Into Nassau....

February 15^th – 17^th 2015

Made a reservation at Nassau Harbour Club for a couple of days –  I really need to get the boats fuel system checked as we have had issues with it stopping unexpectedly. So we left Rose Island for Nassau and just as we are getting close to the cut that is just less than 7 feet deep at low tide – and it is low tide … waves breaking on the reef, I decide that this doesn’t look good. I start a U turn and just then the engine stops! Oh isn’t this just perfect!!! I am able to restart using the other fuel tank – heartbeat returns to a more acceptable rhythm! We circle back and take a cut that is deeper which should have been my choice from the beginning! We arrived at the marina without any further excitement.

I was able to have a technician on board the next morning to see what needs to be done. After 5 hours of cleaning and fuel filter changing Ambition is saddled with fuel tanks that are very dirty – this was caused by years of no use and the fuel deteriorated in the tanks with no maintenance. There is no way to clean them easily but the technician was able to confirm that the fuel lines were all clear. I just need to watch the fuel filters closely especially if we are motoring in bumpy conditions that stirs up the sludge in the bottom of the tanks. With time and patience and lots of fuel filters, the tanks will get better.

The definition of cruising is – “fixing boats in foreign countries” – how true!

No pictures of the gross crude that came out of the fuel system .... ugh!!! 

Rose Island

February 13^th 2015

Bed was so comfy we stole an extra 30 minutes and lifter the anchor at 2AM. The weather forecast was to have NW winds this morning – well that didn’t come as expected so we are still motoring into a light SW breeze in the darkness but with a beautiful moon providing almost a lit highway to follow! We pass the exit point off the Bahamas Bank and into the Tongue of the Ocean – water depth within 4 miles changes from 20 feet deep to 6000 feet deep! No fear of touching the bottom here! As the morning progresses, the wind slowly makes its shift to NM by 8AM but with the wind behind up and not very strong, we will not make our destination by sail only – tried opening the genoa to give me the illusion of sailing but after a couple hours of it flopping around, rolled it up and added throttle. No action with either of the fishin’ sticks today. Good thing Maryse has other food in the freezer – my fishing skills wouldn’t feed the family!

The tiny cut between Rose Island and Rose Island rocks was “interesting” the ocean waves of 5 to 7 feet were now pushing from behind. As the depth decreased from a few hundred feet to just 15 feet the waves grew in height and started breaking. Call me Captain Concentrated as I tried to not let Ambition get pushed sideways – would not have been good! Didn’t know I could hold my breath that long but the waves flattened out once through the cut and we quickly made for the little bay on the south side of Rose Island, anchored and fired up the BBQ for the first time …. Cold beer and a BBQ dinner – this is really good!

Bimini to Rose Island

February 12, 2015

It seems like cold fronts are rolling off the east coast of the US every 48 to 72 hours. So it is the right time to leave Bimini in our wake and head further south. We need to wait for almost a high tide to make sure we were able to skim over the sand bars at the entrance. This gave us a 10AM departure, well behind at least 20 boats that left ahead of us. As we pulled out there were left over swells from the last two extremely windy days – I held my breath as we transited the skinny parts as the boat dropped between two waves. Deep water was gained and never touched bottom – sweet! We did get the fishin’ sticks in the water today and landed our first fish of the season, a horse eye jack – not a great eating fish so we sent him back to grow up some more.

Our route from Bimini to Rose Island near Nassau was move than 24 hours and there are some sections that I really didn’t want to do in darkness so we decided to sail (or better said motored again as the weather gods used up all the wind the last two days)

to Mackie Shoal. This shoal is a shallow section of water about a mile long and only 6.5 feet deep in the middle of the Grand Bahamas Bank, a huge expanse of water where land is not seen in any direction. We anchored Ambition for the first time in 11 feet of crystal clear water. Maryse did a great job with the new anchor and windlass controls. There are 9 other boats anchored with us – guess I was not the only one with this navigation strategy! We sat on the aft deck and watched the sun set over an empty ocean – WOW – beautiful. Plan is to be back under way at 1:30 Friday morning yyaaaawwnn, to reach our destination. 

Bimini - a great first stop

February 10, 2015

The weather gods were right and I am glad that I didn’t spend anytime washing the boat upon arrival – the skies opened up overnight and it just poured – Ambition was thankful for the automatic and free fresh water shower! All the deck salt is gone and she sparkles again.

This morning, the entrance to Bimini is awash with breaking waves – wind is 25 gusting 35 knots from the wrong direction to allow us to move on further across the banks and closer to Nassau and the Exumas. 

 It will be Thursday before our next opportunity to move. So Maryse and I set off for a walkabout and stopped at Joe’s Conch Shop for our first Bahamian conch salad – for those that have never had one – you don’t know what you are missing – chunks of raw conch served in a bowl with chopped onion, tomato, bell peppers lots of lime juice and orange juice – chased with a very cold Kalik beer … oh life is good!

Finally in the Bahamas .......

February 9, 2015

Well the weather gods gave us a little grace and offered up a weather window to get to the Bahamas. We dropped our dock lines at Key West at 10AM Monday the 8^th and set out for an overnight ride to Bimini, Bahamas. As predicted, we had a 15 to 20 knot east wind on the nose for the first 6 hours or so but as soon as we were able to add some north to our course we opened up the staysail and full mainsail. We motor sailed the entire 175 miles to Bimini as the wind was either 25 / 35 degrees off the nose or not strong enough to be able to turn the engine off. On the positive side the waves were 2 feet or less and with a partly cloudy sky we enjoyed a bright moon to see by. My first experience with the new AIS (Automatic Identification System) and it was very helpful as we were passed by no less than 8 cruise ships and cargo ships – the data provided makes it so easy to understand their course / speed and if a collision is possible. The system is mandatory for large ships and optional for pleasure craft – I have noticed that there are lot more personal boats that have them on board than eve two years ago. They also see all the data from Ambition – boat name, boat details, course, speed etc. I needed to change course for at least one cruise ship – apparently bigger does matter!  

I wanted to be in Bimini before noon as the weather gods were not overly kind! The entrance to Bimini is now much better indicated than the last time we were here but the water is still VERY thin – we arrived at almost high tide giving us an extra 2 feet of water depth – we gingerly entered with never less than 2 feet of water under the keel!

Cut into Bimini from Browns Marina

It became obvious that we were not the only ones that decided to make the jump from the US to the Bahamas – there were at least 40 other boats that arrived in Bimini along with us. The marinas are full and the line-ups to clear customs and immigration are the equivalent to a summer long weekend to Plattsburgh! The $300 winter visiting boat visa and fishing license is all done and we are officially ready to enjoy the Bahamas for the rest of the winter.  YYYEEESSSSS!!!!!

February 10, 2015

The weather gods were right and I am glad that I didn’t spend anytime washing the boat upon arrival – the skies opened up overnight and it just poured – Ambition was thankful for the automatic and free fresh water shower! All the deck salt is gone and she sparkles again.

This morning, the entrance to Bimini is awash with breaking waves – wind is 25 gusting 35 knots from the wrong direction to allow us to move on further across the banks and closer to Nassau and the Exumas. 

What a difference 24 hours makes ... ugh!

The beach view towards the gulf stream

Joe's Conch Shop

It will be Thursday before our next opportunity to move. So Maryse and I set off for a walkabout and stopped at Joe’s Conch Shop for our first Bahamian conch salad – for those that have never had one – you don’t know what you are missing – chunks of raw conch served in a bowl with chopped onion, tomato, bell peppers lots of lime juice and orange juice – chased with a very cold Kalik beer … oh life is good!