Back to the Bahamas. FINALLY.  From the west coast of Florida, around the Keys and across to Bimini.

You may recall that we sold our Beneteau Oceanis 45 in 2019 after many wonderful sailing adventures. Almost immediately we bought a 2008 Island Pilot, 43’ motor vessel, which is much more suitable for the West Coast of Florida, with only a 4’ draft.

We were so looking forward to cruising again now that 2020 is behind us, we are fully vaccinated, and the Bahamas has reopened. It will not be as easy as it once was to clear Customs this time due to the strict procedures in place as a result of the pandemic. 

We left Punta Gorda on the 18^th of April with friends Carol & Jack on Toucana and Sharon & Dan on Rhumbline and set our sights on the Matanzas Pass Mooring Field in Fort Myers Beach. Five hours later with the boats secure on mooring balls, we took the dogs ashore to stretch their legs, etc. and after walking around town decided to stop and eat a little early at Nervous Nellie’s on the outside deck overlooking the water.  The dogs were quite happy and content sleeping under the table while we enjoyed our tropical drinks and dinner.

Back to our boats for the night and the predicted rain arrived and rinsed all the salt off for us. The next day the heavens opened all day keeping us overnight once again. We had prepared for a 3-night stay with the predicted weather but made the decision to depart the next morning in order to get ahead of the front. After a rough trip to Marco Island (rain & 3-4 ft seas) we anchored in Factory Bay. The sun emerged and we “watered” the dogs at the Rose Marina, filled our bag with ice and retreated to the boat for the evening. Our friends went to the Dolphin Tiki Hut for dinner where a couple of tequila refreshments soothed their sore muscles.

Strapped the fridge with Cappy's leash. Perfect length!

Sunshine greeted us in the morning! We were ahead of the front as hoped for and hoisted the anchor at 9:00. We enjoyed a nice calm trip down the Big Marco River past the little town of Goodland and out Coon Key Pass to Indian Key and anchored for the night. Indian Key is in the middle of Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Friends Tony & Kaaren aboard Peacock joined us there and we all took the dogs to the beach to play. And did they! Running, swimming, chasing and frolicking, then back to the boats for a bath and some shuteye while we humans got together for Happy Hour and discussed the plans for the next morning. It was decided we would depart at 7:15 for the 9-hour trip to Marathon where we will have our Covid tests in order to obtain our Bahamas Health Visa. Remember in the beginning of this post I mentioned how it is a little more complicated to clear customs?  Hold that thought.

Cappy's comfy

Next stop was the Faro Blanco Resort & Yacht Club in Marathon where we had scheduled our Covid tests at Walgreens for the following day. Friends Tony and Kaaren stayed at the Yacht Club and we all met for dinner at Keys Fisheries and ate stone crab claws and shrimp until we couldn't eat anymore! 

Waiting outside of Faro Blanco

The gang

Nancy and Carol

Sharon and Dan

Pineapples!

Slept well after a late evening and left our slip at Faro Blanco two days later for Islmorada, a 4.5 hour trip and anchored off of Lorelai where we enjoyed dinner, music and a great sunset.

Walked the next morning to Walgreens to have our tests which were all negative. While awaiting our test results we ate lunch at King’s Seafood across the street and were very pleasantly surprised with our meals. Matter of fact, my chicken quesadilla was as big as a pizza and was the best I have ever had. That speaks volumes! I shared the leftovers for happy hour and everyone agreed they were very tasty.

On Saturday, the 24^th we left Faro Blanco and motored to Islamorada, the first time Jeff and I have visited there. It was so much fun! We ate dinner and listened to live music at Lorelai and watched the sun go down aboard our boats anchored out. On Sunday we toured the Dive Museum. Quite fascinating!  Florida Keys History of Diving Museum

Penny, Dan & Gus

Christmas in April

Cappy loves watching the fish

Rhumbline

Thinking the art district had some interesting sites to be enjoyed, we walked there only to find most were closed on Monday. Dinner that night was aboard Rhumbline and featured lobster, salad and black beans & rice. Definitely a five-star meal!

On Tuesday we shopped til we dropped - girls only! The wind had really picked up in the afternoon which kept us from leaving once again. We played Mexican Train aboard Toucana until 11:00. Yes, we old folks still have it in us!

