Pig Video - Staniel Cay

Junkanoo!

What a Scene!  We're getting ready to drop lines, so I just wanted to get a quick video up before we left.  Kids were Wide eyed, we're not in Marshfield anymore....

Christmas on Zusammen

Early, early morning...Santa found us!!!!

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Nassau

Hello Blog Followers!

We have found that internet is not so wide-spread as we had hoped. It also has to do with our preference for deserted islands, and pristine beaches! So from our last update, we left Lucaya, and had a good trip to Bullocks. We spent 2 days there, and swam, snorkeled, wake-surfed, and read our books. Very relaxing and beautiful.

Our next stop was the Grand Bank, nowhere land... It was really windy, and a little nerve-wracking, not having land in-sight. We had 2 boats with us, and looked out for each other through the nights. I think John and I were up from 12-4, watching the boats get buffeted by the wind.

Next stop was Fraser's Hog Cay, around the corner from Chub Cay.  This was a great little spot, up a river, surrounded by little islands. When we called to reserve a mooring ball, we were informed the club was closed, but we could stay on the mooring indefinitely for $25! This was excellent, as the weather prohibited us from moving for a week. We became friends with 4 other boats that were stuck too, and along with the club manager, Howard, had a great time. We discovered an abandoned mansion, a stingray habitat, great snorkeling, and a dock with nurse sharks hidden under it. We left this morning, with all 4 boats, to take advantage of the weather window. Now we're in Nassau, and have reunited with 2 boats from Lucaya, and 2 from Fraser's Hog Cay.  We'll be here until at least Monday. We probably will not be on email, but our phone works, so feel free to call if you're missing us! Our number is 1-242-443-8409.

Christmas is tomorrow, so there's great excitement on Zusammen! The stockings are hung from fishing rods in the salon, and we're hoping that Santa will be able to find us.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, and we'll write again when we can.

Liza's Log - Lucaya

Goodbye Lucaya (again)

Tomorrow we are going to attempt to leave Lucaya.  The weather looks good, minimal waves, and 10-15 knots of wind. There are 2 other boats going with us, and everyone feels pretty confidant that the weather will be good tomorrow. We are headed for the Berry Islands, Bullocks Harbor we think. (not to be confused with Bo...) We're not sure we'll have internet for a few days, but we'll update again as soon as possible.

Cell Phone Adventures

So yesterday, Lex managed to Jailbreak and Unlock one of my old iPhones. It took a good chunk of day. I then went to the local market, bought a SIM card in one store and then was told to go to the Greek restaurant next door. "They sell the minutes, mon". Off to the restaurant I go. Buy a card for ten dollars. Back to the marina. Put the card in the phone, call BTC (Bahamas Telephone Co) and ask how to add the minutes. The automated system kept saying there was a problem and I need to call Cust Svc. Customer Service lady says, "you got the wrong card, you need to go into a Store.". "Ok, I'm in Lucaya. Where is the nearest store?". "No idea, mon. I live in Nassau." I loved that one.

Lex and I asked around at Happy hour last night and were told that BTC has an office right up the street. We all walked there after school. Two and a half klicks later we get to BTC. A lady there said, "ain' nobody here that can do that fo ya.". "oh, will they be here later?". Yeah, maybe." "Ok, I'll come back after I go to the grocery store."

Grocery shopping...

Back to BTC. Very nice woman said, "oh, you just need to pay for minutes with the woman over there." This woman was there all along. Pretty funny stuff. The old John would have been pretty worked up. Island Time John manages a chuckle...

So we have a phone number that won't cost us anything for incoming calls from the States. That said, my pal Sam has tested it with us the calls keep dropping after a minute or two. It may be that we are in a weak service area. Can't tell yet. It may be that we have cheaped out and jail broken an old cellphone and should buy one for 50 bucks. We'll figure it out. In the meantime, you are free to ring us at 1-242-443-8409. Off to the Berry Islands at 0630 tomorrow. Don't think we'll have wifi until Chub Cay. May be a couple of days.

Cheers and our thoughts are with Auntie Sonia.

 A pretty flower on the way to the market today.

Waiting for the bus back to the marina.

