Florida to North Carolina

Suzy, Radeen and Nina on Island Spirit....

I love when a plan works out as planned. We identified our Bahamas exit while at the Jib Room on anchor in Marsh Harbor. We planned 4 legs. #1 Green Turtle to Fort Pierce, Florida. #2 Fort Pierce to Charleston, SC. Then #3 Charleston to Beaufort NC. Then #4 into the ICW and north to the Chesapeake Bay.

Well....that is exactly what we did, just as planned. Lucky for us, we had the weather windows to make the legs, and we also studied the legs and the weather to make sure we were making the best runs at the best times. Sure enough, we did, and we feel very lucky. We are now on the ICW north of Beaufort anchored out on Bonner Bay. Tomorrow we will run 50+ miles into the Pungo Canal and on north. If all goes as planned, we will be in Portsmouth VA in a week, then onto the Chesapeake Bay and home to Rock Hall, MD completing year #3 of our Bahamas explorations.

We are having fun running with our boat buddy IP38 MOONDANCE, Bob and Nina who are very positive and lively friends. We also are now running with IP37 CAY PARAISIO, Dave and Suzy who are just as fun and lively so we have a fleet of IPs running north. What a great life out here cruising and exploring. Everyone is experiencing the same challenges and new discoveries of travel. It is a great way to travel, explore and live. We count our blessing of good health and a positive attitude every day.

Here are some photos of the days from Florida to North Caroline....

Gulf Stream Sailing on watch off Florida running north

Set the whisker pole sailing dead down wind

Refueling 100 miles offshore

Good bye Florida, on to Georgia and South Carolina

Blue Water Sailing in the Gulf Stream

Sunset offshore

A WELCOME SIGHT, these are the range lights the guild you into Charleston Inlet
You drive towards the lower light. When they line up vertically, you are in the channel.

IP38 Moondance watches a container ship pass by off Charelston Maritime Center

While in Charelston, we tore apart the motor and brushes on the autopilot

Our B&G Autopilot torn apart....not a good thing

Sunset offshore heading north

Sunrise offshore heading north

A beautiful reflection out the galley port hole window

Cape Lookout as seen at sunrise

Sunrise at anchor in Cape Lookout, a beautiful view

Beaufort NC shrimp boat working the bottom

Beaufort NC, maritime center

Boat buddies, Nina IP38 Moondance and Dave IP37 Cay Paraiso

Snacks at our cocktail party

Boat Buddies, Bob IP38 Moondance, Suzy IP37 Cay Paraisio

Radeen with boat buddy Nina

Hayden with boat buddy Bob of IP38 Moondance

Check this warning my nav system warned me of while offshore! WOW

Follow our SPOT maps

 Remember.....You can follow our passages and our trip using this near realtime SPOT map. When we are out of Internet connection, or when we are moving the boat, we place a pin location onto this map.

To see our trip, drop down the HISTORY button and select as many days or weeks or ALL and then click GO. Then zoom the map out to see the trip.

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=86e952b4252ab9f2e

Spot Map follow us

You can follow our passages and our trip using this near realtime SPOT map. When we are out of Internet connection, or when we are moving the boat, we place a pin location onto this map. To see our trip, drop down the HISTORY button and select as many days or weeks or ALL and then click GO. Then zoom the map out to see the trip.

2013-2014 Florida to Bahamas to Maryland Map

Start Palmetto Florida Dec 2013

End Rock Hall Maryland June 1, 2014

 For a full Spotwalla.com interactive map see this URL

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=86e952b4252ab9f2e

Bahamas to Maryland Plan

We are planning to make some ocean runs this year on our run from the Bahamas to Rock Hall, MD. Our current plan, launching Thursday, 0700 April 24, 2014 will take us from Green Turtle Cay to Fort Pierce Florida where we will anchor by Friday 1900. There we will stage up for a run from Fort Pierce Florida to Charleston South Carolina, a 400 nm leg. We plan to spend a few days there taking in the great town of Charleston and then we will make a 200 mile jump to Beaufort North Carolina where our great friends Greg and Kate will NOT BE :-(.  From there we will run north into the ICW and up to Norfolk to our free dock at Portsmouth and then into the Chesapeake Bay.

So, Our Bahamas 2014 trip is drawing to a close with one last party at Green Turtle Club with our boat buddies as we enjoy the music of THE GULLY ROOSTERS. They start playing at 9 pm, "cruisers midnight" but we will dinghy in and enjoy the music. In the AM, we will derig the dinghies, taking off the motors, and fuel tanks and anchors and lashing them into the davits for the gulf stream crossing. Lucky for us, the winds and seas are calm, and the passage will be a casual motor run.

The weather fronts are not giving us the best sailing winds, so, we are taking this calm to run to the coast and stage up there for the next front to sail north in the Gulf Stream. Who knows, if our weather router, Chris Parkes says tomorrow night that it looks for for a go to Charleston, then we may just hang a right and keep going norht. WHO knows????

