Living the Dream

March 6^th & 7th

We left Rum Cay early in the morning and made our way southeast toward Mayaguana.  We had light winds again still from the North which gave us a broad reach to motor sail.   The swells became big again once we left the lee of the Island.  We traversed most of the way in 6 – 8 ft swells but they were fairly regular at about 11 second intervals and so were not to worrisome.     Mike had both fishing poles rigged and we trolled as we made our way South.     Mikes ocean Rod that was a beautiful gift from the Butler Family had not seen much action since we began this journey but not for the lack of trying.    At around 11:30am I had the helm and Mike was below reading and resting, as we would be sailing all night.  Suddenly,  Mike’s pole began buzzing and I yelled “Fish On!” and slowed the boat.   I was just reaching for the pole and Mike was emerging from the Salon when the other rod also started buzzing.  I yelled again “ Two Fish On!”   The Autohelm steered the boat and we both got to reel in a blackfin Tuna,  10lbs and 7lbs respectively.     It was a great rush!   Mike cleaned the fish while we were underway and I packaged the steaks and put all but one package in the freezer.   We will no longer be fish starved.  Hooray!   We continued on our journey and although we had a fish on 2 more times both bit through or broke the lines…..In which case it was probably better that we didn’t bring them in.   The freezer is not that big.     We made great time to Mayaguana  arriving at 2:30am under a sky full of stars and a glowing ¼ moon hanging low in the sky.  However….we arrived too early to hazard an entrance to the bay.  Most of the Islands are surrounded by Coral Reef and are better approached in the light of day.    We decided that since we had already traveled this far and we only had another 39 miles to get to the Turks and Caicos we pressed on.  Upon entering the Channel to the T&C the changes in the colors of the water was dramatically defined.   There were quite a few coral heads and we found that our GPS only covers the Bahamas so we entered using only our Paper Charts, and eyballing the Coral Heads.   28 hours after leaving Rum Cay we anchored safely on Mike’s Birthday in Sapodilla Bay on the Lee side of Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos.  We ran up the yellow Q flag and  I spent the afternoon baking him a Carrot Cake in our BBQ that actually turned out great!  I think I’m finally figuring out how to bake in it.    We had seared Blackfin Tuna Steaks with Wasabi for dinner and the Birthday Cake for Dessert.  We also had a good WiFi signal and so Mike was able to Skype with Family on his B-Day.   It was an exhausting but wonderful experience.  We will officially check into the T&C tomorrow.

Catch of the Day/ Blackfin Tuna

Michael’s B-Day Sunrise

Dramatic and Defined Color Changes

Happy Birthday Sweets

Michael’s Birthday Sunset

March 5^th, 2010

The Name alone sounds enticing.  Well we weighed our options…..take 2 days to travel south around the southern end of Long Island and across to the Ackins and on to the Turks and Caicos or take one day to travel north around the north point of Long Island and across to Rum Cay.   We listened to the weather forcasts for the coming days and opted for the latter.   The Winds over the next few days are to continue to come from the North and begin switching to the Northeast and then East.   We made our way north on the same path as we had taken the previous day.  The seas had indeed calmed down immensely and the wind had lightened as well.  We were joined by a friendly young dolphin who swam from his mother up to our boat to play for a few moments.   We always take this as a good omen.     Once around the point we had a broad reach that although light enabled us to make good time over to Rum Cay.   We anchored well before dark, relaxed and enjoyed watching children play on the beach and a young man who paddled across the bay standing on a surfboard.    After yet another beautiful sunset we prepared ourselves mentally for the next leg of our journey.   Tomorrow we will travel from Rum Cay down to Mayaguana on an overnight sail that should take us about 23 hours.

Rum Cay Sunset

March 4, 2010

We have torn ourselves away from Georgetown and are underway once again.    We spent the better part of the day before reorganizing and mentally preparing ourselves for the sail.   “Getting our head back in the game” as our friend David so aptly puts it, was our goal.   We had stowed our gear, took the engine off Mighty Mouse and raised and secured her on her davits.   We arose early and made our way out of our cozy anchorage, past our favorite snorkeling spot and into the cut to head over to Long Island.  The winds  had subsided at least a little to the 15-20 knot range but the seas had yet to calm down and we found ourselves once again in 10ft swells which on our initial course had them hitting us broadside, not very comfortable.   We changed course and headed southeast along the coast of Little Exuma and the turned east past White Cay.  This took us across the banks where the swells were considerably less.    Upon reaching Long Island we headed north again along the coast but as we left the banks the swells increased again and we were headed into the wind and waves nose first.  We slogged our way north for a few miles and upon seeing Joe’s sound, the only protected anchorage in that area, full, we opted to turn around and head back south and spend the night in Thompson Bay, Long Island.   With the wind and waves on our stern the trip back south was again a breeze.   We anchored in Thompson Bay just before sunset and settled in for the evening.   We will make our way north again tomorrow hopefully after the seas lie down just a bit more.

