Monday, January 31, 2011 Georgetown Anchorage

Made coffee and watched Tamarah lift anchor and head out of the harbor to Long Island. I do hope we’re able to catch up to them for the super bowl!

I spotted Colleen (Mary and Axel’s friend that came to visit) aboard Azaya and gave her a wave good morning then went below to listen to Chris Parker and the Georgetown Net on Channel 72 while making orange sweet rolls and baking up the cookie dough that Tammy gave me.

Mary and Colleen came by on the kayak on their way back from their morning beach walk and I gave them some cookies (they’re really yummy cookies) to take back to the boat. Might as well share the calories errr wealth!

Kind of a lazy day. We read for a while then dinghied over to Sand Dollar Beach and collected sea shells, and cleaned up a bit (saltwater bath time) before taking some salsa/guacamole over to Azaya’s for dinner. We had sausage, rice and coleslaw then sat around chatting until the sunset. Conch horn time to blow out the sun and no sign of a green flash.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Daybreak!
Can you see me smiling?

Sitting here, sipping coffee and watching the sunrise.

It’s funny how I don’t mind getting up in the dark to watch the sunrise - So much different than at home when I had to get up each morning at 5am to get ready to go to school. 6am is sooo much better when I can sit outside and watch the sun come up. In all truth, I actually used to love driving into school though - for the same reason. I could watch the sun come up while driving to work; or once I was at work in my classroom depending on the time of year, I could watch the sun rise over the roof of the school. I much prefer sitting here in the cockpit though where it’s warmer, prettier and less stressful. I have to wonder what it was that made us wait so long to do this. It’s almost like an endless summer, where we follow the sun north and south. I wonder where my geese are right now…

I made breakfast bagels this morning – eggs, bacon, cream cheese and we had those with orange juice for breakfast. Then I settled in to read some recipes & Special Bird came by to say hi and chat a bit and Joe came by with some cookies that Tammy made. He radioed and asked if we’d ordered carryout? Noooo I don’t think so? Yep – I guess we did (laughing). He brought the most delicious cookies over in a Chinese carry-out carton. They were still warm mmmmmm…. He said Tammy likes to share the calories and I’m glad she does! I don’t think that there’s anything she makes that doesn’t taste good, from her pumpkin Ice-cream pie to her habenaro pepper jelly! She’s making dinner tonight and says she has it all covered, I don’t need to bring anything. But! I do need to! There’s a bottle of wine we need to share!

After gorging ourselves on her delicious cookies, Wayne and I dinghied over to Hamburger Beach to clean up. I needed to give Wayne a haircut, so we went over to the large shade tree with the tire/stick swing and picnic table at the beach. After I cut his hair, he gave me a trim, then it was time for saltwater baths and a fresh water rinse after swimming a bit.
Back at the boat, we read a bit, then headed over to Tamarah for dinner with our shared prize of wine. She made a wonderful dinner of chicken carbonara with Amish green beans and we cracked open the bottle of wine (Coastline Paso Robles 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon) and capped the dinner with more of her wonderful cookies! I loved catching up with them and the conversation made the evening seem to fly! They’re heading to Long Island tomorrow, and hopefully we can meet up with them for the Super bowl over on Long Island. If not, hopefully we’ll catch up with them on the trek back north. They showed us a picture of the place they built in Little Harbor in the Abacos. What a charming place! This is the second time this trip that I’ve heard of someone buying land and building a house in the Bahamas!
With stuffed tummies, cookie dough and feeling quite mellow, we headed back to the boat. Good thing they’re next to our boat or I’d have never found the way home (kidding but it wouldn’t be the first time we got lost in the dark returning from someone’s boat). I wish they weren’t heading out so soon - but do hope we can run into them when we head to Long Island, or once we head back to the Abacos. Maybe we’ll see them sitting on their porch in Little Harbor! But theoretically we should see them first at the Long Island Breeze for the Super bowl!

Saturday, January 29, 2011 Elizabeth Harbor, Stocking Island Anchorage

I love waking up naturally at the break of dawn. I open one eye and look through the portal to see if it’s lighter than the darkness that surrounds me in the V-Berth. When the gray light through the port alerts me that it’s twilight, my body rhythm seems to kick into gear and my brain alerts me to get up and watch the sunrise. After a quick perusal of the sky to make sure I’m not going to miss the first rays of the sun break the horizon – it’s time to make coffee and wait for that first kiss of the sun. Ah, how delicious!

After sunrise and coffee it was time to make some sweet rolls for breakfast. We had bananas and oranges with the rolls then listened to the Cruiser’s Net on Channel 72 (at 8:00am) then headed across the harbor to Georgetown for some R.O. water. To my delight we ran into Joe and Tammy from Tamarah on the dock. Then we ran into Special Bird in the Exuma Market. We’d met both of them at the marina in Florida. Special Bird was a Tartan with leak problems. Every time the boat went in the water it seemed to leak in a different area. After three times, it seemed all was fixed and he was finally good to go sailing.

I was really hoping to run into Joe & Tammy from Tamarah again. I wanted to share our bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon (Coastline Paso Robles - 2008 from Coastline Cellars Santa Rosa CA) with them. We’d won it together during the grape stomping contest at Thanksgiving and it seemed quite fitting to split it with them. We hadn’t noticed either of them in our anchorage but later in the day saw both of them at monument anchorage.

During our walk in Georgetown with Azaya, we’d gone to the straw market. Mary Clare had spotted some small baskets that she thought would make appropriate gifts for her book reading club. These were similar to some that I’d admired in Charleston but much smaller. The baskets were woven so that they were almost as sturdy as wood even though they were woven out of palm and grasses. Miss Lillian, the maker of the baskets said that they sell for $10 each but said she’d give us a deal – she’d only charge us $8. Mary Clare asked “How much for 10 of them?” Miss Lillian vacillated, then I added “How about for 12 baskets?” After another minute she said “I can let you have them for $6 each”. So I now have two small baskets. One will hold my shells and the other will hold sea beans (if I ever find any). Sea beans are seeds that travel from S. America and Africa found around the islands on the Atlantic side of the islands. There are various types depending on the plants but I’m hoping to find some heart beans and hamburger beans while we’re in the Exuma islands. They’ll make lovely decorations and necklaces.

There was an ARG (Alcoholic Research Group) meeting on Hamburger Beach at sunset so we, Tamarah and Azaya decided to go ashore and do some research with the group. While talking with people, I happened to hear Borrowed Horse. Borrowed Horse was the name of a Crealock 37 that we’d looked at when we were searching for a boat. It was very nice, very clean. I introduced myself and had to ask the owner (Dan and Ann) if his boat was a Crealock 37? He laughed. I guess that he’s had 3 “Borrowed Horses” now and the current one is a trawler. But yes, at one time he owned the boat we were looking at! The name stands out as an original – to be sure. It looks like when we were thinking of purchasing it, that it would have been from the folks that he sold it to. Small world though to say the least. Speaking of a small world, we met Randy from Mutual Fun. I think he knows us through our blog (speaking of which, I’m far behind posting to it). His wife wasn’t there but they’re mutual acquaintances of Mike and Kathy (Sapphire) and also from the White Lake, MI area! This is their first season down here and I didn’t get much of a chance to chat with him, because I discovered Jo from Simpatico was here, but I hope to get to know them better. Jo and Greg were one of the first couples we met at Annapolis our first year out and we hadn’t run into them since that first year. It was so great to chat with her and catch up at the bonfire! I felt a bit guilty because I wanted to chat with her, Randy, Tammy and Dan all at the same time, which of course is impossible! It sounds like Greg and Jo have found their niche here. Greg has found some people to play with (music) and it keeps him happy and Jo likes the social life and activities here too. It’s funny the things you remember about people, what a great time. I’d forgotten all about the Officers Club at the Naval Academy – one of the memories Wayne brought up. Today was just one of those days that just made me feel good all over. The stars look magnificent and all the anchor lights in the harbor just add to the magic of the night.

Friday, January 28, 2011 Georgetown, Great Exuma

I got up, put the coffee on the stove, and watched sunrise as it rose over monument hill. The sky changed from dark gray to pink to golden amber, casting the monument in shadow. It never ceases to amaze me how each sunrise can be soooo uniquely beautiful.
I listened to the weather and the Georgetown Cruiser’s Net on channel 72. Each morning at 8am it starts with the weather, then opens to local business announcements, community announcements, boaters general, then new arrivals and departures from Georgetown. Elizabeth Harbor transforms into a community of cruisers of all nationalities that Great Exuma seems to cater to and thrive with. Quite a few boaters head down and spend their winters here. There’s a self-selected committee that sets up activities from volleyball games, art classes, yoga, boating seminars, picnics, clean-up activities and of course the regatta at the end of February, beginning of March. It’s a unique community of water gypsies that self-police and celebrate the locals and the kindred spirits that gather here each year. It’s quite the eclectic band of souls that travel together, or alone, then meet up to swap tales, share life for a while, then move on again. Each boat/person has their own destination and personal stories to share and hold close to their hearts.
Ah, coffee is never so good as when watching the sunrise in a peaceful harbor at the end of January!
Today Skip (from Flying Pig) gave a talk on wireless communications at Volleyball Beach. We attended, hoping to learn some things for Azaya on their SSB but it was really pretty much about wireless communications. We heard a hail for Tamarah Sue! That means that Tammy & Joe are in the harbor somewhere! We have a bottle of wine to share with them when we run into them (Joe was my partner in the grape stomping contest).
After the Skip’s seminar I joined Mary Clare & Axel for a walk up to the Monument. I’d forgotten what a steep climb it can be, but it didn’t take as long as I remember it from the first time (two years ago). The view of the anchorage and the surrounding islands floating in various shades of aqua, green, midnight blue and sky blue is still breath taking. You can look out on the sound and see breakers over the coral that surround the island. Little islands of brown coral washed over by the aqua colored waves with their foaming white crests.
From the monument, we walked down to the beach (Oceanside) collecting shells and followed the beach down to St. Francis, where we stopped for a rest. Then we walked back towards the Peace and Plenty on Hamburger Beach stopping to take a brief dip in the water before figuring out what trails in the hills would take us back to the boat. It was a fairly decent hike up and down Monument Hill and its brother hill, down the beach and back.
I’d worked up an appetite so after sponging off the salt from my body I made a hearty dinner of ground beef, onion, and peppers with a mushroom gravy over garlic mashed potatoes with corn. It really hit the spot & now I’m stuffed! Time to rest…

