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June OBX Park News
Whether you are planning to visit the Outer Banks this summer, or live here and want to get to know our islands a little better, we hope you’ll make time to appreciate and rediscover our parks.
June OBX Park News: Juneteenth Celebrations, Partnership Spotlight, Ask A BioTech, and more!
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2022 Letter #4 from the Bahamas by Greg and Barbara Allard
Our sincerest thanks to Greg and Barbara Allard for once again sharing their thoughts and beautiful photography from their Bahamas cruises. These photos and descriptions will have you aching to follow in Meander‘s wake! For more this excellent photography, type Allard in our Homepage search window for letters from previous cruises. For more on the OWW, see Greg Allard on the Okeechobee Waterway, June 14, 2022.
Hello everyone – This will be our last Letter from our 2022 cruise to the Bahamas. After two years of not visiting the Bahamas due to the pandemic, we were thrilled to return in March.
This trip was not without its challenges, as it was one of the windiest times in the Bahamas that we can recall.
“People who live on continents get into the habit of regarding the ocean as journey’s end, the full stop at the end of the trek. For people who live on islands, the sea is always the beginning. It’s the ferry to the mainland, the escape route from the boredom and narrowness of home.”
― Jonathan Raban, Coasting: A Private Voyage
Towards the end of May, a larger than usual number of fishing boats, center consoles and larger sportfish boats, appeared in the Bahamas from the U.S. This group had landed a beautiful yellowfin tuna. From the opposite side of the fish, they have already cut out the two large fillets which are on the table in the foreground.
Any time fish are being cleaned, sharks show up for the discarded pieces. The shark on the right is a nurse shark, relatively harmless as sharks go. However the shark on the left is a bull shark, one of the most aggressive sharks; Bahamians fear them. The bull shark has a wound on the right side of his head, likely from a spear. It is illegal to take sharks in the Bahamas.
Children on the way to school. All children in the Bahamas wear uniforms to school. With the troubled educational system in our own country, this would not seem to be a bad idea. No flaunting of expensive or trendy clothes. Every child, regardless of economic status, starts off at least on the same foot.
Bahamian Steve Johnson, the manager of the Great Harbour Marina. A hands-on accomplished professional, as well as an all around good guy.
Takiya, our waitress for lunch at the very good local restaurant Coolie Mae’s. A great smile and a terrific personality.
Once the hurricane season arrives on June 1st , cruisers in the Bahamas need to have a plan. If you are several hundred miles from the U.S., some very fast boats can “run home” if a hurricane threatens; other cruising boats do not have the speed to outrun such storms, and must find a safe harbor, dock, or anchorage. We watched as Alex, the first named storm of the season, developed into a Tropical Storm and passed over Florida. The eastern edge of Alex produced winds where we were to over 40 knots.
So it was time for us to say goodbye to the beautiful islands of the Bahamas, and begin our voyage back to the U.S. For us that meant two long passages over open ocean waters, each trip about 9-10 hours total. You can’t just leave on any day; you have to constantly monitor the weather, in particular the wind, waves and thunderstorms. Sometimes the actual weather doesn’t match the forecast, and it gets a bit “salty”, a euphemism for nasty and rough. If I am ever reincarnated, I want to come back as a weather forecaster, where I can be wrong 50% of the time, and still be paid.
After a successful passage back to the east coast of Florida, we cross to the west coast using the Lake Okeechobee Waterway. In 1937 the government created a waterway to cross the center of Florida by using the St. Lucie River (on the east coast of FL), Lake Okeechobee (a large lake in the center of the state), and the Caloosahatchee River (on the west coast). Five locks had to be built, since the lake is about 15’ above sea level, and as the boats traverse the Waterway, they have to be lifted up the level of the lake, and then down on the other side. In some places the rivers were just too small and shallow so they had to be dredged and many portions were converted into straight canals. By using the Lake Okeechobee Waterway, we save about 150 miles, instead of going around the southern end of Florida (through the Keys) and then up the west coast. With the current cost of diesel, that means a savings for us of about $1,000. The Waterway itself delivers a time-warp view of old Florida, and it’s a fascinating place.
Along the St. Lucie river portion of the Waterway, we stayed for an evening at the Indiantown Marina, a true “old Florida” boatyard. There are literally hundreds of boats stored there, on land. Some are being worked on, and are in nice condition. Others, many others, like the one in the above photo, are well past ever again going to sea.
