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  • Breanker (Big Mac) USVI to MD
    22
    Tag 25

    Current Cut to Marsh Harbour Abaco

    4. Mai auf den Bahamas ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    We pulled anchor at 5am.
    The sky was absolutely gorgeous. I'm thankful for camera phones to be able to capture the moments but pictures don't do justice to how beautiful it was
    It was an uneventful day. Due to the wind direction, we ended up motor sailing the entire way. We were on a broad reach (wind was at our back) and our jib isn't big enough to take advantage of the wind...another item on our wish list now.
    We hoped to catch some fish along the way but we didn't even get a bite.
    As we got close to our anchorage in Marsh Harbour in Abaco, we were singing the praises of Navionics. There were a lot of turns to get to our anchorage and the water was quite shallow in spots.
    We dropped anchor about 5:30 and
    decided to go ashore for dinner. Dave and I shared a meal of mozzarella sticks, cheesy fries and spicy wings...and of course a couple Kaliks. Not our healthiest meal but it was good.
    When we got back to the boat, we decided to finish the rum punch from the night before and listen to some Jimmy Buffet. His music is perfect for hanging out in the islands.
    Today was almost a 13 hour sail so we're a bit exhausted. We plan to hang here a day or two and then make our way west to one of the smaller islands before we make our crossing to Florida.
    Today's Information
    Miles Traveled 80.5
    Time traveled 12 hrs 46 min
    Average Speed 6.4 knots
    Max Speed 10.4 knots (through a cut)

    Some facts about the Abaco Islands from Wikipedia:
    The Abaco Islands lie in the north of The Bahamas, about 193 miles east of Miami, Florida, US. The main islands are Great Abaco and Little Abaco, which is just west of Great Abaco's northern tip.
    On the Big Island of Abaco is Marsh Harbour, the Abacos' commercial hub and The Bahamas' third-largest city, plus the resort area of Treasure Cay. Both have airports. Mainland settlements include Coopers Town and Fox Town in the north and Cherokee and Sandy Point in the south.
    The Abaco Islands have been long famous for shipbuilding. Their chief exports are lumber, fruit, and pearl shells. Crawfish are exported to the United States. Pulpwood is shipped to a Florida plant for processing.
    Tourism is a major portion of the economy.

    When we have more time, we'll explore these islands more.    Weiterlesen

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  • Breanker (Big Mac) USVI to MD
    Tag 25

    Halfway...

    4. Mai auf den Bahamas ⋅ ☀ 77 °F

    By the end of the day we will be almost half way... 1000 miles done. At least another 1000 to go. So far this trip has been amazing.... Amazing people, amazing places, amazing sights and amazing experiences.

    Almost every day I tell Chris "we are doing this"... And everyday I have to remind myself that this is real. It is almost unbelievable to me... This journey has been almost 7 years in the making, and it is exceeding our expectations. I am all ready trying to plan and prepare for the next step, the next leg. But in doing so I have to stop and remind myself to be sure and enjoy the present.
    Sailors are a different breed, you must enjoy the journey as much or more than the destination, and you must accept or even relish in the fact that what you are doing is NOT the easiest way to get somewhere. I have seen a t-shirt that says "SAILING - THE MOST EXPENSIVE WAY TO GET SOMEWHERE FOR FREE". But sailing exposes us to some of the most challenging, raw, and inspiring parts of life... And that is what I love. Sailing is my happy place.
    So as we end the 3rd week of this epic journey, I am still enjoying it. I am actually loving it!
    Being this close to nature, literally at its mercy every day is incredibly humbling. Being the control freak that I am, I willing accept that I am not able to control nature. So I seek a balance, my objectives to nature's will. This is forcing me to realize that almost everything around me has a delicate balance that at best I can influence, but not necessarily control... And I am at peace with that.    Weiterlesen

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  • Breanker (Big Mac) USVI to MD
    2
    Tag 20–22

