Day Trips Abaco to Florida

...Our plan for day trips Abaco to Florida...

With our radar system still not working after several tries to repair it, we have decided to NOT run overnight like we usually do. Instead, we will make day trips back to Florida. Running at night, without a radar system seems unsafe to us as we would be going full steam ahead in the black of night with no security of knowing there is nothing in front of us. We have a difference of opinion on this, but we have decided to day trip home. For us, this would need to be 3 to 4 days, so we have decided to see some islands we have not seen before and maybe skip Great Sale Cay. Our plan is as such: Day 1, Green Turtle to Fox Town, Well, we stopped short at Crab Cay off Little Abaco due to weather and unforecasted higher WEST winds. Day 2, Grand Cay because there is a small town there. Grand Cay is northwest of Great Sale Cay. Day 3, Mantanilla Shoals at the end of the Banks where we will anchor and sleep in the middle of nowhere! We hope it will be calm seas. Day 4, Cross the Gulf Stream 62 miles, 9 hours, to Fort Pierce, Florida.

Waterspout, OH NO

Of course the weather is a bit stirred up due to the outflow of bands from the tropical storm ANA that is heading from here to Charleston, SC. This first storm of the 2015 hurricane season is early but it is also large and yesterday we had a thunderstorm that dropped a waterspout down to the water about 2 miles or more away from us. Too close for us. We could see the water flying up from the surface, a very scary sight to see when you are on anchor. Lucky for us, it passed us by as we were securing the boat for the worst possible situation. Today some forecasts are calling for more of the same and we hope no storms develop.

Eric Patricia Greg Sharon Radeen and Hayden

Before departing Leeward Yacht Club, after spending a week there waiting out this ANA storm to move north, we had fun with boat buddies and being at a dock. This was the first dock we have been at since leaving Marathon on Jan 15, 2015. Jan, Feb, March, April on anchor, so being at a dock with water and power was a real joy. Boat buddies IP460 CUTTER LOOSE with Eric and Patricia and IP40 DREAM CATCHER with Greg and Sharon were docked along with us. Other boats included IP40 ZIPPITY DOO DAH, IP38 TATTOO II, IP40 TINTEAN and Spring Cove Marina friends, NEVERLAND, SYLESTIAL STAR. we all had good times catching up on our travels and our future plans. Cruising is so much fun and the people you share it with make the adventures all the more memorable!

Here are some photos of the fun...

Walking every day 3+ miles

Radeen with her Junkanoo Necklace for Date Night :-)

Walking around New Plymouth, Green Turtle

Heading to sea, the Life Raft comes out, Thank you Greg!

Radeen swimming her 30+ laps

Radeen with our buddy who directed us to LYC. Thank you, Sara!

Radeen at the helm as we depart Green Turtle

The start of a waterspout off Crab Cay

A waterspout is a tornado over water and this one is too close

Sunset after the storm

Beautiful clouds after the waterspout

I am amazed at how well the 3G is working this year. BTCBahamas.com has built a great network and here off isolated Crab Cay, we are connected. BTC has cell towers that seem to have a very long reach. Next year, we will only use BTC and not use Bahama WiMax or OII WiFi because this works so well.