Lucaya, Tuesday, Dec 13th

Tyler and Eliza eating coconut until their jaws ache

Passagess Interruptus....

So, we're back at the dock... We ran out about 2 miles and at the 700' line we were seeing tightly packed 6-10'. After the fourth or fifth time blue water was on the cabin top, I found a lull and did a 180. Wind was light at 14-16knts but the seas were too tight for our length and it would have been a very long 10 or 12 hours. Nancy Loo, a Halberg Rassy 43 we left with, decided to push on South. We wished them luck and will likely see them down the road. They need to be in Nassua by a certain date and wanted to push through. 12000 more pounds and 7 more feet make a difference.

We'll stand down and keep varnishing...May be Friday before we have an agreeable sea state.

On a funny note, I took the kids out to a little private beach in the dinghy yesterday. As we approached the beach, we all jumped out in a foot or so of water to guide the dinghy up on shore. I was starboard and kids port. On the port bow, I saw a pretty big stingray partially buried in the sand. Before I could say anything to the kids, he lifted and swam off. You should have heard the shrieks and seen the Jesus imitations! Pretty funny stuff.

Next stop, Berry Islands

We leave tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. for the Berry Islands. John has found another boat at the marina to do the trip with us, as its about a 10 hour day at sea.  Weather looks good though, so south we go!

Lucaya

We left West End at 9:30 this morning, bound for Lucaya. We had a beautiful sail down the western edge of Grand Bahama, reaching 8.3 knots under full sail on a beam reach. We rounded the corner, straight into the wind, and finished our trip with wind on the nose in 3-4 foot swell. John did a great job driving though, and no one suffered too much. We are staying at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club for the next 2 days. There is a beautiful pool area, and water shuttle to a marketplace, which we will do tomorrow. The kids were already befriended by 2 other kids, an 11 yr old girl and 13 yr old boy from Annapolis who have been sailing for 3 years.

Tyler has been obsessing about opening a coconut, and finally just did it. Pic below.

BAHAMAS!!

We are in the Bahamas! We left Lake Worth at 4 a.m. and pulled into Old Bahama Bay Marina at the West End at 2:15 p.m. The trip was easy, water smooth, light wind. We pulled into crystal clear water, and very hot temps. Love it!!!

We saw 2 water spouts during the trip, which was very exciting! For anyone who doesn't know, they're twisters of water getting sucked up into the clouds. Not something you want to sail into, but cool to see. My picture below of the cloudy sky is just after....missed the shot. :( You can see the bands of dark still though.

We are cancelling our Verizon service for now, and will be getting a Bahamian phone service. Until then, we can get in touch via computer, google voice, or Skype.

After discovering that the gulf stream was flat...

Who knew that conch had eyes? Makes me think twice about whether I'll eat it or not...

Manatee in the Trip!

Like mom said, a manatee came to our stern. It was my idea to name Fatsy. He was at least six feet long, by about three feet wide, and, so Fatsy wasn't a bad name for him!

Dad was afraid he would hurt the manatee if he went under the boat. Thankfully,  Fatsy didn't!  We saw a few scars on his back, hopefully they weren't from propellers!

This was our first manatee up close, and I hope it wasn't our last!!

By Liza
Second mate
Zusammen
Schnauck.blogspot.com

Alexa C. Schnauck
s/v Zusammen
schnauck.blogspot.com
781.834.2888

Manatee!

Finally, a manatee visits our boat! Hard to see from this picture but it was about 7 feet long and massive!

Quick Update - we may cross tomorrow AM

So we are currently moving from Stuart to Lake Worth. There is a weather window that looks like it may provide us an opening to cross to the Northern Bahamas tomorrow morning.

This is a significant change in our original thinking and our intention to cross from Miami.  Given the wind has blown over 20 for what seems like 2 weeks, if we have this gap, we need to take it or risk being stuck on this side of the Stream for a long period of time.

We're ready to go and the boat is prepped. If we do go we will miss Jen and Jamie and Bob. I hope they understand!  We'll see them on the return in the Spring.

Wish us luck and fair winds!  We'll post again as soon as we have a connection in the Bahamas or if we decide to abort in the morning.

