Bright Eyes is Back in America.....The End

We planned to leave Nassau asap Thursday morning but things didn't go so well.  

First we overslept till 7:45am.  Then when we went to turn on our Garmin we noticed it wouldn't stay on because our last lonely battery had gotten too low.  So we had to walk to the marine store and pay a whopping $190 for a starter battery then lug it back to the boat. ugh.  Then after installing the new battery a storm swooped in and kept us inside for a bit.  Then finally around 1pm we started pulling up the anchor only to find that the anchor chain had wrapped around another huge old anchor that had been left behind.  Our chain was covered in algae and wouldn't stay in the windlass so I had to pull up both anchors by hand without an engine, UGH!  We ended up tying off to a near by mooring ball while I pulled the old ruins anchor into the dinghy and untangled it.  

Around 2pm we were finally free. We untied from the mooring, raised the sails and left Nassau behind.

We sailed pretty slowly, about 3.5mph, all day and all night reaching the Great Bahama Banks around 5:30am.  We saw a few tankers coming through the north east channel that night but we kept our distance. We also saw a few storms brewing around us but managed to dodge them all.

We spent all Friday sailing the Great Bahama Banks.  We did a little better this day, averaging about 5 mph. We put our third crew member, the auto pilot, to work.  Great Job!

Alone at the helm on the Great Bahama Banks and surrounded by water I decided to capture the moment on video. It went really great until the end when I couldn't figure out how to stop recording and stopped paying attention to steering. (You can hear the boom slam to the other side) haha

At first we were using 8 hour shifts to get plenty of sleep but the sleep underway wasn't any good so we switched to 2 hour shifts with naps in the cockpit.  We passed North Bimini around 8:30pm Friday night and entered the Atlantic Gulf Stream as the sky went dark.

We were sailing pretty well, around 8 mph, when all of a sudden the wind died.  We were kind of floating in circles trying to harvest a little wind when all of a sudden the wind kicked into overdrive and thunder started booming.  We reduced our head sail and stayed close to the wind to keep our speed around 6 mph.  The winds went crazy for about an hour as the sky constantly lit up with lightening and thunder, but oddly/luckily no rain.

Waves scare us more than heavy wind and the waves never got too big so we managed well and soon the storm had passed.  We sailed steadily toward Ft Lauderdale through the night and arrived about 5 miles outside the harbor at 7:30 am Saturday morning.  We called tow boat and they came and scooped us up.  Of course one last squall came and rained on us while we were waiting. We then called Cooleys Landing and reserved a slip.

The friendly tow boat guys took us on a scenic tour through downtown Ft Lauderdale to our marina.

And so after sailing 198 miles over 44 straight hours we had finally arrived back in the States!

Coincidently Joey's mom Tina is in Ft. Lauderdale with the family she nannies for. Cliff, the dad, was kind enough to let us spend a day recooperating in his condo, in the AC!!! relaxing, and even took us to the resort he belongs to Lago Mar, and out to a neat brazilian steakhouse - Chimas.

We will spend the next week repairing the engine and cleaning the boat out.  It feels good to be home and bittersweet to end our adventure.

Thank you for all the support and well wishes and to anyone who enjoyed reading :)

The Fate of Bright Eyes blog to come...

Bahama Mama

Last Wednesday the 13th my Mom flew down to visit us and spend a week on the boat.  Lesser travelers would not have fared as well but my mom is a trooper and lasted the whole week on the rocking, leaky Bright Eyes.

The first day we put her legs to work and walked the mile to the grocery store giving her a view of uptown Nassau and all our favorite spots.

Thursday we walked downtown and showed her all the cruise ship shops.  On the way we stopped and finally saw the Queens Stair Case.  It used to be a defensive fort and was hand built a long time ago.  We didn't make my mom climb it but we did and got pics from the top.

Most of our nights were spent playing board games with a cooler of beer.  We just found out that the Green Parrot sells a huge bag of ice for $3, gold!

 We played Monopoly, Backgammon, Thraxx, Parcheesy, Rummy, Gin Rummy, Rummicube, Sequence, and Dominoes.  We've seen Dominoes played by the locals at almost every island we visited. It must be the official national game.  So we finally got a set and learned how to play.

