Green Turtle Cay - Abacos Islands

We got all sandy and had to go back home for shower and dinner. Believe it or not we wanted to catch the end of American Idol and promptly fell asleep during the last acts. Hey it's not for me, but I'm glad they saved that guy with the beard. More from paradise later.

Nary a soul on another lovely beach.

I know what Jenée's thinking - gosh, does Jim look good.

She's a keepah.

And wouldn't you know, we found another beach!

We find it's 2 for 1 rum punches at Pineapple's and - they have a swing. We drank and swang, drank and swang ....

We now go off the beaten path to find a quaint little restaurant called the Pineapple. Of course we blew right past it and ended up is someones yard. "The Americans are coming! The American are coming!" I think I saw someone duck. Oh, we laughed and laughed.

That's enough history. Hey look, here's Jimmy the maintenance boy now with some new hose. Isn't that nice.

Their town is pristine and what you would expect of a Bahamas town in color and beauty.

A large group came to the Bahamas and settled in the Abacos Islands and settlements like New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay. As a matter of fact the majority population of the Abacos is white and still holds allegiance to the Queen. Very nice folks, who were OK with me being from Boston.

What is the significance of the date? It was right after the American Revolutionary War, and all the Americans who were English loyalists fled there homes in the 13 states and headed to British East Florida. What is sometimes forgotten is that there were large blocs of Americans who had no intention of seceding from England, many of them vocal, and/or took up arms with the Brits. To the victors go the spoils and after the war was over, the vocal loyalists were harassed and run out of their towns. The quiet ones (many) were left alone and stayed - in Boston, they're called "Blue Bloods". East Florida was a safe haven until it was turned over to Spain and all the Brits and American Loyalists were thrown out once more.

Now for some history. We are in the town of New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay. New Plymouth was founded in 1786!

It is quite something to pull over to an incredible beach and not see anyone.

The way I look at it, I could just keep shooting pictures of beautiful, untouched beaches, or we can add a little color of our own. I'm happy to receive your comments on what works best.

And see it we did. I'll get to the history of this place, but let's go to the beach!

So we arrive Turtle Cay - I need to explain a few things. First of all, our generator quit 3 days ago, soon after arriving in the Bahamas. Secondly, I scrambled to fix the problem, diagnosed what was happening and got the generator restarted - for 30 minutes. I won't boor you with details (oh, yes I will), but it soon appeared to have 3 problems. That quickly becomes a jumble of possible remedy's, dead end paths, you name it. I felt it was a DC wiring problem, one wire that knocked out the engine control. I pored over schematics and lived with the thing for 2.5 days. My boat neighbors offered help and suggestions too, great guys, no avail. I got a local expert in, but he took all of the 2.5 days to isolate the problem - one wire! I just had this problem last week with a water pump - wiggle the wire it works. There is an old saying: Cruising on a sailboat is spending time in some of the most exotic places of the world, while you fix your boat.

Problem solved, your friendly grease monkey here was ready to get out and see Green Turtle Cay and the Bahamas!

Sailing in Paradise

Bahamas !!!

We sailed down to Green Turtle Cay, one of the target Cays in the Abacos. We found this great little harbor (OK, after 20 people told us about it). In there, we found the Green Turtle Marina which had a special deal - stay at the marina and all charges for food and drink offset the marina charge. It's like eating and drinking for free - which makes Jenée very happy! You can see Jungle over her right shoulder. Right shoulder!

Jenée wasn't sure the shots of us sailing trough this beautiful water would do it justice. You decide. The water here is on average 7-8 foot deep with a sandy bottom . This part of the Abacos Sea is in the Grand Bahama Bank and one of the reasons why people come to the Bahamas. The other thing we noticed is that there are so many islands to choose from (800) that you are many times alone - fantastic for me as I hate people.

And why am I so happy? Jenée and I wrapped up our backup main sail which is about 600 sq. ft. into this tiny package and we did it all on deck! Our original attempt had this at three times the size. On a boat, even on our big cruiser, space is everything. Next up, I'll take you through my ideas for effective deployment of Tupperware on board.

You can shoot me now.

And our next course took us around to the next island - Little Grand Cay. We ended up spending the night in this little harbor and had a great dinner at Rosie's Place. Conch for me, lobster for Jenée. We met up with a couple of sailors - Carol and Alex who've been sailing around for 5 years. They hail from - Southern Cal - small world.

The Admiral is quite happy, even though she hasn't slept a wink on the passage. Jenée is busy plotting out our next course.

Ahh, this is why we go through all the trouble. We pulled into Walker Cay (pronounced Key) at 10 AM to clear into paradise. All is well.

Well, our crossing was quite exciting. The distance was some 80 miles and crossed the Gulf Stream at one of her strongest points. We had a brisk 20-25 knot tail wind from the west, which combined with the fast flowing, northerly Gulf Stream makes for big swells (6-8 feet) pounding us from our side. Fun times. At one point, Jenée and Katie went flying off the couch below, while attempting to sleep - kinda like a magic carpet ride! Here Katie surrenders to the elements and just tries to brave her way through - inspiration to us all.

This is the last shot of Jungle in US waters for the next 1-2 years as we sail forward. This shot is courtesy of Tom Brennan.

