Sticker shock in Marsh Harbor High 19C

We've had a relatively quiet day, a few chores around the boat and some grocery shopping. I tried to get over the sticker shock, but it's still remaining.  A 12pack of toilet paper is $14 and a bag of cookies is 8.99. That would be a small bag of Oreo's ! A Tangerine will run you 63 cents a piece and forget about raspberries at 6.00/pint. Oh and I forgot these are the prices before the 7.5% vat or Value added tax on absolutely everything and the 27% exchange rate for the Canadian dollar. Ah well, we'll blow the budget this month I think.

The price of Rum however is pretty darn cheap. I guess we'll have to forget about eating and just start drinking! Well all except for the one bottle of special reserve. At 106.00 us per bottle, I will have to pass....I think. I wonder what that stuff tastes like.

I saw a really cool picture of my friend Lucy T. today. Nella I am counting on you to bring it to her attention, cause I'm pretty sure she does not read the blog.

 We are still at anchor today. The marina we were set to go to did not end up having a spot for us. Apparently the sail boat that was leaving, decided to stay for an extra day, so we remain in the harbor. Hopefully we can get in there tomorrow, because we really need to wash off all the salt and get our water tanks refilled. There is a lovely dinghy dock near by. Today there were three young men waiting to assist us when we arrived and they eagerly offered to keep an eye on our boat while we were gone. In hopes of a tip we are sure. Jim took a few dollars out to give the boys when we got back to our dinghy, however they were quite enthralled with a new arrival when we got back and we could not pull them away from the big white dog. I'm sure we will have another opportunity to tip them some other time.

Good night all. 

The Sea of Abacos 26◦32'.755N 77◦03'.526W

We made it to the Sea of Abacos all safe and sound. Our first night had us,as planned, in Great Sale. When we arrived we were the only boat there, but were quickly joined by 4 other boats. Not too many choices of anchorages in the area!

Our Second day we actually made it about 20 miles farther than anticipated and we took a mooring ball in Turtle cay.

We spent several hours out of site of land.



Today we made the wonderful crossing of whale island and it was not as bad as it was made out to be.

We had 5 foot rolling waves which were a bit uncomfortable, but no where near the worst we have been in. The "rage" decided to leave us alone and for that we thank God. But you can tell by the crashing waves that 5 footers are not that little either 

Waves crashing on Whale Cay 

The reason everyone fears this particular crossing is because of the "rage". This is the name they have given to large waves usually started by a storm in Africa. With no land to break up these waves; they maintain or pick up momentum across 2000 miles of ocean, only to come crashing into the "Whale cay".
Every other mile we drove since crossing the Atlantic on the East Coast of Florida, have been within the confines of the Bahamas banks. These land masses, although under the water, still serve to take the bite out of these waves that originate so far away. The passage around the "Whale" however is too shallow for our boat. This necessitates going on the open ocean, with the nearest land mass being 2000 miles away. Unlike the Florida side of the Bahamas where waves have a mere 60 miles to pick up speed and momentum.

We are now anchored in March Harbor, awaiting a slip at Mangoes Marina so we can go wash all the salt off the boat. It is amazing how much salt amasses on the boat. I could fill a salt shaker with the salt from one stainless steel stanchion on our rails.

Marsh Harbor Anchorage 

Given that we have spent the last 3 days just traveling, I do not have too many pictures, but I will most definitely repair this starting tomorrow. We did however pass by the "Centre of the earth rock". For those of you interested in finding it on google earth, the coordinates are 26◦56'.455N 077◦41'.532  It's not much to look at and if I am correct, not really in the centre of the earth, but hey who am I to argue! Good night all.  

Centre of the earth Rock 

Weather window and time to go

Well Jim and I have been camped out here on the Lucaya water way for 2 days. It is quite secluded and very quiet, although there are several homes within a few minutes from where we are. The winds have been howling for the last 2 days. Yesterday was so bad that we did not even venture in the dinghy. Winds up to 40 MPH and given how shallow the water is, it kicked up some pretty nasty waves. It rained for part of the day as well. Today was a little calmer we got to go exploring a bit. There are some lovely homes around here. 

One of them just being built, perhaps it will be our next home. Who knows?

I am sure for those of you at home it is sometimes a bit hard to understand why we stay put in certain places so today I got the map out of North Bahamas. 

