March 31, 2013

Left Green Turtle Cay about this morning, and took a short (5 mile) cruise over to Manjack Cay (aka Nunjack Cay).  We went exploring by dinghy with Dianne and Dave from Boot Scootin.  Ended up doing some beach combing, and just enjoying Easter Sunday in paradise.  Tomorrow's Dawn caught up with us about 3 p.m. - they had gone to bring their grandson to the airport for his return trip home.  So we all had time to kick back and enjoy the beautiful afternoon together on the beach.  Returning to our boat, we enjoyed a nice lamb dinner for Easter, and were treated to a beautiful sunset.

April 1, 2013

Uh-oh - April Fool's Day!  Please, let everything go smoothly!!!  Torn between a slow day's cruise with our friends or setting ourselves up for the crossing back over to the U.S., we decided on the latter, since there is yet another weather front approaching.  Kind of gotta get a move on, or we'll be stuck for another week waiting for calm enough seas to go.  So we head out at 8:45 in the morning, and arrive at the anchorage in North West Harbour at Great Sale Cay.  There were a bunch of sailboats anchored here, but it's very choppy - promising to be a very uncomfortable night.  We chose to travel around outside of the Cay to a more sheltered shore.  We were able to anchor here in comfortable water at 4 p.m., chalking up another 58 miles of cruising.  After dinner on board, we thought we spied a storm heading our way - a very UNfriendly storm.  Watching it a while, we were relieved to see it was moving away, but we were treated to an awesome light show!  The lightning was absolutely incredible!  It went on for hours and hours - from before dark 'till after 2 a.m.  We actually sat up and watched it instead of bothering with a movie.  I tried to take some video of it, as well as capture a still, but it doesn't at all do it justice - it was just incredible!!!!

April 2, 2013

Moving right along with our crossing plans, we pull away from Great Sale Cay at 8 a.m.  We reach the Old Bahama Bay Marina in West End by 2p.m., covering 49 miles today.  Weather reports look excellent for us to cross tomorrow, then sound bad come Thursday, so we think we did the right thing for us by coming here.  Well, this Marina is VERY expensive, but beautiful!  We enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon here - a great way to wrap up our visit in the Bahamas.  Feels sad to think we're leaving tomorrow, but at the same time, it'll be good to be back in the U.S.

April 3, 2013

By-By, Bahamas!!!  Thank you for such a wonderful tiime!!!

Off we go, 8:15 a.m., cruising westward.  Didn't bother fueling or watering the boat - it'll be good to be back to cheaper fuel and "real" water today. 

11:15 am - TUNA ON!!!  Yeah, Danny!  More sushi coming up!!!

4 p.m. - tied up at Pirate's Cove Marina in Stuart, Florida.  Fueled up here (diesel is $2 per gallon cheaper here than our last fuel stop in the Bahamas).  Filled up our water too - without having to pay for it for a change!  Life is good!  Our crossing brought us over 71 miles of open ocean, a (thankfully) uneventful trip, except the excitement of the tuna!  We called customs - our registering with their office under the "Local Boaters Option" definitely paid off:  one phone call cleared us all through, with no need to go find an office and clear in person.  That was easy!  Got all that stuff behind us, then (since we actually have telephone service again!), put in a call to our friend Bobby Alphonse who lives in Stuart.  Thankfully found him not only around, but available - he appeared on our dock shortly thereafter!  Awesome to see him - bearhugs all around.  Went to dinner together at the Marina's Restaurant - it was fabulous.  Then had a few together at the bar to chat about old times, and to reminisce about his recently late wife Sandy, whom we all miss dearly.

April 4, 2013

Bobby spent the night with us last night (rather than driving home, as we had a really good time!!!), so we got up and all went for breakfast before our departure this morning.  After hugs and kisses good by, we pulled out of Pirate's Cove about 11:25, and headed north.  Along the way, had a great dolphin encounter - actually two encounters!  They were having themselves a grand time playing in our wake!

4 p.m. found us tying up at the Loggerhead Marina at Vero Beach.  Easy day, covering 36 miles.  This was a beautiful marina, unfortunately with no restaurant.  The staff recommended several to us, however, so we grabbed a cab and went over to the Ocean Grill for dinner.  It was spectacular!  The food was totally outstanding, and the wait staff was by far the absolutely best we've encountered during our entire trip!  I would recommend this place to anybody that ever gets anywhere near Vero Beach!!!!

April 5, 2013

We set sail, so to speak, at 9 in the morning, stopping for an hour at noon to do lunch at Ichabods at Melbourne Beach.  We continue on a couple more hours, and tie up at Cocoa Village Marina in Cocoa, FL at 3:30 after covering 47 miles. Nice little village - we wander around town for a bit.  We've been here before and remember the cool hardware store they have - can't resist a visit back there again even though we don't really need anything.  After an hour of browsing through all the neat stuff they have, we buy a $2.79 grill brush to replace ours which is falling apart.  Big buy of the day!  Again, a nice little village, but not a lot to hang around for, so we're planning on departing tomorrow.

April 6, 2013

Did breakfast in town, then got under way just after 10:30.  The Inter Coastal Waterway is super choppy today, with winds gusting up to 25 or 30 knots.  Blechy day!  Glad we can close the bridge up for this stuff!  Wasn't so bad a day though, we only did a short 17 miles before our arrival at the Titusville Municipal Marina.  We got tied up by 12:30 and started up the dock to check in at the Marina's Office.  Walking down the dock, to our huge surprise, who do we find but our dear friends Larry and Cindy on Bucket List!!  We'd been in touch, but they were a day ahead of us moving north.  They hadn't been planning to stay here another day, but didn't feel like braving the chop or the nasty winds the day had to offer, so we just managed to accidentally bump into them!  Big happy reunion - it's been more than 3 months since we've seen them!  Mucho fun - and mucho jaw flapping!  Sharing all our adventures since we'd last been together.  Of course we all went to dinner together - fabulous night!  And returning to our boats, we we're invited aboard Bucket List to toast our reunion - back to the "Little Beers", aka "White Caps"!  Some things never grow old!!!