Allan Cay - Noises Off

When I first moved into my house I used to get a little freaked out by the sounds the house would make as it "settled". Now that we are living on the boat it seems that everything makes noise -- the slap of the waves on the hull, the whistle of the wind through the rigging, and the creak of the boom when we are being rocked by the waves. These are the sounds you get used to, and by now Kevin and I can sleep straight through this cacophony of normal boat noises. But when there is an unfamiliar sound, no matter how faint, it always wakes me up. Like several months ago when I heard the whisper of a whirring noise coming from the wall of the forward compartment. Turns out the genset oil pump switch has been bumped and the pump was trying to pump all the oil out of our generator! Luckily it was plugged up so no oil escaped, but left unnoticed it would've burned out the pump. Or like last night, when the wind was howling and out of nowhere we hear this awful clicking noise on the hull right next to the bed. It sounded ominous and I was afraid maybe the lifelines had been torn loose by the wind (gusting 25+ knots). But when we investigated, it was just a towel that had been hung out to dry and forgotten. It had busted loose and the clothespins were clacking against the hull. Anyway, no matter what you have to find out what's making the noise and reassure yourself whether it's a "normal" noise or a sound that's warning you about something amiss. As I sit here typing I can hear an unidentified squeak that wasn't there yesterday. Better go investigate...

Allan Cay - Iguanas

This morning the wind shifted to the southwest 20+ knots so we decided to head back to Allan Cay which is more protected from that direction. Just as we were getting ready to head over there we saw a trawler in the distance -- sure enough it was Hart's Desire along with a small powerboat from Highborne Cay marina. So they must not have gotten off the beach last night at high tide, but instead had to wait until 6 am today for the higher high tide. Later in the day, they radioed us to tell us that they'd made it safely to the marina and would have our pump there ready for us whenever we stop by Highborne Cay.

Now that we were back in Allan's Cay we decided to go ashore and see something that all the guidebooks talk about. Apparently there are some wild iguanas that are native to two of the islands in this anchorage. So we took the dinghy over to Leaf Cay and as we were approaching the beach a huge iguana crawled to the middle of the beach as though he was the welcome committee. We had just beached the dinghy when about 30 more iguanas came out of the bushes to the beach -- it was like something out of Jurassic Park. You are not supposed to feed them but tour boats come through here and I guess the iguanas are used to getting treats when boats arrive. Anyway, we didn't have anything to give them but they hung out on the beach for a few minutes before finally wandering away looking a little disappointed.

Well the wind is supposed to shift 180 degrees tonight (SW to NE) so we got some more practice setting a second anchor. So we are tucked in tight and prepared for the cold front that should be here sometime tonight. After that we should have fabulous breezy weather for the rest of the week, which we are looking forward to.

Where we are:
Lat: N 24 45.116'
Long: W 76 50.172'

Highborne Cay, Exuma Islands

Well it was a frustrating night for us. We were both very worried about the elderly couple on Hart's Desire so we did not sleep well at all, plus the wind had kicked up to 25 knots and was rolling all the boats in Allan's Cay. It was pitch black all night since moonrise wasn't until 5 am, and we just had kind of a fitful night.

