Yesterday we finally got a chance to hang out with our good friends Brett and Jen who live in Hilton Head. Unfortunately, we weren’t in Hilton Head, but still in Fernandina.

For the last several days we’ve been trying to go north while a stalled front, severe thunderstorms and strong northeast winds have combined to keep us here. After many plans that were made, broken, revised, or delayed, Brett and Jen decided to hop in their car and meet us down here on Brett’s day off.

The rain was still hanging around and threatening throughout the day, but we still were able to walk through town, eat some local seafood, take a driving tour of Old Town Fernandina, and hang out on Joint Venture for the afternoon. Most importantly, we got a chance to talk about where we’ve “been” and where we’re “going.” Brett was my roommate at Ohio University and we haven’t had a chance to get together for a few years, but like it should be between old friends, it felt like we’d never parted. We laughed about the last time they were onboard JV, when seven (yes, seven) of us spent a long weekend sailing and crabbing on the Chesapeake.

It is great to see old friends on our journey, and we hope that they are able to join us for a future portion of it. (Somewhere in the sunny Caribbean perhaps?) I also imagine that we may end up bringing Joint Venture into Hilton Head for a couple weeks sometime in the near future.

This morning the weather forecast actually improved. As soon as the wind clocks a little further to the south we’ll be heading offshore and turning north. Since we don’t have a Spot, I’ll try to make regular posts via the satellite phone that include our position.

Here are the photos to accompany our trip to Cumberland Island. The ruins are the remains of the Dungeness estate owned by the Carnegies (it burned in the late 1950’s.) We took a walking tour narrated by a very informative ranger through the ruins and the grounds of the old family estate.

On our way south last December, the first port we really enjoyed was Fernandina Beach and we have looked forward to coming back here ever since. Looking back while in the Bahamas, we thought maybe we just liked it because it was warm, or we felt like it was a milestone, or maybe we were just nostalgic for the States.

Now we’ve returned to Fernandina, and we gotta say… we still like it!

Fernandina Beach is on Amelia Island, just south of the Georgia border. It has a ton of history, and is the only municipality in the United States that has flown 8 different national flags – since 1562: France, Spain, Great Britain, (Spain again,) the Patriots of Amelia Island, the Green Cross of Florida, Mexico, the Confederate States of America, and the United States. The area refers to itself as “the real Florida,” and it’s easy to understand why. It’s not over-run with tourists, transplants, and retirees, but has locals that have been here for generations and a blend of shrimpers, paper-mill workers, and dock workers. (Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a lot of tourists, but compared to Orlando or Miami, it’s less.) The town is also the birthplace of modern shrimping, they pioneered the trawl net.

We love the moorings out in front of the Fernandina Harbor marina, they offer a secure place to tie up with the 8′ tidal range. Plus there are showers, laundry, and a walk-able downtown. We’ve had a little culture shock since returning from the Bahamas, we’re not used to menus with prices, or drink specials,  or live music (that’s not Rake n’ Scrape,) or shops with posted hours, or Post Offices, or channel markers, or the USCG, or ATM’s everywhere, or Mexican, Italian, or Sushi restaurants, and don’t forget draught beer!

Since we arrived last Thursday we’ve been slowly adjusting back to the United States. We enjoyed dinner at Cafe Karibo, one of our favorite places, and found the Palace Saloon that had 25 cent beers! Now we’re taking care of business, organizing things for our trip north, making purchases for the boat, grocery shopping, doing laundry, and a whole lot of web-surfing.

On Friday as we headed into town we noticed a sign for free tours of the tall ship “Peacemaker.” We had seen the ship on the dock, and we quickly turned around and headed back to check it out. The boat is enormous, and we watched a Powerpoint presentation about how it was built, and how they sail it. It was very impressive, and provides excellent perspective on how things have changed for voyages under sail.

Saturday was a “Free Fishing Day” here in Florida, so I set out to try to catch some fish (no luck) while Sabrina visited the local Farmer’s Market and did some exploring in town. Google told us that Fort Clinch had a “Garrison Weekend” the first weekend of every month where historical reenactors occupied the Fort and provided information on the past. On Saturday night they even offer a Candlelight Tour where you can visit the whole Fort at night like it would have been in the past. We really wanted to go out to Fort Clinch, but the walk was too far, so we needed a bike. Rentals near the marina were $20 for 24 hours, so Sabrina stopped into a bike shop to ask if they rented bikes. They didn’t, but he could sell her a used bike for $15!  Woohoo! Bike in hand we called out to Fort Clinch to make reservations for the Candlelight Tour. Unfortunately, the Park Ranger said that since there were no lights, they didn’t allow bikes in after dark. He suggested we come by car… bummer.

