FORTY NINE BRIDGES

On Thursday February 27th we departed Vero Beach full of fuel, food and fun, happy faces! From Vero to Key Biscayne we have to go under or wait for an opening of 49 bridges. The days are long especially if we have to wait up to 30 minutes for a bridge to open for us. Night one anchoring was at Hobe Sound and the second was West Palm area. The weather was chilly, see Paul! We stayed 2 nights in Ft Lauderdale downtown. It is noisy and crowded but we needed to go and enjoy a couple of meals out before we leave. 

Mile markers of some of the Florida bridges. We keep track as some we can get under if our antennas are down. I keep notes to help us the following year. 

South of Miami we got fuel. This above photo shows how boats are stored. You are the owner, you call ahead and a forklift will bring your boat down and put in the water for you. I always find this amazing. 

Some cool watercraft sitting up on the boat lifts at houses in the canals here in Florida. Some like to go fast!!

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Tuesday we travelled to Bimini, we usually would not go out and cross the Gulf Stream when they say 2-3 foot waves BUT we have spent money and lots of time installing stabilizers. We turned them on and went through the Key Biscayne Cut. Yes, we know when they say 2-3 feet waves we are to add those numbers together and that is the real number out in the big big water. Yes, indeed there were some large ones out there. The stabilizers worked fine! See below the chart plotter. We want to go where the green line is but with waves, current and wind our boat had to travel and self correct and go in the direction of the red line. 

Bimini to Chub Cay is our longest day of 10 hours of actually nothing but blue waters 360. No islands, no land in view and actually no other boats in sight except little dots in the distance. We left at sunrise. Cool picture of that below as the humidity was 90% that morning. 

After travelling over 300 nautical miles from Vero Beach, we are now actually stuck outside of Nassau because of extreme high winds and waves. We are comfortable but "inside the boat" kind of days right now. It is very noisy and rocky outside on the decks. We have guests arriving mid-March so off to Exumas as soon as weather cooperates. 

Our view a couple of nights ago.
Yes, It's Better In The Bahamas. We are so grateful to be able to do this. We appreciate every day.

THE BIGGEST LIST FOR OUR BOAT EVER

One of 4 stabilizer fins

Our 2019-2020 list was long, detailed, demanding, time consuming, sometimes frustrating then rewarding, exhaustive and finally "get us off this dock please"!

We wanted to save money by doing work ourselves preparing to install the 4 fins for the stabilizers and Paul did a lot of preparation down in the engine room. We travelled down for almost 3 weeks in July (hot!!) to get this done. The major work was to be done in November when we were to be hauled out of the water.

In November when our boat was hauled out we got a few things completed that boats do when getting hauled out of the water.
Underwater lights, bottom painted, tuned up the props, rebedded a couple of cleats, changed all the zincs, had gel coat touched up, replaced the seal in one of the transmissions. 




We installed another solar panel and charger. 

We had to have an expert come and look at our davit Quick Lift to bring up our dinghy to the top deck. It is hit and miss whether it decided to work or not. We had to purchase a new rotation motor. 

We took off all our Led Acid batteries (1,100 pounds) except for our start batteries.  We added on 225 lbs of lithium batteries. This is a major job and major investment. We can run the davit off the batteries. Before we had to turn on the generator to move that thing! This will be a new world of boating for us this season. 

Some of the lithium cells, Paul made the connections and box

Our stateroom's air conditioning was not working and to replace it with the same unit was going to cost too much. We decided to go with a unit that we can run off our batteries. A smaller unit but does just fine. Paul bought it online and installed himself which,

 if you know Paul this is not a surprise. 

We had a custom-made stainless steel stand-up post/handle for our dinghy. Paul can drive it with his new tiller extension. This is great when we go fast and can stand up and read the water. 

There is a Flat Stanley in Paul's hand. A school project for our grand-daughter. He had to travel!

Paul changed all the oil in the engines! Need I say more?

And filters!!

We fixed our windless to bring up our anchor. This had to go to an outside source to get cleaned and fixed. Our windless was working but slow motion. This is very annoying going down and up. Plus, what happens if it fails while anchor still in the water? This had to be taken care of before we leave again for the blue waters of the Bahamas. 

While we were coming in to dock a few days back our reverse on Starboard engine failed. (See a previous Post). We are now waiting for a sensor before we leave for Bahamas. Time Out is ready to get out of here. I would love to post blue waters on the next post or something more exciting than this post.

Soon this blog will be dedicated to blue waters and me swimming with the pigs again? Stay tuned. Thanks for reading and following our adventures, good, bad and sometimes the ugly.