From Emerald Bay to Georgetown

Thursday, January 27, 2011
After making coffee, I took out the last of the trash, showered, then said my goodbyes to Harry, Marijka, Pam and Glen. I had tears in my eyes last night with Pam & Glen so thought I’d be better today. But the big bear hug with Marijka and triple cheek kisses from her and Harry had me choked up again this morning. It seems the hardest part of cruising, for me, isn’t the storms or dragging through the night, lack of water or broken heads. Its saying goodbye to the people that you meet, travel with and get close to.

Caution! Caution! Caution! Las Olas Bridge is going up… and Patti’s eyes are flooding. The gates on the bridge may be able to hold back the pedestrians at the bridge, but they can’t hold back the loss I’m feeling as we part company that I’ve come to value. It’s the price you pay for getting close and I hope that some day we will meet again. Two boats heading for Calebash Bay, two boats heading for Elizabeth Harbor. We helped Blue Pearl and Aurora cast off their lines, then readied ourselves for departure, checked out, left our generator with John James at Emerald Bay.
As we were checking out, trying to give away the gasoline from the generator, it turned out that John (dock hand at Emerald Bay) is knowledgeable with small engines and said that if we leave it with him, he’d look at it and give us a call in Georgetown tonight. He thought he could get it to work and then could run it down to us at the Government Dock. Seems like a long drive for him, but if he can do it, why not? I’m sure he could use the money and we’re familiar with the quality of people that work here.
It was a pretty still day. After all the surging at the docks and the winds when we came in, it was relatively easy to get back out of the marina. The 2 foot swells were large and slow rolling and I really welcomed the calm seas. 2 ½ hours after we departed Emerald Bay, we were anchored in aquamarine waters just north of the stone monument in Elizabeth Harbor. Azaya joined us an hour later after they’d finished gassing up and checking out of Emerald Bay.

After they got settled in, we all went over to Volleyball Beach, then to St. Francis for Burgers and a bucket of beer. The burgers were still huge and great and the beer was cold and was just what was called for. The bucket of beer had 5 beers in it for $15 so by buying the bucket we saved a $1 for each beer. At sunset we made it back to the boat and I turned on the radio just in case John called. Right after I did, I heard “Kolibrie, Kolibrie, Kolibrie, this is John James, John James”. He’d been hailing us for a while with no response (oops – I thought it would be later after he got off work like 7pm or so). He had our generator fixed and ready for us to pick up!
Mary & Axel heard the conversation and Axel offered to take Wayne over – they have a faster dinghy than ours. What a lifesaver! It would have taken Wayne 3 times as long to get there and back in our dink. So ½ hour later and $40.00 and we have our generator back and running! I guess the carburetor bowl was full of rust and the jet was pretty plugged. John took a wire to it, cleaned it up and it ran fine. That was the best $40 spent this trip (plus a $5 tip for his trouble). Thank you John James and Emerald Bay Marina!
The sunset was gorgeous and it’s so quiet out right now. There are no fenders rubbing on the dock, masts fluting, generators running, or loud voices. I hear the surf on the Atlantic and somebody letting out an anchor chain. What a lovely evening… The generator is fixed – now for the sail!

Marina at Emerald Bay Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Wow, the winds really slackened off last night. The surge was still strong in here but it feels strange to not hear or feel the winds. It feels much hotter without the breeze. Wayne’s working on the generator trying to get it going and I’m trying to update my journal so I can post it before we leave. I don’t know when I’m going to have internet again so I may just post everything while I can. I may have to post my pictures at a later date – we’ll see. I left my camera at the boat and I’m in the upstairs Captain’s lounge drinking hot tea in the air conditioning.

I still have to fill the tanks with water and plot our coordinates into the chart plotter too. What to do, what to do… I’m still not sure of where we’re going. Last night and this morning Wayne and I were talking and it turns out he’d like to see Georgetown after all.

We may be heading to Long Island or Georgetown tomorrow but we will be leaving here tomorrow. I kind of like this little desk.

Wayne came in a bit ago and has me looking up Honda Generator parts on the Internet again. He can’t seem to get it going. We’ve emptied the gas, sprayed carb cleaner and starting fluid but it just won’t run. I noticed that it’s starting to get dark out. Oops!


I still have to fill the tanks with water and plot our coordinates into the chart plotter to Long Island. What to do, what to do… I’m still not sure of where we’re going. Last night and this morning Wayne and I were talking and it turns out he’d like to see Georgetown after all.

We met for one last Captain’s meeting in the Captain’s lounge. Champagne was brought by Azaya and Blue Pearl. It turns out that Blue Pearl will be moving on to Long Island to meet Sid (Quest), Harry and Marijka will be going to Long Island and then moving on towards Puerto Rico if the weather is correct, Azaya will be going to Georgetown and we will too – in search of a generator repair and sail repair.

Marijka brought beautiful blue ornaments for Kolibrie and Azaya from Holland, and I was wishing that we had something uniquely beautiful from Michigan that I could have given to them. I really enjoyed our travel time with them; they are gentle people with beautiful souls. It was hard to think of parting with them and very difficult not to head to Long Island with Pam & Glen. I was so hoping to be able to share this segment with Blue Pearl and Azaya, and had gotten quite used to traveling with Aurora.

Little Farmers Cay to the Marina at Emerald Bay

Sunday, January 23, 2011
It’s windy out. It really kicked up last night and the wind shifted to the north some time during the night. I can see the sun trying to rise above the horizon. The clouds are a darker shade of gray, mottling a gray sky tinged with light salmon pink behind Otto’s orange/pink conch colored octagon house and the geodesic dome.

It was a long sleepless night and I find I can’t unclench my teeth. Coffee, time to make coffee.

I took pictures of the sunrise and was so inspired by it that I pulled out my drawing pad and pencils and drew the first picture this year of Big Farmers Cay with the Octagonal houses and the dome. It felt good to finally try a quick 10-minute drawing.

We were going to pull out at around 8:00am but the winds were still high so we all decided to hang out until 10:00am and see what the weather and waves looked like in the cut. The waves were crashing into the reefs this morning and it would have been foolish to try to go out with the currents. To many large breaking waves in the cut. Since high tide is at 10:10am we might have less wave action with slack tide.

Blue Yonder came on the radio this morning with the weather around 8:20am. It was good to hear her voice again. I guess her radio had been down and in a couple of days she’s going on a 2 week cruise but it was good to hear her this morning with here small craft caution and all…

I plotted a course to Emerald Bay (N23 38.29 x W075 54.75). It’s 31.23 NM from Farmer’s Cay to there. At high tide we lifted our anchor and released our mooring line for a sail to Emerald Bay. It started out a little boisterous and we slammed a little leaving the cut. We got the Yankee out reefed and the main up, then unfortunately Wayne started turning green in the gills. What should have been a terrific sail day turned into another foul stomach day for Wayne and it actually got kind of chilly. I found that I had to turn Otto (the autohelm) on and run below to get a sweatshirt.

We heard Blue Pearl come on the radio at 2:00pm hailing Azaya. They were at Emerald Bay seeing their daughter off at the airport. I guess it’s cheaper by $10 to go to the airport from there than Georgetown so we got to see them when we pulled into our slips. It was great to see them again and get a hug from them once we got tied up at the dock.

Wow! This place is swanky! They rolled out carpets for our boats and the décor in the office and clubhouse is gorgeous. They have large screen TVs, a pool table, free coffee and tea; the showers are delightful and hot, clean, large and I feel like I’m at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago! They supply shampoo, bath gel, conditioner, shaving cream, skin lotion and sun block. The only thing missing are the towels. We all enjoyed the hot showers and I especially enjoy having clean hair! We checked out the laundry and it’s clean with large capacity machines – 4 washers and driers and no coins needed. From what I understand it’s affiliated with the Sandals Resort so if they actually weren’t promoting this place for business, we probably would not be able to afford to stay here!



Marijka, Glen, me, Pam, Wayne, Mary Clare, Axel and Harry

 We had happy hour in the upstairs captain’s lounge with Blue Pearl, Azaya and Aurora then had dinner aboard Azaya. I love these people. Pam can crack me up while keeping a straight face, Marijka has the softest nature and Mary feels like a kindred spirit! It was a delightful evening.

Marina at Emerald Bay - Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Washed the bed quilt and towels this morning at 5:30am – I couldn’t sleep. Then I was talking with Glen & Pam about when they were heading over to Long Island. We’re having a meeting at 4:30 to see what everyone’s plans are. We checked out the weather and it’s iffy about whether we’re leaving tomorrow or Thursday and then where to go? Georgetown or Long Island? Who is going where?

