Thanksgiving in the Bahamas

Spent Thanksgiving week 11/20-11/29 in the Abacos.  We provisioned on Saturday and spent Sunday at the resort on the beach.  On Monday 11/22 we sailed to Hope Town about 15 NM from Treasure Cay.  We reached Hope Town around 11:30 am 2 hours before low tide and went aground between the red and green cans entering the channel across from Eagle Rock.  Clay the owner of  the Harbors Edge Restaurant came out with his boat to swedged us off the ground into deeper water so we wouldn't block the channel. We anchored there until 5:00 pm before we had enough water to enter the channel.  Once inside although crowded there was plenty of depth in the habor.  We picked up a mooring, lowered the dinghy motor onto the dinghy and went into Clay's restaurant to recipocate for his helping us earlier in the day.
 On Tuesday we went sightseeing, visited the famous candy stripe kerosine light house, had a wonderful lunch over looking the Atlantic ocean at the Hope Town Harbor Lodge and Tacos for dinner at Captain Jack's on the harbor.
We left for Fishers Bay on Guana at high tide on Wednesday morning.   We arrived at Fishers Bay late morning and picked up a mooring from Dive Guana.  We did some exploring Wednesday afternoon and hitched a ride in a golf cart to Nippers at the beach.  On Thursday we went to Grabbers and spent the day at the beach on Fishers Bay.  We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Nipper's Thursday night.  We sailed back to Treasure Cay on Friday morning and spent the remainder of the weekend enjoying the beach at the resort and exploring Treasure Cay before returning home on Monday. Will post some pictures soon. Heading back down for Christmas and New Years.

Back to the Bahamas for Thanksgiving

Heading back to the Bahamas for Thanksgiving 11/20-11/29.  We'll spend the week exploring the Abacos. Plan to sail to Hope Town for some shopping and sightseeing and stop off in Guana Cay on our way back to Treasure Cay for some swimming and snorkling before Thanksgiving.  More to come..........

Some pictures from the trip.

Tuesday 11/02 - Day 7

A new day has dawned and with it came the most beautiful turquoise water we've ever seen.  Our plan has always been to arrive in the morning with the sun at our backs so that we can see the reefs entering the Abacos. We passed Chub rock and entered the Abacos at 11:30am.  We followed the chart to the marina where we tied up and docked the boat at 12:30.  We put on a total of 98.5 engine hours since Annapolis was 98.5. 
This is one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen and can't wait to start our vacation but first we need to clean the boat and organize our gear after we clear customs.
All in all it was a great trip with a life experience like no other.  Here the Mai Toi will stay now until May 1st before traveling home for the summer.
We plan to maintain this blog throughout our winter's adventures here in the Bahamas and will be back for Thanksgiving.
Thanks for following along with us and we hope you enjoyed our adventure.

Monday 11/01 - Day 6

Monday brought more of the same... little wind but we had a fair current.  We motored most of the day while managing our fuel consumption. Dolphins, and flying fish abound with a few Pilot whales.  The water turned from green to blue as we motor sailed towards our destination. It was a beautiful sunset and our last night at sea before reaching our final destination.

Sunday 10/31 - Day 5

Happy Halloween... Things improved dramatically as we exited the Gulf Stream. Winds calmed down to 5 knots and were blowing again from the NE.  We motor sailed most of the day because of the light winds.  It was a pretty uneventful day.

Saturday 10/30 - Day 4

The weather prediction was for the wind to change from the NE to the SW. Our plan was to ride the NW wind through the night until the wind changed from the SW then turn 90 degrees across the Gulf Stream. 
The Gulf Stream is everything everyone says it is and more.  The winds were blowing from the SW at 18 to 20 Knots. We averaged 7.5 to 8.5 Knots under sail crossing the Gulf Stream. It was a rough night, seas were choppy at 4 to 5 Feet and we didn't get much sleep. We were on a broad reach with the wind from the SW and the rail in the water.   Hopefully things would improve by the morning.

Friday 10/29 - Day 3

We weighted anchor at 7:05am destined for Beaufort, NC. The weather was party sunny and the wind was at 18-20 KN NW. The seas were short and choppy. We arrived Beaufort, N.C. at 11:30am.  We went to West Marine and the grocery store for some provisions and had lunch at the Dock house.  We left Beaufort at 3:30 to head off shore.

