03/17/2009, George Town, Exumas

Still in George Town, Exuma, Bahama Islands.

The weather has been cooler than past years; and windier, too. But the fun has been just about non-stop. The George Town Regatta is over as of today. Tonight is the final party at, of course, Regatta Point Park in George Town. Tonight is the variety show. Food, drink, and people doing silly things. How can that not be a good time.

But the weather may not cooperate. We've had scattered showers all day.

I'm looking at pointing Galena eastward again. I'll make a run to Long Island (Salt Pond/Thompson Bay) which is about 40 nm east of here. Then south through the 70 mile-long Jumento island chain. That puts me just 50nm north of the eastern tip of Cuba. From there I can make a long, 350nm run east and then north toward Miami. That route takes me along the Bahama Banks south and then west of Andros Island. Last year I went north from here through the Abacos. Heading south through the Jumentos will let me check the block on seeing just about all of the Bahama Island chains.




26 Feb 09
George Town, Exuma, Bahama Islands

The Great Erection

A landmark on Volleyball Beach has always been the sign pole. But the current pole has rotted away and fallen down. So Rocking Ron on s/v Sea Dancer headed up a group of us to rebuild the sign pole. He asked for volunteers to create new arrows pointing to their home ports or favorite places. He also saved some of the better signs from the old pole. KB, the owner of the beach and of Chat 'n chill beach bar supplied the pole.

KB, on the left, and Kendal on the right. KB never, never smiles. KB is the owner of the Chat n Chill bar and Volleyball Beach

Adding the individual signboards to the sign post

For a few days people were adding their signs and the pole was really looking good. Then we had a hole digging party and dug a substantial hole for the new sign pole. As we were standing it up, we realized an oversight: no one had oriented the signs while they were being added. We thought about the problem for a moment or two. But we dicided that since all of them would just be pointing north if they pointed to the towns listed on them, letting them point every which way looked better. So we just put it the way it was.

Yours truly digging the pit for the sign post

The actual erection. Iwo Jima it ain't; but not bad for a bunch of cruisers.

The final product. All the signs point in the wrong direction, but who cares?

Then off to volleyball. I'm actually getting a bit better at this game. My main purpose is still just to be someone that others can say they aren't as bad as. But I'm getting better. And an hour or so of jumping around on the court gives me some much needed exercise.

I met some vacationers on the beach today. Mary and her sister Sharon are visiting friends on a boat here and are just soaking up the sun and rum for a couple of weeks. I volunteered to show them the sights.

My new friends Mary and Sharon on Volleyball beach

27 Feb 09

Fiberglass Lessons

Richard on s/v Hali Kai lost his dinghy. Several days later he found it in the rocks a couple of miles down the harbor. The engine was smashed and the hard bottom was holed in several places. He ordered a new dink and engine.

Then Bernard of s/v Ti' Matou said that he could fix the dinghy with a little fiberglass work. So on the beach Bernard went to work. Richard supplied the material and Bernard supplied the expertise. After two days the dinghy looked just about like new.

The holes in the fiberglass bottom were about a foot across. They patched the holes with a temporary plywood backing. Then they filled them with mat and then roving. Using a polyester resin to wet it all out. The final coat was just Bondo that was sanded smooth. A little no-skid and the bottom looked great.

Bernard was very patient with my continual questions during the process and I was able to learn a great deal. We should have made this project into a seminar. We would have had a big crowd and everyone would have learned something.

Dinner with Jillian and Greg, Frank (s/v Local Knowledge), and Tony and Leo (s/v Bimini Dancer). After a wonderful meal we sat and drank wine till it was way past cruiser's midnight.

Leo, Tony, Frank, Jillian, and Greg onboard s/v Oblix

Jillian is one of the rarest of individuals. she does volunteer work in Mongolia. She goes around the world getting donations for hospitals, schools and the like. Then she goes to Mongolia and actually builds the schools, distributes the medicines, and makes sure that everything is going to the people it was meant for. Really quite extraordinary. And she's also one hell of a nice person.

Back on 8 Jan, my MP3 player started acting up. It worked fine, but the battery wouldn't charge. It acted like there was no battery at all. So I had to use it on AC power only. But suddenly, today, the battery suddenly 'appeared' on the screen as 'charging.' Now it's back to working. I don't understand but it must have been a loose wire or bad connection. Anyway, I now have my portability back on my MP3 player.

28 Feb 09

I moved Galena to Kidd Cove, just outside of town. Chris Parker, the weather guru is giving a seminar on Monday and I almost beat the rush to get a good spot near town. The wind and waves are such that riding the dinghy the mile across the harbor would be a very wet option. After the seminar I'll move her over to Monument or Sand Dollar beach.

Seabbatical 1 has also moved over to Kidd Cove and invited me over for dinner. Michelle can really cook. We even had ice cream!

While over here near town I made a water run and filled my gas can for the dinghy motor.
Also, the main light in the saloon burned out. It's a 15 watt florescent. I have a spare around here somewhere. But I'll procrastinate digging it out. It burns quite a lot of power and not having it available will probably allow me to watch a couple extra DVD's on the computer. [Later Note: two weeks went by before I got around to replacing that bulb.]

I was anchored near s/v Scallywag. I went over and talked with Doug and Pat since they look a bit concerned since I was so close. After talking with them for a bit we decided that we were just fine. Doug and Pat are a great pair. We have since become quite good friends.

Doug and Pat, s/v Scallywag

Doug said to me, after the round-the-island race, that I was the only real sailor out there since I did it alone and in a boat with hanked-on sails and no hope of winning. I'm not sure I liked that last bit, but I thanked him for his sentiment.

02 Mar 09
People are all worked up about the coming Cold Front. Chris is forecasting 25-35 knot winds. People are putting out a second anchor. Some are even taking down biminis! I'm not quite as protected here in Kidd Cove as I would like. At least not from the NW. But it should be alright.

The CF actually hit at 0530. In less than an hour the wind went from 5 kts to over 25 kts! And it clocked from south to northwest in the same time. Now I'm bouncing around in 3-ft breaking wind chop. Galena is galloping around and I'm having quite a ride. But the CQR is holding nicely; that and the 250 pounds of chain on the bottom. I'm in 7-ft of water and I have 150-ft of chain out. I'm not going anywhere!


Oh! I just learned something: the term 'Up-Island' means going up-wind. That is, southeast. So from here, Nassau, which is north of here is considered 'down-island' by the locals since it's downwind. Cool.

Chris Parker's seminar was just like last year. I only went to buy his book. I listen to him every day and I never 'sponsor' him. He wants $200 a year and for that he'll talk to you on the radio and give you personalized routing advice. I just listen to him when he talks to boats near me and get the info for free. But I feel a little bad about it. So I went to the seminar to buy his book and at least sort of pay him. And it's a pretty good book, although probably not worth the $37 he charges for it. But like I said, I think of it as a donation for all the free weather information he's given me in the past few years.

I left at the lunch break. I knew from past seminars that the second half was mostly just an advertisement for his services. And Galena was 'sort of' in the channel. I had heard that the fuel boat was coming in and I wanted to move her out of the way.

I've tucked in nicely by the western end of Sand Dollar Beach. Very close to the shore and well protected. Much nicer here than over at Kidd Cove; at least today.

By 1430 hrs the wind was 15-kts from 330° and the air temp was down to a very chilly 70°.

Texas Hold'em again and again I finish in the middle of the pack. Out of abotu 40 players, I go out at 18. Well at least I'm consistantly mediocre.

03 Mar 09
Finally changed my guitar strings. Well, for me it was a big event!

05 Mar 09
Talked with Moonlight serenade on SSB today. They are heading for Lake Worth today. Actually getting down to where it's warm! Cool!

My buddy, Jim, took Clark and I on a pub-crawl today. We started at 0930 and as we started down the street in his jeep, he handed me a beer saying, "Well, lets get started!"

Jim's been living on Great Exuma Island for about 40 years. He built his own house here. He said the house's name is "Vista Del Mar." I asked why his house had a name. He explained that back then, there were no phones and everyone used VHF radios to communicate. So, like boats, all the homes had names.

After running a couple of errands for his wife, Ronny, we started heading west and stopping at all the local bars enroute. First was Houseman's Outback. There we had a beer and spent some time talking with Lenora the bar tender. She's from Eleuthera originally but had been living in Miami for several years. Something came up about her passport and she found herself here looking for work.

Bartender Lenora at Houseman's Outback Bar, First stop on our pub-crawl.

Jim pointed out the local pizza place named Foxy's. Jim said it's the best pizza on the island; carry-out only.

We also stopped at "The Palms at three sisters." Where I met Erikie, also originally from Rock Sound, Eleuthera. After a beer there and taking in the beach scene a bit we headed over toward Emerald Bay.

Erikie at the Palms resort

The beach outside the Palms. You can see the Three Sisters Rock on the right.

Emerald Bay is a 4-Seasons resort. And it's a very nice place, indeed. Interestingly, as we approached the main entrance, the doorman opened the door and called Jim by name while wishing him a nice morning. Jim seems to know everyone around here.

The main building at Emerald Bay Resort

The backyard at Emerald Bay Resort

We had a nice lunch at Grand Isle resort and talked about the Bahamas from an ex-pat's point of view. I learned a great deal about people and places from Jim.

We stopped by fisherman's Inn, which had recently burned down. This forced Norman Lloyd, the owner, to work out of shack while he rebuilt his bar.

Nelson Lloyd in his temporary bar and grill on the beach at Fisherman's Inn

I found that Roker's point is named after the most prominent resident, Al Roker the NBC Weather guy.

I also found out that that actor from Jag, David James Elliot, lives next-door to Jim. And that Jame's Taylor's brother also lives on the island.

We stopped on an overlook where Jim pointed out some of the major works going on in the area. Some have failed miserably and are now just waiting for someone else with a vision to buy them up and try something new.

Jim and I overlooking Hooper's Bay, just north of George Town

There are always several major developments going on here. Some work out. Some like Oceania Heights have become "the place' to live on the island.

Multi-million dollar home in Oceania Heights. No beach, but 'Location'

Some are still waiting for rich guys to buy up lots so construction can begin.

Empty home sites waiting for buyers

Finally we ended up at Jim's house. When he said he had built it himself, even down to mixing the cement with a shovel, I was expecting some rather modest. That's not how I would describe his house.

Here's a couple of shots of the main room:

And the back yard. His back porch looks out over Elizabeth Harbour. What a view!

The back porch of Jim's house. Clark can be seen heading down to the water.

The view of the harbour from Jim's deck.

After a long day of bar-hopping Jim poured us back into our dinghies and we headed over to St Francis Resort for the twice-weekly poker game.

08 Mar 09
I finally patched the hole in my dinghy.

I have an Air-Deck in my dink. Nice. But I seem to keep getting holes in it. The deck had been leaking air for a couple of weeks. I was having to pump it up every couple of days. A few days ago I had taken it to the beach, I had emptied the dink out. I had removed the Air-Deck (a bunch of screws hold a board at the stern that holds the deck in place). But after re-inflating the deck and holding it under water, I couldn't find a leak. I gave up and put the thing back together thinking that maybe it was just the valve that wasn't seated properly.

But, no. There was a leak. This time I took my time. Again I went to the beach and emptied the dink. I inflated the deck after removing it and very, very carefully I held it under the water looking for bubbles. I still didn't see a leak. Then, I was holding it up and HEARD an air leak. I tracked it down and, sure enough, there was a hole. Small, but a hole none the less. I scrubbed it and patched it and put everything back together. Now I'm all set. No more leak. Nice

The dinghy with all the equipment out on the beach and the deck removed.

We had a report that there were about 350 boats here last week. I'm not sure of that. But there are certainly a lot. And certainly more than last year when we didn't quit make it 300 boats. But I've seen a bunch leave every day and I think the count is off.

I'm using my new basket weaving skill to make a coozy for my beer bottle. My first attempt was not very pretty. And I didn't check the diameter until I was way bigger than the bottom of a beer bottle. Now it's a coaster.

See? I'm really weaving a 'basket'

The second attempt came up too small. I can't fit a bottle into it. Now it's a pencil holder.

Sooner or later I'll get this right. By then I might be able to weave something that dosen't look like a 10-year-old made it.


09 Mar 09

Went to the Rake and Scrape. This is just a Bahamian jam session at one of the local bars here. It starts about sundown and goes till well after midnight. Jim plays wash-tub base in the band.

Rake and Scrape with Jim playing the washtub base

Also there were my friends Mary and Sharon. There will be going home soon so we danced the night away and had a fine time.

Sharon, me, and Mary at the rake and scrape

And of course, Jillian was there, too. Everyone eventually shows up and the drinking and dancing go on and on.

Me and Jillian at the Rake and Scrape

11 Mar 09

Today I harvested my head. A chore even though it's only required every two months. Enough said.

