Author: BettyChurch

From Brunswick we headed offshore again to Hilton Head for what we thought would be an overnight anchorage. Found a great little spot on Skull Creek. Tropical storm Bertha came up very quick and we decided to stay put for three days and wait while it passed north of us. We couldn’t go up the ICW because of shoaling problems and it was too rough off shore so we did boat projects while we sat and waited. Unbeknownst to us, we were being watched….

There are some beautiful homes on shore and in one of them there was a family enjoying the view of our boat. By day three they were getting concerned that we may be having problems so they looked up the boat name and came across our blog and sent us a message asking if everything was okay. Several emails ensued and the whole story came out.

It seems that Ray, aged 92, was sheltering in place with his daughters and son-in-law from the coronavirus in one of those beautiful houses. He saw our boat and informed one of his daughters that he had bought her a yacht. One day we had a sailboat anchored out with us so he informed his other daughter he had bought her a sailboat. Apparently to pass the time they made up stories about “gypsy abandoned ship vessels that had gone adrift on Skull Creek where the pirates hailed.”

Thank you Laurie, Kristin, Scott and most of all Ray for keeping an eye on us. Hope we were able to provide some entertainment in these trying times and we really did appreciate your concern.

From Hilton Head we traveled up to Winyah Bay just outside of Georgetown SC. Truthfully they should call it HorseFly Bay as we were enveloped in a cloud of them as we tried to anchor. They chased Gary off the flybridge! The next morning he refused to go back up until we were away so I was the sacrificial person who went onto the bow to release the anchor.

From Winyah Bay Myrtle Beach was up next where we anchored again just inside the channel in a very small anchorage that we shared with two other trawlers and a sailboat. With a 180 degree swing when the tide changed at 2am it made for an interesting night.

One of the fun things about traveling offshore is going in and out of the channels for anchorages. Some of the channel markers have bells inside and it’s a beautiful sound to hear. It’s also fun to see how many pelicans can fit on top of a channel marker.

Saturday we headed to the Cape Fear River and a two hour trip up to Wilmington. The Cape Fear River has to be treated with respect as the tide runs at 2-4 knots and it helps if it’s running with you rather than against you. We also wanted to reach the marina at slack tide to make docking a little easier. Everything was going smoothly until the thunder and lightening started and we managed to hit the marina in the middle of a raging storm. We waited outside the marina at the bridge for the worst of it and then finally decided we were just going to get really wet. After docking we looked like a couple of drowned rats but we’re here now, tucked up all nice and tight and will be until mid to late October.

Travels with LaaDeeDah will go on hiatus until we head south again unless something really interesting happens.

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.

Just when you think it will all work out…

We thought we had everything settled with our boat insurance giving us until July 1st to be north of Cumberland Island, GA for the hurricane season only to find out last week that we need to be there by May 28th. Arrrgh!

This means we need to leave here May 3rd. We’ve petitioned and received permission from the Bahamian government to transit their waters and anchor overnight for rest a few times. We were going to try and stop at Oceanworld on the north coast of the DR for fuel and an overnight but it seems some of the christians there haven’t been team players. For Easter someone walked thru Puerto Plata with a cross depicting part of the crucifixion and many, many people showed up to watch and or participate. So now that entire region of the country is on lockdown. 

That means when we leave here we have a 42 hour passage getting us to Great Iguana, Bahamas, the longest we’ve done. IF the weather holds and IF the seas hold it won’t be too bad. If on the other hand we have seas like the last couple passages it will be exhausting and boring. Time will tell.

From the Bahamas we’ll most likely head to Fort Lauderdale for a quick stop at our favorite boatyard. It will be interesting to see how much they can accomplish in three days because that’s all the time we have before we head up to NC.

I’ll be stocking up at the grocery on Friday as we won’t see another until we’re back in the US and possibly not until we get to NC. The Nationale grocery here is getting a little thin but we’ll get what we can. We won’t starve although meals may get a little creative later on.

