Saturday, January 11, 2014

Florida to Bahamas

Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas
23 31.81 N 075 46.03 W

We spent the month of November working our way south along the Florida east coast stopping to visit friends along the way.


We stopped in Satellite Beach for a week to visit Rich & Carol Wellman (who recently traded in their Manta cat Great Catsby for an RV).  Jim & Lori of Kismet along with Jim & Bentley of Salty Paws, were both anchored near by and joined us on Carina for dinner.

Our next stop was Delray Beach to visit our friends Mattie & Ed Sears. They had sold their Manta cat Piscataqua this summer and offered us their former dock while we visited and provisioned.

Mattie lent us her little Fiat for two days of major provisioning. 6 months supply of cat food, kitty litter, paper goods, food and booze.

South Beach Miami

Dolphin escort along the Florida coast (our spinnaker furling lines in foreground)
 We spent the first two weeks of December in the Key Biscayne and Key Largo area while waiting for a favorable weather window to cross the gulf stream to the Bahamas. That window arrived on Sunday Dec 15th. We had a fantastic sail across the stream and continued overnight on the Great Bahama Banks and Tongue of the Ocean, arriving in Nassau the following morning.

Anchored at Hawksbill Cay. We only spent one day 1 day in Nassau before continuing on to Norman's Cay and then onto Hawksbill Cay where we spent nearly a week exploring and sitting out strong winds.

Kathy with the cruising couples of Glory Days, Serenity and Sequence at Hawksbill Cay
 
The underwater sculpture "The Musician" lies in about 15' depth water off the lower SW side of Rudder Cut Cay. ( N23 52.162 - W 76 14.162) It is a life size replica of a grand piano and a mermaid  commissioned by David Copperfield (who happens to own the group of islands - Musha Cay, Lansing Cay and Rudder Cut Cay). http://www.underwatersculpture.com/projects/copperfield/ 
Anchored at Williams Bay, Lee Stocking Island

We arrived in Georgetown on the island of Great Exuma on Dec. 30. Our friend Ted Bowen and his son Sean flew in to visit us for the New Years.

Another memorable meal

Sunset over Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown from the Monument