Luperon - Lost in Translation

Okay, we are finally all checked in to the Dominican Republic. They sure love their bureaucracy here. After going ashore and checking in with Immigration ($25) and the Navy (free!), we returned to the boat and were visited a few hours later by the officials from the Department of Agriculture and Tourism. The agriculture guy said he needed to inspect our food, and when Kevin opened our fridge & freezer, the guy looked at all the frozen food, muttered "ohhhhh..." under his breath, and shook his head slowly. Luckily we were able to tell him that all the food was from "los Estados Unidos" and he left it at that ($20 to inspect the food and also the cat). The Tourism guy handed us two tourist visa cards ($10 each) and told us that we needed these cards to travel in the country and that tomorrow we had to have them officially stamped by the Immigration guy (who we'd already visited). Plus we had to visit the Port Authority and pay to enter the port (but the port authority was the one at the fiesta so that would also wait until tomorrow). So the next morning we head over to the customs/immigration shack and pay the port authority lady and we go to get our tourist visa cards stamped -- the guy stamps them, hands them to me, and immediately asks me to put them in "the box", which appears to be something like a suggestion box labeled "tourism". I can't for the life of me understand why yesterday a guy handed me these cards, saying (in Spanish of course) that they were necessary and valid for "the whole country" and now that we have them officially stamped we have to basically throw them away. I try (in very crappy Spanish) to ask why so that I understand what is happening, and the guy says (in Spanish, I am paraphrasing here) "Hey, I am the Immigration Official; if I tell you to put the cards in the box, you put the cards in the box." Okay, okay...in the box. Hope we don't need them at the next port of call. I do have to say that every single official was absolutely honest and above board about the charges so far. After Kevin paid one guy $20 and I handed another guy $20 I said in Spanish: "okay, that's $10 and $10" and was immediately corrected and handed two receipts totalling $40. Did I mention that I suck not only at Spanish but math as well?

So today we wandered the town and ate lunch at a local restaurant. We were the only gringos in the place at lunch but the waiter came over and spoke impeccable English. We ordered the plate of the day which was a huge amount of rice with pork, a side of beans, and a small green salad, plus two cokes. Of course he brings out the cokes and we find out they are each a 1/2 liter bottle -- so here we are, the Americans, drinking more coca cola with one meal than a Dominican family probably drinks in a week. (Okay, next time just order ONE bottle). The food was excellent though and even more so when we got the bill -- only 180 pesos. Awesome. Plus, the restaurant had cable TV and was tuned to Superstation TBS. Bonus. So, Meal and Drinks: $5.45. Watching the end of "The Fifth Element" with a bunch of Dominican motoconcho (motorcycle taxi) drivers: Priceless.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to the Marina Puerto Blanco to sample the local beers, Presidente (for export, slightly more expensive) and Bohemia (domestic only, and a little cheaper). Then we wandered over to Marina Luperon and ran into a couple of cruisers from a boat called "Adventure Bound". Amanda and Jim are our age and we really hit it off. We headed over to their boat afterward for drinks and snacks. They've been here a week and were able to offer some great advice on what to see and do while we're here. So far every cruiser and every local we have met have been amazingly friendly and helpful. We are looking forward to spending some time here getting to know the place.

Luperon, Dominican Republic

[Kevin's Post]We had an easy passage to Luperon last night and got here about noon. There was a lot of bioluminescence in the water last night which made it look like the boat was throwing green sparks as it moved through the water. The Dominican Republic looks very different from the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos. Everyplace we have been so far has been very flat, the mountains here are a big contrast. We tried to clear in here in Luperon, but some of the officials we need to visit were gone to a fiesta so we'll have to finish the paperwork tomorrow. We were too tired to do much exploring, but did walk up and down the main street before heading back to the boat. Time for a siesta.

Where we are:
Location=Luperon, Dominican Republic
Lat=19 53.942
Lon=70 57.213

French Cay, Turks & Caicos

[Kevin's Post]We left the Marina this morning and crossed the Caicos Banks to French Cay where we plan to sleep for a few hours before departing for Luperon in the Dominican Republic. The Caicos Banks is a minefield of coral heads with overall depths from 6-12 feet, so you have to keep a constant lookout. Just as we were anchoring we saw a large ray jump out of the water and land with a splash. It was pretty cool. Leaving here for Luperon will be about a 20-24 hour trip so we should be getting into Luperon tomorrow (Monday) afternoon sometime.

