Category: cruising log

We began our final month of cruising on Croker Island, in the North Channel. We enjoyed our time there, picking blueberries, walking along the rocky hills and paddle boarding around the anchorage. We were into the Benjamin Island area of the North Channel, known for its pink quartz islands. These islands are a very popular stop but as we were early in the cruising season, all the anchorages were nearly empty when we visited.

From Croker Island, we headed just two miles away, to South Benjamin Island. We stayed at a different anchorage on the island than we had last summer. The anchorage is on the north side of South Benjamin, with North Benjamin just across the bay. We shared the anchorage with a few other boats that came and went but it was never crowded.

We stayed three nights, enjoying two sunny days then waiting out some rain and higher winds before moving on. The islands provide plenty to explore, walking along the rocky cliffs, paddle boarding and taking the dinghy around.

We had one more stop in this island group, Fox Island. We headed through the narrow cut between North and South Benjamin Islands and over to Fox. We love Fox Island! It was one of our favorite stops last summer. The island has lots of narrow channels in the rock for paddle boarding. We enjoyed the day paddle boarding around, exploring and relaxing onboard. We were starting to get anxious about getting back to Muskegon, so after one night, we continued on.

We headed off to Shoepack Bay, we had seen this bay last summer but we weren’t able to get a spot as it is pretty deep. This time we were able to grab a spot a stern-tie for the night. The bay features a tall rocky wall along the northern coast. We paddled along the wall and spent a rainy afternoon onboard, making some blueberry jam from all the blueberries we had previously collected.

Our next stop was Beardrop Harbor. We loved this anchorage last summer! It is well-protected with tons to explore. We enjoyed two nights there, paddle boarding, hiking and exploring. We then headed off to our final North Channel anchorage. We soaked up the last of the North Channel at the Turbull Islands.

We left the North Channel and started heading towards home. We anchored at a really pretty spot on Harbor Island, near Drummond Island for the night then continued on, anchoring in Les Cheneaux Islands of the U.P.

The following day we had snagged a slip reservation on Mackinac Island. We were super excited to spend the day on the island. We got to meet back up with our friends Lucas and Emily from SV Alaya who left from Michigan last summer. They left their boat in the Chesapeake and are working on the Island for the summer. It was great to catch up with them and take in all the wonderful sights.

The next morning we headed off, under the Mackinac Bridge and we were officially back in our home waters of Lake Michigan!

We arrived in the evening to Beaver Island. We stayed a few days on the island, hiking enjoying the beach and catching up with some old friends (Chip and Colleen on SV Horizon) from Harbour Towne- the marina we left from in Muskegon.

From Beaver Island we headed south to Suttons Bay. We had a really nice sail, with the motor off for most of the journey. We stayed in Suttons Bay three nights. We enjoyed the beautiful bay, did some wine tasting and had a wonderful dinner with our friend Max who recent moved to Traverse City. His wife, Leeann is currently hiking the PCT so we will have to wait to catch up with her until her adventure is finished. You can read more about her through hike at the Passport Pair.

Our final night in Suttons Bay was very rolly from a strong north wind. We left first thing in the morning and began heading out of Grand Traverse Bay. We decided to skip over South Manitou Island and head all the way to Frankfort. We enjoyed the small town and hiking the nearby dunes. Finally we were on the west coast of Michigan and it was really starting to feel like we were almost home.

From there we headed to Ludington where we stayed the night before setting off for our final passage back to Muskegon. Today we are are on our way home. We will arrive to Muskegon late afternoon/early evening. We are a bit earlier than expected but after nearly 13 months away we are starting to get anxious to see our new house and finally be home.

This is the end of our full-time, live-aboard cruising adventure. We have taken Resande from Muskegon through Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, the Erie Canal, the Hudson River, the Atlantic coast, parts of the Atlantic ICW and across the gulf-stream to the Bahamas. In the Bahamas we explored the Berry Islands, Eleuthera, the Exuma Islands, and the Abacos. We crossed back over the gulf stream and re-traced our steps. Today we will come full circle into our home port. In total we traveled 7,150 NM.

We talked about our reasons for coming back to Michigan and back to land-life in a previous post so we won’t rehash them here. The year off of work and away from home taught us alot about ourselves and gave us time to think about what we want to do next. We did a pretty clean break when we left, selling our cars and most of our stuff, renting our house and not promising work we would be back in any specific time-frame. Land life 2.0 will look a bit different for us.

We are moving to Muskegon to be closer to the lakeshore. We have always said we wanted to live by the water but a job in Grand Rapids kept us from moving too far away. We want more flexibility in our jobs and more time off for travel, sailing and whatever else we decide to do. I (Erika) have found a telehealth OT job that I can work from home, part-time. Ryan is searching for remote or hybrid- work as well to give us the freedom we want going forward.

We will definitely cruise on Resande throughout the Great Lakes during the summers. We aren’t done with boat life for good, we are always scheming and dreaming up our next adventure. But, for now we will get to work, settling into land life 2.0!

June 2024 Return to the Great Lakes

July 2023 Lake Michigan to Lake Superior

We woke up on June first at Lock E 21 on the Erie Canal. We had tied up there for the night next to another boat from Michigan. It was nice chatting with some fellow Michiganders. This couple was completing the Great Loop, moving the boat for a few weeks then going back to Michigan to work, they have been looping since 2021!

