Salty Podcast Bonus Episode ⛵ LIVE Chat: Sailing Bahamas Prep with Key West John!

Episode Transcript
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Capn Tinsley (00:05):
Good morning everybody from Gulf Shores,
alabama.
Welcome to a special bonusepisode of the Salty Podcast.
Today we're going to talk liveright here about getting ready
for an upcoming sail to theBahamas Planning, provisioning,
routing and everything inbetween.
This fall, in October, I'll besolo sailing from Orange Beach,
alabama, to Key West, and thenI'll be buddy boating with Key

(00:28):
West John all the way toGeorgetown in the Exumas.
This will be my first timesailing all the way to
Georgetown.
Last time I made it as far asNassau and then I kind of just
ran out of time.
So even though I'm lookingforward to it, I'll be honest,
it's a little bittersweet.
It's been nine months since Ilost Salty Scotty and my husband
and love of my life.

(00:48):
It's the hardest thing I'veever been through.
Some of you experienced thesame and when you know, you know
.
But I'm incredibly grateful forthe Circle of Friends who have
been nothing but supportivethrough it all, including my
good friend and buddy boatpartner, key West John.
He's been tremendously helpfulto me and we've got a special
guest popping in to give his twocents on sailing to the Bahamas

(01:10):
.
So please don't miss that.
And if you've got thoughts, tipsor salty comments, we'd really
love to hear it from you duringthe live and if you're catching
the replay, please feel free tocomment anytime.
We welcome it all.
But first, please help supportthe channel by hitting that like
button and if you haven't yet,go ahead and subscribe and check
out some more videos.
I'm getting real close to beingmonetized and I'm hoping that

(01:32):
will help offset some of theout-of-pocket expenses for
producing this podcast, becauseI want to keep it on going, even
from the Bahamas.
I'm Captain Tinsley of SailorVessel Salty Abandoned and
Island Packet 320, and this isthe Salty Podcast, a bonus
episode with QS John, otherwiseknown as KWJ, and a surprise

(01:54):
guest.
Let's get into it.
Good morning.

Key West John (02:00):
Captain Tinsley.

Good morning Captain.
Captain QS John, okay, yeah,and we'll just say he is a
double captain.
He's a pilot and a boat captain, right?

That's correct, yeah.

Okay, so what are we talking about today?
Key West John KWJ.

Well, let's see you.
You know, several months ago,obviously with a bad experience
and then trying to rebound fromsome of that, you had the.
I had mentioned to you over theyears how much I like
Georgetown.
Georgetown is just such a great.
I love the Exuma chain, so manygreat places in the Bahamas,
but Georgetown's always been myfavorite.
And you just said let's go.

(02:42):
You know you needed a challenge.
You needed to get there, and Iknow you'd been headed that way
before and got to Nassau and notbeyond.
So the challenge now is to getyou know there, get past Nassau,
give it a good wave on the wayby and head down to the north
end of the Exumas and then workyour way down to Georgetown.

I appreciate it because I'm just heading off
there.
I'll buy myself with what I'mgoing through.
It sounded really sad, but onceyou add QS, John and and some
others in there and some otherfriends that might travel with
me, what I might have a home.

I said motorcade, but a boat cage you might have
a whole going by the time youget there.

It'll be fun because I know there's other
people that I've interviewed andI've heard so much about
Georgetown from the people I'veinterviewed, including our
surprise guest, who I'm going togo ahead and pop him in.
He's a little early, but let'sbring him in.
Get ready, hayden, here youcome.

Hayden Cochran (03:39):
Yeah, boom, hey great to get my camera lined up
here.
Good to see you, yeah, good tosee you.
There you are, yeah, thanks alot for having me in here.

It's great Well.
Having the two of you here isjust extremely helpful to me.
Both of you have been veryhelpful and so I really
appreciate your advice andeverything and over the years
and in the future, because I'mnot giving it up- I know Key
West John knows his way arounddown there.

Well, hayden and I are very different on that.
Hayden has done it nautically.
I've rented boats there.
I have never taken a boat allthe way to the Exum, but I've
flown over there many times.
As a retired airline I can flybasically for free.
So I go, fly there and explore,whereas Hayden and Radine have
been able to take their boatthere and do a lot more

(04:36):
exploring.

So it's two different inputs but, great,
great places.

I mean, we both agree on that.
It's just so beautiful.
You can just almost turn in anydirection and hit a really nice
spot.

Absolutely.
We've run down there 10 winnersin a row and just love it and I
would say that I would avoidNass coast and Bimini is an easy
check-in and there's NorthBimini and there's South Bimini

(05:11):
and most people, for the firsttime they go over, they'll go
into North Bimini at Brownstockbecause the customs is right
there and it's easier.
But there's a little secret toSouth Bimini when you come
across the reef and instead ofturning north and going up into
North Bimini, you go straightahead into a pond that's in

(05:34):
South Bimini and you dock thereon a floating dock very easy,
and you ride a little ferryacross to North Bimini and check
in or you could check in onSouth Bimini at the airport.
So I recommend, you know, goinginto South Bimini.
It's way easier.

I've heard that many, many times.
A lot of people they'll comethrough Key West here and
they're headed that way.
And I've heard that quite oftenthe last couple of years people
prefer what Hayden was justmentioning.

Yeah, it really simpl a project and then from
Bimini we run down through thetongue of the ocean and you can,
you know, there's a coupleplaces to stop just through the
tongue of the ocean there, withChub Key, and then we use west
instead of Nassau.
What we do is we use West End,which is the western end of

(06:23):
Nassau Island, new ProvidenceIsland.
There's a big cove.
There we go in.
Now you're already checked intothe Bahamas from Bimini.
So yeah, right there, rightthere, where your mouse was
Tinsley, we stop in there.

And then, really, you have to go this way, right?

Yeah, yeah, come to the tongue of the ocean
right there, and so you pullinto there.
And then now some people aren'tcomfortable running overnight
and if you're running byyourself, tinsley, you would run
from bimini and you would runup to the tongue of the ocean
and drop an anchor and you wouldsleep right there on the west
side of the tongue of the ocean,right there where my little

(07:01):
chart says nw channel.
You just we've anchored thereand spent the night there
already, because you know onceyou go through there you the
closest thing to anchor into ischub, which is not quite
reachable in daylight hours frombimini.
So if you don't want to run atnight, you're going to drop an

(07:21):
anchor there in the banks beforeyou scoot through the Northwest
Channel and then the next dayit's a one-day run down to West
Bay.

Okay, yeah, we actually went from North Cat Key
, scott and I, and this is ChubbKey right here.
Right, we anchored right there.
It was actually closed likeHurricane Marie or something.

Right, but could you make that in daylight hours
?
Could you make that in daylighthours, could you?

make that in daylight hours.
We left really, really early.

Okay.

Like 1 or 2 in the morning.
It was crazy, but I'd like todo it your way.

Yeah, it's okay to anchor on the banks.
Sometimes it can get rough orthe wind comes up.
It's terrible, but yeah, okay,so yeah, chubb Key and then from
Chubb Key down to West Bay andthen, once you reach West Bay,
everything to Georgetown is aday hop.
It's all one day trips now.