Stuart

We're in Stuart, FL at the Sunset Bay Marina on a mooring. $15 a night, very reasonable! We rented a car, and have been exploring the area. Last night we went to the Grills house for a great dinner. We had a wonderful time and look forward to returning the hospitality next summer.  We picked up several packages sent there by family and friends, thanks everyone so much!

John and Tyler just left to go to West Marine to pick up paper chart kits of the Bahamas. Expensive necessity. It will be great to be able to plan though. The charts we have now do not go into the detail we need for a 6'6" draft boat. After West Marine the boys are going to pick us up and we'll meet Ross, Ashlyne, and Kyler at the beach.

We'll be here until Tuesday probably.

Vero Beach

More southbound chugging today. We motorsailed with main and genoa all day, averaged around 7 kts and made Vero Beach 30 minutes before sunset. A bit risky as the places to anchor before Vero are pretty few and far between, but we made it in. Rafted with a Canadian couple from Ottawa on their way to the Bahamas. The municipal mooring field is very inexpensive, like 13 bucks, but they raft the boats 2 and 3 deep. Nice facilities here and a super tucked in spot. Cuttyhunk with manatees and palm trees.

Will be an easy run to Stuart tomorrow. More muni-moorings there. Seems a Florida trend for the towns to set up very cheap moorings to keep the vagrants out... Someties we're the vagrants. They are trying to outlaw anchoring. Not sure if I agree but the super cheap mooring fields with great showers, laundry and transportation, I'm a fan of.

We had some dolphins do the "playing in the bow wave" thing again today. We see dolphins every half hour, but it's really cool to have them so close to the boat. Like watching whales, it doesn't get old.

I had lots of help at the helm today. Lex stood a long watch mid day and Tyler took the wheel for an hour at the end of the day. Liza had a short trick as well. Pretty soon I'll be starting rum drinks at noon while the crew gets us where we need to go! (just kidding mom...)

More tomorrow, we haven't had a real wifi connection for a bit, so no photo uploads, but we'll find one.

A couple of updates,

We are migrating the blog to www.schnauck.com - but the old address will always work as well. Also, we ported the home/Lex cell number (781-834-2888) to google voice. So we now have 781-834-3332 and 2888 as goog numbers so we won't loose them. Three numbers (617-872-1763) now ring on one cell on the boat. We killed my cell service with AT&T and will shut the Verizon service when we cross to the Bahamas as it is astinomical for roaming. All numbers will roll to voicemail and we will be able to get messages when we have wifi in various spots.

I am going to "Jailbreak" my iPhone and buy a SIM card for it in the Bahamas when we can, so we have a cell in case of an emergency. I'll post the number when we get it.

Titusville

More chugging today although we motorsailed to get a few more tents with the west wind as we traveled the "ditch". Lots of dolphins again today and we spotted a couple of manatees, but never really got a great view for a picture. The fat seals seem to be elusive. ;-)

Titusville had a good grocery store that was super cheap - "Save-a-Lot". It's like the job lot of grocery stores. Margarete will like this - Captain Razorback for 2 bucks....

Pretty uneventful day, got diesel and water this AM and started a bit late, around 0845 and got to Tiusville at 1530 or so. We saw the folks from Duxbury at the dinghy dock when we got back from the grocery. We'll have them over for a drink later down the road.

Thanks to Karen W. by the way for the grocery bag! It gets plenty of use.

We'll shoot for an anchorage north of Vero Beach tomorrow and should be in Stewart the next day. We'll hang there for a bit before pushing down south.

Cheap Flights to Bahamas!

Just got an email from JetBlue

$129* from Boston, MA (BOS)
to Nassau, BS (NAS)

This fare is valid for travel between Dec. 6, 2011 - Feb. 15, 2012.
Fare is valid Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays only.
Blackout dates: Dec. 16, 2011 - Jan. 3, 2012.
Valid for US-originating travel only.


*Taxes, fees and restrictions apply.

Daytona Beach

Chugged upwind in the ICW today down to Daytona Beach. Beautiful day a touch over 80. We had a boat hail us from behind Rising Tide, and they said they lived in Duxbury, kept the boat in Cohassett, and best pals are NBYC members....small world.

