Old Bahama Bay to Mangrove Cay.....

May 26, 2013

 

Our next stop was Mangrove Cay...about a six hour transit from Old Bahama Bay and it is just lovely!  A stopping point on the way into the islands.  Next on to Grand Sale Cay which is about another four hour transit.  There are about five other boats at anchor here but still plenty of room for our girl to tuck in.  The crossing was uneventful mostly under motor with a little head sail, enough to give our girl the little bit of heel that she so loves!   It is a wee bit unnerving to see the ocean floor so clearly as you are cruising along, but we seemed to accept this idea fairly quickly and Gregg steered our girl through the waters showing great skill and confidence!  With the anchor set, Gregg dove it to ensure a good hold and surfaced the water showing two thumbs up!  A good sign. :o)  Now on to the important stuff!  A celebratory beer in the back of the cockpit!

 

Waiting out the requisite full hour (at least) to be sure we were in good holding, we went for a swim, the water was awesome and no alarms went off!  Things are looking good for the long awaited celebratory dinner! 

 

Thank you, Ross and Chris, for the beautiful bottle of wine!  It was truly amazing and we enjoyed every last drop!  Today, it is official, our journey has begun!


Until next time....

 

Love and hugs,

Shelley and Gregg

 

 

Crossing The Gulf Stream and other adventures....

 

¯We did the jib jibe boogie¯¯boogie, oogie, woogie ¯  J

 

May 23, 2012

 

We crossed the Gulf Stream!!!  And what a beautiful day we had!  We found ourselves motoring out of Fort Lauderdale at 3:30am to meet the 4:00am opening of the 17^th Street bridge then headed out in darkness toward Old Bahama Bay.  On our way at last!   Having been up until midnight trying to figure out where the *!%*# water was leaking which was causing the bilge pump to go on about every 30 minutes, I finally suggested that Gregg go to bed and I would “babysit”.  It turns out both water tanks need welding, thank you again, previous owners.  Grrrrr...  The good news is, the leaks are not right at the bottom of the tanks and our water maker is working so we will look to have them welded when we return to the US in a few weeks.  Nevertheless, Gregg was able to enjoy a full 3 hours sleep before embarking on our 10 – 12 hour crossing and I managerd a delicious half hour with the idea that once we were under way, I would go down below and catch a few hours myself.  Once we got going though, I found my second wind and stayed with Gregg until around 5:00am while he was gathering his bearings and getting to know our girl.  I wondered how I would react to being out of sight of land for this first extended period and happily, it didn’t bother me at all….I was a little queasy starting off which is unusual for me as I don’t experience motion sickness perhps the lack of sleep and a break in routine is what set my tummy off?  By the way, thank you Maria, for the year supply of ginger Gravol….we both had one and were fit as fiddles in no time!

We rolled into Old Bahama Bay about 12 hours later and marvelled that there were no other boats anchored out…yipeee, we have the pick of the field!  No mooring buoys, but who cares….we’re in the Bahamas!!!  Gregg went off to check us in at Customs and returned to Simplicity II where we congratulated ourselves on a successful passage and settled in to enjoy the scenery.  Gregg dove the anchor to make sure she was well set….not something we do at home…and next thing we know, a fellow in uniform is waving at us from the breakwater. Gregg got all dried off and changed and went off to Customs to let the guy know that we were already checked in and the Officer smiled and said that’s Ok, everything is good!  Perfect!  Back to the Boat he comes.  Ahhhhh….life is good.  :o)  Well, we get busy with “chores” fixing this and fixing that (as in the waste pump cap that broke off during our crossing….ewwwww, nasty bit of business for sure) and other little chores, amazed at all we have learned and silently thanking Stu for being such a patient and entertaining teacher,  when, don’t you suppose, we go to start the engine and the darn thing won’t go!  I mean really, haven’t we been through enough already?  The good news is, Stu has prepared us for this and Gregg merrily, not kidding, it was merrily, started through the process, step one, check this, step two, check that and so on until our little girl purred like a kitten…I was so proud I was glowing like a full moon in October! 

Next day, we get a visit via dinghy by the same guy in uniform that had been waving us down from the breakwater yesterday, right about the time smoke started pouring out of the engine bay….well wouldn’t you know it!  The fellow was insisting we get over to see him right away and as Gregg popped his head out of the companionway  amid billowing clouds of smoke to advise that yes, we would be happy to attend Customs just as soon as the smoke cleared (no pun intended, this was literal!). OK, this poor fellow finally realizes that we have no idea where he has come from so he let Gregg know that he was from the marina office and there was a “no anchoring rule” and why did he not attend the marina office yesterday?  Uh, oh…light bulb moment, off goes poor Gregg to explain that we didn’t know there was no anchoring allowed and that our guidebook said it was OK, and regardless, our girl wouldn’t be going anywhere until we resolved our current situation, and we are very sorry that we didn’t know the difference between the uniforms and what would you suggest we do?  He suggested $1.00 per foot and could we please try to get our engine fixed as soon as possible?  With full assurance and much good will, Gregg returned to Simplicity II to work on his first priority project….not the top priority, or even the must be done soon stuff….nope, this is a get it done now piece of business.  A quick call to our marine engineer guru (and saint of virgin cruisers, Stu) and off he goes….it took awhile, but he got the alternator off, repaired and reinstalled…brilliant….the man is a genious!  Engine starts...no billowing smoke!  Ahhhh....life is good!

