I know it has been awhile since my last entry.
This has been a very weird year weather wise, so we have not moved around too much. Most of the time we are hiding from fronts that are continually passing through.
We spent a few weeks in Thompson Bay with Sapphire and Fine Lion, then we got a weather window that would allow us to go to Rum Cay. We started out just fine, but the good winds that we were supposed to have kept getting stronger and stronger. Don't get me wrong, we were sailing along at a really good clip when suddenly a rouge wave and wind took us by surprise and we broached taking in a lot of water in the cockpit (not to mention I thought we were going to die in that thirty seconds (Susan, not Barry). We took the jib in at that point and sacrificed our speed, but it was much more comfortable. We arrived in Rum Cay and stayed there for a few days. We were there sitting on Sapphire watching Second Wind, from Quebec, go out of the anchorage, then turn around and come back, then turn and go back out again. As we were watching we said, why is he heading for the reef, then "bang" he was on the reef. (Apparently his engine was heating up and he went below to check on it, with his jib up and no autopilot - dumb)We all went out with dinghies and one whaler and tried to pull him off. It was soon apparent that he was never coming off the reef. His keel was broken and his rudder was off and the boat was filling with water. Mario got all of his valuables off first, with the help of Sapphire, Fine Lion and Night Hawk taking what they could to shore, then he came back for a few more things. At this point he knew there was no hope and told the locals to help themselves - and boy they did. Very sad, but it shows how fast things can happen. Rum Cay has a lot of corals around it and you have to be very careful.
We came back and stopped at Calabash Bay with Fine Lion for a couple of days. Kim was leaving to go to Colorado for three weeks, so we went in to Cape Sante Maria for dinner. This was the best meal we have had in the Bahamas, wonderful food, beautiful sunset - Ahhh - what a life. The next day Barry and Steve went diving and we got four lobster and two groupers. We had dinner on Fine Lion - I made lobster Aux Grautin - yummmmm and Steve grilled grouper.
Next we came to George Town and have been spending time meeting old friends and making new ones. There were over three hundred boats here for the past two weeks as the cruisers have an annual regatta. They have all kinds of activities, pet parade, opening night acts, games, boat races etc. etc. Mike and Kathy's daughter Sam and her friend Nick came down for a week to visit and had a good time.
We met Jay Malrooney, Paul and Brenda's son (from Nova Scotia) who is crew on a huge mega yacht here in the harbour. We have been hearing about him for a few years so it was nice to meet him.
We went to Eddy's Edgewater rake and scrap then on to Peace and Plenty Resort the other night with a couple on Southern Cross a Hunter 45, Andy and Isabella, we had a great time and good food.
We have sat out a few fronts here in Georgetown and had two boats drag down on us when their anchors let go, one was Wolf and 50+ steel schooner and no one was on deck. We tried to call them on the VHF, no answer, so about five boats all started to sound their horns and they finally came up on deck with about 50 feet to go before they hit us. We could not move as they were directly over our anchor - whew!!! We watched a boat drag onto the boat next to us in another front and it actually hit the boat. The boat was an Island Packet and has a huge bow pulpit so no damage was done. These fronts this year are crazy.
We are now in a time line where we have to think about heading North to come home. We are booked for April 29 out of Fort Lauderdale to fly home to BC.
We will head up to Rat Cay then Black Point etc. Hopefully the weather will be better and we can do some more lobstering.
Happy Birthday to Lauren, March 17 and Stephen March 20.
We have now moved from Georgetown and are heading north up the Exuma chain. We went to one of our favourite spots at Ray Cay and got lobster and a grouper for dinner that evening - yeah back to "real" cruising. We then moved to White Point for two nights and walked the ocean beach etc.
March 20, 2009
We now moved to Black Point and are enjoying Lorraine's restaurant for great food and internet (really slow, but better than nothing). Black Point also has a wonderful laundry. We are going for cocktails on Glory Daze tonight, then will move to Staniel Cay/Big Majors Spot tomorrow to ride out the next front. We should meet up with Blue Bay, Sapphire and Fine Lion soon as they will be heading this way soon.
Hopefully I will have some more exciting news to add to the blog later.
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We have finally cut the strings to Fresh Creek. Don't get me wrong, we loved it there and the people were so good to us.
We left on Saturday January 30 and headed for Highborne Cay. We had to motor sail all the way so we tested the engine really well. We had no problems at all, so we assume the problem is fixed. We headed to Staniel Cay the next day and did not stay there. Next day we headed for Galliot Cay and anchored overnight, then onto George Town the next day, again we did not stay. On the way to George Town we had a double hit of Mahi Mahi, but we were not in cruising mode yet and were so excited watching them jump out of the water that we did not slow down the boat and we lost both of them. We landed in Thompson Bay February 3rd and were greeting by Sapphire and Fine Lion with a lovely dinner of Mahi Mahi. It is so nice to finally catch up with them. The next day, Thursday we rented a van and toured the south end of the island, stopped at some bars and had lunch at Max's Bar. We had a great day.
