Crew Log for March 23rd – March 27th, 2023
Trip Summary:
• Allans Cay – Vero Beach, Florida
• Trip Distance of 162.2 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 3,391.6 NM
• Departed at 09h00, arrived at 11h00 + 2 days
My apologies to the Beatles for taking liberty with their former number 1 hit.
Despite being rudely awakened by a errant anchor alarm in the middle of the night, it was a quiet, uneventful night on anchor. We really enjoyed Allens Cay. It was a beautiful, spot and we got to connect with a number of fellow cruisers on the beach. And, oh yes, Nanny got to squeeze a baby!
It was sunny with cloudy periods. By Bahamian standards, it was still “cooler”, but comfortable. The winds were out of the north east. Our sail was mostly downwind, wing on wing but eventually we did enjoy a broad reach, on route to our staging spot at Great Sale Cay.
Our “plan” was to make the 32 mile trip to Great Sale, spend the night, and then leave the next morning for a 130 mile overnight sail to Vero Beach via Fort Pierce. Slack tide at Fort Pierce Inlet was around 08h30. We conservatively estimated 22 – 24 hours for the trip from Great Sale to Fort Pierce and it would take us another 3 hours or so to reach Vero Beach.
I have mentioned before that you have a lot of time on your hands while cruising, particularly when you are in more open water, with fewer obstacles to hit. We lifted anchor at Allans Cay and settled in for the first leg of the trip. I decided to pass the time by reviewing our Visa bill, which turned out to be a good use of time.
About a month and a half ago, when we were sheltered at Bell Island during Super Bowl Sunday, we couldn’t get the game using our normal tech hacks, aka Surfshark. We decided to sign up for some online streaming service for the game, which never worked. However, for the next several weeks, unusual charges started to appear on our Visa card. Our card was hacked.
Any of you who know me, know that I don’t have the highest regard for banks and other big businesses, that are more focused on shareholder returns, than customer service. However, I must say, that in this instance, the call center employee in who knows where, that worked for Visa, was prompt and professional. They subsequently went through our bill, and removed all the suspicious transactions, and then cancelled the card. Besides, who needs a Visa card 100 miles offshore on a remote, uninhabited island?
The advancements in technology continue to amaze me on this trip. First, we were in one of the remotest parts of the northern Bahamas, on a sailboat, yet I could check our Visa bill. Secondly, we could call someone, thousands of miles away, and they could sort the issue out. With the Visa card issue resolved for the time being, we turned our attention to more important things, fine tuning the sail trim.
It turned out to be a pretty good sailboat day. It wasn’t a speedy sail, but we made reasonably good time and only had to use the motor for a short period of time, which meant we could conserve fuel for the crossing. We also hadn’t had the main sail up for quite awhile. The last time I recall using it was on our crossing from Eleuthera to Abaco, almost a month ago, so it was good to blow the cob webs off.
It turned out to be a good decision. Judy had noticed that there was an issue with one of the lugs on the sail. As much as the boat talks to me, the sails talk to Judy, which is a good thing. The lugs are nylon slides that hold the leading edge of the sail to the mast. If one breaks or is missing, it puts added strain on the other lugs and on the sail. In stronger wind, this could be problematic.
We dropped the sail and got ourselves safely anchored, and inspected what might be wrong. As Judy suspected, one of lugs had broken, and we’d need to replace it before we crossed the Gulf Stream in the morning. We got out the repair kit and went to work. It turned out we had everything we needed, and it was a relatively quick fix. Like most things on a sailboat, fixing even the simplest of parts, is critical to staying safe. It was a lot easier to deal with the issue in a calm anchorage, than it would have been out in the middle of the Gulf Stream.
There were several other boats, mostly trawlers, staged at Great Sale, in addition to 3 other sailboats, including our new friends on Mutual Fun. Unfortunately, none of them were planning to do what we were doing, which started to create some doubt in our minds about our plan. The other boats we talked to were all planning to head to West End, and then cross to West Palm Beach the following day. It is certainly easier and avoids sailing overnight. However, we actually don’t mind doing overnight crossings, provided we have ideal conditions.
Our weather service assured us, the sail from Great Sale Cay to Fort Pierce would be a “benign trip”, but we needed to check the weather one more time. Unfortunately, we didn’t have great cell coverage. One of the other boats said they had some luck hoisting their MiFi box up the mast, so we thought we’d give it a try. It certainly wasn’t good enough to stream Netflix movies, but it was good enough to get the latest forecast, which still looked good.
We dropped over to watch the sun go down on Mutual Fun and to say goodbye. Gilles had been fishing on the way from Allans Cay and had quite the exciting day. He was only successful in landing the head of the first fish he caught. He figured the sharks got the best bits of it. On his next strike, whatever grabbed his lure, took off with the entire spool of line and his lure. He certainly had some great fish stories to tell when he got home.
We woke early the next morning and waved goodbye to Mutual Fun who left for West End at 06h00. Several other boats left the anchorage at 07h00 – 08h00, but as expected, they all seemed to be heading to West End. As so often happens, we get impatient waiting around, and so we decided to haul the anchor at 08h00, rather than sit around until 10h00.
