Update on Abacos trip

[cw021382]

Hi everyone,  Amanda and I have been so busy having fun and exploring I haven't thought about an update on our trip till today.  We are on a mooring in black sound, Green turtle cay.  We have been here a few days, but today we had rain so are stuck on the boat.  Hence the update.  Our crossing over from Lake worth to west end was fairly uneventful.  We got pushed pretty far north, and the crossing took 17 hours.  I enjoyed the whole trip, but the wife was motion sick most of the time.  We got to west end about 0100, and wouldn't you know the spotlight refused to work.  I just anchored out in front of the entrance till morning.  I didn't want to lose the boat on the breakwater.  Glad I did because the entrance lights are positioned funky.  Anyway, we cleared in and stayed the day then left for mangrove and great sale.  We spent a lot of time at Allens cay.  Then moved on to Manjack.  We anchored there for quite a few days and met a cruiser who took us out to the outer reef and taught me how to spearfish, and find conch In deeper moving water.  He even was nice enough to give me a spear setup and extra sling.  Thanks Bob and Maryann Luehman.  Their boat Aftermath an Allied Princess ketch 36 was very pretty with beautiful lines.  Frank your cottage on manjack has a beautiful view.  Why are you selling? 
The boat is doing great.  I added 150 solar and put 2 lifeline 6v 300ah Batts in the keel.  I also added a norcold chest type refrigerator   
To keep from looking for ice.  The Portuguese dinghy works ok, but I really need a fast inflatable dinghy to really get the most out of the trip.  The reef is 1-1.5 miles out in most places and only reachable with a dinghy with outboard.  I think we will go to marsh Harbour  tomorrow  and hope town the next day.  I plan on spending 3-4 days in hope town then the next 2-3 weeks working our way back to west end.  I am going to cross back to Stuart where Bob said him or Maryann would take us to west Palm to get the truck and trailer.  That will make for a better crossing.  Pictures will be coming when I figure out how on my phone.  WE WILL BE BACK FOR CLR. 

CHRIS AND AMANDA

[Pamelina]

Wonderful report Chris. I think you made us all jealous. Looking forward to your photos. Stay safe.

Pam

[Lafayette Bruce]

Hope Town is one of my most favorite places in the whole world.  Stay long enough to "bond" with it.
Lafayette Bruce

[HeaveToo]

awesome trip report!  It sounds like you are having a great cruise.

Which Compac are you sailing?  I am curious because your modifications sound like ones I may be interested in.

I already have the 2 GC2 batteries for my Compac 23.  I have 100 watts of solar also.  I don't have the fridge but I use a cooler and ice (I go and get fuel often because of having an outboard and I simply pick up ice during that time).

[thomeng55]

Sounds like a great trip Chris.  I am looking forward to following in the footsteps of the intrepid adventurer "Chris" next year.
Looking forward to pictures and more updates.

Tom

[cw021382]

We got into hope town yesterday.  We skipped a lot of places but will stop on the way back.  We are staying in the hope town harbor lodge till Wednesday.   We are renewing our vows tomorrow morning, and then heading down the island to explore.  Hope town is really nice.  Tom, I have been making a list of things to change or do different for next year.  I will contact you when we get back.  Plan on some type of inflatable with a good size outboard.  We will head north at the end of the week. 

-Chris

[frank]

Glad ya made it and are havin a great cruise!!  Hope Town truly is "special"!! Don't forget Capt jacks for "bingo" on nonday nights...too much fun (seriously!)
If you are back at Green Turtle...say hello to Brian n Caroline at Sundowners for me....super people. Truly glad you're over and exploring!!!

PS..."why sell"....I'm a boat person.

[frank]

Hope both of you truly enjoy "renewing your vows". What a special place to do it. Have a wonderful and memorable day!!!

[frank]

Chris....did you meet Brian and Caroline at Sundowners? Just got an email from them that "nice folks from Missouri mentioned me". Figured it must have been you 2 passing through.
Did you end up with Vern for your vows? Hope everything went super for both of you. Hopetown is a truly romantic place. Enjoy yourselves!!  Fair winds

[frank]

Updates?

Pictures?   (or it didn't happen)   :-)

hope you are home safe and had fun!!

[cw021382]