We are seeing many more boats this time through the canal, mostly large power boats that are doing the Great Loop. It got even busier as we went across Lake Oneida, tons of pontoon boats and other boaters out enjoying their weekend passed us as we went along.

We made it to Baldwinsville where we tied up for the night. We didn’t stop at this little town our our way through in the fall. It was a cute little place to walk around. We got dinner at a BBQ restaurant right near the boat. It was actually some of the best BBQ we have had and we are tough critics as Ryan makes some really good smoked food when we are home. We ran into another young cruiser, taking his boat through part of the canal then heading north through the St Lawrence seaway. It is always nice to talk to fellow sailers who are traveling on their boats.

We were up early the next morning to make some miles to Newark. It was a long day, we went 54 miles on the canal. We made it into Newark and settled in to relax. Shortly after we arrived We saw another sailboat, Sacagawea arrive into town. We had met them on Eleuthera where they told us that the would be cruising the Great Lakes for the summer. They started cruising in the Seattle area and have been living on the boat for 4 years now. We went out for a beer with them and talked all things cruising. We told them some of our favorite Great Lakes destinations and swapped stories from our time in the Bahamas this year.

Our next stop was only 18 miles away in the town of Fairport. This is a popular stop on the canal and we didn’t visit in the fall because the wall space was full. We were able to grab a spot this time around. The town is super cute, plenty of shops and restaurants nearby. We enjoyed wandering around and walking some of the bike/walking path that goes along the canal. We enjoyed lunch at one of the nearby restaurants then spent the rest of the day relaxing on the boat.

From here we have only a few more days on the canal. While the long days of motoring can be tiring we are enjoying the simplicity of life on the canal. There is always a wall to tie to, no large waves or swell to deal with or the worry of finding a protected anchorage. It is easy to get to shore without needing to drop the dinghy. And there is much less worry about the weather, unless the wind is really bad we can always move through the canal with little difficulty. For now we will soak it up before we head back out into the larger waters of the Great Lakes.

The following day we made it to Holly. We had stopped there for lunch on our way through in the fall. The nearby park and waterfall are lovely. This time we spent the night. This is a really nice stop. The waterfall and park are really close. There is a nice wood wall along the canal with power and water available for free. We had the place to ourselves for the night.

We decided the following day to push all the way to Tonawanda which is the end of the Erie Canal. We made it through the rest of the lift bridges and locks and arrived to the wall across from Wardell’s boatyard around dinner time.

The next day Wardell’s was able to get our mast back up and we then got to work re-rigging and getting all the sails back up. Finally we were a sailboat again! We pushed hard in the canal, getting through it in 8 days of moving but now the weather was not cooperating so we had several days of down-time in Tonawanda.

Thankfully the wall we were on was very well protected and free. There was a grocery store very close by and a very nice walking trail along the canal/river. We spent the next several days taking walks along the trail and through town, stocking up on groceries and doing several boat chores.

We had hoped to push from Tonawanda to Erie PA but the wind didn’t shift quite as north as we hoped the day we left. It was coming right out of the west, where we wanted to go. After getting to Buffalo we decided it would be a rough day beating directly into waves and wind so we stayed in Buffalo for the day. Buffalo has a nice wall right in town with water and electricity for $35 a night. This was more protected and much nicer then the anchorages nearby so we took full advantage. We also caught up with Sacagawea once again.

Very early the next morning, we headed off into Lake Erie. We motored through the calm weather all the way to Erie PA. It was a long day but we arrived at dinner time and enjoyed a quite evening on anchor. The following day we headed off early again, with Cleveland as our destination for the night. We got a fantastic sunrise and we were actually able to sail with the motor off for several hours before the wind died!

We anchored in Cleveland, arriving late evening and relaxed for the night. The following day we took the dinghy to shore and walked around the nearby park and city while waiting out some higher winds and storms. Cleveland is a busy port, we also got to watch many freighters come and go throughout the day. We got a fantastic sunset that night in our anchorage. It was finally starting to feel like we were back in the Great Lakes, enjoying summer boating season.

The following day we headed towards Put in Bay and Middle Bass Island. We had several hours of great sailing in calm seas before the wind died and we motor sailed the rest of the way. We had planned to anchor at Middle Bass Island to be protected from some stronger northeast wind in the evening. We read there was good holding but we tried 4 times and found nothing but rocky bottom that our anchor wouldn’t hold in. We ended up grabbing a mooring ball at Put in Bay for the night. The mooring ball includes a water taxi to take you to/from the island. We enjoyed walking around and grabbing a drink before heading back to the boat.

The wind did pick up, making it uncomfortable for most of the night but we made it through and by morning it was calm once again. We took a slow morning, enjoying our breakfast, coffee and yoga before setting off once again.

We had a marina reservation in Detroit to see family but we couldn’t get a slip until Sunday so we found a nice anchorage off the Detroit river, about 16 miles from the marina to stay the night. We had officially made it back to Mi waters!

The next day we continued up the river into downtown Detroit! We went right under the new Gordie Howe International bridge which was connected just the day or so before.We stayed at the same marina, in the same slip we had been at on our way through in the fall. The boat next door remembered us and it was nice to chat with them about our adventure. We had a day of catching up with family and the cats were spoiled with new toys and treats!

