AGLCA Rendezvous and the purchase of Sun Cat

We heard about the "Great Loop"cruise several years ago and planned to do it at some point after I retired. For a retirement gift our friends, Stew and Barb Hart gave us a membership to the American Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA). We knew Trader was not the right boat to do the loop in but we had limited experience with power boats and had been indecisive about what to purchase to do this trip.

Attending the AGLCA rendezvous in Penetang, Ontario gave us the opportunity to view the boats people were actually using to do the loop and more importantly gave us valuable information about what to expect in the areas we were not familiar with, especially the mid-western rivers. The "looper crawl" was an open house on a number of the boats and we got to talk to a lot of people about what they would want in a boat and what they liked and didn't like about the boat they had. We indicated that we planned to do the trip in a year or so and several people responded with "why wait? ". After thinking about that we decided to go ahead.

We now had a pretty good idea of what we wanted in a boat and We'd earlier set a budget so we started to look more seriously. Our primary criteria were 2 engines-preferrably Cummings or Caterpillar, a walk around queen in the stern cabin, a flying bridge, galley up, keel lower than the props, and no exterior wood. We got all except the galley up with Sun Cat.

To find the boat, we worked with our friend and broker Stew Hart, with all of us doing research on the internet and then Stew would call the listing broker and check the boat out further. We looked at some good boats and unfortunately some not so good ones. When Jean  I read the listing on Sun Cat, we both had the same reaction - "That's a lot of boat." After some negotiations and a survey, we purchased Sun Cat in mid September. She was located in Charleston so this winter's cruise begins there.

Summer 2006 Cruise - Maine

Trader wasn't home long before we headed out again on June 29, this time going north and east traveling with our friends Larry and Cathy  on their Erickson 34 Moondance.

Moondance

We visited Northeast Harbor and Cranberry Island at Mount Desert Island.









At Northeast we hiked to the Jordan Pond House for their famous popovers and also hiked around Jordan Pond. Cranberry was a new stop for us and we enjoyed hiking to the lighthouse at the far end of the island.

Jordan Pond - Acadia National Park

Cranberry Island Memorial

Memorial with Mount Desert in the background

Another good stop was Isle of Haut where we hiked several trails, and Frenchboro, Long Island where we toured the museum and hiked to the beach. Frenchboro and Isle of Haut are neat little fishing communities which can give the visitor a wonderful taste of Maine island living.

On the way back to Portland, we visited Jean's cousin Paul  and his wife Mimi in Round Pond.

We arrived back in Portland a day early on Saturday so we could drive to the Great Loop Cruisers Rendevous in Ontario. That story begins the events leading up to the purchase of Sun Cat in September.

Trader's 2005-2006 Trip Cape May to Portland

Jean decided to stay home so I returned to Cape May with a new crew of friends and neighbors - Doug Bauer, Dick Hodskins and Dan Tipton. We arrived at Cape May in mid-afternoon, replenished provisions, went to dinner and prepared for the trip north. The first day out was another of those sails to remember. Up the Jersey shore with a westerly wind. We used Dick's cruising chute and made great time. As night fell, we took the chute down and went to the jib. Our target was to reach Sandy Hook by daybreak the next day and we had to shorten sail in the middle of the night to slow us down from arriving too early. We traveled up through New York Harbor past the Statute of Liberty and up the East River with the current. By late afternoon we were a ways down Long Island Sound and after a brief fuel stop sailed all night passing through The Race just after dawn. That evening we stopped at Kingman Marine, just south of Cape Cod where we had dinner with my mother & brother and his family.

Dan at helm off New Jersey

The next day we traveled through the Cape Cod Canal and spent the night in Gloucester in the same place as we had stopped on our first day out 9 months before. The next day's weather was good with a bad days forecast after that so we arose before dawn and sailed all the way to Portland, arriving before dinner. It was June 20th. Shortly thereafter we received an endorsement from our insurance extending our below Montauk date to the 10th! So much for snail mail.

In all from June to June we had traveled almost 5000 miles on Trader.

