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Miami to Abacos,
April-May 2006
Cruising on the Salty Dawg
April 14-May 17, 2006
Contributed by First Mate Dennis Bruckel
Esther and I have been invited to cruise on the maiden voyage of a new Nordhavn 55, Salty Dawg, owned by old Trawler Fest friends Dave and Lowie Bock, formerly of Connecticut. Dave is a recently retired dentist, and Lowie an interior decorator who has been a Trawler Fest presenter when they owned the Pilgrim 44 Tug Salty Dawg. They have recently taken possession of their new Nordhavn 55 and christened her with the same name as their previous boat.
Salty Dawg at Anchor
They asked us to crew as we have had considerable offshore experience and they intend to cruise the northwestern Bahamas, then cruise non-stop offshore to Narragansett Bay, RI.
We drove a one way car rental from Kissimmee, FL, our winter home, to North Miami Beach on Friday, April 14, 2006 arriving around 1PM at the boat. As one might expect for a newly commissioned boat being prepared for its first offshore voyage, things were and still are in a considerable state of dis-array and confusion. Several different contractors and their work people have either been stalling on performing work, or its has been progressing slowly at best. Dave’s son, Leigh has been here for several days and they have made lots of progress on several different projects. Leigh is in the contracting business, presently living in New Orleans, trying to capitalize on the construction boom predicted for that area in the aftermath of Katrina last fall. He is highly mechanical and enthused about helping his Dad and Lowie realize their dream.
Esther with Leigh Bock
Dave is trying to cope with all the frustrations of workers not showing up with they promised, materials for finishing projects not being available, etc., etc. Mostly though he just wants a change of pace and is desperate to get off the dock and out to a nice anchorage just south of this marina on the intracoastal and just north of Miami near and opposite Haulover Beach.
On Sunday April 16, we are able to get off the dock in late morning, and take the hour cruise to the anchorage, uneventfully. Anchoring goes well, as does launching the 14 foot long RIB dinghy off the boat deck about 20 feet off the water. This is done with a very impressive stainless steel crane system with serious hydraulics capable of extending the boom, lifting the dinghy off its cradle, rotating it 270 degrees, and lowering it the 20 feet into the water. All done with the ease of expensive toys!
We spent most of the afternoon working on replacing the sacrificial fins for the hydraulic stabilizers. Most ocean going boats of this size have either active fin or passive fin stabilizers to reduce the rolling motion of displacement hull boats in a beam sea. The sacrificial part got sacrificed in Stuart when the boat went aground on a sandy shoal on an earlier cruise. Both fins are severely damaged and way less efficient than they should be.
Captain Dave Bock at the helm
With Dave’s son on board, and his mechanical appitude, he's been very helpful getting his Dad’s dream cruise going, so I am happy to let him do things like use an underwater breathing apparatus for three or four hours straight to get the old fins off and new ones installed. Soon enough I’ll be the junior officer on board and responsible for these sort of things myself.
We had a lovely evening meal of barbecued ribs in a quiet anchorage, a nice change from being on a dock with lots of folks around all night. In the morning, we had a bit of a glitch as the 175 pound stainless steel anchor has a 5/8th shackle installed adjacent to a ½ inch one, and one had fouled the other as we retrieved the anchor. Dave says they have anchored several times with no similar problem, so we will buy a ½ inch shackle and keep it ready to install if needed.
Esther, Lowie and dogs, Pretzel and Dannie cruised the dingy back to the marina and took many pictures of the Salty Dawg following behind.
Easter Sunday was spent on several small and a couple of large projects. When retrieving the anchor, the salt water wash down pump tripped the circuit breaker several times and appears to be frozen. Removing it to have it checked out took a couple of hours. And, in mid afternoon a crew of two showed up with three dock boxes to be mounted on the boat and fly bridge. The boxes were not exactly what the owner had expected, delays had been already experienced several times, and with frayed tempers, the crew abandoned the project in late afternoon with 2 of 3 boxes installed.