Axel was working on the boat and Mary Clare was working on the computer and finishing up laundry. She seemed pretty intent on the computer so I didn’t want to pester her to see what she had in mind or if she wanted to go to the market with me. She seemed pretty busy so I was going to get Wayne to go with me and Blue Pearl said they needed bread so we ended up going for provisions with Blue Pearl and getting the shuttle back. The store was pretty well stocked but I was bummed that the tomatoes were very cold – almost to the point of frozen. I picked up some yeast and onions for Marijka and was shocked to see that they wanted $4.59 for 3 small packages of yeast! They also were advertising 36 rolls of toilet paper for $50.00 – yikes! Glad we don’t need any…

Wayne and I were going over the charts of Long Island and looking at the Jumentos and Ragged Islands. I need to make sure of my coordinates for the Tropic of Cancer – since it’s not a fixed location (it wanders along with our wobble) I want to make sure I get the correct coordinates. It was 23degrees 27 minutes latitude and I think that that’s pretty much the standard used – BUT - I need to be technically correct if I’m going to do this! So I looked it up and for the Epoch 2011. It is now located at 23°26’16” North Latitude of the Equator. It’s presently drifting south at the rate of almost half a second (0.47″) of latitude per year (it was at exactly 23º 27' in year 1917). It passes just south of Simms on Long Island so I now know where to do my little latitude dance!

We had a meeting on Aurora at 4:30pm and it looks like they’re going to go to Long Island before heading over to Rum Cay. Azaya is heading for Georgetown to wait for Colleen and I believe that we, Blue Pearl and Sid may be heading for Long Island. We’ll see. It looks like we all have different destinations in mind as to where to go on Long Island.

Marina at Emerald Bay

Monday, January 24, 2011


It was a long day of laundry and exploring. I couldn’t sleep so was doing laundry at 6:30am then checking out the facilities. I love their coffee and tea here, mmmmm… I think I probably had too much and had a sour stomach most the afternoon. Mary Clare and I walked to the end of the beach then to the store to see where the ATM, and grocery store was. It’s interesting – the bank is closed but the ATM there still functions.

Axel had a mechanic come to the boat to see if the surge problem could be fixed. It looks like it might be the governor and they’re talking about how and where to get one. Mary Clare is hoping that she can contact her friend to bring one. It’s unknown as to who is going where and when right now. I find it kind of disconcerting. Marijka and Harry are going to be taking off but from Long Island or Rum Cay – I’m unsure, they’re not sure. Mary & Axel may be staying here to wait for her friend, then they’re not sure if they’ll be going to Long Island or not. Blue Pearl has been here for quite awhile and they are ready to move on, and me… I just don’t know! I want to head to Long Island and the tropic of Cancer. Whether we go to Georgetown first or not – I don’t really care. It would have been nice to make the trip to the Tropic line with Blue Pearl and Azaya – but now I don’t know if this is something we will share as a first together or not. We may be on our own again (pouting here). It would be sweeter with friends but I can understand if it doesn’t happen. When you have people coming in to visit, there’s sometimes a parting of ways. If it happens, hopefully we’ll meet up again : ) I enjoyed our travels together with Azaya and Aurora. Maybe someday we’ll run into our Holland friends again either in Holland or France.

We had drinks over on Blue Pearl and everyone seems not to want to talk about plans right now. Everyone is unsure. I guess we’ll wait and see. I always hate goodbyes…

Musha Cay to Black Point, Great Guana Cay Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Well the music didn’t keep up until 2am. It blared all night until 7am when the crew that works on the construction of the private resort showed back up and began work. I was up at 4:30am still bouncing to the beat of the music in my dreams all night. I guess I’m tired this morning with all that dancing in my sleep.

After coffee and coconut bread toast, we lifted anchor and headed towards Black Point on the Bank side of the islands. We motored the entire way since there wasn’t much wind at all. Azaya put up their spinnaker to get all the air they could (their engine has become very unreliable) and we both got anchored by 11:30am. Isla hailed us around 11:00am to see where we were, they heard us chatting with Azaya. They’re heading to Staniel Cay from Black Point. It sounds like they’ll be there for a couple of days. We actually passed them entering the bay at Black Point as they were leaving. They called “we left a spot for you” as we passed.

We anchored in front of the government dock in 10 feet of water. It looks emerald green in color, as did Musha Cay. I’d forgotten how variable the water color could be here in the Bahamas. The water in the cut yesterday looked purple. Mary Clare had remarked how beautiful the water in the cut was. The emerald green water is very clear and clean. If it were a gemstone, it would be priceless. As it’s water and not a gemstone, its only priceless in my mind. If you look down from the boat into the water, you can see the small tufts of sea grass so plainly in the ripples of sand that the tidal currents create on the bottom. Our anchor chain winds across the bottom like a serpent resting in the water.

After making sure our anchor was snug and we weren’t dragging, we got the little computer and dinghied to shore. Loraine’s was our destination for lunch and Internet. It was good to see her again. Her baby Josh is a little boy now. Last time we were here, he was a baby. Now at one year old he’s running all over. It’s sad to find out that she now has to charge for Internet. I guess the donation thing wasn’t working out to well. Not enough people were donating to help her pay for the electricity use. But at $3 for usage plus a delicious lunch of cracked conch – the fee is worth it. We were able to get on and check our email, and pay bills at a much faster speed this year. One of the cruisers brought her a new router and set her up with two connections. She’s happy with it and I’m sure all the cruisers are too. She’s a young Bahamian woman that seems to have made a success in her business. She’s hard working, a great cook and she trusts her customers to the extent that they obtain their own drinks and tell her later how much they owe her. I hate to think that some cruisers have taken advantage of her hospitality but it all works out. Her mom also makes delicious bread that you can buy from her house. Speaking of which I forgot to buy some!

On our walk back to the dock we noticed that the supply boat was in. Lorraine mentioned that it was in for anyone waiting for fresh produce and we saw happy people carting produce around. Once at the dock a little girl on a bicycle was trying to get into our boat with us. She was so cute and wanting to help us untie the boat and tie it up again and trying to get into the dinghy with us – I was aghast and said no, no you can’t do that. Your mom and dad would have a fit. She kept asking which boat is yours that one? The big one? The little one your’ getting into. Do you have another? Which one oh the big one. Can I come? No. As we pulled away she looked crest fallen and it broke my heart to see her so sad. She was so dang cute. Why is she wandering the dock checking out all the boats and so willing to get in one??? Where are her parents!

After lunch at Lorraine’s I was still stuffed come evening. So much for dinner. We lazed around in the cockpit and enjoyed the evening. Axel & Mary Clare came by in the late evening. After lunch at Lorraine’s, he’d gone back to work on the boat and wasn’t too positive about the prognosis. I can’t believe that there’s someone with worse luck than Wayne, but in the case of luck with boats, I think they definitely have us topped as far as luck. It’s uncanny…

Little Farmers Cay Saturday, January 22, 2011

After coffee and listening to Chris Parker on 4045 I tried to turn on the computer and it just didn’t want to start. It was acting like the battery was dead and kept turning off as soon as I’d turn it on. I’d never seen it act like that before and fear that it may be getting on its last leg. Especially after not letting me log on the other day. I did manage to get on after letting it sit for an hour but now I find I’m going to have to start a paper journal again and/or start placing my computer journal on a thumb drive. I probably should be doing that no matter what though.

We took the little computer to the Ocean Cabin for email and to pay bills. There was no email so to speak of from the kids but I did enjoy hearing from Mary and Elaine. The connection here was very slow, to the point of frustration. Then it was time for lunch. Wayne and I split an order of cracked conch and a lobster salad sandwich. Both were very good. It seemed weird but natural to have a Kalik with the meal even if it was lunch, but the beer was very good with the lunch and I couldn’t imagine anything other than a nice Bahamian beer with a traditional Bahamas type lunch.

After lunch we made reservations with the Marina at Emerald Bay for tomorrow. They have two different rates depending on which dock you want to stay at - $2.25/foot if you want to be on the power dock or $1/foot if you don’t need power. We made reservations for all 3 boats on the non-power dock. The amenities are still the same – free showers, laundry, and coffee, shuttle to the market, etc… and on the other dock – you still have to pay for metered power and water ($.40/gallon) in addition to the $2.25/foot.

After doing our computer stuff and lunch we headed back to the boat to get her readied for the blow tonight. All three of us put out an anchor as well as the mooring in case the blow decides to take out the mooring like last year. I personally don’t want the same scenario as last time.

Big Majors anchorage (24 10.999 076 27.609) to Little Farmers Cay (23 57 249 /076 19 016)

We hauled our anchor up under a beautiful sky this morning at 8:45am and were at the Ocean Club and attached to a mooring by 1:00pm. We’d kept trying to hail them on Channel 16 but nobody answered. When we got in the dinghy and went over to the dock, Terry (owner of Ocean Club) was down on the dock cleaning fish. He’d been out fishing and told us to make ourselves at home so we told him we’d taken 3 of his moorings (Azaya, Aurora and us) then headed up the hill to walk around. I’d noticed that the stingrays still hang out at the dock under the fish-cleaning table – there were 3 of them of various sizes.

We walked over to the marina on the tip of the island and had Kaliks and tonic and chatted briefly with Roosevelt Nixon, then back to the market and made reservations at the Ocean Club for lunch tomorrow with Ernestine. There’s weather moving in and we all decided that we’d rather be on the boats when it came through than on shore. Lunch was a happy medium to do Internet and have some of Ernestine’s delicious cooking. While there we ran into RJ the woodcarver. I think he’d had a Kalik (local beer) or two or three… but was still as friendly as I remembered him. He decided to give us the grand tour from the dock area to his woodcarving shop and introduced us to all the local fauna of mango trees, almond trees, and various teas and cotton that grew there. Azaya and Aurora both bought a carved statuette of a Bahama mama – gotta help out the economy: )

I made pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and they turned out quite tasty. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of making this dish earlier!

