EXUMA CAYS LAND AND SEA PARK - SPECIAL EDITION

TRIP FACTS AS OF:  February 5, 2011

Days gone from VA:         110
Days in Bahamas:               49
Miles Traveled:           1,527.9
Things Overboard:       Not one thing!!!

February 2 through February 5, 2011:   We left Cape Eleuthrea on Wednesday headed for the EXUMAS!!!   David was able to check off one more thing on his "to do list" so all is well.  We got into the Park around 3 in the afternoon and dinghy'd over to the Park Ranger's office to sign in, pay for our mooring ball, $20 a night and pay for internet at $10 a night.  We heard boaters calling on their VHF radios to get on the waiting list for a mooring ball.  There are a grand total of 54 mooring balls spread out between the North Field, Emerald Rock field, where we were, and the South Field. 

Before I goosh about how beautiful this place is let me give you some history. The Bahamas National Trust, a non-governmential organization, was created by the Bahamian Parliament in 1959 to manage their park system.  Parliament also set aside 176 square miles for the ECLSP to protect marine and land animals in the Park.  The park is 22 miles long and extends out 4 miles on either side of the cays and includes 15 islands and many tiny cays.  It is a NO TAKE zone so you can't pick up the conch you see in the water or go fishing.  Their motto is:  TAKE ONLY PICTURES AND MEMORIES, LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND.   

If you've ever seen pictures of the park you usually see the North Mooring field , which is the most famous. 
For those of you who haven't it's a channel in a cresent shaped channel with a hugh sand bar in the middle that gets dry when the tide goes out.  Here you go.... enjoy...

                                                  North Mooring Field - ECLSP - low tide

One of the famous spots at the park is BOO BOO HILL.  There are two thoughts on how the hill got it's name.  The first is from locals who say that settlers shipwrecked on the island and their spirits haunt the cay.  The more scientific explanation is that after centuries of  storms, rain and wind erosion, a series of BLOW HOLES formed and when the tide and wind are just right the holes produce a "booooo"ing sound.  I like the locals version myself.  Back to the hike.  To get to the top of the hill you cross over BANSHEE CREEK.
Banshee is home to a mangrove nursery and at low tide you can see what the mangroves root system looks like.  They survive in salt water and no water and are pretty amazing to see. 



Mangrove roots at low tide.

While we were anchored in Spanish Wells we saw what looked like pieces of grass bobbing in the water.  They turned out to be mangrove seed pods waiting for the tide to drop so they could plant themselves in the soft sand like this:


Mangrove nursery..........

Once we hiked to the top of the hill we found the collection of "natural" (no plastic ANYTHING) name plates left by people.  Most of the nameplates were made of wood inscribed with names, dates and boat names.   We picked up a piece of bamboo driftwood and will etch our info on it and hike back up to the top of the hill when we head north later this month.  

World Famouse BOO BOO HILL ........

The tide/winds weren't right for us to hear BOO BOO so we hiked over to the beach.  The trails on the island don't have a nice boardwalk for  you to follow.  Rangers have hacked the trial through small palms and other vegitation that have grown up through the limestone bedrock.  Someone discovered the limestone even makes "music".  We stopped and David picked up a small piece of limestone and tapped on 3 big pieces of rock.....each piece did have a different "sound" to it...




"Musical Rocks"..look at the texture and that's what we walked on..really sharp & rough

 Limestone is sharp and jagged from being worn by all the years of rain and storms. Some of the limestone has been worn down so deep that when the Spanish came to the Bahamas they would find these deep wells and gather drinking water.

Imagine drinking  from this????

Walking around the beaches you could see conch in the water just scooting alone.  One of the statistics on conch show that the conch concentrations are 31 times higher than outside the park  Which is great since it means there will be conch for future generations.  There are similar statistics for crawfish (lobster) and Grouper.  The park serves as a nursery of sorts keeping areas open to recreational and commercial harvesting fully stocked.  Here's what a baby conch looks like "scooting" ...look to the left and you can see the trail it leaves....

Baby conch - they can grow to about 12"..this one was about 5".