Trivial Pursuit contest today. I'm on a team with Mike (s/v Pagan Chant) and Ken and Leigh (s/v One Eyed Parrot). I don't add much to the mix but Mike is very full of trivia. He wins no matter who he's with.

Mike (s/v Pagan Chant) ready for another win at Trivial Pursuit

Since this is the main event (they have weekly tournaments, but this is the 'big one') we had a huge crowd at St Francis

The patio at St Francis Resort was packed for the event.

And, of course, we won the tournament!

The winning team with burgees and bottles of rum

12 Mar 09

Up early (0400) cuz today is Race Day!

The wind is still about 18kts from the east. So I swap out the 130% Gennoa for the yankee jib.

I started well. I was number 3 across the line and only seconds after the 1000hrs start. Alibi II was ahead of me by a hundred yards as was Ozymandiez. Right behind me was Siggy's Dancer and Revel. I passed Alibi and Ozymendaris and was in the lead for about half an hour. But 3 miles later Revel passed me for the lead. I was doing very well on this downwind leg. As we turned out into the Sound for the beat to windward everything changed. we had 20 kts from the east and 4-ft swells from the NE.

Revel passing me for the lead

On the upwind leg everyone passed me except for 2 boats that gave up (light winds late in the day) and one that didn't pass me until just before the finish.

Jim and Cathy and crew on s/v Miss Alice passing me on the Sound

About the time I was approaching the Dogs and Puppies (small cays on the sound at the south entrance to Elizabeth Harbour) the wind died. I went out on the bow sprit and changed the headsail back to the 130 Gennoa. Even with that I was making only 0.9-kts for a while. But an hour later Galena was back up to 3.5 kts and then, after entering the harbor and being passed by Vesper Light, I was up to 5.5-kts and screaming toward the finish line, just a couple hundred feet behind the second-to-last boat.

Yes, I was last again this year. But unlike last year, I finished at 1600 hrs instead of after dark at 1930hrs. So I considered it a major win for me and Galena.

14 Mar 09
The in-harbor race found me sitting in my dinghy at the start line taking pictures. It's just too tight a course for a single-hander.

The start was very exciting. In her class, s/v Star (Bob and Gail) crossed at full speed and ahead of everyone else.

s/v Star crossing the start line at full speed

This was a twice-around race. As the boats came by for the start of the second lap they came very close to the committee boat and the people in the dinghies bobbing around watching.

s/v Alibi II crossing the line

s/v Siggy's Dance making for the line and the start of the second lap

15 Mar 09
(Happy birthday, Laura)

We had a fine party and dance to close the regatta. At the awards ceremony all the people who made the races possible were called to the front. There were more people than I had imagined.

The awards ceremony for the races

Before they started handing out prizes for the boats that placed in the race, I was surprised to be called to the front. Something like this was being said, "...if one boat in the race epitomizes the true spirit of cruising, it's Galena. Bill, get up here!" I was given a special award named "The Spirit of Cruising" award. How cool is that! I was so jazzed by it.

Me and some of my admiring fans after winning my Major Award

OK, the regatta is over. Now it's time to get over to Long Island and then down to the Raggeds.

Comments [0] | | More

02/25/2009, George Town, Exumas

I'm still in George Town, Exuma, Bahama Islands and have fallen into full "Island Mode." By that I mean while I have things to do, I do nothing. Everything can wait until tomorrow, since, except for the wind speed and direction, very little changes day to day around here.

I'm getting more and more involved with the cruising community here. In the past few visits I have stayed on the edges and just watched most of the activities. I'm playing volleyball just about every day. Good exercise and I'm actually getting a bit better; I don't suck as much as I used to.

I've even tried basket weaving once I confirmed with Sue (s/v Nice 'n Easy) that my testicles would not fall off if I wove a basket. I have not yet completed one, but I did learn how to do it. Now I just need to actually sit down and build a basket.

So, on to my day-by-day journal and a few photos that I've taken to try to document this place a bit better.


06-07 Feb 09
George Town, Exuma, Bahama Islands

The wind has clocked around to the North and is still 10-15 kts. I'm still anchored off Sand Dollar beach and have very good protection from the 2' chop that bounces the boats at Kidd Cove on the south side of the harbor.

Last night on the way back from St Francis Resort I realized that I had forgotten to pay my tab. Not a big deal since I'm rather well known there. Jill, who runs the place knew I'd be back. After loosing badly at Texas Hold 'em, I just walked out and down to my dinghy. So first thing in the morning I headed back to the bar and bought some internet time along with paying by bill. The internet connection there (and everywhere around here) is very slow. But because the connection was extra slow today, Jill gave me a break on the cost (usually it's $2 for 75 min).

There also were George and Lynn (s/v Sunspot Baby) and Len and Isabelle (s/v Nocturne)

Lynn and George of s/v Sunspot Baby at St Francis trying to get on-line.

By evening the winds were up to 30 kts. One of the cats in the anchorage started to drag. They think someone tripped their anchor since they had been there for several days before dragging.

On the morning of the 7th the wind generator (Air-X Marine) was putting out a steady 10 amps which equates to about 18 kts. Since I don't have a masthead mounted anemometer, I use the wind generator output as a measure of the wind speed. Some gusts were pushing the generator up to over 25 amps for sustained periods.

Evening of the 7th I went over to s/v Son of a Sailor for drinks. Also attending were Gary and Lisa of s/v Siya Sinana, Liz and Allan of s/v Kokopelli, and Dan and Chris of s/v Hiya Hoa??. We sat around and drank and munched and had a great time. Gary jammed on his harmonica and the rest of us sat around and told lies.

Dan, Chris, and Gary aboard Son of a Sailor

Gary letting loose with a quick blues riff on the harmonica

Lisa had some interesting repair stories. It seems that on their sailboat, she's the mechanical one.

Dan and Gary and I talked about our Corvettes (interesting that we each have one, huh?). Allan argued with me about how regulators worked in a system containing wind generators. Bettye and Liz talked recipes.

Liz, Chris, Bettye, Lisa, oh, and Dennis, on board Son of a Sailor

Allan, of Kokopelli, on Son of a Sailor

Bettye, Lisa, and Liz on Son of a Sailor. The guys were talking important stuff off camera.

On the morning of the 8th I looked at my journal entries that I'd made the previous evening. I can usually tell how drunk I was by the degree of illegibility. Last night I think I was lucky to find my way back to the boat. Actually the first thing I do is to look outside and see if my dinghy is still there. Sometimes I'm surprised I can tie it properly when I get home. I usually hook up a second line to the main painter just in case my knot comes out.

This was just a quiet day aboard Galena. I slept, ate, read, watched movies, played my guitar. It was so windy that I turned on the refrigerator and made ice. Not because I wanted ice, but just to use some of the extra electricity I was making.

Here's something: Galena's head is growing some sort of mold on the outside. This happened once before and I don't know what causes it. The growth is dry and powdery and seems to creep across the outer surface. I usually just wipe it down with a damp paper towel. This time I'm going to try some chemicals. [25 Feb: I still don't know what it is, but it seems to have gone away. Have not seen any sign of it for a week or so.]

The strange growth on Galena's head

These sit-at-home days are good for my budget. Each day I don't go ashore is a day I can do some payback to my previous financial indiscretions.

On the 9th I decided to do some work on my watermaker. I have a Katadyne 40E. It's about the smallest electric watermaker you can buy. It will make about 1.5 gallons of fresh drinking water out of seawater per hour and burn only 4 amps doing it. Water here costs $.50 per gal. (Well, here in GT you can get it free at the dinghy dock in Lake Victoria behind Exuma Market.)

The problem is that as the pump piston moves back and forth, the water in the intake lines also just moves back and forth. No water is actually pumped into the RO system. I believed that this was because I had mounted it to high in the boat. I had it about 8" above the waterline.

So I disassembled the whole setup: Watermaker, filters, strainers. Then I drilled new holes and remounted everything below the waterline. As usual I procrastinate for an eternity on the tasks that are not quick and simple. In this case, I had to remove everything from the cabinet behind the vanity in the head just to get at the nuts holding the watermaker in place. Removing all the stuff back there was the unpleasant part for some reason.

After repositioning the system, the result was just the same: no water being pumped through the system; just moved back and forth in the intake lines.

Mick on m/v Escargot is a parts supplier and repair tech. He agrees that it sounds like the valve in the pump head needs to be rebuilt. He had a cruiser's pump rebuild kit that I was lucky enough to pick up from him. Someday soon I'll rebuild the pump.

10 Feb 09
French Day at Volleyball Beach

We have a lot of French-Canadian sailors in George Town. So many that radio announcements are often repeated for them in French. We had a little French festival on the beach today. We all dressed with stripped shirts and scarf and had little French flags painted on our faces. Sue of s/v Nice 'n Easy was in charge of painting the faces.

Sue (s/v Nice 'n Easy) doing the face painting thing on the beach

My token French flag on my cheek

I learned how to play Bacci Ball and decided it wasn't really for me. But at least now I understand the game. James and Allison, a couple of Britts who live in France, were my opponents on the Bacci course.

Allison (far left) and James (far right) after our Bacci Ball games

Allison hiding the Bacci Balls

We were all divided up into groups to learn the game. Each group had an official, French-speaking, instructor. Guy (s/v Aftica) got the best-looking instructor of the lot

Guy and his Bacci Ball team

Guy and Silvia (who live in France) were fully engaged in the events. They invited me over to their cat for dinner. The boat's name is Aftica (pronounced: af-TEEK-ah). I once knew a boat named Jaftica (pronounced: JAF-tic-ah) but it's about the same acronym: "Another Fucking Toy I Can't Afford." They love France and think we in the US would be well served to follow the French example toward socialism. "We get everything for free!" says Silvia. "Wouldn't you like that, too?" Ah. Free would be nice, but nothing is free.

Guy and Silvia (s/v Aftica)

The outboard on the dink has been running just fine for the past week or so. It starts every time on the second pull and has not left me stranded with any carb issues lately. But the air deck seems to have a leak.

12 Feb 09
I moved from Sand Dollar beach to Volleyball Beach; right in front of Chat 'n Chill. It's nice here because I'm close to the beach where everything happens. The problem with that is that I'm right here were everything happens. And I'm directly between the town and the Chat 'n Chill. So all the water taxies and work boats zoom around me all day. On the weekends the locals also come roaring through.

KB, the owner of the Chat 'n Chill, heads to the beach with his workers and supplies each morning

The locals have this thing they do: They get going fast. Then, as the boat bounces up and down, they run the throttle full, and then back, in concert with the bouncing boat. It accentuates the leaping of the boat. I think it's a little strange but they find some joy in it.

Today, the 12th, was the first of what I would call a true Bahamian day. The sun was hot, the winds light, the water calm, the beer cold. The air is 77°, the water is 75°, the wind is 8 kts out of the NE. Just a perfect day to be here.

I played Texas Hold'em again and lost... again. Texas Hold'em is put together by Willis and Cathy (s/v Whistling Winds). They handle the setup, the registration, the pay outs, and generally make sure everything runs smoothly so the rest of us just sit there and play.

Cathy (far left) is ignoring Willis (far right)... again

Texas Hold'em starts at six. So by 1730 the bar and patio is filling up with people. Most come just to play and drink. Some come early for dinner. But we all come to chat and have a good time.

The bar at St Francis Resort before Texas Hold'em starts

At the bar at St Francis I was reunited with Rich and Terry (s/v Sea Devil). I had met them last year in Marsh Harbor, Abaco, at the Curly Tails bar. We got drunk and had a grand time. Terry is a hoot! She likes to be a bit crazy and Rich lets her, which is cool. They were heading down to Provo tomorrow.

Also at the bar I met Scott. He was a... I forgot... maybe a financial advisor or something like that. Anyway, he was just on holiday and hanging out at the bar. He had one of the villa's at St Francis and was having a wonderful time. He asked a lot of questions about cruising and said he might like to try that sometime when he gets old... like me... grrrr.

Scott at St Francis

Jill runs the place when her husband, George is away. He is the regional rep for St Francis Yacht Company (see the connection???). He has to take their 50' St Francis Cat to the boat shows and there was one in Miami this month. So he leave Jill and her son, Greg, to run things at the resort.

Jill running things from the bar

As I left St Francis, my pull cord on my outboard motor broke. Willis and Cathy (s/v Whistling Winds) were the only ones left at the dock. They were nice enough to tow me home to Galena.

The next day I disassembled the top of the outboard motor and replaced the pull cord with a hunk of rope I had laying about. It took less than an hour. We'll see how long it lasts.

Len and Isabelle (s/v Nocturne) stopped by. They noticed the Lorain, OH on Galena and wanted to say hello. They were from Gallion, OH. Later in the day I say Len at the trash dumpster in town. He good naturedly gave me shit because I didn't stop by his boat to ask if I could carry their trash to the dump. Then, a couple of days later he stops by Galena and says, "I'm going to make a trash run. Like a good neighbor I'm checking with you... That's what good neighbors do, ya know?" I'll be getting ribbed about that for the rest of the month I'm sure.

