Well, we are still here in Green Turtle Cay and enjoying it very much. We have found that this island is a great place to use as the home base and then from here we go to other islands and explore. This past weekend we went north to an island called "Munjack" which is very small but the coves and beaches are so beautiful with the water a turquoise blue. We motored there with of friends, Toni and Vane, who are from South Africa. They have a small power boat which enabled us to motor directly to the beach. While there, we did some shell hunting, a lot of swimming, walked along the sandy Atlantic beach where there are large amounts of plastic bottles that blow in due to storms. The cove on the west side of the island there is a cove called " Lagoon Bay" and this is well known for sharks, rays and turtles. We saw 5 sea turtles but no sharks or rays. While there we built a fire and had lunch on the beach and we were the only people there so it seemed like it was ' our island'. We are planning to leave here with Laila Rose and go North again to a few of the islands and explore and then head south to Guana Cay, Man-O-War Cay then to Elbow Cay to the town of Hopetown where of friends Marty and Tami Cash live. Looking forward to the reunion since we have not seen them in 8 years.
I don't recall if I mentioned that Nancy broke her middle toe and the doctor in Marsh Harbour installed a splint. This all took place a couple of weeks ago and she is getting around quite well now, but always wears hard sole shoes to protect her foot.
We are having a wonderful time and every morning when we look out at the sea, we know how lucky we are to be here. It's awesome.
|Love to all and will write soon.
Bob & Nancy

Well, it has been a very eventful few days. We crossed the gulf stream on Friday afternoon with the forcast of southeast winds of 10-15kts. The actual conditions were winds 10 kts on the nose from the east, so we motored all the way to Memory Rock which is 14 nm north of Grand Bahamas Island. The trip duration was approx. 9hrs and light seas. We anchored there over night to get some rest. We made this crossing with another boat " Blue Pelican" which is registered in Australia and the owners are Jode and Steven. Great people to cruise with. On Saturday morning we hauled anchor and headed for Great Sale Cay( pronounced key by the Bahamians) and anchored on the north east side for protection from the winds. Great anchorage, but it is a small unihabited island and very sparce vegetation. Late Sunday morning left this safe anchorage and headed for Green Turtle Cay, and during the ride the winds picked up, seas became rough and we looked for another harbor to seek shelter. Unfortunately, we all decided to anchor at Allen-Pensacola Cay. Big mistake. It is a small harbour, poor holding on the bottom and early Monday morning a cold front blew through with wind from the west @ 66kts. This wind blew us and two other boats aground. One boat was able to motor off through the loose sand, but us and another boat were stuck hard a ground and had to be towed off at great expense because of our high displacement. On Monday afternoon, at 17:30 hrs with the help of high tide we got off and motored 9 nm to Spanish Cay where we are now. It is beautiful and we needed to relax and unwind. This afternoon we head for Green Turtle Cay and if WiFi works I will update again.
We are fine and doing quite well.
Will write soon,

The weather is finally changing so that by Friday or Saturday we will be able to make the crossing over the gulfstream to the Bahamas. Tomorrow morning we are motoring south on the ICW to Lake Worth, with two other sail boats, where we will spend the night at anchor. On Thurday morning we are planning to go out to sea and sail down to Noname Harbor which is near Biscayne Bay, south of Miami. From this Latitude we can easily cross the gulfstream in 6 to 8 hrs and use the 3 kt current from the stream to help us.
Our stay in Stuart was much longer than expected so we made the most of our time here. We visited many pubs, found great restaurants, went to 2 music festivals, and saw a movie called "Casablanca" starting Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Great movie, but the at the same time we got the chance to meet the son of Bogart and Lauren Bacall -Steven Humphrey Bogart who at the end of the movie gave a narrative of the movie, his life as the son of very famous parents. Most interesting and by the way he is a very interesting person himself.
Will write again soon,

We arrived in Stuart Florida along the Inter-coastal Waterway on April 6th. We decided on the ICW due to high seas and winds from the SE impeding our travel plans. Along the way we saw a Canadian vessel(one of many heading north) which hailed from the LeHavre River in Nova Scotia. They hailed us on the VHF and wandering were we were from since we are flagged with an unusal flag( St. Vincent and the Grenadines). Through the conversation we found that this gentleman new Nancy's Dad and had owned a sporting goods store not far from their home in Bedford. Small world.
At present we are tied to a mooring ball at Sunset Marina waiting for the weather to settle down along the Gulfstream. Winds N-gusts 30kts with seas- 7-10ft, not good for sailing. We will stay here for approx. 4 days and enjoy this quaint little village around the marina. Great pubs and restaurants.

A few days prior to us leaving Port Canaveral the US Air Force delivered a boat into the marina that we were staying at that was a very different design. I commented to Nancy that I had seen this particular vessel on a documentary aired on Discovery Channel. After speaking with members of the USCG and the USAF, I found out that this particular boat was captured off the northern coast of South America loaded with illegal drugs. The boat is classified as a "Semi-submersible" and is therefore extremely difficult to detect in the open seas especially when the seas are rough. This vessel only sits aprox. 18" out of the water and is completely covered in fiberglass with no metal showing. I thought I would add this to the blog since it is a very unique experience.

Well we were hoping to leave for our trip south into the islands but there were some safety issues that we needed to address so we lifted Laila Rose onto the hard at Scorpion Marina in Cape Canaveral, Florida. We were on the hard for 3 weeks and in that time we removed and checked thru hull, installed a new transducer to provide us data for depth, water temperature and speed in the water. We also found that the old bottom paint was not adhereing well to the hull, so we ended up sand blasting the hull back to the gelcoat and painted on 3 coats of expoxy barrier coat. We had the guys at the marina do this work as well as paint on 2 coats of hard bottom paint. She really looks good now and I hope the paint holds up well for our trip. While we were waiting for all the different coatings to cure or dry, we buffed and waxed the hull because it is much easier out of the water, than in.
We are now back in the water and it is a wonderful feeling to be afloat again. The marina that we are staying at is called Ocean Club Marina which beside the marina where we had the work done. Excellent facilities.

Note: While all this was going on, the weather here in Florida is very cold. There was a number of days the temperature was in the 40's and we were not able to paint. Today, Wednesday February 17, the temperature rose to 58 degrees. Wow.

We hope to install our new hot water heater this week and do a sea trial on the weekend, weather permitting.

I will write in advance before we acually cut the lines to land.

We wish all clear skies and fair winds

Bob & Nancy