There's a picture in here of a show in West Bank.
Yeah, there's.

West Bay Day trip out to the Exumas.
You get out to Highborne Key orShroud Key and then you start
working your way down

okay, and, like I was just saying, there's so
many great spots, uh day trips,that you can stop along the way
there.
I mean just tons and tons.
I mean you, just, you know theuh, they're just beautiful
places you can pull up an anchor.

Oh yeah, oh my gosh, it's so wonderful.
The hardest part is probablygetting to West Bay, getting to
Chub Key or West Bay and gettingthrough that Northwest Channel,
because most times when I leaveFlorida I'll run straight away

(09:05):
through there and I might hitthat about 2 AM in the morning
and go through at night and uh,it's just, most people won't do
that because it's a skinnylittle channel but it's about a
mile wide.
But uh, there's no reason to dothat.
You just check in at Bimini andcarry on, carry on from Bimini.
Okay, and you, you were, youknow.

Bimini and carry on, carry on from Bimini.
Okay, and you you were, youknow you had talked to me in
past podcasts about it youreally like, you really do like
to bypass.
Do you just stop and check inor just stay overnight because
you?

before the winds change at Bimini.
Yeah, I don't want to get stuckin Bimini.
So the challenge is to studyyour weather fronts coming
across while you're in Floridaand if you have a good
slow-moving weather front, thenyou can get to Bimini, check in
and carry on the next day.
What happens to most people isthe front's coming, the wind

(10:04):
goes south on the Gulf Stream,and then it goes southwest and
then west, and then it blowslike crazy from the northwest
and you're making your runacross using this south wind and
you get into Bimini and you getdocked up and then the front
blows like crazy and that's okay, you're safe in Bimini, and now

(10:24):
you need to wait for that frontto blow out so you might end up
being in bimini I don't knowtwo, three, four days.
We've been there a week alreadyjust waiting for weather.

So yeah, and luckily, um, you know, I, I
finally do understand when youtalk about those things.
It took me a while, but Johnunderstands it, being a pilot
and a lifelong sailor, yeah yeah.

I'm sure, flying over is a lot easier.

Yeah, oh yeah.
Yeah, it's a big adjustment.
When you have a vessel thatwill go 500 miles an hour, now
you have to adapt to somethingthat goes five miles an hour.
Exactly, I was cut through aline of thunderstorms just the
other day, coming back from amarathon, and I was like, oh,
there's a nice gap.
Well, in an airplane that wouldhave worked, but in the boat I

(11:15):
was two hours from the gap andthe gap was you know so, and to
go around the end was 20 milesaround the end.

so yeah, it's a different frame of mind.
You have to get yourself in.
Yeah, so true, I can't imagine.
I would love to fly.
I've been in a small planealready and my buddy gave me the
stick and said just hold it tothat mountain over there.
And when I took control of theplane it was a little cub.
I took control of the plane andI got vertigo so badly.

Oh my, really you, as much as you're on the water,
I'm looking out the window,everything's spinning around.

He goes well, just let go of everything, just
let go, it'll fly straight andlevel.
I'm like, oh my God.
And then it went away.
He took over the plane and then, as soon as I took control of
it again and I wasn'tregistering what I was seeing
vertigo, immediately it wasterrible, that's tough.

Vertigo is a very unnerving feeling.

Yeah, dangerous, very dangerous.

Especially if you were solo flying Right.
Hayden offered a very goodcomment that his friend said
Most times in an airplane, letgo of it.
And it's amazing how well itcan do if you just let go of it,
right?
Anyway, not that we get intoaeronautical lessons here.

No, no, go ahead .

But that is something good to know.
Sometimes in an airplane you'refighting to just let go of it
and it's amazing how well it cando so what else from there we
get?
I was thinking we go from KeyLargo, but I have gone from
Dinner Key if you get there,like if you've got a front

(13:03):
coming in and the winds haveshifted to the southwest and you
can ride the ride, the gulfstream up, you're, you're
getting a good ride.
You could do key largo tobimini and then but, like hayden
said, you got to be checked inand get a lot of there because
the front's coming through.
Then you're going to get thestrong northwesters and, uh, you
know you're going to have tosit it out.
But yeah, you could ride fromkey largo up there.
Let's still have to sit it out.

But yeah, you can drive from Key Largo up there.
I still have to go to Bimini.
I can't go to Cat Key.

There's no check-in there.

Yeah, okay, I do.
Like you know, their plan wasto go to no Name Harbor, and
John's done that too, and I'vebeen there earlier this year on
a rented jet ski to just tocheck it out and that looks like
a great place.

It is a good place, oh yeah.

No.

Name Harbor is great, and then you can run over
to Dinner Key Marina if youneed to get any provision of
fuel or anything like that.
It's very short, just acrossthe bay, but yeah, no Name is a
great place to launch from.

Yeah, we used no Name last year for the well two
years ago when we went down tothe Caribbean and I did not know
.
But there's a nice grocerystore within walking distance
from no Name Harbor up to thestore and there's a free shuttle
that runs up and down from noName up to Key.

Biscayne.

Yeah.

And you can ride the free shuttle back and forth
.
So we used, we walked up, gotgroceries and then the shuttle
brought us back.
So that it's a good, we usedinner key and we use no name.
Those are the two.

The big thing with no name.
Don't count on any nightlife.
This game does not in in.
Uh encourage nightlife and uh.
So they don't want any of theother.
They don't want any of theother crowd.
We won't mention their name.

I love it yeah.

So yeah, there there's a.
I really don't know that.
We tried to watch the U S opentennis finals one year years ago
and so we we wrote into to keephis game it's a eight o'clock
or nine o'clock man, you could.
There was nothing.
We finally went to the firedepartment and watched it with
the firemen for a little bit.
I mean they rolled up yeah 8 or9 o'clock is pretty much rolled

(15:12):
up, but anyway there is thestore that Hayden mentioned is a
great way to get stocked.

Yeah, I think we spent a week in no Name Harbor
waiting for a passage to go outto the Bahamas.

It's a great state park.
It's really well run and youcould, like I said, spend in a
week.
It's not bad there.

I love Biscayne Bay.
I've said it many, many times,I've written articles about it.
It's the second best sailingdestination on the entire east
coast of USA.

You said it's your happy place.

Yeah, it's my happy place Number one is
Newport and Block Island Sound.
That area up there, because thesouthwest winds come in every
day up off of Block Island andthe America's Cup was there for
hundreds of years that is afabulous sailing area.
You don't have any of thatuntil you get down to Biscayne
Bay again.
You have the Chesapeake Bay,but that's the only winds you

(16:11):
get on.
That are frontal winds when astorm's coming.

That's some good points, hayden, I like that.

Biscayne Bay is trade wind sailing every day
coming across the bay.
You sail north and south andwhen you're done sailing you go
to one of these eastern beachesto anchor off of and you're
saying that's a good place totest out everything you know.

