Still heading North

I am pleasantly surprised that you are still reading our blog and wondering where we are!?!?!??!?! I have received a few phone calls. Today Sunday May 27, we have left the Charleston, SC area and are continuing north.
We had a very nice weekend with Kevin and Jeanne in St Augustine.
We had been having a vibration on the boat so we stopped by our ole stomping grounds in Fernandina Beach. After making multiple adjustments to the alignment, we finally got a Cummins guru to come in with his computer to check the engine. Apparently, just like the new cars on the road today, our electronic engine needs a specialist. He determined that we had a bad fuel injector. Of course this was on a Friday. On Monday the new injector was installed and we are now running smooth as silk.
We stopped at the Isle of Hope and rented a car to go into Savannah. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed getting on and off the open-air trolley all day to view the sights.
We have been cruising about 50 miles a day and making good time. Today is a bit slower, however, with the Holiday, there are hundreds of boats out here and the Intercoastal is very narrow where we are today.
We have anchored out the last two nights and I am trying to use up all the food we still have left. We are both rather anxious to get home!

Back in the States

I know I know I have been very lazy about giving everyone an update so here goes. We went into Nassau but only stayed 2 days................nothing but a big, dirty city. We left for the Berry Islands on Friday, making it to Chub Cay. We kept an eye on the weather because of the storms heading East and decided not to dilly dally. We left the following morning for Bimini and Alicetown. By now the storm was predicted to affect the Gulf Stream and Atlantic by Sunday night into Monday. We decided to make a run for it. We left early on Sunday and headed for Ft. Lauderdale. The winds were in our favor all day and as we got closer to Florida decided to continue further North. We made it to Lake Worth about an hour before the skies turned ugly. The winds picked up over night and there were thunderstorms and hurricane warnings. By Tuesday most of the weather had eased up and we knew the Intercoastal was a narrow body of water with little fetch. We headed North to Ft. Pierce, had a very nice dinner and talked with Kevin. He and Jeanne are meeting us in St. Augustine on Saturday morning.
We had a long day yesterday getting into Cocoa Beach in time for dinner.
Today we are on the water again, the winds are still strong but Red e Tug o can handle them.

Heading North

Saturday we said ‘goodbye’ to some really nice ‘sailors’, even if they are from Tennessee.
We first met Serendipity, Optimystique and Restless at the Exuma Park and hung out with them down to Georgetown and back to Emerald Bay. We had a pot luck on our boat last night and I almost didn’t have enough counter space to accommodate everyone’s drink of choice. Judy brought her red wine in a mouthwash bottle, Nancy brought her ginger beer and rum Susan and Lee brought fruit juice in a wine blatter along with both coconut and spice rum. No one is sure what William was drinking, since he ran out of beer (he started with 27 cases on his boat). In fact between the 3 boats they had ordered a truck load of 42 cases of beer to the docks before they departed Florida. They also carried boxes and boxes of wine. Obviously we do not know how to pack! They have been great fun and I will miss them. Although I was a bit disappointed in Nancy when she tried to stuff Misty in her tote bag……….
I am not able to post any more pictures right now. My laptop died and Jerry's does not have a download program for my camera, but we will keep working on it.

Georgetown on Great Exuma

We are here in Georgetown on the Great Exuma Cay. We are anchored right in between two islands along with about 200 other boats. The entire area is really geared to the cruiser. There are volley ball games, softball, pig roasts, ARK meetings (if you drink too much join in, if you don’t drink enough show up anyway). There are picnic tables and chairs on the beach. There is a Exuma Regatta this week and the place is really jumping. This is one of the big events for all of the Bahama Cays. We will stick around for another few days before we head north.

Great Exuma

We had Easter dinner on the beach at the Exuma Park and met a lot of cruisers. This world of boating is really fascinating. Some cruisers are going south, some live on their boats, some cruise 6 months out of the year, etc.
We are continuing south to Staniel Cay and more. I think I have already posted photos of that area. I am running behind on the script.
We have been here on Emerald Bay on the Great Exuma Island for almost a week now. This entire area is being developed around a Four Seasons Property. There is a 1 mile long curved beach that is shared by the Four Seasons and several other condo and homes used for rental. The setting is beautiful. We have not seen anything else of this caliber since we left Florida. We went to dinner at the Four Seasons Il Cielo restaurant and had a great dinner. I could stay here another week but everything is very expensive, including the dock fees of $2.25 a foot plus the cost of electric and water.
Georgetown is not far from here and we still intend to go there for a few days before heading North. We are planning to go to Nassau, the Berry Islands, Bimini and then Florida

http://picasaweb.google.com/RedeTugo

We have been cruising the Exumas and they are every bit as beautiful as we thought they would be. The waters are crystal clear, like a swimming pool. Most of the islands give protection from the Eastern winds and seem to always have a beach and some coral heads. The islands are fairly close together so you can go from one to the other easily. We have been slowly moving south. Some are just a big rock with a few palm trees, others are much larger. Most islands have no facilities at all. We have learned to pack garbage tightly and are carrying it with us until we stay at a marina which may be another week or so. Now I know why boats are starting to put on trash compactors.
As an overview – everyday has been warm in the high to mid 80’s. The winds have been changeable but generally from the East, Southeast at 5-10knt. There are a few clouds and we have only had brief showers of no consequence. There are no bugs-none---no ants, no flies, no mosquitoes, etc. (and that was true in the Abacos as well. We leave doors and windows open and have not turned on the HVAC since we left the states.
We stopped at a marina on Highborne Cay that also had some groceries. We have gotten use to some of the prices but this place was a ‘6’. $6.50 for Zip Lock Bags, $6.50 for one large avocado, $6 for one cucumber, $6 for a loaf of bread, etc. I am so glad we brought as much food as we did…….in fact the freezer still has meats, as well as grouper, snapper and 8 lobster tails that we bought off of a fishing boat in Spanish Wells.
Today we are headed for the Exuma Park, which consists of several islands regulated by the government. Moorings are available as well as internet. We hope to be able to get caught up on email and do some snorkeling. In fact there is snorkeling just about everywhere, but the Park is supposed to be especially beautiful.

Hippos and Elephants

Well we did it! We went through the Little Harbour Cut to the Atlantic and down to Eleuthra. It was the roughest ride we have ever had going through the cut. Our cruising partners took some pictures of us and I will attempt to put them on here. We have now cruised over to Spanish Wells and will stay one more day before heading further south.