We ended up hiking 3 trails the second day we were here - The Davis Plantation Trail, the Loyalist Beach Trail and the Alive Beach Trail.  While we on the Loyalist Trail we counted 10 of those wells that had water in them.   After reading about the Bahamas I imagine the Davis Plantation was started by an American Loyalists who were not ready for democracy.  Plantation owners from the South came down, built homes and tried to duplicate what they had in America - to no avail.  After seeing the limestone and land they came to you can understand how difficult it was for them.

At the end of our last hike we were headed back to the beach and came to an opening and this is what we saw......

That's US.....in the Emearld Rock Mooring Field

We left the park on Saturday, the 5th, headed for Staniel Cay and the SUPER BOWL game.  We'll head back to the park on our way North later this month and finish hiking the rest of the trails and just enjoying the beauty.  Looking down at the water and seeing two Horse-Eyed Jacks swimming around the swim step was amazing and apparently isn't the best the park has to offer.  We'll call ahead a couple days so we can get a mooring ball in the North Field since we've talked to people who say that fish and sharks come through there a lot. 

Hope you enjoyed our visit in the ECLSP.   We took their motto to heart - we took tons of pictures and have great memories and only left ....

More later.... Dave and Peg

Hatchet Bay to Governor's Harbour to Cape Eleuthrea

TRIP FACTS AS OF:  February 1, 2011

Days gone from Virginia:   106
Days in Bahamas:               45
Miles traveled:               1,473
No more toilet stories!!
Things overboard:           Nothing this trip.
Trip Firsts:  A FULL day with the sails up!!!  In all the days we've been gone this was the first real sailing day.

January 27 through February 1, 2011:  We left Hatchet Bay on Jan. 27 headed for Governor's Harbour.  Hatchet Bay is on the outside of this cut.  We really grabbed a mooring ball in Hatchet POND...big pond but well protected.  The cut getting is was blasted away as you can see by the picture.  It's pretty amazing to see tankers come into this narrow cut.

Early in the morning before we took off I was in the cockpit and heard what I thought was a bird diving into the water...as I turned around I saw a MANTA RAY about 3' across jump twice.  Amazing site.   We left Hatchet early in the morning and we anxious to get to Governor's Harbour because our mail was waiting for us.  Take a look at what $105 DHL delivery looks like...then look at what's next to it.  Yep, it's a hard pill to swallow but the picture after that says it all.....look at the smile on David's face.  We got Christmas cards that were really appreciated.





                                               $105.00 DHL package.......it was worth it because it made David.....

                                                                    S M I L E ! ! ! !
Mooring ball markers are a strange breed down here.  We've seen floats, styrofoam balls and the like but this takes the cake...

                  Hummmm....U. S. Coast Guard Approved V-8 Juice Buoy ..... what can I say?

After we get the boat squared away we try to get into town to walk as much as we can.  It's great to stretch our legs and this time we talked to the DHL lady and she told us where to get fresh fish, who to rent a car from and where to eat!!  We ended up walking around and found the locals selling fish....talk about fresh..
Take a look at this.  His crawfish (lobster to us - crawfish to Bahamians) ranged in price from $10 for the small, $20 for medium and $25 for the large....needless to say we have a delicious dinner.

                              Dinner anyone?  They clean everything right in front of you....

                                                Governor's Harbour looking to the west.

                                          This is Cupid's Cay ... on the east side of the Harbour.

Looking north at the only boat in the Harbour...ours.

We also saw these 2 little kids eating ice cream getting ready to go to Junkanoo.....they were really sweet.  One thing about Bahamians, they are all smiling, happy and so polite.

We spent the next few days doing projects we needed to catch up with including servicing the watermaker.
Our fresh water maker costs over $6,000 but was brought to a halt by a simple $2.00 "O" ring.
After spending all day working on it David finally got it going so we are back to making fresh water.  Thank goodness because hauling jerry jugs from the beach is awful.