    At anchor in George Town - day 2 and 3

    29. April auf den Bahamas ⋅ ☁ 79 °F

    While we wait for our new crew, the past two days have been filled with boat projects.
    Yesterday morning we took the dinghy to George Town with a garbage bag full of laundry. After dropping our laundry off, we were off to the boat store. Dave needed two more batteries and a new line for our furler. Fortunately the boat store had what we needed. Our last errand for the day was the grocery store. We found things to be slightly more expensive here than the USVI but fortunately we don't have to buy much. It's been a bonus that we didn't use a lot of meat on our first leg of our journey since we caught 3 fish. Depending on whether we sail on the ocean side or not will impact our chances of getting fish through the Bahamas. Ciguatera is a dangerous poisoning found in fish near the reefs. We certainly don't want that
    Tuesday night, Dave made a great dinner of pork, beans, rice and salad..and vanilla Oreos for dessert. Too much cloud cover to see the sunset.
    The winds were 15-20 through the night which was welcoming as it cooled things off a bit. I even had to grab a blanket. The stability of the boat makes it very comfortable.
    Today we continued the necessary chores.
    We need some more fuel in the boat before we head north and decided the easiest way was to fill up our jerry cans from the Shell station that is right at the dinghy dock. After a breakfast of coffee, bagel and a apple we headed over to get some fuel. Diesel fuel is a bit pricey here at $5.92 a gallon. While we were in town we decided to provision a bit more. We paid $5.99 for a dozen eggs. In years past that would have shocked me but it's not as crazy compared to the US prices right now.
    We stocked up on a few other things and then headed to the liquor store to get some Maker's Mark and Kalik, the beer of the Bahamas. As we make our way north, we won't travel overnight so we'll have dinner at anchor and more chances for sundowners.
    After an afternoon of more projects - we picked up one of our crewmates , Lena, who will be on the boat with us for a couple weeks. Our fourth person, John, will join us tomorrow. We'll begin sailing our way north on Friday with plans to make it to Marsh Harbour in the Abacos Islands by Sunday.
    The days fly by with all the different projects.
    George Town and Stocking Island have a lot of hiking trails and places to visit I wish we had more time to explore but remind myself that our main reason for this trip is to move our boat to Maryland so boat projects are a priority. We'll be back and will explore more next winter. We hope to take a few hours tomorrow to walk around Stocking Island but for now we're enjoying the beauty from the boat.    Weiterlesen

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  • Breanker (Big Mac) USVI to MD
    311111
    Tag 16–18

    Arrival in Inagua Bahamas

    25. April auf den Bahamas ⋅ ☀ 81 °F

    After 3-1/2 days at sea, we arrived in Matthews Town, Bahamas at Inagua Bahama at 3:30pm on Friday.
    After being spoiled on Wednesday catching 2 fish and having a pod of dolphins swim with us, Thursday and Friday were relatively non-eventful.
    We motor sailed all day and then about 4:30 pm on Thursday we had enough wind to turn off the motors. How great it was to sail without the sounds of the motor! We were able to sail without the motor on until about 11:30 pm when the wind died. We completely forgot about the Space X launch but Debbie and Scott were on watch at that time and saw it. Unfortunately there weren't any pictures. There are supposed to be a couple launches in the next couple days so hopefully we'll catch one.
    We've experienced quite a few firsts on this trip and this is the first time I saw the Southern Cross constellation. I tried to capture it in a camera photo ...
    We've been surprised at the lack of boat traffic on our trip. We've passed a few freighters and a cruise ship on the way but not much else .
    Today we arrived at our anchorage at about 3:30pm. There are just 2 other boats in the anchorage. One single dolphin appeared in the anchorage. 😊
    We decided after being on the the boat for 3-1/2 days straight that we'd get off the boat and find something to eat.
    We discovered that most of the restaurants on the island were closed but were able to grab a burger and beer at Shanya's. The people in Inagua are very friendly. The population of the entire island is about 1000.
    Donny gave us a ride to the restaurant. He's lived on the island his entire life. Drake brought us back to our dinghy. He went to school at Kent State in Ohio and is now back on the island but hopes to make it back to the U. S.
    We don't have time to tour the island but have it on our list to come back to.
    Afer getting back to the boat to watch the sunset and listen to some music we're all ready for a good night's sleep at our anchorage.
    Tomorrow we'll set sail for Georgetown which should be about a 36 hour trip.

