Month: May 2020

We’ve really gotten used to overnight passages on this trip north so with a nice weather window we left Dania Beach, FL Tuesday morning and did an overnight passage off shore up to Fernandina Beach. After 33 hours underway we anchored just inside the channel. Fifteen minutes earlier and we would have arrived before the storm hit. As it was, we came in on a lightening storm which made for a quick anchor and a great show of lightening and jumping stingrays. The benefit of longer passages offshore like this is that we covered in 33 hours what would have taken us four days on the ICW anchoring out each night. And we didn’t have to deal with one bridge opening!

The next morning was a quick trip up the coast to St Simon’s Sound and Brunswick Landing Marina. Getting ready to leave the anchorage in Fernandina four dolphins slowly approached us on the port bow just to say hi. They really are attracted to the sound of the engines. A quick look up and a 4-5 foot stingray decided to jump completely out of the water not once but twice. We didn’t get any pictures of all the critters because by the time we would have retrieved the camera they would have been gone. Next time.

We have come to expect large ships to be anchored out offshore as they are inactive during this pandemic. Outside of St Simon’s Sound we came across the Emerald Princess II which is a Georgia gambling ship. 

Coming into St Simon’s Sound from offshore we were able to get up close pictures of the M/V Golden Ray, a 600 ft car carrier that overturned in the channel in September of 2019. It is being cut up in place and removed piece by piece. The ship had 4200 cars on board and a crew of 23. All of the crew were rescued. The same cannot be said of the vehicles. Estimated loss is $70-80 million for the vessel and $80 million for the contents.

Brunswick Landing is a nice marina with a big social presence. We’ve been here before and really enjoyed it but this time was a little different. In spite of the coronavirus pandemic people here are socializing at the free beer party each evening, getting together on each others boats, no masks in site, very little social distancing and it’s down right scary, at least for us. We have pretty much stayed on the boat and as soon as the weather gets a little better we’ll be on our way north.

As for the origination of Laa Dee Dah? Brunswick is the airport we were at when the phrase LaaDeeDah was inserted into our lexicon. Check out the story of how our boat got it’s name in an early post for the whole story.

What an adventure back. A 55 hour passage followed by a 36 hour passage and then 3 day cruises for a total of 106 hours in 7 days. The only time we were questioned was entering Bimini going to the anchorage. We had to fax over our passport info and a copy of our Bahamian passage approval and boat documentation to convince them we couldn’t dock and check in with customs and immigration. We were flying under a quarantine flag the entire way which means we cannot leave our boat except for an emergency.

Along the way we were treated to a fantastic lightening storm just east of us in the Exumas which lasted all night. Quite the show with continuous lightening on one side of us and a full moon on the other!

We also found a cache of cruise ships NW of Great Stirrup Cay. Seven Carnival boats, a Harmony of the Seas boat, six cargo ships and an unknown vessel all anchored in about thirty feet of water. We found more cruise ships and cargo ships milling around the entrance to Fort Lauderdale.

It was obvious we were entering US waters when about twenty miles offshore we ran into fishing boats everywhere and then closer in all the pleasure boats out and about because they can. Things are certainly different in the US. All the islands are still on full lockdown and here in Florida boats are everywhere. They are supposed to keep fifty feet between anchored boats and only a certain number of people on board based on size but it is obviously not being strictly enforced. And of course it didn’t take any time at all to get into a pissing contest on the radio with a fishing boat that decided to stop in the channel right in front of us. Welcome to boating in the US. We are definitely due for a mental reset now that we’re here.

About twenty miles offshore coming into Ft Lauderdale we picked up a hitchhiker. This little bird flew into our flybridge helm to take a rest. He stayed with us for about ten minutes and hopped all over the instrument console checking it put. At one point he sat next to the compass to make sure we were going in the correct direction. After awhile he took off but stayed with the boat all the way in.

We are anchored in Sunrise Bay, Ft Lauderdale until Monday morning when we meet up with the fuel barge and fill up before heading to Gillen Diesel for some routine maintenance and just maybe a new washer/dryer!

We’ll be here a week and then head north to Brunswick GA to complete our insurance craziness before moving on to Wilmington, NC and our summer berth.

…and we are out of here! Left Cap Cana on Sunday morning and set a course for OceanWorld to top off our gas tanks before heading to the Bahamas. Of course we always have plan a…and plan b…and plan c. Plan a was to leave Cap Cana about noon and travel overnight arriving at OceanWorld about 10am. Catch a little sleep, clear the country and on to Great Inagua Cay in the Bahamas.

Reality was that the Navy cleared us out of Cap Cana at 10 am Sunday morning and we were out of there like a bat out of hell. That means we actually had to slow our trip to OceanWorld to arrive after they opened at 8am the next morning. Then we decided since the seas were calm and what little swell there was was behind us, we would just gas up, clear customs and be on our way so by 9:30am we were once again underway. Then we started looking at bypassing Great Inagua and going directly to Long Cay but we would be getting in at 2:30 in the morning and anchoring in the dark is challenging enough without the coral heads. So instead we anchored at Acklins and had a good night’s sleep. It took 55 hours to see the turquoise waters of the Bahamas again. I had forgotten how intense a color it really is.

As I write this we are on a 36 hours passage to put us in the Exumas. From there we will head to the Berry Islands and then directly to Ft. Lauderdale.

Weather is anticipated coming in on Thursday so we want to be far up into the Bahamas for more protection. More behind that so we need to cross the Gulf Steam on Saturday ahead of the weather. It’s a constantly changing plan dictated by weather, insurance and a need to be in Ft Lauderdale for a few days for maintenance. If you’ve been paying attention we are on Plan H at this point.

Leaving Cap Cana was bittersweet. It was a great place to quarantine during the Covid crisis. The people were outstanding and we could get off the boat and move around instead of being trapped onboard as so many of our friends are at different islands. It’s also the prettiest part of the country. On the other hand is was glorious to be underway again.

We will definitely return with or without the LaaDeeDah. We made some good friends that we’d like to spend time with when we don’t have to stay six feet away and wear masks. As we left the Marina Cap Cana friends were lined up on the dock or on their balconies waving, taking pictures and watching us depart. We definitely felt the love in Cap Cana.