We skipped the Candlelight Tour, but rode out to Fort Clinch State Park early on Sunday morning. Once we arrived we were glad we had skipped coming out the night before, it truly would have been a very dark ride under the tree-canopied road! We were able to tour the Fort and talk with the reenactors there, then we checked out the exhibits at the museum.

The park is beautiful and has great paved roadways for biking, and we took advantage of them to bike around the park and view the sites. We also took some hiking trails where we spotted a baby alligator and some deer. We took a long walk out the short pier long fishing pier and talked to a lot of fishermen along the way. The fish were apparently not biting for them, either.

Wind is not looking too favorable for quick trip north, but we’re planning to head to Cumberland Island, then on to Hilton Head to visit friends and we will hopefully have some wind to start moving a little faster north from there.

When we first arrived in the Bahamas at Green Turtle Cay, I had to take a deep breath and relax. I headed to the bar at the Green Turtle Club, ordered a Kalik Gold, and finally got a chance to look around and take in the surroundings.

Almost exactly 5 months later, Sabrina and I are now sitting in the Green Turtle Club, and for tradition’s sake, I ordered a Kalik Gold with the last of our Bahamian currency.

We’re ending our Bahamian adventure exactly where it began. No time for melancholy reflections on the trip, or our favorite stops – that will come with time. Right now, we had to grab some internet and the latest weather info and prepare to cross to the States.

Tomorrow we’re heading for Fernandina Beach on a decent weather window, if the wind dies too early, we’ll be stopping into Cape Canaveral for a few days.

…and a Happy Memorial Day to all of you in the States!

Since we are celebrating Whit Monday, you can deduce that we are still in the Bahamas.

Last week we knew the weather was uncertain. On Thursday storms swept through this area, bringing some 40 knot winds, and a water spout that swept through Great Guana Cay. But,we didn’t really expect the SECOND NAMED STORM OF THE YEAR. And we really didn’t expect two named storms before June 1^st for ONLY THE THIRD TIME IN RECORDED HISTORY!

Tropical Storm Alberto didn’t really affect us much (and it wasn’t much to look at.) Beryl on the other hand has thrown a little wrench into our plans. I made this handy diagram to show the weather forecast I received on Saturday:

Basically, Beryl decided to head to Fernandina Beach, and arrived a few days before we were trying to get there.

Now it could be worse, we could already be in Fernandina, readying for Beryl’s landfall. Or even worse we could be out at sea getting hammered by 40 knot winds and huge waves. So, all in all, we’re pretty happy to be in the Abacos. We just want to get home so we can start our summer cruise north to Maine.

The next few days look promising to cross once Beryl moves to the northeast, and once we get across we’ll be sailing north as fast as we can. It’s very hot down here, and I’m looking forward to cooler weather the further north we go. Come to think of it, I’m also looking forward to a draft beer and hot wings, but that’s another issue.

[Side note: After 4 weeks of absolutely no luck with the satellite phone, for some reason it started working a few days ago.  I don’t know how long it will last, but we’ll try to get a post up right before we depart to head home.]

With all of the excitement around our failing water pump, we didn’t get a chance to post about our last few days of vacation with my parents. So, as I sit here in Man of War harbor, after listening to the 6:30am Chris Parker “Marine Weather Center” forecast and confirming that our departure plans for the States have been pushed off for at least another day by Tropical Storm Beryl, I have a little time to reflect…

After Brad and I finished up the engine work Sunday afternoon while my parents went exploring ashore, we picked up my parents and headed over to the lighthouse, only to discover that the lighthouse had closed at 2:00 and we would not be able to see it until 9:00 the following morning. Most other businesses (including cart and bike rentals) had been closed as well, so unfortunately, my parents had had a pretty limited view of Hope Town that day.

