After two glorious months in the Bahamas, we crossed back to the U.S.A. on March 8-9, arriving in Lake Worth on Friday afternoon. The weather was calm so we took advantage of the opportunity to sail and motor straight through. It was a full moon night and the winds were almost nonexistent. The waters were flat and calm and the motor took us through the night without any problems. We did some star gazing and took turns at the helm while the other one tried to rest/sleep. It was 28 hours and 169 miles from Treasure Cay in the Abacos to Lake Worth inlet, Florida.
We've since returned to Sunset Bay Marina to visit with the kids and grandkids again, celebrate their birthdays, visit with our Erie friends “The Gunther's” who were touring Florida all month, attend Linda's niece Nicole's baby shower, and to be here for the arrival of Linda's son Louis who just moved down, too.
It's April now and the boat traffic seems to consists mostly of all those preparing to have their boats lifted for the summer and head home somewhere. There are several boat yards in this area that are equipped to pull and store the thousands of snowbird boats. We're already home so we just need to get back out there and resume exploring the Florida coast. We'll be heading south again soon and look forward to telling you all about it!
Key West here we come!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
The Sea of Abaco
Well, we've been very busy since we last posted an update for you all. The internet signals in the islands are weak and inconsistant, particularly when you move around as much as we do. To catch you up on our latest adventures we need to start by telling you about Conch. This is a variety of seafood that is very popular and available here in the islands. There are conch fishermen, conch menu items, conch shell collectors, and the ceremonious conch horn blowers! We've been anxious to find a shell of our own on the beaches and avoid having to purchase one as a souvenir. Our wish came true in Marsh Harbour a few days ago. As we talked to a local street vendor selling “fresh conch salad”. We managed to scarf up a few of his empties, in addition to a healthy portion of the famous salad. The salad is a mixture of finely chopped fresh vegetables, raw conch, and lemon and lime juice. Definitely something requiring an aquired taste. Anyway, we have re-harvested the conch shells by cleaning them up and repairing the hole made while extracting the little tasty animal inside with a small, thick batch of apoxy, and sawing off a small piece from the pointed end to create the mouth piece. We are now the proud owners of our very own Conch Horns. We will be practicing every night until we can force a sound out of them and look forward to sharing this new talent with all of you !! :) (LM: After all the music lessons I've had I'm sure my parents are very proud of me at this moment lol) Each night at sunset those that have a horn sound a note to signal the setting of the sun. It's quite fun to listen to in a remote are with all other boats anchored with you for the night. We're told there are actual contests among these souls to see who can sound their horns for the longest duration. Our good friend John on MYSTIC has an impressive record at 42 seconds, but still got 2nd place that year.
We also had a perfect opportunity a few weeks ago to pull that other sail out of the bag. You know the one, the spinnaker! (see pics, taken as actual evidence that we remembered how, lol) We had a nice light breeze that carried us out of Green Turtle so we went with it. After a few hours we doused the chute and headed into the protection of Manjack and Rat Cays. Our travels have also included the gorgeous beaches of Treasure Cay, sightseeing and potluck dinner on Great Guana Cay, an layover in Hopetown on Elbow Cay, and a few nights in Marsh Harbour. Right now, as the back to back cold fronts and gale force winds move through the area, we find ourselves back inside the canals in Treasure Cay for the duration.
We've included several pictures from, and of, the Lighthouse on Elbow Cay in Hopetown. This is one of just three of the last remaining lights of it's kind. We've traveled almost all the way around the Sea of Abaco and are starting to retrace our steps towards West End. We'll be looking for an opportunity to cross the Gulf Stream back to Florida sometime in the next 10 days to 2 weeks.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
ABACO ISLANDS in the BAHAMAS
We're finally back on the trail of exploration in the Abaco Islands having traveled 154 nautical miles since Tuesday morning and visiting 5 new anchorages. We've been following the charts as we sail along and identifying dozens of other islands along the way. We're taking shorter trips and spending more of the day enjoying the sights. We're sailing when we can which conserves the fuel and lends to a much more pleasant ride.