Where we are:
Location=French Cay, Turks and Caicos
Lat=21 30.703
Lon=72 12.205

Provo - Conch Farm

We had signed up with a local dive shop to do a two tank dive this morning. Of course the weather system that we were trying to outrun yesterday caught up with us here, with squally and windy weather conditions that forced the divemaster to cancel our dive. The waves were breaking pretty hard out at the reefs and it would've been a rough and uncomfortable ride to get out there. We're disappointed because today is pretty much the only day we would've been able to dive -- tomorrow we have a narrow weather window to motor 100 miles down to Luperon in the Dominican Republic. So here we are in a place where diving is the primary tourist attraction and we didn't get to go. But we took it in stride. Because Provo has other tourist attractions. Like conch.

Since we had the rental car we took a drive out to the east end of the island where the Conch World Provo sea farm is located. Our tour guide, Denver, explained why and how they farm the queen conch. Why? Primarily for export and to take advantage of size regulations. Local fisherman have strict requirements on how big the conch has to be before you can take it, whereas at the conch farm they can sell the smaller baby conch which are prepared in the same fashion as escargot. As to the how, the sea farm has leased 60 acres of sea bottom for their "sub-sea pasture" where they have pens to hold the conch (not that conch wander around all that much but they do have a foot and can travel). They also have onshore pools where they keep the younger, smaller conchs before they are big enough to be put out to "pasture". Total number of visitors on the tour: 2. Total number of conchs: 5,500,000. The highlight of the trip was when Denver introduced us to Sally and Gerry, the farm's "trained" conchs. When picked up these two guys come as far out of their shells as possible so that you can see what the whole animal looks like (normally conchs kind of hide when picked up). So all in all it was an interesting way to spend the morning. Not surprisingly, this is the only conch farm in the entire world.

The rest of the day we just ambled around in the rental car before returning to the marina. Our boat happens to be docked right behind two police boats that are continuously staffed. I got to talking with the captain of one of the boats and asked him if it was like a fire station, where the guys hang out on the boat and wait to be called to an emergency. He said that actually it was unusual for them to be at the dock but the weather has been so bad that they couldn't go out and do their patrols. Apparently the sole purpose of these police boats is to prevent illegal immigration from Haiti. According to the captain, every single night at least one boat tries to make the crossing from Haiti (about a hundred miles away), sometimes filled with hundreds of people (he'd seen as many as 200 crammed into a single small boat). So these policemen go out every night in search of small boats running with no lights that are barely visible on radar. He said that despite the challenges of finding a small boat on the open sea, they do manage to catch and deport most of them. Very few get in, which is why he seemed upset that they couldn't go out due to the weather because "they'll come anyway, even in weather as bad as this."

Providenciales, Turks & Caicos

Some background: the Turks and Caicos (KAY-kohss) are two groups of islands to the southeast of the Bahamas and north of Hispaniola. Looking at a map, the Caicos group of islands are on the left and the Turks islands (including the country's capital on Grand Turk) are on the right. Reading left to right you'd think they'd call the country Caicos and Turks but you'd be wrong. You'd also think that the island with the capital would be the most happenin' place. Wrong again. Instead the Caicos side is more developed with more tourism, mostly due to the fantastic diving and beautiful (but dangerously shallow) Caicos Bank just south of the big islands. Providenciales is where everything is at: trendy restaurants, dive outfits, boutique hotels, and shopping. If you're like me and your tongue hurts when you say "Providenciales", then just call it "Provo". Everyone else does.

