Category: 2015 Jan Positions

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2015/01/29 22:30
LATITUDE: 25-32.45N
LONGITUDE: 076-45.36W
COMMENT: Beach House -DOCKED-St. Georges Cay, Eleuthra – The Bahamas

We left on the falling tide from Little Harbour on Great Abaco at 0710 am this morning. The day turned out to be great sailing as we covered the 58 miles.
In about 8 hours. The winds were 13-20 knots from the NNE with a 2 meter swell. We needed propane and want to do a bit of marketing before heading out so we
took two nights here at Yacht Haven Marina (where we appear to be the only boat!). Tomorrow, we\’ll take the Ferry from here to Harbour Island which is the supposed posh spot of the island. It takes the route of the \”Devil\’s Backbone\” which is shallow, winding and full of bommies. As such, we\’ll let them do the driving.
They\’re fast and it\’s about 15 miles each way.

The weather should lighten for the next few days, but then seems to come back strong off the coast of Central Florida. We\’ll keep an eye out.
KIT,
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2015/01/28 18:02
LATITUDE: 26-19.60N
LONGITUDE: 076-59.92W
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED – Little Harbour, Southern Tip of Great Abaco Island

Yesterday, we rented bikes and took a tour of Elbow Cay including a nice stop off at Sea Breeze Marina (lunch) and the pink sands of Tahiti Beach.

We\’ve been under the influence of the weather that has hit the Northeast USA hard. We\’ve had strong northerlies which should turn more to the NNE
tomorrow and back off a little. It should make for a brisk sail to Eleuthra where we will stay on the west side at Spanish Wells. It\’s a long day tomorrow,
about 63 miles or so. We\’ve moved 15 miles to the south of Hope Town today through the shallow Abaco Sea. Glad to have that behind us and get closer to Eleuthra
for tomorrows sail.

We have internet today, but tomorrow we will only be back on email.
KIT,
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2015/01/21 21:55
LATITUDE: 26-32.25N
LONGITUDE: 076-57.55W
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED – Hope Town, Elbow Cay – Abaco Group-Bahamas

We\’ve caught up on the position reports as of this notice….

Marsh Harbour is a bit industrial and just a \”marketing stop\”. As such, we moved over late in the day
the 7 miles to Hope Town with it\’s famous \”fresnel light\”. One of only three that are non electronically operated (we think?) on the
West Coast of the America\’s. Someone has to re-align the lens every two hours. The entrance here was another very shallow affair where I saw
as little as 2 feet 6 inches under the hull briefly. This means our daggerboards have left their mark in the sand….(at negative tide!)…:-)

This is a classic \”Hurricane Hole\”, founded in 1785 by \”Loyalists\” from South Carolina. The locals sound like a cross between the British and \”the old south\”.

Blogs soon, we\’ll try a few photos if the internet here allows.
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2015/01/21 18:29
LATITUDE: 26-32.85N
LONGITUDE: 077-03.38W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 5
WIND_DIR: NNW
CLOUDS: 50%
VISIBILITY: 12
BARO: 1015.5
AIR_TEMP: 27.2C
COMMENT: Beach House – ANCHORED – Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island – Bahamas

With Mike Lonnes\’ help kicking my brain, we found that we had blown a fuse which fed the main battery bank alternators to
our \”house\” battery bank. We changed the 160 amp! fuse and we\’re back in the battery charging business again.

We had a lovely motor boat ride in flat calm seas inside the reef except where we had to go outside at Whale Cay (and it was still calm).
As Marsh is closer than Hope Town by a few miles, we decided to stop here as it\’s the Capitol City of this part of the Bahamas.

Almost all our teething issues are resolved. A few left including a small oil cooler/sea water leak (port engine) and a small coolant leak (starboard engine).
Both very resolvable issues.
KIT,
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2015/01/20 21:51
LATITUDE: 26-45.54N
LONGITUDE: 077-19.40W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 5
WIND_DIR: SE
CLOUDS: 85%
VISIBILITY: 12
BARO: 1015.4
AIR_TEMP: 22.2C
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED – Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay – Abacos – Bahamas

A long easy day, quite cool for these parts. Overcast skies. We\’re at the south end of the sound.
The depths on entering were shall we say….shallow! We\’ll go ashore and explore New Plymouth.
May or may not head the 25 miles to Marsh Harbour, Hope Town tomorrow?

It was a \”no rat day\”….:-)
KIT,
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2015/01/19 21:43
LATITUDE: 26-58.87N
LONGITUDE: 078-12.86W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 9
WIND_DIR: NNE
CLOUDS: 20%
VISIBILITY: 15
BARO: 1017
AIR_TEMP: 28.9C
COMMENT: Beach House – ANCHORED – Great Sale Cay, Little Bahamas Bank

Oh what a day!…
We\’ve had the following issues:
Our \”Navigate Mode\” on our auto pilot stopped working. With Mike\’s help, I think? I\’ve hacked and fixed it.
Our 24 Volt Alternators (which were just rebuilt) do not appear to be charging the batteries….ummmm
Our water maker seems to have over flowed into the bilge when the tanks were full instead of coming out the air vent as it usually does….investigating
Good news is that our generator with battery chargers and the solar is picking up the slack….\”as designed\”.
Other minor misc. stuff.

Last night, I was brushing my teeth and Nikki (who was asleep), screamed! We\’ve a RAT! The only open port was our stateroom hatch. Fortunately, (story in the blog to come), I was able to capture him/her in a bucket and out the port light he/she went. About 8\” long plus tail!…. As they can swim, I\’m sure it self rescued and climbed up the dock poles awaiting the next unsuspecting \”yachtie\”. Yet another in a long line of \”sea stories\”….:-)

KIT,
Scott and Nikki
Either Spanish Cay or Green Turtle Cay tomorrow….then Hope Town where we should have some internet.

PS: These are being sent in a group of 4….We\’re working on some web issues.