boatsbaconbeaches.com
Open in
urlscan Pro
192.0.78.25
Public Scan
URL:
https://boatsbaconbeaches.com/
Submission: On March 23 via automatic, source rescanner — Scanned from DE
Submission: On March 23 via automatic, source rescanner — Scanned from DE
Form analysis 6 forms found in the DOM
GET https://boatsbaconbeaches.com
<form action="https://boatsbaconbeaches.com" method="get"><label class="screen-reader-text" for="cat">Catagories</label><select name="cat" id="cat" class="postform">
<option value="-1">Select Category</option>
<option class="level-0" value="295636">Business Musings</option>
<option class="level-0" value="3221">Fun & Games</option>
<option class="level-0" value="6914">Fun and Games</option>
<option class="level-0" value="6539472">Home & DIY</option>
<option class="level-0" value="63097044">Life & Personal Views</option>
<option class="level-0" value="8023000">Social Media Stuff</option>
<option class="level-0" value="63097095">Social Updates & News</option>
</select>
</form>POST https://subscribe.wordpress.com
<form action="https://subscribe.wordpress.com" method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" id="subscribe-blog">
<p>Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.</p>
<p id="subscribe-email">
<label id="subscribe-field-label" for="subscribe-field" class="screen-reader-text"> Email Address: </label>
<input type="email" name="email" style="width: 95%; padding: 1px 10px" placeholder="Enter your email address" value="" id="subscribe-field">
</p>
<p id="subscribe-submit">
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="subscribe">
<input type="hidden" name="blog_id" value="11076092">
<input type="hidden" name="source" value="https://boatsbaconbeaches.com/">
<input type="hidden" name="sub-type" value="widget">
<input type="hidden" name="redirect_fragment" value="subscribe-blog">
<input type="hidden" id="_wpnonce" name="_wpnonce" value="0e4a36eb8a"> <button type="submit" class="wp-block-button__link"> Follow My Blog </button>
</p>
</form>POST https://subscribe.wordpress.com
<form action="https://subscribe.wordpress.com" method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" id="subscribe-blog-2">
<p>Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.</p>
<p id="subscribe-email">
<label id="subscribe-field-2-label" for="subscribe-field-2" class="screen-reader-text"> Email Address: </label>
<input type="email" name="email" style="width: 95%; padding: 1px 10px" placeholder="Enter your email address" value="" id="subscribe-field-2">
</p>
<p id="subscribe-submit">
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="subscribe">
<input type="hidden" name="blog_id" value="11076092">
<input type="hidden" name="source" value="https://boatsbaconbeaches.com/">
<input type="hidden" name="sub-type" value="widget">
<input type="hidden" name="redirect_fragment" value="subscribe-blog-2">
<input type="hidden" id="_wpnonce" name="_wpnonce" value="0e4a36eb8a"> <button type="submit" class="wp-block-button__link"> Follow </button>
</p>
</form>POST https://subscribe.wordpress.com
<form method="post" action="https://subscribe.wordpress.com" accept-charset="utf-8" style="display: none;">
<div class="actnbr-follow-count">Join 1,092 other followers</div>
<div>
<input type="email" name="email" placeholder="Enter your email address" class="actnbr-email-field" aria-label="Enter your email address">
</div>
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="subscribe">
<input type="hidden" name="blog_id" value="11076092">
<input type="hidden" name="source" value="https://boatsbaconbeaches.com/">
<input type="hidden" name="sub-type" value="actionbar-follow">
<input type="hidden" id="_wpnonce" name="_wpnonce" value="0e4a36eb8a">
<div class="actnbr-button-wrap">
<button type="submit" value="Sign me up"> Sign me up </button>
</div>
</form><form id="jp-carousel-comment-form">
<label for="jp-carousel-comment-form-comment-field" class="screen-reader-text">Write a Comment...</label>
<textarea name="comment" class="jp-carousel-comment-form-field jp-carousel-comment-form-textarea" id="jp-carousel-comment-form-comment-field" placeholder="Write a Comment..."></textarea>
<div id="jp-carousel-comment-form-submit-and-info-wrapper">
<div id="jp-carousel-comment-form-commenting-as">
<fieldset>
<label for="jp-carousel-comment-form-email-field">Email (Required)</label>
<input type="text" name="email" class="jp-carousel-comment-form-field jp-carousel-comment-form-text-field" id="jp-carousel-comment-form-email-field">
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<label for="jp-carousel-comment-form-author-field">Name (Required)</label>
<input type="text" name="author" class="jp-carousel-comment-form-field jp-carousel-comment-form-text-field" id="jp-carousel-comment-form-author-field">
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<label for="jp-carousel-comment-form-url-field">Website</label>
<input type="text" name="url" class="jp-carousel-comment-form-field jp-carousel-comment-form-text-field" id="jp-carousel-comment-form-url-field">
</fieldset>
</div>
<input type="submit" name="submit" class="jp-carousel-comment-form-button" id="jp-carousel-comment-form-button-submit" value="Post Comment">
</div>
</form>POST /
