Makai

01/13/12 to 02/05/12

After a week or so in Georgetown, we sailed east to Conception Island to spend time with friends & enjoy the beautiful clear water.

The view of the Georgetown anchorage from the St. Francis Yacht Club

Idyllic Conception Island

Tagging Turtles in the creek at Conception

Grant & Donna and Tom & Cathie navigating the tidal currents at the entrance to the creek

With promising weather forecasted for the following weekend, we sailed over to Thompson Bay, Long Island to refuel & pick up some fresh produce. Thompson Bay is very welcoming to the cruising community, with efforts spearheaded by Mike and Jackie, the proprietors of Long Island Breeze Resort. The resort has a free dinghy dock, WiFi, laundry, swimming pool, showers, great food & a relaxing ambiance. With a grocery store across the street & gas station next door, it’s no wonder why so many cruisers spend the majority of their cruising season here.

Spending time with friends Cathie & Tom (SV Interlude)

Sights around Long Island

Dean’s Blue Hole

Dean’s Blue Hole is the world’s deepest at more than 600 feet deep. The full depth of the cave was reached by Jim King in 1992. In April 2010, William Trubridge broke a free-diving world record in the blue hole reaching a depth of 92 metres (302 ft) without the use of fins (Constant Weight Without Fins). On December 14, 2010, he swam to a depth of 101 metres on a single breath using only his hands and feet for propulsion, while many divers use weights to quicken their descent or inflatable bags to bring them to the surface quickly.

Fords Beach along Long Island’s southwest coast

A little off-road driving through the ruins of the Diamond Crystal Salt Company at Hard Bargain, Long Island. The plant was said to have closed when it’s main plant in the U.S. filed for bankruptcy. After the Salt Plant closed, a Shrimp farming company called World Wide Protein (Bahamas) LTD, but closed a few years later.

A Shrimp boat left to rust at Hard Bargain

Enjoying a Kalik at Maxx’s

We departed Long Island on 1/28 and sailed back over to Conception Island for a night prior to departing early the following morning for Mayaguana. We arrived in Abrahams Bay, Mayaguana on 1/30 after a boisterous sail to weather.

Mayaguana has not changed much over the last four years, except that the local bar now has wireless WiFi! Akin to our last visit, it’s been blowing like stink for the last 5 days making the anchorage rolly, but tolerable. The forecast calls for moderating conditions starting tomorrow, so that’s our cue to depart.

Potluck on the beach

Anyone for lobster?

Big dudes!

Next stop…. Port Antonio, Jamaica!

1/6/12 to 1/13/12

We had a great sail across to South Bimini, arriving in time to clear in through Customs & Immigration & do some laundry prior to sunset. Yes, we lead an exciting life!

Bimini Sands Marina

The following morning, we departed South Bimini for an overnight passage to Highbourne Cay in the northern Exumas. Taking advantage of the light winds & calming conditions, we stopped to snorkel the wreck of the Sapona (2 ½ miles SE of the island).

The Sapona

Mirror calm conditions crossing the Great Bahama Bank

Warderick Wells (southern mooring field at Hog Cay)

Snorkeling at the Sea Aquarium & Coral Gardens off O’Brien Cay

Mr. Attitude

Reminder – Watch the tides!
The Overyonder Cut into Pipe Creek (an outgoing 4-knot current) It doesn’t look like much, but we had 3 ft. standing waves transiting the cut.

The beautiful anchorage off Big Galliot Cay

Continuing southbound down the Exuma Cays, we used the hours underway to review our planned route, as well as the plethora of information accumulated from various cruisers over the past year. We now decided to expand our cruising plan to include stops at Grand Cayman, as well as the Swan Islands prior to our arrival in Guanaja, Honduras. Disclaimer: These plans are subject to change.

We arrived in Georgetown, Exuma on Friday the 13th where we’ll rest for a few days and visit with friends, Tom & Cathie on S/V Interlude. Concrete short-term plans are a nice change!

12/6/11 to 1/6/12

After our month-long stay in Indian Harbour Beach, our engine work was finally completed. Prior to departing, we took the opportunity to visit the Kennedy Space Center & the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Some traditional & not so traditional holiday lights

Back on the waterway, we continued to hop south making stops and visiting friends along the way.

Christmas Sunset at North Lake Worth (North Palm Beach)

Holiday Cheer from the Port of Miami

Our personal ‘Environmental Clean Up’ on Biscayne Bay (January 1st)

For the last five cruising seasons, I’ve pretty much cajoled Fred into traveling to various points around the Caribbean. This season (which more than likely will be our last aboard Makai), I decided to let him determine our destination. After many weeks of deliberation, he decided he wanted to go back to the Bay Islands of Honduras and dive.

