Will it EVER stop raining?!

We have been 'in the weather' since our crossing across the Stream and into Hawk's Channel.  It has let up for only an hour or two at a time, otherwise it has been blowing a gale and a deluge.  It has made preparing the boat for storage a nearly impossible task.



Not the sunny skies of Florida we have come to expect!  We got it all
prepped- dinghy and dinghy motor, cushions, mainsail and such all
stowed down below (still wet, of course).  Today was a good
day to give up on the OCPD thing...there weren't enough towels
on board to keep on top of the mess.

Matt was kind enough to offer to ride along, knowing full well it was
not going to be a 'pleasure' cruise.  Always prepared, he
brought his foulies along.

Meanwhile, Willis begged off riding along.  He was sleeping off last night's
drunken escapade with Uncle Danny on Biddi and the Beast.  Biddi
found him passed out in her laundry bag.

Our last time under the Seven Mile Bridge for this season.
We are taking her to Driftwood Boatyard to be stored up
on the hard.  As soon as we crossed into the Atlantic, we
were in a sloppy mess, blowing stink, 3-4's, and
naturally the wind was on the nose.

In spite of the nastiness, Cap'n was loving being behind the wheel.  I,
on the other hand, put on my wristbands, took my Bonine,
and had about a dozen puke burps.  Willis was in good company.

As soon as the next gale blew up, our jibsail finally
blew out.  We babied it the second half of our trip in the
Exumas, so it would get us home.  First it got speared
on the port side spreader, then is started ripping up
the sunbrella seam where it was patched.  I want you
all to notice my ghetto fabulous job of sewing on the
duct tape with fishing line, after I had used up all the
sail tape we had...it was the only thing that held together!

We didn't get to the boatyard until after closing time, because today, Marquesa was travelling only slightly faster than the speed of smell.  The mainsail had already been taken off and stowed down below, so when the jib gave way, we were left with motoring...in a head wind, slamming into waves, against the current and changing tide, all at about 3 knots.  Geeesh!  We were tired and wet when we finally arrived.  Bessie was also worn out...she is not running right, and wanting to overheat.  Thankfully, she also took good care of us to the Bajamas and back.  It's always something with a boat.  No doubt, it is time to get home and make some money, as tomorrow we will continue with the spending.  We plan to be at Driftwood soon after they open, so we will sign a contract, and pay for the haul out and first month's rent.  As we leave the Keys, we plan to stop at Doyle Sailmakers, drop off the ghetto jib and order a new one.  It's only money...

Tonight, we are joining Willis at Biddi and the Beast.  Dan and Biddi graciously offered their second stateroom for us to sleep in.  It will be a long day of driving tomorrow.  G'night y'all!

Cleaning Saturday, 4/29

Today is such a boring blog...the fun has ended and the drudgery begins.  Last night we were invited to Matt and Karie's for fresh Mahi Mahi on the grill- oh my goodness was it ever delicious!  If only we could have caught one ourselves- maybe next time.

We got up and immediately got busy, and it has been a long hard day of cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning.  Every locker, every hidey hole has been emptied out, bleached down, and contents either pitched, packed for home, or repacked for long term storage.  Donnie had the worst job, by far.  When Bessie overheated yesterday morning, we discovered that there must have been a hole in the exhaust hose coming out of the manifold.  Everything that was stored in that deep hatch, all our dive gear, extra line, anchors, crap and such were all covered in soot.  It was a black, greasy mess.   Bless him, he emptied it all out, crawled down in there, scrubbed every last bit, and then did a quick repair with some hose tape to get us to the boatyard.  He will replace the hose first thing in December, when we return.

An equally yucky job is cleaning and tearing down the dinghy.  Mark that one off the list.  Matt came over to help Donnie remove the bimini and dodger, the railing, and the mainsail.  It dried for the ONE HOUR it didn't rain today.  It rained off and on, more on than off, the entire day and evening.  I was down below scrubbing and packing away, and it got very steamy down there!

Biddi came by, and we made plans for dinner.  I had a pound of hamburger left, so she offered up Danny to grill burgers for everyone.  I made baked beans and pasta salad, and she fixed strawberry shortcake.  We are ourselves silly, but we had worked up quite the appetite!