Yesterday, Jan. 31, we rented a car and drove the entire length of Eleuthera.  We went up north to see the GLASS WINDOW and PREACHERS CAVE then headed all the way south to Rock Sound.  We only missed 30 miles of the 110 mile long island.  Of course, there are some spectacular beaches and sites to share with you but dumby here forgot my camera.  So you'll have to suffer through my descriptions:
Glass Window is a bridge that was literally moved 7' to the west by a rouge wave that broke it lose from its foundations.  It's a awesome testament to the fury of Mother Nature.  Unfortunately, it cut the island in half until it could be repaired.  Preacher's Cave on on the beach opposite the Devil's Backbone in Northern Eleuthera.  Earlier I had described about the first settlers on Eleuthera who got shipwrecked here back in the 1800's.  I was mistaken...it was in the early 1640's.  Survivors climbed up the bank and found a cave where they survived the storm.  The cave is about 100' across and about 200' deep.  They settled there and also built an alter for the church services. 

One of the really big highlights of the trip (for me, anyway) was being able to pick up my fresh, clean, folded laundry from a wonderful little old lady in town.  She did 1 load of whites, 2 loads of darks and towels for $19.00.   Amazing!!  I wish we could have left her $100 dollars after seeing the state of her house.  She smiled the entire time. 

Now I will be honest with everyone.  I also had a major meltdown here.  I was ready to "be back home"...but I am home and after much calming discussion by the Captain we decided to move onto the Exumas.  This adventure, while exciting and romantic sounding, is hard work.  I've gone through missing my kids terribly, missing my friends and wanting a apt./condo or something to call home.  But we are home and were able to talk things through. 

February 1, 2011:  We got underway headed to Cape Eleuthrea Marina and Resort.  David was really happy because for the first time this entire trip he was able to sail all the way down from Governor's Harbour.  The winds were perfect and we made 6.5 to 8.5 knots the whole way. We decided to treat outselves to a marina since it's been 18 days without a real shower/hot water and a full battery charge without running the generator!!   Whoopy, hot shower tonight.  Unless you've done a lot of camping or sailing you don't know how exciting this can be.    The resort is owned by the man who also owns the Orlando Magic basketball team.  It's an eco-friendly place, very quiet with tons of fish in the "harbor", water costs .45 a gallon for water,  .65 kwh for electricity and it's $4.00 for a 5 minute shower (.50 for each extra minute).  But it's beautiful and worth every cent.   Here's what we saw when we came in...

                                  Cape Eleuthrea Marina and  Resort  entrance.....

                                                                       Condos......
Everyone is really friendly but we hope business picks up because right now it looks like there are about 6 staff for each guest.  The brochure said you would be able to see all sorts of fish and sharks in the crystal clear water.  We were also told we could buy fresh fish from the local fisherman that came in here to clean their catch.  What they didn't tell us was .......what we would see.......take a look.....

There were about 15-20 sharks under the cleaning table waiting for their dinner......we saw at least 2 bull sharks and the rest nurse sharks.

This is Luke in his boat.  He showed me how to clean conch. the easy way.  We ended up buying 9 "feet" of conch and some grouper.  Each conch has a "foot" which is the meat inside and yes, Jimmy, it almost tastes like chicken.   Grouper dinner was tasty!!!!

There are so many different  kinds of fish right here in the harbor it's amazing to watch.  While I was cleaning the conch I heard some fish who had schooled up by a foot bridge literally jump out of the water.  I didn't see what was spooking them but we did see a barracuda in the stream earlier..who knows...it was just awesome to hear.

We leave here tomorrow, Feb. 2nd, for the Exumas.  We'll be checking into Warderick Wells and the Exuma Land and Sea Park.  We're excited because they have a volunteer program you can donate time to.  We'll see what we end up doing.   Again, we're not sure about internet connections.  We had to pay for a day with one of the providers here so we're hoping there is the same thing in the Exumas.