Kevin got up at sunrise (high tide) this morning and dinghied over to Hart's Desire to check on them with the intent of helping them get off the beach. When he got there he found the boat was farther up on the beach, abandoned, and had turned slightly so both the stern and the bow were up on the beach. He had radioed them last night and suggested they consider setting an anchor so that when the tide lifted their boat they would hold their position and be able to back off the beach. They decided not to do this, and instead intentionally drove the boat farther up the beach as the tide came in, in an attempt to maintain their position and avoid the rocks on either side of the beach. Consequently, come morning there was no way they were going to get off the beach under their own power. Kevin recommended they call Highborne Cay marina a few miles away and see if they could provide some assistance. We think their cruise is over. It is doubtful that anyone is going to get them off that beach, no one is going to be able to even try it until the next high tide (12 hours) which is about sunset. And that high tide is lower than the morning high tide when they beached it, making things that much more difficult. We haven't been boating long, but this crew makes us look like seasoned veterans, despite their "25 years boating experience". They had no idea where they were until we told them (we aren't sure how they even made it to the Bahamas), Kevin saw their paper charts and they were over 15 years old. They have an electronic chartplotter but don't have any electronic charts for the Bahamas on board, and don't know how to use it. Neither of their two bilge pumps worked (arguably the most important piece of equipment on the boat). They have no spares for anything. They beached their boat in a horrible location (a narrow rocky beach) while there was a huge sandy beach with no rocks about 500 feet away. They abandoned the boat when it wasn't necessary endangering all the other boats in the anchorage. They had no idea when high and low tide would be and how to use them to get the boat off the beach. They raised a distress call on the VHF, they could have gotten help faster by standing on the back of their boat and yelling to the 10 boats which were within earshot. I could go on... Anyway, hopefully they can get some help from the professionals at the marina. We left our spare bilge pump with them and asked them to leave it at the marina when (if) they get off the beach. They sure seem like nice folks, but hopefully they end their cruise before one or both of them is seriously hurt.

Due to a wind shift, we have moved about 2 miles to a new anchorage north of Highborne Cay. On the charts it appears to be a tricky anchorage to get into, but we didn't find it too difficult to get in here and we have a huge anchorage to ourselves, protected from winds and waves from the East to the Southwest which is where the wind is supposed to be tonight. The bottom is clear sand and the water is pure turquoise so it looks like we are anchored in paradise.

Where we are:
Lat: N 24 43.598'
Long: W 76 49.421'

Allan Cay, Exuma Islands

Today we left Nassau for Allan Cay, which is one of the northernmost islands in the Exuma (pronounced Ex-OOO-ma, not eczema as I have recently learned!) island chain. During the passage across the Exuma Bank there was no wind and the shallow water was like glass the whole way -- we saw starfish, coral, even a nurse shark as clear as day. Kevin finally used his new trolling rod and within 10 minutes caught a fish, even though we were racing along at 7 knots. I had just snapped a picture when the fish started flopping and flopped himself right off the hook and thunk-thunked down the transom steps like a slinky. Guess he is the "one that got away". After that, no more fish would bite.

We had some excitement today. I was preparing dinner and we were listening to Headline News. I was sort of listening to the VHF radio out of the corner of my ear when I heard what I thought was a distress call on the VHF. After the experience at Hoffman Cay we have started monitoring the VHF at anchor, we used to just turn it off. Sure enough there was a trawler (Hart's Desire) taking on water that had beached itself between two rocks. They had no pump and were radioing the marina on Highborne Cay (1 island to the south) for assistance. They claimed that they were south of Highborne Cay, but their GPS coordinates put them in our anchorage in a cove not visible to most boats in the anchorage (there were at least 8-10 boats). Another boat radioed that they were willing to help but the couple on Hart's were unsure of their position. They kept emphatically repeating that they were "nowhere near Allan Cay" even though each time they gave their coordinates they were smack in the center of Allan Cay. The vessel was taking on water and their bilge pumps weren't working and they had no spare pump so no way to pump the water out. So Kevin got in the dinghy to check and see if they really were where their coordinates said they were and sure enough Hart's Desire was in Allan Cay. So Kevin raced back to our boat to get some pumps and went back to help. By the time Kevin got back to Hart's Desire, the water was up to the floorboards and still rising. Kevin rigged up the spare pump with a garden hose and spliced it into the nearest 12v source, a reading light in the v-berth (bedroom). Meanwhile another boat showed up with another electric pump, which Kevin also hooked up in MacGyver fashion. With the two pumps running, the water level started to drop, but now the tide was going out and with the boat beached it was listing about 30 degrees. A toolbox slid off a shelf and hit Kevin in the shoulder, narrowly missing his head. Once the water level was low enough, Kevin inspected all their seacocks looking for the source of the leak, but couldn't find it. After 2 1/2 hours, Kevin had done all he could and knew at least that they wouldn't sink. Of course by now it was pitch black and raining so the dinghy ride home was a wet one. We're in a pretty remote area, so it's not like in the US where you can just call Sea-Tow and they'll come out and save your butt. You need to be self sufficient out here, or you end up hoping a good Samaritan will be around to rescue you. Here they were in a crowded anchorage, and out of all the boats only 2 were monitoring the vhf, the rest were completely oblivious that a boat was sinking less than 1/4 mile away. This is the 2nd boat that we've heard in the past week that has been taking on water with no spare pump. We have 2 spares -- a 12 volt electric pump and a hand-operated pump as a backup (not to mention about a half dozen other pumps on board that we could easily cannibalize to pump water out of the bilge if we had to). We also carry several different size buckets, but sometimes buckets won't fit into tiny bilge or engine compartments. Hopefully we'll never need them, but it is nice to know they're there. We'll keep you posted on how this drama ends, tomorrow they're going to have to get off the beach somehow, and we doubt they'll be able to do it on their own.

