Abacos Again!

[Sans Peur]

The Abacos, Green Turtle especially, is one of my favorite places on this planet (not that I have any off planet). Nice friendly people. Very laid back. Only a couple of vehicles on the out islands. Great Abaco has a bunch of cars but not the others. It's like being Way Way out in the country, you can see more stars than you can count and watch satellites go by overhead.

Would you be taking your own boat or flying over and renting? Fishing can be off the charts but Mike O would be the expert on that. My fishing has always been limited over there.

[OldPete]

Have a great time!

[Sans Peur]

May have to reconfigure my plans a bit. Crossing in 6 to 8 with an occasional 10' thrown in is No Bueno!

Sebastian Inlet to Jupiter Inlet 20-60 nm 252 PM EDT Mon May 22 2023


THURSDAY NIGHT
Northwest winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with occasional seas to 6 feet. Showers and chance of thunderstorms.

FRIDAY
Northwest winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 5 to 7 feet with occasional seas to 9 feet. Showers likely and chance of thunderstorms.

FRIDAY NIGHT
Northwest winds 10 knots. Seas 6 to 8 feet with occasional seas to 10 feet. Chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms.

SATURDAY
Northwest winds 10 knots becoming north in the afternoon. Seas 6 to 8 feet with occasional seas to 10 feet. Chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms.

[Tiretyme]

Know I would!

[Ol Mucky]

Doesn’t the stream get a bit nastier as well?

[Sans Peur]

That is the stream. 20 to 60nm off shore is the heart of it.

[Sans Peur]

We are gonna just mosey south on the ICW. Probably spend Sat night in Ft Pierce (I used to love the Braford Steakhouse, we will see if the new place is as good), Sunday in WPB (love Sailfish Marina) and make the decision on Monday if we are going to head to Green Turtle Cay or just keep going down the coast into the keys.

I will let you guys know and post some pic's as I can.

[Tiretyme]

Sounds like a great Plan B to me

[Sans Peur]

Seas were 6 to 8 as advertised so we went into the ICW and headed South. Made Ft Pierce city marina and went to Cobbs Landing for a beer and some snacks.

This morning we headed south on the ICW again and stopped at Sailfish Marina for the afternoon and night. I have never seen so many boats in one place. Peanut Island and the sandbar was a friggin circus. Just getting around it and to the fuel dock was horrendous. Everything from inflatables with little 2 hp engines to giant center consoles with 6 engines.

Went to the restaurant and had lunch.

Took 230 gallons to get from Port Canaveral to WPB. With all the stop start we had to do because of our wake and the no wake zones, I did not think that was to bad.

Tomorrow we cross to the Bahamas. I will post up some pics if I have any internet.

[jmike]

Memorial Day weekend didn't help with the boat traffic. Made a quick trip to Daytona to have lunch with some family. I -95 wasn't to bad but lots of RVs and boats on it.

[Sans Peur]

Bimini was the choice. 5 hours compared to 7 each way from WPB.

[DaleH]

Awhhhhh ... I hope you make it back to GTC and Abaco sometime! Hope you still had a great weekend!

I'd love to find out what there is for accommodations for 'land lubbers' there (as my 21' boat won't make it from Boshstin [that's 'Boston' for you Southerners ... lol ]. Would also rent a 17' Whaler or such to tool around with and visit restaurants at other islands.

[Sans Peur]

We weren't sure of the seas early in the morning. They were supposed to be a little tall until the afternoon so we chose to run just off the beach down the coast and make the crossing later in the day to give the seas time to die down a bit. It was a nice run.

We are tied up right next to the pool (I took this pic in my baggies while getting another beer). It's not to private but alot of fun.

[Tiretyme]

Fun is what’s important IMHO

[Parker Yacht]

Not for Nuttin, Courtesy Flag is to be displayed off stb spreader. :-))))
Mon----.

[Sans Peur]

I usually put it on the center rigger but will move it today.