Our final day before leaving the marina, we caught up on some chores, grocery shopped and then we were off. We headed up the river and decided to check into Canada in Sarnia so that we could go up the Canadian side of the lake, on our way to the North Channel.

We arrived to our marina and got all checked into the country with no trouble. We were happily surprised that some friends we met last summer in Lake Superior, Brianna and Mike were in town for the evening. They are planning to head out the St. Lawrence seaway and down to the Bahamas this year. It was great to catch up with them and share some of our lessons learned. We were super thankful to Steve and Felicia on Kasablanca for all the help they gave us before we left. It felt good to return the favor to some new cruisers before they leave the Great Lakes.

The following morning we headed into Lake Huron. We were super excited for a couple of reasons: there was a heat wave in Detroit beginning the day we arrived. We got record high temps that were in the 90s. Who would have thought the hottest temps on this entire trip would be in Detroit Mi! The excessive heat warning was in effect for the surrounding area for the rest of the week. Getting out of the rivers and into Lake Huron meant cooler temperatures which was very welcome! It also meant that we had finished going up the final river for this trip. No more going against the currents. From now on we can just cruise Lake Huron and Lake Michigan until we finally make it back home to Muskegon.

We made it up the lake about 55 miles to Godrich. We stayed the night at the small marina there. We wandered through the cute town and fueled up the boat. The next morning we were up super early, we headed north up to Dorcas Bay, near Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula. The water in the bay was just as clear as in the Bahamas. We watched our anchor go to the bottom and dig into the sand. It was a nice, quiet evening. We had made it nearly all the way up Lake Huron.

The following day we headed to Club Island in the Georgian Bay. The island was super pretty and we had the place to ourselves. Finally we were getting back into cruising mode! We were into the good stuff that we wanted to explore in the Great Lakes.

One more day of moving, but not so many miles. The next morning we headed into the north channel. We made it to Covered Portage Cove. It is one of our favorite anchorages. The place is stunning! We arrived in the rain and had the place to ourselves!

The next afternoon, the sun came out and we got off the boat for a hike up the hills. We got amazing views of the anchorage and Resande down below. We found a small handful of blueberries on our hike, perfect for blueberry pancakes the following morning.

After a few days of enjoying the anchorage and not moving the boat everyday for a change, we headed off again. We headed up into Baie Fine, a freshwater fjord nearby. We anchored in Mary Ann Cove, finding a perfect spot to stern-tie.

The cove is another one of our favorite stops in the North Channel. The nearby hike is beautiful and gives fantastic views when you get to the top of the hills.

We found a ton of blueberries in the area and several edible mushrooms. We were a bit nervous about foraging for mushrooms but with alot of research we felt confident enough to try the mushrooms we found. We were very happily surprised- they were delicious!

Our next stop was continuing up the fjord to The Pool, an anchorage at the top of the fjord. The trip up the fjord is stunning and the anchorage doesn’t disappoint either.

We arrived to the anchorage to find only one other boat tucked way in the back. We had a quick lunch and went off on a hike. The hiking here is really pretty. The anchorage is located in Killarney Provincial Park so there are plenty of trails. We hiked to Topaz Lake and then to the top of the hills surrounding the anchorage for great views of the boat down below.

When we got back from our hike, the anchorage had filled in with a few more sailboats. We chatted with the other cruisers then headed back to the boat. We stayed at The Pool two nights, taking time to paddle around the anchorage and hike all the nearby trails.

Leaving The Pool we headed out of the fjord and to the town of Little Current. After about a week in the North Channel we had some errands to run. We stocked up on groceries, emptied trash, got fuel for the boat and enjoyed some great fish and chips in town.

We decided to stay the night in town as it was down-pouring when we arrived so we waited until that had passed before beginning our errands. It ended up being quite a windy night! Once the wind dies off a bit and the sun comes out this morning, we plan to head off towards the Benjamin Island group. We still have plenty more beautiful North Channel anchorages to explore before we have to continue on into Lake Michigan.

Today, June 30th also marks our official 1 year living on the boat full-time!

May 2024 Leaving the East Coast

July 2024 Our Final Month Full-Time Cruising

We began May in Buck Island, North Carolina almost finished with the ICW. We arrived just as the wind picked up, seeing 26 knots as we anchored. It was a bit of a wavey night but not a bad place to sleep before continuing on.

The following day, we made it to the free dock at the Great Bridge. Our friends on Sandpiper had arrived to the dock earlier in the day and called us as we were approaching. We weren’t sure if there was space for us but Dan and Holly ensured us there was enough space at the end of the dock and caught our lines for us as we came in.

We stayed on the free dock for two nights. The first night we enjoyed sundowners aboard Sandpiper and got caught up with Dan and Holly. The following the day they had rented a car and invited us to join them for a trip to Kitty Hawk to visit the Wright Brother’s Memorial.

It was super interesting to learn about the first flight and how it all came to be. The four of us had a really nice day together and it was great to visit a place we likely would not have ever visited if not for being on this journey.

From the free dock we continued on past Norfolk and into Hampton Virgina. Norfolk is mile 0 of the ICW so we had officially finished the ICW and entered back into the Chesapeake! We celebrated with a beer we had brought back from the Bahamas as we were now in a different body of water!