So here we are. We are both running on just four hours of sleep, but it has been worth it to get here ahead of a fast-moving cold front. We arrived in Provo around 10 am after crossing the Caicos Bank (very shallow, lots of coral heads. For part of the trip, I was standing like Mary Poppins on the bow holding an umbrella to block the sun and pointing out the nasty looking heads for Kevin to avoid). We knew we needed fuel and enlisted the help of our friend Tanya in Phoenix. While we were in Mayaguana w/o internet access she looked up and emailed us which marinas had fuel docks that were open. (Our SSB email is a lifesaver, and great friends are even more so -- thanks Tanga!) When we started into the marina entrance, the narrow channel was blocked by a boat that was anchored and doing some dredging. The guy on deck motioned us to go around him on the left, which put us near some shallow coral heads. It was nervewracking for a time but we got through it and made the 90 degree turn to enter the marina. Of course we had one more obstacle to get past which was the two dogs that decided to swim across the channel directly in front of us. We slowed down to avoid running them down and managed to get tied up and checked in with Customs with no further trouble. There are dogs everywhere.

After some discussion we decided to rent a car, since that seems to be the best way to see the island. We drove (on the left side, as they do in Britain) over to Turtle Bay and had a fantastic dinner accompanied by the local beer, Turks Head. We got back in the car and had some more fun with roundabouts before stopping for ice cream in an area called Grace Bay. Provo is interesting in that it has one main "highway" going the length of the island and a handful of paved roads, only in the touristy areas. Everywhere else it's dirt roads and rocks. Of course we are driving around in this tiny daihatsu clown car, trying to avoid scraping the bottom on the potholes while passing dismembered parts of other cars that did not fare so well (specifically an unlucky crankshaft smack dab in the middle of the road). Yeah, we signed on for Avis' collision/damage insurance.

Where we are:
Location=Provo, Turks and Caicos
Lat=21 45.827
Lon=72 10.505

En Route to Turks & Caicos

Kevin went for a snorkel this morning to dive on our anchor and scrub a little more crud off the underside of the boat. I was inside when he called me out to take a look at an enormous 4-foot stingray that had meandered over and was laying on the bottom right under the boat. It swam away when I came out but I guess when I went back inside it came back again to keep an eye on Kevin's progress. Then later in the afternoon I also jumped in and snorkeled around a bit and after I got out and started rinsing myself off on the transom I looked over and there it was again, just hovering off to the side of the boat, watching me. Very Hitchcockian. He may have just been curious about what these strange-looking interlopers with the flailing arms and legs were up to, but seriously sometimes when we snorkel I wonder: who is watching who?

We turned in early and set our alarm for midnight so that we could get started on our next passage. Goodbye, Bahamas -- hello, Turks & Caicos! We were glad we saved our chartplotter track on the way in (a la Hansel & Gretel's breadcrumbs), as it made going out the west entrance of Abraham's Bay a no-brainer. We're expecting to land in T&C around lunchtime on Friday.

Where we are:
Location=Passage to Turks and Caicos
Lat=22 14.685
Lon=72 58.554

Mayaguana, Bahamas

We got into Mayaguana at lunchtime today after being underway for 29 hours. The passage to Mayaguana is reputed to be one of the more difficult sections of the route south since it is so long (against the prevailing winds of course) with no good anchorages along the way. So we are glad to have it behind us. Mayaguana will be our last stop in the Bahamas, the Turks & Caicos lies about 50 miles SE of where we are. We are anchored behind a reef on the south side of the island. We plan to stay here tonight and tomorrow, so hopefully after some rest we'll get a chance to do some snorkeling.

Where we are:
Location=Mayaguana, Bahamas
Lat=22 19.526
Lon=73 01.874

En Route to Mayaguana

We heard on the news that it snowed a foot in Tucson. Brrr! Hope everyone back in AZ is managing to stay warm. We are putting miles and miles under our keels on our way to Mayaguana. So far doing this leg in one long passage is really working out well. The wind is very light and the seas are so calm that we are each able to grab some solid hours of shut-eye on our off-watches. For us, three hours on and three hours off seems to be about right. Any longer and you start to get fatigued when you're on watch, and any shorter you don't get any sleep.

You may wonder what it's like to be at the helm in the middle of the night. Well picture this: you have nothing beneath you except miles of empty ocean and nothing above you but a billion light-years of cosmic history. You start to think about big questions such as: is this clod of dirt the only planet in the universe that supports sentient beings? And if not, how can we possibly contact some other civilization if all the stuff we see in the sky is so old it may not even exist anymore? Deep, huh? Your thoughts wander all over the place but that's pretty much the kind of thing you think about when you are alone on watch at 2 a.m. That, and "yo quiero Taco Bell". Sadly, there are no drive-thrus in this neck of the woods.

