the local dive shops.  It had been a year and a half since we had been diving, due to pregnancy and a baby.  We were both excited to get back into diving.  The first dive site was pretty good, pretty coral and fish.  But the 2^nd dive site was quite surgy, and there wasn’t too much to see.  It was a shallow dive and reminded me that we could easily do shallow dives without a guide, we were capable of going just together.  So we planned to do that—in the Abacos.

When we returned to the boat, we asked the kids what they wanted to do with the rest of the day—more pink beach, walk the town, a beach near the boat,… their response—stay on the boat and play games.  So the adults voted to go for a walk in town.  So we put the little 2 down for their naps, and off David, Brittany, and I went to town for a walk.  Dunmore Town, is a cute little harbor village.  There are pretty cottages and shops, and several different churchs—one of which was having a wedding.  The local friends and family were there, all dressed up to celebrate.  We checked out the small grocery markets, looking at food and prices. 

We headed back to the dock to go back to the boat, but sat on a bench for a bit.  It felt nice sitting in the shade.  While there, we watched 2 jet skis driven by local teenagers pull up to the dock.  A man climbed off the back of one of them, fully dressed in jeans and a polo shirt.  I just had to ask—how did he stay dry running around on jet skis.  So we started chatting with him.  His name is Managold.  He has lived his whole life on Harbour Island.  He, and his brothers own a construction company there.  They build homes—ok, homes that cost more than 8 million dollars.  WOW.  That I far out of my price range.  David asked him how he came to build such expensive homes, and Managold said – By doing it right the first time, and the word spread.  How true is that.  Do it right the first time.  We enjoyed talking with him.  He asked about our boat, and where we were anchored at.  He remarked that we had come to the island at the busiest time, and how crowded it was.  But from our trips to shore—we didn’t think it was crowded at all, but it was for him.  He said all the restaurants were busy and you needed reservations.  I asked him where his favorite place to eat was, and he told us about Aquapazza.  He introduced us to his kids on the jet skis before the kids took off.  He told us his son was visiting for spring break.  He is 17, and home from school.  He is a senior in high school, and has spent the last year and a half at a school in Virginia.  This will help him get into college.  His 14 year old daughter goes to an island school on Eluthera.  She comes home on weekends, but lives at the school during the week.  She has been going there since she was 8.  Oh how hard that would be, sending your kids away to school.  But for them, they feel like they are giving them a better chance for the future, then the local town schools.  We really enjoyed visiting with Managold.  He even stopped by the boat a little while later to check it out.  We were planning to leave Harbour Island in the morning, the weather looked perfect for a trip to the Abacos, otherwise we would have enjoyed spending more time with Managold. 

For dinner that night, David and I took Managold’s recommendation, and went to Aquapazza for dinner.  Luckily they had a table for the 2 of us at the early time we went.  Had we shown up a little later, I think we would have been turned away, as all their reservations came and the tables filled up.  We were able to watch another beautiful sunset from our table, the sky filled with pink.   I think I would like to come back to Harbour Island and spend more time.

The Devil's Backbone

It sounds scary, doesn't it?  The Devil's Backbone.  That's what they call the reef on the North side of Eluthera's cays.  Our next stop was Harbour Island, on the East Side of Eluthera.  To get there, you have to go thru the Devil's Backbone.  Our research and cruising books suggest you use a local guide to pilot you thru the area.  But further research and reading suggested that if conditions were good, and you are capable of reading water -- meaning spotting coral, and shallow shoals, then you will probably be just fine going on your own.

So first we reviewed weather and tide conditions.  Winds had been light for several days, and out of the south west.  Great.  High tide was late morning, Great.  Which meant traveling the area at mid day with the sun high over head, would be a good time to go.  Of course we consider ourselves capable, so we planned to make a go at it.


We pulled up anchor mid morning and made our way thru the main channel of Spanish Wells to the other side.  Usually we tow the tender out behind us a hundred feet or so, but that limits our manueverability, so with no wind chop it would make it easy to tow on the hip, next to us.  So that was our plan.  Then if we needed to reverse or spin, or whatever, we wouldn't need to worry about tow lines in the way and catching our prop.



The sun was up and shining on the water, and we rounded the north end of the islands, heading to the reef.  The "safe" path is between the reef and shore, and sometimes that path is very close it the reef, and sometimes it is very close to shore.  While the winds were light, and there was no chop on the water, there were still swells from far off storms rolling in.  The good news is these swells are nice and calm and gathered and far apart.  However, they were quite large, around 5-6 feet in height, 10-12 feet wide.  This helped us see where exactly the reef was as these big waves would crash as they met with the shallow reef.  We made it easily thru the first set of reef know as Ridley's Head.  There was a pass out to deep waters between Ridleys and Devils Backbone the reef to head north.



Just as we reached this area, a big dark cloud blew in overhead.  While it wasn't going to rain on us, it was blocking our lovely sunlight to help us see the coral below.  We followed our navigation charts and watched depths.  We could easily see  the breaking reef, but it was now more difficult to see what might be lurking in 3-4 feet of water.  We could still make out some spots as we neared them, but not as soon as we would like.  It's nicer when you can spot them from a distance rather than close up.  Also as we reached this area I noticed a large ferry boat coming towards us thru the Devils Reef area, so we circled back to the deep open section to wait for the ferry to come thru the pass.  We weren't interested in trying to pass the ferry thru that tight section, especially not having taken this route ever before.  I was hoping this would give more time for the dark storm cloud to clear out, but nope-- it hung over as it was now our turn to head between the backbone and shore.

And by shore, I mean-- hello beach-- less than 100 feet away, with swell rolling into it.  We love to anchor near shore, and we have traveled close to shore many others times, but this was close, and I was worried one wrong swell-- and we'd be on the beach.  It's happened... we read a rumor of an 85ft boat--using a local guide, ended up on the beach, 2 years ago.



Lucky for us, we only had a couple more miles to go, and we were thru.  It was definitely a passage to get the adrenaline pumping, and it would have been much nicer to have full sun over us, but I think we could do it again just fine.  I'd be nervous again... but as long as conditions were good, we'd be just fine.