So for tonight, the main salon is all clean, the galley is clean, the stateroom is clean and our clothes are mostly packed.  Tomorrow I have to defrost the refridgerator, clean the head, and sweep the floors, and I will be done down below.  Donnie needs to bring the dinghy on board, and the rails for the bimini and dodger to store down below, clean the cockpit, and then we will be off to Driftwood.  It will take about three hours to get over there, as we have to go under the Seven Mile Bridge, then sail past Sombrero Beach down to Coco Plum.  We have decided to store it 'up on the hard' this time, rather than keeping it in the water.  The best deal in the Keys is $7.50/foot/month.  I'll let you do the math.  Add a haul out to that, and Florida sales tax, and you can see why Mr. & Mrs. Fix It need to get home to start making money rather than spending it!

Let's see, the 'To Buy' list for next year....
      new jib sail
      new roller furling
      new dodger and new wheel cover
      new foulies for Cap'n
      new sail sewing kit for me
      new trolling rod
      50-100' ft of anchor chain
      new lines and sheets for the sails
      new VHS radio....and that's just for starters.  I'm sure there will be more.  A boat always needs MORE of something!

Got to get to bed.  It's going to be a long day tomorrow, and then two long days of driving on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The good Lord willing, and the creek don't rise, we should be back to the log cabin sometime late Wednesday evening.  Willis is ready for the car ride- he loves going to motels.  That means he gets to sprawl in the king sized bed with Mom and Dad...G'nite y'all!

The Crossing, 4/28

We left Bimini Sands South around 9:00am, and motorsailed to the other side of the island to dive the shipwreck Sapona.  It is a concrete freighter that went down in the 1926 hurricane.  It's a landmark to the Bimini Islands, and it has become a colorful dive in about 15-20 feet of water.

You can see Donnie in the foreground heading out with his spear pole.
Unfortunately, he came back empty handed.

We weighed anchor and left for home at 11:30am. It was very cloudy, windy. and threatening rain all day.  The wind was coming from the east, and we were sailing S/SW, so it was a following sea.  It meant for a more comfortable ride, not having to beat into the waves, but it also meant we were hand steering almost the entire way.  Agnes could not keep up, and the waves were just working her to death. 

At about 4:00pm, before we entered the Gulfstream, this little fella landed
on our bow pulpit.  He was our hood ornament for over 14 hours!
I think he is a yellow footed brown booby.  I called him 'little buddy' and
tried to feed him cornbread.  He wasn't interested, it didn't taste like fish. 

He preened himself for about two hours, and rode up there big as you please.
When the sun went down, he tucked his beak under his wing, and slept
all through the night...through a terrible storm, wind blowing,
thunder and lightening and surfing down 8 ft waves.  He never moved.
I would check on Donnie, and have him shine a light on Little Buddy to
make sure he was still there.  At 6:30am, just as we were passing under
the Mosier Channel Bridge in the Keys, he flew off, heading back to Bimini.

We had several freighters pass by us in the Gulfstream once again...

Fortunately there were no close calls this time!

It was Friday night, so it was pizza night!

The ominous sky was a foreshadowing of the night ahead.
As always, Plan Sea was always within a mile of us in the crossing.

I attempted to get a sunset picture, but just then a six foot wave rolled
under Marquesa, and you're seeing the foam.  We were in 4-6's the
minute we hit the Gulfstream, and as the wind continued to build
we surfed down a few 8 footers.  The highest speed we saw on the
chartplotter was surfing at 9 knots.  We were sailing steadily 7-8 knots.

We were hoping to catch a break once we hit Hawk's Channel. The Channel runs south of Miami along the Keys on the Atlantic side.  We popped out of the Gulfstream north of Key Largo. We were crabbing across the stream, heading south west, as it was flowing north.  We had two knots of current against us, so even though the boat read we were traveling at 6 knots and higher, on the chartplotter we were only making 3-4 knots much of the time.  At times it felt as if we could walk faster!  In Hawk's Channel, the wind kicked up even higher, and then the rain came.  We were still surfing 3-4's in the channel in a driving rainstorm.  Cap'n Donnie was miserable.  He was all knotted up all through his neck and back from having to hand steer all night long.  You couldn't sit down to steer, or the rain poured off the bimini.  You had to stand up to see over the dinghy lashed onto the bow, and then lean over the wheel to try to get some protection from the rain.  His foulies have lost their waterproofing over the years, if that's possible.  He went through three changes of clothes trying to stay warm and dry.  I made hot coffee and passed up snacks to help him stay awake.  Little Buddy held on through it all- even in the thunder and lightening.  What a night!