Cruising Season 2012
Destination: Bay Islands of Honduras
Route: Westward from Key West to Guanaja, Honduras via Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

With our destination & route known, we departed South Miami for the Florida Keys. We made it half way down Biscayne Bay when Fred changed his mind and decided we should cross over to the Bahamas, transit south & west through the Windward Passage (the channel between Cuba & Haiti), stop in Jamaica to rest & refuel if needed, then continue on to Honduras. A longer trip overall, but hey – life’s an adventure! With that decided, we turned the boat around & returned to South Miami to provision, wait for mail & a good weather window to cross the Gulf Stream.

Sunset from the anchorage off Fisher Island (Miami)

10/25/11 to present

It was a beautifully clear, but chilly morning when we departed Yorktown, VA. Our first night out, we anchored in Deep Creek, at the northern end of the Dismal Swamp Canal.

Cold & Breezy on the Chesapeake

Transiting the Dismal Swamp Canal (circa 1805)

Keeping an eye on the tree limbs

Enjoying the fall colors

Tom & Cathie (S/V Interlude) at the southern lock

We stopped for two days at Elizabeth City, NC taking advantage of the city’s free courtesy docks. The folks here are incredibly friendly & welcome cruisers with open arms – very refreshing! At the nearby Visitor Center we picked up maps for self-guided tours of the city’s historic districts, as well as information on local restaurants, shops, and their newest venue, the beautiful Museum of the Albemarle (www.museumofthealbemarle.com.) If the weather had not turned sour, we would have stayed longer.

Elizabeth City, NC

The city’s free courtesy docks

Sunset across the Pasquotank River from the town’s dock.

From Elizabeth City, we darted across the Albemarle Sound just ahead of the next cold front. For the next week we faced cold temperatures & brisk northerly winds. We took turns at the helm to allow the other person time below, drinking hot tea & warming up. It was fairly miserable. Now we understand why the annual East Coast cruisers have cockpit enclosures.

Interlude coasting through the mists in Belhaven- it was 37 degrees

By November 6th we arrived at one of our favorite stops along the ICW, Charleston, SC. The historic downtown is lined with period houses, beautiful churches, restaurants, bars & plazas, which makes walking about shear joy!

The Charleston Maritime Center

St. Philips Church (founded in 1680)

The highlight of our visit was an impromptu reunion with cruising friends, the BeDells, who recently have return to life on land after selling their catamaran, Alegria. It was great to visit with them & hear about their travels through South America.

A wonderful Reunion & Carla’s Birthday! (L to R: Tristan, Tessa, Clara & Dan)

The ICW (Intercoastal Waterway) between Charleston & northern Florida is a navigational challenge with 7 – 9 ft. tides and 3+ knot tidal currents. This coupled with restricted bridge openings, requires forethought when deciding on anchorages and timing departures.

Interlude navigating a 3-knot opposing current at Elliot Cut, south of Charleston

A nice sunrise – Our reward for passing through the Lady’s Island Bridge before the mandatory 7 AM closure

Extreme low tides forced us to stop early at Redbird Creek, SC and Rockdedundy Creek, GA. But at least we were rewarded with beautiful sunsets! Thanks Tom for anchoring just in the right spot!

Look who’s waiting for us in Fernandina!

After a night in Fernandina, we continued south to the beautiful city of St. Augustine, FL. The city, founded in 1565, is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United States.

The city’s silhouette at sunset

Flagler College sits like a jewel in the center of the city’s historic district. Formerly known as the Ponce de León Hotel, it was built by millionaire developer Henry M. Flagler and completed in 1888. The architecture is as beautiful as it’s interior design, furnishings and hand-painted murals. Unfortunately, the building was closed for tours during our visit.

Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church

Makai anchored off the Castillo de San Marcos – the oldest masonry fort in the United States (1695)

“Ready – Aim – Fire”

After departing the anchorage & clearing the city’s historic Bridge of Lions, Fred noted a problem with our starboard engine, namely an odd noise & limited propulsion in forward or reverse. Not good! We continued south on one engine, stopping for a night at Daytona Beach prior to arriving in Indian Harbour Beach, FL. Fred had contacted the regional distributor for Yanmar, who referred us to MarinePro in Cocoa. The problem was, the marinas located along the ICW from Cocoa to Fort Pierce were either full, or could not accommodate a catamaran. It was during a dinghy trip to one of Tom & Cathy’s favorite restaurants that we happened across Telemar Bay Marina.

