04/14/2007, Dover New Hampshire
This is a picture Nicole took of us in Turks and Caicos. We are standing on the hill that shipwrecked sailors of the 1800's spent time looking for a rescue boat. It is a great view of the island.
After spending a couple days in Georgetown securing the boat and making plans for our cat Dallas, we caught our flight back to NH. Wouldn't you know it, mother nature wasn't done with winter and threw one more snowstorm down just when we were leaving the airport. It was tough enough getting acclimated to driving again, let alone in a blizzard. I must say it was a beautiful sight. We had a crazy week in NH catching up with family and friends as well as spending some quality time with Jack. The kids even had an opportunity to visit their school and say hey to friends. It was nice being home and seeing everyone, but it was difficult getting used to the constant barrage of news, the dry air which reeked havoc on our skin, and the kid's constant need to watch TV and Instant Message their friends. As I type this, I am looking out over a beautiful bay filled with clear turquoise water and pristine undisturbed beaches. The topography is quite a contrast from New England. The truly great thing about going home, is coming back and realizing that this will only last a couple more weeks. So, we are now acting like vacationers. We pumped up the raft for lounging in the water, which is 80 degrees. Swimming and fun is the number one priority. We have been exploring the island much more than the previous visits. We are feeling the pressure of returning to land life soon, and we want to get in as much as possible before returning to the superficial world. Speaking of the superficial world and the land of abundance, prior to our departure, we took advantage of the cheaper food prices and filled three suitcases full of goodies for the trip back to the boat. DJ's friend Celine from Red Beans watched over Dallas while we were gone. She was a wonderful help and picked us up at the docks upon our return. Thankfully she has a center console skiff that could hold all of our belongings. The friends we have made here have made this feel like a second home. It is amazing, the 360 turnaround we have made since the first time we reported in about Georgetown. I guess it is like everywhere else in the world, you have to be patient and look for the greatness of a certain destination.
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04/02/2007, Georgetown
Picture: Our beautiful friend Helen. We will miss her more than words can say! This was taken in Martha's Vineyard. The last time we saw her.
We left Turks & Caicos a couple days ago after eight days of rain, the most we have seen since we left NH. While there, we said farewell to our friends on Side by Side and LeoCat who were heading to the Dominican. It was especially difficult for Nicole who became close to Parker and had a real hard time saying good bye. We vowed to stay in contact and meet up again in a couple years when they return to New York. The night before we were to depart, we received a very sad message from my parents about our dear friend Helen who was loosing her struggle with cancer. The doctors had decided there was nothing more to be done. Helen and Jack spent the first few weeks with us on our journey. Lisa and I both new we needed to get home ASAP. We decided to get back to Georgetown where we could leave our boat safely on a mooring. Also, we needed to have someone keep an eye on our cat, Dallas. With several friends back there, we knew Georgetown was the best place to fly out of. Now, we just need to get there. With 250 miles to go, we strategized on a route that would bring us from the Caicos to Mayaguana, to Acklins Island, onto Long Island and then to Georgetown with no need for overnighters. There was something churning in the Atlantic that was kicking up large sea swells and the winds were forecasted to be 25 knots. Higher then we like to sail in. Traveling about 60 miles a day, we would get there in four days. The seas have been larger than we would like and found it hard to believe that we are getting accustom to them. A year ago, you would have never caught us out in 10-12 foot seas. Today, on the way over to Long Island we were running downwind and blew out our main sail in about 25 knots of wind. The worst thing is Lisa had suggested I change our point of sail to avoid accidental jibe, but I knew better and because of that the sail blew out at the seam. Boy, do I hate when she is right, it usually winds up costing me money or a whole lot of work. Oh well, my momma always said I had to learn everything the hard way. Lisa is a very patient woman.
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03/21/2007, Turks & Caicos
This is a picture of all 16 of us hitchhiking and trying to fit into a truck. Somehow we did it.