Finally, the wind dropped out the next morning enough to allow us to make the short run to Plantation Yacht Harbor, a pleasant surprise! It was located in a park and featured an Olympic swimming pool, a beach, walking trail and more. From what we could tell, there were mostly liveaboards spending their winters there escaping cold places.

The next day we left for Key Largo to once again have a Covid test. The Bahamian Health Visa is only good for 5 days so if you can’t make the crossing within that timeframe, the whole process must be repeated. This is done by walking through the Walgreens drive through, swabbing your own nose and sending it back through the RX drawer. Once the negative results come back everyone must complete the Bahamas Health Visa again and upload the lab report. The Walgreens was across the street from Snook’s Bight, a restaurant we ate lunch at in order to use their dock. Fortunately, there was an Office Depot next door where we had hard copies of our paperwork printed since we had heard that the newly created online system for boaters clearing customs was not exactly all electronic.  

Paperwork in hand, we anchored off Pumpkin Key for the night and rose before the sun came up to finally make the crossing to Bimini. Early on our way in about 850 feet of water, we caught a small Mahi. At 2:15 we were all securely tied up at the Bimini Big Game Club. Only the captain is allowed off the vessel, so the boys went to immigration and customs. Remember I mentioned how clearing immigration and customs had become a little more complicated than years gone by? This time we had one major problem. My passport was not aboard the boat. Yes, I had many copies of it, which had been uploaded (due to the new covid requirements) to multiple places…health visa, cruising permit, etc. but the REAL THING was at home in my safe. I was officially an illegal alien. So… most of you should now be singing that song…

I called my neighbor Mark, who located the passport. Now to somehow get it to Bimini. It’s not as easy as overnighting it in the states. The immigration officer told Jeff to have it delivered to the captain of the Casino cruise ship in Ft. Lauderdale, which was coming to Bimini the next morning, across the state from our home in Punta Gorda. Our neighbors offered to drive it there and left immediately. They spent the night in a hotel and took the passport to the cruise terminal the next morning where they were flatly denied the handoff. It was 6:30 in the morning and a Sunday. What to do?? Mark went back to his hotel room. While Jeff was at his wits end, I thought to call Makers Air, who I knew flew from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas. A kind gentleman on the other end of the line advised they did not fly to Bimini. He suggested a couple of possible Air charters, one of which wouldn’t open until Monday, so I called the other. Imagine my surprise when a voice answered so early in the morning. Unknowingly, at the time, I had reached the President of Tropic Air, Tony Marinello. I explained my situation and learned that he was in fact, on his way to the airport at that very moment. It would cost $1100+ to charter a flight. However, after hearing of the events preceding my call to him and learning that my neighbors had driven across the state to help me, he advised that if he had a flight going to Bimini that morning, he would hand off the passport to his pilot, who would be departing Ft. Lauderdale at 9:30 am. And charge me nothing. Mark took the passport to Tony at the Ft Lauderdale Executive Airport and Tony gave it to his pilot. An hour later my passport was in Bimini. Our cruising buddy Dan took a water taxi to meet the plane since we weren’t allowed off the boat until we cleared, which I guess classified us as literally in EXILE. When things come together like this, I have a restored faith in humanity. In the event anyone needs a charter flight for themselves or cargo transported from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas, I highly recommend Tropic Air Charters, an amazing company with a compassionate President. And I cannot say enough about our next-door neighbors, Mark and Brenda for their assistance. Without all of them I would have been headed back to the states instead of cruising with our other 2 boating couples here in the beautiful Bahamas.

 

Stay Tuned...

Time flies!

Traveling with Toucana and Peacock

I am remiss! The last post I made was in June of 2018 and since then, so much has transpired! To begin, it seems like yesterday, but in January of 2018 we visited some friends and family spread out around Florida while killing time awaiting medical appointments. My brother Don and sister-in-law Karen in Naples, friends Jack and Carol in Punta Gorda, friends Bruce and Ellen in Venice and on our way back to St. Augustine our friends Craig and Judith in Gainesville. A funny thing happened in Punta Gorda... aside from having a great time, we absolutely loved this quaint little town just north of Fort Myers. Canals grace the backyards of almost every house in this development, perfect to keep our boat/home for the past 4.5 years. We knew that we had a 5 year plan for living aboard EXILE, and although we weren't looking for a new home just yet, I discovered what I'm certain was meant to be for us. Upon returning to St. Augustine I checked to see what was on the market in Punta Gorda Isles and there it was. On the market for just 20 days and certain to be scooped up quickly. So, back we went to Punta Gorda the following weekend to have a look. We made an offer and since the sellers didn't want to close until the end of April, we signed the contract and headed to the Bahamas to revisit our favorite places until it was time to return for the closing. A couple of months later we sold the house in Ponte Vedra Beach. With the boat behind the house and new furnishings in place we stayed for a couple of months then closed up and headed to Maine for the summer to escape the brutal heat of southwest Florida.

