Saturday, May 3, 2014

This is a century or agave plant in bloom on Long Island.  It is huge and looks like a tree.

Sitting on a makeshift bench on the sand cliffs above the Stocking Island beach, Bill is discussing something like the physics of breaking waves while Olivia’s attention begins to wander.

The Family Islands Regatta is a photographer’s delight.  These are some of the smaller boats locked in close competition.

With huge cotton mainsails and with their crews outboard of the boat at the end of wooden plank pries, three of the C-class boats sail to weather together.

At times the boats sail through the anchored spectator fleet.  Our dinghy was floating off our stern, and Bill pulled it in to let them go by.

Even in dead light air the boats still carry enough canvas to sail along nicely.  This is Running Tide.  She won the first two races of the regatta, but in the third race struck another boat which cost her the third race and the overall trophy.

The racing boats are closely matched in their classes and the completion is fierce.

Wooden boats, cotton sails, no winches, built on the beach; the boats follow the lines of pre-WW II fishing boats. 

Racing over, the crew is ashore partying while their boat waits for the next day’s sail.

This pretty coconut palm lined beach is on the west side of Lee Stocking Island.  We explored the beach and the three trails that went inland from the beach.

One of the three trails goes to the top of Perry’s Peak, the highest spot in the Exuma Islands of the Bahamas.

In this picture taken from half way up our mast, we are anchored between Big Galliot and Big Farmers Cays.  The water here is 7 feet deep, crystal clear, and is blue beyond blue.  You can even see the shadow of the dinghy on the white sand below.

Hello from Black Point.  The month of April was a busy one for us.

After the Zangri family left, we spent a couple of days working on broken boat stuff and walking on the Stocking Island beaches.  Some folks from our home marina, Fairfield Harbor in New Bern, invited us to a farewell lunch before they headed back to New Bern.  We also saw Kamouraska who we first met in Bimini and Swell Horizon whose homeport is Kingsport, TN.

After all the socializing we decided we needed a change of scenery.  Bill suggested a trip to Long Island. On the morning of April 1 Bill pulled up our anchor, gave me the signal for anchor up, and I pushed the throttle ahead.  We did not speed up.  I pushed a little further.  Instead of speeding up, the engine made bad sounds – expensive sounds.  We re-anchored the boat and started trouble shooting the problem.  The engine would not speed up even in neutral.  I noticed the exhaust (really a mixture of water and exhaust) was black.  The black soot in the blue crystal clear water behind the boat was startling.  This meant big trouble.  Bill was thinking about how to get back to Florida without an engine.  I was worried about where in the Bahamas we could buy enough ice to keep our food cold.

David, from Swell Horizon, came over in his dinghy.  He and Bill discussed the possible problems with the engine while I searched all our cruising guides for ads from diesel mechanics.  David suggested that the mixing elbow could be plugged.  That is the place that the engine cooling water is added to the exhaust to cool the exhaust and quiet the engine.  Bill liked the idea of a plugged elbow.  It was the only suggested problem he could possibly fix.  Off came the elbow.  Bill spent the rest of the day chipping out the rust, carbon, and salt that plugged the hole through the elbow.  Thankfully, that seemed to solve our problem.  The exhaust simply could not get out of the engine.

The next morning we again pulled up our anchor and headed south.  Unfortunately, the wind direction had shifted, and it was right in our faces.  It was a rough trip to Long Island.  Everything on the boat was covered in salt from the sea spray including us.  We anchored in Thompson Bay in time for a well-deserved sundowner; actually a double.

Several boats we know were also anchored in Thompson Bay.  Dot’s Way (who we met several years ago) came over one evening for a drink, and we chatted several times with Margareta (who used to be based in our marina in New Bern).  We walked over to the Atlantic Ocean side beach finding several nice shells.  Up on one of the dunes was an agave tree beginning to bloom.  These plants are very impressive in bloom.  The plant takes twenty years or more to mature, then it grows a huge stalk, blooms, and dies.

In Salt Pond on Friday night it was Happy Hour at the Long Island Breeze restaurant and bar.  Some of the cruisers got a band together (and practiced beforehand), so we enjoyed live music.  It was a good time.  Saturday was the local Farmer’s Market Day.  We went expecting local produce but found mostly craftspeople.  One woman did have bread for sale.  I bought what she said was banana bread, but it turned out to be chocolate chip raisin bread.  It was yummy none the less.  After a trip to the local grocery store for veggies, we had conch fritters for lunch at the Long Island Breeze.  We entertained a couple from Kentucky who were staying in a local guest house with our cruising tales.  The rest of the day was spent digesting our meal.

Early on Sunday, April 6 we left Long Island and returned to George Town to avoid some expected bad weather.  The return trip to GeorgeTown was a very pleasant downwind sail.  We were anchored at Sand Dollar Beach before suppertime.

The wind was supposed to clock all the way around from the south to the west to the north to the east.  On Monday we moved to a calmer spot on the town side of the harbor just east of the Peace and Plenty Hotel.  We had never anchored there before.  It turned out to be very calm in a west wind and convenient to town.  Bill made a trip to Exuma Market for water, then took the dinghy to Palm Bay Resort for a beer before walking to Darville Lumber to buy parts for our propane system.  In the evening we went to Eddie’s Edgewater Restaurant’s to listen to the Rake-N-Scrape band.  It was great.  I even danced a little, but not very well, with a local.  Tuesday night we went to Shirley’s, a local eatery at the Fish Fry Village.  The food was first rate.  After dinner we explored further north in the dinghy and had a drink at the Splash Bar in Palm Bay Resort.  The bar was pretty Americanized with everyone down for a week.  We were the only overly tanned people there.  It was a fun evening.  Wednesday morning the cold front came through, the wind picked up, and shifted to the north.  With no land to the north, our spot became rough, and we moved back to Sand Dollar Beach.

My hair had grown so much it was quite unmanageable.  I let Bill give me a haircut.  It turned out unexpectedly well.  And, we now match in hair length.  Bill has not cut his hair since January!  He has become quite shaggy.

