http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Double-Wide-Cat/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Double Wide Cat en-us Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:36:57 +0000 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:36:57 +0000 Life in Ocean Reef 2009We are now safely tied to a slip in the ldquoOcean Reefrdquo resort near the town of Lucaya on the south coast of Grand Bahama island. We crossed over from Lake Worth Palm Beach Florida on Monday the 30th of November. The trip across the Gulf Stream is always a bit exciting. The gulf stream is a river of water that is about 30 miles wide and moves from south to no http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Grand-Bahama/Freeport/blog-460871.html Baltimore to Vero Beach 2009We are now in Vero Beach Florida preparing to cross the Gulf Stream on our way to the Bahamas for our third winter in ldquoThe Islandsrdquo. Vero Beach is a very pretty community South of Cape Canaveral and about 60 miles North of Palm Beach. There is a great city run marina with a large mooring field that can accommodate up to 150 cruising boats.Our trip south http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Vero-Beach/blog-456567.html Summer 2009 Life in the CityWe arrived in Baltimore and took a slip at the Anchorage Marina a few days before the big 4th of July weekend. This is a great marina for live aboard cruisers since it has a West Marine a block away a Safeway supermarket across the street and at least 50 bars restaurants within walking distance. As usual we were assigned docking space on their outer floating pi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Maryland/Baltimore/Inner-Harbor/blog-442968.html Cruising the East Coast 2009We really enjoyed our month long stay at Brunswick Landing Marina. This was our longest marina stay since leaving Kemah Texas back in October of 2007. The facility at Brunswick Landing was first class. All wide concrete floating docks with a nearly new shoreside bathhouse laundry and cruiser lounge in close proximity. Best of all the laundry was free. They al http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Maryland/Baltimore/blog-420781.html The Trip Back to the USA 2009We planned to leave Georgetown as soon as the regatta was complete but Mother Nature had different plans. We were held up for 10 days waiting for a series of cold fronts producing vigorous North and North East winds to 20 and 25 knots to pass by. Finally on Sunday March 29th we sailed from Georgetown Great Exuma. This trip took us out into Exuma Sound which has w http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Georgetown/blog-407004.html Last year we left Georgetown prior to the beginning of the annual Regatta due to our needed saildrive repairs. This year we made sure that we stayed and experienced this truly unique cruising experience. The Georgetown Cruising Regatta has been going on for the past 29 years and attracts boats from all over the Bahamas and some come over from Florida strictly for this event. This year approxima http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Georgetown/blog-384239.html The Bahamas Winter 2009We arrived in Georgetown a week before our daughter Julie and her fianc Dan were due to fly in. Everyone out cruising cautions to never set arrival deadlines but in order to enjoy visits from family and friends it is necessary to be in a certain place at a certain time. Luckily the weather cooperated and we were able to sail in before their arrival date. This extra w http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Georgetown/blog-374285.html The Bahamas On To the ExumasWe arrived in Lucaya Grand Bahama Island on the afternoon of Friday November 28th after a 25 hour sail from Vero Beach Fl. The trip was mostly uneventful with light winds and calms. Not a bad way to make a Gulf Stream crossing. We checked into the Grand Bahama Yacht Club a fancy marina in Lucaya. From there it is easy to clear Bahama Customs and Immigration. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Georgetown/blog-355630.html The Trip South 2008We arrived at the St. Maryrsquos River inlet after an overnight trip from Charleston SC. We traveled out on the Atlantic Ocean first in a calm but later with following wind and seas that built to 22 knots and 68 feet. Once in the inlet our first stop was just off the National Seashore at Cumberland Island. This is the first Barrier Island north of the Florida state http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Carolina/Charleston/blog-352793.html The Trip South 2008We began our trek back to the Bahamas by leaving our temporary summer home in Middle River MD on Tuesday October 14th. On the way out the river our new friends Opie JT were just returning from their commercial crabbing and came along side DoubleWide to wish us well and to