Isabelle and Len, from Gallion, OH

On the 14th we had a Valentines Day dance at the Chat 'n Chill. Rockin' Ron (s/v Sea Dancer) played DJ along with his lovely wife, Karen. The place was packed. Many of my old friends were there. George and Penny (s/v Star Shot) and I shared a few stories. I danced my little self crazy with anyone who was standing still. Nancy, Cathy, Sue, Bess, Terry, Gail, Rita, Penny, Sandy (Oh, and their significant other) were all there having a truly rocking time.

On the 15th I was out on the volleyball court when I hear, "Galena!" I look over and it's Toby and Donna from s/v Cariba. I had not seen them since Miami Beach a couple months ago. Since there were weeks ahead of me I figured they had moved on further south. Actually they had had some serious boat problems (engine mounts, shaft and coupler issues) and had to return to Florida. Then they left Cariba there and crewed a big motor yacht down here. But they're here and it's wonderful to see them again.

16 Feb
Again with the batteries! I awoke to the beep-beep-beep of some sort of alarm that I didn't recognize. I jumped up and headed over to the nav station. I finally noticed the VHF radio was flashing: "Low Batt." I checked my Link 20 and, sure enough, the voltage was down to about 10.5 volts. I had been spending electricity like it was going out of style. Even had the fridge on for a while a couple of days ago. But as I shut everything down and gave it some thought I didn't think I'd been that wasteful lately.

I fell into a funk. Me and my batteries have always had a bitter relationship. Sure, I check the water and the connections regularly. Sure, I try to keep them charged up to over 75% capacity. So why to they fail so regularly? I buy batteries that are warranted for 3 years and they last... well... just 3 years! The wind had been light and the sky a bit cloudy for the past couple of days. But still, I didn't expect the batteries to be stressed.

I checked them again, and added just a bit of water to one of them. Less than a cup total. And these are the big 4D batteries. I've sometimes added half a gallon to them after a long hot summer. I ran the engine for a couple of hours to get the batteries up to a working voltage. Then I shut off everything and just let the wind generator and the solar panels do their thing. By the next day they seemed fine. But that's one more thing to worry about. Can I continue south with marginal batteries? I think not! [24 Feb: since then I've had no problems from the batteries. Must have just been a fluke.]

Last week, during the high winds, Galena's starboard flag halyard chafed through. Now back in the States that's no big deal. But here we have to fly the Bahamian courtesy flag from the starboard spreader. I had been flying mine from the port spreader. Now the wind was down and I took the opportunity to go up the mast and replace the starboard flag halyard. Since I now had the required flag where it belonged, I went ahead and put up all my flags for the rest of the day.

I found bugs in my mac and cheese. Last year, near the end of the year, I found that these same little critters had invested all of my pasta stores. This time, I repackaged everything into zip-lock bags. While I had one such bag with a couple of bugs in it, they hadn't spread to the other stores. So they must be from eggs that are in the packages to start with.

I talked with Doug (s/v Scallywag) about my air deck leaking. I had glue but couldn't find my patch material. He gave me a patch. So I took my dink to shore and disassembled it. I cleaned the area under the deck as well as the bottom of the hull. I put the air-deck in the water and looked for a leak. I couldn't find one. I played with that deck for over an hour and still couldn't find a leak. So I put it all back together and will try again some other time. I went back to Galena and saw the patch lying on the nav station. If I had found the leak, I wouldn't have been able to fix it.

On about the 17th I went to St Francis for Internet. It was very, very, slow. I was on just long enough to look at a couple of the 80 e-mails I had piled up. One was from Moonlight Serenade. They are actually en route! Yeah! I can't imagine sailing the Chesapeake in mid February. I was half expecting to hear from them saying they were just blowing off this winter's cruise. But, no. They are on their way. I'll stay here until they show up. Then I'll decide which way I'm going.

While at St Francis we saw a big sailboat leaving hole #1. But she turned north way too soon and came to a sudden stop. About eight of us went down to our dinghies and made like tug boats. We turned her around but the captain decided to turn her back the way she was going. He kept moving into shallow water instead of back the way he had come. Finally with two dinks pulling on her main halyard to tilt her over, and a bunch of us pushing on her sides, she finally moved off the shoal and into the channel. He disappeared without so much as a 'buy you guys a beer' comment.

Here at George Town we have a wide variety of boats. Some are even yachts. Here is one such that dropped by to sit out a bit of bad weather. I think that's why they dropped in. I don't think I'll see them on the beach playing volleyball. But you never know.

m/v Man of Steel anchored off volleyball beach. Probably some poor steel worker, huh?

On the 18th I moved Galena over to Kidd Cove. I needed to get rid of trash and make a few water runs. I also made a few phone calls and got some cash. I've been staying on budget fairly well. My budget will allow me to bank a bit each month for unexpected expenses. And I've been able to do that for the past few weeks.

I stayed at Kidd Cove and while here went over to the Peace and Plenty bar. Glenn the bartender remembered me and welcomed me back to the islands.

Glenn the bartender at the Peace 'n Plenty resort

There I bumped into my poker buddies Jamie and Tony. I finally figured out that Tony is Jamie's dad. I also met Jo, the wife/mother.

Jamie and his mom, Jo, at the Peace 'n Plenty

Also met new friends like Butch and Constance. Butch plays in the band and Constance works as the chef on a big motor yacht. We had a lot in common, including politics! which is a rare thing around here. This island is so full of Obama posters and the other cruisers are so liberal (as a rule) that I find I have to keep my opinions to myself most of the time. Nice to talk with like-minded folks on occasions. And it's especially nice when those folks look a nice an constance.

Me and my new conservative friends, Constance and Butch, at the Peace 'n Plenty

The next day I moved Galena back to the northern side of the harbor. I was going to move over to monument beach. But then I decided to take a swing through the volleyball beach anchorage and, there, right in front, was an opening just my size. So I'm back here in the prime spot. Cool!

Laundry day finally came. I had a 5-gal jug of fresh water left on deck from my water runs while in Kidd Cove. So I got my wash tub out and filled it with salt water and soap. I washed everything; then rinsed it twice in salt water. Then a final rinse in the fresh water. Then everything was pinned up on the lifelines to dry. Didn't' come out too bad. But I think I should have rinsed them a bit more. They feel just a bit salty still. Well, wear them for an hour and they'll be salty anyway.

I talked Bill (s/v Against the Wind) to join me for Texas Hold'em. He said he knew how to play poker, but had never played Texas Hold'em. Well, he won the tournament. Took home $95.

A couple weeks later I convinced Clark (s/v Seabbatical 1) to join me for poker. He came in second and took home $60. OK, it's got to be my turn soon, right?

The final two tables. Clark's face is almost visible at the far left. Next to him is Sharon (m/v My Sharona) with her damaged wing, then Norm who always does well, then someone I don't know, then Terry and then Tony.

Jami and his dad, Tony, at the St Francis

Someone gave a luncheon seminar on VHF communications. They discussed DSC. Of course, the next day I get startled by my VHF alarm going off when someone hits the 'All Ships - Urgent' button. I'm sitting in the cockpit and after jumping down and turning off my alarm, I still hear the alarm coming from a lot of the boats around me. A little bit of knowledge....

22 Feb 09
I took my hand-held depth sounder and sounded the holes around Volleyball beach area. I found that the best way to get into the hole was to hug the dock at St Francis. At low tide I saw nothing less than 6.5-ft. Getting into hole #2 was a bit harder and I saw 5.2-ft at low tide there. But that hole is big enough and has room enough to actually anchor. There's only a few mooring balls in hole #2.

I played Trivial Pursuit at St Francis with Mike (s/v Pagan Chant) and s/v One Eyed Parrot. We came in second! Mike is really good at this game.

Seabbatical 1 is staying in the harbor until after Chris Parker makes his Weather presentation in town next Monday. Then they are heading back south and to the Ragged Islands. The Cruiser's Regatta starts that week (4 Mar) and I'll stay for that. I want to do the race around the island again. Then the music festival, then the Family Island Regatta, then.... I'll get out of here eventually.

Sometime in the next few weeks I want to sail over to Long Island. I have to at least go that far before I head back to the States. For now, I'll just sit here and enjoy the sun and my friends.

Comments [0] | | More

02/06/2009, George Town, Exumas

I've made it to George Town, Exumas. Here I'll stay for a few weeks and enjoy the company of other cruisers while I decide where I'll go next.


28 Jan 09
Staniel Cay, Bahamas

Galena's track to Staniel Cay

Early in the afternoon I was called by Dennis and Bettye (s/v Son of a Sailor) on the VHF. They were at Club Thunderball having lunch. They asked that I join them. Never being one to pass up a beer I got dressed and hopped into my trusty dinghy. From where Galena was anchored to Club Thunderball is 1.8 nm. That makes for a very long dinghy ride. With just me on board, my little 5-hp Tahatsu outboard motor can get up on plane and run at about 14-kts. That's at full throttle which burns a lot of fuel. Or I can leave her in 'displacement-mode' and run at 5-kts and burn less fuel. I don't have fuel consumption information so I don't know if the trade-off in time is cost-effective. i.e.: I'll get there 3-times faster, will I burn less than 3-times the fuel over a given distance? Anyway, 7-minutes vs 21-minutes of bouncing around in a dink caused me to make the run at full throttle.

The layout of the area around Staniel Cay and Big Major Spot

I almost made it. Then the engine lost power and then died. I was just west of the grotto. The current was strong, inbound. I tossed out my anchor and started messing with the engine. As soon as I took the cover off I could see that there was fuel coming out of the carburetor. I've seen that before. Usually it means the floats were stuck and unable to close the valve. That lets the fuel pump push fuel directly into the engine and floods it. Sometimes there's a bit of dirt in the float valve. Sometimes there's nothing but... well stuck floats.

A guy comes by in a small runabout and asks if I need help. I say, "Sure. Could you tow me over to Club Thunderball?" It's a still a long way, maybe 1/3 mile. But he agrees. As I'm arriving, Bettye comes down to take a picture.

We had a good lunch and made plans to come back to Club Thunderball for the big Superbowl Sunday event they were planning. Dennis towed my dink back to Galena and we called it a night.

The next day, 29 Jan, I started the outboard and it ran fine.

The bilge pump is coming on every few hours. I know what it is but I don't want to fix it. Procrastination is my middle name. The stuffing box is in need of tightening. Or worse, repacking. But I finally got out the flashlight and looked at the stuffing box to see how fast water was dripping from it. It should be a drop or so a minute, max. And that should stop after you've been sitting for a while. I was shocked to see water just running in. Not drops but a veritable stream of water. No wonder the bilge pump was kicking on so often. This had to be addressed immediately. So I put it off until after lunch.

I've described before how hard it is to get at the stuffing box. It can be seen from the front of the engine. But it can only be reached from the back of the engine. I have to lay on my battery boxes while feeling my way down the shaft to the nuts on the box. I have a special wrench that seems to never be adjusted to the proper size even though I lock it in place and never use it for anything else. And the lock nut is always very hard to break free.

This time tightening the packing was just as difficult as last time. After 20-minutes of effort I finally loosened the lock nut and started tightening the packing nut. Last time I did this was about a year ago. I was at Nassau as I recall. I only had to turn the packing nut 1/8 of a turn for the dripping to stop. This time I turned it 1/3 of a turn and the thing was still dripping about once every 5-seconds. Still way too much water coming in but much better than it was. I don't have enough packing material to repack it right now. I'll have to wait until I get to George Town, Great Exuma, where I may be able to get enough of the 1/4" flax packing material that I need. Or at least be able to order it.

S/v Star Shot arrived today. George and Penny sailed with me north from Eleuthera through the Abacos last year. After a quick chat while they were anchoring, they invited me over for sundowners. There I met Frank and Lisa of s/v Sweet Sensation. It was nice catching up with George and Penny. They have been in contact with mutual friends such as s/v Seabbatical. And of course we played 'whatever-happened-to' games into the early evening.

Then I went over to s/v Son of a Sailor for a chat. We decided to have movie night. I went back to Galena to refill my sippy-cup and get my collection of movies. Bettye decided on 'Bucket List.' Dennis made popcorn. We had a nice evening.

On 30 Jan Dennis came by and told me that the internet at Staniel Cay Yacht Club was free today since it was unavailable yesterday. So I packed up my computer and headed over there. Dennis followed me in his dink just to make sure I made it OK. The outboard ran fine at 3/4 throttle (just enough to keep me on plane) all the way. Until I slowed down approaching the dinghy dock. Then it started flooding. I could smell it. But I made it ok.

As I was getting on line I saw a familiar face. I recognized Chris from last year, same time, same place. Last year he and his wife, Kimberly, were at the bar and listened while I waxed poetic about the joys of cruising. He remembered me, too. Kimberly had not yet arrived and Chris was going to do some fishing later in the day. He joined us (Dennis, Bettye, and me) for a few beers while Dennis and I published our blog.