Here is a close-up of the bow of the boat in the prior picture. The boat is made of steel, and as you can see there is “some” rust in the area of the anchor pulpit. Surprised it just hasn’t fallen off.
Along the St. Lucie, we came upon this eagle. The eagles are returning to this area, and to many other places in Florida.
We were docked in the Caloosahatchee River, part of the western Waterway, when a huge thunderstorm came through; thirty minutes later, this was the view.
____________
As you know, we avoid politics in these Letters; our purpose is to let you meet the people we encounter, and to see some of the beautiful places where we cruise.
That being said, we will end this year’s Letters with this wonderful quote:
“Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.” ― Mark Twain
We hope you have enjoyed these Letters and we are pleased that you could join us on this journey.
Warmest regards.
Greg and Barbara
M/V MeanderCopyright Greg Allard 2022
FV: 6/21/2022Comments from Cruisers (1)
- Reply to Joseph
Greg,
I thoroughly enjoy your missives and look forward to reading them both here and in our DeFever Cruisers site.
-
Shared Photo – Sunset over Belhaven, NC, AICW MM 135, Pungo River
Our thanks to Brad Condon for this sunset photo from Belhaven, NC. Belhaven is A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR!
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Temporary Website Issues, Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club, Bahamas
Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club is a premier yacht club in the Abacos and A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR! If you cruise to Abacos and Marsh Harbour area, you should consider joining this great group of like minded cruisers.
We are currently experiencing a problem with our web site domain name. In the short term you can access the Club web site using the following sub-domain name:We are sorry for this inconvenience and expect to have the situation remedied shortly.Best regardsScott ColesCommodore Pro temRoyal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club.Be the first to comment!
Greg Allard on the Okeechobee Waterway, June 14, 2022
Once again, Greg Allard shares his photography and insights in a way that delights the eye and also provides current local knowledge about a transit that many of you must make to head north and for many of you who are making the voyage for the first time. Thank you Greg!Okeechobee Update – June 14 2022-Greg Allard, M/V MeanderThe level of the Okeechobee lake has been good, and rising with recent rains. We are in the middle of a westerly crossing now, stopped at Moore Haven. The US Army Corp of Engineers report for today shows the depth in Navigation Route #1 at 6.96’ In my experience this means that is the shallowest depth is in the buoyed cut which runs from Clewiston out into the lake. What we saw confirmed that depth. If you take that route, be certain to stay in the channel; some of the ATONS are far apart, and with a little wind you could be unknowingly pushed out of the channel. The edge of the channel is rock, not mud.There was no sign of green slime or algae. However, the Okeechobee waterway has a good many patches, masses, almost “islands” of water hyacinth drifting around. These are tightly tangled webs. One boater, who came through the Ortona lock yesterday, reported that the lock was filled with them, and some of them wrapped around his props, almost stalling the engines.Most of the time, in open water, you can steer around these “islands”, but yesterday, at both the Indiantown and Moore Haven railway bridges the floating masses blocked the passage. See photos below.We have a strategy: when we are forced to go through a bunch of these floating masses, we approach slowly, look for the weakest spot, and then apply a little power to gain momentum; then, before contact, we immediately put the boat into neutral, and let the momentum of the boat push us through the mass. We do not go into forward again until the stern is entirely clear. We do have cutters on our shafts, but do not know if they are effective on the hyacinths. Don’t want to know.In these times of high gas and diesel prices, if a cruiser wants to reach the east coast of Florida, taking the Okeechobee Waterway can save miles, time and fuel costs. Plus, it is a trip like no other.
At the Moore Haven railway bridge. The good news, the bridge was open, not always the case. The bad news: almost completely blocked with water hyacinth.
A “modest” size clump goes floating by.
A view at the Indiantown railway bridge (near the marina); not as dense, but enough loose ones floating around to mess up the engine water intakes. After passing through such an area, suggest you check the engine strainer basket at any sign of the engine(s) running warmer than usual.
A close up of one of the densely tangled patches.
The hyacinths will come and go but the appeal of the Okeechobee will remain. It is like a step back in time, a true time-warp, across central Florida. On a power post along the St Lucie stretch, we spotted this eagle, who had certainly spotted us too.
Just east of the Moore Haven lock are these intriguing cedar sentinels.
Enjoy the Okeechobee
Greg Allard
Comments from Cruisers (1)
- Reply to Gene
Just came across the lake and to Fort Myers on June 21 and 22. Lots of water hyacinth along the shore, but none at all in the main channel or in the locks. Probably varies day by day.