Warderick Wells to Big Majors Spot

Thursday, January 20, 2011


We pulled out of Warderick Wells about 20 minutes before 10am. We’d heard Kasidah call in for a mooring and Georgia E. It was nice to touch base on the radio with both of them again and to learn that Kasidah’s boat problems are now fixed. About an hour and a half out, Azaya started having the surge problems again, so we slowed up to keep an eye on them. They may be staying at Staniel to see if they can get their problem fixed. Mary Clare thinks she may have to have her friend fly into Staniel instead of Georgetown. Hopefully they’ll be able to figure out what the heck is going on with their engine – I’d be worried (heck I am for them!)…

Our anchor is dropped now and we’re sitting at Big Majors (home of the swimming pigs). We stayed aboard the boat (Wayne didn’t feel like seeing the pigs again – we’d already seen them) and Aurora and Azaya got their carrots, and vegis together to feed the pigs. I could see there was a new little piglet on shore but most of the pigs were quite big! Mary Clare said the pigs came out to the dingy, but decided they didn’t like what they’d brought and turned around and went back in. Well! Fussy, fussy, fussy! I’d guess that they’d had their fill for the day.

Howling at the moon - Warderick Wells, Exuma Park

We had a nice evening on Aurora. It was eye opening to see how much quieter their wind generator is than ours. It looks like they have some kind of padded coupler around the neck of their generator at the top that we don’t have. I’ve also noticed that ours does not turn easily into the wind. Wayne is wondering if we’d picked up mud daubers over the summer. That’s a definite possibility.

I was able to finally access email and update my blog this morning, but not to the point of posting pictures. The bandwidth just isn’t good enough and when you’re accessing sites with pictures that also eats up available bandwidth.

Wayne tried to get the generator started, to no avail, and worked on the battery monitor as well as the generator most of the afternoon. I tried organizing my warm and cold weather clothing – putting away the sweaters, blankets, etc… It’s been in the mid to upper eighties with lows in the 70s so I think we may finally be done with the woolens! While I was sorting and packing, Wayne thought today might be a good day for me to practice with the dingy.

It’s very calm and it happened to be slack tide when he suggested my use of the dink. My big thing with it is it doesn’t always work. I can’t see myself rowing against some of the stronger tidal currents that come through here, but decided that now was a good time to get off the boat. I loaded up the looky-bucket, my mask & fins and grabbed the hand radio in case there were any problems and managed to get the engine turned over after 4-5 cranks, then headed around the basin, past the park office and over to Azaya’s for a visit. Weeeee - what fun!

Leaving Azaya, I couldn’t get the dinghy started for anything. After 5 minutes of pulling, and a huge blister on my finger, it finally turned over. What fun - not!  I noticed that the motor setting would periodically pop back into forward while pulling the cord. When it did, the whole motor lifted up. Wow. Anyhow, I did get it started then headed over to the park headquarters to let Darcy know that we’d probably be leaving in the morning and got the breakdown for our bill. It’s $15/night on the mooring, $10/day or 100 MB (whichever comes first) for Internet service and the Bahamas Fleet renewal is $50/year with 2 free nights on the mooring. After a quick dip in the water, I got the dingy started again (this time no problem) and headed back to the boat.

Wayne still didn’t have a very successful time with the generator etc. while I’d been gone. But said he’d forgotten to tell me that when the engine on the dink was warmed up, that I didn’t need the choke on. He’d noticed that I had problems getting it started over at Azaya. Binoculars are a wonderful thing – now all we need is a megaphone, or, for me to have turned on the handheld radio…

Mary Clare and Axel stopped by after their walk to Booboo Hill so we had a beer and watched a beautiful golden orange full moon rise on the horizon. It was stunning in color and size. Someone howled on the radio, which set of a round of howling on our boat. We must have sounded like a bunch of Alaskan wolves baying at the moon in harmony. The boats around us were probably wondering, “What’s up with those crazy people – howling at the moon”… Laughing… It’s those crazy Michiganders and Alaskans – howling at the moon! It truly was a breath taking sight though.

I made a nice salad and we grilled up a steak for dinner with our lovely boat bread. It’s an incredibly warm evening and my skin is tingling from the saltwater residue.

Warderick Wells, Exuma Park

Tuesday, January 18, 2011


We had some showers last night – good ones with a heavy downpour. If I hadn’t had a shower in the cockpit yesterday, I’d have been up on deck with the soap and shampoo - cleaning up under a halo-waxing gibbous moon as it kept peaking in and out of the misty, fast moving clouds! It was nice to get up this morning to a desalted boat and look about at all the beautiful shades of white sand and rainbow pallets of blue and turquoise water.

When you look over the side of the boat, you can see the bottom like it’s inches deep instead of 10 feet. The sand and plants at the bottom look so close that you could almost picture swirling the sand ripples with your hand if you just touched the water. It was a beautiful day just to look around. What a feast for the eyes AND food for the soul to see this beautiful place again. You just want to inhale the colors and absorb them into your memory by all sensory perception.

Unfortunately today was not a good computer day. For some strange reason my computer would not let me log on again? I remember this happening one other time. It wouldn’t accept my password. It wouldn’t accept Wayne’s password. It was frustrating. I turned it on and off several times before it would let me have access. Anyone know what the problem is???

After enjoying the morning, then having my computer trauma, we decided it was time to check in at the office. We ran into Aurora there. They were off exploring the island and putting their name up on Booboo Hill. I guess our name, on the bone, had been sandblasted away, but the 2009 and 2010 were still visible. 

I had forgotten to bring my sugar with me to the office but it turned out that it was just as well since they no longer allow you to feed the bananaquits. I guess they’ve had a problem with people feeding the iguanas, sharks, and Hutia so are no longer allowing any feeding. I can understand it, but will miss feeding the little guys. I love it when they land on your hand – such gentle and trusting little birds. It’s not good for them though so I do understand. We renewed our membership, dropped off our books and picked up an Internet access then dinghied over to Azaya’s to see how they were doing and if Axel figured out why their engine kept surging. It’s very disconcerting to have that happen and could be dangerous, considering the conditions at the time it happens. I hope they’re able to figure it out – it worries me. Neither Wayne nor Axel have been able to figure it out yet.

Back at the boat I couldn’t get the Internet to work, so had Wayne dinghy me up to the office after we had cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch. I wasted another 2 hours and half my access allotment of 100 mb trying to check email and update my blog. I wasn’t having a lot of luck and couldn’t respond to Pam & Glen’s email to tell them we’re a week away from Georgetown. I so would love to go to Long Island with them and Azaya – then I could have a first with them, like they had with their crossing and us last year. I kept trying to send an email and couldn’t seem to do it. Frustrating. Azaya was able to get a message off for me and then later I did manage to shoot off a quick email to Blue Pearl,ary, Elaine and the girls. I was only able to update the blog to the 10th of the month though and without pictures. So I’m still 8 days behind in my postings. But the connection is not to good. I’ll see if I can use the rest of my allotted bytes and 24 hours in the morning. We’ll see how far I get. For now I need to put together a chicken salad for sundowners on Aurora.

Normans to Warderick Wells, Exuma Park

Monday, January 17, 2011


Yay! My dough doubled, almost tripled in size during the night. There’s enough to acrually make 3 loaves so I divided it into 3 pans and turned on the radios to listen to Chris Parker and the local weather. After listening to Chris Parker and the Highborne Cay Weather this morning, we pretty much decided that with a strong front coming through today/tonight that if we didn’t get into the North Anchorage, that we’d just tuck in a little closer here. None of the islands here have a decent southwest protection that we can duck into with our drafts and at Norman’s; at least if we drag in the predicted 30-40 knot wind gusts, we’ll just hit sandbars.

At 9am Darcy came on and we could hear her fine. We all got moorings (5, 9, and 16). Then as we were raising anchor we heard Darcy calling us again. Kolibrie, Kolibrie, this is Exuma Park... Oh oh… But she’d just changed us from mooring 5 to 21. Whew! I thought that perhaps we had no mooring! Azaya is having radio problems and never heard Darcy calling any of us, so I relayed their mooring number to them. Half way there, they had the same engine problems that they’d had earlier with the rpm surging. We slowed back to make sure they were okay. They weren’t having to good of a day - mechanical wise.

My bread dough kept rising and overflowing the pans. I guess it likes being home. I did learn that baking bread in a rolly or choppy environment isn’t always a good thing. Because when I took it out to turn it around (my oven heats unevenly), we hit some chop and the two loaves I had in the oven decided to deflate, when my potholder got them. They did rise again but not with that pretty crown. The third loaf seemed to come out just fine though; even with all the waves we were slamming into.

We ran into a brief squall. It teased me into pulling out the shampoo, then after lathering up, it quit! Don’t you hate that when you get soaped up and can’t rinse??? So we needed to use some of our water supply to finish the rinsing process – less than a gallon of water used though and I love having clean hair.