    Some information on the island of Inagua:
    Inagua is primarily known for its natural salt ponds, the Inagua National Park, and its large breeding colony of West Indian flamingos. The park is home to the largest flamingo population in the Caribbean and is a haven for birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts. Additionally, Inagua's main industry is salt production, with the Morton Salt Company
    operating a large facility on the island.
    The Morton Salt Company, with its major operation in Matthew Town, produces over one million tonnes of sea salt annually, making it a significant economic driver for Inagua.    Weiterlesen

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  • ReisenderBringing the boat home
    Tag 2

    Emerald Bay Marina

    4. Mai auf den Bahamas ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Tyler and I arrived at the boat yesterday at 2pm and found it in great condition. We checked off our maintenance and repair tasks one by one and the boat was ready to go by noon today.

    Today's first obstacle....the opening to the creek where we kept the boat for the last 14 months is now barricaded by a shallow sand bar. So we carefully measured our boat's depth and figured out that if we waited until high tide (3pm today) the water would still not be quite high enough for the boat to get out .

    We decided to "phone a friend" and "Big D" graciously offered to use his boat to pull ours over the narrow spit of sand. He came out just as the tide was highest and he dragged us over the sand and into deeper water, we were thrilled!

    So thrilled in fact, that we got distracted and that led to today's second obstacle.....we caught the dinghy's painter (rope) in the propeller. This caused the motor to stall, and the dinghy to get dragged underwater so forcefully that it cracked the fiberglass bottom and the painter had to be cut away from the prop with a dive knife.

    We loaded the dinghy on board and made fast for Emerald Bay marina, which had closed by the time we arrived, where we will spend the night. We had supplies on board to repair the fiberglass crack and Tyler and I were able to get that finished just after dark today. The only picture I got was the boat that pulled in right after us and is now our new neighbor, so enjoy.

    We leave for our next island tomorrow.... Eleuthera!    Weiterlesen

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  • Breanker (Big Mac) USVI to MD
    2
    Tag 23

    George Town to Plum Creek Eleuthera

    2. Mai auf den Bahamas ⋅ ☀ 77 °F

    After brewing a pot of coffee, we pulled anchor at 6:30am and were on our way..
    We were able to turn the motors off at 6:48
    A couple hours in, we realized the repaired block didn't hold. JB Weld is good but not that good. Fortunately, Dave had asked John to bring a new block with him. So, we dropped the main a bit and Dave installed the new block that John brought. Dave's getting very good and making repairs underway.
    For the first five hours we were able to turn the motors off and travel entirely under sail
    About 10:30am, "Fish on!". Dave and John reeled in a beautiful bull mahi mahi. Dave filleted the fish and we knew what was for dinner!
    For the most part the wind direction was
    perfect. We were enjoying not having our motors on but there came a time about 1pm that in order to keep sailing without the motor, we would have to head away from our destination. If we did that, we wouldn't arrive at our anchorage until after dark. With the unknown area, shallow waters and coral reefs, we certainly didn't want to do that. So, we turned on the "iron lung" to keep sailing in the proper direction.
    Overall, over our 12+ hour day, we were able to turn the motors off for about 8 hours. Not too shabby.
    We arrived at our Plum Creek anchorage about 7pm. We had plenty of time to get the anchor down and enjoy the sunset. We had the anchorage to ourselves! This was our first sail with John and Lena and all went really well.
    Lena baked some more ciabatta bread while Dave prepped the mahi mahi. We sat down for a great dinner of mahi mahi,
    salad, beans/rice and ciabatta bread about 9pm. We had some great conversation over dinner. I'm enjoying getting to know so many different people in the sailing community and hear what their journey is.
    We were all exhausted after the long day so after the dishes were done shortly after 10pm, we were all in bed. Tomorrow we'll make our way to Meeks Patch Anchorage in Eulethera. We plan to set out about 7am.
    Today's information:
    Miles Traveled 88
    Total time traveled. 12hrs 37 minute
    Average speed 7 knots    Weiterlesen