Nassau - Odds & Ends

Well we didn't make it to the Distillery. The phone number we had for the Bacardi tour was no longer in service and we weren't feeling too touristy today so instead we had a late lunch at the restaurant here at the marina (enchantingly named "The Poop Deck"). Afterwards we bought wetsuits at the dive shop, picked up a few more boat supplies, and hit Radio Shack one more time. It has been nice to have all the conveniences (stores, restaurants, touristy stuff) but Nassau also has the same drawbacks of any big city -- crowded, traffic, etc.

While we were out and about yesterday we smelled a heavenly baking aroma and wandered into a bakery specializing in rum cake. It was so tempting that we tried a sample and bought one. For anyone who's never had it, it is basically a bundt cake soaked in rum. Kevin loves it, but tonight as I started eating a slice I realized that I like the cake part but the rum taste is a little too strong. Kevin said "you're saying you like rum cake so long as it isn't marinated in rum. So really you just like cake." He's right. I am going on the record here. I like cake. I like rum. But I do not like rum cake.

Nassau - Shiver Me Timbers, Matey!

This morning we finished up one last maintenance detail -- changing the fuel filters. When I say "we" I really mean "Kevin" since all I usually do is stand there and go fetch things when he needs them. However this morning he had just pulled out the old filter in one of the engines and was ready to close the filter housing back up when I held up the new racor filter that he was supposed to have installed and asked, "Hey, don't you need to do something with this?". So even though I may not be doing the actual work, I do occasionally contribute something.

After lunch we went downtown and our first stop was the pirate museum. Okay, everybody say it with me -- "Aaaarrgh!". There was a guy standing outside the museum dressed in pirate garb. He looked pretty bored and was actually in mid-yawn when he noticed us approaching and managed to convert the yawn into a hearty "aaarrgh!" of welcome. The museum itself was pretty good, kind of like the Disney ride only without the catchy song or the animatronics or the ride. But the walkthrough museum was really well done with lots of information about the real pirates, and of course there was a gift shop/pub at the end so we had a chance to down some grog -- er, Kaliks.

From there we did some more exploring of the downtown area. There wasn't a whole lot else to see sightseeing-wise other than shops and a straw market and some government buildings. None of which had the appeal of the pirate theme (one last time -- "aaarrgh!") so we decided to call it a day and head back to the boat. Tomorrow we will try to find a bus to take us to the other side of the island to tour the Bacardi distillery.

Nassau - Errands & Maintenance

Today we ran a bunch of errands - grocery store, chandlery, and Radio Shack. Everything was just a short walk from the boat so it was convenient. Afterwards we returned to the boat for a fun day of cleaning and maintenance. While Kevin lubricated the windlass (for hauling up the anchor) and changed the oil in the genset, I cleaned the interior of the boat and started on the laundry. It is really awesome to have a washer/dryer on the boat. There is always a line at the marina laundry and at $3+ per load it can get expensive. The marina is charging us an outrageous sum for water for the boat ($10/day whether we use 1 gallon or 20), so we figure we will use as much as we can and get all our clothes and linens clean while we're here.