Kind of take down, make sure nothing's broken.

You gotta the weather fronts come every seven
to ten days.
So you just you're going to bewaiting a week for your next
weather window, or longer.
So while you're waiting you cansail day, sail every day in
Biscayne Bay and practice yourequipment, check things out,
work your anchor gear, you'regoing through provisionings and
you're eating.

(16:56):
So now you've got to restock,and that's convenient in
Biscayne Bay, so you can sit onthe waiting pad in Biscayne Bay
and still have a great sailingseason.
Even if you don't get pastthere for some reason, it's
still fabulous.
It's one of your happy placesI've heard you say it One of the

(17:17):
best places on the East Coast.

I've heard both of you say that in there for
people who don't know that youcan't stay overnight on the wall
inside a no name.
You can during the day and thenyou go in the middle and you
anchor and it looked really calmin there when I was there.

Oh, yeah, yeah.
It's fabulous, even when, ifit's rough out in Key Biscayne,
oh yeah, it's just cause it'sjust one little small opening
that goes into the little roundharbor there.
So yeah, it doesn't getanything.

It does get crowded and people short scope
it in there.
So when a front or wind comesthrough, people drive and it's
chaos.

Short scope.

I like that Short scope I like that, terry,
because I saw a guy, an olderguy that had gotten him a young
girlfriend and we were watchingone day and he had a power boat
and he was dropping anchorstraight down and no scope.
And we were like, okay, and weeverybody would watch, he would
start drifting back.
And finally one one guy yelledand said, let more scope out.

(18:21):
And he didn't know what he'stalking about.
So he had, he had gotten a boat.
He just thought, okay, Idropped the anchor.
I'll do this on my John boatwhen I go bass fishing, exactly,
but yeah, I like that term,short scoping.
Yeah, you've got to watchpeople in there doing that,
because if you start swingingit's kind of crowded.

(18:42):
It can get crowded if you get15, 16 boats in there.

Oh yeah, start swinging.
There's a you know it's kind ofcrowded.
It can get crowded to get 15,16 boats in there, oh yeah.
So, yes, short scope, and yougot to watch I like this term
right yeah, but the beauty, thebeauty of no name, is when that
gets crowded in there.
You just up anchor and go outin front of it out, right yeah,
and you drop out 120 feet ofchain and you lay it all out out
there and you have no problemsthen.
You then you're going to sleepwell because you know you're not
going to drag and the currentswitches in and out out there so
you flip around on the current,but you got 120 feet of chain

(19:14):
out, so you're good to go oh,yeah, yeah, that's.

That is great, because that little area right
there on the southwest side upthere it's a good straight line
like say good easy, good easy,anchorage you know 8, 10, 12
feet of water, it's good Perfect.

What do y'all think it's going to be like in
no Name Key around mid-October?
I got to get there.

It might be the end of October we got to get the
Farmer's Almanac out for that.

Well, you're going around in hurricane season
, so that's a little early.

Well, by the time, I'll probably leave Orange
Beach mid-October and it's goingto take time to get down there.
I'll get down to QS, john willhelp me with whatever you know,
do some things to the boat andthen we'll go up there.
So it might be November.
That would be better.

You're going to start to get fronts coming
through by then.
What?

I'm asking about is how busy it's going to be in
there.

It doesn't matter If you don't go.
The weekends will be busy inthere, but during the week
you'll be okay.

With anchoring and everything, There'll be room
for us If there's not there'splenty of other places to go,
okay, like where?

Just get the Biscayne Bay.

Yeah, get the Biscayne.

Right, just get the Biscayne Bay Right off of
Nixon's helipad, right off ofKey Biscayne.
You just anchor off of Nixon'shelipad, you got Sanford on your
right and it's fine.
There's tons of places toanchor in Biscayne.

All of Biscayne Bay is about 10 feet of water
and you can just anchor anywhereout there straight.

Exactly, and I've been there.
I stayed at Dinner Key Marina,the biggest marina I've ever
seen in my life by the way.

Oh yeah, that's a big one.

And the mooring field.
It's just like I don't know howmany boats are there, but it
must be a thousand or more.

It's huge.

Yeah, they've got a big marina.

I think they have cleared it out some.
I think they've made a prettygood effort with the derelict
boats there.

They have.

It's gotten a lot better.
Yeah, they ask how many boatsthere are.
There are too many.
There are a lot.

We'll get in somewhere.

You get there, and now you've got to head to
the Bahamas.

The good thing is that we can wait as long as we
need to, because it's a goodplace to.
We go to Bimini and I do haveum a document I want to show.
I uh chat my best friend and Ichat GPT.
Oh yeah, we came up with a list.

This is a weird relationship.

I call him brother G cause I used to go to Hawaii
a lot.

Brother means brother, so I call him Brudda G,
because I used to go to.

Hawaii a lot.
Brudda means brother, so I callhim.

G Brudda G.
Yeah, well, I'm using Brock'sAI Brockcom.

Oh, yeah, yeah, Elon's, yeah, yeah, oh yeah.

Oh is it good, you like it.

Yeah, they're all doing the same thing.
They're fabulous.

Okay, let me find this they're all taking over
they are.

One day they're gonna tell us I'm not listening
to you anymore exactly.

I think we got about 10 years I don't think so.

I think you got about three years, oh okay, I
think I think hayden's correctthree is more like it, it's
going, it's, it's quicklychanging it's changing rapidly
yeah, zuckerberg just decided toput five billion dollars into,
uh uh, developing a superintelligence yeah, so five

(22:45):
billion dollars goes a long way.

yeah, yeah, these guys have the money to
spend.
Yeah, oh yeah, you got to checkin your pet.

I'm trying to zoom it in here.

Yeah that's good .

Yeah, so here's the pet part of it.

Her cat.

Yeah.

So it has links here for Bahamas Pet Import.
You got to go to these and fillout these and that one and then
I have to have a healthcertificate completed by within
48 hours before arrival.
I've got to get the chip, whichI can do now, rabies
certificate, less than 30 days,parasite treatment.

(23:21):
So there's a lot going on there.
I'll have to do some of this inthe Keys.

Well, some of that you could do probably most
of that right at Dinner KeyMarina up in Coconut.

Grove.

Coconut Grove.
I'm sure there's a vet thatdoes this all the time.

Oh yeah, I would do it at Dinner.
Key Coconut Grove is going tohave everything you need.
This is not going to be thefirst time they've dealt with
this.

Exactly, and so here's the cruising permit to
fill out there.

Yep, I've used that.

I've got this, so you're as I always heard.
The documentation for your boatis like your passport for your
boat when you go out of thecountry.
So I've got all that.

And your insurance document.

Okay, okay, I don't even have that on here.

You need to have an insurance declaration page
usually.

Okay, I've got it on my computer.

Yeah, if you check into a marina, a lot of
times they want to see yourinsurance declaration page.
Yeah, that shows you haveinsurance, because they won't
let you in a marina if you don'thave insurance.

I've had to do that, and if I left it for a
month I had to have their nameput on there.

Right yeah.