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Isle of Palms, SC AICW MM 460
The South Carolina barrier island just 30 minutes from Charleston may just be the area’s best-kept secret and, of course, is home to CRUISERS NET SPONSOR, Isle of Palms Marina.
Isle of Palms Is the Coastal Getaway of the Summer | Southern Living by Tara Massouleh McCay
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Lightning Master Strikes Back – a rebuttal of Peter Swanson’s earlier article.
If you are concerned about lightning strikes, these two articles will be of interest. Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes mariners with salt water in their veins will subscribe.. $5 a month or $42 for the year and you may cancel at anytime.
Click here for Lightning Master Strikes Back
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Bromance and a Boat: The Voyage That Changed Everything and Gave Us Modern Miami
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes mariners with salt water in their veins will subscribe.. $5 a month or $42 for the year and you may cancel at anytime.
When all else fails, try journalism.
Click link for How Fidel Castro Invaded Cuba in a Yacht Named ‘Granma’ by Peter Swanson
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TopSide Marinas has Acquired North Point Yacht Club in Temple, TX
TopSide Marinas is a family owned marina company that is looking to buy and operate marinas – they are not a broker – and they would love to meet marina owners who are ready to sell. TopSide Marinas is A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR!
TopSide Marinas recently acquired its third marina, North Point Yacht Club, located on Lake Belton in Temple, TX. The team saw great potential at this marina and the beautiful Lake Belton.
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TopSide Marinas Acquires North Point Yacht Club on Lake Belton (Temple, TX)Be the first to comment!
2022 Letter #3 from the Bahamas by Greg and Barbara Allard
Our sincerest thanks to Greg and Barbara Allard for once again sharing their thoughts and beautiful photography from their Bahamas cruises. These photos and descriptions will have you aching to follow in Meander‘s wake! For more this excellent photography, type Allard in our Homepage search window for letters from previous cruises.
Greg Allard
May 30, 2022, 11:31 AM (2 days ago)
Hello everyone – Here is our third Letter from the Bahamas for 2022.
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Gustav Flaubert
“In reality, you don’t ever change the hurricane. You just learn how to stay out of its path.”
– Jodi PicoultWe included this photo in our Letter from 2015; it was taken a short while after this fishing boat, Summer Place from Nassau, Bahamas, had been driven aground while trying to run from a hurricane. In normal circumstances, this boat could have been salvaged and put back into service, but the complexity of the project and the estimated costs would have far exceeded its value; it would have been almost impossible (without extraordinary expense) to have the necessary barges and equipment reach the site, because of the shallow water.
The sea is unrelenting. This is a recent photo of the same wreck, showing the effects of seven years of time, tide, gales and hurricanes. There is an upside – a sunken boat such as this slowly becomes a reef, attracting all kinds of small fish and sea life, which in turn attract larger ones. As we circled the wreck, we saw an 8’ shark who had come for dinner.
Kingsley K. Charles – His eyes say it all – windows to his soul.Every so often you encounter someone who fits the category of “One of the most interesting persons I’ve met.” He is known as “King” and he’s a native of Great Harbour Cay; his parents live here, and they had eight children. Some of his brothers and sisters now live in Nassau, Freeport, and a couple are in the U.S.He is far from typical. His father, a minister, wanted him to be a lawyer, and he received a scholarship with help from an ex-pat on the island whose company provided it. He attended Liberty University in Virginia for three years, then began working in a bank and eventually for a brokerage company, all in the U.S. While in the U.S. he married and moved to Nashville, but the union did not work. At one point in his life he toured around the world.He returned to Nassau, and began serious work on the passion of his life which is music. He is an extremely talented and creative musician, who then worked in Nassau for three years in the industry, including the creation of an album, which he has not finished. He was engaged to a Bahamian woman in Nassau, but that broke off.So many young men and women who grow up on small Bahamian out-islands follow a pattern: when they finish high school (or before), they leave the island and do not return. This is where King differs: after his music work in Nassau, he said that he “Wanted to come home” to Great Harbour Cay. He mentions “home” often; this is his home. This is where he feels most grounded.He just turned 40, is smart-smart, reads philosophy and has a high level of intellectual curiosity. He is looking for his next path in life, but he is not in a hurry.Currently he is the Assistant General Manager at the marina on Great Harbour, a job he does extremely well.And finally, he is a truly nice and good person. It has been a pleasure to know him.
