Cumberland Island; 4/16-4/18

      After saying goodbye to Diamond, the family we've been traveling with since February, we headed north toward Cumberland Island, Georgia.

     It was a great morning for sailing. At one point we got up to 9.7 knots. However, the afternoon brought many challenges. First of all, the tide was dropping, and since there's been a full moon lately, the tides have been even lower than normal. We hit bottom several times, but were able to plow through the mud to deeper water. At the same time, the winds picked up into the 40 knot range. We decided to bail out on our plans to go to Cumberland Island and stay in a marina to get out of the wind. Fernandina Beach had no slips or mooring balls available. We secured a slip in another marina, but when we arrived, we found out that their entrance channel only has three feet of water at low tide. We would've had to wait two hours in the howling wind to enter. So, we continued north across the Cumberland Sound. In the sound, we had waves to deal with along with the wind, which made for an exciting trip. We were happy to tuck in next to Cumberland Island, and we got a good set with our anchor. The wind continued to get stronger, and it blew our American flag off the halyard and into the water.

     By evening the wind settled down, we were able to get a good night sleep and we woke up to a beautiful morning. Mom's goal was to spend the whole day exploring the island, and we all took turns accompanying her. The island, which is only accessible by boat, has sixteen miles of beach, a campground, and ruins of The Dungeness, which was a mansion owned by the Carnegie family. So we learned a little history, added to our shell collection, and got plenty of exercise.

Here are some pics from Cumberland Island...

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Crossing back to the States

     There's not a lot of civilization west of Green Turtle Cay. There is one marina at West End, which provides the shortest jump to Florida, and we were planning to stop there, and leave at first light for Florida. However, when we called, we found out it would cost over $150 dollars to tie up our boat for one night. So, we decided to skip the marina. We spent one night at Allans-Pensacola and one night at Mangrove Cay. Both are uninhabited islands and we tried to absorb every moment of our last days in the Bahamas.  We left Mangrove Cay at 4 am, Friday the 8th, and arrived Ft. Pierce at 8:30 pm.
     We picked a calm day (maybe too calm) for the crossing, so we had to motor-sail the whole day. It was pretty slow moving until we hit the Gulf Stream, where we turned north and hit a record breaking 10.7 knots. Midway through the stream, we wrote a note, put it in a glass bottle, and tossed it overboard. We're hoping someone in some far-away place finds it and contacts us. The highlight of the trip was being entertained by a pod of 12 dolphins who were swimming and playing around our boat. They spent a lot of time riding our bow waves and swimming under the boat.
     We are now at St. Augustine, beginning to work our way north on the ICW, stopping at Vero Beach and New Smyrna. It's been interesting adjusting to the culture shock. There is so much noise and so many lights. The first night we were wondering who turned out the stars. However, we certainly have enjoyed Subway, Chinese food, and free showers and water, and cheap laundry. We are still traveling with Diamond, and we had a grand reunion with Ruahk when we caught up with them here in St. Augustine. Ruahk has since left for a three day passage outside to North Carolina, and Diamond is going to be staying here for a week, touring Cape Canaveral and going to Disney. We'll start our trek north tomorrow at first light.

Pictures will be coming soon!

Man O'War to Green Turtle!

 

 Our next destination was Man O'War Cay, which was just a short sail from Hopetown. This cay is famous for it's boat building, and we were able to get a tour of one boat builder's workshop. This business  has been in his family for many generations!

Man O'War was a nice little community and Friday night we went to a community concert. The kids had fun with some of the Bahamian teenagers, so now we have some Bahamian Facebook friends! We also sampled some more Bahamian food after the concert.

     From Man O'War, it's another short sail to Green Turtle Cay. However, to get there you have to go through Whale Cut. Whale Cut is famous for producing a "rage" effect. A "rage" is rough and sometime dangerous waves that occur in narrow channels when wind opposes tide. We waited for a calm morning to go through, and thankfully the water was flat!                                                                           At Green Turtle Cay, we rented a golf cart to drive into town to get some supplies. We also drove by a gorgeous beach overlook.  

We anchored the first night at Green Turtle, but there was a front coming through so we moved into the marina. Green Turtle Cay marina was a little bit on the expensive side, but we were able to "eat our dockage." Basically, everything we spent at the restaurant and bar came off of our docking fee. Our only choice was to eat enough food to cover the cost of the marina. The boats we have been traveling with (Diamond, Falco, and Messenger) all decided to join us! That made for a big party of 18!

 The Bahamas Near Year celebration is called Junkanoo. All of the Bahamians dress up in costumes. My dad found a hat displayed at the restaurant, and decided to try it on! Thankfully, he didn't try on the matching skirt!

Some of our friends have been collecting conch, because they enjoy making conch fritters. We collected a few ourselves, because the shells are gorgeous, and we knew our friends would use the conch meat! While the conch fritters taste good, the process of getting the meat from the shell to the table is not exactly appetizing!

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