While in the stream, we saw a Coast Guard chopper fly over.  About an
hour later, the search plane was flying low overhead.  We heard the
Coast Guard sending out a pan-pan alert on Channel 16 that they had
received a distress call, but apparently that boater did not have EPIRB.

  

Right at daybreak, at about 6:30am, we approached the Mosier Channel bridge.  The last time we

passed under this bridge was when we came down the ICW.  If you remember, we broke a fan belt, the engine overheated, and Donnie made a quick repair while I continued sailing toward Banana Bay.  Wouldn't you know, this time just as we approached the bridge, Little Buddy flew away, the engine overheated again, and we were dead in the water, AGAIN.  Same place.  Matt circled back

to offer assistance.  Cap'n cleaned a bit of grass out of the intake filter, we backwashed the prop 

which spit out a bunch of seaweed, and we were back underway.  That seemed to have been the problem.  We motor sailed the last 20 miles home, as it was flat calm on the Gulf side.  It was very hard to stay awake.  We were beat, and down to just half hour shifts trying to stay awake.

In all, it took us 23 1/2 hours to sail about 150 miles.

And as we put down the mainsail and motored back into Banana Bay, our
adventure ended the very same way it began...with a rainbow circling
the sun.  I'd say we came full circle, quite literally, wouldn't you?!

Back in Bimini, 4/26

We arrived at Chub Cay Marina shortly after 8:00am this morning, after an all-night passage.  We waited until 9:00 for the dockmaster to show up.  The marina was 90% empty, and they were not interested in renting a slip to us…at $3.25/ft.  Chub Cay is a privately owned island, with its own Yacht Club- all five members…probably the five people who went in and bought the island.  Whatever- it’s the last time we’ll be made to feel inferior for not owning a 100 ft. mega-yacht.  We sailed 8 miles further and returned to Bimini Sands South Resort and Marina, which was our first stop when we checked into the Bahamas nearly a month ago.  They have only five other boats in the entire place, and we pulled in right next to Carl and his brother Chris on Gully Rooster.  Carl was our dock mate in Nassau that Donnie played guitars with a few nights ago.  Small world.  We all have been up all night, and crashed for an afternoon nap. Donnie and I order some mahi-mahi and fries from the pub here at the marina to spend the last of our Bahamian dollars, and then we passed out!

I marinated some pork chops in teriyaki for Cap’n to throw on the grill for supper, and then we tended to a few boat projects.  There’s the usual clean up after an all-nighter, and the roller furling continues to give us fits.  We just need to get through the next two days, then we can pitch it in the ocean for good (we would not, of course, just saying- nothing goes in the ocean from Marquesa unless its organic.  I also put together a homemade pizza to bake tomorrow night while we are underway.  I just about figured all my provisions for the month, the larder is getting low.

Donnie shared a cocktail with Matt and Karie, while I finished a book on the boat.  It looks like we are planning to dive the Sapona, a 1926 concrete freighter that wrecked in the hurricane that year.   After that we will begin crabbing across the Gulfstream.  It will be a much slower trip as the current will be against us this time.  Fortunately, the stream is only about 40 miles wide, so we should get across by sundown.  After that, we’ll pick up Hawk’s Channel for the last overnight run back to Marathon.  There is another weather system building out there.  The resort we are at is so nice, we would have liked to stay another day, but it would not be safe to cross the stream by this weekend, so we are off tomorrow morning.

We were greeted by four big, beautiful spotted eagle rays in the marina…

I snapped about 15 pics in no time!

I have not been this close to a spotted eagle ray before- they are very cool.

Their heads and faces really do look like an eagle.  What a strange creature!

After our chores were done, we decided to go find the nature trail on this island.  It was one of the nicest we have been on.  There were signs everywhere describing the plants, birds, reptiles (yes, snakes, too) and such that you’d see along the way.  Fortunately, I saw no snakes today!

