03/19/2012, Exuma Land and Sea Park

Bill and Isobel reinstall the bolts (not cotter pins) in the rigging screws) after we retuned the rig with the help of our dutch friends from another boat.

We are in paradise, environmentally... and that is really wonderful... but it is not the best thing about being here. What we really enjoy is the community that occurs out here. Most communities have a physical location, but there is a cruising community that is based in the hearts of those out here.

As you might have in some small town, neighbors help each other. Here, If a boat is next door, even if they just arrive yesterday, they are your neighbor and in minutes, your friend. Yesterday my project was to tune the rigging. We have not been happy with the sailing performance of the boat since it was rigged by a "professional" a year ago. So, I loosened everything and was prepared to retune it. We have spent some time with a dutch couple off a beautiful aluminum boat. He loves all the engineering aspects of sailing and is a wiz with the math, calculations and formulas that relate to everything aboard (Isobel will have lots of algebra and calculous to learn!). So, together, we spend the afternoon calculating the proper loading for our different shrouds (the wires holding the mast up).

Most people want to skip this paragraph: (For those of you who like problem solving: If the boat was designed for 8 mm shrouds to have 15% prestress put on them, them how many pounds of tension do you put on the 10 mm shrouds. And how do you measure that?)

Another boat was having problems with their radio, so we made a reservation for them at a marina on our radio. Another boat needs water, so we are using our new water maker to make them 5 gallons, since we have surplus power, it is easy for us. From others we are learning new recipes, we have borrowed a movie... the point is that, now clear of the busy US ports we are amongst instant friends and help with any project is nearby.

Comments [1]

Bill
03/17/2012, Warderick Wells

A couple days ago we met a boat with a four year old girl aboard. today we connected again and planned a beach day on one of the many beautiful beaches here on Warderick Wells. They have a sailing dinghy, which is quite cool and easily carried the four of them through a cut that had some impressive current. We felt quite lazy with our little 3.5 hp engine... although we thank Uncle Joey daily for convincing us to get an engine... we would never have rowed to this beach!

Finally the wind speed is down to about 15 knots. We have had weeks of wind in the 20s with squalls to 30 knots which has made for some challenging sailing at times. With that high wind also came surge in many places. Surge are the waves that wrap around an island and hit the boat from a different direction than the wind. This makes the boat roll side to side.

Comments [4]

Bill
03/15/2012, Warderick Wells, Exumas, Bahamas

Everyone who goes on deck wears a tether.

Two years ago in January we arrived in Warderick Wells for the first time. We had heard stories about how beautiful it was... and it was more so. So, since then we have dreamed of returning. And here we are.

We left Shroud Cay feeling that we could have spent a week there exploring all the lagoons, creeks and beaches. And we wanted to catch up with some other boats... because of kids and because they have similar long term plans as we do...

The day started with a spectacular beam reach sail with genoa alone. water so clear the boat appeared to float over the sandy bottom. The little green islands with white sand beaches were ringed with torquise water... we really it is beyond description...

We watched squalls moving north of us, thinking of the rain that must be falling on Shroud Cay. With the main out, with a single reef, we tacked the last couple miles toward Wardwick Wells... A squall loomed... I thought, "better reef again"... by the time I was at the mast it was clear that a reef wasn't going to be enough... While I dropped the main, Lara saw 30 knots of wind. As she fired up the engine and steered, I furled in the Jib. The wind continued until we were safely on the mooring then dropped to a comfortable 15 knots.

We met yet another little girl when we went to shore...

24 23.819'n 076 37.962'w

Comments [1]

Bill
03/13/2012, Shroud Cay

We took a short sail today... a few hours to Shroud Cay. Now sailing "on the banks" the sailing is like sailing on a lake. There is no swell and there are lots of boats sailing every direction This spectacular cay is part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. A reserve that was formed in 1958 to help preserve a breading ground for Bahamas fish. This Cay has lagoons and streams that can be explored. We went to the beach just inside the opening to one of the streams. At the beach we found more kids! A four year old girl and a little boy.

In the photo, (which I will post when we can) Isobel and Bill swim to Tribe to say hi. Isobel has been saying that when she grows up, she will be able to swim over the Tribe... The kids off Tribe, who are 8, 12 and 14 are in the water all the time and have been been over to our boat and Isobel would like to be able to do the same. Now she has some motivation!!

24 31.697'n 076 47.752'w

Comments [2]

Bill
03/11/2012, Fraizer's Hog Cay

With the forecast we were expecting a nice broad reach, which is a very comfortable point of sail... we had dreams of doing projects and laundry underway. instead the wind was just off our nose and we were again motor sailing on a close reach. Some squalls came up just as we anchored giving us a huge hose down. That was welcome as we had coated the boat in salt spray. We really look forward to the next few hunderd miles of down wind sailing.

Isobel found it comfortable to maintain child's pose and fall asleep...

Comments [2]

Bill
03/11/2012, Highborne Cay

We are happy to be here at Highborne Cay one more day. Isobel is with her friend spend a long time on the beach making castles, burying each other and making cars around each other. Lara hunted for shells and Bill took a walk down the beach to look around the north point of land.

One thing that is notable here, and that we saw in Chub Cay also, is the amount of sponges washed up on the beach. thousands and thousands. We wonder if Hurricane Irene ripped them off the reef and that they are still washing ashore.

