Charleston, SC

For the past two days the wind has been coming from the north (the direction we want to go) so we've motored up the intracoastal waterway and arrived here in Charleston this afternoon. We didn't stop here last year on our way south, so we are going to spend a few days here and see what the town has to offer. But first things first, we rented a car and hit Pep Boys, Petsmart, and Sam's Club. We had hoped to do a dinner & a movie date, maybe see X-Men or the Da Vinci Code (we've been out of the loop and have never heard of the other movies that are out right now). Unfortunately we were running around all evening (actually were one of the last customers to leave Sam's Club) so there wasn't much left of the evening to go to the movie theater. We did have a fabulous dinner at a little place called McDonald's (Kevin says nothing's too good for his new wife). I had something called a Quarter Pounder with Cheese (although I think in France they call it something else) and the fountain drinks were superb. Seriously, we were constrained by time -- it was close, it was cheap, it was fast. Given a choice Kevin would no doubt have picked someplace more upscale, like Arby's. On the plus side, Kevin has a new toy: an infrared thermometer that he bought to monitor the genset temperature. He's so excited about anything to do with lasers. So of course he's been using it on pretty much every thing in sight except the genset -- from the cat to the refrigerator door to his big toe. By the way, did you know that feet are colder than 98.6 degrees?

Beaufort, SC - Prince of 9-Foot Tides

We decided to go ashore this morning while it was still relatively cool. The Gullah festival was going on, which is a celebration of the traditions and customs that slaves preserved from their African ancestors and passed down thru the generations. They have had some great music -- jazz, soul, even steel drums. This morning as we walked past it was gospel. There wasn't much of a crowd (I imagine most folks were still at church) but those that were there had their hands raised up to the skies and were chorusing "Amen!".

We picked up a walking map from the visitor's center and although none of the tourist attractions were open on Sunday we did walk through the historical district to see the antebellum homes. Most of them were plantation-style, big white behemoths with double decker front porches and pillars galore. One of the nicest ones had a "for sale" sign so out of curiosity we looked it up on the internet www.jamesrhetthouse.com and the asking price was a mere 2.5 million. A lot of the other homes were familiar from the many movies that've been filmed here: "Forrest Gump", "The Big Chill", "Forces of Nature", and "The Prince of Tides".

After our walk we had lunch at a waterfront cafe called Plums (which we were told was a favorite of Barbra's when she was filming P.O.T. here). It was wonderful to look at a menu with reasonable beer prices ($2.50). We didn't order any (it was 11 am, too early even for us) but after five months in the Bahamas things here really seem cheap. We were back on the boat a little after noon, just in time to see the scads of powerboaters flock to this tiny sandbar beach across the water from us. Tidal difference here is 9 feet so half of the time this sandbar beach is underwater, but at low tide the beachgoers come out in full force. At noon, the tide was still going out and it was entertaining to watch the earlybirds all circling slowly in their pleasurecraft waiting for the beach to magically appear. When it finally did, it filled up fast -- we tried to take a photo but couldn't fit all the people in one shot so we cobbled several photos together using photoshop.

Beaufort, SC

We had another pleasant day motorsailing up the coast, tucking in at Port Royal Sound and motoring up the ICW to Beaufort (the one pronounced "byoofurt"). We covered 50 miles on the ocean which would have been about 80 miles if we had done the entire distance on the ICW, since the waterway doesn't go in a straight line. Once we got into Port Royal Sound, there were tons of skiffs, speedboats, and jetskis all enjoying the Memorial Day weekend sunshine. The weather took a turn for the worse just as we approached the anchorage, the rain started coming down just as we dropped anchor and right away the wind picked up. Anchoring in squall conditions is not ideal. Even less ideal is anchoring with the wind pushing you one way and the current pushing you the opposite way. Monohulls are heavy and tend to lay with the current, but we are a lighter boat and have a lot of windage so when the wind blows hard we tend to do a little dance around our anchor as the wind and current push us around. There will be an anchorage full of boats all facing the same way and we will be the only one facing the other way. It's funny unless there's not enough space between the boats -- that's when we worry about bumping in to someone (like last fall's encounter with Turnabout*). It's been a couple of hours since the squall passed and the wind has died down to nothing so we are laying like everybody else now. We plan to take the day off tomorrow and maybe try to do a little sightseeing here. They have some kind of Memorial Day festival going and we are anchored right near it and can hear the music from the boat.

Walburg River, GA

We left the marina this morning and decided to go "outside" (along the coast instead of the ICW) since the wind was favorable and we could sail downwind. It is a lot more relaxing to have the wide open ocean instead of trying to navigate from buoy to buoy on the waterway. We also hoped that once we left the inland waters we would be in a bug-free zone. Not so. It was like something from the X Files -- we had horse flies (those things can BITE), regular flies, dragonflies, one butterfly (pretty!) and swarms of this other kind of bug (black with a red head) that we're not sure what it was but apparently it's in the peak of its mating season. We were ten miles off the coast and these buggers kept flocking to our boat, crawling all over the deck and cockpit (and each other) in their frenzied little insect orgy. Then as soon as we got near shore, all the bugs disappeared. Creepy.

We are currently just inside St. Catherine's Sound and they have forecasted some strong winds and possible dangerously large hail (?!) for tonight. The winds have picked up (gusting to 25 knots) but so far no sign of rain or hail. We've got everything locked down and stowed just in case, although I'm curious if the hail will be big enough to keep our rum drinks cool. Maybe we'll set out a bucket to catch some.

Jekyll Island - Georgia, the Jungle

Watch out for that tree! This morning we packed a water bottle, lunch, and the camera and borrowed two of the marina's complementary loaner bicycles. It has been years since I was on a real bicycle (one that actually moved and wasn't stationary in an air-conditioned gym with a TV in front of it, anyway). We started down one of the unpaved woodland paths and it took a few minutes for me to stabilize the handlebars, I kept veering left towards the marsh and right towards the stands of live oaks. But I finally got the hang of it and we made it to the historical district without incident.

