Log of Sea Wings

 February 26, 2008

Bimini Bluewater Resort and Marina

Alicetown, North Bimini, Bahamas

25 – 43.47’N

79 – 77.86’W

It’s All So Social

When we cast off our lines to start this phase of our lives in late June, one of the things we looked most forward to was the camaraderie and friendship of others who had adapted the same lifestyle. We were, at first, very disappointed.

The cruising community is much like migratory birds or sea life. They spend the ‘season’ from November 1 thru June 1 in the Bahamas, or Caribbean, or Central America and then migrate north of Charleston, SC or south of Trinidad for the hurricane season. This migratory pattern is cast in stone by their insurance carriers and has been so for many years. Therefore there is a great movement of boats to the Chesapeake or points further north during the months of April and May. Then as the hurricane season comes to an end they dash south again to the warmth of the islands.

Unfortunately, our departure in late June meant that the migration had long since passed us and on our slow trip north we often found ourselves the only boat in an anchorage. There were others moving north, but these were folks doing the Great Loop in trawlers and they usually stayed in marinas where we preferred anchorages. After a few months of pretty much being by ourselves, we were pretty disappointed at the ‘social life’ we found.

But as we moved further and further north this began to change. We chased Leap of Faith north from Isle of Hope, GA to Portsmouth, VA where we finally met Bob and Lynn Walsh and had the pleasure of their company again for several weeks in Annapolis. We enjoyed Washington with Mac and Shirley on Cats Paw 2 and again on the eastern shore, shared time with Matt and Melissa Lynch in Solomons and Terry Casto on Sixty-Eight in Myrtle Beach among others. But it was not until the Annapolis Boat Show that we began to interface with the migration.

The Annapolis Show falls on the first week of October and as it is still some distance from Charleston it is a traditional end of the summer/start of the migration south for the cruisers that headed north for the hurricane season. There we ran into Leap of Faith again and met many others heading south after the show including Tom and Joyce Russell on their new IP 420 Whispering Sea. Turns out that they flew into Ft Lauderdale to make an offer and sea trial our boat Sea Wings only hours after the owner had accepted our offer on her. They recognized the one that got away and came over to meet us in the anchorage. And as the cruising community is a small one, we ran into them again several months later at Los Olas Marina in Ft. Lauderdale.

But it was traveling south from the show that we began to form the types of friendships that we had been hearing about from the other logs we had followed or reading about in the cruising magazines. Starting our journey south we ran into Andrew and Denise Appleton on Samaria II in Solomons, MD and became fast friends. We truly enjoyed each others company and friendship and traveled south together spending many sundowners and meals together, sharing our lives past and present. We traveled together for days down the ICW until their schedule included a week long business trip off the boat and we traveled on south without them. This was really the first time that we had felt the sadness of losing touch with someone that we had become so attached to. Unfortunately, we also learned that this is the norm, not the exception of the cruising life.

Although we had planned to meet Andrew and Denise in Jacksonville as they caught up with us, the timing did not work out and we were out of town as they passed us going on to the Bahamas. There goal was to be in Nassau by Christmas, ours was to be out of Jacksonville by that date. Much to our disappointment, we have not been able to reach them since, by phone or email, and are hoping to find them again as we enter the Bahamas. Guys, if you read this on our website, give us a call, we miss you both!

The southerly migration is really something to see. On the morning we started down the ICW from Portsmouth, VA, a day of only 50 miles but with 9 lift bridges and a lock, there were over 30 boats queued up at the first bridge opening. This parade continued until the lock, which could not hold all the boats and we were split into two groups. At each of the bridges all the boats have to stop and hold position until the bridge opens, which is often a half hour or more. During that time everyone has to keep from hitting each other, or getting into shallow water, or hitting the downed trees and stumps lining the edge of the waterway, often with a current of several knots running.

It was the next day that we passed Far Niente and as we pulled in front of them we received a call asking if we minded if they followed us for a while as they had damaged their rudder at one of bridge queue free for alls the day before. We were in an open body of water with a narrow channel and their depth sounder was acting up as well. And so started our roll as “guide boat” down to Beaufort, NC which was the first chance to get their boat hauled and investigate the damage. And so Far Niente, Samaria and Sea Wings became a little southbound train and we spent this enjoyable time getting to know Jay and Diana and their Master and Commander Tinkerbelle, a scruffy little bit of a dog that fit easily into Diana’s purse but thought she was the ruler of the universe.

It has been these relationships that have made the trip south so much richer than the trip north. And, fortunately, even though we stayed over two months in Jacksonville, we have continued to run into the most enjoyable people. Most recently we spent two weeks in Coconut Grove (Miami) waiting for parts and a weather window to Bimini and while there spent a lot of time with Cal and Marty Landau on Carpe Vita and Gary and Lisa on their new Admiral catamaran Siya Sinana. All of them are not only great fun but terrific chefs (we pale by comparison) and meals together were a particularly enjoyable time for us. We did a lot of things together in those two weeks, the most interesting of which was zooming around the anchorage in our dinghies at midnight with a gale blowing through the marina trying to help Cal who had a 40’ boat drag down on him and her hard dinghy trapped under his bridge deck.

By the way, a special note here. Cal called SeaTow to come out and assist the dragging boat. Their base was at the marina off of which we were all anchored, a mile and a half away at most. They at first hesitated to leave the marina as it was blowing over 30 and another cell was scheduled to come over at any minute…………in other words they hesitated to come out less than 2 miles in water less than 10ft deep and a wind not much over 30kts. This is what you can expect from the private tow services in case of bad weather. All the while we were out in the same stuff in 10ft RIBS with 15hp motors. Go figure.

Fair winds and keep safe out there,

Lew and Lyn

sv Sea Wings