Our Travels

What had originally been planned as a 3-step process became a 4-step process due to the distance in the Bahamas and the speed of our tow. Doesn’t look like it, but it’s a long way, 175 nautical miles (nm) or 201 statute miles (land). That’s long. All whilst being towed, not in control….

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Thursday, May 19
Green Turtle to Memory Rock, Plan B) Mangrove Cay

After a quiet night by Green Turtle, Dale and his son, Matthew (both born and raised there), arrived to hook up before sunrise. This leg is a little more than 100 nm! Every inch of it slower than we normally go, but, then again, faster than we can currently go on our own. We ran the little engine to help out.

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The day was, as we’d been experiencing with the approach of summer in the tropics, a little rainy and mostly sunny. We passed the “Center of the World” again. Cute name, sure beats the five different Hog Cays we’ve seen on our trip!

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It was a slog, and as the day wore on, the tropical weather kicked in, always full of variety. It became clear we were not going to make it all the way to Memory Rock unless we continued well into the night. The decision was made to anchor off Mangrove Cay instead and resume at 0300 in order to meet the tug from Florida at 0700.

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Friday, May 20
Mangrove Cay to Memory Rock on the Bahama Bank

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The final leg
Memory Rock, Bahamas to Stuart, Florida

The cavalry is here!

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As we left the Grand Bahama Bank, the seas, driven by constant squalls – some blowing sideways – really picked up. Bobby, the tug captain reckoned 4-6 feet! Unable to run stabilizers, we were a bobbling cork. We got no pictures because we were otherwise occupied, bouncing around inside catching everything that was moving. For ocean crossings we now have a whole new definition of battening down the hatches! Fortunately, nothing was broken. Whew. We spent the first three hours really rocking and rolling before the weather cleared and things kinda smoothed out. Close to Florida, the stormy weather returned, however, with rain blowing sideways! A half hour or so later, around 1630, as we neared the St Lucie inlet, the tow boat paused to shorten the bridle line.

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Once the line was shortened, we were ready to transit between the rock walls of the St Lucie Inlet. It was quite sporty, and we were very surprised when a sport fish passed us in the narrow channel.

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After clearing the inlet, an additional Tow Boat U.S. boat joined us to guide the larger tow boat through the areas with shoaling before attaching to our stern to provide “braking” and control for docking.

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We are so thankful for God’s protection and have a list of people to thank:

• Bahamian captain Sammy, who responded to our Mayday situation when the main engine went out and we were headed for the rocks on the North Bar Channel
• Bahamian tow captains Nicholas, Matthew, and Dale, who got us from Great Guana Cay to Memory Rock (approximately 113 nautical miles)
• Tow Boat U.S. captains Bobby, Joseph, and Jesse, who got us across the gulf stream and docked in Florida (approximately 62 nautical miles)
• From Hinckley Yacht Services, Dave and his wife Mickey, and Andrew, who came out in the rain, after closing, to catch our lines and tie her up
• Family and friends following our progress and praying for our safety
• Last but certainly not least, each other, for tirelessly and calmly handling the situations as they came up (you ever try making a PBJ when the bread won’t even stay on the counter??)

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The only damage was minor – a few fiberglass chips from the tow gear and a ruined starboard bow cleat.

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In the end, the SaltyMare is injured, but we aren’t going to put her down. We will bring her back stronger than ever. As we begin this next unexpected part of our journey, it’s obviously going to look MUCH different – for a while…