The tram tour was well worth it, 90 minutes of all the history you could stand. Back around the turn of the century, fifty of the nation's wealthiest men decided they wanted a place to "get away from it all" during the winter months. We're talking J.P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, Marshall Field, William Vanderbilt...they bought the entire island and pooled their money to build the Jekyll Island Clubhouse. The club was very exclusive and you could only set foot on the island if you were a member, a member's guest, or a servant. Over time, some of the wealthier families built "cottages" nearby to get even more privacy. Interestingly, few of the cottages have kitchens since most of the families took their meals at the clubhouse. During evenings at the height of the season, more than one-sixth of the world's wealth was represented in the clubhouse dining room. There's a lot of historical significance to the club...during secret meetings in 1907 the groundwork was laid for the Federal Reserve banking system. And the first transcontinental phone call was a party line call between President Woodrow Wilson in Washington DC, Alexander Graham Bell in New York City, Thomas Watson in San Francisco, and Theodore Vail (then AT&T president) right here on Jekyll Island (he'd intended to be in NYC for the call but broke his leg and had the cable set up specifically for the historic call). The club fell into decline following the Great Depression, and during WWII the sinking of several US ships by German U-boats right off the coast of Georgia caused the millionaires to seek out other vacation spots during the war years. After the war the state of Georgia bought the island and nowadays the clubhouse is a swanky hotel and the cottages are restored to their former glory for the tourists.

After the tour we had lunch in a shady spot then we headed out to the north end of the island to check out Driftwood Beach, which the tram guide had recommended as one of the "top 10 most romantic beaches in the US". I feel bad for our tour guide's girlfriend because I found the beach to have a very distinctive odor that pretty much quashed any romantic sentiment, and it really wasn't much to look at either. On the way we had taken a wrong turn and went through the forest primeval with mossy vines hanging across the path and mosquitos and spiderwebs everywhere. If you didn't know you were in Georgia you could've mistaken it for the Amazon. And when it started raining on the way back it seemed even more rain-foresty. We got a little damp but got back to the boat before it really started coming down.

Jekyll Island, GA

I talked it over with Kevin and was wondering if, now that we aren't in an exotic location like the Bahamas, we should keep posting so often. I mean, reading about the sights of a rinkydink small town in Georgia just doesn't seem to have the same appeal, does it? But we figured at the very least there would still be four people reading the blog (our parents), if only to make sure we are still afloat and okay. So we'll keep it up. Those of you who only care about our travels to faraway places should stop reading now and come back in January 2007 when we plan to leave the country again. Still reading? Good.

We left our anchorage at Cumberland Island and headed north on the ICW (ah, good old Intracoastal Waterway with your water the color of old tea and your multitude idiot powerboaters with massive wakes in no wake zones) to a marina on Jekyll Island because you are required to be at a marina to check in to the US. Checking in to the US is surprisingly easy. Last fall we applied for a customs decal which allows you to call a telephone number when you arrive in the country from wherever you make landfall (instead of having to go to a specific "port of entry"). So we phoned and less than an hour later, a Customs and Homeland Security agent was aboard and checking us in. He was a super nice guy and the whole episode was much less intimidating than we'd expected, despite the fact that the agent was packing heat in a hip holster. We weren't nervous; we had nothing to hide. The whole thing took less than 20 minutes and we were now free to move about the country.

We were surprised to discover that Jekyll Island is quite the tourist destination. Back in the late 1800's this was the playground of Rockefellers and Vanderbilts and they all had cottages here which you can tour, there is also a great beach, a water park, and miles of bike paths and nature trails criss-cross the island. We took a walk to check things out and quickly realized that we should've taken the free bikes offered by the marina. Tromping through insect-infested woods in 87 degrees and 79 percent humidity is no picnic. We saw enough to decide that we will stay an extra day to explore everything and headed back to the air-conditioned boat (hooray for shore power!).

After our walk we took a dip in the marina pool and then watched in awe as a 100 foot cruise ship docked at our small marina (it was small for a cruise ship but big compared to the rest of the small sail and powerboats docked here. It looked a little out of place. What was funny is that Kevin immediately recognized The "American Spirit" as the cruise ship that we'd seen often last summer in Narragansett Bay, traveling between Newport and Block Island. I thought, "No way it couldn't be", but sure enough we asked a crewmember and it's the same boat. It really gets around. Guess we'll be seeing it again as we make our way north.

Cumberland Island, GA

Last night I took the 9-midnight shift and Kevin had the midnight-3am shift. Not much happened during either of those; we didn't see many boats, the wind was very light, and we just scooted along in the Gulf Stream at 10 knots with sails up and one engine. However when I came on the 3am-6am watch, the wind decided to pick up to about 16-18 knots on the beam. Our speed went up to 11.5 at times and our comfort level went down a notch as the boat started to pick up speed. Unfortunately around 4:30 I altered course to starboard to avoid a container ship and by turning away from the wind, I lost our speed and couldn't get it back due to the angle of the wind (westerly) vs. where we wanted to go (north westerly). Solstice just does not point well into the wind. So our speed decreased to 7.5-8 knots. We had hoped to reach the northernmost anchorage on our list (Brunswick), and we were almost there but turned around for St. Mary's Inlet instead. Why did we turn around? In a word: cowardice. Mine, not Kevin's. We were only 2hrs/20 miles away from Brunswick but the waves had gotten bigger and we were really taking a pounding right on the beam. One hull would lift up on a wave, and then the other would follow a few seconds later, like being on a seesaw. After 38 hours of no sleep, I just couldn't take it anymore. My distressed shrieks and mutters of "ohjeezohjeezohjeezohjeez" finally got to be too much for Kevin. Even though he was willing to slog it out he turned the boat around and headed instead for the St. Mary's inlet that we'd just passed. It added an extra hour but going downwind was so much less terrifying for me.

But that was only the last two hours of the trip -- the rest of the journey was wonderful. This morning around 9am as we neared the continental shelf the wind and waves started picking up (on my watch again!), not big but hitting right on the nose, and in the chop the bow would rise on one wave and get smacked by the one right after it. Luckily the waves were maybe 3 feet, not huge but just close enough together to make some big splashes as they spanked the bow. All the splashing around our bow attracted a couple pods of Atlantic spotted dolphins. Maybe they thought we were some kind of dolphin or whale jumping up and down in the water and they just wanted to join the fun. They lapped us several times and began to play in our bow wake and it was like nothing we'd seen before. Usually dolphins just swim around the boat, jump maybe a couple times, and then take off to go do whatever it is that dolphins do in their spare time. But these guys were with us for a good twenty minutes just enjoying the ride and jumping in tandem in front of our bows. We just watched them dumbfounded until we remembered the camera! We tried to take a million photos but in every photo instead of seeing a magnificent leap all you can see is a nice splash with no dolphin anywhere. But we shot some decent video and we'll post it soon. We also had a small stowaway, a little brown and white bird who spent most of the morning catching bugs in the cockpit and looking for a spot on the boat that was out of the wind. The elusive mahi-mahi did not make an appearance on this trip. We did catch a couple pounds of seaweed that snagged on the hook every chance it got.

