April 7 - 9, 2015

our two dolphins swimming  between us and Persuasion

a good luck charm

anchored at West End under sail, always good to keep up those skills

the fuel intake hose

that we cut off shorter

West End from the anchorage

one of the freighters

dredging is still going on at Lake Worth Inlet

anchorage after our crossing from Bahamas

pumping the dinghy up again

this cruise ship leaving out the inlet we just came in on, so happy we did not meet him … this cruise liner is taller than the trees on right

customs office that we are going to

on our way

this ship is getting repaired on a floating work yard

Joe emailing his son back in Edmonton, Canada .. Mary Ellen doing the same to her family to say we are back in North America soil

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see below

pictures  not in order, this guy is filleting the fish caught by his customers and the scraps are thrown into the sea for the fish above to eat

boats being loaded to cross the ocean

sailboats already on board

yellow flag down and U.S. flag going up

to North Lake Worth anchorage

April 7, 2015

We left Great Sale Cay, just before day break and wouldn't you know it, I had a fish on.  When it broke the surface and jumped about 3 ft in the air, I was sure it was another Great Barracuda, and as I got it hand lined in closer it was.  This one was much larger than the one I caught yesterday.  Unfortunately I had to cut the line and leave the hook still in its lip.  We where not getting our fingers to close to those teeth.

Today we had planned to end up at West End, Bahamas and take the Indian Channel to cut off 2 hours of travel, but when we got to Mangrove Cay. (4 hours later, we decided that this shallow passage was not what we wanted to do with the falling tide. So off we headed to Memory Rock, and then head south in the ocean to West End, an extra 2 hours of travel.

Two spotted dolphins entertained us for about 1/2 hour.  They swam back and forth between Modaki and Persuasion.  Joe got a small video of them swimming in our bow wake.

The wind was from the east and once on the ocean we had the fore sail out for extra speed.  At about 9 1/2 hours into this trip and a few miles from West End our motor sputtered and quit.  That sickening feeling overcame us again, here we are in the middle of no where with no engine, and a long ocean crossing ahead of us.

Persuasion hung back, to come to our rescue while we anchored under sail. We have anchored under mail sail before, but not the fore sail. It took us a couple of tries to get close enough to shore, and shallow water and avoid the other boat that was anchored. Finally anchor down (5:30pm) in 16 feet and wind backing us down.

We started taking everything apart again and found out that there was no diesel in the hose from the tank. So a blockage again, so why didn't we get the new tank, made in Marsh Harbour, so why didn't we change all the fuel hoses??

So this time we cut 1 inch off the intake tube that gets the fuel from the tank, and now it's not resting on the bottom.  We also changed one of the fuel filters, and it was clean.  We bled the system and 2 1/2 hours later we started the engine and after a few tries it started. We backed down on the anchor (it was already set). Then topped off the fuel tank, installed our jack lines and radioed Persuasion to say we would be ready to leave the next morning. Neither of us was hungry for supper, that sick feeling was still with us.

 April 8, 2015

Modaki left the Bahamas, just  before daybreak, there was no wind and it was quite rolly, all we could think about was "this is going to mix up what ever is in our fuel tank, once again "

We crossed with another sail boat TRINITY ONE, Dan and Lucy from Ottawa, 38 ft., and of course PERSUASION 37 ft. … After a 11 hour day, we are proud to say that our 30 ft arrived in Florida within 1/2 hour of these larger boats. ( Now maybe Persuasion slowed down to keep a watch on us and our engine issues )

On our lumpy crossing we had 6 freighters cross our bow or stern and had a warship 5 miles from us " MSC JAPAN ", it was not moving, just sitting in the Gulf Stream 1/2 way from Bahamas and Florida.

We saw lots of flying fish and our motor ran all the way. Every time we surfed down the 4-5 ft swells and the engine sounded different, that sickening feeling returned.

by 6pm, the anchor was down after 61 km, travelled in 11 hours, with east wind from Nil - 10 knots. We had our yellow flag flying before dark.  We still needed to call customs to get a confirmation number, before we went to see them in the morning.  thankfully TRINITY ONE, had a working phone and Modaki and Persuasion took turns phoning in for our numbers.

April 9, 2015

Mike, Mary Ellen, Joe and I dinghied to Riviera Marina to pay $10/dinghy to leave it there and walk to the Customs Office to check in.  Everything went well with Customs, but it took a while.  We needed a new cruising permit, $19, and got it for only 10 months.  Persuasion is taking their boat back to Ontario and their permit is still valid.

Back to the marina to take advantage of our $10 charge, we had showers, it has been quite sometime since we had a fresh water bath, and used the free wifi, to message family back home.

Then its off to North Lake Worth, about 1 1/2 hours, for an anchorage, we spent 3 weeks here in January, waiting to cross to the Bahamas.

Our first stop was AT&T, to get new US sim cards and a 3G package for emails etc. Then Publics to stock up on groceries.  Oh its so nice to be able to buy fresh veggies and fruit.  We had originally thought that the groceries prices where high in Florida (and they are, compared to Ontario), but Bahamas is twice to 3 times higher, and it is hard to get good fresh food.  I got us oranges, apples, strawberries, bananas, green beans, tomatoes, what a treat.

Tomorrow we head back on the ICW and work our way north.  Soon we have to say good bye to Mike and Mary Ellen, they are taking Persuasion home to work on her,  before starting their next adventure.