This passage was an interesting one, and this was another case where the forecast and actual conditions were not in alignment. As we approached the Saint Augustine inlet, I did NOT like the looks of things out there. But our choice was to go or not make Charleston this weekend. We left our slip just […]
While we didn’t make it as far as we’d hoped, I’m happy to spend time in St. Augustine. We got tied up, and cleared into the country in time to head up to the hotel’s daily happy hour for hotel and marina guests. As we walked up, I saw a spoonbill feeding in the flats […]
With a short weather window to get to Saint Augustine, we were up well before dawn and hauled anchor just after 5am. As the sun came up, we popped the chute and took off. With 8-10kts of breeze, Windara ate it up, and it was fun to see how she performed under spinnaker and main […]
Since we still didn’t have a weather window thanks to continued northerly winds, we decided a sail to Grand Cay would be a fun way to spend the day, plus we’d get a chance to visit a new place. Our sail was beautiful, and Windara loved the conditions. We flew along at 7-8kts and were […]
The day started with a beautiful sunrise, and we enjoyed a peaceful morning. Little Sale Cay is beautiful and appears to be a tropicbird rookery – I saw several of them flying around. We could see cumulonimbus clouds in the distance, and it was obvious the weather wouldn’t remain nice for long. We check forecasts obsessively […]
The day started with a muted but beautiful sunrise, and we hauled anchor around 0830. We had a warm, sunny day but barely any wind so we found ourselves motoring most of the way up the Sea of Abaco. I would have loved to be able to stop at Allans-Pensacola or Powell Cay, but there […]
It’s finally time to cast off the lines, and I’m sad that another incredible cruising season has come to a close. Spend enough time in a place, and it’s amazing how deeply it touches you, changes you, invites you to grow. Letting the lines slip is hard – you feel the pull of the place […]
We left Man-o-War pretty early in hopes of getting in some sailing before we dropped anchor to snorkel Mermaid Reef and wait for the tide to rise. We sailed about halfway there before deciding it would be better to just get fuel and get into our slip – the afternoon weather was forecast to deteriorate […]
Man-o-War was a favorite of ours last year, and I looked forward to seeing how the island had changed. As with everywhere else, there were far more boats, both at anchor and in the more protected inner mooring field. Marina reconstruction has progressed well, and it looks like they’ll be ready to start taking boats […]
In all our time in the Abacos this year and last, Great Guana was one of the places we didn’t really get to explore. We spent a day anchored in Fishers Bay and came over with Chris’s parents last year, but both visits were brief and we only got to see Nippers and Grabbers. We […]