Thursday 10/28 - Day 2

We got up to leave the Alligator marina at 6am but the draw bridge was under wind restriction and didn't open for us until 7:15am. The weather was cloudy with 5 to 10 knot winds . We calibrated the knots and speed over ground on the GPS. We also calibrated the GPS, the bennical, and autopilot compasses. We rigged a preventer to prevent an accidental jybe off shore. We arrived and anchored off Oriental, NC after 13.1 hours. Tomorrow we will head to Moore Head City about 4 hours away where we will prepare and prevision the boat for off shore for Friday night.

Wednesday October 27, 2010 - Norfolk to The Abacos

Jasen and I arrived the Waterside Marina as scheduled at about 8pm last night. After a short weather and routing briefing we went to Hooters for some wings, showered, and went to bed. We left the Waterside Marina at 4:45am amongst our Navy's finest collection of aircraft carriers, destroyers, and frigates. Due to a low pressure system and northeast winds we decided to avoid Cape Hatteras and take the ICW. The weather was calm, sunny, and winds were 10 to 12 knots. We caught 5 of 8 opening bridges and 1 locke which allowed us time for breakfast. The winds kicked up 30 to 35 knots as we entered the Albemarle Sound with waves 3 to 4 feet. We decided to lay over at the Alligator River Marina in Columbia, NC which we arrived in the dark at 7pm. All and all the first day went pretty well after 87 miles in 13.4 hours. Tomorrow we plan to depart at 6am for Orient, NC. 

Monday, October 25th.

Captains Mike Bancroft and Carol Vernon departed Annapolis as planned on Sunday October 24th for Waterside Marina in Norfolk, VA where Jasen and I will meet up with them on Tuesday evening. The SPOT transponder has been activated so you can now follow the Mai Toi's location and progress.  Just click on the SPOT link to the right of the blog.  We will update the blog again once we arrive Norfolk. 

Monday, October 18th final preparations

The Mai Toi has been hauled at Port Annapolis and is on the hard.  The bottom is being painted, the zincs replaced, the engine serviced and she is being readied for the trip to the Bahamas. The capatins will leave to take her to Norfolk on Sunday October  24th.  Jasen and I will fly into Norfolk on the evening of October 26th and meet up with the boat.  We will re-provision, water and fuel the boat on the 27th and depart for the Bahamas on the 28th.  So far the tropical forecast and gulf stream is dictating that we stay nearshore around Hatteras, then South at approx 77 W with adjustments for current.  If the weather is bad we will take the ICW inside Hatteras and sail nearshore to around Jacksonville. If we have a long term good tropical forecast, we will cross the gulf stream N of Hatteras and stay well east of the eastern GS wall. It looks like the weather forecast off Hatteras in the coming week will decide everything. 
We will update the blog again once we get to Norfolk and keep it updated for as long as we have internet service off shore. Right now we are targeting to arrive Treasure Cay in the Abacos on 11/3 or 11/4.  

Day 6, Thursday October 7th

We pulled anchor and left Chesapeake City at 8:30 am. It was partly sunny and pleasant. Winds were SSW 12-15 knots increasing to 15-20 knots in the afternoon. After about 5 hours I knew we were close to Annapolis because we had just enought fuel to get there and we were out of fuel. But that really wasn't the case. Apparently we used more fuel than I had calculated because of the rough seas and we still had about 3 hours to go.  Luckily we had 2-5 gallon Jerry cans of diesel and we were able to fuel while we were under way. We arrived Port Annapolis Marina and were tied up at our slip at 4:45 pm. 
Friday and Saturday we will be at the sail boat show and head home on Sunday for the arrival of a new granddaughter on Monday morning.
Jasen and I will catch up with the Captains and the boat again in Norfolk around October 27th where we will continue this blog for the rest of the trip to the Bahamas.

Day 5, Wednesday, October 6th

We pulled anchor and left Atlantic City at 7:00 am. We were greeted by a school of Dolpins who followed us out of the channel. It was a beautiful morning. The wind was out of the SSW at 10-12 knots and the seas were 1-2 feet.  We were able to close reach down the rest of the coastline. Since we should have been in Cape May we had to make a decision to make a run at the C and D Canal about 90 nm or stop in Cape May and lose another day. We decided to make a run for it.  We passed Cape May and turned into the Delaware Bay.  The SSW winds which had us on a close reach down the coast were now on our nose. The bay was very choppy and iratic as usual. We pulled the genoa and motored under main sail.  As dark approached we were still 3 hours from the first available stop over at Chesapeake City which is located at the East end of the canal.  We sailed strictly by instruments along side the shipping lane in the bay to avoid any close encounters with the tankers and containerships. We entered the canal around 8:00 pm and navigated our way to Chesapeake City where we dropped anchor and called it another day.