King, performing a number of his own songs at a Friday night bar-b-que event at the marina.
Most of our photos are taken with a Nikon D7000, a superb professional level camera. But our back-up camera is….an Apple iPhone. It has one big advantage over the Nikon – it is light, goes in your pocket (so it’s always with you); plus it takes really good photos in most situations. It also has a panoramic feature: press the button, and start to pan slowly from left to right, standing in one spot and only moving the phone with your hands and arms. This photo shows a 180 degree view. When you are done scanning, the camera seamlessly stitches the whole thing together into one photo.
The mailboat has arrived, the lifeline to the cay. Yes the water is shallow for such a large boat, which is why the captain prefers to arrive and dock at the upper half of the 3’ tide. Sometimes offloading takes too long, the boat starts to sit on the bottom, and it has to power its way back out. There is a mini-van on the midship deck, being transported to some island.
When the boat docks, dozens of trucks and cars descend on the government dock to take away their goods. It is organized bedlam. This pickup truck, heavily loaded with food, is one of the last to leave the dock area.
Few restaurants in the out-islands of the Bahamas look like a major American chain restaurant. This charming but unassuming place is called Brown’s Garden, and the owner Ronnie is the excellent chef. He has no inside tables, just a bar under the blue umbrella, and a table on the other side of the road, from which this picture was taken. Fortunately for the rooster and some nearby chickens there was no poultry on the menu.
Ronnie Brown. He served us some excellent cracked conch, and a delicious salad. Unfortunately we learned that the lease on “this old building” was soon to be up, and he would not be continuing his restaurant. The pandemic was particularly hard on him, as there were almost no visitors to the island, and the economy affected the locals who had less to spend on locally cooked meals.He intends to return to his prior career in fishing.
One day, at the Beach Club, our waitress Clinique (whom you’ve met in prior Letters) offered for us to taste a dilly. A dilly?? It is a small fruit which grows on trees, and once it is ripe it is delicious. We’ve never had one before. It’s full name is Sapodilla. (We ate it so fast we forgot to take a picture of it, so this is not one of our photos.) You can see a full sized dilly under the open one.
This is Leonard Wright, who has a long and talented career in art. He recounts that while in school he was always drawing things, and was bopped on the head by the teacher more than once for “doodling and drawing” and being distracted from “real learning.” When he was young, he went for six months to a specialized art school in Freeport, on Grand Bahama, which is the only formal art training he received. He has self-taught to work in all media including painting, (oils, acrylic, water), drawing, glass etching and wood carving.He is 59 years old, and has four children, two boys and two girls named Bernice, Bernette, Bernard and Jeremiah. He has a private pilot’s license. He and his wife are passionate about the need for their children to have an strong education. His oldest daughter just finished law school and is preparing to take the bar exam. Two of his others are in college, one studying construction and engineering, and the other electrical engineering/aerospace. His youngest son is in high school.He has developed a fine specialty in creative engraving on bottles. His work is superb. A truly creative, well-spoken, talented and engaging man.
A Leonard Wright creation – a beautiful beach scene on a repurposed tequila bottle. My favorite is the hogfish in the lower right. This is only one of the three sides he engraved on this square bottle. After engraving, he uses a white engraving compound to highlight the drawings.Two of the cruise ship lines have nearby islands they stop at, about five miles away. He and his wife have a small booth there, where he sells his beautiful engraved bottles to the passengers. He can customize existing ones, or create new designs in an hour or two. When they depart, I hope they appreciate that they have left the island with an authentic craft by an extraordinarily talented Bahamian artist.
A nice home, owned by the family that runs a good local restaurant, Coolie Mae’s.
There is still a great deal of poverty on these islands. This house looks better in the photo than it does in real life. Curious how the color of the car matches the building.
One day, while visiting Ruth Adderley-Rolle’s neat little Bahamian shop, this gentleman entered. He’s Chief Sherman, Assistant District Superintendent of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. He is the responsible for all of the Berry Islands, a large area with multiple islands stretching thirty miles from Great Harbour in the north to Chubb Cay in the south. He does so with 5-6 officers. He has been with the RBPF for twenty-five years. He rotates throughout the Bahamas on assignment, and his current one has him in the Berrys for two years. Police Officers here patrol unarmed, and their 4WD Jeep police vehicles don’t have flashing lights – and likely not even a siren. There are no traffic lights here, only a handful of stop signs
A few days later, while at the outdoor Beach Club tiki bar and restaurant, Chief Sherman remembered us, came over to our table and chatted with us for a good while. He was not in uniform, but likely was on-duty. He has an engaging personality and from our observations, has built strong relationships with the people he serves.
