We finally got the weather window we were needing. It wasn't ideal because the wind was suppose to drop off and once again we would have to motor. However, it would be safe and since we were planning to spend the night anchored at Mackie Shoals in the middle of the Bahama Banks, it was a good choice for us. We left Miami at first light and navigated through the channel at Biscayne Bay and were able to put the sails up once out of the channel. We [...]
Renee is so excited about getting to the Bahamas that she got a new hat and bathing suit! Getting such a late start this season and being 39 degrees in Georgia, we could not wait to get moving south. The first leg of our journey south is 274 nautical miles to Lake Worth/North Palm Beach, Florida. This will take around 50 hours from start to finish. The prediction was to have 20-25 knots of wind with gusts up to 30. But the wind would be behind [...]
In preparation for a long journey through the Bahamas and Caribbean, you have to try and figure out what additional spare parts you will have to bring along. Ordering spares here in the United States is fairly easy, but having to get these ordered and shipped while cruising has its challenges. We ordered several items, including the complete set of curtesy flags for the Eastern Caribbean and out islands. We returned to the boatyard immediately after the New Year in order to complete the remaining items from [...]
Living in a boat yard is not all that bad. Did I just say that? Here at St. Marys Boat Services (SMBS) we are fortunate to be located close to the river and get to enjoy beautiful sun sets like this one almost every evening. We have a list of projects/repairs that we would like to complete before splashing in January. The list contains things that "must" be completed and others we consider as "would be nice". The list seems to grow and shrink almost daily. As one project [...]
We have been to the Annapolis Sailboat show several times and are planning to go again this year. However, this year we decided to work both the Sail and Power Boat Shows. This will give us some additional income and allow us to visit the shows on our days off. Renee signed up first and then I followed. During our phone interview, Renee told the lady in charge that we wanted to work the same schedules but she wanted to be on a different team then me. Not sure [...]
We find that after a couple of weeks in any one spot we get the itch to keep moving. We had a few days to kill before the Annapolis Boat Shows (where we will be working), so we decided to head north and do some camping. While looking for a convenient place to stop for the night, I noticed we were close to Nazareth, Pennsylvania which is home to the C.F. Martin Guitar Factory. I have always wanted to visit and figured what better time than the present. We [...]
Much has happened since we left 5KNOTS in Saint Marys. Our original thinking is that we would not need our own vehicle while living on Land. However, the cost of having to rent a car or book a flight would become to expensive in a hurry. So we decided to look for an inexpensive, reliable vehicle that would take us where we wanted to go and also double as a portable storage locker. We did the normal stuff like checking Craig's List and hitting all [...]
We intended to stay a few days in St. Augustine in the mooring field to get re-aclimated to being back in the USA. While there, we made a couple of phone calls to working boat yards in Florida and Georgia to try and figure out where we would leave 5KNOTS for hurricane season. Green Cove Springs (GCS) said they could accommodate us but we were aware of past issues of vandalism and were concerned about the security at the yard. GCS is a large working yard located near [...]
Figuring that we still had a couple of weeks of cruising, we were looking forward to enjoying the Abacos as we began our journey back to the United States. We decided to stage our 56 mile sail over to Great Abaco Island in the protected basin at Royal Island. Royal Island has a basin that provides protection from the weather for just about any wind direction. Similar to Hatchet Bay but not as deep with clearer water. We decided to stay at Royal for three days, until we got [...]
We found a decent weather window for the next few days so we figured we should take it. Leaving Long Island means that we are officially on our way north and ultimately back to the United States. During our stay in Long Island we found out that the water we had been purchasing from the Petroleum store at .54 per gallon was actually from a cistern and not RO (Reverse Osmosis). This was disappointing considering we had been here for over three weeks and overtime filled up both of our [...]