Interesting note: take a look at a small-scale chart of the southeastern US coast sometime. You'll be amazed at the number of spots where you see the words "Explosives Dumping Area" or "Chemical Munitions Dumping Area". You'll also be amazed at how big some of these dumps are. There must be all kinds of unexploded ordnance down there just waiting for someone clever with the ingenuity to dry it out and use it, most likely against us. Maybe the dolphins (and pilot whales, if they pass the IQ test) are stockpiling the stuff for their future bid to take over the world from the humans. I would not be surprised. Not at all.

So after 334.5 nautical miles in just over 40 hours, we arrived safely and were settled in by 8pm. We are anchored off Cumberland Island which is a nature preserve and has great hiking and wild horses but unfortunately we can't go ashore here. We haven't checked in with customs and immigration yet, and we have to go to Brunswick (38 miles up the ICW) in order to do that. So basically we are just here to finally get some sleep. We are both zombies, walking around like a couple of college kids during finals week. Remember when you would stay up for 36 hours straight to cram for an exam and then you'd go to class and take it (and get a slightly lower grade than if you'd really prepared) and come back home still wired and you'd want to sleep but were still too strung out on Mountain Dew and No Doz? Well that's how I feel right now. Say goodnight, Gracie.

Where we are:
Lat: N 30 46.204'
Long: W 81 28.254'

Gulf Stream, off the coast of Florida

There is a strange custom among some hard-core cruisers. At exactly sunset they blow a conch shell like a trumpet for some reason. It makes a long low bellow, kind of like a foghorn. I'm not sure where this tradition started or why, but it seems like any anchorage where there are five boats, at least one of the five will be a conch-blower. Kevin and I have toyed with the idea of blasting the air horn just to get into the spirit of things. Somehow we don't think the diehards would approve. Anyway last night at our final Bahamian anchorage, our friends on "Go, Lassie, Go!" (another Manta catamaran. Great name, huh?) put an interesting twist on the conch-blowing ceremony. At sunset, Larry climbed up on the bimini top, turned to face the sun, and proceeded to play the bagpipe as the sun sank below the horizon. It was a real treat because the man can play! His wife Stephanie is from Tipperary, Ireland but as far as we can tell Larry is American, so we're not sure how he acquired his brilliant piping skills. Tell you what, though: I'll take bagpipes over conch horns any day.

Today we were up and underway by 3am. We motored for about an hour but then the wind picked up a bit so we put up the sails as well. We motored with both engines and the sails all morning across the Little Bahama Bank, trying to make a quick run to the Gulf Stream. Once we hit the Gulf Stream our speed kicked up by a knot so we shut down one of the engines to conserve fuel. By the time we got to the axis (middle) of the stream we had picked up an extra 3 knots of speed. Which is good because the wind is so light right now that the sails are nothing more than pretty decorations at this point. The sea is flat and calm, so that makes for a nice passage, too. We're headed for anywhere from St. Augustine, FL to Brunswick, GA (I think I mentioned the four inlets in a previous post) but we won't make the decision of where we'll duck in until tomorrow morning. I am on my second Coke of the day, which is a lot of caffeine for me nowadays, so I am wired and happy that the trip is going so well at this point.

We spotted a pod of pilot whales around lunchtime. They are blackish in color and slightly larger than dolphins, instead of a dolphin-type beak they have a rounded snout and a huge bump on their forehead that makes it look like they have a massive brain. I'm not sure about whether the giant cranium means that they're as smart as dolphins but when we were at Sea World a few years back, they had a pilot whale performing in the dolphin show. So they are smart enough to get an easy gig performing tricks for mackerel in front of sunburned tourists. This group swam to the right of the boat before heading away behind us. Later in the afternoon we passed a second pod also swimming southbound. Kind of cool to be able to say we've seen whales on this trip. Granted, very small whales but whales nonetheless.

Where we are:
Heading: 357 degrees magnetic
Lat: N 28 19.648'
Long: W 79 43.945'
(Of course the lat/long have changed just since I've written this, since we are speeding along merrily at 9.5 knots)

Great Sale Cay, Little Bahama Banks

Well, here it is -- our last full day in the Bahamas. We motorsailed the 35 miles to Great Sale Cay. While we were underway, Kevin caught a small fish (a 14-inch Painted Mackerel) and cut it up to use as bait tomorrow (we are optimists and can already taste the delicious mahi-mahi steaks we are going to catch out in the Gulf Stream). We dropped anchor around 2:30 in the afternoon and are now preparing for our first overnight sail on our own. (We did quite a bit of night sailing last May but we had our delivery captain, Ed, aboard. This time it is just the two of us.) Kevin is changing the oil in our engines, and topped off the fuel tanks from our jerrycans (we will carry 15 extra gallons of diesel with us just in case). He rigged jacklines for safety (jacklines are strong lines that are secured to the boat, then if you need to leave the cockpit to adjust a sail or something, you clip your safety harness to the jackline which will prevent you from going overboard). Yesterday he scrubbed the hulls to remove growth (just to get that extra .025 knot of speed, wouldn't want a barnacle slowing us down!) Lest you think that I have been reclining with a book and eating bon-bons while Kevin does all the work, let me tell you that I have been busy too. I don't like to use the stovetop when we're underway, so today I am cooking two extra dinners that can be popped into the oven (chicken parmesan and baked ziti) without any hassle. I also helped rig jacklines and secured all the flotsam and jetsam in the dinghy. And cleaned the bathrooms and stowed everything where it belongs so we can find it in a hurry if we need to. So I'm sure when 8 o'clock rolls around we'll both be exhausted.