Thompson Bay Long Island

Well after nearly 6 weeks in Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas,  we managed to escape with our sense of adventure still intact.   I thought since I had not written much during this time you might like a little more detail into our time spent in Georgetown.    It is easy to get sucked in by the whirlwind of activities and atmosphere of the cruising community of G-Town and the festivities of Regatta.   It was a terrific place to entertain our family and friends as it had plenty of things to keep our minds from focusing on the continuing stream of north winds and cold weather…..Ok,Ok…..I know cold is a relative term for most of you back in the states.   The Georgetown Cruising Community has been described as, Adult Daycare, Sun City on the Sea, or Old Folks on Boats, primarily because of the general age of those who participate, volunteer, and coordinate the Regatta.   Michael says the last time he cruised there seemed to be a lot more young cruisers than he sees now.  I remind him he was of that younger crowd and is now older as well.  Many spend their entire winter here and return year after year.  This is after all what they use to refer to as Chicken Harbor as folks from the states would come this far and never venture further south.    During our stay, our mornings would usually start off with us tuning up the SSB radio to catch the weather from Chris Parker whose broadcasts became somewhat redundant with the projection of yet another cold front heading for the Bahamas.  We would gage the strengths and wind directions of the impending storms and choose which anchorage we would sit out the weather in.   Some of our favorites during our stay were Sand Dollar Beach, for its wonderful trails, long beach walks, shelling, and close proximity to afternoon fun volleyball (which both Mike and I loved), Crab Cay for its great protection from the weather and its short dingy ride to town,  and Red Shanks for its feeling of remoteness and beauty.   Our mornings also included faithfully tuning in to the Georgetown Cruisers Net broadcast on VHF Channel 68.  It features included a recap of the local weather, Community Announcements (activities), Regatta Announcements (contests, t-shirt sales, etc.), Boaters general (Items wanted/or available/lost & found /etc.), New Arrivals,  Departures, and a thought for the day.   The chatter over the VHF Radio was occasionally an annoyance at which time we would just shut it off but much of the time it was a source of entertainment.  There were some real characters in the Harbor who were very creative with their transmissions and one wonders if they actually scripted some of the more hilarious conversations and announcements.   Boats with names like Borrowed Horse and Mosey came up with some great ones.   Dan (Borrowed Horse) was the Self Appointed, unofficial spokesman for ARG!(Alcohol Research Group) and would coordinate weekly meetings/happy hours on the beach.   Ken (Mosey) aka Mr. (Are ya ready?) his moniker call before every serve at volleyball, also would keep us informed and entertained during the worst of the weather that passed through G-Town, (always promising warm fresh baked cookies prepared by his lovely wife Christie, at the height of the squalls and storms to any who wanted to dingy over to their boat!) The coconut telegraph was definitely in full swing and nothing was discussed over the VHF that you didn’t want everyone to know.  Boats and their crew would rename themselves or were given other names by their friends to try and achieve some anonymity on the Radio….next to impossible as voices were clearly recognizable and were followed shamelessly by all who knew them.  It was common place to hear, break! break!, and have someone join in your conversation.  Our afternoons were spent mainly on the Volleyball courts, weather permitting and we enjoyed a number of fun events put on by the dedicated volunteers of the Regatta committees as well as a number of evening spent a some of the more colorful local establishments.   We met and enjoyed the friendly people of Georgetown and treasured the company of our new friends as well as the joy of sharing a bit of our new lifestyle with old friends and family.   We gathered as many of our friend’s e-mails and or contact information that we could prior to leaving G-Town as we look forward to keeping in touch with them and perhaps meeting up again Down Island.   We loved our time fishing and snorkeling around the area and thrilled to the wonderful tastes of Lobster, fish, and conch dishes and appetizers prepared both by locals and copied to the best of our ability back on the boat.   We understand why cruisers return year after year to spend their winter in Velcro Harbor and we were honored to add the name of Dancing Dolphin to the border of the Georgetown Cruising Regatta Mural and the Guest book at the infamous Chat n Chill Bar on Volleyball Beach.   For us though, other Islands are calling and the continued, albeit atypical, North Winds are encouraging us to move ever southward.   The time has come to take our leave of Georgetown.  We will continue our sojourn taking with us some wonderful memories and of course a 30^th Annual Georgetown Regatta T-Shirt.

