Life in the Abacos

We are settling in quite nicely at the Abaco Beach Resort & Boat Harbour Marina in Marsh Harbour.  We are one of the early arrivals at the marina, only about 12 boats here so far. During peak winter season, there will be 30-40 boats in the marina.  

We cleared customs on Green Turtle Cay and hoisted the Bahamian flag

Activity Calendar:  We manage to stay very busy, to follow are some of the activities.

• Walking - one of us walks early morning
• Happy Hour - every day at 5:30 (we only have apps. on Sunday's & Wednesday's thankfully)
• Mah Jongg - Mon/Wed/Fri
• Pickleball - Tue/Thur/Sat
• Grocery Shop - Thur (or whenever we need something)
• Pool activities - anytime
• Coconut hunting - anytime
• Boating excursions - anytime
• Boat projects - when there is time
• Bocce - coming soon
• Bridge - coming soon

Coconut succumbs to the hatchet

Scott's 1st Coconut Custard Pie (of course we needed to sample it)

Last Saturday, 14 of us climbed aboard "Teamwork" a 34' PDQ trawler catamaran belonging to RMHYC member Roger.  Our destination was Elbow Cay for lunch, beach combing, swimming and fun.  On the way home we stopped for a swim and to look for sea turtles (we saw several).  The team on Teamwork arrived back at our marina at dusk, just in time for cocktail hour!

Jumbo Jenga challenge

Break from beach combing

IT'S GO TIME!

In order to cross over to the Bahamas, a few things need to align.  The boat and crew need to be ready, the provision list needs to be completed, and the weather needs to be just right.  Well, that alignment is about to occur at 0400 tomorrow morning, Thursday November 12^th.  We have been working hard to get everything ready and have been closely watching several different weather forecasts.  A good “weather window” only comes around once in a while so when it does, we need to take advantage of it.

We will likely have a restless night tonight contemplating tomorrow’s crossing.  It is a 54 mile open ocean crossing from Lake Worth (Palm Beach) inlet to the Bahama Bank.  Although once we reach the bank we will still have another 45 miles to go before we stop for the night, the most worrisome part will be behind us.  The open ocean between Florida and The Bahamas is many thousands of feet deep and is home to the Gulf Stream.  The Stream is a river like current within the ocean and flows northward at about 3 miles per hour.  Any wind out of the north will buck against the current and make for a very bumpy (and possibly dangerous) ride.  Once we reach the bank, the water shallows to only in the range of 20’ deep and becomes much friendlier.  The forecast for tomorrow is for light winds from the south.  Nice!

Tonight we are anchored in Lake Worth (Palm Beach), only a short distance from access to the ocean.  There are many other boats anchored here and we expect that there will be a small parade of boats leaving tomorrow morning.  During the “crossing”, we will be out of sight of land for about 25 miles and will be comforted by the sight of other boats on the horizon.  It’s time for bed now.  0400 comes quite early.

Starting to provision for the Bahamas at Palm Coast 

The Man in the Boat

Somewhere along the way, South Carolina I think, we encountered a green canoe with a man sitting low in the stern paddling along.  He appeared to be traveling, not just out for an afternoon.  His boat had a crudely rigged sail made of an old plastic tarp and a long stick for a mast.  On the waterway we really don’t see that type of thing often so it stuck in my mind.  Over the next couple of weeks, we saw him a few more times.  Apparently when we stopped for the night and sometimes for a couple of days, he kept moving so we would leap frog with him.  Each time we saw him, we became more and more curious about his story.  Well, don’t you know that we were in Fernandina Marina on Amelia Island, FL. and paddling from under the pier comes this green canoe!  He paddled right by our boat as we lay tied to the dock.  I jumped up and went to the cockpit and called to him and he stopped to talk.  I told him we had seen him several times and asked where he was going.  He said “here, this looks like a nice place”!  I asked where he started and he said Alexandria, VA.  That’s a trip of almost 900 miles by canoe. 

There is always a back story.  He told me that he was recently homeless and decided he needed to move to warmer weather to survive.  He had been living with his last living relative, his mother, and that she recently died.  After that and to make matters worse, the apartment in which they had been living burned.  He was then staying temporarily with a friend but needed to find another option. His friend gave him the canoe, took him to Walmart to get some clothes (all his stuff burned in the fire!) gave him a little cash and off he went.  We talked for a few more moments and I told him where he could get some water.  He was looking for a shower so that he could clean up.  He was going to look for a job and asked where the library was so that he could look through newspapers.  I said “Good Luck” and he paddled away.  He never asked me for anything.

I realized that I did not even know his name.  I watched as he came alongside one of the docks and prepared to climb out of his boat.  I walked over to him and asked his name and he said it was Bill.  I handed him $20 to help him along.  He was very gracious and I could tell that he really needed it.  He said that everywhere he went, the people he met were very kind to him.  Some gave him shelter when there was bad weather.  Some gave him groceries and supplies.  I told him he should write a book.  The waterway is full of stories like Bill’s.