Forecast for tomorrow and Tuesday is still looking good. We have enjoyed the beauty of these islands and the friendly spirit of the people here. It's not an easy place to leave, but we are ready to go back to the US. We sure are looking forward to charging up our cell phone and being able to call our family and friends whenever the whim strikes (and to receive calls. Hint, hint!). We also can't wait to be back in the land of plenty where you can buy whatever you want, whenever you want it. I now understand why when people come to the US from other countries they get so excited about shopping. We've been almost everywhere in this country and supermarkets are few and far between, let alone a convenience store on every corner. The larger settlements have decent hardware and clothing stores, but they are nowhere near the size and selection you would find at a Home Depot, Best Buy, or Wal-Mart back in the States. When we were in Hope Town I picked up a local paper ("The Abaconian") and read an article about the local schoolkids' first trip ever to the US. Each kid wrote a paragraph or two about the highlights of their trip. The main reason for the trip was to see the King Tut exhibit at one of the museums and a lot of kids wrote about that, but one kid wrote about how great it was that they got to go shopping and she was amazed by her first trip ever to a shopping mall. She couldn't believe the number and variety of stores in one place. Can you imagine? Something that every American teenage kid with mall hair takes for granted. The Bahamas may be paradise but we Americans live in true luxury. Believe it.

Where we are:
Lat: N 27 00.707'
Long: W 78 12.198'

Crab Cay, Abacos

Today was jam-packed. We had spent the night at the cleverly named No Name Cay and were up early so that we could dinghy over to Pelican Cay and snorkel the reef there. It was some of the best snorkeling we've seen, lots of different fish and colorful corals. Back aboard Solstice, we packed up and headed over to Green Turtle Cay for lunch and a quick look around the town before continuing 20 miles north to Crab Cay. "Why the rush?" you ask. Well after listening to Dan, Dan, the Weatherman (actually Chris, but Dan rhymes better) we finally have our weather window starting on Monday. So here is the plan:

Tonight (Saturday) we'll be here in Crab Cay, then tomorrow it's 30 miles west to Great Sale Cay, where we will (Kevin will) change the oil in both engines and we'll get stuff ready to make the crossing. Then very early on Monday we will head west from Great Sale via Matanilla Shoal (the most northwestern point on the Little Bahama Bank) and onward to the Gulf Stream. From there it is north, as far as we can go in 36 hours since we only want to spend one night underway. We aren't sure how much of a boost we'll get from the Gulf Stream, so we will try for one of these four spots (whichever we can get to before dark on Tuesday): St. Augustine FL, Jacksonville FL, St. Mary's River GA, or Brunswick GA. Anyway the wind will be very light from the south, so we'll most likely motorsail with one engine. We will take three hour shifts on watch but it's most likely that we'll both be awake the entire time. A recently purchased half-case of Coca Cola (no Diet Coke to be found in Abaco) should ensure that we are fully caffeinated and alert.

We took a look at our Bahamian courtesy flag today. You fly a courtesy flag on the right side of the boat to show that you've "checked in" to the country. It never occurred to us to take it down during the squalls and after nearly five months, ours is shredded. The end of it is literally torn off and hanging by a thread. I sure hope we aren't stopped by any Bahamian Defense Force boats in the next 48 hours, since they would probably be irritated by the state of our dis-courtesy flag.

Where we are:
Lat: N 26 55.150'
Long: W 77 35.927'

Treasure Cay, Great Abaco

Yesterday before we left Marsh Harbour we headed for the fuel dock to fill up. Diesel prices have gone sky high since we last fueled up -- it was $3.99/gallon. For diesel. I checked our fuel log and back in May of last year we were getting it for $2.29/gallon in North Carolina. Yikes. So, in an effort to conserve precious fuel, we motored on one engine to Treasure Cay. We anchored outside the channel leading to Treasure Cay Marina and were the only ones there. The holding wasn't great (it took our anchor awhile to bite) but once we were settled in, we headed into the marina area to check it out. We found our friend Ken (who we met at the Jib Room) on his boat, the RX 2 Sea (Our Ecstasy - he's in the pharmaceutical business) and said hello. He and Kathy were planning to head over to the outdoor restaurant for pizza, and we told them we'd see them there. Kevin and I headed over to the marina to grab some drinks and a table. Ken and Kathy arrived shortly and we all had a nice pizza dinner.

They advised us to check out the beach here and so this morning that's exactly what we did. We headed over there early, around 9am, and walked along one of the prettiest stretches of beaches I've seen. The sand so soft it was like silk and the water was absolutely clear and bright turquoise blue. Even early in the morning it was pretty warm out so we both jumped in for a swim and then wandered around the resort village checking out the shops.

After listening to the weather on the radio this morning, the earliest we'll be able to cross to the US will be middle of next week. There is supposed to be a high pressure system at the end of next week, which should make for smooth, squall-free sailing. So in the meantime we are going to keep island-hopping here. We are heading off to No Name Cay this afternoon.

Where we are:
Lat: N 26 39.387'
Long: W yy 17.387'

Marsh Harbour - Rake & Scrape

So I have stumbled upon yet another used paperback that's been edited by the Profanity Police. Although this time they did a half-***sed job of it and stopped censoring after about 30 pages. Either their pen ran out of ink or they finally realized that they needed to get a life. I am hoping for the latter.

Kevin spent all day troubleshooting the generator's bizarre tendency to shut down whenever it decides it has had enough. We thought it was fuel starvation but after changing the fuel filter a few weeks ago we were still puzzled as to why it would just come to a screeching halt while it was running. Today, Kevin replaced the fuel pump (hooray for spares!) and now it seems to be working as expected. I say "seems" because the genset likes to wait until we really need it before it goes kaput on us. So the jury is still out on whether it is fixed or not.