Our friends on the motor vessel Oh My! were anchored at Sand Dollar Beach.  We spent several happy hours with them on both our boat and theirs.  I taught Phyllis how to look for Sand Dollars one day.  We found more than a few.  Oh My! hosted a pot luck supper for several boats one evening.  There were twelve adults and three children on their boat, and there was still room for more.  I now need a big trawler.

One evening Bill and I went to the ARG (Alcohol Research Group) meeting at Hamburger Beach.  The purpose of this group was to observe the effects of alcohol on people eating appetizers on the beach.  The same evening 35 miles away in at the Long Island Breeze they were having their much advertised “Ted’s Birthday Bash”.  You can imagine our surprise to meet Ted at the ARG meeting.  Well, sailing being such a tricky thing with wind, tides, shallow water, and such; Ted did not make it to his birthday bash.  Pictures on the cell phones showed the party was going on quite well without him.  He and three others had an hour long jam session at the ARG meeting.  I am always impressed with folks who meet total strangers on the beach and play music together!

During all this socializing we had to use our dinghy.  The inflatable floor kept getting soft.  On Saturday we pulled the floor out of the dinghy to see if we could find the leak.  We found several where sand spurs stuck in our shoes had poked small holes in the floor.  Bill patched the leaks and put the floor back in the dinghy.  The next morning the floor was soft again.  This time we found a spot where a shell had cut the floor on its bottom.  Monday morning the floor was flat still again.  This time we found a small leak where a seam had come unglued last year.  We re-repaired the seam.  Tuesday morning the dinghy floor was still hard.  Yippee!

With the dinghy now holding air, we moved Irish Eyes over to the town side of the harbor.  We had company coming; Julia, Josh, Isabella, and Olivia.  We were excited, but had groceries to buy, water and fuel to get onboard, laundry to wash, and a boat to clean.   We could no longer just sit around and watch the dinghy leak.  It was time to get to work. 

The Self family arrived before noon on Thursday, April 17.  We met their taxi at Exuma Markets and ferried them and their bags to Irish Eyes.  Isabella and Olivia wanted to go to the beach, so we moved Irish Eyes back to Sand Dollar Beach.  We swam off the beach and from Irish Eyes in the afternoon.  The two year old Olivia needed some time to get used to the salty ocean water, but she was soon as happy in the water as on the boat.

Friday, we walked the trail over to the ocean side beach.  Both Isabella and Olivia liked the surf.  I had fun in the waves even though I got repeatedly knocked off my feet.  We went on a Friday afternoon sand dollar search on the nearby sand flats where we found a few pretty ones.  Isabella had a new snorkel and mask.  Julia helped her swim along and look at the bottom.  Isabella was very impressed with herself.  Unfortunately, the Self kids brought us a Mississippi bug from their day care.  The disease got Josh first, then Bill a few days later, and finally me the next week.

Josh was feeling better on Saturday morning, but Captain Bill was the next victim of the bug.  The rest of us left him on Irish Eyes and took a short dinghy trip to the beach.  The wind had picked up to about 20 knots out of the south.  That meant it was coming straight up the harbor causing waves in our usually calm anchorage.  After a rough and wet dinghy ride back to Irish Eyes, we decided to just play onboard for the rest of the day.

Easter Sunday morning, April 20 was a cloudy, windy day in George Town.  It rained enough for Bill to show how we can catch rainwater on Irish Eyes’ decks.  He caught about 20 gallons even though our tanks were nearly full.  Just after lunch the skies cleared, and it was once again a beautiful Bahamas day.  Julia, Josh, and Isabella went snorkeling on the nearby reef.  Isabella said she saw fish of every color.  Not bad for a five year old!  We all went over to the beach for a swim and a little sand castle building.

Monday was the last beach day for the Self family.  We played on the nearby beach then took one trail over to the sound side and another one back.  Isabella was our trail leader while Bill moved the dinghy to meet us and bring us back to the boat.

Bill’s brother, Haynes, and his wife, Laura, flew into Georgetown on Monday and spent two nights at the Peace and Plenty Hotel.  We all met them for dinner at Eddie’s Edgewater, then enjoyed the Rake-N-Scrape band afterwards.  We all had great food and enjoyed the music and dancing.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to the Self family on Tuesday morning.  Before leaving, Julia, Isabella, Olivia, and I made a quick trip to the straw market and bought small purses for both little girls.  The straw working ladies put the girls’ names on the bags while we waited.

Bill spent the rest of the day getting water and cleaning Irish Eyes while I did the laundry and a little grocery shopping.  We met Haynes and Laura for drinks and a nice dinner at the Peace and Plenty that evening.

Wednesday, April 23 was the beginning of the Family Island Regatta.  The Regatta is four days of sailboat races, music, food, and partying.  The first race was at 9am.  Bill and I went over to the Peace and Plenty in the dinghy.  We watched the start of the first race with Haynes and Laura from the balcony of their room overlooking the start and finish lines.  Bill took their bags to Irish Eyes in the dinghy while I escorted Haynes and Laura to the Exuma Markets dinghy dock.  After settling in on Irish Eyes we moved the boat a bit farther out into the harbor to be nearer the race course.

One of the turning marks for the A class race was very close to our new spot giving us a great view.  The racing boats are modeled after old working Bahamian fishing boats.  The boats are all wooden, have only cotton sails, must be Bahamian owned, and be crewed (mostly) by Bahamians.  The races were a sight to see with impossibly big sails set on small boats barely kept upright by the whole crew perched on wooden pries out over the water.  We had a good time watching.  Bill and I race our 22 foot boat in Tennessee.  Bahamian racing is a whole ‘nother sport.

Haynes and Laura wanted to spend some time in a remote location, and since Irish Eyes is actually a cruising sailboat rather than a free drinks bar, we pulled up the anchor and motored down to Pigeon Cay on Thursday.  We had a lovely day of beach combing, snorkeling, and swimming at the uninhabited island.  The chart had the anchorage labelled as a calm weather day only anchorage, but we decided to spend the night.  The wind shifted a little south, and we spent the night “gently” rocked to sleep.  I, unfortunately, fell victim to the Mississippi bug during the night.