Our initial plan was to head back to Marsh Harbour on Monday so that we made sure to get my parents back in time for their mid-day flight on Tuesday.  The channel into Hope Town requires us to enter at high tide or nearly high tide due to depth restrictions in the entrance. But with the tide timing, this would have required us to leave by 10:00am. Any later and we would risk running aground outside the entrance, and waiting for the next high tide would put us into Marsh Harbour well after dark. This didn’t give us much time to see the lighthouse or explore the town. So we decided to stay another day. There are ferries that travel between Hope Town and Marsh Harbor every few hours, and my parents would be able to take one of these back on Tuesday morning to return to Marsh Harbor in plenty of time for their flight.

With that settled and the whole day before us, we started calling around for a golf cart rental. We found one in short time, packed some snacks and drinks and headed for shore to explore more of Elbow Cay. We took the road south (Keep Left!) that heads down to Tahiti Beach, which we’d explored from the boat a few days earlier. Along the way we stopped at several restaurants and resorts and beaches that are outside downtown Hope Town. We finally had a sunny day, and we were thankful for the golf cart had a roof.

We returned back to Hope Town and decided the best approach to the lighthouse was by water. So we all piled back into the dinghy and made our way across the harbor to the lighthouse. The Elbow Cay lighthouse is 89 feet high and has 101 steps up to the lens room. According to the guidebook, (there’s not much historical information available at the lighthouse itself) it is one of only three, continuously operated, kerosene-fueled, hand-round rotation lighthouses in the world. It was built in 1860, and still utilizes kerosene and a group of Fresnel lenses to produce five, white, rotating flashes with 15 nautical mile visibility. The lighthouse provided a great view of Elbow Cay and the surrounding area as well as some great photo ops.

After lunch on the boat, we returned to Hope Town to explore some of the shops and local businesses and sample some local key lime pie. We had passed Firefly restaurant in our travels earlier that day, and decided to go back for dinner to celebrate the last evening together. Firefly is a relatively new restaurant on Elbow Cay, and we had heard good things about it when we were here in January. We all enjoyed a beautiful sunset, a delicious dinner, and our last evening together for the trip.

It was great to be able to share some of our favorite places as well as some new places with my parents while they were here. We had a wonderful time, and a so glad they were able to join us for part of our adventure.

A lot of people think that true cruising will ‘…take you wherever the wind blows.’ Another way to think about it is that you’ll ‘…hide from the wind whenever it really blows,’ or for us on Wednesday, ‘…duck in wherever you can when your engine goes!’

On Tuesday morning we said goodbye to Sabrina’s parents after a fun week and set about checking the weather and trying to get back to the States. Things looked like they might be passable for our trip to the States as early as Wednesday morning, so we made our way to Marsh Harbour to provision and get diesel so we would be prepared to leave. After fueling up, the rain set in, and on Tuesday evening conditions had changed so much that we knew we wouldn’t be leaving for a few days. We hung out with our friends on S/V Anastasia (yay!) on Tuesday night after the rain stopped, and by Wednesday morning the weather forecasts had a tropical low in the area with thunderstorms to 50 knots.  Or sustained winds to 40 knots.  Or 20-25 knot winds. And somewhere between 0.5 to 5 inches of rain! Depending on the source, and when you checked it!

I knew I wanted to get some sleep before our offshore passage, and after spending some sleepless nights in Marsh Harbour on anchor watch back in January I knew it wouldn’t happen there if the storms rolled through. (Too many boats, on too many anchors, in too close proximity, and too many vessels in various states of disrepair.)   We decided our 3 options were to go to a marina, back to Hope Town, or back to Man of War. After quick “goodbye for now’s” with our friends on Anastasia, Sea Life, and Hold Fast, we headed back to Hope Town.

On the way to Hope Town on Wednesday we were motoring straight into 30 knot winds and choppy white caps on the Sea of Abaco when I asked Sabrina if that was an airplane flying overhead making that noise?  Nope, it was our exhaust!!! Aaaahhh, we weren’t pumping any raw water!!! The temperature gauge spiked, but, the alarm never sounded!  We quickly turned to run downwind under a tiny scrap of our genoa, killed the engine, and I troubleshot the problem.  It wasn’t the water filter, I had just cleaned that and it was clear when I double checked. It wasn’t the impellor, I had just changed that and it looked fine when I opened it up.  No, what I finally found was the shaft of the water pump had “rounded off” in the PTO (power take off) gear that comes off the timing gears.  Furthermore, the PTO gear was rounded internally, and there was no way I was going to fix that!