Nomy and Nala were glad to have a new friend.

Christine showed off her prowess in the kitchen and made many of our favorite dishes.

The Green Parrot was happy my mom was visiting because we actually spent a lot of money there ordering full meals.  We were glad to order the savory meals we had been skipping over the last month like the Works Burger and Blooming Onion.

My mom got to experience a cruisers sun-downer which is everyone's favorite.  The sunset is always amazing.

Friday we dinghied over to Atlantis in search of a beach.  We found a public one just outside the hotel.  It was swarmed with locals trying to sell you things but we still had a good time. After the 4th vendor tried to rent us an umbrella we finally agreed for $10.  The water felt great as it is our "shower".  We like the empty islands better though when we have the whole beach to ourselves.

Saturday we went back to Atlantis for some more fun.  We took mom to the aquarium now that we know you can just walk in for free sometimes. We saw the huge manta rays and sharks again.

Atlantis also has a free movie theater so we went and saw Rango.  At night we went to a comedy club.  The comics spent most of the time making fun of the audience and the headliner Mutsy was really funny.  We got off pretty easy with just a Marylanders have crabs joke.  

Sunday we relaxed around the boat and let mom have a small rest from her vacation.   Then we made a short walk to the straw markets again and had a final dinner at the Green Parrot.  We all sat around on the internet till the Parrot closed to show mom how we usually chill.

And more family game night! 

Monday, moms last day, we went to Atlantis in hopes to hang out at there beach.  We walked to their beach on Saturday so we thought we could spend the day there but they had staff guarding the beach this time so we got denied.  So instead we went to the Casino and hit the penny slots.  

Our goal was to get free drinks while making $15 last but we only got one round of drinks and then the waitress was nowhere to be found.  But it was our lucky day as we turned $15 into $55 in about 2 hours!  Most of it was my mom who turned her $5 into $45 at one point, that's one lucky mama.

On the way back to the boat across the harbor we got caught in a squall.  We have been watching Tropical Storm Brett hover above the Bahamas so we must we getting pieces of it as it was squally all week.

My mom finally got caught up in one of our mishaps and we arrived to the main ship soaking wet as lightening lit up the sky.

On Tuesday morning my mom caught a cab back to the airport.  She had a great time seeing us and experiencing the boat but we are sure she is glad to be back in the comforts of a real home.  

We are right behind her though as we plan to leave here asap.  There are a few storms brewing around the Caribbean and one potential hurricane that just left Africa.  So we are saying goodbye to Nassau and all of the Bahamas and will be taking off tomorrow, Thursday the 21st of July.

We will be sailing to Ft Lauderdale, without an engine, over the next two days, maybe straight through.  When we get close to Florida we will call Tow Boat to bring us into the harbor and put us in a slip.

Wish us luck for our final adventure!

Celebrating Bahamas Independence

Like we said before, Nassau isn't the worst place in the world to be stuck.  It is pretty expensive and the beaches are distant and crowded but there is still plenty to enjoy.

July 10th was Bahamas Independence Day so we have been enjoying the celebrations.

Here is that scary dredging barge that we had to sail and anchor next to at night.  It looks like it wants to eat sailboats.   We threw out a second anchor to keep from swinging into it and then it moved to harass other boats.

For $30 we can get 15 Kaliks and a bag of ice. This is how we reward our selves after a few days of blistering heat.

Our friend Francois has been anchored next to us and has been a big help with our engine.  We have been enjoying the city with him.

We went to Atlantis again, this time with Francois showing us how to do it cheaper.  They have complimentary movies in Theater!  So we saw Gnomeo and Juliet, and Just Go With It.  

We also found that you can just walk through the aquarium for free! (Nobody checks for wristbands)  Why did we pay $80 last time, ugh.

Then we enjoyed the gypsy/pirate show.  There were fire dancers, stilt dancers, and a mermaid.  It was a huge carnival party.

The rest of our time here has been hunting down free internet signals.  The Green Parrot, Starbucks, McDonalds, and the side of buildings are our favorite spots.  

Here is Christine being a rebel.