The Wild Horses of Cumberland Island National Seashore

We've seen the wild horses as we passed by on our Loop trip but never up close and personal.  So glad we were able to stop this time, what a beautiful national park with 36,000 acres of maritime forest, beach, lakes and marshes.  Unfortunately, the northern end of the island was closed to visitors for hunting of wild hogs & deer using primitive weapons only.  There was plenty to see on the southern tip, including wild horses, wild turkey and various ruins.   The armadillo eluded us this time but we'll find it next time!

Canopy of Live Oaks

With temps in high 80's the horses weren't too wild

Dungeness Ruins date back to 1884

Buoys?

With just a few hours to come up with a costume for a Halloween Party at Brunswick Landing Marina, we created these lighted ICW buoys (identified by the triangle and square above the number).  We figured it was apropos for a marina party.  Funny thing happened, some people were asking what we were.  Yikes, hope we don't see these people on the waterway!

GO BULLDOGS! (since we are in GA)

We had one more stop in South Carolina before we moved on to Georgia.  Our friends, Chuck and Claria, live in Beaufort SC and generously let us stay at their dock for a visit.  Claria served a wonderful dinner and we reminisced and traded war stories about our adventures.  The next day we contacted other boating friends Oliver and Sally who also live in Beaufort and the 3 couples spent time at a local harvest festival and shared more stories over cocktails.  We met both couples while on our Great Loop adventure in 2007-2008.  The boating lifestyle is really more about people and friendships than it is about the actual boating.

Mary, Chuck, Claria, Sally, Scott & Oliver

With the Carolinas in our wake, it was on to Georgia where the water is shallow and the current is swift.  We timed our departure to coincide with the rising tide to ensure safe passage through some of the many shoal areas.  Georgia has tides averaging 8’ which is comparable to the North Shore of MA.  This comes in quite handy when the waterway at low tide is only about 3-4’ deep in places.  Too much tide height is not always a good thing either.  Our first stop in Georgia was Delegal Marina on Skidaway Island.  The evening tide was exceptionally high at 10’ caused by astronomically high tides (full moon etc.) as well as strong onshore winds which pile up water in the small creeks.  As the tide went out, our dock became hung up on the piling.  Had we not noticed this condition, the results would have been very bad.  A little persuasion with a battering ram did the trick and the dock dropped about 20” under my feet!  Other than the near disastrous mishap, the marina was great.  Dockmaster Billy could not have been any nicer to us.  The island is a wonderful place with 6 golf courses and beautiful homes on streets lined with palm trees and live oaks dripping with Spanish moss.  Just by staying at the marina, you are granted visitor privileges at the local country club restaurants.  We drove a golf cart (at night!) to one of them and had a wonderful dinner.  

1-Scott noticed something didn't look quite right here.

2-With the battering ram used to knock it down.

3-Problem averted - back to normal

Other stops in Georgia included Sunbury and Darien, neither had we visited before.  Both had funky restaurants and local color and both were recommendations from boating friends.  Word of mouth is the best travel guide.  We will likely visit them again some other time.  As I write this we are at Morningstar Marina at St. Simons Island and the dock parties are in full swing.  This is the big weekend of the Georgia / Florida football game and people from all over the state descend on this area.  St. Simons Island is ground zero.  Go Bulldogs!

Bucket of clustered oysters - oh my!

Entering South Carolina

The water level in SC from heavy rains has created concern to boaters navigating the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW).  We closely monitor various social media lists for updates.  The main message is proceed with extreme caution, mind the buoys and go slow.  Boats are responsible for their own wake and under these conditions sending any kind of water toward yards, homes and businesses would be horrible as they try to recover.  

We spent a couple of days tucked into Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach where we also took on fuel at $1.98/gallon which is a great price, the lowest we've paid on this trip so far.  They carried a full line of homemade jams, jellies and chutneys made by R.E. Kimball Co. in Amesbury, MA.  Small world!  We were told to visit Brookgreen Gardens, with sculpture gardens, native wildlife zoo and lowcountry history & wildlife preserve.  Lucky for us, there was a Uber driver at the marina who was available to take us over to Murrells Inlet.  It was the perfect day to walk around the gardens and visit the animals.  I highly recommend checking this out if you are in the area. 

Diana of the Chase

Pegasus

Pancho Sanchez

Scott in the Live Oak Allee

Inside the waterfowl aviary for afternoon snack was very fun!

Charleston is a great place to visit by boat, or land.  We are docked at the Maritime Center right in downtown so everything is close by, and if it's not we hop on the DASH Trolley and it takes us all over for free.  It's been an eating frenzy since we arrived, there are so many great restaurants.  Trip Advisor had 799 restaurants listed!  We went back to a few we really enjoyed the last time here, 82 Queen and Hominy Grill.  Excellent meals at both.  We did try 167 Raw for oysters which was really good.  Only 18 seats and there was a waiting line out the door when we left.    Great recommendation - thanks Bill Callahan!  Harris Teeter beckoned us to pick up a few items before heading back to the boat after a long day of eating, shopping and enjoying the sights of Charleston.

Guess where?

Braised Beef & Grits w/Fried Egg, Biscuit and Boiled Peanuts - my kind of lunch at Hominy Grill