Day 35. April 26. On to Lynyard Cay. MIles 9.3. Total Miles. 497.1

Day 35

Spent a quiet morning researching weather and relaxing, Our weather window is still okay with 2 of the three weather apps we use. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Here is the chart of our route for the past two days.

It is interesting that each of the islands has reef off their southern end and then a small cut into the Atlantic. There is also a lot of shallow water that we have to cruise around. Also interesting is the number of mangrove island off the coast of Great Abaco as we head south.

After lunch, weighed anchor to head a bit further south to Lynyard Cay. This cay is three miles long running north and south separating the Sea of Abaco from the Atlantic.

We will cruise parallel to Tilloo Cay until we pass the salt pond and then head west to go around the very large sand bar at the end of the island.

The water color over the sand bar was a beautiful turquoise.

The shot below shows what islands off Great Abaco look like. Not very developed at all.

We zig zagged around the sand bar and Pelican Cay Land and Sea Park. We had wanted to stop and snorkle, but was too much wave action for any kind of snorkling today. Even our big boat bounced a bit as we hit some beam seas.

The Land and Sea Park consists of four smaller islands which are protected from fishing and shelling. Moorings are set up to allow small boats to access the reef off Sandy Cay.

Things settled down after we passed the North Bar Cut and we went behind Lynyard Cay. We pulled in the anchorage with one other power boat and 4 sailboats. Nice and calm in here!

Lanyard Cay is similar to Tilloo with its vegetation and rough limestone rock, but Lanyard has some small beaches where you can land and walk. The island is privately owned so walking is limited to the beaches.

While at anchor we enjoyed watching several green turtles swim and feed in the anchorage area with us!

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Day 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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