Yeah, firearms.
Last time I did take a firearm,so I went through that process.
Yep you have to know how much,how much ammo you have.
Yep, Because I went up thereand they said how much ammo do
you have?
And I said about, and they go,don't guess, If we board you and
you don't have it all there,they're going to say where's the

(24:56):
body?

That's what they told me Right.

So it was no big deal Like.
She came to the boat the nextday and she was really nice.
I took her picture andrecounted all the ammo and then
fly quarantine flag.
All the ammo and then flyquarantine flag.
Yep, Y'all can jump in any timehere.
Bring your clear Click to clearafter permit.
Okay, so that's this up here,right?

Right, that's a need document.
You'll get back an email, okay.

And I'm hearing what I'm seeing online.

It's very expensive.
Now they got crazy.
Yeah, their fees have gottencrazy.
It's ridiculous.

Yeah, they're, they're going up.

Yeah, I, I heard I guess I have to get a six month
.
Is that what I have to do?
It's like $800.
So crazy.

Yeah, it used to be 300 bucks, it used to be
yeah.

Yeah, it used to be 300, but yeah, it's gone
crazy.

Now, don't forget, you need a Bahamas flag.

I've got it Okay.

I have an extra 14 flag if you don't have one.

I should have both , but that was on a different
boat.
I assume it's on.
I think I brought it all tothis boat, but yeah, I need to
check on that.
What is this?
Brought it all to this boat,but, yeah, I need to check on
that.
What is this Exit form?
So you got to check out.

Yeah.

So chat GPT made this nice little.

No, that's perfect, that's all.

Hayden, I have a question Flying planes over
there.
The guy I flew for after Iretired and then when I was
flying charter.

Go get my coffee.

Be right back.
We had a departure tax onaviation.
Do you have that with the boat?
Do you have a departure tax.

No, no, there's no departure tax for yachts.

Okay, okay, just clear out yeah.
Like I say, my experience hasbeen that even after I retired I
flew charter over to theBahamas and Cuba and all that.
But yeah, we always had thedeparture tax.
So I didn't know.
That's good yeah.

No, no, no.
Departure tax, cheers, cheers.
Tinsley, I got a coffee withyou there.

Well, y'all are behind me.
I've got rum going Y'all got tocatch up.
Well, that's because you're inthe keys and that's the smart
place to be.
Yeah, we are all here becausewe're not all there exactly
uh-oh, my picture froze.

Can y'all still hear me?
We'll call you out some wayokay, um, what was I gonna say?
Um, yeah, I was going to saywhat he said.
He said he's in the Keys.

He's supposed to do that.
While you were gone, Hayden, Italked about when flying charter
planes over to and from, youhave to pay a departure tax on
each passenger.
You don't have to do that on aboat.
Hayden answered that for me, sothere's no departure tax.

I'm going to tell you something I did that they
looked at me like I was crazy.
So officially and I like to bea rule follower you know pretty
much almost everything I likespeed a lot in my car.

But, anyway.

so it said that if you leave the country that you
have to turn in your firearm andthey hold it.

You broke up.
What did you say?

They said it says in there that if you leave the
country, leave your boat, thatyou have to turn in your firearm
and let them hold it.
And I did it and they looked atme like what.
They looked at me like you wantus to do what?

I guess people don't comply with that.
It sounds like I don't think soand I instantly felt stupid.

But now they already knew, so I had to go.
So they were like all right,fine.
I mean, it was like a bigbother to them.

But they did.

So we won't say anything out of turn here, but
that's officially what you'resupposed to do.

I checked out of customs during COVID down in
Grenada and the buddy boat I wasrunning with is a popular
YouTuber.
I won't name him, but he's alsoan ex-marine.
And we're walking out ofcustoms and he's he's got an
over shoulder long gun, anotherover shoulder cases, two brief

(29:22):
cases of weapons, and I walk outwith him.
I go, wow, holy hell, what areyou doing?
He goes nobody's messing withmy family.
I, I'm like, I am running withyou, we're staying together,
okay.
I left him in the dust.
Unfortunately, I beat him to StCroix.
From Grenada to St Croix.
It was a 60-hour run and I gotthere about 12 hours ahead of

(29:46):
him.
Shouldn't have happened, but Icouldn't.
He's right.

You get down there.
You get down there.
You know you need to increaseyour artillery, probably a
little bit.
And I talked with a guy.
I was flying with a guy, aCoast Guard guy, and you know
they had intercepted drug boats,all that kind of stuff, when he
was in the Coast Guard.
You know I was thinking okay,what kind of gun do I need?
When I was thinking years agoabout going to the Bahamas, I

(30:12):
said 9 mil, you know 38,.
Whatever he said, take an AK-47.
And I said what he said.
That way you sink them and theneverything's over.
You don't have to kill anybody,you just sink them.
An AK-47 will sink most anyboat.
So you got somebody messingwith you, you sink them, don't?

(30:32):
They have a rule about whenwe're trying to get to
Georgetown and chat and chill.

We won't need any machine guns in Georgetown.

We don't need a machine gun in Georgetown.

Well, a lot of people ask about this stuff.
So you know, I still am notclear.
I mean, could I take a riflebecause I mean I have one of
those at ar?

you better, you better, you better.
Keep all this stuff private.

That you're saying well, I do want to put the word
out.
Don't mess with me.
You know exactly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I always say you try to come onmy boat.
I got something for you, I'm in.

Alabama.
I know how to shoot.
Hopefully this is not going tobe required.
We're passing, we're waving atNassau as we go, flying by,
exactly.

South of Nassau is Shroud Key, where you're
going to kayak into the LazyRiver.

Let me find that Key where you're going to kayak
into the Lazy River.
Let me climb that Shroud Key.

You got the first key is Highborne Key, and
then south of Highborne you gotShroud Key, and then south of
Shroud Key you get Cambridge andWardrick Wells, and then
Staniel Key, yacht Club, the PigBeach and then Black Point and
then it's on to Georgetown.

Yeah, One thing to throw this in, because I know
Hayden and Radeen have a very,very capable dinghy and
especially I are kind of limitedon our dinghy Down in the
Bahamas.

It's nice to have a really capable dinghy
that has some pretty good speed,because you might be going
great distances yeah, there'sthe, there's the lay of the land
, there's highborn key first,and then you have norman's key,
which is also near shroud key,and and then below norman shroud
key and then hawksbill and then, where it turns the corner to

(32:28):
the east, that leads you toWardrick Wells.
That is like number one happyplace and everybody, when you
get to Wardrick Wells you reallythink you made it because it's
just it's a national park andit's phenomenal and it's where
you see those boats in that longskinny channel and they're on a
mooring ball and that is quitethe place to.

(32:50):
To reach is wardrick wells, butlet me see if there's another
one in here here.
It is right there.
So see how they see how theexuma chain sort of bends to the
east.
That spot there, that corner,is wardrick wells and then south
of wardrick wells, most people.
These are pretty tricky littleplaces.

