20260716 Thursday Spent the day on Great Guana Cay, Abaco. Most of the day at Nippers and some of the day at Grabbers. Both are really great, but our favorite is Nippers because of its Atlantic side beach location. Mateo had his long-awaited George Thorogood special - one bourbon, one scotch, and one beer. A great day of dinner ashore and relaxing in the Nippers pool.

20260715 Wednesday Woke up at anchor in Marsh Harbor. Dingyed into the Union Jack public dock and walked up to Maxwells Supermarket. Amazing grocery store. Could be any nice grocery store back in the states. Bought a lot of provisions because we had not provisioned since Marathon, FL and after we leave Abaco we will be sailing to places much more remote. The we filled up with fuel and sailed up to Fisher Bay on Great Guana Cay. We are anchored here for the night so we can spend the day tomorrow vising Grabbers, Nippers, and exploring Great Guana. Fuel was good. We had motored about 24 hours on one engine and this used almost 19 gallons of gas. Good data to keep in mind. Anchoring in Fishers Bay is not good. No good sand patches that we could find. Just mostly a hard bottom. Turned on the anchor alarm and will pay attention. But the winds are supposed to be pretty non-existent tonight.

20260714 Tuesday Arrived in Marsh Harbor. Came in through Man-O-War channel. Anchored in Marsh Harbor just across from the Union Jack public dingy dock. Easy and much cheaper than a marina. The public dingy dock also has trash receptacles we can use. Maxwells supermarket is about a 10 minute walk. Had a celebratory dinner at Colors restaurant.

20260713 Monday This was an all day motor in no winds just to get to the southern tip of Abaco. Conserving gas, one engine, a long slog. Than at night was lightening, thunder, rain, and wind overpowering the autopilot. A long night of sitting wet in the cockpit hand steering to keep our heading. The next day we rounded the southern tip of Abaco and are getting the winds we hoped for. Strong and in the right direction. We are cranking and have shaved our time by half to reach Marsh Harbor. A much needed break.

20260712 Sunday stayed at anchor all day. Explored the abandoned mansion on Bird Cay. Cleaned my first conch.

20260711 - Saturday - We did an explore of Great Whale Cay today in the Berry Islands. After we did this, we realized that the entire island is private and maybe we were not even allowed to be on the island. Oh well, I guess no public video for this day. Although, if you send me a request, I might be able to send you something privately.

20260710 Friday After the sail fix we sailed hard all day. Realized we weren't going to make our destination and didn't feel like sailing all night, so we anchored at night in a bay behind Little Whale Cay. No moon, charts only. It went well, but was pretty stressful. Long day and it will be good to get a good night's sleep.

20260710 Friday Today was one of those "no more" moments. First we lost our angle on the wind and needed a big readjustment. Big rollers, strong winds, bouncing around pretty seriously, and the land was no longer in sight in any direction. The fishing lines got swept back up under the boat and had gotten wrapped around a rudder. Then the front sail collapsed and fell on the deck and into the water. Let me repeat, big waves, strong winds. First things first. I dove on the rudder and got the fishing lines untangled. Then I had to climb the mast (twice) to get the roller furling line that was stuck at the top of the mast. I used both the mast steps and a bosun chair. That mast really rolls around in the big waves. At a couple of points I actually got my grip pulled from the mast and swung around in a big circle until I hit the main sail and clawed my way back to the mast. A few scrapes and pretty tiring. Eventually I got the top rope (furling line) for the front sail back down to the deck. We managed to find some hardware to reattach the front sail to the furling line. Then we fed the sail into the furling track and hoisted it back up. We overcame some real obstacles today. Serious fixes, figured out on our own, in the middle of nowhere. Now we are back on our course for the day.

20260709 Thursday We stayed at anchor today. Made a dingy trip to the Blue Hole on Hoffmans Cay. Met some people from England there jumping in the water.

20260708 Wednesday Anchored behind Market Fish Cay in the Berry Islands. Had to anchor twice. The first time was in a grassy area and the anchor would not set. Then we spotted a white sand patch, so we motored over, set the anchor, and it dug in nicely. Ran the watermaker for while tonight to top off our water tanks. Tried fishing with no success. Good sailing day with nice winds.