Day 4, Tuesday October 5th.

We left Atlantic Highlands at 6:30 am.  Winds were still out of the NE at 15 knots and it was cloudy and rainy but predicted to change to SW 10-12 knots in south Jersey with clearing skies. As we turned Sandy Hook to head down the coast all hell broke loose. The waves increased 8-12 feet and it was pouring rain. We reefed the main and genoa.  The wind was blowing 25-30 knots and had us on a broad reach down the coastline at 8.5 knots. We were committed to make Atlantic City. It was a terrible day and didn't improve until we neared our destination when the rain finally stopped.  At Atlantic City we found a wonderful gunkhole which Marilyn Aymar of the Unusual Suspects recommended, dropped anchor, had dinner and said a prayer before calling it a day.  

Day 3, Monday October 4th

Held hostage by the nor' easter in Atlantic Highlands. Worked from the boat and did some maintenance chores. Mr. B and my brother Steve drove down to visit us and have dinner.  The wind calmed down some during the day but is still coming from the Northeast. We plan to make an attempt down the coastline on Tuesday based on the latest forecast for south Jersey.

Day 2, Sunday October 3rd

I was awaken at 4:00 am with 25 knots winds so you know the routine.  Up on deck to double check the mooring lead. Everything was ok so it was back to sleep until 6:30 am.  The wind had calmed down a bit to about 15 knots by this time but it was cloudy and chilly and the skys were threatening.  What a difference a day makes. We left at 7:30 am to catch the ebb in the East River.  The water was really choppy but the wind and waves were at our back so it wasn't so bad.   The sun began to appear as we approached the city and the trip down the East River was quite nice. We hit 12.5 knots at one point. Things began to change as we entered NY harbor.  As we went throught the Narrows the waves began to kick up to about 4 feet and it became like a washing machine. We were comtemplating making a run down the coast to beat the low pressure system they were predicting for Monday but cooler heads prevailed and we decided to put into Atlantic Highlands early. We grabed a mooring at 12:15 pm and will wait out the weather here until things improve.  Hopefully by Tuesday.

Day 1, Saturday October 2nd

We left Guilford at 7:00 am as scheduled.  Pete & Joyce came down to see us off with Jasen who drove the Navigator back home for us.  Capt. Bob came out to the end of  A-dock to waive good bye as we passed by.  It was a beautiful morning with winds wereout of the NW at 12-15 knots with 1-2 foot seas. The boat performed real well.  We were into a real groove on a beam reach and arrived Manhasset 9 hours and 15 minutes later at 4:15 pm. We picked up a town mooring for the evening, had dinner and prepared for day 2.  

Two days to go

Last minute preparations, provisioning and maintenance today.  The tropical depression should pass here tomorrow and the weather forecast for the voyage to Annapolis looks good.

Meet the crew

Guilford, CT. to Annapolis, MD.
Keila Quintaes

Annapolis, MD. to Norfolk, VA.
Michael Bancroft
Carol Vernon

Norfolk, VA. to the Bahamas
Michael Bancroft
Carol Vernon
Jasen Toth

SPOT Transponder

The SPOT Satellite Transponder will not be activated until we leave Norfolk, VA. and go off-shore.

Itinerary

Depart Guilford, CT.
Port Washington, N.Y. Saturday, October 2nd.
Atlantic Highlands, N.J. Sunday, October 3rd.
Barnaget Inlet, Monday October 4th.
Cape May, Tuesday October 5th.
C&D Canal, Wednesday October 6th.
Arrive Annapolis, MD. Thursday October 7th.
Haul & Maintenance
Depart Norfolk, VA. ETD (weather permitting) October 27th.
Arrive Treasure Cay, Abacos Bahamas, ETA 11/3.

Getting Ready for the trip

With all the work involved in preparing and provisioning the boat we needed to take some time to relax and listen to the Eric Stone Band at the Lattitudes and Attitudes Cruisers Party before we depart.

This Blog Site

We will use this Blog to document our trip to Annapolis and the Bahamas.  Let's keep in touch and follow our travel adventures aboard the Mai Toi as we sail to Annapolis and Treasure Cay in the Abacos.