All day it rained while poor Kevin was working outside on the genset. Finally the rain let up just in time for us to head over to the Jib Room for rib night. It was awesome. Usually at these BBQ nights you get only 2-3 ribs but the Jib Room pulled out all the stops and everyone got a full rack of pork ribs with lots of fixin's. We shared our table with a nice couple (Ken & Kathy) who have a condo up at Treasure Cay. We stuck around after dinner for the live Rake & Scrape band, called "Brown Tip". Rake & Scrape is a local style of music where the musicians use whatever is at hand, in this case saws that they raked and scraped (aha!) with a knife. Oh, and they also had a cowbell (I will refrain from any Will Ferrell jokes). Kevin and I think that calling it a "band" was kind of a stretch since really it was just three guys (2 saws and the cowbell) scraping in rhythm to CD's by the original artists. So I guess when I was in sixth grade and would hang out in my neighbors' garage playing "drums" on an overturned garbage can to Bon Jovi tapes, I too was in a band -- a "garage band", if you will. Although I am poking a bit of fun it was still really entertaining to watch the rake and scrape. The band had everybody up and dancing before you could even say "Party in the Backyard", which I am beginning to believe is the national anthem of the Bahamas. But the highlight of the evening was Limbo Man who humored all the drunk tourists as they repeatedly stepped OVER the limbo stick (seriously, it was mildly funny the first time but after fifteen people all did the same trick it wore out its welcome). Professional Limbo Guy did his best to make it look like it was hard work to go under the ever-lower limbo stick until he pulled out the isopropyl alcohol and lit said stick on fire at the lowest setting. As he inched his way under while lighting a cigarette, we all knew he'd been pulling our legs all along. How low can YOU go? Cue the rake & scrape band. And oh, okay, I give in: "More cowbell!!!"

Marsh Harbour - Abacos

(this is Kevin writing another post. Amanda had a great post written, but apparently when I unplug the laptop and we don't have the battery in, you lose everything. Who knew? So, as punishment, I have been tasked with writing a witty and informative replacement post.)

There's a pretty nasty cold front approaching from Florida expected on Wednesday, so have moved over to Marsh Harbour. Marsh Harbour is one the largest cities in the Bahamas (the largest in the Abacos) and has a large harbour (hence the name) with good protection from all directions. It seems everyone else had the same idea, and the harbour is packed with boats, there are probably about 100 boats anchored here right now. Marsh Harbour has pretty much everything you could need, several grocery stores, hardware stores, lots of bars and restaurants so it will be a nice spot to stay a few days make some last minute purchases before heading back to the states. The harbour has lots of sea turtles swimming around and we have seen a pod of dolphins as well.

The weather forecast said to expect squalls in advance of the front which is typical, but this front is supposed to be fairly strong which is why we wanted to be in the harbour. This morning at about 8:30 the sky to the northwest was extremely dark and we knew that a squall was approaching. So, we quickly worked our way through our squall checklist which we have written on a post it and taped to the chart table. Basically this entails getting our airhorns ready, turning on the vhf, unplugging the dinghy so it doesn't fill up like a bathtub, putting towels under leaky hatches, stowing anything which might blow away and a bunch of other things I won't bore you with. We were a bit concerned with so many boats in such a small area, everyone is really close. As the squall hit, the wind quickly built up to 40 knots (46 mph) and it was raining so hard we could only see about 50 feet. Usually squalls are short lived lasting only a few minutes, but this one went on for about an hour with sustained winds of about 25-30 knots. Nobody around us dragged, but it was still a bit nerve-wracking being so close to the other boats with the wind clocking 360 degrees as the squall passed. Fortunately everyone around us seemed to know what they were doing and were anchored appropriately. Now it is just kind of drizzling rain and overcast and we expect it to be this way through tomorrow. At least we are getting a Wi-Fi signal on the boat, so we surf the internet while we wait for the weather to improve.

Great Guana Cay, Abacos

This morning we opted for a change of scenery and motored the 10 miles north to Great Guana Cay. It is getting hotter here by the day, and we are getting eager to head back to the US and up north to cooler climates. Right now we are planning to stick around the Abacos for the next week or so, waiting for a good weather window to make our Gulfstream crossing. We expect to be back in the states before the end of the May and we'll update you on our plans before we cross.

Went ashore to explore the town and check out the famous Sunday pig roast at Nipper's beach bar and grill. Having been to BBQs on other islands, we were expecting a gathering of cost-conscious cruisers at a typical beach shack. But this particular pig roast seemed more like a scene from MTV Spring Break than a quiet sunday barbeque. I'm not sure where they all came from, but there were three or four hundred people there. They had a band playing, a huge pool with waterfall and wall-to-wall partygoers. We could barely navigate through the crowd. The band was playing "Party in the Backyard" which is a catchy tune that you hear in every restaurant, bar, and get-together in this country. Once it gets in your head you can never get it out..."Par-tee in the backyard, par-tee all night long, rake & scrape until the morning comes, we gonna party til the break of dawn". Repeat that about sixty times and you've sung the whole song. Anyway, we hung out for a while but had already eaten lunch so didn't partake of the buffet. We talked to another cruiser and apparently the place puts on a pig roast every Sunday and it is always packed like this. I can't even imagine what it must be like during actual Spring Break -- I don't think they could've fit many more people there.

Where we are:
Lat: N 26 40.242'
Long: W 77 07.373'

Aunt Pat's Bay, Elbow Cay

We are anchored in a spot called Aunt Pat's Bay which is weird because I actually have an Aunt Pat in Chicago (Hi, Aunt Pat!). This afternoon at low tide we dinghied over to Tahiti Beach which is a beautiful beach that is completely submerged by the tide most of the time. When we have a chance we'll post some photos.

The main reason we came over here was to go to the Full Moon Party at Cracker P's on an island called Lubbers Quarter. A little local history: Cracker P was an actual person, Paul John Simmons, who was born in Georgia in 1879. In 1915 after his family duck caused some trouble in the neighborhood, the Cracker got into a fight and (cue the Marley music. Or Eric Clapton, if you prefer...) shot and killed the sheriff. He did not shoot the deputy. A wanted man, he came here to Abaco and lived the life of an eccentric recluse until he passed away in 1954.