We came upon a ruins on the trail.  It was a 1920’s home built by Peter Cavill, an Olympic swimmer from back in the day.  Though it was badly damaged in the 1926 hurricane, he continued to live there into the 1930’s, until his wife left him due to his chronic alcoholism.  There’s a problem with ‘rummies’ in these islands still to this day.

How’s this for a room with a view?!  It was a sweet sitting spot overlooking the beach.

There are twenty varieties of termites in the Bahamas. What do you see in this nest? 

I see a man’s face!

We also saw wild orchids- too bad they weren't in bloom.

They reminded me of my sister-in-law, Diane's beautiful orchids.

Well, Donnie has been at Carl’s boat the last few hours, playing guitars and swapping stories.  It sounds like things are wrapping up.  We’ve got another long day and night ahead of us, I better turn in.  G’night y’all!

Goodbye Nassau, 4/25

So, late yesterday afternoon Matt and Donnie took off in Matt’s dinghy in search of a shipwreck about three miles from the channel between Nassau and Paradise Island.  They found it, and snorkeled and spearfished for nearly two hours, until they were about frozen.  It was a cold north wind all afternoon and evening which made for good sleeping, but not to be wet and riding in a dinghy.

That hubby of mine manage to spear a rock hind in the belly, and brought him home in a bucket, still barely alive.  He had been in a half bucket of water for about two hours.  I no sooner had Donnie stand back so I could get a pic of his fresh catch of the day, when that fish took his last gasp, flipped off the fish cleaning station, through Donnie’s hands, and back in the water…and then he swam away!  It was either his lucky day, or he was going to be a tasty snack for something much bigger.  At any rate, he was the one that got away, and we had leftover spaghetti for dinner.  So far, we are just one for four in the fishing department.  Only one has made it to the frying pan.  Hmph.

We untied from the dock at about 9:00am, and set a course for Chub Cay in the Berry Islands, about 35 nm away.  It feels good to be moving again, not gonna lie.  Goodbye bridge to Paradise Island.

Goodbye Atlantis, with the fake birds chirping from speakers hidden in the landscape.

Goodbye pretty ladies with your pasty white, yet sunburnt, passengers!

Goodbye Nassau Lighthouse…I will see you again when I get home to my log cabin.
 (I have a collection of lighthouses in our living room J )

 Well, hello Mr. Freighter, entering the channel just as we were leaving!  Nassau is a busy port.

…and seven hours later, at 4:00pm, hello Chub Cay, This place was a mecca for sport fisherman.  You should have seen all of the beautiful fishing boats with their flying bridges nearly three stories high.  Matt and Karie got fuel, and we tied up to a vacant dock for about 30 minutes.  We pulled the dink in, stored all of the paddles, anchor, lines, and lifejackets, then flipped her up onto the bow for our crossing tonight.  Once she was securely tied down, we cast off and headed back out to sea.  There is a huge wall not a mile from shore there….from 25 ft. to 190 ft., then it DROPS, to over 2000 feet.  We had about three more hours of sailing to the tip of the tongue of the ocean, then we turned due west across the Bahama Bank.  I am on watch now, and we are in just 11-12 feet of water- for the next 60 miles.  I won't be seeing any starfish in the water tonight.

I decided to make a pot of white bean chicken chili for dinner, as it was feeling chilly outside, too.  I got everything in the pot and simmering, but decided some cornbread would really taste good with it.  I didn’t have any eggs left on board, so I hailed Karie on the radio and we agreed to do a mid-ocean rendezvous!  It was fun. She sent over two eggs, ever so carefully, and I sent over a container of chili and a box of cornbread mix for them to have for dinner.  I can never make a small batch of any kind of soup.  It broke up the monotony anyhow! 

Goodbye, Plan Sea, enjoy your supper!  Actually we consistently sail within a mile of each other.  Let me check….yep, they’re about a half mile behind us at the moment!  I’m blazing the trail as lead dog right now.  Actually, Agnes is doing all the work.  I’m just supervising so Cap’n can catch a few winks.