This may be WiFi. But it's very slow WiFi. There's a little blurb when you log in. It says, "How to use our slow internet connection: 1. Click on screen; 2. Take a drink of beer; 3. Repeat until the computer seems blindingly fast."

Eventually I got my blog published. But some of the pictures were incomplete and would not overwrite when I tried to re-upload them. Something I'll have to remember to fix when I do my next update.

I also had 62 e-mails! Most were junk but a few required immediate answers. It was nice to be back in touch with friends. And my friends on Facebook were especially nice to hear from.

There are 30 boats here on the northwest side of Big Major Spot, just north of Staniel Cay. Except for a couple brave souls to the south, we are all jammed up tight into the northwest corner, just south of Fowl Cay. When I say "jammed" I mean we're close enough that no one has any room to drag. Not close as in "George Town Close." But closer than I would normally like back on the Chesapeake.

Here's a shot of how we're all laid in here.

Galena's 29 neighbors tucked in for the expected NE blow

Tonight and tomorrow we're expecting winds from the NNW at 30-kts. All day the wind has been west at 15 making for a rather bouncy ride. When I went to Staniel Cay Yacht Club I went around the north tip of Big Major and down between the Majors. Inside there it was flat calm. But I know from past experience that once the wind goes NW or SE that strip of water can become very, very rough. I've seen 4-ft waves in there! So we're staying where we are and hoping the wind doesn't build until we are under the lee of Fowl Cay.

2100hrs - Winds were west at 5-kts. The ride is a bit bouncy but I have over 100-ft of chain rode out and feel pretty secure. Even though I'm just a couple hundred yards from a rocky lee-shore.

2400hrs - Winds were west at 10. More rough than before but this should be a bad as it gets. The winds should start to clock around to the northwest soon.

0120hrs - Winds NW at 15-kts. Galena is now in the lee of Fowl Cay and while she's heeling over in the wind as she dances at anchor, the ride is smoother than before.

0400hrs - Winds NNW at 25-kts gusting to 30. Galena is riding nicely in a less-than-one-foot chop.

0600hrs - Heard on the radio that someone was dragging. Looked out to see the boat that was on my port bow was now on my port quarter. I flashed my big spotlight on him and he got up and into the cockpit. He and his family got the boat under control and they re-anchored astern of Galena.

31 Jan 09
Staniel Cay

All day the wind blew at 15-20 kts from the north. Just about everyone was boat-bound for the day.

The next cold front comes through on Tuesday. The problem with than one is that the forecast calls for the winds to come out of the west at 25-30 kts. Where I am has no protection from winds from the west. I could go between the Majors, but the wind is to clock to the NW late in the day. That would make between the Majors a hell-hole.

What to do?

Here's the forecast as reported for the "virtual weather buoy at Warderick Wells":

Date Morning Afternoon Late
31 Sun E 14-19 E 12-17 ESE 14-19
01 Mon ESE 12-16 SE 13-18 SSE 11-16
02 Tue WSW 20-28 WNW 17-23 NW 16-22
03 Wed NW 14-20 NW 14-18 NNW 17-24
04 Thu N 13-18 N 11-16 ENE 11-15
05 Fri ENE 10-13 ENE 10-14 ENE 15-21

As you can see, Tuesday looks bad. Two cold fronts are going to come together right over us. Chris Parker, the weather guru, is forecasting 30-kts with gusts over 40 for Tuesday morning.

I'm not staying where I am. I'll skip the Superbowl party and find someplace safe to ride this one out.

01 Feb 09
Galliot Cay (N 23° 55.6' W 076° 17.6')
Trip: 21nm, Total: 1591nm, Engine: 2107hrs

I left Big Major after hearing the weather forecast had not changed. s/v Son of A Sailor followed me out. But some friends were going to stop at Black Point and Dennis and Bettye decided to join them for the evening. I went on to Galliot Cay.

I'm anchored at the NW corner of Big Galliot Cay right now. Tomorrow afternoon I'll move a few hundred yards over to the NE corner of Little Galliot Cay, just SW of my current position. That should leave me unprotected only for the few hours the wind is from the SE on Monday. Then I should be protected all day Tuesday.

Wednesday looks like a fast fun ride to George Town. Riding the back side of a cold front is the only way to head into the steady SE winds in the Central Bahamas. And that's what I plan to do on Wednesday, or Thursday, depending on sea-state in Exuma Sound.

02 Feb 09
Cave Cay (N 23° 54.18' W 076° 16.74')
Trip: 1 nm, Total: 1592 nm, Engine: 2107 hrs


s/v Son of a Sailor came over from Black Point about 1300. He looked at my anchorage and said he'd pass and went to a better protected spot about a mile south of me.

After he left the wind clocked a bit more to the south and my anchorage suddenly became more bouncy than I liked. Sailor anchored just to the south of the cut at the north end of Cave Cay. So I followed him over there. By 1400 I was anchored next to him at N 23° 54.82' W 076° 17.65'.

Galena's move to join Sailor south of the cut

Much more comfortable here for now. We'll see what happens when the winds clock. The winds are now supposed to hold east of south until after dawn tomorrow. Then go quickly to NW and build to 20-kts. I'll head to George Town if the winds are better than 210° before 1100 hrs. That gives me time to make the run into Elizabeth Harbor in daylight. It's about 50 miles southeast of here. So I'm thinking 10 hrs max. Even if I get there after dark, once into the harbor I can just drop the hook in the middle of the harbor and be pretty much out of everyone's way. The only problem is unlighted sailboats in the harbor.

I hope this wind direction holds all night. I don't want to have to get up and move after dark. There's no village near here and at night, it's very, very dark.

s/v Son of a Sailor with Galliot Cut behind; looking northeast.

03 Feb 09
George Town, Great Exuma Island, Bahamas
Anchored off Sand Dollar Beach, Elizabeth Harbour
(N 23° 30.7' W 075° 44.8')
Trip: 47 nm, Total: 1638 nm, Engine: 2108hrs

Track from Galliot Cut to George Town

I decided last night that as soon as the wind clocked to at least 220° I would depart Galliot Cut and head for George Town. Chris Parker's 0630 weather report indicated that today's cold front was not going to bring as sever weather as previously expected. No 25-30 kt winds nor 40-kt gusts from the west. Just the usual SW clocking to NW winds at 15-20 kts. After the weather report I checked the wind: 215° at 10kts. I pulled off the sail covers and started weighing anchor.

Dennis on Son of a Sailor called to me, "You heading out?" Yep, I was. He said he would be following me shortly. I sailed off the hook and out the cut. As soon as I was lined up with Galliot Cut I started to feel, and see, the 4-foot swell rolling in from the east. It was that long, 7-second sea swell that just lifts a little boat like Galena. Floats her like a cork in a pond. I was out and had all sails up by 0730hrs. Galena was making 6-kts in beautiful sea conditions. Just that swell with a hint of wind chop on top.

View from the cockpit as Galena ran south to George Town

By the time Dennis came through the cut 30-minutes later, I had true wind just aft of the beam and apparent wind just forward of the beam at 10-kts. Perfect sailing weather.

Dennis called s/v's Kokopelli and Siya Sinana to tell them the sailing was great. They were a couple of big cats that Dennis had met up-island. An hour later I saw them come through the cut and into the Exuma Sound. There were 3 sailboats about 4-miles ahead of me, Dennis and his two friends behind me. A nice little fleet heading down to George Town.

s/v Son of a Sailor passing Galena on the way to George Town

As the day wore on the wind continued to clock from the southeast to the west and to the northwest. The wind speed also built during the morning. By the time I was 8-miles from the entrance to Elizabeth Harbour I was down to just the 130% Genoa. But the wind continued to build. Soon I was fearing for the safety of that sail. My Genoa is a very lightweight sail. The strain on it was worrying me. So I raised the staysail (which I had dropped because it was blanketing the Genny) to blanket the headsail and take some of the strain off it. It did that, and took my speed up to 6.4 kts.

Oooh! An artsy shot of Son of a Sailor!

Sailor after she passed me. This is my usual view of boats that I cruise with.

When I was 4 miles from the harbor entrance I was down to just a staysail with the wind almost directly astern of me and still making 5.5 kt's I rode that staysail into the harbor and all the way to Volleyball Beach. There I dropped sail, fired up the engine, and looked for a parking place. There were a couple of places that might have worked at Volleyball Beach, but they were not quite big enough. At least not in the wind and seas at that moment. So I went on down to Sand Dollar Beach and found a nice big spot to drop the hook. 18-ft of water and 100-ft of chain. I'm secure; I think.

The general layout of Elizabeth Harbour and the George Town anchorages.

The three main anchorages are along the southwest shore of Stocking Island and are Monument (aka Hamburger), Volleyball, and Sand Dollar beaches. The dominant wind is from the NE so these are usually very comfortable anchorages. Across the harbor to the southwest is the town of George Town which surrounds Lake Victoria. Kidd Cove is where we anchor when we have to do a lot of stuff on shore such as water or fuel runs, laundry, shopping, etc.

Dennis called and said he and Bettye were heading over to St Francis Resort for a beer and asked if I wanted to ride along with them. I had not put the dink in the water yet so I rode with them. It's a long run (about a mile) and we were, of course, driving to windward. I was pretty wet by the time we got there.

St. Francis Resort and Marina

Trina, the bartender at St Francis remembered me from last year and as I walked in said, "It's been a long time, Blue Eyes." Nice to be remembered, no?

My favorite bartender at St Francis Resort, Trina

I also met the crews from s/v Kokopelli and s/v Siya Sinana. Dennis and Bettye had met them up-island a few days before.

Lisa, Gary, and Liz at St Francis. Lisa was asking, "What brand of camera is that?".

04 Feb 09

It was a cold night. The wind died down a bit and was only blowing about 10 kts out of the northwest. That made it blow right down the harbor. So Galena was bouncing a bit all night long. It was so cold I even grabbed a second fleece blanket to cover up with.

The morning net was enough to remind be why they call this 'adult day care.' Way too cutesy for me. After the net Michelle (s/v Seabattical 1) called. I said I was heading over to town to make a trash and water run. She invited me over so I stopped by. Had a nice little visit with her and Clark. Then Clark was heading over for the daily organized swimming event so Michelle and I did a trash and (me) water (her) propane run. On the dinghy dock in town I bumped into Dennis and Bettye (s/v Son of a Sailor) and, when Clark came by to pick up Michelle introduced them all.

Michelle and Clark, s/v Seabbatical 1, at Chat 'n Chill, Volleyball Beach

I went back to Galena and found that I was not as short on water as I thought. Galena carries 60-gal of water. I still had about 12-gal left; enough for 6 more days. So with the 15-gal I brought back from town I had just about one full water tank.

My snubber came off my rode about 1500hrs. Suddenly the GPS was showing Galena about 10-ft further back from her anchor position than she had been. I, of course, thought I might be dragging. But after checking things out I figured probably not. But it gave me pause, none the less. I'm in 18-ft of water and have 100-ft of 3/8" chain out. Not quite 5:1 scope. So I put out another 25-ft of chain and replaced the snubber. That should be good. We're getting a lot of wind but not so much in the way of waves. Just a little bouncing around. The forces on the anchor are mostly a steady pull. And now Galena seems to holding her position just fine. The wind is forecast to clock to the NE and stay about 20 kts for the next few days. The more NE it clocks, the more protection I'll have from Stocking Island.

I went to Volleyball Beach at about 1600hrs. There I met Seabattical 1 again. They had moved from Kidd Cove to Volleyball Beach anchorage. We had a couple of beers and then Clark wanted to leave. He was contemplating whether or not they were going to sail to Long Island tomorrow. There were several boats doing a mini-cruise to Long Island and back. But with the wind forecast to be north at 25-kts tomorrow and then ENE 25-kts through the weekend they would probably be stuck there till Monday, earliest. So they have decisions to make. Clark said he would decide after Chris Parkers forecast tomorrow morning.

After they left I went over and introduced my self to a few cruisers on the steps at chat and chill. Johnny and Wendy and their two kids (s/v Osprey) are anchored right next to me. And another couple who have a Westsail on the west coast but are cruising here on their other boat.

I left the beach just after sundown because it was windy and getting quite cold. Now I mean cold as in 'Bahama-cold.' That's 67° and the wind was over 15-kts. That's cold!

Just after I returned to Galena I was visited by Rob and Susan (s/v Mandate). I had met them in Charleston last winter (2007) and they, anchored off my starboard side, had recalled the boat. After looking up my card they stopped by to say 'hi.' Rob and Susan also do the morning Yoga classes on the beach. I've never tried yoga. Rob insisted that I get my butt to the beach and give it a try. I know need to do something to get this old body working right. They meet on the beach at 0930. We'll see.

Spam sandwiches for dinner and a movie to put me to sleep.