The weather had taken a turn and our next passage was cold, cloudy and rainy. We headed to Deltaville and tucked ourselves into Jackson Creek to wait out some wind and weather. Dan and Holly were not far behind and arrived into Deltaville the following day. We had another nice evening with them, enjoying sundowners aboard Resande. From here we will continue north with plans to take Resande back to the Great Lakes. Sandpiper will be sold here in the Chesapeake so from now on we are on our own, leaving our cruising friends behind.

We left Deltaville with dead calm conditions and motored our way up to Solomon’s. We enjoyed this small town on our way south and were happy to be back here again. We visited one of our favorite pizza places we had found on our way south, Cryptic Pizza. It was just as good as we remembered! We had a nice, hot sunny day to walk around town. We re-supplied with water and diesel and relaxed on the boat for rest of the day.

The following day we were supposed to get strong storms but when we woke up the forecast had changed, the storms split and went north and south of us. We had breakfast and then decided to head north to Annapolis. Unfortunately the wind was right on our nose for most of the passage so we were motoring once again to make it in by dinner-time. Once we turned in towards the city we were able to actually sail the final hour of the passage which was lovely!

On our way south, we were in Annapolis for the fall boat show. That was really fun but the city was so crowded! We had never been to Annapolis before that and this time around it was great to explore the city without all the boat show buzz. It is a great city to walk around and we had some days of really nice weather. We enjoyed some local oysters, trying to get all the seafood we can before leaving the salt water.

From Annapolis we were near the top of the Chesapeake. The upcoming passages include getting through the C & D canal, down the Delaware Bay and then up the Jersey coast back into NYC. We were in a well-protected anchorage in Annapolis so we decided to wait out some weather and leave once we had a nice stretch of forecast to complete the next legs of our journey.

After a full week in Annapolis, Erika was getting antsy to move again. We beat directly into the wind 18 miles to Rockhall. We spent two nights on the free dock/wall here to wait out some north wind before continuing on. Rockhall is a very small town, cute to walk around but most of the shops were closed as we wandered through. We grabbed a few groceries and just relaxed on the boat before some big days of moving.

Our next passage concluded the Chesapeake and we headed through the C & D canal into the Delaware Bay. We refueled in the canal and then anchored at the top of the Delaware for the night.

The following day we took the calm weather and headed down the Delaware. We intended to get to Cape May on this passage but we were making great time so we decided to head all the way to Atlantic City. We arrived after dark but thankfully the city provides alot of light and we were familiar with the anchorage. It was a very long day but now we were only one long day away from NYC.

The next two days brought north wind so we waited in Atlantic City for our window to take our final passage on the ocean to NYC. The weather was cold so we mostly just stayed on the boat. We only left briefly to fill our jerry cans at the 24/7 self-serve fuel dock.

After two days in Atlantic City we had a window to head north. We pulled the anchor up and were on the move by 5am. We had building wind throughout the day, coming from the south. We motor sailed all day to ensure our arrival before dark.

We had a great day on the water! We spotted a humpback whale as we arrived to New York Harbor. We watched it jump out of the water twice! We managed to get a photo of at least its back fin. By 6pm we had the anchor down in Coney Island Creek and had completed our final passage in the ocean.

The following day we were up early to take the incoming tide and current up the Hudson River. We passed by the Statue of Liberty with sunny skies and light traffic. Once again it was really cool to see it from our own boat and then pass by NYC, admiring the skyline.

Once out of the city, the Hudson River valley is really pretty. On the way south we had cold, rainy weather through much of this section but this time around it was sunny and warm! The day ended with us going by West Point and anchoring at Breakneck Point, surrounded by high rocky hilltops.

The next day was rainy with storms rolling through. We looked at the radar and decided to leave early to continue up the Hudson, seeing that the further north we were the less the storms seemed to be. Through the rain we headed to Catskill which is where we will have our mast taken down so that we can head back through the Erie Canal. We also officially passed the salt water/fresh water line of the Hudson, entering back into fresh water this day! That was super exciting, we began polishing and cleaning rust stains off all the stainless around the boat.

We arrived into Catskill mid-afternoon and settled into our slip. We began removing all the sails and prepping the boat for our mast to be taken down the following day. After all the hard work we treated ourselves to dinner and beers at the local brewery.

The next day we got to work making our mast cradle so that we can travel with the mast on deck through the canal. Once we had that all set the marina staff used the crane to take our mast down. It was a very long day but finally we were ready to head back through the Erie Canal. We once again treated ourselves to dinner out and took a final walk around the cute little town of Catskill.

With all our chores completed we headed out the following morning. This was our final day on the Hudson River. We went through the Troy lock and were officially out of the tides and tidal currents! We arrived to Waterford which is mile 0 of the Erie Canal. We stayed in Waterford for two days to give ourselves a break and wait out some gusty wind which makes locking more challenging.

We enjoyed our time walking around Waterford, we visited the nearby Cohoes falls, which is the second largest waterfall in the state of New York. Next to the present day locks you can see where the original canal and locks were located. It was nice to not move for a couple of days to recharge before beginning our journey through the canal.

