All good things must come to an end.

       Southern Vectis is back in Florida now at her home base in Harbortown Marina in Ft. Pierce.  We made our Gulf Stream crossing on Sunday 14th April from West End, Grand Bahama Island to Lake Worth.  We'll be here for a week or two, taking a holiday from our holiday, enjoying the gorgeous weather, and waiting for Ontario to thaw out!

     Since the last blog hit the 'web-waves' we've continued to have lots of adventures and a great deal of fun.  But all good things must come to an end, and, by the beginning of April, you could feel that a lot of boats in Hopetown Harbor were getting itchy keels.  Whether you were at Capt'n Jack's bar,  the Water's Edge', or the lovely 'On da Beach Bar', the conversations had turned from lazy day plans to sail plans and weather forecasts.

     On Sunday April 7th we waved a fond farewell to our very good boat and party buddies, Ron and Jane, and set off from Hopetown.  We spent a couple of nights anchored at Marsh Harbour to get a pump problem sorted out, and then set off across the dreaded 'Whale' on Tuesday. It was a calm crossing and we anchored for the night at Manjack Cay, just west of Green Turtle.  The next two days were long days of motor-sailing - 50 plus miles each day.  Our overnight at Great Sale Cay was spent with a group of boats anchored off the northwest side of the cay to shelter from the brisk south easterly wind. From there we were making good time to West End on Grand Bahama Island, our jumping off point for the Gulf Stream crossing, until we passed off the shallow and sheltered Little Bahama Banks into the Atlantic rollers at Memory Rock.  From here we had a very rough two hours fighting into the wind and rolling seas until we reached our safe and very welcome haven, 'Old Bahama Bay Marina'.  There is a short cut through Indian Rock Channel, which would have avoided this, but unfortunately the tide was too low to take it!
      One funny thing happened to us en route to West End which will amuse the yoga enthusiasts reading this blog.  We had sailed past a blue-hulled sailboat, and then happened to look back. There was a stiff breeze and a lumpy sea, but there on the foredeck was a woman waving her arms up and down.  Now, as this is an international signal for distress, we radioed the boat and asked if they needed assistance. We received a rather terse reply asking us why we would think they needed help. When we explained about the arm waving we were told that the captain's wife was doing her yoga exercises.  We left them to it!

     There were storms forecast for the next two days, so our hardy group of boats settled down to enjoy the amenities of the Old Bahama Bay resort.  But then, of course, the debate started: To go or not to go.  Some boats left on Saturday before the storms hit, but quickly came back in.  We left with a group of boats on Sunday.  The seas were a little lumpy with five foot swells and the winds around 15 - 20 knots, but it was comfortable, and we made it to Lake Worth, motor-sailing at around 7 knots, in 8 1/2 hours.

     After checking in at U.S. Immigration the next morning, we motored north on the ICW for a peaceful (we thought) anchorage at Peck Lake, en route to Ft. Pierce.  The sky was black by the time we reached Peck Lake, and we were relieved to get our anchor down a good distance from the other five boats in the anchorage.  Just as the storm was upon us, a trawler rushed in and threw his anchor down close to us.  Then all hell broke loose!  The thunder and lightning were nothing compared to the 60 mph sustained winds and the driving curtain of rain that blotted out everything. This lasted almost an hour and, during that time, as the rain curtain occasionally lifted, we could see the trawler had dragged its' anchor and was getting closer and closer to us. A large sailboat was also dragging and ended up right across the other side of the ICW channel.  We could have done nothing to help ourselves in the event of a collision as the conditions were impossible.  Anyway, we all survived intact and we were so pleased that we were the only boat that hadn't dragged its' anchor. But herein lies a tale.  As we were trying to pull up our anchor the next morning, we found it was entangled with another anchor - a huge, barnacled thing that must have been sitting on the bottom for years.  No wonder we hadn't dragged, as we had had two anchors holding us!  How very lucky!

     Arriving at Harbortown Marina yesterday (Tuesday 16th April) was like coming home. Apart from the friendly staff and boating 'live-aboards', the whole of Hopetown Harbour seems to have emptied out into this harbour.  Many of the boats are heading north to their summer homes on the U.S. East coast.  We are looking forward to meeting up again with our friends, Paul and Marianne from Nova Scotia, who hope to make their crossing on Friday.   We are also looking forward to an evening out with our fellow grandparents, Fruji and John, at Capone's Hideway on Thursday.  We are also looking forward to spending the next two weeks, before we start our drive north, just enjoying the lovely Florida sunshine and avoiding the occasional storms!