Fast forward to July 2019: Back in Maine to enjoy all the things we love; friends, boats, island hopping, cool nights, and of course, our Sunday picnics feasting on lobster, clams, corn and all the yummy side dishes. We took another trip to the Bahamas earlier in the spring and returned at the beginning of June. 

Now for the exciting news! During our time in Maine last year we put our sailboat on the market. The gulf coast of Florida isn't the place for a 5'9 draft or a 64' mast, so we decided to look for something more appropriate. We happened to find our next boat right here in Punta Gorda! She's a 43' Island Pilot. Yes, a motor vessel. Strange for us, huh? Anyway, she's a 2008 and in good shape especially since Jeff is a non-stop putterer. He's either cleaning the engine room, fixing or updating parts and waxing, waxing, waxing. He has quite the reputation and people call him lovingly, Mr. Clean. Sometimes people call him a little over the top, unable to stop. His work pays off though. We get many compliments on the boat. Our friend Blaine, finally figured out what Jeff's initials stood for:  JUST KEEP WAXING!

EXILE (4)

We weren't able to take her to the Bahamas this spring, although we had planned to go to Eleuthera since our beloved Abacos was (and is) still rebounding from Hurricane Dorian. However, this nasty COVID-19 pandemic had other ideas. Our time in the Bahamas was replaced with time in our house. Amazing the things you can accomplish when you have nowhere to go! Like many of you probably, we cleaned the garage, I cleaned the pantry, closets, reorganized the kitchen, rearranged the living room furniture, etc and Jeff spent many hours tinkering on the boat. We took a couple of trips to boatyards so Jeff could paint the bottom, change oil and the like but we hadn't really taken any REAL trips. Somehow last summer, Jeff managed to pick up a bacterial infection in the bursa sac of his elbow. After weeks of antibiotics, it was surgically removed and he was on IV antibiotics daily for another month, which finished up probably around the first week of pandemic lockdown.  On March 17th, I ventured out for some groceries and was in total disbelief. The shelves were bare and of all things, toilet paper was nowhere to be found. (old news for most of us now) After getting past the shock, I headed home with whatever food I could find instead of what was on my list and stayed home for two months! In the beginning we had groceries delivered. After a while, Jeff would put on his mask and take his hand sanitizer to grab the things we needed.

Fortunately, keeping socially distant wasn't quite as bad as for some since we could get out on the boat overnight here and there. Friends would do the same and we'd be anchored out together. In the beginning it was hard to communicate. We'd be yelling to each other from our boats which had to be 50' apart! Even still, it was SO good to see our friends instead of the insides of our homes. We are so lucky to be living in Florida where the weather allows us to do this.

There were about 30 boats out from our PGIslanders group

One of our trips took us to a favorite anchorage called Pelican Bay near Cayo Costa just south of Boca Grand Pass. In order to get together with our friends for happy hour, we each took our own dinghy through a hidden entryway to a pond where we toss our anchors keeping us a good 6' apart. During one of our get togethers there were many manatees swimming (romping!) around between our dinghies, occasionally dragging one of our boats several feet. Spring into summer is mating season for these gentle giants. Perhaps they were doing so, although once in a while they would come by the dinghy for a pat on the back or roll over for a belly rub. Very sociable creatures, they are. 

