Bimini to Staniel Cay

Happy St. Patricks Day, it is March 17th. We are in Stanel Cay, the temperature is low 80's and the weather is perfect for the tropics. The wind is blowing 15 from the east so sailing is great northwest to southeast along the Exuma Island chain. What a difference from yesterday although we cannot complain about anything.

We left Bimini on Sunday March 6th anchoring out overnight on the Bahama Banks after a long day sailing east. We then went onto Chub Cay where we snorkeled and enjoyed a beautiful sunset before heading to Nassau the next day. It was a close reach (upwind sail) so we had to tack a couple of times before a late arrival in Nassau harbor. We took a slip at a marina so that we could sleep in peace without worrying about dragging: the harbor is scoured by tides so the holding is tenuous at best. We bought some groceries, filled up on fuel and headed out to Rose Island about an hour and a half away where we met up with Wes and Jan of "Dances with Dolphins" on the north side by Sandy Cay. What a ride but the anchorage was peaceful and the bottom sand which is the best holding.

After lamb dinner with them and a day of snorkeling we moved the boats to a protected hole in the island to avoid a big NE blow. Next day we moved to an achorage on the southside and enjoyed several more days with them. All good times come to an end, Monday we headed into the Exumas under perfect conditions. We arrived in Normans Cay where we snorkeled and made some new friends who invited us for happy hour and showed off (in a nice way) their beautiful IP445, a center cockpit sailboat. It was a great day.

We then moved to Big Majors spot, but a mini-ordeal given winds on the nose twice as strong as expected. We had to tack several times and ran the motor all day as we sailed close to the wind. Steaks on the barbee at 19:30 and a nice quiet harbor.

Big Majors Spot is five minutes from Staniel where tonight we enjoy a band from 4-7 then dinner. Our friends were very understanding when we changed our destination to wait one more day before venturing futher south. We look forward to being with "Never Bored" soon.

I guess to sum it up: we are truly enjoying the best of the Bahamas now that the weather is warmer and we are in the heart of the Exumas. Somewhat gone but not forgotten are all the difficulties we've overcome and the maintenance work needing to be done. Livin for today, yeah mon.

Stuart to Ft Lauderdale and Bimini

After leaving Stuart we followed the ICW to Lake Worth for one picture perfect night with a calm harbor, perfect lighting and the boats sitting at anchor. But we needed to press on so that we could make Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday so we could go to the Miami boat show on Sunday.

The outside run to Ft. Lauderdale was uneventful and once again we motored staying close to shore to escape the Gulf Stream.

Sunday, we dinghied ashore to meet our friends, Frank and Joanne who drove us to the show. We left our dinghy at the public boat ramp next to the police dock, enjoyed the show, dinner and company. Upon our return however our dinghy was missing which we were informed by a bystander had been placed in protective custody by the police department. We walked over to the station but it was not staffed after who knows what time because there was absolutely no information explaning there hours or who to call. Seeing the dinghy at their dock behind a fence I realized that from the water I could easily get our dinghy so we could get home to our boat anchored in Lake Sylvia. Another boater took me to the dinghy, we went home and to sleep.

There are right ways to do things and sometimes they elude me as we quickly found out. In the morning I called the police department and two officers came over in their boat to tell me that I should have called 911, I should not have taken my dinghy and that we should not have left it at the sea wall near the public boat ramp on the busiest day of the year so far. They also went so far as to tell us that a boat must be registered in some state regardless of state laws to which I thought "huh, that is news to me". Then they asked us if we wanted to prosecute and that they had the guy on four drug violations. I stated that we did not want to travel all the way back from Oregon for a trial so they said "sign here" and we did. The offices left after warning us again and we thought it was all over.

Next, the arresting officer who had since come on duty called to give us all the same warnings plus tell us how he had put his life on the line for us and we did not even want to prosecute. We said we would be glad to now that we knew a little more about the circumstances but he said it would only look like he made us do it if it came to court, but after telling us it was an open and shut case and that the guy would have pleaded out anyway. Then had asked us when we were leaving and said that we should be moving on. I think he watched to many westerns. Overall, we feel bad for what happened and know we would make different choices in the future but he was definitely over the top.

During the week we got our wind generator back, did boat chores, went to a cruisers pot luck with Frank and Joanne then on Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday night joined with our friends on Siya Sinana, Gary and Lisa for some sun downers plus a tour of the cities water front. It was great but Monday they headed north and us to Miami.

We tried to go outside to Miami but had know luck tacking south as we went out to far and got driven north by the Gulf Stream. An hour later we got back to where we started so we went inside down to No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne just south of Miami. It was pretty nice in the little harbor and the coolest thing was that they were shooting scenes for a TV show, either Burn Notice or maybe Bones. It had something to do with a little sea plane.