Since Cap’n no longer has his trolling rod, he decided to try his hand with the Cuban reel while we were still in the deep water.  Wouldn’t you know, a dolphin fish (not the Flipper kind) came tight under the boat, snagged his lure, then spit it out.  That makes us one for five now. Earlier, Matt also had hooked one, but lost him trying to reel him in.  Hence, chili for supper tonight.

It was looking to be a gorgeous sunset.  We actually have seen very few sunsets on our trip.  It has either been too cloudy at sunset, or we are tucked behind an island and can’t see it set.

Clear skies, calm seas, no clouds….it was looking to be a green flash kind of night…and it was!

I missed it on the camera, but the colors still look pretty. 

No sooner had the sunset, and Matt hailed us on the radio…he had a pilot whale tail come up not 50 feet from his boat!  He thought it was heading our way, but we didn’t see it.  Dang it…that would have been so cool.

So for now, it’s 11:00pm, and I am in just an hour into my watch.  We are trying to do three hour shifts.  The jib is rolled in, even though the wind is nearly directly behind us.  The main is out on the port side, and I just adjusted the sail and picked up about a half a knot.  Bessie is running, but only turning about 1600 rpms.  I do have a light breeze from the stern starboard side…I think that’s a broad reach, maybe?  At any rate, we’re making 5.5-6 knots to the good, and are due to hit our next waypoint, just this side of Cat Cay at 6:30am.    Have a good nite, y’all!

Last Day in Nassau, PTL! 4/24

This morning we were moving rather slowly....depressed, I think you might call it.  Tied up to a dock for the fifth day in a row, in a busy, dirty, noisy, city was not what we had in mind for this last leg of our cruising adventure.  At about 11:00am, we finally got motivated enough to go for a hike, this time to The Retreat.  It is an 11 acre botanical gardens, of sorts, that is located across from the Queen's College in Nassau.  It was a former monastery back in the day, and it is plush with all kinds of beautiful foliage, and forty-one species of palms from all over the world.  I can't begin to name them correctly...just enjoy the greenery.  I can tell you that it smelled wonderfully...just good, clean, oxygen-rich air from all of the plants.  We loved it.

This one bites- it has quills like a porcupine!

Some were growing in nutrient-rich sink holes.

I love banyan trees...one of the many things I loved about
Brazil.  Nassau reminds me of the port city San Salvador
in Brazil, which was my least favorite place there.

Can't you just smell the green?!  It was lovely.

On our way back to the marina, Donnie watched this guy give a
lesson in how to clean 'da conch'.

When we got back, I fixed a late lunch, we rested a bit and read our books, and then decided to tend to some boat projects.  I did some clean up down below, tended to my basil plant (the last living herb on the boat- sad face), and I sewed the dodger back up- with fishing line!  Donnie tended to Bessie, cleaned the air filter and we are happy to say she has not used a drop of oil the whole trip!  He also worked on the cantankerous roller furling, and checked all of the rigging and stays.  We are, thankfully, leaving tomorrow morning.  We plan to sail to Chub Cay, across the Bahama Bank, to Cat Cay, across the Gulfstream, and back to the Florida Keys.  We hope to arrive back in Marathon by Sunday, if not before, depending on the wind, weather, and our energy level!  We will be making some overnight passages, most likely.  I am ready to leave the city, and anxious to get back moving again.  I want to fill my head with some more pretty scenery before we return home :)

Cap'n and I were both anxious to get back on the water, and the wind
settled down this afternoon, so I talked him into taking me on
a dinghy ride to Potter's Cay, the open fish market and farmer's
market under the bridge to Paradise Island.  You see Atlantis and
some mega yachts here- oh, the money.

I wanted to pick up some fresh produce to see us through the trip back
across the Stream...you can be assured, I did NOT purchase the dried fish.  Ewww.

Well, by now, I have been sitting in yet another gas station for two hours, looking for the elusive internet connection.  Donnie went snorkeling with Matt, if they could safely make it out of the channel- not sure what the waves are like outside.  At any rate, it is near sundown, and this is not the safest city, so I am signing off now.  I would not be surprised if I have no internet during this last leg of our sailing.  Once again, we will be in some pretty remote places, then out on the open ocean.  Pray for safe passage, and safe travels back home.  I can't wait to see my friends and family :)  G'night  y'all!