We left Waterford at 8am as soon as the locks were open. We had a big day for our first day locking through. We started right away with the flight of five, which is five locks right in a row. The day in total was 39 miles on the canal, going through ten locks total! We were exhausted but we arrived just in time to cook dinner, shower, relax and go to bed.

The next day we made it through five more locks, arriving to Little Falls. This was one of our favorite towns on the way through the canal in the fall. We planned to be here for two nights. We didn’t move at all the following day, we did a couple little projects in the morning then walked to town for lunch at yet another of our favorite pizza places we had discovered in the fall. While we were anxious to keep moving through the canal, we had a very important errand to complete the following morning so we relaxed on the boat the rest of the afternoon/evening.

The final day of the month, we have a very important task to complete in town before we can continue on. Back in Deltaville we had sent family to look at several houses for us in Muskegon as we are planning to move to the lakeshore once we arrive back to Michigan. We ended up loving one of the houses, putting an offer in and having it accepted! Today, May 31st we are closing on our new home, using a mobile notary so that we can do the closing while on our journey back to Michigan! After our closing is complete we will be continuing on down the canal! We are planning to go as far as we can today before the locks close at 6pm.

While we still have plenty of adventures with Resande as we go through the Great lakes this summer before returning to Muskegon we are super excited to be living so close to Lake Michigan! We will continue to share our plans for land life 2.0 as we get closer to home.

May 2024 Cruising Stats and Spending

April 2024 Back in the U.S and Northbound on the ICW

June 2024

We Started April back in St Augustine Florida. We had spent a couple days here on our way down the coast and we really enjoyed it. This time, we spent two nights on anchor before treating ourselves to a slip at the marina for three nights to wait out some storms and gusty wind.

We enjoyed walking the beach across from town and wandering through town. There are lots of beautiful buildings in St Augustine. We met up with another young cruiser boat- SV Seeker V for drinks in town. We hadn’t met them before but it was great to chat with them about their cruising experiences so far.

While at the marina we washed the boat, did several loads of laundry and soaked up the endless supply of hot water! Daisy loved the laundry fresh out of the dryer. It was a nice little re-set before continuing our journey north.

We had what appeared to be a great window to sail up to Fernandina Beach on the outside (ocean not ICW). The sail started out great, then the wind died off and we motor sailed. But then the wind came back, very strong and gusty and shifted more out of the north so we were sailing very upwind. At one point with gusts up to 30 knots Ryan had us turning right into the wind to stop us from healing over so much.

We made it into Fernandina Beach and decided that rather than doing an overnight sail outside to skip over Georgia like planned, we will stay in the ICW and take it easy going north (Erika still doesn’t like overnight passages).

We had a several day stretch of calm, sunny weather to make our way through most of Georgia. We spent calm nights on anchor and enjoyed the state much more than on our way down. We ended our time in Georgia at Thunderbolt Marina where we waited out yet another round of strong storms.

Thunderbolt Marina is close to Savannah which we didn’t stop at on our way south. Just after we arrived to the marina, we grabbed an uber and decided to spend the day in the city before the storms hit. We absolutely loved Savannah! The historic River Street is really nice to walk down. There are plenty of shops and restaurants you can pop in as you wander along the river front.

The rest of the city is also really pretty, full of parks and trees dripping in spanish moss. We would love to come back and spend more time in this city someday.

Once the storms passed we took off north into South Carolina. We landed in Beaufort. We really enjoyed Beaufort on the way south so we spent a couple days wandering this cute little town before continuing on.

Our next stop was Charleston. We spent one night in Church Creek, just 16 miles from Charleston and arrived by midmorning the following day. We have been the Charleston twice before and we love this cute little city!

We wandered through town, got groceries and then made a plan to move further north to Isle of Palms. While we do love Charleston, the anchorage isn’t the best, most of it is fouled and it is tricky to find a good spot. We were glad to have a day there but happy to move on.

Isle of Pams is where we planned to attend an Umphrey’s McGee concert. They are Ryan’s favorite band and they happened to be playing at a beach venue nearby. We found a nearby anchorage and were told the nearby marina would allow us to keep our dinghy there. When we stopped by the marina early in the day of the concert we were told they would have to charge us $20 an hour to leave the dinghy! After searching around all afternoon and finding no other options we had come to accept this price. But thankfully when we arrived before the concert the manager was gone for the day and the nice guy working the gas dock only charged us $20 total! We were super thankful to him and we really enjoyed the concert. The Windjammer is an amazing little beachside venue.

The day after the concert we were up super early to get through a shallow cut in the ICW before low tide. We skipped this section of the ICW on our way south, opting for an overnight passage outside. This section of South Carolina is really pretty and smelled of lilac as we went through, we even saw two alligators swimming right next to the boat. We needed to make it to Beaufort NC to meet Erika’s mom and Chip so that timeline forced us to stay inside and take the ICW.

We ended up running into our friends on Sandpiper who also left from Muskegon. We had a nice time catching up with them in Carolina Beach. We stayed there a couple nights to figure out a problem with hour engine temp sensor and wait out some rain and very cold weather!

We buddy boated with Sandpiper the next two days, first up to Mile Hammock Bay and then the rest of the way in the ICW to Beaufort.

We had great weather in Beaufort and really enjoyed catching up with family for the next several days. We spent time walking through town and through the nature preserve to see the wild horses. We even got a surprise rock launch that flew right over the anchorage!