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  • Breanker (Big Mac) USVI to MD
    Tag 22

    Last day at anchor George Town/Stocking

    1. Mai auf den Bahamas ⋅ 🌬 77 °F

    Today was our last day at anchor in George Town. We fortunately only had a few boat projects left before continuing our journey north. On our trip to George Town, our reefing line broke which caused the block at the reefing line to break. Dave used some JB Weld to fix the block and reinstalled it. The last project for the day was changing the solenoid on the starboard electric winch. The electric winch worked periodically before he made the change. I'm used to manual winches so it wasn't a huge deal to me but having electric winches is a nice bonus.
    Our chores for the day were done at 11:30am so Dave, Lena and I headed to the Snappy Turtle for lunch and then hung out at the beach by the Chat and Chill for a couple. It was a treat that there were some southern stingrays swimming by the beach.
    At 4:30, we combined our last bit of provisioning with picking up John. Our crew for our trip north is complete.
    Lena had prepped some ciabatta dough earlier in the day so that immediately went in the oven. The smell of fresh baking bread made my stomach growl. Once the bread was out of the oven, Dave made pork loin, cole slaw and risotto. Ciabatta bread was an added bonus with dinner. I know how fortunate I am to continue to eat so well
    SpaceX launched 28 Starlink satellites tonight which we were able to see from the boat. It is time for bed so we can be ready for our early morning start. We plan to pull anchor at sunrise.    Weiterlesen

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  • Breanker (Big Mac) USVI to MD
    Tag 19

    At anchor in George Town

    28. April auf den Bahamas ⋅ ☀ 79 °F

    We said see you later to our crew this morning. After Dave took them to shore, we sat for a bit and just reflected on our adventure so far. We've learned so much and just keep pinching ourselves that this is happening.
    Now onto some chores. Laundry is gathered but that will be done tomorrow. We took the dinghy to shore on George Town and then took a taxi to Napa where Dave got a couple batteries for the boat. Our driver, Vencil, was born and raised in George Town and showed us the home he grew up in. Every Bahamian we have met is so friendly.
    After we got back from town, we decided to go to the famous Chat and Chill on Stocking Island. We had a couple warm beers but the atmosphere was great. We met 3 different couples. One was a couple from Mississippi in their second year of cruising with their 4 kids ages 8 to 14. They've already experienced 2 hurricanes and a tornado. Another couple from Scotland has been cruising for 20 years and has circumnavigated twice. The third couple was from Canada and have been cruising for almost 20 years. They have 2 teenagers and just sailed up from South Africa. We hope to see them all again before we leave George Town.
    When we got back to the boat, Dave made an awesome vegetable stir fry and then watched the sunset.

    Note: I had to go back and correct the spelling of George Town:
    The city is often mistakenly spelled as "Georgetown", which was never the city's official name. This misspelling may be due to confusion with other places worldwide that share the same name. In common parlance, the city of George Town is also called "Penang", which is the name of the larger state.    Weiterlesen

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  • Breanker (Big Mac) USVI to MD
    Tag 19–22

    St Thomas to Bahamas

    28. April auf den Bahamas ⋅ 🌬 77 °F

    The last two weeks have been at the same time the most challenging and the most rewarding. It has been almost constant boat work, trip preparation, cleaning and cooking. Don't get me wrong we have taken time for laughs, conversations, and a few cocktails...
    I knew when I surveyed the boat that the house battery bank would need to be replaced, but since we have a nice sized generator I figured we could get by...
    The inverter charger was running very warm, which I chalked up to the bad batteries, well after 6 days, it quit working. Fortunately I was able to find a new one on St. Thomas, plus new batteries and got them installed. However, the new charger would fault out as soon as it was powered up... This led me to the root cause of the problem, our generator was outputting 137v, not the 120v it should be. I was able to adjust the regulator and get the voltage issue corrected, and the inverter charger started working, and "surprisingly" everything was running much cooler than it had been.
    We have replaced some of the running rigging, a few shackles, a couple pumps, water filters, and fuel filters.
    I knew owning a 34 year old boat would be expensive, but I have to admit that I have over spent my budget this month....

