Final Cruise of 2014 in the Abacos
Our last three weeks in the Abacos was spent in Green Turtle Cay and visiting the remote areas north of Green Turtle Cay. The area north of Green Turtle Cay has many beautiful uninhabited islands that are just teeming with sea creatures that are harder to come by in the more populated areas of the Abacos.
We spent about a week at Treasure Cay and Green Turtle Cay in early May waiting for the last of the windy area to pass through the area. Treasure Cay is a good place to provision for a trip as the grocery store is much better stocked than the other islands in the Abacos. In Green Turtle Cay we spent a few days at a slip at the Leeward Yacht Club waiting on the weather. This was our first marina stay in over 3 weeks. While in Green Turtle Cay I went out with Brendal’s Dive Shop for my last scuba dive trip of the season. We dove on a reef on the ocean side of Manjack Cay in about 25 to 30 feet of water. It was one of the best dives I have ever had as the pictures I have included in this post show.
A 4-foot Grouper up close and personal
A cruising friend of ours, Bill, on Bellamare, a 45-foot Hunter, traveled with us spending about 10 days on the hook at Manjack Cay, Powell Cay, Allans-Pensicola Cay, and Moraine Cay. With the exception of about 3 or 4 houses on Manjack Cay, these cays are all uninhabited. These islands are not all weather cays so they can only be visited when the weather is settled. In May and June the weather is mostly settled in the Abacos so this is the best time to visit these beautiful islands.
After spending a couple of incredible days snorkeling at Moraine Cay, we sailed about 6 hours to Great Sale Cay. Great Sale Cay is a common stopping point for cruisers who are coming to the Bahamas and going back to Florida as it provides pretty good protection from the prevailing east winds of the Abacos.
An underwater reef
We met a nice couple on a 44-foot Brewer, Galatea, at Green Turtle Cay who said they would “Buddy Boat” with us for the trip back to Florida. This was important to us as Odyssey is not equipped with radar and the 21-hour sail from Great Sale Cay back to Florida included about 10 hours of night sailing. Night sailing is something we never do, but we made an exception with this trip when Galatea agreed to meet us at Great Sale Cay and travel with us back to Florida.
The 21-hour sail back to Florida was pretty smooth except for the last 30-minutes coming into the Ft. Pierce inlet while the tide was going out. It took us about 45 minutes to go the short distance into the inlet. We travelled at 2.5 knots and felt like we were inside a washer machine.
After visiting with some Abacos friends in Ft. Pierce, we spend a few days winding down at Vero Beach Marina and preparing for our trip back north through Florida up the intra-coastal Waterway (ICW).
A 6-foot reef shark from about 20 feet away
After 2 years sailing in the Bahamas, we had forgotten what it is like to boat in Florida. The first thing that is really different is you do not sail, you motor everywhere (unless you go offshore, of course). There are powerboats large and small everywhere passing by causing wakes. You must constantly pay attention to the ICW channel markers so you don’t run aground. Due to the strong currents that travel in and out of the coastal inlets moving the boat is a daily challenge. I suppose this is normal boating in Florida, but we are not used to it. I guess this is why we sail in the Bahamas.
We are now at New Smyrna Beach Marina and will move Odyssey about 4 more days up the ICW to Fernandina Beach, Florida where we hope our yacht broker will meet Odyssey to take her offshore back to Annapolis, MD.
A crawfish hiding under a ledge
Retirement Planning Helpful Hint
I got a question from a reader asking my opinion about the stock market reaching new highs almost weekly and should he sell his stocks and put the funds in cash and even consider “shorting” the stock market.
My answer is a definite “No,” to selling off your stocks and putting all your funds in cash waiting for the eventual market correction. I have no idea what the stock market will do next week or next year and neither does anybody else. There is no question there will be a market correction at some point in the future; but when? What if you sell everything and the market goes up another 40% the next 2 years. You would feel pretty foolish.
If you are afraid of losing all your gains from the last couple years, then this tells me your stock allocation is too high. You should reduce your percentage of stock exposure, but never to zero percent. In other words, it may be time for some people to do some “re-balancing” of their portfolios. I do my financial asset allocation review in January of each year and re-balance if necessary. This past January I did some re-balancing by selling a small percentage of small cap and large cap stocks and placing the funds into short-term bonds.
This is not a piece of coral but a very odd-looking fish in about 8 inches of water. Not sure how it defends itself. I could have picked it up and put it in my pocket.
Everyone’s asset allocation is different. You must decide for yourself what the best allocation is. As an example, my current “target” asset allocation is 50% stocks, 8% insurance (mostly precious metals), and 42% fixed income (cash/short-term bonds). But this allocation may not be best for your particular situation.
As for the reader’s question about shorting the stock market, I don’t do this. I believe that if you think the stock is going up, move more money into stocks. If you think the market is going down, move more money into cash. I never bet against the stock market.
Not sure what this beautiful fish is called
Odyssey off of Allans-Pensicola Cay seemingly at the end of the world
Our final sunset in the Abacos in 2014
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