Kevin also managed to hook up the free satellite cable! We have normal TV! Of course the one channel we really wanted (Comedy Central) is scrambled. So no "Daily Show" for us. Funny thing is after surfing through 100 channels we realized that there was really nothing on anyway!
Then it was time to change the oil in the diesel engines. The previous owner installed these electric oil pumps that make it really easy -- just flick a switch to pump the bad oil into a bucket and then pour in the new oil. It is so easy even I could do it. However the one on the starboard engine wouldn't pump for some reason. After messing with it for an hour, Kevin found the problem -- the impeller had lost all its teeth and they were clogging up the pump. So after Kevin dug out the old impeller and teeth and replaced it (thank goodness we have loaded up on spares) the pump worked like a champ.

So that was our day today. Not very exciting, but if you don't keep up on the maintenance it can come back to haunt you later. Tomorrow hopefully we'll have something interesting as we're hoping to do some more sightseeing -- the Pirates museum (aaarrrgh!) and also the Bacardi factory.

Nassau - Atlantis and the rest of Paradise Island

Today we explored the behemoth that is Atlantis. The resort takes up 75% of Paradise Island and goes way beyond "mega resort". Apparently Donald Trump used to own it, but it wasn't in great shape and rooms were going as low as $80/night, so a South African guy bought it, expanded it, and gave it the theme of Atlantis. Now the cheapest room in the oldest building is upwards of $300/night, and the nicest suite goes for $25,000/night (4 nights minimum). We decided to shell out $30 for the guided tour, since the property is huge. The tour took us through "the Dig", an attraction which is basically an aquarium but they try to make it seem like we are truly touring the ruins of the lost city. Now, there were only four of us on the tour (all adults), but Kevin and I were cracking up when this guy, dead serious, asked the guide if any of the artifacts were from the "real" Atlantis. Our guide kept a straight face and told him that no, most of it was a conceptualization based on the writings of Plato in 300 BC. But THEN the guy asks, "Oh, so Play-doh lived here in the Bahamas?". Jeez, no wonder the rest of the world thinks Americans are dumb. Anyway the resort was stunning and the $30 tour was worth it, but here's my take on it: It is like any nicer hotel in Vegas, but a lot more family-friendly. If you are looking for a romantic getaway this would not be the place (too many kids), and if you are looking to see the "real" Bahamas look elsewhere. But it is surely nicer than either of the resorts we stayed at when we went to Cancun, so if you are just looking for cool water attractions (the lazy river goes right thru the shark exhibit via an underwater tube) and overpriced food and drinks look no further.

For romance though, you can't get any better than the Cloisters. This is also on Paradise Island (the 25% that isn't taken up by Atlantis) and was originally a 14th century Augustinian monastery that was imported to the US from France by William Randolph Hearst (Rose...bud...)back in the 20's. Some other guy (Huntington Hartford?) bought it from Hearst in the 60's and brought it to Nassau. Apparently the pieces weren't numbered for reassembly, so he had an artist piece together what the cloisters "could have" looked like. The result is breathtaking, and there's a reason why this is the #1 wedding spot on the island.

Nassau, New Providence

Well after deciphering the weather forecast we decided today would be a good day to head over to Nassau. We were up and on our way by 6:45 am since we've noticed that the wind and waves are typically milder in the mornings. We raised both sails (no issues this time!) and left the starboard engine running so that we could motorsail at 8 knots instead of just sail at 5.5 knots. The trip was a little over 38 nautical miles, and we arrived in the general vicinity around 10:30 am. Nassau has a requirement that you "check in" with Nassau Harbour Control prior to entering the harbor. They want to know who you are, where you've been, and where you are headed. I'm not sure if they do this so much for Big Brother reasons, or if they are just trying to make sure you don't run into one of the massive cruise ships that are constantly entering and leaving the port. In a sense it is like air traffic control -- the cruise ships are the Jumbo Jets and Solstice is like a Cessna, a verrry tiny Cessna. Today was Saturday, one of the worst days for cruise ships, and literally four of them were ahead of us as we approached the harbour. We did the conservative thing and held back until they were all in their berths before going in, especially since some of them turned around and backed in. (Kind of like the way my dad insists on backing the truck into the parking space instead of just parking head first).