So here we sit! The mechanics have been out to the boat twice & it appears the primary culprit is the starboard transmission’s torque limiter. Since it’s been several years since we had the engines serviced by a certified Yanmar mechanic, we decided to have engines, transmissions, cooling systems & other miscellaneous parts inspected & serviced if needed.

During our ‘hiatus’ we’ve finish some miscellaneous boat projects and spent Thanksgiving with our friends and former cruisers, the Lanier’s. We also had the chance to visit with Tom & Cathy before they departed Vero Beach for points south.

Clint, Le Saucier

Clint’s dad ‘Wink’ readies his carving knife

Cody & Fat Cat

As of the writing, it’s December 6th and Colin, the mechanic from MarinePro, started the reinstallation of parts on the port side. Yeah!!!

9/19/11 to 10/25/11

After verifying all systems (including the new through-hull fitting) were functional, we set out for Virginia to wait out the remainder of the hurricane season.

A nasty squall that tormented us for almost two hours on the Albemarle Sound

Sunset at the Great Bridge Lock (nice after an afternoon of tornado warnings)

Cruising friends, Tom & Cathie Dunn (SV Interlude) had arranged a slip for us at York River Yacht Haven. During our month-long stay, we enjoyed visiting with them & catching up on their cruising experiences in the Bahamas. It also provided us an opportunity to complete more boat projects, namely replacing the fuel tanks.

The Annapolis Boat Show is always a treat!

Installing the new fuel tanks

Sunset at York River Yacht Haven Marina

It was now late into October and the temperatures were dropping. Although we had no idea where to go next, we knew it had to be somewhere (anywhere) south.

8/10/11 to 9/19/11

After six weeks in California, we returned to Beaufort & picked up where we left off – me compounding, polishing & waxing the boat while Fred focused his time & energy on finding someone to paint the boot stripe. After several days, he got a lead on a local fiberglass specialist, GWG Boatworks. Although it took over a week to ‘fit’ us into his schedule, Gary & his crew finished sanding, masking & spraying in just two days!

Great job Gary!

With this major project completed, we decided we could easily paint the bottom & have the boat launched by the end of the week. Yeah! We turned on the Weather Channel to check local conditions & potential for rain, but soon realized rain was the least of our problems.

The lead story was Hurricane Irene, a massive Category 3 storm, which was forecasted to make landfall along the North Carolina coast the following weekend. We spent the next few days preparing the boat & praying that the storm’s track would deviate or intensity dissipate. Carteret County issued mandatory evacuation orders for all non-residents on August 25th and at noon the following day we departed Beaufort. As we drove away, the car full of our personal belonging, food & treasured mementos from our travels, the harsh reality of potentially losing the boat set in.

Makai stripped bare & anchored to the ground

We drove about 100 miles southwest to Goldsboro, NC to sit out the storm. By the time we reached the hotel, the storm had been downgraded to a Category 2. Yes!! Irene came ashore Saturday morning, west of Cape Hatteras as a Category 1, passing over Cape Lookout (Beaufort, NC) with sustained winds of 85 MPH with gusts over 100 MPH.

Hurricane Irene (09L) off the Carolinas (afternoon overpass)
Satellite: Aqua at 6:05 PM GMT on August 26, 2011

Although the storm’s intensity diminished from what was forecasted, the storm’s damaging wind, isolated tornadoes, heavy rain and storm surge downed trees across the state’s eastern coast. In North Carolina alone, four people were killed & over 287,000 homes & businesses were left without power.

We drove back to Beaufort the next morning and were relieved to find Makai dirty, but unscathed. We were very lucky.

A common sight post Irene

Across from Beaufort Docks

Damage & debris in Oriental, NC from the 9’ storm surge

A post-Irene reunion in Washington, NC
(L to R: Dick & Jane S/V Cheetah II and Cynthia & Mike S/V Mynx)

A well deserved afternoon off (Touring historic New Bern & the Tyron Palace)

It took us another three weeks to reassemble the boat, paint the bottom & finish miscellaneous smaller projects. On September 19th, the boat was launched and once again, we were free to continue our journey. It felt great to be afloat!