Friday morning we sailed back to George Town.  Bill, Haynes, and Laura went over to the St Francis Hotel for lunch.  It rained a bit and was cloudy.  During the afternoon, the racing fleet came straight through our anchorage.  It gave us a great photo op.  While Haynes and Laura were swimming off Irish Eyes, the spectator fleet came roaring up scaring the swimmers out of the water.  In the evening, Bill took Haynes and Laura across the harbor to the Fish Fry Village for supper and to the Splash Bar for drinks.  I decided to call it an early night and stayed aboard in my bunk.

After a short dinghy trip to Sand Dollar Beach on Saturday morning, we moved once again to the town side of George Town.  There we again had a great view of the racing, but Haynes and Laura had to go home.  After a quick souvenir shopping trip, they caught their cab and were too soon gone.  I just hope they do not get the Mississippi bug.

The afternoon races had lots of problems.  First, there was no wind.  Then, with the B-class boats anchored on the starting line, it rained.  The crews huddled under the sails trying to stay dry.  After the rain the wind changed direction, so the course had to be re-laid, and all the boats had to be re-anchored on a new starting line.  In the B-class race one boat tipped over and sunk.  That forced the race committee to rearrange the course for the following A-class race to avoid the wreck.  In the A-class race the boat that was the points leader in the regatta struck another boat punching a hole in its side.  We had front row seats on Irish Eyes not only for the race but for the antics of the spectator fleet that chased the race fleet around the course.  There was even a twin engine float airplane that took off straight through the fleet, circled, and landed in another spot for a better view!  It was all pretty exciting.

Sunday was our day off.  Bill once again patched the dinghy floor.  Two of his earlier attempts did not work.  I caught up on my knitting and began writing this blog entry.  Monday, Bill ran into town for fuel and water.  We then we sailed out of George Town and to Lee Stocking Island.  It was an easy downwind 25 mile trip.

Lee Stocking Island was a new stop for us.  Ashore was the now closed Caribbean Marine Research Center.  We anchored nearby and attempted to land our dinghy there but found nothing but "No Trespassing" signs.  Farther south on the banks side of the island was a beach with coconut palms and three trails.  During the two days we were there we explored all three trails.  One went to the top of Perry’s Peak, named no doubt for John Perry founder of the research center.  It’s the highest spot in the Exumas at 123 feet.  The other two trails crossed the island to the airport runway and the beaches on the sound (ocean) side of the island.  They both passed through the tropical scrub that covers most of the island and the more northern one ran along an impressive stone wall that once must have once kept in livestock.  If I ever walk them again, I’ll take lots of water.  The island is mostly in its natural state and pretty.  We understand from reading on the web that it is slated to be developed by a New York banker as a "fully sustainable, carbon neutral, five-star sanctuary and wellness retreat".  That will be a shame.

After three nights at Lee Stocking Island, we sailed north in the Exuma Sound to Galliot Cut.  The tide was flowing out the cut (inlet) making it a little rough, but we got through without any problem and anchored nearby in a pretty spot between Big Galliot Cay and Big Farmers Cay.  One of our guidebooks said that a sandbar a mile or so south of us uncovered at low tide and provided excellent shelling.  We hopped in the dinghy and went to take a look.  The guide was right.  Even though a tour boat had gotten there before us, we picked up dozens of sand dollars, lots of smaller shells, and an Atlantic pearl oyster.

Yesterday, we sailed to Black Point, anchored off the settlement, and had supper at the Scorpio Inn.  We have internet here, so I have been using my time to update this blog.

While swimming near the wrecked airplane at Normans Cay, these sergeant major fish came over to me hoping I had something for them to eat.

We caught this bull Mahi on our way from Staniel Cay to George Town.  It was 53” long and weighed 32 pounds.  I gaffed him and pulled him into the cockpit.  The autopilot steered the boat while we worked.

Kaelyn’s snorkel was found on the beach, and she quickly adopted it exploring the shallows along Stocking Island and the nearby reef in the harbor.

Hello from George Town, Exuma, The Bahamas.

It has been a long time since I have written anything for this blog.  Bill reminds me of that every day.  I have my excuses.  Our PC quit.  Its screen went blank.  The new PC is Window 8 with all new software, and the learning curve has been steep.  Free WiFi internet has become rare here in the Bahamas because people have abused it by using Skype and downloading movies.  I purchased a BTC SIM card with voice, text, and data for my phone only to discover (after many calls to the T-Mobile and BTC help desks) that my year old phone was outdated and could not be used on the BTC data network.  Those are my excuses for not writing, and I am sticking to them!

In my last blog entry I whined about the cold weather.  The day after I wrote it we got to Daytona Beach, and it finally got warm.  By the time we arrived in South Beach Miami, it was short sleeve shirt, shorts, and barefoot weather.  Bill wanted to go ashore for a Valentine’s Day restaurant dinner, so we launched the dinghy, but the motor would not run at idle speed.  Captain Bill spent several hours messing with it, but the motor still would not run at idle.  He was very cross and frustrated.  On Saturday morning he removed and cleaned the carburetor, and the motor ran just fine.  We went ashore for lunch and a little walking around.  I had my hair cut the next day.  My new shorter haircut is great!  I should have done it sooner.

Our week in South Beach was spent shopping for groceries, beer, wine, and all the extra stuff we needed.  Of course there was the mandatory trip to West Marine, and the trip became a good excuse to eat lunch in a nice restaurant in Coconut Grove.  We learned that the paper charts we use for the Exumas had just been updated, and Bill made a day long bus journey to Ft. Lauderdale to buy a new set.  Since we no longer needed our winter clothes, we packed them up and sent them to our daughter Julia.  Finally, we were ready to go.  The weather forecast was good for the next few days; in fact, it was perfect.  We picked up the dinghy, deflated it, and stowed it on deck, then we moved Irish Eyes to a spot outside No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne.