 Until next time....

 

Love and hugs,

Shelley and Gregg

Did he say Wednesday????

Well, dear reader, with all the other new experiences we have enjoyed so far (read cleaning, provisioning, repairing, upgrading, more cleaning, repairing provisioning, etc. here), mother nature has decided to throw one of her own at us....she is giving us the most amazing thunder and lightning show with full on torrential rain!  We think she wants us to be sure this really is the life we're choosing and so far, though the night is young, we are saying a resounding yes!

 

We had hoped to be on our way by Wednesday however, this is not to be.  The charger install will not be complete until Wednesday and the %$@#^$ previous owner (who, apparently believes the cheapest fix, including glue, is the one to go with and he calls himself an engineer!) messed with the water maker sooooooo, more parts, more fiddling, more boat units.  the decision has been made to purchase the parts and do the fix when we get to the Bahamas.  We'll leave with full tanks so should be good for at least a week now that the tanks leak has been repaired.  Maybe longer!  Ahhhhh....blessings abound! 

 Gregg mentioned a funny story the other day...a new boat owner says to his marine mechanic (and all things boat guy) "How much do you think it's going to cost to make the necessary repairs?" and the marine guy responds "How much ya got?" Ha, ha ha...  But seriously, folks, we want to be as sure as any boat owner can be when we throw off the lines that we have done our due diligence.  :o)

 So, for tonight, we will tuck ourselves in for another day at Las Olas Municipal Marina and wait for our guy to show up tomorrow with the sage advice that yes, indeed, we will soon be the proud owners of two new AGM's and it will only be another day of parts and tools and cardboard boxes strewn about our sweet little Simplicity II...life is good.

Until next time...

Love and hugs,

Shelley

Our girl has been christened!

Well, Gregg carefully placed the lettering on Simplicity II and we completed the ceremony with champange for the bow, King Neptune, all points north, south, east and west and yes, a little for the Captain and Crew...there is a quarter under the mast and we are hopefull that we have completed this formality correctly....there is a video that I will put up as soon as I figure out the process....with maximum one hour snippets of internet, it can be frustrating to learn a new program skill but I will continue trying!

We have met some lovely people while we have been here in the marina, a couple who are heading in the same direction as we are hopefully on the same day so we can be travel mates!  Also, a fellow Canadian!!!!  :o)  Glen has been travelling with his adult children through Grand Bahama Island, Abacos and the Berry Islands so he was been a wealth of information for us and a very generous fellow sailor as he has given us his chart, a guide book and fish identification chart...So kind and we truly apprreciate it!

So, we were hoping to leave this morning however, on our sea trial with our marine mechanic/instructor of all things sailing we discovered our auto pilot wasn't working...at all! :o(  Can't see a 12 hour sail with no auto pilot to back to the marine supply store and a couple of boat units and a half (boat meaning bring on another thousand) we are awaiting the return of Stu for a change out of electronics....uggggg.  We are so grateful we decided to ask Stu to join us for our shake down trial as we found all sorts of interesting tidbits about running our girl and a few things that needed a little extra TLC prior to departure.

Bahamas here we come!!!!  Eventually...  :o)

Until next time....

Love and hugs to all....kisses for the kids!

Life on Las Olas Boulevard is....

....just awesome! :o)

The first night aboard Simplicity II was wonderfully uneventful...Gregg and I were so tired after our flight from Ottawa we truly just wanted to climb into our berth and fall asleep!  Our days and nights since then consist of cleaning, buying and storing away and you can be sure this is no small feat when preparing to leave for parts unknown!  At least unknown to us.  Shopping alone is a challenge as I don't know the brands and have to consider how much garbage will be created and how flat the garbage will go for storage until we reach a location that will allow us to leave our garbage and recycling.

We are moored at the Las Olas Municipal Marina in Fort Lauderdale and just a couple of blocks from the world famous Fort Lauderdale Beach (at least this is what the guide book says!).  Although we have been busy getting the boat ready, we did take an evening off and stroll the beach boulevard until we found a little Italian bistro on the street for a bite to eat and the most amazing thunder and lightning storm.  The rain is so warm there isn't an umbrella in site and when it stops raining, the breeze and the heat dries you out in only a few minutes.  And the wee lizards are scooting around here and there, so cute and apparently keeping the insect population to a minimum...a big thanks to those little guys!

I expect these posts will be rather spotty but will keep you up to date on our adventure as I'm able. I've been able to Skype with Cait a couple of times but communication has been via email for the most part.  A big shout out to Dustin for taking care of things for us at home.  I think he has beein going full on since we left and I don't know how we would manage all of the little details that pop up without him....thank you so much, son!

Until the next time, much love and hugs to all...