Trader's 2005-2006 Cruise -Florida to Cape May, NJ

Trader's return trip up the waterway was a bit rushed. Our insurance company wanted us north of Montauk, Long Island by June 1, which gave us only a month to do the trip. (We didn't make it as you will see but had fun anyway).

ICW scenery

After stops at Vero Beach, Daytona, St Augustine and Cumberland Island we proceeded through Ga. and the Carolinas moving nearly every day. We spent several days in Myrtle Beach, SC, and Oriental, NC waiting out bad weather. we traveled for over a week with Tony and Judy Goff from Newfoundland who were sailing on their C&C 30.







After a rough day on the Neuse River, we pushed to Elizabeth City the next day and then went north through the Dismal Swamp Canal again, staying in Hampton, Va rather than Norfolk. We then proceeded to work our way up the Chesapeake.

C&C 30 underway

At Point Lookout Marina, near the mouth of the Potomac, we met up with our friends Eldon & Dianne. Leaving Trader at Point Lookout, we got on their Grand Banks 42 for a trip up the Patomic to Washington, DC where we spent Memorial Day weekend playing tourists. We stayed at the Gangplank Marina which is within walking distance of the Mall. There was also a motorcycle rally going on - approximately 30,000 cyclists parading in Washington.

"Cottage" at Jekel Island

more ICW scenery

Smithsonian Museum

After leaving Eldon &Dianne at Point Lookout we proceeded quickly to Cape May, stopping at West River and Chesapeake City before leaving the boat at Utches to return home for a business meeting.

USCG Eagle -underway - Potomac River

Trader's 2005-2006 Cruise - The Bahamas

We left Ft Lauderdale at 2 AM and crossed to Old Bahama Bay marina, West End, Grand Bahama Island under nearly perfect conditions. It was St. Patricks Day and we arrived in time for the

Sunrise - Trader crossing to the Bahamas

afternoon party at the Tiki Bar. The next day we rented a car and toured Freeport, then returned to Old Bahama Bay in time to use the pool. We also stopped at a small bakery in the settlement and got our first introduction to the Bahamian breads that we enjoyed thoughout our visit.

Using the Cruising Guide by Steve Dodge and his GPS waypoints, we successfully navigated Indian Cay passage. Indian Cay passage is 6-8 feet deep, flanked by shallows and was a real adventure with Trader's 5.5 foot draft. We spent that night at Great Sail Cay where there is nothing and then went on to Crabby Cay, a sheltered harbor but nothing there either and then went to Green Turtle Cay. We spent almost a week there, enjoying the pool and beach. We even rented a golf cart and toured the settlement at New Plymouth, our first real exposure to a Bahamian village.

Beach at Green Turtle

White Sound Harbor - Green Turtle Cay

Trader in Hopetown Harbor

We then went to Guana Cay, Hopetown on Elbow Cay, Marsh Harbor, Man O War Cay and Treasure Cay. Hopetown was one of our favorites with nice beaches, a lighthouse to climb, an interesting settlement and a pool at the Inn. I

We spent a week at Man O War Cay, staying at the cottage owned by our friends Neil and Pam Herring with our friends Eldon and Dianne Morrison who flew down to join us. Man O War is another very interesting island. There are approximately 250 residents, 240 of which are related. We toured the Albury Brothers boatbuilding operation and sampled some of Lola's cinnamon rolls.

We also spent a week at Treasure Cay which has a magnificent beach. Unfortunately a front went through and we spent several days on the boat waiting for it to pass. It was a nice spot with a good pool and a reasonable grocery store.

Canvas Shop - Man-O-War

Our time in the Bahamas was all too short and we returned to Florida on April 26 via West End. Our sail from West End to Fort Pierce is one we will always remember as everything was right. We traveled over 81 miles in less than 11 hours mostly under sail. We had the Gulf Stream with us, the wind southwest producing a nice reach and the swells running with us. We also hit the current right going into Fort Pierce. To top it off the folks at the marina were wonderful, even loaning us a car to go to the airport to clear with immigration.

Roadway on Man-O-War

Signpost - Elbow Cay