Cruising Endless Summer
Exumas
by
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We had been trying to go to the Bahamas aboard Endless Summer ever since we left Virginia in October of 1996. It was December 1999, and finally it looked like we were ready to go. Our boat had been docked way up the New River in Fort Lauderdale behind a private residence, next door to our good friends Pat and Joe Turner. We had been living at my mother’s place in Boynton Beach, which was about a 45-minute drive from the north. Because of the long commute, we had some logistics challenges. How could we get to Endless Summer, and how could we do the last minute preparations? We would need to get a ride from Boynton to our boat, or find a way to borrow a car from Fort Lauderdale so we could ferry our car back to Boynton Beach. Joe Turner and another friend, Gary Chapman picked us up on the morning of December 7, 1999, and with bags of last minute provisions we piled into Gary’s Saturn and we headed for Endless Summer. Upon arrival, we carried the provisions aboard, and Susie stowed them. We had what we estimated to be about six months' of food, extra diesel fuel, gasoline and water aboard. At 1:35 pm on December 7th, 1999 we pulled away from the dock and started down the New River. We were going to anchor in Lake Sylvia for the night. That was only an hour or so away. It was important to get through the four opening bridges before they were "locked down" for "rush hour" automobile traffic. We had the normal waits at the bridges and the normal heavy boat traffic on the New River, but we anchored in Lake Sylvia at about 3:15 pm.
Ready to Cast off the Dock Lines and Leave Since we had been so far away from our boat, living way up in Boynton Beach, we had not done some things we would normally do. We did not want to leave the battery charger "on" for an extended period when we were not aboard, so the batteries were not 100% topped off when we left. We could not leave the refrigeration "on" for a few days, to get it cooled down because that would surely drain the batteries and possibly damage the refrigeration system. I had just finished installing a wind generator and it had not been fully tested and I had not yet installed the controller for it. We did not have a controller on the solar panels either. When the "Guest Smart Switch" lights told us the batteries were nearing a full charge, we would simply unplug the solar panels. We had a series of diesel problems and we weren’t sure we had fixed them all. We had some new engine shaft noises and we randomly experienced a mysterious inability to achieve full cruising rpm’s. We had not cleaned Endless Summer’s bottom and propeller in a while either. All these unknowns weighed on our minds as we left. I guess we just went ahead and hoped Endless Summer and we were in good enough shape to make a successful cruise. We were tired of getting ready to go, only to be stopped by a problem. The next morning we pulled the anchor and headed south down the Intracoastal Waterway to Miami. We had planned to leave from the Port of Miami (Government Cut) and make our way to a point north of North Rock, North Bimini and then onto the Great Bahama Banks. Our friends Jack and Edie (and Norfolk Terrier "Critter"), aboard Rigadoon (Albin 36 Trawler) were at anchor some place near where we wanted to anchor. Bob and Barb aboard Barbobasea (Columbia 43 sloop) were traveling in company with them. Barbobasea stands for Barb and Bob at sea. After reaching Miami we made an east turn on the north side of the Venetian Causeway and paralleled the causeway. We saw a rain shower headed directly for us, so we ducked in between two of the "man made" islands, dropped the Delta anchor, donned our rain gear and rode out the quickly passing rainsquall. When it had subsided to a light drizzle we pulled the anchor and continued eastbound. When we reached the east Venetian Causeway Bridge, we requested (and received) an opening and passed to the south side of the causeway. Rigadoon, Barbobasea and a lot of other boats were at anchor on the south side of Belle Isle (the eastern most islet that make up the Venetian Causeway). We anchored but we did not like the spot so we moved and re-anchored. As the tides rush between the islets they create nuisance little rages and currents that make it uncomfortable. This is a popular anchorage area because there is a dinghy dock, a Publix Supermarket and a US Post Office nearby. There were cruising boats anchored all over the Miami area waiting for favorable weather to cross the Gulf Stream. We heard there were about 80 boats waiting. We spent Friday (12/8/1999) and Saturday (12/9/1999) nights anchored there. We had dinner aboard Rigadoon Friday night and then aboard Barbobasea on Saturday night. During the day we did boat chores. I installed the charge controller for the wind generator, and it seemed to be working fine. Every day there were conversations on the VHF radio about when to head across the Gulf Stream. Some boats planned to leave from Government Cut, including us, Barbobasea and Rigadoon. Others planned to leave from points farther south such as Cape Florida, Angelfish Creek, and Rodrigues Key (off Key Largo). We had planned to use the "Z" course as described in the "Explorer Chartbook-Near Bahamas" for this, our first crossing. We wanted to make a daylight crossing by leaving at about 5:00 AM so we would not face ships and other hazards in the dark.
