OtherGoose: ...AND BACK AGAIN

The End of an Adventure...and the beginning...

We are back in Fort Pierce. We've been here for a week, waiting for Liz to come and pick up Todd. For awhile there, we were afraid she'd be waiting for us. When we left Green Turtle Cay, we headed out to the last islands on the Bahama Bank. We weren't sure whether to go north or south of the Sea of Abaco, but decided that since we'd never been to Allens-Pensacola, that would be a good place to anchor for the night.

It was tricky getting in there. It looks like you have to go past it and shoot back at a 45 degree angle to hit the channel right, and then when you get "in" you can't actually tell where the bay starts and stops...basically it's a reef that defines the southern edge. ..which isn't great in a storm because it doesn't stop the rollers and the wind. And of course, that's what we had ...a storm .

It was one mother of a thunder storm!! And it rocked and rolled all night. The only saving grace was that the boat was rolling so much, lightning couldn't hit the mast! And there were several other higher masts n there so we felt pretty safe.

The next day was gray and gloomy but we needed to move so we aimed for Great Sale Cay. This name irritates me...I'm sure it's a spelling mistake. Why would anyone name an island after a retail event and not a marine [as in "Sail" event. Oh, well I guess spell check didn't work that time. Grrr.

So in Great Sale the harbour is wide and open. You can see all the masts n the Bay as you approach the island...it's very low. We powered our way in there in 25 knot winds and dropped the anchor as far as we could get in with some protection. Again, huge thunderstorm. We parked beside a little Nordic Tug and Fred came over to say hi. We'd been beside him most of our time in George Town. He was heading home to Virginia.

The next morning the weather, and several radio conversations said the day would clear up by 11 am and we'd have good weather for the move to the edge of the back...another 50 miles. We decided to go to Mantanilla Shoal, which made the run to Fort Pierce 60 miles. This meant we could go straight in without having to spend 2 days travelling the ICW. Hmmm...choices. Everyone else was heading to West End Grand Bahama, so they could go in at Lake Worth, and then head up to Fort Pierce.

We parked about 10 miles from the edge of the Bank. This is where the ocean gets deep and the waves [theoretically] smooth out. The day started gloomy and bouncy. We must have missed the memo that changed light and variable to mean 15-20 knots of wind on the nose! None of the weather predictions were accurate for the last 3 days.

We got up at 4 am and started to get ready. By 5:30 we were moving off the anchor and heading out into the ocean. I have a tough time staying oriented when can't see at night, so Rick took the first hour, when the sun came up and I could see the horizon, it was easier but I still didn’t have any "landmarks'...just the green line on the GPS.

We had 15-20 on the nose so we headed more northerly than we wanted and when we caught the edge of the Gulf Stream we were reaching 8 knots. We were able to sail some of it, but around 4 pm when we were still 20 miles from Fort Pierce we had to turn south and get out of it. We were 5 miles north of our course. Luckily the swells turned with us and we surfed back into the inlet. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and we caught a small blue fin tuna...he was yummy !!

As we approached the inlet, we were in outgoing tide but it was manageable, and we followed a work barge in. As we passed the sea buoy the engine started to sputter... NOT out of gas?!?!? Well, it was low...déjà vu all over again??? But it was also clogging the intake, so we dropped the anchor... it was still daylight so at least we could see this time. I radioed a securité so everyone behind us would know we were anchored. Rick and Todd changed the oil filter, filled the diesel and we started her up again. SO much for "no surprises"

We have been here waiting for the marina to take care of our motor issue, getting used to land again. And the car, which has now headed for Canada without us, and as soon as the motor has been replaced, we will be on our way up the ICW and back to fresh water for a year of refit, refurbish, rebuild, renew, relax...for us and the boat.

There won't be many more blogs after this for awhile because we will be working on the boat and working to replenish the cruising kitty. Will let you know when the Goose has landed.