Some more pic's

Our oil leak was caused by a crack in the oil cooler, we ordered a new piece and Pierre once again fixed the problem.  Our GPS connectors have been changed and we have also bought an exterior antenna (back-up) although we don't  plan to go through this again, one never knows.  We hired a crew to come clean out the bilge which was full of oil, real messy business!

So for now we are waiting on a few replacement parts, and we should soon be on our way to Quebec.  I must admit that being here at Harbortown Marina is real nice, the dock masters are just wonderful people, a super place to be!

Boats waiting at Mangrove before our crossing!

Mangrove, no one knew what was coming...

Flyer

Odyssey IV

Old Sam

Thank you, thank you Flyer and Old Sam for keeping in constant communication with us during our crossing, we were never really alone because of you guys.  And a big thank you to Snover who gave us a new CDN flag.

Part of the people who crossed with us, we all met the next night to talk about our crossing and what damage some of us had, some people have been doing this crossing for 15 years and they said this was the worse ever, of course we had to pick that night to do it :-)

My hero, Captain Pierre

My last walk on a beach

Kairos I from our marina back home, Marina de Portneuf. 

Last full moon in the Bahamas

A sailor's story

The 31st of March we left our anchorage at Allans-Pensacola, heading West to Mangrove Cay to get ready for our crossing over to Fort Pierce, time of departure 12:00 on April 1st.  What we didn't know is that during the day our engine sprung a leak!  Just before pulling anchor at 12:00 Pierre decides to check the oil level to find out that the engine room has oil everywhere???  So what do you do when you are in the middle of nowhere, not a town near you and you are ready to cross, after discussing our problem we decide to continue with our plans and cross anyway, checked to see how much oil we had on reserve, good lots of the stuff...so away we go!

We were 9 boats, just to name a few, Flyer, Old Sam, Snover, Sea Wings IV and Te Amor (sorry but I don't have the others names).  Big discussions between all of us during the day concerning the weather, our only updates were from NOAA, no one had Internet connections and Chris Parker does not broadcast on Sunday...we all decide okay NOAA is saying seas 2' to 4' with the occasional 5' swell, winds SSE 9 to 17 knots, going to SSW 6 to 11 knots. Ha Ha Ha!  What we did get was seas was 5' to 6' with occasional 8' to 9', winds S sustained 20 to 25 knots with gusts to 30+ knots.

Leaving Mangrove we put up our sails, to the East of us we could see lightning, no big deal, we aren't going that way, we were so glad the winds were good sailing weather, we had a 4 hour sail to reach Memory Rock on Little Bahama Bank and on to the ocean and the Gulf Stream after that.  Just before reaching Memory Rock the winds picked up, we had to roll in the Genoa, but we left the Main up, we were still running without the motor.  After we passed Memory Rock, all hell breaks loose, the winds really bad, the seas really high and Odyssey IV rolling in a high speed washing machine.  Waves crashing on the port side, Pierre, my hero,  getting wet and to add to this misery, one wave came down to the cabin and shorted our GPS (USB cable), no more chart plotter, all that is left is a small hand held GPS and this for the rest of our crossing.  One wave picked Odyssey IV by the stern and made her do a 180 degree turn, happened so fast we didn't know what hit us!  Another wave hit us so bad, we thought the boom had broken off, the noise was incredible.  At one point oil leak or not we had to put the engine on, so we would run about 2 hours and we had to add at least a gallon of oil, try doing that in the angry seas, well we did it.  Finally, we get daylight, the sea was awesome to see, I can't say I was scared, :-), I was to busy being sea sick, a first for me!  I was sitting in the cock-pit and all around us were walls of waves much higher than Odyssey IV, everyone of them slamming into the boat.   Pierre was at the helm the whole time, I wasn't able to hold Odyssey IV in those waves.

My hero, Pierre the perfect Captain

So here we are in heavy seas, no navigation, engine problems and all of a sudden water spouts forming not too far from the boat, that's all we needed!  Lucky for us they went in another direction, one of them was huge, we could see the water being sucked up...awesome!

On we go, at around 15:00 we reach about 15 miles from Fort Pierce inlet when we run out of oil, so we call Tow Boat US, and by this time I was just wishing they would come and get us!  At first they wanted to just bring us oil and said we could sail in, oh yeah, the waves were calming down 2 to 4' but no wind, like I said to the Tow Boat person, all we are doing is going backwards....so finally around 17:00 they came and towed us to Harbortown Marina, Fort Pierce.  We were tied up to a dock at 19:45, and so glad the day was over!

Our hand held GPS says we did max speed over the ground at 11.3 knots....wind plus current can be wicked.

A day on Elbow Cay

 Elbow Cay!  in all her glory, enjoy the pic's!

Hope Town Beach

Hope Town Beach on a windy day

 

Hope Town Beach

We rented a golf cart for the day and went exploring Elbow Cay.

 Tiloo Cut, taken from Elbow Cay

Tahiti Beach, Elboy Cay

Tahiti Beach

Entrance to On Da Beach, Elbow Cay.  On Da Beach is a very popular restaurant they serve great Sous (chicken and potato stew) and of course great drinks.



