Leaving the beautiful Bahamas! 3.23.16

Hatchet Bay dinghy dock and pavillion

We left Hatchet Bay Wednesday morning, after going from boat to boat to say goodbye to all the friends we met while there. The winds were moderate, 15-20 kts out of the east.  We motor sailed on the jib and got though Current Cut on the outgoing tide.  We anchored outside the cut, in lee of the Current Settlement and protected from the East wind.  

Pete and Bonnie, SV Mahina

Colby, Rachel, Paul  SV Jenny Ives

The Jenny Ives, under way, enroute to Current

Current Settlement

Full moon

We arrived at Bird Cay late in the afternoon and anchored out some, in a little bit of a surge.  We planned on getting in closer to the island, but the tide was too low for us to get into the hole we had anchored in back in December.  The following day we got up and found our sweet spot, and enjoyed a wonderful and private anchorage.

Bird Cay is definitely our favorite of the Berry Islands.  We enjoyed a couple of days there, snorkeling, conch searching and fishing. On the second day the  bracket for the outboard dinghy broke.  A bolt at the pivot point on the bracket snapped, leaving the bolts in the bracket itself.  Ed was not able to hit them out, a machine shop would be needed.  We have had nothing but trouble with this Lehr (propane driven) engine.  It was just starting to run decently for us when this happened.  Now it was worthless to us, as we can’t even rig it to be put on the dinghy.  We still wanted to play on the cay, so we pulled out the sail rig and used that to get to and from shore.

We spent a comfortable night on the hook and left at 3:00 am for the long passage over to the most western part of the Bahamas.  The weather reports called for very light wind, and flukey. We decided not to go back to Bimini and thought we might have a fairly comfortable night anchored on the bank around Great Isaac Cay.

Great Isaac Cay lighthouse

Well, Great Isaac Cay is just a big rock with an old dilapitated lighthouse and with deep water all the way up to the shoreline.  Ed was not comfortable anchoring in the deeper water and so close to rock.  There was quite a surge, making for a really rock and rolly night, so we motored a few miles to the south and anchored off the Hens and Chickens (also just a few rocks in the middle of the ocean).  We were still in surge, but anchored in 16 ft not too close to the rocks.  We were exhausted after a very long day on the water.  We ate an easy dinner and went to sleep, rocking and rolling.  We set the alarm for midnight and got under way by 1:15 am, for another very long day on the water.  

Hens and Chickens

I got my wish (planned it this way) for a calm crossing.  The seas were flat, the wind was calm and we picked up the gulf stream current which gave us a couple more knots/hr.  

Land Ho! Ed plotted the course just right and we arrived at Lake Worth Inlet, Palm Beach by mid afternoon.  Man!  The amount of boats coming out and into the inlet was quite a shock to our eyes.  Yes, we lived here and this was our inlet when we went sailing, but it has grown so much in the last 18 years, it was hard to believe we sailed around in our 22 ft. boat here!  Peanut Island was just an island back then.  Now it is a park with docks and buildings and tons of boaters! And its not even a weekend day!

Lake Worth Inlet

Port of Palm Beach

We motored past all the many many boats at anchor and went under the Blue Heron Bridge, north to the most northern anchorage in Lake Worth.  It too was pretty crowded but not as bad as near the inlet and south towards Palm Beach. 

We came upon this poor sailboat, sinking.  A sheriff came by and talked to Ed.  They knew who the owner of the boat is, but could not reach him, and he hasn’t been home for some time.  The following morning it was not to be seen, sunk. Sad, sad.

The winds picked up during the night.  Why, oh why do the winds always pick up and change in the middle of nights??  We dragged anchor and got too close to a neighboring boat, so had to raise the hook and move Manatee in the dark, in the crowded anchorage.  But we did fine and reset the hook.  The anchor grabbed and held. 

The next morning Ed rowed us over to the dinghy landing and walked the few blocks to West Marine to see about purchasing a new Mercury motor.  Of course, not in stock.  We ordered it for delivery the next day.  We made plans with our friends Bev and Colin to see them in Stuart on Saturday.  Believe it or not, the engine arrived at West Marine as promised.  We walked into town with our collapsible hand truck and picked up the motor.  Ed managed to get it down the embankment by the dinghy landing (it only rolled a couple of times) and got it set up on the dinghy and operational.  We motored back to Manatee in the chop and wind, but managed to get back safely.  

The following morning we motored up the intracoastal waterway, motoring past lots of childhood memories for Ed and memories of years in Martin County and St. Lucie County. 

Jupiter Lighthouse

Martin Memorial Hospital, where my nursing career began

The Roosevelt Bridge, many a morning stopped in traffic waiting for the old one to go down

We picked up a mooring ball at the Sunset Bay Marina, just under the Roosevelt Bridge in Stuart. Our friends Bev and Colin will pick us up tomorrow and we will have a fun weekend visiting long time friends here before heading back south. 

Peli says "ding!"