Hi everyone,  I would like to apologize for being awol for the last 3 months.  I had some back issues and kind of shut down.  I am not 100% but have managed to avoid surgery, and I feel pretty good.  For those of you interested here is a report on the rest of our trip.  We wanted to make sure we got to renew our vows in Hope Town so we left Green Turtle and sailed directly there.  The morning we left it looked like rain and storms, but we decided to make it to don't rock passage and check conditions.  The rain split around us and the passage was not really rolling so we decided to keep on.  If I remember right we were on a rising tide as well.  Everything went fine, but there was a pucker factor seeing only 18" under the keel at one point.  We passed on the south side of don't rock, and even though we were locking for rocks we almost hit one.  We passed about 10 feet south of a large rock that was on the nav but not where it was listed to be.  After you pass man o war there is an open area about 3 mi across that is exposed to the south.  When we passed matt lowe's the waves instantly increased from 2' to 5' and from on the nose to the starboard beam.  The wind was blowing 15-20 and it was a perfect broad reach most of the was across.  We needed to tack once to keep from getting pushed north to johnny's cay and that is when disaster struck.  When the port upper shroud came under tension after the tack it popped off the spreader.  We were left wallowing beam to beam with the top of the mast swaying and threatening to break off.  I let out the sheet all the way and started the engine and positioned the bow into the waves to stop the rolling.  I then dropped the main and loosened the turnbuckle on the shroud.  I attached the main halyard to my harness and pulled myself up the mast with it.  I reached out and managed to get the shroud into the end of the spreader and then tighten the turnbuckle.  This whole sequence only took about 90 seconds or less, but seemed like forever.  A large ketch and a commercial ship of some type were both standing by if assistance was needed.  I thanked them profusely, and then motored on into Hope Town harbor where I wired both spreaders.  This whole negligent incident, as I call it, could have been avoided if I had pulled the boots and checked the spreaders before leaving west palm.  It was my fault and I am lucky that the mast did not snap.  We spent about a week in Hope Town at the Harbor Lodge.  We loved every minute spent in Hope Town.  All of the golf carts were rented out so we did not get to explore as much as we wanted to.  We did get to eat almost everywhere and the food was fantastic.  I hate to say this, but the thing I enjoyed the most was mornings in the coffee house.  I love coffee, and it was nice to see the people that live there coming and going getting their day started.  We had Vern renew our vows behind the art studio one morning, and almost got blown away by the wind.  We hated to leave, but had to start back.  We spent the rest of the trip away from any settlements.  We enjoyed the quiet and private or almost private anchorages.  We anchored out at west end the day before we made our crossing back to Florida, and I have to say the bottom is not very anchor friendly in the anchorage.  It is a hard bottom and I did not sleep much.  We left the next morning with the outgoing tide at about 0230.  The crossing was fine except for about a 2 hour storm that hit us in the middle of the gulf stream.  Amanda went below while I sailed under reefed main.  I was wishing I had a storm jib to balance the boat.  I was not willing to let out the genoa any for fear the furling line would break and leave me in a bad way.  We ended up just south of Jupiter and sailed down the coast to Lake Worth.  Amanda did not want to spend the night on the boat so when we made the inlet she called the Hampton and got us a room.  I decided to just head to the marina and see what happened.  No one stopped us.  No Homeland security no water patrol, nothing.  We made the marina about 1830 and I called a cab to go get the truck and trailer.  By 2130 we had the boat loaded and were in our room.  The next day I called Customs from a cracker barrel about 50 miles north of west palm and played stupid.  I was informed that I had to clear in within 24 hours.  So we ended up stopping at the melbourne airport and clearing back in with a homeland security agent.  No problem, but I am amazed how easy it is to get into the US.  We drove to Mississippi to visit family before heading home.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.  I took hundreds with my phone, and so did my wife.  I tried to post a good variety.  The last picture will get it's own post.  

-Chris


Loaded up and ready to go!


Sleeping on the job


Entrance to West End the morning after the crossing


The dinghy finally off the deck and happily following the 23 to Great Sale Cay


Making breakfast


breafast is served.  I loved having a fridge.  No making fun of the pedestal table.  I made it in 2 hours from a 1x and 4 cheap hinges.  It worked for the trip.


At anchor Great Sale Cay


Planning the next days sail


Leaving Great Sale Cay.  I sailed off the hook while Amanda was still sleeping.  It was a very pretty morning.


The wind in our sails.


The autopilot doing all the work while the sun charges the batteries.  I doesn't get better than that.


Beautiful night at Allens Cay.  We had a dolphin come up and circle the boat for about 10 mins.  he was very social.


Storm passing at Allens


Crystal clear water at Manjack Cay.  We were anchored right in front of Frank's cottage here.  The little portuguese dinghy I made into a pram.  My wife made it quite festive don't you think.


Some signs on Green Turtle Cay


More signs


Green Turtle at low tide with the sun going down.


Can you find Empathy?  This is on a mooring in Black Sound at Green Turtle.


Don't Rock.  This is before we almost hit an underwater rock.  It does get shallow here.  When we came back thru there was a trawler anchored here and people were out wading around .


Our view of Empathy from the balcony of our room at the Hope Town Harbor Lodge.


Our view of the mooring field from our room.


A sunset picture I took from a restaurant on the water our first night in Hope Town.


Beach behind where we renewed our vows.


This is the only picture I have of Vern and my wife and I after renewing our vows.  The wind was blowing so hard it was hard to even hear.  I have the whole 12 min. ceremony on video, but it is hard to hear it.  Amanda wished she had tied her hair back.


After the vow renewal we walked to the coffee shop for breakfast.  Along the way we cut down this sidewalk.  It was almost like it was prepared for us.


We took a ferry across the bay one morning to do laundry at the Marina, and visit the lighthouse.  From the Marina you have to walk a short way thru the boat storage yard to get to the lighthouse.  Do any of the boats stick out to you?


That's right not one but two compac 23's were in the yard almost side by side. Clara


And Sozo


This is the approach to the lighthouse.


View of the bay from the top of the lighthouse.  Empathy is the second from farthest boat away.  Hard to see in the picture.


It was really calm this day and the motor was running and the autopilot was steering.  There was not much boat traffic and Amanda was keeping watch so I took a nap in the hammock for most of the afternoon.  This is the only way to travel.


Is there a pattern emerging here?


Doing some exploring.


This is a requisite for any beach vacation right?  It is for Amanda anyway.  Notice Empathy in the background.


The sun setting on our vacation.  Well really this is early morning leaving Allen's Cay heading back to Great Sale.


As promised this picture will get it's own post, but I think you can figure it out!!!!

[frank]

1st off...CONGRATS!!!!!!!!

2nd...congrats on a great cruise!!

Pictures are awesome!!
Ain't Vern kinda perfect for that setting.
I knew you would love HopeTown.
Hope to see you's back over there!! They make really small life jackets don't they  :-)

Hope your back mends well
I won't ask how you put it out of kilter :-)

[HeaveToo]

Congratulations.  Beautiful pictures on the trip.  Looks like an amazing one.

[cw021382]

Thanks guys.  I thought someone would make the connection between my back and the baby, but not so soon.  Frank's really on his game.  I actually hurt it unloading the boat the second day back from the trip.  Frank your trip in the Northwest looks like a must do. 

-Chris