Once the visit with Erika’s mom and Chip was over we continued on into the Virgina Cut, our final section of the ICW.

We spent the following night at the R.E Mayo Seafood dock. It isn’t a marina but they have dock space for transient boaters. At .40 cents a foot we decided it was well worth it! We grabbed some scallops to cook up for dinner and enjoyed a quiet evening at the dock.

Today is the final day of April and we are making our way north to Buck Island. We were up early and left the dock at first light. This will be a big day, about 80 miles and we should arrive into our anchorage around 7pm. Buck Island will be our final anchorage in North Carolina. From there we will enter Virginia and make our way out of the ICW and back into the Chesapeake.

April 2024 Cruising Stats and Spending

March 2024 Our Final Month in the Bahamas

May 2024 Leaving the East Coast

We started March in Staniel Cay in the Exumas. Here we grabbed some groceries, gas for the dinghy and waited out some higher winds before continuing north. We had been in this anchorage before, on our way south through the Exumas but we found a nice beach we hadn’t visited the first time. The anchorage is really well protected and just a nice place to spend a few days.

Once the winds died off a bit we headed north. We hoped to anchor at The Mice anchorage but getting in there we saw some shallow water so we turned around and continued to another anchorage. We ended up at Fowl Cay. The anchorage was really pretty and gave us access to Rachel’s Bubble Bath which is a pool with waves that crash over the rocks and the foaming water gives it a bubble bath feel. It was really pretty and we both decided it was one of our favorite stops.

The anchorage there was a bit rolly and shallower than we expected. It was a squally evening and just at low tide a big squall came through with a wind shift that moved the boat into shallower water. We were touching the bottom until the wind shifted back and moved us into deeper water once again. The next morning we left first thing, before the next low tide hit.

We moved north, into the Exumas Land and Sea Park to O’Brian’s Cay. From here we snorkeled at The Aquarium spot which was amazing! There were so many fish that swam right up to you. The coral here was great and we had the place to ourselves! We also took the dinghy to nearby Cambridge Cay for some hiking before spending the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the nearby sandbars, enjoying the crystal clear shallow waters.

The next morning we headed off to the Wardrick Wells mooring field which would be our final stop in the Exumas. We got a ball in the north mooring field which is stunning! Wardrick Wells has lots of hiking trails that we really enjoyed. We hiked up to Boo Boo Hill for great views of the mooring field and the crashing waves of the Exuma sound across the island. The tradition is to leave a piece of driftwood or other small momento with your boat name at the top of the hill. We completely forgot and didn’t make a sign at all, I guess we will have to go back some day!

Wardrick Wells was a beautiful spot that we could have stayed at longer but the next day we had a great weather window to cross the Exuma sound back to Eleuthera. We had a fantastic sail over and landed at Govener’s Harbor which is a town we didn’t stop at when we headed south through Eleuthera.

We spent two days in Govener’s Harbor. The town has several little cafes, a couple grocery stores, gas station and free water. It was one of the cuter towns we wandered around in the Bahamas. Friday night the town has a fish fry event. They serve dinner and block off the nearby street for dancing. It was mostly cruisers and tourists, not many locals but a really fun event we were glad we could attend.

We then had our window to sail north, stopping for a night near Spanish Wells before continuing to the Abacos. We skipped over the Abacos on our way south through the Bahamas so we were excited to see some new places before crossing back to the U. S.

We had a rolly, but overall good sail north to the Abacos. We landed at our anchorage and ended up being right by our friends on Sandpiper. The next day we enjoyed catching up with them and taking a walk on the beach and island trail nearby.

Our next stop was a short jump up to Snake Cay. We had the anchorage to ourselves and it was so peaceful! We took the dinghy through the shallow, mangrove lined waters and saw several eagle rays and turtles.

The next day we motored through the calm to Hope Town. We stayed here three days. The town is really cute and the beach on the ocean side is lovely. We wandered through town, got some ice cream and lunch at the waterfront restaurant. It was a nice change of pace to get back into some civilization as the Exumas, where we were most of the previous month was very remote.

We also visited the lighthouse in town and enjoyed a beach bonfire with several other young cruisers before we continued north. We caught up with some boats we had seen previously in the Exumas and met some new friends.

Our next stop was about 10 miles north at Great Guana Cay. We stayed one night, taking the afternoon to wander through town and along the beach. We grabbed some groceries and planned to continue north the following day.

Our next passage had use going through the Whale Cut, which is a few miles out in the ocean rather than staying inside on the bank. We had several days of very calm weather so we went through without any issues. We anchored at Nunjack Cay where we planned to wait out some heavy north wind forecast to come in the next couple days. We had two nice days/nights on anchor there before the weather set in. Ryan had a great final spearfishing session- he got us three lobsters!

During the nice weather we enjoyed taking the dinghy through the mangrove lined river, seeing plenty of sea turtles. We also hiked on some of the island trails. The bay on the north side of the island is a common place for tour boats to take people to feed sharks and rays. We walked the beach and saw plenty of small sharks and big rays as the tourists were tossing food out to them.

Our final day and night here we had some heavy winds bringing waves and a sleepless night. Our midnight storm brought plenty of lightning, rain and 43 knots of wind! Thankfully our anchor held and we made it through.