As it turned out the owners were not happy with the largest box and its location, so, removed it after the crew left and made arrangements to store it in a temporary location on shore and use it for a dock box another season. Later it turned out that the box in question would have accommodated the two motorized scooters it was built to fit.
Monday dawned bright and early, and was filled with additional fitting out tasks. A storage locker nearby had been rented to accommodate possessions while the owners moved from the sold Salty Dawg to the new Salty Dawg. A large amount of fishing tackle was retrieved from there, and then evaluated for its usefulness on this new and larger boat. We selected two medium and two heavy trolling rods, and I spent considerable time cleaning them with PB Blaster and BoShield, then sorted through and consolidated several boxes of lures, line, and packed it all into a newly constructed fishing box, about seven feet long, and one foot wide, now located on the bridge deck.
The ship’s carpenter showed up around noon time and kept busy all afternoon with finishing touches on the projects he has been doing. The boat has a large and very fully stocked tool room, AKA “The Dungeon”, accessible via a ladder companionway down six steps. There are three rooms, the forepeak with a triangular shape and some storage lockers, then a work shop with large six drawer tool box, vice and more storage lockers, and then a third room, even wider, with more storage, a drill press and utilities such as a sea water pump and water heater, along with perhaps 15 tool specialty toolboxes with things like plumbing, electrical, clamps, etc. all in their own box. A total of perhaps 6 different sockets sets, 50 screwdrivers, five sets of flat open end and box wrenches, etc., etc. are all housed there.
In the afternoon I labeled several of the containers with masking tape so I could tell at a glance what was inside. With a little experience, I am sure I will not need the labels. Later, I put together a tool bag with commonly used items like pliers, adjustable wrenches, screwdrivers, etc., etc. which I will maintain to keep from having to make several trips up and down the companionway for every small repair task. Dave’s son Leigh is planning to leave early Tuesday morning, so after today, I’ll be the main Mate, rather than working with him on most tasks. Leigh is fun to work with and will be missed.
Provisioning is being put off until the carpenters and other crafts persons get their jobs done, so we don’t have to move stuff over and over again. Today Lowie was able to pick up another item critical to being able to leave. A seamstress has been making custom fitted cushions for the fly bridge seats, and the awaited foam fillers finally were available and the finished product looks great. Tomorrow the carpenter is expected to finish his projects, so provisioning will start; probably a two day job at minimum.
Four adults need to be feed and watered for 30-40 days. Esther is figuring out the volumes of staples, frozen foods, dry and paper goods, etc., etc. While supplies are available in the Bahamas, they are much more expensive and mostly limited to staples. We will probably pick up additional fresh fruit prior to departing from there, but hopefully will have all other needs on board for the duration. Esther is using the experience she gained several years ago when we sailed the South Pacific.
Tuesday and Wednesday we each continued making progress on all the large and small issues of getting the boat ready for an extended cruise. This involved many projects on the boat, arrangements for storage of gear in Florida for use next winter, provisioning, purchasing last minute equipment, etc., etc.
On Wednesday the 19th, the forecast for upcoming weather is pretty good, so we arrange for the marine communications and navigation electronics guy to come over on Thursday afternoon for some last minute tuning up of that gear, with a departure tentatively set for Friday early morning. We are about 20 miles south of Port Everglades, at Ft. Lauderdale, and will use that outlet to the sea. By the end of Wednesday, we are pretty well provisioned, including a whole frozen turkey to be baked tomorrow, our last planned day here in Florida.
Next update hopefully from the Bahamas!
Above posted to Hannalore April 18-19a Hannalore 4Hannalore HHann
Saturday April 22.
Thursday was a busy hectic day for the owners. Final plans for what gets stored on the boat, what gets stored in a friends home, picking up last minute requests for stuff from the crew, delivering both a motor scooter and automobile to the friends home 20 miles away, stowing gear for going to sea, and on and on.