As we approached Warderick Wells, I asked the captain if I could bring her in. Of course. I love this place – it always feels like coming home. I decided that this is my happy place. When you search inside for a happy feeling, this place seems to be that spot inside me. I don’t know why, but it is. Maybe it’s all the various shades of blue here. It’s a pallet of all the peaceful blues and aqua colors that I can think of, and it’s so lovely. I decided that after we were safely tucked at our mooring, that I’d have a beer. There goes dinner… So we had beer and homemade bread with fruit for dinner. I wanted to grill up those steaks, but it’s toooo windy and now I couldn’t cook if I wanted to, so I enjoyed a pretty sunset with building clouds. When I heard a conch horn from the boat next to us, I had to answer with mine. Both people peaked out of the cockpit to see who was answering them. It was just little ole me announcing that I too was enjoying the setting sun. It’s so nice to be back.

Allen’s/Leaf Cays to Norman’s Cay

Sunday, January 16, 2011


It was a wonderful sunrise this morning. I had never realized it, until talking to Jean & Tom, but you can get a green flash at sunrise as well as sunset. I found myself looking toward the horizon to see if I could catch that elusive green flash, and then realized duh, the island is in the way (laughing). Silly girl. But they now have me looking to the horizon in the morning not only for the sunrise but also for a flash of bright green!

I just missed saying goodbye to Georgia E. I thought I heard a motor and when I looked up from the cabin, they were pulling away. I yelled across, but they didn’t hear me. I’m pretty sure we’ll run into them again somewhere down the line. I always love meeting fellow Bayfielders.

I decided to make some cinnamon rolls for breakfast and have some orange and apple slices with the sweet rolls. I was thinking how nice it would be to call Azaya over to join us when low and behold – there they were. I had to laugh because they said that the smells wafting over to them smelled soooo good, and was I making French toast? I loved that they made it over and were able to join us, even if they’d already eaten breakfast.

We weren’t able to hear the Park Office once again, but could hear the boats calling in for moorings. Aurora was able to hear them and called in to put our three boats on the waiting list for tomorrow. Today we’re off to Normans Cay.

We got into Norman’s around 3pm and Aurora, Azaya and Kolibrie all dropped our dinghies in the water and went ashore. I was hoping to introduce them to McDuff’s but the place didn’t appear to be open. I guess they’re open for lunch from 12-3pm and then dinner from 5-8pm. Since we got there at 3:30pm we decided to hike across the airfield (no planes here today) and go in search of Carlos – the drug lord’s old place. We found first one ruin - that wasn’t it, then the old McDuff’s that was on the protected bay where the plane wreck is, then finally found Carlos’ compound. If it’s possible, it’s even in worse shape than when we were here two years ago. The tiles were all gone, the stainless counters, and gas tanks were gone from the kitchen, and the ceilings more collapsing. The bullet-ridden walls were still a testament to the DEA/Drug Lord’s shootout a few decades ago.

When we got back to the other side of the island, the restaurant/bar still wasn’t open. Wayne said that the place looked like it was falling into disrepair with broken lights and an unkempt look that I don’t remember it having. We decided that instead of hanging around that we’d come back to Kolibrie for beers instead. So Azaya and Aurora never got to see the little Gilligan’s Island setting. It’s a shame. I remember it as a cute and cozy little place with friendly people and friendly dogs.

We had a nice evening aboard Kolibrie. Cheese, sausage, artichoke/cheese dip and crackers, dates, almonds and chocolate along with of course, beer and wine and wonderful conversation discussing the worlds problems rounded off the day. Tomorrow, we’ll see where we head or if we stay here. I fed the bread starter this morning and put some dough together to rise tonight. Hope it’s still viable!

Allen’s Cay

Saturday, January 15, 2011


It’s another windy day. I noticed that we never shifted position when the tide changed last night, thanks to the wind. I could barely pick up Chris Parker on SSB channel 4045 this morning and then Highborne weather came on channel 6 (VHF) at 7:30am. It’s nice to finally get some weather. I never heard Darcy come on this morning but heard other boats calling her at the park office. Seems we had that problem last year too.


Stu (Georgia E) came by this morning to go over favorite places we’ve been to in the Exumas. He’s going to scout out some places before his wife gets here to see where to take her. So we pointed out some must see areas that we like to return to. It was a lazy morning and I didn’t do much. Wayne took a nap trying to get rid of a headache. I considered taking the dingy to shore but with the way it acts up and the winds, I ended up just looking at charts and looking about at the scenery and snapping pictures. In the afternoon we went ashore and walked the south perimeter to the other side of the island with Mary Clare and Axel. I was amazed at how few iguanas came over to greet us, but with the cooler weather, they’re all probably slow to move. When we returned to the dinghies and were sitting and chatting on the beach, we watched several boats come in and anchor. It was amazing to watch This one fellow. It came zipping in and charged right into the middle of the sandbar, weaved across it then did the same thing coming back to this side of the channel. There are two islands separated by a span of water. In the middle of the water is a large sandbar with a channel on both sides by each island that the boats travel through and anchor off. The captain wanted to investigate the sandbar instead of staying in either channel. It was interesting to watch. Zoom then clunk, weave through sand, then zoom, clunk, weave. We saw Aurora come into the anchorage around 4pm, then dingied back to the boats after Axel took me in his dingy to see our anchor and how we hooked under a metal rod.  I love their glass bottomed dinghy!

I made some pulled pork and we took that over to Azaya’s for sundowners with Aurora and Georgia E. Another lovely evening shared with other wonderful travelers in this beautiful blue/green water place called the Exumas.

Spanish Wells to Allens/Leaf Cay

Friday, January 14, 2011


We released our moorings at 6:45am as twilight became lighter shades of gray and pink. Aurora waved as us and said they’d be out later and if not, then tomorrow. Azaya was first out, then we followed, and then Georgia E followed us out. We had 2 hours until low tide so getting out was no problem. The winds seemed a bit stiffer than we thought they’d be and the clouds were with us all day except for a few times when the sun broke through. It was roily at the beginning and with the winds behind us we were breaking 8 knots at times while motor sailing. We caught a barracuda when we left the shallow bank area and dipped into the deeper Northwest Passage. It was a good size fish (almost 3 ft) and we had a problem getting it off the line (oh what sharp teeth you have my dear!) until it was almost dead (I didn’t like that but it would be worse if Wayne had been bit). Our second fish turned out to be a mackerel, like the one we caught last year – so that one was a definite keeper! I remembered how tasty that one from last year was!

When we came to the area where all the coral heads and rocks were, the sky was still overcast and it was difficult at times seeing the rocks. Most were quite visible but some we couldn’t see until almost on them. At one point all 3 boats seemed to converge at the same area at the same time, trying to avoid rocks and coral heads. Had I known we’d all selected the same spot, I’d have chosen another. I was franticly waving, signaling and pointing for Wayne to make a sharp left and speed up to go around a rather large rock but we got cut off at one point and I thought for sure we were going into the rocks. We all managed to get through the area okay and it made for an exciting day. I think we were all trying not to jester the wrong hand signs LOL! My hands and arm muscles are sore from clutching the bow pulpit trying to hang on. It was a wild ride from side to side as the waves slammed us on the beam and quite a few times I thought I was going to be air born as the bow went skyward and plunged down. I thought for sure that everyone could hear me screaming Wooooooaaaahhhhhh!!!! Each time the bow pointed up and slammed down leaving my stomach in the air I thought, “this is better than any roller coaster ride I’ve been on”! Whew! I’m just glad I didn’t get plunged into the water as the boat slammed back down. It was a wet ride. Definitely…

Wayne had two lines out and of course we got hits on both of them when we hit the coral/rock banks that lay on our course. When things finally quieted down and we were through the danger zone I was able to come back to the cockpit and he was able to bring the lines in. One was empty, we must have dragged it for so long the fish broke free and the other line – our lure was gone, so whatever it was took our newest lure with it.

As we approached Allens/Leaf Cays I could see 2 masts over the island and another ketch was approaching the anchorage. There were only 3 boats anchored. I think that’s the least we’ve seen here. Our 3 boats brought the total to 6 and as we were anchoring two of the high speed boats came in and on the beach with the tourists to feed the iguanas. They only stayed 10 minutes and then took off – must be a record fast time to get the people off and back on again. We didn’t see many iguanas but it’s kind of cool out. Stu and Tony dinghied over to the island and stopped by to say hi too.

Since they’d caught a fish and Azaya didn’t we offered to share ours with Azaya. They were going to grill chicken and said to bring it on over, so I chopped up some tomato, onion and cucumber to make a vegi-salsa to spread on pita bread and we could top that with the fish. Mary Clare had chicken thighs and made coleslaw. It turned out to be way to windy though, so Axel broiled it in the oven – wow a broiler! It was all very tasty. We all enjoyed a beautiful sunset – and me without my camera aboard Azaya.

I can’t believe how windy it still is! The wind generator sounds like it wants to take off! I’m going to have to turn it off for the night so I can hear the anchor alarm if it goes off! We seem to have a good hold, but I never got to check it with the looky-bucket Wayne made. I remember last year, we’d only caught the tip of a rock so if we’d swung with the tide, we’d have probably broken loose. It’s been a long day, but I love being able to look across and see lone-palm island. It feels like we’re back in the islands again. The ones I consider the decompression islands. Time to slow down to island time again :)

Deserted boats and Cruisers

The winds were howling all night and there was a prediction of 40 knots today, but I don’t know that they every reached but maybe 20-25. It’s hard to gage in the mooring area – it’s quite surrounded with banks on one side, mangroves on another, the town on one side, you can’t really see what’s going on. I was watching the tide change off the back of the boat via a little mangrove tree. The chart plotter said that low tide on Royal Island was at 7:15am but it looks like here that it’s more like 8:15-8:30am. That’s when the roots to the little tree were fully exposed in sand and out of the water. I’d mentioned to Wayne that in order to leave on a rising tide for the next several days we’d have to leave in the late morning to early afternoon if Azaya was going to get out. This meant anchoring over at Royal Island today to leave tomorrow. There are several low spots coming into Spanish Wells that are 1.8m and 1.7 m (we’re 1.8 for all practical purposes and Azaya is 2.0m). I don’t think Wayne particularly wanted to leave in these winds and Azaya said that after chatting with Jean and Tom (they live here half the year and have a book exchange) they were confident that there’d be no problem getting out of here in the morning, so there’s no need to move to Royal today. I’d never looked at the chart information that says the charts are geared to the lowest low at spring tides. Theoretically we’re good to 1.1 meters according to their calculations. I think I’d be more comfortable leaving our depth to 1.8 meters but we’d probably be okay on a rising tide so we'll stay put here tonight.