It was cloudy earlier but the skies just cleared and I think I can pretty much see every star there is (or "was". Whatever...my brain hurts). I wish I knew more about astronomy; the only constellations I recognize are Orion and the Big and Little Dippers. It is strange to me that the ancients had to resort to naming constellations after make-believe monsters like Capricorn and Sagittarius. When I look at the stars, I see shapes that take a lot less imagination to envision: Tabla Ikea (crooked table), Serpento Twisticus (long twisty snake), and Pasta Farfalle Major/Minor (big and little bow ties). Give it a try sometime. Poke your head outside on a clear night and see if you think you're looking at a creature with a fish body and a goat's head or something that more resembles an unbent paperclip (can't think of a good latin name for that one).

Where we are:
Location=Passage to Mayaguana
Lat=22 45.135
Lon=73 39.142

George Town, Exumas

We had a busy weekend here in George Town. On Saturday we took a dinghy ride into town to hit the book exchange, stock up on fruits & veggies, swing by the liquor store (rum was less than 5 bucks/liter), and find a few parts at the hardware store. Top II Bottom is the name of the hardware store here and as the name implies they are surprisingly well-stocked. We were able to find a thimble for one of my rope splices, an energy-efficient fluorescent light bulb to replace the one we broke, and silver duct tape aplenty (we had run out). Couple that with faxing in our US Coast Guard registration (which we did on Monday at the "Business Center" whose computers sport neither MS Word nor Adobe Acrobat -- sure made printing out the CG's online form difficult but we managed!), and we've finished all our shore errands for a while.

Sunday we went ashore at Stocking Island to hang out for lunch at the Chat N Chill beach bar. We kicked back with some burgers and a couple Kaliks and watched the scene at Volleyball beach. There were three games of volleyball going, folks playing bridge, dominoes, and even a bocce game (don't ask me who won, I can't figure out the rules). We hung out for a while and watched the games and wandered up and down the beach a bit before heading back to the boat.

Today is Monday and we are looking at a couple of days of light and variable winds, so we are planning to leave George Town tomorrow morning. If we're lucky, we will make the long 180nm passage to Mayaguana either motorsailing or just plain motoring. Normally the prevailing trade winds make this passage a tough one, so we'll take a light & variable motorsail if we can get it. Comfort is key. Plus landing in Mayaguana will put us in a good position to head over to the Turks & Caicos soon. If we don't like the conditions and decide not to go to Mayaguana, we'll just head over to Rum Cay where the snorkeling is supposed to be fantastic. Either way, we'll be going somewhere we've never been before so we are looking forward to it.

George Town, Exuma

So Thursday we went 40 miles from Shroud Cay to Little Farmer's Cay. We met up with another couple there and had them over for drinks. Bruce and Lin are on "Alize", and we met them while we were in Charleston. It was nice to meet up with some familiar faces and it sounds like they are headed the same way we are, as they plan to spend hurricane season down in Trinidad & Tobago. I'm sure we'll see more of them down the road.

We arrived in George Town yesterday morning. You may remember that last year this was as far as we got. Funny that last year it took us two and a half months to get from Lucaya to George Town but this year it took only five days. We seem to be flying through the Bahamas, but it's only because we want to spend our time in places we haven't been yet.

So we anchored and not an hour later we see a very small seaplane come taxiing in and pull up right to the beach at the Chat N Chill. Not sure which island he came from, maybe a smaller island without a bar? An hour and a half later the plane weaves its way back through all the anchored boats and takes off. So I guess he just wanted to knock back a couple before heading off to wherever he came from. That's what you like to see. Between this experience and the one last year where we saw the other seaplane crash, you could never pay me enough to ride in one of those things.

Where we are:
Location=George Town, Bahamas
Lat=23 30.952
Lon=75 45.301

Shroud Cay, Exumas, Bahamas

[Kevin's Post]Amanda fried us up some fresh mahi mahi for dinner last night and then we both slept for 12 hours straight. This morning we left the Nassau area and motor-sailed about 45 miles to where we are now, Shroud Cay, in the Exumas. I remember when we first bought the boat, we took a trip from Warwick to Block Island. That's about 30 miles and afterward I told Amanda that was too damn far to go in one day. We were both so tired. Now 45 miles is practically a day off.