[Sans Peur]

Oh, and to those from the don't bring you dog to Home Depot thread. How about Bimini?

Meet Bimini Bob! The most traveled pomeranian I know of.

[Sans Peur]

Ok, left Bimini this morning and headed towards Stuart to meet up with an old friend.started running a straight line up to get a 6 knot kicker from the gulf stream. We get about 40 miles and are 32 miles off the coast when all of a sudden I hear a big noise and the boat start turning to Port. I slam the throttles down and smell smoke. It's billowing out the back of the boat. Open the ER Hatch and it is filled.with smoke and a wierd smell. I can't see fire so I open the rear hatch to clear out the smoke and go down. I can't see anything wrong but it smells bad. I tell her to put the engines in gear and suddenly smoke is coming out of the openings of the port transmission bell housing. I figure there must be a coupling of some sort between the engine and trans that let loose. So I pin the prop and west we head to Ft Lauderdale at 8mph.

I hand steer it with just the starboard engine running and we are doing OK. Andee is a little freaked out still, but calming down. I engage the auto.pilot to see if it will work and it seems to be doing OK. The seas were pretty flat. After about 45 minutes we loose all electronics and smell burning wires. I pull the dash forward and start feeling everything. The autopilot controller is super hot and the wires are even hotter. I reset the main panel breaker and it trips within 5 seconds. This happens a couple of times and I finally unplug the auto pilot. Reset the breaker and it holds. Push the dash back, start up all the electronics and we are good again.

I was watching the weather and it wasn't looking good. A few miles out and the storm seemed to split and we snuck in between it.

I had called Seatow to see about the inlet as I wasn't sure if going in with only one engine would be doable. They assured me it would fine and would wait for me at the turn basin. I went through easily and we met up with them. He towed me a LOOONG Friggin way up river and we ended up at Yacht Management. They are going to pull the boat tomorrow and we will see what it is going to involve.

Andee got us a room at the Hyatt Centric and we (including Bob) are enjoying really good room service and a great bottle of wine. Hopefully she will settle down.

I will let you know how that works.

[Parker Yacht]

We are just down the street from Yacht Management and do work out if there.
Let me know it you need anything.

[Billinfla]

Did ya troll on the way back? Never miss an opportunity.

[Sans Peur]

Bill, do you not know me? 7 to 8 mph through the stream and not put a couple of lines behind the boat?
Hell Yea, I trolled. Missed a bite on one but that was it. Probably while I was trying to get power back to the electronics.

[Sans Peur]

" Was wondering if the AP was fighting the single engine and overheated"

Yes, that is exactly what happened. Since I pinned the port shaft so it would not turn (twin Disc recommends that to be done) it was causing a ton of drag to port. I was running with almost full.rudder to starboard and any course correction to starboard was to the lock and slow. I am sure the auto pilot was constantly pushing against the stops and overheated itself.

Once we are back running I am going to have to look at the wiring behind the dash. There sure was a ton of smoke and smell. I am sure some of it is toast.

[Billinfla]

Don't rule out internal damage to the drive unit itself. I've disassembled winches with perfectly good supply wiring which were toast inside the motor.

[Sans Peur]

"We are just down the street from Yacht Management and do work out if there. Let me know it you need anything"

I was wondering if you were close. I was going to look up your shop and stop by when I come back to the boat. I keep some good Arturo Fuentes onboard.

[Parker Yacht]

Parker Yacht
240 SW 32nd. CT.
Unit 2
Ft. Lauderdale. Fl.
33315
954-463-1515

[DaleH]

Dayum, but glad you all are A-OK!

[Bstnsportsfan]

Scary stuff when you’re 30 miles offshore. Let’s hope the repairs aren’t too $$$.

[MikeO]

Wow that’s a pretty shitty end to the trip. Hope you are all sorted now. I’m in town a lot in the next two weeks with a pickup if you need a ride anywhere for parts etc.