Friday morning the whole crew was up early for a 6:15 departure up the Intracoastal Waterway, timing our departure for the timing of several lift bridges on the way north 15 miles or so up to Government Cut in Ft. Lauderdale, where the large cruise ships dock. We exited the Cut into the Atlantic at 7:15 AM and got into the Gulf Stream abut 30 minutes later. We headed directly to West End on Grand Bahama Island, the largest of the northern Bahamas, 73 miles distant.
 
Scenes near Ft. Lauderdale
We fished the whole way across, trolling the entire trip, with not a single hit, my usual result when fishing! We arrived at West End at 4:30 for a total crossing time of 9 hours and 30 minutes. Clearing Customs was no problem, and we got a spot in the local marina for the night, with good cheer all around. The crossing was easy with nearly flat seas at first, then building to 2-4 feet with increasing winds, but the stabilizers easily moderated the roll.
Saturday morning Esther and I walked the narrow streets for a few miles, forgetting the Bahamians drive on the “wrong side” of the road, until we nearly got run over by a few.
Written Monday 4/24/06
Mid-day Saturday Dave made the decision to stay at Bahama Bay Marina another night for several reasons; the water available for anchorage looked quite skinny for deep draft boats and we draw 6 feet, and the next leg of the trip to a good anchorage was 70 miles, another long day, and most important, he was dead tired after two months of commissioning woes and worries. We were happy to just do some simple cleanup tasks, and walk around the resort. Most of the facility got torn up badly by last season’s hurricane Wilma, and is undergoing a building boom, with many new homes being built. Interestingly, those landscaped are being done in a fashion just like Florida, lots of green water consumptive St. Augustine sod, hibiscus and palms.
Sunday morning we headed out of West End, going north abut 25 miles to a relatively deeper channel onto Little Bahama Bank. Going from the deep ocean water into the Bank the water colors are fantastic. All shades of blues, yellows, whites and darker colors. We need to learn to read the depths by the water colors, something I had some experience with, but 30-40 years ago.
Chart view of Acacos and Little Bahama Bank. We will travel north from Sandy Cay also known as West End, then due east to Little Abaco, Spanish, Green Turtle, Great Guana, and Elbow Cays.
Sunday evening we anchored at Great Sail Cay, abut 50 miles across the Bank, and the first good anchorage. It was another long day, just about 12 hours, and after catching three barracuda, no one had the energy to cook them, so we opted for scrambled eggs and an early bed. The girls refused to eat the barracuda, but the men suffered no adverse effects.
 
Dave, Dennis and barracuda
Anchoring was no problem, with a heavy stainless steel plow anchor, and 400 feet of available chain rode; we used only 75 or so feet, with a 20 foot ¾ inch nylon snubber deployed from a heavy shackle just above the waterline. The 400 feet of ½ inch chain is easily deployed with a Maxwell winch, with electric up and down controls at the wheel house, flybridge, and at the bow.
Google Earth View of Little Bahama Bank and the Abacos
Monday dawned bright and early, with daylight coming at around 6 AM. We hung around all day, swam a bit, read a bunch of manuals on boat systems, and generally lazed the day away; typical cruiser’s life!
Tuesday, April 25.
Up early and cruised about 30 miles to just off Foxtown, a very small island community, featuring only a fuel dock and having very limited access to deep draft vessels. We anchored several miles offshore, as we are still getting acclimated to the tidal range, and the limitations of our 6 foot draft. With a little more experience we will convince Dave that 2-3 feet of water under the keel is just as good as 5 and we can save a lots of dinghy mileage.
After the past several days of dinghy trips to shore at coral studded beaches, the owners are learning fast that cruising with two large dogs; a very old golden retriever, and a much younger cross bred lab-poodle mix, is very different from marina living. They are trying, with limited success so far, to get the dogs acclimated to relieving themselves on board, rather than having to be driven to the shore in the dinghy two times a day. I’m trying to stay out of this one, as I really don’t think large dogs and cruising will ever be a good mix. I learned early on that even when traveling in an RV, big dogs were generally loaded with problems, and not worth the trouble, at least to me. Time will tell.