We’ll play golf one last time on Wednesday at Punta Espada. It’s been a pleasure being able to play on such a world class course. Quarantine golf has helped to get us out and keep us somewhat active.

I’ve made friends with one of the local marina cats. She shows up each evening for dinner while we’re having happy hour on the aft deck. She eats and then we have a 20 minute petting session. I’m getting a daily “kitty fix”. The other night she brought a friend who is definitely feral. He would get close enough to sniff my hand because it smelled like food but no closer. Guess he’s more into social distancing. The marina security guys keep asking me if we want a cat but we’ve agreed no more animals on the boat. 

So we now have one week to get everything ready and be on our way. We have learned from past experience that the time will go quickly and we will not have done everything we wanted.

This trip back has not shaped up as we anticipated in so many ways much as this spring has been different for everyone. We continue to count ourselves thankful. We are healthy.

As I put on my mask and gloves to go to the grocery store this week I was thinking, “this is my new normal”.

The island continues to close down even more. Inter island travel is discouraged with checkpoints set up on roads to question why you are out and about. They have now closed the beaches and swimming pools here in the resort. We are asked to wear masks whenever we are outside. Everyone wears gloves if they anticipate touching anything. Hand washing has become habit whenever we return to the boat as well as a wipe down of handles on doors with disinfectant.

The DR has extended its border closing until May 31 which means when we leave here we will have to go directly to the Bahamas in one non-stop run of about 48 hours. We really need a good weather window to do this. Getting tossed around for that long is exhausting so a nice, calm cruise will make it much easier.

Whatever we are faced with here we are thankful that we can still get groceries, we can chat with people as they walk by in the evenings as we are on our boat and they are at least 10-12 feet away on the dock and we can get off the boat and take scenic walks or kayak runs in the sunshine. We have friends on other islands that can only leave their boat for an hour a day and only to go to the grocery store. We are so very lucky.

Even with everything happening we can still play golf (go figure). So we went to Punta Espada the other day and spent a very enjoyable 4 hours on a spectacular course. Our go-to guy Edward drove us over and back (he’s also my grocery driver). When we got there we sprayed down the cart with lysol. To play quarantine golf you leave the pin in the hole at all times and don’t rake the bunkers allowing you to not touch anything anyone else has. Once in awhile we would see another golfer a couple holes away but that was as close as we got. No snack bar, no restaurant. All in all, we felt safe so will do it again next week.

It continues to look bleak back in the US with peak infections not anticipated for another week or two. We are constantly checking in with friends and family to make sure everyone is healthy and okay. So far, so good.

As the coronavirus continues to escalate we are in the midst of an island lockdown. The Bahamas has completely closed and will not even let anyone traverse their waters which means we have no way of getting back to the US until they reopen. Since we aren’t in a hurry to leave it’s not a huge issue.

Projections all seem to point to late April/early May as the peak infection level for the islands and east coast of US. We now have until July 1st to be back in NC. So if we leave here by June 1st we can do it.

The local curfew has been updated to 5pm -6am although within the confines of Cap Cana it seems to be more relaxed as we see people out walking every evening.

We continue to walk/kayak most days. The good news is that Gary was able to figure out the resort wifi and we now have vouchers for free wifi. Netflix is back baby!

On a side note, one of the fun things about traveling all the islands is the ever changing selection of food at the grocery stores. French islands are primarily supplied by France, UK Commonwealth islands by  the UK, US islands by the US, etc. One of the things I bought on St Lucia was pickles for Gary. I admit it. I bought them strictly because I loved the label! But Gary liked them anyway.

As the coronavirus rages across the world we are tucked away in Cap Cana, Dominican Republic. A very nice marina/resort with not many people around.

We have a curfew in effect from 8pm until 6am each day. The rental cars have stopped renting and we are becoming more reliant on friends we’ve met in the marina for runs to the grocery store. We’ve also made the acquaintance of Edward, who is the local “go to” guy. If you need it, he can get it. Thank you Jahrold for the tip! Jahrold owns Amazing Marine here in the marina, a local sundries store and we met him one of the first nights we were here when the restaurants were still open.