05 Feb 09

10 boats left on a race to Long Island this morning. The wind was still NW at 20 kts and that should give them a romping good run. They will have to wait a few days to come back, though. My friends on Seabbatical 1 had signed up for the race but were undecided as late as this morning. The wind, the idea of 'being stuck there,' countered by Clark being tired of George Town all caused indecision right up to the moment the race started. They were second-to-last across the line. I expect them back in a week or so.

I had a full day of "camp for gown-ups" today.

I started with yoga on the beach at 0930 hrs. For about 45 minutes I stretched and pulled and, of course, breathed deeply (why do they always stress that?). Actually I felt better after we were finished. But my big gut kept getting in the way.

In the afternoon I was off to beginner's volleyball clinic. I've always just sat around and watched the fun volleyball games; never played. Today I and about 20 others had actual instruction on how to play. Then we had a few games. Great fun and again, at least I was off my butt and doing something.

Playing volleyball on, of course, Volleyball Beach, Stocking Island, George Town, Exuma, Bahamas

On the way to Volleyball Beach I saw Alan and Patricia on s/v Nauti-Nauti. I had met them last year at Little Harbor, Abaco. Alan came to the beach later to play volleyball and I talked with Patricia at St Francis when I went up there later in evening. So nice to see friends again.

A few beers later I was at St Francis Marina and Resort for the twice-weekly Texas Hold 'em game. $5 for 3-hrs of fun. Had a great time there although I didn't even come close to the final table. I had a bit of trouble finding Galena when I left St Francis. It was very dark with no moon. Galena only had on her amber garden lights and was further from shore than I remembered. And the run from St Francis to Sand Dollar Beach is about a mile. That's a long run in a dinghy, at night, no lights, cold, windy,... whaaaaa!

In bed by 2100 hrs. Another day in paradise. Now if we can only get finished with the cold, windy weather. I didn't come here to wear jackets and hats.

Comments [0] | | More

01/30/2009, Staniel Cay

...Cay, that is. Deep in the Exuma island chain in the central Bahamas.
And now for a very long, and much delayed update...



05 - 18 Jan 09
Marathon, Boot Key, FL


I came back to Marathon from Key West a bit early. Before Ron and Rich left anyway. Mostly because I was spending way too much money way too fast. Partly because I was a little worried about leaving Galena alone for so long. And partly because my old friends, Dennis and Bettye (s/v Son of a Sailor) were now at Marathon and leaving soon. Also because my friend Maria (a friend from the Chesapeake Bay area) said she might stop by for a quick visit.

So back I go. Ron drove me to the bus stop. Florida has a nice set of busses that run up and down the keys. For only $3 I rode from Key West to Marathon. Not bad at all. And there's a bus stop directly in front of the marina. How convenient is that?

I get to the marina and I'm on the dinghy dock. The dinghy dock at Marathon is huge. During the day it's quite full of boats. But at night I've come back to find mine lying there almost alone.

The main dinghy dock at Marathon.
The mooring field was full, so so was the dinghy dock.

As I said, I'm at my dinghy (which appeared unmolested). I'm going through my one bag and my computer case looking for the key to the lock on the dinghy. I don't lock the dinghy usually, but since it would be there at the dock for a week, day and night, I thought it would be prudent to lock it up. But now I couldn't find the key. Just two small bags and I can't find the key. I recalled when I locked the dinghy I looked at the key and thought, "I won't need this for a while; put it in a safe, out of the way place." But I couldn't find it. After about 20 minutes I gave up and called my friend Dennis. I asked if he had a set of bolt cutters. As soon as I hung up the phone I patted down the computer case and felt the bulge of the little foam floaty-thingie attached to the key. It was in a pocket that I didn't even remember existed in the computer case. I called Dennis back and canceled the bolt cutters. I motored back to Galena. she was just fine, and seemed to be happy to see me.

I cleaned her up a bit and went to Brodines for a beer. And then went to Docksides for another. There I bumped into Dennis and Bettye. I also met their friends Ron and Sonja. Ron and Sonja were friends with Nancy and Kirk of s/v Tybee Time, who I knew from my MySpace page. Tybee Time is a boat that Nancy and Kirk were doing significant rebuilding on. They were following my travels. Nancy had told Sonja to look for me 'out there' and here we were, meeting over a beer with mutual friends. How cool is that?

Dennis and Bettye at Dockside Bar, Marathon, FL

My friend, Maria, had some business in Miami and decided to drive down to say,'Hi.' She wanted to relax a bit. Do that whole 'lay on the beach' thing. We then drove down to Key West and partied a bit. She also wanted to go for a sail on Galena. All in two days. I don't think I'd call that relaxing. But that's what she wanted to do.

Me and Maria on the beach at Bahia Honda State Park, Florida Keys

In Key West we hit the usual haunts including Capt Tony's, Hogs Breath, Green Parrot. We ate at El Mason de Pepe, the great Cuban place Ron, Rich, and I found over New Years. By the time I drove her back to her hotel and got myself back to Galena it was about 0300. Long, long day.

And Maria at the Hogs breath Saloon

The day we returned from our sail, we were heading over to Dockside for dinner when the engine on the dinghy quit. We were not far from Galen so I paddled us back. Rather than screw with it right away, I made us a simple dinner aboard and then tore the engine's carburetor apart. I cleaned the carb out and got the outboard running. I was able to get Maria back to her car before too late that evening.

Maria left on the 11th after a sharing nice lunch at Dockside.

The outboard motor on the dinghy has given me more trouble than any single piece of equipment onboard Galena. Now I was determined to find the problems. One is that there is always crap in the gas. I'll find water in the fuel tank; the one that I leave lying in the dinghy. Or I'll find water in the float bowl of the carburetor on the outboard. Both of those are easily fixed. In one case I strain the fuel through a Baha filter to filter out the water. In the other I just open the drain on the float bowl and drain out the water. I keep a screwdriver inside the engine housing just for this problem.

But sometimes there's a lot of crud in the carburetor (that's a technical term, you know?). I've found the primary jet clogged with tan-colored deposits. I've found jelly-like crud in the bottom of the float bowl. This time was different. The problem was that the float valve wouldn't close. After the engine ran for a minute or so fuel would start pouring out of the carburetor. The fuel flow from the pump was not being closed off. So I took the thing completely apart. The disassembly that I had not done before was the driving out of the pivot pin for the floats, followed by the removal of the lift valve. Yep, more crud in there.

The outboard carburetor apart, upside down, on the nav station / workbench

I hooked up the fuel line to the carburetor housing's fuel inlet bib. I found that when I squeezed the priming bulb on the fuel line fuel would only sometimes squirt out of the float valve hole in the carb. Sometimes it would not. So I concluded there must be crud in the fuel galley passages that were cut in the casting between the fuel line bib and the float valve. Maybe I could just 'blow it out.' I took a mouthful of water and blew it into the fuel line bib. Same effect: sometimes it would stream through, sometimes not.

Me blowing water through the carburetor fuel passages

There was obviously some blockage in there. The question was how do I get it out? It was too small to go through the float valve hole; since it didn't. Whatever is in there would have to come back out through the fuel line bib end of the galley. The only thing I could think of was to push water in, then pull it back out. With a bit of hesitancy I blew some water in, and then... sucked it back out. Yuck! I spit it into a glass. Sure enough, there was some stuff in the water that was not from me. And I could feel some grit in my mouth, too. Again, yuck! So a few cycles of blow and suck with mouths full of water and the line was clear.

I reassembled it all and have not had any problems since. I assume I'll still have problems with water in the tank. But like I said, that is easy to resolve. I really want to put in a water separator between the fuel tank and the engine. I've seen a filter assembly at NAPA that will work. I just have not gotten around to it yet.

It's always something on a boat.

On 13 January forecasts showed a weather window was opening up for the following Sunday. Windfinder.com and Chris Parker and even NOAA were forecasting west winds at 15-kts. Not too bad for a run northwest onto the banks then southwest to Nassau. The problem is that the forecasts all called for high winds and seas from the North by Tuesday night. That made for a very narrow window to cross that much water. If the cold front with the nigh winds behind it moved faster than projected one would be caught out in the Gulf Stream with high north winds. I've been there and done that and I really, really, don't want to do that again. The narrow window was keeping many cruisers in port. I think I can take the high winds since they will be mostly northwest and therefore behind me. I know Galena can take it. And I plan to be on the banks before they start up. Shouldn't be much more than 3-ft seas on the banks since it's only 12-ft deep.

But that forecast window is a week away. Everything can change by then, and it usually does. So I won't get my hopes of leaving here up to high just yet.

I dinghied over to say hello to my neighbors Josh and his wife aboard m/v Ophelia. They are from Montreal and we had a very long and pleasant visit.

I made three water runs in the dink (the engine is running just fine today) and filled Galena's water tanks. I took a brisk walk to K-Mart and the Home Depot. I bought a new backpack and a big Rubbermaid tub to use as a wash basin. I have not done laundry since... Charleston, I thnk. It's stacking up and I'm running out of shorts.

I went over to my other neighbor in the Marathon mooring field, s/v Moonraker with Kevin and Roxanne aboard. The visit started off fine and then I made some stupid comment and pissed off Roxanne. She went below and Kevin and I stayed in the cockpit and talked of all things boating. Then we went below and had a bit to eat while Roxanne went on deck. Apologies on apologies but she was still pissed. They are planning to run around the Gulf Coast for the winter. Maybe next year they will head east to the Bahamas.

I bumped into Kevin on shore a couple days later and again offered my apologies to Roxanne. He said don't worry about it. But I was. I liked them and felt bad about misjudging how they would take some of my 'humor.' Roxanne sent me an e-mail a few days later and said apology accepted. She also made some nice comments about my web page. So I feel better now.

On the 14th I listened to Chris Parker's weather forecast (4045mHz @ 0630hrs) for the first time this season. His broadcast didn't come in clearly until about 0650hrs. By that time he was doing the individual weather routing for 'sponsoring vessels.' Fortunately, as is usually the case, one of the boats in Marathon was a sponsoring vessel and asked about crossing the Gulf Stream on Sunday. Chris said it was a great window, but that they should only go as far as Bimini and wait there for the high northerly winds to pass.

As the week progressed he modified that to say it was just a 'good' window if you like a good, brisk sail. If you like things quieter, wait for the next window. No next window was foreseeable, however.

I did laundry in my new wash tub. Since I had fresh water available I used it. It took only a couple of hours to stomp my way through 14 T-shirts, 3 Hawaiian shirts, and 7 pairs of shorts. Just like I had seen the hooch-maids in Thailand doing laundry, I was standing in the cockpit, stomping on clothes in a plastic wash tub. Easy work, just time consuming. Everything took turns hanging on the lifelines giving Galena that lived-in look. Now I have enough clean clothes for the next month or so.

On the 15th a 'final' grocery run. I've always had trouble getting a loaf of bread home without crushing it. Last time, When I bought the wash tub, I almost made it. I even had the bread on board in the cockpit uncrushed. I was proud! Then I looked and saw that I had laid a clamp on the bag with the bread. Yep, crushed it. Damn!

But this time I actually got a loaf of bread down below and put away in perfect shape. For the first time all winter! These little victories bring a lot of joy to my life. See, if I weren't so inept I'd not have these moments of joy as I overcome my limitations!

I've just noticed that the new flatware I had purchased at the Navy exchange in Annapolis is starting to show rust spots. So much for inexpensive stainless steel. A little polishing cleans the rust spots off but I shouldn't have to do this.

I also found that the less expensive peanut butter (Publix brand in this case) doesn't stay mixed-up well. Within a couple of days the oil is floating on top while the bottom gunk has turned to a dry spackle-like substance. Also the peanut chunks migrate to the top. I had not seen that in the brand name products like Jiffy. Again, no big deal (I just spend a few minutes mixing the stuff up. But it's one more little thing that I wouldn't have expected

Also on the 15th I saw the Sunday weather window for crossing the Gulf Stream collapsing. The northwest winds, which were to follow the window on Tuesday were now forecast for Monday. So I'd only have a single day before the sailing would become... shall we say: interesting. And those winds on Monday were projected to be even stronger than before. But still, I thought, Galena is not a small craft; she's an ocean-going cruiser. And if I can't handle 20+ knots abaft the beam I shouldn't be out here calling myself a cruiser. Right? Damn Right! I still planned to leave Sunday afternoon as soon as the wind clocked around to the south.

On the morning of Sunday, the 18th of January the wind was light but still out of the SE. I messed around all morning worrying about the wind. Wondering if I should go or stay. Thinking that I really, really didn't want to stay in Marathon another week. And knowing if I didn't take this opportunity to go, I'd be here at least another week. The indecision made my stomach hurt.

By noon on Sunday the winds were begining to clock around to the south at about 10kts. I decided to go for it. It takes about an hour to get Galena ready for sea. Everything from removing sail covers to rigging jacklines; attaching the auto pilots to stowage of equipment below. The dinghy outboard has to be raised and secured on it's chocks at Galena's stern and the dinghy itself has to be secured on deck.