At the Full Moon Party we took advantage of the all-you-can-eat buffet and gorged ourselves on wahoo (WaHOO!) roast beef and bbq chicken. We got our money's worth out of the buffet but were again confronted with the $5 beer. So we drank sloooowly and spent much of the evening people watching, trying to guess who was a cruiser on a boat and who was here at a rental cottage. With the women it was easy...just look at the shoes. Sneakers? Cruiser. Clicky high heels? Socialite. Women wearing sandals or flip-flops required more thought depending on whether it was a pair of swanky beaded flip-flops probably too nice for ever setting foot on the beach (socialite. Does Manolo Blahnik make flip-flops?) or whether you had seen the same pair of shoes in the dollar bin at Target (cruiser). Another way to tell who was who was to look at the age...if they were young and fashionably dressed they were most likely to be a landlubber staying at a cottage; older folks who took full advantage of the Luby's-style buffet were most likely retirees on a boat. (As young unfashionably dressed folks, I'm not sure where we fit in). Of course the couple holding hands next to us threw us for a loop. He was an older gentlemen with distinguished silver hair and dapper clothes. She was a petite blonde, fashionably dressed and probably only a couple years older than me. Her shoes (sensible but trendy sandals) gave us no help. My guess is that they were staying on the megayacht.

Where we are:
Lat: N 26 30.392'
Long: W 76 58.982'

Hope Town - She's a Brick...LightHOUSE!

Hope Town is famous for its well-preserved red and white candy-striped lighthouse. There are so many shallows and reefs around Elbow Cay that, prior to 1864, most of the Hope Town residents made their living by salvaging from the many ill-fated vessels unlucky enough to fall victim to the reefs. There was a great public outcry when residents learned about plans to build a lighthouse, but despite their protests the construction of the lighthouse was completed in 1864. So all the professional "wreckers" and "salvagers" had to find new ways of relieving poor traveling chumps of their money (hence the overpriced beer). The lighthouse is a beautiful and fully-functioning landmark and is also one of only three oil-burning, hand-wound lighthouses in the world. At night, every two hours the lighthouse keeper ascends the spiral staircase inside (101 steps) and must hand-crank the weight on the light to keep it spinning (kind of like winding a grandfather clock -- he winds up a weight that then slowly descends and turns the gears to rotate the light). This morning we climbed the steps to check it out; the works inside were pretty impressive and the views of the harbour were breathtaking. We did find it strange that the interior walls were painted hot pink. I guess when they were done painting the red and white stripes on the outside they just mixed the leftover paint together to do the inside. Waste not, want not.

Last night we had planned on going to Cap'n Jack's since they advertised live music at 9pm on Wednesday nights, but after traipsing all over town all day we were just too tired. We were disappointed because we had wanted to listen to some local music, but from what we could hear we didn't miss out on much. Apparently the advertisement confused "live" music with "loud" music. We're pretty sure that the evening's entertainment was just a stereo system blasting the finest old-school R&B dance hits and hip-hop from the early 1990's. Either that or the band really had it's Will Smith and Sir Mix-a-lot impersonations down pat. I guess if you want to split hairs technically a DJ is "live", right?

Hope Town, Elbow Cay, Abacos

I took a brief hiatus from writing the post, thanks to Kevin for the rare guest appearance. We are now on a mooring in Hope Town harbour which we think is by far the nicest place in the Bahamas. If anyone is planning a romantic trip to the Bahamas and you only have a few days, skip everything else and just come here. They have amazing beach cottages all decked out in lovely pastel colors in a small town that can only be described as a tourist haven. (There is no monstrous mega-resort here, but we saw adorable cottages for $900/week, cheaper than most hotels). Like Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, all the cottages have names and are spaced very close together so that the roads are too narrow for automobile traffic. The facades are all very quaint and meticulously landscaped with hibiscus, cape plumbago and hydrangea. It is like a Disney village on the beach.

Many of the locals here are descended from Loyalists who left America during the Revolutionary War so there is quite an ethnic mix of black and white folks here, more so than on other islands we've visited. We had heard an announcement on the radio for live music and happy hour at a bar called Cap'n Jack's so this afternoon we wandered over there to get the scoop. An old white man with a thin patch of beard under his lower lip was standing at the bar so we asked him when does HH start and how much are drinks. When the man answered we were mortified to discover that he was, in fact, an old woman. Glad we didn't call her "sir"! But as we walked away Kevin whispered, "Hey, maybe that was 'Cap'n Jack'!" I love this man!

We had lunch at Harbour's Edge restaurant overlooking the water, and stopped in at the Wyannie Malone Historical Museum. Wyannie (pronounced why-annie, in case anyone is looking for unique baby names) was one of the early Loyalist settlers here and she founded the museum way back in 1785 to preserve the history of Hope Town. They had some interesting exhibits dating back to the Arawawk Indians all the way up through modern times. Afterward we zigzagged among the narrow lanes to look at all the cottages and stopped in at Vernon's Grocery & Upper Crust Bakery. We had heard rumors about Vernon's fabulous key lime pies and wanted to buy one. The grocery store was well-stocked, but for whatever reason the owner had all the lights off and the only light source was a single window at the front of the store. So rather than explore the spooky darkened aisles (we didn't realize we'd need a flashlight to go shopping) we just bought our pie (which turned out to be fantastic) and a loaf of bread and left. We think we'll stay awhile here in the harbour, there's a lot to explore and we just want to be play tourist for a few days.

Where we are:
Lat: N 26 32.274'
Long: W 76 57.505'

Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park, Abaco

Today we moved a whopping 5 miles north from Little Harbour to a group of islands which are part of a protected sea park. We thought it would be a nice opportunity to do some snorkeling since there is a a big reef with dinghy moorings you can tie up to while you snorkel. The part of Abaco we are in has better snorkeling than we have seen in a while since we are on the Atlantic side of the island where all the reefs tend to form. Cruising Eleuthera and Cat Island, we were on the banks side which doesn't have reefs like this. Little Harbour had a big reef right near the anchorage where I (this is Kevin writing a rare post - soak it up) went on a spearfishing expedition yesterday with the younger couple we had met(Tom and Amy from Dreamcatcher) and their friends Don and Sandy from Adam Cara. Amanda got too much sun from the previous days travel so she stayed on the boat. Basically I snorkeled around for a few hours with a pointy stick and that's about it. Tom is pretty deadly with his spear and had nailed a few good sized fish in the first ten minutes, then I lost count. I was pretty happy just to not lose my spear. The spear is a Hawaiian sling which is a 5 foot pole with a sharp end and a loop of surgical tubing on the other end that you stretch to fire the spear. It only has a range of a few feet (in my hands anyway), and this was my first attempt at using it. I definitely need target practice. Even though I didn't catch anything, it was a pretty good snorkel and I saw a few big sea turtles and some huge parrotfish. I must have looked pretty good though swimming around with the spear cause most of the fish wouldn't come near me. I think that the fish that taste good must know they taste good, because they are the first ones to swim away and hide. The others just hang out taunting you, "Go ahead and eat me if you want, you'll regret it."