For, now, it is off to the Gully Roosters.....PARTY

Island Spirit at anchor off Green Turtle Club

NOTE:|
You can follow our LIVE map via SPOT and SPOTWALLA, here. This is the best and most live data we can publish from sea...
http://islandspirit35.blogspot.com/p/spot-maps.html

Jib Room to Man O War to Nippers

Stephen and Jason, the best Bartenders in Abaco.....

Here we are spending a week based out of Marsh Harbor anchored right off our favorite place, THE JIB ROOM. We have completed our boat services preparing for our exit north and run back to the US coast. We have been studying the weather every day at 0630-0730 with Chris Parker on SSB 4045 mHz. Then we look at NOAA weather, trying to keep up with the frontal progressions, watching for an exit window for our crossing. Meanwhile, life around here is really fun and easy. With Wednesday night RIB NIGHT, Saturday night STEAK NIGHT and toss in Thursday night with Cruisers POT LUCK, the Jib Room has it figured out. Great people, great atmosphere, great family, great food, great drinks, great friends, The Jib Room is one of the reasons why we are here! Thank you Tom, Linda, Stephen, Bradley, Jason, Desmond, Marvin, Latasha and the rest of the staff. What a fantastic team!

The Albury Brothers Boat Building, Man O War Cay

From Marsh Harbor, we motored over to Man O War Cay, anchoring off the island and taking the dinghy into town for a review of the shops and great businesses. It was fun to show our boat buddies, Dixie and Julie, the Albury Brothers Boat Building business, Albury Sail Loft, and Edwin's Boat Yard. Of course a stop at the ice cream parlor was a must and a walk to the ocean beach observing the beautifully kept homes and gardens of Man O War.  The residents of Man O War are very industrious and hard working. What a great island.

The Nipper's Easter Egg Hunt in the surf for ages 12 and up

Finally, no trip to Abaco would be complete without a trip to NIPPERS, especially on Easter Sunday. This year we traveled by Albury Ferry due to northhwesterly winds. The famous Nipper's Easter Egg Hunt on the beach and in the surf on Great Guana Cay is fantastic. Johnny has been doing the Sunday Pig Roast Buffet for 20 years and it is very well attended. Toss in the delicious NIPPER JUICE, and a beautiful beach, a gorgeous pool, great music, dancing and swimming and you will see the fun of Nipper's. Thank you, Johnny, for hosting a really great Easter Day!


Here are some photos of the week...

The Albury Brothers rolling resin onto fiberglass mat for an Albury 24

Varnish work on Island Spirit, coat #6 of Epifanes

The Jib Room: Marvin the master of the Grill, and Latasha the hostess

The Jib Room: Bradley and Latasha

Boat Buddies IP420 TRUE NORTH: Debi and Denny

Boat Buddy: GLASS SLIPPER, Mary and Radeen

Boat Buddies IP38 MOONDANCE, Bob and Nina

The Jib Room all smiles: Bradley and her good friends

IP 38 ALPENGLOW, Tim and Susan, with Hayden and Radeen at the Jib Room

The Jib Room: Steak Night, we cut these in half for Steak n Eggs in the AM :-)

THE LIMBO KING #1, Desmond at The Jib Room

OFF TO NIPPER's for EASTER SUNDAY

Hayden is holding 6 crumpled fishing boat stickers he peeled off The NIPPER's sign!
This idea of fishing boats slapping their stickers all over public spaces is really frustrating. We see it as vandalism.
We peel off every one we can. Hayden would love to find one of these fishing boats and put 1,000 stickers on its hull.

The NIPPER's Beach Bar on Easter Sunday

Easter Egg Hunt at Nipper's on the beach. Some eggs were hidden in the seaweed.

Nipper's Easter Egg Hunt on the Beach for ages 11 and under

Boat Buddy Colleen on GLASS SLIPPER holds her Nipper Easter Egg Prizes

The beach on Great Guana Cay is so beautiful

Radeen strikes a pose on Great Guana Cay off Nipper's

Happy Easter 2014 from Great Guana Cay, Abaco, The Bahamas

Our Boat Buddies, Debi & Denny and Julie & Dixey, walking the beach

Boat Buddies: IP420 TRUE NORTH, Denny and Debi

Radeen and Hayden, appreciating the sun after a windy, rainy Saturday.

Hayden with THE MAN, JOHNNY, owner of Nipper's Beach Bar. Thank you, Johnny!

Of course, the day is not complete without a walk to GRABBERS

So, our time is drawing to a close here in Abaco. We are looking at moving north of the Whale Cay Cut on Tuesday, heading up to Green Turtle Cay. There we will make a final study of the fronts and weather patterns and set our exit for the coast. We are looking at making a run from Great Sale Cay to anywhere in north Florida or South Carolina. We are thinking of trying a 2-3-4 day ocean passage with a few other boats, but it will all depend on if we can find a good weather window.