We arrived in Turks & Caicos on the 17th after spending six days in Mayaguana. It was a beautiful sail down with winds varying between 10 -16 knots. This was a welcomed surprise after our very wild ride down from Georgtown to Mayaguana last week. We are anchored in Sapodilla Bay. This is a great anchorage with protection from the trade winds. We rented a car for $62 and visited Providenciales (Provo). The car was was a Geo Tracker, it was falling apart. The soft top was caving in and it began to rain....inside the car. It sounded as though it was going to quit right there on the road. It was actually quite funny. We made the best of it and really enjoyed being in a car since it has been months. Dave had a real challenge driving on the left side of the road. He did a great job. The only problems he experienced were the speed and lining up on the wrong side of parking lot exits. Yes, I said Dave had a hard time with the speed. He was going 30 MPH and he felt like Mario Andretti. The speed limit was 40 and he had a hard time driving that fast. I guess that when you spend 8 months going 8 knots, 30 MPH feels incredibly fast. Your brain has a hard time taking in all of the information at that speed. After 24 hours, Dave was able to maintain the speed limit, although he continued to exit the parking lots on the right side (wrong side). We visited a conch farm and enjoyed a very informative tour. Unfortunately, humans are depleting this resource. The conch farm growns conch for eating as well as putting some back in the ocean. The northern side of the island is seeing a lot of development. Many people from Haiti and the Dominican have been imported to work on these resorts. Turks and Caicos is a very expensive island. A large bag of shredded mozzarella cheese is $29 and a steak is $30. We plan on staying here for another week or so. Then we will begin our journey home. We expect to be in the Abacos in April / May. I am still very bummed that we were so close to Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and we couldn't go. Next time!
Happy Birthday: Alex, Matt, Carissa,
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03/17/2007, Mayaguana
This is a picture of our friends Jonnie and Charlenit. They are from Haiti and paid a large sum to be smuggled into the Bahamas to start a better life. They taught me a bit of Creole. I will miss them dearly.
We departed Georgetown on March 11 to do the family's first overnighter to Mayaguana. This would be a 175 mile trip. We decided to travel along with three other catamarans with kids. The winds were forecasted at 15 knots. - LIE! They were blowing more like 25+ knots and the seas were very large and uncomfortable. All of the cats were experiencing hull slamming. As night fell, the wind was not calming down. Inside of the boat, it felt like a salt shaker. So Nicole and I had to try to rest out in the cockpit. We had our PJ's on and our beds made in the cockpit, when a wave hit us broadside and washed into the cockpit. I once read that you weren't really a sailor unless you were cold, wet, tired and sick. That pretty much described us. We had a huge bucket inside that we dropped all of our wet clothing and blankets into. Nicole finally gave up and fell asleep in the saloon, sick and all. DJ was already sound asleep and had no problem with the banging and shuddering. I put on my foul weather gear and sat in the cockpit with Dave until the wee hours of the morning. After a while, I started to see the beauty within the terror. The wind was howling so fast, that the waves would crash over the bow and be swept over the side within a split second. The water was glowing with phosphorous and was hypnotizing to watch as we flew through the night. Somewhere around 3:30 I succumbed to sleep. I suddenly woke up and realized it was almost 6:00 and Dave hadn't slept yet. I jumped back into my foul weather gear and relieved him until 10:30 so he could rest. I watched the sun come up and a few container ships passed by. The wind was still howling, but somehow it wasn't as scarey. Dream Catcher has shown me what she was made of and we were in great hands. The romantic in me had always pictured my first overnighter to be on calm seas with gentle wind and a full moon. Yeah...right! Maybe next time.
Mayaguana was nothing to write home about. It is a big, desolate island. We hitchhiked to the beach. What a job it is to get 16 people around. We saw our first flamingo! That was pretty cool. The hunting was okay for lobster. We were anxious to move on to Turks and Caicos.
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03/10/2007, Georgetown, Bahamas
Wow, I can't believe it is the 10th of March, where has the winter gone. We have been back in Georgetown for about a week after our wonderful trip to the Jumentos. We wanted to get back for Regatta week which is the pinnacle of the cruising season. Regatta week is a 10 day event with games and competitions everyday. There is even a kid's day which the kids enjoyed very much. They competed in homemade sailboat races, scavenger hunts and obstical courses to name a few. Lisa couldn't help herself and volunteered to help the commitee chair with the event and had a great day. There were over 70 kids that participated in the day. On another day, we all entered different rowing races in either kayaks, small row boats and sailing dingies. We all had a ball and a couple ribbons were won, DJ and Nicole competed in the double kayaking race and came in first! DJ placed second in the singles rowing and Nicole and her friend Sabrina got the most injured award when they were both clubbed in the back of the head by a flying oar during the blind rowing competion. They were both fine after a couple minutes. DJ and Lisa entered the blind rowing race. Lisa was blindfolded while DJ gave directions. What a hoot. DJ's attention was easily diverted, leaving Lisa rowing in circles. They came in last place. Lisa and Nicole along with some other friends competed in the sand castle competion and took 3rd. Yesterday, we entered Dream Catcher in the race around the island. The winds were forcasted to be about 10 knots but turned out to be more like 20. There were about 40 boats entered in the race. They were broken down into different catagories. We were entered in the Multihull race and placed 3rd which we were very excited to win. It was a very stressful (Lisa says invigorating) event and we were doing everything possible to trim the sails just right. Lisa did a great job skippering the boat while James from Seista and myself trimmed the sails. Now we have five new burgees to add to our boat. We never knew what all of those flags were on other boats. Now we know.