The next time you are boating in the U.S. and complain about how the Aids to Navigation (buoys and channel markers) are inadequate or improperly placed, remember this photo of what passes for a channel marker. These are quite common. The problem with this one is that there is shallow water all around it, for some distance. Perhaps it is just a reference point, and the locals know to “go 50 yards to the west.” In some of the larger harbors there are good channel markers, but this one adds local flavor, if not navigational aid.
There are hundreds of these private little beaches.
No words necessary.Warmest regards,Greg and BarbaraCopyright Greg Allard, 2022Final – 5/30/2022Comments from Cruisers (2)
- Reply to John
I was able to purchase some "repurposed" cruise ship tumblers from Mr. Wright on a couple of trips to Coco Cay. They are beautiful and treasured. My last trip to Coco Cay in 2024, I was told that he is "… no longer around.". I'm not sure what they meant and I thought it would be rude to ask.
Thank you for posting the pictures and wonderful thoughts; good memories. - Reply to Alan
The photos and the definitive explanations accompanying each of of them of this sojourn through the Berry Islands are non-pareil!
Thanks for your generosity in sharing them!AVC
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Hurricane Season Port Condition Definitions
Along with Watch and Warning designations, these alphabetical listings, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee and Zulu, are used to indicate the anticipated severity of an approaching storm. And while the port restrictions are directed primarily at commercial traffic, the same port conditions allow recreational boaters to gauge the level of risk from the storm. Obviously, the further along the alphabet, the more severe the forecast for a given port or coastline. The official hurricane season is from June 1 to November 30.
HURRICANE SEASON PORT CONDITIONS AND CATEGORIES
Port Conditions are set by the Captain of the Port and are used to alert the maritime community to changes in port operations needed to prepare for the storm’s arrival.PORT CONDITION WHISKEY: Gale force winds (34 knots or 39 mph) are predicted to arrive within 72 hours. Port Status: Open to all commercial and recreational traffic.
PORT CONDITION X-RAY: Gale force winds are predicted to arrive within 48 hours. Port Status: Open to all commercial and recreational traffic.
PORT CONDITION YANKEE: Gale force winds are predicted to arrive within 24 hours. Port status: Closed to inbound traffic and vessel traffic control measures in effect on vessel movements within the port.
PORT CONDITION ZULU: Gale force winds are predicted to arrive within 12 hours. Port Status: Closed to all inbound and outbound traffic.
PORT CONDITION RECOVERY: The storm is no longer a threat to the area, however, some damage may have occurred and response and recovery operations are in progress. Port status: Reopened to outbound traffic at the completion of the port survey. Vessel traffic control measures remain in effect on vessel movements within the port.
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The latest news for you from Marv’s Weather
Our thanks to Perry McDonald for sharing this sad, but hopeful, news with us.
Marv’s Weather
Marv’s Daily Virtual Buoy Weather & Tropical Weather ReportsSpecial Message From Carol Market By now most of our current email subscribers to Marv’s Weather Service have received the new, reformatted newsletter and seen the new website; now we would like to give you quick update on what has been happening ‘behind the scenes’. Beginning late last year Marv began working with Pierre Narath in an endeavor to make the weather site load faster, mobile friendly and less labor intensive to produce.
With the onset of Marv’s cancer diagnosis we needed to step up the pace considerably and the site was developed into what you see today. Sadly, Marv passed peacefully in his sleep on May 22, 2022 but he was able to favorably review the site before that time came. With the help of Pierre and Buoyweather.com we are so pleased that Marv’s legacy will continue to be of service to our cruising community and that his mission of keeping pleasure boating safe and comfortable carries on in his name.
Wishing everyone fair winds and smooth seas!Blessings, Carol Market and Family
We will try to have our buoy and tropical reports updated twice a day.
Tropical weather reports will be updated as determined by weather conditions.
You may have to refresh the webpages to see the latest updates.
BuoyWeather Reports Buoyweather’s point-based marine weather forecasting system empowers users to make informed decisions about their offshore navigation and recreation. Click here to view the latest reports
Tropical Weather Reports Tropical Weather Discussion for North America, Central America Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, northern sections of South America, and Atlantic Ocean to the African coast from the Equator to 31N. Click here to view the latest reports
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