20260707 Tuesday Arrived at the northern end of the Berry Islands today, Great Stirrup and Little Stirrup where the cruise ships have an operation set up. We anchored at Great Harbor, just north of Little Petit Cay. We anchored for the day using only one motor because my fishing line got wrapped around the other one. At anchor I unwrapped the fishing line from the propeller and all appears to be fine. Beautiful spot with crystal clear water and a good sandy bottom for anchoring.

20260706 Monday Left Bimini, went north to round North Rock, then set sail for the Berry Islands. Sailing all day and night. Winds mostly strong enough for sailing but not quite the right direction. A few thunderstorms passed us by. We will probably need to tack sometime to make the Berrys.

20260705 - Sunday - Cleared Immigrations nd Customs in Alice Town, Bimini today for the Bahamas. Did a walkabout and explored this part of the island. Mateo may do his first legal alcohol drinks this evening. He's not of age yet in the States, but is legal here.

20260704 Saturday We made Bimini today. Anchored just south of Nixons Harbor at South Bimini. Had to motor the last few hours to get here before night because there were no winds. Mateo maybe caught his first fish from the boat today. But it fell back in the water. Lots of firework displays from Bimini.

20260702 - Thursday/Friday - We are sailing good now, on a track for Bimini with the Gulfstream current pushing behind us and decent winds. Last night was terrible. One of those nights where you think you might not make it. Of course everything is pitch black so you cant see anything and are trying to guess what is happening. The boat wouldn't move. It wouldn't go any direction, except in uncontrolled circles. We lowered and turned on the engines and there was really no effect. The seas looked really weird, like we had suddenly run into a current that was working against us. The depth meter kept alarming that we were in shallow water. We kept checking the engines and they were working really hard, but not pushing us more than half a knot. I could turn the rudder completely from one direction to the other and the boat wouldn't even change direction. I finally thought that the rudders had somehow fallen off . That was terrible. Bobbing in the Gulfstream with no rudders to move forward or take us back to shore. We finally decided we must have hit the edge of the Gulfstream and this was somehow the problem. Then we realized that we were in a thick sea of sargassum. With the engines down, all the sargassum was catching on them, so trying to use the engines was the worst solution. When we opened up the engine wells to look at the engines, they were just matted with a thick mat of sargassum. So we pulled up the engines and decided our only option was to try and sail out of it. Hoping it was only a Gulfstream edge sort of phenomenon. The only direction the wind would allow was south, away from Bimini, but fortunately this was the route Predict Wind had recommended up until about 4:00am anyway. So we sailed south. We made it out of the sargassum - I wish I could have seen all of it. At 4:30am we tacked onto a new heading toward Bimini and just like Predict Wind predicted, the winds have shifted and we are holding this course.

20260702 - Thursday - We got the mast sail track installed by Anthony and Don? from Onboard Rigging. Great people, good job. Left the boat at Onboard Rigging dock, walked in to Publix for final provisioning, gassed up on the way out of the harbor, and set sail for Bimini.

20260701 Wednesday Hung the gymnastics rings from the dingy davits and can now do pull ups. Our sail track arrived late and i hope we can get it installed tomorrow. We lost our dingy bail bucket so we rummaged around through a dumpster and found a used bleach container, cut the bottom off, and we now have a new one.

20260630 Tuesday - Long day of waiting for the repair. We finally got a tracking number today, so at least we are in the system. I hung the gymnastics rings from the dingy davits for exercise pull-ups over the water. They work well. A no wind day.

20260629 - Monday - Anthony from Onboard Rigging came out to the boat today and measured for our new main mast sail track replacement. I believe he got it ordered today but am not sure of a delivery date. Mateo and I took a rest today and dingyed into Burdines for dinner today. Along the way we stopped at West Marine and got a new double pulley for the lower part of the dingy block and tackle.

20260629 - Sunday - Ran the Seawater Pro Mini desalinator today and made a video of it. Not much going on. Waiting on repairs. Mateo retrieved a kayak that had broken free from a neighboring boat at anchorage. We have never seen anybody on that boat, but we retrieved the kayak and tied it back to the boat.