Nassau, Nassau, and more Nassau

Saturday (4/14/12) was pretty much a 'lost day'...it stormed just as predicted so we were pretty much sequestered to the boat.  The good news, we continued to plow through the 'library' of books we have on board.  I now have a stack to take to the laundry here at the marina to trade.  The bad news....we continue to learn all of our lessons the hard way.  We closed all the hatches this time before the rains came, and it flat poured with some mega gusts mixed in.  Even though we were ON the boat for this latest gully washer, by the time we went to turn in for bed, it was soaked- AGAIN.  It seems the hatch above our bed was not dogged down, and consequently the wind cracked the lid enough for the rain to blow through.  We were in the boat the whole afternoon and evening...and STILL ended up with a wet bed. I scrounged up some extra bedding, and we camped out on the settee's in the salon.  I was able to get an internet connection from the boat after 11:00pm, (because boaters are notoriously early to bed, early to rise) so I stayed up until 4:00am trying to upload pictures to previous blog posts.  

By Sunday (4/15/12) though it still looked stormy, and there was a continued howling wind, we had boat fever (not as in "I want to buy a new boat", but like cabin fever, only different!) so we decided we needed to go for a walk and do some exploring.  I mean, people vacation in Nassau, surely there's things to see and do, right?  We hoofed it a good three miles to the downtown area on West Bay St. (we are up on the east end of the island).  Four cruise ships were in town, so it was a carnival like atmosphere, with lots of pasty white people with bright red sunburns milling about spending lots of money.  We went in search of the Queen's Staircase, the Water Tower and Fort Finncastle.  They were easy to spot as the fort is built on the highest spot on the island....which meant hoofing it uphill...both ways....in the hot sun.  Well, it was hot, but very little sun.  The view from 'up top' clearly showed the storms were out to sea.  I was very glad to not be out in that mess.

Donnie is down by the cannon, and you can see the cruise ships out in the
channel.  You can also see the threatening skies...there was some crazy
wind gusts in those clouds, too.  BIG wind.

Though it was the smallest fort I have ever seen, it was really very cool.
It is shaped like the bow of a ship.  There once stood a tall mast in the center,
where Lord Dunsmore would run signal flags up it to communicate with
the other five forts on the island.  Pretty ingenius, actually. 

When we got back, Matt and Karie had also just returned from a trek of their own over to Paradise Island.  They went and saw the aquarium at Atlantis, which we had already done our first time through here about three weeks ago.  In the late afternoon, Donnie borrowed Matt's tool to make some repairs to the snaps on our dodger.  The storms Saturday night just about blew it to bits.  I have to do some more sewing with fishing line in an attempt to hold it together just to get us home.  Let's see, so far we need a new jibsail, a new dodger, and likely a new roller furling just for starters next season.  It's only money....

Matt and Karie invited us to dinner on their boat, and it was honestly the best meal we have had this whole trip- restaurants included.  Matt grilled steaks and chicken that were marinated, and he also grilled a huge basket of fresh vegetables- peppers, squash, asparagus, etc., that was also marinated.  Oh. My. Goodness.  What a wonderful meal.  I made garlic cheese biscuits and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  We ate ourselves silly.

Donnie met Carl on a neighboring sailboat, who was playing his electric guitar- through his cockpit speakers!  I'm talking jazz guitar...amazing stuff.  He's played professionally all of his life, and it shows.  Donnie talked him into setting up by the pool after dinner to entertain the marina.  He, in turn, asked Donnie to join in with him.  That was very kind of him to do, to let Donnie play with the Big Kid :)

To say that Donnie enjoyed himself, would be a huge understatement.
The guys played and sang for almost three hours.  It was lots of fun.

