Velcro Beach

By Capt. Scott Buckley

Vero Beach is often called “Velcro Beach” because some cruisers go there and get stuck.  They don’t leave for the entire season.  It is very similar to Marathon but just a lot farther north.  There are very affordable mooring balls, fuel, water, a good dinghy dock, a free shuttle bus into town and the beach, showers, laundry and a descent cruisers lounge.  It would be pretty easy to get stuck here at Vero because they make it so easy.  Did I mention they have free WiFi.  
I hear it can be crowded in the peak season and they often moor a couple of boats up to each mooring ball.  While we were there it was not full and we did not have to share a mooring with another boat.


The Mooring Field

The Vero Beach Marina Lounge, Laundry, showers and the porch.

Vero Beach Office

A Fun Night That Became a Tense Night. 

SV Simpatico and SV Alice Mae also  moored up in Vero and we got together that night to play Mexican train dominos.  Something we had started playing in the Bahamas and it was soon becoming a favorite.  The skies that evening started looking dark and threatening so we rowed back to our boat before it got too late.  Shortly after we got on board the heavens opened up.  It was a long night.  There was a low pressure off the coast and it was spawning these thunder storms.  Wave after wave kept pounding the boat.  The winds would shift from different direction and the lightening would not stop.
   
The issue with lightening is while it is unlikely that the boat will get struck it does happen with terrible results.  Equipment is destroyed, often the boat starts leaking and people can be hurt if on board.  Add to that you have a 60 ft aluminum pole sticking straight up in the air with “STRIKE ME” written on it.  Try and get to sleep as the boat swings around wildly in the wind and the lightening and thunder are coming in rapid succession.  The  dinghy was tied off to the stern of Kooky Dance so I kept checking on it and adjusting its tether or painter as conditions changed.  It was a long and tense night aboard SV Kooky Dance.
The next morning all was forgiven and the dinghy was full of rain water.  I had to bail it out before rowing into shore for a shower and to do some laundry.  Did I mention they also have WiFi.

The next morning was headed to Cocoa Beach right next to Cape Canaveral.  Where NASA used to launch the Apollo and Shuttle missions.

Bimini the Second Time and the Gulf Stream

By Capt. Scott Buckley

Bimini can only be approached from the Gulf Stream side and not the bank side so we would have to exit off the bank thru one of the cuts.  We chose Cat Cay cut because we had never done it and were told Cat Cay is beautiful.

Cat Cay Cut from the Bank side thru to the Gulf Stream side

Light House at the southern tip of Gun Cay

 

Bimini

We had heard of shoaling in the entrance channel to Bimini and we were going to arrive at the Bimini Entrance a couple of hours after low tide.  We had the option of anchoring off the island and waiting until noon or 1PM for high tide or reading the water depth visually as we have learn to do in the Bahamas.  I chose to go in now and read the water depth visually by the color. So in we went and I did not see water depth less than 8 feet but to do that I had to go all the way over to the red side of the channel because there was definite shoaling in the middle of the channel.


The channel entrance is in the upper left corner

Due to the tidal current thru Bmini shoaling is a constant problem with the shifting sands.

This is not our boat but a boat that came in shortly after us.  He was stuck there for two days.

SV Kooky Dance at Blue Water Marina Bimini Bahamas

  We met back up with John and Peggy from SV Simpatico and proceeded to get the crews of SV Alice Mae, SV Simpatico and SV Kooky Dance together to have some fun on the Island of Bimini.


This was our gang.  We had a lot of fun with (from left to right) Alice, Dave, Scott, John, Peggy and Tamera

Crossing the Gulf Stream

Again we watched the weather and planned our route from Bimini to the US.  We opted for a day crossing instead of an over night crossing so we changed our plans from Bimini to Ft Pierce to Bimini to Lake Worth. 

Lake Worth looking to the WEST

It would be 75 miles but with the Gulf stream pushing us it should be easy to get there in plenty of time. We would leave the following morning.  Again the sadness really hit us the following morning. 
We left the next morning, bound for the USA.


It is recommended to stay south of the rum line.

As we left Bimini the winds were from astern and the sea though confused were not too bad.  We arrived in Lake Worth that afternoon. Gone was the clear water.  Gone was the laid back ways of the Bahamas.  We had to contact Customs and immigration to check ourselves into the US.  It was not too difficult, however at one point immigration told us we had to return to Lake Worth go ashore into the office.  We were able to straighten it out by phone the next morning.
It always amazes me the speed of the Gulf Stream  For a good bit of the trip were were doing 9 knots over the ground.