Anyway, we have just tied up at Nassau Yacht Haven, which is right in the middle of town (they have relatively cheap wi-fi access -- yay!). We passed the monstrous Atlantis on the way in, and we plan to check it out and report back. Kevin is enthusiastically planning a trip to Radio Shack, and I personally am looking forward to prime rib at Outback Steakhouse. I like conch as much as the next person, but give me a steak, baked potato, and blooming onion and I am a happy gal.

Where we are:
Lat: N25 04.528'
Long: W77 19.064'

Little Harbour Cay - rainy

So remember how I mentioned in a previous post that we would get more practice setting two anchors? Well we sure did, last night at 2 am. Although the anchor was not dragging, the wind had shifted so the Anchor Alarm went off sounding like the Atari game from hell. Thanks to the wind shift we were starting to drift a little too close to shore, so we set the new Fortress and got it to hold on the second try. (Hey, YOU try setting an anchor in the dark!).

Well today has been a little rainy and the wind is gusting to more than 25 knots. So it looks like we won't be heading to Nassau today. (We gave up on Chub Cay, we are expecting mail in Nassau.)The Shiner Bock's that we got from "Escondido" came in handy today, and Kevin also invented a new drink that we are calling the "Bahamas Sunset". It's Rum, OJ & Pineapple, with a splash of grenadine and a splash of Fruit Punch (the Stop & Shop generic version of Crystal Light). If you do it right, the grenadine sinks to the bottom, and the Crystal Light floats on the top and the orange stuff stays in the middle. Well, WE think it looks like a sunset. You be the judge.

Little Harbour Cay - there and back again

Yesterday another boat came into the anchorage, a Manta 42 called "Escondido". We had seen them at our last anchorage but hadn't had a chance to talk much so last night the four of us went to dinner at Flo's. John and Shelley are from Fort Worth and have great Texas accents. They were super friendly and we are looking forward to meeting up with them again, as they are heading in the same direction we are (Nassau, and eventually to Georgetown in the Exumas) We traded them a loaf of bread for 4 Shiner Bocks (Texas Beer!), I think we got the better end of the deal.

We had planned to head on to Chub Cay this morning, so today around 8:30 we hauled up both anchors (Kevin had to haul up the Fortress by hand, along with 50 ft of chain -- we are going to practice more setting two anchors because we are sure there is an easier way than how we did it.) Escondido was up and out of the anchorage with sails up before we even had our first anchor up. We got outside the anchorage and were seeing winds gusting to 22, with 4-6 foot seas. Up until now we've tried to only sail in 10-15 knots, mostly because I get terrified easily. But today we thought maybe it was time to get experience with stronger winds and started to raise the main. That's when stuff started going wrong. First the halyard (that is the line that hoists the sail) wrapped itself around the shroud (one of the wires that holds up the mast). So with the mainsail half raised we couldn't raise it any more and had to lower it so that Kevin could unfoul the halyard. Okay, try again. The second time we raised the sail, the reef lines (which are used to make the sail smaller in high winds) got all tangled up on two of our GPS antennas, cracking the PVC pipes in half. We were lucky not to lose them overboard, and fortunately it was only the PVC housing that broke, not the cables inside. Plus we think one of the reef lines must have hit our wind generator (works like a windmill to generate power) because now it appears to be unbalanced and is vibrating quite a bit more than normal. Anyway we were unwilling to risk a third try and with broken equipment, we decided to turn around and come back. So our spirits are a little low, but we are going to hang here since hopefully the windspeed will decrease by Saturday. I should mention that 20 knot winds aren't considered bad conditions. Sometimes 20 knots can be a great day sailing, other times 20 knots can be pretty unpleasant. It depends on not only the size of the seas, but how close together they are. Sometimes you don't know until you go out and check it out for yourself. Today we decided that we didn't want to slog through it, but Escondido got out there just fine. So even though the conditions were manageable, we think we did the right thing coming back in.