Early (3am) on February 22 we were on our way to the Bimini.  The moon went down and the sun came up, the sky turned blue, the sea was nearly calm, and the wind was just right for the crossing of the Gulf Stream.  We arrived in Bimini around 2pm tired but excited. 

At Weech’s Dock Kimini welcomed us back, tied up the boat, and handed us our customs and immigrations forms.  In a nearby shop we purchased a BTC SIM card for my phone hoping to enjoy lower voice and text charges and access to the 4G internet.  As I said before the data stuff did not work with my phone (and we blew $30 for service we could not use).  That evening two other boats which had also crossed that day, Amber Sea and Kamouraska, invited us to have dinner with them.  The food at the adjacent Big John’s was excellent.  Bill had lobster and a Kalik beer.  I had cracked conch and rum punch.  We tumbled into bed, and the live music from the restaurant lulled us to sleep.

In the morning we untied our lines from Weech’s Dock, said farewell to Kimini, and were on our way to Highbourne Cay.  The 170 nautical mile trip to Highbourne took 36 hours which meant sailing overnight. That was not my favorite thing to do, but it had to be done.  We could see Amber Sea and Kamouraska sailing along behind us during the day.  They both stopped and anchored for the night on the Great Bahama Bank.  After the sun went down, the lightning show from the storms behind us in the Gulf Stream was really spectacular.  I listened to the rain delayed Daytona 500 on Florida AM radio and heard about the severe storms.  I was glad we had decided to keep moving rather than anchoring.  I would not have slept at all wondering if the lightning was headed westward towards us.

As we were going around the south side of New Providence Island, the stainless steel pin that held the tiller pilot onto the tiller broke.  That was not good.  It meant we had to hand steer the boat.  We were both tired and still had at least eight hours to go before we reached Highbourne Cay.  Bill, with his Mr. Fixit knowledge, rigged up a temporary pin from a bolt, and a bulldog clip.  It worked!  I do not know how to fix much of anything on Irish Eyes, so I am really glad Bill does!  We arrived at Highbourne Cay in the late afternoon with the autopilot steering the boat.

The wind was to be from the south.  We decided to anchor on the north shore of Highbourne Cay hoping for a calmer anchorage than the usual west side of the island.  It was fine for the first few nights, but on Thursday, February 27 the wind changed direction to the southwest then to the west.  From the west we had no protection from the waves.  We were not too worried about the direction change because the wind was forecast to be light and variable.  The boat was rolling around so much that we put out a stern anchor to keep the boat pointed into the small waves and to calm things down.  That worked until dawn.  A squall with 30 knot winds woke us up.  Bill discovered our main anchor had dragged, but our smaller stern anchor was still holding.  We were being blown bow first toward the nearby rocky shore with the rapidly rising waves crashing over our stern.  We needed to leave that spot quickly.  We managed to get both anchors up and onboard.  We motored out of the roller coaster anchorage as fast as our engine could go.  It was a scary morning. 

Shroud Cay, to the south of Highbourne, had mooring balls and protection from the forecast NNE going NE winds, so we headed that way.  We picked up a ball and collapsed.  The winds stayed NW at about 15 knots all night.  It was another rolly night as the waves came in off the banks.  We watched a movie to keep us occupied.  I had to take a Dramamine we were rolling so much.

Shroud Cay has several creeks leading from the Exuma Banks side over to the Exuma Sound side of the island.  It was calmer on Friday when the wind finally went NE, so we took the dinghy up the southernmost creek and over to the sound side beach.  The tide was lower than normal due to the new moon.  We were forced to walk pulling the dinghy for much of the trip.  It was tiring trip, but well worth the effort.  Exuma Sound was a brilliant blue and the beach wide and sandy.  We only stayed on the sound side for about 45 minutes, but that was long enough to have the tide come in and float the boat.  We rode all the way back to Irish Eyes.

The next few days we sailed south through the rest of the Exuma Land and Sea Park, stopping at Hawksbill Cay and at Emerald Rock before anchoring at Staniel Cay.  Our first set of guests, Laura and Jeff Arnfield were due there in four days, and we wanted to make sure we would be there when they arrived.  In the winter months the Bahamas are hit by weekly cold fronts with strong wind and sometimes rain.  A front was expected to pass over us at Staniel Cay bringing west winds.  We anchored Irish Eyes between two small islands, Big Majors Spot and Little Majors Spot, for good protection from the wind.  Lots of other cruisers had the same idea.  We were anchored early but were soon closely surrounded by other boats.  The wind did blow for a couple of days, but we were just fine in our sheltered place.  One very enjoyable afternoon was spent in the cockpit of Irish Eyes having a beer and snack with Drina and JR from the nearby boat, Journey .

On March 8 the front was gone, and we made a quick move closer to Staniel Cay.  We collected Laura and Jeff from the airport, got their things stowed away, then went back to town for the All Age School cookout and fund raiser.  We had conch salad, fish fingers, and beer.  What a great way to raise money for the school.

Laura and Jeff were with us for a week.  Our plan was to head back north stopping along the way, hide from the expected cold front anchored in the Norans Cay Cut, then return south stopping at some of the places we missed on the way north.  That would take us completely through the park on our way north and again on our way south.  

Our first night was at Big Majors Spot where Jeff and Laura took a dinghy tour of the anchorage and fed the swimming pigs.  From there we motored to the Emerald Rock mooring field at Warderick Cay.  We put on masks and fins, then in the ebbing tide we drifted over the coral and tropical fish in the two cuts at the park office and finally took a look at the sunken boat near mooring #9.  In the morning we moved to the north end of Hawksbill Cay to explore the plantation ruins, look at the caves, walk on the vast sand flats, and walk the paths through the scrub brush.  On the fourth night we anchored in a 2 meter deep spot at the north end of Shroud Cay.  Jeff and Laura took the dinghy on a beach tour before all four of us made a circle trip up the north creek to the Camp Driftwood beach on the sound side, then across to the eastern sound side beach, and down the middle creek to the fresh water well, before coming back to the boat.  Quasar, a catamaran from Canada, gave us part of a wahoo they had caught an hour earlier.  It made a wonderful supper. 