With time winding down in Georgetown, we started thinking about were we would go next? Lisa really had her heart set on going to the Domincan Republic with our friends on Side by Side. After checking with our Insurance company to see if the could extend our coverage to the DR (we are only covered to the Turks and Caicos) we did not expect the answer we got nor did our broker. It turns out a boat was recently lost to a reef in the Luperon area which is where we could clear customs in the DR and they are not extending any coverage into that area. So at the moment, we are trying to decide our next route. We know we want to be in the Abacos for April and May. So stay tuned, we will update you all once we have a plan.
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03/01/2007, Jamentos
"Not that kind of Dolphin.. On the way to the Jamentos we caught our first Mahi Mahi, It was tasty"
While in Thompson Bay, we visited with Side by Side and celebrated their son Parker's 10th birthday. We really hit it off with SBS and decided to go to the Jamento and Ragged Islands with them. We had a long day's sail and went from Long Island to Jamaica Cay. These islands are completely isolated. No homes, people, stores, gas or water. Our water maker has really come in handy. In Jamaica Cay, there was an abandoned resort someone tried to get going. While exploring the island, the kids and I came upon a recent shipwreck. The ribs of the boat were made out of trees. The mast was completely wooden and the cabin was made out of plywood. There were clothes and things floating in the water. Most likely it was a Hatian boat full of refugees trying to flee their country. The helicopters patrol this area looking for Haitians and drug runners. After seeing the wreck, I hustled the children back to the anchorage in case there were Haitians on the island. Upon reaching our boat, we decided to go snorkeling to look for dinner. However, DJ spotted a eight-foot bull shark. Dave went in the water to take a closer look. He is very brave, I couldn't do that. Yes, it was a big old bull shark and snorkeling behind our boat was out of the question. Between the shark and the ship-wreck, the night was a sleepless one for me. I finally realized how isolated we really were out there. The next day we went to Johnson Cay. We had to visit this island since our friends on SBS share the last name of Johnson. It was by far the gem of the Bahamian Islands. The snorkeling was the best so far. Every fish in our Reed's guide could be spotted here. The reefs are healthy. The lobsters, conch and fish are abundant. No boats go here. It is a hidden paradise. As a project, Side by Side and Dream Catcher made a sign for the island. It was painted in lovely Bahamian colors. While everyone was away hunting, Nicole and I enjoyed a leisurely swim without our swimsuits! We spent a wonderful day there then moved on to Racoon Island. This was another beautiful location. Marc, Dave and DJ went hunting and brought home lobster, conch and fish. Just when I was starting to feel comfortable being out here in isloation, we spotted a man on the island with a shot gun over his shoulder. He may have been a Haitian or a squatter living here. But Dave slept in the cockpit keeping an eyeout for us. The next island was Flamingo Cay with its beautiful cave that you could drive a dinghy in to. The beaches were long and quiet. Angie on SBS and I have come up with a new activity. Finding beach couture. There is a lot of clothing that washes up on shore and we are trying to see who can were two under my dinghy as the kids were snorkeling. I had to pull everyone into the boat. Our last stop was Water Cay before our return to Georgetown. We are expecting to be in Georgetown for the Regatta. I am volunteering for kid's day. I have so enjoyed our time down here in the Jamentos. I am very pleased that we didn't bypass this lovely island chain.