Friday we had drinks on board Sapphire with Fine Lion and About Time. It was nice to see Doug and Sharon as we have not seen them since last season. (the summer before they visited us in B.C.)
Saturday was a front so we all stayed on the boats for the day.
Sunday, was Super Bowl party at the Island Breeze Resort, we went in early with Sapphire and Fine Lion to help set up for the evening. Mike and Steve set up a board to bet on the game and Barry was the banker. Fun was had by all.
February 8th, Kathy, Kim and I went for a walk on the ocean side beach, it was great to streatch our legs. We had a small beach party in the evening and met some nice people that just arrived in the afternoon.
Today, Feb 9 we are at the Island Breeze doing internet, getting propane tanks filled etc. We will have lunch here as they make a good pizza.
The rest of the week will be iffy as there are two fronts coming, one on Wednesday and one on Saturday. We have decided that this is as good a place to hunker in as any. We are not sure what the next move will be - we would all like to move up north on this island and do some fishing offshore and just hang out at Hog Cay (Long Island) where there are some interesting dinghy rides. I will try to post some pictures (not always easy)
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December 28, 2009
Still in Fresh Creek. We now have our second head gasket and new head bolts. We received them Christmas Eve and Ali the "new" mechanic has come today to put things back together. Update: This was not the problem, possible cracked head - have to send it to Nassau to have it checked then go from there, soooooo now we stay longer - oh yeah!
On the bright side, we are still having a great time here. We had a dock party on Christmas Eve and all the friends that visit every day, (bicycle John, Dancing John, Dave and Sandy and Elvira) plus the marina boat people and some from the AUTEC base - came and had a good time. The local people have been so good and generous to us. Christmas Day we were sitting on the dock and George (a local guy that comes to the marina everyday) came up to us and said to be here at 1:30 he was taking us for a drive to meet someone. We had no idea what he had in mind. He came and took us to his sister's place for Christmas Dinner. We were so shocked and so pleased to be included in their family celebrations. They treated us like royalty and welcomed us into their home. The menu was a traditional Christmas Dinner, it started with conch salad, then we had Bahamian Mac and Cheese, Bahamian peas and rice, lobster stuffing, Mahi Mahi, salads, coleslaw, turkey, ham, deserts etc. etc. They served us wine and beer for Barry. It was a wonderful Christmas present.
We came back to the Marina and Donna, who works here, felt bad for us, so she made up two large plates of Christmas Dinner from her home, complete with Coconut cream pie (very different from what we think of cream pie, but really, really good). We thanked her and put these dinners in the fridge as we still had a Christmas Dinner to go to at Small Hope Bay Lodge that night. Needles to say, we were not alone for Christmas.
Two nights later the local Bahamas Electric Company put on a FREE party over on the fuel docks. They had music, free drinks (anything and as much as you wanted) and they served dinner on a plate, which consisted of Mac and Cheese, peas and rice, coleslaw, ham and a huge amount of fried chicken breast - wow another fun night.
Barry has been entertaining himself fishing off the docks. Yesterday he caught a nice size Jack and a Barracuda came flying out from under a boat and bit the fish in half. Luckily he caught another one and we had it for dinner.
We are going to find it very hard to leave here when the time comes.
January 2010
Still in Fresh Creek. Had the head checked and it was cracked. Sent to Texas for a new one and yet another head gasket (#3). Installed the new head and still running hot. Barry went through everything he could think of to find something plugged. Eventually found a few things that he cleared up and took her out for a trial run again. It now runs within the proper limits. The heat gauge still reads hotter than it should, but the laser gun shows good temperatures. We are going to try to leave tomorrow morning (January 30) for Highbourn Cay, Exumas. We either do well and continue on or still overheat and come back here to our new home in Fresh Creek.
I won't bore you with all we have been doing here in Fresh Creek, but we are still having fun and will miss this place so much.
We managed to get on the AUTEC military base four times and had great dinners at their restaurant for $4 - unbelievable. We were able to shop in their grocery store and got American things at cheap prices. The base is awesome and is a self contained city.
We now have connections on the base and were able to get our parts mailed there which made it faster and way, way, way cheaper - did not have to pay duty of 40-50% on anything you have shipped here.
The people have been so kind. The "new" mechanic came to the boat three times to help out and spent many hours here. When we asked him what he wanted for pay, he said he couldn't take any money as we were stranded and he wouldn't feel right. We insisted on paying him anyway as they need the income. We went up to settle our bill at the marina and the manager said he would not take any money either - this we accepted as it is a government business (oh what standards we have). They could not have been better to us if they tried.
We spent the afternoon today with Bone Fish Charlie who is quite famous in the bone fishing world. He invented the Crazy Charlie Fly and the Bang Bang Club. He introduced Margaret to Pierre Trudeau at Small Hope Bay - what a character.
Tonight a bunch of us are going to "Hanks" for a farewell dinner - oh so sad.
Here's hoping all goes well from now on.
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