<form action="/" method="post">
<label for="target_email">Send to Email Address</label>
<input type="email" name="target_email" id="target_email" value="">
<label for="source_name">Your Name</label>
<input type="text" name="source_name" id="source_name" value="">
<label for="source_email">Your Email Address</label>
<input type="email" name="source_email" id="source_email" value="">
<input type="text" id="jetpack-source_f_name" name="source_f_name" class="input" value="" size="25" autocomplete="off" title="This field is for validation and should not be changed">
<div class="g-recaptcha" data-sitekey="6LcmyE0UAAAAALID28yVNg7pFCodGaArJzHitez_" data-theme="light" data-type="image" data-tabindex="0" data-lazy="true" data-url="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js?hl=en"></div>
<img style="float: right; display: none" class="loading" src="https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/post-flair/sharing/images/loading.gif" alt="loading" width="16" height="16">
<input type="submit" value="Send Email" class="sharing_send">
<a rel="nofollow" href="#cancel" class="sharing_cancel" role="button">Cancel</a>
<div class="errors errors-1" style="display: none;"> Post was not sent - check your email addresses! </div>
<div class="errors errors-2" style="display: none;"> Email check failed, please try again </div>
<div class="errors errors-3" style="display: none;"> Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. </div>
</form>Text Content
Skip to content
Follow: RSS Twitter
BOATS, BACON, BEACHES & LIFE
The world through the eyes of a husband, traveler, believer, action sports
junkie, & wannabe foodie.
* Home
* About Me
* Business Musings
* Fun & Games
* Fun and Games
* Home & DIY
* Life & Personal Views
* Social Media Stuff
* Social Updates & News
August 12, 2013
TRIPPPIN IN THE BAHAMAS – TIME FOR BUBBLES
A continuation from my earlier post, http://wp.me/pKtoE-c9.
With the boat secure, and the gear on we were finally hitting the water.
Everyone took their turn dropping in off the side of the boat and Lane and I
were always the last to go. I took the boat keys with us on every dive to make
sure we had a boat to come back to, but left the batteries on in case someone
had to come up and radio for help. Once underwater the stress of finding the
reef went away, as did every other stress in my life. The reef was beautiful and
full of life. Everyone seemed to be doing well, and all the gear was working as
planned. Since the dive was only 30 feet deep our bottom time would be somewhere
around an hour. The beautiful fish swam by, and the onshore current moved the
massive fans back and forth as if they were in a slow waltz with one another.
Everything seemed perfect, and right when you think you’re ready to call it a
dive a wonderful 5-foot Blacktip Reef Shark comes cruising by. Now sharks aren’t
a big deal for most of the group, but Catherine was a new diver and I wasn’t
sure how she’d react to our new neighbor. I kept an eye on her, as did Lane and
we moved on about our business. We managed to find this wonderful little system
of holes in one of the coral heads so we all scooted through these large caverns
and enjoyed the amazing visibility and clear water. Once we emerged from the
caverns I saw the curious Blacktip still hanging out overhead. Blacktips are
common in the Caribbean and they usually don’t present a problem to divers. I
honestly enjoy diving with them because they are beautiful to watch, and pose
little threat unless you’re bugging or spearfishing. This particular shark was a
bit more excited than I’d like, and he seemed to be gaining interest with each
passing minute.
No sooner was I watching this shark did I noticed another grey-ish creature
swimming off in the distance. This one looked smaller, but the clear presence of
a dorsal fin was a big sign that we may have a few more sharks in the area. I
kept my eyes open, and sure enough I saw what looked to be a school of sharks.
As these objects came closer it was clear that they were indeed numerous, grey,
large and fit the profile of a shark. I thought to myself, this checkout dive
just got serious. Little did I know that this dive was about to go down in my
book as one of the best dives of my life. The numerous grey creatures turned out
to be a very-popular pod of dolphins that are known for inhabiting the Sea Of
Abaco. I almost spit my regulator out! I’ve never seen dolphins on a dive, and
here I was looking at seven to eight adults and a juvenile. They came right up
to the group, who at this point were flipping out. All of us just sat on the
sandy bottom watching them swim around us. It was a truly magical experience
watching these guys just swim by, look you in the eye and cruise around. Go
figure that none of us had our cameras on the dive since this was only going to
be a “checkout dive”. The dolphins eventually moved on and we’d exhausted our
tanks, so everyone made it back up to the boat.
Credit: Explore.org
Once we were all back on deck the celebration began. No one could believe that
we’d just seen a pod of dolphins, and a Blacktip on what was supposed to be our
gear check dive. Celebratory beers were opened, stories were shared and the team
celebrated our first dive in the Bahamas.