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02/27/2007, Thompson Bay, LI
"picture of us with our friends on Tabitha"
We departed Georgetown a couple of days ago with plans to head for Conception to meet up with our friends on Side by Side. But like all plans in the sailing world, they are open to change and usually do with the weather. They had been forcasting the strongest cold front of the season to hit on Sunday with the strongest of the winds out of the North West which would have been fine for Conception. The forecast that we picked up prior to our early morning departure had the winds coming out of the North, which may not sound like much of a change, but is a big concern with the anchorage at Conception that offers very little protection from the North and backs up to the Atlantic ocean which means very big waves to ride out. Since we like to minimize our middle of the night fire drills and favor a good night sleep, we altered our plans and headed for Thompson Bay in Long Island. If you remember, we were here about a month ago (bat caves) and fell in love with the island, especially the people. We were also excited to meet up with our friends on Tabitha who are about to start their trip North and back to England. We heard from other cruisers that the best way to move around the island is by hitch hiking. Nicole was a little nervous about this idea but soon found it was alot of fun when she got to ride in the bed of a pickup truck. It turns out that when a Long Islander passes a hitch hiker they feel obligated to pick you up. The only visitors they get to their island are the sailors that arrive during the winter months. They just love to talk about their island and welcome you with open arms. We received rides from a priest from the church of England, a political leader from the First National Movement and a school bus driver on a school bus to name a few. Lisa had a very enlightning experience when visiting with GlenRoy from the FNM. He was on his way back from collecting ice for a political ralley in support of his candidate when he picked us up. Their government structure mirrors Englands. While in Thompson Bay, we said goodbye to our friends on Tabitha who are heading back to FLorida, where Sue, Elsa and Pita will get on a plan and fly back to England for the last school semester. Eric will be single handling their boat back to England from FLorida, we wish them all the best and Eric fair winds. He may need to stop in Bermuda on his way home, so we gave him some information on how to contact our friends the Broadhursts.
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02/15/2007, Georgetown
Not...
Just a quick update to let all our family and friends now we are heading to Conception Island tomorrow for a couple of weeks. This a remote island with no internet what so ever. We will post an update once we return to Georgetown for regatta. Yesterday we ran our first race around the island with 17 other boats. It was alot of fun and with great winds out of the West we flew. We started second to last and passed every boat to finish first. That doesn't mean we are great sailors it just means we have a really fast boat. Just before the finish line we got hit by a squal that brought winds up to 28 knots for about 45 seconds. As you can image things got pretty exciting for a couple minutes. Other than that things are the same, kids are making new friends daily with so many new kids coming and going. We are headed to conception with our new freinds on Green Turtle. Hope all is well back home and hopefully the resent Nor' Eastern wasn't to brutal
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02/07/2007, Georgetown
Photo: DJ and Nicole with their cruising friends, four boys and three girls. It is hard to tell since there is a lot of hair in this photo.
First off, we would like to welcome a new member of our family, Catharine Conboy. Jeanine and Matt are the proud parents of their fifth child. They of course boast of her beauty. We can't wait to meet her!
Now for an update on Dave's Ear: Dave went to a private doctor here that we heard about from some residents here in the islands. He arrived at the doctor's practice at 7:30 a.m only to be fourth in line. The doctor arrived at 8:30 in Bahamian style. The first thing he asked Dave was weather or not the clinic dr. prescribed drops. He hoped not, since that could cause permanent nerve damage to Dave's already damaged ear drum. Luckily, Dave is unique. All of us already knew that. His ear canal goes upward instead of downward, therefore, the drops never touched his exposed nerves. The doctor said he should recover fully within five weeks. So, since he had so much free time out of the water, he volunteered to redo the public library's roof. He is heading up the project and has several volunteers including DJ and Nicole to help out. They will begin construction at the end of this week. The roof has been leaking for three years and has damaged many books. The children's room has suffered the most damage. Anyone who would like to donate to the Georgetown library, you may send donations to the Georgetown Public Library, Georgetown, Great Exuma, Bahamas. Since construction won't happen for a week, we decided to join our friends and take a vacation and go to Emerald Bay Marina. I know it sounds funny that we are taking a vacation while we are in paradise, but we went to on of those resorts that you all pay thousands of dollars to stay at. Our two nights only cost $75. We had a restaurant, pool, lounge, showers, free laundry, wifi, casino and bar. Dave watched the super bowl while I tried my luck in the casino. Thank goodness for the luck of the Irish, I was able to pay for the three days on the dock! It was a working vacation. When we left yesterday, we said our goodbye's to our new friends on Tembo who have been out for two years cruising the Caribbean and are headed back to their home on Vancover Island, Victoria in Canada. We also said goodbye or see you soon to our friends on Leo Cat who we may see again in a month or so. Parting is such sweet sorrow, we have met so many wonderful people and the kids have made so many friends from all over the world. When saying goodbye, we wish we could put each of them in our pockets and take them home with us. But, most of all, we are thankful that they have walked into our lives, if only for a short time. On a different note, I received wonderful news of a visitor to Georgetown. I don't want to put her on the spot by mentioning her name. But I can't wait! It will be so nice to share all of our many adventures with someone from home! Speaking of adventures..... last night, Dave and I were suddenly awakened by the sound of a freight train. We both sprang from bed and realized that our haunted schreecher had become unraveled at the top and the wind was blowing 25 to 30 knots. So Dave and I are out there in our night attire dropping the darn thing. Never a dull moment. Sigh.........
