January 21st- Green Turtle Cay/ White Sound, Abaco Islands,  Bahamas 

We stayed an extra day anchored off Great Abaco Island to rest up. On the 19th we hauled up the hook and set sail for Green Turtle Cay. It was only 14nm to our destination so no need to leave early. For the first time in a while we had a real sail. The wind was gusting to around 25kts. We were able to make 6 to 7 knots under genoa alone. Even though it was breezy the sea state was pretty good. We made it in to White Sound, without mishap, and picked up S/V Outward Bound’s mooring for a few days. Since I have an aversion to government paperwork, Lynne becomes the Captain for the checkin process. Ivy the GTC customs agent remembered Lynne from last year and 20 minutes later we were flying the Bahamian courtesy flag and officially on vacation in the Bahamas. 

We’ve been relaxing and walking various beaches. Temperatures have been ranging from the upper 70s during the day, to upper 60s at night. It feels great to be back on GTC!

Coco Bay

We saw Turtles, Snapper, Barracuda, Needle Fish, Shark, and Stingrays. Much better than going to an aquarium. 

Evergreen moored at GTC.

January 18th- Great Abaco Island, Bahamas 

We hauled in the anchor at Lake Worth and exited the inlet around 5:00pm. We pointed Evergreen roughly south east to make some distance before the Gulf Stream would start to push us north. This put us directly into the SE wind so we motored. The Gulf Stream was choppy with around 4 to 5 foot seas. Eventually things flattened out a bit and we were able to roll the genoa out when we changed course. This stabilized Evergreen enough that the Admiral was able to cook up some chicken/ vegetable ramen soup. The moon rose and was a bright 3/4 so visibility was pretty good. We crossed onto the Bahama bank (near Memory Rock) around 2:30am. It was a good crossing and we were very pleased to be back in the Bahamas. During the calmer part of the voyage we traded off watches in the cockpit and the off watch person got some sleep. We did this every hour or two. This was a first for us and we felt much better. It took 17 hours to transit from Lake Worth to Great Sale Cay (21 hours if you count the ICW passage from Hobe Sound). 

Sunrise in the Bahamas.

Raising the quarantine flag.

As we were approaching Great Sale Cay I downloaded a weather forecast from our Garmin satellite device. Great Sale has a couple of different anchoring spots that provide good protection from various wind directions. Unfortunately, South West is not one of them. The wind was predicted to turn south west Saturday morning. These things happen. We had a brief meeting. We both felt pretty good and weren’t exhausted so we pointed Evergreen toward a safer anchorage.

Eventually, we dropped the hook in the lee of Great Abaco Island, not far from Cooperstown, around 5pm. In two days we traveled 161 nautical miles over 28 hours. Not bad for a couple of day-sailors in a 46 year old boat.

Today is cloudy, breezy, but a warm 75 degrees. Bahamas!!!

January 16th- Lake Worth/ West Palm Beach FL

We finally untied the lines from Vero Beach. It would have been easy to stay another week. The January weather has not been conducive to boat travel. 

Evergreen making an early departure from Vero. Photographed from SV Voilà.

It turned into a cool, grey, windy, day on the trip down to Hobe Sound. The wind was behind us so that was helpful. We had a quiet night in Hobe Sound but it was largely open to the North wind.

Today we pushed on down to Lake Worth. There are several bridges to contend with along the way. For some reason I thought the Jupiter Federal Bridge was replaced with a high rise bridge. Nope. In the space of 9 nautical miles there are six bridges.

Currently we are anchored near the Lake Worth inlet. We plan on hauling in the anchor around sunset and doing an overnight passage to the Bahamas. That was the best weather situation I could figure out.  We should be at Great Sale Cay sometime tomorrow. Onward to the Bahamas!!

January 14th – Vero Beach FL 

According to my calendar we arrived to the Velcro on November 26th of last year! We’ve been here for a month and a half. Time flies. 

On the Florida intracoastal.

Dolphins playing.

While here we went on a road trip across the state. We celebrated both Thanksgiving and Christmas at the marina. For both holidays we had a boaters pot luck dinner. Both events were well attended and we had enough food to feed an army.

While we were away another boater snapped this rainbow shot with Evergreen in the middle. We are rafted to another vessel. Where is that pot of gold?

We’ve been rafted with several vessels while here. All have been good people out seeking a cruising adventure. 

We’ve been trying to watch the budget so have been avoiding going out to eat much. We did hit El Sids for tacos a few times. I’ll have to get my Ruben from Casey’s when we come back this way in a few months. 

Which brings me to…. We’re ready to go. For the past few days we’ve been getting Evergreen ready for the Bahamas. Tomorrow we’ll head south. If all looks good, we’ll cross the Gulf Stream around Thursday/ Friday. We’ll make a stop at Great Sale Cay to rest up. Eventually we’ll get down to Green Turtle Cay to check in with the customs office. Then, who knows? We’re on vacation.

That’s the “plan”. The crossing the Gulf Stream part is a little uncertain according to the weather profits. We’ll need to keep an eye on wind and waves before crossing. 

Evergreen moored at Vero Beach.