The Cougar and the Cat

Vessel Name: Betty Lee
Vessel Make/Model: Eagle 40 trawler
Hailing Port: Orland, Maine
Crew: Bob and Betty Minson Catlow
About:
Bob and Betty sailed Lady Nelson, a Lord Nelson 41 sailboat. The switch to the trawler was made in May 2015. We traveled from Texas, where we bought the boat, to Castine, Maine in 30 days. We are now in Key West, January 2017 having left Winterport, Maine August 19, 2016. [...]
16 March 2014 | Marsh Harbor, Abacos, Bahamas
08 March 2014 | Cape Eleuthera
11 February 2014 | Great Exuma, the Bahamas
08 January 2014 | No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne, FL
14 November 2013 | Charleston SC
10 November 2013 | Charleston SC
23 October 2013 | Annapolis, MD
20 October 2013 | Sassafras River, Delaware
17 October 2013 | Sandy Hook
14 October 2013 | Port Jeff Long Island NY
10 October 2013 | Port Jefferson, Long Island, NY
19 September 2013 | Winterport, Maine
06 September 2013 | Orland, Maine
16 May 2013 | Delaware Bay
09 May 2013 | Annapolis, MD
06 May 2013
05 May 2013 | Hampton and Newport News, VA
05 May 2013 | Bahamas
04 May 2013 | Fishing Bay, Deltaville, MD
Recent Blog Posts
16 March 2014 | Marsh Harbor, Abacos, Bahamas

Eleuthera to Abacos

Quick overview of travel: Cape Eleuthera (Powell Point), Governor's Harbor, Hatchet Bay, Royal Island, Lynyard Cay, and Marsh Harbor. We stayed at Cape Eleuthera Resort for 4 days while a front passes through. A bull shark swam in the small basin pulling a white buoy. It was fun watching the buoy moving erratically and quickly in the confined space. Students and their teacher from the Island School brought the shark alongside their boat and tagged the shark and put a GPS tracking device on the shark and let it go. We toured the Island Scool later. The tour is given free and was very, very interesting. See our previous blog entry. We motored through the Davis Channel past beautiful light green sand bores and bars and then made our way to Governor's Harbor. The anchorage is fine and we had a calm and pleasant night. Bob bought two jurry jug of gasoline for the Honda generator, outboard, Hooka. An amazing $62 for 11.4 gal. The entrance to Hatchet Bay is eye catching. The cut was manmade to accommodate commerce involving a farm for raising animals. - meat. There has been some vegetable growing on Eleuthera, enough for exporting to other islands. The Hatchet Bay settlement appeared very poor and has probably faded from better times. We passed through Current Cut very easily, our timing being good. On to Royal Island to have a safe place to ride out the next front and we did with about 16 other boats. What a super reach we had from Egg Cay to Lynyard Cay in the Abacos! The sixteen boats left Royal Island in the early morning in a flat calm all with their running lights on. Well, I tell you we wound up feeling it was a "race cruise" event. Bob trimmed sails and Lady Nelson performed beautifully. We overhauled every boat that started ahead of us and distanced ourselves from those starting afterwards. We were at anchor sipping our beer while watching the "fleet" come in. Averaged 7 knots.

08 March 2014 | Cape Eleuthera

Bob Gives Mike a Mutton Snapper

Arrived Wednesday, March 5 from Little San Salvador and leaving Sunday, March 9 for Rock Sound. Bob has caught some fish right off the stern of Lady Nelson herein the basin at Cape Eleuthera. Mike, one of the Bahamian workers here, talks with us every day several times. The first day, he picked two green coconuts off a tree, cut the tops off and offered us a big drink of coconut water. He loves the grounds here and takes care of the plants. Bob caught a mutton snapper and gave it to Mike. He loved it. He was so excited about preparing the fish for a "special meal". He invited his son and daughter for dinner. He uses the whole fish. We had a tour of The Island School Cape Eleuthra Institute. Lots of studying of bonefish, lobsters, lionfish, and sharks. They are growing 11 kinds of lettuce, tomatoes, and will try a few more vegetables all using the aquaponics method. There is an extensive garden using carefully developed soil. A huge wind generator and lots of solar cells provides almost all of their electrical needs. Sustainability is the big focus. The students go on kayaking trips including solo for 24 hours. Scuba diving. Programs for high school students, college undergraduates, and recently a few Univ. of Miami undergraduates. We will spend some time exploring Eleuthera.

