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  • Position Report – Hope Town, Elbow Cay – Abaco Group – Bahamas

    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

  • Position Report – Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island – Bahamas

    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

  • Position Report – Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay – Abacos-Bahamas

    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

  • Position Report – Great Sale Cay, Little Bahamas Bank…..

    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.

  • POSITION REPORT – West End Grand Bahama, Old Bahama Bay Marina…..

    AIRMAIL YOTREPS
    IDENT: N6ABC
    TIME: 2015/01/19 01:19
    LATITUDE: 26-42.05N
    LONGITUDE: 078-59.51W
    COMMENT: Beach House – DOCKED – Old Bahama Bay Marina, West End Grand Bahama

    It was a long day. 72 miles from Ft. Lauderdale to the West End here at Grand Bahama.
    We made the 7:30 a.m. bridge opening and passed a record 8 cruise ships in Port Everglades.
    We got to sail for an hour and overall the conditions were nice. A few bugs, but we\’ll get them worked out.

    We are using a new satellite email system this season called Iridium GO.
    Winlink may not take our position reporting as I cannot do it through their system via Iridium GO. We will still show up on YOTREPS and ShipTrak however.

    This is the SAME GROUP of interested parties I put on the position report emails in the past. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE ON THE DIRECT LIST.
    Just let us know and I\’ll delete you. Please do not think we will be offended. We want what YOU want….:-)

    Feel free to drop a note. PLEASE USE OUR REGULAR EMAILS.
    Nikki\’s gmails will forward to the boat. For me use WDB5638 \”at\” sailmail.com. My beachhouse51 \”at\” gmail.com will forward to the boat as well!
    KIT,
    Scott and Nikki (en route Hope Town in Grand Abaco (a couple of days away). Tomorrow we hope to make Sale Cay.

  • POSITION REPORT – West End Grand Bahama, Old Bahama Bay Marina…..

    AIRMAIL YOTREPS
    IDENT: N6ABC
    TIME: 2015/01/19 01:19
    LATITUDE: 26-42.05N
    LONGITUDE: 078-59.51W
    COMMENT: Beach House – DOCKED – Old Bahama Bay Marina, West End Grand Bahama

    It was a long day. 72 miles from Ft. Lauderdale to the West End here at Grand Bahama.
    We made the 7:30 a.m. bridge opening and passed a record 8 cruise ships in Port Everglades.
    We got to sail for an hour and overall the conditions were nice. A few bugs, but we\’ll get them worked out.

    We are using a new satellite email system this season called Iridium GO.
    Winlink may not take our position reporting as I cannot do it through their system via Iridium GO. We will still show up on YOTREPS and ShipTrak however.

    This is the SAME GROUP of interested parties I put on the position report emails in the past. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE ON THE DIRECT LIST.
    Just let us know and I\’ll delete you. Please do not think we will be offended. We want what YOU want….:-)

    Feel free to drop a note. PLEASE USE OUR REGULAR EMAILS.
    Nikki\’s gmails will forward to the boat. For me use WDB5638 \”at\” sailmail.com. My beachhouse51 \”at\” gmail.com will forward to the boat as well!
    KIT,
    Scott and Nikki (en route Hope Town in Grand Abaco (a couple of days away). Tomorrow we hope to make Sale Cay.

  • Beach House getting ready to start the 2015 sailing season…..FINALLY!

    January 17th, 2015 (UTC -5)

    Ahoy Friends and Family,

    We\’re in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and will head toward The Abacos in the Bahamas, Eleuthra, Andros and then may go exotic!…Stay tuned.
    We should be in Panama on the East side of the Canal in April with lots of stops in Central America along the way.
    We\’ve done a tremendous amount of work on board this past summer and Beach House is in great shape.

    This is just a reminder that we\’re here and getting ready to blog away again this season.
    It\’s also a test of our new email satellite service to see if it works and posts this correctly.

    Please feel free to keep in touch at any email address you may have for us!
    Welcome back to the Voyages of s/v Beach House
    Scott and Nikki (who just had a new grandbaby!)

     

  • POSITION REPORT – New River City Marina – Ft. Lauderdale, Florida – USA

    YOTREPS: YES
    TIME: 2014/06/08 20:06
    LATITUDE: 26-07.02N
    LONGITUDE: 080-08.46W
    MARINE: NO
    WIND_SPEED: 6
    WIND_DIR: ESE
    CLOUDS: 75%
    VISIBILITY: 15
    BARO: 1012.3
    TREND: -3
    AIR_TEMP: 27.8C
    COMMENT: Beach House – DOCKED – New River City Marina – Ft. Lauderdale, Florida – USA

    We had lightening and thunder for the last two hours – a classic South Florida Thunderstorm. We saw 3.9 knots of current as a maximum in the Gulf Stream running south to north.
    Once we entered Port Everglades, we came north up the Intercostal Waterway (ICW) to the New River and have docked at the public marina on the very narrow, \”New River\” in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. We called customs and will go to immigration tomorrow. All is well, we\’ll be here till at least Tuesday then move marinas (we hope).
    It\’s nice here –  two bridges en route opened for us – 17th Street and 3rd Avenue.

    KIT!!!
    Scott and Nikki

  • POSITION REPORT – North Bimini, Bahamas to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida – USA

    YOTREPS: YES
    TIME: 2014/06/08 15:23
    LATITUDE: 25-54.30N
    LONGITUDE: 079-41.95W
    COURSE: 298T
    SPEED: 8.2
    MARINE: YES
    WIND_SPEED: 3
    WIND_DIR: NNW
    WAVE_HT: 0.1M
    SWELL_DIR: N
    SWELL_HT: 0.2M
    SWELL_PER: 8
    CLOUDS: 70%
    VISIBILITY: 15
    BARO: 1015.3
    TREND: 3
    AIR_TEMP: 32.2C
    SEA_TEMP: 26.7C
    COMMENT: Beach House – EN ROUTE- North Bimini, Bahamas to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida – USA

    We\’re motoring across the Straits of Florida in flat conditions. It\’s like a highway out here with all the traffic going
    to and from Bimini to Florida. We\’re getting 2.4 knots of current from the south which is the classic \”Gulf Stream\” condition.
    The current charts predict up to 3.5 knots within the next 4 miles. It\’s giving us a bit of a push only; as we\’re crossing it.

    We\’ll be staying in the Ft. Lauderdale area for a month – initially at the New River City Marina in downtown Ft. Lauderdale.
    We\’ll move as soon as a private marina has an opening. The season\’s almost done.
    Stand By!
    Scott and Nikki

  • POSITION REPORT – Bimini Blue Water Marina, North Bimini – Bahamas

    YOTREPS: YES
    TIME: 2014/06/06 21:09
    LATITUDE: 25-43.50N
    LONGITUDE: 079-17.83W
    MARINE: NO
    WIND_SPEED: 8
    WIND_DIR: NNE
    CLOUDS: 50%
    VISIBILITY: 15
    BARO: 1013
    AIR_TEMP: 32.8C
    COMMENT: Beach House – DOCKED – Bimini Blue Water Marina, North Bimini – Bahamas

    A long but easy day. Mostly flat water and very little breeze. It\’s HOT here 91 deg F (33 deg C).
    We may stay one or two days? Then the 55 miles to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida…

    KIT,
    Scott and Nikki