This morning (4/16/12) we got up and decided to walk to the eastern end of the island, to Fort Montague.  After our six mile hike yesterday, we weren't so much in the mood for a repeat.  We made it to the fort, (you couldn't go in this one), walked along the beach, through a park, and back to the marina.  We sorted through our books to return to the laundry, and I decided to wash everything up today.  We each started a new book by the pool in between loads.  When Matt and Karie got back,  I found out we should have gone about a mile further.  There was a botanical gardens down by the Queen's College that was gorgeous, they said.  Since we are stuck here through tomorrow, I am hoping I can talk my hubby into heading that way.  I must say, being back in a bigger city, with noisy traffic, dirty streets, and sirens at all hours of the night has been an assault to the senses.  We had become accustomed to uninhabited islands, (or barely habited) with pristine beaches and crystal clear water.  This has been kind of a letdown being stuck here, for sure. Matt, on the other hand, wants to go sailing tomorrow "just so he can rest."  Karie has worn him out walking the last two days!  Karie says sge doesn't want to sail because we can't sail anywhere we need to be :)  We may send the boys out sailing and we'll just hang by the pool.  The winds are still clocking out of the N N/W, so the front has not moved all the way through.  The seas are running 4-6ft, which likely means higher than that, and winds from the north are no good for us- that's the direction we need to go, naturally.  It is supposed to continue to blow tomorrow, and hopefully it will blow itself out and turn back into easterlies.  Then we're good to go.

This afternoon was a rousing game of dominoes and snacks, then I fixed dinner for us all tonight, spaghetti, salad, and 'pizza rolls' made with pepperoni and string cheese wrapped in cresent rolls, dusted with garlic butter, then dipped in marinara.  (My daughter Emily taught me this one, and they are delicious :)  Afterwards we shared alot of laughs about our childhoods.  I also decided to cut the sappodilla I bought at the market on Friday when we got here.  The lady said it needed about three days to ripen. (I showed a picture of a sappodilla in a previous post)  It supposedly has the texture like an apple or pear, and when ripe, it has a brown sugar flavor.  Bahamians love them or hate them.  I should have known better when Karie told me a starving homeless man was trying to sell them some off the street today.  He's starving and homeless, and even he wouldn't eat them.  Suffice it to say that I also am on Team Hate.  OMG- that was, by far, the worst thing I ever put in my mouth.  It immediately dried my entire mouth out....like alum powder or something equally as awful.  It gives me shivers just reliving the moment.  I do not recommend trying the fruit of a sappodilla tree....EVER.  Not even on a bet.

Since the internet seems to be working reasonably well, I'm going to try and upload the rest of the pictures from this trip.  Again, the next few posts may be out of order, but I promise, you'll see some beautiful  i'land t'ings.  G'nite, y'all!

North to Nassau, 4/20

We weighed anchor at 7:30am, bound for Nassau, much to Matt and Karie’s chagrin.  They hate that place.  We don’t care one way or the other, other than we want to be safely tied to a dock somewhere when this front moves through.

It was a boat parade heading to Nassau.  Including us, there were 10 sailboats,
all within a few miles of each other all the way across.

Matt was able to stay on the same tack, wing on wing, all the way through to the channel at Nassau.  We weren’t able to sail that tack, as our jib sail wanted to flog in the light air.  We have to baby it, if we hope to use it across the Gulfstream.  We motor-sailed with the mainsail out to our starboard side, and stayed with in a mile of each other all the way across. We were turning only 1900 rpm's, so I doubt that we used but a few gallons of fuel.

I happened to hear Matt call in to request slip space at Nassau Harbor Club, and they had availability, so we hopped on the horn, too.  This is a MUCH nicer place that Nassau Yacht Haven that we stayed at almost three weeks ago.  There is a shopping plaza and Starbucks right across the street from here, with WiFi.  We can get reconnected with the world!

We dinked with Matt and Karie to the ‘market’ under the bridge.  Lots of stands selling fresh fruits and vegetables, and shacks making conch any way you want it- fried conch, conch fritters, conch chowder, conch salad, etc.  We sat for an hour watching ‘Jamal” make fresh conch salad- it was very entertaining. Matt and Karie got two bowls to go, and Donnie got a bowl.  You can eat it fresh, like sushi, or let it ‘cook’ in the fresh lime and fresh orange juices.  Cap’n’s going to let his ‘cook’ to have for lunch tomorrow.

Donnie gave Marquesa a good scrubbing since we have fresh water at the dock.  She was very crusty with salt.  After a trip to Starbucks for danish for breakfast tomorrow, and hopping on the WiFi for a bit, we went home, I made dinner, and we pretty much called it a night.  G’nite y’all!