11 February 2014 | Great Exuma, the Bahamas

Marina at Emerald Nay

Last night we were on a mooring off the former Perry Marine Institute at Lee Stocking Island. Listening to Chris Parker on the SSB radio in the early morning as we usually do, we heard about an approaching front, one of the stronger and long lasting of the winter, so we decided to seek a landlocked [...]

08 January 2014 | No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne, FL

Florida Keys

This is a fun place to be. On our 10th day here, and meeting more cruisers every day. We had coffee and pastries with Evey and Elaine on their Dutch built 40 foot sailboat, "Velvet". They live in a "one off" (custom made) log home at the foot of Mount Tremblant on the north side. Velvet was designed and owned by a man who helped design some Porsche car models. On the inside steering station there is a real 911 Porsche leather seat. This gorgeous boat has an aluminum hull, beautiful teak wood in the cockpit, and amazing brightwork above decks and down below. Our bikes are coming in very handy. Bob and I have ridden them throughout the Bill Baggs State Park here and into the town of Key Biscayne for dining, errands, and joyriding. Marathon is next. This manatee swam by one day.

14 November 2013 | Charleston SC

Still in Charleston

Howdy All,

10 November 2013 | Charleston SC

Waiting for my Luv to come home

Well I've been in Charleston for the past 3 days waiting till mate to comes home. Took her to the airport in Norfolk the 28th of October. Had to return to Long Island NY to take care of some business, she will fly into Charleston the 16th. Seem like she has been gone for ever. I took Lady Nelson to Charleston SC from Great Bridge Va. to get further south and maybe warmer weather, well the warmer weather is not here. This Wensday and Thursday are going to be in the 50s during the day and 30s at night. Burr. Looks like we have brought the cold from Maine once again. Same thing happen last year on our way south. Took 9 days to go the 455 miles or so on the ICW from Great Bridge to Charleston. I'm passing time by making sure the Lady Nelson is ship shape when my mate returns. It was a fun trip down the ICW. Lots of things to see mostly swamp land, I guess you could call it marsh land but it looked like swamp land to me but who am I to say. Been taking some walks in town and seeing some sites. Need to go to the grocery store to restock some items but I'll have to take a bus in order to it. The walk to the bus stop is not bad it's the walk back when you are carting 50 lbs of food. Don't want to go when I'm hungry cuz that 50lbs can very easily turn to 60lbs or more. Been down that road before. All in all things are well. Fun to sit here and watch the boat traffic. All deferent kinds of boats and people from all over. See lots of foreign flags flying. Kinda neat to see that. Looking forward to start heading south once more and I know Betty can't wait to be aboard Lady Nelson once more, it is our home.

Still in Charleston

14 November 2013 | Charleston SC
Bob, record cold
Howdy All,
Have had quite a time here in Charleston so far from winds out of the NE at 20-30 kts to 40 kts gust and a record high low temp of 50. Wow I would rather deal with the cold that the winds. Met a couple from Brunswick Maine a couple day ago, I was on deck getting ready for the wind we were going to that night Summer Wind (people from Maine) came into the harbor and anchored behind Lady Nelson. After they finish what they were doing jumped into there skiff and came along side. We chatted about how far apart we were and the amount of anchor chain we had out for good scope for the weather that we going to encounter later that night. We were confident that we were ready as one could get. Swapped a few stories, where we are going, where we've been, you know how it is when you meet cruisers, lots of fun. In the afternoon another boat sailed in and dropped anchor to the port of Summer Wind, notice that he had not put out much scope. Oh well I guess you have to think the next guy knows what he's doing NOT! Well to make a long story short at 4:30am that morning that boat dragged on to Summer Wind and with nobody on it. So blowing 25-30kts and cold Summer Wind hauled anchor and moved off and re anchored. That night I had the anchor alarm on to keep track of my position making sure I would have been alerted if I started to drag anchor. Well the next morning I poked my head out and some thing did not look right, Summer Wind was not where it was when I hit the bunk last night. I was scratching my head some, I know I did not move other wise the anchor alarm would have gone off. I was watching when Summer Wind anchored it look good to me, what happen during the night. Well in just a few mins after i stuck my head outand was scratching my head I revived an email from Summer Wind and told me what went on that night. Wow. Other than that excitement it's been pretty calm around here. The cold will end by the weekend and be back in the 70s. This a good thing, will get a chance to wash the scum off water line and some laundry before Betty get home. I want the Lady Nelson to be ship shape when she returns.
That's all I have for now. Bye
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