(33:11):
These other Compass Key atCambridge and Sampson.
Everybody kind of goes fromWardrick Wells to Staniel Key.
That's Pig Beach, that's a daytrip, wardrick Wells to Staniel
Key.
Now you're on Pig Beach andyou've got the Staniel Key Yacht
Club.
Then the next one south isGreat Guana and that's Black
Point.

Yeah, all these are great places, great, great
places.

They are the places.
There's the grotto, that's PigBeach, right there.

Right here, where Right here?

Up at this Top X , where it's a big major spot.
Yeah, big major spot rightthere.
That's where I live.
I enter there and then I dingyaround to Staniel Key Yacht Club
, that other act right there,staniel Key Yacht Club.
I dingy to there.

Okay, I see it.

There's your airport, Key West, John.
You land in that.

Oh, yeah, yeah, I've been in there several times
, yeah, I have friends there.

Vivian and Berkey that run the general.

They've got general store, golf carts, balsa
, weighted boats and everything.
Staniel Key is a dream.
Yeah, really really.
Staniel Key is a really niceplace because it's protected.
There's a lot to do there, loveit, love it.

Yeah, I know you guys talked a lot about Staniel
Key Yacht Club.

Yep, it's a must stop.
You don't pass this.

Yeah, yeah, do not pass, and I'm too old to do
it now, but I did it aboutprobably 15 years ago.
I highly recommend jump throughthe hole in the top of the ball
ground.

No, no, I'm not jumping through the hole, no.

I'm not either.
You got to do it while you'reyoung.
No, the hole no, I'm not either.
You got to do it while you'reyoung.
No, it's crazy, it's 22 feettoo late it's uh, you know I I
almost chickened out and finallyI threw my flip-flops down.
And once you do that, becauseyou can't walk back down over
that right thing so right and,uh, I'm glad I did it.
I would not do it again, butI'm glad I did did it.

(35:12):
So yeah, you can still do it,you're young enough.

Yeah, we could throw tensely in.

I don't know.
I've never been one to jump offof really tall things.

Well, yeah, what's really crazy.
You're standing up there andyou look down and it looks
sizably long distance.
But when you look out acrossthe uh, the water, the atlantic,
or the baits of the?
Uh to the west, you realizethat that's the height of that
water down there and you say,gosh, I'm way up here.
So yeah, but it wasexhilarating.

I've heard so many people you know that that were
paralyzed from jumping off intowater.

They I was- like well, no, you swim into there.
The pool underneath is probablya 12 to 15 feet deep, so you
swim in there, you check it outand and you can't miss the pool,
because if you come through thehole you're going to hit the
pool okay, so well, maybe, yeah,maybe it's.

I mean, I got a tattoo on my back.
I never said I'd do that.
You've got to do this if you'lldo a tattoo.

You should do this, and I'm almost I'm gonna
steal a whole hayden.
Uh, I'm gonna still keep him uhunder the um the radar to do
this I don't know, I'm not ajumper either.

I I would.

No, I think it'll take care of the vertigo.
You won't have vertigo, no Iwould not.
I would wipe it out but it is adelight, even if you don't jump
through the hole to swim in.
This thing is a dome.
It's like a domed-out cathedral.
When you get inside, beautiful,and you swim in on either end.
At high tide you'll have tosnorkel in, but at low tide you

(36:44):
can swim in with your head abovewater.
There are cutouts on either endand once you get in there, it's
beautiful.

It is.
So there are cutouts on eitherend, and once you get in there,
it's beautiful, it is so there'sno chance of, like you, hitting
a wall or anything.

It opens up after you drop through Once you come
through.

It's a big grotto, big round grotto, and
then the grotto comes up aroundand there's a little tiny hole
at the top.

Ah, tiny, it's not tiny.

You got a little tiny hole where you jump
through and you drop down intothe grotto.
No, no thank you.
What is?

the distance that you're right 20 feet, 22 feet,
that's two stories at a Gulffront condo.

I think that there's swimming in the grotto
when people come flying in from.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that'ssomething good to do.
At least do that.

Get under there and watch people drop in.

Yeah.

The locals they had to quit years ago quit
promoting it.
So they don't recommend orpromote it, obviously for
liability reasons.

No, that is Staniel Key Yacht Club Ground
Zero.
You're already down inGeorgetown, now you need to back
up a slide.

Yeah, you're at Chatham Shield.
Yeah, how about this one.

Okay, now, right there you can see, go forward
one that's Black Point, go backwhere the big overview was.
We're right there.
So now you can see at the topthere's Staniel Key, great guana
, which is black point, and thenyou got a couple exits from the
sound side that you can go outonto the ocean side, and that's

(38:17):
what you have to do in order toget down to georgetown.
So you go out one of these cuts.
We usually go out up at blackpoint or down at farmers or
rudder, we those three and thenyou come out.
And now, if you go to the nextslide, you'll see, once you come
out one of these cuts, you gotabout a 35 mile run I don't know

(38:37):
how far it is and that's theentrance into Georgetown.
Now you come in from the northand you come down to Chat and
Chill and that's where you'regoing to base at right there at
Chat.
Andanooga and then at Town isacross on the other side.

Where's?

the new mooring field.
Well, it's all along therewhere all those 4Xs are.
Those are all mooring fieldsnow.

Yeah, I haven't been there since they put the
mooring balls in.
It was just a big anchorage.
I always liked it that way andI've heard pros and cons both
ways.

Yeah, yeah, I haven't been there since they've
moored it out.
It was a big debate.
They didn't cruisers didn'tlike it, but there'll be 300
boats in here.

Oh yeah, it's, great yeah.

It's amazing.
It's a whole community.
It really is a community.

Yeah, yeah, it's really good.
And then, like you know,chattanooga is a great place to
hang out.
You come over to the town, likeHayden was just mentioning One.
You've got that little lakethere.
You can come under a littlebitty bridge if you're in your
dinghy and you come in there andthen you've hotels.
We would always stay at AugustaBay.

(39:51):
It was a really good place.

Wait, where are you talking about Over here in
Georgetown, if you see where itsays water.

See where water is written.
Yeah, Right in there.
There are several hotels.
I think I'm pretty sure it'sright in there.

Okay.

And a cool little thing to do there.
I don't know if you've heard ofit.
It's called the fish fry.
Now, it's a little area.
You walk up the road and it'sbasically like a bunch of food
trucks, but they're food shacks.
Nice and it's called the fishfry, but I've never seen fried
fish there.

(40:24):
But everything else is good,Chef's loaves ribs are just to
die for.

Yeah, that's fun .
Yeah yeah, Georgetown is funthere's.
Just if it were not fun, therewould not be 300 people there.

Exactly, I have a message for you, Tinsley.
Yes, james Morris says Hi.
Tinsley, you might want tomention the recent increase in
fees to enter the Bahamas.
I heard they tripled.
We were just talking about that.
Yeah, I heard it was like $700or $800 now.

It went from $150 to $300 and now I think it's
gone crazy.

Thank you, james.