On March 12 we arrived at Norman’s Cay and anchored in the cut to await the cold front.  At Norman’s Cay there is an airplane that crashed there many years ago.  It is slowly rotting away, but the fish love it.  We all went snorkeling around the plane, and the fish were really glad to see us.  While I made bread Laura, Jeff, and Bill went to tour the southern end of Norman’s Cay and the extensive construction going on there.  The Irish Eyes explorers stopped at the remodeled McDuff’s Beach Club which was not yet  open to serve food but did sell beer.  Laura and Jeff later took a box of Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies to Quasar as a thank you for the fresh fish.

When we put down our anchor among the other boats that were anchored near a bend in the channel, our handy dandy laser range finder showed that we were 60 yards away from the nearest boat.  During the night the wind picked up and the tide changed.  Eddies in the current and the wind against the current set our boat and the nearby one charging at each other in the dark only to turn way at the last minute.  It was very scary to watch even though, given the length of our anchor chains, we could not hit.  Jeff and Bill kept anchor watches all night.  I was really glad Jeff was with us; I got to sleep.  At dawn we pulled up the anchor and moved away from the other boats.  In our new location Irish Eyes was much better behaved.  It was nice not to worry about hitting another boat.

Laura and Jeff tried to swim over the airplane again, but the wind picked up to 32 knots, and they cut their trip short.  The rest of the day the wind blew, and we were all just lazy killing time on the boat and watching the boats back at the bend charge at each other.

After two nights at Normans Cay, we sailed to the south end of Hawksbill Cay.  We took the dinghy to the beaches at the extreme southern end of the island and later walked around in the mangrove covered sand flats in the interior of the island.

On March 15 we motor sailed then sailed back to Staniel Cay.  We managed to get back in time to catch low tide at Thunderball Grotto.  I manned the dinghy while the others swam.  The swimmers saw lots of fish and marveled at the interior of the water filled cave with sunlight streaming in through the holes in its roof.  The cave has been featured in several movies, most famously Thunderball where James Bond escaped the agents of Spectre by being lifted through the holes in the cave roof by an airplane.  That night we had our final supper together at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club

After seeing Laura and Jeff off at the Staniel Cay airport, Bill and I moved Irish Eyes to the protected spot between the two Majors as another front was coming.  Our friends on the motor trawler, Oh My, came over for a beer one afternoon, and we went to their boat another.  A large motor yacht, Chocolate, hit the Crown of Thorns rock while going out Big Rock Cut at Staniel Cay.  We watched and listened to the radio for several hours while the boat was pulled off the rocks and then towed away by Overseas Salvage. Late in the afternoon, the crew from Chocolate asked the Staniel Cay Yacht Club if they could have 6 seats on the afternoon flight back to Florida. It was really pretty sad.

Early on March 19 we pulled up the anchor and went out Big Rock Cut and headed south to George Town.  Bill decided to put out a fishing lure.  The catch of the day was a 53 inch long, 31 pound mahi-mahi. I even managed to gaff the thing and drag it aboard, something I had never done before. After making a huge bloody mess in the cockpit, the fish was packaged and in the freezer.  The sun was just about to set when we anchored off Monument Beach in George Town.

Our daughter Ann and her family were to land at the George Town airport on Friday March 21.  We moved over to Kidds Cove to be closer to the town center.  Bill and I spent all day Thursday and Friday morning doing laundry, grocery shopping, getting water on Irish Eyes, and putting extra things away. We were a little worried about how the two of us plus Ann, Michael, Kaelyn, Eli and Scarlett were all going to fit on our 34 foot boat.

The Zangris arrived and we moved to Sand Dollar Beach.  Sand Dollar is a perfect kids place with beaches, sand flats, inland trails, and a cave.  Kaelyn and Eli went for their first swim while I fixed supper.

Saturday morning we all piled into the dinghy and went to the beach.  A couple from another boat told us they had found a child’s snorkel on the beach and left it on the picnic table.  It was a little dirty but cleaned up nicely.  Kaelyn already had a mask and took to snorkeling in a flash.  We spent the next five days swimming in the crashing surf on the sound side, swimming in the calm water of the harbor side beaches, swimming off the boat, and wading the sand flats looking for sand dollars and shells.  Kaelyn, Ann, and Bill went snorkeling off a reef.  Michael became the Shower Master; expert at rinsing the salt water off tired swimmers and hanging up bathing suits and towels to dry.  The boat looked like a Chinese laundry with all 50 clothes pins in constant use. 

Most evenings at sunset we had a neophyte conch horn symphony as the kids discovered how to blow the shell, and nearby boats proved they could do better - - or not.

Kaelyn said it was fabulous.  All seven of us did fit on Irish Eyes without any trouble, and everyone had a wonderful time.  Scarlett said, “These people are awesome.”  We hated to see the Zangris go home.

Bill and I moved Irish Eyes back to Sand Dollar Beach as another front was to go over us.  It was 73 degrees this morning and even though I know that is not cold, I was a little chilly.

Bill had bought a half a stalk of green bananas before the children came to visit.  The bananas really did not get ripe while the kids were here, but this morning…     All the bananas were ripe and falling off the stalk.  We had bananas and waffles for breakfast, bananas for a morning snack, banana and peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, bananas for an afternoon snack, and chicken in banana sauce for supper.  I am going to have to come up more with banana recipes.

We are going to just be lazy boat people for a while doing nothing.  Our daughter Julia and her family will be here in George Town in a couple of weeks.

Stay well and warm.  We certainly are!

While we were anchored in Mile Hammock Bay, the marines drove around in their amphibious armored personnel carriers.  This one was going slow.  When it sped up two jets of water came out the back and it made a huge wake.

This year we saw white pelicans near McClellanville, SC.  We have never seen them that far north before.  Usually, the first ones we see are in Florida.

I know he looks gray, but this brown pelican landed on our deck.  Bill chased him off before he left a mess.

Greetings from Florida – not from the warm, sunny Florida where Anita Bryant drinks from the Florida sunshine tree, but from the gray, cloudy, windy, rainy, cold Florida that we have been passing through.

