Ya'll come on down and visit us aboard Wahoo!
4/2/11 - We made it to Pass Christian Yacht Club the first night and visited with Monica and Eve. The boat is smokin' hot with its new clean hull - wow!
Once we were out of the Rigolets and could get the sails up we averaged 7.1 knots instead of the old 6.3.
4/3/11 - Left PCYC around 8am and decided to come all the way across Mobile Bay instead of anchoring behind Dauphin Island. Our 24"imac is having trouble and that's our major navigation computer plus great for watching movies.
Had a bit of trouble getting the GPS connected to our laptop so where grateful for the redundancy of systems as the Garmin GPS at the wheel worked fine. Of course, we could probably do this leg of the trip blindfolded, we did it so often last summer.
Anyway, had a fabulous 90nm sail to Lulu's Homeport Marine at Mile 155 EHL on the GIWW(that's East of Harvey Locks on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway). Sunny sky, winds about 22kts out of the SW and we were flying, once up to 8 kts.
Today we're off to an Authorized Apple dealer ( the next Apple store is in Naples, Fl 3 wks away). Have our fingers crossed the problem is fixable. Tonight a cold front with high winds and rain should come through so we'll stay snug in the marina.
Ok, that's all the excitement so far - surely you don't want to miss out so get out your calendar, count your airmiles and plan to join us.
Here's the itinerary with nearby airports:
4/6/11 Lulu's to Destin, FL
4/7/11 Destin to Panama City, Fl
Airport in Panama City
4/9/11 Panama City - Apalachicola
4/10/11 Apalachicola - Carrabelle
4/11/11 Carrabelle - Cedar Key (big jump about 110nm)
4/13/11Cedar key - Tarpon Springs (the Greek Sponge fishing town)
4/15/11 Tarpon Springs - St Petersburg
4/16/11 St Pete - Venice (Fl, of course)
Airports are either Tampa, Ft Meyers or Naples.
Ready for the jump off to Key West. Want to be on the passage to Key West - visit that crazy town, have drinks at Louie's backyard-this is the one for you
4/17/11 Venice to either Sanibel Island or Naples, Fl
4/18/11 to Marco Island to stage for sail to Key West
4/19/11 Marco Island to Key West (big jump about 100 nm)
Key West airport
4/19 - 4/30/11(about) stay Key West with a 5 or 6 day trip to the Dry Tortugas during that time, also a great day sail and snorkeling trip planned for any day in KW.
Miami Airport
Want to visit the keys, this one's for you.4/30/11 Leave Key West for Ft. Lauderdale. Shortest time would be 4 days but this can be a leisurely sail up the keys through Hawk's Passage on the Atlantic. Very fun - snorkeling, restaurants and bar hopping.
Airport in Ft Lauderdale and Marsh Harbor, Bahamas
Want to cross the Gulf Stream and have lots of Bahamian fun, come on down.
5/12/11(about) Leave Ft Lauderdale and cross the Gulf Stream to West End, Bahamas. This is in the Abacos (northern Bahama chain). The Abacos are fun as nearly each island has a picturesque little town yet there's plenty of sailing, blue water, fishing and snorkeling. We were in the Abacos for the 2009 trip and want to go back.
Airports in the southern Bahamas are San Salvador, Nassau, Georgetown. Cheapest airline I could find to fly Fl to Bahamas is Spirit which advertises a $19 fares to San Salvador or Nassau.
5/27/11(about) Leave Abacos for Egg Harbor in southern Bahamas. We want to stay in the Southern Bahamas for about a month. We'll be cruising the Out Islands, Exuma and Eleutra Island chains with no particular destinations.
Bimini and Hemingway, okayyyyyy! Cross the Gulf Stream back to Maimi.
6/25/11 Depart Nassau for Bimini
6/30/11 Latest date to leave Bimini for Miami
We can spend more time in the keys but we'll need to turn for home by July 7. So If first week of July is for you that's okay with us.
Can do Tarpon Springs again on our return. Especially for anyone who'd like to visit but not sail. This is a perfect spot as Tarpon Springs is great and Crystal Springs with the mermaids is nearby.
Well alrighty then. This is fun already. My first choice is the southern Bahamian leg. I could celebrate my birthday swimming in the carribean. HEAVEN! I think my favorite part of the trip on the Albacor with Roger was the southern Bahamas. I loved the little towns and the people were wonderful. Needless to say, I will try my best to make this happen. Thank you so much for being so generous to invite us along. Sad news....Lulu died last night. I'm o.k. just sad, but I must say, Claiborne seems to have a bit of a smile. Hope ya'll did o.k. with this storm that just passed. You know I'll be thinking about you. Keep posting....I'm living through your experiences until I can get there myself. Love you lots, Lindy
ReplyDeleteLaser line for the stripe... who is surprised? Everyone should have a clean bottom at the beginning of a voyage!!
ReplyDeleteGood to see there are priorities... Ice will not be in short supply!!
Don't forget to have a jig & a spoon trailing off the stern, one never knows what may bite!!
love yawl....
Hey ya'll! Great talking to you Dale. So glad the mac and freezer were a quick fix. Your trip is reminding me so much of ours on the Albacore. I forget how long it took us to get to the Bahamas, but I'm pretty sure it was months, not weeks before the jump off to Haiti. We were at Pier 66 for a month waiting for parts for something that broke. Talk about a shake down cruise. I hope the fog lifts for you tomorrow. Oh, went to the French Quarter Fest yesterday. They started doing it on thursday this year, so it was not too crowded. Weather perfect....had a shrimp remoulade and a debris poboy....yum. I'm really enjoying this house sitting gig. Dale, you should see Pam's garden. She has flowers everywhere and a vegetable garden as well. I've been dead-heading for hours. I'll try to remember to send you some pictures. Beverly just called to tell me that when ya'll get back, if you are going to rent the downstairs apt, she has the perfect tenant. It's a guy she's worked with a long time at the hospital in Baton Rouge and he wants to move to New Orleans and has applied for work at Touro and Baptist. I told her I would mention it to you. Gotta go, cause I'm sitting in the garden and it's gotten dark and I can't see the keys. Love you both, Lindy
ReplyDelete