We have neglected our blog and I will try to fill in our exploits since arriving in the Abacos, the Bahamas.  The Sea of Abaco lies between a chain of islands and the main Abaco Island so it is protected from the Atlantic swells resulting in a pleasant area to sail.  This area is a major cruisers mecca with its own cruisers net in the morning.

Little Harbor

We arrived in Little Harbor on Easter Sunday but could not actually enter the harbor itself as we had to wait for at least half tide as the entrance channel only has three feet deep.  We anchored nearby for the night and went into the harbor on the next morning’s rising tide. 

Little Harbor was the home for sculptor/artist Randolph Johnson who created many bronze sculptures.  His son Pete sill runs the foundry where bronze castings are still produced and an art gallery.  Of co**** there is Pete’s Pub, a well known beach bar, which served wonderful food.

Hopetown

Our next stop was Hopetown where we picked up a mooring.  Hopetown is a beautiful little town.  Island homes in pastels with a profusion of flowers and flowering shrubs.  The streets are concrete about one car width wide with narrow lanes as cross walkways.  There is a lovely lighthouse that is open to the public.  Great pictures from the top.  Captain Jack’s had a trivia contest where we teamed with crews from three other cruising boats (two of which are Island Packets).  These three boats we cruised with off and on for the next month.  Our trivia team came in second in the contest. 

Marsh Harbor

Marsh Harbor is a large harbor with good shopping and a great restaurant.  We reprovisioned the boat and sat out one cold front.

Great Gauana Cay

This island is best known for Nippers beach bar.  We bided our time here waiting for the Whale Passage to subside before continuing north.   The whale passage is an area where we need to pass through an area where we need to jump out into the edge of the Atlantic and then pass back into the Sea of Abaco.  When the Whale is raging large swells are breaking across the passage making the passage very treacherous. The condition of the Whale passage as well as all the other passages is announced on the morning net.

Green Turtle Cay

We easily passed through the Whale passage and anchored in White Bay in Green Turtle Cay.  Green Turtle has many reefs with great snorkeling.  There are 18 sites with mooring buoys where we could tie the dinghy.

Back to the US

We wanted to make the jump from Great Sale Cay, Bahamas to Charleston, SC.  The plan was to ride the Gulf Stream north and then jump off for Charleston.  The weather window didn’t hold for us (front came through with northerly winds) so jumped off at Fernandina Beach.  We spent several days at Fernandina; it’s a beautiful little town.

When the weather improved we did an overnight sail to Charleston and after a brief stay in Charleston (and a repair of the alternator again) we did another overnight to Cape Fear River in NC.  Going up the Cape Fear River we developed a rumble in the engine so we hauled the boat in Hampstead, NC where we found that the engine was out of alignment.  While we had the boat hauled we had the bottom painted.

We followed the ICW up to Norfolk with stops at Bellehaven and Coinjock (the home of the 32 oz prime rib).  While passing through Norfolk their Harborfest was underway with a huge boat parade which was going south and of course we were traveling north so we were definitely going against the flow.  The boat parade had private pleasure craft, navy and coast guard ships and tall ships including the Eagle.  The fire boats were spraying their water cannons and it’s very impressive.

We waited three days in Norfolk for weather window to go all the way to New York (48 hrs).  We were two days ahead of Alberto.  We timed our arrival in NYC to be at the battery two hours after low tide (4:40 am) so we could ride the current through hells gate.  We timed it well so we had an 11 knot ride through the East River to City Island where we picked up mooring.  The mooring belonged to a very nice couple we had met in the boat yard in Hampstead.