20260627 Saturday Slow day because we are waiting around for mast work to be done on the boat. We took a dingy ride around to East Sister Rock. A very good description, just a low lying rock outside of Sister Creek. We then took Sister Creek into the back side of Boot Key Harbor, and back to our boat.

20260626 Friday Took a walk into Marathon and visited the Turtle Rehabilitation Center. Not that great. Tried out the new water
maker for the first time. It worked well. About 11 gallons per hour. I need to run it again in a couple of days and film the setup and operation.

20260625 Thursday - The winds were favorable, so we tried to leave Marathon for Bimini, Bahamas today. But we could not get the main sail up. Our mast sail track had taken damage during the trip down from Marco Island. There were big gaps missing from the track and the main sail lugs kept popping out as we tried to raise the sail. Had to abandon the effort. This is a must fix, and we do not want to leave the US without it done. Spent the rest of the day finding someone who could understand the problem, order the replacement part, and do the work. Finally found the right guy. Anthony with Onboard Rigging. He is currently working a job in Miami, but will be back on Friday, and will help us out. Maybe be done by next Wednesday. Oh well, could be worse places to spend the week.

20260624 Wednesday Crossed under 7 Mile Bridge this morning. Ran aground trying to get into Boot Harbor Key through Boot Key channel. Had to wait for the tide to start to rise and then we jumped off the boat, and with a lot of pushing, shoving, tugging and wiggling we were able to wiggle the boat back into the channel. Got gas and called it a day. It was actually way more stressful than that! Anchored just outside Boot Key Harbor with a few other sailboats for the night.

20260623 Tuesday Anchored off Vaca Cut Gulfside anchorage. 4 - 5 miles east of 7 mile bridge, Florida Keys. Tomorrow morning we will pass under the 7 mile bridge at high tide, 8:15 - 10:00.

20260621 Sunday David flew out for Ohio this morning. Mateo and I wrapping up everything on the boat. Provisioning. Catching up on all the web page postings.

20260620 Saturday Visiting David. Went to Tank Farm. Sunset cruise on the Marquis with David. Lynn, Bryce, Dana and Theresa.

20260619 Friday Visiting David. Trip to the Tank Farm.

20260618

20260618 Thursday Arrived at David's dock about 8:00am. Staying at his unoccupied house. Picked up all my packages from David's. Started Matt working on my computer, copying all data from old to new computer. Had lunch with David, Lynn, and Brice at Mangos. Got the new Victron charger hooked up. Did a little West Marine shopping. Went evening swimming at South Beach and Mateo metal detected an earring on the beach.

20260617 - Wednesday - sailed all day from Mobile to Marco. Winds dropped to nothing late at night so turned on one motor so slowly motor and get to Marco by sunrise.

20260616 - Tuesday - sailed all day from Mobile to Marco

20260615 - Monday - Rough night last night. The Solix got down to 8% so we started the generator at 6:10am to recharge it. Charged to 96% by 11:00am. The autopilot and chart plotter fid not work reliably last night. The autopilot did not work at all so we hand steered all night. The chart plotter kept rebooting so we would lost it at many random times. Very difficult keeping the course. Needed to rely on the old fashion compass, headlamps, and the feel of the wind to tell which way to steer many times. This morning I figured out the autopilot, chart plotter, and NEMA connection were all wired into o e terminal and there was not enough power to run them all. I separated them out, and now it appears the autopilot is working correctly, and the chart plotter works well although sometimes it gives a low voltage warning. Last night I thought we needed to buy and install a new autopilot, but that crisis has been overcome.

20260614 - Sunday - sailing all day toward Marco Island.

20260613 - Saturday - sailed all day and night toward Marco Island. Using Predict Wind to chart course. Light winds.

20260612 - Friday - left Dog River marina at 10:30am. 10:55 left Do River channel into the main channel. 2:30pm turned off the engines for the sail to Marco Island.

