Our winter adventure is starting to come to an end....

April 30, 2015

Well we knew that this wonderful winter in the Bahamas would come to an end at some point. The last 14 days have been much warmer and more humid – spring is in the air as temperatures reach the upper 80’s F / 30 C! The winds have for the most part also been getting lighter which leaves us often motor sailing to keep our destinations attainable in daylight.

We also notice that at least 50% of the boats that were here over the winter have already made there way back to Florida – the bays, anchorages and moorings are much less busy. This is nice as we have lots of room for just ourselves!

The engine oil leak continues to be an issue – not critical, as I only need add oil every few days and change the oil absorbent blankets in the bilge.  The anchor windlass motor continues to operate even if it does take a whack of a metal bar at times to wake it up – a very non-technical solution!

Unfortunately our slip neighbours in Nassau, also from Lake Champlain experienced the less appealing side of Nassau – they were robbed while asleep during the night. With the hot weather everyone has been sleeping with everything open and fans full blast. Obviously this is exactly what the thief was hoping for. Cash was the only loss but none the less it is more than disturbing to know that someone was rifling through your boat and belongings while you slept. Apparently this is not an isolated incident as it happened to a total of 3 boats this week alone here. Ambition is very fortunate to be able to close everything and have the AC keep us cool.

Plans have been made for our return northward with a stop in St. Augustine. We will make the 380 mile 2 night / 3 day trip from Nassau for St. Augustine during the week of May 4^th as there is a very nasty weather pattern that keeps us docked in Nassau until then. At this point the dinghy is at risk of sinking with all the rain squalls that have been rolling through Nassau. The next leg from St. Augustine to New York City is 800 miles or about 5 nights and 5 days sailing. If the weather is uncooperative, there are always a number of coastal cities that we can duck back into for shelter if needed.