Anything else you want to drop in there, we
appreciate it In Georgetown whatI do is I anchor over at
Chattin Chill or now I wouldtake a mooring ball, if that's
what you have to do and we baseover there, right at that X,
right there at Chat and Chill,and then when the fronts come
through because again everyseven to ten days you're going
to have the east trade winds,are going to go south, and then

(41:28):
the south winds are going to gosouthwest and then they're going
to go west and they're going toblow like crazy from the
northwest.
So what we do is we would up,anchor and move across to town
where, if you scroll down alittle bit, that ends.
I would go over there.
I would anchor here for thefrontal passages and then I had
an easy access to town to getoff the boat and ride the dinghy
in.
And then when the front passesand it gets back to north and

(41:49):
northeast winds, I go back overto Chattin Chill.
So I would move back and forthacross the harbor here where
most people go to Georgetown andthey anchor or moor and they
never move for the whole season.

Yeah, yeah, that's a good plan to do that
way, because that exit I hate totalk about it is very protected
there from west and northwest.

It is.
We would move over there forany frontal passage.
It was great I, but veryprotected there from northwest
it is.

We would move over there for any frontal passage.
It was great.
I'm going to do a quick searchand see how much those mooring
balls are.

I think they're.
Yeah, I don't know what thechart I think.

I don't know if Hayden might know, but somebody
might know.
I don't know if they'rerequired or if they're just
recommended, or Well, what Iwish they would do here since
they put in the mooring balls.

I wish they would have a very successful
pump out boat, which they don't.
Oh yeah, they did have one andthe guy would just take it out
to sea and dump it, you know,because they don't have sewage
system.
That's going to be able toservice all these boats With the
mooring balls, I would thinkshould come a decent pump-out
service.
That would help, that wouldmake it worthwhile.

Is that Stocking Island?
Moorings in Stocking Island.

That would be it .
Chattanooga is Stocking Island.

One thing, that 500 per month.

Whoa 250 per month , whoa 250 per week 500 per
month.
If I'm looking at the rightthing, we have many deep water.
Okay, so this is a resort StFrancis Resort Marina.

That might be something separate, that's
inside those little ponds upthere, if you scroll up.

Oh yeah.

There's three ponds up right off the chat and
chill One, two, three littleponds up there If you scroll up.
There's three ponds up rightoff of Chattin' Chill One, two,
three little ponds there.

Right here.

Yeah, one, two and three, they have mooring
balls at them.
In St Francis Yacht Club thatyou just called out, they rent
those balls out inside there.
Those are the premier locationsto be at.

What would I call it?
The Georgetown City mooringballs?
I'd say.
So what would I call it?
Like the Georgetown City MoringBalls?

I'd say I'd go Chat and Chill Moring Balls.

Okay, yeah.

Try that.
I need to ask that.

GBT and not Google .

But I'm asking Google, I'm asking the old news.
You know we've mentioned I don'tknow if anybody listens you
know we've mentioned so muchabout Chat and Chill, and Hayden
and I are both very familiarwith it.
We've been there.
People need to realize howgreat this place is.
I mean, it is basically Chatand Chill.
You have a beach, they havechairs for you, you have at the
end they're making a conch salad, and then they've got their

(44:24):
little bar I mean bar, a smallwooden bar, and then they cook
something every day.
It's just a great, great placeto chat and chill.

It is.
And then they got volleyballcourts there.
Oh yeah, yeah, there's allkinds of volleyball competition
going on.
They got a burger joint,cheeseburger joint and beer.
They got a little gift shop andthe beach wraps around.
That point you got a beach onthe inside of the cove, a beach
on the outside.
It's just just.
Yeah, it's paradise, it's.

it's a perfect boater's destination yeah, no,
it is, it's just and uh, youknow, because you know you refer
to somebody, a lot of peoplethey say, okay, you get to here
and they call it chicken out,that you don't go farther, the
reason a lot of people don'twant to go farther.
This is like hayden just saidit's paradise, it's all you need
.
Why keep going?

this has protected water, clear water,
great facility, everything yeah,the beauty I like about it is
whenever something breaks onyour boat, which happens every
third day there's somebody inthe harbor that knows how to fix
it or has the part, or has thepart you need, and in the
morning the vhf radio net chatsup and there's a section for I

(45:32):
need help, or can anybody have asolution on this problem?
And all of a sudden there'speople there in the Harbor that
know exactly how to fix theproblem you're having and they
will come over and they willgladly help you and show you how
to fix it.
And that's one of the keys toall of Georgetown is the
community aspect of the boatingcommunity helping everybody.

Yeah, oh yeah.
It is just a great communitythat's developed and I think
we've talked about it before.
You've got kids that they knowThey've grown up down there.
They go to school, they go,they own school there.
Oh yeah, the kids know eachthere.
They go to school, they ownschool there the kids know each
other.

They got Church Beach and everything they got.

Yoga Beach.

It's a community At the end of the season.
I always thought this was alittle funny.
But at the end of the seasonthey have a prom.
If you will, they do.
They have a formal dinner and aformal dance and a prom, and
they have it at the end of theseason and that's the wrap-up of
the season.
And that series of events goeson for about three or four days

(46:41):
and there's something going on.
There's dinghy races, there's around-the-island race, oh yeah
yeah, it's called regatta, sothe Georgetown regatta.

Yeah, oh yeah.
It gets busy during the Regattatime, right?
Yeah, that's like in March orApril, isn't it?

Yeah, I think so .
Yeah, there's your boring ballfee $32 a day, depending on the
vote size.
Weekly available.
$500 a month.
$250 a week.

Wow.

Wow, 10% Plus that yeah, of course.

Your value added tax yeah.
Wow, I wouldn't mind paying$500 if it's.
You know my boat's going to besecure, I don't have to worry
about it, and especially if youneed to fly home, which I won't
because I have cats.

But John might need to.
Yeah, see, I can fly, you know.

For free.

I can fly for free, basically for free, out of
Georgetown, nice.
I've been on several flights toMiami.

You fly for American.

No, I flew for Southwest, but I have retirement
benefits with everybody.
Yeah.

Nice benefit.

They're making good money off those things.

That's well good for them.

Yeah, it says it's managed yeah, and managed by
Elizabeth Harbor ConservationPartnership.
These helix-driven moorings Areby reservation only and are
located Just off Chattanooga andSand Dollar.
You can make them through DACWAor EHCP site.
There are no first come, firstserve.

(48:14):
Some social media chattermistakenly quoted fees around
$1,100 a month and others claim$1,500, but the correct amount
$250 a week, $500 a month.

Yeah, yeah, gosh.
Did you find out if you'restill able to anchor.
I would assume they can't takethat away.

I wouldn't think I'm sure you can anchor.
Yeah, I'm sure you can anchor.

I'll ask my brother G Reserve early,
especially in winter season.
Reserve early December throughApril to secure a spot near
Chattin Chill.
Ask for GBE Gaviota Bay EastField if you want shorter dinghy
rides and check drawing limits,of course, wow yeah.

Okay, all right.
What was the?

question you asked .
What was the question?

Yeah About if you can anchor.

They can't restrict that, yeah, I'm pretty
sure, unless they're.