SHARE THIS:
* Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
* More
*
* Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
* Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
*
*
LIKE THIS:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment
August 11, 2013
TRIPPPIN IN THE BAHAMAS – THE DEPTH DANCE
A continuation from my earlier post, http://wp.me/pKtoE-bF.
Source: Google Earth
After unpacking the boat everyone decided to go for a check-out dive and get our
first underwater adventure in the books. I had mixed feelings about heading out
in Tripppin because I was going to be the guy navigating these shallow, clear
Bahamian waters with no clear idea of where I was going. I’d done it thousands
of times before in many countries, but never with this many people, and never
without some form of local help. I went down to the dock to play with the chart
plotters while Lane looked up some dive sites online. He came out a half hour
later to let me know that we had a nice reef just around the corner from us
where it looked like we could use a mooring ball to tie up.
The plan was to go just outside of Man-O-War Cay and see what we could find. We
loaded up, and took off. The boat did amazingly well considering we had 9 divers
and a belly full of fuel headed out to sea. I saw the markers for the Man-O-War
Cay channel and proceeded out. After getting into “deep water” which seemed to
be anything over 20 feet we started looking for the reef. We idled along the
outer edge of the island for a good 20 minutes with little to no luck of seeing
a mooring. The only thing that was apparent was the boat’s keel being about 6
feet off the reef with solid 2-foot fluctuation in depth from the onshore
rollers. We abandoned the search and quickly turned away from Man-O-War heading
back out into the ocean. It was right about now I wished that I could channel my
inner Captain James. Local knowledge is invaluable, especially when you’re
navigating shallow reef.
Common sense tells you that if you have to second-guess the depth and your boats
ability to clear a reef that you need to turn around. Well, I’d managed to waste
a good hour of everyone’s time screwing around looking for this mystical reef.
Feeling defeated we hit the plotters and noticed that a marine sanctuary wasn’t
far away and we’d be able to do some diving in about 30 feet of water. We
motored out into deeper water and came to the front of Fowl Cay. We attempted to
come into the reef from the outside of the island. Once again the plotters
showed we would have depth, but we learned quickly that we would not be able to
make it from the outside of the island.
After idling around for over an hour with little to show for my efforts I was
feeling pretty defeated as the captain of the boat. The Abacos has a way of
humbling you fairly quickly when it comes to navigation. The waters aren’t
marked like they are in the U.S. or more populated countries, and the depth is
very deceiving. After coming back into the Sea Of Abaco we pushed out around the
back of Fowl Cay and finally saw the reef. We were even greeted by a few mooring
balls that let us know we’d in fact made it.
SHARE THIS:
* Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
* More
*
* Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
* Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
*
*
LIKE THIS:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment
August 11, 2013
TRIPPPIN IN THE BAHAMAS – NOW WHAT?
A continuation from my earlier post, http://wp.me/pKtoE-bF.
Credit: Google Earth
So we’d all made our respective journey to the island in some way or another,
and it felt good to be back with the rag-tag crew. I knew at this point nothing
would get in our way for a successful trip. That first morning with everyone in
the house was amazing. You could see the eagerness on everyone’s faces when they
woke up saw the amazing 280-degree views out our living room windows. The first
order of business the morning after everyone’s arrival became apparent when the
last of the amazing pastries we’d bought the day before were gobbled up. We
needed food, and the girls were quick to say they’d like to see Marsh Harbor.
The team loaded up into the boat for a trip into town. It was interesting
watching their faces as we scooted along the shoreline. I had taken it for
granted that we’ve been looking at this scenery for a few days now and they were
just now seeing these beautiful islands. Once we hit the docks in town we all
split up with our respective missions. I was on the “get food” team, so we asked
a local taxi driver where the grocery store was and hit the road on foot. After
about 40 minutes of aimless wandering, loads of sweat and some minor sunburn we
threw in the towel. I could have sworn that the locals were screwing with us
when they kept saying, “just a little further”. We headed back to the cabstand,
caught a cab with AC and realized that we were literally fifty feet from the
store when we’d finally decided to turnaround. Go figure.
The first thing you’ll notice in the grocery store is obviously the cool and
interesting brands on the shelves. The second is the price. Holly price shock
Batman. Like many other island counties the Bahamas have very few local farms,
so they import a majority of their food. Hence the insane prices. Nonetheless;
we had an entire car full of food, and headed back to the Harbor. I’m not really
sure how we would have ever carried that stuff back to the boat. Thank God for
the cabs.