This particular chart shows about 1/6^th of the area we call Bahamas and it covers the area we will be traveling over the next 3 days. There are over 700 islands in Bahamas! We are currently in Grand Bahamas Island in a waterway so tiny you can barely see it on the chart. Tomorrow we will be going to Great Sale Cay, which is about centre of this chart and marked with a "2", Thursday we will be going to Crab cay which is on the far right of the chart and marked with a "3".  Friday is the day we do the Whale crossing. (not on this chart) This particular crossing is a bit more treacherous because we need to go into the Atlantic side of the Bahamas. Most of our other traveling is done inside the banks which offer some protection from the great waves the Atlantic can throw our way. Friday will be the best day to do this crossing with really low winds and minimal waves. This is why we chose to stay here for 2 days. It is senseless to go wait for a weather window in areas that are not as protected as where we are currently. There is also no cell service in our next 2 stops, so this would have prevented us from keeping tabs on the weather apps we use to make our decisions. But we have had the same information now for 3 days in a row and this appears to be the best time to make the jumps. In the mean time however we will be without cell or internet service so this Blog will be our last until we have crossed into the Sea of Abacos. Until then my friends! 

Lucaya Waterway 26◦36'.075N 078◦37'.464W

Well the weather gods gave us a bit of an opening today and we made our way down the Lucaya Waterway. This is a man made canal that effectively cuts the island of Grand Bahamas in two. 

The main water way has several smaller canals as offshoots which of course increases the water front properties available for sale. It would not be difficult to convince me to purchase such a property. This area is quite nice, however the canal's turbulent waters decrease the clarity of the water. Now you can only see the bottom at 9 feet of depth instead of the usual 40 feet. In any event our next trip has us going through open waters again and this would be for two days in a row. Tomorrow is supposed to be quite heavy winds, up to 38 miles per hour, so we will remain in our secluded little spot for one more day. The spot we are in tonight is actually very wooded and Jim ended up having to trim a few branches that were rubbing on the boat sides. 

I had to put on a heavy coat of bug repellent because of those pesky little no-see-ums. Tomorrow we will likely go investigate some of the properties along the route via dinghy. In the mean time let me leave you with this gorgeous sunset. Night all. 

PS. No Brenda I did not partake of any Limbo lessons. This body only bends one way and even that is questionable some times. lol

Angry Oceans and Bahamian charm

It's been a rather overcast day today and the Ocean was angry in mid morning. The wind blew hard all day, ranging from 20 miles per hour to 35 miles per hour. We went to the beach in early morning to see how bad the waves were. Sure made us glad we stayed put today. Just before sunset we went to the beach again and the picture was certainly different.

We spent some of our day walking around and taking in the quaint Bahamian culture.

It is kind of odd that they drive on the left side of the road as they do in Britain, but their traffic signs are in miles per hour as in the US. Perhaps a bit of a confused culture.

 

The Bahamian culture is also a bit confused as we past the subway, the Domino's, the Pizza Hut and the RBC bank. I guess they have to answer to all the wants and needs of their patrons?

Either way, it's now 8pm and the band just started to play. Time to say good night and go take in some more music. 

It's Windy out there! 26◦30'.841N 78◦38'.546W

If you notice the co-ordinates are the same, you are not mistaken. We set out yesterday afternoon around 1pm. We only had 16 miles to go to the channel that divides Grand Bahamas Island in two. When we got out into the ocean, the waves were on our bow, but crashing over the bow. Only problem was that once we turned towards our goal, these same waves would be hitting us on the beam (side) and that would not be pleasant. 16 miles for us is about 2hrs, but with the force of these waves we could not even get to our top speed of 8 miles per hour, so we would take even longer to get to our destination.  So we did what any logical, prudent mariner would do and we turned around. The marina was nice enough to give us our very same slip.

Since there is a cold front coming in, we also decided to stay here for a couple of days.

I would have blogged last night as I normally do, however we are in Bahamas Mon! The marina we are at has a centre court and a marketplace. 

The band started playing around 8pm and well...when in Bahamas!  

We had a lovely evening and did not have to drive home afterwards, so even better. We got to see an 80 year old man Limbo 

as well as his student, who was a bit more limber. Very entertaining. 

Tonight we will likely go partake of the Bahamas night life again, although the winds are stronger today then yesterday and they are calling for rain. We shall see what life has to offer later. At this point it looks as though the winds will die down tomorrow afternoon so we will likely do our 16 mile run then.  Tata for now. 

Bread crumbs and Flying fish. 26◦30'.841 N 78◦38'.546 W

We are now in Lucaya Bahamas having left some friends behind  in North Bimini. The weather called for light winds and low waves, however it was not as calm as predicted. We hit what Jim Sr. would call heavy chop. Our trip today took us across another section of the Atlantic Ocean in wide open water for 60 miles or so and it was a bit rough. I actually got a little bit nauseated but it quickly past.

Atlantic ocean off Bimini Island 

So bread crumbs is a term I used yesterday and apparently not everyone is familiar with this terminology.  GPS units are capable of recording a track that you can refer to again later. The recording of such tracks is called "leaving bread crumbs". When Jim Sr. took his boat out the channel the other day, he recorded his route both in and out. When we left in the dark, Jim was able to lead us through a channel we could not see; by following his recorded tracks on the GPS. We simply followed his rear light and got safely through.