7/02/2011 to 8/09/2011

It was my father who instilled in me my love of nature, as well as my zest for travel & adventure. Although he has passed from this earth, our memories & love for him will carry on. Rest in peace Dad, Love K

Robert ‘Bob’ Rogers
June 19, 1930 to June 26, 2011

6/2/2011 to 7/1/2011

Not since 2006 had we undertaken this many projects while on the hard – mechanical, electrical, plumbing, refrigeration, and fiberglass. All the projects, with the exception of the plumbing, were known issues, but deferred until we were back in the States and had ready access to marine stores, parts & services.

Makai sitting high & dry in the 200-ton Travel Lift

Makai & Tribe (Leopard 47) on the hard at Core Creek Marina

Our Northern Lights generator (before & after its ‘makeover’)

The new Frigoboat air-cooled refrigerator compressor & evaporator plate.

Grinding, filling, sanding the ‘tired’ blue boot stripe at the waterline

There have been so many little projects, but we doubt you want to see pictures of the new fittings for the heads, the new bronze through-hull or cutlass bearings & shaft seals.

Normally, I’m game to live aboard during our time on the hard, but not after two weeks. We found a nice, local lodge a mile from the boat yard which although not fancy, was clean, quiet & welcome relief from the heat & mosquitoes.

Core Creek Lodge

******
I started to write this post early last week but am unable to complete at this time. On Sunday, I received sad news from home that my father had passed away. As of this posting we are flying back to California to be with my mother & family. All work on the boat has come to a halt & our plans to continue north are on hold.

5/14/2011 to 6/1/2011

After departing Marathon, we rescued this water-logged heron who stayed with us (even when boarded by U.S. Customs agents) until we reached Key Largo.

Okay, time to get serious. It’s mid-May & we need to be in Beaufort, North Carolina by the beginning of June. With no wind offshore (or anywhere for that matter), we start day-hopping north along the Florida stopping briefly to visit with friends & ex-cruisers, the Lanier’s (Clint, Diane and sons Noah & Cody) in Vero Beach, and then Dave & April Cleary in Fernandina Beach.

A fun reunion (L to R: Fred, Diane, Cody, Kathy, Clint & Noah)

We planned to sail offshore from Fernandina to Beaufort, but the weather was forecasted to be unfavorable for the next 10 days. Our choice, wait for wind or ‘run the ditch’ (the Intercoastal Waterway.) We decided on the latter hoping that weather would improve as we headed north. Over the past few years there has been limited, if any, funding to maintain the waterway through South Carolina & Georgia and shoaling is a common problem. We referenced the updated internet postings on the ‘Skipper Bob Publications’ (http://www.skipperbob.net/waterway-updates), as well as took advice from local Tow Boat U.S. skippers. Throughout our trip, we never saw depths less than 6 ft., but then again we tried to avoid periods of extreme low tides.

We always yield to severe thunderstorms (Southern Georgia)

Only in the South

Cruis’in with gators in South Carolina

An Osprey shielding her chicks from the hot, mid-day sun

A beautiful sunset at Top Sail Sound, North Carolina

After five days and over 500 miles of swatting flies and mosquitoes, watching for shallow and keeping the Memorial Day weekend partiers at bay, we arrived in Beaufort, NC. Whew! Now the fun begins!

5/10/2011 to 5/14/2011

A nice motor-sail to the east landed us in the heart of the Conch Republic. We dropped anchor just north of the Coast Guard base off Fleming Key with about 100 other boats, some on anchors, others on moorings. A fisherman’s paradise, we enjoyed sipping our morning coffee while watching the charter fishing boats troll for tarpon in the anchorage.

The dawn fishing patrol

Key West is very cruiser-friendly, and what’s not within walking distance is only a short bus ride away. Fred’s first stop was at West Marine, located just in front of the A&B Marina. From the marina area, it’s a short walk to Duval Street, the epicenter of Key West’s fun, funky, as well as historic establishments. At night, the street takes on an almost carnival atmosphere, making it a great place to walk along, listening to music & pull up bar stool & enjoy some cool libations.

We enjoyed watching the sunset & listening to live music at Mallory Square and then walking through the historic Seaport Marina. For Kathy’s birthday, we rented a scooter & toured about Key West & adjacent Stock Island. We met Jim & Kay for happy hour at Turtle Kraals, and had great time at their nightly Turtle Race.

Yes, much fun was had, but too soon we realized it was time to move north.

The marina basin

Jim & Kay navigating the dinghy dock

Local whimsy

Fred feeling small

Collector items: ‘Captain Outrageous’ bicycles

Our new cockpit light

How could we pass up the ‘Smallest Bar in Key West’?

A day at the Turtle Races?

Kathy & the Winner