Source:
http://www.worldofstock.com/stock-photos/bahamas-abaco-marsh-harbour-taxi-driver/PWO2125
Upon our arrival back at the Harbor we noticed that the “get tanks” team had
indeed done just that. We had a leaf-cutter ant style line of tanks shuffling to
the boat. A very nice gentleman was quick to help out with the tank duties,
which was no surprise. The harbor is full of folks looking to help in hopes of a
tip. I say that not in the way you think about people pandering you for money,
but in a classy way. With a deep Bahamian accent the man introduced himself as
Captain James. Wanting to know more about our new dock friend I asked him where
his boat was, assuming that the Captain would surely point to one of the
beautiful catamarans or trawlers that littered the bay. He smiled confidently,
looked me in the eye and said, “All of em, young man”. He went on to explain
that he captains a lot of the boats in the harbor and he’d be happy to help us
on our adventure should we want a Captain to take us fishing, hunting conch or
diving. I told him thank you and let him know we’d get in touch with him should
we decide to go that route. He handed my dad a business card that contained the
words “Capt. James” and his local phone number. We wished him a good day, said
out goodbyes and shoved off. The boat was packed with 18 tanks, 9 people and a
truckload of groceries. We idled out of the harbor, hit the throttles and pushed
Tripppin back towards the homestead.
We’d made it back with supplies, newly-rented tanks and accomplished our
early-morning adventure. Now what?
You can read the rest of the journey here, http://wp.me/pKtoE-c9.
SHARE THIS:
* Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
* More
*
* Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
* Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
*
*
LIKE THIS:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment
January 20, 2013
TRIPPPIN IN THE BAHAMAS – THE GANG’S ALL HERE
A continuation from my earlier post, http://wp.me/pKtoE-by.
With the customs and immigration process behind us we were all ready for some
adventure and food. Not specifically in that order. The folks at Dive Abaco were
quick to suggest a local coffee shop down the road a bit where we could grab
some sustenance. It didn’t take long, and the five of us found ourselves walking
down a narrow road leading out of Marsh Harbor in search of our first Bahamian
meal. I was in heaven. I’ve always loved walking around the islands wearing my
goofy straw hat, some flops, and a backpack. It’s about as far as i can get from
the bustling, tech-crazed world I live in back home.
A half mile later we stumbled into this wonderful little coffee shop where
locals congregated in the corner, and the smell of fresh pastries filled the
air. We quite literally bought the mother and daughter team out of everything
they had in the deli case. We were starving, and didn’t care who knew. You could
almost see disbelief strewn across the faces of the old women in the corner as
we loaded up our backpacks with food, and slammed back coffee last meal style.
With some life juice (coffee) flowing through us, and the fresh doughnuts being
doled out we were ready to take on the world. Well, we were at least ready to
walk back to the boat and figure out what to do next.
The rest of the clan didn’t arrive until later that afternoon, so we had some
down time to explore and figure out where to grab some supplies. One of the
challenges and benefits of not having a car on the island was that the boat had
to be our lifeline to town. If we needed food, fuel, scuba tanks filled or
supplies we had to rely on the boat to take us to where we needed to go. It’s
fun, but it can also be a pain in the ass… not to mention expensive. I
calculated that a simple run to Marsh Harbor costs us about $15 each way in the
boat. Not that it was an issue, but I’m one of those people who likes to keep
everything in perspective.
We loaded back into the boat after stopping by Dive Abaco one last time to
negotiate tank rentals for the week. Everyone on the trip was going to be
diving, and SCUBA tanks are almost always easier to rent than to own and travel
with. You won’t believe how small a boat gets when tanks are added to the
equation. We left the tanks for another day and ran back to the house; passing
all of the skiffs, blow boats, trawlers and commercial vessels still tied up in
the harbor.
The girls were arriving later that afternoon with a brief connection in Nassau,
and we wanted to have the house in order for their arrival. Now, our home was
rather amazing, but it did have one HUGE issue. It hadn’t been used in months,
and the inside was musty and damp. So much so, that we had opened the entire
place up for 24 hours and it was still an issue. Nothing like staying in a
million-dollar home that smelled like the bilge of a boat. To add insult to
injury one of the AC units was jacked, and made a sound similar to someone
throwing a million pennies into the blades of a helicopter every time it was
turned on. One call to the property manager and the house was teaming with a
cleaning crew, and a repairman brandishing a new AC unit.
Just a few short hours later the team started trickling in the door with
rolly-bags in tow. It was a whole bunch of hugs, “whoa look at this place”
coupled with a few “I see that you all made it” comments. We quickly followed
hellos with cocktails and an amazing sunset. Finally, the gang was all here.
You can read the rest of the journey here, http://wp.me/pKtoE-bN.
SHARE THIS:
* Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
* More
*
* Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
* Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
*
*
LIKE THIS:
Like Loading...
1 Comment
January 19, 2013
TRIPPPIN IN THE BAHAMAS – HELLO ABACO
A continuation from my earlier post, http://wp.me/pKtoE-b6.
The view from our back deck, taken as soon as we stepped foot on Bahamian soil.