Bill and I left Kingsport for New Bern on January 14^th in my rusty old 1978 Chevy Blazer.  While ugly, it was big enough to carry us and all our stuff to Irish Eyes.  In New Bern, it took us a week to buy our food, work on the boat’s “to-do” list, and store all our stuff on the boat.  During that week we made a quick overnight trip to Salisbury, NC to attend the funeral of Bill’s cousin Bill.  It was a sad occasion, but we enjoyed seeing a good sampling of the Murdoch family.

We were nearly ready to leave when it snowed in New Bern.  It was really not much more than a good dusting, but it was snow and it was cold.  Sigh.  On Thursday morning, January 27, it was sunny, it was not quite as cold, and we were away by noon.  The sun made me think it would be warmer if we just kept going south.  Boy, I was ever wrong.

The next morning in Adams Creek it was clear but a cold windy 20 degrees.  Should we stay, or should we go?  My plan was to wait a day for warmer weather.  That wasn’t Bill’s plan.  When doing his daily engine checks, he discovered coolant dripping from one of the drain valves on the engine.  He tightened it a little, and the valve handle broke off.  Panic followed.  We had no spare.  First, he thought we would have to go back to the boatyards in Oriental; straight into the cold, north wind.  Not a pleasant thought.  Then I suggested several yards south of us.  Bill phoned two, neither of which had the part.  Dejected, he sat in front of the engine.  The valve wasn’t leaking anymore!  It had closed before the handle broke off.  Away we went.

The trip to Mile Hammock Bay in Camp Lejeune was cold and long.  Though the sun was out, it never got above 30 degrees.  The wind was behind us blowing down my neck.  I was cold.

The next day’s weather forecast was for a 40 knot gale.  The bridges along the ICW were not opening due to the high winds.  There was nothing to do but stay put in Mile Hammock Bay.  The Marines did not get the day off.  They launched several amphibious armored personnel carriers and some river boats.  It was entertaining to watch them.  The amphibious craft were interesting.  They were big heavy green things on tracks with guns on top.  In the water they barely floated.  The wakes they made when they went by us were huge.  I am glad I’m not a Marine.

By Sunday morning the wind had died down, the bridges were again operating, and it was not too cold.  One of the bridge tenders told us our VHF radio was not working properly.  Bill found the wires to the microphone were again broken and fixed them.  Other than that, we had an uneventful day and anchored in Carolina Beach.

The weather forecast was pretty grim for Tuesday and Wednesday.  NOAA was forecasting snow for coastal South Carolina.  I was not amused.  It was not supposed to snow at the beach.  We hurried down the Cape Fear River and along the ICW to Little River and tied up at Coquina Yacht Harbor.  We had supper with my sister, Elaine, and my brother-in-law, JP, and we saw our niece, Catherine.

As forecasted, winter returned on Tuesday.  It rained, it sleeted, and it snowed.  The boat was covered in 2 inches of ice.  Everything was covered in ice, roads, docks, sidewalks, everything.  Our dock lines were frozen to the cleats.  Walking was a real feat.  Nothing was moving on US 17.  I did not leave Irish Eyes.  Bill went exploring twice.  The ice did not melt either Tuesday or Wednesday because the temperature stayed in the 20’s.  Winter, bah, humbug!

Finally, on Thursday, January 30, Captain Bill was so antsy that we broke the dock lines and electric cord out of the ice (goodbye heat) and headed south.  It was still cold, and the ice on the decks did not melt.  Around 4:30pm it started snowing again.  Even Bill had had enough of this fun, so we dropped our anchor in Cow House Creek.  It was a lovely spot, but I did not stay outside to admire my wintery surroundings.

The next morning was a little warmer, but the weather still called for long johns, a heavy coat and a hat.  The ice on the sunny side of the deck melted.  South of McClellanville the water was so shallow that we plowed our keel through the mud for fifteen minutes or more.  It was slow going, but that was okay.  A flock of white pelicans was fishing along the ICW.  They would fly when we got too close but always went ahead of us.  We watched them for over an hour.  If they had just flown the other way, they could have continued fishing in peace.  Stupid birds.  Our anchorage that evening was in Price Creek just north of Charleston.

Saturday, February 1, was a rainy, foggy day.  We saw very little of the Charleston shore because it was obscured by the fog.  Fog was to be in our future for the next week.  We anchored Saturday night in the South Edisto River, and stopped Sunday at the Downtown Marina in Beaufort.  Bill had ordered a replacement for the valve he broke and a new VHF radio.  Both had arrived at the Beaufort dock and were waiting for us.  We had a nice restaurant meal and watched the first half of the Super Bowl at Luther’s.

The ICW winds its way down the river from Beaufort and then crosses the Port Royal Sound.  In the lower part of the river it was foggy.  I mean really really foggy.  Bill was below watching the radar and telling me compass courses to steer.  I could not see the navigation marks or any other boats (if anyone was as stupid as we were to be out in the fog).  I do not like fog.  I conveyed that thought to the Captain.  I think he got the message.

The fog did lift after we entered Port Royal Sound.  We stopped for the night just before the ICW crosses the Savannah River.

Tuesday we crossed the river and continued on through some of the shallow parts of the ICW in Georgia.  We had some minor fog on and off all day.  Once again I made the statement I do not like fog.  We anchored for the night fairly early because the fog was so thick the navigation aids could not be seen.

Wednesday February 5, was Bill’s 63^rd birthday.  I gave him his presents at breakfast, and then we were off.  We went a quarter mile before we turned back and re-anchored.  It was so foggy I could not even see the banks on the ICW.  About mid-morning the fog lifted, and we were underway again.  A large brown pelican decided to take a rest on our deck.  (Pelicans are huge birds that can leave huge messes.)  This one stayed with us for about 15 minutes before hopping off and into the water.  The weather cleared and was warm.  We ended the day without a jacket!  It was so pleasant.  We watched the sun set from the cockpit with drinks in hand.