Marinas here in the Bahamas don’t have solid floating docks like upscale marinas in Florida. Generally they are fixed docks on pilings, built for larger boats, so getting the dogs off the dinghy and onto the dock is problematic, or, in the case of a coral beach, someone has to hold the dinghy off the bottom in waist deep water while they, hopefully quickly, relieve themselves, then reload the two wet, salty, and sandy dogs back into the dinghy. Just now Esther has been asked to help.
On Wednesday the 26th we cruised 18 miles to Spanish Cay, a marina/resort island with airstrip, tennis courts, etc. We anchored with no trouble, but watch a later arriving sailboat re-anchor three times before going into the marina. We’ve got a very heavy stainless steel plow, which looks like a CQR knockoff, which should hold a battleship.
Due to the demands of the dogs, we are now trying to find anchorages near marinas, or sandy beaches for ease of landing the dogs. Tomorrow the plan is to go to Treasure Cay as the winds are predicted to shift to the north after several days of steady south paths. We can’t get into Treasure Cay marinas due to our draft, but should have protection from the north winds. Another nearby destination anchorage is Green Turtle Cay, with several anchorages, but also too shallow for our deep draft boat, at least without local knowledge. And, that anchorage is exposed to the north wind.
Friday April 28, 2006, Marsh Harbor, Abacos
We came into Marsh Harbor yesterday due to a predicted northwest wind at up to 15-20 mph. In fact, we cruised down here in two heavy showers we could easily see on the radar. March Harbor is the center of business of the Abacos, and the largest well protected natural harbor and the only real place for provisions.
The owners were delighted to find several other Nordhavn owners in the harbor, and we enjoyed an evening cocktail hour one evening on one of their boats, and a visit from them so show off Salty Dawg.
The winds are predicted to blow from the north for several days, so it looks like we will be here perhaps until Tuesday at least. On the other hand, a pig roast is scheduled for Sunday at a marina on an island not far from here, so we might decide to go there instead. Cruising life is full of last minute decisions and changed plans.
We’ve had time to shop Marsh Harbor’s shopping district now for a day and a half, and have been in pretty much all the shops. It looks much like most Island communities, with lots of small shops catering to both local residents and cruisers. The bay is perhaps one mile long and a half mile wide, with at least 50 anchored transient vessels, mostly sailboats. Three largish marinas are operating now, but several others have been put out of business by several successive hurricanes over the past two years. Some were newly rebuilt after the summer of 2004 season, and then demolished again by Wilma in 2005.
Dave, Lowie, Esther and the Salty Dawgs
Esther and I went ashore on Saturday afternoon with the laptop trying to get e-mail and some internet service. No luck, as several local stores were closed for the afternoon and the main wireless service was closed both Saturday and Sunday. But, no one is feeling any hardship from the lack of internet info and e-mail. In fact, we sort of resent the addition of national and world news announced on the” net”, the informal cruisers get-together held each morning on channel 68 for cruisers in the Marsh Harbor area. This includes weather, announcements, and a call for anyone flying back to the states that might be willing to deliver mail to a US Postal office, and then a synopsis of the news.
With several days of lounging upcoming due to the weather, a few words of description about the boat. Nordhavn, the brand name of PAE, or Pacific Asian Enterprises, is the former builder of Mason sailboats from California. According to company legend, corporate principles Jim and Jeff Leishman were “surfer dudes” in Southern California in the 1960’s when Jeff graduated from a school of Naval Architecture. His thesis was on ocean going recreational vessels, and they used that prototype design to develop the present line of Nordhavns. A significant boost of the corporate image was gained when Jim Leishman edited a revision of a classic book on trawlers and passagemakers by Robert Beebe, first printed in the 1960’s.
We have known of the firm since our association with Trawler Fests first began, as they were sponsors of that event from its beginning, and representatives of their firm were usually on the programs of the educational component of Trawler Fests that I organized for several years.
