6/26/20

As you already know, if you've checked the SPOT, we're back in the states.  Our time in the Bahamas came to a memorable end with a last get together and bonfire at the "yacht club" on Double Breasted Cay.  All of the wood and materials that had been gathered from the beach and used to build the yacht club created a spectacular roaring fire.  There were hugs, tears, and a bottle of rum passed around as we stood talking of the many memorable gatherings at the yacht club.  The last momento put on the fire was the "Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves" pirate flag that flew 18' above on a bamboo pole.  Plans were discussed of returning to the states with a sense of foreboding and confusion.  Covid 19, political bickering, civil unrest - hard to leave paradise but weather concerns forced us to start heading north.  Not just the threat of hurricanes encouraged moving but it was HOT and HUMID that far south!  It was an odd feeling knowing these goodbye hugs, these virus-free hugs, would be our last for the foreseeable future.

Conor engraves their boat name on the drift wood slab used as bonfire seating.

The finished piece.  I think Conor took it to Hog Cay for display.

The beginning of the yacht club bonfire at Double Breasted.

The spectacular bonfire!

You know when we decide to move and the weather is favorable we make tracks quickly.  First, 40 miles north to Flamingo Cay on the ocean side sailing and trailing fishing lines.  No luck.  We arrived at the cut at the south end of Flamingo at maximum ebb current opposing the 18 knots of wind.  The seas collided and were standing up; a condition known as "the rage".  We attempted to sail through but the current almost stopped our forward motion so had to start the motor for a minute or two to get through the raging waters.  I took a video of Jerra and Ryan aboard Zinzi when they came in the cut just behind us.    Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVoGAHSZWQk&t=19s
The others sailed in later.

Moving from Buena Vista to Flamingo Cay

We follow Zinzi toward Nurse Cay Channel to fish on the ocean side.

Zinzi approaching the cut at the south end of Flamingo.

The next morning we parted ways - everyone aiming for different arrival points in FL, NC and VA.  Persephone was the first underway in the dark at 5 am.  We sailed with lite south east and easterly wind all day and through the warm star-filled night on into the next day.

We ran out of wind on our approach to Lynyard Cay in the Abacos where we anchored for the night.  Hard to believe the devastation evident from Hurricane Dorian - most noticeable were all the leaves missing from all the foliage.  A forest of sticks is all that remained in many areas.  Amazing to see palm trees standing alone having survived intact.  Lots of houses with no roofs, some of the places rebuilt, boats in disarray at the marinas, lots of construction going on.  We were the only sailboat cruising through.  The Sea of Abaco is usually full of cruisers and tourists sailing from one cay to another.  That was before Dorian and Covid 19.

A view of a marina in the Abacos.

Boats damaged everywhere.

We anchored at Crab Cay for the night.  We had sailed at least 300 miles from the southern-most Bahamas to the northern-most Bahamas.

The next morning was a beautiful day as we sailed north onto the Atlantic Ocean out of the Abacos.  15 +/- knots of southeast and east wind.

Bye bye Bahamas!  We'll be back sometime.  With new lures!

2 1/2 days of perfect sailing!  Jerry kept saying "there will be a price to pay for this nice weather."  The wind died almost completely as we passed Frying Pan Shoals off NC and headed towards Beaufort.  Have you ever heard of the calm before the storm?  18 miles from Beaufort, 6 am, the ominous clouds crept towards us with threatening squalls.  The wind went from 2 knots on the beam to 32 knots on the nose with pelting rain.  Jerry reefed the mainsail and jib to hankies.  Persephone doesn't need much sail in these conditions.  We slice through the building seas making good time as the rain pours down.  Suddenly, with a loud bang the mainsail is flapping, the stack pack tumbles down onto the cabin top on port side - our reefing line that holds the mainsail in its shortened position broke!  It takes a while to go on deck in the rain and choppy seas, pull the lazy jacks out of the water, drop and wrestle and secure the mainsail to the boom best we can.

We continued sailing with the jib and motor.  With the wind shift we end up zigging south of Beaufort, tacking when we're just off the beach, and zagging to Beaufort Inlet.  Our planned morning arrival end up being an early afternoon arrival.

Anchored in Beaufort with the mainsail still tied up and the port side lazy jacks/stack pack down.