Our next stop was Jekyll Harbor Marina.  Bill had ordered a computer cable and had it sent to the marina.  We enjoyed a hot shower, and the marina manager gave us a ride to the island’s grocery and liquor stores.  The restaurant had a live band that night, and we celebrated Bill’s birthday a day late with food, beer, and music.

Friday we crossed the Georgia/Florida line.  It was still cold.  Not really cold, 50 degrees, but with the wind it felt cold.  We tied up for the night at a city park dock outside of Jacksonville.  Irish Eyes was the only boat there.  It was raining and cool.  I am quite sure on a warm summer evening we would not have been alone.  A sign on docking said similar size boats must raft together and that the 3^rd and 5^th boats in the raft must be tied to the dock.

It was raining when we left, and it has rained on and off all day.  We stopped briefly in St Augustine for fuel before anchoring for the night in the Matanzas River beside the 18^th century Spanish Fort.

We are motoring south toward the warm Bahamas weather.  We are expecting lots of visitors on this trip: both our daughters and their families, friends from Tennessee, and Bill’s brother and his wife.  I am excited!

Bill put together this map of our travels in Florida and the Bahamas.  The red line is our trip this year.  The green, blue, orange, purple, and dark blue lines are previous years.   The red line shows how we traveled across Florida in the Okeechobee Waterway, sailed out to the Dry Tortugas, passed through the Keys to Miami, crossed over to the Berry Islands, sailed down to the Exumas with a stop near Nassau, and returned to the States by way of Eleuthra and the Abacos.

These tugs and their barges pass up and down the ICW between Morehead City and Aurora, NC traveling both day and night.  This one was too big for my camera.

We are back in our house in Kingsport.  We certainly have lots more room here compared to our 34 foot long by 10 foot wide home on the water.  We now can get out of sight of each other.  Wow.

By Saturday, June 8 Tropical Storm Andrea was well north of Charleston, SC, and it was safe to leave.  Our first plan was to motor north on the ICW because the weather forecast was for strong winds and large waves out in the ocean.  We left the Charleston City Marina and went out into Charleston Harbor.  The winds were not particularly strong and the waves were not particularly large, so we changed our minds and headed out to sea bound for the Cape Fear River.  We had only one regret, we would not be able to stop in Little River to see my sister, Elaine, brother-in-law, JP, and niece, Catherine.

We sailed overnight and entered the Cape Fear River just as the sun came up.  It was Sunday.  That meant there would be lots of weekend small boat traffic on the ICW.  The small boats can be very annoying and sometimes just plain unsafe.  I would like to have a sign that says, this 15000 pound sailboat does not have brakes.  It probably wouldn’t make any difference to the guys who tow three kids on a tube right in front of us.  Oh well, I don’t think I can fix all the world’s ills.  Our plan was to anchor for a short while at Wrightsville Beach and then head out Masonboro Inlet to sail in the ocean to Beaufort, NC.  As we were going up the Cape Fear River, we listened to the weather forecast.  Rain was predicted.  Our own 'looking-at-the-sky' forecast also said rain.  Then, it started raining.  Once again we changed our plan.  We stayed in the ICW and motored to Mile Hammock Bay arriving inside the Marine base at Camp LeJeune around 5pm.  It had been 33 hours since we left Charleston, and we were both tired.  As we were anchoring, we surprisingly saw the Austrian couple we had met in Warderick Wells anchored nearby.  We did not think we would see them again because they were intending to cruise quickly up the US east coast in order to return to Austria in August.  The four of us had our sundowners in Irish Eyes’ cockpit and told each other of our travels.

Monday, we continued motoring north in the ICW with gusty winds of 15-20 knots. The highest gust hit 32 knots!  It was a rocky, rolly trip up the Bogue Sound, past Morehead City, into the Newport River, and through the Core Creek / Adams Creek canal.  Once again our plans changed.  We intended to anchor for our last night in Cedar Creek just off Adams Creek.  The strong wind from the southwest had blown the water out of the anchorage.  Our depth sounder showed 5.2 feet where normally we see over 7.  Captain Bill looked at our chart.  “No problem.” he said, “We’ll anchor just behind the red number 6 marker in Adams Creek”.  So, we turned left out of the ICW channel at the number 6 marker, dropped our anchor, and switched on our anchor light.  I was a little worried about barge traffic going by during the night.  After all, we are so small and they are so large…  Just as I was turning out the cabin lights, I heard a barge coming.  I could hear him, and worse I could feel his engines and propellers.  I went outside to see how close the barge was to us.  Even at night the barge seemed a long way away.  We would be fine where we were.

We motored up the Neuse River Tuesday morning with a 20 knot wind on our nose.  The waves were impressive in the mile wide river, and the boat was covered with salt spray.  By lunch time we were tied to the dock in our slip at Northwest Creek Marina.  In another hour we had the air conditioner installed and running.  Nice!  Cool and dry.  After five months of damp sheets, dry sheets are like heaven.  You don’t know.  Three cheers for Freon.

The next two days were spent packing our things and cleaning Irish Eyes.  We took the evening of the second day off to have a pleasant, relaxing, and delicious dinner with Robert and Susan Banks in Oriental.

We left New Bern Thursday just before noon (and just before the temperature crossed 90°) and arrived at our house at supper time.  It was a great trip.

Come with us next time.

Leaving the Exumas and sailing to Eleuthera the water and the sea were almost matching shades of blue.  The water was so pretty.

A pod of porpoises followed us for a while in the Gulf Stream.  They moved so fast it was hard to take their picture.

This was sunrise in the morning before we got to Charleston.  Bill was asleep, and I was sailing the boat.

We were tied to the dock at the City Marina in Charleston, and Andrea was headed straight for us.  We would be together at 8am Friday.

Hello from Charleston, SC.  We have travelled a long way in the last few weeks.