Anyway, back to today. The reef we snorkeled today is protected (like it even needs protection from the likes of me) so you can't take any fish. We dinghied over and tied up to a mooring near one of the reefs. As we got there another couple was leaving and they said to be careful that the current was pretty strong. They weren't kidding. We jumped in the water from the dinghy and I have no idea what the current actually was, but we could barely swim against it. We swam into the current to begin with (as they pound into your head during PADI dive certification) and only made it about 50 feet up the reef before we were totally exhausted and let the current carry us back to the dinghy. It was a really nice reef though with coral heads about 20' high and lots of fan coral. There were tons of fish including some huge groupers sitting on the bottom. We also saw a good sized barracuda which fortunately didn't hold a grudge against us.

Where we are:
Lat: N 26 24.035'
Long: W 76 59.790'

Little Harbour, Great Abaco

We got up early (well, early for us) and still were the last boat to leave the anchorage this morning. It seems everybody was heading to Abaco today. The wind (less than 10 knots) was too light to sail, but we put the sails up and left one engine on and slowly passed all the boats who had left before us (Thanks, 40hp Volvo engine!). When we arrived at the anchorage area, we were kind of surprised to see about 10 or 12 boats all clumped together in one little spot. At the time, the wind was also blowing from the west so that they had land right behind them (in sailor parlance: a lee shore, something you try to avoid if possible). We looked at the charts and saw that there was plenty of water so we kept going and anchored about a quarter mile from everyone else. When we got settled in, we had another look at the charts and realized that all those boats were trying to anchor exactly where the anchor symbol is on the chartbooks. We watched in amazement as five or six more boats came in and wedged themselves in there among all the other boats.

Around 4pm we dinghied into the harbour (harbor? I guess after this trip I will forever be spelling that word the British way) and went to a beach pub that looked like an idyllic spot. Lots of picnic tables and benches in the shade -- it was the epitome of the perfect beach bar. Until we ordered beers and discovered that they were five dollars each. Five dollars?! That is the most expensive beer we've seen anywhere in this country. PLUS, it's a can not a bottle AND they don't even bother to open the can for you! Three beers each and thirty dollars later (for $6 more we could've bought a case of the stuff) we were contemplating ordering burgers for dinner when we had a glance at the menu -- $13 for a burger, $14 if you wanted cheese. We were already thirty dollars poorer, so we opted to have pasta and salad on the boat (total cost: $3.50 per person). Guess we'll be doing our eating and drinking on the boat while we're in this spot.

We did meet some interesting people while we were at the bar though. We finally introduced ourselves to the crews of several boats that we keep seeing wherever we go. And we met another young couple our age who have been living aboard their boat for seven years already. That means they moved aboard when they were in their mid-20's. Man, when I was in my mid-20's I could barely navigate my way through downtown Phoenix! Living on a boat was not even a blip on the radar.

Where we are:
Lat: N 26 20.130'
Long: W 77 00.425'

Royal Island - Wax On, Wax Off

Since we aren't leaving until Saturday, today was a "boat project day". Kevin has been wanting to clean up the rust on the stanchions (which are the metal poles that hold up the lifelines around the edge of the boat). When he cleaned up the barbecue grill a few months ago, he used sandpaper and a lot of elbow grease so this time he experimented with a few of the cleaners we have lying around on the boat to see if there was an easier way. I apologize if the rest of this post sounds like an infomercial, but Collinite's No. 850 Metal Wax is a miracle cleaner. The stuff doesn't look like much -- it has the color and consistency of Thousand Island dressing -- but it works. You rub the liquid wax on with a rag and then buff it out and the rust just melts away. I took before and after photos which we'll post when we have internet. I wish this stuff was non-toxic so I could use it on our rusty "stainless steel" silverware. (Four forks for a dollar at Big!Lots! You get what you pay for.) We got most of the metalwork on the port side done and even tackled part of the swim ladder which I thought would never be shiny again. But there is so much metal on this boat that it will take a few days to complete the job since after about 11 am it gets too hot out (and too smoky thanks to our friends the landscapers) to work outside. Plus Kevin is more meticulous than I am so I imagine he will be going back over the parts that I did. (My motto: Perfect is the enemy of good enough. His motto: Anything worth doing is worth doing right, even if you have to redo the parts that your wife did half-assed.)

Royal Island - Where There's Smoke...

We are dying of smoke inhalation...but more on that later. On shore here are the ruins of what must have been a fantastic estate at one time. The shell of the manor house sits high on a hill with steppes leading all the way down to the lagoon. There is a ramp at the waterline leading to a stone boathouse that is carved into the hill itself. The wooden roofs are long gone, but numerous buildings are still standing. Our guidebook says that a Florida Gatsby-wannabe named W.P. Stewart bought the island in the 1930's and had this elaborate compound built. Massive stone blocks were shipped in by sailboat (not an efficient way of transporting cargo, since the small boats could only carry 21 blocks at a time) and hand-carried up the hill. I imagine that at the time the place was very lavish, but for whatever reason it has been left to decay and is now completely uninhabitable. It irks me that the guide book does not say why it was abandoned. Hurricane? Financial woes? Anyone with internet access feel up to a little research?

Anyway, the smoke inhalation...we heard from another cruiser that the island was recently bought by the same guy who owns the Atlantis resort. So every morning a team of a dozen workers comes screaming into the lagoon on their powerboats and works on the landscaping, all the time shouting at each other in what we know must be English but could be Greek for all we can comprehend. We can't for the life of us figure out why they are working on the landscaping first while the buildings lie in tatters, but they have planted a rainbow of bouganvillea on the stepped terraces and are in the process of clearing (and burning) all the underbrush. Since the lagoon is ringed by land on most sides, it makes for a hazy low-lying cloud of smoke that just hovers over all the boats in here. It's not totally unpleasant, but the boat is starting to smell like Eau de Campfire. We can't really complain though, at least they aren't burning trash (we've encountered that in several anchorages) so we'll take campfire smell any day.