Marina in Bimini

Now onto Flying fish. Yesterday when we arrived in Bimini, I told my fellow boaters that I saw some curious birds. They came popping out of the water, as though we were about to run over them, they flew very close to the water, maybe a foot off the surface, only to dive back in the water in front of us. Jim was teasing me, saying I had lost my mind because he never saw them all day. My more experienced friends (read Sherrie) said, "Oh yeah those are flying fish" Honest to god these fish have wings that flap and they fly! I am not losing my mind! Today I set out to get a picture of them. Armed with my camera pointed firmly at the water, I posted myself on the bow and waited; and waited and waited. Alas to no end since not a single one came flying out. My Camera has an automatic shut off after 10 min of non use. It beeps it's warning of automatic shut down on several occasions until I finally gave up. Of course as soon as I put my camera away one come flying out. I know you are all thinking this is locknest monster stuff, but I swear they do exist. Just ask Darwin!

After a brief rest period, I tried again and succeeded. It is hard to tell by the photo but there are 3 of them. They flap their wings fast like a hummingbird so you can barely tell their wings are there. Well Jim finally saw them today so now he believes me. 

Flying Fish 

It's Better in the Bahamas 25◦43'.487N 079◦17'.863W Bimini Island

We're here and it was a wonderful crossing. We set out this morning with 5 other boats. Yesterday Jim Sr and Sharon from "Blue Angel" went out to Angle fish creek and set some bread crumbs on the GPS to allow us to leave before daylight this morning. Roger and Mary from "Ta Ta" did the same when they arrived at Pumpkin island yesterday. So this morning before daylight, we all set out through this creek to the great wide ocean. We were six boats, so with "Ta Ta" in the lead, "BamADream" and "Avalon" followed. Then "Blue Angle" with their bread crumbs and "Priorities" and finally Jim and I in last place. We felt very protected. As the largest boat in this flotilla, going through some very narrow and shallow channels we had a whole fleet of boats looking out for us. "Ta Ta" going to Port, "Blue Angle" going to starbord and  "Priorities" down the center of the channel. All of them reporting depths to us in play by play fashion, ensuring we did not hit bottom....again. There was a couple of go fast fishing boats who were too impatient to wait for our flotilla  to get through the channel and one of them in particular threw us a very large wake. Being so big and the channel so narrow, we could not adjust our course to take the waves on the bow, so we got rocked pretty badly. After calling him some choice names (I can't put them in print) we did make it out of the channel safely and by then the sun was coming up so we could now see well enough to separate. 

Sunrise over the Atlantic ocean 

We went from a low of 5 feet deep to 90 feet of water to 2000 feet of water. No worries about hitting bottom on the Atlantic!

Priorities in the sunrise 

During our crossing Jim decided to do some fishing, but driving and fishing can be a bit tricky, so he McGivered his fishing pole. He caught nothing but we did lose a lure. Trolling at 8 miles per hour is probably not the best way to catch fish, but every boat in our flotilla tried! Check out the color of the water here. It's mesmerizing! 

Jim's fishing pole tied up to the boat 

We arrived at Bluewater Harbor at around 3 in the afternoon. When clearing into Bahamas only the captain is aloud off the boat until we are cleared by customs. By the time all was said and done, we had dinner and then the 12 of us gathered on our Lido deck for the champagne opening. We opened the bottle of Veuve Clicquot that was given to us as a gift from Doug and Janice. It was delicious guys, thanks again. I would love to show you pictures but alas the sun had gone down and I have no flash on the video camera. So just take my word for it.

We are leaving here tomorrow to make our  way to Lucaya or Bullocks Harbor, We have not decided yet. We do need to get to somewhere where the water is a bit less expensive. It's 75cents per gallon here and that is US funds so that's almost a dollar per gallon Canadian by the time you add exchange rate + service charges and the automatic 3% surcharge to use a credit card in the Bahamas. Our 300 gallon tanks will be pretty expensive to fill, so ...no thanks. We also need to get to Marsh harbor before February 2^nd because that's when Liane and Bob fly in. That is 150 miles from here, so we have to hit the road while the weather is good. Looks like tomorrow is the only nice day for the next 5 days so, off we go

A demain mes ami. Good night all. 

Cloudy skies 

Barnes Sound, one more day

Our last weather report says that the winds will not be in our favor for Sunday. Looks like we will now have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday. Tomorrow we will go check out the band at the restaurant and will likely move towards Pumpkin island tomorrow. The only trouble is with our phone. We are due to renew our US phone tomorrow, but we did not want to do so until we got to the Bahamas as we will need a different service there. For this reason we just wanted to advise you all that we will not have a phone or internet service until we are in the Bahamas. That means no e-mail either. We will e-mail our new phone number to family and friends as soon as we get it. In the mean time, we will leave you with this wonderful sunset from tonight.