Feb 25 – Mar 3

Mike has continued to improve and is himself again.   He is still coughing but is back to his old ornery ways.   I thankfully never did come down with whatever the boys had.    We need to have some repairs done to the boat and we were hoping to travel up to Spanish Wells but the weather fronts just keep on coming and it looks like our chances for going back north are pretty much non-existent.   The weather has continued to present with an El Nino pattern of continued cold fronts and we were expecting gale force winds that thankfully passed to the north of us last night.   With the wind insisting that we abandon our northerly plans.   We have adjusted our attitudes and will now change our latitudes.  We are expecting NW to N winds at between 12 – 20 knots over the next 5 days so we will head south to the Turks and Caicos next and will check out the boatyard there.   We spent this last week connecting and gathering contact information from many of our new friends that we have met while staying in Georgetown.  We also were privileged to attend Chris Parker’s weather seminar on the 27th.   He travels here to the Bahamas once each year to share with the cruising community his vast wealth of knowledge regarding the weather.    We danced the night away at the opening day dance and no-talent show for the 30^th annual Georgetown Regatta.   I was also honored to be invited by a group of musicians to sit in on their jam session and learn some new stuff on the guitar.    We will miss the many activities and amenities that this Velcro Harbor in Georgetown has blessed us with during our stay but we are itching to be on the move again and spent today getting Dancing Dolphin ready to head out to the big blue again.   We have shared our plans with a number of other boats and it looks like we will have a flotilla leaving with us.   We will travel to Long Island tomorrow and then on to Rum Cay and then South.    I will be writing more often now as there will not be as many activities to keep me away from the computer.    Please comment whenever you can.  We enjoy knowing that you are along for the sail!

Feb 22- Feb 24

Well , after dropping Carl off, Michael’s cold progressed into Fever, Chills, Nausea, and a deep chest cough.   I started him on the Antibiotics we had on board, but I spent the better part of the last few days keeping a close watch on him as well as taking care of the all the boat chores.   We are bracing for another set of squalls that is supposed to come in tonight but we are sitting pretty.  We moved the boat over to the back corner of Red Shanks Anchorage the day Carl left and then settled in for the next round of cold fronts that will be passing through.    I took the dingy to town yesterday and got 12 more gallons of water and took 2 weeks worth of laundry and bedding to the Laundromat .   I also traveled to immigration and extended our 60 day visas for another 4 months.     We will attempt to leave the Harbor (pending Michael’s continued recovery) on Fri or Sat as we will have a weather window of about 4 days until the next front and squalls are due to pass through beginning next Tuesday again.   Chris Parker, the weather guru for the Caribbean , says that he has not seen this much unsettled weather in the Bahamas in more than 10 years and attributes it to El Nino.  Mike’s fever seems to be gone and he is feeling a little better today and actually ate a good breakfast this morning.   I still won’t let him do much to help so he has been spending his time reading and resting.    I’m keeping a positive attitude that If I haven’t got it by now I’m not going to.

Feb 7 – Feb 22.