So today after the workers left we (and a dozen other dinghys) blatantly ignored the large "Private Property" sign and went ashore to explore. Kevin wasn't looking where he was going and wandered right through the still smoldering ashes of the bonfire. You should have seen him hot-foot it out of there just like in the cartoons (no harm done despite the fact that he was wearing sandals). The estate is huge, and the current inhabitants (wasps, ants, and lizards...lots of lizards) are really living it up. The floors still have the original colorful tiles, and in the entryway a monstrous fireplace dominates the room. We followed a paved road through the woods and saw the evidence of the landscapers all the way to the beach on the north side of the island. They had cleared most of the trees so that the road can be rebuilt, but every few feet a poisonwood tree stood completely untouched. Not only can their sap give you an itchy rash, but if you burn the wood and inhale the smoke you will be sorry for weeks afterward. So I guess that's why they leave them alone. Although with all the smoke we are breathing I suppose we'll find out soon enough if they did accidentally burn a log or two.

Royal Island

We got an early 7am start this morning to cut westward across the top of the Bight of Eleuthera. We were on a schedule because we had to go through a channel called Current Cut that, as the name would imply, has a strong current running through it. You want to go through the cut when the tide is flowing with you rather than trying to fight against it. So our choice was to either leave early and get to the cut before 9:30am, or sit around and wait to go through the cut with the next ebb tide at 3:30 pm. We are glad we took the early option. Our destination was Royal Island, which is our last stop in this area before we make the crossing to the Abacos. There is a nice lagoon to anchor in here, and it seems a lot of other boats had the same idea to stopover here while waiting to go to Abaco. When we arrived there were 14 boats already here in the anchorage. At the end of the day 10 more showed up. There is plenty of room in the lagoon, but it was good that we got here early and didn't have to worry about finding a spot to anchor.

We plan to sit tight here and wait for a nice weather window to make the 55 mile crossing to the Abacos. Kevin listened to the weather on the SSB radio today. There's a guy called Chris Parker and he is a professional weather router, meaning that he analyzes the weather and gives vessels the go/no-go to move from point A to point B. He covers the entire Carribean and gets on the radio, gives the weather, and then "sponsoring vessels" can radio him with their position and where they're trying to go and he'll tell them what to expect weather-wise. It's a couple hundred bucks to become a sponsoring vessel, and since our Bahamas cruise is nearly over we will wait til next year to sign up. But for now we just listen in, and there always seems to be a sponsoring vessel near us who is headed in our same direction anyway. This morning someone radioed from Spanish Wells (the next island over) and they are headed to Abacos. Chris told them to wait until Saturday when the winds will be favorable to sail downwind the whole way. So we'll hang out here until then.

Where we are:
Lat: N 25 30.951'
Long: W 76 50.533'

Glass Window - Cleaning the hull

Yesterday we had our first man overboard situation as we were beaching the dinghy. Usually Kevin (chivalrous gentleman that he is) hops out of the dinghy to walk it up to the beach so that I don't have to get my feet wet. We were a few feet from the beach and the water looked to be about a foot deep. Kevin said "I'm gonna hop out now" and then almost went completely under in about four feet of water. I couldn't contain my inappropriate laughter; it was such a slapstick moment. But even as I was laughing at him, he still pulled the dinghy all the way up to the beach for me. Ain't love grand?

Since it is so peaceful here we decided to stay another day. While we were in George Town our hull started sporting some interesting marine growth. Since the water here is so clear, we both donned our snorkel gear and went under with scrub brushes to scrape it off. The bottom of the boat is covered in bright blue anti-fouling paint, which usually does a pretty good job of keeping barnacles and algae-type growth off the hull. There were some small patches of what appeared to be moss along the waterline and some ickier stuff on the bottom, which Kevin took care of with a brush on a pole. You get a pretty good workout because you have to keep kicking with your fins while you scrub or you'll just float away. The anti-fouling paint is ablative, which means it is designed to come off easily so that when barnacles try to attach themselves they just slough off. Unfortunately the paint also sloughs off on whatever happens to rub up against it, in this case Kevin and me. So when we got out of the water our fingers and hands were a bright Smurf blue. La, la, la la-la-la...

Last night we reminded ourselves of what we are missing by watching Office Space. It is one of the best movies ever made, and if you work in a cubicle it is a must-see. We've been away from the office environment for a while now and although we miss the people we worked with, we both agree that a hard day's work scrubbing nasty green crud off the bottom of the boat beats staring at a computer screen any day.

Glass Window, Eleuthera Island

Not much happened over the weekend; we just hung out in Governor's Harbour waiting for the wind to decrease a bit before heading north. But the winds out of the north made the harbor an uncomfortable place to be -- extremely rolly. Last night was the worst; it felt like trying to sleep inside a washing machine what with the boat rocking side to side and the water splashing against the hull. When we woke up (not that either of us actually got any sleep) we decided to hit the road.

The wind was still out of the north (the direction we were heading) so we motored the 24 miles up to the anchorage near the Glass Window. Ahhh...finally a place that was calm and flat. We are anchored about half a mile from the Glass Window. It was originally a natural rock bridge that connected the north and south parts of the island. You have the Atlantic Ocean on the East with the Bight of Eleuthera on the west. The 85-foot high natural rock bridge was washed away in 1926, so the Bahamians built a narrow bridge to connect the two sides. On a windy day like today, huge waves crash under the bridge from the Atlantic side, funnelling through to the Bight side and throwing up spray and churning the water violently. The ocean water hits the spot with such force that back in 1991 a huge rogue wave actually picked up the bridge and moved it seven feet. We didn't actually set foot on the bridge -- even though cars were going across one at a time it looked like maybe they were still doing some construction work (still trying to align the two sides, maybe? I don't know, but we saw cracks in the concrete and rusty rebar sticking out in places.) Besides the view was better from the side.

I recently added a new meal to my growing repertoire -- biscuits and gravy. Did anyone else know that you could use Bisquick for something other than pancakes? (Considering that the picture on the box is a huge stack of flapjacks...) So tonight we had biscuits, gravy, mashed potatoes, and chicken. I was all excited about my cooking skills until Kevin pointed out that the only component of the meal that didn't originate as a powdered mix was the chicken.

Where we are:
Lat: N 25 26.257'
Long: W 76 36.738'