This boat, a new 55 footer, hull number 4, was built in China, and deck shipped to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. It was customized considerably in its building phase, as the new owners wanted lots of extra design features included. A major change from other Nordhavns I have seen is the considerable openness of the floor plan. Adding to this openness is the fact the one design change resulted in the inclusion of a passageway from the main saloon forward to the guest bunk room, office, tool room, and forward head. Click on the Nordhavn 55 link on the main menu for a virtual tour.
Nordhavns in general are built as ocean going, all world capable, and trawler speed vessels. This means that they move a hull speed or slightly higher. Hull speed is predicted as 1.1 times the square root of the boats length at the water line, for example, a 49 foot boat at the waterline will have a hull speed of 7.7 miles per hour. Another aspect of hull speed is that the shape of the underwater part of the hull looks more line a sailboat than a typical powerboat, and less power is needed to move the vessel through the water.
On this boat propulsion power is generated by a single 330 hp turbocharged John Deere 6 cylinder engine. At cruising speed 7.5-8 knots, we burn about 5 gallons of diesel fuel per hour. Draft is 5’9”, and the boat displaces nearly 100,000 pounds at half load, or probably well more than 120,000 pounds with fuel loads of fuel, 2250 gallons, water, 120 gallons, and provisions and stores. The holding tank holds 120 gallons of black water or sewage, and a gray water tank, from sinks and showers holds 110 gallons. A watermaker is onboard, capable of producing 600 gallons of water daily if operated 24 hours. Generally we operate the watermaker when one of the generators is operated, somewhere around 4 hours daily.
Two generators produce either 8 kilowatts or 20 kilowatts of power at 240 volts if needed. Eight 8D batteries produce 1020 amp hours of stored electricity at 24 volts. Most of the electrical wiring is 24 volts, with a few systems of 12 volts as well as heavier systems of 120 and 240 volts. The entire boat is air conditioned, which needs the 20 KW generator is any other systems are operated. Our usual daily regime is to operate the 8 KV generator for 2-3 hours each morning and evening. When we operate the genset we take advantage of the excess power to make water, cook with an electric oven or microwave. So far, we have only needed air conditioning while tied to shore power in a marina. Generally, the ocean breezes both night and day, have kept us comfortable cool.
The boat has a large swim platform aft making an easy access for both people and dogs, and even includes a hot and cold shower, and large companionway door. The aft cockpit is the full width of the boat, with a built in propane barbecue and sink, and has a curved walkway up to the boat deck to port, and walkway forward to starboard. An identifying feature of most Nordhavns is the absence of a walkway the full length of the port side at the lower deck. Instead, the interior saloon, or living room, is full the full width of the boat to the left facing forward. An aft steering station is located here to port, allowing easy backing with full view and control of vessel speed, and direction.
The cockpit opens into the main saloon, with a large dinette to starboard, and two reclining chairs to port. Behind the dinette is a large flat screen TV which rises out of the cabinetry. A built in cabinet between the reclining chairs houses a massive stereo system, DVD player, AM/FM radio, etc., etc. No fewer than three remotes are required to operate this stuff. So far I’ve gotten my music fix from my laptop with lots of digital music I’ve recorded from CD’s over the past several years. The music system is so complicated that I wish I had brought my small Serius radio system for both music and news.
Sunday morning, April 30, 2006.
Well, even thought the weather is not significantly changed, we are opting to head 6-8 miles across the Sea of Abaco to Great Guana Cay, the site of Nippers, a well known seaside restaurant and watering hole. They sport a Weekly pig roast even Sunday afternoon, and several other Nordhavn owners left for there yesterday. This morning another set of cruising friends called and reported that while the crossing might be a bit rough, the anchorage is well in the lee of the island from the north winds that are predicted for the next two days. Following that, relatively calmer weather is to settle in on Tuesday and later in the week.
Nipper's Beach Nipper's Dock
The trip across was easy and uneventful. Seas were perhaps 1-2 feet and right on the nose. A day earlier, the two Nordhavns which made the same crossing had much heavier weather, taking waves and spray over the bow. We anchored right next to old friends of Dave and Lowie, Chris and Alyce on Sandy Hook. Former dog owners themselves they cruise the area from New Orleans to Florida and north, having summered on Martha’s Vineyard last season. They are enjoying cruising company of another couple from Tennessee.