Happy Birthday: Alex, Donna, and Lisa. Happy belated birthday to Marie. She is a big 4 this year!
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL!
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01/25/2007, Conception, Exumas
We finally lifted our anchor in Georgetown and set sail for some of the smaller islands in the Bahamas. We left with our friends on Le'Cat and Tabitha. Our first stop was Long Island, located about 40 miles east of Georgetown. We had listenedd to a weather report before leaving that indicated that the winds would be too light to sail. Once outside the cut, we were pleasantly surprised with North winds at 15 knots. We had a lovely sail. Thompson's Bay, Long Island was where we decided to put down the anchor first. Long Island has approximately 5,000 residents. They are well set up with a couple of grocery stores and a dive shop. While visiting the dive shop, the owner informed us of a cave on his property. He gave us some flashlights and we explored the many caverns and we were amazed at all of the stalagmites and stalactites. We later returned with our friends to watch the bats come out of the caves. There are five diferent species of bats that inhabit the caves. While in Thompson's Bay, we spend sometime hiking over to the beach on the Atlantic side of the island. These beaches would be spectacular if it weren't for all of the garbage that comes in with the surf. Ninety-nine percent of the garbage is plastic. It is so sad. Along with the garbage there are sea beans, hamburger beans and coconuts. We gathered several coconuts and Dave spent an afternoon removing the husks to make them easier to store. Our next stop was Calabash. We were hoping to do some fishing there, however it was very rolley and made for an uncomfortable evening. Only one night there before moving on to Conception. This was an island that was pristine and completely uninhabited. The island is surrounded by deep water and reefs. As soon as our anchor was down, Dave brought out his dive gear and took a look at the reef next to our boat. He said it was magnificant. He wasn't able to stay down there too long. His tank ran out of air. He was anxious to go hunting with DJ and Eric, so they loaded up the dinghy with their spears and fins. Dave was attaching the anchor to the dinghy when, splash, the anchor sank to the bottom. It was approximately 25 feet down. Since Dave didn't have any more oxygen in his tank, he had to free dive. On his way down, he felt a lot of pressure in his ears and then heard a POP! OH SH>>>>>T! He managed to grab the anchor and surface. While struggling for balance while climbing up the swim latter, he had a look of pain on is face. It didn't take long for him to confirm the diagnoses of a blown eardrum. He tried to relieve more pressure from his ears and proceeded to expell air from his ear. FREAKY! He spent the afternoon lying down while I worked on the VHF to receive medical advice. A couple of boats provided relay to a doctor in San Salvador. I have antibiotics on board and didn't know whether to give them to him. The doctor said to put some cotton in it to keep the air out and get him to a doctor. So now we find ourselves back in Georgetown two days later. But... before leaving Conception, we were given two huge lobsters and found several conch. Dave was able to get the Conch without diving under the water. So our trip out to the little islands has provided us with some well-deserved protein. Dave saw the doctor today. I won't even go into what that wait was like or the conditions of the clinic. They gave him some drops and antibiotics and will look at it again next week to see how severe the damage is. The doctor's visit, ear drops, and antibiotics were a total of $78. I forgot to metion that we had some more unexpected excitement in Conception. We had some dodgy clouds that produced a water spout. This was our first sighting of one. It was coming towards us but retracted back into the clouds. Also, the kids broke the cardinal rule of not swimming after 4pm and had the amazing experience of being greeted by a reef shark. It was only 4:30. I guess there isn't much lee-way in that rule. Luckily, they were close to the dinghy on their friends boat and everyone survived the encounter. Although, Nicole is back in my bed.
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