   

STABILIZER TEST

We travelled the ICW south for an hour and half to the Ft. Pierce Inlet. On the way dolphins came to play with our boat. That was the best part of the trip! I took my anti-nausea pill but an anxiety pill would have been preferred. The waves were five feet out there and not nice big rollers, these were fast and like a washing machine. Even with stabilizers, boats are not out in the big big water. The stabilizers had to go off and back on numerous times to calibrate and program them. I have zero video of when stabilizers were being tested because both my hands were hanging onto the fixed counter top in the galley looking at the horizon at the back of boat until the curtains closed from the movements!! Every time the stabilizers were turned off, I compare it to a contraction while giving birth, it is a short period of time but all kinds of things happen. It could be 20-30 seconds of agony and my internal screaming as I see stuff I had forgotten to lock properly or locks not working. The locks on 3 cupboards don't work well in five foot waves, and the furniture can't handle the angle either, so the couches are moving all over! That is right.... the FURNITURE!! The couches are full of provisions, no way to move back until emptied out on our return. 

This picture above was taken after we came back into the ICW. I had to stand at counter and watched this over and over and hear the clunking and "crashing" over and over. There is a trash bin, I was standing to the left of that hanging on wide-eyed!

There is a couch on left of above picture and is Paul's tool storage couch. I had to empty this couch, so we could move it back in place. It was way too heavy to move/slide. The above picture just shows all the heavy tools out on floor to give an indication of all the weight in that couch. There were canned goods in the other two couches, so a little easier to manoeuvre them back into place. 

Needless to say when the stabilizers were switched ON, they worked and the motoring was good on our way back. 

When we back into our slip at our marina here, reverse is very important! Starboard engine failed in reverse! Paul is a great driver and used his bow thruster to get us back into the slip safely. Just when one project is almost over, another pops up before we can leave for Exuma, Bahamas. 

The funny thing is.... Paul wants us to put non-skid on feet of couch. I figure if we need non-skid under the couch WE SHOULDN'T be out in the water that day? Or is that just me?


We are making our boat better with stabilizers.

TWENTY QUESTIONS FOR 2020

We get asked many questions and thought I should/could and would compile them into this post. Most of the questions are asked by our land-based friends but even boaters ask us some of these. Every experience is different of course, but this being our seventh time to the Exumas, Bahamas, I can share as much as possible. Feel free to send me your own personal question anytime.

1. How long is your trip over there? 
We travel from our dock down to Key Biscayne area (south of Miami) and head to Bimini which is only about 45 miles. That is day one of four to get to the Exumas. The second day is to an island called Chub Cay, this is a 10 hour day, doing 8 knots. We leave at sunrise and hopefully get there before dark. The third day is to Nassau and our fourth day is our first island and our favourite, Norman's Cay, Exumas. Now, these days are not always in a row, depends on weather and other factors. For example we may pick up guests in Nassau and they join us for the journey to Exumas.

2. Do you travel with other boats, are you alone?
We do not travel with other boats. Every boater goes a different speed. There are boats we see or hear on our VHF radio that are nearby. We have on occasion travelled a short distance with friends while we fish for Mahi Mahi but then meet up at the destination. 

3. What about Hurricanes?
We are not boating in the Bahamas during the hurricane season, June to November. Our boat is docked safe and sound 10 miles from any inlet in Florida. We leave for Bahamas in February and come back in May.

4. Where do you get your water from?
We have a fast and efficient water maker on board. It makes fresh water from the salt water where we are anchored. We never buy water and put in our tanks in the Bahamas. Our water is used for drinking, showering and cooking. Plus we have a combination washer and dryer. 

5. When you flush the toilet what happens?
We have a holding tank but after we are off shore we are allowed to dump it after it goes through our macerator. In the United States, we have to be 7 miles offshore, in the Bahamas for the private boats, it is not regulated. Private boats dump while they are travelling in the deeper waters. Salt water takes care of the waste, fresh water is never allowed. At dock here in Florida, we have a weekly pump out. 

6. Where do you buy all your groceries?
We take everything with us from Florida. I mean everything! The only shopping we do is produce. Our boat (and many others) are full of paper products, food, alcohol, extra boat parts etc. You don't want to buy anything down there. It is expensive plus in the Exumas hard to find. There is a boat that comes in 3 or 4 times a month to Staniel Cay, we take our dinghy in the next day to buy lettuce and such. EVERYTHING is on board. From Toilet Paper to cleaners to shampoo to chocolate! I shop basically every day for 2 to 3 weeks and fill up every square inch on Time Out.