20260611 - Thursday - started at 7:40am at MM 9.8. Arrived Co mentioned Center free dock around d 9:30am. Dropped off Pete so he could fly home. Walked around Mobile. Visited the Cathedral and the Maritime History Museum. Left Convention Center dock at 1:00pm. 2:30 turned into Channel leading to Dog River. Arrived Dog River marina at 3:30pm. Filled up with gas, 31.4 gallons. Picked up waste filler cap from the West Marine there and installed it that evening.

20260610 - Wednesday - started at 7:45am at MM 83.5. Anchored at 5:00pm at MM 9.8 just above 12 Mile Island.

10260609 - Tuesday - started day at 8:00am at MM 150. Got to Bobby's Fish Camp at MM 219. Stayed there from 12:15 to 1:00. Very nice place. Filled up with fuel, 21.6 gallons. Coffeeville lock 1:30 - 1:45. Went under the lift span railroad bridge at 5:00pm. Had to wait about 10 minutes for a train to pass. Anchored 6:30pm at MM 83.5.

20260608- Monday - started from Kingfisher Bay Marina about 8:00am, MM 216. 9:15 cleared through Demopolous lock. Stopped for the night at 5:30 at MM 150.

20260607 - Sunday - Started 8:00 from mile marker 249. Arrived at Kingfisher Bay marina, mile marker 216, in Demopolis around 12:30pm. Filled up with gas and used their courtesy car for a Walmart trip. Will stay here tonight. Nice swimming pool.

20260606 - Saturday - Started the day at Bevil Lock at 9:00am mile marker 306. Arrived at Heflin Lock at 3:00pm. Anchored at 5:40pm at mile marker 249 by the White Cliffs of Epes. Really pretty place to anchor at a bend in the river. Every so often a train goes by on the railroad bridge right close to us. Nice day, nice breeze, its supposed to start raining late tonight. We should reach Demopolis tomorrow.

20260605 - Friday - Pulled up anchor at 8:00 and into Aberdeen Lock at 8:15am. We reached Columbus Marina about 12:15 pm where we filled up with gas. 33.5 gallons of gas. Left the marina and got underway about 1:15pm. Stopped about 5:30pm for the night about mile marker 309, just above Bevill Lock. Did a gas calculation today 1.57 gallons per hour using both engines. We motored for 21.25 hours and used 33.5 gallons. I got confirmation from both ChatGPT and West Marine that the Victron Blue Smart IP22 12V 30A is the better choice than the Noco Genius gen5 3x house battery charger. The Victron’s advantages include: Lower Power Consumption: The Victron charger boasts up to 93-94% efficiency. Because it generates very little heat, it pulls only 0.5 W of power when idle/in storage mode. In contrast, the NOCO can consume up to 220 W at full draw and consumes slightly more power just in general maintenance. Through the VictronConnect app via built-in Bluetooth, you can see exactly how many amp-hours are going into your batteries and monitor historical data on your phone. Since my 3 AGM batteries are wired in parallel, they act as one large battery bank. The Victron pushes 30A of bulk charging but can be manually throttled down via the app to 15A if your solar inverter is struggling to keep up on a cloudy day. So today I ordered a Victron to be sent to my cousin David's house in Marco Island, FL. I also ordered two foldable 400 watt solar panels from Anker. A combination of the Anker SOLIX PS400 panels and the new Victron battery charger will give me twice the solar cell generating power and less power consumption by the battery charger. A great combination! All this stuff is being sent to cousin David's house.

20260604 - Thursday - Started at 8:00am. Solix was at 61%. Cleared through 4 locks today. Rankin Lock at 8:35am, Fulton Lock at 10:15am, Wilkin Lock at 2:30pm, and Amory (Cochran) Lock at 4:15pm. We had to wait on barge traffic at Amory Lock. Pete threw our rice maker pot out with the dish water last night, so just after Fulton Lock we unhooked the dingy from the boat, motored over to the side of the waterway next to an interstate bridge, and hiked through a field, logging company operation, small subdivision, and a few roads to a close Walmart to buy a new rice maker. It was about a half hour hike each way. You do what you need to do. The solar charging system was better today. We started out at 61% and made it back to 98% by the end of the day. The Noco house battery charger is behaving much better and not drawing as much power. It reached a maintenance state with the batteries and now seems to be drawing much less power to keep the batteries topped off. We anchored at 6:30pm at mile marker 358 just upstream of the Aberdeen Lock. Discounting the Walmart trip, we motored for about 9 hours today. Nice day, it wasn't too hot, and a decent breeze.