pass along a bottle of wine for the voyage. The wind was light but we were determined to sail as mu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Carolina/Beaufort/blog-345313.html Summer on the Chesapeake Bay Nancy and I docked in Dark Head Creek at the home of friends Curtis Chris Wroten in early June after completing our 1180 mile journey up the East Coast from Fort Pierce Florida. We enjoyed the six week trip but were glad to finally be tied to a secure dock for a change. It seemed as soon as we arrived the weather turned extremely hot and humid. Chris insisted t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Maryland/Baltimore/blog-339736.html We enjoyed our short visit to Portsmouth VA and the convenience of staying at a marina. Sunday morning we took a long walk through the narrow tree lined streets of historic Portsmouth. Many of the homes date to the late 1700rsquos and early 1800rsquos and most have been restored to their early style. Unfortunately our crew for this trip Nancyrsquos brotherinlaw John had a few delays http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Maryland/Baltimore/blog-305215.html ldquoNorth to the ChesapeakerdquoWe left Savannah after three days living alongside the very busy Riverwalk. The waterway north of here is some of the thinnest water between Norfolk and Florida. The Army Corp of Engineers has had to ignore the shoaling in this area due to lack of funds. There were several places where the channel has shoaled to less than 4rsquo during low tide. The good http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Carolina/Beaufort/blog-301137.html ldquoIsland Hopping on the ICWrdquoAfter a short stay in Fort Pierce Florida we headed up the ICW Intracoastal Waterway to the town of Vero Beach. This turned out to be a very boater friendly place. There is a city run marina just yards off the ICW with great facilities. They had slips for rent as well as about 75 moorings. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/St-Augustine/blog-285905.html ldquoThe Trip HomerdquoAfter completing repairs to our starboard saildrive we decided to revisit some of our favorite Abaco Islands. We had several reasons for this. Some of our friends from George Town were now arriving in the Abacos on their way north we needed to make sure the saildrive repairs were really done correct and we liked cruising these islands. We joined our friends on ld http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Abaco/blog-272004.html ldquoAdventures at the Top of the BahamasrdquoThe Abacos are the northern most group of islands in the Bahamas. The central anchorage is Marsh Harbor which is a big city by out island standards. For example it has a traffic light. Only one but it is the first one we have seen since Nassau back in December. Circling Marsh Harbor are several other smaller towns on other cays. They also http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Abaco/blog-264426.html ldquoOn the Road AgainrdquoWe have left Georgetown and have now started our trip north. We pulled up the anchor and set sail with brisk 1518 knot SE winds on Tuesday morning the 4th of March about 0900 and headed for Conch Cut. This is the opening between the reefs that allows boats access to Exuma Sound. From there we set a course for the southern end of Cat Island which is about 37.4 mi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/North-Eleuthera/blog-258017.html We arrived back in Georgetown on February 15th after a smooth sail with 1012 knot following seas from Long Island Bahamas. The harbor in George Town seemed to grow by another 5060 boats while we were gone. There is a big event called George Town Regatta in early March and many boats in the Bahamas attend every year. Some years as many as 400 boats are anchored in the harbor at this time.Whil http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Georgetown/blog-251089.html January Update from George TownWe are still in Georgetown Exuma waiting for boat parts to repair a couple of critical systems on the boat like the starboard sail drive and the diesel generator. If we have to be stuck somewhere this is a pretty good place to be stuck.We have participated in many of the planned activities that the cruising community puts together here. There are volleyball games http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Georgetown/blog-237360.html Race to Long IslandAfter being anchored in Georgetown since midDecember we decided to participate in the 1st annual George Town to Long Island Regatta that was sailed on Thursday February 7th. This was planned as a ldquofun racerdquo from the cut at the south end of Elizabeth Harbor to the North tip of Long Island at Cape Santa Maria a distance of about 30 miles in the open waters of Exuma http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Long-Island/Salt-Pond/blog-247030.html