I make many trips down the dock with my red wagon

7. Where do you store everything, how big is your boat?
We have 2 small fridges, and 2 small freezers. I vacuum seal all the meats and even bulk cheese cut into smaller sizes. We have space under couches and beds to store food. It is surprising where you can find room. I do keep a log to know where everything is. Our boat is 52 feet long. We have 2 staterooms with 2 ensuite bathrooms (head). We can sleep 6 if we put the dinette down to a queen bed! 

8. SAFETY, you bring a weapon with you?
 No gun on board our boat. As Canadians with no property down here in Florida we are not allowed to have a gun in the United States. Plus, there is absolutely no need for one in the Exumas. It is extremely safe, we sleep with doors open in the anchorage to let the air in. Any criminal would be apprehended fast and shipped off island by the locals themselves. It is a small town atmosphere where everyone knows everyone. Nassau is not as safe. We choose not to go out at dark anyway. We do have a baseball bat in our stateroom along with wasp spray. This spray can shoot 20 feet. Never seen pirates. 

9. Health insurance, are you worried about getting help?
We have our own health insurance for out of Canada that we buy. It costs us an extra $1,000 or so for the months we are away. It even includes a flight to Canada if need be. There are good hospitals in Nassau and a clinic in Staniel Cay. We have been to this clinic twice in six years. We do have on board many medications and first aid stuff.

10. You have a Bahamas phone number or internet?
We do have a SIM card for Paul's phone once we arrive, for the Bahamas phone number we use every year. This includes data for the internet while we are down there. It becomes the boat's "hotspot". We get internet almost everywhere. Even small islands pick up the nearest tower from a bigger island.  However, we do have our Canadian phone number always on in case of emergencies and a WIFI phone number. We Skype our kids and grandkids.

11. You have a smaller dinghy to take you places? How big should a dinghy be?
Almost all boats, regardless of their size have a tender to take them ashore. Once you are anchored one must go ashore to explore or take the tender to go and snorkel etc. We call it our excursions for the day. Our dinghy is our car, it is kept up in our fly bridge and a davit takes it up or down. Some boaters tow their tender because it is easier for them OR their tender is larger/heavy to lift up onto their boat. We have a pretty big one but not too heavy. Ours has a 30 hp outboard motor on it with power lift which is great when heading into shallow waters. 

11. Where is the nearest airport for your friends to fly in?
We have our guests fly in to Nassau or even better to fly all the way to Staniel Cay on Flamingo Air or if coming from Florida, Makers Air. We actually go to the airport in Staniel Cay in our dinghy. It is a fun experience for our guests to go from the small plane right to our dinghy and to the "mothership" Time Out which is out in the anchorage. If our guests fly into Nassau they connect to Staniel Cay. 

12. How fast does your boat go? 
Our boat can go fast if we choose to but the sweet spot is 8.5 knots. The fuel consumption is terrible if we go faster. At this sweet spot we just sip our fuel and it can last us the whole time there.

13. How much fuel do you take with you?
Just before we leave Florida we top up on diesel, we can have 600 gallons on board. Sometimes we do top up in Nassau as we are passing through. Our big generator uses this same diesel. We can get some in Staniel Cay but it is very expensive and very inconvenient with the tides there. Our dinghy takes gas and we have 4 jugs on board. Our 30 hp sips the gas; it is a great outboard motor. 

14. How expensive is it there to buy stuff?
Some things are really expensive and some things are reasonable. For example, beer is $65 a case in the out islands (American $) and white wine is expensive too. So we don't want to run out of this stuff, near the end of our trip we sell the leftovers to other boaters. Nassau is less expensive but we avoid having to go there. All provisioning would be in Staniel Cay when I need salad/produce stuff. This produce costs more but we expect it. We are just happy to be able to find cucumbers, lettuce, zucchini etc. And unfortunately the Bahamian government taxes food there too. We feel bad for the locals. We have our own washing machine on board. If we take to a laundromat it costs about $6-8 for one load of wash then to dry it costs extra. 

Four boxes of white wine!

15. What about the marinas there? 
It is rare we choose to stay in a marina. Once in the Exumas, there is a marina at Highbourne Cay, Compass Cay and Staniel Cay. These marinas are expensive and we choose not to stay in these. However, they are nice. We have stayed in marinas in Nassau when picking up guests or having a boat problem. We have stayed at Atlantis on Paradise Island. This is a great place to visit when we have guests on board. Our "go to" marina in Nassau is Nassau Harbour Club. It is right across the street from a huge plaza with shopping. We can reprovision there if need be.

16. What about restaurants, where do you go out?
In the Exumas, there are limited places. We have eaten at Staniel Cay Yacht Club and the Taste and Sea (purple building on the beach). Both offer great food. We usually time it when the boat has come in and we are provisioning OR we are meeting friends for lunch. Highbourne Cay has a nice restaurant and we keep saying we should go. South of Staniel Cay is Blackpoint Cay and there are 2 or 3 places there for eating out. We loved Lorraine's there, great fried conch or fish. Kalik is the local beer! They are so friendly here.