I departed Marathon, finally, at 1515hrs on Sunday the 18th of January after 26 days on a mooring ball. In departing I have to say I don't see what all the rage is about the place. Sure, it's inexpensive; for the Florida Keys. But there is nothing there. Unless you have a car you're stuck in what is essentially a trailer court. I just don't see the attraction. So I was happy to leave and be on my way. As I said before, I don't really feel like I'm cruising until I leave the States. And today, I will do just that.

18 - 20 Jan 09
Marathon, FL to Nassau, Bahamas


I don't have any pictures of this little jaunt. Sorry. Everything of interest happened at night. And while I did try to take a couple of shots, nothing came out.

The synopsis of the trip is pretty simple. I had to motor most of the way across the Gulf Stream since the wind was very light. But the seas were pretty calm, too. Until just before I got to the Bahama Banks, that is. Then everything started picking up. The seas were 6 to 8 feet and the wind was on my port quarter, but still too light to just sail. I'm not sure where those seas were coming from.

Once on the banks I secured the engine and sailed all day and all night. The Tongue of the Ocean (the last section of the trip before Nassau) was rough as expected with seas over 6-ft. The promised winds from the northwest finally filled in late on 19 Jan and carried me rapidly into Nassau. With just a double-reefed main Galena was galloping along making over 6-kts.

If you don't care about the details skip down a bit.

Galena's track from Marathon, FL, to Nassau, Bahamas.
240 miles in 40 hrs

18 Jan 09 1515 hrs
The wind was SW at 10 as I motored out of the Marathon/Boot Key area. Of course I'm trying to go to the Southwest so I'm pounding into a 2-ft chop all the way to the outside of the reef which was about 7 miles. Once I'm outside the reef I turned to the east and had more favorable winds and seas. Still, I couldn't really sail since I was pointed too close to the wind (starboard tack). And the wind chop was up to 3-ft out here.

18 Jan 09 1700 hrs
My heading was 090°, wind 150° @ 13-kts, Speed Over Ground 6.0-kts
I was feeling just a little sea sick. First time in a long time. Not nauseous just the lathargic, tired, "I-don't-want-to-do-anything" feeling that is usually the first signs of seasickness. It will probably go away soon.

18 Jan 09 1730 hrs
Wind was decreasing so I shook the reef out of the main. Now running with all up: Full Main, Staysail, Yankee Jib. I had a nice hot bowl of chilli for dinner.

18 Jan 09 1745 hrs
Wind has significantly decreased. Now down to 3.5-kts (apparent) from 150°. SOG less than 3-kts. So Engine On again.

18 Jan 09 1813 hrs
Wind picks up a bit so engine off.
I see rain clouds to the south of me and it's getting dark. A cautious sailor would reduced sail while there is still some light to see what he was doing. I drop the jib as I see what looks like serious wind on the water to my starboard side.

18 Jan 09 19100 hrs
I'm going too slow. Up with the jib and to hell with caution!
It's starting to get a bit warmer outside. It's up to 71° now. SOG: 5.5-kts HDG: 070°.

18 Jan 09 2200 hrs
Wind is down to less than 5-kts and SOG is less than 3. So engine back on. That brings my speed up to 7.0 kts.
I'm seeing a lot of cruise ship traffic. Nothing I have to change course for, but it's all around me. And I'm already tired and sleepy. But the touch of seasickness has left me. So that's a good thing.

19 Jan 09 0700 hrs
Winds were SW at 10-kts. 4-6 ft seas. Very 'lumpy' conditions. I'm still motorsailing and plan on turning more to the north once I cross onto the Banks below South Riding Rock.

19 Jan 09 0950 hrs
On the Great Bahama Bank. I've turned a bit north (left) of my course toward Russell light to get better speed. The seas went from 6-ft in the ocean, to 2-ft on the banks. Big difference. The engine is off and I'm having a nice, sunny, warm, quiet sail.

Harvey (my Aries Wind Vane) is sometimes a pain the ass to get properly adjusted. First you have to get his wind paddle properly oriented into the wind. Then you have to find the proper notch on the chain into which to slip the tiller hook. That's a function of weather helm. And you have to have the ship as balanced as possible before you do all this. Then you watch for a while and see what he does. A wind vane auto stearing system doesn't follow a course; it follows the wind. Every little gust or swirl will cause a change of course by a few degrees. Sometimes by a lot of degrees. So you get everything set 'right' and watch for a while. If the ship is suddenly 20° off course, you may have to adjust some things. I usually adjust too many things at once and then I'll be 20° off course on the other side! Eventually I can get everything just right. Then Harvey will guide Galena along without any input from me.


19 Jan 09 1415 hrs
Wind is diminishing. It was supposed to hit 30-kts about now and instead it's 4-kts (apparent). The temperature has stayed 71° since I hit the Gulf Stream last night. The skis are clear and the sun is warm.

19 Jan 09 1500 hrs
Wind is now 4-6 kts (ap) at 240°. Seas are 1 to 2 feet with just a few white caps. SOG: 4.4 kts with just a slight rolling motion.
I spent the better part of a week worrying about this crossing and so far it's been very mild.

19 Jan 09 1530 hrs
The sun is hiding behind some high clouds so it's time to get dressed. At least I got a little bit of sun on my butt. T-shirt and shorts is all I need right now.

This will be night #2. A first for me single-handing. I've never stayed out on a leg alone for more than one night. But I've had some naps and will take some more tonight. I should be fine.

19 Jan 09 1700 hrs
I've been sailing without incident or comment for eight hours now. Nice and relaxing. I've been napping and eating and reading. Just a very nice day on the banks. I've also been trying to decide where I'm headed. My plan was to turn south at Northwest Channel Light and make for Morgan's Bluff on north Andros Island. But the wind has stayed out of the south all day and is supposed to build overnight. That would make heading south difficult. Also, I'd arrive in the dead of night at a port I've never been to. And there would be no place to hide and wait for daylight.

In light of the timing and the winds I've decided to go directly to Nassau. If I slow down a bit I will make Nassau just after dawn. "Slow Down" is a funny problem on a Westsail. We're known for sort of automatically slowing down on our own.

I've just had a spot of heavy rain followed by wind... lots of it! For the first time in a long time I'm out on a pitching deck dropping the staysail and tucking a reef into the main while Galena dances under way too much sail. Loads of fun!

I've moved the GPS/Radar instruments below to the nav station. I've run control lines from the Aries wind vane into the cabin. I can stay below now and just poke my head up for visual checks every 15-minutes or so.

19 Jan 09 1745 hrs
Wind is 240° at 15-20 kts with SOG 6-kts. Galena is moving well under just a double-reefed main.

19 Jan 09 1820 hrs
It's getting dark and the wind is down just a bit. Fewer white caps out there and waves are about 3-ft. SOG: 5.5 to 6.0 kts. I'm approaching Northwest Channel Light. Radar shows the light and a couple of cargo vessels coming through the channel. I've been through here several times, but never before at night. A few years ago I talked with a cruiser who was hit by a 'mail boat' right here. He had some excuse about the lights on the boat not being right. But none the less, he and it collided. So I'm being very careful.

Galena is really rocking and rolling in the wind and waves. And I'm still on the Banks! I fear it will be much worse once through the NW Channel and out into the Tongue of the Ocean. The water depth goes from 14-ft on the Banks to several thousand feet in just a mile or so. Should be interesting.

19 Jan 09 1840 hrs
Rain again. Hard rain. Harvey is steering us just fine. I'm sitting below in the cabin, drinking coffee, watching screens of what's happening outside. This is just wrong but very comfy. Every few minutes I stick my head out and, nope nothing there but wind and rain.

19 Jan 09 1900 hrs
Band after band of heavy rain pass over me. waves are over 4-ft. Every now and then one does that hard "Slap!" against Galena's bow. Causes the whole boat to shake!.

19 Jan 09 2100 hrs
Passing NorthWest Channel Light. A freighter calls me and asks me to stand well clear. Duh! I see him and will stay a half mile away. We'll both be passing the light at the same time and the deep water channel there is not all that wide. Then he calls back and tells me that he will be turning to 240° after passing the light. I tell him I'll stay well north of the light and pass him starboard-to-starboard to give him room to turn south. He agrees. We pass and he looks very very close. Radar indicates that he is about half a mile away. But he sure looks close.

20 Jan 09 0100 hrs
Waves are well over 6-ft and the wind is WSW at 15-20kts. Quite a ride under only a double-reefed main. The wind is actually down a bit. But every few minutes you get that set of 3 waves that simply rock my little world and send everything crashing about; including me. I must be one big bruise by now.

20 Jan 09 0300 hrs
Wind is decreasing but I'm still making 5+ kts. My ETA is well before dawn. I might go in in the dark, but I'd rather do it in the daylight.

20 Jan 09 0600 hrs
I'm heading into Nassau harbor just as dawn is breaking. It's too early to get into a marina so I just motor over to the anchorage at the east end of the harbor and drop the hook.

The long voyage is over and I'm safe in harbor in Nassau, Bahamas. I'm very tired but otherwise just very happy to be here. I have to remember to put things away a little better before I do a trip like this again. Down below there's stuff tossed all over the place. My nav station had way too much stuff laying on it when I started. Charts, pencils, rules, guides, things like that. Now that's all on the cabin floor.

But overall a very nice passage. Now I need sleep.


18 - 20 Jan 09
Nassau Harbor Club Marina, Nassau, Bahamas
(N 25° 04.482' W 077° 18.750')
Trip: 240nm, Total: 1464, Engine: 2096


Every time I've come to Nassau I've stayed for a least a little while at Nassau Yacht Haven Marina. The customs people require you to be at a marina to do the paperwork. I guess this is so they can board the boat if they want to. But they never have.

Anyway, last year there was no room at any marina so I just anchored out in the channel for the night. The next day I went into the marina and did the clearing-in thing. But the customs agent got all huffy with me saying I was breaking their laws by not clearing in on the day I arrived at Nassau. Really gave me grief for anchoring out the previous night even though I didn't leave the boat.

This year I was about to do the same thing (although I was planning on lying about my arrival date just to not get yelled at). As I was anchoring in the area in front of Nassau Harbor Club Marina I hear someone shout, "Hey Bill!" I look and there, in that marina is Dennis and Bettye aboard s/v Son of a Sailor. In case you're not following my whole life's journal, I'd met them in 2004 on my first trip to the Bahamas and then bumped into them at least once a year since. I had had lunch with them at Marathon a few days ago before they went across to cruise the Berry's, north of Nassau. And here they were again.

I dinghied over to Nassau Harbor Club marina since they wouldn't answer the radio (who knew they monitored Ch 12?). Yes, they have room for Galena. And it's only $0.75/ft/day plus $10 water plus metered electricity. That's a bit less than Nassau Yacht Haven (last year they charged me $2/ft/day). So I dinghied back to Galena, raise anchor and motored into the marina. Clark and his buddy helped me come in without incident. Within a half hour immigrations was there to clear in a couple of us cruisers and an hour later the customs agent showed up to do all the paperwork. So many forms! So many places where they have to stamp their little stamps. Fee was the same as usual, $150 for Galena for a 120-day cruising permit. It's $300 if your boat is over 35-ft long. The immigration guy was in a good mood and gave me a 120-day visa, too. So I'm all set.

My slip-mate was a Canadian boat named Brandaris with Walter and Brenda. They were waiting for friends and then would be running down to George Town, Exuma, like everyone else.

This marina is directly across the street from the main market. I went to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee. It was rush hour. The main drag is right outside the door to the marina office.

Rush Hour traffic just east of downtown

That evening I was over at Son of A Sailor for drinks. I met Bill and Millie of s/v Against the Wind. He's a retired lawyer, something Dennis and I give him grief over constantly.

The next day (21 Jan) was spent messing around with Galena. I took a walk down the street looking for cruising guides for points south of George Town. I could/should get a new chart book for the far Bahamas. Maybe I'll do that in George Town. The one I have is many years old. And I need charts for anywhere I go south of the Bahamas. Maybe I'll just bit the bullet and order a set of charts from Bellingham Printing. They sell black-and-white prints of standard charts at considerable savings. Still, I checked the cost of all the charts I'd need to get to Australia and it would be over $500. I'll have to be sure of my plans before I spend that much money.

My fuel status was: 24/33/20 (Stbd/Port/Deck) for a total of 77-gallons. I had used 10 gallons motoring across the Gulf Stream. I put 10-gallons of the deck jugs into the starboard tank and bought 10 gal from the marina at $3.18/gal. Now Galena is just about topped-off with 87-gal. That should last quite a while. I need to do an oil change soon, too.

On the evening of the 21st we all went down town. "All" means Bettye, Bill, Millie, and me. Dennis stayed home.
We walked through the shopping center to Shirley Street and waited for a bus. Bill kept asking, 'Are you sure this is a bus stop?' I pointed out the other people standing around.