There are a few new pics posted as well including our last few days on Grand Bahama Island. We've made so many new friends and find that the longer you stay somewhere the more difficult it is to leave. We will return to Ocean Reef in the future and look forward to crossing paths with the cruisers we met there.
If you have a searchable map handy, look for Grand Bahama's West End, Indian Rock, Memory Rock, Great Sale, Little Grand, Crab and Green Turtle Cays. This the area we're traveling up and down for now. As you can see in the last pic, the water is blue and the beaches are covered in white sand!
Til next time, fair winds to you.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Update from Grand Bahama Island
Hello everyone!
How was your week? What's new? Are you ready for the big game tomorrow, or is it a non-event like it is for us?
We've been learning more about the fishing in the Bahamas and spent a day with local bahamian “Captain Les” on a Reef Fishing trip. We caught a few, while the other couple pulled in the big trigger fish(see pic). There are also several cruiser guys here in the club that like to go out and spear their own lobster. Jim now has a Hawaiian sling and has gone out to watch and learn from Hank just how to do it (see pics). We've grill Red Snapper, Grunts and Porgies(sp?), and tucked a few lobster tails into our freezer!
The weather here has been slightly less than perfect for the past few days, cloudy-windy-cooler temps. This did force us back to work though! Jim has been finishing his work on the reef lines and pecking away at wiping down the bottom of the boat with snorkel/mask and scrubbing tools. I finally have all the exterior trim sanded and taped off, and still need to put on several more coats of varnish before it's done.
We LOVE this place (Ocean Reef Yacht Club), but our month is almost over. Hard to believe how time passes so quickly. We're once again studying all the on-line weather models and planning to set sail again sometime in the next 5-7 days. Our heading will be west around Grand Bahama Island, then east to Great Sale Cay (pronounced key), and then into the Abaco Islands. These are less populated areas and there are fewer provisions, restaurants, etc. from what we have read. It'll be good to get back out there and be on our own again for a while. We'll still be without the phones and dependant upon finding a signal for internet/email for communications. We always have the VHF radio for any day to day needs, just no way to call home with that. They do have internet signal towers and service available so we'll look into signing up for that this week. There is also a "cruisers net" on one of the VHF radio channels where everyone exchanges information and news each morning. They can also provide emergency messaging networks and they announce new arrivals and departures for everyone else around to hear. It should be interesting.
How was your week? What's new? Are you ready for the big game tomorrow, or is it a non-event like it is for us?
We've been learning more about the fishing in the Bahamas and spent a day with local bahamian “Captain Les” on a Reef Fishing trip. We caught a few, while the other couple pulled in the big trigger fish(see pic). There are also several cruiser guys here in the club that like to go out and spear their own lobster. Jim now has a Hawaiian sling and has gone out to watch and learn from Hank just how to do it (see pics). We've grill Red Snapper, Grunts and Porgies(sp?), and tucked a few lobster tails into our freezer!
The weather here has been slightly less than perfect for the past few days, cloudy-windy-cooler temps. This did force us back to work though! Jim has been finishing his work on the reef lines and pecking away at wiping down the bottom of the boat with snorkel/mask and scrubbing tools. I finally have all the exterior trim sanded and taped off, and still need to put on several more coats of varnish before it's done.
We LOVE this place (Ocean Reef Yacht Club), but our month is almost over. Hard to believe how time passes so quickly. We're once again studying all the on-line weather models and planning to set sail again sometime in the next 5-7 days. Our heading will be west around Grand Bahama Island, then east to Great Sale Cay (pronounced key), and then into the Abaco Islands. These are less populated areas and there are fewer provisions, restaurants, etc. from what we have read. It'll be good to get back out there and be on our own again for a while. We'll still be without the phones and dependant upon finding a signal for internet/email for communications. We always have the VHF radio for any day to day needs, just no way to call home with that. They do have internet signal towers and service available so we'll look into signing up for that this week. There is also a "cruisers net" on one of the VHF radio channels where everyone exchanges information and news each morning. They can also provide emergency messaging networks and they announce new arrivals and departures for everyone else around to hear. It should be interesting.
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