We got here early afternoon and set about on some boat projects. Amanda got to work replacing the lacing that supports the trampolines, and I put on my wetsuit and started cleaning the hull. I've been looking forward to getting to the clear water here to scrub off the 8 months worth of growth that has accumulated. It's pretty hard to do in the murky water in the US. I spent 3 hours underwater and am about 1/3 done. The bottom of the boat has become an ecosystem in its own right. We definitely need a new coat of anti-fouling paint. With the slime, seaweed, and barnacles gone I'm sure we'll go faster. As I brush all the growth off, I notice that there are these tiny sea monkey creatures that are attaching themselves to me since I have disrupted their preferred home. Nice. That was about when I decided to call it a day.

Where we are:
Location=Shroud Cay
Lat=24 32.013
Lon=76 48.027

Kevin's Mahi Mahi

Kevin's latest catch. We figured out a way to post small photos with the SSB, so hopefully we'll be able to post more photos going forward.

Nassau - Catch of the Day

Spoiler alert: Kevin caught a fish. For those of you who want to know details, skip to the last paragraph.

So while all you people were sleeping, we made it 120 miles to Nassau. We'd been hoping the weather would hold and it did so we left at 4pm on Monday for a night passage across the New Providence Channel. It was just us and the big boats: cruise ships, motor tankers, cargo ships, and the like. A few hours after we left, a cruise ship caught up with us and it was so brightly lit it looked like a small city. Weren't sure if he even realized we were there until we heard a northbound tanker hail it on the radio (by name of course. All the big ships have the AIS system which tells them each other's important data like boat name, home port, and astrological sign.) The northbound tanker wanted the cruise ship to turn more to port and thankfully the captain said that he couldn't go to port as there were two small ships there (we were one of them). So at least the mega-giants can see us on their radar. That is encouraging.

We were motoring straight into the wind all night (it seems like that is always the case, doesn't it?) and it was ridiculously rolly with large nine-second swells, which basically means that you get hit by a swell and small waves and then the boat spends the next eight seconds pitching and yawing to recover itself only to be hit again on the nose by the next swell. Oh, and guess what -- we were down to our last seasickness patch (Kevin got it because a. he is more essential to boat operations, and b. I have inherited my dad's iron stomach). The waves slowed our speed down to a mere crawl at times (2.3 knots) and then the boat would recover (back to 5 knots - not setting any speed records here) before getting knocked on its butt again. So it was a rough night that didn't really let up until we got within a few hours of Nassau. But we made it to Nassau in one piece.

One good side effect of the exasperatingly slow speeds was that Kevin caught the most beautiful Mahi Mahi I have ever seen. He used a new "Alien" lure that he trolled out on a line around 6:30 am, and by 8 am he had a hit! I've seen illustrations of this kind of fish in books and the colors were always so vivid that I thought the artist might be exaggerating the hues - aquamarine, deep blue, and bright yellow - but that is what the fish looks like. This one was small, about 5 lbs, and my photo (when I post it) doesn't do it justice. In my photo the colors are kind of drab but Kevin says they are only vividly colored when they are alive. Plus I suck at photography anyway (you try taking a photo when the floor beneath you is jumping around like a rollercoaster). Actually better yet, try filleting the fish while the boat is jumping around like a rollercoaster, because that was Kevin's job. Blood and fish guts -- yuck. Tasty grilled fish cakes -- yum.

Where we are:
Location=Nassau, Bahamas
Lat=25 05.023
Lon=77 12.578

Port Lucaya - You Can Check Out Anytime You Like

"...But you can never leave..." Well that's how it's starting to feel, anyway. Since we are stuck here in Lucaya we decided to make the best of it and made reservations for the Champagne "Jazz" Brunch at the swanky Harbor Room. Free champagne, the buffet was excellent, and the jazz? Well, it was basically one guy playing a couple of keyboards, but he sure jazzed up his arrangement of "Hotel California". But it was a nice way to celebrate our wedding anniversary. One year of marriage under our belts and so far no complaints. Well, no serious complaints anyway.