After 7 hours on the boat, 280 gallons of fuel, 4 iPod playlists and some
serious victory dances we finally made it to Marsh Harbor. The beginning of the
trip proved to be a challenge, but we’d managed to make it to our destination in
just enough time to try to figure out where our house was. Oh yeah, you thought
we actually knew where we were staying? Ha. That would require too much
planning, and if you haven’t figured out by now the house was the least of our
worries.
We’d rented the place off of VRBO or some similar site, and the couple that
owned the home neglected to give us actual GPS coordinates, thus rendering the
“It’s on Eastern Shores” directions worthless. We knew we were in the right
area, but the houses were all fairly similar looking in nature. Our saving grace
was the unique dock our home had, and I’d managed to remember that it made a
T-shape when I looked at it from Google Earth. Thanks for that Google. We were
able to pick the house out fairly easily and we threw dock lines just as the sun
was setting. Not half bad for some rookies from the states.
We’d made it, the house was amazing, the boat had performed beyond anything I
could have asked, and the sweet taste of victory was something we’d all tasted
that first morning. Unfortunately victory was all we tasted, because we had no
real food. Everyone got up, threw on some clothes and we loaded the boat to head
into Marsh Harbor. We needed to get fuel (if they had any), clear customs, check
in with the Harbormaster, and get some local island breakfast.
Pulling into Marsh was something I wish I could describe in this blog, but it’s
simply not possible. The harbor reminded me of all those wonderful places in the
Saints I’d visited years prior. You had a slew of sailboats, trawlers, skiffs
and local fishing boats all moored up in no particular order. Locals and
passersby were eating toast and drinking coffee on their decks, happy to throw
you the casual wave as we scooted by. It took us a minute to find the fuel docks
we were looking for, but a nice guy named Andy was happy to greet us and give us
help with the customs and immigration folks. We actually weren’t able to get
fuel for the boat until we cleared customs, and I wasn’t going to try any sneaky
business with the Bahamian officials. We had our super fashionable bright yellow
“Quarantine” flag flying, as soon as we hit Bahamian waters, so Andy knew were
fresh off the Florida Coast. We called the Harbormaster and added ourselves to
the list of folks who needed to be cleared that morning. A few hours later,
$1600 in fuel, a lot of paper work and some nice locals added up to us being
cleared for the trip. For those of you wondering what you can/can’t bring, and
how to declare it I’m happy to chat offline. We did take a fair amount of
munitions with us, and a great deal of cash. None of which was an issue, and we
did it all by the book.
The view from the front of the house
You can read the rest of the journey here, http://wp.me/pKtoE-bF.
SHARE THIS:
* Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
* More
*
* Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
* Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
*
*
LIKE THIS:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment
January 5, 2013
TRIPPPIN IN THE BAHAMAS – WELCOME TO THE ISLANDS
A continuation from my earlier post,http://wp.me/pKtoE-b1.
We were about 100 yards into what we thought was the cut, but the depth was
lingering around 4 feet. The good news was we’d be standing in waist-deep water
if we sank, but no one wanted to deal with that. Once I felt like we made it
into the channel and had some descent water under the props it was time to roll.
We’d spent over an hour trying to determine where we needed to enter the
channel, and we had time to make up from our storm experience earlier that
morning. We had 11 feet under the boat, and it was game time. The boat popped up
on plane as if to scream “These idiots actually did it!” and we were off. We
managed to run the remaining 5 hours at an average speed of 30 knots with
nothing but beautiful flat seas, and the occasional starfish or ray sitting
under the boat as we sped overhead.
We’d made it, and we were now enjoying that amazing crystal clear water,
beautiful skies and clear running. You can see from the photo above that the
bank is fairly open and the depths are consistent. We were using our compass
headings and “MOB” coordinates to help us determine distances between points.
This would tell us precisely when to turn to our next heading and keep us out of
trouble. As promised in the Abacos Guide, we did encounter fish muds, and they
scared the hell out of every person on the boat including myself. We slowed for
the first encounter, but once we felt confident in what they looked like it
wasn’t an issue. A fish mud is nothing more than a cloud of sand/mud stirred up
by schools of bottom feeding fish, but this mud tends to look like very shallow
water to approaching boaters.
Fish muds, as noted by Steve Dodges Cruising Guide to The Abacos
The initial run on the bank is fairly easy once you have your coordinates
planned. You’ll scoot just north of Mangrove Cay, turn to starboard and shoot
just south of Great Sale Cay before skimming the top of Little Abaco and heading
onto Spanish Cay. The water is amazing and the visibility on our trip was simply
incredible. One of the major benefits of this course is that you’re in a
semi-protected area the entire time, and Cays are great buffers between open
ocean and shallow waters you run in. We never experienced more than moderate
chop; despite winds kicking up in the afternoon to 15 knots.