Rotted rope on the second reef line.

Another view from aft.

We see a familiar boat, Cat's Meow, and anchor next to them waving hello to Don and LaVonne who are returning to the states from Puerto Rico.  More rain as we go below to recover after the 7 hour slog to Beaufort on Onslow Bay (which we had renamed years ago as Onslaught Bay).  We were wet, cold and exhausted.

The next morning, when I poked my head out of the companionway, the sun is coming up and I hear thumping.  Just in time to see one of the wild horses on Carrol Island 300 feet away gallop along the beach at full speed.  Nice welcome to Beaufort!
Rain continues on and off the next few days as we launch the dinghy from the cabin top, put on the outboard, dig out life jackets then go to shore with our hand sanitizer, face masks, dirty laundry and grocery bags to get our chores done.
Entering the US from the Bahamas was easy.  We usually have to take the boat to a dock, call Customs and meet with an officer who comes aboard to check out the boat.  This year the Customs and Border Patrol have an app called ROAM.  We reported our entry electronically.  Simple!

After putting the mainsail back in place, replacing a brass ring that broke holding our lazy jacks lines and stack pack up we made our way to Oriental and the town dock.  (towndock.net)  Right next to Donna and Jerry on Bluejacket.

Persephone and Bluejacket in Oriental at the town dock.  Right in front of The Bean where you can buy an ice cream cone for $2!  Really good ice cream!  So good, you could have it for breakfast.

We are currently at Jerry and Donna's on Broad Creek north of Oriental.

Non-stop activity aboard Persephone to address a number of issues - our 3 4D batteries (100 lbs each) had to be replaced, fuel tanks had to be emptied and cleaned after discovering we had contaminated fuel, we ordered new reef lines and jib sheets, lots of cleaning after a winter of strict water conservation.  It's a luxury to be here at the dock where there's a hose and good friends who bend over backward to help out!

Accessing the fuel tank to clean inside.

Here's our fuel tank access.  Ain't it purty!  The box in the center at the lowest point makes it easy to take a fuel sample.

We hope to be able to help them with their projects as well.
Our plans are to continue north with much-needed boat projects in the upcoming weeks.  Due to Covid 19 and delayed construction/maintenance projects the Erie Canal won't be open on time.  Some of the locks won't open until after August 10.  Too late for us to bother going to our usual spot at Brian and Debbie's just past Oneida Lake.  So our plans are to travel north.  Destination.............
Karen and Jerry
PS  For a treat, go to youtube and watch the videos posted by SV Delos!  Brian and Karin were in the Ragged Islands with us and they have wonderful videos showing the area, the water, life on board....  Just go to youtube.com and type in sv delos in the search bar.  You'll find their most recent videos  (most recent means video taken from a couple of months ago) published every Friday.   Maybe you'll see Persephone at anchor in one of the upcoming videos!

6/4/20

I've been sharing each post keeping in mind that friends and family at home are living a very different life than we are here in the Bahamas.  Everyone within 50 miles of us has been quarantined for the last 2 months or more - one advantage of living an isolated life on an island or on a boat.  We continually look around and count our blessings to be able to be here, to carry on a "normal" life having close contact with everyone.  But paradise doesn't last forever - we will be heading north, out of the Bahamas for the hurricane season that is already on letter C!
Here are some pictures of the exciting things that have happened down here in the Ragged Islands.  Sorry, no pictures of us doing laundry in buckets, scraping the growth off the bottom of the boat (all that grass growing on our bottom paint would slow us down!), snorkeling, reading, making baskets, cooking, cleaning, playing backgammon, sailing between Hog and Double Breasted Cays, walking, picking up grocery orders from the mailboat, fixing stuff that breaks.... you see only the parties!

Starting with Donna and Jerry's 51st wedding anniversary.  Who know they'd be celebrating in the Ragged Islands!  I made a banner that you see behind them at the Hog Cay yacht club, everyone brought food to share, and after watching the sunset we celebrated their anniversary by playing guitar, singing songs, enjoying a beautiful bonfire.

Donna and Jerry's 51st wedding anniversary celebration at Hog Cay

Plenty of food for the anniversary party!  Look closely to see the anniversary cupcakes I made.