We spent a few minutes contemplating a bizarre structure that wasn't here last year. At first we thought it might be a very compact driving range -- there were tall lights surrounded by all kinds of netting, but then we realized that it was a trapeze act (the guy who climbed up and started swinging back and forth was a dead giveaway!). They have mocked it up to look like a pirate ship and I guess they plan to eventually stage a Vegas-type Pirate-themed acrobat act. You can tell that this past hurricane season was a mild one -- it seems that all the cash the businesses would have normally spent on hurricane repairs has gone instead to improvements. Some examples: the marina we spent a month at last year used to be called Lucayan Marina Village, but now it is the more imposing Grand Bahama Yacht Club; and the Pelican Bay Hotel has re-roofed nearly all of its buildings from spanish tile to a more wind-resistant metal sheeting and they are building a covered enclosure over the pool bar. Nice.

After lunch we walked out along the beach and just enjoyed the sunshine. It's still blowing pretty good out there so even though we've been here a week longer than intended, we will hang out here one more day and see if the weather moderates a little before pushing on further south.

Port Lucaya - Kayaking

The cruise is ruined. Well, nearly ruined. Okay, we'll manage. This morning I pulled a jar of peanut butter out of the pantry. I opened it and Kevin and I both stared in absolute horror. Chunky! Who bought chunky?! Not only was it chunky Jif, but it was EXTRA-chunky Jif. I double-checked the other three unopened jars in our stockpile and sure enough there wasn't a smooth one in the bunch. I guess during our frenzied shopping at Sam's Club we had grabbed the wrong kind. Ew. I guess we'll live -- we just have to chew it more.

Last time we needed a splice in a line I was the one who sat down with the book and figured out how to do it. So now I am the designated "splicer" in the crew. (A splice is a way of putting a loop in the end of the rope without tying a knot). This time it was a different type of line (8-strand Brait) so I had to learn a whole new set of instructions. After more than an hour of bruising my fingers and cussing up a storm I came to the last step. All of my strands were about an inch too short for the final "tuck"! I was totally ticked off, because now I will have to start over at the beginning. My extra-supportive husband did not hesitate to point out: "Well you would've had to do it two more times anyway since I need three lines spliced not just one. It's good practice." Thanks, honey.

To cheer me up, Kevin decided to inflate the kayak that he got me for Christmas. He pulls the thing out of the bag and goes to inflate it with our dinghy pump when we realize that the pump doesn't fit the nozzle. We find some attachments that *kind of* fit and start filling the thing with air. But because we didn't buy the "right" pump, every time we close the valve it loses a lot of air. So the thing won't inflate all the way. We are kicking ourselves for not trying it out in Florida so we could've bought the right damn pump, but it has enough air to float and we are both able to try it out. It's nothing like a real kayak (the bow wiggles back and forth with every stroke of the paddle) but it's still pretty fun.

We are anchored in the same spot, tucked back into a cove. Both the glass-bottom boat tour and the booze cruise come through here to turn around, so every day we get a boat full of tourists staring at us like fish in a bowl, and today was no different. Can't blame them, really. I'd stare too if some yahoo was paddling around in what looked like a deflated pool toy.

Port Lucaya - Daytrippers

Tuesday morning we woke up around 8:30am after sleeping a solid 11 hours. We looked at the weather and spur of the moment decided to try to cross south to the Berry Islands because the winds are supposed to strengthen all week and we wanted to get as far as we could before hunkering down. So by 9:30 am we were on our way, headed out the Bell Channel, sails up and engines on. After about an hour the winds started building and of course the seas did too. On the chartplotter, our ETA to the Berrys showed as 5:40 (right at sunset) even though we were cruising along at 8+ knots. We discussed going on (for another 7 hours with wind & waves building) vs turning back. We decided we probably would've been fine if we'd left before sunrise but we knew that it was foolish to push on. Not that we would be in danger, just that the whole point of this is supposed to be fun and if we're getting knocked around by the seas it's not that fun. So we decided to call it a daysail and turned back towards Lucaya again to wait out the weather for the week. There are worse places to be stuck, that's for sure -- at least there's lots to do in Lucaya. We first anchored off the marina where we stayed last year hoping to make use of the free wi-fi, but the ferry guy came by and said we weren't allowed to anchor so close to the marina. So we moved on down the channel and tucked into one of the man-made coves. There's no internet signal here, but it's nice and secluded and protected from the wind. This morning Kevin looked at the weather forecast and it's looking like we'll be here til Sunday at least, which is our anniversary so that will be kind of cool to celebrate it here where we got married.

