Barefoot Man 2013

We left Marsh Harbour marina this afternoon and are now at Orchid Bay Marina on Great Guana Cay. This afternoon was the early concert, and tomorrow will be the evening show. We had a great time this afternoon with most of the boats from Marsh Harbour Marina and others from all over Abaco. There was a big crowd and we had perfect weather, blue sky, not too hot, and the ocean was perfect.

Junior Junkanoo

We left walking for the Junior Junkanoo about 6 pm as that was when it was scheduled to start and it never has started on time all the times we have attended. We arrived at 6:30 and the first school started around 8 pm.There were around 10 groups and the kids really put on a good show with a lot of drumming and fancy footwork. After we watched the last group pass us we started to walk back to the Marina, but we were able to hail a cab and able to ride back to the Marina in style (except for Gary on the floor in the back). Tomorrow will be a clean up the boat  and laundry day.

Great Guanna Cay

We had a good forecast so we took off for Great Guana Cay on Wednesday morning and had a great couple of days over there. We ended up staying at Orchid Bay Marina as they had a dockage special of $.50 per ft per night. By that evening we had  4 other boats from the Jibroom and we all had fun exploring, beach combing and people watching at Nippers Beach Bar. We went to the Wednesday night potluck at Grabbers Bar where there was quite a variety of foods to sample. On Thursday night we all decided to have our own happy hour on the Gazebo of the Orchid Bay docks and it was fun until the mosquitoes came out and had their own happy hour. the next morning we decided to head back to Marsh Harbour so that we could attend the Junior Junkanoo Friday night.

Jibroom !!

We left Lake Worth on Monday after Superbowl Sunday at Old Port Cove Marina in North Lake Worth. We left The Palm Beach Inlet around 16:30 in the afternoon and arrived at the little Bahama Banks just South of Memory Rock about 01:00 in the morning and continued on to Great Sale Cay, arriving there around 11:00 Tuesday. The Gulf Stream crossing was a good one, one to two foot waves with a 3 foot swell. Once we got on the banks the waves picked up to three footers for a few hours but it quickly calmed down and we had a nice ride to Great Sale.  After a good rest at anchor we continued on to Spanish Cay on Wednesday arriving there about 15:00 and checked in with Customs. We were disappointed with Spanish Cay Marina this year as they did not open the bar and restaurant after hurricane sandy last year, although it was was nice catching up with friends there. Thursday was raining so we decided just spend one more night there and wait till Friday to leave. On Friday morning around 08:30 we left Spanish Cay and set sail for Marsh Harbour. As we left for the first hour the winds were right on the nose so we motor sailed into the wind until we were able to make the turn to the Southwest and catch the wind. We were able to keep around 6.5 Knots of speed all the way through the Whale Cay passage and on to Marsh Harbour arriving about 14:30 in the afternoon. With the WSW wind and no North Swell in the Atlantic the Whale Cay passage was just a one foot chop, great passage. As we arrived at The Jibroom ( www.jibroom.com ) we were met with a dock full of our friends and the marina staff, it is great to be among all of our friends again. We are now checking the calendar to see what is going on in the Abacos and where we will go next.

MOVING AT LAST!

Friday we finally left Westland Marina in Titusville. It was a cool but easy motor ride to Melbourne and we were once again in the company of dancing dolphins.The wind arrived just as we stopped at a favorite anchoring spot and depth here was shallow.The area also stank terrible of dead fish odor thanks to a million cormorants so on to Melbourne Harbor marina.It was early enough to walk the quaint downtown area filled with antique shops,gift shops and restaurants.We took the beautiful waterfront trail back to the marina but were confronted by a drug deal going down and homeless people everywhere.
Dinner was a surprise.A gourmet meal at a good price at the marina bar Ichabods. We watched a beautiful sunset while I dined on fresh flounder stuffed with crab-meat and risotto.So happy to be on the trail again after a summer of refitting the boat.We left Melbourne in the AM and after another easy motorsail down the ICW we pulled into Harbortown Marina to top off the diesel tanks an pick up a few items from Publix.

Our Summer refit included;
Replaced all gate valves with Marlon sea cocks
Rerouted exhaust to above water replaced hot water heater,before the original rusty unit leaked
Replaced weak floor area in front of galley sink
Tore out 1984 plaid carpet from walls and inside cupboards,added insulation there and plastic covering
Installed ham radio equipment
Changed several engine hoses,belts,water pump and exhaust mixing elbow
Replaced some cushions with high grade foam and had all covered with turquoise sunbrella
Mounted the chart holder that our friends made for us,it became a great place to display the grandchildren`s pictures
Refinished the floors
Bottom paint was refinished by the yard
Made sun covers for the diesel and water cans
Replaced the main power wires to the instrument panel, it failed just as we were to be launched but only a day delay thanks to help from our friend Glenn. On to Lake Worth and Old Port Cove where we will wait for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream.

Getting ready to head for the Bahamas 2013.

After a month in Seattle to visit with our kids and see our new Grandson "Max" we are back in Florida at Westland Marina in Titusville and in the process of provisioning the boat for the next few months in the Bahamas. The boat has been launched and all of the repairs I have made over the Summer are working fine. We hope to start moving South to Lake Worth by this weekend where we will stage waiting a good weather window to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahama banks. Once we are back on the boat full time we will be updating the blog more often.