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Published: April 14th 2008
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April 12, 2007
3958 miles since we left Oakville last June, and 28 miles to go and our sailing adventure will be over for this year.
We left Port Lucaya, Grand Bahamas 2 days ago with several options, but ultimately we hoped we would have good enough weather to go the whole 307 miles to Fernandina Beach, St.Marys River . St.Marys Georgia (on the Florida / Georgia border) is where we will be leaving the boat for the summer. Since the weather has been a little unstable since we left the Exumas , it’s been a bit of a challenge to find a weather window that was good for this. With only 28 miles to go at 11:00 am on Saturday morning it looks like we found it, and avoided having to take the inter coastal waterway in Florida.
We left George Town March 22, hoping to enjoy the Northern Exumas, before we headed back home. The George Town cruising Regatta was great. Our friends Mike and Jane Bondy were there for part of the regatta, and it was fun showing them what we did all winter! We had pushed hard to get to George Town for Christmas, and
Variety Show
Doug. performing with Last Minute Band there were lots of places we wanted to see that we missed on our trip South. We were about a week late leaving George Town, as some strong north wind made it difficult to travel, so we waited until the seas calmed down a bit. Our trip North took us to Black Point, Sampson Cay, Hawksbill, Bell Island, Highbourne Cay, and then on to Nassau. Of particular note was the clear water for diving, around Staniel Cay and Sampson Cay. The sunset at Hawksbill was incredible, it this is where we saw our first “Green Flash” at sunset. (and it wasn’t a reaction from to much rum, it was the real thing). The incredible thing about exploring the Exumas, is that the more places you go to, the more places you see you’d like to go to, and we can see so many new adventures, waiting for us, when we return to the Exumas.
In Nassau we took a dock, based on the warning from weather guru Chris Parkers, that “ a ugly weather system was going to pass through. Well ……thank goodness, it wasn’t as bad as forecast but better safe than sorry, right? We were not looking
1765 Ruins
What is left of homesteads on Hawksbill Cay. forward to spending time in Nassau, as it’s expensive staying at dock, and Nassau is a big city, that is not known among boaters as the best place to spend time. In fact we had a terrific time in Nassau! We spent a day relaxing at Atlantis on Paradise Island, and did the tour of their world famous sea aquarium. Seeing the aquarium is like the best snorkeling ever, without even getting wet. One day Sharon and I organized a tour of boaters to the Bacardi rum factory, where the main attraction is that after the brief video, you can spend the afternoon sampling their many rum products, for free, in their outdoor bar. Needless to say this was a “fun” day, although we certainly wouldn’t want to do that very often. Another evening we had a jam session with some other musicians that we had met, and were also stuck in Nassau. After 5 days at the dock, we went out in the harbour and anchored, waiting to head to the Berry Islands for a short visit before heading across the gulf stream and back to the US.
By April 7th we arrived at Port Lucaya, Grand Bahamas,
Green Flash
Sunset at Hawksbill where we saw the green flash. where we waited for the right weather to cross the Gulf Stream back to the US. We don’t stay at many marinas, but this is one of the best. Crossing the gulf stream is one of the places that you have to be even more careful of weather, as it can get nasty in stormy weather, especially if the wind blows north. Many boats look to cross to lower Florida, which is only a 12 to 15 hour trip, but we were looking to make it to the Georgia border, so we needed about 2 days of the right weather. It seems like we got that and although this is our 6th crossing of the Gulf Stream, we still find it stressful.
We may stay at Cumberland Island tonight, (one of our favourite spots anywhere) and go into St.Marys and clear through Customs and Immigration tomorrow. Then it’s getting to the boat yard and putting the boat to bed for the summer. It seems strange as in Canada we put the boat to bed in the winter.
It’s been an incredible 10 months, even better than we had imagined. We’ve seen places that we thought we’d only see
in pictures, met some of the nicest people ever, ant thoroughly enjoyed our first year of retirement. So are we sad to be going home? No, both Sharon and I are really ready to get back to our family and home, and surprisingly looking forward to working. We’ve missed our Sunday dinners with our kids, and we just can’t wait to spoil our granddaughter Ella. Also we’re going to Turkey for a week in June with Dawn, Paul and “Miss Ella” so that should be great!
We should be back by May 1, and hope to see many of you soon. We had arranged for Bell Canada to save our phone number, but somehow they forgot, and gave it to someone else, so the home phone number we’ll have starting May 1 is our cell, 519-546-6587. Hope you enjoy the pictures it’s easy to be a good photographer, when you have such nice pictures to take.
See you soon.
Sharon and Doug
Aboard SV About Time
PS
To clear US Customs and Immigration, we ended up having to take the boat to Fernandina Beach / Amelia Island for a customs inspection. So tomorrow we go
to St.Marys and have the boat taken out.
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Mike Bondy
non-member comment
Welcome back to North America
Congratulations on a great crossing Doug and Sharon, you are just racing home. You have become expert at some pretty huge trips now but I know its stressful. Look forward to seeing you when you are back.