Cool...

This lighthouse was a joy to sit under. After the sunset as the dusk settles in the lighthouse was darkening in the sky. Suddenly the whole lantern is aglow in a golden light as the lamp was lit. Another minute or two and the lens started rotating on its mercury bed.

5 flashes, then 5 seconds delay.

It was mesmerizing sitting in the darkness watching this old kerosene lamp fired lighthouse work, essentially using a grandfather clock mechanism and cannonball weights!

HOPETOWN

We found a dock for $100 a week right under this historic lighthouse....no electric or water...but hey, it's a new dock and better than a mooring or anchoring.

Who could hate a lighthouse? Years ago Bahamians, especially Abaconians, felt a strong and guiltless enmity towards lighthouses.... animosity began in 1836 when the first two major lighthouses were built in the Bahamas, one on the southern tip of Great Abaco Island at Hole-in-the-Wall and the other at Gun Cay just south of Bimini. Concerned shipping interests had implored England to improve navigation aids in her colonies because of the increasing number of ships that were leaving their bones there.

"However, because many Abaconians made a good living from salvaging (then know as 'wracking') the unfortunate ships that ended their sailing days on the dangerous shoals of this low archipelago of reefs, rocks, cays and white beaches, navigation aids were no friends of the 'wrackers.'

"Merchant sail flourished between 1820 and 1880 and the Bahama Islands lay spread-out along its way. The Bahamian wracking fleet stood ready to help, with almost 300 vessels licensed to cruise the reefs in search of luckless ships to salvage, employing half of the able-bodied men in the country and accounting for about half of this British colony's revenue. The records for 1860 show an amazing average of one wreck per month at Abaco alone.

"Wracking was a lucrative business. The system required that the salvaged cargo, considered to be imported goods, be shipped to Nassau for auction with the government taking 15%, the agents 15% and 40 to 60% going back to the wrackers. The ship owners received the 10 - 30% that was left, which doesn't' seem like much, but had it not been for the wrackers and the system they would have received nothing.

"In order to build the Elbow Reef Lightstation, the Imperial Lighthouse Service, Trinity House, London, brought in some outside help but also employed many Hope Towners to unload supplies, quarry the limestone rock for building foundations and cisterns, to mix the cement and carry out the myriads of other chores can are a part of a construction job of such magnitude. The locals were glad for the jobs but at the same time they wished that they were not building a lighthouse. There were reports by the supervisors that some locals sank a supply barge one night and also withheld fresh water from the workers.

"Despite the wrecking community's protests, the light station was completed in 1864: a fixed (non-rotating), first-order (of brightness) light, warning ships away from the treacherous reef extending a considerable distance to seaward of Elbow Cay

"Lighthouses ­ ever silent sentinels and angels to the sailor ­ along with the advent of steam replacing sail and more accurate nautical charts, combined to finally put the wracking industry on the rocks.

"Another economic bubble had burst for the people of Hope Town.

"In 1936 the Imperial Lighthouse Service realized that the light at Gun Cay was being 'used less and less . . . and so it was closed. At the same time the Service realized Elbow Reef's need for a beacon which could be more easily identified by ships at sea. The Gun Cay Lighthouse was decapitated. The iron lantern room with its dome, the petroleum burner equipment, the turning mechanism and the rotating Fresnel lenticualr panels with five bull's-eyes which had been going around at Gun Cay since 1929 (and may have been elsewhere before that) were brought to Hope Town to replace the 1864 standing wick-type light.

"The 'new' light source for Elbow Cay was built by Chance Brothers of Birmingham, England and is till sending out the light today from the top of the Elbow Reef Lighthouse. The hood petroleum burner is rated at 325,000 candlepower, a first order light. A hand pump is used to pressurize the kerosene in heavy iron containers in the service room, directly below the lantern room and travels up a tube to an atomizer which sprays into a mantle (a hood of network fabric) having been pre-heated before lighting. Some camping lanterns operate similarly.

"The beautiful Fresnel lenses concentrate the mantle's light into a piercing beam straight out towards the horizon. The eight thousand pound lenses and burner equipment float in a circular tub of lubricant thereby reducing friction so that seven hundred pounds of weight, when wound up to the top of the tower by a hand winch and using a series of bronze gears, rotate the four ton apparatus once around every 15 seconds and very smoothly at that. The keeper on duty has to wind up the weights every two hours. The smooth sweep of the turning lenses with their five swords of light cutting the darkness over the sea, while the light constantly glows between those beams, is know as the 'soul' of a lighthouse. Once seen and compared to an electric flashing light, it is not soon forgotten and the use of the word 'soul' is more easily understood.

Abacos weather

http://www.abacoescape.com/Weather/AbacoWeather/Weather.html

I ran across this piece today....nice description of weather and hurricane history for the Northern Bahamas....aka Abacos.

We don't use the A/C but it does heat up a bit during the day....into the 80's, but cools down after sunset for nice sleeping weather.