I had a yen for breakfast so decided that bacon, eggs and fried potatoes were in order. It’s been a while since I’d made this and was glad to have the morning to do that. After that, this turned out to be a picture morning. Georgia E came by this morning with his I-Pad and then Azaya came by. We downloaded pictures from Azaya’s camera, then uploaded pictures to their thumb drive and camera along with the boat card mock-up for them to print. Then we uploaded pictures from my computer to Stu’s I-Pad.

After trading pictures, we went to shore to finish getting diesel, make a garbage run, trade books at the book exchange and see if anyone had any fresh lobster to sell (this is the lobster capital after all). There weren’t really any fishing boats in, and all we found was frozen lobster. The only notable boat that was at dock was the large steel schooner that had been washed up on the rocks a few days ago. What a shame. I’m sure the boat was a beauty in its prime. I yelled over to the guys as we tied our dinghy up “Hey, I see you found our boat?” They said, “for the right price she’s yours”. I asked “how much”? And the salvage operator said $12,000. Wow. She still floated and could probably be refurbished or - the parts salvaged would bring in more than that. To bad we don’t have the time or inclination… According to the people that had salvaged it, the captain that was transporting it to the Caribbean, for the owner, had some rudder problems in high winds, abandoned it, and never returned to reclaim it so it washed up on the rocks here. He didn’t want to pay the retrieval fee so it sat on the rocks until the boat works on Spanish Wells went to retrieve it as salvage. Hmmm… wonder if it was the same captain of the sports fisher in Florida; this boat was registered in Florida. Anyhow after some discussion of how they were going to salvage parts and deep six her I found out that when they went to retrieve the boat, the pirates of the Caribbean were already stripping her of electronics, and whatever else they could grab. I’d have gone for all the deck prisms and sails, myself . She was a beauty.

We ended up over at Jean and Tom Goldson’s house (they run a book exchange for cruisers) for happy hour. Azaya had met them a couple days ago and had told us about them, so we accompanied Mary Clare and Axel there this evening. What a delightful couple. They bought a fixer upper house here and stay here in the winter and take their trawler back up north during the summer months. I have to remember next year if we return to bring some young adult and kid books back for them. They can use them here on the island. It was interesting to hear how they came here, fixed up the house and hear their perspective on the island. It’s evident that Jean & Tom love Spanish Wells and I can see why. Its inhabitants love this little island and they take great pride in it. The people are honest and hard working. They love the living that they make from the sea.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The front that’s supposed to come in tonight looks like it’s coming in a little early. It started clouding up this morning and by 1:00pm the wind generator was finally spinning again.

Stu came by this morning (Georgia E) to see what our plans were, so I went over the waypoints that we thought we might take from here to Ships Channel or Allens.

Wayne spent the day getting fuel for the boat and giving her an oil change, then emptied the tub (our storage area) so I could get a shower and wash my hair. Since he had to run the engine to heat the oil, it also heats the water so it was an opportune time to get that shower, mmmmmm I love clean hair!

I spent the day going through pictures and coming up with some graphics for boat cards for Azaya. She liked mine, so I thought I’d set some up for her but I don’t know what data she wanted on them LOL. I’ll have to wait and see I guess – so much for a surprise.

Happy hour was on the lovely Georgia-E. I made some chicken salad and downloaded some pictures onto Tony’s flash drive then we dinghied over, but with a bit of apprehension. The front that’s coming through is supposed to have 40-knot winds so the idea of leaving the boat in those conditions was a bit worrisome. But from what we saw, we’re either well protected or the winds aren’t here yet. Martha and Bob (DW Crow), Harry and Maraka (Aurora), Axel (Azaya), Wayne and myself along with Tony and Stu all fit in the cockpit. So how many people can you fit in a Bayfield 36 cockpit for happyhour? Nine to be sure and probably ten. It was a tight fit, but I was thoroughly amazed to think there was room for one more. The conversations were informative (DW Crow was the first steamship on the Great Lakes), witty (the position of the Canadian Navy), and sometimes made me stop and think about things (hunting and urbanization). Then of course I got to see if there were many differences between Stu’s Bayfield and ours. There were amazingly very little differences but I did find a couple of projects to add to my to-do list – a mast cover and V-berth alterations.

I have noticed a remarkable change in temperature this evening. Yesterday it was so hot and now tonight it’s pleasantly cool. The wind generator is spinning away, merrily charging our batteries. I was hoping to get on to the Internet tonight but the Georgia-E isn’t transmitting. I’ll have to see if I can get a weather forecast tomorrow morning, to see if we can head south on Friday.

Dunmore Town - no pics low bandwidth

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 another 11111 day


Today we shared dinghy rides (4 boats/2 dinghies) over to the Ferry Dock to catch the high-speed ferry over to Dunmore Town. It was interesting to talk to one young lady on the dock while we were waiting for the ferry. She was sitting in a golf cart waiting to unload the ferry while passengers disembarked and reloaded so I struck up a conversation with her. I learned that the boats that are so well maintained here are so well maintained because the crew shares a vested interest in the boat. Each member owns equal shares in profits, and debts so it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep the fleet in tiptop condition. Everyone takes a great deal of pride in their ownership and the work ethic on the boats definitely shows. Their biggest customer that buys most of the lobster is Red Lobster. I loved hearing that and that whenever anybody from here goes to the states, they always try to eat at a Red Lobster. I had to tell her that it was my favorite birthday place to eat, which also pleased her! I neglected to mention that me and Laura used to get the "shrimp feast" though, not the lobster feast.

The ferry took us through the Devil’s Backbone and over to Dunmore Town. It was hot out and the ride was quite refreshing and the view of the reefs from the ferry was informative since you could see all the reefs from the top deck. Some areas where incredibly rocky & you could see waves breaking on the reefs quite close to the ferry. We disembarked near the Customs office and walked over to the Atlantic side of the island. All of the chairs and umbrellas there are for rent, and there were horses for rent, if you wanted to ride a horse along the beach. You could actually smell them and see evidence of their presence along the path to the beach before seeing them. Aurora and us forgot our swimming suits but Azaya and Georgia E had theirs and went for a swim. The water felt great to my toes and feet and I imagine it was delicious to swim in. I walked along the pink sand beach in search of sea beans but I’d already known that I wouldn’t find any. The beaches were very well groomed. At one point while we were standing in the surf zone chatting with Stu (Georgia E) I actually thought I might have found one. Poking out of the sand in the water I could see a white stripe with a darker color beneath it. I wasn’t sure if it was a bean (kinda light) or a pretty shell of some sort. When I bent over to retrieve it from in the sand, I discovered it was Stu’s toe!!! How embarrassing! But I guess instead of finding my first sea bean, I found my first “sea toe”. Thanks Stu!

We found a great little Deli to eat lunch in with great food and in huge sizes, then walked along looking at all the little shops and houses. One take-away food place had a mound (okay a few mounds) of conch shells for the taking. I picked out 4 lovely ones that I think will make excellent horns or just great shells & Tony will take them for his kids. They (Georgia-E) also picked up some wonderful looking conch salad for dinner and after a beer we headed back to the high-speed ferry to go back to Spanish Wells. It was an all around, very nice day spent with great people over at Dunmore Town.

Back on the boat I wasn’t all that hungry but remembered Wayne likes dinner – that’s his hungry time, when I heard Mary-Clare starting the beat conch over on her boat. She wanted to know if I wanted her to cook ours up too (she still had the ones we bought in town in her freezer) and bring it over? I said sure – I’ll make some coleslaw & she said I’ll bring some rice too! I discovered that my cabbage wasn’t very good anymore so chopped up some celery with pineapple cheese, carrots and cucumbers, then made some dipping sauce for the conch. It was nice to have them over and I’d commented that we’d calculated the mileage to Ship Channel and Allens Cay. That it was 45 and 50 miles. Wayne & Mary didn’t really want to go over it so it was just as good that I couldn’t find my data. It was a long but nice day.

Royal Island to Spanish Wells

In the morning light, nothing appears to have changed at Royal Island. The construction is still how it was 2 years ago, just waiting to begin. Georgia E dinghied over to our boat this morning and it was so nice to meet Stu & Tony and to chat with them about other Bayfield boats that we’ve met and followed through the years via their blogs! Georgia E is also making their way down the island chain so we may paths with them along the way. After chatting with them we found out that there were mooring balls available at Spanish Wells so they, we, Azaya and Aurora all headed over to pick up mooring balls from Bandit. The timing was perfect, because we were approaching if not at high tide. The entrance to get into Spanish Wells is a little skinny at low tide and we’d been discussing our options, so this was perfect timing. Wayne’s wanted to visit Dunmore Town and we’d been discussing the best way to do it. So we hoisted our anchors a little after 12:00pm and were at a mooring ball by 1:30pm.