Until then....we've been keeping up with the awful weather most of you are having and are concerned for everyone.  Please take care and be safe and warm.    More later..... Dave and Peg

PS:  If you're set up on SKYPE let us know via our email address.  We've talked to my brother, Bob, and to Stephanie and to Tom, our Hilton Head friend.  We'd love to hear from you.  Take care   =)
                                         

Lynyard Cay to Spanish Wells then onto Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera

TRIP FACTS AS OF:   January 25, 2011

Days gone from Virginia:      99     

Days in Bahamas:               38     

Miles travelled:               1,406

Things overboard:  Technically: none, although Peg fell out of the dinghy-see Lynyard Cay

Toilet Saga:  Victory for David…no more problems

TRIP “FIRSTS”:  this is a new section since we’re doing some things for the first time;

ü  First hair trim while in Treasure Cay

ü  Fresh water made at Royal Island

ü  Fresh bread baked while at anchor

ü  First fish caught on crossing from Abacos to Eleuthera

ü  First “conching” trip successful while at Spanish Wells

ü  First laundry done – while watching dolphins play in mooring field in Spanish Wells

ü  First (and only time) dinghy floated away (while concentrating on cleaning the conch) – see section on conch

January 15, 2011:  Underway to Lynyard Cay, Abaco to get ready for crossing to Eleuthera: We anchored off Lynyard Cay for the evening to get ready for our early morning crossing to Eleuthera on the 16^th.  We saw the anchorage when we took Stephanie to Pete’s Pub at Christmas and thought it would be a great spot to walk over to the Atlantic side to go look for sea glass.

The sea glass trip was successful but also a little depressing when we saw how much garbage was on the shore.  For sailors – that’s called flotsam & jetsum … garbage.  There were no less than a dozen plastic bottles in a small 10’ x 10” area and old fishing lines and mooring lines were all over the place.  You can understand the mooring lines because of the Atlantic storms and the wreck on the beach but the rest of it is just trash.  So, please, make sure you take care of plastic bottles….  Here is a picture of the waves crashing on the beach and the garbage.  If you love the water it really does make you feel sick to see this stuff. 

Lynyard Cay - Atlantic breakers on beach



Mooring lines entangled in the coral





Part of a wreck up on beach along with other garbage.....



Enough of my soap box.  I will also be honest and tell you when we dinghy’d over to the beach I was getting out of the dink, planted my foot on the sand and promptly, and unceremoniously, fell into the water. Nice.  I thought the sand was solid but it was very soft and my foot just sank down.  If falling in wasn’t bad enough, I did it in front of people I KNEW we would never see again.  Here’s a picture of the nice, calm, sandy beach for you all to get a good laugh out of…….(more on the people who where there later.)





Really rough getting out of the dinghy...

January 16, 2011:  Underway at 7:30AM to make our crossing from Lynyard Cay, out into the Atlantic Ocean headed to the Northeast Providence Channel (open ocean).  One of the things you learn sailing is waiting for the right wind direction(weather window), which can be one day or three days, so you just keep checking to see what the forecast is.  We had the right winds and headed out with another boat, LAST DANCE with Mike and Susan Murray from Fernandina Beach.  They have a Lagoon catamaran so we both sailed about the same speed.  It is a 7 hour trip to make it across to Royal Island, Eleuthera and luckily, the sea state wasn’t bad.  David put out 2 fishing poles and one “Cuban YoYo.”  What’s a Cuban YoYo?   It’s handheld spool with fishing line, a small weight and a lure that you throw out. It skims the top of the water and is capable of catching nice fish.  



Cuban Yo-Yo

The trip across was pretty uneventful until we were about a hour away from making the turn to get into Royal Island and David got a fish on which meant we had to slow down, pull in the yoyo and other pole.  He got the fish onboard but we weren’t sure what it was so we put it in the cooler filled with water and got back on track.  Once we anchored we figured out it was a small barracuda and let him go.

In the anchorage, we met a nice couple on CLOVERLEAF .. he’s 80 years old and she’s 76!!  They have sailed in one form or another most of their lives and they invited us over to their boat along with another couple from BAREFOOT’N for sundowners.   As we were heading over I noticed the dinghy from BAREFOOT’N and was SHOCKED.  It was the couple from the beach where I went in the drink.  We all had a good laugh about it when we introduced ourselves but that just shows you how often you run into people cruising around this area.