Onto the next party - a birthday party for Gary who is the head of the Royal Bahamian Defense Force unit stationed at Duncan Town.  If you look in the picture above you'll see Gary with his arm outstretched and talking.  The boaters navigated to Duncan Town by dinghy.  It's a couple of miles from the anchorage up a narrow channel to the dock.  It was hot and humid but we were all dressed for the rain showers we'd had all day.

Arriving at Duncan Town, Ragged Island.

A short walk up the hill to a place called the Ponderosa where they have a kitchen/bar/pool room.

Here's the front of the Ponderosa which used to have a second story.  The hurricanes a couple years ago really ravaged Duncan Town as you may remember from previous year's posts.

It was a wonderful night with about 30 cruisers and 20 locals celebrating.  We brought side dishes to go along with an endless supply of meat and fish the Bahamians cooked on the grill.  We left the party around 9 pm - it was pitch black out when we walked back to the dinghy.  No starlight, no moonlight.  It made a challenging trip by dinghy back to the anchorage for us.  We had only flashlights to help guide our way home looking for the land that formed the sides of the narrow channel.  We learned that the others used their smart phones with charting and tracking apps on it to find their way back.  Maybe someday we'll get up to speed with available technology!

This next picture is the top of Avalon's make-do mainsail that had to be repaired.  Avalon is a 55' Peter Wormwood design catamaran built to sail fast.  Conor from SV Grace brought his sewing machine over to Avalon and with help from Andy and Ryan they patched up the mainsail with hopes that it would last another month while new sails are being made to pick up in the US.  You'll see the names of the boats Avalon, Calico Skies, Delos, Ada, Persephone, Zinzi, and Grace with signatures and art work.  We called this tight-knit group the "kid" boats.  Kids meaning younger than us.  Most of them in their 30s.  We used to be "kids" when we started cruising!  We were pleased to be the old folks in the kids group.

The "kids" working on the mainsail art.

The top of Avalon's mainsail with our group's afternoon art project.

Picture taken on a walk on Hog Cay looking north towards the anchorage with the remains of a stone wall in sight.

I love when the wind goes away and I can kayak in flat water.  Here's a picture of coral and fish taken from the kayak.

More clear water pictures taken from the kayak.

More coral and fish

The first celebration in this post was a 51st wedding anniversary party.  The last celebration was a wedding!  Conor and Stephanie from "Grace" had gotten engaged when they sailed to Panama and were planning on organizing a wedding back at home upon return.  Until Covid.  They decided to get married on Double Breasted!  Dustyn from "Ada" is a pastor and performed the ceremony in the chapel the group built on the south end of Double Breasted.  Charli from "Avalon" had a perfect dress for Stephanie to wear.  I played guitar and sang with Bill and Grace from "Calico Skies" - Can't Help Falling in Love.  Bill and Grace also played and sang with Branden from "Ada" on his ukelele - Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  It was just a perfect day with wonderful people all contributing to make the day special...memorable...unique.  A reception was held after the wedding at the Double Breasted yacht club shown in previous posts.  Fish tacos, music, drinks followed by dancing aboard Avalon.  Us old folks left the kids at midnight to continue their dancing into the wee hours of the morning.

Avalon with all the guys on board for a fishing/bachelor party.  You can see that Andy's make-do mainsail is not the sail that came with the boat.  He already shredded that first one.

The wedding chapel on Double Breasted

Arriving at the wedding by dinghy

Conor and Stephanie with Dustyn at the wedding ceremony.  The dinghy is ready to go with a just married sign and fish floats on rope to trail along behind.  Brian and Karin of Delos, being professional videographers captured the whole ceremony on film for Conor and Stephanie.

Fish tacos and a glass of red wine

Conor and Stephanie in the throne at the yacht club.  Like the sign?

Everyone took the opportunity to have their pictures taken!

After resting the day after the wedding everyone is making plans to head back to the US, some leaving tomorrow, others finishing up tasks before sailing off, all heading off in different directions back to the US.  All with the hopes of meeting up again somewhere, sometime, somehow....maybe in Maine?  We will start heading north through the Bahamas and then maybe onto Beaufort, NC.  We'll watch the weather and sail accordingly.  You can see where we are by using the SPOT link. 
Take care!  Stay healthy!
Karen & Jerry