17. What about sharks?
We do get asked this enough times. We see only the small nurse sharks that bottom feed. They move super slow and are never a threat. We have not seen other sharks other than in Bimini or Nassau while docked at a marina. One never swims at marinas anyways. These bigger sharks are around only because there is some fish cleaning going on. They are a great sight to see. We snorkel lot and I have not seen any and IF I ever do I hope I would just keep calm and go back to boat. I have swam beside 2 huge loggerhead turtles though. You have to keep your distance from all wild life in general. 

"Swimming" with the nurse sharks, Staniel Cay. 

18. What kind of anchor to you have, aren't you worried you will float away?
We have a huge anchor with lots of good chain. We are super confident in it. We have been in big wind storms and have not dragged an inch. We have systems on board though if we ever do drag. Paul has an app on his phone that if we move the alarm goes off. We know it works because Paul has taken his phone with us in the dinghy and then the alarms goes off because it thinks our big boat has moved. Too funny! 

19. What happens if something breaks and you need a part?
This has happened and if a boater hasn't had it happen, it will. We have extra everything on board but we can order it through Amazon or West Marine (or anywhere), ship to Ft. Lauderdale to MakersAir and they will fly it to Staniel Cay. It is fast and efficient. We have used this on occasion. Paul is a fix-it type of guy. Plus, we have a great boating community, all boaters have extra stuff on board to help another in need.

20. Do you have a television? 
We are lucky that our boat came with a Direct TV (KVH). It is satellite and can track where ever we are. We get all the important channels but we do like to watch some DVD's we have on board. We do have internet in the Exumas so we can stream tv with that, Netflix, Pluto, Amazon tv, etc. We also subscribe to Sirius Radio. There is a channel that we love, YACHT Radio. Too Funny!

There are even more questions I have just thought about but this is long enough. I hope you find it informative and check back here soon to see the photos of the Exumas.

Please note that we have not gone further south than Musha Cay so we cannot comment on Georgetown. 

DINGHY DETAILED!!

We have had a problem with the mold on our dinghy not coming off and breeding ground for more and more. Florida is not kind to her. 

The two pictures above are the BEFORE. See below the transformation! Now, we will see how it lasts in Bahamas, this paint had good reviews.

Yoga mat is a great non-skid that we adhere to the parts of the dinghy that is slippery when wet (which is too often).

There is probably enough yoga mat for me to do yoga! Ha ha ha, just kidding, I don't do yoga. We will use it for lining a drawer or something. 

Our dinghy is our "car"! We don't like using a beat up old clunker down there, Engine is fantastic, so a new paint job is all it needed.

     

PAINTING A DINGHY?

PAINTING A DINGHY?? Be honest have you heard of this before? We have had the paint on board. Our poor dinghy (our car in the Bahamas) is in need of TLC. It looks awful, mold has seeped in and grows and grows. No amount of cleaning supplies has helped. To get one more year out of our "car", we are painting it today!

MOLD

Paul did one coat and looked pretty good. Will post tomorrow when two coats on the whole dinghy. It is amazing paint and went on well. The blue tape preparation was the real work (me for a lot of it), just kidding. 

See this awesome handle on our boat.... it was just installed! I don't know what we did beforehand.... wait, I do remember, I fell once on the dock! Paul bought for my birthday along with the cool set of drawers, see below. We actually have room in our stateroom for this. And believe or not, the top drawer is empty! 

Many boats arriving for the winter season, including this regular fishing boat. He is ready to go out for the day with his captain on board. Gulf Stream fishing needs a license (Florida), I think next year we should get one.

LITHIUM IS OUR NEW WAY

We are celebrating many new things on board Time Out. Two are very important! Number one is the fact that we are installing lithium batteries. Below is our first test one before we order more. It was like Christmas onboard. 

This is 4 cells attached together

Paul had measurements and had special plastic made to store the lithium batteries in. His measurements were accurate!

The lithium set up is being tested down in the engine room right now. These batteries cost more, but weigh less and supply more power. This test battery weights 48 lbs (271 Amp hours). Next stage is to build a 24 volt (542 Amp hour) lithium battery. Basically 1,100 lbs of batteries are removed from boat and 200 lbs of lithium replaces those!

Our next major project is happening next week! STABILIZERS! Paul is prepping and installing pieces on the inside of the boat before we get hauled out. This is like four Christmases all at once!

Stay tuned for the next post.

We love expiry dates on boxed wine like this one when provisioning.