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Book Details
About the Book
This book is about Roger and Susie Mummah's first Bahamas cruise to the Exumas. It is also about how they turned a bad thing into a great dream. Roger lost his job, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise when they discovered a way to live aboard their sailboat without jobs. The boat is Endless Summer, a 1983 Hunter 31 sailboat with an auxiliary diesel engine. She was a great Chesapeake Bay cruiser, but how would she be in the Bahamas? Before they left on their cruise, they asked fellows sailors what they would like to read about in a book about cruising the Bahamas. They listened to the suggestions, which became this book. It is about how Roger and Susie left the "normal" American life and took off on their boat and it answers questions such as: What information did we lack? Where did we go and what did we do? What was the cruise like? What were the Bahamas like? What were the people like? What were other cruisers like? What was the availability of food, water and other provisions? What were our successes and our shortcomings? How accurate were our estimates for the costs of the cruise? What were the actual costs? How did the boat do? How did we feel about the cruise? Will we do it again? Roger and Susie answer these questions from the perspective of novice Bahamas cruisers, because they were. They learned an incredible amount of stuff, and they want to share it with others who may want to follow along a similar course. They learned the extent to which their daily lives were dictated by the weather and they could not simply flip the TV or the radio "on" to get a weather forecast. They learned which short wave and VHF radio weather reports to listen to, and the times they were "on". They learned how and when to copy weather fax maps over their short wave radio and their notebook computer. They developed detailed information sheets about how to gather this weather information, and they are included in the book. There is a section on "lessons learned" which includes a suggested "check list" of things they found that they needed to know. There is a section on suggested cruising areas that are not so far away that might have better prepared them for the Exumas cruise. There is a section called "the boat", which describes the boat and lists the cruising upgrades that were made to Endless Summer. This section also includes a set of detailed spreadsheets that can be used to estimate the amount of battery capacity that is used at anchor and underway. Susie had to fly back to the United States so she could go to Thailand to be with their daughter when she had their new grandson there. Roger and Susie had to figure out how to fly to the US and back, from an Exuma out island. They spent time with wonderful Bahamian people and great cruising couples everywhere they went. They dined on fresh and huge Bahamian lobsters (langusta/spiny lobsters), fresh conch and fresh grouper. You can read about how Susie planned their provisioning and you can try some of her recipes. You can read her perspective of the cruise in "Susie's Journal". So come aboard the very good sloop Endless Summer, and learn with Roger and Susie as you go with them to the Bahamas. They hope you enjoy the cruise, because they certainly did. Now you need to buy a sailboat and share a wonderful sunset with them as you cruise Endless Summer to the Exumas.
About the Author
Roger and Susie Mummah are in their 50's and they have two children who are grown up and on their own. Roger has been mostly a Navy guy and a computer guy. He joined the Navy in 1967 and became a technician aboard the Ballistic Missile Submarine, USS Casimir Pulaski. Roger met Susie before he joined the Navy, and they got married on December 23, 1967, when he came home on his first Christmas leave. The young couple moved to Norfolk, Virginia where Roger was still in Navy training. Susie worked at various jobs as they moved around the country, but the plan was for her to be a stay-at-home-mom after children came along. Roger got off active duty after 8 1/2 years and his Navy computer and instructor training qualified him for good paying jobs in the commercial world. When he first got out of the Navy, he worked with a company in Norfolk, Virginia that made training materials for the Navy. That job took them from Norfolk, Virginia to Silverdale, Washington. After living there for a couple of years and being so far away from their East Coast roots, they decided to move back to the US East Coast. A company in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida hired Roger as a computer instructor and they were no longer far away from their families. Nine years later Roger's company transferred him to Norfolk, Virginia. He was back in the town of his birth. Roger and Susie bought Endless Summer in 1993 in Norfolk, Virginia. She was a 1983 Hunter 31 sloop rigged sailboat with an auxiliary diesel engine. They would sail on the Chesapeake Bay and learn how to sail and how to cruise and live aboard a sailboat. They wanted to eventually buy a bigger sailboat and cruise and live on it after they retired. In 1995 Roger was laid off from his job of 17 years. He also retired from the Navy Reserves in the spring of 1995 as a Naval Intelligence Officer of the rank of Commander. One day Susie said, "Can we live on our investments"? Roger said, "I don't know". They did some research and found out about a program whereby they could withdraw money, penalty free from their IRA before reaching the age of 59½ years. The first time their financial advisor ran the numbers the monthly amount they could get was not enough. A year later it was at the minimum level they would need to live aboard Endless Summer. One day Susie said, "Why don't we sell everything and move aboard our boat". Then she asked Roger if he thought they could not only move aboard Endless Summer, but also go cruising aboard her then. They knew people who were living aboard boats that were in the 30-foot range. They had also met people who were going to the Bahamas every winter on boats of that size. They started looking into it. In July 1996 they decided to make the plunge. They sold most of their stuff and within three months of making the decision to leave on their boat, they left. On October 22, 1996 they headed for the Intracoastal Waterway that would take them to Florida and the Bahamas. They thoroughly enjoyed the trip down the "ditch" and they met many great boat folks who were also on their way to the Bahamas or South Florida. They arrived in Deerfield Beach, Florida on November 25, 1996 where they spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with their families. They got a slip at the Black Fin Resort in Marathon, Florida and they arrived there aboard Endless Summer on January 4, 1997. They loved the beautiful place. They were living their dream and living on their boat in a wonderful, sub tropical place. They finally left the Florida Keys and made their way to the Bahamas.