Good night, keep well and I will blog again likely on Wednesday or Thursday night. 

Another day in Paradise, Barnes Sound Fl

We spent a lovely day at anchor in Barnes sound today. We did some regular maintenance and Jim did a little electrical work he'd been meaning to get to for a while. I caught up on my chores too. One of my jobs is maintaining the battery bank we have. I am supposed to check the 12 batteries we have under the bed, once per week. I discovered however that once a week was too much....I mean I have to take the mattress off, take all the panels out and then open these batteries up only to find that the water levels are fine, then put all this back together again. So, I had not done it for a while. Two months to be exact! Anyway today I finally got around to it. It took 2.5lt of water to top up all these batteries. Ooops, I think I should not wait so long next time.  After we got our little jobs done, we went to Alabama Jacks for lunch with the other three boats here. Sherrie, Randy, Jim, Sharon and Ken. 

Alabama Jacks is just a little hole in the wall type place, but the food was good enough. When I ordered lunch, I also ordered jalapenos on the side. You know what they say... hot in, hot out ...and boy was it hot! 

We then took a short walk around the restaurant and finally made it back here where I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some leisurely carving. I am carving a walking stick I picked up way back in Three rivers lake where I found the Cyprus knees. It's a really neat piece of wood that looks like a old man's face in the handle. I'll post a picture when I get it all done. For now, I will just bid you Bonsoire.    

Jan 14-15, 2015 Gilbert's Tiki bar 25◦17'.225N 080◦22'.817W

I did not do a blog yesterday mostly because nothing much happened. It was as a dark and dingy morning, so we washed floors and did chores but the afternoon got really gorgeous so we went into town to grab some provisions and a shrimp net then came back to the boat for a swim, docktails and a quiet evening.

We took off this am with 3 other boats and made our way to Barnes sound. We will anchor here for a couple of days, then make our way up the coast to stage for our crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to Bahamas. Right now it looks as though the best time to cross will be Sunday. Our original plan was to go up to Fort Lauderdale, but since we are now in the company of three experienced boaters we will take advantage and follow them. Once in Bahamas we will unfortunately have to part ways but at least we have the benifit of their experience to do the crossing.

Today our ride took us through Gilbert's Tiki bar and Marina. For those of you who don't know, quite a few years ago, Jim and I took a holiday with Leo and Rachelle who where then dating. Leo took this trip as an opportunity to propose to Rachelle. It was quite exciting, especially during that time where we were all waiting to see if she would say yes...but she finally did and we celebrated. 

That night we went to Gilbert's for a drink and some singing. Rachelle and I won a Karaoke contest and we all had a great night. Great memories indeed. 

On that note I will leave you so we can go make a few more memories. Good night to y'all.  

January 13, 2014 Islamorada; Key Largo 24◦55'.611N 080◦38'.350W

Best Birthday ever.... Of course I say that every year but I mean it every year!

We left the Shark River at 7am and made our way towards  Key Largo to meet up with Sherrie, Randy,  Jim and Sharon. We had to dodge a few crap pots along the way. Crap pots are cage traps  set on the floor of the Gulf. In order for the fisherman to find them again, they hang a small ball at the end of the rope. Sometimes these balls are florescent green or white, but sometimes the balls are dark blue or brown which makes them awfully hard to see. 

Those little white dots are crab pots 

A crab pot ball close up. Note how hard it is to see in a wave

This problem is compounded when sailing directly in the sun. 

Spot the crab pots in this picture 

We managed to make our way here without getting any of these lines into our props.  My day was started with an anchor drag alarm going off at 4am, but it got better after this. The sail over was started with cards and gifts that were sent back with us from home. Cards from the kids, Mom C and Mom and Dad M. Thanks to all of you, they were all very lovely and funny. The rest of the day was punctuated with e-mails from family and friends with B-day wishes which made the day fly by. About 1pm, we got really excited when we heard Jim Sr's voice on the radio and more excited yet when we heard Randy's and Sherrie's voice on the VHF. We were both coming into the same anchorage but from different directions. Seeing their boat coming up on the starbord side was a real treat. We anchored around 3pm and I went for a quick swim in the Florida bay. Salty water in the eyes was not all that great, but the water was just lovely temperature wise.  

After my swim, I grabbed a quick shower and then we all took our dinghies into Islamorada to have dinner at a little restaurant on the beach. Then after dinner drinks on our Lido deck.

Thanks again to all who made my day so very special, I really appreciate it and I love you all.

Nighty night now.    

Jim and Sharon's boat at anchor in Key Largo