We will go to the grocery store on Friday compliments of Wally who lives on a catamaran just down from us. He lives here permanently and has a car. Everyone here has been very kind and helpful. We have multiple offers of “whatever you need just let us know!”

In the meantime we’re using our down time to make repairs on various parts of the boat and cleaning it. Trying to do one or two little projects each day and then take a long walk on the beach or kayak excursion. The marina/resort is rather large and connected by various canals so kayaking has become our way of exploring the area.

Everyone is taking the virus threat seriously so although there has been a fair amount of social interaction it’s been at a distance. Each evening we sit on the back of our boat with drinks and a cigar for Gary. That is the time that a lot of people are out walking trying to get some exercise. As they pass our boat, conversations are struck up and we get to know people that are in the various condos. Everything from the couple from Texas to the Russians from Evansville, Indiana (!) to the many Venezualans that have emigrated here. Wally is from Germany. It’s quite the international community.

We’re trying to keep abreast of what is happening in the rest of the world thru the internet and texts and emails from friends. The downside of this marina is that they do not provide wifi so we’re using our data plans. For the first time ever I used up my monthly data in less than a week (damn streaming netflix!) and am now on a time out. Gary has taken much glee in this situation as he is usually the data hog. Oh well. Guess I’ll find out what happens on Newsroom when we get back to the states.

Where to start? As we were flying back from the US to Puerto Rico news of the corona virus was just starting to become serious to the point where we wiped everything down on the airplane and were happy that the middle seat wasn’t occupied.

As we waited a few days at the marina at Palmas del Mar we kept tabs on what was happening. The decision was made to leave, overnight near Ponce, again at Pesquaderia and then on to the DR, all the while monitoring social media and the news, checking with PR, DR and Bahamas to keep up to date on developments.

We arrived at Cap Cana after a brutal crossing from PR to find out that PR had basically closed the door behind us. After two days in Cap Cana we were notified that DR was closing borders to all travel at least until early April.

So here we are at Cap Cana Marina and Resort for the foreseeable future. We played golf the other day and hope the courses stay open so we can do it again in a few days. There is a wonderful grocery store 15 minutes away that is open and fully stocked. We have access to a rental car. Although the restaurants are closed they do pickup/delivery so today we went to Wendy’s drive up for lunch. We also have phone numbers and menus for local restaurants when I get tired of cooking.

The resort and marina are both ghost towns. We periodically see a couple people here and there but we are fairly isolated which is both good and bad. Good because it’s easy to keep distance from other people, bad because there is no one to socialize with even from a distance.

Although we’re in a good place and probably safer than if we were in the US it’s difficult to be so far from friends and family during this crisis. We’re doing our best to query everyone regularly for status updates, knowing there isn’t much we can do to help from so far away.

We’ll have to adopt a wait and see attitude about how we get the boat and ourselves back to the US from here. If we leave this marina and cannot stop anywhere else in the DR we face a 48 hour run to the Bahamas. That only works if we get a good weather window and the Bahamas allows us entry. Of course we could just fly our quarantine flag and anchor out all the way back thru the Bahamas but we face the same issue arriving in Florida as so many marinas are closed there. And then we have the whole “need to be north of Georgia by June 1st” insurance issue.

Meanwhile we keep reading about shortages of toilet tissue, various foods and any sanitizing material be it wipes, gel or alcohol stateside. Through social media and internet news we see the amazing good of people as well as the selfish dark side of some.

Oh well. This is really a case of “control what you can, adapt to what you can’t and enjoy the scenery along the way.”

Wash your hands everyone and practice social distancing.

We had a nice trip home and were able to catch up with many friends and family. We seem to have returned to PR just as the corona virus started really amping up in the states. Guess it’s good we’ll be on a boat and somewhat isolated for the next month or two.

Tomorrow we leave Palmas Del Mar and head to Ponce and Pesquederia for diesel before making a run for the Dominican Republic on Sunday morning.