Here's Jungle pointing east out of the Ft. Pierce inlet. To catch everyone up to speed, we are embarking on the next major leg of our journey. Destination: Mediterranean. We'll get there via the following route: Bahamas - Britsh Virgin Islands (BVI) - Bermuda - Azores - Portugal. We've got some friends to help us along the way and to visit with on the way. We'll spend a month in the Bahamas before Departing the BVI on May 5 and arrive Lagos, Portugal around June 19. We are traveling with 30 other like minded numbskulls, with an organization called ARC Europe. This org. handles all facets of safety, communication, events at various spots, etc. ARC makes the crossing as safe and fun as possible.

Tom lives nearby with wife Morganna and family. As usual, Tom was a great help, driving me around for may last minute stops. Not only that, Tom bought dinner for Jenée and me. Now that's a pal. It was great catching up with Tom.

We made it to our launching point for the Bahamas - Ft. Pierce. Our boat buddies, Charlie and Saundra Gray gave us the helpful advice that allows us to make a straight, overnight shot to the northern most point of the Bahamas, Walker Cay in the Abacos Islands. Charlie and Saundra have already sailed around the world and have been a great inspiration to Jenée and I - great couple.

Back in Ft. Pierce, we meet up with my ole buddy, Tom Brennan. Tommy and I met at the age of 3 1/2 - now that's going back a ways. Tom has always been my sixth brother, and we argue just the same.

And ... They're Off !!!

And she doesn't want to get to over stimulated - to soon!

Katie needs to find her sea legs as this is the first boat trip for the princess in 4 months!

Here's an outside look at the Captains seat. Where's the Captain? Did I mention the new varnish?

All jungle systems have been checked, re-checked and running smoothly. Except for the crap that ain't working. However, I did redo the varnish on the teak you see and it's shining baby! We also changed the port name on the boat from Marhall Islands to the actual port listed on the documentation: Bikini. So this is what you see on the transom:

JUNGLE
BIKINI

Pretty catchy, eh?

Ah yes, the new Marshall Islands flag flies beautifully in the late afternoon sun while Jungle cruises south from Cape Canaveral to Ft. Pierce, FL. From there, we'll sail overnight to Grand Bahamas, West End to check into paradise. Turns out Jenée and I love overnight, open ocean sailing. We always seem to have the sea to ourselves and we arrive at a new harbor in the daylight - much safer than trying to arrive before nightfall - and missing by just a bit.

But first back to these adorable love blobs. I believe your not supposed to interfere in any way with these guys but heck, once that hose is on, it's on! They'd come up every morning and say "Dude, got a little agua for a thirsty bro?" We told them we are going to the Bahamas for the month of April. They seem to say "Right on" While here I reconnected with cousin Dave Fraine and wife Roberta. Dave's not too happy with the cutbacks at the Kennedy Space center as that has been his work home for close to 30 years. In his previous job, Dave captained one of two ships that retreived the space shuttle reuseable rockets, as well as other less fun rcovery missions. It was fantastic to catch up again with Dave and Roberta and meet their cool family. Their youngest Kaitlan (another Katie) is beginning her professional soccer career.

We need to say goodbye to Titusville, FL to our flippered freinds, the Manatees. These guys weigh over a half ton each and just love fresh water. Everytime I clean the boat, here they come. To catch you up on our plans, Jenée and I are setting sail for Portugal! Now how do we get there? Simple, we sail, in order to, Bahamas, Tortola-BVI, Bermuda, Azores and finally Portugal. We've heard great things about Portugal, but more on that later. We will sail with ARC Europe and about 30 other vessels from Tortola to Portugal. ARC Europe is and organization that manages all travel and safety conditions as can be expected for an ocean crossing. We will be in constant contact with ARC and each other for weather, emergency, chit-chat, etc. It makes it so that if need be, we can sail it alone. However, I'm happy to report we have great friends who are even greater enthusiasts and are willing to crew along with us. We'll update everyone on that later ...

Jungle waits for our next trip - in 3 weeks to the Bahamas.

Katie girl patiently waits for our return.

We also visited my sister Sue and hubbie Mark and two of my brothers and families - sorry no photos. Back in Titusville, the admiral and I take the dink out to a little island for lunch and a break from our Jungle duties.

Hey look at that, I wear the same sneaks as my Dad. Nice.

My parents spent their February and March at the Flamingo Royal for the last 15+ years. It's one of the last old school cottage type resorts versus the high rises that line the east coast around here. Neat place. My whole family usually cycles through here at one time or another.

Back in Ole' FLA we pay a visit to Frank and Lorraine Fraine in Deerfield Beach. Here's Dad hangs loose in the cabana outside their beach cottage. This day was not conducive to sunbathing, so Dad and I hung out from the wind in the cabana.

Splash Down!

One last shot across the bow before e drop Jungle in the briny - pretty girl.

And here is Jungle with her beautiful newly painted bottom getting ready to be launched. the upcoming shots are of Jungle in in the cradle. I'll provide videos of her going in the water later.

The total experience lasted about 30 seconds and now the crowd takes the 4-5 hour drive home. That's dedication!

Jungle is still on land where Jenée and I perched ourselves on the pilothouse roof to catch the launch. 200,000-300,000 people came to watch the launch at Cape Canaveral - 10 miles away. They take all day to arrive for the 4:50PM EST launch. The marina let the yard staff off early, otherwise it would take hours to cover a 15 minute ride home.

Yes we are! We arrive back at the Westland Marina in Titusville, FL just in time for the space shuttle launch.

Katie's asking "Are we there yet?"