Underway Again #  26: The Crossing and St. Augustine

Roman and I had listened to Chris Parker, the weather guru of sailors, that there was a weather window to cross to the States for the next 4 days. We felt that this would be a good time to cross as we would have enough time to get to where we were going to put the boat "on the hard"(pulling it out of the water and keeping it on land) and also to prepare the boat for launch.  It was very difficult to say goodbye to Bill and Maureen after sharing so many different and interesting experiences.  We will certainly continue to keep in touch. 

We left Great Guana Cay and spent the next night anchoring off Hawksbill Cay.  Then on to Great Sail Cay where we spent our last night in the Bahamas.

It was a beautiful evening and we went to bed with the sun. 

 

Our last night in the Bahamas.

 

It was a calm gorgeous night when we left Great Sail Cay at 3:00 in the morning and motored under a multitude of stars across the Bahama Bank where we saw the last of that beautiful turquoise water.  The different hues of blue never cease to amaze.





 

 

When we entered the Atlantic we encountered large rolling waves. The wind picked up and we first motor-sailed and then sailed as the winds gradually picked up especially when we entered the Gulf Stream. By 6:00 the next morning we started to pick up speed until we were doing a steady speed of 9.5 kn. In the picture on the left you can see the wind speed is 24.4 kn. Our boat speed is 9.6 kn. and the last recorded depth of 15.8 ft. was at Great Sail Cay.

 

 

Sunset over the Atlantic.

 

We had planned to go to Cape Canaveral but we were making such good time that we decided to go on to St. Augustine.   

 

It was great fun! I enjoyed the speed especially as it was my turn at the helm, 3 hours for me and 4 for Roman. We tried to sleep when it was our turn off but it was difficult to actually sleep. We just dozed. About 60 miles from St. Augustine, our engine failed. Fortunately the winds picked up again and I sailed while we waited for the engine to cool and then Roman bled the engine and it started like a charm. He certainly knows his boat!

 

 We got to St. Augustine at 2:00 in the morning.  We had been on this passage for 47 hours and we were tired.  We had never entered St. Augustine harbour from the ocean and it was scary in the dark.  Fortunately it was a full moon and I was at the front of the boat shining my high powered flashlight on all the markers. and pointing the way for Roman who was at the helm.   It was nerve-wrecking but we made it and anchored in the harbour in the first spot that we could.  The next morning we went to St. Augustine Municipal Marina where we spent the next few days relaxing.

 

St. Augustine was as beautiful a city as I had remembered it.

 

 It was exactly 500 years ago that Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain in 1513 and it is believed that it was at St. Augustine that he did so.  We were fortunate to be there for several enactments of historic events.   Below we see the initial landing of Ponce de Leon.

In 1565 Pedro Menendez, with 700 soldiers and colonists, landed here and founded St, Augustine, making it the oldest continually occupied European settlement in North America.  Pirates continually roamed the coast and settlers lived in constant fear.  In 1672 the fort of Castillo de San Marcos was begun and took 23 years to complete.

 St. Augustine has a rich history - pirates, the complete burning of St. Augustine in 1702 by the English, the Spanish expansion and in 1821 the Americans took over from the Spanish and in 1845 Florida became the 27th state of the Union.

 

Below is an re-enactment of Ponce de Leon taking the cross and planting it for Spain in Florida. 

First there was a mass at the cathedral attended by a cardinal, 5 bishops and a multitude of priests.  Then came the procession.

 This was a woman who would have been a soldier's wife.  Everyone was very relaxed and the weather co-operated beautifully.

 Ahoy! A pirate ship!  It came right by our boat when we were anchored in the bay.

 

Open the bridge!  Away to the pirate hideaway!

 The pirates almost captured us!

 

This is an awesome John Alden Yacht built in 1938. The present owner, an Austrian from Rhode Island and the Hamptons is very proud of his yacht. It took 3 years of full time restoration at a boatyard in Maine to make it look like it looks today.  It is worth several million dollars.

 

  

These stained glass windows came from Germany almost 200 years ago.  The deep indigo blues of the rectangular ones are spectacular.

 

 

 

 

The streets of St. Augustine are narrow with interesting shops and restaurants.

Under the present day wall, you can see history.

Had to find time to browse!

 

All good things come to an end and it was time for us to move on to Jacksonville.  Just on our way pass the inlet into the harbour we passed a boat that had gone aground.  We found out that this boat had attempted to come into the harbour at night and miscalculated as the lights and markers are confusing.  We were very lucky when we came in at night.

 

We don't know what the story is of the boat below.

 

As I write this, we have made it successfully up the St. John's River to Green Cove Springs where we will put the boat on the hard. The boat will spend the summer months here waiting for us to return and take it south again. You will have to tune in again next November to see where our travels will take us.

Till then...............................

 

Underway Again # 25 : Great Iguana Cay





Our last evening at Marsh harbour.

Red sky at night

Sailor's delight

Red sky in the morning

Sailor's warning!

 

It was definetely a delight of a morning.

We travelled from Hope Town to Marsh Harbour to fuel up, spent the night and then on to Great Iguana Cay which is known throughout the Bahamas for the famous Nippers Bar. 

We anchored off the island and dinghied into the town where we left our dinghies on the shore.  We were careful to throw anchors into the sand and secure our boats. 
Great Iguana Cay  is a delightful island with its own unique charm.  The people are very warm and friendly and we met the people mentioned in many of the Barefoot Man's songs.  If you have not heard of the Barefoot Man, look him up on the net and listen to his music.  He is sort of a lay back Jimmy Buffet. 

The buildings are pastel coloured and very well maintained.  We walked through the town and stopped in several little gift stores as well as the local grocery store which carried a wide variety of products beside food.  I bought some cream of tartar for a key lime pie I planned to bake.  

 Where ever you go on Great Iguana Cay, you see golf carts and not cars. 

This is Milo's fruit stand where I haggled for freshly picked tomatoes.

 

 Off to Nippers we went following the signs.

Nippers is not only a bar but a resort of a sort.  It is right on a fabulous beach.  Again the pastel theme is evident in everything you see at Nippers.  We missed the performance of the Barefoot Man a couple of weeks ago when we were stuck in Spanish Wells for 11 days.

We had lunch on a turquoise coloured table. The sea food was wonderful and I had the famous Nippers slush with a shot of something in it!  Ummmm good!

 

Nippers as seen from the beach.

 

The beach as seen from Nippers.
 

If it's too warm, you can always take a dip to refresh yourself if you don't want to go in the ocean.  Personally, I prefer the ocean.

While having lunch we watched the waves come rolling in and breaking on the rocks.  This is what I like best about travelling on a boat.  You have time to stop and enjoy the beauty of the world around you.  Below we are looking down on some of that beauty.

 

 

 

 

 On our way back to the dinghies. 

When we got back, the tide had gone out and we had to pull the dinghy across the sand back into the water taking care not to drag the motor in the sand.  The water was shallow and it seemed like a very long way out to where we could get in and start the engine.  Back to the boat where I baked a key lime pie for a get together we had on Kulanamoo.