We got in around 1500 and found the anchorage we were shooting for to be shoaled up and too shallow. I didn't want to risk running farther south and not having a home, so we pulled into the muni- marina here. We'll top up fuel tomorrow AM and make the run to around Titusville tomorrow. Next stops will be around Vero, then Stuart where we hope to catch Good Trade and then spend some time with Randy in Hobe Sound.

We found a good pizza joint close by, topped up the tanks and hit the hay. A bit too early to bed for me, so now I'm typing at O - dark thirty....

We're to have a west wind today, so we'll hope to sail some of the ICW and save some fuel. More tomorrow. Y'all enjoy your day. ;-)

St. Augustine, Fla

Offshore Passage to St. Augustine

We left the Turkey day anchorage at 0700 bound for Beaufort (Pronounced Bew-fert - not to be confused with Bo-Fert, NC).  We had to wait a bit for the bascule bridge just north of town and anchored just above it for 45 minutes or so.  It's one of the bridges with a goofy schedule and doesn't open on request or every hour and half hour like many in the ICW.  We pulled the hook and passed through at 0900 and tied up at a fuel dock to take on fuel and water for our run outside the ICW that would let us avoid Georgia and the super skinny water we have been hearing about since New Jersey.

I made a few new pals on the dock as the water tanks filled and managed to pull a small convoy together for the run out the Beaufort inlet and the ensuing passage to Florida.  The forecast was excellent, calling for 3-4' seas out of the east and 10-15 knots out of the northeast with seas subsiding to 2-3 feet and winds decreasing to 5-10 knots by sunset.

I wish I could miss sales forecasts as often as NOAA blows their numbers and still get paid....

We had a great sail heading out of the inlet, chatted up a few boats heading our way and even had one woman call us on the radio from a passing trawler to say how great Zusammen looked under sail with our big ensign flying from the backstay.  (kids and Lex were below schooling, maybe she was really commenting on the captain?)

We saw a bunch of dolphins playing in the long inlet, the kids saw a few do flips in the air which was a big hit.  The seas were only around 2' inside the inlet which extends for a number of miles.  As we cleared the last of the sandbars to our north (which protect the inlet from waves) the seas picked up a bit to maybe 4' but we had good wind on our stern as we turned right to 210 degrees to make St. Mary's Inlet and Fernadina Beach, Florida.

Sailing dead down wind in a cruising boat is a bit of a challenge and I always run through a barrage of tactics that really don't work to make anything easier (save rigging a preventer, which does help).  Sailing wing and wing in a quartering 4' sea is noisy and a challenge to hold while steering.  I chatted with a couple of the boats behind us about their plans.  One was flying only a genoa and another was sailing a hotter angle, going farther offshore and planned to drop down when the wind shifted to the east in an hour or so.  I stuck to the rhumb line and wrestled the downwind leg with both sails in around 15-20 knts.

We got a call from the folks running farther offshore (they were now well out of site) around 1500 and they said they were bailing out and heading into Savannah, GA.  They had a LONG way to go to get back into Savannah, but they weren't in any rush.  I am sure we'll see them again on the way south or down in the Bahamas.

When they bailed out, I was a little anxious as the wind was significantly higher than predicted and waves were now well over 4' regularly.  Were we making the right decision?  I checked the forecast again and seas and wind were still predicted to subside.  Bailing to Savannah would mean entering in the dark and we would have to go back outside from there as Zusammen is too deep to travel the ICW in Georgia.  We pushed on.

Happy Destiny a Tartan 4300 was still behind around 4 miles and chugging along at about the same pace.  The wind started to move a bit east and we were more happily sailing on a broad reach.  I chatted with Happy Destiny some about arrival times, and even though we had been told we could get into Fernadina Beach at night, we both decided to push for the next Class A inlet, the St. John's River.  The inlet to inlet distance was 117 miles as opposed to 98 or so.   The extra miles would get us in around or just after sunrise and with the seas now more like 4-6'  with an occasional rogue bigger, I felt much better about getting in to a new inlet with a fair tide and current, in daylight.  Additionally we would have a huge lift from a 3knt+ current in the inlet at St. John's river that would carry quite a bit south in the ICW and allow us to get all the way to St. Augustine if the crew could manage the extra distance.  We agreed to chat every hour with Happy Destiny, welcome conversation on lonely watches.
We altered course a few degrees to the east and sailed on.  As the sun was setting we were still making over six knots and having a nice sail but the sea was rolling us quite a bit, and nobody felt much like dinner.  Liza was the first to crash and Tyler was a champ staying up with me and then Lex though the first night watches.  Some great conversations were had during the wee hours with the boy staring up at the stars in the cockpit while I was driving.