Where we are:
Lat: N25 34.075
Long: W77 43.308

Little Harbour Cay, Berry Islands

Ah, beer. Sweet, sweet beer. When we provisioned our boat for this trip we decided (by mutual agreement) that we should try not to stock soda and beer and instead bought drink mixes and rum and juice since they would A. take up less room, and B. require less ice. Plus beer is kind of expensive in the Bahamas, compared to rum anyway. I have no problem going without soda, but sometimes you just want an ice cold beer. At this point I don't even have a preference -- Kalik, Heineken, Miller, even Corona with lime (and I am not a fan of lime in my beer) -- it doesn't matter as long as it is cold and frothy. Don't get me wrong, I like rum drinks as well as anyone but it's been a week and we are finally back in civilization where we can order food from an actual menu along with the frosty goodness known as beer.

By "civilization", I mean that we have moved on to Little Harbour Cay. It is only 3 miles south of our Hoffman anchorage, and it took maybe 30 minutes to get here, which is less time than it takes us to remove the sailcovers and put them back on, hence our decision to motor vs. sail. We have the anchorage all to ourselves and there is a swift current that runs north when the tide comes in and south when it goes out, so we set two anchors: our trusty delta and the massive fortress that Kevin's mom gave us as a wedding present. This is the first time we've used the fortress and it does not budge, so we will sleep soundly tonight. After we were satisfied with our anchor setup, I radioed and made reservations for dinner at the restaurant.

The fact that there is a restaurant or even a settlement on Little Harbour at all is a testament to the Darville family. Hurricane Andrew hit this place pretty hard and devastated nearly everything. But Chester and his mom Flo took the adversity in stride to pursue Chester's dream of running an island restaurant/bar so they opened Flo's Conch Bar. They welcomed us at the door and we had a lovely lobster dinner, frosty Kaliks, and great company. They are the island's only year-round residents, so when cruisers come through they are happy to hang out and pass the time. After preparing the excellent meal Flo came out and sat with us and the four of us watched TV together for a while. They even have satellite. Ah, TV. Sweet, sweet TV...

Hoffmans Cay - Cold Front

A year ago today we both still had jobs, cars, furniture, and a house. We were on a ski vacation in Whistler and Kevin shocked me by proposing marriage over a swanky dinner. What a difference a year can make. Now everything we own that isn't on the boat fits easily into a 5X5 storage unit and although we still own the house someone else is living there. No more swanky dinners, either, since now we have to eat my cooking.

There was a little excitement yesterday. A front came through in the morning bringing with it winds gusting to 32 mph. Unfortunately around 10 am the current picked up and was opposite to the wind, causing all the boats in the anchorage to go in circles around their anchors. The monohull next to us must've wrapped their anchor chain around the anchor and pulled it up because they started to drift toward the rocky beach. Kevin got out the horn and sounded the danger signal (five short blasts) while one of the other boats in the anchorage hailed them on the VHF to let them know what was going on. Luckily, they were able to move to safer water and reset their anchor.

Kevin was up most of the night perfecting his latest version of his "Anchor Alarm" software. Basically the software knows the GPS coordinates of the anchor and goes off if the boat's distance to those coordinates goes above or below a certain number (indicating that we are dragging away or sitting on top of our anchor), or if the bearing to the anchor changes more than 90 degrees (indicating that the wind has shifted and we should get up and check what's going on). When we were still working, he had a similar version of the software running on my loaner laptop from work, and the alarm was a voice synthesized one that sounded like a speak-n-spell: "Anchor. Alarm. Anchor. Alarm.". But now we only have his personal laptop which is older and doesn't have a voice synthesizer. So our new alarm sounds like a cross between "Asteroid" and "Space Invaders". Ah, technology. Now if only Kevin could somehow program a "Collision Alarm" to tell is if one of the other boats is dragging towards us!

Hoffmans Cay - the Blue Hole

Yesterday morning we decided to explore Hoffman's Cay. One of our guidebooks described a Blue Hole that was a little ways inland, so we got in the dinghy and went to check it out. After landing the dinghy on one of the beaches we found a trail that we hoped was the right one. It was a 10 minute hike through the jungle and it was a bit creepy because everything was quiet except the crunching of our footsteps and the scurrying of lizards through the leaves. There was no doubt that we had arrived at the right place when we saw a huge blue hole (aptly named) at the end of the path. We were on a cliff looking down into a perfectly round deep pool. It's basically a limestone cave that has collapsed, in Mexico they call them cenotes. The trail led down under an overhang of the cave and directly to the water. Kevin was thinking of taking a swim, our guidebook says that if you dive down there is an underwater cave, but the water was pretty cold and there was a lot of algae. We did kick ourselves for not bringing a fishing pole though, since there were two huge grouper slowly swimming a circuit around the pool.