Miami Beach.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we can still anchor.

Okay, james says, says tinsley, they're okay with
firearms and the bombs, but youcan get in trouble with firearms
in other countries.
Yeah, I know there's, there'sthey, I mean you.
At the very least they mightsend that email at home.
That would be the very leastthat could happen to you, yeah,
so yeah, we're just gonna staythere because that's the only
one that I know.

Yeah all right, you might uh now that, now that
you've gotten to georgetown,remember I've yeah, I'm in the
tube uh pre, uh, uh podcast.
I have a, and you told me tohold it as a surprise oh yeah, I
don't know if hayden has beenthis way or not.
We talked about a different wayfor her to get.
There is going south of casellbank and south of andros.

Now you've got about a 330 mile straight shot
have you ever done?

anything on that guy no, I've never come in from
the bottom.
Uh, around the bottom of thebanks and across the banks?
No, I've never done that.
I like to anchor every night iswhat I like, yeah.

Yeah, a lot of people go to Case Albank From
here it's 70 or 80 miles andsupposedly the fishing is great
and all that.
Yeah, if you have to, I meanthis gets to be a really long
run.
It's down south more, yeah keepsouth.

Yeah, there you go Below that.
There you go Under, Andrews Gounder.

Andrews.
Yeah, about the bottom line ofthe screen.
If you went around, see theK-Sol Bank out there to the west
.
Yeah, k-sol Bank.
They go south of the K-Sol Bank, south of Andros and right up
there into Georgetown.

How long would that take?
Oh, no, no, no, no I would notdo it.

But that I mean that's, that is an option, that
is I think I plotted it, andit's 330 nautical miles.

Yeah, that's too much.

Well, we're the same, we like shorter days.

Yeah.

We want shorter days.

I want to anchor , have a nice evening, go for a
swim, yeah.

Yeah.
Yeah, yeah so knowing thatabout us, how long do you think,
knowing that John and I bothlike to have shorter days and
chilling out, how long do youthink it'll take us to get to
Georgetown if we just moseyalong?

I've gone from Biscayne Bay to Georgetown in
five days.
That's the fastest I've done it, yeah, but normally you might
take a month just to casuallywork your way down there,
because you're going to want tospend two or three days at each
of these stops along the way.

Oh yeah, like he mentioned earlier, it's going to
be a great one.

You could spend a week in Staniel Key.
You could spend a week in BlackPoint.
You could spend a week inWardrick Wells.
Right, there's three weeksthere Now, from Miami out to
where that first red arrow stops, which is Highborne Key.
That could be about a 36-hourstraightaway run, but most
people break that up in two orthree days.

Yeah, oh yeah, I would want to go three days.

That's 200 miles from Miami to the first Exuma
Key is 200 miles.
So once you get there you'reday hopping.
So you know I would take amonth to get to Georgetown.
I really would.

I think that's a good, good plan with really
great advice.
It's like a friend of mine wasgoing to.
He took off three years leaveof absence to sail around the
world and I was talking to himabout it and he said well, I
could make it in two years, butI want to see the world.
You don't want to just fly andget there.
So the Exumas are so beautiful,stop along the way and smell

(52:45):
the roses.

Exactly, yep, yeah, you can get there in five
days.
I did it with delivering afriend down there once that had
an apartment rented and we leftMiami and his apartment started
five days later and we pushedand made it to Georgetown in
five days Not fun.

People always ask me how long it takes to get from
Orange Beach to Key West.
And I go the way I go.
I'm not going right across theGulf because if there's a major
problem I probably wouldn't knowhow to fix it.
So, and you know, there mightbe a major problem out there.
And what did they does, mikeand um Bill?
It took them like four and ahalf days oh, yeah, that's uh uh

(53:26):
.

Timothy had a couple of her friends were down
here and they were actually onthe dock right next to me and
they were.
They went straight shot.
I plotted him with my foreflankwhich is aviation thing, and
those guys evidently had areally good auto pilot.
They did not waver a bit, butit was what was it?

three and a half days for them, I think, yeah and
when they they almost made itwhen they started having
problems with the engine.
They were like with inside ofland, I mean, but bill was able
to fix it, whatever it was.
Yeah, and, and I'm afraid thatI would have to call seto or
something that's always a fuelproblem.

Whenever you have a problem with your engine
not running, it's it's going tobe your fuel system.
There's a there's a plug ofdebris in one of your fuel
fittings and one of the thingseverybody should do while
they're sitting at home at theirhome dock is tear apart every
single fuel fitting from thefuel tank to the engine, take it
apart, look through it, blowthrough it, put it all back

(54:23):
together and get the enginerunning again at your home dock.
This is the number one thing tolearn before you go offshore
Tear your fuel system down andput it back together.

John, can you help me with that?
Oh, yeah, yeah.

And the bad thing about it if you get out there
in the middle of the Gulf atnight and away from shore, it
always sounds like the engine'srunning rough.
The gremlins move in there andyou start hearing things.
You start seeing smoke.
It's tough.
I like your path that you taketo get down here, stay around

(55:02):
the shore.

It's going to take me.

I like to stop and ride around on my little
bike you should make this tripbe two or three weeks to get
yourself around to biscayne bay,two, three weeks hanging out in
biscayne bay waiting for theperfect weather window, and then
one month to make it togeorgetown.
And then spend two months ingeorgetown minimum.

(55:25):
And then coming back is easybecause it's all downwind.
The return trip is reallywonderful.

Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, you get the idea it might
be so I could cut some time offgetting to Cuba.

That's for John and I to meet in Marathon
instead of oh yeah, that'll saveyou two days if you just go
straight to Marathon.
Right, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, and then we can hang out there and look at
all our systems and all thatstuff.

Yeah, exactly, and then for a follow-up episode
coming up here pretty soon, andHayden has got a lot of
experience with this.
If you get there late enoughand it's starting to get close
to summertime, you could leaveGeorgetown, head up to Eleuthera
and then go into theAlbuquerque.

And then go back to Palm Beach through the, the
river, across the state offlorida yeah, the okachobee yeah
, I was a little worried aboutthat because I have 40 48 foot
mast and I think they have some50 foot it's 49.6.

I've been under it twice.

You can make yeah yeah, I can make it down 49.6
yeah, but that that would bedevastating.
I'm going to obligate Haydenfor this right now, here.
In a few months you need tocome up with an episode of going
from Georgetown via theAppalachian Coast to get back to
Orange Beach.

Every time we went to the Exumas we came back
that route you just described,eleuthera, up to Spanish Wells,
spanish Wells to Little Pete'sHarbor, little Pete's Harbor to
Hopetown, hopetown to MarshHarbor, marsh Harbor back.
Yeah that was our run homealways.
Yeah, it's great.

There you have it .
You know, you get yoursatellite network set up, got
your business going over there.
You can come home that state ofsummer and come home that way.
I think Hayden has been to theAbacos in March or April.
That's too cold for me.
I like to wait until at leastMay because it can get very cold

(57:25):
up there.