They showed us the dinghy procedure at Great Guana, and led us to Nipper’s, the famous Pig Roast place. It is built as a multilevel deck, totally open to the Atlantic side reef, with quaint cottages and shops on the walk way across the island. There we met again the other Nordhavn owners, and enjoyed a good but not great barbecue, rather than the advertised “Pig Roast”. I was really hoping for the whole pig coming out of the pit after 12-20 hours and watching it hand picked apart. But, it was really good, complimented with a great pineapple laced cornbread, good slaw, great potato salad, etc. This meal is held weekly, and while I thought there were quite a few folks there, considering its on an island 8 miles from the nearest town, people told us that often its so crowded that one can’t walk up the stairs to the place. So, perhaps the windy weather is good for something!
Looking north from NIpper's deck
Sunday evening the folks on Sandy Hook came over to see the new “Salty Dawg” and spent lots of time reminiscing. On Monday morning our biggest excitement to date came when Dave went out to check on the anchor snubber line at 0730 or so. When he returned to the pilot house, the wind slammed the door behind him, and a 12x15 inch framed photograph of the former “Salty Dawg” a tug, went crashing 8 steps to the saloon floor scattering glass down the stairs as well as all over the saloon floor and carpet, interrupting Lowie’s sleep, as well as Esther’s yoga session.
The weather the past several days has been and continues to be very windy, from the north, and unusually cool, highs in the mid 70’s and party to mostly cloudy. Anchored in the lee of Great Guana Cay is comfortable, but noisy with the winds at 15-25 miles per hour. Cruisers are well informed of the weather by a network of VHF radios at 0815 each morning. This morning’s report from the several passes into the main Atlantic Ocean reported 10-15 foot rollers off the passes, with seas breaking over the entire length of each pass. Needless to say, anyone wanting to use the passages has to be a big hurry to leave. We are content to stay here in the lee of the nearby island.
Monday afternoon Esther, Lowie, and Dennis ventured off to explore the beach on the Atlantic side. It is spectacular, with heavy surf rolling over the reef several hundred yards offshore, then tumbling ashore on a white sand beach with occasional scattered coral heads. Later we walked the small, narrow “street” down to Orchid Bay Marina. The street is concrete, perhaps eight feet wide, barely wide enough for two golf carts to pass. Most wheeled traffic is golf carts or very small imported van type vehicles made by Nissan, Suzuki, and VW.
Bahamian Cottage on Man of War
On Tuesday, May 2, we cruised the eight or so miles south to Man of War Cay. The village here is the quaintest of any we have seen yet. Marsh Harbor very much caters to the visiting mariner and the shops are tacky with tourist stuff, while Man of War is mostly owned by the locals, and retains mostly a waterman’s town ambiance. The town is populated by a local Albury family, early Loyalists who fled the US prior to and during the American Revolution, and still retain a lovely British accent. Alburys have been fishing guides, boat builders, ferry service operators, and shop keepers since day one here. Man of War sports two well protected anchorages, but both are too crowded and shallow for us to enter and anchor. We dropped the hook just to the north of the northern anchorage, convenient to a small sandy beach for dog exercise.
Albury's Sail shop
We met and were entertained and educated by a senior Mr. Albury, who ran a T shirt shop, who told us many of the details of his family history. As we left the shop he followed us out to show us the nearby homes of several of his children.
Esther and Mr. Albury
The next morning Esther and I dinghied ashore to this beach and enjoyed a mile or so walk to the end of the island to the north. At the sandy beach we found a narrow road, just wide enough for a small pickup or golf cart path, and as we walked north it rapidly deteriorated into a sandy path. At the end we met an interesting fellow who owns an estate there. The former Wisconsin native delighted in sharing some of his experiences with us. He is in the process of building a new 2,000 square foot living room! In late morning we all went ashore to the village and enjoyed a conch lunch, fried conch, conch sandwich, and conch fritters! Conch is seemingly the national dish of the Bahamas, and like everything else fried, is very tasty.