On our last night in the Exumas, May 17, we anchored just off Ship Channel Cay.  Early the next morning, we pulled up the anchor and headed off for a day long sail to Royal Island.  The last time we did this we went through Current Cut.  This time we chose the Flemming Channel for variety.  We towed a Clark spoon on a steel leader thinking we might catch a fish along the way.  The steel leader would stop any toothy barracuda from biting off our lure.  We hoped to catch something around the many coral heads we had to dodge in the shallow water west of Eleuthera.  Well, we did not even get a nibble until we came out of the Flemming Channel where the depth increases from 3 meters to over 1000.  There, a dolphin fish took the lure.  We thought we had him, but the metal eye on the lure broke.  The fish got away with a hurt mouth, and we got nothing.

Royal Island was just an overnight stop for us in Eleuthera before we headed north to the Abacos.  We were up before sunrise for the 60 mile trip.  The weather forecast was for winds of 10-15 knots and seas of 3-4 feet.  Wrong!  The wind blew at about 20 knots, and the seas were occasionally 8 feet high.  To get into the protected Sea of Abaco, we planned to go through Little Harbour Cut.  It is the space between two bits of land with reefs on both sides.  Sometimes these cuts can be really, really rough.  When the wind and the waves are coming into the cut while the tide is going out it can look like a washing machine.  The locals call it a ‘rage’.  Captain Bill was worried.  When he lets me know he is worried, I am almost past worry and into deep panic.  We considered continuing on north to a wider, deeper cut.  But, as we got closer the wind dropped and the waves calmed.  We heard over the radio a boat going through the cut telling their buddy boat that conditions were not too bad.  That was good news.  We came through the cut just fine and had our anchor down off Lynyard Cay by suppertime.   It was a long and tiring day.

We stayed anchored at Lynyard Cay for several days because it was a little stormy.  During the first night, I woke Bill up so he could catch rain to fill our water tanks.  He topped off our tanks and caught another 30 gallons in jugs.  He could have slept because it rained during the next day too.  During a break in the rain we took the dinghy over to the beach and walked across the cay to the Atlantic side.  On that side the sea was really rough.  The beach was rocky, so the waves were crashing on the shore.  In the sand above the rocks we found a turtle’s nest with tracks left from the night before.

On Thursday, May 23, we moved a little farther north, anchoring in Bucaroon Bay.  The land in front of us had several small beaches separated by bits of rock.  We took a dinghy tour of each one.  To our surprise on each beach we found a different kind of shell and plenty of them.  Two were especially interesting.  One beach had lots of pieces of sea biscuits, and Bill dove just off shore for a box full of whole ones.  Another beach had a kind of beautiful pink, purple, and yellow clam shell that I had not seen before.  It was hard to leave our beaches, but we needed to move on.

We motored up to Marsh Harbour the next day.  It is the largest town in Abaco.  It even has a stop light (!) and a real airport.  Maxwell’s Grocery Store is almost the size of a small US supermarket.   We shopped, ate in restaurants, and visited with other cruisers on both our boat and on theirs.    After being anchored alone for so long, it was different to have so many boats anchored around us.  Dinghies came and went, music reached out from the nearby restaurants and bars, and the VHF radio kept up a near constant chatter.

It was time for us to think about heading back to the states.  Chris Parker is a weather forecaster who broadcasts over the SSB radio.  Boaters can subscribe to his service and talk to Chris to get a personalized weather forecast.  Being the thrifty people we are, we just listen.  There was always someone wanting to go in our direction.  His Abaco weather forecast was for windy and stormy weather all week long.  Some days he was correct, and others were just a little cloudy.  Chris’s forecast for Saturday June 1 and the days following was not too bad; a steady 10-15 knots from the south and a small chance of thunderstorms.  He also talked about the possibility of a tropical low forming in the Gulf of Mexico.  It seemed like a good time to leave Marsh Harbour, so we did.

The first day we sailed north between Abaco Island and the cays, then we turned northeast and crossed the Little Bahamas Bank.  The next day as we left the Bahamas and entered the Gulf Stream, the wind was 20 knots from behind us and the seas were rolling us quite a bit.  We could see rain and lightning all around us, but most of the time we were dry.

We were originally headed to Fernandina Beach, Florida because a cold front was expected to exit the US coast on Monday.  It became obvious that we would not make it to Fernandina Beach in the daylight, so we altered our course westward for St. Augustine.  When we left the Gulf Stream, the wind fell to 10 knots and the sea calmed down.  We turned on the motor to help us keep going.  You know, you can never please a sailor, either the wind is too strong or there is not enough.

Chris Parker’s weather forecast for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday was pretty grim.  While the cold front had “dissipated”, the tropical low was expected to intensify and pass over Florida.  First there would be lots of thunderstorms over south Florida, then the tropical depression would sweep up the US east coast.  It was time to get out of Dodge.  Bill did some navigational calculations and said we could make it to Charleston before dark on Tuesday.  Once again we changed course.  The wind was light, so our trusty engine pushed us along with the mainsail up to lessen the rocking motion.

Out in the Atlantic we saw a pod of porpoises, several large fish, and two turtles all in one afternoon.  One night we had four flying fish land on our deck.  It was not a bad trip.  We had only one minor disaster; both of our auto pilots broke.  Fortunately, this was the last morning, so we did not have to hand steer but one day.  It was a long day.  We made it to the Charleston Harbour entrance around 4pm.  We were tied to the dock at the Charleston City Marina by 5:30, and we were cleared by customs by 6:30.  Both of us took showers with unlimited water and went out for supper before collapsing in our bunk.

Wednesday and Thursday we walked around parts of Charleston, shopped, restocked the boat, filled the fuel tank, and repaired or replaced some of the things that had broken along the way.  We had a new auto pilot shipped to us overnight.  Thursday night we went out to dinner with long time friends Louis and Cathy Boyd then waited for tropical storm Andrea to pass over us.  It was not all that bad a storm.  The wind peaked at just over 40 kt and we caught 4 inches of rain in our rain gauge.

Friday we made the obligatory trip to West Marine to buy boat stuff, shopped for presents for the grandchildren, bought still more groceries, and went out to dinner with Ed and Susan Herrington, friends from Kingsport now living in Charleston.

If the current weather forecast holds, tomorrow will be a perfect day for heading north, and we will be on our way again.