8 April 2019 Titusville to New Smyrna, Florida
We had a lovely peaceful night and set off after breakfast, heading for New Smyrna to meet up with an old skydiving friend, Tony Uragello. It was only 30 miles, so we arrived just after midday and were surprised see Tony and his wife Mary standing on a dock waving to greet us – by the time that we realised who it was, we’d gone past.
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Welcome to the Alba Chronicles.
This is a diary of our travels on-board our 42 foot sailing yacht, "Alba". Glenys and I have sold our house and land-bound possessions, bought a boat and the intention is to continue cruising until we're too old to carry on.
Providing that we can get Internet access, we'll be posting diary entries every week - we hope that you enjoy following our voyage.
We have an interactive mapping section where you can view Our latest location and some of the Anchorages that we have visited.
You can also download the Alba Chronicles as an eBook from the Downloads page
Neville Howarth.
Arriving in Florida
1 April 2019 Highbourne Cay to West Palm Beach, Florida (Day 2)
At sunrise, we had fluffy white clouds with blue skies. After 24 hours of solid motoring, we were pleased that the wind picked up to 15 knots from the south allowing us to finally turn the engine off and sail on a beam reach. Later in the morning, we hooked a nice Dorado, which I gaffed and landed ok. It bled profusely, so by the time that I’d subdued it, the aft deck was covered in blood – took me nearly an hour to fillet the fish and clean up the mess. Glenys served Fish Tortillas for lunch, which was lovely.
Waiting for Weather
18 March 2019 Elizabeth Island, Exumas
I wasn’t able to put it off any longer – it was time to sort out the blockage in the front toilet. The holding tank empties by gravity, so it looked like either the outlet hose was blocked or the blockage was in the holding tank itself. I snorkelled under the boat and poked a length of stainless steel cable up the outlet hose. It went in fairly easily up to a metre, so I believe that the hose from the holding tank to the outlet seacock is clear.
Working Our Way North
25 March 2019 Elizabeth Island, Exumas
I find the weather in this region so frustrating. I set the alarm last night and was up at the crack of dawn to look at the weather, only to find it still miserable with scudding clouds and a bit of rain. The forecast is for the east wind to drop this afternoon and then tomorrow there should be blues skies and very light winds. We either go in the rain and wind today, or motor in sunshine tomorrow. I went back to bed.
On Holiday in the Exumas
11 March 2019 Stocking Island to Ray Cay, Exumas
The weather forecast was for lighter winds tomorrow, so we took the opportunity to sail downwind to the cays to the north of Georgetown with the plan of motoring back tomorrow in the calmer conditions. We had a pleasant 4 hour broad reach to Leaf Cay where we anchored at 23°47.06N 076°07.75W in 3.5 metres, good holding.
Waiting for Craig
4 March 2019 Georgetown to Elizabeth Island, Exumas
After breakfast, we nipped into town to buy a few more provisions and top up our SIM card. Back on the boat, we pulled up the anchor and motored down to Elizabeth Island, where we anchored at 23°30.29N 075°43.75W in 7 metres on good holding sand and weed. We went snorkelling on a reef just outside the anchorage, picking up one of the four yellow moorings. The snorkelling was pretty, but a little too shallow for us.