Thanks to you all for your patience.  My lack of writing was in direct proportion to the amount of work(and fun) involved with having guests aboard.   Our friend Carl Pitts spent two weeks with us aboard Dancing Dolphin.   We introduced him to the many activities offered by the Georgetown Cruising community and the enjoyed some of the local flavor of Georgetown and its wonderful people.   Carl’s initiation to Georgetown was filled with walks on the beach, some rounds of Volleyball,  and sampling the pleasures of the Gumbay Smash (with a floater, of course!) at the Chat n’ Chill, then to a St.Francis Resort to watch the Superbowl.    Carl was feeling no pain as we negotiated our way back to the dingy and the boat.   Over the next few days we took Carl out to our favorite snorkeling spots and hunted for lobster and Conch.     The weather was hit and miss as far as sunny days and the water temp was not the warmest but we still enjoyed our swims and our afternoons on the beach.  We would have liked to sail over to Long and Conception Island during Carl’s visit but with the continuing line of cold fronts and squalls that kept coming we had to content ourselves with the beauty and offerings of Georgetown Harbor.      Carl developed a bad cold/flu within a week of his arrival and so spent much of his time relaxing and recovering while enjoying the views from some of our favorite anchorages around Georgetown.   If you have to be sick at least you get to recover looking out over the turquoise waters at the beautiful sunsets here in the harbor.   As Carl’s health improved we ventured over to the local Fish Shacks.   These are a group of small local family restaurants/bars where many of the locals go to enjoy themselves.   We took Mighty Mouse(our dingy) across the bay and over to the Fish Shacks at about 5:30pm only to find out that most of the restaurants don’t even start serving until 7:00pm and the music and partying doesn’t really get going until around 10:00pm.   We chatted with the few locals, enjoyed a couple of beers, had an appetizer of grouper fingers and watched a rousing game of dominos.   We then enjoyed some great Bahamian style snapper with peas and rice and some wonderful BBQ Ribs.   The spices and seasoning were really incredible and we will attempt to duplicate some of them on the boat.   We returned to the boat before 9:00pm (cruisers midnight), I know, I know, were getting old.  Michael was next to come down with Carl’s gift after snorkeling in the cold water for too long and getting quite chilled.    So with one recovering and another getting sick we ran up the black flag and tried to avoid contact with too many other boaters.   I had somehow managed to hold my own during this round of plague that over ran Dancing Dolphin.  I attribute much of that to taking long walks on the beach with Jenny from White Bird and staying out of the water during the cold weather as well as munching on the Acai Berries found on our walks (rich in anti-oxidants).       Carl left the sometimes warm weather and sunshine of the Bahamas on Monday to return to the winter wonderland that is Pagosa Springs.   We hope he enjoyed his stay and I’m sure he will regale you all with many more details from his trip.

Feb 5 –Feb 6^th

Friday we attended a benefit concert put on by a number of churches in Georgetown to raise money for the people of Haiti.   It was a lovely evening of revival type music and they had a great turnout.  We were lucky as we were experiencing the calm before the storm and had a comfortable dingy ride to and from Red Shanks into Georgetown.   Saturday was spent getting the boat ready for Guests again.  Carl Pitts from Pagosa Springs was due to arrive on Sunday and so while I prepped the inside of the boat,  Mike decided to change the engine oil.    We had the tunes cranked up and were surprised when our neighbor, Dennis,  from S/V Son of a Sailor pulled alongside of Dancing Dolphin and hollered up to Mike to ask if he was having trouble.   Mike extricated himself from the engine compartment and as he took a look around, saw that we were not where we had originally anchored.   We had drug approximately 50 yards from our original location.   Mike replied, “ Yes I guess I am, now!”    We scrambled as the engine was not in a condition to be restarted especially without oil.   We raced to get out our second anchor out and Mike jumped in the Dingy and took it out to set it.    We were able to get the boat to stop drifting and Mike hurried to complete the oil change so that we could reanchor back in our original position.   Unfortunately, while we were finishing up, another sailboat came into the small harbor and took our place.   We had to move to a different location altogether.     The holding was good and we enjoyed the comical VHF banter that persisted as cruisers readied themselves and their boats for a squall that built on the horizon and was moving in our direction.    The squall lasted approx an hour and winds topped out at 32 kts out of the SW.    The boat got a good freshwater rinse and we settled in for the last quiet evening alone for the next 2 weeks.   It will be an early morning Dingy Ride for us into Georgetown.  We pick Carl up at 7:30 am.

Feb 2nd & 4^rd

The boat feels both big and quiet now that Mom and Dad are gone.  Not that it was crowded or noisy while they were here but just having the responsibility for 4 lives instead of 2 seems to makes the days fly by and feel very full.   Spent the last couple of days housekeeping did all of our laundry in the Sputnik our hand crank washing Machine and got caught up with some maintenance issues and in the evening spent time visiting with Sue and Mac of s/v Suemac, a Tartan 40.   We attended a HAM Radio seminar on Hamburger Beach and then finished the day by heading back out to Fowl Cay with our friend David to do some spear fishing.   Michael found and speared a large lobster to add to our freezer and we also found a large conch bed that we had not swam over during our previous snorkels.   We brought home 6 conch.   We stopped at Sue and Macs as Sue had commented on how much she likes conch and has lots of recipes.   We finagled Sue into making us some conch fritters in exchange for some conch and enjoyed a nice evening only later realizing we had forgotten to hook up with David as previously arranged.  Ooops!  The great person he is he graciously forgave us after we promised to buy him some beer.   There is a cold front approaching again and along with it winds expected to blow at 20 – 25 kts out of the SW and W,  so we have moved the boat back over to Red Shanks where we are protected.    We made conch chowder with the rest of the conch.  Sue and Mac also came over to Red Shanks so we had them over for drinks and dinner aboard our boat.   Lee and Charlie from Windstar 4 also came by and gave us some fish identification books as we had mentioned that we had left ours in storage back in Pagosa.  They also loaned us another by a writer detailing his experiences buying a place and living in San Miguel Mexico.  They also stayed for cocktails and we had a great evening of funny and stimulating conversation.