 
British scenes on Man of War Cay
Banking hours at Man of War
The next morning, Thursday, Esther and I dinghied into a nice sandy beach and walked the mile or so into town and enjoyed the quiet as the work day began for the natives. Small numbers of natives are always walking north to the private homes owned by people from the USA to do carpentry work, gardening, or cleaning. We also saw several folks with suitcases heading to catch the ferry boat to Marsh Harbor, and then fly home from their Bahamas vacation. Around mid morning we readied the boat for a cruise and headed outside, north toward Green Turtle Cay, and a local island festival to be held over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We went outside to get the skipper some blue water experience as well as do some deep sea fishing. We dragged several lures the 20 or so miles north, crossing back and forth over the shelf between the really deep water and the reef, without a hit the whole way. Dave's faith in Dennis' fishing ability is beginning to falter! We anchored off Green Turtle Cay with perhaps 20 other vessels, so the word is obviously out about the upcoming festival to start tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Well, time has certainly speed up, or slowed down? We arrived at Green Turtle Cay last Thursday afternoon, ready for the excitement of their Island Heritage Festival. No sooner had we gotten there and heard about a WiFi hotspot and/or a connection service at a local real estate brokerage right downtown, than our computer gave up the ghost and displayed only a dead screen for several days in a row. We both were quite bummed out by this, and lost considerable interest keeping up a log of our activities. There is no good time for a computer to stop, but ours seems always to stop at the most inopportune times.
Scenes from Green Turtle Cay Festival
In any event, after being locked up for several days and kept in its case, it finally (and thankfully) fired up again on Tuesday. Maybe it just needed a rest.
Esther and I went to the Island Festival on the first day, Friday. Several small tents sere set up at a pubic park on the beach, and perhaps 10 small exhibits were set up, and about the same number of vendors selling “street food”. The most common menu offering was sheep’s tongue served in several different ways, and the second most common offering was conch, served fried, in fritters, or in salad. We watched several small stage performances, mostly with kids, and other local entertainers, but finally settled for hamburgers in a local restaurant.
Cleaning chonk for fritters
Saturday we skipped the festivities, but visited a local museum, walked the beaches, and visited the few local shops. The connection between Key West in Florida and Green Turtle Cay originates from the fact that most of Green Turtle was whipped out by a hurricane in 1938, leaving only 6 houses intact here. Many, many locals fled to Key West following that incident. The Festival encourages a continuing dialogue between the two communities, and included a visit by an old steel double masted schooner, crewed by folks looking as much like Key Westers as could be imagined.
Visiting boat from Key West
The event ended early Sunday, with a whimper rather than a bank. It was advertised to go through Sunday afternoon, but by the time we got to shore late morning, all the vendor tents were empty, and then taken down by 3-4 PM. Just too much activity for the locals I guess. And, the harbor, filled with 40-50 boats on Friday and Saturday, had perhaps 5 boats anchored on Sunday evening.
Resting from the big event took most of Monday, and Dave was not feeling well, so after a long walk in the morning for Esther and me, then we vegetated all afternoon.
Tuesday morning we ventured back up the Sea of Abaco to Manjack Cay. This island, about five miles long, is reputed to have only one residence on it, although we did see a couple of other buildings. The first night we anchored just inside the reef, and open to the broad Atlantic sea swells as a south wind was predicted for the evening. The next morning Esther and I walked four or five miles down a spectacular beach, one section at least three miles long, without a structure or seeing another person until nearly back where we began. Later that day with the sea swell building and north winds predicted we relocated to another more protected anchorage, near Rat Cay.
Monday, May 15. Marsh Harbor
Well, it’s happened again. After keeping a log daily for nearly a month, everything we are doing seems so commonplace and mundane that writing about it seems a waste, and of little interest to potential readers, even family!
So, it’s been nearly a week without an entry, or even a note to refer to where we’ve been and what we’ve done. But, here’s a capsulated catch-up.