As predicted, the winds were light, less than 10 knots, and directly behind us. We decided to reef the main anyway. It wasn’t likely going to do anything anyway, and we wanted to avoid the possibility of having to reef in the middle of the night in the Gulf Stream. Other than a few sport fishing boats and a stream of Disney Cruise ships, it was incredibly quiet.
It is incredible how shallow the waters are on the bank around the Bahamas. We travelled for about 50 miles in bright turquoise water, that was no more than 20 feet deep. The transition to the deeper water is equally impressive. The water transitions from turquoise to the most amazing clear blue, almost instantly. Our last reported depth was 103 feet, which meant the water depth went from 20 feet to thousands of feet in a matter of seconds.
As we left the Bahama bank we decided to lower our Bahamian courtesy flag. It was tattered and worn, but still beautiful. A pretty good reflection of our last three months.
It is important to point out that Judy is a rockstar on these longer passages. In fact, I am not sure how I ever would be able to do them without her. First, she prepares the most amazing passage meals and always has a galley full of snacks to munch on through the night. She is also the only one of us that never gets seasick. I on the other hand, have gotten sick on both passages across the Gulf Stream. Fortunately, my sea sickness passes quickly, but in the meantime, Judy is left in charge of everything. She is “salty sailor girl” for sure! Lucky me.
Judy was also in charge of adjusting the sails through the night to either speed us up, or slow us down, so that we would reach the Fort Pierce inlet at slack tide. The currents here are brutal. If you try and come in on a falling tide, you could find yourself battling a 3 knot current. Conversely, come in on a flood tide and you literally surf uncontrollably. Wind against the current, also adds some additional excitement to the experience. Fortunately, our timing was perfect and the winds as predicted were light.
The entry in our trip log says, “…coming into Florida from the Bahamas, is like sticking you head into a pencil sharpener, after a long relaxing massage…”. The one thing most sailboaters will agree on, is how much they hate the Florida section of the ICW. There are a lot of boats in Florida, and most of them drive like maniacs. Aside from being annoying, it borders on down right dangerous at times. I don’t think they are intentionally trying to sink us, but I am pretty sure they won’t stick around if they did.
Our first order of business was to shower and to do a wash. If there was a water ration in Florida, I am pretty sure that Judy and I used up about a week’s worth. It felt so good!
We had done the online check in with US Customs and Border Protection. It worked great when we came into the US the first time, but we hadn’t yet received clearance after 24 hours. I tried several times and never got a response.
Once again, we are grateful for having some amazing friends. Mike and Debbie, from Phase 2, were in Vero Beach and had rented a car. We don’t know what their plans were for the day, but they offered to drive us to the Fort Pierce Airport to check in, in-person. I tried doing the online check in again, in front of the CBP officials, but they still weren’t getting notification of our arrival. Seems I have an issue with my phone settings. Despite our technology challenges, 5 minutes later we were legally allow to roam freely in the United States of America!
We treated Mike and Debbie, both beer aficionados, to lunch at a brew pub. We ordered food from the food truck parked outside, while we worked our way through a mini flight of IPAs. It was a lot of fun and we still marvel over the generosity of fellow cruisers.
Vero is “nice”, but I was still struggling to understand why people would come and stay for weeks. While the marina was well protected, it also meant it was hot, and buggy. The facilities and staff were nice, but nothing extraordinary. You can’t swim off your boat, or anywhere near by for that matter. The only thing I could see as a possible “major draw” is that the town offers a free bus service.
We decided to take advantage of the service and head into Publix to pick up a “few” groceries. Well, after 3 months in the Bahamas, shopping from whatever the mailboat brought that week, we went absolutely crazy in the fresh fruit and vegetable section. We also loaded up on potato chips, if we are being totally honest. The cashier asked if we were “sailing back home”? When we asked how she knew we were on a boat, she said, “…oh all the sailors have nice tans and wear hats…”, and I expect have a cart full of fresh fruit and vegetables, and of course potato chips.
I walked over to the fuel dock with our diesel jugs, and there was a guy sitting there who said, “…hey, I took your mooring ball in Hope Town…”. His memory was better than mine obviously. Gill, originally from South Africa, lives in the Chesapeake with his wife Sharlene. There were the folks who snagged our mooring ball the day we were leaving Hope Town. They are sailing on sv First Love, a Benneteau First 345. I also noticed that Ocean Star 7 from Quebec, was also in Vero. We first saw them in the Exumas and then again in Eleuthera.
Maybe that is why so many people get stuck in Vero. There are lots of other cruisers around to chat with.
There is one other thing I noticed about Vero. There are no roosters. Not one. However, their crowing was replaced with the constant sound of train whistles and the rumbling of freight trains making their way up the Florida coast. I miss those roosters.
Vero turned out to be a wonderful stop. We got to reconnect with friends, meet some new ones, loaded up on fresh food and spent a ridiculous amount of time in the shower. It was peaceful and a treat to be able to simply step off the dock onto terra firma. I was a little bit sad however, when I realized I couldn’t leave my flip flops in the dinghy all the time. Shoes were no longer optional.
We were slowly making our way back to the reality of land life and starting to think about the long trip home.
But more about that, next time.
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