Where we are:
Location=Port Lucaya, GB
Lat=26 31.110
Lon=78 37.868

Back in the Bahamas

We woke up and were on our way out the Lake Worth inlet by 3:30 am. Last year when we crossed to the Bahamas, the sea was smooth as glass and we motored the whole way in record time. We weren't so lucky this year. Winds were out of the southeast at 15 knots with gusts up to 20. We got pounded by the waves, which weren't very big but it's still annoying to bash straight into them. As the sun rose both wind and waves picked up even further. Poor Boris, who was hiding in the forward port bathroom, must've gone airborne several times when we hit some big ones. And our lamp, the only freestanding piece of furniture that we own (everything else is bolted to the boat - now it's clear why) fell over one time too many and the bulb shattered. We have all kinds of spare lightbulbs on the boat for running lights, anchor lights, steaming lights, etc, but not a spare for a "normal" light. We still have plenty of lights but they are all "car dome light strength" -- dim enough so that you can just make out writing on a page. Our real lamp somehow made it feel more civilized. Only one day out and already something is broken -- guess we'll add "lightbulb" to our latest "boat fix" list. Supposedly these were ideal conditions in which to cross, but then again most people cross from further south in Florida and would've had the wind behind them instead of slamming into it headfirst, so we only have ourselves to blame. All in all it was a pretty relentless day, I guess we were spoiled last time.

We arrived at Port Lucaya around 4pm and got checked in with customs and immigration no problem. We left the dock, motored around a bit, and found a decent spot to anchor. As soon as we were settled we dinghied back over to the Lucaya Marketplace to -- you guessed it -- RumRunners for some coconut drinks. Ah...it feels like home.

Where we are:
Location=Port Lucaya, Grand Bahama
Lat=26 30.877
Lon=78 38.504

Lake Worth, FL

[Kevin's Post]We left Ft. Pierce yesterday morning and decided to go out the inlet and head down to Lake Worth on the outside to avoid the bridges and the weekend boater traffic on the ICW. So we knocked out the whole distance in one day. The wind was pretty much due south so we had to motor the whole way with the wind and waves coming straight at us. It wasn't too bad, we arrived about an hour before sunset.

Today we are taking care of some last minute tasks including fueling up the boat. Normally we would avoid going to a fuel dock on a weekend, but today we had no choice. The boat traffic here in Lake Worth is incredible and it is a nightmare trying to maneuver a big slow boat with a zillion small fishing boats zipping around like flys. Imagine trying to pull into a gas station, if the gas station were located in the median of I-10. We make our first pass with all our fenders on the opposite side of the boat from the dock. We were planning to turn around so our bow would be into the wind when we dock. No dice. There are half a dozen boats right behind me so I can't turn around. I try to turn into the marina past the fuel dock to let the boats go by, intending to back out and slide up to the fuel dock. But, it takes too long for the boats to go by and I can't hold our position with the wind and current. The current grabs us and pushes us sideways pinning us against a piling at the bow and the end of the fuel dock at the stern. Fortunately the slip that we were pinned in front of was empty and our rub rail protected us from any damage from the piling. After the boats went by, I was able to pivot the stern away from the dock and back out. No harm done. I tell Amanda to move all the fenders to the other side of the boat since the current was stronger than the wind and coming from the opposite direction. We set up for another pass. This time a small fishing boat sneaks in ahead of me. We set up for a third pass. This time we actually get tied up (with great difficulty since it was the dock hands second day and he didn't know how to tie up a boat). Of course from his perspective, he's probably thinking I don't know how to drive a boat. Anyway, we filled the tank and 5 jerry cans and filled the outboard tank too. $260. Ouch, but it's cheapest fuel we'll see for a while.