On last Tuesday we left Manjack Cay and went 15-20 miles south, thinking of stopping at Elbow Cay, and the supposedly picturesque village of Hopetown. The protected anchorage there has a limiting draft of just over five feet, too little for us. So we anchored about two miles offshore in a fairly stiff south wind. After perhaps 15 minutes of feeling the 20-25 mph breeze, a crew meeting was called and we decided to cross the Bay to just south of Marsh Harbor, where we would be protected from the prevailing southwesterly winds.
This was close to beaches for landing the dogs, a marina with a dinghy dock and trash receptacles, and only around a mile walk to downtown Marsh Harbor. As the weather stayed unsettled, we stayed there until Monday morning.
On Saturday we were treated to a great view of both the start and finish of a big “Sportfish contest”. We were told that this was an invitational meet, held by the makers of Hatteras and Bertram yachts, the two largest names in sportfish builders. Reportedly teams and boats come from all over the world for this event. Several helicopters were in evidence as well as lots of small private jets coming and going all weekend. The event itself was only one day, Saturday, but the collection of 50-60 50-90 foot sportfish boats coming and going in large groups was impressive.
 
Sportfish boats at Marsh Harbor
Sunday was mostly spent in boat chores. The 8 KW genset has not been operating for a week or so, after stopping operation suddenly with no warning. With some help from friends via the internet on likely causes, we finally diagnosed the problem; a faulty pop out type fuse. This sounds easy, but was interrupted by the cry of "FIRE" from Dennis who was doing the work, as several small wires melted and smoked themselves into oblivion. Dave's widely recognized as extensive collection of spares and supplies allowed us to rebuild the burned out stuff.
Dave lecturing Dennis on electricity in lazarette
The other project was changing the oil in the high pressure pump of the watermaker. This unit operated by reverse osmosis, pumping sea water through under high pressure through a semi permeable membrane, filters most of the salt ions out of the water, and deposits it into our water tank at the rate of 25 gallons per hour. We need to produce 240 volt electricity to do this though, with either an 8 or 20 kilowatt generator.
These generators also supply power to the oven, washer dryer, water heater, dive compressor, the dinghy crane, and four zones of air conditioning. “Roughing it, Nordhavn style”.
The water maker oil change seemed simple as we read the owners manual. But, imagine a very complicated unit to high pressure piping, pumps, and filters, located behind a genset in the lazarette, with four feet of head room and limited visibility. I had thought myself a fairly good reader of instructions and equipment drawings, but could not make heads or tails out of the unit, and could not even find the parts they were describing. Finally we did locate and change a filter, and were about to give up on the oil change, as there was not apparent way to drain the oil as the manual suggested. One last look found a piece of tubing not even the manual, with could be disconnected from a mounting bracket at the top of the unit, bent down, and voila, oil flowed out of it. Could not be simpler, but no mention of this “improvement” in the manual.
This morning we awoke to a weather forecast with string and gusty winds, first from the south, then north, possible hail, and lots of rain. So, we opted to go around the point back to Marsh Harbor proper, the most protected deep water harbor in the Abacos. Three marinas ring the harbor, all are filled tonight with mostly trawlers, and perhaps 50 sailboats and the occasional trawler are anchored. One day last week we were just north of here when a sudden squall went through Marsh Harbor and several boats lost dinghies, oars, boat cushions, etc., etc. Hopefully, that will not be repeated this evening, but Miami has already gotten 7 inches of rain so far from this low pressure system. We usually leave the dinghy down when anchored, but tonight we will pick it up for security sake.
This evening, another coup in the mechanical department. Esther and Lowie were investigating using the trash compact as a holder for the waste basket and the trash receptacle door would not close again. So, after supper we pulled out the tools, removed the container and, voila, in the back was a piece of Styrofoam packing material which was never removed by the installers.
Your author, Dennis, at the helm
A day or two later we left for an offshore passage to Newport, RI, via New York City. See the "Abacos to Newport, RI" article for details on how we killed the fish on that trip!
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