Winds do seem to be a bit higher than projected sometimes and waves respond accordingly.

Skid Marks....

This is a marked passage, albeit shallow! Clear waters abound!

The skid marks are from previous boats....maybe a keel? or an engine or two!

We were very close to bottom....and our depth finder tends to go out when we have little water under our keel....we get used to it and just humm words to the tune..."lately I've been running on faith" by Eric Clapton.....don't know which song we'll sing when we run aground!

Crystal Clear

It's like being in a swimming pool!

Nippers and Grabbers....Big Guana

After a night at anchor near Hopetown, we've moved to Settlement Bay at Orchid Bay Marina. The place is bankrupt? or just didn't pay their bills?? They now have water again (30 cents per gallon) but still don't have power or fuel. They say that will change tomorrow! But it's a buck a foot and they have a nice pool.

We went to Grabbers Sunset Beach Bar for a beer and ribs last night...awesome sunset and good food. Reminds us of the beach at Lake M where we eat at Pat and Pete's with our toes in the sand.

Today we test out Nippers....famous for it's two pools on the bluff overlooking the Atlantic....and maybe moreso for their sunday pig roast....all you can eat for $20. So we hope to spend a nice afternoon at the beach bar today, see how rowdy and raunchy the tourists get and then move on to new destinations tomorrow. Vaughn might need a Nippers t-shirt!

Marsh Harbor

MH is kind of the heart of the Abacos. Lots of space at anchorage and the docks. We are at Harbor View marina for a month but will probably only stay a week. I think you can get anything here but will pay Bahamas pricing which seems to be about double what you pay in the states. We are well provisioned and only pick up a few items...usually fresh vegetables and an ingredient or two for the onboard recipes.

We worked our way here through the north via Spanish Key with a stop at Manjack Key and Green Turtle Key (acutally spelt Cay here). Our night at anchorage in N Manjack included a major thunderstorm at 3am. We loaded the dingy and kayaks before the storm and then dragged our anchor almost to the beach! We are now going to get a Rocna! Green Turtle Cay was fun for a few days....snorkeling, bike riding, swim in the pool, anchored in Black Sound until we had a generator issue, then we moved to BS marina for a couple of nights. Long bike ride around the island.

So, now we wait for a generator pump in Marsh Harbor....Monday? $150 FedEx shipping charge and it could still take a week!

I think if it comes in soon we will move over to the nearby Cays of Great Guana for a week and then go down to the south of the Abacos and stay at Little Harbor. Probably come back here for stays at Hopetown and Man-o-War Cays.

Right now it's virtually calm and the smooth waters entice.

Better in the Bahamas

Well, we made our crossing and it was not too bad. Rock and Roll picked up as we reached the Bahama Bank. It was nice to tie to the dock!

A Mainship came in ahead of us and onboard was Ruby...from MissTickle, a boat we met at the waterfall on the TN and again in Marathon last February. He was helping move a boat back to the mainland and then back to MN for some snow melt flooding at his marina.

We waited at West End for 3 days and enjoyed their pool and beach. Gave the boat a good wash (we had free water due to our membership at Marsh Harbor and also got a 20% discount off the $2 rate) and waited for the A Team to come, a flotilla of 8 boats. The first night we were there a sunken sailboat was towed in.

They had hit the rocks/reef the night before and took on water. There was very little of the boat out of the water as it was towed into the turning basin. Liveaboards who lost everything. They had apparently lost propulsion and were sailing with the jib at 3AM. What a sight....sunken boat, full jib sail still flapping and the American flag still blowing at the surface of the water at the stern. That same night another boat had apparently lost their anchor when their line rode was cut by the coral.

So, then two days later our friends come into the harbor with a story of a trawler on the rocks at Sale Cay. A 46' boat had miscalculated and was grounded, now on it's side in the low tide and taking on water (one engine submurged). He needed a pump to pump out his boat and try and float it at high tide, but nothing was available. Boats anchored nearby could not help. A dingy even grounded trying to get close. Up and down goes the tide. A terrible sight for any boater and a very distressed owner. Now a couple of days later the vessel had been towed into West End and is listing at the dock. Owner talking about towing it back to the US for repairs.

Welcome to the Bahamas! It's incidents like these that certainly make you think!

Mint Julep and company arrived ahead of a storm. We had dinner for about 20 in the Restaurant. The next day they pulled lines and headed back to FL....for about 10 minutes. Wave reports of 8-12 footers were taken from a returning boat....so the boats came back and waited for the storm....which came with a fury! It kept us in the marina for another night too. So I think we had 5 nights at West End.

We then anchored at Sale Cay for a night north of the Big Bahama Island, then detoured to a Marina for the next night due to big winds. Expensive and rocky, so we moved to anchor at Manjack. Nice spot protected by rocks, big sand crescent beach and crystal clear water. I checked out the boat and found a 4-5 foot barracuda under our keel! But that night the big thunder storms came in and put on a vicious light show and kicked our ass with the wind and waves...anchor dragged us almost to the beach. We reset anchor and kept an eye on the storms and our holding until the storms passed.