We walked around town for a bit, then all met over on Azaya for sundowners. It was interesting to find out that Spanish Wells is a “dry” town. You can’t buy any alcohol here, not even beer. There is a little liquor store on the next island where you can buy it. Go figure. A shuttle runs there, I believe every hour and at $8 a trip, there must be money to be had. It is a lovely little fishing town. I’ve been told that 50-75% of all lobster, conch and fish that are sold in the Bahamas come from Spanish Wells and I believe it. The fishing boats are very well maintained and quite abundant. The cockroaches are also in abundance. Mary-Clare said they all went scurrying for cover as we tied up to the dock – Oh no!

On our dock walk we found a manatee and her baby resting off one of the docks. I was surprised at that. I didn’t know that manatees were here and we speculated on whether she came over during one of the storms. There’s not much here for her to eat and I guess nobody knew she was pregnant until the baby showed up. One of the local boaters here mentioned that they were feeding her. I knew we shouldn’t but had to turn on the hose for her so she could have some sweet water. The baby is still at the nursing stage and didn’t drink water, but I saw her burp up some milk. Hence indicating the little pup was still suckling. It was sooo tiny!  (there is a pic on my facebook site)

Happy hour was on Azaya. It was a lovely evening and so nice to chat with everyone there. Georgia E was a little bummed to find out this was a dry town because they usually have a beer in the various places they go to – so we brought them a beer over for happy hour. Now they can say that they had one in Spanish Wells It was so interesting listening to Harry and Maraka talk about their travels from Holland and their travels across the Atlantic, and I’m always amazed at the amount of room on Azaya. What a great boat! It’s nice and quiet in this anchorage. I hope it stays that way when the front comes through on Wednesday night/Thursday.

Mores Island to Royal Island - no pics low bandwidth

Mores Island Anchorage (26 16.453 77 36.725) 6:30am

To Royal Island Anchorage off the tip of Eleuthera (25 30.887 x 76 50.803) 5:50pm Twilight

We left Mores Island off Great Abaco at 6:30am (twilight) to NNW winds 10-15 knots and 1-3 ft swells. It was a much better traveling day with a glorious sunrise around 7am. We motor sailed by Gorda Cay also known as Castaway Cay. That island is for Disney Cruise Ships only – no cruisers welcome. We saw one cruise ship at anchor and from what we could see from our boat the island probably has a terrific Disney theme to it. It’d be interesting to see what Disney does with its little island in the Bahamas.

The last couple of days, the only visible sea life to be seen was flying fish. They appear like magical little creatures as they leap out of the water to soar and skim along the top, flying like little birds across the waves. The other evidence of life was one bite on our fishing lure as we made the turn off S.W. Reef to turn towards Royal Island. What ever it was that tried to take the lure, got away as Wayne tried to pull in the line.

Two years ago when we first approached Royal Island, I remember thinking that we shouldn’t be going in to the left of the rock – it looked to narrow, with a wider opening to the right of it. This time it was definitely more comfortable, even though it was past sunset. We pulled in at twilight with Azaya behind us and Aurora pulled in at dark. We’d all made good time for doing 70NM in one day (11.5 hours). We’d heard talk that the marina and resort that had been started might be finished but the anchorage hadn’t changed at all from what we could see. The one thing that did change was that there was another Bayfield 36 sitting at anchorage in the harbor! I got so excited to see it, Wayne yelled at me to watch where I was going! Heck, I knew where I was going. I was going to investigate the other Bayfield of course! That he was sitting about where I wanted to anchor was another bonus. So I headed there and circled the good ship Georgia E and called out “What a beautiful little boat you have!” My comment was echoed back to me. I love seeing other Bayfields – they have such striking lines. The thought that it might be a “Gozzard” and not a “Bayfield” didn’t enter my mind until later. But it was another little Bayfield. We have a sister ship here!

Long day today. This very still anchorage is quite welcoming tonight. I think we’ll all sleep well tonight. I doubt any of us slept well last night. Tuna salad for dinner then sleep time.

From Lucaya, Grand Bahama Island (26 31.084 x 78 38.189) 7:00am To Mores Island (26 16.453 77 36.725) 5:00pm

We released our dock lines at 7:00am to Mores Cay. Waves were 12-15 feet and we had white caps and spray for most of the day. We raised the mainsail before realizing how strong the waves and winds were and we had a dickens of a time getting it back down, and putting the Yankee up for stability. At 9:00am our Chart Plotter decided to shut itself off and Wayne was getting nauseated. One of our jerry cans of diesel decided to go for a dip over the side Wayne retrieved it.

It wasn’t a bad morning, but it wasn’t a pleasant morning either. The wind and waves started to subside a bit more in the afternoon but by then, the damage was already done for Wayne. It was boisterous enough that we didn’t use Otto (our autohelm) so it was a long day at the helm. Especially after having eaten all that coconut pastry yesterday. My system was revolting and I had to visit the head several times. What a fine pair we were today!

At one time, I did manage to find our handheld GPS below on one of my forays into the cabin. One of the waves pitched me across the cabin table & while I was laying on the table, looking down, I saw that my aloe plant was on the floor under the table and all the dirt was on the seat. I’d forgotten to secure a few things. My pans had evidently joined the Aloe beneath the table and I had to wonder how they got there until it occurred to me that the oven door had opened and somehow closed itself again. I’d forgotten to latch it. Another time when I heard a crash – my computer had gone flying off the nav-station. Yikes. That amazed me, because I thought it was secure! It appears to be okay. Whew! Boisterous times aboard the good ship Kolibrie! As usual, she weathered the winds and waves better than the crew and whenever we get pitched around, I learn what else needs to be secured in the future!

We finally pulled in behind a reef and anchored between it and Mores at close to sunset. 58 miles is a long day but we made good time with the winds. A few times we managed to go over 8 knots – excellent for us and there were quite a few times we’d gone over 7 with the winds on our quarter. I’m just snacking for dinner – no sense in making anything with Wayne ' s stomach upset and I’m just plain tired. Not one of our better days, but at least the chop in here is less than the waves on the other side of the reefs. The good news is that we’ll be generating power all night with these winds! The other good news is that the winds and waves should be favorable tomorrow for a 70 NM trip to Royal Island.

Lucaya - no pics Low bandwidth

Wayne worked on the foot pump and water filter in the galley for most of the morning then we went to see if the Courtesy Van could give us a ride into town to the hardware store and to Sawyer’s Grocery Store for a few odds and ends. If there’s somebody around to drive you, they’ll take you where you need to go in the Van but I almost thought we weren’t going to be able to go. The girl that took us last time was the only one in the guardhouse, and the guys at the front didn’t want to. Finally Eric got Troy to take us (he was all to happy to). Troy was fun and full of information. He also took us to the West End Bakery for meat pies but they didn’t have any so we got coconut pastries that he recommended and of course we got one for him too. They were to rich for me but I felt duty-bound to eat it all and say they were good.


Sawyer’s Grocery Store was very good. Good produce selections and good prices too. After Troy dropped of Axel and Wayne at the hardware, he dropped us off at Sawyer’s then went back for the guys. We finished before he got back and waited for him outside. We’d noticed that there were a couple of guys selling conch from the back of a pickup parked across the street but hadn’t noticed that it was one of the guys that works at the marina until Troy pointed it out. Of course we had to buy some conch - $2.50 per conch such a deal and they cleaned them for us! Since we have no water, I sent mine with Mary Clare and sent my “bruiser” over too in case she wanted to make conch tonight. If so, okay, if not, stuff them in the freezer. We’re talking of heading out tomorrow so Wayne & Axel went in search of diesel fuel for the boats and checked us out of the marina. I guess the gas docks don’t have fuel here so they walked to the gas station down the street. I have a feeling I won’t be making anything tonight. Especially after we got the pump and filter all together and then the pump itself started spraying and leaking all over the place. While Wayne disconnected the pump, I went to the Captain’s meeting to see what Azaya and Aurora wanted to do. It looks like we’ll head out tomorrow – weather permitting, and go to More’s Cay, then on to Royal the next day. As we were leaving the Captain’s meeting (2 for 1 gin and tonics again) the bartender mentioned that the hall was ready for the wedding tomorrow and asked if we’d like to see it. We checked it out and it was fabulous looking. They really did a wonderful job. The bride and groom will be quite pleased!


One last shower here before leaving tomorrow.

Thursday, January 06, 2011 Working and rain

I pulled out my little electric coffee pot for coffee this morning (why use up my alcohol when I have shore power?) and loved how much faster it makes coffee than my little 2-burner stove! Wow! That and a toaster and being able to get off the boat at whim! Can it get any better than that? Took a morning walk and chatted with some of the crew of the 87 ft fishing yacht and 185 ft yacht Mystique that came in last evening. I thought they came in to get out of the front that’s coming tonight, but they’re here for the Wahoo fishing tournament this next week. It sounds like there’s money in those tournaments – last year first prize claimed 1.75 million dollars! Wow. It was interesting chatting with them. I learned they like to use ballyhoo and uhm, grunts as baitfish but it seems to work. I told them the only fish we’d caught besides barracuda was a King Mackerel and he just kind of grinned at me.



Thomas (our host) and Joe (Nocturne)

 On the way back to the boat from my stroll, I saw Joe out with his hair-hat on and had to get a picture of him. I love that hat! Then it was back to the boat to make breakfast. We had bagels with strawberry cream cheese, bananas and I made some mushroom, onion and cheese omelets. I couldn’t believe how hungry I was & actually wolfed it down!