Lake Worth Florida

  
As we enter Lake Worth we turned north in the channel and anchor in a small lake about 4.5 nm north of the Lake Worth inlet.

Ft. Pierce

We started out the next morning heading to Ft. Pierce. We had a long run and thunderstorms were predicted for the afternoon so got and early start.

We traveled all day and though the storms raged around us we luckily dodge them all until that night.


We motor sailed when the winds cooperated but the motor was running the entire trip to Ft. Pierce.  There was a small anchorage off the side of the ICW right before Ft. Pierce.  It was shallow but manageable and a soft bottom.
The next morning we were headed to Vero Beach and is sometime call "Velcro Beach."

Black Point

By Capt. Scott Buckley

Location: Great Guana Cay, Bahamas

We left Roberts Cay on 30 Jan and headed to Shroud Cay.  There were no mooring balls available, (a recurring theme down here is the early bird catches the mooring balls) and anchored down south of the mooring field.  The wind piped up overnight and some of the boats found that uncomfortable.  Kooky Dance road well at anchor.

The next morning two boats of our group decided to leave (SV Alice Mare and SV Sole Serenade) and Kooky Dance and Signara stayed another day.  The weather was good and I swam and snorkeled around.  The water however was cold.



It made me sad to see our little group of traveling companions breaking up but each boat has their own plan and agenda.  SV Alice Mae needed well protected anchorages, Sole Serenade had to be back in the USA at the beginning of March so they were pressed to work their way south quickly. 

But I had a feeling we would meet up again somewhere.

Working our way South

We were a little frustrated with running from the weather and the fact the water was too cold to enjoy with any degree of comfort.  We made the decision to work our way well south to warmer water and plan to return to these island later in the year when the weather starts becoming more settled and warmer.  We planned to sail the next day for Staniel Cay.  SV Alice Mae was in that area and SV Sole Serenade was headed to Black Point Harbor.
We planned to head to Staniel Cay the next day and bypass a couple of islands.  We pulled the hook at Shroud Cay and set off.  as we passed by Hawksbill Cay the winds had increased to 25 knots and were climbing to 30 knots.  We were towing the dinghy and I was concerned if something happened to the dinghy in the growing sea it would be difficult for us to do much to save it.  I suggested turning back and going into Hawksbill Cay.  Soon the sea were so high the first mate concurred with my suggestions.  As we were going in we passed another vessel heading out.  We told them of the conditions we encountered but they thought it would be OK.  A couple hours later we watched them return to Hawksbill next to us.  Little was said like; "I TOLD YOU SO".  Another boat called us and said they were having some sail troubles and did Hawksbill look OK to put into to set out the high winds.  We told them to head on in.  That vessel was SV Sunshine with Alicia and Gary on board.  We met them that afternoon and they were a delight.

The next day we set off for Staniel Cay but after getting started changed our plans to get all the way to Black Point Harbor where SV Sole Serenade was anchored.  We had heard a lot of good things about Black Point and it was farther south so we were game. 

We arrived at Black Point about 3PM with winds from the SSW which were "on the nose" so we were motoring and not sailing.  The approach into Black Point was pretty easy and we anchored down next to SV Sole Serenade.

The evening we went into town and met some more cruisers and reconnected with Jimmy and Sue of Serenade.

 

Black Point

Black Point is a pretty amazing place when it comes to Cruiser services in the out islands. There are 3 restaurants, a big new laundry, RO water, trash collection and 2 dinghy docks with some nice benches to hang out at in the evening. 

We have enjoyed happy hour at Lorraine's and Scorpios.  We have done our laundry and taken on 12 gallons of water. 

 

Early tomorrow 5 Feb we plan to head to Farmers Cay for the festival of the 5 F's.  The weather may not be so great but if we can get a ball we will likely stay.  

 

 





Making the Crossing to the Bahamas

By Captain Scott Buckley

The 1st mate and I have been here at Boot Key harbor for about 7 weeks now and that seems like a long time for us but when you think about the fact that we will be doing this for the next decade 7 weeks is not that long.  Further the weather seems to be conspiring to keep us here.