We stayed anchored another day at Royal Island and made our first batch of fresh water!!!  It’s amazing how excited you get thinking about taking a HOT shower with water that doesn’t drain your tank.  Now that we know we can make good water it’s made life much more comfortable and yes, it tastes fine and we drink it straight from the tap. 

January 18 through January 24, 2011:  Underway to Spanish Wells.  We headed for Spanish Wells and grabbed a mooring ball at the end of the channel leading out of town.  We rented a golf cart for an hour, toured the village, which is by far, the cleanest and friendliest town we’ve been in, and found the grocery store.  Spanish Wells has one of the prettiest beaches we’ve seen so far, especially at low tide.  We noticed how clean and well maintained all the fishing boats are and according to Jock Morgan, owner of our mooring ball and lifetime resident, the boats are all a cooperative, the boat is owned by the crew, not the skipper or some corporation.  His son is the cook on SEA GEM and each one of the crew members takes pride in the condition of their boat.    When I tell you this is a friendly place I mean it.  Jock’s wife, Carolyn, baked fresh bread one morning and Jock brought us a loaf early in the morning. David says it’s the best French toast he’s had in a long time.

Since we were going to be here a few days we decided to take the BO HENGHY II, the fast ferry, over to Harbor Island, and let them take us through DEVIL’S BACKBONE.  It’s called that for a reason – narrow, shallow, coral heads and sand bars all over the place.  Most people hire a guide, like Jock, and get led through the Backbone to make sure they get through it without incident.  The first wrecks on the Backbone date back to 1865 and now total 5 major sites you can dive on. 

 A little history: Back in the 1800’s some of the first settlers to Eleuthera wrecked here in a storm, thus the name, and made it ashore to a place called Preacher’s Cave where they built an alter in the cave. 

Also, if you remember the BAREFOOT BANDIT from last year – the 19 year old kid who stole  planes and boat across the US – was captured here by the Bahamian Defence Force in a small bay, sound asleep, in a boat he stole from the Abacos. Apparently the police offered him flip flops which he refused.   This guy is either really, really stupid or someone the police need to hire as a consultant.  Not sure which.  After sailing from the Abacos to here in our boat and the ferry ride through the Backbone it’s hard to imagine this kid making it to this spot alive.

Back to the ferry:  The ferry has to navigate a narrow channel through Spanish Wells at the right tide conditions to head for Devil’s Backbone and Harbour Island. Once we got to Harbour Island we rented a golf cart for the day and drove around town.  We weren’t impressed with all the hype about HI.  It was dirty, lots of construction was started and not finished with all the supplies just laying around.  There were chickens all over the place but their claim to fame is the PINK SAND beach on the ocean side.  It’s not really pink but was impressive.  We eat lunch at the Blue Bar at the Pink Sands Hotel on the Atlantic side… nice view…..

The next day we took our dinghy out to go “conching.”   There was a sailboat next to us and the owner told us he had gone out at low tide and walked through the grass and found some conch so we thought we’d take a shot at it.  We didn’t find any in the grass so moved over to some small rocks and started to walk the tide zone.  We found some conch with what we thought were hermit crabs in them.  NOT – it was conch.  We took gathered 7 of the right size and took them back to boat for cleaning. 

Look at the top picture and you'll see the conch leg come out as he tries to escape.  He tasted really good in the salad we had the next day.  Since I already did my “silly thing” it was David’s turn.  I was cleaning the shells out on the trampoline and I hear “Peg our boats leaving!”  Sure enough, when I tied the dinghy up to the boat I didn’t make sure it was secure and we see the dinghy floating away.  David dove in and brought it back but it was sure a sight seeing it peacefully floating about 10 feet down the channel.

Laundry is always a fun thing to do but here in the Bahamas you get a few extras..like beautiful colored water and dolphins……..don’t need to say anymore than this –



Still need clean clothes....but look below

There were 3 dolphins just playing in the mooring field......what a life!