Now I’m spending the day downloading pictures and working on the computer while Wayne tries to hook up the foot pump to the sink. It would be nice to have water that I don’t have to keep running back and forth to flick on the switch at the nav-station. Wash a dish, then with soapy hands run to switch on the water pump to rinse, and on and on. Our pump just doesn’t work right and hasn’t for the longest time. To use it without shorting out a circuit we turn on the pump until it’s at capacity, then switch it off because the amps seem to skyrocket to 15 on our amp-meter. It’ll be nice when he gets that foot pump going – yah!
The rain started at 1:30pm lightly then we got rolling thunder and lightening along with the rain around 2:30pm. With the last crackle of thunder so close to the lightening I think it time to shut down. The wind is whipping up. Later.
The rains continued on and off, sometimes, in torrential downpours. While Wayne worked on the foot pump, I continued cleaning up computer files then when he went over to Azaya to see if they had a part he could use, Mary and I jumped ship with our charts to go over to the sheltered picnic tables to look at various anchorages. I discovered that this was no easy feat since we were at low tide. We sit about 3.5 feet below the cement dock so at low tide it makes it difficult getting on and off. Especially when it’s wet! I have to jump up in a sitting position and swivel before standing so it was wet bottom time.

Seafood night mmm...

Lucaya, Grand Bahamas Island



Joe/Nocturne

 This morning felt like a true Bahamas morning. Temperatures started at 70 and it was perfect for a morning walk around the marina with my coffee and camera. As I headed for the marina office I noticed a sailboat coming in from the channel and waved. They asked if anyone was home yet and I yelled back “no but if you know your slip assignment, I can help you tie up”. I followed them along the docks for a bit then they turned and went back to the fuel dock to tie up. The boat’s name is Nocturne. After chatting a bit with Len and Joe the topic of the Georgetown Regatta came up. It turns out that Len is the Chairman of the Regatta. I told him I doubted our boat could ever consider winning – we’re not racers but he said the boats are handicapped. I could probably get the pickle boat award if nothing else. As we continued chatting, Joe removed his hat – it’s the greatest! His hat has white spiked hair that I thought was his! LOL I’d just thought he was being current with the hairstyles!

Continuing my walk, I met Mason in the boat across from us. We’d admired it when we first came in with its classic design and huge teak bowsprit. It’s registered in the U.S. Virgin Islands but Mason is a single handler from Michigan.  Then I stopped and chatted with Aurora – Harry and Marayka. I originally thought they were from France but they’re from Holland. They’ve been traveling quite extensively for a few years now and it’s nice to chat with them. They’re a very nice couple.

After I finally got back to the boat, I rinsed off Kolibrie, drained her water tanks from the water left from last year and Indiantown and topped up with the water here. It’s nice to see clear water when I pour it into my drinking jug! Next was afixing the screens in the v-berth with silicon to hold them in then I was ready to head into town.

After sending a letter back home via Fed-Ex Mary & I along with the boat “Running Aweigh to?” caught the courtesy van into town to the hardware (True-Value) and the grocery store. Mary Clare found an adapter for their hoses for a water filter, but I didn’t find my needles. We finally found those at the International Sewing Center (Yay!); I lamented that I missed fresh baked bread/Bimini bread so our driver said “You want fresh bread?” and swerved into The West Bakery for fresh bread and meat pies (they were wonderful) before returning to the marina. There, a small fishing boat approached wanting to know if we wanted lobster$10 each? Mary and I looked at each other and wondered if they’d go cheaper. We couldn’t remember what Glen paid but we figured maybe 1 each of us?
She called out “Is that your best price - What will you take for 4?”
“Will you take $30 for 4?”
“Yes, Okay ma’am, we can do dat for you ladies.”
“Do you want the whole lobster or just the tails?”
She wanted to try making them whole; I didn’t, so we got 2 whole and 2 tails. I had to grab my camera. He was going to show us how to split them open. So our new lesson for the day was how to prep lobster.

While he was waiting for Mary to return with her part of the money, I was admiring their conch in the bottom of the boat. One that was laying lip up had a beautiful pink/yellow lip. He decided that he’d let me have the shell, so they removed the conch and gave me the shell. Since one tail was kind of small on the lobster, I got an extra one and he threw in a small yellow snapper/grunt to boot! Wow. It’s a seafood night! Got lobster, grunt (snapper), and lovely conch shells. He broke his knife giving us our lesson on prepping lobster (he’d had that for 3 years) so Mary gave him one of her old ones. They left happy and we were happy too. They said if the weather held, they’d be back tomorrow with more. After the way everyone was eyeing Mary’s whole lobsters, I hope they bring back quite a bit. There are quite a lot of boats wanting lobster now.

It fills the grill!



mmm look at that tail!

We decided to grill our lobster over at the pool area where they have a grill – but we discovered no gas, so Azaya brought their grill there and we had salad, garlic bread, lobster and grunt. Several of the other boats were oohing and ahhing at the size of the lobsters. It was impressive how much meat there was in the body. The meal was delicious and I loved seeing Axel devouring the lobster with such gusto! I love seeing someone enjoy their food, and he reminded me of my mom when she’d eat ribs with such appreciation and enthusiasm! Next time I get the whole lobster, not just the tail. It was a delightful day all around with quite affordable food and wonderful company.

Looking around the Lucayan Marketplace

Bagels and strawberry cream cheese, tangerines and coffee for breakfast, mmmmmm…. It was a delightfully lazy morning and with electricity, I definitely wanted bagels!
This is a very nice place. I’m so glad Blue Pearl recommended it.

After showers we ferried over to the market place with Azaya and wandered the shops and stores.

The market area is very colorful. The shops are painted various shades of purple, yellow, orange, blues and greens. 


Note Pat & Diane Fantasia Tours above :)

I found a couple of businesses labeled "Pat & Dianne" and thought about Diana back home. How about it Di - should we set up shop here?

The Christmas tree and New Years decorations with the dropping ball and beaded streamers that cross above us, attest to the huge party that must have been in the main square. The Santa figure, by the tree, looks like he may have partied a bit too much.

It was delightful looking in the shops. Hearing the ladies hawking “Come in, ma’am have a look around”, “come in beautiful, see what I have… what is it you’re looking for?” in their lilting voices, definitely made me realize that we’re no longer in Florida. There, the accents and language are predominantly Latin American, but in the Bahamas the voices have, what I would describe as, a lilting, sing song Creole flavor that is heard throughout the Bahamas.

We had lunch in one little restaurant near the straw market. At least I thought it was a small one. We sat outside at the patio tables that had a view of the straw market and I had my first cracked conch of the season! It was quite tasty! Add lemonade, peas and rice, fresh broccoli, peppers, carrots and zucchini spears, salad with Greek olives and feta cheese – at $10.79 it was a bargain with a terrific view for people watching. When we were done eating, I went inside and was amazed to see that the restaurant part was quite large and nice. I think the name of it might have been “Le Med”. It opened onto two streets, had a dessert counter, had table-clothed tables and was quite roomy and very clean. It was impressive and more upper-scale than the patio area indicated from the outside.

The decline in the world market and in the U.S. has hit the Bahamas hard. So many of the new hotels and marinas were literally stopped dead in their tracks. Walking along the beach, we decided to cut back to the main street through a very large hotel and grounds that appeared to be extensively groomed. Huge pools and an outdoor that was beautifully tailored to attract upper-end customers looked relatively deserted. We noticed there wasn’t anybody about and the pool area said, “Closed”. I was flabbergasted when we walked up to the main entrance to see a “Closed” sign on the door. This was a billion dollar operation sitting empty of employees, vacant of guests. It made me think of the marina we’re at. They’re offering wonderful deals but the marina has, mostly empty slips. I think if the economy were good – we couldn’t afford to stay here! While the economy may be on the up swing finally, it appears to be only slowly filtering to the outlaying areas. I think that they are just trying to stay open to get through this economy. If they can break even, it will be good. The people like Thomas, work long hard hours and fill the jobs of many. They’re good people that have had these jobs for many years. I hope things turn around here!

Going back to the ferry to get to the marina, we ran into Harry and Marayka from Aurora. We all decided to go over charts and weather back at the marina. It sounds like another cold front is expected to come through here Wednesday or Thursday and since we were going to leave then, it seemed we had better go over anchorages and weather.
Back at the marina it was happy hour time by the pool bar. They have a 2 for 1 drink special between 4pm and 7pm so Azaya brought their computer so we could go over weather, and we all brought our charts. The pool/bar area is so beautiful! It has a long lap pool (that I’m sure my camera doesn’t do justice) that goes under a bridge to a kiddy pool and fountain and ends at a waterfall. The bar and patio area sit on a bricked area that hold wrought iron tables and chairs. The bar is quite different. It has the shape of a boat’s bow with a figurehead at the point of the bow and a mural behind it of ocean creatures.

We went over several different weather sites and looked at the anchorages and sheltered areas. I think all 3 boats decided that we’d rather be here than at an anchorage if given the choice. The predicted 25-30 knot winds in the middle of the night would be more comfortable here. How much of that was based on the weather and charts I’m not sure. The drinks, I’d forgotten, are mostly gin with a splash of tonic. Even though I’d ordered mine mostly tonic with a splash of gin, I think I still got the Bahamian special of mostly gin! I’m not sure how I got back but I know I had a great evening and laughed a lot at our palaver (captain’s meeting in Dutch – Aurora is from Holland).

Poor Wayne. I couldn’t have made dinner if I’d tried! His dinner consisted of what ever he could find that was easy. Cheese & crackers and M&Ms. Good thing we had a large, late lunch.