After the storms and wind died down we made a run for it to get closer to our jumping off point to cross back to the U.S. We sailed to Allans/Pensacola Cay and had a nice calm night. The following morning we headed off first thing to start our crossing. We were able to sail several hours along the bank (shallow Bahamas waters) before our wind totally died and we had to motor. Although it was alot of engine hours we were happy we had a calm crossing in the gulf stream back to Florida. Along the way we caught a cer0 mackerel and a little tunny.

We made it into Fort Pierce the following morning around 10:30. After checking back into the U.S we walked the pier and enjoyed some pizza and beer at a local brewery. After picking up a large grocery order we went to bed early.

The next few days brought wind and rain. We were glad to be back in Florida for this weather as it was forecast to be worse in the islands where we were in the Bahamas. We did however get hit by a line of strong winds bringing 46 knots in the middle of the night unexpectedly. Thankfully, once again our anchor held us in place and it was over in about an hour.

Before leaving Fort Pierce we checked out the farmers market and had a nice walk around town. Our next stop was just 12 miles north in Vero Beach. Here we spent two nights, waiting out some strong north wind before continuing on. Thankfully we had sunny skies along with our north wind so we got out and walked the parks, the town and to the beach and back.

Our way down the east coast it was cold and we had quite a lot of bad weather so we felt like we were just moving quickly to get south. On our way back north we are hoping for better, warmer weather so we can enjoy it more and make more of an effort to get off the boat and explore all the towns we stop in.

Our next stop was in Titusville, where we stayed a few days and visited with Erika’s aunt Nancy and uncle Tom. We actually had great wind to sail up the ICW the entire way there. We enjoyed catching up with Nancy and Tom and sharing travel stories as they had just returned from a big trip to Australia and New Zealand.

We also got to see a rocket launch while anchored in Titusville. Our final day here brought wind and rain once again. Finally after it all blew through we had some sun and calm the following day for us to continue north.

We stopped in New Smyrna beach and spent and afternoon walking around town. We enjoyed a couple of calm evenings here on anchor before heading off again.

We are ending March, sailing up the coast to St Augustine. We have calm seas and light winds.

March 2024 Cruising Stats and Spending

February 2024 Island Hopping in the Exumas

April 2024 Back in the U.S and Northbound on the ICW

We started our second month in the Bahamas at Norman’s Cay in the northern Exumas. We snorkeled on the plane that crashed in shallow waters in the bay. Going at slack tide meant there was very little current and we could easily swim around the entire crash. We also got to catch up with SV Mojo who we first met in Charleston SC. We enjoyed sundowners aboard their boat and got caught up on our trips so far.

From Norman’s Cay we headed about 5 miles south to Shroud Cay so that we could attend the Young Cruisers Association event- Floatchella. On Shroud Cay there is basically a natural lazy river that runs through the island. The mangrove lined channels cut all the way across the island. If you time the tide right you can float in and then once the tide changes you can float back out.

We had calm winds and perfectly sunny skies for the event. About 15 boats joined. We started with a raft off just outside the entrance to the “lazy river”. It was a really fun event and we got to catch up with several boats we met in West Palm as well as meet some new friends.

Once the event was over the weather was starting to change. We headed back up to Norman’s Cay to wait out the incoming storms. We hoped to make it into Norman’s Pond which is in the middle of the island with land on all sides. It is super protected but has a tricky entrance. We had several other boats helping people find the track in so we figured we would try since it was high tide. We ended up running aground and got very stuck in the sand. Thankfully we had help and two dinghy’s towed us off. We ended up back out in the bay to wait out the weather.

We had some wavy nights while the wind was out of the south but once it shifted to the west and north we were protected. The islands don’t have many anchorages with protection from all wind directions so it can be challenging to find a place to hide. This was a bad blow, we had gusts into the 40s knots range during the worst of it. The whole boat vibrates when the wind is that high. You can hear it howling through the rigging and it is nerve racking for sure. But our anchor held us and everyone else in our anchorage held as well.

We did get some good fishing in before the worst of the wind began. On our way back to Norman’s we caught a cero mackerel and Ryan speared a trigger fish and a large crab once back at Norman’s.

Once the wind shifted from the north west our anchorage became very rolly once again. As soon as the wind died down some we took off, further south for Staniel Cay. We anchored just off the famous pig beach. We saw the swimming pigs and gave them some snacks. We soon realized that our friends aboard SV Sandpiper were also there. They left Muskegon Mi out of our marina about a week after we did. We enjoyed catching up with them on their boat and then later in the day for sundowners on our boat.

Staniel Cay is where Thunderball Grotto is located. This cave has been in several movies and was really cool to visit. Going at low tide you can enter the cave snorkeling/swimming in with your head above water the whole time. Once in the cave there are tons of fish to see as well as beautiful sunny spots streaming into the cave from the openings above you. We finished out or time on Staniel meeting up with another boat we had previously met, SV Sunwise. The following day we did some snorkeling and dinghying around with them before heading into the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for happy hour.

We arrived at the yacht club to find a wahoo fishing competition was underway. They were weighing the fish from the days catch as we arrived. The place was packed and it appeared everyone in the fishing tournament had done quite well! We grabbed a table and enjoyed some rum punch and food before heading back to the boat just as the sun was setting.

