Month: January 2026

We borrowed a couple of the bikes at the marina and made our way to the beach.

It was a beautiful day – mid 70s. No indication of the storm that’s about to hit tomorrow.

Around 8 am we left the rocky Coco Cay and planned to go to Spanish Wells – a distance of about 70 miles. However about 20 minutes, we decided not to beat our way across and find something closer to ride out the upcoming storm. We were heeling between 15 to 20 degrees and the spray was pounding over the top of our bow. So we changed course and went around the top of Coco Cay and made our way to Great Harbour Marina. We had quite a mess below!

We had a couple of dolphins welcome us into the marina.

We had a fun dinner with fellow sailors at the restaurant at the Grand Bahama marina and enjoyed their good stories. Our two day stay at the marina was perfect – pool, groceries, flowers, laundry, showers and a pizza!

After debating whether or not to wait out the upcoming storm at the marina or Spanish Wells, we made the decision to go for it. We are going to stop at Coco Cay tonight and on to Spanish Wells tomorrow.

Jeff took down the main about 20 miles to Coco Cay because we thought a storm might be on the horizon.

Here we are – somewhat of a rolly anchorage spot but we are in for the night.

We left our abandoned development, Ginn Sur Mer, right around 9:00 am.

Below is an undated article from their website announcing what was supposed to be there. Now it’s just a super long canal – but a great anchorage spot!

Motor-sailed our way down to Grand Bahama Marina in Freeport. It was a nice day for boating – we arrived around 2:00. I found the pool while Jeff washed off the salt from Rita.

We celebrated Captain Jeff’s birthday on the 23rd of January in southern Florida out at anchor on Rita. We had crab cakes and a carrot cakes that I smuggled out of Vero Beach.

We had a video chat with the family and they sang a very special rendition of “Happy Birthday”. 😆

After the birthday celebration was over, we travelled south to Lake Worth. It was a Saturday, beautiful weather and lots of boats and bridges. Traffic was particularly crazy in Jupiter Florida. We were glad to get out of there!

After stopping at the marina in West Palm Beach for water and gas, we motored to Lake Worth and put out the anchor about 4:00. Jeff took a short nap before our crossing. We ended up leaving about 8:00 pm

From there we crossed the Gulf Stream to West End on Grand Bahama and arrived Sunday the 25th about 9:00 am. This crossing was MUCH ROUGHER than our first one. Our first crossing was smooth and a full moon. This one was lumpy, wavy, dark and LONG! (Or so it seemed). Total time took about 13 hours.

Here’s our floor after our rocky, rolly crossing.

But it was worth it when we got here! Blue sky, blue water and 70 degree weather.

After we passed immigration, we travelled a little farther South and anchored in an abandoned development we stayed in last year. Saw my first sea turtle and I got in a little dinghy driving practice. Tomorrow we are off to Grand Bahama Marina

We finally found a weather window to cross to the Bahamas

After about 10 days (most of them chilly) we finally left Vero Beach this morning. We were tied up with ShanksMare – a very nice couple who were the voice of our morning cruisers net.

We used the city “free bus” quite a bit to get around. We took several walks on the beach. During one of our walks we saw a stranded sea turtle (the park ranger came to help her out), a purple sea creature of some sort and a friendly giraffe named Jeff.

We will be anchoring close to Lake Worth tonight and moving a little farther south in the morning. If all goes well we will cross on Friday night.

We were on the move further South and spent several days in St Augustine. Captain Jeff had several deliveries (new batteries) from Amazon so we didn’t want to miss any.

We also received a sweet Christmas gift from Colorado 🙂

One day we climbed the St Augustine’s lighthouse 220 steps. It was a beautiful day for a climb!

From St Augustine we traveled south to Daytona.

Right after we left St Augustine, a thick fogged descended upon us. I went up on the bow to look for any boats through the fog.

Finally the fog broke through and we made it to Daytona and dropped an anchor for the night.

The next day we set off for Titusville. There were no mooring balls available so we just anchored out next to the mooring field. A controlled burn was going on right by where we were going to watch the Falcoln launch. The launch went off without a hitch.

The next day we met up with Captain James and Kristen who are currently campground hosts at a park near Ocala. We went to the Goat Pizza restaurant and had the best vegetarian with bacon pizza ever!

Along the way to the restaurant, I saw my first Florida alligator

Next we headed off for Cocoa and dropped an anchor right before the bridge.

The next morning we headed off early with Vero Beach as our destination.

We arrived at Vero about 2:00 and are now on a mooring ball with another smaller sailboat. We will be here for about a week since rough weather is on the way.

Left our anchor spot fairly early and navigated through some pretty strong currents. We had planned to stop about 3 in the afternoon but a massive storm was on the move.

The weather looked better ahead so we kept on rolling.

Set our anchor near Pine Island right before sunset.

We left early in the morning from our anchorage near Southern Georgia and were greeted with a beautiful sunset as we headed East into the Atlantic.

Along the way we saw a huge shrimper boat coming back into shore.

And then – our first right whale sighting! The whale was directly off our stern side and we stopped the motor to let her pass by. Captain Jeff called in the coordinates to the Coast Guard and shortly thereafter it was broadcast to all boats in the area. Although the video only shows one, we actually saw two.

The Atlantic cruising went very well – waters weren’t too choppy and we were able to cover quite a bit of ground in a short time.

Took off writing for the week during Christmas and New Years. I suffered from acute bronchitis that came from nowhere. As a result we spent several days at Wacca Wacca Marina in South Carolina to recover.

This morning we took off from the Isle of Hope Marina near Savannah. They have an excellent perk – the use of a loaner car. We took full advantage of that!

We walked around a small botanical garden and enjoyed the fresh air. Tonight we are at anchor near Supelo Island in the Dupin River. Tomorrow we are headed out to the Atlantic for the first time this trip.