Shirley Street is more the 'norm' for Nassau neighborhoods

We took the bus to downtown. That's where the cruise ships land and the thousands of tourists disembark. They walk around the several blocks in that area and think they've seen Nassau. Well, yes, they have. But the certainly have not seen New Providence island. Nassau is just the capital city. There's a lot more to the island than the few blocks around the cruise ship port.

We walked around a bit. Bettye had never seen this part of Nassau. She and Dennis had only stayed down near the yacht marinas. Again, only seeing one small part of the island. A few years ago the guard at Nassau Yacht Haven gave me a tour of the island. We went to the Bat Cave, to the south shore, to just about everywhere. Bettye and Dennis and probably most other visitors have not seen any of that.

The ladies went to the straw market while Bill and I went to Senior Frog's.

The straw market is under the plastic on the left, Senior Frog's is straight ahead.

We were shocked when we found that a beer was $6.50! Talk about taking advantage of tourists!

Me, Bettye, Bill, and Millie at Senior Frog's, Nassau.

When the ladies were finished shopping we headed over to a small bar on a back street named The Bahamian Kitchen. We drank and ate and have a very nice time. Then we caught a cab back to the marina. And went to Son of a Sailor to finish off the evening.

22 Jan 09
Norman's Cay, Bahamas
West shore (N 24° 36.157' W 076° 49.228')
Trip: 43nm, Total: 1507nm, Eng:2103hrs


Departed Nassau Harbor Club Marina at about 0730. Dennis helped me cast off. The current was on my stern as I backed out of the slip. But I forgot about it and didn't back up enough before going forward and trying to turn to starboard and out toward the harbor. As a result I very nearly got pinned against the boats in the slips to my right. I hit forward thrust and saw the bow start to come around. Then I noticed that I was heading back into the slip instead of around to starboard. That's when I saw the problem and just about panicked. I tried the pivot-turn routine but the current was sending me back toward my slip too fast. I gave her full throttle and full starboard rudder. I missed the sterns of the boats in the slips by about 6 ft. Way too close. But I made it.

As I headed out into the harbor I raised all sails. But there was just about zero apparent wind. I ended up motor sailing almost all the way to Norman's Cay. Just the last couple of hours turned out to be a good sail. s/v Son of a Sailor almost caught up with me but not quite. Dennis suggested we anchor on the west side of the island. A place I've never tried. There's no current and less wind there. Much better than inside of the cut where I've always anchored (and some times run aground) before. As it turned out the west side was a very good place to anchor.

Galena's track from Nassau to Norman's Cay. About 43 nm.

Dinner on Son of a Sailor then home for a quiet evening alone.

The next day I went to MacDuff's (which is now called Norman's Cay Beach Club) with Bill and Millie (s/v Against the Wind). Again, $6 beers. What's with this? I wonder what the price will be at Chat n Chill in George Town. Two years ago the price there was $3. Last year it was $3.50. This year??? So a burger and a few beers cost me $40. I can't do this but every couple of days and stay on budget!

We walked around and climbed the hill to the old house up there. This was supposedly Carlos Lehder's place. But it seems way too small for a drug lord's lair.

For those who don't know the story of Norman's Cay and it's part in the drug trade of the late 1970's here's an extract from a previous blog:

Norman's island is famous (infamous?) for having once been the home of Carlos Lehder, co-founder of the Mendellin drug cartel. Lehder lived on the island in the late 70's and used the island's airstrip to run cocaine shipments between Columbia and the States. This brief history is taken from Bahama Pundit:

The facts are that from 1978 to 1982 Lehder operated one of the world's biggest cocaine rings from Norman's Cay in the Exumas. One of Lehder's associates, interviewed in the 1990s on the PBS news magazine Frontline, put it this way:

"He operated on the island from the beginning because he had the blessing of the Bahamian government. They were funneling tons of money...The Bahamian government gave Carlos a promise. We will advise you. You will get a wink from us, a signal, when things are getting too hot and you need to move out of there."

Well, things did eventually get hot - for the Bahamian government as much as for Lehder. And those activities forever tarnished the reputation of Sir Lynden Pindling, severely damaged our national psyche and almost brought down the entire government in disgrace.

Heavy pressure from the US led to the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry in November 1983. And the following year its 500-page report published the unpleasant details of widespread official corruption and described the enormous social problems the drug trade had spawned.

The son of a German father and a Colombian mother, Lehder started out as a small-time car thief and pot dealer. But his notoriety as one of the founders of the Mendellin Cartel, and his eventual megalomania, made him a legendary and feared figure much like Blackbeard - an earlier international rogue who once had free rein in the Bahamas.

At the time of his arrest in 1987 Lehder, then 37, was reported to be worth more than $2 billion. Throughout the early 1980s his airstrip at Norman's Cay was receiving cocaine flights from Colombia on a daily if not hourly basis, transferring the loads to smaller planes for distribution throughout the US.

To begin with he bought as much property on the island as he could and then chased off the remaining residents. Armed guards patrolled day and night and former Member of Parliament Norman Solomon was once threatened at gunpoint on the beach.

Lehder's social activities were also legendary: "Orgies," his one-time associate told Frontline. "Five males, 10 females and everybody runs naked and everybody switch partners and everybody drinks and smokes marijuana, and alcohol, and three days of Sodom and Gomorrah."

And he was also a Nazi, dressing in military fatigues and comparing himself to Hitler. According to Tamara Inscoe-Johnson, who has written a book on Lehder: "He spent untold hours plotting a political career, aiming at the Colombian presidency. As his goals expanded, so did his fascination with Nazism; after all, Hitler’s goal was to take over the world, and it was the same with Lehder."

Before Lehder, Norman's Cay was a popular anchorage for visiting yachts. It was developed in the early 1970s as a small residential community with a clubhouse and marina. But in 1978 a Bahamian company called International Dutch Resources began buying up land there. IDR was set up for Lehder by a regular trust company in Nassau, which conveniently managed his working capital.

According to the New York Times, Lehder was responsible for 80 per cent of the Colombian cocaine reaching the United States, mostly through the Bahamas. And the interest in his current whereabouts is ironic in view of the recent renaming of Nassau international Airport after Sir Lynden Pindling, "the father of the nation".

Lehder's Bahamian empire collapsed in mid-1983, when NBC television broke the news that Bahamian officials were on the payroll of Colombian drug lords. At first the story generated howls of protest (and some lawsuits) from top Bahamian officials, including the prime minister.

But soon afterwards, they began singing a different tune. In 1985, after the Commission report was published, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Hanna called on Sir Lynden to resign and opposition Free National Movement leader Kendal Isaacs condemned the 'nation for sale' scandal as the worst in modern Bahamian history.

Again, a quiet night on Galena and in bed by 2000hrs.


24-26 Jan 09, Saturday-Monday
Hawksbill Cay, Bahamas
(N 24° 27.971' W 076° 46.196')
Trip: 13nm, Total: 1519nm, Eng 2103hrs.

Up at 0630 to listen to the weather reports. Everyone agrees that the winds will be NE clocking to East and then SE by the end of the week. Wind speeds will be 10-15 with a bit more by Friday. The temperature has been quite cool and we're all looking forward to the winds clocking around to the south. That should bring an end to this cold weather and get us back to T-shirts and shorts. Now, by cold I'm talking low-60's. It's supposed to be in the mid-80's here now. How and I supposed to work on my tan with this kind of weather?

Still, it's warm enough and sunny enough to sail the way I like
.

Me on the early morning sail between Normans and Hawksbill Cay, Bahamas, and working on my tan

I sailed off the hook at Normans without a problem. I love doing that! Just showing off, of course. Most cruisers can't do it; or don't feel a need to try. I like to move from island to island without the use of the engine at all. I usually shorten-up the anchor rode and then raise the mainsail with the main sheet free. Then I'm back at the windlass to break the anchor free and bring it up. Then, if I have time as Galena starts to swing away in the wind, I'll haul up the stays'l. At that point I stroll back to the cockpit and just sail away. Very cool. And quiet. And I usually get some thumbs-up from other sailors. Of course, if things somehow start to go wrong, those same sailors start putting out fenders and cursing me!

I sailed all the way to Hawksbill and into the anchorage without starting the engine. Just enough wind from just the right direction. That doesn't happen often so I was really enjoying it. Once I turned east after passing the rocks just off the west side of Hawksbill Cay I was pinching pretty tightly on a port tack. That was OK since I was approaching the anchorage. I have a habit of dropping the staysail way too soon. And I did it again today. I'm heading into the anchorage at 3-kts or so and that starts to feel fast to me as I get near other boats. I drop the staysail and my speed drops to 1.5 kts. Just barely steerage speed. A few minutes of that and I start to think about putting the staysail back up. I headed up and dropped the hook. There were three other sailboats here but no one was aboard to see my wonderful display of sailing prowess.

Since this is part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park they have installed mooring balls along the beach here. That means if you don't want to pay the fee for a mooring (I think it was $15 last year) they you have to anchor a hundre yards further from the beach than before. Not a real problem.

Galena at anchor outside of the mooring balls and my trusty dink on the beach
Hawksbill Cay, Bahamas

s/v Son of a Sailor arrived about noon from Shoud Cay where they had been the previous night. They were followed shortly by s/v Against the Wind. I invited them all over for drinks. Galena is rather small and getting four other people into her cockpit is a tight fit. I need more seat cushions, too.

Sundowners on Galena with Bettye, Millie, Dennis, Bill
Anchored off Hawksbill Cay, Bahamas

Then we all went below to play some dominos. Bettye and Dennis had never played and Bill and Millie had not played in a long time. Mexican Train is the game of cruisers. In a short time we were all pros. Five people down below is a crowd. Before everyone sat down, they were trying to mill about and tour Galena's 125 square foot interior. Actually kind of funny. But once everyone was seated it was fine. We talked and played and had a nice evening.

Bill, Millie, Bettye, and Dennis playing dominos on Galena
Hawksbill Cay, Bahamas

Again, I was in bed by 2000 hrs. Days in the sun really tack it out of me.
I plan on staying here for a couple of days and doing some snorkeling at the rocks. This is part of the Exuma Park system and there's no taking of anything here; not even shells from the beach. But you can look all you want. I also plan on laying on the beach and reading and working on that tan. I just need some sunny weather.

s/v Son of a Sailor and, behind her, s/v Against the Wind anchored next to Galena at Hawksbill Cay, Bahamas

The weather forecasts on the 26th indicated no change until next Friday which will bring a cold front with clocking and increasing winds. That might be a good day to make a run to George Town. I'll head down to Staniel Cay today or tomorrow (Tuesday?). A day or two there and then to Farmers Cay or Galliot Cut (Thursday?) and then on to George Town (Friday?).

27 Jan 09, Tuesday
Staniel Cay, Bahamas
(Actually NW of Big Major Spot: N 24° 11.359' W 076° 27.497')
Trip: 40.7nm, Total: 1560nm, Eng: 2103 hrs


I decided to come up to Staniel cay yesterday. Mostly for the WiFi that's available here, and partly for the cold beer. And because I can snuggle up close to the northwest end of this island (Big Major) and be protected by Fowl Cay from the coming northwest wind that's expected to be around 25kts as the cold front comes through here on Saturday morning.

The trip up here was terrible by most standards. 3-4 ft waves and 18kt winds. Just about on the nose. You can see from the track below that I had to do that annoying saw-tooth tacking. The kind where one tack takes you backwards instead of forwards. I hate that!

But I again managed to sail off the anchor at Hawksbill Cay and almost all the way to the anchor here. But I dropped sails and started the engine for the last few hundred yards into the anchorage. There were just too many boats around for me to sail in. I'm good; but I'm not stupid.

Several times I thought I could just start the engine and motor sail directly to Staniel. I was passed by several sailboats doing just that. And I thought ill of them for not toughing it out like me. Or for not being as silly as I.
Cay, that is. Deep in the Bahamas' Exuma chain.
Now for a very large update....

Galena pounding to Windward enroute to Staniel Cay

With Galena pounding her bow into the waves all day long, whatever deck leaks I have on the starboard side really opened up and there was considerable water dripping into the pilot berth area. I'll have to dry that side of the cabin out when I settle down here.

The Thunderball Club is open again. This will be the first time that's it's been open when I was here. For the youngsters out there, there was a James Bond movie named Thunderball. Filmed in the late '60's. And much of it was filmed right here at Staniel Cay. Anyway, the main bar/restaurant has been closed for many years. Now it's under new management and I'll be having dinner there tonight. I will probably stay here for Superbowl Sunday and spend it at the Thunderball Club, too.

Then it will be on to Black Point and Farmer's Cay. Friday a week from now is the First Friday of February. As such, there will be the annual First Friday in February Farmer's Cay Festival. I've never been in the area for that, either. But I'm here this year so I'll hang around for it. Then on to Georgetown.

