another northern front arriving!
02/04/2010, Hopetown Harbour

Bruce and Linda arrived on schedule without problems, so we spent a short day in HopeTown and then started south with the wind on the stern.... a couple of days anchored out, and then a visit to Little Harbour to celebrate my birthday...

Very quiet with almost no-one around..... Pete's Pub was empty, and the foundry looks abandoned.....

With the wind swinging to the south, we sailed back north and into Marsh Harbour to replenish our cupboards ( Louise has run out of garlic... shocking!).

We sailed back to HopeTown with another northern front at 20 knots with just a small foresail raised, and arrived at high tide, back to our mooring after 6 days away.

Fresh fish from a local resident at the dock, a lobster/artichoke dip for lunch, and fresh pasta planned for dinner. Laundry done, dinghy refueled, snorkelling planned for this afternoon....

It's taken a week for our guests to relax, but I suspect they'll have a great week here in HopeTown before their overnight stay in Nassau before flying home to Toronto.

My wonderful birthday present was the news that our son, Marc-Andre, has won the grand prize at the Feel Good Filmfest in Toronto ($100,000) for his short film entitled "Nuit Blanche". After the thousands of hours of work, it is great to see him so successful.... he's now back in NYC working on another contract...... so it goes.....

We've booked our return flights for April 8th, so we're already past the half way mark.....

Hot and sunny...... not a worry in the world!

glen

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sunny, windy, 70F and 25 knots of wind
01/26/2010, Hopetown Harbour

With the wind blowing from the north, we're hiding in a wonderful harbour awaiting my sister's arrival. She'll join us for dinner tomorrow evening after a flight from Toronto to Nassau, a connection to Marsh Harbour, and a taxi/ferry ride to Hopetown...... the last ferry arrives at dusk (6pm) so I hope the flights are all on time.

Another couple of hours spent battling the toilet has resulted in my sister (hopefully) bringing down a replacement..... oh happy Hilda! We'll keep Greta for the spare parts....

The high winds have resulted in the harbour being completely full, with the advantage of real-time entertainment..... thanks to the antics of the charter boat rental customers....

Four large chartered catarmarans (46' long) arrived two days ago with each boat containing 10-12 german sailors here to experience the joys of Bahamas sailing. At $6000.00 per week per boat, they tend to be fully loaded with guests in order to share the high cost of the rental. The resultant spectacle is remarkable.... anchoring, dropping poles overboard, dropping people overboard, large parties, nude swimming, nude showering, heavy drinking, near misses with boats, dinghies, fishing rods, anchors, docks, music.... absolutely wonderful entertainment..... much better than TV!

Unfortunately they left this morning, so tonight should be rather boring in comparison.

This morning was spent on long walks on the beach searching for broken pottery from the 1820s, and guests this afternoon for some breadmaking lessons from Louise.

The sky is blue and the sun is shining...... all is well!

glen

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breezy and 70F
01/24/2010, Hopetown Harbour

Well, the time has been screaming past with lots of fun and adventures.

It appears my root canal has settled down and I can now use the left side of my mouth. We've discovered an excellent source of fresh prawns, Australian lamb, and Chilean Chardonnay, so everything is wonderful!

Our wonderful guests (Ian and Linda) from Vancouver Island have unfortunately left last Thursday, and both Louise and I were sad to say goodbye, having spent a great two weeks together with them. The sailing south to explore the southern Abacos was rather exciting with the 25 knot winds, and the trails left on the sandy bottom due to deep keel and shallow water.... We had much more wind than we could really use, so reduced sail and clipped along at 9 knots.... I suspect we have converted them into Rummikub players, and quite possibly Abacos sailors..... time will tell. Friendship is a wonderful thing. Ian managed to convert a 5 gallon pickle bucket into a "pickle trap" which we will deploy in the outer reefs to investigate the viability of capturing Bahamas pickles.... enough said.....

Thanks to the solar panels I have not started the generator in weeks, and will probably need to shortly, although I hate the noise and smell as compared to free sunlight!

I spent four hours yesterday tearing apart the electric toilet in our guest suite in anticipation of my sister's visit ( she arrives in three days). Not an entirely successful rebuilding of the beast was achieved. Sailboat toilets are a real pain, with multiple seals, too little space, flapper valves, pumps, switches, etc. They growl and snarl and develop personalities. Our guest suite toilet has been named "Greta the Growler" and is a particularly angry piece of equipment. I'll give it another 3-4 hours to see if I can seal the small salt water leak, otherwise we may need to revert to the "bucket and chuck it" approach.... not pretty! (or purchase a new toilet..... happy hilda!)

Having sailed back north to Marsh Harbour, we enjoyed a couple of days re-provisioning the boat, and are now in Hopetown, enjoying the company of several of our cruising friends from last year. We'll relax and await Linda and Bruce's arrival on Wednesday, before deciding upon our next destination. Louise is baking fresh bread, and planning our menu for the next week. Sundays are quiet in the Bahamas with most places closed. We'll enjoy a quiet dinner on another boat from Montreal.

I'll post this update at the local restaurant where we'll have lunch, and check my email at the same time.

I understand that Ottawa is enjoying a mild winter.... but not as mild as here....!

glen

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