The only thing I was semi-concerned with were the fuel gauges… specifically the
two that were empty, and the third that was reading about half a tank. I knew
we’d have plenty of fuel to make the trip with about 25% reserve, but we’d run
heavier than ever before, and we used up an insane amount of fuel on the trip
over due to the storm. I made the call to pull into Green Turtle Cay and fuel up
just to be safe. We’d originally planned on clearing customs here, but it was
past 5pm at this point and the offices were now closed. No worries though, as we
had 24 hours to clear once we were in Bahamian waters. We came cruising into
Green Turtle a little before 6, and everyone was excited. This was going to be
our first Bahamian experience on the trip, and we were finally going to be
standing on Bahamian soil. I see the fuel docks off in the distance and pull
back on the throttles just before the break-wall. As we approach the old,
sun-beaten dock hand walks out and yells, “Need Fuel?”, to which I replied,
“Yep!” The next words he mutters aren’t exactly confidence inspiring. “We’re
out, and the fuel boat didn’t come today… matter fact, everyone around here’s
out.” Well shit. We managed to get all the way to Green Turtle Cay only to find
out all of the neighboring islands were also out of fuel. We said our goodbyes,
turned to port and proceeded back to the harbor entrance. The whole time my Dad
is just smiling, and he finally said, “Well boys… welcome to the Bahamas.
Sometime we’ve got fuel, and sometime we don’t”. He was having way too much fun
with this.
The run into Green Turtle was slightly interesting, as you had to double back on
your heading to enter the marina.
You can find the next part of the journey here, http://wp.me/pKtoE-by.
SHARE THIS:
* Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
* More
*
* Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
* Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
*
*
LIKE THIS:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment
December 31, 2012
TRIPPPIN IN THE BAHAMAS – TECHNOLOGY IS OVERRATED
A continuation from my earlier post, http://wp.me/pKtoE-aG.
Notice the pole is missing from the channel entrance and both sides are marked
with a + meaning rocks
West End was a welcome sight, but I knew that we had our work cut out for us by
navigating the shallow waters. Lane and I were not new to coastal navigation,
but we’d never been to the Bahamas before. I’d read every book, blog, story and
napkin with any type of navigation advice on it, and I knew this would be tough.
We overshot the entrance to the Bahama Bank by a mile or so due to the storm and
the Gulf Stream pushing us north. I looked at the GPS and to my chagrin it
wasn’t much help as the software was a few years out of date. Nothing like
having $12k dollars of GPS equipment rendered useless because my dumbass didn’t
spend $100 on software. I wanted to punch myself in the face… don’t worry, I
didn’t. We did what any smart person would have done. We went slow and pulled
out the binoculars.
Yes, here we are with three GPS screens, a heap of technology and we’re using
$44 binoculars from Bass Pro Shop. The markers weren’t present where they should
have been, and nothing seemed to line up. Couple that with the amazingly clear
water of the Bahamas and you’re in a constant state of an early-onset heart
attack thinking you’re in 2 feet of water. It was then that I resorted to the
books. That’s right; in all of my worrying and planning I managed to buy the one
single critical piece of technology this entire trip now rested on. Yes, I
pulled out a book, but not just any book. It was more like a Bible for those
looking to get to the Abacos by boat. The Cruising Guide to Abaco has long been
hailed as a “must have” for people like us trying to make the run to the
islands. I managed to pick up a copy on Amazon before we’d left, and it proved
to be more valuable than any piece of equipment we purchased.
After reading a few of the pages we came to realize that we aren’t seeing
markers because they are no longer there. The hurricanes of years past had long
sense taken out any markers that we could have used to navigate the shallow
shoals. Freaking perfect! We made it, and now we’re going to run the damn boat
up on some rocks because we’re incompetent.
Keep in mind that this trip was made in a boat that has more technology than
most people’s homes, and Lane and I were fully versed in the methods of
navigating by GPS, a compass and even stars. But this was something all together
different. We’d never been in unfamiliar waters with a book and a compass to
help us navigate the remaining 5 hours of the trip. But guess who had? My Dad.
He doodled around a bit, came back, took a look at the book and said, “we’ll use
dead reckoning to get us there”. Lane and I looked at him like we’d just seen a
ghost. The thought that he honestly expected us to use an eight-trillion year
old method of navigation to get us to the Abacos was crazy. The only problem is
that we didn’t have a better idea, and we had to get to the house before dark or
we were going to be in serious trouble. We backed away from West End a few miles
to get our bearings and headed for what we thought was the entrance to the
channel. Keep in mind that 20 feet to either side were rocks that sat in less
than two feet of water. Due to the water clarity and the time of day you
couldn’t really tell where deep water started or stopped. We were heading in
with blind faith, and a compass heading.
What’s left of a well-worn Abaco Guide book
You can find the next part of the journey here, http://wp.me/pKtoE-b6.