The wind is still blowing 20 to 25, and yet it is so comfortable tucked in here behind the land. And so nice to have a beach right here. The water is soooo clear and of course an incredible color of blue, well, many shades of blue. We have found that cameras just don't catch the amazing color. We have taken photos which we will post when we have an internet connection. This post, as well as the last one and probably the next few are via SSB.

SSB stands for Single Side Band Radio. This is a High Frequency (HF) radio that allows us to send and receive brief emails, receive weather information and talk with other boats all over the Atlantic and Caribbean seas. Every morning at 6:30 am Caribbean Weather Center transmits from Central Florida weather for the Bahamas and the Caribbean. We have signed up with him, so we can ask specific questions about weather that relates to our route. After his net, we chat with other boats we know that might be as far away as Panama (limited by the radio frequency)

In emergencies we can also talk with the US Coast Guard and the Maritime Mobile Network. For instance, when we were in the Bahamas two years ago and the earthquake struck Haiti, we were able to talk to someone on the MMN who was based in Minnesota... he was able to talk with ships around the Bahamas and Haiti.. and relay to us that we had nothing to worry about as it related to Tsunamis.

Often we find other boats in the anchorage (now there are 20) who don't have an SSB. We use the VHF radio to update them on the weather we have heard. The VHF, standing for Very High Frequency, radio will connect with other radios within line of sight. Most sailboats put their antennas on top of their masts which make the range about 25 miles. Shore side radios at the USCG and Bahamas Defense Force are on very high towers which increase their range. We occasionally hear a USCG transmission here, even though we are hundreds of miles from the Florida coast.

24 42.975'n 076 49.889'w

Comments [0]

03/10/2012, nassau Bahamas

A neighborhood girl came over to play. Origami!

There has been some questions about recent blog post being scary because they end fast... or incomplete or poorly written.

First, if we are in a bad situation I would not be writing on the computer. Even the horrible rolly polly conditions we were in at Chub Cay made it a challange to even think about being creative on the computer...

The reallity is that in the Bahamas the internet is sketchy at best. Most of it is by satellite uplink. A lot of the equipement here (on the islands) is in poor repair as the entropy here happens more quickly than elsewhere because of the salt air and UV. Because the economy has been down by 80% since 2008 much of the infrastructure has not seen any maintenance. On top of all that much of the power here is from small diesel generators... which often fail for the above reasons.

So, while the rest of you are upgrading to 4G devices we are going back in time and technology.

Remember that we are now in a land of lots of other cruising boats, many that we know, so if there is any problem we have lots of help around. Even boats that don't know each other jump to help others because we all know that we are "in this together". Currently we are hanging with a family from south Africa on a big catamaran, we have seen friends we met in Oriental with a steel boat... they are from Holland.

So, if you don't hear from us or if there is a sketchy post... we are fine. If there is a serious problem, we have tones of safety gear on board, including EPIRBs (2) which at a flip of a switch will send out an international distress signal with our name, and id number and location within 100 yards. This is satellite based system that would notify the US Coast Guard as well as the "local" search and rescue organization. At that point the USCG would start by calling Teri to see if she might know where we are and make sure it wasn't a false alarm (as something like 90% of them are).

We have life raft with emergency food and water, emergency water maker, radio, etc... And more other stuff than I care to write about. So, everyone relax, we are safer here than many of you are driving on the highway or walking around your cities... not to mention bits of rockets falling on the east coast...

25 04.702'n:077 18.670

Comments [2]

03/10/2012, Nassau Bahamas

We dinghed ashore with our friends off Tribe to buy some groceries and other small stuff. Internet here at Starbucks (yes they are here). We will download another book for Isobel and a new navigation app for the IPad. We will relax today and sail south to maybe Allen's cay tomorrow.

Another boat from NH is anchored here and we chatted with them about there 5 years in the Western Caribbean. All very exciting to us

Comments [0]

03/09/2012, Nassau Bahamas

I took the opportunity to test out a new refueling concept that would use underway when there is some boat motion. You can't tell from the photo, but the boat is rolling almost from rail to rail in the swell that is wrappng around the point. The system works really well. Brings back memories of the 1970s fuel shortage...

Well, we wouldn't have done it if we hadn't been so miserable. Last night especially was so rolly in the anchorage that it was hard to move about the boat and impossible to stay in our berths without lee-cloths or pillows.

So we crashed to windward for 5 hous under a reefed main sail to give us stability. We were happy to anchor at the east end of Nassau Harbor where the water was calm.

For dinner we had steak! The steaks had been delivered to us by the tender of a big motor yacht in thanks for Sunrise being a relay when they were stuck on a sand bar and trying to call their mother boat. This kind of thing is normally done as standard. Everyone helps each other out here, so we were surprised (and happy) to receive the gifts!

After dinner we collapsed into bed exhausted...

Comments [2]

Bill, clear, windy
03/05/2012, Chub Cay, Bahamas

Isobel helps with the laundry. She can run the dryer all by her self now.

Fraizer's Hog was a great spot for the front to come through... but (as we thought) it quickly became very clear that it was not the place to spend the next few days. Forecast is for 20 with gusts to 30 and squalls to 40... so we have moved to the lee of a little beach on Chub Cay. We plan a beach outing and maybe an exploration...

The water is crystal clear and although right now it is cool since there is a breeze
25 24.571'n:077 54.606'w

Comments [4]