20260603 Wednesday - Left Grand Harbor marina at 10:30am. Used both motors today. Anchored between Montgomery Lock and Rankin Lock at Mile Marker 403 at 6:30pm. Spent a lot of the morning at Grand Harbor trying to locate a replacement house battery charger. My Noco Genius Gen5 3x is having a hard time. It is probably not the right charger for my application. The batteries have a constant low draw on them from the boat DC things like refrigeration, chart plotter, auto pilot, etc. so the Noco is constantly trying to actively charge them and never goes into a maintenance mode. So, it is drawing more power than I want it to and pulling down my main Solix battery bank. I should get a Victron Blue Smart IP22 12V 30A single output. That is made more for my application. Anyway, no place around Pickwick Lake carried the Vicron brand. But, I will try to find one before I leave the states. Nice cruising today. We are now going "downhill" toward the Gulf and with the current instead of fighting it. Motoring along about 6.2 kts a lot of the time. We cleared through Whitten Lock and Montgomery Locks today. Beautiful little anchorage just before Rankin Lock. Pete threw the rice cooker pan overboard along with the dish water this evening. Not good. The rice cooker will not work without its custom pan. We use the rice cooker every evening for dinner. We will have to find a way to Walmart to pick up a new one.

20260602 - Started the day motoring at 8:00am. Solix was at 37%. Has me worried. The solar cell input is not keeping up with our battery consumption. I may need more soar cells. Arrived at Pickwick Lake lock at 12:45 and passed through lock at 1:15. Arrived at Grand Harbor marina at 3:00pm. The Solix is charged up to 65%, but we didn't run the house battery charger all day. We are staying at the transient slip for the night at Grand Harbor. Borrowed their courtesy car and went to hardware store, grocery store, and a meal. We bought 33 gallons of gas. We have been using both motors for 21.5 hours. This is 1.5 gallons of gas per hour for the both motors. We were also fighting a stiff current for most of the day, if this makes a difference. Nice night on the dock at Grand Harbor. Mateo is practicing his Hurdy Gurdy. We are charging everything back up to 100% from shore power and have topped off our water tanks. Showers all around!

20260601 - The Solix started at 53% at 7:00am. After coffee it was 51%. The NOCO Genius Gen5 3x house battery charger seems to use more power than I would expect. It always uses around 250-300 watts of power. So we ran it for a while today to top off the house batteries. It never went into maintenance mode to use less power. ChatGPT says as long as anything is drawing power from the batteries, like refrigerator, chart plotter, auto pilot, etc. it will keep using full power. So we turned if off when we were able to. At the time of this writing the Solix is at 56%.

20260601 - 8:00am start time. Averaged around 5 kts against a current. Ran both motors. Anchored about 6:00pm at mile marker 177.

20260531. Started the day at 8:00am. The Solix was down to 71%. Motored on one motor to Pebble Isle marina. Arrived 1:30pm. Filled the gas tank - 9.5 gallons for about 14 hours of motoring, mostly on one motor. From Pebble Isle onward we used both motors, working against the river current. Cleared under the railroad bridge at 2:30pm. Anchored at 6:00pm at mile marker 119. The smart battery charger for the house batteries is drawing about 300 amps. This seems excessive. The Solix was down to 71% at the end of the day.

20260530 - 9 hours. 45 miles. Mostly on one engine. Left GTB at 8:50am. We left the canal into Kentucky Lake at mile marker 25 and our average speed was 5.6 kts. At 9:45 we switched to one engine only and our average speed was 3.9 kts. At 10:15 we lifted the unused engine out of the water and our speed increased to 4.3 kts. We stopped at 6:00pm at mile marker 70.

Christa and Gianluca tossing a volleyball on Kentucky Lake. Video upload from my phone.

Mateo and Gianluca on the boat at Green Turtle Bay Marina, evening party, from my phone.