Boot Key Harbor at night

As explained in previous post it is not advised to cross the Gulf Stream in any wind that is out of the north.  Since we arrived here in Boot Key on Nov 15, 2014 we have had 1 weather window to cross over the Gulf Stream about 6 days after we arrived.  We decided to pass on this weather window for a couple of reasons.  Primarily it was to take some time and explore Marathon and the Florida Keys.  Since leaving TX we have been very much on the move and have had very little time to enjoy what we were doing. 
We would get to the next destination and fix what was broken, buy what we needed and plan the next leg.  Much of our time was spent on the logistics of cruising and almost nothing was spent on the exploration and discovery. What we did not realize when we skipped this weather window to the Bahamas was another window would not be forthcoming for some time. The wind have been from the north and north east 15 to 20 knots day after day. 

Time to have fun

Word has spread in the harbor that Tamera and I are headed to the Bahamas and invariably that topic of conversation with fellow cruisers at the dinghy dock is when do we think we are headed there.  We end up discussing weather window with little decided about when it is likely to make the the break from Marathon.

Trouble with Locomotion

While we were here we used the inflatable dinghy with the propane outboard and after about 2 hrs of operation the lower unit on the outboard started leaking oil.  I called Lehr “as it is still covered under warrantee” and they put me in contact with a local repairman (Ben).  I brought the motor to the beach and away it went.  Ben found the problem in the seal between the water pump and the lower unit.  What Lehr failed to inform me was they had not shipped the parts needed to fix the outboard motor and they were closing from 24 Dec to Jan 5.  Without parts there was little Ben could do.  All calls to Lehr went to a recording reminding me they were closed.  I sent an email as well but it never got addressed until after the 5th of January.  Without the motor back on board we did not look too hard for weather windows to go to the Bahamas on but none were materializing anyway.

The Route

To make the Exumas in the Bahamas it is not uncommon to check into that country at Bimini.  There are a couple of options for going to Bimini in the Bahamas.  One could leave from Marathon and travel 125 nm to Bimini or you could work your way north to ‘Miami and cross the 53 nm there.  Because of our contacts here in Marathon we elected to leave from Marathon to make Bimini in an over night passage.  Below is description of the route from Marathon to Bimini.

The overall route off the southeast Florida coast.

The route from Marathon to Bimini

Close up of Marathon

Close up of Bimini

Buddy Boating

We met fellow cruisers David and Alice Mae of SV Alice Mae who have crossed to the Bahamas 5 previous times.  They actually like the crossing from Marathon and had done that crossing twice before.  We had decided to buddy boat with them across because they had gone before and we had AIS on board and could watch out for ship for them.
We were set to leave on the evening of Jan 3 but when I consulted with weather router Chris Parker it was not recommended to make the crossing from Marathon even though he was recommending crossing from Miami.  The winds in the Florida Keys were not going to abate like the winds further north. 
SV Kooky Dance and SV Alice Mae made ready to depart Marathon until late Monday when the departure was called off.   I had made no headway with getting an outboard motor arranged and we really could not leave without one.   Actually it was that morning that I knew that SV Alice Mae was also having doubts about the departure from Marathon.  When the Cruiser net called for departing vessels to speak I only heard crickets. The light winds predicted would be farther to the north and we would be stuck with NE winds on the nose against the gulf stream.  Seas were increase from the 1 to 2 foot range to the 3 to 4 foot range.  There would be no sailing and it would be a bumpy voyage by motor only.  While we could have made it we would have burned a lot of fuel and had little enjoyable to remember from the crossing.

What to do in Paradice

It is not like we have been stuck in the harbor on the boat waiting for a break in the weather to go to the Bahamas.  We have actually had a pretty good time.  The cruisers in the harbor had a pot luck get together for Thanksgiving and Christmas that were a lot of fun and well attended. 
We went to Key West 3 times
and to Key Largo twice.  I did a few small projects on the boat like getting it so I could charge the phones and the computers directly from the battery without having to run the inverter.  I got our backup GPS patch into the 12 VDC breaker panel.  Previously it only ran on batteries that lasted about 2 days max.  Now it can run for months as long as the main batteries have a charge.  The back up GPS is also the device that feeds location data to the SSB radio incase an automatic distress call is sent.  We made the dinghy chaps and a couple of storage bags and visited with friends on land and in the Harbor.
We went fishing.
    


We went Snorkeling.


I have even taken some time to sail around in the sailing dinghy.

Still the weather has not been cooperating for a crossing.  Because it is our first time we are picking carefully so that it is not our last time.  We have heard horror stories about the Gulf Stream crossing and Florida is littered with boats of dreams gone bad.  Attempts to cruise that were disastrous and sailing trips that waited too long.
So a balance is played out between wanting to be in the Bahamas and picking the right weather window to get there on.  The story continues.