(Side note: Most people carry a raw water pump rebuild kit, and I probably should have one onboard. But, our raw water pump is only 2 years old, with low hours, so I didn’t purchase a rebuild kit to include in the spares on our cruise. In this case, it would have provided half of the parts I need, but not the PTO gear. So I could have limped in, but I would have just “rounded off” another pump shaft in the destroyed PTO gear. And I’d be waiting for another rebuild kit and the new PTO gear. And as far as I know, no one considers a PTO gear as a “spare” when preparing for a cruise, must have been a faulty part.)

Now that I knew what the problem was, and that I wasn’t fixing it on the Sea of Abaco this day, I quickly placed a VHF call to our friends on S/V Hold Fast. They had left Marsh Harbour just after us and were headed for Man of War Cay, instead of Hope Town like Sabrina and I had decided.

We met our friends on S/V Hold Fast for the first time back at the Long Island Breeze in Thompson Bay, Long Island.  From there we kept crossing paths and talking about our travels until we finally ended up here in the Abacos together.  Our plans keep us sailing in the same direction since they are trying to cross to Fernandina Beach, FL, on the next weather window just like us. Sabrina and I are happy to have company on our long trip and another set of eyes/ears to help pick a crossing window. On Wednesday morning we had talked at length about the current weather patterns and what we were thinking for the trip.

While trying to keep the stress out of my voice- I explained calmly (or what I hoped was calmly) the need for us to find a safe harbor because the engine needed some work.  Myron and Dena checked with their friends and found us a mooring that would be easy for us to take nearby, provided instructions on where the mooring would be, and told us they were standing by to assist if needed. Myron even assured me that we’d be able to limp in on the engine without raw water cooling if we could let her cool as we sailed for a while, and that was great to hear.

Unfortunately, we were running so fast downwind in the strong winds that we had sailed downwind of Man of War!  What followed was a beat to windward between two narrow points of land in 30 knot winds and apparent wind gusts of 35!  After several tacks, a freighter crossing, and a few crazy power boats, Joint Venture made it to the windward of Sandy Cay, just off Man of War. There we doused both sails and ran downwind under bare spars, still making over 5 knots, to the entrance to Man of War harbor.  We fired up the now-cooled engine at the entrance to the harbor, negotiated the narrow cut, and quickly found Myron and Dena in their dinghy, leading us to our mooring ball – A VERY WELCOME SIGHT! We grabbed our mooring pennant on the first try (luckily, because there wasn’t time to circle around) and secured it to a cleat, cut the engine, and took a DEEP BREATH.

Myron and Dena helped us secure our lines to the mooring pennant for the upcoming inclement weather, and we couldn’t thank them enough for their assistance. We would not have even attempted it without their help, both on the VHF, and in the harbor.

When I called our friends on Anastasia on the VHF to let them know what had transpired, I realized how lucky we were that this happened now, and not when we were theoretically caught in the Gulf Stream with a blown out mainsail and no engine to carry us home. When I talked to the mechanic at Edwin’s Boatyard in town, who provided some great info, I said jokingly “There are much worse places to be stuck than here!” He smiled and said, “I didn’t want to say anything, but you’re right!”

On Wednesday afternoon I looked into how long it would take to get the two parts I need, and it would be awhile, so I hoped I could find another fix. On Thursday I pulled the PTO gear and learned that it was symmetrical, not beveled like the diagram in the parts manual. I was able to flip the gear around, and have a new drive slot for the water pump shaft. Myron suggested removing the thick gasket and using a liquid gasket to allow the shaft to slide deeper into the PTO gear slot. Everything worked out, and as I type this post the engine is running.  We’re going to continue to test the fix over the next few days and check it under load to make sure it will get us home. The water pump and PTO gear will eventually have to have to be replaced, but I hope we can take care of that in the States, where we have access to “Next Day Shipping.”

While we wait for this weather to pass and continue to test the engine fix, we’ll be hanging out in Man of War. Maybe now I’ll get to talk to the local boat builders in Man of War, and maybe I’ll have time to see one of these exquisite sailing dinghies being built. Some cruisers spend all winter on this beautiful cay, and now is our time to slow down and experience the island as they do.

As I said, “There are worse places to be stuck than here!”