Tuesday we headed for Bimini where we have been for a few days and will be until the wind dies down. I did not realize how far it was to the next protected anchorage so we have to wait until we can anchor in the shallow waters of the Bahama bank for a night, right now it is too rough. If we were to go all over again I would have made very different choices but a few days will not hurt us. Today we have been vanishing some spots inside that need it. There is always work to do on the boat. Hopefully we will head towards Nassau either Monday or Tuesday.

Vero Beach to Stuart

After getting the root canal all closed up in Vero we started south on the ICW spending one night in Jensenville before heading to Stuart. We will leave tomorrow the February 18th for Fort Lauderdale hopefully arriving Saturday so we can attend the Miami Boat show with our friends Frank and Joanne on Sunday. Here is what we have been doing since Vero.

We decided to have an electric winch installed to handle the new main with in-boom reefing so we went up to Stuart home of Mack sails. It is located on the St. Lucie River part of the Lake Okochobee Waterway. It is about two hours off the ICW and has a wonderful marina where we took a mooring ball for the week we were going to be here. Although the install took until Monday the 13th our bigger problem was the dinghy motor which decided to not have any forward or reverse. Ed took it apart as far as he could then called a repair guy who worked on it, determined it could not be fixed and found a used one for us. It is now Thursday the 17th and we are ready to roll, finally.

While here, Ed figured out that our alternator regulator was bad and needs to be sent in for work. He bought a cheapie for $18 which works pretty well. Meanwhile, the wind generator is acting up and he will take that in for warranty work in Ft. Lauderdale (convenient). The marina here has free bicycles for our use so we have biked to stores and restaurants. There is a cute downtown within walking distance with trendy stores and good restaurants. We really like Stuart!

Meanwhile, our friends keep saying "where are you". Hopefully, we will start to make some progress and do some real sailing and spend some time snorkeling and swimming. Bye for now.

November 2010-January 2011

Today is January 31st and we were on the boat all of November until December 6th and since January 15th. I will try to do a little catch-up for the last two months and then try to be current in the future.

We worked and lived in the St. Marys Services Boat yard until the day after Thanksgiving when we put her in the water on the North River and travelled the seven or so miles to St. Marys where we docked her until January 26th. We are now in Vero Beach in Central Florida along the ICW (intra coastal waterway).

Projects this year included:

1. Roller Furling Boom by Schrader installed by Mack Sails
2. Lavac Electric Toilet
3. New Standing Rigging (the stainless steel wire that holds up the mast)
4. New mainsail made by Mack sails
5. Bottom paint
6. New Anchor/tri-color on the mast top
7. Internal routing of the halyards to reduce slapping at anchor
8. LED lighting in main cabin

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in St. Marys. The town provides the turkeys and ham. The cruisers provide the side dishes. This year about 300 people enjoyed the meal and the happy hours each day of the week prior to the turkey fest. There were about 80 boats in the harbor.

On the Sunay prior to Thanksgiving Ann organized a spaghetti feed for the boatyard and any boaters and friends who made the trip up for it. It was wonderful except for the gnats which are ever present when the weather is pleasant.

On December 6th we were off to visit Ed's mother in Tubac, Arizona for one week. She lives alone on 17 acres 1000 feet above the valley floor. The weather was great and we enjoyed helping around the house and property. This year we spread gravel using a Bobcat front loader which was great fun for both Ann and Ed.

We returned to our home in Oregon December 13th for a month with our family. Of course we had to have a tree and houseful of decorations but it was all worth it as we saw three of our four children. Our oldest lives in Boston and was entertaining her future mother-inlaw. While at home we accomplished some needed wedding planning by choosing a date and venue with our daughter's input of course.

We returned to the boat on January 15th for 10 and 1/2 days of boat work and trip preparation before leaving St. Marys on Wednesday afternoon for the trip south. As usual we overnighted, this time going in at the Ponce De Leon inlet south of Daytona and spending two nights in the Titusville City Marina. There we recovered and spent a day with our friends Sue and Bob who live in Massachusets.

The first night on the ICW we spent anchored behind a small island. I suppose it was in Titusville that I first noticed the start of the pain that signals the need for a root canal. Last year I had two root canals in Florida. So today I called endodontists in Vero Beach and had a root canal. Yahoo! Hopefully, that will be it for this year. I have a return appointment for Thursday to remove the temporary cap, antibiotic and install the filler and new cap.

What is next? We haven't decided yet but southern Florida is definitely on the map. Maybe we will attend the Miami boat show.