SHARE THIS:
* Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
* More
*
* Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
* Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
*
*
LIKE THIS:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment
December 28, 2012
ABOUT TRIPPPIN
I guess it would make sense to take a minute and tell you about our boat
Tripppin. Tripppin is a 2004 Hydra Sports Vector 33 with triple Mercury 275
Verados. The engines are 06′ models and were hung on the boat after the original
owner tossed the 300 HPDIs that came on her from the factory in Tennessee.
We (my business partner/best friend and I) bought the boat by total chance off
eBay on New Years night in 2010. Owning a boat with triple 275 Verados seemed
like a good idea after a few cocktails, and we’d been looking for a new ride for
months. We placed a bid that night, and hit the road to pick her up a few weeks
later. This was our first major ($ wise) boating investment, and we were all
pretty nervous. The nerves calmed when we pulled into Biloxi the night before we
arranged to pick up the boat. A few hours at the Craps table, and we were all
ahead enough to feel good about the day. The next morning, we met up with the
seller, took the boat out into a nasty windy, choppy bay and stretched her legs.
Sea trial day
The Hydra is extremely dry and comfortable, and the appeal for this large a a
boat was being driven by our vacations including more and more friends over the
years. You spend enough time on a boat with dive and fishing gear all over the
deck, and you’ll realize that a boat is almost never too large. We’d also wanted
to try our hand at some real island hopping and the Hydra was well equipped to
handle the job. One the way home we (Lane) decided to name her Tripppin (3 Ps)
for many reasons, but the most obvious was our intentions to take the boat on a
lot of trips and the other small fact that we were probably tripping when we
thought of buying a boat like this.
The trip home
We spent a lot of time upgrading her navigation systems, truing up the
electrical system and getting the Verados up to snuff but it was all worth it.
I’ve owned/co-owned numerous popular brands like Fountain, Donzi, Proline and so
on, but the layout and usability of the Hydra is unbeatable.
Dash upgrade
Specs
Builder: Hydra-Sports
Dimensions
LOA: 33 ft 0 in
Beam: 10 ft 6 in
Maximum Draft: 2 ft 10 in
Bridge Clearance: 7 ft 9 in
Engines
Engine Brand: Mercury
Engine Model: 4-Stroke Supercharged Outboards
Dimensions
Displacement: 7500
Engines
Total Power: 825
Tanks
Fuel: 360
Fresh Water: 29
A fresh new name
Proud owners
Read about our latest adventure in Tripppin here, http://wp.me/pKtoE-9N.
SHARE THIS:
* Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
* More
*
* Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
* Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
*
*
LIKE THIS:
Like Loading...
1 Comment
December 27, 2012
TRIPPPIN IN THE BAHAMAS – SNAP CRACKLE POP
A continuation from my earlier post, http://wp.me/pKtoE-af.
The trusty ACR ditch bag, that stays full of gear, and our ACR EPIRB.
Ok, so that part where the lighting was nonexistent lasted about two more
minutes. The seas were now solid 4-5 footers, the rain kicked up along with the
wind, and the lightning was popping off in the distance. Any boater will tell
you that this is one of the worst feelings you can have when you’re 50 miles
offshore with other people’s lives in your hands. I looked at my Dad, who until
this point had remained calm and collected. He was now dawning a spiffy green
poncho, his Costas and a miserable smirk across his face. I looked at him and
said, “What do I do?” because I honestly had no idea other than to turn around.
His answer was a myriad of questions like, “How large is the storm?”, “How far
do we have left?”, and “What do you think?”. I looked at him and said, “I have
no freaking idea…I’m trying to keep us floating, and we’re still 20 miles from
West End!” He slid in next to me, pulled up the weather chart and the sonar on
our Garmin systems, laid it over the GPS maps to show us exactly how large the
storm was, and what we were looking at. Just another reminder that my Dad knows
a lot about a lot, and just as soon as I think I’ve got him beat with modern
technology, I don’t. Fantastic, we could finally see what we were dealing with.
The bad news was that we’d spent about an hour trying to get around a storm the
size of New York. I backed down off the throttles, as it was apparent we weren’t
out running anything. I looked at the weary, cold, wet crew and said, “What do
you guys want to do?” We took a group vote, and after a spirited four-minute
debate we decided to punch through it. We made sure the ditch bag, jackets and
safety equipment were ready should we need them, and we all hunkered down for a
knee-jarring, ass-kicking ride through the dark clouds in front of us.
The waves were pretty gnarly and the rain made it almost impossible for anyone
to hide from that miserable sting. We pushed our way through the worst of it for
10 minutes, trying everything from plowing into the waves and running over them
at 35knots. Nothing seemed to make it better. That was until we made it inside
the storm. Once we broke the outer side of the thunderhead we were greeted with
an eerie flat sea with almost no wind or rain. I wasn’t going to stick around
and count my blessings, so we put Tripppin on the pins and made the final push
at 50+ knots. Once on the other side of the storm we were greeted with sunlight,
blue sky and flat seas. It wasn’t long until we saw the beautiful water tower on
the tip of West End letting us know we’d made it to the Bahamas.
