We continued to enjoy great sailing in May. Fewer storms, lots of sunshine, and not too hot. The cold fronts that come off the USA east coast affect the Bahamas less frequently at this tome of year.
Our first stop in the Abaco’s at Little Harbor was brief, just a couple nights. We visited Pete’s Pub for a yummy outdoor lunch. Folks are still friendly from a distance. No reports of COVID here at this time.
We enjoyed a 17 mile sail to Matt Lowe’s Cay just north of Marsh Harbor. What a neat remote anchorage! One other boat anchored nearby late in the day. Although we did not snorkel it looked like it would be a nice place for that.
The next morning we raised anchor right after the morning radio net. We went to Marsh Harbor for supplies for us and our buddy boats. Maxwells is so well stocked, it’s the largest grocery we’ve seen since being in the USA. We sailed to Crab Cay, just past Green Turtle Cay to rendezvous with U’Jammin and Wild Iris and deliver their groceries.
Sad to say goodbye to Jeff and Marsha on U’Jammin, but happy to see their big smiles as they head out for a few nights sail to the south coast of the USA.
The weather report was not yet right to head straight for Beaufort, NC and beyond. The weather fronts were still affecting most of the east coast regularly and the temperatures were much lower than normal. So we stayed in Crab Cay/ Manjack Cay with Wild Iris, hiking, singing, cooking and eating.
Lone Star made a quick trip to Green Turtle Cay Club to checkout of the Bahamas. That was new this year due to COVID! We’ve never had to check out in the past. We purchased one spare can of diesel to spend the rest of our Bahamian dollars and donate the change.
Statistics for our third winter in the Bahamas:
- 1192 miles sailed, more than previous two years combined! (2019-852 miles, 2020-337 miles)
- We visited the Abaco’s, Eleuthera, Exuma’s, Long Island, Jimentos and Ragged Islands, Great Exuma, Cat Island, Exuma’s again, Rose Island, Andros, the Berry Islands, and the Abaco’s again.
- No problems filling out the Health Visa for each move between the island groups.
Passage North
When we finally chose a weather window, we began by beating and bouncing into a head sea for the first 12 hours or so. Alex was able to act as liaison between us and Wild Iris, so we could keep in touch once we were out of VHF range. We arrived about 5-6 hours behind our buddy boat.
First leg: Green Turtle Cay to Beaufort, NC in company with Wild Iris. We arrived at 7:30 AM on May 22. By 10:30 AM all 4 of us had appointments at CVS in Morehead City to get our first COVID vaccination. We celebrated with Mark and Lisa with lots more music and pizza. We enjoyed a nice walk around town and dinner served outside with friends, Len and Robin. Amazing and a bit daunting to see Americans socializing again. Many are vaccinated in this area. Three days later a weather window appeared to head north again.
- 495 nautical miles
- 81.5 hours
- 6.1 nm. average speed
- 3.5 hours motoring
Second leg: Beaufort, NC to Cape Henlopen or Lewis, Delaware; the southernmost point of Delaware Bay. Glad to be at anchor behind the breakwaters! Nasty weather front kept us in the cabin. Cold, windy, and rainy. Long underwear and many layers of clothing at the end of May! Changed back to flannel sheets, extra blankets and put the cabin heater on. Welcome to New England, where it is not yet summer.
- 327 miles
- 57.75 hours
- 5.7 nm. average speed
- 21.5 hours motoring
Third leg: Cape Henlopen to our home port in Mystic, CT. Expected to motor for 24 hours. Very thankful it was a lot less than that!
- 228 miles
- 46.5 hours
- 4.9 nm. average speed
- 9.25 hours motoring
Summer 2021
We’ve had a very busy summer. Not a lot of time for sailing this year.
Our son, Alex married his lovely bride Jenna in July. Congratulations to the happy couple!!
A short break to sail Lone Star to Block Island during the week…
… and to Watch Hill to join friends from Shennecossett Yacht Club for the weekend.
We made time for a few daysails with friends and family. Found out Alex and Jenna’s dog Nani is quite comfortable as a sailing dog!
A week long visit with Mark and Lisa after they delivered a friends boat to Newport, RI to escape the heat in Deltaville, VA in early August. Thanks for more great times dear friends!
Then visited long time friends on Cape Cod for a few nights. Thanks Tim and Alex for the wonderful motorboat tour of Chatham harbor. I had no idea there were so many boats anchored there! Tom really enjoyed the small boat sailing too!
Anita’s sister Jane and husband Dave celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in Maine in August. Congratulations!!
And last, but not least boat projects! New Sails, and new below deck auto pilot. New running lights too. We purchased a few more items to take with us. There are always more projects waiting in the wings.
We followed this up with our second drive to New Hampshire to visit Tom’s Dad. More fun with small boat sailing and card games, or was it barricade? Fun times!
Life is good with us. Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing!
Sailing on Lone Star 