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Traveling to The South Pacific

Back on the water again

 We are so excited to spend time on Daybreak with Jerome and Karen Fisher!!! Out to The South Pacific we go....

Turks and Caicos

Time has passed quickly by for Anna Mae and Crew at The Blue Haven Marina in Turks and Caicos. The turquoise waters are breath taking.

Our days are filled with relaxing by the beautiful infinity pool, snorkeling the reef in front of the marina and visiting with friends.

Bridget at poolside

We loaded up the dingy with snorkel gear and headed out to the reef. On the way we stopped off at a small island to check out the iguanas. Two thousand rock iguanas are the only land creatures that inhabit Little Water Cay. We walked on the boardwalk that meanders through the island. A few greeted us as they scampered through the underbrush and along the wooden planks.

We road bikes to The TCI Conch farm located just a couple of miles from the marina. It operates on 10 acres of oceanfront property and 65 acres of sub-sea pastures. The property includes facilities for egg hatchery, metamorphosis, and post-larval stage development. We learned  about The Queen Conch. It has been a staple of the Caribbean diet for at least a thousand years. Its meat provides a major source of protein for the region, while its shell had been used for tools, weapons, jewelry etc. Over fishing has depleted wild stocks of conch. It is listed as a commercially endangered species.

This one is  2 years old.

This Conch is 12 years old, Bill is very impressed.

Every Thursday the locals put on a fundraiser, fish fry. We enjoyed the evening with our friends Eric and Renee.

Yes, this is a shark... An evening past time on the docks. This is the night Bridget dropped her phone in the water and couldn't imagine why Bill wouldn't jump in and find it?

The Islands, aptly proclaimed "Beautiful by Nature," are the landfall Islands of Christopher Columbus' first voyage in search of the far east. We will be so sad to leave...

Long Island, Bahamas

Arriving on Long Island in calm waters on Thanksgiving Day. Waking the next day to blustery winds that haven't  stopped...

Always a beautiful sunset

Anna Mae is tucked in a nice slip at The Flying Fish Marina. Our days have been spent scouring the uninterrupted beaches for sea glass. Bridget and I have a nice collection.

The worlds free diving championships are being held at Dean's Blue Hole. Which is the world's deepest known Blu Hole that sinks some 663 feet and terminates in the Atlantic Ocean.

A Venezuelan diver humored me with a picture. His free dive record is 300 feet, amazing!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner with David and Jeanette Walker at Cape Santa Maria Restaurant, then danced at The shake and scrape at their Stella Maris Club.

This is what they call the scrape. A saw and screwdriver with duck tape wrapped at the end.  Bill needed another lesson, but we all had a great time.

The stunning beaches and views around the island are breath taking.

George Town Exumas

The short day run from Staniel Cay to George Town was calm and beautiful. Anna Mae has been anchored in front of The Monument on Stocking Island. A hike we decided not to take due to the mosquitos...

Our days have been full and relaxing in the warm clear waters that surrounds us. Snorkeling, hiking and long walks on the white sandy beaches looking for treasures, swimming with turtles and rays have been memorable highlights. 

We met friends at The Club Peace and Plenty one evening to enjoy a delicious Bohemian dinner and dancing. 

The Chat N Chill, another fun beach hangout is party central. With a sunday pig roast, volleyball in the powdery sand and fresh fish fries. We ate conch salad, not my favorite, but the conch fritters are wonderful. Bridget discovered a local drink, the Goombay.

The entrance to town by dingy is a narrow cut under a small single lane bridge into Lake Victoria. A small salt lake that is surrounded by shops. George Town is the capital and largest town on the mainland, a nice seaside community with pink government buildings overlooking Elizabeth Harbor. A huge African fig tree shades the straw market which consists of a half-dozen outdoor shops. 


Our next day hop will be to Clarence Town on Long Island. We plan to watch the world free diving competitions being held at the blue hole.

Thunderball Grotto Staniel Cay Exumas

Thunderball Grotto an unforgettable marine cave. 

The cave has three entrances, all just barely lapped by water. At low tide we dove just two feet under jagged limestone to the hidden central caverns below.

As we entered the cave a multitude of colorful fish swarmed around us and our baggie of fish food. The coral and sponges along the exterior walls with shimmering shafts of sunlight pouring through holes in the ceiling illuminated the clear warm water below, was an amazing experience. 

Several movies such as 007’s Thunderball and Never Say Never Again, and the mermaid tale Splash where all filmed at this site. 

We have enjoyed our stay at Staniel Cay, anchored up in Big Major, with the swimming pigs, snorkeling in the clear blue water of  Thunderball Grotto, playing pool at the yacht club, exploring the island, visiting with other boaters and enjoying our concert/ movies on the bow of Anna Mae, makes for wonderful memories.

Unfortunately operator error erased our video... more to come

Exuma Chain

We arrived at Big Major Spot in The Ezuma's and anchored off the beach that is home to dozens of pigs. They swim out hopeful for a snack and aren't particular on what they eat.

The Staniel Cay Yacht Club is a local watering hole, their conch fritters and grouper tenders are  tasty.

The sharks hang out at the fish cleaning station for their dinner.