Jan 21 – Feb 1^st

Mom and Dad joined us on the boat for a vacation and look into this new lifestyle we have embraced.   I arranged for our Bahamian friend, Vencil on Taxi 23 to pick me up and take me to the Georgetown Airport to meet Mom and Dad.   I was able to stand outside the fence and wave as they walked from their plane into the customs and immigration office for clearance into the country.    We traveled the 10 miles back into Georgetown and I called Mike on our Handheld VHF Radio to let him know we had arrived.    Mom and Dad packed well and only carried 2 small bags each, which is amazing in itself as I had given them a list of a number of small items that we needed from the States.   They waited patiently and we watched as Mike motored Mighty Mouse (our Dingy) under the bridge into Victoria Lake and up to the Exuma Market Dingy Dock.   He took Dad out to the boat with the luggage first and then came back for Mom and me.    We had brought Dancing Dolphin(DD) into Kit Cove next to Georgetown as the winds had picked up and we didn’t want to soak Mom and Dad upon their arrival by taking them on a long Dingy ride.   We welcomed them aboard and settled them into the Master Cabin.   We put Dad at the helm and had him take us back across the harbor to the anchorage off Honeymoon Beach below the Monument.    We introduced Mom and Dad to a number of our friends during their stay.   Our friends David and Trudy whom we had met in Warderick Wells treated us all to a wonderful Lobster Linguini dinner aboard their Sabre 40, Persephone.    We shared a few of our favorite anchorages around the Georgetown area.    Mom and Dad got their sea legs quickly and other than some mild queasiness when Dad was reading his book while we were underway, neither had any problem with seasickness.   We passed the time with them with a number of different activities.  Mom kicked butt at Mexican Train Dominos on the beach and Dad cheered us on at fun volleyball.  We shopped at the local straw Market where I purchased a mat for our Galley and Mom picked out some baskets and a doll.   We stopped at the local library and in the spirit of a true cruiser, Dad scored a Pilots guide to the Bahamas and Caribbean that was in the free box.   We took them out to our favorite snorkeling spot near Fowl Cay where Mom enjoyed a number of swims using her Underwater Camera to take some great pics.  Dad also learned to snorkel on this trip and after an afternoon of learning the basics and practicing near the beach he also ventured out to enjoy the underwater beauty of Fowl Cay.   We fished with both pole and hand lines, hiked the trails on Stocking Island, and walked the beaches looking for shells.   Mom got a little over zealous with her shell collecting and had a minor injury when she placed what she thought was an empty whelk shell into, (what she refers to her high pockets) the top of her bathing suit.  As she exited the water she felt a sudden pinching pain and reached into her bathing suit and hastily removed the whelk shell and its owner, a hermit crab, who had latched on with the grip of a teething baby.    Her injured, ah? Ego? was addressed as soon as we could stop laughing long enough to find the Neosporin.   We enjoyed Lobster & Fish Dinners, Lobster dips, Lobster Eggs Benedict, Conch Fritters, Conch Salad, and the classic Cheeseburger in Paradise.  Mom gave Michael some great digital photography tips that she learned and got him taking more pics with his new camera.   Together we were able to share with them the incredible beauty of  the Exumas turquoise waters and its plentiful undersea life as well as some amazing sunrises and sunsets in this small corner of the world.    Mom and Dad have always looked forward to visiting their children each time they moved into a new place so that they could imagine them in their new environment.   I guess we have given them quite a lot of food for their imaginations.   On Monday Feb 1^st we went to lunch at Peace & Plenty and then we met Vencil at Exuma Market and with hugs and tears in our eyes we said our goodbyes.   When I asked them if their experience was what they had imagined, they responded, “ it was all that and so much more”  We’ll be back!