I always left Florida in January or February
that was Exumas, then I'd be inthe Abacos for April, then May
1st I'd hit the Florida coast tocome back up April's for.
Abaco yeah.

I've been to Bimini in December and it was
cold Great.

Get to Georgetown first, and then Hayden's got
the trip for you coming back.

You act like you're not going to be there,
John.

I'll be there, but I probably won't go to the
Abaco.
I won't go that way backbecause that takes me way out of
my way.

Yeah, it takes you so far north.
You come back in at Fort Pierceminimum.

Yeah, I might be crazy enough by then to take the
south route around Andros.

Oh geez.

Well, knowing how much you don't like to sail for
36 hours, I don't know thatthat's way too long for me.

It's uh.
My longest ones will be from umdog island to tarpon springs.
If scott was with me I would godestined to clear water.
That's like almost two days,but if I'm by myself I'll just
add a few extra days and thenwhen I get to Captiva or Fort
Myers, dropping down to Biminiwill be about 18 hours.

I mean not Bimini , I'm sorry Marathon.
Either Marathon or Key West.
Like I say, you do save a lotgoing straight to Marathon.
That's only one day for me toget there in Marathon.

And, like I say, you do save a lot going
straight to marathon.

That's only a one day for me to get there, yeah,
in marathon, but that saves youtwo days to backtrack and come
out this way and then out there.

And I want to try, try, try, try to stay away to
anchor as much as possible,Right.
And I know that you do that,Hayden.

Oh, it's easier, it's way easier.

I get spoiled.

No, easier, it's way easier.
I get spoiled.
It's a pain in the butt docking.
It's way easier to just drop ananchor and dinghy in.
So you know you want to have agood dinghy set up and easy to
deploy it.
Yeah, we anchor for six monthsat a time.
We don't.
We never dock.

Well, so much money you save.
I mean we don't pay for docksand there's getting about into
that time.
In South Florida it can bechallenging to find a spot,
especially with these prices.
Someone commented two weeks agowhen Stan from QS was talking
about and there's probably goingto be a lot of people in that

(59:46):
mooring field in QS that aregoing to avoid the Bahamas
because of the cost.

Yeah, I would think it would reduce the number
of boats.

The last time we had a big surge here was during
COVID, and the Bahamas had suchtremendous restrictions that we
had, you know, a dozen or so bigold yachts.
I'm talking about 150, 180-footyachts.
They were just anchored outhere.

Capn Tinsley (01:00:09):
We had them here in the intercoastal here.

Hayden Cochran (01:00:12):
Yeah, you know what it costs to check into the
French islands in St Martin andMartinique down in the Caribbean
.

Key West John (01:00:19):
What?
How much did it cost?

About $2.
Some of three, maybe $2.

Really yeah.

Yeah.

I'm headed that way.

St.

Martin, if I go south of Andros and K-Sal Bank,
I'm headed that way.

You've got to come down to St Martin.
It's fabulous.

I don't see that happening for John.
I don't know.

I talked when Mark got his boat here after he
had lost his boat in Irma andthen his friend that he worked
with years ago down in the downin the bvis gave him that uh, 42
foot benito david well, yeah,he had.
He had, uh, worked for him for10 or so years, felt sorry, you
know, and the insurance paid him90 000 for the boat.
He knew mark had lost his vote.

(01:01:02):
Anyway, he gave.
He just gave the boat to markand uh, and so mark, but mark
had to bring it here, no mass.
So he's, he's got a sailboatright, because that's what
happened to all those boats downthere.
He's ripped all the upperrigging off and so I was talking
to him along the way.
You know that he did that route.
You know, right along the….

Motoring.

The DR the DR and all that.
Good for him.
Well, it's downstream.
That's the way the current runs.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, wow, this is somebody from
here.

Look at that josh .

Oh, yeah, josh, okay, oh, I know josh.
Yeah, yeah, josh, you met himwhen you were here at my marina.
Hey, josh, oh, that'd beawesome.

Yeah, so, um there you go, you got a buddy
boat already I know he, he knowshow to fix stuff, by the way.

Well, that's even better.

Don't lean on him too much or he'll leave you.

That's what I'm saying he might not want to
travel with me.
I'll just get that credit cardout, if I have to why are you
sailing so fast?

today I can't see you.
That's good, That'd be good.
Now you got paired up, you canhave a motorcade coming down,
I'll be honest with you.

I'd like to add a little personal thing here.
With me being all sad andeverything, I was worried about
me just taking off and being sad, but the fact that Georgetown
is such a community.

It is.

It sounds like it would not be sad.

You'll fit in down there.
You'll get something going downthere in a hurry.

I predict you're going to go back every year for
many years because it's reallyparadise.
It's a great destination.
It's not easy to get there.
It does take some effort andchallenge.
Abaco's are a piece of cake.
Difficulty level in the Abacois a piece of cake.
I mean difficulty level in theAbaco is about a two.
Georgetown I'd say about a fouror five.
Yeah, just because it's alonger run.

Yeah, yeah, okay A lot of good advice and a great
phrase I learned today.
Short scope.

A lot of fun.
Short scope, short scope.
Thanks for the insight I loveshort scoping.

thanks for the input alright you signing off,
hayden?

alright.
Well, I'm going to say and thatis it, tinsley out.

Saltie Abandoned out.
Saltie Abandoned out see youlater.
Hayden thanks a lot we'll beback in touch, yeah.

It's afternoon now, so I have to stop drinking,
so I guess I better go.

It's afternoon, so you have to stop drinking.

That's only drink in the morning here.

So we'll do another one and talk about other
things.
I have a lot to accomplish.
Like, um, I got to get theGarmin going back.
Oh yeah, you got to get.
You got things.

I have a lot to accomplish like, uh, I gotta get
the garmin going back, oh yeah,you gotta get.
You gotta get your boat ready.

Now you gotta get going on the boat so, basically,
maybe josh did offer to help mewith things, maybe he could
help.
So I put in a new garminautopilot and when they did it
unnamed company did it theycleared out my depth and wind
speed from my chart platter,which is also a Garmin, and John
and I tried to fix it.

(01:04:13):
We upgraded the software, weput new charts on there, did
everything Rebooted, followedall the instructions and we
still, I can see the depth onone of those sides.

The Raymarine has depth.
The Raymarine instrument hasdepth.

Yeah, and I used to have when I bought the boat.
It had a Raymarine instrumenthas depth.
Yeah, and I used to have when Ibought the boat.
It had a Raymarine chartplatter.
But now I have the NEMA 2000.
You know, after I bought it Igot all that put in.
So I have that challenge theteak's being worked on, which is
not a major deal.
You know, we both probably havea list of things we have to

(01:04:50):
accomplish and then I'll do myshakedown and work out all the
problems by the time I see you.

All right, yeah, don't bring me problems.

All right, well, I guess that's it for today.
Thank you for doing this.
We'll have to do another oneand talk about provisioning
Dinghies, All that stuff.

There you go.
Alright, good deal, I enjoyedit.

Thank you, key West John, and with that Salty
Abandon, music, music, musicMusic.

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