We're planning to leave tomorrow morning by 4AM and head for Lucaya on Grand Bahama, a distance of about 80nm. This is the same route we took last year and it took just under 12 hours. Hopefully we can make even better time this year since the wind will be out of the south. If we can't make it to Lucaya before dark, we will divert to West End.

Where we are:
Location=Lake Worth, FL
Lat=26 45.557
Lon=80 02.663

Ft. Pierce, FL

[Kevin's Post]Today we did another 40 miles south on the ICW. This was one of those days we were glad to be on protected waters since we saw apparent winds as high as 33 knots. That's a lot of wind. We're still about 60 miles from our planned departure point, Lake Worth. We're going to try get to Lake Worth tomorrow, but may break it up into 2 days depending on how bad we time the bridges. There are 8 drawbridges between here and there, 6 of them have restricted opening times. If the forecast holds, we will be able to cross the gulfstream on Monday.

Where we are:
Location=Ft Pierce, FL
Lat=27 28.211
Lon=80 19.509

Palm Bay, FL

This morning we topped off the water tank, rinsed the bird crap off the deck (stupid birds), and left the marina for parts south. Today was an easy day, only a 40-mile stretch to an anchorage near Palm Bay. So far things have been in working order -- both engines fired up first try, that's always a good thing. We weren't able to put the sails up since the wind was coming straight from the direction we wanted to go, but we made good time on one engine and arrived at the anchorage around 3pm. We have a couple more days of motoring south through Florida before we can get to our jumping off point at Lake Worth. It is looking like there will be good weather early next week for our crossing to the Bahamas. We are looking forward to being in clear water again. Right now both transoms are covered in sludge and there's no point in cleaning them off since the dark brown water just stains them again right away. Ick.

Where we are:
Location=Palm Bay, FL
Lat=27 59.428
Lon=80 32.375

Titusville, FL - Provisioning

[Kevin's Post]Today we made another Sam's Club run to fill the freezer. Just how much can we cram into a 16" x 16" x 24" space? Well here's what's in there now: 14 lbs chicken breast, 13 lbs ground turkey, 10 lbs cheddar cheese, 10 lbs mozarella cheese, 10 lbs frozen vegetables, 3 lbs deli sliced ham, 3 lbs deli sliced roast beef, 3 lbs deli sliced turkey, 6 lbs steaks, 3 lbs frozen bread dough, 2 lbs ricotta cheese, 2 lbs italian sausage and a few other odds and ends. And we still have some room to make ice. The refrigerator is still empty, that's one of tomorrow's chores.

We have ported our phone number over to Vonage so that we will be able to keep our old phone number as we travel through the caribbean. You'll still be able to call that number and leave us voicemails. We will get an email notification any time a message is left which is pretty cool. Plus we have a USB telephone which we can plug into any internet cafe computer (or our own on the boat if we have wi-fi) and call home for free.

We're starting to look at the forecast watching for a weather window to cross over to the Bahamas. This year we are subscribing to a private weather service to get weather information. Last year we primarily used the NOAA forecasts, but listened in on Chris Parker on the SSB later in the spring. We were pretty impressed with the detail and accuracy of his forecasts, so this year we subscribed to his service which allows us to hail him during his morning SSB broadcast for personalized weather routing. Plus we get daily emails detailing the current weather conditions and outlook for our area. As of right now it is looking like we probably won't cross until the beginning of next week.

Titusville, FL - Back at the boat

[Kevin's Post]Happy New Year! We left Phoenix early this morning and are now back at the boat. We are always nervous returning to the boat after being gone for a while and this
time we were especially nervous since the marina we left the boat at is a bit sketchy. And the tornados that hit 50 miles from here last week didn't ease our worries either. But all is well, the boat is exactly the way we left it, just a little extra dirt. We are busy trying to get the boat and ourselves ready to leave the country, hopefully within the week. We'll have a rental car for the next few days in order to finish our provisioning and run some last minute errands. It seems like our list of last-minute tasks gets longer by the hour as we try to pick up the odds and ends that we think we'll want or need during the next year and a half. Everything costs at least twice as much once you leave the land of plenty, so we are packing every nook and cranny of the boat with food, supplies, and boat parts. Now the real challenge is remembering what we have and where the hell we put it.