The following day we took off for Black Point Settlement. Several of our friends from floatchella where also at Black Point. The restaurants in town all had some type of special for Superbowl Sunday so we enjoyed an evening dinner and drinks with everyone to watch the game.

The next day we walked around town and across to the beaches along the opposite side of the island. The rock formations along the coast here reminded us of Galicia or Portugal. Back in town, we stopped in to grab some local bread- cinnamon raison coconut bread. It was so good!

The following day we had our weather window to jump down to George Town. We had a great sail down, buddy boating with SV Mojo. Another boat even called us out on the radio to give us an “at a boy” for sailing so well upwind. We were healed over all day, the cats had a hard time walking around the boat. We arrived into George Town/Elizabeth Harbor and dropped anchor right in front of monument beach. The anchorage was crowded (as it always is) but we found a spot without any trouble.

Making it to Georgetown near the end of the Exuma island chain was pretty exciting for us! We have traveled 3891 nautical miles since leaving Muskegon. When we left the dock in July 2023 we had no firm plan and no firm return date. Our goal was the Bahamas and then we hoped to do the Caribbean but from there who knew? We also said we would cruise as long as we loved it and it made sense for us.

After lots of discussion and thinking we have come to a decision. For now Georgetown will be the furthest we travel. We will be heading north, back through the Bahamas, hitting some islands we haven’t visited along the way. We will enjoy our entire three month visa here in the Bahamas and then cross back over to the U. S. Resande and her crew will then sail all the way back to the Great Lakes. By the time we return it will end up being just over a year that we will have lived and traveled full-time aboard our boat. We are looking forward to setting up land life 2.0 and taking a break from cruising.

This won’t be the end of boat life for us. We love Resande and plan to cruise again some day. Our decision started with Erika being nervous about the multiday, upwind passage from the Bahamas to the Caribbean. We also realized we have lots of other hobbies and things we enjoy doing such as backpacking, camping, hiking, hunting (Ryan) and traveling to other parts of the world. While we thought we’d possibly end up somewhere other than Michigan after this journey we didn’t actually find anywhere else we’d rather live and keep Resande. We are both happy with our decision and looking forward to the journey back to the Great Lakes.

George Town is a big hub for cruisers. Many boats hang out in this harbor all season. There is always something going on and so many people to meet. We happened to be in town during the start of the annual cruising regatta. We enjoyed watching the junkanoo parade where local groups and a group of cruisers dressed up in costumes and danced through the streets. The Bahamians celebrate junkanoo on boxing day each year. This event was used as a fundraiser for the following years junkanoo. The cruisers who attended and participated in the event raised about $5700.

Outside of scheduled events there is still plenty to see in George Town. We were anchored near monument beach on Stocking Island. Stocking Island is full of beautiful hiking trails. The beaches along the Atlantic side of the island are stunning.

No visit to George Town would be complete without some time spent at the Chat N Chill. This local restaurant/beach bar/hang out is right along the beach. There are tables, volley ball nets, yard games and always plenty of cruisers hanging out, having a good time. We met some new boats here and got to catch up with many of our friends we had met along the way.

Our final day in George Town we explored further south in the Harbor. On Crab Cay there is a man-made cut that doesn’t go all the way through the island but does go back pretty far. The project was abandoned but the cut is deep enough to take the dinghy through. We also found some more beautiful beaches and shallow sand bars to explore.

After almost two weeks in George Town it was time to begin our journey north. We have about six weeks left on our Bahamas cruising visa. We plan to slowly work our way north, stopping at smaller, lesser known anchorages that we passed by on our way south.

We had a great sail to our first stop which was an anchorage between Norman’s Pond Cay and Leaf Cay. We really enjoyed this spot. Ryan did plenty of spearfishing, he got a couple lobsters, two trigger fish and two snappers. The anchorage was surrounded by several small, really pretty beaches. There were a few other boats around but overall this was much more secluded and quiet than George Town.

Our next stop was Rudder Cut Cay and we again had a great sail! We caught two little tunny fish on the way. When entering the anchorage we had a dolphin swim around the boat. The single dolphin stayed with us the entire way into the anchorage, moving from the bow to the stern just playing around.

This anchorage is known for having the mermaid playing the piano statue underwater that you can snorkel around. We also found a shallow bay full of turtles that didn’t mind at all if you snorkeled with them. They just swam slowly by, eating seagrass without a care in the world.

The following day we jumped up the Exumas about 10 miles. We stopped at the Oven Rock anchorage to explore a cave with a salt water pool. We opted not to get into the pool but we read that you can cave-dive and it actually winds back pretty deep into the cave. It was a really cool to see the pool inside the cave. We stayed in this anchorage one night then continued hoping north. Our next stop was a small bay just south of Black Point.

We will end February waiting out some higher winds before continuing up the Exumas. We are off to Staniel Cay this morning, another 10 miles north. March will be our final month in the Bahamas. We plan to do a couple more stops in the Exumas that we missed on our way south. Then we will go back up to Eleuthera and up to the Abacos which we haven’t visited yet. There is still plenty of Bahamas to explore in our last few weeks here.

February 2024 Cruising Stats and Spending

January 2024 Berry Islands to the Exumas

March 2024 Our Final Month in the Bahamas