We returned to the boat for lunch and Kevin snorkeled a bit. Another Manta catamaran came and anchored, and Kevin met the owner John. Seems like we are all heading down to the Exumas for the Manta Migration, which is a get together for Manta owners (another apt name).

Well it is Sunday 7 am and we've been up for several hours since the boat is rocking and makes it tough to sleep. A front is blowing through so there's lots of wind and it looks like it might rain most of the morning. Guess we'll spend most of today inside, kind of like "indoor recess". Maybe I can convince Kevin to a Trivial Pursuit rematch...he might have a chance this time.

Hoffman's Cay - White Cay

Last night was a sleepless night. We thought we had chosen a good place, well protected from the wind, but it turns out we had a raging current and the boat was rolling side to side all night. Neither of us could sleep very well, so today we pulled up the anchor and moved a few hundred feet to get out of the current. We also met our neighbors in the Manta 38 "Beach Magic". They are a family of four from Montreal and they are cruising the Bahamas for a few months also. Their boat is the first Manta that was ever built, hull #1 (for comparison, we are #17). They home school their two children with lessons in the morning and snorkeling, etc. in the afternoon. They also have a big yellow lab called Saga. It is amazing that they fit two kids and a dog in a boat slightly smaller than ours. We've got one full room crammed with supplies and spares and can't imagine finding space to store stuff and provisions for two more crewmembers for four months!

We rowed the dinghy ashore today to White Cay. Actually I rowed the dinghy, it was my first time rowing. Kevin installed oar locks on the dinghy back in December. Prior to that, I was a complete prisoner on the boat because of my inability to start our massive 30hp outboard. I am a wuss and can't even get it to turn over. Now that we have oar locks, I'm FREE! Our anchorage is surrounded by several "deserted" islands, and White Cay is one of the smaller ones. It has a beach and several tidepool-like coves. It was fun to explore ashore. Hopefully tomorrow, we'll go hiking around Hoffman Cay which is a larger island.

Hoffmans Cay, Berry Islands

After 1000 miles of motoring we finally got in some sailing. The wind was behind us the whole way and we ambled along at an average of 4.4 knots, with a few bursts of speed up to 10 kts when the wind kicked up a bit. It felt nice to finally sail somewhere, we are really out of practice! Our cat Boris (who was seasick on the trip down from Grand Bahama) seems to have finally found his sealegs and managed a lengthy catnap while we were underway. We arrived at Hoffman's Cay which is about 20 miles south of where we were yesterday. There are four other boats in the anchorage and surprise, surprise there is another Manta. You'd think we would stop being surprised but seriously there are only 100 of these boats and we keep seeing them everywhere, from Rhode Island to the Bahamas. It's kind of the equivalent of owning a DeLorean and then seeing another one every time you park. Anyway we are planning to stay in this spot for the next few days, there's a couple fantastic beaches and maybe tomorrow we'll go ashore and explore.

Right now Kevin is firing up the grill for burgers and we've got Marley playing on the stereo, sounds like time for me to mix up some rum drinks.

The Professor and Mary Ann

Last night there were four boats anchored here. When we woke up this morning they had all left. We decided to stay one more night but it was rolly where we were originally anchored so we picked up and moved a little closer to the land. Kevin went snorkeling to take a look at the anchor and swim around a bit (the water was too cold for me - 73 degrees). Kevin saw two huge rays sitting on the bottom right next to a huge lobster. It was quiet and peaceful and then a posse of 20 jetskiers pops up out of nowhere. Well, not out of nowhere, remember how I said the island is owned by Carnival cruise lines? Well we've seen two cruise ships come and go (they only stay for a day) and it seems that jetskiing is one of the "shore activities" that passengers can do. Parasailing seems to be on the list as well, we saw several people go up this afternoon.