January 24, 2011:  Underway at 8:45 AM to Hatchet Bay.  To get to the other side of Eleuthrea and the towns we want to visit you have to go through CURRENT CUT.  For any of you sailors:  you'll appreciate the pictures and the fact that the boat's engine was turning 4 knots, the current through the cut was 5.5 knots so we were moving through at 9.5 knots.  The cut is 200' wide, 56' deep and only about a quarter mile long......



Somewhere out there is the Current Cut

 

After we got through The Cut the wind kicked up to gusting in the high 20's and steep 4' waves with an occassionaly 6'.....lovely trip NOT.  We finally found the opening for Hatchet Bay which is 90' wide and got into the harbor.  We grabbed a mooring ball, fixed dinner and then I (Peggy the sailor) went to bed at 7:30PM.  It's now about noon on Jan. 25, I woke up around 8AM ready for the next day.  We're headed into Alicetown, which is the town around the bay.    We have a few things to look for...steel wool, M&M's and sour cream.  Fresh veggies will always be sought but not always found. 

That's it for now.  Sorry this is so long but with sketchy internet we take advantage of a good connection when we get it.  Until later...everyone take care.  More later   Dave/Peg

Treasure Cay to Marsh Harbor back to Hopetown

TRIP FACTS as of January 14, 2011

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:

Sea of Abaco -  looking towards west






Main entrance to Hopetown




Main channel into Harbor



Main Harbor looking towards Atlantic Ocean



Far end of Harbor .... our boat is in the middle of the 2 white houses on the far side







Hopetown Municipal Building - Post Office, Commissioner's Office and Police Station



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:



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.  

Jan 15th:  We start our trip south to Eleuthera.  We'll anchor out at Lynard Cay.  Lynard is a very narrow island and everyone says it's the best place to gather up sea glass and shells.  We'll see.  Our next blog will be sent from Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera.  Until then take care... more later   peg

Welcome to the Bahamas!!

TRIP FACTS AS OF JANUARY 3, 2011:

Days gone from Virginia:   78 
Days in Bahamas:  16
Miles travelled since October 18, 2009:  1309.6
Things overboard .... -0- at this point..including each other!!
Times heads overflowed while sailing:   4  (3 portside/1 starboard side) ... we think they're fixed!
Visitors from home:  1 ... yeah Stephanie!!!!
Times we think about/talk about our friends:  Countless


December 17, 2009:  0400:    Finally, after what seemed like forever in Fort Lauderdale we positioned ourselves on a mooring ball by the Las Olas Municipal Marina for a 4 AM, yes, 0400 departure through Port Everglades and onward into the Straits of Florida and the infamous GULF STREAM.  David has sailed the GS before but I've only heard stories.. some good, some not so good, so we were anxious to get across.  The weather/winds can't be coming out of the North since the GS flows northerly.  Don't ask my how/why..it just does. 

If you've never seen the color of the GS it's impossible to describe.  The closest thing we've come to is the color of the Skye Vodka bottle.. almost like cobalt blue.  It was beautiful!!  The seas weren't that bad and we settled into a comfortable rhythm and settled back and motored the whole way.  I've never seen FLYING FISH but believe me when I tell you those little suckers can go about 20-50 yards skimming the surface.  Amazing to watch.

 We didn't see one ship until we got close to the West End of the Bahamas!! when we saw a US Coast Guard Cutter and a trawler named "Chief's Lady" .. more on them later.  We watched the color of the water change from cobalt blue to aquamarine in front of our eyes.

If you've ever seen pictures or been here you'll know what I mean.  I've taken some pictures of the beautiful colors I'll add later.  So, we get to the West End to clear Bahamian Customs/Immigration only to find out the toilet/head on the port/left side (which happens to be my side) has flooded!!!  NICE.....
It was bad enough having to spend time cleaning up the water but because we had provisioned for 4  months, we had supplies ( in freezer ziplock bags in plastic bins) in the bilge.  So we had to empty out the bilges,  use clean water with lysol and bleach to clean the bilges.  This wouldn't have been bad except I had a killer headache, the starts of seasickness I'm convinced, and we were both bone tired.
Long story short, we cleaned the bilges and headed to the beach bar for CONCH SALAD and a rum drink.  AHHHHHHHH, the sand was warm, the sunset beautiful and we finally where here.

