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January, 2004
We left Deltaville, Virginia about a week before Thanksgiving and cruised down the ICW to Colington, North Carolina (near Kitty Hawk on the outer banks). Our friends Dave and Hannah were nice enough to find a place for us to dock (at Bob's house). Over Thanksgiving we left the boat and spent the holiday with our families, unfortunately, our last visit for a while. We returned to North Carolina and spent a few days doing last minute tasks then headed south with our friend Dave as a crew member. Most of the trip from Colington, North Carolina to Charleston, we motored down the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW). We did spend one bumpy 24 hour period in the ocean, but due to weather were forced back into the ICW around South Port. We finally made it to Charleston on Wednesday, December 10th and worked on some small projects until we could head south. The sail to the Bahamas would require a 3 to 4 day weather window which didn't appear, but we did get a 2 day window which allowed us to sail (or shall I say motor) via the Atlantic to St. Marys, Georgia. Typically, motoring along in the ocean is not something that we find very exciting, but we did get a little surprise this trip. We ran into a pod of very playful dolphins and were able to get a video clip. If you would like to see the video, click on this link Dolphins. Due to weather, we ducked into St. Marys, a quaint little town on the Florida/Georgia border. We continued our trip by motoring down the ICW until we reached Titusville, Florida. Again, typically motoring down the ICW is not very exciting but there are some shallow areas which can be tricky and can turn a trip into an adventure or maybe a nightmare depending on how you view things. As you can see from some of these photos which are NOT us ... I repeat not us (Rankin asked that I make sure that was very clear), we came near two shallow areas and these boats actually came way too close.
We arrived in Titusville on Sunday, December 21st and luckily we got a weather window for our trip to the Bahamas a few days later. If you remember, Dave Hope has been a crew member since we departed Colington, North Carolina on December 2nd. Once we arrived in Titusville, Hannah Combs (Dave's other half) joined us for trip to the Bahamas. The four of us left Florida on Christmas Eve and had a nice sail across the Gulf Stream arriving in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas on Boxing Day (Friday, December 26th). Lucky for us, we arrived just in time for Junkanoo (pronounced junk-uh-NOO) which is a traditional Christmas celebration in which revelers parade through the streets in masquerade. You feel the music before you see it ... a frenzied barrage of whistles and horns overriding the ka-LICK-ka-LICK of cowbells, the rumble of drums, and the joyful blasts of conch shells. It's quite a colorful, lively celebration and we were very fortunate to participate in the festivities.
We then took a day or two to relax and enjoy our new tropical paradise. We enjoyed a traditional holiday dinner of smoked turkey, stuffing, gravy, etc. cooked on the boat. Then we spent a couple of days exploring a secluded island -- Manjack and Rat Cay. For New Year's Eve, we cruised to Great Guana Cay and had an excellent dinner at Orchid Bay restaurant then celebrated 2004 at Nippers (a nearby bar) which had bonfires, fireworks and champagne to bring in the new year.
We began the new year by cruising down to Hope Town and the next day sailing to Lynard Cay. On January 3rd, we headed back to Marsh Harbour because it was time for Dave and Hannah to return home. They left the Bahamas on Sunday, January 4th with tears in the eyes. Bye Dave and Hannah!!! Rankin and I are still at Marsh Harbour relaxing and doing odd jobs before our trip south to the Turks and Caicos. Right now, we plan on making a 3-4 day passage south straight to the Turks & Caicos. Hopefully, we'll get the right weather conditions for the trip ... so keep checking.
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