    On passage, our reefing line broke, which caused one of my main sail cars to break. The bilge pump in the sugar scoop quit working, which allowed that to completely fill with water. So in the couple days that we have here in the Exumas I will continue with my boat projects.

    I have been very happy with the sailing performance of this vessel. The wind and waves were favorable enough for us to sail about half of the distance. In 14 to 20 knot winds (apparent) the boat will sail 7 to 8 knots. We averaged 6.5 for the entire trip. We experienced some 10+ foot waves without issue. Unfortunately, we had about 8 hours of close hauled 4 to 6 foot chop Saturday night, and that tested both vessel and crew. I have never experienced or understood haul slap before... Wow...

    When we bought IMPULSE the year of covid, I would routinely say that being out on the water is my happy place... And it for sure is! I have been retired now for just over a month, and my mental and physical health have improved significantly. My resting heart rate has dropped 5 points, I have lost some weight, and I am smiling much more than I have in a long time. I am taking time every day to appreciate how good things are, and still take time to figure out how to make them better. I am very thankful for Chris and the fact that she enables me to live this way.

    I hope I never tire of the natural beauty of the water and the islands, because for the last couple of weeks, I have to convince myself that this is real...    Weiterlesen

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  • Breanker (Big Mac) USVI to MD
    Tag 18–19

    Inagua Bahamas to George Town Bahamas

    27. April auf den Bahamas ⋅ ☀ 79 °F

    After a good night's sleep at anchor, we were all up and ready to go at 6am on Saturday. We enjoyed coffee, veggies and bagels for breakfast, and left Matthew Town about 7:30 am. It was a glorious sail in the morning and Dave was in his element at the helm. We were able to turn the motors off for a few hours as the winds cooperated and we were sailing along at a good clip.We sailed past a 34ft monohull early in the morning. They were handling the boat well but I was thankful we were in our boat.
    About 11am we had a fish on! Scott could see that it was a sail fish. As quickly as it was on, it was off.
    The winds picked up about 11:30am and the rain started. The rain and increased wind (up to 24 knots) for the next few hours had us all pull out our raincoats.
    About 4:30 our fishing line went off and Dave reeled in a mahi-mahi! We decided that it was slightly small and decided to throw it back.
    We've eaten well along the way and even with the rough seas, Dave made a great salad topped with our remaining tuna and risotto.
    We sailed through the night The winds through the night ranged from 16 to 22. Sailing at night is a bit eerie as we rely on the wind forecasts, Navionics and AIS to alert us if other vessels are nearby. It was surprising to me, even as we got closer to land how little boat traffic there was.
    As we rounded Long Island, our line went off again! This time we reeled in a barracuda......ooh barracudađŸŽ”!
    The picture I took doesn't reflect how menacing their teeth make them look.
    That was our last hit for the day.
    We arrived at our anchorage at George Town Bahamas about 4:30pm. We are anchored between Stocking Island and George Town. It is beautiful here with all the different shades of blue just popping!
    I was at the helm for the first time for dropping the anchor. Since it will soon just be Dave and me, I needed to make sure I could do it. The hold at this anchorage is very good and the dual engines help in the control.
    We got the anchor down and a few minutes later, Dave zoomed off in the dinghy to get us checked in to the Bahamas. (We didn't check in to the Bahamas at Inagua on Friday because customs was closed and we left the next morning before they opened)
    We enjoyed a celebratory beer on the boat before heading to the Snappy Turtle Bar and Grill for dinner. I had a great dinner of piri piri shrimp and Dave had ribs.
    We got back to the boat about 9pm, played a couple games of euchre and then saw the Starlink satellite launch (at least a portion of it)
    Ready for a good night's sleep at anchor!
    Tomorrow our existing crew goes home.
    What a trip it has been so far.
    Their experience,knowledge and comraderie has been invaluable in the 737 mile journey from St Thomas to George Town. Very thankful.
    Dave and I will be in George Town until May 2 getting some projects done and exploring the island. We have a couple more people joining us on the May 2 as we continue our journey north.    Weiterlesen

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