Our activities today were a little slower paced. I tried out a recipe for fruit cobbler from one of the cookbooks Kevin's Aunt Diane gave us for our wedding. Kevin snorkeled, fixed a few small things, and we listened to Headline News on Sirius radio. All this activity wore us out so of course we had to take an afternoon siesta. Actually Kevin was pretty tired, he'd woken up every 2 hours the night before to check on the anchor. Anyway now night is falling, the cruise ship is gone and there are no other boats in sight - we have the anchorage all to ourselves. Cue the theme song to "Gilligan's Island"...

Great Stirrup Cay, Berry Islands

We were about halfway through our passage from Grand Bahama to the Berry Islands. The water was smooth, the winds were light, we were motoring along, and I was thinking "Wow, this passage has been pretty uneventful. Aside from seeing some flying fish, our web update tonight will be pretty boring." Moments later, Kevin came up and shut down the starboard engine because he heard a strange noise. When he opened up the engine compartment he could see that the engine temperature sensor cable had been rubbing on the belt. The belt was a bit worn and the coating on the cable was worn right through to the copper. He figured it must have happened when the mechanic replaced the crankshaft seals back in December. So it had only been going on for 3 "boat days" (we haven't been moving around much for the past 2 months). Anyway, he was able to relocate the cable and decided to wait to change the belt until we stopped for the night since he thought it looked okay and didn't want to burn himself on the hot engine.

So we restart the engine and a minute or two later Kevin runs up yelling "Shut it down, shut it down!". I didn't need to be told twice so I shut it down. Turns out the belt broke as soon as we restarted the engine and the engine overheated pretty quickly to 240 degrees (180 is normal). Kevin replaced the belt and we restarted the engine so that the coolant could do its job and get the engine temperature back down. So that was a bit of excitement, but that's what I get for thinking that the update would be boring.

We are in the Berry Islands anchored just off Great Stirrup Cay, which is about 60 nautical miles south of Grand Bahama. The island is actually owned by Carnival Cruise Lines, so I'm not sure what will happen if we go ashore, maybe Capt. Steubing and Gopher will chase us off the island since we aren't cruise ship passengers. I guess tomorrow we'll find out.

Where we are today (paste into your browser):
http://mapserver.maptech.com/homepage/index.cfm?lat=25.8134&lon=-77.8984

Grand Bahama

Well, we've been in Port Lucaya now for more than a month and we are ready to move on. Not that we don't like the place (we love it here), but we are ready to see more of the Bahamas.

People here are really wonderful, absolutely the friendliest we've found (they may actually tie with New Zealanders for my vote on most friendly people). They'll go out of their way to help you or make sure you are enjoying your stay. One day we took a 30 minute bus ride to the Lucayan National Park and arranged to be picked up by the bus at 5pm. At 5:20 our bus driver Jan showed up in a taxi, profusely apologizing because she'd gotten a flat tire and wasn't there on time. She didn't want to leave us out in the middle of nowhere so she borrowed her dad's taxi to come get us! And it's not just people in the tourism industry, either. Everyone is nice. It must be ingrained in the kids when they're young. We were mini-golfing one day when a schoolbus stopped nearby. All the kids were hanging out the windows and shouting and waving at us and as the bus pulled away one of them yelled, "Good afternoon!" Now, if this had happened in America, I'm sure the kids would've yelled something but I doubt it would've been "Good afternoon".

Well we are trying to take care of some business (taxes, wedding proofs, updating our new blog) while we are waiting for the next weather window to make a run for the Berry Islands about 60 miles south of here. Last week it was windy with a lot of rain, which meant we spent quite a bit of time on the boat. We mostly did tax stuff and watched movies, specifically films that one or the other of us had never seen. This meant Kevin had to sit through "Dirty Dancing" while I had to undergo "RoboCop". After watching them both even Kevin had to admit that "Dirty Dancing" is the better film, and we agree that both of us prefer Jennifer Grey's original nose.

Anyway the weather has cleared up and it looks like tomorrow will be the day we'll take off for the Berry Islands, Kevin's going over the charts as I type. We'll try to keep the blog updated every couple of days to let you all know where we are and what's going on.