Manatees splashing about

On May 17th, we embarked on a planned (well, mostly planned) cruise with two other couples (Carol & Jack and Kaaren & Tony) to head north and explore areas we hadn't yet been to. This is new territory for us so our friends were terrific guides! Our first stop would be to anchor at Pelican Bay again, which never fails to be short of fabulous. A short trip to the south end of Cayo Costa for a beach day, then back to the anchorage for the night. The beach is uninhabited so the shells are bountiful and the stretches of beach just gorgeous. Cayo Costa is a state park, which is why it's so beautiful and undeveloped. Two days later we began our northbound trek and arrived at our first destination, the Venice Yacht Club. The shopping in Venice is fabulous and just happened to be around a mile from the Yacht Club. It was quite hot, but shoppers we are (the men stayed on the boats) and that wasn't going to stop us. Needless to say, it was a successful trip. After having not been out for months because of the stay-at-home order, it was quite therapeutic. We donned our masks and slathered our hands with sanitizer often. Even ate lunch at one of our favorite places, which we had all to ourselves! 

In the distance, an egret fishing for lunch

Bodrum Restaurant

Always nice to have Mother Nature wash down the boat

After two days in Venice, we headed out for Bradenton and stayed two nights at the Yacht Club there. Once again, the girls took off on an adventure while the boys stayed onboard. We walked 1.3 miles to get to the trails at Emerson Point Preserve, then another 3 or so and back to the marina. All in all, we probably walked 6 or 7 miles. In 90+ degree heat. Thank goodness for tree cover!

Cappy, appropriately named as he's usually at the helm!

Toucana, Peacock and Exile through the Blackburn Point swing bridge

Toucana

Kaaren and Carol

Not sure what kind of fish those are. Can you see them?

Looking out toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Sarasota

An obstacle across the trail

A turtle soaking up some sun on the surface of the water

Pretty flower, not sure it's name

A brief get-together for the pooches. Cappy, Rocky, Casey & Lili. Photo credit: Carol Akerman

The next morning we departed to cross Tampa Bay before the wind picked up. We arrived at Gulfport Municipal Marina by 10:00 am so we all took off to explore the village of Gulfport. Brunch at Stella's for everyone, where they were following CDC guidelines for social distancing and the servers wore masks and gloves. We were seated outside where Cappy and Lili could join us. When we first arrived Cappy went straight for the water dish (even though we carry some for him) and plopped himself down in front of it. He was a huge hit with the staff.

I wish this water bowl was a swimming pool!

View from inside the salon through our "picture window" 

Just chillin

On the morning of May 27th, we took off and had the anchor down early so we girls could go shelling. Appropriate thing to do while on Shell Key.... The guys stayed onboard with the dogs since it's a bird sanctuary and no pets are allowed on the beach. After lunch we cruised to Egmont Key, a wildlife sanctuary nearby. We took our dinghies ashore and let the dogs swim along the shoreline.

One pooped puppy enjoying some A/C

After all that doggy swimming, we cruised a little further to anchor in the Manatee River. It was a very warm night so we ran the generator often. Jeff doesn't like to leave it on when we sleep, so we woke up a few times and had to turn it on to cool it down again. At 9:00 we headed off to Longboat Key to anchor. These were mostly short runs and we had plenty of time to dinghy to the beach and let the dogs do their business and play to their hearts content. The six of us enjoyed dinner outside at Mar Vista where Jeff and Carol ordered the whole fried Lionfish. What a tasty treat! They are a very invasive fish in the Bahamas and people are paid to kill them! All the meals were delightfully prepared and we had a great time there. Our waitress, CC (from Thailand) was fantastic and made the experience even more enjoyable. Our bellies full, we all headed back to our boats for the night. 

Jack and Carol

Kaaren and Tony

Jeff and Jack

After a great time and dinner with our cruising friends, Jack, Carol, Jeff and I departed for Marina Jack's in Sarasota. We had never been and wanted to check it out. Jeff and I strolled downtown Sarasota, most of which was still closed due to COVID-19. Most of the people we saw wore masks. This of course, was before the protests began. Thankfully.

We all met up the next day back in Pelican Bay. Peacock left early from Longboat Key and Exile & Toucana left a while later for a beautiful offshore run from Venice to Boca Grande. Once back at Pelican we spent a quiet evening aboard before departing early the next morning to head home. All in all, a most enjoyable two weeks with friends during this incredible pandemic. It's nice to be able to escape the walls of our homes to the walls of our boats with beautiful water views surrounding us.

Pelican Bay. Morning run in the dinghy to a spit of land for Cappy

Our faithful companion. Ready to do it all over again after a short rest

We plan on heading to Maine next month once again to escape the heat in Southwest Florida for a little while. Hope you are all doing well and we can enjoy getting back to our "new normal" in the near future. Until next time.....