Marsh Harbor to Great Guana Cay-April 9-17-2010

We enjoyed our time in Marsh Harbor, Abacos although we feel we are getting closer to land life with ready
availability of tourist shops, grocery stores, barbers, pharmacies, and restaurants. We enjoyed getting to know more
cruisers that we met at the bars during Happy Hour. The weather was in the 60's and windy but it gave us a chance
to do laundry and other boat chores. We also enjoyed a few games of dominoes. It is such a slower pace of life.

It has been fun to reunite with our sailing friends on Star Shot, Penny and George and Never Bored, Chris and Sheila
that we spent time with last year. We enjoyed some happy hours together, dominoes and enjoyed attending the Agricultural
Fair in Marsh Harbor with crafts, food and demos of filleting lion fish which are a species that have few predators and
eat the grouper which is quite popular here.

Sat, April 17 we sailed over to Great Guana Cay. Immediately upon arrival Ed got the opportunity to enjoy the refreshing water so
that our anchor could be properly set; after 3 tries he decided it needed to be hand set. The grass here is not conducive to a sure set like sand is.
We enjoyed the local bands at Grabbers and the dancing. Nippers is a colorful bar not just the building which overlooks the beach but in the
local dancing action among the college aged group and some boaters that think they are still college age. We enjoyed the Sunday buffet and
the people watching was fun and speculating on the marvels of plastic surgery. Bocce ball was a highlight of the weekend along with beach combing.
We miss our friends but certainly enjoy this pace of life.

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Water Cay to Thompson Bay and Calabash Bay, Long Island

Snorkeling at Water Cay was interesting but with only a few hours we found one great reef with the best corals we have seen but nothing to eat. There is a blue hole nearby but it was too late in the day to spot it and we did not have the GPS in the dinghy. Oh well, maybe next time.

The run is about 40 miles; north for about 1/3 and east for about 2/3. This year we had east winds going south about half way thru the day which was just about perfect for our run and as the weather guru, Chris Parker, had predicted. Ken on Duet and I on Windswept Dreams could just sail at 38 degrees of apparent wind. Actually, when we turned the corner to go east both at the same time, we both started our engines because we did not know if we could sail it and we wanted to make sure that we did not drift off in the rather narrow Comer Channel. I had to move the blocks for the jib sheets back so I could flatten out the genoa plus I put up the staysail, a small sail that flys inside the head sail and channels air next to the main on a close reach. Otherwise, the staysail is pretty useless except as a storm-sail. Anyway, Duet and Windswept Dreams sail very closely together though with perfect sails the longer Tayana should be slightly faster. But enough about that.

I have talked about Thompson Bay before but once again we had a very nice time going to dinner at Trafina's, walking the ocean beaches, doing laundry, eating pizza (lunch) and using the internet at the Long Island Breeze club. It is a laid back island with nice people and you can also get fuel, water and groceries at the two good stores. There are two seafood companies where you can buy crayfish (lobster) and fish. We met one of the fisherman, Wayne Harding, in the Jumentos, his family owns stakes in the local petroleum company, hardware store, gas station, one seafood company and who knows what else? Ann enjoyed visiting island friends from last year.

On March 25th we went north about 20 miles to Calabash Bay, also on Long Island. We took several extended beach walks; Ann and Belinda on Duet love the walks. There ccertainly have not been enough large shells to collect this year. This resort sits on a perfect white sand beach of about two miles. The bungalos and town-houses surround a club-house restaurant. They are cruiser friendly and offer internet access by the day for $10 which we took advantage of. We meant to stay only overnight but it was too nice to leave so quickly. I would heartily recommend this place to anyone.

We had drinks outside the bar the second night and were joined by two German men which was interesting.

March 27th was goodbye Long Island and moving north.

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Ragged Island to Water Cay

Our stay in the Raggeds and Jumentos has been all too short. We love this area but need to head north because of our schedule to be back in April. Ken and Belinda on Duet have the same constraint. So, we left the southern most of the Ragged Islands for the southern most of the Jumentos: Jamaica Cay. It is a small Cay with a little beach and plenty of swell. The 35 mile sail up to it was at 7K on a broad reach, the fastest angle of sail.

Sunday, we left at 8:30 AM for Water Cay. The wind angle was not so favorable: the second half of the trip from Flamingo Cay to Water Cay was at 35 degrees to the wind. We motor-sailed, Duet was able to sail it. Perhaps if we had used our cutter sail we would have been able to but I did not feel like going on the foredeck with 3-6 foot waves. We need to put it on a roller-furling like the jib so we can easily put it up and down from the cockpit.

It was a nice day anyway, not too long. Ken and I snorkeled with me taking a small grouper and he a triggerfish. The corals were the best I have seen on this trip.

We hope to go to Long Island tomorrow, hopefully we will have the SSE winds we need. If they shift as forecasted we will sail all the way to Salt Pond in Thompson Bay.

Good night for now, dinner is almost ready.

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