Chub Cay not

On February 1 we set out for Chub Cay from Ft Lauderdale. About 12.5 nm out, the alternator bearings failed. We had smelled something burning but couldn’t identify it. Then we heard rattling and discovered that the alternator’s bearings were burning up. The shaft was misaligned, the drive belt starting to shred. We soon would have no cooling water and needed to turn the engine off. We had been motoring since the wind was on our nose at only 4 knots. Raised the sails and attempted to sail back to Florida for the repair. However, the Gulf Stream current was pushing us north as we were sailing at 1 knot! We called Towboat US. Once within cell range I called many marinas, seeking a slip. No one had a slip available. Eric reached his neighbor Walt, across the Karen Canal. Luckily, he welcomed us to raft off his boat. He grew up on that spot, now in a newer house. He used to go to Bflo for business and frequented Casey’s Nickelodeon often. Eric and Mike made the repair on Thursday. Friday morning we went to Sunrise Bay to wait out a cold front and stormy weather. There was not a good weather window for the next week. On Saturday, Jay called us from Nassau, inviting us to join them in their 46’ catamaran. Eric was already there. The original plan was for us to buddy boat with Eric hopping on High Hopes on Sunday or Monday, at Jay’s first anchorage. All in all, it worked out very well as Jay and Caitlin’s boat was huge - 5 cabins! It was great to be on one boat. We had lots of fun. Getting back to Ft Lauderdale on Saturday, we re-provisioned on Sunday and left Monday morning for Nassau.