Chub Cay to Florida April 2005


We left Chub with 3 other boats, and are keeping in radio contact, they may stop (they are motor sailing) for a rest and allow us to catch back up with them -- like the tortoise and hare race. But it is nice to be in radio contact, just in case someone does have a problem.

We had a wonderful sail over, the full moon shone all night. We left Chub Cay with light winds, at times only 5knots and we were only managing 2-3 knots, but about 11 pm the wind came up, the moon was gorgeous and we had a great sail over the banks. By the time we left the banks (5am) the wind had piped up, and with the gulf stream at times we were doing 8knots. The entry to Lake Worth was hairy, 40 knots of wind, lots of white water, but it is a class A inlet, well marked and deep so with the skill of the captain, we sailed right in and got anchored about 3 pm. We are tired and will now take a break but this was probably our best all night sail so far.

But what was really neat, was while we were out there sailing across the banks and Gulf stream, we solved one of our next problems, transportation back to Canada. While we were in Chub Cay, we were docked next to Vesper Light (a hunter passage 42) they mentioned that Nammu (Canadians from Vancouver) were going to cross the same time as us, so we made contact, even gave them some Diesel (we aren't motoring so didn't need it). As we crossed we discovered that Andrew and Bronwen had a truck in Florida that they were trying to figure out a way to get it to Ontario....the solution is obvious. When we get to Fort Pierce, we are going with them to Port Charlotte to pick up their vehicle, and we will drive it home, Barrie, Ontario, as they continue their sailing adventure northward. Isn't the boating world fantastic... except for transmissions....everything seems to work itself out.

We checked in with customs and immigration and are ready to make our trek north to Fort Pierce.

April 30/05 We arrived in Fort Pierce, Fabor Cove, this afternoon and were guided in and greeted by Dave, another boater, of course, that we had met when we were here in December. We are planning to make the necessary arrangements, and do all the required work to put RAFT to bed for the summer at Riverside Marina here. But that is next week, until then, we can have one last weekend in cruising mode.


We drove over with our new friends, Andrew and Bronwen to Port Charlotte to get their truck, where they had been storing it. We went out for a late lunch at Olive Garden, and all of us had double helpings of the salad. We were so fresh veg and fruit deprived in the Bahamas. (Earlier in the week "pig out"ed at the Publix in Lake Worth, right after we were anchored, and bought about $50.00 worth of fruit/vegetables and dairy products, like yogurt. But we still haven't had our ice cream fix yet.) After that we drove the rental car back across Florida to Fort Pierce.

Now we are doing some serious shopping, starting getting the supplies we will need to put RAFT to bed for the summer. Went to Walgreens for mildew bags, large vacuum sealing bags for clothes, pillows, towels etc. Then we went through all our clothes to separate, what was to be left in Florida and what we are bringing home.

Andrew and Bronwen are getting themselves organized before starting the next leg of their trip to Ontario. Expect they will head out mid next week. In the meantime we will be doing the cleanup on RAFT. After 6 months in salt water, there is a lot of salt and rust to clean off. Now that fresh water is plentiful, we want to wash down the inside completely with bleach/water to reduce the opportunity for mold to grow. Ross is going over to Riverside marina tomorrow, Monday, to make all the arrangements to leave RAFT on the hard. We are going to take the mast down, pull the transmission, and do a few other minor repairs before we leave driving Andrew and Bronwen's truck north to Ontario.

It took us about a week of hard work to put RAFT to bed. Since it is our first time summerizing a boat, we were not sure what we had to do. Bev’s to do list just kept growing. Hopefully all will be well, and RAFT will enjoy the summer at her new marina.

On the way home, we stopped at Vero Beach we stopped to visit Windsong, Lane and Lynn whom Bev had became friends with while Ross was in Canada in April. It was strange to be driving again, on land, and heading home. After a quick stop with friends in Pittsburg, we crossed into Canada at Fort Erie May 10th