Comments [0] | | More

01/05/2009, Marathon, FL

24 - 29 Dec 08
Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, FL
Total: 1212 nm, Engine: 2076 hrs

I'm on a mooring ("U3") in Boot Key Harbor. Galena will be here for about 3-weeks while I visit with friends and party in Key West.

This morning I awoke to the same wind and weather that I saw when I went to sleep last night. The wind was still out of the east at about 20-kts with quickly passing light showers. I had anchored outside of the harbor because the weather forecast predicted diminishing winds for today.

Nav chart of Marathon

Picking up a mooring when your single-handing a sailboat is sometimes a bit tricky. It's even more so when the mooring field is tightly packed and the wind is trying hard to drive you into neighboring vessels.

Google Earth view of Boot Key Harbor

I prattled about for an hour or so getting Galena and myself ready to go into the harbor. I cleared away the side decks as much as possible. I laid out mooring lines at both bows and on both sides of the stern. The lines each had one end through the haws pipes and secured to a cleat. Each other end was laid over the lifelines and positioned to allow me to easily grab it. I placed boat hooks on the deck at each bow.

About 1000hrs I weighed anchor and heading into the harbor. The channel carried 8-ft all the way in. The bridge tender is very helpful and vocal. He likes to have long conversations with boaters which is very unusual in my experience. I called for an opening (the bridge is 'On Request' 0700-1900). He asked, "Is this your first time entering the harbor?" I guess he could tell by... something. Through the bridge and on into the mooring field. I called the City Marina and asked for a mooring assignment. They gave me "U3" and gave good instructions on how to find it.

I went to the ball and turned into the wind. I was going dead slow and the wind was still blowing 15-20kts. The ball disappeared beneith the starboard bow. I waited until I thought it would be along side and put the engine into neutral, locked the tiller and went forward, picking up the boat hook. I looked over the side in time to see the mooring ball drifing away as Galena's bow was blow to port and back.

Quickly back to the cockpit to give her a goose and a lot of starboard rudder. Again to the bow and the ball was within reach. I grabbed the painter and got my hands on it as Galena's bow again blew to port and astern. But I had the painter in my hand. So I held on and tried to stop Galena's motion. Eventually I was able to get her stopped and to get her starboard line through the mooring painter and back to a cleat.

Whew! She was secured. At that point I could relax. She wasn't secured to the mooring in the manner I would prefer (she was hanging off the starboard bow). But she was secure and that was the objective of the exercise. I cleared the deck of extra pre-positioned lines and gear. Then I secured a large snatch block to the ring band at the tip of the bowsprit. Then I ran a line from the bow Sampson posts to the tip of the bowsprit and through the snatch block. from there through the thimble of the mooring pendant and back along the same route. I left the original line slack and up to the starboard hawspipe as a backup.

Then the usual routine of putting on the sail covers and launching the dinghy. A quick trip to the marina office to pay my fees and get some information about the town. The lady at the office gave me a bunch of forms to fill out and wanted to see my registration for Galena and for my dinghy, too. She had to see my ID and take down my drivers license number. As I was filling out the form she noticed that I had skipped the section where one has to designate where the pump-out fitting is. The fees include twice a week pumpouts and they will do it even if you're not there. I've become a bit tired of explaining my composting head and I figured this might be a sticking point with these guys. So I just told her I didn't need any pumpout service. She stood there looking at me... waiting for more info. I said I had a composting head. She smiled and said, "Wonderful! We love those! Just write 'composting' right there." Cool.

I wanted to rent the mooring for about 3-weeks. The lady explained that a month is cheaper than three weeks ($280 vs $300). So I got the mooring for a month.

On the way back to Galena I noticed that I was moored near s/v Last Dance. Mike dinghied over and invited me over for drinks later in the day. There I met a few other cruisers. Notably Jay and Barb of s/v Walkabout. As we were sitting around chatting, Jay suddenly looked at me and asked, "Which boat did you say you were on?" "That little green one back there," I answered. Jay jumped up and, coming over to me to shake my hand (again) said, "You're my fucking hero!" To his Barb he says, This is the guy on that green boat that we watched pick up the mooring alone."

It seems he had seen me coming into the mooring field. He saw I was alone and about to try to moore the boat. So, having seen several others make a circus of this event in the past, because of the high winds, he called Barb on deck. But, I picked up the mooring without a glitch (from his vantage point) and was very impressed. It's nice to know that sometimes when things go right, someone is actually watching. Usually it's those times when everything goes horribly wrong that people are watching and taking pictures.

Jay and Barb on s/v Walkabout

jay was so impressed with me that he and Barb invited me over to Walkabout for Christmas dinner. Which, by the was was fantastic! There I met Eric and Sandy, a couple of friends of Jay's. We had a great dinner and then played dominoes for a while before calling it a night.

Brian, Sandy, Jay and Barb on s/v Walkabout

On the 26th I finally went to town and walked around a bit. Man is this place in the middle of nowhere! To the north about a mile is a Publix and a Home Depot. To the south about a mile is a West Marine. That's about it.

The marina has just finished building a new bath house but it's not open yet. Some problem with the city sewer permits or something. So 200 boats share two showers and 3 clothes washers. big lines all day long.

I discovered Dockside bar. Just a dinghy-ride away; well a rather long dinghy ride. Nice bar, beers are $1.50 during happy hour and $2 otherwise. Food is not cheap and not really that good. But it's the local bar.

Dockside Bar and Restaurant

29 Dec 08 - 04 Jan 09
Key West, FL


Capt Ron (Remeber Capt Ron? He was my buddy who was going to sail the Bahamas with me but wimped-out and was now wintering in Beaufort, NC). Anyway, he and I had planned to go to Key West for New Years Eve. He had some other friends who would be there and he had booked quarters for everyone at the Navy station on Key West.

He was driving down from North Carolina and would pick me up in Marathon. New Years Eve in Key West was the reason I sailed to Marathon from Miami. I needed an inexpensive place to leave Galena for a few weeks and Miami was just not it. Most places had only slips and they were on the order of $90 per day. Way out of my comfort zone.

Ron made a little detour to finally meet, in person, his internet babe. From what Ron says he had a very, very, good night in Tennessee. In fact, I'm happy to announce that Lydia is all he's talked about all day, every day since we've been here in Key West. Way to go, Ron!


Ron picked me up about 1300 on the 29th and in a couple hours we were at the Key West airport bar waiting for his old buddy, Rich. Rich continually cracked me up from the time I first said, "Hello" to him in the airport until we dropped him off a week and a half later. Rich is a pilot on the St Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes. He holds an Unlimited Master's ticket: Any boat, any size, any ocean. The highest license the Coast Guard issues.

Once Rich arrived and found us, we had a couple more drinks ("T", the bartender was a trip) and then over to Trumbo Point Naval Station where we had a room in the BOQ. Notice I said 'A' room Ron said they were all booked up and although we had a nice, 3-bedroom townhouse for the 3rd through the 8th, we had to share a single room from the 29th to the 3rd.

After the first night of trying to sleep with 3 old guys snoring we checked at the front desk and found that they did, indeed, have another room available. So then it was Rich in his own room and Ron and me in the other.
The first day out we followed a friend's advise and had breakfast at the Turtle Craal. The food was ok, but nothing to write home about. And the prices were a bit high.

Breakfast at Turtle Craal

Oh, as we were leaving the Naval Station, Ron and Rich took pictures of each other. Unfortunately the Navy has this thing about taking pictures of the entrance gates at their Stations.

"Delete that photo, mister"

The next day we stopped in at Harpoon Harry's (just across the street from the Turtle Craal) and had an absoultly wonderful breakfast at a fraction of the cost.

We also walked around Mallory Square and found some interesting art that Ron just couldn't keep his hands off of.

Ron is just an art lover

The Navy station is about a mile from Duval Street, where all the action is. Well, at least where all the tourists go. We had a healthy walk each way each night. Sometimes the walk back seemed quite a bit longer that the walk down.

There are a lot of beautiful people in this town. It seems that no matter where I look, I find something that catches my eye.

Side street off of Duval

We found a great little Bar-B-Que place named Eat 'n Grinn and, of course, Barb's smile caused us to come back a few times during our visit here.

Barb of the Eat 'N Grinn

The first afternoon Ron provided a guided tour. Showed us a few of the classic bars that he had frequented when he was last here about a decade ago. We hit Capt Tony's, Sloppy Joes, the Hog's Breath, et al. We staggered back to the room about midnight.

Outside the Hogs Breath Saloon


And inside the Hogs Breath


Capt Tony's

On the morning of the 30th we had a hard time getting going. I think we were still a bit drunk rather than just hung over. But we headed back to town for lunch and a drink. We found Finnigan's Wake, a quiet little Irish pub.

Finnigan's Wake for a pint of Guinness

We found an artsy souvenir shop named the Art Slut.

The sign at the Art Slut

And, inside, you find...

And once again we staggered back to our quarters in the wee hours of the morning.

On the 31st we were on Duval street with everyone else for the big conch-drop. There were several parties with big crowds at each. We were at the Conch Drop. Down at the other end of Duval Street was the pink slipper drop where the gay folks were. up the street was the wench-drop. All in all a very loud and fun night.

Duval Street on New Year's Eve

And for a video clip of the actual last ten-seconds of 2008 watching the conch drop, click here for a link to YouTube.

I was standing across the street from Capt Tony's for the big conch drop at Sloppy Joes. Here's a video clip of the event. The streets were closed off and one couldn't move without pushing and shoving. But for all the people, there were no confrontations that I witnessed. A rowdy but ruley crowd.

I met Ron's friend Rick and his wife, Anna. And Rick's brother Robert and his wife. And also Tom and his wife, Dale. Dale was a real trip and more fun than most. WE stood around after midnight and Ron headed back

Ron 'put out the old campfire' about 0230-hrs. I stayed out till about 0430-hrs. I'm not sure how I found my way back.

Duval Street after 4 AM

Between the 31st and the 1st I think I either text-messaged or called or was called by just about everyone I know. Even my old friend, Laura, whom I have not seen in years, texted me with best wishes. I think they were in or headed to St Johns, BVI, where her father-in-law has a place.

Andrea and Laura in a picture taken some years ago

(I'm now carrying my camera around with me and trying to remember to take pictures of people I meet. I'd like to be able to show you who I'm talking about rather than trying to explain it.)

The next day we were at it again and, once again, stayed out till about 0400-hrs. We walked all the way to the other side of the island and found Louie's Backyard and that thing that marks the 'southernmost point' in the united states. Everyone takes a picture here.

The much photographed Southernmost point in the USA

on 02 Jan 09 we were out exploring some of the more off-Duval pubs. We had just left the Green Parrot when Rich pointed out that the bar we were walking by was almost empty and quite quiet. The bar was the Meteor and as I looked inside there sat Capt Bill and Norm. Bill and Norm run the bars at the pool and at Red Eyes back at Mears Point Marina. Bill has invited me down every year for the past 4-years. And, now that I was actually in Key West, I had forgotten to bring his number. Ron had just suggested that I call Red Eyes and try to get Bill's number. And then there they were. Very Cool.

Norm, Me, Bill, Rich, and Ron at the Meteor

So we hung there with them for a few more drinks and, yeah, back to the Naval Station about 0300. On the way back to the base we stumbled upon the start of US-1: mile-zero. Just a sign on the side of the road but I thought it had significance and that it was certainly pixle-worthy.

Mile-Zero, US-1

We found that there were a few places that we liked so much we went back several times while we were there. The Blue Heaven was one of those places.

At the Blue Heaven

Although, when we went back there for breakfast on Saturday, we found a 90-minute wait. We didn't mind too much since the Bloody Mary's were very good.

And the next day, at the Blue Heaven waiting for breakfast

Another place we revisited was El Mason de Pepe. A Cuban restaurant with absolutely wonderful food.

At El Mason De Pepe

And the second time there we again bumped into Dan and Joan, who we had met at Louie's Backyard the previous day.

With Dan and Joan at El Mason De Pepe

Both Dan and Joan are very tall. When we first met them, Dan stood up to say goodbye... and he kept going up and up. This is one treetop daddy.

My very good and old friend, Griz, called me and set up a get together. He and his wife, Sharon, were some of the first civilian friends I had made when I got of the service. He was working at the first company I worked with. Then, as I moved from job to job around the Northern Virginia area I repeated bumped into Griz. He had recently moved out here to Sugarloaf Key and so I just had to have dinner with him and Sharon. So I did and it was so very nice to catch up.

Me and Griz cruising Key West

Ron was not feeling well so I had Griz drop me off downtown and found the bar at which we were going to meet Bill and Norm. The place is called "Cowboy Bill's." According to Capt Bill it's the only country-western bar in Key West. A little hard to find (just an alley-way entrance at 610 Duval St.) but once inside it's a very large and fun bar. Live and excellent bands, lots of happy people, and even a mechanical bull! And the bartenders have talent, too.

Click here for a video of the barmaid doing that "Cocktails" bottle-tossing thing.

Once again, I'm crawling home at about 0430hrs.

Comments [0] | | More