Spanish Wells Bahamas

 October 14th  we untied and pulled out of The Jarrett Bay Boat Yard after several weeks delay, all onboard Anna Mae breathed a heavy sigh of relief. At last on our way south to Charleston South Carolina.

The trip down was bumpy due to a stabilizer issue…

Bill reconnected the tie rod end to the cylinder and used some lock tight to ensure it would not loosen again. He changed out the valving on the starboard side fin but the symptoms did not change which ruled out this was the source of the problem.  

We managed to get a couple of Trac Stabilizer Specialists onboard. The specialists looked into the main computer. After taking off the cover plate the symptoms came and went with torque being applied to the housing. They determined there was an abnormality in the brain of the main computer and took the coding from our main computer, recoded a new computer to match and sent it to us. Bill installed the new computer and control pad. Anna Mae has been motoring smoothly ever since. 

The Charleston City Marina was our home for a couple of weeks. We managed to visit and catch up with fellow Nordhavn owners, tour plantations, eat wonderful food, shopped the various boutiques and markets, enjoying every minute.

Bridget admiring her fish

Happy to report our travels further south where uneventful, except for the marlin we brought aboard. Currently we are anchored at Meeks point, a mile off Spanish Wells Harbor. The water is very shallow, allowing us to enter only at high tide. Happy to report clearing Customs was uneventful. The water is beautiful, the fish are plentiful and life is good aboard Anna Mae.

Returning to Anna Mae

After a few months of visiting our home town of Portland Oregon and becoming grandparents, we are flying out tomorrow to our beloved Anna Mae. She is awaiting our return to show off all the new upgrades we have commissioned.

The Bahamas and Caribbean are calling and we are anxious to get back on the water. A few months to play in the sun and surf, so looking forward to it. If only I could find a way to sneak Declan away, O'ma will miss you!!! Being a Grandma is amazing. Thanks to technology, my computer will be skyping on auto pilot.

Back to The ICW, Atlantic and fun in the sun. More to come! My camera is charged and ready to snap none stop. I will be sharing again soon.

Declan Carl O'Meara

North Palm Beach to North Carolina

Calm seas for the most part and an amazing lightening and thunder storm entertained us up the coast to North Carolina. We traveled in a straight line from Palm Beach Florida to North Carolina forcing us to travel off shore about 150 miles. It was the farthest I have ever been from land. Generally we run about 20 miles off shore. 

The gulf stream pushed us north adding to our speed. We felt as if we where fly at 12.5 knots, most of the time 9.5 is our comfortable cruising speed. Luckily we managed to outrun a thunder storm that kicked up the waters off the coast of South Carolina. The lightening was so amazing with jagged bolts snapping down all around us and thunder that sounded as if it was directly overhead. Luckily all the excitement ended as quickly as it started. The stories we have heard throughout our travels thus far have included lightening strikes on boats. Thankfully, Anna Mae and crew traveled through without anything to add, other than seeing mother nature in all her glory giving us a show we will not soon forget. I was so amazed how quickly it started and stopped. I was laying on the front deck in calm seas one minute and the next watching salt water blow over the bow from the safety of our pilot house, it was incredible. 

Entering The ICW again in North Carolina was another adventure in trying not to touch bottom. Unfortunately we arrived a few hours early and entered at low tide. The current was on our nose a couple of knots, but we pulled into Jarrett Bay Boat Works with no problem In Beaufort NC about 60 hours after leaving North Palm Beach. Anna Mae was hauled out and placed on the hard the next day for some minor repairs and a few upgrades. I am getting granite in the galley and so happy to have found the perfect slab for the job.

Bill was making sure the sling of the lift was in the correct placement and didn't come in contact with our stabilizer.

The East Coast is so interesting with the enormous amount of history that we are not accustomed to on The West Coast. This weekend we took a road trip to visit historic Charleston South Carolina. I can’t wait to go back, we didn’t have enough time to see everything that wonderful town has to offer.

 I love to explore old cemetaries, this live oak is 700 years old and resides at The famous Magnolia Cemetary in Charleston.

Anna Mae will stay at Jarrett Bay for the hurricane season while we fly home to celebrate the arrival of our first grandchild. When we return in October our plan is to continue our travels and explore The East Coast and Caribbean.

Key West to Palm Beach

The calm smooth waters off the Florida Keys allowed for a beautiful cruise north on our next leg up The East Coast to North Palm Beach. Anna Mae motored along through the 24 hour trip with accelerated speeds as the current pushed us along at 11.5 knots, quite a thrill for us slow going trawler types. The pocket book acknowledged it also.

An amazing front row seat for both the sunset and sunrise always makes me welcome a new day and appreciate another magnificent day of travel along the water.

Our first experience navigating in the shallow Inner Coastal Waterway along with trying to erase from our brains Red Right Returning proved interesting. Making our way to The Old Cove Marina, dodging the red and green markers, various Monday morning fishermen and our charts all showing different routes through the channel got everyones attention. Happy to make our way to the marina without touching bottom we all gave a collective sigh of relief, until the marina guided us into a slip that was to shallow... Anna Mae kissed the sandy bottom, relieving herself of some unwanted growth. We backed out, turned around and found a nice end tie on another dock.

The crew and captain are happy to be tied to the dock in a beautiful marina, and anxious to explore Palm Beach and surrounding areas.