As for our departure plans we have decided to just sail to Florida just the two of us and fix the engine there. Here is the thread we posted on Cruiser Forum which has a lot of advice. We think it is a bad piston ring.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f54/cruiser-stranded-in-need-of-advice-63643.html

 Thank you for all the help and offers to crew but we want to get out of here asap before the weather gets worse. My mom is coming to visit this week and then we will get going.

We hope to sail into Fort Lauderdale, fix the engine and put the boat on dry storage while we are in MD.  So if anyone has any recommendations for a good mechanic or good marina let us know.

How Will Bright Eyes Get Home?

So in our week here, stranded in Nassau, we have had a lot of diagnostic work done on the engine.  

If you don't fancy engine talk then skim down to the page break below to find out what we have decided.

I went through the engine looking for oil leaks and tightened a few bolts and hose clamps that showed signs of leakage.  I checked that the fuel filter was clean of water and that fuel was reaching the cylinders.  There was excess transmission fluid so I removed it all and added new oil.  I resealed a small water leak at the water intake filter. I checked the aft engine zinc which was fine.  

The primary indications of problem were oil coming out of the exhaust when we were going through heavy waves and when trying to get off of a shoal.  The main engine oil leak seems to be between the transmission and the engine block.  The head gasket shows no sign of oil leaking.  I replaced the oil lube pipe before we left and it was still leak free.  The engine does turn over but would still not start.

The first mechanic opened the oil cap and felt a lot of air coming out as we tried to start the engine.  From this he concluded that there was crank case pressure and probably a failed piston. He said they need to remove the engine from the boat and take it apart to find the problem.  But then later he said that our engine did not have a liner on the head gasket and that the head was probably scorched and that they did not have a machine shop to fix it so we would need a new engine: $10,000 estimate

Our friend Francois from George Town just happened to be anchored next to us here and came over to lend his expertise.  He tried switching the compression levers over.  He noticed the air coming out of the oil cap when removed as well as fumes.  He concluded that there could be a faulty valve that might have seized the last time our engine leaked out oil.  Or we could have a failed piston ring in need of replacement.  He advised me to take the valve cover off and find the faulty valve.  He also said I should be able to take the head off and into a mechanics shop to have the valve replaced without removing the whole engine.

The second mechanic tested all the fuel lines for fuel.  There was fuel coming through.  He used starting fluid on the air intake as well as switching the compression levers.  He too noticed the fumes coming from the removed oil cap.  He also put gasoline on a rag and put it over the air intake to try to start it.  It would not.  He concluded that their was a compression problem, probably a failed piston ring.  The only option they gave us was to remove the engine from the boat and take it apart back at their shop to find the problem.  The estimate was at least $3000.

None of these mechanics seemed honest though so we are not paying $1000 to have the engine removed and then getting stuck in a situation where we have to pay $10,000 for a new engine or paying another $2000 to have our engine put back together with nothing solved.

....................................................................................................................................

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

....................................................................................................................................

So that leaves us with few options to get back home.

1) We will attempt to take the engine apart ourselves and find the failed valve or try to take the head to a mechanic for fixing. If the engine starts we will sail to Florida, only using the engine to dock/anchor.

2) We will fly in an experienced sailor to help us sail back to Florida or Maryland (preferably MD) without an engine.  We can't afford to pay anyone but we can cover all your expenses.  We can pay for two people to fly into Nassau to sail to MD or one person to sail to Florida and then we would fly them home.  We estimate the sail to MD to be about 7-10 days straight and the Florida sail to be 2 days straight .  If you are interested in this please email me at jtp1285@hotmail.com to talk details. 

3) Our last option is to sail without an engine to Florida by ourselves.  We do believe we can do this.  Our only concerns are sailing upwind, getting stuck in a storm, and docking.  We can use our Boat US to help with the docking. We also learned a trick from Francois where we can tie up our dinghy to the side of the boat and use the 3.5hp outboard to tow ourselves.

My mom was supposed to fly into Eluethera to spend a week with us but because of our immobility she will just hop off the plane at her Nassau layover.  She will be here later this month so we have until after her visit to make a decision.

Until then we will just hang tight. It's not the worse place in the world to be stuck :)