The next morning when we getting ready to leave we bought fresh, warm Bahamian bread from the bread lady and met Tom and Liz Fieldstead from Hilton Head, on Chief's Lady.  Tom is the retired Fire Chief from the Island thus the name.   We didn't have time to chat but exchanged pleasantries and said we'd see each other along the way.

December 19th:  Underway for Great Sale Cay:  First lesson learned here is that CAY is prounounced KEY.  We made it to Great Sale and anchored out in this protected harbor.  I've already talked about the color of the water....here's an example.  This boat was anchored behind us towards the opening of the harbor:

December 20 and 21st:  Underway for Green Turtle Cay:  Three years ago we anchored out at Green Turtle.  The town is New Plymouth and is a quiet village with very narrow streets.  Golf carts are the favored form of transportation and during the holidays, Christmas and JUNKANOO (more on Junkanoo later) residents decorate their carts up and have a neat parade.  Once we got anchored up we took the dinghy over to “CHIEF”S LADY” and talked with Tom and Liz, the couple we talked to at the West End.  One thing lead to another and we have quickly become good friends.   After much discussion and checking the weather we both decided we would leave Green Turtle on he 22^nd.  We had to get to Marsh Harbor to be able to pick Stephanie up and they needed to get to Treasure Cay to get ready for their kids, so the decision was made to take off early on the morning of the 22^nd. Here are a couple of pictures of the harbor and the streets so you can get a feel for what it’s like.

Street in New Plymouth, Green Turtle

Beach on Atlantic Ocean side



Waiting in Fort Lauderdale....

Dec. 12, 2010:   We left Jacksonville on the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Our son, James, and his wife, Jennifer are both stationed at Jacksonville Naval Air Station so it was a great chance for us to spend Thanksgiving with them.  We had a wonderful, wonderful visit and were also able to get a jump on provisioning but more importantly, get a hot shower every night.  If you've done any sailing you'll know what I'm talking about. 

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 7th.  We're lucky enough to have friends who have a house on one of the canals right on the ICW and they offered us their dock (picture above.)  Along the way we saw some pretty unique sites...

Do it youself drydock

             
                                                                     Bed and breakfast offering fishing trips!!!

Here's David as we crossed the 1,000 mile mark as we were getting into North Palm Beach. 

Going through Palm Beach was amazing especially when we saw all the "other" boats .... like MEGA YACHTS.....  These guys have so much money they bubble wrap their boats.....the boat to the right is probably 120 feet or bigger.... must be nice.

The other mind boggling thing we saw were the homes...tons of mega mansions down to tiny beach cottages.  Here's just one example:

Well...maybe more....

As we neared Fort Lauderdale we looked up ahead and thought this boat was tied up because it was HUGH and didn't appear to be moving.  Well,  it was moving, very slowly, right towards us.  When it passed it actually blocked the sun.  It's hard to imagine this was someone's personal yacht.  There was only one other boat in front of us and we both looked like little puddle jumpers.......

So here we are.  Waiting in Fort Lauderdale for the weather to break so we can get across to the Bahamas.  We've had a wonderful trip.  We're at Mile 1060, tied up at a friends house right on a canal right on the ICW.  We're use to cul-de-sacs, in Florida, they have canals where people tie their boats up..some small boats and some not so small:

Once the winds shift from northerly to southerly/westerly we'll move the boat to an anchorage close to the Port Everglades opening to the Atlantic and leave around 4:00AM. The trip over to check in with Bahamian Immigrations will take about 10 hours..long day but we'll finally be there.  We're hoping to get out by Friday, Dec. 17th.  

Not sure if we'll get another edition of the blog done before Christmas so we want to take this opportunity to wish each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas.  This will have to do in place of the annual photo card we have sent out for the last 29 years.   Until later..... Dave and Peg