Sorry for the lack of photos in this post. We weren’t concerned with the cameras
during this particular part of the trip. I promise to make it up to you with an
awesome video on the next post.
You can find the next part of the journey here, http://wp.me/pKtoE-b1.
SHARE THIS:
* Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
* More
*
* Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
* Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
*
*
LIKE THIS:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment
December 26, 2012
TRIPPPIN IN THE BAHAMAS – THIS IS GOING TO SUCK
A continuation from my earlier post, http://wp.me/pKtoE-a4.
The Next morning most of us awoke to mild hangovers, and adding insult to injury
we were faced a somewhat nasty weather forecast. The seas were ranging from 1-3
feet inshore, building to 2-4 feet with thunderstorms and high winds in the
gulfstream. It would figure that the day we’re crossing would be nasty, but we’d
come this far and we weren’t turning around. Four foot seas were doable in the
boat, so we loaded knowing were going to get a little beating and soaking wet.
It was ironic since the weather that morning was so nice in the marina. We took
off out of Lake Worth Inlet and headed for the tip of West End.
Copyright: Google Maps
The weather was great, the seas were solid two-footers, and the radio blared on
Jimmy Buffett for the first hour. We only had four miles to go that day before
we were officially in the Gulf Stream, and the weather seemed to be holding out
for us early on. After we were about 25 miles offshore Lane and I started to
notice this nasty thunderhead off to the southeast. We both said nothing, which
was pretty typical. We’ve been doing these types of trips long enough that a lot
of things go unspoken between us, but not unnoticed. A few minutes later I
finally tuned to him and said, “We can’t get in front of this thing.” To which
he said, “Let’s shoot north, speed up, and see what happens.” I honestly didn’t
have a better plan and this storm wasn’t looking like it was going to break or
slow its progress. I sped up. We were now cruising at an average speed of 36mph
and the seas were picking up. Not only were we getting some nasty bumps on the
keel, but the temps fell off drastically. So much so that everyone on the boat
was now cold. The three things you never want to experience 30 miles offshore
are nasty thunderheads with lightning, and cold air. Fortunately, this storm
didn’t look like it had any lightning up its sleeve… but I’ve been wrong before.
You can find the next part of the journey here, http://wp.me/pKtoE-aG.
SHARE THIS:
* Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
* Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
* More
*
* Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
* Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
*
*
LIKE THIS:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment
« Older Entries
Older posts
* ARCHIVE
* August 2013 (3)
* January 2013 (3)
* December 2012 (7)
* August 2012 (1)
* February 2012 (4)
* January 2012 (1)
* November 2011 (2)
* October 2011 (1)
* September 2011 (3)
* August 2011 (5)
* July 2011 (1)
* May 2011 (4)
* April 2011 (9)
* March 2011 (15)
* February 2011 (1)
* July 2010 (1)
* May 2010 (1)
* April 2010 (1)
* March 2010 (2)
* February 2010 (1)
* January 2010 (3)
* December 2009 (3)
* CATAGORIES
Catagories Select Category Business Musings Fun & Games Fun and Games Home &
DIY Life & Personal Views Social Media Stuff Social Updates & News
*
Find Me On Google+
* FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
Error: Twitter did not respond. Please wait a few minutes and refresh this
page.
* FOLLOW MY BLOG VIA EMAIL
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new
posts by email.
Email Address:
Follow My Blog
* LIKE BOATS, BACON, BEACHES & LIFE
* TWITTER FEED
Error: Twitter did not respond. Please wait a few minutes and refresh this
page.
* FOLLOW MY BLOG
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new
posts by email.
Email Address:
Follow
* NONDESCRIPT WORD CLOUD
Business Musings Fun & Games Fun and Games Home & DIY Life & Personal Views
Social Media Stuff Social Updates & News
* GRAB MY RSS FEED
* Tripppin In The Bahamas – Time For Bubbles
* Tripppin In The Bahamas – The Depth Dance
* Tripppin In The Bahamas – Now What?
* Tripppin In The Bahamas – The Gang’s All Here
* Tripppin In The Bahamas – Hello Abaco
* Tripppin In The Bahamas – Welcome To The Islands
* Tripppin In The Bahamas – Technology Is Overrated
* About Tripppin
* Tripppin In The Bahamas – Snap Crackle Pop
* Tripppin In The Bahamas – This Is Going To Suck
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
* Follow Following
* Boats, Bacon, Beaches & Life
Join 1,092 other followers
Sign me up
* Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
* * Boats, Bacon, Beaches & Life
* Customize
* Follow Following
* Sign up
* Log in
* Report this content
* View site in Reader
* Manage subscriptions
* Collapse this bar
Loading Comments...
Write a Comment...
Email (Required) Name (Required) Website
%d bloggers like this:
Send to Email Address Your Name Your Email Address
Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.