The gang at On Da Beach, Deb, Joanne, Pierre and Fred

Me, just below the restaurant On Da Beach

Pierre found us the perfect place for a picnic, Aunt Pats Bay, Elbow Cay

View from our picnic table, Aunt Pats Bay, Elbow Cay

We will be leaving Elbow Cay tomorrow, heading for Tiloo Cay and after that, weather permitting off to Little Harbour.

News from Hope Town

Odyssey IV and her crew say hello from beautiful Marsh Harbour.



On February 20 we arrived in Marsh Harbour and spent a week at anchor.  We were having big problems with our outboard motor, enough problems that we were afraid to go exploring with our dinghy, she would for no reason stop and not start again.  The vote was unanimous, we need a new motor.  We are now the proud owners of a new 2 stroke 8 horsepower Mercury outboard.  :-)  Now we can go places and not worry!

We donated our old outboard to Every Child Counts, a wonderful organization that helps needy children.  We were told that it will get repaired and sold.

February 28 we head for Hope Town, the weather is going to get pretty nasty so at least we will be in a protected mooring field.  Hope Town is such a pretty town, not the worst place to be stuck.

Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay

Odyssey in Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay

Full moon, Marsh Harbour

Marsh Harbour anchorage

Odyssey IV and Flyer in the background, Marsh Harbour

Maxwell's grocery in Marsh Harbour.  Getting directions to the fish market!

Flyer on her way to Whale Passage...the colours are unreal!!

Entrance to the Whale Passage, Whale Cay, the water sure changed colour

Deb and Fred from Flyer, our travelling buddies

Guess who!

Garden in Hope Town...just beautiful

Hope Town lighthouse

Evening Hope Town lighthouse

Heritage Day in Hope Town



Heritage Day games

Ocean side, Hope Town

Sunset Hope Town

Will and the talking dog "Lucy"

Today we have a rest from the winds, one day is all we get, tomorrow it builds up again to 25 knots for another 24 hours.  I must say that this year the weather is very windy and sometimes cold, nothing like the weather we had last year, but look, who is complaining, at least I don't have to shovel snow.

Bye for now!

From Stuart, FL to Mangrove, Little Bahama Bank and onto Green Turtle Cay

Hello, Bonjour from the Abacos!

We left Stuart, FL on February 2, once again heading for Lake Worth and hoping to get a nice window to cross over to the Abacos.  Our first day was a very short one since it is our last time passing through here, we decided to go stay at Peck Lake and walk the beach. Next stop, North Palm Beach.  Bridges, more bridges is what we did on February 3 and we arrived early enough to go stock up on last minute groceries and of course one small stop at West Marine, we were reasonable, didn't spend all the much... :-)  We met up with our good friends Rudy and Jocelyne on Gipsiya, had a nice happy hour with them, but sad news since they have decided to stay in Florida this year.  So the next day, our last leg to Lake Worth, our good-byes to Gipsiya and off we go to wait for our crossing.

We left Lake Worth February 5 at 3:30 and had a super crossing, arriving at West End, Grand Bahamas at 15:30.  Cleared customs very quickly and watched all the boats come in.  Old Bahama Bay Marina was full, it was the first good window to cross the Gulf Stream, so you can imagine, we weren't the only ones to cross.  We actually had a hard time finding a spot to anchor in Lake Worth because of all the boats waiting!

Moon rise in Stuart, FL

Stuart, FL fishing with friends

Odyssey IV at Peck Lake, FL

Entrance to ocean side Peck Lake, FL

Awesome beach Peck Lake, FL

  

Peck Lake, FL

Little bird, Peck Lake, FL

  

Searching for treasures

The sunrise Gulf Stream February 5 2013

Pictures taken within 5 minutes, just beautiful

February 6, waited for high tide at Old Bahamas Bay so we could do the Indian Cay Passage which is only 5'5" at low tide.  During that time we watched all the boats leave the marina, some going to Memory Rock, some to Lucaya...all of us saying see you real soon!  Not many use the Indian Passage, one sailor couldn't get over that we were going to cross there, he is actually afraid of the passage.  All went super well!

Our first anchorage in the Bahamas, Mangrove Cay, Little Bahamas Bank

Helped out a sailor on Outward Bound, he was missing some coolant and in the middle of nowhere, that is not such a good thing.  Came along our boat and Pierre filled up his little bottle, he was so grateful.  Us it made us feel good to be able to help someone.

We left Mangrove at 7:20 heading for Great Sale Cay, winds on the nose10 to 15 Knots,  waves 2 to 4 feet, very bouncy.  Anchored at 11:30 and once again watched all the boats come in, we were 9 boats at the end of the day.

February 8, 6:40 departure from Great Sale Cay, great day of motor sailing 15+ winds, we averaged a speed of 6.7 Knots...great fun.  We actually shut down the motor because we had to wait for high tide to get into Black Sound...BUT...even so, we ran a ground at the entrance, tried to get some help from the locals but no one was out there.  Thankfully the tide was rising and with the motor full speed and me doing a dance on the bow, we were able to get free.  After almost 11 hours we pick up a mooring and relax.  It is so nice to be here once again. 

The Other Shore Club, Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay

We plan to stay here for atleast 1 week, maybe after that head North to visit some islands or South, not decided yet.