For anybody that hasn't been offshore (this is really near-shore, but out of sight of land and lights) at night in a boat, you should put it on your bucket list.  You'll never see more stars.

Lex and I stood the last hour of dark together as the radar filled up with targets as we approached St. John's River inlet.  We sailed around a bunch of shrimpers (I think they were shrimping...) and finally made it to the jetties.  The current was tearing and we blew in at almost 10 knots.    Happy Destiny and Pura Vida  were not far behind.

After Liza had presents and some birthday goofing around while underway, we all decided to press on to St. Augustine.  We didn't complain about the motoring as we were all pretty tired of the quartering sea outside and the flat calm of the ICW was actually very welcome.

The kids ooohed and ahhhed at the houses in Florida along the ICW.  The morning was sunny and warm and you could feel a significant change in the humidity.  All great stuff!



Liza's new penguin watch from G&P 

Making cupcakes with leftover batter (rum cake was requested)

John making candles from toothpicks as we couldn't locate the real things

Cool aircraft carrier we saw in Beaufort, SC

A little chilly leaving Charleston

Parting shot of the 'Battery' in Charleston

Pelicans

Great paint job on this sport fish

Happy Thanksgiving! (yesterday)

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving yesterday! We finally left Charleston, which definitely gave us a reason to be thankful. (I am also very thankful for my family and friends and being able to take this incredible trip) We traveled down the ICW, as the wave height was too big to get outside.  I cooked a Thanksgiving feast, which everyone seemed to enjoy, even a pecan pie! My turkey came out surprisingly well, I was a little nervous about the roasting capabilities of my oven.

We anchored just south of Brickyard Creek, a very quiet spot with 2 or 3 houses nearby.  We were quite near the channel and the boat was hit by sticks every now and again, moving with the current, which was a bit disconcerting.  It was a beautiful night, very clear and calm.  This morning we left at 7 to make a swing bridge that opens on the hour.  When we got close, we realized that it doesn't open for rush hour, 7-9, so now we are sitting at anchor waiting.  Its a lovely morning, very sunny, a bit cold though.  We're hoping it will be the last morning of jackets.  We're going offshore today at Beaufort, and planning to come in again at Fernandina Beach Inlet.  It was 20 degrees warmer there this monring.

Liza just woke up, came running thru the boat saying "I'm 9!!" We told her not until tomorrow, to which she replied, "but it was tomorrow yesterday!" Poor Lize, what a disappointment!

Magic Kingdom

Really fun day yesterday at the Magic Kingdom! It was extremely crowded, but we still had a great time, and maximized our use of the Fast Pass. Eliza's favorite ride was Space Mountain...go figure. She wanted to ride it again, but we couldn't fast pass it and the wait was 70 minutes!! Tyler loved Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain. I was in the front seat with him on Splash Mountain and was soaked from head to foot. Luckily it was 85 out! We met the Borduas family for lunch, which was great. We have a special picture to post of John and Kyle when they forward it. We stayed at the park from 9 a.m. until 7:30, and then went to Downtown Disney to have dinner at Planet Hollywood. The restaurant was a lot of fun and the kids loved finding movie memorabilia they recognized. We were back at the hotel by 10 and collapsed into bed. Today we laid by the pool until 11, and now are getting in the car for the drive back to Charleston. We will be moving back onto the boat tomorrow!!!!

Pulling the sword from the stone! Seemed to work every 3rd kid for some reason...

Main Street Disney

Trying to keep the kids under control!

Planet Hollywood

Leather outfits from 'Wild Hogs'

Sailing ship from 'The Princess Bride'