Now we are at anchor in Black Sound on Green Turtle Cay. Nice place. Lots of boats at moorings and various marinas. We have walked New Plymouth, caught a bite at Leeward Marina and found an internet access point (yeah!). We also went out into the big water (some swell but now wind) and went skin diving around some rocky reef. We need to go out further next time and will should the winds/waves cooperate!

Generally sunny and warm. Lots of boats to see. Incredible clear waters.

We like the Bahamas so far!

Waiting on the weather window

We are now provisioned for a month or two in the Bahamas.

The fuel tanks are about full, the water tanks topped off. Cases of wine!

The freezer is up to the rim and the Engel Cooler is keeping our overflow refrigeration goods cold.

You try to think of everything but I'm sure that there are things we've overlooked.

We've now moved our way up the Keys and are on the edge of Biscayne Bay south of Miami. We now begin our weather watch to find a good day to cross. Today is the calmest day we've had in quite a while....almost no wind this morning.

Here the weather reports one of the sites we're watching, the other is this weather site http://www.passageweather.com/ for a good forecast.

COASTAL WATERS FROM DEERFIELD BEACH TO OCEAN REEF, FL OUT 20 NM-  WATERS FROM DEERFIELD BEACH TO OCEAN REEF, FL EXTENDING FROM 20 NM  TO THE TERRITORIAL WATERS OF THE BAHAMAS-  357 AM EDT WED MAR 16 2011     TODAY  EAST NORTHEAST WINDS 6 TO 9 KNOTS. SEAS 2 FEET. DOMINANT PERIOD  4 SECONDS. INTRACOASTAL WATERS A LIGHT CHOP.   TONIGHT  NORTHEAST WINDS 10 TO 13 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET. DOMINANT PERIOD  3 SECONDS. INTRACOASTAL WATERS A MODERATE CHOP.   THURSDAY  NORTHEAST WINDS 11 TO 14 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET. DOMINANT PERIOD  4 SECONDS. INTRACOASTAL WATERS A MODERATE CHOP.   THURSDAY NIGHT  NORTHEAST WINDS 13 TO 16 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET  NEAR SHORE AND UP TO 2 TO 4 FEET IN THE GULF STREAM. INTRACOASTAL  WATERS A MODERATE CHOP.   FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT  EAST NORTHEAST WINDS 14 TO  17 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 4 FEET. INTRACOASTAL WATERS A MODERATE CHOP.   SUNDAY  EAST NORTHEAST WINDS 14 TO 19 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 5 FEET.  INTRACOASTAL WATERS CHOPPY IN EXPOSED AREAS.

So, we will continue to move about this area and keep an eye to the weather!

Sunrise/Sunsets

Today the Sunrise is at 7:30 and the Sunset is at 7:30.

So we're at the half way point....only happens twice a year!

Heading north to Miami area today, Probably Boca Chita Key to their wall, hoping there is a space during the Spring Break here.

Staging now for a crossing to the Bahamas!

Wish us luck.

March, eh?

Well I just looked up and found I missed a month....such is life in the Keys.

Actually, it's really been a busy month. We left Useppa and worked our way down the west coast to Marathon where we anchored in Sister Creek. Then we moved to Islamorada for a night and ended up staying for more than a month. Plantation Yacht Harbor was a nice place and we had a great view over the keys to watch sunsets. When we decided to pull stakes and move to Miami, we found out that the week we spent there cost as much as a month, so we left the lines attached to the dock!

Vaughn's father passed while we were in Marathon and she talked her mom into coming to Florida for a few weeks. She arrived just after my brother was here for a week. So, we rented a car, came back to spend time with my brother....then Vaughn's mom...then Sara and the twins had to come down....then Matt arrived yesterday...so another week yet and maybe we can get away from the dock.

It's been a great winter in Florida, much warmer than last year. More normal? Does that bode poorly for the upcoming H season? We hope to head over to the Bahamas this month.

I am getting used to the drive from the Keys to Charlotte Harbor and am now finding new back roads to do the trip. I have done it weekly now, including a trip to Miami for the boat show and a rendevoux with the folks from Eagles Nest who have their DeFefer in Hollywood.

Otherwise, we're well.

Useppa Island Club

What is the date anyway? I don't seem to be getting the blogging done like in the past!

We spent a few nights in our hideaway hole on Punta Blanca Island, then anchored off the east side of Useppa, where we joined friends for a lunch party on the island. It was a lot of fun to walk around this private island. Lots of pretty "cottages".

The weather window looked good so we scooted down the coast....Fuel and dock at Ft. Myers Beach, then a long day to the Shark River anchorage and then on down to Marathon where we anchored in Sister Creek for a few days.