Days gone from VA: 89
Days in the Bahamas: 27
Miles traveled: 1,326.9
Things overboard: Today - one Tag Hauer watch - RECOVERED: one Tag watch!! more on that later...
Toilet Saga: Toilet 6 (1 more this trip) - David -0- .. more on that later too.
Visitors: 1
Before I catch everyone up on the trip I thought you might enjoy some FACTS about living/cruising in the Bahamas. The one consistant thing is the color of the water!! It's amazing and I still marvel at it. That's the only thing consistant. Power and internet go on and off without any notice. When you go to the store if you miss "the boat" you can be without milk and fresh produce and meat until the next "boat" comes in.
FUEL AND GROCERIES: Here's a sample of the prices you pay here:
Diesel: Was $4.65 when we first got here...it's up to $4.65 as of today.
Milk: 1/2 gal. of non-fat: $2.75 (they freeze both milk and bread when it's shipped from US)
Eggs: 1 doz. ex-large: $2.49
Chips: (hold onto your hats): 1 regular bag of Frito/Lay Corn Tortilla: $6.49
Variety bag of Frito/Lay: $11.29
Produce: Iceberg lettuce: $2.49, Cukes per lb. $1.39 Broccoli crowns per lb: $2.69
Canned goods: Can veggies run anywhere from $1.99 for green beans to $2.50 for canned tomatoes
Lunchmeat: Oscar Mayers Smoked Turkey: per lb. $8.49
Beer: Local Kahlik beer - 1 can $5.00
Mooring balls: Usually run around $10 per night but go up as far as $20 per night. If they are owned by a marina you get access to their showers and laundry if they have them.
The farther away from Marsh Harbor you get the higher the price gets. For the most part, Maxwell's, the big grocery in Marsh Harbor, uses Costco as their supplier. They have a good supply of beef and local Abaco chicken but it's expensive. The one thing we have found and really enjoy are the local bakeries. The pastries are incredible .. tons of butter in them .
DAILY SCHEDULES: Our "normal" schedule depends on whether or not we're underway. Underway days usually start around 7:30 when we have breakfast. We move out around 8AM and sail until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Any later is not safe due to the shallow water and the mooring balls get taken up. We have a lunch routine pretty set. We keep a canvas bag with snacks and munchies in it. If it looks like it's going to be a rough sailing day I make sandwiches ahead of time and keep them in the frig. When it's time to eat I just grab them out into the cockpit.
Non-sailing days start around 7:30 - 8:30 AM. Most days one of us is up so we can listen to the CRUISERS NET. The "net" as it's called around here is a daily briefing on weather and announcements from local businesses, done by volunteers trying to help all the cruisers out. You wouldn't think something so simple could be so important but it really is. So after the net is over we'll start whatever projects we've got going. At some point we either go for a walk or take our bikes for a ride. If we're tied up it's much easier getting our bikes to the dock. Ferrying them in the dinghy is tricky but we've figured out how to do it. It's much, much easier when the tide is high but sometimes we're not that lucky.
At the end of the day it's dinner time and, depending on how we feel, we've gotten hooked on HEROS and 24. We only had the first season of HEROS (the second is on it's way..hopefully with this next mail batch) and our friends have loaned us Season 1 of 24. So... exciting times here on SIMPLICITY.
Now for trip progress:
January 5 though 10th: We stayed at Treasure Cay anchored out doing projects and fishing - didn't catch anything but had a nice day except for the toilet overflowing - again. David thinks he may have figured it out again. More as progress develops.
I was able to bake bread with a quick recipe our daughter-in-law found. Unfortunately, my oven only gets to 365 but the bread was still fresh, homemade and WARM!! The most fun we had was making fresh conch salad with some frozen conch we bought in Green Turtle Cay. We also bought some conch fritter batter that we froze so were able to break that out and fix those. As you can tell, we really like conch and are hoping to get to some places not harvested by too many people and get a couple on our own. If we do, pictures will follow.
We were still in contact with the Harborview Marina in Marsh Harbor since that's where our mail was supposed to go. People told us not to expect much as far as mail catching up with us and they were right. Our mail was sent DHL from Fort Lauderdale on 12/23. Adding to the frustration were all the holidays and the fact it sat in Nassau for we don't know how many days...then it got to Freeport - a little bit closer anyway. We think it made it to Marsh Harbor sometime around 1/7. In any event, we finally picked it up on Jan. 9th and got Christmas cards which were enjoyed tremendously.
January 10 thru 14th: Sat in Marsh Harbor at anchor and then went to tie up at Harborview!! We've become friends with the owners and talked them into giving us a key for the showers!!! You really appreciate a hot shower when you can't get them everyday. We left Marsh Harbor on Jan. 14th headed to Hopetown. We were here with Steph at Christmas time but this time the weather was much better.
We grabbed our mooring ball here in Hopetown around 1PM and David lost his Tag Hauer watch overboard while attaching the mooring ball. He ran down below, jumped into his wet suit, grabbed fins/mask and we lowered the dinghy in the water. One of the things you discover, after laughing a lot, is that a glass bottom bucket is an important thing to have onboard. You check your anchor with it, look at fish or you find the $400 dollar watch your husband has just lost.
We got the dinghy to the approximate location just off the bow and BINGO....I stuck my head into the bucket looking around and found it. David threw the little dinghy anchor out to mark the spot, went down twice and came up with it...SUCCESS!!! After than we hiked up the Lighthouse and took some pictures of Hopetown from the best view around.
Hope you enjoy these:
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| Sea of Abaco - looking towards west |
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| Main entrance to Hopetown |
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| Main channel into Harbor |
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| Main Harbor looking towards Atlantic Ocean |
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| Far end of Harbor .... our boat is in the middle of the 2 white houses on the far side |
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| Hopetown Municipal Building - Post Office, Commissioner's Office and Police Station |
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| Rental cottages at entrance to Harbor |
And now for the more technical aspects of sailing: Coming into some areas RANGE MARKERS are what guide you into the area safely. Here are the range markers going into Hopetown:
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| Look carefully to the middle of the picture just by the 2 chairs and you'll see 2 red triangles, one on the bottom and the second above it on the telephone pole. These are lighted at night. You may not be able to see the upper one but it's there....trust me...we've used it. So that's it from beautiful downtown Hopetown, where the church bells chime every night at 6PM. |
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